Merry Christmas!!

Hey everyone!

Merry Christmas! Feliz Natal!

okay I gotta answer dads questions since I forgot last time. my bad. shoot. I forgot them so ill try to do them from memory. so we learn from ourselves. like for real. Once a day we have language instruction for an hour and its basically a joke. We practice conjicating one word and using it in a sentence. we are going sooo slow. so basically you have to teach your self. we use the computer for a program called TALL( technology assisted language learning) or something like taht. It teaches us everything we want to know. It has all the lessons on there and everything. I mostly use it for vocab. but the thing that is good about it is that it has native speakers on it so the pronounciation and the accent is perfect. well ,actually it stinks because people in portugal slur everything together. It literally sounds like they’re drunk! shoot sorry dad that’s all the questions I remember. Mom as for you question no elder dredge didn’t freak out about in n out. Technically its not breaking any rules so I had a pretty good case if he tried to fight me on it. haha jk but sometimes I think I should be a lawyer. but actually everyone we pretty excited that I convinced the driver to take us to in n out. Oh and yes I basically was the leader when we went to New york because they’re all like oh no what do we do. its kinda funny. its like common sense to me.... Yeah I see Megan skousen at gym time a lot. and yeah i saw matt! haha it was awesome I found him in the choir and we like had a telepathic conversation. it was sweet. Matt if you didnt understand i said i love you man! Oh Austin we had our first district come into our zone that is going to Curitiba! haha theyre cool i guess. so now i have a total of 68 missionaries in my zone. Its pretty tiring. But im proud to say i know every single one of their names! yeah its true, miracles happen when you’re on a mission. K oh my gosh the basketball games at home sound amazing! Dad thanks for doing my yelling for me. Oh man I miss that. Such FUN!

Hey mike, remember when you said that the seats at the mtc were hard? well yeah they were. Until yesterday! we got brand new desks and chairs and theyre all padded :) I’m happy with them.

Mom and dad it sounds like you had quite the interesting time the other night at a party ;) Fun fun hahaha.

Well I hope everyones last day of school went well! hopefully not too stressful.

Oh will you PLEASE send me a picture of the House all light up as well as the tree?? i want to see them really bad. Also thank you for the Christmas package! i didnt open any of the presents,i promise. And thank you also to the Turleys, sharps, Stokers and Burtons for the packages and letters! I loved them thank you so much. Austin I cant believe you’re coming in soon! I’m sad I’ll miss you.

Megan. I’m so sorry about your wisdom teeth! ouch!! that stinks so bad. Get better okay?! cause you gotta open your mission call and tell me where you’re going!

Darin when you get your call i REALLY want you to learn portuguese. then we can talk to each other and no one will know what we are saying ahahah! ps. dad i can understand spanish pretty darn good now. but the spanish people cant really understand me ahah! its sooo fun. and im probably the 2nd best white guy with the language in my class. actually im the best out of anyone who didnt already speak spanish before. people who spoke spanish before and pick it up so quickly its frustrating. same with italian. aha i can understand that too.

So everyone, President Brown called a meeting last night... and well. Today's the day. Im so grateful  to be on a mission right now. as for the rest of you. Well, i hope your living right! See ya in the Celestial Kingdom! ......................................................................................................

...........

Haha jk the world didnt end today..yet.

But now i wanted to share with everyone an awesome experiece i had this week teaching an investigator. So she hasnt believed in christ or anything and we just started teaching her trying to find a way we could apply the gospel to her life. anyway this last time we asked her if she had been reading the book of mormon and she said ya a little bit. and we asked her if she had prayed about it. and she feels really awkward with praying and shes embarassed. anyway she said no. and I just got this feeling and so I just bore my testimony that if she prayed with faith and real intent, wanting to really know, then God would tell her it was true. she said okay. and then i had another feeling and so i was like you know what lets do it right now. lets put what i just said to the test. ( i was praying to myself like Heavenly father this better work!) so we all got down on our knees and she offered one of the most beautiful portuguese prayers ever. and after she was done, holy cow the spirit was sooo strong. i almost started to get emotional. So i asked her how she felt and she could feel the spirit and she told us what it was like. and we let her work it out her self and realize that it was the spirit. anyway she ended up commiting to baptism and coming to church. Wow though it was just so awesome. i mean the spirit was sooo soo strong i felt like i could touch it or something!

