Friday, May 31, 2013

First Letter


Dear Mom,

Goodness gracious! Where to begin? So many things have happened this week that it is hard to keep track of. I will try to remember it all.

First off, the plane ride here was amazing but I already told you guys a little bit about that. When I got to the MTC it was crazy though. The guy who drove me here didn't  speak an ounce of English and so I was just waiting in this room and I had no clue what I was doing. I finally got directed to the Presidents office and waited for my interview. Everyone I talked to seemed fluent in Spanish! But my interview with President Openshaw went really well. He is a really good president. He gave a really nice prayer at the end of our interview that gave me a lot of confidence.

After that, I got to email you guys for seriously 5 seconds and then they showed me where my class was. It was really tough because it seemed like eveyone was weeks ahead of me even though I had only missed a day. Class was taught purely in Spanish and I still had no clue what I was doing. During class my companiion was trying to catch me up on everything and we eventually figured out everything that I needed to do. My companions name is Elder Henrie! He is 6'5 and a really nice guy so we get a long really well. We have played basketball everyday except for Sunday so I'm already ready to take Sam and Mikey on! haha

Lets see, I went and got everything I needed from Sister Openshaw including a flu shot so that was a good time. So here is a cool story, during the evening classes I was having a rough time. I felt so far behind everyone else and i didn't understand what anyone was saying (back in the airport I heard some people talking and I thought it was Russin or something but it was Castillano haha) I was getting really depressed because I was thinking about how long 6 weeks was in the CCM and then how long 2 years would be! So here I was sitting in class pretty discouraged when suddenly the door opened and President Openshaw asked to meet with me. I went to the other room and he called me to be District Leader. I was instantly filled with so much love for my District. And I mean INSTANTLY. It was such a good experience. Ever since then I have been perfectly fine. There have been times when I have been discouraged about not learning Spanish quick enough but it always goes away. It has been a great experience being District Leader so far even though it is a lot of extra work. I wish I had time to tell you guys about everything!

So the room I am staying in is about the size of Luke’s room and there are 8 elders in there! haha But we all get along pretty well. The food here is always really good. We have had meals that I have never even heard before but it is always good. I LOVE THE MEAT! But i have made really good friends with Elder Hobbs and we have played basketball everyday except for Sunday. He is pretty good so we always work up a good sweat. Today was P-day so we played for close to three hours I think haha and now I am emailing you guys. It has felt like I have already been out for like a month even though it has gone by really quickly. Hopefully I am making sense! An hour goes by pretty quickly when you are emailing. Another thing, the keyboards here are really weird so I am sorry if I don't punctuate things correctly.

The second day that I was here we already had to teach our first investigator completely in Spanish! I didn't have time to study in the morning much because I had my first District meeting in the morning so I went in completely unprepared. It didn't go to bad though! But this last time we met with Rocio (Our investigator) It went so well! We got her to read the Book of Mormon and she said that if it was true she would get baptized. Granted, it is all role play but it is still exciting. Elder Henrie isn't the best at Spanish and neither am I but we seem to get it done. Some of the guys here are really good at it. And some of the guys know what to say in Spanish but there accent.... needs some polishing.

Yesterday we got to go see Elder Cook and the Area President speak. It was such a cool experience. We got to drive through Argentina and we saw some crazy things. There were dogs everywhere! Some even had 3 legs.

In one of the classes we practiced baring our testimonies in Spanish. I was one of the last that went up there but it was so cool because even though I couldn't say anything very elaborate I still felt the spirit so strong and if you know me that means I was crying pretty hard up there. But it was just a really cool experience that taught me that the Spirit is Universal and it doesn't matter exactly what you say as long as the spirit is there.

Give everyone my love! Next time I email you I might throw in some more stories from this week as I remember them. Tell Luke to do his pushups and sit ups and to read the Book of Mormon. I love you Luke! I saw that Dad wrote me but I might not be able to get to it but I love you Dad! I Love you Mom! You guys are the best family EVER!

I will try to write you guys a letter sometime. I haven't received any from you guys but I hear it takes a really long time.

Love,

Elder Lacey

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