Elder Justin Thiel

The MTC is fine. we've done a lot since I last wrote you. My first Sunday in the MTC was a different experience. It was weird not sitting with my family for sacrament meeting but it was a really good experience. Me and my companion are now the sacrament cordinators. That means that we are the onces who assign people to pass and bless the sacrament. The zone leaders and sister training leaders are also in our district so we kind of have all the authority in the zone. The days here just seem to pass by so fast now. We are always busy all day long and most of the time the only thing we look forward to is meal, TRC (which is teaching an investigator) and bed. my TRC's name was Halle ( like Haily) and she is the best. She had some experiences just like the ones I've have so right from the start we connected. She trusts us completely and she is really open when she answers our questions or thoughts. Sadly we are only had 3 days to teach her and yesterday was the last day. She was devistated when we told her that we would be leaving and she said that we really brought her closer to Christ. We told her that the next missionaries that she would receive would be just as great but she said that they couldn't be as great as us. One more visit with her and she would of committed to baptism because she was ready for it. 

One thing that we forgot to pack was shampo and conditioner so the first night I had to borrow my companion's and then buy some the next morning. Some things that would be nice would just be treats. I loved the package you sent me.  The only problem was that I'm only allowed to chew gum at my residence hall and I'm only there for an hour of the day. The mints I eat all the time though.

Me and my companion are getting along great. We started opening up to each other and I found out that he loves hunting and he's from Blanding, Utah. He has a southern accent and I think its really funny and so does everyone else but he doesn't mind that. Me and him work really good together but for most of the early teaching I was doing all the talking so now I'm trying to get him to teach most of the lesson, when we teach, to give him that experience. Other then that we don't have any problems and the rest of the elders and sisters in my district are getting along great. We are like a family now.

My day normally consists of this: we wake up at 6:30 and get dressed, then we go to personal study for an hour and then breakfast, After that we have a 3 hour lesson from one of our teachers, then lunch, then zone teaching for an hour ( we all get together as a zone and were taught by a teacher), then another 3 hour lesson, then dinner, then we have more study and planning, sometimes we have gym, too, during the evening it just depends, and then we have 30 mins to ourselves, and then we go to bed. That's my typical day and honestly sometimes it's really hard to stay awake after sitting there for so long. I like it though, I've really learned alot. I see Brennan (Elder McEwan) a lot and I've seen lots of people from my school here. Today was my first p-day and I love the feeling of not having to be anywhere for the first time since I got here. I'm really enjoying it here. I hope everyone is well at home and I want to know how high school is going for Matt and how school is for Jacob as well. Tell Matt that I need those addresses from Courtney and Kayla from work. Write me back soon. I won't be able to check my email again till I get out in the field. I leave for Georgia on Sept. 2nd at 3:30 in the morning. I love you all (except matt)