1st letter from the MTC (9/7/09)

> To all my family and close friends,
> Greetings from the MTC, and Kamusta po kayo!!! So many things have happened since the time I have arrived, and there is so much for me to tell, but I only have 25:44 left so I will get right to it!!\
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> The first day was mad hectic. It was constant running around and intense rules, laws, mandates, jurisdictions, horrible food, all that good stuff. It was just learning where our classroom is and trash. Its all good though. Our classroom time is intense, but I will get to this all in good time, right now I am just trying to rock my schedule out in this email. The first day wasnt really that interesting actually. Tons of meetings, orientations and stuff like that. Thats actually how the first 4 days went, and those days were rough. I see where Chelsea came from when she was complaining about homesickness up at USU now because there is no way that I can see you guys now, and it cut deep the first couple days, but all is well!!! The first couple days you need to get used to the schedule, the food (which tastes like garbage ill have you know, but once again, all in good time), and not having a close network of friends and family to lean on. If you are going foreign, you are immediately pushed into language training, and it is really really intimidating. Our primary language teacher, Brother Barthalomew, only speaks tagalog, and the first couple days you are like "fool speak english before I throw a chair at you" but now I understand most of what he says. He is a good teacher, but, for the umpteenth time, all in good time.
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> Where shall I start? The residence hall? The food? The classroom? The language? My companion?
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> The residence hall it is!!! We stay on the bottom floor (it made it really easy to move in) of the building way way WAY back in the boonies. It is like a 3 hour walk back to our room from the front of campus. Its all right, if you like that which resembles a jail cell ha. It has cinderblock walls, unpadded carpeting, and bunk beds made of 4 peices of metal. Ha I know it sounds bad, but it really isnt as bad as I made it out to be. The elders in my district and I have a BLAST all the time. Today (P-Day) just hang out in each others rooms and tell jokes and play mattress dominoes, and launch floss at the wall with the excercise bands that they give us ha its freakin bomb! That is what we do for fun. Sometimes we will play signs, but we just rely on each other to have a fun time, and it works. Even in class, we just joke around and do what we want to do, in accordance to the rules of course!
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> This brings me to the classroom. We are in the classroom like 10 hours out of the day. We constantly study the language, and we constantly rely on preach my gospel. We go in the classroom, sit, learn, sit, eat, sit, joke, and sleep. Thats how life goes here at the good ol' MTC. We have two primary teachers-Brother Bartholamew(I have no clue how to spell his name so if its spelled ten different ways in this email thats why, but he has the same last name as the old brother B back in Frederick) and Brother Ward. Brother Ward just got married, Brother B is a creeper and isnt married, and sometimes we have Brother Molina, who is going to go to stanford for law. He is definately one smart cookie(not a cookie from the cafeteria though cause if that was the case he would be gross and droopy). Even though some of the teachers are annoying sometimes, they are all good teachers, and all good men.
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> The food? How is the food? One word-gas. No just kidding on that one, but the food is not all that good. I tried eating it, but it just doesnt work for me so I have been living off Honey Nut Cheerios (with bananas obviously), fruit, and bread. Oh, and the occasional plate of rice. Oh, and multi-vitamins. Didnt forget now did I mom?? The first day here, some genious forget to plug in the refridgerator for the skim milk dispensor, so I had the chance to drink warm, sour milk with delicious flavor enhancing chunks in the bottom. YUM!!!
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> The language is intense. It started off really hard, but now that we study it CONSTANTLY, it isnt that bad. The only challenge is word conjugation, and solid memorization of adjectives, nouns, and verbs...basically the whole language ha no just kidding. We start by memorizing straight phrases like nagpapasalamat po ninyo para sa inyong anak na si Jesucristo and then learn what they mean later haha. It is a lot of straight memorization, but even in the one week that I have been here memorization has become simple simple SIMPLE! I can retain so much more information its not even funny. Ha funny what happens when you apply yourself huh? You hear that Brady? You better apply yourself. You dont think that I see you smiling?
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> Speaking of which, how is the family? How are you and Dad doing? How is B-Rady, Samuel, and Ben doing? Please stress how important the church is. I have only been here a week and there is so much irrefutable evidence that the church is true. Please tell them that they need to start turning that seed into a tree RIGHT NOW so they can be ready to serve a mission-its DEFINATELY the right thing to do.
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> I want to apologize for not sending pictures in this email. I really dont have time actually. I only have 30 minutes to email everything that I want to, and it took like 5 minutes just to set up this trash. My hands are moving at mach 10 so I cant make tight jokes or anything so im sorry if this email is boring and seems like it resembles the doldrums. I am sending a memory card today (well, there is no mail today so it will get sent out tomorrow) so you will get to see how life goes here. I only have three and a half more minutes before it logs me out and kicks me off, so I will say this really quick. Please forward my pictures on the memory card to all those who you forward the email to. Also, PLEASE send JEANS. I need them for the service projects (cleaning the MTC) on wednesdays, and I cant do anything without jeans. I love you all so much and miss you with all my heart. Tell Braeden, Samuel, and Ben to stay on the straight and narrow and to do what they are told or I will come back and destroy them. Tell Chelsea to STAY SINGLE until I come back. This is how it goes. It is the plan, I have already decided. Give my love to both sets of grandparents, and to the family. I love you all and miss you and wish you all the best. Dang, look at this, with 51 seconds to spare:/