Provo MTC Week 2 - Sam's Email

Easter Sunday program choir practice?

Sam has never been one to take pictures. Over the years, as he has gone on various adventures (Scout camp, Lake Powell, EFY, Choir tour, etc.) I have urged him to take a camera along and get photos of all the places he goes and people he meets. It's never happened. I have sent my camera along and it has come back unused. I have sent disposable cameras with him that have come home unopened. But I have not given up. I sent with him a new little Nikon with instructions to "please document your mission in photos." Nothing yet, but it's only been a week. So, to keep the blog interesting I am posting past photos that ..... if you use your imagination ..... will go with his letter.                Joanna

"You can be the senior comp, since you have gray hair"

"Elders, are those drinks caffeinated?"

Hola a todos!

Hello everyone! Good to hear from you. Everything is going great here. My district and I are all learning so much and stretching ourselves a lot. Its great. The MTC is like a great big iron. It just forces all the kinks and wrinkles out of everyone. :) Whether you want it to straighten you out or not, it does. My district and I have really been feeling that lately. We were all so different but we continually have realization after realization about things we are doing that we probably shouldn't do and about things that we are doing that we could be doing better so we are all becoming perfectly pressed shirts, ready for the real mission field. :D
Dad, happy birthday! Did you get my letter?? I think I sent it on the 2nd so I hope you got it. Thanks again for the info.. GO ROMNEY!!! WOOOOO! And Jimmer sounds like a total rollercoster! Haha I bet his coach just loves it. Thanks to both you and mom for pointers on leadership. I love getting others points of view. They can only help right??!! I really wanted to be a leader that didn't attempt to stand above those around him as an attempt to show... dominance or whatever so I've been trying to lead by positive friendship if that makes sense.. I just have to walk the line of being their friend as well as following all the rules. Still working on it but everything is going great.

Mama, my week thus far has been great. We taught our "investigator" 4 times, all of which were in 100% spanish and about 30 min lessons each. Suuper hard but we're learning a lot. PLUS... he has zero religion and he is currently studying philosify(?).... which makes it a billion times harder... haha but its alright. We got him to feel the spirit/peace(he said) and pray and he has been reading sections of the book of mormon. He is very very touchy about commitments and he also has had tons of questions... a lot of which we haven't ever really understood so its been tough but we're pressing on. I'll keep you posted on Jorge. :) An average day is... wake up at 6:20 and wait in 20 mins of shower lines... :) get to our classroom by 7. personal study till 7:30. breakfast till 8:15. back to class till 11ish. then this spanish computer program for an hourish. lunch at 12. back to class for personal study and language study then our teachers come in and speak Spanish to (at) us for like an hour or two. then dinner. then back to the classroom for more Spanish and prepping for lessons for Jorge in Spanish... then... we go to the dorms, plan out the next day and zonk out. Haha 4 or 5 days a week we get 50 mins of gym time and we have devotionals Tuesdays and Sundays but other than that, the days are basically.... wake up, study, breakfast, study/class, lunch, study/class, dinner, study/class, sleep. OTRA VES! My district is doing great! I explained a lot about it before. That's basically the downlow. We're doing well. I'm really excited about singing in the choir. We've practiced a couple times and its great. I'll let you know how the Easter Sunday program goes. Nothing on our visas yet. But we (my comp and I) got papers about a meeting Friday with the consul from Spain. I think it will be about our visas cuz Other missionaries have  had those meetings too and they are good things. I'll let you know. :) Your mish slang is coming along QUITE well! The MTC culture here is super funny. I've been here over a week now and so we got to see a bunch of new missionaries yesterday so we got the say WELCOME TO THE MTC a bajillion times. Kinda fun. :) I did get your picture in my suit case. Love it. Thank you. Its on my desk right now. Adam, SOO SICK. Way to go on hitting two stinking doubles. My comp and I are beyond impressed. :) Keep me updated. BTW, I'm teaching my comp the rubik's cube. :) Thought you'd appreciate that. Oh, and I still remember that game that you were playing catcher and you bare handed that throw from the outfield to try to throw a kid out at third..... I think I kinda died inside. you're sick. Know that your brother knows you have potential. Reach it in all you do. Don't get complacent. Hil........? :) Love you even though I didn't get stuff from you...... Hahaha I know you're hecka busy. Honestly, use dearelder. I would love to get dear elders and I think they're free so I you only have a spare second.. get on dearelder.com and send me a quick message. its fast, free, i'll get it that day, and I WILL write you a letter back! :) That goes for maaa friends too! DEAR ELDERS PLEEEZE

Anyways.  Love you all!  Good to hear from you.  Thanks again!!!  :) 

Love you all!

                     Elder Norton