Elder Holland Fireside!!

 

 

Friday, January 18, 2013
 

Hey mom!
 

How is everything going? I hope that all is well. I hope that you had a good week! I look forward to reading your letter at somepoint. If it is a Dear Elder, those are delivered on the same day if they are written before noon. Also, they aren't delivered on Saturdays. So if you write it this afternoon, I won't see it until Monday. I think once I get to Chile, though, it is probably just going to be easier for you to write normal emails to me. I don't mind spending computer time reading the letters. It only takes me like three minutes to read it.

Well, I guess I will just tell you about how awesome this week has been. Reason number one? Elder Holland came and spoke to us on Tuesday night. The MTC tries to keep it a secret by not telling us who is coming, but we always know something is up when they have security checking our back packs and stuff. So we were all sitting in the missionary "conference center" (it is actually just the gym, but there are lots of bleachers in there), and we saw Elder Holland walk in and we all stood up out of respect. It was probably the coolest experience ever. He walked in the room and the spirit just flooded the place! It was awesome! It was such a powerful experience being there and hearing Elder Holland talk about missionary work! He pretty much told us what we need to do in order to be great missionaries. He is such a fantastic speaker and I have always enjoyed his talks, but this one hit me at a whole new level. I left that meeting feeling more pumped up and enthusiastic about being a missionary than I have ever been. I am so excited to start really teaching people! I am motivated to make sure that I become the missionary that Elder Holland described to us.

On Wednesday I got to be a host missionary! It was actually pretty cool how that works out. We didn't really see the whole effect of the missionary drop off because we were a little late. Basically, they just got a ton of missionaries to wait by the curb along side the hill and help the missionaries get all settled in. There were like... 25 different stations, so there were cars just lined up. They say on average that over 100 cars come through every 15 minutes! Guess who I saw very first drive up and be dropped off? Tyler Belliston! I didn't get to be his host, but I definitley got to be the first one to welcome him to the MTC! It was pretty sweet. Here is an interesting fact for you: The day I was dropped off at the MTC, there were only 230 that came in. Guess how many SISTER missionaries came in on Wednesday? Like 260!! The flood has begun. There were exactly 666 missionaries that came in on Wednesday. I pretty much just carried suitcases for the sisters all day, although I did get to host an Elder who is going to Hawaii. It is kind of weird that I was hosting someone who is going to be leaving the MTC before I do. Speaking of leaving... I believe I only have 17 more days here at the MTC. Is that crazy or what? I can't even believe how quickly time flies here! I feel like I was sitting here yesterday writing my email to you, but that was a whole week ago! I am a little nervous about leaving for Chile, though. I am excited, but I don't fully know what to expect.  I think it might hit me at that point that I am really doing missionary work. Here at the MTC, a lot of missionaries don't really feel like they are on their missions yet. I kind of feel the same way. I feel like I am just preparing for the real deal, which is true. I like it here, though. A lot of missionaries complain about how much they hate it here, but I think that it is a great place! I love what we do here, but it just doesn't quite feel like missionary work yet.

Here is some other news about this week: I finally saw Tatum here! I saw her on Wednesday. It is kind of weird that I have been here for like 7 weeks and I have only seen her once. It was kind of cool to see a friend from the outside world who is not a missionary. I also got a letter from Kathryn Maddix this week. Will you tell her that I got it? I wish I had time to write back today, but I just don't see it happening. P-days are more busy than regular days, in my opinion. We have a ton of stuff to do, including cleaning our room and our classroom. The other missionaries don't help us with cleaning, so Elder Taylor and I do it all. The only reason we do it is because it is a rule... and we just follow all of the rules (which is what elder holland said was part of the equation for being a good missionary). Nick's mom sent me a package this week! She sent me some cookies that Hunter made! I shared them with all of the other missionaries in my district. I need to send you her email address, because she said she would like to receive updates. Maybe I will remember next week to send that in the email. Her email address is on a piece of paper back in my room. I got a few other letters this week as well! Makayla always hooks me up with letters! :) I think I have received like... five from her this week, which is so awesome! She sends me index cards with inspirational quotes on them! How sweet is that!? I think she is going to send me a picture of my mullet so that I can prove to my fellow missionaries that I had the coolest mullet the world has ever seen! Speaking of pictures, will you send me a picture of Hazel? Someone told me that Cavelier King Charles Spaniels are ugly, and I was ready to fight them!! Haha. I need proof that they are adorable!

Well, I am out of time.. again. This is probably the fastest half hour of the week. I forgot to tell you that I wrote Jordan a letter last week. Hopefully he gets it! I also got a letter from Adrienne. Tell her that I am going to work on responding to that one either this week or next week. I hope these people understand that things are super busy here. :/ Well, I gotta go!

Love, Elder Warren.