Surprise email!!

I had written Zach a one line reply to his email, because some people were not able to get it to work. I was so excited to see this surprise email in my box this morning.  I just love Elder Walker so much!!!

It worked. I'm not sure why it wouldn't work for Maryannne, that's weird. We randomly get to email again today, and then p-day is probably Friday so you might get two emails from me this week. Things are going pretty well. I am definitely not a fan of the MTC still, but the more I think about it the more I just don't know how they can do anything better than they already do. It's a weird place but they all try their hardest here to make sure we are comfortable (which we arent but the thought counts I suppose). We learn really just a poopload of stuff, so much so that you literally can't not write it all down, because you will forget everything. 

Sunday we did have an Easter devotional. Guess who spoke to us? He was here, in the MTC, in the same room, only a few feet away from us... I'll give you a few hints. He's super cool. Everyone loves him. He loves planes. And he is German.

Yeah, that happened.

I didn't get to shake his hand, we were just a bit too far away. But he gave all of us an air hug and told us to pass it on to our friends and families. So, you all get a hug from President Uchtdorf.

Also tonight at choir practice, the rumor is that David Archuleta is coming to sing a song with us for the next Devotional. He's not quite a general authority and really he's not quite cool either, but a lot of people are excited and I'm sure that it'll be a fun experience as well.

So I've got letters from a few people. A few great, wonderful people have wrote to me whether on an email or dearelder, and you all have my love and appreciation. There is nothing better than logging on or going to the mailbox and finding someone took the the time to write to you. Now, those of you who wrote me actual letters, I apologize but I can't reply till Friday, so it'll be a while till you hear back. But Mom, Dad, Cole, Brett, and Sister Fredricksen, you are all the best and I promise to write you back as soon as I can.. The rest of you, repent, or be utterly destroyed. We work so hard as missionaries and honestly the harder we work, the more we forget about all of you and become happier. However, it's really deflating when we log on to our emails and have nothing, or go to the mailbox and have nothing. There is a Sister I know who literally gets 4 letters a day (we are all really jealous of her). Whoever is writing her knows the value of supporting missionaries and how important it is to not even really have anything important or interesting to say, but to just write and tell them that they are supported and loved, and that they are doing the right thing.

Mom and dad I sent you a letter last week, so hopefully you've gotten it by now, or at least will soon. Thanks for the Easter candy as well, there was much rejoicing when it arrived.

One thing that I am really finding a testimony of as I'm here is hard work. The first few days I was here, I would alternate between feeling the best I'd ever felt, then the worst. I got a little worried because the worst was lasting much longer than the best, and I couldn't figure out how to make that reverse. Even during gym time one day I just walked up to the track, and I slowly walked in circles the entire hour because I felt like doing nothing but being sad. Then that night, as I was praying, I just felt this impression that I neeeded to work so much harder, or else I just wasn't gonna be happier. And it wasn't with studying and teaching, because I knew I already worked pretty hard at that stuff. It's with things that I wasn't good at before I left. So now I really know that I have to force myself to do a lot of things that I hate, but for whatever reason make me feel so happy once I'm done. I have to force myself to work out and be active during gym time, as much as I possibly can be. And if we dont have gym time, I have to run around the dorms and climb the walls and do flips and stuff before I go to bed, otherwise my body just feels like I've done nothing. I have to force myself to try and eat all of every meal. Pretty much my entire life unless its been pizza, I've always gotten full after about half of the food was gone and thats all I would eat. Now, I try and eat as much as I can and I grab a lot of food for meals. because stupid as it sounds, if I can finish three big meals a day, I feel so ridiculously accomplished. It's like I've fought against this giant food dragon and the majority of the time I am able to slay it righteously, or else just wound it pretty bad, which is kind of nice. So eat your food kids, and eat it all. And work out. For some reason our bodies like that kind of stuff. I know, I hate it too, but doing stuff you hate makes you happy sometimes.

I haven't seen Brother Woodruff at all since my first day. We really don't get a lot of time to go out and just do what we want. Actually we get no time to do just what we want, which is really good because if we had that time I would get so lazy. However, if someone could remind me where he works at the MTC, or pass a message to him that he should come find me sometime before I leave next Tuesday, that'd be fun. I'm in 18m Room 313, so the hunt is on Brother Woodruff.

Last few things before I die for today. Friday we will go to the temple in the morning, which will be fun. We already went once and it was great, so going twice will be cool. I splurged at the MTC and bought a new watch, becasue my LEGO one always always always falls about into pieces because its LEGOS. It's really cool and all blue, even the face and the hands and numbers so I love it so much already. But, Mom, if you still wanna send that Mickey Mouse watch I would not be offended by that. I'm a firm believer that Mickey Mouse would be a fantastic missionary, if we could get him to take the lessons. Plus he would be Elder Mouse, and that's just adorable. I'm debating on whether or not to pick up a few things from the MTC store still, I already had to get an alarm clock because I forgot that and otherwise would be sleeping in every morning. That's frowned upon. There's a t-shirt that says Utah and has a map of the state and some info about the mission that I kinda want, so maybe. We'll see.

O repent ye, repent ye, and write to me if you have not! And if you have written me, repent still and write to me again, because while some of you wrote some of you only said one line of words. Cole wins the prize of longest letter so far, but both Cole and Dad win the prize for most riveting account of an Avalanche playoff game. Both of you wrote about the comeback in game 1 against the Wild, and ridiculous as it sounds I honestly felt the Spirit super strongly reading that part both times. I think God approves of wholesome recreational activities, and most of the time I believe sports falls into that category. Both of you described it so differently though. Dad has  Pat Summerall, matter-of-fact this is how it happened very much logical tone, and Cole has a Gus Johnson, exaggerate and make analogies for everything tone. Both are appreciated. It was a little bit like reading the game described in the style of the Gospel of St. Matthew, then by St. Mark. So that made me laugh.

WRITE TO ME>

-Elder Walker