Week 1--MTC!

Well well what a week. I dont think I've learned more about myself in such a short period of time. It's been amazing, but also really tough in a positive way if that makes any sense.  Right when I left you guys I got my name tag, they showed me my room and threw me in a classroom. Within a minute of being there our language teacher came in and we began. I was still teary from saying goodbye but everyone in the classroom had to suck it up and start working. 

One thing I've learned here is that the Lord doesn't waste time. I've had to learn that we are no longer on our own time. It's actually a pretty hard transition to make. It belongs to the Lord now. We study the language for about 7 hours a day and then another 2 or 3 with the scriptures and preach my gospel. I've come to grow an amazing desire for the scriptures. I love reading them and seeing all the amazing sacrifices the prophets have made.  Being in the MTC has made everything have a purpose. My prayers and just the way I go about my day all have meaning. It's a great way to live. 

My companion is Elder Denkers. He's a total CHAMP. I love him to death. We have a ton of fun together and can relate to each other so well. The other two guys who we live with are amazing. One guy is called Elder Beckstead who is just like Jordan Allen. He literally drinks 4 cups of milk for every meal.  He's hilarious and probably is one of the most positive guys I've ever met. Elder Richens is from Mesa Arizona and is one of the deepest thinkers I've ever talked too. I literally could talk to him all day and never get bored. Hes like a national wrestler too which is cool. Hes going to the Y after and I can tell we are going to be buds. Total baller. We have a cambodian elder in our District.Hes from Athens, Georgia so he talks like a black dude but he's asian. Wierdest/funniest duo ever.  His mother ran away from pol plot and escaped to America. He's 25 has tons of tattoos and a convert but acts like hes 18. We were in the temple today and he fell asleep during the session and when it was quiet he like totally started sleep talking loudly while it was all quiet. I was dying. We had to wake him up.  He's the power in our district. Hes made me cry like 5 times with the spirit he brings. Every single person in our district is amazing. Everyone is so chill and so open about everything. I feel like I've known them forever. 

The language is really really rough. Our teacher isnt allowed to speak English to us, so it forces us to try even harder to learn. Within two days we had to teach a full lesson in Cambodian... I almost started laughing right when we started. It was so bad. Everything we said made no sense cause we cant say anything right. We have to learn the romanized version in order to learn the language so we're technically learning a language in order to learn a language. Talk about hard stuff. The thing I've learned the most is how important prayer is. I've had to rely on him for almost everything. I probably say like 50 prayers a day. I've come to understand how much we need him. Its literally impossible for all of us to do this without him. Ive only been here for like 5 days but I can say a prayer and talk a little bit. Its insane. I love it. 

Thanks for the package. We get mail here everyday so If any of you guys are feeling some love for Sam packages and letters are always fun to get. A lot of people use Dear Elder.com

Lots of love for you guys

Elder Smith