Guys its really true. God is really there and He hears us. and Will answer us. We just have to have faith and real intent. None of this halfway stuff. all in.

anyway i hope you all have a Wonderful and Merry Christmas. Remember the Savior and His atonement. Yes it is his birth, But his atonement is truly amazing.

I love you all soo soo much and miss you like crazy but im not gonna lie, its pretty wonderful to be a missionary. Its only fun when you really get down to work and realize what your actually doing. In the book of mormon its says that the sons of mosiah  trembled at the very thought of even one soul not being saved into the kingdom of heaven. Find it. its good stuff. Its an amazing feeling to love someone so much that all you care about is their salvation. But its even more amazing to love mutiple people like that. Charity. Have it and your life will be AMAZING!

Love you all,

Elder Tingey 

Pics New York Trip and others!

I'm the King of New York!! December 14, 2012

December 14, 2012

Subject:  I’m the King of New York!!

Whats up familia!!!!

Tudo Bem?!

So i know you all want to know about new york but ill get to that at the end. so, funny story first. there are air fresheners in the bathrooms here (awesome idea) and they spray like every 5 min. anyway there is one right above the urinal, and so i was doing my thing ya know and then all of the sudden this thing squirts me in the eye! I freaked out it was really funny haha.

Oh k so cool check this out! We got knew Elders this week and Elder Saxton is in my zone! Like Saxton from the Ranch! sooooo flippen cool! ill take a picture with him on sunday but haha i thought it was awesome. Oh my Gosh PAIGE!!! you got your call! i cant belive it! Phillipines! so awesome! im soooooo excited for you and so proud. You're awesome! But CHATO!!! (its our portuguese word for shoot or dang it, its so fun to say ;) ) Im so upset that youre coming into the mtc 2 FLIPPEN days before i leave! chato! but its fine i guess.... I told sister Braithwaite (presidents wife, who is sooo cool and reminds me of grandma stoker) about it and shes like oh man that is so cruel!  I love the Braithwaites they are awesome. Tessa, wow i cant believe you had cannon on 1212121212! You held him in till the last second huh? yeah you know it. We all know you just wanted to be on the news! haha jk.

Oh mom the nerf this is behind my bed. like in between the wall and my bed. check all around the sides too. Elder Mcgettigan is dying he keeps asking me did you mom send you that hoop yet?! haha! oh btw babes he wrote you a lettter today :):) hahahaha. Oh but we have a christmas tree and light so dont send any. however they dont really decorate the mtc that much. i guess so we stay focused and not homesick. its weird christmas is in like 10 days...

Hannha! i wrote you a letter today but i just wanted to say i love you!

Elder Chatwin, yeah i know him! he was here in the mtc and left last week. hes a stud and i bet he's tearin it up in Angola right now! im so jealous of him, already out there! but i only have 4 more weeks. Oh i leave Jan 14 btw. go to dallas, have a 4 hour layover there. then fly to london and have freaking 12 hour layover there! and i dont think we can leave the airport... bust oh well. then its like another 10 hours untill Luanda.

Everyone Thank you for the Christmas cards theyre awesome! Roberts, GandG stoker, and Turleys shout out to you! oh Mom, Holy cow i am sooooo impressed with our christmas card this year! it rocks! sooo good. its Quality as elder o'malley would say. As for gifts for the elders in my zone.... just a picture of christ. There's 57 right now but we'll be getting more before christmas!

Well We had an Elder in my district go home on thursday. it was really sad, and broke my heart. i just love him so much and it was so sad to see him go. were all going to keep writing him and encouraging him though. however i think it made our district take everything more seriously which is what needs to happen.

