March 8 2012

Dear familia,
Estoy a la hospital ahora. Mi compañero está enfermo. Los piensan que él tiene un kidney stone. Él está aqui para tener un CT scan. Está extraño para estar outside del CCM (MTC). Estoy viendo tv en el cuerto de waiting.

Utah news is very boring. So I was just talking to another missionary who was here for his companion too. He is going to Oaxaca (where Riley is) and he is leaving in about a week and a half. It makes me super eager to leave to Mexico, but I still got a month. So earlier I was in the waiting room at the health center in the MTC and they had this "puzzle" think that I could do to kill the time. I'm going to see if I can describe to you all the puzzle. There was a bottle, wooden stick, 2 screws, 2 washers, 2 nuts. The stick had 2 holes in it. The goal was to put the screws through the stick and then put both washers and nuts on the screw while in the bottle. I then got to sign my name in a record book for those who were able to do it, because after a long while I finally was able to do it. The signatures date back to 2000 and now my name is the last one on there. [Mother's note: Jimmy included a really good drawing of the puzzle, but of course, he didn't draw exactly HOW he got the stick out of the bottle with the screws, nuts, and washers on it.]

So enough about that. This week has been pretty great. On Sunday for the fireside we got to listen to Alex Boyé. He was born in England and he sings in the Mormon Tab Choir. He was really funny. He told us of his time in England and then lead into his conversion story. Though he was very comical while speaking he would also bear his testimony. After he had told us of how he was converted he started to talk about what the church meant to him and the way he had gained a testimony about the truth about the Book of Mormon and how his mission changed his life. He finished with telling us that as missionaries we have the help and power of God with us, and we can expect miricals (sp?). It was a good fireside.

The devotional from Elder Holland was also very good and I think I mentioned it in my last letter but if I didn't or if I didn't say much about it then I will just send my notes that I took because it's a lot. Just send it back after you get it. [Mother's note: He included 3 pages of notes and the last page was scarred with deep pen scratches because his pen was running out]

So the whole week feels like a day or so. Its hard to distinguish (sp?) between each day's events because for the most part every day feels the same. Sleep, eat, class, study. It's great stuff and I really like it here but for the most part it is hard to think of things to write about and I don't have your guys letters with my so I don't have anything to reply to so I will continue this when I am back at the MTC with those letters from home.

I know I wasn't able to answer everything by this point and wasn't able to write everyone separatly but trust me I will. I just wanna send this this [Mother's note: Yes, he wrote "this this". I have copied all his spellings and punctuation just as he wrote them, also the (sp?)s are his too] out now.

Love
Elder [unintelligible scribble]