Weekly Letter: March 16-22

para todos ustedes:

Another week! Man, time just keeps on going! Time is such a weird thing here at the MTC, It's kind of weird that life keeps on going outside of the MTC. We are so isolated from everything here, we have no idea what's going on in the world. We didn't know about the earthquakes in Chile and other areas in the world until a teacher mentioned it in passing....BIG MISTAKE!! As soon as they said that, every single one of the missionaries within earshot began pelting him with questions about everything that's going on over there. Also, it was weird to think that yesterday was the first day of spring....I didn't believe it until we went on our temple walk. It was so hot! I'm so glad I'm gonna be able to go without a suitcoat in Mexico, I think I would probably die!

For some reason or another, my email didn't send through last week, but Elder Bradshaw left for Maryland a week ago as a temporary reassignment until he gets the paperwork done for his Argentine visa. After he left, my District leader (and one of my former companions) jokingly put forth the idea of maybe assigning me with yet another trio of missionaries, so as to make the number of companions I've had in the MTC even bigger. But I went back to Elder Jensen and Davis, so I'm still at 6, but I am absolutely okay with that. I really enjoy my companions, they're way cool, and way funny.

The other day, Elder Jensen was just walking into the shower before I pointed out that he had his scriptures in his hand. He didn't even realize it. I later suggested maybe he could take it to the MTC copy center to get every page laminated....that way he could study in the shower as much as he wanted.

Spanish is coming. We've almost learned all the tenses, so, in theory, I should be able to say whatever I want...but that's in theory only. I also realize that I'm having a hard time understanding Spanish when it's spoken to me, especially by native speakers. Yesterday, I was walking back from watching the Joseph Smith movie and I saw a group of Mexican elders that I had met my first day here. They had jokingly agreed to teach us Spanish if we taught them English the last time we saw them, but that was a good four weeks ago.

Arrogant as I was about having learned so much in these last few weeks, I tried talking to him in Spanish. After we got the "Hola, Como esta"s out of the way....I was in trouble. I had to apologize and say that I didn't understand what he said(in Spanish, which, gratefully, he understood). Then we had a bilingual chat between each other, and I left him saying in the best Spanish I could muster that his English was so much better than my Spanish. He thanked me but denied it...I thought about jokingly accusing him as a liar, but I didn't know if he would misunderstand my intent and take offense...so I just said goodbye, and thought upon how much trouble I'm going to be in when I'm in Mexico and can't fall back on English.

Anyway...time is short, but that's pretty much my week so far. MTC is great, I want to head out in the field, but I'm scared at the same time. Time seems to drag on throughout the day...but the weeks fly by faster than should be natural. Just know that I'm enjoying my mission so far and working my hardest....hoping that it will be enough to help the people in Mexico.

Con Amor,

Elder Thomas Blackham

Weekly Letter: March 2-8

Para todos ustedes:
Hola! This week has been another week of change. Just literally 24 hours ago I found out that I would get another companion. He was scheduled to depart for Argentina with the rest of his district this morning, but found out Saturday that his visa hasn't gone through. So the branch presidency decided to break up the trio I was in and put me in the companionship with Elder Bradshaw.
So far, I think we've been getting along pretty well. He's got about a month more of experience here and I'm looking forward to learning from him. I'm just worried that he might feel left out and a little awkward around our district, but so far everything has been going pretty well.
Anyway, with Elder Bradshaw, I will have had 6 missionaries as companions during these 5 weeks at the MTC....wow! Yeah, that's pretty insane. I'm starting to consider asking the MTC president if I'm breaking any kind of records here.
MTC life goes on. Sometimes it's hard to realize that I have been here over a month, but then I think about the first day at the MTC and that feels like an eternity ago. I literally am having a hard time remembering what I did with my life when I wasn't a missionary.
So I'm starting to get anxious to get out in the field, but I'm also loving it here. I'm thriving in this atmosphere of continual gospel study and growth. As much as I want to go to Mexico, I realize that once I'm out in the field, I won't have near as much time to really feast in the scriptures like I am now.
That being said, here at the MTC, it's hard to think that life continues to go on. I'm glad to be getting some letters from some of you that keeps me somewhat updated on some of the things going on in your lives, but at the same time, it's weird not knowing(and not necessarily being concerned about) what is going on in the world.
For example, when we had a MTC fireside last week, and the speaker talked about some of the things going on in the Olympics I was like: "Oh yeah, there is stuff going on right now....not everyone is putting their life on hold." Then we learned about the earthquake(s) in Chile, (mostly from the Elder's whose departure dates were delayed), and I realized how weird it is being so isolated from the world.
A couple things that happen in the MTC remind us how truly isolated we are from the world. We were walking to lunch one day and there was a truck parked in the middle of our path. We don't think much of it, because we're hungry and it's raining and we just want to get to lunch. However, Elder Taylor momentarily loses his footing on a puddle and manages to steady himself by touching the truck. We don't think about it too much until Elder Taylor doesn't move for a moment. We then asked what was going on and he says "I just realized that this is the first time I've touched a car in a month!" (of course, each of us were blown away by the same realization and each took a turn to touch the truck).
Also, nothing catches our district's attention more than when one of the elders cries: "¡Niños!" Immediately, every spanish-speaking elder stops what they're doing to see for themselves if these young children, truly, still exist.
Yeah, MTC life is great, but I'm starting to see how much of a bubble it is. People joke around about how it is like a prison (except you get no visitors or telephone calls), but the truth is, everyone one of us volunteered for this, and I, for one, am enjoying every moment of this spiritual feast.
The reason why I feel this time here is so precious is because of a talk someone gave in an LGM last week. They told us that our time is precious to the Lord...it is his time, so who are we to waste it? In Preach My Gospel it tells you to take an accounting every night of how you used your time that day and report it to the Lord and your mission president weekly.
I never thought that the cliche "time is money" would apply so much in the mission field.

Well time is short so I better get off and send this.

Sincerely,
Elder Blackham