MTC Week 2

Hola everyone!!!

Soooooo, where do I begin?? It's crazy how all the days blur together. Apologies in advance for typos, these keyboards are weird haha. I am so glad to hear that the wedding went well!! I knew it would; how could it not with Mom in charge :)))) I am so happy for Shanel and Nathan!!! I was thinking of them all day. I'm pretty sure my companion was tired of me talking about it. I probably mentioned it to him 20 times that day. I just couldn't contain my excitement for Shanel.

Happy Birthday to Mom also!! I hope it was a good one!! I love you and miss you more than you can imagine, but wouldn't rather be anywhere else in the world!!

I guess I should fill you in a bit more about my companion, Elder Banks. He is from Cottonwood, Arizona. Which, he said it a small town directly in the middle of the state. He comes from a family of 11 kids!!!!! He was adopted by two white parents with his three other siblings when he was eight. His parents were drug addicts. He is an incredible guy. He has such a postive and grateful attitude the whole time. We get along really well. He is super energetic and is bouncing off the walls half the time. I don;t mind though, because his quirky remarks always brighten up my day.

We went to the temple this Tuesday. It was such a nice break from the daily work load. I loved it! My Spanish is coming along great! I am really working hard to get my accent to where it needs to be. We had the Santiago South Mission president come speak to us, and I was able to understand everything he said! After the hour long talk I was speechless. It was by far one of the most spiritual experiences I have had the whole time here. I felt like he was speaking directly to me! 

Every morning we jog to the local park and play soccer or basketball on the courts for our daily exercise. It is really fun! My soccer skills are definitely improving:) There are always a few dogs that are roaming around. They're pretty nice, but I stay away from them.  So, Saturday we all play a big game of kickball. So it was my turn to kick, and after I kicked it (homerun by the way) I started running around the bases. Everyone was yelling and screaming and I thought that is was because they were so impressed with my incredible kick (joking), but as I rounded second, I realized it was because there was a dog chasing me. It was trying to bite my legs! I ran so fast!!! I almost kicked it but then it just stopped. It was usually a pretty nice stray, but I guess he just wanted to join in the game too.

Sorry for the lack of decent pictures. We only get to use our cameras on Preparation Day. And were pretty much stuck in the MTC the whole time. There are six of us in a tiny room, but two just moved out to go to the field.  Hopefully we can stay with only four of us. The max capacity of the place is about 100 missionaries. Half of us stay on the Temple grounds (me), and the rest go to a huge house that used to be the Swiss Embasy, called Alcontra. The food here is pretty decent. They have rice, some weird kind of meat, and bread at every meal. I am staying fed, but definitely glad to have brought the Cliff bars. We can get seconds usually, but I don;t get them. I have been trying to cut back on the amount of bread I eat. I was eating two big pieces at every meal (because it is literally the best stuff in the world) but I realized that probably wasnt healthy. I have also been doing a bunch of pushups and situps every day to stay in shape. Sitting at a desk all day does things to ya haha.

We were reading The Book of Mormon as a district on Saturday, and after reading a chapter, I felt like we should go around the room and share why we decided to come on a mission. It was so powerful! It gave me such an immense respect for some of the people in my District. I was deeply humbled to realize the sacrifice and courage it took for some of these people to come out here. I felt so glad to have listened to that promping, and we have grown so close. I honestly believe we have the best district there is.

All in all, everything is great!! I hope that was enough details for you! Oh, and I also saw the Candlands again! They said to send Grandma and the Family their love!!

Love,

Elder Harries