So life in the MTC?...it ain´t easy!

Hola Familia y Mis Amigos!

The infamous MTC map!

Well, this is real. I am a missionary. I don´t even know where to start. Well I will start off with some information. I have a sweet companion a cool district and an awesome zone. My companion is Elder Parker Davis. We were totally put together for a reason! A. we are very similar. We are both lacrosse players, we are both hard workers, and we are both out here to do work. Our strengths complement each  others so we are getting pretty good at teaching-ish hahaha. We would be super good if we knew Spanish. I got made district leader which is kinda cool, and all the guys in my zone get along pretty well for the most part. we already have a ton of jokes with eachother and get along great which is good because i was worried that i would end up stuck with a bunch of weirdos but I have been blessed.

So life in the MTC or CCM as we call it in spanish ain´t easy. our schedule is pretty much that we wake up at 6. Get ready, go to gym for an hour and then eat breakfast. After that we sit in class from 9am to 7pm with a break for lunch and some other stuff. It takes some getting used to. The hardest part is that the teachers are just talking at you in spanish and you only understand half of whatever they say  but that is how you learn. then after that we get dinner and some time to unwind and study in our appartment. oh yeah, we have apartments. For those of you who care I am down on the west campus instead of the main one. they are eventually going to be moving all of the spanish speakers down here which is kinda cool. 

Ok so my 3rd day in the CCM they just let us listen to a recording of a person and then after we took notes about her they are like, ok later today you will be teaching this lady...in spanish. we barely knew how to speak at all so that was interesting. So weird knowing just what to say but you can´t. It is kinda frustrating to me because I´m not used to it. Spanish is way hard but the districts above me and my district say that Elder Davis and I are really good and we are making progress everyday so that is a good sign. we have taught twice more since then and we have been doing a lot better. Hopefully I can become fluent as fast as possible because i hate not being able to communicate.

Being in the MTC is hard, but anybody thinking about or going on a mission don´t be discouraged because it is very rewarding. From Wednesday to saturday I was kinda like, oh man, what did i get myself into. But everybody says once you make it to sunday you are good and they were right! since sunday these pas couple of days have been good! i havent been as dead tired, and spanish isn't as frustrating. I will add that I would give anything, except maybe a nap (and i think I would even give that even though those are illegal here pretty much) to give everybody in my family a huge hug right now. They say you don´t know what you had until it is gone and they are totally right! I am so blessed to have such a loving family. You guys filled my mail box with letters and it made me realize how much love there is for me and I am so grateful for it. The good thing is, is that it isn´t gone, just on hold for two years. And through the gosple of Jesus Christ and Our loving Heavenly Father´s plan I can have that for eternity! I was having kind of a hard time here at first because with all this spanish and work overload I lost sight of my purpose and it came back to me yesterday as I was teaching. I realized that I am out here because just as my family loves me so much. There are others that have families that they love so much and even if that isn´t the case for everyone, we all have a father in heaven that loves us so much and he wants us all to be together for eternity with Him and our families. That is really why I am out putting myself through all this hard work. I am so grateful for that love. 

Well everybody should write me letters because letters are like gold out here. They are the only connection with anybody which is kinda weird but cool. I would love to hear from you all!

Tengo un testemonio que Jesuchristo es nuestro salvador y que este iglesia es verdado. Estoy muy agradecido por nuestro padre celestial y por la plan de salviacion. Yo se que Dios quiere todos las personas en el mundo regressar a El. Yo se que la iglesia de Jesucristo de los santos de los ultimos dias tiene el evangelio de Cristo que cristo establecio dos mil anos pasado. 

That is my broken testimony in spanish but it will increase each week. I love you all and wish you all the best. Until next week. Hasta luego.

Elder Tyler Whitaker

Ty's "sweet"  MTC companion