First 'real' e-mail!

There are so many blessings, I don't know where to begin...

The Food at the MTC is great...well, pretty good at least...My companion put it best: "the food is always awesome, but never hot." That is true, but we do get to eat all we want every meal; so that means going back for seconds, thirds, fourths, etc. I'm going to send the family some pictures, but I hope you can recognize me--that I haven't put on too much weight--last time I checked I'd gained two pounds (I know that you happy Mom).

I'm trying to do a good work out schedule at the mtc gym with Elder Seis, so I don't leave looking like a snowman or a sumo wrestler, which brings me to another blessing, My district.

There are 7 missionaries in my district, 6 elders and 1 sister: Elder Peterson (the District Leader), Elder Bateman, Elder Seis, Elder Brassell, Myself, my companion Elder Bishop, and sister Hoye. We are District 48-A, all that means is our branch is number 48 and we're district A. We're the only intermediate branch I'm aware of, oh wait, that's not true, there are a couple more, but most of the districts are fluent speakers (the ones who are only here for three weeks), it's nice to have them around to hear them speak "real Spanish" o, "espanol en verdad".

All of our District is awesome, we all get along fairly well, and we're all excited to learn the gospel and learn Espanol. Elder Seis reminds me a little bit of Elder Steel from Nauvoo, quiet but sincere, and Elder Brassell reminds me of Elder Calhoun from the Best Two Years. He's skinny, talks with a southern drawl, and when he wears glasses, he reminds me a lot of elder Calhoun. It's pretty awesome.

Last week my companion and I taught our first lesson in the Teachers Resource center with an "investigator". I was so nervous, especially when Kathi didn't speak English very well, Elder Bishop and I prayed as hard as we could, and we were so blessed. Even though we weren't very polished, the spirit was powerful, one of the most powerful times of my life, and I knew that all the gospel was true, so true.

That lesson was such a great blessing for me, the first week was pretty tough, pretty rough, but ever since that lesson it's felt like I'm on fire--I'm just so excited to learn Spanish and the gospel. It's been awesome! Kind of like Hebrew Week at GWC.

Another blessing is that I'm adjusting to the beds, the MTC beds are hard, and for the first week I had a hard time sleeping, but last night I only woke up once.

My computer time is almost up, so I'll wrap up.

I feel so blessed to be here. I'm having the time of my life, and I'll keep you all in my prayers!

Thanks for the prayers!

Sincerely,

Elder Reynolds