MTC week 1

Hello Mom! 

My first week in the MTC! It was crazy! We were thrown into teaching on our second day here. Which would have been hard enough, if it wasn't in Tagalog!! The hardest part of teaching someone in a different language, is not really knowing what questions they have, or how to answer them. We teach one of the other Tagalog teachers here at the MTC, but we call him Romel. He only speaks to us in Tagalog, unless there is a word he knows that we don't know or can't find in our dictionaries.

Kasama ko ( my companion) is Elder Copland. He is 19, and lives in Missouri. He was really good at football and baseball until he broke his ankle, twice! He is a pretty goofy guy, (somewhere between Anthon and Chad), but he has a great understanding of how people are feeling and can really connect with almost anyone, which are very important attributes for a missionary to have. 

Yes, I have gotten all the Dear Elders, my shoes, Candy from Grandma, and the drawings from the Champneys! 

Sundays at the MTC are amazing, we start early with zone Sacrament meeting in Taglish ( Tagalog and English), and have all our other meetings as a district. The zone is basically everyone speaking Tagalog, and next week our zone will be over 100 missionaries. My district is 10 missionaries who all live next to each other. We are classmates, and have grown to be close friends.We are zone 16, district J. 

Elder Temple is our district leader, and he is amazing. A great example of leadership and calm in this stressful time. He is from Texas, and super into fitness. His kasama is Elder McFadden. He is from Snow Canyon, and is a cowboy/drama&choir kid. His knowledge of the gospel and ability to pick up the language is crazy. Elder Iabeta (i think) is from Kirabiti, a small island east of the Philippines by like 200 miles. He is a great example of strength and faith, as he is learning two languages; English and Tagalog, and has a hard time understanding our culture. His kasama, Elder Tanner, is smart and patient, but also laid back and fun to be around. He and Iabeta are struggling to understand each other, not so much the language but each others personalities. Me and my kasama have our hands full trying to listen to both sides of the argument. He is from Utah, but I can't remember where. Elder Brockbank, is from Utah also, shorter, and he thinks he's very funny. Very competitive; he challenged Temple to Basketball (bad idea) and when I beat him at chess he was shocked. He has nicknames for everyone, he calls me different names from the Harry Potter books. Severus is his favorite. His kasama, Elder Rogers is from Utah, and he has a twin in our zone. They look so much a like, it's crazy hard to tell them apart. Both are quiet, but smart. My roommates are Elder Black and Elder Hamilton. Black is short and funny, from Kodiak Alaska. Hamilton is 6' 7", quiet and annoyed by most of us, from Richfield or Parowan, I can't remember. 

Tuesday was hard for me, The devotional we had reminded me a lot about you, and then I got you Dear Elder after that. It was rough. but then a scripture in D&C 68 ( Hindi ko alam which verse ) that really helped me. I know that I am where I'm supposed to be, and that this is what I need to be doing. 

We have ( on a normal day) 2 three hour blocks of class, and one three hour block of PCL. Personal, Companion, and Language study. 

Will you please also send my patriarchal blessing to me? It's in that little green dresser, in the envelope I got it in. 

I love you all, and miss you so much. I've got to run to get my clothes dried, before my machine gets stolen. The gospel is true, I know that. Jesus loves us all. 

With Love,

Elder Potter.