Darin! You are such a boss! gettin the shoutout from Coach ernst! thats what im takin about! I hope you had a good birthday. it sounded amazing. Marissa, Holy cow girl. You be lookin mighty fine at winter formal!! ooooooo baby!

Babes, Youre just the best. i love you so much. Keep being happy and always smile.

Mom wanted to know some of my zl responsibilities so heres a super short list and is not all of them.

Welcome the new missionaries

Show them EVERYTHING about the mtc

make rounds to all the missionaries dorms each night

meet with all the DL's every week

Meet with the presidency like 2 or 3 times a week. sometimes more

Love and uplift all the Elders!

Okay now the NY trip. Baller!

soo we drove to the airport which was so awesome just to see the outside world! we had the coolest driver who told us about what was going on in the world and about his wife. he reminded me of zander from college. but then we got to the airport and had some mcdonalds fries... HEAVEN. k not really but at the time they were. anyway. Flew on the red eye to new york. I got a whole row to my self it was awesome. then we got there at 3 in the morning utah time. freaking hardly any sleep. went to the manhatten temple where an elder jones (sr. elder) met us. he's from phoenix and used to be in the temple presidency. and we had breakfast right next to the temple whcih that was celestial kingdom status. soo good. then right before we left the temple i ran into the nyny North mission president and introduced my self to him and told him to tell Elder kerr hi for me. they were having transfers like the next day so i wonder if he really did. if you find anything out report back please. k then we took the subway to the consulate. while doing that there was this black lady who was a little crazy.. Priase the lord you know? that kind of thing. but ya gotta love her!  then we went through grand central station and that was cool. Just seeing the outside world and being in it but being a missionary was awesome! luanda is going to be so sick! k then we got to the consulate, did our thing (finger prints basically) the whole thing took like 20 min. haha a whole trip for 20 min it was kinda funny. then we had our driver take us back to the airport. our driver was awesome though. he was from mali africa and was so tight. i started asking about his life and he was married had 5 kids and one grandkid. theyve lived in queens for 25 years . his oldest son had died like 3  months ago. Im telling you this guy was a golden investigator! so by that time we were at the airport and so long story short i gave him a BoM with mormon.org written inside, challenged him to read it and all that jazz and through mormon.org he could get in touch with the missionaries. IT WAAS SO AWESOME!! I just like already love him and i want to teach him! but i cant. oh well. maybe one day ill find out if he ever joined.

Then we got to the airport ate some more good food. Darin i saw on the tv that Blake Griffen had some SICK dunks on the lakers. wow. so awesome. then we got on the plane and came home! oh ps i was the only one who placed the book of mormon ;) like a boss missionary. k then on the way home i smoozed our driver into taking us to in n out! how cool is that! it was soo good. such a good trip. then came back here met the new missionarys went to the temple this morning and taht was my week!

Thank you to everyone for the letters this week. they were awesome and helped so much. I love you all to death!

Love Elder Tingey

P.S. Megan im so excited to see where you go on your mission! oh and xan im so pumped for you! Paige, Xan and Megan, you are all going to be great missionaries!

Dec. 7, 2012

Dec. 7, 2012

Ola,

So this week was alright. the time seems to be going by faster so that’s good. but good news! we got our travel planes to go to New York on Tuesday! heck ya! im way excited to get out of here even if it is just for a day. but we fly out Tuesday night on a red eye and we’re in New York on Wed. and we go to the Angolan consolate and then fly back Wed night I think.

k wow Paige put here papers in already?! what the heck! why did no one tell me?! geez losers tell me stuff. but that’s actually super awesome and excited! Megan im so excited for you to get your call! I can’t wait to here where everyone is going! PORTUGESE speaking come on!

Dad, k your letters are awesome! I love hearing about everything! It’s so exciting and I wish I was there with you! And to answer your question, no we don’t have culture classes here which is a huge bummer. we just rely on teachers who have served there. Which for me is no one. but some have had companions from Angola. I’m sure it will be very interesting over there. Grandma Stoker thanks for the candy cane stuff and the awesome junk food! It seriously was awesome! Thank you for the note, but seriously enough with the little notes telling me you love me, just write me an actual long letter telling me about what is going on in your life! Grandpa Stoker I enjoyed your Dear Elder thank you.

