I LOVE THE MTC!

Hola Mi Familia,

How are all of you?  I hope you had a safe drive home and that it wasn't too tear filled.  How is Kinzie feeling?  Hope you are better hermana.  And Jack, don't be nervous about football!  You are a great player and athlete.

I hope this doesn't make you sad, but as soon as I left you guys I wasn't homesick or weepy eyed or sad at all.  The moment I stepped into the MTC I felt comfortable and at home.  It's only been one full day and I already love it!  Everything here has been awesome so far.  My district is made up of 8 elders and 4 hermanas and is a really strong district.  My companion's name is Elder Hogan.  He is from Las Vegas, Nevada and is a great elder.  He is a convert to the Church of just 14 months, so I really admire the faith and courage that he has.  He is really a great first comp.  He treats me like I'm a celebrity and is really nice to me.  For example, when I first got to our classroom, I met him and he hugged me and I left all of my things there while I went to do some orientation on the computer.  When I got back, he had set up my desk for me and gotten the things out that I needed.  He is super humble and just great.  He sometimes has trouble expressing himself, but he has the Spirit strongly and has a firm testimony of Jesus Christ and His church.  We are the only ones serving foreign in our districto (district) and we are the only ones leaving after 3 weeks. ( Jace will only be in the Provo MTC for 3 weeks total, and then will go to the CCM which is the Missionary Training Center in Guatemala.)

Our schedule is packed, but I really enjoy that too.  I've heard that the first few days are supposed to be very long and hard, but I don't believe it!  It's been amazing and fast so far!  As far as Spanish goes, I'm in an interesting situation.  I don't think I really know enough to be in the intermediate group, but I feel that I'm not learning as much as I could, but am kind of reviewing some things.  Most of the people have never taken Spanish, so I spend more time trying to teach others than getting to really learn a lot more in Spanish. But it's only been un dia, so I'm sure I'll be able to plan personally to work on Spanish on my own to improve.  I feel kind of like a wise old Spanish sage because people keep asking me how to say things, or rules about grammar (when really they think I know more than I do).  Elder Hogan especially thinks I'm a Spanish guru, but I think in reality he just doesn't really know very much since he took only two years of French in high school.  I have no doubt he'll be fluent by the time we leave El CCM de Guate.

OK, now it's time to tell you all of the cool experiences I had my first and second days here!  First of all, and by far the most surprising, was that I SAW MARK JOHNSON!!!  (Mark is his roommate and good friend from BYU this past year!  He is going to the Spain Barcelona Mission and left in May, but was waiting on his visa and has been serving temporarily in the Los Angeles Mission)   Can you believe that? My very first day, and he was here!  I was eating dinner and I saw him coming towards me and I stood up in shock and went to go give him a hug.  I really couldn't believe it!  He said he had just gotten his visa to go through and had to come back to the MTC before he goes to Spain.  It was so, so cool to see him and it made me really happy!  I also saw the Elder I met at IHOP  (the one going to Denmark) and talked to him for just a bit.  Then I saw Elder Dressman, Elder Santa (best name ever) and James Stewart all from my BYU ward, so it was good to see all of them.

The funniest coincidence was when I met Elder Glenn in my district who told me I looked familiar to him.  He asked if I was friends with Dylan Lambert and I said yes, and then he said that she had shown him "I Hate Provo Dental" so he recognized me from that.  I thought that was funny, if not a little bit embarrassing.  (Jace was a little "out of it" after having his wisdom teeth removed, and his wonderful friends made a hilarious video of him that they posted on facebook called where he talked about how he hated Provo Dental)  Oh, and I also saw Bryce Romney too!  So all in all, life is awesome here.

I miss you guys tons!  Please pray for me here and know that I'm praying for all of you.  I love you tons! Hope to hear from you soon!

Love,
Elder Norton