July 13, 2019 -- Chocolate Milk

Hola from Provo everybody!

The short version:

I am doing good and drinking lots of chocolate milk and like my comp. We speak Spanish. There are pictures if you don’t like to read.

The long version:

Things are super great down here. Saturday is our p-day, which is why I am writing. I probably won’t call home because the El Salvador missionaries are just about the only missionaries without phones at the entire MTC and in the mission field (which I do not mind at all).

So right from the get-go they had us go from table to table and pick up a bunch of stuff like maps and schedules and room keys and name tags and our MTC ID which gets $8 a week for supplies or laundry or snacks. Speaking of the ID cards, you can use the card to get a little thing that hooks to your pocket or belt loop and has like am elastic that you can pull your ID out on and it zips back in like an automatic yo-yo. We call them zip-zips or zzz-zzzzs and they are so fun. Best $2.08 I ever spent.

Haha, so anyway, from that we went to drop off our bags and then to class where we met our companion. My first companion went to the bathroom every half an hour and dug a tunnel with a spoon he stole from the cafeteria and then ran away. But after that I got my real companion. I got suuuper lucky in the companion lottery. My comp’s Elder Gunderson and he’s from Houston Texas. He’s going to play center for BYU football after the mission and is a solid guy. He talks to people really easily and has some really profound spiritual insight. The 12 people in our Spanish class make up our district and we do pretty much everything together and our rooms are all right next to each other’s. Except the hermanas. 6 of the Elders are going to El Salvador in the same mission, 4 are going to Barcelona, and the two sisters are going to Chile. So far the MTC has just been a lot of fun and I haven’t been homesick at all just because everyone in our district is so cool and we have so much fun together. Elder Gunderson’s a beast and I love the guy. There are some seriously cool people here. My comp and two other guys in our district are both taller than me by a long shot (6’7” and 6’8”), so there’ll be a bunch of big white guys in El Salvador, which is kind of funny.

So in room, it is me and Elder Gunderson along with Elder Redford and Elder Ireland. The only ironing board on our half of the floor is right next to our door, so that’s great. Elder Redford is from Austin and is super tall and funny. He reminds me a lot of Brandon Jascowiak. Elder Ireland is from England has a legitimate British accent that is just awesome. He says lots of things like jelly for jello and rubbish and half past six for 6:30 and today when we said it was sprinkling outside he said it was spitting. He brought a bunch of European chocolate that he shared that was very good. Anyway we laugh a lot and have fun.

I enjoy Spanish class and my high-school Spanish is starting to come back pretty well. Starting yesterday we are supposed to pretty much only speak Spanish all day even if we are not in class and ask permission to speak English, which is a little crazy but kind of fun. We have like three hours of class in the morning and then studying during the day and then another three hours of class before we get ready for bed. So far we’ve learned how to meet people and talk to them, reviewed pronunciation, and learned how to pray.

I also really enjoy the cafeteria. Lots of food and BYU chocolate milk for every meal. And you can eat creamies or ice cream sandwiches while you stand in line.

We got exercise time for an hour for the first time yesterday and get it every day but Sunday from here on out. We played soccer with our district even though it was blazing hot outside.

So far I have run into Ben Pobanz from school and Jared Nielsen from WHS hurdles, so that was fun to see a familiar.

Our group from Wednesday was the second biggest group that will enter the MTC the entire year. We all feel like we’ve been missionaries forever because our days are so packed it just feels like a long time. The buildings and campus are all pretty cool and much bigger than I realized.

The Spirit is super strong here. Not like overwhelming or crazy, but it is just very constant everywhere, like the force in Star Wars connecting everything, haha. One thing I thought about during study was when Nephi prayed to know about whether leaving Jerusalem was really the right plan and he said that the Lord softened his heart that he might believe. Sometimes I think the Spirit speaks to you that way. Not with thunder and lightning, but just by helping you believe.

The pictures are of my roommates in our room, some of our district in a meeting, and our whole district in the teaching building.

Anyway, I hope the email wasn’t so long that everyone is bored to death. If there is anyone that is not on the email list and wants to be, feel free to email me the address and I’ll add you. Conversely, if you would like to unsubscribe to Elder Harris’s emails, just let me know and I won’t cry too much.

See you later!

Elder Harris