K so listen to this. missionaries here have a bad habit of trying to be super spiritual and righteous and they want to show it and prove it. so this is what they do. They stand up during the singing. whether its in sacrament meeting or devotional or a fireside. oh its so innappropirate and they even speacifically say don’t stand up during a song unless told to do so. it ticks me off if you can’t tell.

Oh hey btw is my plaque up yet? if so take a pic and send it to me. and if not well Bishop Kempton better be gettin on it otherwise im gonna write him! So this no music thing at the mtc litterally kills me. Literally. somebody send me a pocket sized english hymn book so I can sing to my self and know all the words. Please! I’m dying. Also I’m going to send my ipod home. I need you to LOAD IT UP with good stuff. Rob gardner stuff too please. I love that stuff.

I’ll send my memory card home soon. but only if you promise to take all the pictures off and send it right back IMMEDIATELY.

Alright I guess I’ve complained enough.  here is some cool things. did you know that harry potter, is basically portuguese? All the spells are portugese and Voldemort - it’s a place in portugal called valley of death. anyway. Oh I want some brown ties for christmas please :).

So I’m really blessed in my life although I haven’t really acknowledged it right now but I really am. So much family and friends who love me. I was talking to elder O'malley the other day. (British guy) and he was telling me about his life. (oh yeah he’s the new district leader that replaced me). but no one in his family are active except for his dad and one older brother. and I think he has like 7 siblings and his mother died when he was 15, and his dad has gone blind. (oh his mom was active before she died). it just amazed me. The trials people go through and still come on there missions, now thats faith. Honestly, I love all of you, but there is no way I’d still be out here if I didn’t know and have my own witness that the gospel is true. While I’ve been here at the mtc my testimony of Joseph Smith has grown sooooo much. I really want to meet him in the after life. He is just amazing. Just him alone and ALL the horrible things he went through and never denied the gospel and also always gave his full effort to establishing the church for the last time on the earth is just so powerful. He truly was an amazing man. Watch Joseph Smith the prophet of the restoration. If you don’t cry at the end of  that... well then im sorry for you. Joseph Smith really Saw God the Father and Jesus Christ. and restored this gospel here on the earth for the Final time. I know it with all my Heart.

I love you all. Please write me.

Elder Tingey




November 30

Ola. haha. HEY EVERYBODY! its FRIDAY

FRIDAY gotta email on friday!

Haha i love having fun with the subject ;).  So first things first. Thank you everyone for the letters this week! they were awesome! Thank you Stokers and Tingey families for the thanksgiving letters! Mom Thanks for all those addresses. So to answer some questions from dad. The Language is coming along slowly. honestly the best way to learn it is to just syl. speak your language. all. the. time. so im trying to do that more. um they teach... idk. they give you a lesson like once a day. but honestly you have to learn the language your self. which can be frustrating sometimes. they just say your teaching these investigators so prepare a lesson blah blah blah and you gotta know the lesson and the language. seriously i never looked up so much stuff in my life. its not exactly full imersion unless you personally chose it to be. so im trying to do that. Yeah we have zone and districts here at the mtc but we dont do floor prayers. Speaking of which you know how im district leader? well that only lasted two weeks. They just called me and Elder Dredge to be the zone leaders! btw Elder Dredge and i are really getting along now. we're becoming good friends. But we got some big shoes to fill because our zone leaders are such bosses. i love them and im going to be so sad when they leave on tuesday. I love the elders in my district. im constantly focusing on them.

K the story of darin getting kicked out of class made me laugh haha thats awesome... but not ;).  I cant believe the tingeys got bunnies! i want pics! Hannah youre so cute. starting to learn google! and yes i did get your pics. thank you! The cabin trip sounded pretty interesting but fun! i want to see the tree!

Xan: thats awesome that you went on splits with the missionaires! i cant wait to know where youre going!

