January 17, 2011

It's stopped snowing and has been warming up lately here. The snow is starting to melt but there is still a lot around. It's cold but not as bad as the first week. The cold is making my hands dry and they are cracking, but I have enough lotion for right now. I am no longer sick. I had strep throat a week before i came and i'm still coughing a bit but I feel much better. Sorry I couldn't go hiking with you Joe, my throat made sure of that and I'm still feeling it.

We've started to get better as a district now. We're much more unified and the district leader is learning from his mistakes. even so, I have to keep reminding myself that nobody is perfect whenever he tries to lead us. The district before us has been great company while they were here. Sadly though, they are leaving tomorrow. They're al polynesian and they've welcome me and Elder Vaimalu and Elder Ioane into the MTC with open arms. Their names are Elder Tuik'lavatu, Kaufusi, Lasalosi, and Lotoahea. I'm gonna miss them and I hope I get some of them as companions later on im my mission.

We've had a pretty upbeat attitude lately, during class I was singing a worldly song and this is roughly how it went,
Me: I don't wanna close my eyes, I don't wanna fall asleep
Teacher: NO Babylon!
Me: Because I'd miss you Jesus and I don't wanna miss a thing.
Teacher: That's better.

We've been doing those kind of things lately, we try to make church songs out of worldly songs and just make up our own songs. I never realized the importance of having music in my life until it was taken away from me. Not too upset about movies and games but music is what I miss right now.

I'm still a bit homesick and have yet to receive any pictures from back home. The mail here is pretty slow and it's depressing looking into an empty mailbox. I've gotten plenty of letters, more than I can reply to all at once, but it always feels like there's not any mail. I also hope everyone can send me a picture or two with their letters.

I met a few people whom I didn't know where on missions. One of them remembered me from the stake snow trip a few years ago and another I met at the stake youth trek. I forgot their last names though...I'll try to get it from them but I think they already left to their mission fields.

Jeffrey R Holland came to give us a devotional on Tuesday. I was really impressed by his speech skills. He talked to us about obedience and kind of came down on us about study habits and the effort we should put forth. It was a nice talk and I stayed awake for the whole thing. Well other than that, there's not very much else to talk about. The MTC has started to become a way of life right now so it's kind of become a routine.