Richie Tackles Reno: Week Three: October 8, 2014

With my two MTC companions

October 8, 2014

The weather here is still beautiful, we have gotten a little bit more rain this week but nothing too bad. General Conference was Great!!!! We watched in English, which was probably better but it would have been cool to listen in spanish. My two favorite talks were Elder Holland and Elder Bednars...we need to share Elder Bednars talk with EVERY one...like neighbors/friends anyone. I am going to send it to a lot of my friends too. That was such a powerful talk and a great introduction into our church. I love Elder Bednar. He usually does a lot of our devotionals that we watch live from the Provo MTC. He is a totally different person in those MTC devotionals...he is way funny.

I have actually come to love the food here in the MTC. I dont look forward to breakfasts cuz usually they are like way weird and i dont even know what they are eating but sometimes they have french toast or pancakes that are good. Every meal is all you can eat which is fun too. Lunches are the best here. In mexico lunch is the big meal, so they usually serve some kind of dessert that is way tasty. Yesterday we had this delicious steak for lunch and me and my comps ate like three steaks each they were so good. My stomach is undoubtedly getting bigger cuz i have begun to eat like soooo much more than i used too...which is weird cuz i dont use as much energy as i did during the summer with my job but oh well. Dinners are hit and miss....sometimes they are way good and sometimes they are way weird but oh well. One of my new favoirte things is like these for dinner they make is like these tortillas with beans and lettuce and cheese on top...it is way good. I hate the beans here when they serve them as a side but on these tortilla things they are good.

Mom and Dad...thanks for the donuts!!!!! Those were awesome. Anytime anyone in our district gets a package we all get so excited and we always share with each other...(cuz i cant eat 24 donuts alone) so we were all freakin out when we got the donuts.

So the sidewalks here are the dumbest things ever...They are like a jagged jigsaw puzzle that doesnt fit together. i look like a fool at least twice a day cuz i trip over them all the time. pictures dont do justice as to how bad they are.

Class each day is fun, but can be long. it feels a lot like school except we always start and end each class with a prayer and song...you dont do that at Tuscarora High School. But my two teachers are awesome. they are so nice and they are both returned missionaries who are wise wayyy beyond their years. One of them reminds me of my Uncle Chad. He is tallish and thin, and wears similar glasses. his name is Hermano Montes. he is super cool. The other teacher is Hermana Saucedo, she actually went to high school here at the mtc before it was an mtc....so thats cool. You guys can look into Benemerito high school, thats the name of the high school. I thought that would be something that dad would like to look into.

So this week I had the chance to give another blessing to a sister in our Zone who is feeling quite homesick and down. The district she is in has been having some issues, and the stress of their whole district is really high. they are beginners and a lot of them had never spoken a lick of spanish before. We are getting a new district in our zone today, so it will be fun to meet them. We said goodbye to a district this past weekend, and you can see a picture of my district and theirs before they left. it was actually quite sad to see them go, we have gotten quite close with them.

So i cant believe that i am half way done here. In three weeks i will be back in the USA....that seems so crazy!!! I feel like i just got here!!!

Today i got a haircut, and it was actually really fun cuz the barbers are spanish of course so we got to chat it up with them. They gave me a good hair cut too!! I love all the people that work here, like the landscapers and housekeepers and chefs and stuff, they are all so nice and they all want to talk with you, so it is so much fun!! Tuesday is our service day so we go help clean houses for an hour and it is actaully like one of my favorite parts of the week.

So more about the hermanas in my district: they are all so fun!! Hermana Underly is from Texas, and she is going to Reno with me. Hermana Pearson is from Park City, and she is going to Reno too. Hermana Jarman is from Atlanta, and she is going to nicaragua!!! Her comp, hermana Olsen is from Ohio and is going to New Mexico. They are all great. We are seriously like a family.

One thing that donned on me during conference was that they often refer to the apostles and leaders of our church as "Elder"... like Elder Bednar. and they also refer to me As ELDER Todd...so i am in good company. You dont call anyone else elder, like the bishop or just another brother in the ward. That just struck me as so cool, that i get the same title as the APOSTLES!!!

Anyways, you guys are the best. I miss you guys like crazy. I pray for you often and cant wait until we can be reunited in 23.25 months!!!!!

Love,

Elder Todd