Settling in the MTC

Zach sent us a couple of letters this week. He sounds really good and is very excited to learn. Here are some highlights from his letters so far.

So, today is my 4th day, yet it has felt like a month!
Everything is so busy here. We're constantly running
around to do things. They say that the other weeks will
be much more normal and not as strange as this first one,
so that's what I'm going for. It has definately been a
change in lifestyle. Waking up at 6:30 isn't too horrible,
but sometimes it's hard to stay awake afterwards. Around
10ish to be exact. When we go to bed at 10:30, I'm
always pretty exhausted, but then it takes me at least 10
minutes to fall asleep. I think my body is adjusting
alright though.

My Portugues is coming along, too! We spend about half
of our Teaching Instruction time learning new things in
Portugues (we've done basic greetings, introductions,
how to give a short prayer, and how to bear a short
testimony) and the other half working on spiritual
things (meeting the needs of those we teach, and not
just shoving a lesson down their throat). We've had a
lot of meetings with important people, like the MTC
Presidency, and Branch Presidency. They all have given
pretty good "fireside" type talks and things.

The Spirit of this whole place is pretty amazing though.
Everyone is usually nice and smiles at each other in the
hallway.  The food is also not so bad! I've only had 2
cases so far where I felt sick and my stomach was quite
troubled, but that is far better than most others. There
are usually like 4 choices of what you can eat, so at
least 1 or 2 are gross, but the other choices are much
more conducive to my tastes. I had a stomach ache once
and had to drink... Sprite (shudder). It was like
poison in my body, but somehow it healed me.

Time to sign off! I love you all!

Love, Elder Carpenter

Airport

Before Zach left we all helped him pack. It was quite an adventure. Sarah wrote his name on everything, Jenny stitched Zs in his handkerchiefs, while Dad & I tried to figure out how to get everything in his suitcase. Here is Jenny's amazing job on the handkerchiefs.

While packing Zach was asked to bring a little first aid kit. Here is his little first aid kit.

Zach checking in.










Breakfast at the airport. We had time to sit and talk before he had to leave.


















Pictures with the siblings before leaving...

He made it!!!

Zach made it to the Provo MTC on Wednesday, Feb. 10. We know this because we got a generic email from the MTC mission president. We are still waiting for actual confirmation from Zach. I'm sure he just hasn't had a P-Day yet. (He didn't really need one yet because all of his clothes were clean!)

Here is his address:

Elder Zachary Emmanuel Carpenter
MTC Mailbox # 352
BRA-CUI 0413
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604-1793