2 Weeks Down!

Hey everyone!

So I got some bad news earlier this week. My Grandma passed away, and she's one the best people I know. She has an amazing life story and is probably the kindest individual I've ever met. She's an amazing singer (no exaggeration, amazing) and choir director. Now she's leading a choir of angels in heaven.

Other then that my week has been really great! 

So everyone in my district is super cool! I have never gotten so close to a group of people so fast! Everyone is great in their own way. We always have a ton of fun whenever there is downtime! The MTC is super busy, but everyday we get exercise time, and we play basketball and lift weights and stuff, which is always a blast.

We've gotten to the point where we speak a ton of broken Spanish with very Gringo accents, And I'm beginning to understand Spanish a lot better, but only if i'm focusing really hard. It's honestly amazing how much I can understand now. I'm still not very good at speaking though.

Overall I'm liking the MTC, It's a ton of hard work and long days but there's always a point in every day where I'm having a ton of fun. Plus the spiritual atmosphere is a huge plus

See you guys next week!

Elder Harris

1 Week Down, 103 to Go!

Hey everyone! Wow this has easily been one of the busiest weeks ever! 

So I arrived at the MTC one week ago and met my missionary district, which is basically 15 or so other missionaries that are learning Spanish and arrived on the same day. Our district goes to classes together, eat together, work out together, and pretty much everything else together. We've all gotten to know each other pretty well over the last week, and I've made some great friends with some of them!

My companion, or roommate I should say, is Elder Dunkly. He's a really tall guy from Utah who's really good at basketball. He's WAY better at Spanish than me, since he took 4 years of it in high school and just graduated, so it's still really fresh in his mind. He loves classic rock but sadly doesn't even know what punk music is! So I've been trying to educate him a little bit! He also has a really strong testimony of the gospel which is awesome!

The coolest guy I know here is definitely Elder Garcez. He's from Brazil and speaks fluent Portuguese and Spanish, and really broken English. He's one of the funniest guys ever, and it's made even more hilarious with all the weird way he says everything. He's been a big help in learning Spanish. He's already served six months in Brazil, and baptized 20 people already! He's seriously super cool. Oh and he also one of my roommates, and always says the funniest things possible when everyone's trying to go to sleep.

There's also a few other guys who I've become really great friends with. Seriously some of the funniest guys ever.

I've learn TONS of Spanish in just one week. I've learned more Spanish this week than I did in 2 years of high school Spanish class. I'm still really bad at it though, and I'm having a bit of a hard time keeping up with a lot of the people in my district, but I'm still way better than I was a week ago.

Our teacher is Hermano (Brother) Moore, and I've never heard him speak English. He only talks in Spanish and uses hand motions to get the meaning across. And you always have to try to respond to him in Spanish, so it's really forcing me to learn fast!

I've already taught 4 lessons all in Spanish. It's really rough and broken mind you, but I can get a point across most of the time, even if it takes a while.

Overall I have to say I'm liking Mission life so far! I'm learning tons, and I'm feeling the spirit way more than back home.

I love you all! let me know how you guys are doing! PEACE!

-JON (Elder Harris)