First Letter

Bonjour Famille,

I didn't have an email to send this too and forgot everyone else's. So I decided to send this one out to multiple people just in case. Email me the fam address, so next time I don't waste 23 seconds. This counter in the top right corner is freakin me out.

The MTC has been great, but I feel like I've lived a lifetime within every day. So long. Our orientation meeting was 4 1/2 hours long, just sitting there, talking about getting everyone interviewed. They told us to begin preparing talks en francais, to give in sacrament meeting, and in a couple weeks from now, they'll basically pull a name out of a hat and that elder gets to speak. Ah. My companion is Elder Mendoza, he's from Houston, Texas, but was born in Mexico, so he has dual citizenship. He's one of the most humble people I know, with a fiery faith in his eyes. He says he doesn't know much about the scriptures, but don't let him fool you. He's heading to Canada, Montreal, as well, but his call was originally for a spanish speaking mission, which he already speaks fluently. So when he got here they tossed him into french class with us to learn another language. Cool eh? He's struggling with the accent a lot, cause the whole spanish/french thing. He speaks a lot like Pedro, from Napoleon Dynamite, almost exactly so, and looks like the evil blue alien in the new show coming out soon, the one played by Will Ferrell. He's a soccer beast, which makes gym time awkward, but we soon came to an unspoken agreement that he'd play soccer whilst I ran with elder McRoberts.

I thought that it would be hard to be with someone 24/7, but actually it's very similar to my entire childhood with Hayden. So I've been prepared. Speaking of Hayden, I keep finding all these origami cranes in my coat pocket and books, all I can say is PRISON BREAK. Chapeau Hay-Do, I look forward to pwning you with my origami soon.

So I was warned about the orange juice multiple times, and I thought I was clever in quietly avoiding it for the first day, whilst the other elders unwittingly gulped it down. I was determined not to touch the stuff. But the second day, when I got immunizations out of the way, they offered me a bottle of OJ. Thinking they finally outsourced something, I figured I was safe. I cracked it open, and took a couple gulps. Who knew two gulps was all it took? My stomach was a war torn battlefield for the rest of the night. Why would they serve something so harmful to so many of the Lord's workers?

It's only been about two full days here, and we've got our prayers down, along with our testimonies, and most of our speaking is done en francais. The food here is fantastic. My favorite part is eating all the soup and salad I want, and the other elders don't mind, because they have it on their trays too, somewhere in the mountains of food they carry around.

Sleeping has been super rough. I have gotten extremely familiar with the bottom of my elder's mattress, as he's on the top bunk. Still in scout camp mode, and doing comfortably well, with no intention of stopping anytime soon. The way I feel now, I could go the whole two years.
Speaking of Elder McRoberts, his companion is Elder Anniskette, from Alaska. He's a professional beat boxer, and would have gone to national championships for adults this year, but came on a mission instead. I know about every other elder in my zone, at least 12 of us are from davis high, all going to Toulouse, Paris or Montreal.

The MTC has such as strong spirit about it; I wish I could've felt this way all the time growing up. But such is not the case. Hopefully you guys can find some common ground, maybe a white flag here or there, so that Chandler and Noah, (And maybe even Peeper) can feel the strong righteous spirit of the Lord in his work before they come.

My district leader is Elder Heywood, and he looks exactly like Kirby Heyborne, as Elder Calhoun. No joke. I share a room with Elder Stanley and Elder Bagnall. Stanley is from Cottonwood Heights, SLC, and Bagnall is from Arizona. Bagnall does every sport and every sport perfectly, and Stanley is a lot like me in eighth grade, except he's a black belt. Crazy, you never see the black belts coming. I guess they like it that way.

There are some things I forgot that I could use. We're suppose to match as missionaries in dress, and I only brought long sleeved shirts and elder Mendoza only brought short sleeved, save two long sleeved. So I could use a couple short sleevers, until Mendoza can get some more long sleevers. As well as a laundry hamper, and one of those stainless steel water bottles. Everything else, I think I'm good with. Except candy, could use some of that.

I found a scripture I read now every time I get tired, Helaman 10:12 - and then I have no excuse to be tired anymore.

Good luck this week!
Peace be the journey,
Toujours l'amour,

Elder Holm