A DAY IN THE LIFE

HEEEEEEEEY familia y amigos! Como estan? Cough. Excuse me. I shall speak English for all the gringoes out there. Since I'm like all fluent and stuff now... Well, I AM A MISSIONARY! It is true. I have the suits, the shoes, the books (books to study, little books to tell me the rules, books to give away, books that tell me how to give the books away...) nametags for pockets, nametags for lapels, etc etc etc.... it's all pretty impressive, 'cept everyone else has the exact same image... but hey, that's the MTC for you, 2000 of us heading out to all parts of the world. It's pretty exciting when you start meeting people - you see nametags that are in Spanish, French, Mandarin, etc. It's crazy. When we all gather together, you see young people (and some older couples, they are pretty cool) from all nationalities and places, headed out to, well, teach all nationalities and places. K, that was redundant.... but you get the idea. Weeeeell, hm, its hard to choose what to say with this stupid timer going up there... 15 minutes left on here, and someone is probably hating me for not changing my clothes over to a dryer. So, let me walk you through my day here. I promise, its exciting. 6:30- wait, no, let's start at 6:29, gotta start on a good note. 6:29- Sleep. Ah, blessed sleep. Most likely a dream about home, or friends, or both (I have a had a LOT of interesting dreams here, I should be writing them down...) and just when I'm about to turn on the radio and hear Coldplay blasting "Viva la vida".... BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP 6:30. And that's when I start "living the life..." Well, not until 6:32. Its usually necessary to fall back on the pillow and psyche yourself up for the day. Ok. Ready. I sit up, and then proceed to pretty much fall off the top bunk (quietly, though, because the Elder below has decided he needs quite a few more minutes to psyche up for the day) and I almost die. The adreneline is good though. Enables me to brush my teeth... So, 30 minutes of get-ready-ing, then go to the classroom. 45 minutes of quiet, personal study. Breakfast. Mmm (oh, and everyone, I really appreciate the candy and all that has been sent - thank you Maguras too for the Cheetos and candy!) (and all the Valentines) After breakfast, gym. Whee... ok, done. Now, class. Noon already? lunch. Then, CLASS. Then Dinner. THEN CLASS. THEN PLAN TOMORROW (hey, Elder, wanna go to class tomorrow? Yes? Great.) Go to our rooms, brush our teeth (hey, kinda deja vu like...) and go to bed, start a dream.... It's way intense, I promise. I think we figured out we average 14.5 hours a day sitting in the classroom. This work is not for the faint of heart. And only 10 weeks more! April 14th better come quick.... And then there's all the Spanish speaking... mm, so good, can't comminucate much (but its improving insanely fast...). Whenever I get down about being here for 10 weeks, I try to speak to Elder Casillas or someone who's a native speaker, and then am thankful for the extra time to learn... Well, I only have 4 minutes and 14, no 13, no 12 seconds... no 8!!!! AHH! Ok, well, I guess I'll wrap it up kinda. Sorry this isn't full of more interesting stories. Mom, if you want, you could put some kinda highlight from my snail mail letter up on the blog, which i hope is working out. I'll have more time next week. I know this is where I'm supposed to be. There is a strong Spirit here - the Spirit of the Lord. I feel charged with it. I feel called of the Lord, with His power, confidence, and strength behind me. I know what I'm doing is right. I am training here to bring many souls to Christ. I love you all, and hope to hear from you soon! -Elder Christopher Murray Thelin P.S. dearelder.com - tell everyone about it, its instant mail for me!!! 10 SECONDS!

(Elder Marlow, Elder Regher, Elder Rindfleisch, Myself, Elder Jimenez (later moved to the Advanced Spanish district), and Elder Nelson visiting the Provo temple)