First email

Sat, Mar 20, 2010 5:20 PM (We didn't receive this email until 3/26) 

Hey mom, things here in the MTC are amazing.  Everyone here was saying the first days are so hard, just push through, but I am loving it and it hasn't been hard to push through.  It is Saturday we have a half p-day today but it will normally be on Friday.  Just so you know, I can only write on p-day.  It has been hard, though not as hard as some of the elders were saying, but it has been hard.  You don’t sleep much, haha because it is really hard to fall asleep but it is getting better.  We wake up at 6:30 every day which is early, but it has been okay.  The spirit is so strong here you feel it in everything you do, it’s amazing.  I love this gospel and I am growing so much.   My testimony has grown so much in these couple of days.  It is amazing and my Spanish is already getting better.   I love my companions.  I have two because we are in a 3 some.  It is so awesome to get two companions, but really all the elders here are so great.  I love them all.   My companions are Elder Lawrence and Elder Gibson.  They are so awesome.  The schedule for the days changes every day but most days we have gym at 6:35 and then we eat breakfast around 8:15.  Then we go to class.  We are in classes like 8 hours a day which is a lot but the time flies by.  I wish I had more time in the day to study.  It’s just so amazing and I just am trying to learn as much as I can as fast as I can but the days just aren't long enough.  It has been great hearing from you.  I am so happy you guys are doing good and thank you for the packages.  I think I have gotten more mail then my whole district, 9 Elders, have gotten put together haha, but I love them!  The food here is pretty good, it hasn’t been too bad.  I just love it here so much.  I love my teachers they are Hermono Debouis and Hermana Bott.  They are awesome teachers and I am learning so much from them.  I just am so grateful to be here and learning.   This gospel is amazing.   The atonement is amazing.  Prayer is the best.  I have never prayed so much in my life.  We pray all the time and I pray all the time.  I have never prayed so hard in my life but it has helped me so much already to learn and grow.  I miss you all!   I love you all.  I wish I had more time to write more people but 30 min is not too long and I am using that all just to get this email to you.   Please be praying for me and my Spanish and for my Visa.  I can feel your prayers and they are helping me through everything.  I can’t say enough how much I love being here and serving the Lord.  I know He is blessing you all at home because I am here.  I am so grateful for this gospel and I can’t wait to give that to people who don’t have it.   It is something you really can’t live without.  The Savior does bless us so much and we can’t get through this life without Him.  I love you all so much and I’m so grateful for you and the fact that I was able to be brought up in such a strong family having the gospel in my life.  I don’t know what I would do without it.  My mission is such a blessing and I am so happy being here.  I thought my mission wouldn’t start until Mexico, but it started the second I got here.  My goal isn’t just to share the gospel with those who don’t have it, but I am also here to bring others closer to Christ and that is everyone, everyone, needs to keep getting closer to Christ.   I have become so much closer to Christ through my companions and I know they have because of me.  This gospel truly is what makes people happy and without it there will always be something missing.   Thanks for everything you have done to get me here.  Without you I wouldn’t be here and that would be so horrible because it is so amazing here.  I didn’t know the spirit could make you so tired but feeling and teaching through it really drains you!   It is so amazing though.  I love you all and I will try to write you more later but today’s p-day is very short so I don’t have long to write.  I want you to know I love you and please let all my sisters and dad know I love them too.  I also want you to know that this is the true church on the earth.  Without it we would be lost.  Our Savior is here to help us through everything.  Prayers are answered and the atonement is real.  I love you all so much.

Love, 

Elder Despain