November 19, 2011

hey mom,
officially my pday is on thursday, but we got like a time to wash clothes and just kinda chill today, so expect them on thursday from now on. i actually just sent a letter today so i guess you're gonna get two here pretty quick.
things are good though. sorry if you get some repeats in this letter. food is actually not too bad. spanish is pretty rough, it's only been like 3 days but i feel like i'm behind. i'm doing my best to pray and have faith, but it's rough, i'm sure i'll get along though. we've been teaching an "investigator" and he only speaks spanish, at least only to us, so it's really tough getting a point across, so we'll see how tonight's lesson goes.
i hope i'm being a good elder haha, i'm trying to be everywhere on time and stuff, and be quiet during personal study. actually i should tell you, elder steve clarke is my first companion! cool huh? we were both pretty stoked when we saw that. he ended up being our district leader, and so i'm the senior companion. we both bounce ideas off each other and i think we'll do some good work.
i'm pretty sure i have all the garments i need, i'm sure i'm fine there. and i did realize i don't have a blanket, so i'm just using the extra sheet i have. it's not cold at all, and we have a thermostat in our room so we can change it. we have 6 elders in there, so it's super crowded. there's only supposed to be 4 so there's hardly any room. but we all survive. these last few days have been incredibly slow, i really have no idea how long i've been here at times. everyone says the days go by slow but the weeks go by fast, and i'm starting to realize that's true. and honestly, there are moments where i just don't want to be here and i don't know what i'm doing, but i'll endure. thousands have done this before me so why can't i?
we're busy all day. get up at 6 30, shower, and go right to class at 7. then we have breakfast, some personal study mixed in here and there, but we're literally in one classroom for like 8 or 9 hours a day. and it's all in spanish so it's terrible haha. we get gym 5 times a week, and it's already the best part of the day. basketball is fun, i do miss playing with dad and all those guys, but it's good playing with kids my age too.
i'm not really sure what else to say. at least for here we have a timer for only 30 minutes so i'm trying to fit in as much as i can. there's not too much to talk about after only 3 days, so i'm sure next week will be better. already getting letters seems like christmas, so tell everyone to write me and send me packages haha. elder farnsworth sent me one before my own family! but it's only been a few days so it's no big deal. i hear a good thing to use is dearelder, so you might want to look into that. i don't think i have time to explain it, and i don't even know how it works so you can learn better than me haha.
well i think that's about it, not much else to say. i'll have to come up with a good salutation like trev haha, but for now a basic one will suffice.
love you all
Elder Jordan Paskett