Email received Aug 6, 2009

Please look in the pile of music on the shelf by the piano for my arrangement of Guide Me Nearer, if you could send that uber-quickly that'd be great!

Other than that I leave bright and early Monday morning, but I forgot to bring the address of the mission home, so I'll have to send that in a letter. While I'm excited to start doing the real work and know there are many things about teaching that I will have to learn by experience, I wouldn't mind staying at the MTC for a few more weeks, just to feel as prepared as possible. It's a wonderful environment and I'm just starting to get the hang of schedule and they're already gonna kick me out. One of the best things about being here (besides the ratio of men to women, why can't the rest of the church be like this?) is the Spirit. Unlike the stigma of Utah where everyone's living the gospel, but how many actually mean it and how many are doing it just because it's the culture; here you're surrounded by Mormons and know that they are all devout and dedicated - it's the surrealist thing to get into a deep discussion about your experiences in the Temple with someone you've only known one week - I have to keep reminding myself that this is real. Another plus is that with so many elders and so few sisters, we get pretty sweet treatment: the doors are held open, they offer to carry our trays in the cafeteria, I've even seen some tables that stand up every time a sister joins - it's simply splendid! And to top it all off: The Tongans - they're large in spirit, large in personality, and large in stature. There is one Elder Afoa, at first he looks like your average large, very American football player type, but his friendliness seems to be very Tongan, turns out he's actually half Samoan (it also turns out there's some friendly rivalry between Tongans and Samoans). They seem to reflect the very best of the MTC, I'll miss them when I go. I'll miss a lot when I go, our district will be going to four different missions, plus we've gotten close to what I call our sister district, some of the elders there are also going to LV West, but all the others (including some of my favorites and the sisters) are going to California; I'm sure I will also meet many wonderful people in Vegas, but it makes me sad to think I may never see these people again.

Gotta go, 30 minutes goes fast. Write often, love you lots!