Hola mi familia!

So my first week at the MTC? officially over! Everyone says that if you can make it to the first Sunday that everything flies by after that. And it's so true! i can't believe it's Friday already. This week has gone by super fast, so I guess my body is finally getting used to the schedule. For everyone who has no clue what the MTC is like, the best way I can describe it is EFY on steroids. Haha, the spirit is always so strong and the people here are incredible. I'll give you guys a little summary of a typical day in my life at the MTC. I wake up at 6:30, or more like.. at 6:50 when Elder Keenan drags me out of bed. Haha, and then we have some time for personal study before breakfast. And then after breakfast it just all depends after that. Each day we have either one or two 3 hour class blocks throughout the day, which seems like they'd last forever but the classes here are so incredible. I learn so much each class and they're really interactive and they're a lot of fun. The 2 teachers for our district are Hermana Keller and Hermano Pacheco. They are both returned missionaries and they are both spiritual giants. Hermano Pachecho reminds me exactly of Kevin, looks, personality, perspective  testimony, everything. Haha so that's a little weird. But he is seriously one of the most amazing people I've ever met. His testimony is so strong and he always has the spirit with him, but he is really funny and a super cool guy too. Hermana Keller is really really nice and is actually trilingual, and her Spanish is amazing. It was really hard in the first couple of classes because for the most part they only speak in Spanish, but now I can basically understand everything they say which is pretty cool. We do a lot of role playing in class, pretending to be investigators to other Elders in the district so they can practice certain things in the gospel like inviting people to baptism or giving their testimony in Spanish. So that's a lot of fun and it helps soooo much. Our real investigator that we have taught 3 times since I last wrote has come a really long way and it's getting easier to express myself in Spanish and tell him the things I want to say. It's nowhere near the level I want it to be at but I don't stumble on my words as much I did at the beginning. So on the days we only have 1 class are the days that we teach "C". And that is always a really cool experience. The spirit is always really strong and it's the coolest thing in the world to testify in another language. So besides classes we always have 50 minutes for gym time, which means I have 50 minutes to dominate the court in basketball:) Haha, and then we have a lot of time for TALL, which is a language study program on the computer, or just personal study or companionship study. So basically all day I am studying or learning more about Spanish or the gospel. It's crazy how much this week and a half has helped my testimony of the scriptures grow. The spirit and knowledge that we can get from them are so incredible. I decided my goal is to go through the entire book of Mormon at least twice while i'm here so I started from the beginning yesterday and i'm already almost through 2 Nephi. So hopefully I can get through it all soon! One thing that was kind of a bummer this week was our temple walk was cancelled on Sunday because of the snow. So we didn't get to leave the MTC campus at all until this morning when we got to go through the temple, which was really awesome.Also, thanks so much for the packages you guys sent me! Now my room is the jackpot for all the food and treats. Haha, we actually found a random mini fridge in our hallway so we put it in our room, so that was really cool. Umm, other highlights of this week... our old roommates moved out. They got reassigned to a mission in California while they wait for their visas, so the 2 other elders in our district who are also going to Monterrey moved in with us! They're so much fun and great examples. The old elders left us with a Nerf basketball hoop so we were playing Nerf basketball in our room for a good 30 minutes last night. Haha, I honestly can not tell you enough how much I love my district. Everyone is so much fun. And we feed off each other and make each other better and we all work really well together. Not a day goes by that someone doesn't end up in tears because of a spiritual experience that we have. Hermano Pacheco says that we are the closest knit district he's ever seen, we have so many inside jokes and so many powerful spiritual experiences together. It's incredible. Our district leader, Elder Hamm, is one of the coolest guys I've ever met. The best way I can describe him is a mix between Daniel Peterson and Scott Robinson. He's super funny and goofy, but his testimony is so strong and he is a great example to me. One of the biggest themes in the classes and lessons this week is learning to love the people. Hermano Pacheco gave us a quote from... President Monson i think? But it is... "Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved." I thought that was so powerful, and in order to have the best mission I have to love the people, to get to know them and love them so I will truly have the desire to serve them and give them everything. I thought that was a really powerful lesson that has come up multiple times this week. Something else that we did this week was choir. Our whole district did it for the Tuesday night devotional because we are guaranteed a spot in the room with whatever general authority comes. This week it was Elder Schwitzer from the quorum of the 70, and he talked about being bold and loving the people. It was a great talk. Umm, on Sunday night we got the chance to pick either a movie or an old talk to watch, and we chose to watch Elder Holland's talk from a MTC devotional from a few years ago called "Missions are Forever". It was seriously the best talk I've ever heard. It was so powerful. You guys should definitely look it up and watch it, or at least part of it. 

Caden! I got so excited to read your letter and your game sounds crazy! but congratulations! I read it to some guys in my district because it was all so intense and it was the closest thing to sports we get here. Haha, but keep up the good work in basketball! And I would love to hear from you more so please keep me updated:)  Grant... you didn't write me. Not cool. Haha, but I heard you were sick most of the week so I guess i'll forgive you. I also heard you beat boxed at the spaghetti dinner with Caden doing the worm in the background, that sounds pretty sweet! I wish i could have been there to watch it. But now that basketball's over you are probably loving Athletics... not. Haha, I hope school is going great and I bet you're loving the new phone! you'll have to write me and let me know how weird it is to have a phone now. I miss you guys both so much and I hope you don't get the idea that I'm not taking everything back that you stole once I get home:)

Kendall, your letter made me SUPERRRR happy! it's so amazing to me how mature you are and willing to change. I was a little nervous about how you'd take the letter i left for you but it's amazing to me that you are so willing to want to be the best person you can be. You're a great example to me and I hope school and seminary and work aren't killing you! But i'd love to hear how everything is going! So hit me up with another letter! Love you and miss you:)

Audrey....Send me a letter! get mom to help you. Love you:)

Mom and dad, I loved getting your letters through DearElder this week. It's so great to hear from you guys and the love and support I get from all you guys honestly makes me so happy. I wish I had time to address every little part of your letters that you sent me but my time is running out so i'll just send you guys letters this week.

It's crazy, I swear Elder Keenan knows half of the MTC. We can't walk for more than a few minutes without him seeing a friend. I've started just running up to random elders and pretending that they're my friends. Haha, it always gets a funny reaction. But i finally saw one person i knew! Jed came in on Wednesday so it was really great to see him and talk to him for a little bit! But he's out of here in a little less than 2 weeks so he won't be here long at all. I have not run into Daniel Colton yet, but i'm pretty sure he was supposed to come in yesterday if I remember correctly? So i'll keep my eyes open. Something Elder Keenan has taught me since i've gotten here is how to be a friend to everyone. No matter where we are, who we're with, or what we're doing, he is always reaching out to someone to help or to just talk to, even complete strangers. It's something that I've never been great at but it's definitely something I need to get better at, so he's a great example to me.

I still can't figure out how to upload pictures on here, and neither can anyone in my district... haha. So as soon as I figure this out I will send you guys pictures. I wish i had more time to write you guys and tell you about everything but I can't. Love you! Write me on DearElder!Or send me  and packages! I love to  hear from people! 

Elder Bird