Email 4-9-10

So things here are still going good! I'll try to answer all your questions ha. About the cd player, no I haven't used it at all. We are not allowed to listen to any music because if every elder listened to music it would be way loud. So ya, I don't get to use that, but you could send me more cds so that I will have them in the field because it is much easier to ship them here than to Mexico. About my room, yes, we all sleep in the same room so there is 3 of us in there. There are normally 4 elders to a room but we only have 3 because of our tri-companionship. It is pretty cold, or it has been anyways. It has warmed up some. It has snowed probably 12 times at least since I've been here, but it hasn't been to bad. I am really glad for the sweaters they have been nice. About the suits, we had to wear them every day since I have been here, but on Monday after conference it went to summer dress. Now we can wear what we want as long as it is the same as what your companion is wearing. If he wants a suit, then we all have to wear a suit. If he wants long sleeves, no suit, we have to have the same. So ya, we just have to match. But even with summer dress, we still have to wear a suit on the temple grounds and to church, devotionals, and firesides. It has been nice being able to mix up what we wear this last week. Even though it is summer dress, it is still kinda chilly at times haha. The laundry room is pretty big and lots of washers and dryers but still sometimes it fills up and you have to wait to wash. The book store is in the middle of the MTC so we go there a lot. Sorry I had to use my debit card but I needed some things. I got a shirt that says Mexico and my mission so ya haha thanks. We get a little money on this little card so we can use that for little things we need from the book store. It's kinda cool going in there because it is the only thing like the real world haha. So sometimes we just go and walk through it and don't get anything ha, but it works out good. On Wednesday we had 2 elders from our district leave to Peru MTC so that was sad. Elder Wayne and Elder Borque. It was sad to lose them because now we only have 7 of us in the district, but it is still good and it will be awesome for them. Also on Wednesday we got a new district in a zone and one of the elders that came in with that district was Elder Grow from our Stake. I was good buddies with him in high school. I don't know if you remember but I went snowboarding with him or took him snowboarding one time so that is awesome. I'm sure it was nice for him also because the first day is crazy and it would have been nice for me to know someone so that is cool. The MTC is still so great. I am learning tons and tons every day. I finally got an answer in the RC. That is where you call people on the phone and ask if they got whatever thing they ordered from the church and you get to try and invite them to have the missionaries. Well anyways, you get a lot of answering machines so that can be frustrating but this week I got a woman that answered and although she didn't accept my offer, I still was able to bear my testimony and talk with her. It was great and it was a big boost for me because you know me, I hate talking on the phone even to people I know. I know you're all probably shocked I would even do that, let alone like it haha, but it was great to have the opportunity to bear my testimony. This week coming up on Monday, we teach our last lesson in English. The contact door approach and everything is in Spanish, then the lesson is in English on the plan of happiness. So that is all good and easy, but that means that next week on Monday in the TRC it is all in Spanish and that is not easy. I am very nervous about that. We have started practicing for it, but teaching a whole lesson in Spanish is crazy hard but I know if I keep doing everything I can, the Lord will make it possible. I got a letter from Lee it was really great and if you could please tell her thank you for her thoughts. I wish I had time to write her but there is just not enough time, so please tell her thank you for her thoughts and prayers. I hope Julie got my letter. Christi in her letter said Julie wanted me to write her and I had already sent a letter to her so I hope she had got it by now. If not, tell her I did send one. Tell all the grandkids thanks for their prayers and pictures. I hope you told Jayden that I absolutely loved his picture and that it is on the wall next to Zane's picture. I will leave it up. It's awesome. It's just really great here. I am just trying to work my hardest, use every moment I have, the best I can, and learn the most I can. I know this church is true and this gospel is so amazing! Conference was so great. I loved it so much. The spirit was so strong and all the talks were amazing. I really loved Elder Uchdorf's talk in Preisthood about learning English and patience. Both applied perfect. I loved so many more. They were all great and I missed you all a lot because the topic was on families. I know I need to be here and it is amazing. Well, got to go if I want to send this. I love you all so much. You're in my prayers and I can feel your prayers for me. Thank you,

Love,

Elder Despain