Hola Elder

I've already sent some snail mail, so this letter wouldn't be that long.


Anyways, first things first: the scripture to to on my plaque.

"...come up hither to hear the pleasing word of God, yea, the word which healeth the wounded soul." - Jacob 2:8

Learning Spanish has been pretty fun so far. Pronouncing words is a lot like Japanese, so I'm finding that to be rather easy, although I know it will be a while before I start pronouncing the letters correctly (especially the rolled Rs). Verb conjugation looks like it's going to be a real pain, though I suppose the same could be said of all languages. So far we've learned how to introduce ourselves (as missionaries), pray, and bear testimony in Spanish. And of course we're learning how to give the lessons, though for the full lessons we'll be starting out in English. We actually gave a short lesson in Spanish on Saturday to some missionaries who've been here a few weeks longer. The main thing we all learned from that experience is that we all have quite a long way to go.

I didn't really talk about my district much in my handwritten letter, so I might as well talk about them here:

My companion's name is Elder Lybbert, and he's from Lewiston, Idaho (somewhere by Moscow, he says). He's also going to Long Beach. In fact, out of the 12 of us in this district, 8 of us are going to Long Beach. The other 4 will be going to Spain and be leaving for the MTC there in about 3 weeks (except for the one having some hang-ups with his visa).

I've ran across a couple people I know here. I've bumped into Ryan Coon at lunch a few times and also a few other places, though I haven't spent much time talking to him and haven't really tried finding him. I've also ran into Elder Hartsock (knew him from seminary). He's been here a couple weeks and I think he's going to a stateside mission, so I'm lucky I ran across him. Granted, he claims to live on the same floor and same building as me, but I have yet to run across him there.

There's supposedly some virus (the Novo virus or something) going around here in the MTC (or at least nearby), so we've been advised to not shake hands. Fist-bumping seems to be the most common replacement, though I'm partial to a nice, Japanese-style bow (as suggested during last night's devotional). Also, I really need to wash my hands after using this keyboard.

Adios,
Elder West