Week One-MTC

Dear Mom and Dad and Home,
                  I made it here. it has been a long journey but an 
amazing one. My companions name is Elder Thomas. He is from Layton Utah 
and really loves the work. My roommates are really fun and we joke 
around a lot at night. We have roommate prayer but whomever loses 
Rock-Paper-Scissors has to say it. It gets pretty intense and we all 
have a really enjoyable time. My schedule is a lot of class time. If 
i'm not in a lesson for 3 hours at a time then i'm either studying, 
eating, or getting my hour of excercise for the day. Tell Kristy she 
would love one thing about here the most. It is the fact you can drink 
all the juice you want. They have so many to choose from and you keep 
just keep going back for more. I get cranberry, and apple juice a lot. 
They also have orange juice, and the guava one we love. I get the 
cranberry one to help my digestive system due to all the processed 
foods we eat here. It is hard to get yourself to stop eating when all 
the food is just right there in front of you. My room is slowly cooling 
down but is still pretty warm. Good thing i slept in the trailer for 
lots of those nights to be prepared for the heat. I am really enjoying 
it here but there are some rough times. Yesterday me and my companion 
taught TRC to a progressing investigator. He never really talked to us, 
and only answered with one word answers. It was really tough walking 
out of that TRC and feeling like we kinda bombed it. We just had to 
remember that we are still learning how to teach, and that through the 
lord we will become better at it. We get to teach our teachers every 
other day, and that is going really well though. I am starting to learn 
how to love the people i teach, and start seeing them as Christ sees 
them. Just in this past week my testimony has grown so much i have a 
better understanding of Christ's Atonement and am so grateful for that 
in my life. This past week we have had two missionaries go home, one 
due to back problems, and the other just said he couldn't do it 
anymore. It has been kinda hard for us as a district, but we have 
talked about it and are all doing a lot better. It is hard at times 
paying attention when you sit down all day long, and every so often you 
begin to doze off. We take breaks every so often so that has really 
helped. I have loved to learn more about my purpose as a missionary to 
bring others to Christ. Many of my lesson's the first week have been on 
why we are here. We had a Devotional Last night by Elder Pinegar an 
emeritus General Authority who talked about the lord knows where he 
needs you, and that is why you've been called to where we have. Also to 
evaluate within ourselves the question "why am i here." It has been a 
really great experience being able to have the Holy Ghost with you all 
the time. I feel so good, and know what i am doing is right. I am so 
excited to Go out into the actual mission field and teach people the 
gospel of Jesus Christ. This Church is so amazing, and i know that it 
was restored. I love you all, and thank you for all your support. Just 
as Grandpa Wray said... Keep the Faith!
        Love, Elder Daniel Park Shurtz