Sis Berge: thanks so much for the letter! Seriously being obedient is like everything i strive for because i know i NEED the blessings! Love the quote too btw.

Catie: i knew you would finally see the light (" and at last i saw the light, and its like the fog has lifted" haha)

So i seemed down at the temple when matt saw me? yeah i was that was my 4th day. i still hadnt figured out that i needed to serve others. seriously thats the key to happiness. in everything you do. nothing i do is for me anymore. all my study time is devoted to the investigator. its awesome. i have three and theyre great. my teachers are awesome too. sister wells is probably the best because she gets real with us and actually tells me stuff about the outside world!... haha she's a new teacher ;). Thanks for keeping my blog up to date mom! i appreciate it. tech problems. ug. ask someone else. im on a mission. but a suggestion. use dropbox. k so remember how i told you to send me stamps? did i? well i need some :):):):) (puppy eyes). oh and send me all my nice ties. im dying i gotta mix it up, up here! not gonna lie, im looking pretty fly.. Elder froggly had me wear his purple tie with the pocket square so we could both have pocket squares. i took a picture it. was pretty sick.

I want pictures of darin playing ball!!!! oh and if you do send me food just make sure its not candy or sweet. just chips or junk food.

Devotionals here are great i love them. especially because we sing a ton of prelude songs before and its like the only time i hear music! seriously this whole no music thing kills me. i have to constantly sing to myself to keep myself happy. I love Elder Dredge. He's honestly were getting to be better and better friends everyday. haha sometimes he makes my bed. and when he does it, it looks like were in the military haha! Temple days (friday) are like my favorite. The Temple is awesome!

Oh i dont have to get another rabbis shot i guess.. hard to expailan but i dont. Im almost done with the BOM. in fact ill be done on monday. Grandma Stoker, take notice! ( hint hint. $$$) haha. oh and so during gym time we have this game of speed that never ends. so if someone gets you out, but someone else gets the person out that got you out then you get to go back in! did that make sense? anyway the only way to win is for one person to litterally get everyone out before someone gets you out. we've only ended the game twice in the past two weeks. guess who's won both times? yeah thats right me. My shot is $$$$$$$. for real. people recruit good shooting elders to come get me out. haha! its fun! k well i gotta go! love you lots everyone! keep writing and those of you who arent writing me, write me. (yeah im looking at you, you know who you are, and you know you need to write me!)

LOVE, a whole heck of a lot!

Elder Tingey

First Pday!!! Happy Thanksgiving!!! Nov. 26, 2012

ola familia! 
k so first email! geez pday took forever to get here. i have the last pday. which is friday. and my grammer and puntuation on here is going to be... bad. because im trying to go super fast cause i only have 30 min! feel free to correct it. k so the week has been alright. you know just getting ajusted to everything. sometimes i get homesick at night. but during the day im fine. i just dont like being in class when its dark. the language is ... coming. i guess. im mostly able to understand what my investigators are asking and i know the answers to their questions but i just dont know how to speak portuguese! but with patience, faith in the lord, obedience, and working hard it will come. k darin, you gotta be careful with your body man! dont get hurt! how was your first game? write me a dear elder i wanna know all about it! i saw the harrisons here on sunday last week and that was nice. umm what else. oh yeah all the packages im getting.. thank you everyone! seriously its awesome! but the first week is over, so now i dont need food. seriously i love it but its too much! everyone gets food around here so theres plenty to go around! so dont send me anymore k? thanks! Okay, you wanna know what stinks? you cant listen to music at the mtc! im dying! like serious withdrawls. its depressing so i just sing to my self the hymns. singing before devotional is probably my favorite part of the week. i love it! its just so comforting to sing ya know? oh and i miss country music too. theres some elders in my district that like country too. so sometimes i just break out into song haha! the other day during service i just busted out singing angel eyes and everyone joined in with me and we were cleaning the showers so the sound was amplified! so sick! hahahaha made my day! 

