Yay for letters!!

Yay!! First letter from Elder Call! On Thursday May 23rd he hand wrote the letter below and mailed it to Alexa's house (because we were staying up there for a couple days after we dropped him off) Getting that first letter was like experiencing Christmas as a child!!! I was SO excited to hear from him!!! So here it goes....

Dear Family,

I miss you all! I really like it here. My companion is Elder M, he is actually a farmer from Idaho! He's a pretty funny guy. Its been fun getting to know him so far.

It is a big change being here. Picture the most amazing, incredible, fantastic thing you can possibly think of and multiply it by six! (Amy here, making a comment....when I was reading this letter to the family and I got to the part "and multiply it by six!" Zac yelled out "Megamind!!" Leave it up to Spencer to quote an animated movie in his letter home!)
But I'm not going to lie, I am quite nervous. Nervous, but definitely excited! I have already seen Elder Smith - Ben Smith, Elder Neely - Levi Neely  and Sister Smith - Mason's older sister who's name completely escapes me right now.  (McCall!!) 

Everything is starting to sink in. It's great seeing so many amazing people all in one place! We sang "We'll bring the World His Truth" but sang "and now we are the Lord's missionaries" which was really amazing. 

The spirit here is amazing and so is the ice cream! Don't worry about me! Thanks for all of your prayers. I love you all so much. God is with you! The church is true!

Love, Elder Call

PS Our first teaching experience was amazing. Teaching is so much different than I thought it would be. The gospel is great!! I love you all!!

Reading that letter was so incredible! I had been missing him SO MUCH and that sweet letter brought solace to my soul!! We drove home on Saturday and that afternoon when we got home I checked my email hoping that maybe, just maybe, I would have an email! And ya-hoooo, I did!! The missionaries get one P-day per week. P-day is their "preparation day" - laundry, writing home, cleaning, shopping etc...so they will be all ready for the upcoming week. Once on their mission, their P-day is every Monday. But at the MTC (missionary training center) their p-day can be any day Monday - Saturday. Since we received an email on Saturday, I'm guessing his p-day is Saturday. Here is the letter he emailed us :)

Dear Family,

How are all of you?? The MTC has been great. It definitely is a lot of hard work. The other day I explained it this way: You cram 4 days worth of work into 24 hours. It really is crazy! Your entire schedule is filled, and then you still have assignments piled on top of that. But, the hard work brings the spirit. The spirit here is absolutely amazing. I love it! I have an amazing district. I was called as district leader. That pretty much means that I am in charge of picking up mail, haha! My companion, Elder M, keeps me on top of that. Speaking of mail, thank you all for the letters and packages! I do love getting mail, but it is hard to fit in time to write back. So please forgive me! 

So, enough about me! That is one thing you really learn here. It really isn't about you at all. You are here for others. Your investigators! We learn to teach people not lessons. I never realized how personal each lesson has to be for your investigator. Sure, you do have to cover all the material in PMG Ch. 3, but it is so much more than that. You can't just go from one lesson to the next because that may not be exactly what your investigator needs. 

We have been teaching investigators through role-play and practicing on our teachers. Our investigator right now is Linda. It is amazing to see how the spirit works even in role-play. The spirit really does testify of truths! You really have to be receptive to the spirit, and ready to act upon it. It is hard work! Not going to lie, the MTC isn't exactly what I thought it would be. But it is most certainly amazing! 

My companion hasn't been feeling well. Last night our roommates and I had the opportunity to give him a Priesthood Blessing. It was really amazing. The spirit was definitely there. But, that night he woke me up and told me he couldn't get to sleep, so at 1 in the morning we went down to the office and asked for some medications. They didn't have much so I gave him some of my Nyquil! So pretty much I am pretty tired right now. But its great! Being tired at the MTC is a lot better than being tired anywhere else, haha! Everything at the MTC is a lot better than anywhere else. It is so great! I've learned so much already. Sure, at times it is really hard and you are really rushed, but overall it has been amazing. 

The MTC is great! Thank you all for all your letters and boxes and stuff! Thank you all so much. I loved the letters in my binder. You are the best! I definitely have the best family ever. I love you so much!

Love,

Elder Call

p.s. I got my travel plans! I'm leaving to Canada on June 4! 

p.s.s. To all those going to the MTC soon, love hard work! Love it!

p.s.s.s. THE CHURCH IS TRUE!

We loved hearing from him. To hear that he is happy and loving his experience is so wonderful. We are so proud of you Elder Call! Keep up the good work. You are in our prayers constantly and we miss that smile around here!

Love always, Mama

We love you Elder Call!
He'd love to hear from you!
See his addresses at the bottom of the previous post!