First Email

The MTC is not what I expected, it is so much more. I am kept quite busy and do not have as much time as I would like to just sit down for 30min or so to just read the Book of Mormon. Though I feel like a completely new person each day. The spirit here is amazing, everyone on the MTC grounds is required to have a temple recommend and it really adds to the spirit here.

Sharing a room with 3 other elders makes me kind of wish I had my own space again. As I am writing this e-mail I am doing laundry, I never knew how happy I would be to be doing laundry. I am used to being able to do it whenever, but we can only do it on P-day here.

Trust in the Lord, I know he can bring you happiness in life. If you are struggling, there is nothing better you can do than pray. Something that I have learned in the MTC is to rely on the Lord more. We are nothing without Him and it is our trust in Him that turns our weaknesses into strengths. As President Monson said, "when life gets too hard to stand, kneel." I know you can overcome any challenges you are having with the Lord on your side.

I had a chance to sing in the MTC choir yesterday. If anyone had said I would be singing in a choir a week after entering the MTC I would think they are crazy. My experience here has been amazing, I wouldn't give it up for anything in the world. Time seems to move slow, but not in a bad way. As missionaries we somehow pack 3 days worth of tasks into a single day. We will teach an investigator in the morning then by dinner we will be making comments like "We still need to teach Adam, right? Its been a few days." It is hard to believe I have only been here a week, it feels like it has been 2-3 weeks already.

I love you and hope you all are getting along okay without me. I feel kind of bad that I don't think about family that often while here and everyone else is getting homesick. I still care about you and still pray about you, I am just losing myself in the Lord's work.

My District

(top row from left to right) elder van slyke, elder crapo, my companion elder mitchell and myself.  .
(bottom row from left to right)sister beebe, sister wolf, sister hill and sister hammond.

P-day at the Temple

Elder Crapo

This is elder crapo trying to finish off some of the brownies that were left from the sister missionaries.