So happy thanksgiving everyone! just fyi i had an amazing one. the mtc is pretty good about making us feel like a family on holiday's. so in the morning we had a devotional and Elder Holland and his family came! it was awesome! and we had a little program in the morning and elder holland is just a boss and the spirit was really strong! during the devotional there was a part where the spirit just overcame me and it was amazing. super spiritual expereince i had that was an answer to my prayers. (mom im going to write to you about it in detail). so after that we had thanksgiving dinner which was suprisingly good.... then we did a first thanksgiving skit type thing and then after that we did a humanitarian service project putting kits together for none other than the great people of AFRICAAAAAA!! What up!!. So Elder Dredge (my companion if you didnt know) says i should do a speacial musical number... idk. maybe.. oh i forgot! to end the night we all went in the auditorum with the presidency and we thought we were going to have another devotional but they passed out huge bags of popcorn to all of us and were like wha?? but then we watched 17 miracles! it was sooo tight! such a good spiritual movie! 

oh last sunday we watched a talk the elder bednar gave at the mtc on christmas last year. SOOOOOOOOOO FREAKINGGGG AMAZING!!!! so dang good. all about the character OF Christ. like seriously try to find it and watch it or read it cause it is bomb. that goes for everyone reading this email/ blog. Tingey's i want letters from you! especially paige. tell her to send me a dear elder. Blake and Travis, holy heck i miss you guys like for real. my brothas from anotha motha all in the same family! k it sounds like were poligamist but whatever. were not. blake tell me how youre doing in sports (you too trav) and send me stuff about how the nba is going. Darin send me pictures of your games and write and tell me about them. Seriously mail is the best part of my day. Babes, hannah, i miss you little girls! i cant just kiss you guys when youre so darn cute! babes thank you for that one letter it was awesome! hannah, its youre turn now. Marissa i miss you so. dang. much. im writing you a letter though. K i need addresses. addresses for EVERYONE. seriously give me all you can think of. make sure you update my blog too! My companion and i are doing a lot better. were learning to love each other and all that jazz. I just love all the elders in my district! and i get concerned for them a lot. like A LOT. but theyre great ill send some photos. K gotta go love you lots! freaking write me a long letter next time family! ask me questions!
tudo bem!

LOVE ( like freaking hecka crazy, so much you dont even know, like not joking in the least)

Elder Tingey

Second Letter Home

Received November 20, 2012
Familiaaaaaaaaaaa!

Holy cow I miss you guys!  But, Tudo Bem! That's like the Portuguese phrase to say.  it means "All is well."  It's a question, a greeting, and an answer so everyone uses it.

Marissa, a bunch of Elders here have the hots for you!! Mom, don't send me a weekly email till I get out in the field.  Use Dear Elder.com to send it.  That way I don't have to waste any of my precious 30 minutes, reading it.  Babes, thank you so much for your letter! I loved it so much! It made my day.  I miss you so much too!  My companion is good. No, he's not gross, he's just.....the typical Utah mormon.  Follows every rule with over exactness.  It's annoying! But I'm learning to love him! Except I'm pretty sure he gave up his personality for 2 years...or he doesn't have one. Haha. Whatever. Elder Maggitigan and Elder O'Malley (He's from England) are the coolest! They are going to Portugal.

DARIN S TINGEY!!!!Be careful man!  Don't be rollin' ankles!! I'll pray for you man!

Yeah, I talked to Megan Skousen! That was good, just really comforting.  I finally saw Robbie yesterday.  I was getting worried that I wouldn't see him.  The elder I met at In-n-Out isn't my companion but he's in my room and my district.  Did I mention that I'm district leader?  How's my blog coming? Man, I'm going so fast, I can't spell!  Make sure you keep my blog up to date okay?!!  I'm worried about that!

Mom....I knew this was going to happen!!  When you print...select the HP printer @macuser k?  Hopefully, that should fix it for you if you haven't already figured it out!  As for the photo you are looking for, I thought it was on the laptop but if not I know it's on my iPod hard drive.  But I'm worried about you messing with that!  I think that picture is on FB too, download it from there.

Dad, thank you so much for your letter!! I LOVED IT! Tell the Tingeys I miss them and tell them to write me letters!

