Seth's Letter July 6, 2009

Thank you very much for the letters. I got memaws package with snacks this morning. Thank you very much. We eat dinner every day at 430, which is pretty early, even for going to bed at 10:30. This week has been good. The devotional last week was by Gerald Lund who wrote the work and glory series. Every tuesday, we have a general authority speak to us. It's odd to think that it's only been 12 days here. We've learned so much. We're already praying and testifying and starting to teach a little in spanish. Our instructors say that we're the fastest progressing class that they've ever had adn if we are diligent during our time here, then we could be fluent by the time we leave. They said the problem for most missionaries is about week 4 of 9 they become comfortable and slack off. They had us write ourselves letters so that we wouldn't forget the desire and enthusiasm that everyone has now. My companion is probably the worst in the class at the language, so my hour of langague study is usually spent tutoring him and helping him out, but doing that, I learn the material better and it's a nice review for me. I really am learning and growing a lot. I can memorize the grammer and retain it a lot faster than I could in high school. It's a testimony builder to me that I'm learning at a pace faster then my own strength and there's help from above in this work.A lot of people have asked about the food, it really is pretty good. Breakfast they have all types of fresh fruit and cereal and oatmeal. They always have really good salads, like chef salads, or spinach salads, and they put all types of meats and cheeses and vergetables on them and the dressings are very good too. At dinner i usually eat the meal they're serving and it's usually decent. The long lines keep me from eating too much. People that gain weight simply just overuse the buffet. My district still really gets along well. We usually play softball everyday and we get about an hour of gym. I'm going to mail some pictures sometime this week. They have a photo print place here too where it's pretty cheap so I might just print some out. Right now, the pictures are really just of people and the provo temple. That's the extent of the scenery. The buildings are all brick and look the same, but they do have some nice flowers planted which helps a little bit. I hear all types of great instruction. Just imagine hearing talks and lessons from mission presidents and general authorities almost every day. The best though this week was yesterday during mission conference they played a clip from Elder Bednar that i believe he only gave a couple weeks ago here in a devotional. He said everyone asks him how to distinguish promptings from the holy ghost from their own personal thoughts. He said quit fussing, worrying, and complaining about it. Be good, and live how u should be, keep your covenants, and pray diligently and the Lord will guide your life. He said it's that simple. If you're doing good, your thoughts will be good, and everything good comes from the Lord. You'll look back at your life and recognize the Lord's hand in your life. I thought that it was very direct, but very true as well. The temple was closed last week, but we got to go this morning. Our sessions is at 7, so we had to wake up at like 5 15. It was a great experience, and we get an hour nap on p-days if we want it. That's really all the news, the swine flu stuff is pretty much gone. They still won't let us play basketball, but i feel like they don't like basketball here because of injuries and want to keep it gone as long as they can. People are startign to shake hands again. I hope all is well at home. The funny quote of the week was in a meeting they told us: You're not cool, you're wearing a suit, So don't try and act cool. Sorry if the email is scattered, there's really just not much change from week to week. We have the same schedule every single day for the next 7 weeks. Eat three meals, about 7 hours of class instruction and 3 hours of studying- one hour language, one hour personal, and one hour with your companion. So, I'll try to come up with interesting things to say. Love Elder Dunlap