First Week in the MTC

Mom,

Week 1: Success with Little Stress

Hey i haven’t gotten any package yet haha. Elder Cruser (my companion) gets 4 letters and 2 packages a day ha and me i have 2 letters.... but o well haha hopefully i get the packages today! everything is going good! P-days Thursday, gym is awesome! i run a mile+ a day! (very surprising i know) but then i play volleyball for the rest of the day. i love it a lot! playing with the Poly's and there are a couple like PROS who float in the air! pretty much it’s crazy! The food is good except we are on the earliest schedule so we eat dinner at 4:30 so by 9 i have to buy a hot pocket from the vending machine..... Our room is the only one with a fridge so it’s nice haha :) but my roomates are from Mountain Home, ID (Elder Freer) SLC (Elder Tu'akalou) and Orem (my companion elder Cruser!) i like them a lot they are super nice! we all get along pretty well! ya 28 Tongan speaking Elders/Sisters here so we had to split into two districts! 22 of us going to Tonga.  The other 6 going to California or to New Zealand! 14 in my district! half of them are Tongan and they are CRAZY. always wanting to sing or goof off but they are always happy! but anyways ya all is well here with the first week! talk again soon!

o ya i do not know when i can get the new scriptures yet! i asked the girls in the bookstore and they said that they don’t know exactly when they will get some in!!! but you could get me some! put my name on them and send them! and on Tuesday i found out my roommate didn’t have any consecrated oil so we did that with the extra that i had so that was awesome! but ya all is well here! sorry my letters are all scattered! you can put them all together into one on the blog ;)

Dad,

3rd day we had to teach a lesson to an "investigator"!!!!! in Tongan....... we invited him to "baptism" yesterday it was cool!  the only stress comes from the language cuz it feels like everyone is progressing so much faster than me! but i will get it eventually if i strive to i just need to stay focused!

nice about the Braves being that good. if only i was there to see how it ended up this October haha but i love it here! missing home a little but this first week has FLOWN by!!! crazy how that seems to happen haha but i like this here. hopefully that package comes today! but ya sorry i don’t talk much ha there is lots in the other email! love you!

Karissa,

that’s cool that you have been driving ha! glad i am not there in the car with you ;) ya it is awesome here! everything is going good. my companion is awesome! that is cool you are hanging out with Kaylee! keep an eye on her ;) hahahaha i miss everyone! this week has gone so fast! haha it is crazy but i love every minute of it! sorry i don’t write much i don’t like repeating myself haha a little more in the other letter! have fun and enjoy high school. don’t care about how others feel about you haha God is the only one that matters! anyways love you!

Kayleigh,
Everything is going good here! My companion is cool and gets packages DAILY, very popular haha.  Me? 3 Letters, but oh well! Language is going good! Getting vocab down and simple phrases! 81 words now! Putting sentences together is what's hard because the language is so much more simple than ours! Thanks for the letter! Send a package big enough for 2 pairs pants, shoes, 2 pairs shorts, 3 or so shirts, some ties haha (He overpacked!). Just send stuff like swedish fish, salt and vinegar chips, some tostitos with queso dip and something to eat before bed! Our dinner is at 4:30 pm so at 9/9:30 pm I am so hungry I have to buy hot pockets or mini pizza's every night :( Granola bars, fruit bars, Dr. Pepper...sorry it's a lot...just get hungry haha! I love you guys so much and I am grateful for your examples! Randy, you are the best bro-in-law anyone could ask for! Thanks for your example and for being a great missionary! Love you all! Talk again soon!  My room has a fridge! The only one in the building! So things would stay cold.

P.S. Please use Dear Elder or write letters...feels a lot better than emails. And a Mt. Dew for my comp.

Also Mom, no I haven’t seen the new temple film! we would get to go today but the Provo temple is closed because of renovations or something but it opens back up on the 12th! that will be exciting though. i heard it’s pretty cool but also a little bit longer too haha. last night the Poly's in my district all sat in the hall and harmonized some church songs and other things. it is crazy how good they all sound together! i'll send a video and some pictures next week. i forgot the USB thing haha but i love everything here it is soooo amazing! we watched the Joseph Smith film on Sunday and it was crazy how much i could feel the Spirit! (almost cried....) but Praise to the Man is now my favorite hymn because of the whole message in it. i never really understood til i had the time to focus!  another thing that has been hard for me is focusing for long enough..... i get headaches every day ha it’s just so much to try and understand and do throughout the day! but it’s worth it! i just can’t wait to speak the language more fluently so i can understand what people are saying like the teachers and stuff. so i guess since my name in Tonga can’t have the double consonant it’s going to be something like Eleta Hunotisimani or something weird like that haha but when Vika comes to Tonga hopefully i can send her with my English name tags so that you guys can have them :) ha so the other elders in my district are Elder Grant from Lovell Wyoming, Elder Uasila'a from Layton UT, Elder Bunting from Santa Clara UT, Elder Felemi from Southern California, Elder Patey from California, Elder Harris from UT, Elder Swan from Jordan, Elder Diehl from Pleasant Grove UT, Elder Jones from Bountiful UT, Elder Lavaka from Kerns UT, and Elder Freer from Mountain Home and Elder Tu'akalau from South Jordan UT, the last two are mine and Elder Cruser's roomates! it seems like most people have problems with their companionship except me and Elder Cruser ha! It’s awesome though! hope to hear from you soon! LOVE letters it is the best feeling haha but anyways that’s basically my week put into 4-5 emails haha sorry. i just keep remembering things! but anyways love you all and can’t wait to hear again from you soon!!!

And one last thing haha! i would like to leave a scripture with you and you will probably laugh but it has a much deeper meaning than most people think! It is found in 1 Nephi 2:15 and it says

"And my father dwelt in a tent."

To me this scripture means so much! they were willing to leave friends family and riches back home just like me and other missionaries! (except the riches of course ;) haha) Lehi was willing to do anything and everything to please our Tamai Hevani (Heavenly Father) even so much as be ridiculed and mocked by those who were probably once his friends! I am thankful for the example those in the scriptures have been to me. it is crazy what they have done! i know that this is what i am supposed to do to give back to my Tamai Hevani. I love this Gospel and i do know with the fullness of my heart that it is true! I know Jesus died so that all men might live again! I know that Joseph Smith saw God the Father and his son Jesus Christ and he did bring the True church back to this earth! I have a testimony of Temples and the work that is done in them! I know Thomas S. Monson is a true prophet of God and he does get revelation for all of this on the earth! i am grateful for the opportunity that has been placed before me and will do my best to please my Tamai Hevani! I know this is true in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

 Elder/Eleta Huntsman/Hunotisimani