Mom, Happy Birthday!  I love you so much!  You'r the best mother ever!  I can't thank you enough for every thing you've done.

Okay, I'm about to pound my companion, he won't shut up about how bored he is and so he keeps repeating stupid Portuguese phrases and trying to have an accent! So annoying!  I want to get out in the field so bad!  It's a voluntary prison here.  Just 8 and a half more weeks. HA! What a joke! Make sure to put this on my blog!!!

Hannah, Draw a picture and send it to me PLEASE! Tell Grandma and Grandpa Stoker thank you for the cookies!  I can't wait for Sunday Temple walk and choir practice.  I'll get to see other people!

So, the Stake President called it when he talked about my companions being the hardest part! I love everyone in my district but SOME are harder to love!  What ever! It'll come.  Probably on the New York trip! I'm stoked for that!

Anyways, I am so blessed, I love you guys. Thank you so much for writing me.  It kills me to give out the letters to the Elders and some of them don't get any.  It just breaks my heart.  Maybe for FHE the girls can all draw a picture for every Elder in my district? There's 12 of us.  It's okay if you can't.  Okay I gotta go kill my companion real quick! :) Love you So much!!

Elder Tingey
P.S. I have like no one's address.  Especially Tyler's.  If you can get for me as many as possible that would be awesome, thanks!

Sam volunteering at the MTC as an investigator.  Nate was soooooo excited to see a pal from home.

The last supper at In n Out eating with my BFFs. Nov. 14th

First Day at the MTC

Nov, 14, 2012

Dear Familia!

I’m alive, ha.  So Mom, I want you to type this letter up and put it on the blog, K?  So I met another Portuguese speaking Elder in Phoenix.  He is going to Portugal but I forgot his name already, you know I’m bad with names.  But he’s in my Zone.  At In-n-Out in Provo I met another Angola Elder.  His name is Elder Banta.  He’s from Idaho.  He’s my roommate.  There are 4 of us Angolan Elders in the whole MTC.  There’s me, Elder Drudge (my Companion), Elder Banta and Elder Mccune.   Both Elder Drudge and Mccune are from Utah.  Morgan and Clinton respectively.  Elder Drudge, he’s pretty cool.  Nice guy.  I feel like I know him from somewhere before but he just has one of those faces that looks like 3 of  my other friends put together or something, you know what I’m sayin?  Nahmean?  Okay one of the coolest things was putting on my name tag.  The feeling that came over me when I put it on was just awesome.

I also met another Elder who’s in my zone that is from El Dorado Hills, CA and knows the Porters (Greg, Mason, etc.)  And I’ve seen a lot of guys from home which is nice.  Elder Barcus, Elder Skinnner (well, he came w/me), Elder Ganley (Max), and Elder Oldroyd (Trent) found me which was awesome and really nice of him.

Man they really just throw you into things here.  We taught former investigators (who are now members) but it was more like learning about the investigator individually and figuring out a route to take to get to a gospel principle.  So like find out about them, some of their traits and then use that to go into a gospel principle that they needed to hear for their situation.  Man, I’m telling you, these Elders just did not get the concept.  They were trying so hard but all they kept doing was just throwing gospel principles at them, not really relevant to the situation and ah, anyway it was frustrating to watch.  So finally I got up and asked the investigator a few more personal questions that needed to be asked and then we could finally see the route that we needed to take.  (It’s really cool because you can literally feel the Spirit guiding you.)  The sisters get it a little more because they’re older and more mature.  But they also think they’re better than us.  Well at least some of the them.  It’s kinda weird, maybe because I’m officially a missionary now but the sisters…are actually cute.  Weird.  Also I think I might be getting a little jungle fever…Ha!  JK, it’s probably nothing.

I love you guys so much!  Miss You!  I’ll send pictures probably every two weeks if I can’t send them through email.  Also, my P-days are Friday so that’s when you’ll get an email.

P.S. Apparently halfway through our stay here at the MTC, us Angolans go to New York for a day or two to go to the consulate for our visas.  Cool huh?!