Letter 7-5-2012

Hello all,

It took forever for P-day to come, but it did finally get here... got in Wednesday and my P-days are Thursdays. They don't let you have that first one.

It's been a great experience here at the MTC so far. It's probably the only campus where you're on a first-name basis with everyone from day one. It's a dedicated place and the spirit is really strong. We've gone in-depth to the first and second lessons already - I've never had so much study time in my life where there's literally nothing to do but study study study. So I guess I'm learning a bit. I do get very sleepy though, especially between 1 and 3... I'll need some atomic fireballs or something to keep me awake!

I've seen quite a few elders I know just wandering around. I've seen Elder Chandler twice, I think I've seen Elder Bell from a distance (is he still here? Maybe I'm just seeing things.) Elder Monson, Elder Sederholm, and Elder Dunn from AR are around. Elder O'Reilly from AF is here also, as well as Elder Plowman from Frisco. From my BYU ward I've seen Elders Stephenson, Lucas, Tasso, Ahlstrom, Witt, Bradley, and probably a few others I've forgotten. It's definitely the place to be for people my age. When you hit 19, there's no other better place to be.

There was a couple really good firesides on Tuesday and Wednesday. Tuesday, a guy named Ted Gibbons came and did an incredible forensics (acting) act of Willard Richards. It really personalized the martyrdom of Joseph Smith and taught me a lot about how it worked. On Wednesday, it was the fourth of course, and we actually deviated from schedule a bit. A special fireside by a former MTC branch president who served as a district court judge gave a nice talk about independance day and a couple musical acts spiced it up. The fireside didn't end until (gasp, we're supposed to be in the dorms!) 9:30, and then they let us watch the fireworks from stadium of fire inside MTC premises. The views were all awful since the missionary field was flooded with people and was blocked off for the elders (maybe some of you were out there?) but I sat on the fence as close to the field as possible and the view was pretty okay. The show lasted until 10:30 (lights out??!?) and we didn't end up being in bed until 11:30. 11:30. Probably the latest I'll ever be able to be up on my mission ever, woo.

One week down, 103 more to go,

Elder Chandler