First Email From Elder Miller!

Hey, wednesdays are my preparation days so I get to e-mail you now and mail off some letters. Uh, I got a card thing when first I got here and on it it has a bunch of information that is useful for parents, I plan on mailing it to you but on it it says that I will most likely to report to California on the 17th of August.

I guess this will be the generic e-mail that gets sent to everyone so I'll just talk about my experience at the MTC thus far. The first day I came in was crazy. I got an Elder from Finland who helped carry my luggage and then directed me through a building where they did everything from take my picture, give me my nametag to handing me a bunch of papers and dorm keys. After that I went to the bookstore where I got a notebook and supplies for class and then I dropped off my stuff at the dorm and went straight to class. It was a really hot day and our class room wasn't very cool despite the air conditioner unit and fan but I got to take off my jacket and meet my companion named Elder Fultz along with the others in my district most of them are going to Santa Rosa, one sister is going to Roseville and then two others besides me are going to San Jose. We met one of our instructors named Brother Smith who is actually the nephew of the MTC President. Nepotism didn't seem like it should exist within the confines of a church run place like the MTC but he is actually a really good teacher and I think he's pretty awesome.

That night was the coolest though when they had set up a bunch of chapels within a main building and arranged a kind of mock discussion/lessons with actors playing investigators. It was really cool to see the missionaries come in and talk to people, who I assumed were already members of the church just volunteering. A couple of times they opened up the discussion and allowed us observers to ask questions. They are really emphasizing taking the first major part of meeting an investigator to just get to know them as much as possible cause then you'll know them well enough to be able to cater to their needs and sort of be able to teach what they need to hear. It makes perfect sense and I guess this is the whole purpose of doing away with the memorized discussions and the whole raising the bar. The Spirit is the real teacher and so missionaries must be in tune with the teachings of the gospel all the time.

It's kind of crazy to think that I have only been here a week. The days are so long that I often am preparing to go to bed and someone mentions an aspect of the day and I think that we did it the day before. The days are so structured and long that they really feel like a week themselves. Being sort of couped up in the MTC though has me more excited to go to California and get to do something real and new.

The food is of course pretty good and in abundance. I ate the full portion they gave me the night I got here, it was chicken and mashed potatoes with gravy I think and that was way too much food. They tell you not to waste food but I've started trying to cut back my portions otherwise I don't feel so good the rest of the day. \

Everyone looks forward to Gym time, supposed to be once a day but we did a service project yesterday and had some devotionals and today is P-day so laundrya and temple visit take it's place. So I'm excited to have a p day but I'll be more excited to get gym time tomorrow. The first day we played sand volleyball, it was okay but I guess I'm kind of a snob and was little unenthused at the level of play. Actually Elder Adams in my district and he is in the same dorm room is like an extreme athlete he like can't not dive for everything. So he played quite extraordiarily but not with a technical skill just pure athleticism. Anyway, the next day we played soccer which was crowded and confusing as I had no idea who exactly was on my team, then we played four square which is pretty fun and the level of competition is beyond my abilities I got kind of annoyed at having to wait in line for three minutes just to be sent straight to the back of it again. I've gotten to toss a frisbee a couple of times which is a comfort but Ultimate is banned and so I guess I won't be playing it anytime soon.

I don't know exactly what people want to hear from me. I feel like I've covered pretty much everything. I'm pretty tired most days, before and after breakfast when we have personal and companion study I usually doze off while quietly reading. There are some other pretty cool people in my district. We have 3 sister missionaries which is apparently a privelige in the MTC. One of which is from Palau and has only been a member for Two years. Our district leader is originally from Wales and has lived in Buffalo NY for 4 years and has been a member for 5 years. He also is like conversationally fluent in Tagalog cause his mom is some percent Philippino but I don't see it in him at all. And his full name is Matthew Graham Hubert Hugh Van Jenkins. He's is really awesome and a good guy.

Well my time is up on the computer, please don't e-mail me anyting too long cause I won't have time to write back and read it. Apparently a thing called dear elder allows you to type an email and theuy print it off and mail it to me and it's free I think Haley knows about it.\

-Love Elder Miller