Trials truly make you grow spiritually

Hey everyone! Thanks for the letters. It was really good to hear from everyone. The MTC is great. We are learning a lot of things way fast. At first I got overwhelmed and I kind of hit a wall on Friday afternoon. I got frustrated and then got homesick. But after a couple hours I was good and I have been good ever since. I know that after I do all I can then the Lord will help with the rest. There's no point in getting frustrated. My testimony has grown so much over the last couple of days. Trials truly make you grow spiritually. We have learned how to bear our testimonies and pray in espanol, plus a bunch of words and other things.

Here is a typical day day at the MTC...
6:30 - wake up
7:15 - breakfast
8:00 - personal study
9:00 - companion study
10:00 - MDT (Missionary Directed Time)
11:30 - Lunch
After lunch we usually have class, then dinner, then class until nine. Everyday is a little different but that is the basic schedule. On Mondays we are going to have FHE in the evenings. On Tuesdays we will have a general authority devotional. On Wednesdays we will have a service project in the morning for about an hour. Five days a week, we have gym for an hour. On Sundays we don't have classes. We have all the basic church meetings like priesthood, Sunday School and Sacrament. We also have a fireside and then movies after that.
We just go a new MTC President. So he and his wife talked. Their last name is Bird. The movie our district watched this week was Legacy. The show four movies each Sunday and you choose one.
Today is P-day. We have until 5:15 to do what we want (dinner is at 4:30). I have seen a bunch of people I know. Logan Obering and Kyle Christian eat at the same time as me. I have also seen Steve Starley and Ben smith around. Dane Askeroth from Parowan is in my district. Our district is really neat. The elders in my room are Elder Craig, from Washington; Elder Houder, from Ontario, Oregon; and my companion is Elder Seymour from Portland, Maine. We have all bonded really fast. We are the best of friends already. We were all struggling a lot at first and we talked a lot and helped each other. Elder Seymour was on the verge of going home, but we helped him through. He helped himself a lot, too. I really do love it here so you all don't need to worry at all. I am eating plenty of food and the food is very good. My companion is fun to be around and we get along great. Thank you mom for the blog stuff. And thanks for being such a great mom. You too, dad. You are a great example to me. And to answer all Justin's questions....
I love the MTC;
it's very fun (and challenging);
Spanish is kinda hard, but it's fun to learn;
my companion is a couple inches taller than me;
I don't know if he snores cuz I'm a deep sleeper.
Thanks dad for the letter. I like the quote thing. Thanks for everything everyone.
The spirit is so strong here. It's nice to know that no one is perfect, so I fit right in. We went to the temple this morning. It was amazing! I really don't think I could learn this language this quickly without the spirit.
Yo se que el evangelio es verdadero, se que la templo es el casa de dios, se que el Libro de Mormon es verdadero, se que el presidente Monson es un profeta di Dios, se que Jose Smith fue un profeta. En al nombre de Jescristo, Amen. I can't write much more without looking at my notes or a book. Sorry my letter isn't organized very well. I love you all and I hope that y'all are having fun because I sure am!

Love,
Elder Gray

P.S. Could you send a couple things with your next letter. No rush.
1. my mission call or a copy of it.
P.S.S. Thanks for the pics too!


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A note from the Gray family....we knew 2 stake presidents in the Lancaster/Palmdale area 19 years ago with the last name of Bird, a father and son...I wonder if it's one of them. We'll have to ask Elder Gray!