First Email

Dear Everyone,
This is my first email as a missionary. It's kind of a big deal. First week has been very busy. The first two days we didn't get a lot of time to do anything besides study, study, and devotionals. The new schedule is crazy!! It's hard to imagine I'm going to sleep at only 10:30 every night and waking up at 6:30 everyday. My MTC experience has given me many mosts in my life: Most spiritual i have felt, Most reponsible I have been, Most physically active I have been, Most full meals eaten in one day, Most fun I have had...psych! haha My district is great and they have a lot of energy; except at night. My companion is Elder Gardner and he is great. He is from Wallsburg, Utah which is a small town just up Provo Canyon and he is a COWBOY! He has a great love for this gospel and knows why he is out here. He lives on the farm and has a great work ethic. He is a lot like you Dad. He has a lot of good stories to tell and always finds a way to apply them to what we are teaching. Too bad he is going to Portland...sinner. Haha I have to make sure to put "Haha" so you know when to laugh. Haha I feel so grown up but I'm not alone so it is easier. I see the people I know all the time and finally made up a hand shake with Aubrey. We are not allowed to even think about girls, which is a struggle for me. Haha I get all I can eat, but not enough sleep. My companion works me hard in gym so I don't come back fat. haha since that is a real struggle for me. Haha We like to have a good time, but know when to be serious. Tomorrow should be fun with a new shipment of elders coming into the MTC. Got to go to the temple this morning, and it was an amazing experience. It was great to be able to remember the covenants we made at the start of this new week. We get a lot of time for MDT which is basically study time. We also get Companion Study and Personal Study everyday. Needless to say we still need a lot. Yesterday at the end of the day we had a practice teaching appointment with an eight year old girl named Kaitlyn. Our teacher played as Kaitlyn and it was a big curve ball to the way we have been teaching. We were on information overload and had a hard time going down to an eight year old level. We were pretty discouraged after struggling to teach but we are continually improving. My companion always knows how to fill in the blanks when I don't know what to say and vice versus...except for last night. Haha On page 126 in Preach My Gospel there is a list of virtues that we can rate ourselves on. My companion and I have decided to work together to help each other on which virtue we need to work on the most. We have great ideas and know a lot about the gospel we just need to find away to apply it to our lessons. Tomorrow we have an appointment to teach and recieve feedback from a teacher at the MTC. Another thing we do is nightly planning to set goals and plan the day. It is essential to missionary life. I'd like to thank the academy...Hahaha and I'd like to thank everyone for the support, prayers, and letters. Recieving letters is one thing I look forward to the most everyday. It was great to be able to cross the street and get out of prison jk haha the prisoners have it better. Haha but seriously I love everyone and Love the Gospel. I'm serving the Lord with all I have because that is what the Lord expects of me. The End Love Elder Partridge.