Week 1


Week 1
Tuesday, December 26, 2017

 Hey everyone, it has finally been a week! Mom you'll have to send this to other people who want my emails or add them to this because I don't have everyone's email.

First day was really sad, saying goodbye to my fam and chillin alone in the airport waiting for around 3hrs to leave calgary, I also bought this smoothie from jugo juice that was the worst decision of my life because it was awful. Anyways i sat on the flight to seattle beside a guy who looked like Samuel Jackson, but sounded like mutumbo. His hands were bigger than Michael Jordan's but he was smaller than me. He also wore a hat that said "warrior for Christ" on it, and old me about how perfect his religion was,.... the whooooole flight. Then in the Seattle airport I met a missionary going home to Denver, a senior missionary couple, and a boy and girl missionaries from Taiwan. They didn't speak the best English but they followed me around the whole time and then followed me once we got to the salt lake airport, they were super nice tho, and I've seen them around a couple times.When i got to the airport I got picked up by the Perrett's which was great and then they dropped me off at the MTC. 

Since i went a day early they dropped me off in the "international kid room" where i would only stay the night. I met elder Darington who is from Australia going to serve in the Calgary Alberta mission! I met Elder McCarty from Edmonton, and Elder Yull from Ontario. Also they was elder Lisboa de Santos there... he's from Brazil and he practices English with me when he sees me and i practice Portuguese with him. Anyways the next day we woke up, got breakfast and then went to get our nametags and meet our companions. My companion is Elder Webb from Georgia. He is a 2x state wrestling champ, and a 1x national wrestling champ, he's also a maestro on the flute, and is fluent in Spanish. Oh and he's 21.We met the rest of our district, then the rest of our zone (Zone=3 districts combined) Everyone in the zone is going to a Portuguese speaking mission, and i Just missed seeing Danny D by 1 day! I see Teigan all the time tho which is cool.On day three I felt kinda sick but not really, I also gave a Teigan a letter from Bryn lol... 

We met our first Portuguese investigator Ana, she's from Brazil and is about 22. She just got off a breakup and all the elders in the district joke about dating her in two years hahah. To end the day we met our branch president, and were interviewed. Following the interview he selected me and Elder Webb to be the new Zone leaders after just 2 days! Pretty cool, that means I'm in charge of all the Portuguese speaking elders and sisters. The next day was my birthday and thank you for all the wishes. And we finally got gym time, in the gym I was munchin in ball and they were calling me "The Canadian Mamba" pretty funny. Also Friday is pizza day so we got pizza for dinner.Sadly I didn't get all my presents until the next day because they didn't come until then.On December 23rd we talked to Ana for a second time and it went well. Picking up the new language is really challenging though and at times i wish i was learning English, but I know the Lord is having me learn Portuguese for a reason though. There is one Elder named elder Throolin and he told a sister to shut up and kiss him in Portuguese, but she actually spoke portguese well so that was awkward. Elder Throolin is one of the most interesting people I've every met... If you email me I'll tell you more about him... 

On December 24th it was a spiritual Christmas eve and i really enjoyed it , and I also got my presents. Christmas day tho was amazing. Started off with the movie " a Christmas Carol" then for lunch we had these legit huge steaks... amazing. After that we called home and i was so glad to hear my parents and my brothers who I love and adore so much. Following that Elder Neil L Anderson came and talked to us! before he even entered the room i could feel the spirit so strongly and when he talked i felt it lots. I actually fell asleep while he was talking though and i had a dream of pure white and let and woke up with some tears in my eyes cause it was as strong as I'd ever felt the spirit.  Him and his wife came up to me after and shook my hand asking me about my mission!!! Crazy. when he shook my hand the spirit just surged within me. After that we didn't do much until our next devotional. We thought it was gonna be another boring devotional but it turned out David Archuleta was performing! It was absolutely amazing, and The spirit was for sure there. After it was too bad because my friend Amber was there but she left right before I could see her. I talked to her mom and her brother David after and let them know how she had a role in me deciding to go on a mission, which i was glad i was able to say because it was just great to let them know.

This Christmas was different but unreal. It feels like I've already been here forever but it's actually so much fun and I really enjoy it here! It's so fun to talk and here where random people are from, and going. My room which consists of me, Elder Webb, Elder Taylor, Elder Angeles, Elder Freeman, and Elder Throolin is awesome and it's a lot of fun. There's some missionaries in our zone who have been here a couple weeks and they're super cool and we've for sure bonded already, i always stay up late in their room talking about life back home, and life in general. They're just like me and awesome. Also i haven't been able to read any dear elders because our district leader who is supposed to get the mail is being an idiot and won't go get the mail even though we tell him to everyday. He's not too loved at the moment aha, but we still love him a bit. If you have any additional questions ask me and I'll for sure answer because I might've missed stuff. Also sorry if my spelling is bad, I've been typing really quickly. 

The spirit is so strong here and it's amazing to be around so many people in your position with your same values. Unreal. The spirit is truly here and I know I'm in the right place for this stage of my life. 

I love you all, and every email i get makes me so happy. I can check emails every day, but only can respond on Mondays. (Except this week [Tuesday]) 

Elder out

Mamba Out


Elder Layton and his roommates

The Elders in front of the scripture that Parks referred to in his farewell talk.



Elder Layton and Joseph Smith 


Elder Layton and Elder Teigan Simpson 






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