Week 5

Holy cow!! I can't believe that it's already P-day again! Wow, this week just flew on by.

Well, I guess first things first; my visa. I still don't have it, but they did tell me today that I should have it by the end of this week, which means I should be headed to PERU next Tuesday, as in a week from today. So, we'll see what happens and where the Lord decides to take me.

So, what happened this week........ Well, we had, last Tuesday evening Sister Julie Beck, the General Relief Society President, come and speak to us for our weekly devotional here. She was ok, I guess, jajaja. Then we've been studying like crazy as usual. I was in a trio for the past week and a half, until last Friday when the Elder that made my companionship a trio received his visa and he took off to Peru yesterday at six in the morning(That means I was up at about 5:30ish...that was a lot of fun......), so I'm back in companionship mode with just me and Elder Gatica. The days here at the MTC are just flying past, it's crazy how fast it's been. I'm afraid that my mission will be happening this quickly, and it'll be like BAM! I'm done. So, I'm trying to get the most out of every moment here. Oh, and another thing, yesterday, we had a substitute teacher, and he's a recent RM from the Buenos Aires West mission, and he knows Allen!! One of his old companions is in the same apartment as him! I thought that was pretty cool. The temple today was really cool. We did initiatories today, and we set a world record for the most initiatories done in an hour- 622!! That's a ton of people. It's great to be doing the Lord's work in such great numbers. I also finished the Book of Mormon again this week. It's really cool to read Moroni's last words at the end of Moroni 10. They really inspire me. Today, I also went in and got trained for the Referral Center, which Elder Gatica and I are going to go do tomorrow during our MDT(Missionary Directive Time), and I'm totally looking forward to it.

Mom- 1st thing- Favorite Scripture is Moroni 10:32-34. Second, my workout schedule is: 60 pushups when I wake up, then during gym I play basketball and four-square(mainly foursquare because I got huge blisters on my feet from playing basketball in bad shoes), then in the evening I do about 275 crunches.

Dad- Hope you're doing well!!! Eat that powder up!!

Aly- Thanks for the short letter. Funny story, I met some sister that went to USU before their missions, and they tried to appeal for me to go "because of the beautiful girls that go there" hahaha!

Emi- Hope school is going well!! Have lots of fun, I expect a letter from you soon.

I will write next week with more of my exciting adventures here at the MTC!!!!

love,

Elder Christian Craig

First Letter!

Hey everyone!!!!!!!

The MTC is going great! I have a great companion, Elder Gatica, who's from Eagle Mountain, Utah. My district is just a bunch of cool elders, we all get along well. It's a pretty tight schedule in the MTC. I get up at about six every morning, then I go to personal study time, or MDT. Then I have classes and gym all day long...it's tiring, haha! I'm speaking a lot of spanish now. No, I will not write my emails in spanish, just fyi. I have two awesome teachers, Hermano Anderson and Hermana de Leon. They teach me a lot, and with Hmna de Leon being from Guatemala, they keep me on my toes when it comes to spanish. The food here is good cafeteria food. I don't think I'm gaining weight, yet. I'm being good about exercizing everyday. Sunday was probably my favorite day so far. We had an awesome Fast and Testimony meeting, followed by a powerful Mission Conference. Then that evening, we were able to have the chance to hear Sheri Dew speak(CEO of Deseret Book), and she is a powerful speaker. We finished the day by watching the Joseph Smith movie. I had never seen it before, and man, was it good! It brought me to tears. It definately strenghtened my testimony that he was a prophet of God.

And just so you all know, there is a more than good chance that my visa will be delayed, which means that I probably won't leave the MTC until December or January, but I'll keep you informed. Also, my P-Day is on Tuesdays, so if you send me emails, that's when I'll get my chance to read them. But what I would really love is if you guys send me letters through dearelder.com, then I could read your letters the next day. Also I only have 30 minutes to read and respond to emails every week, so dearelder.com is totally preferred!

I love you all, and I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I love being here, and I miss you all!!!

Love, 

Elder Christian Craig

At the MTC!

We dropped him off at the MTC. What a day! He didn't have to be there until 12:45 so we woke up early, cleaned up, Christian got dressed in his uniform, and we decided to go for a drive. We drove up to Brighton Ski Resort where we walked around and took pictures. Then we headed down to the University of Utah and Christian waved goodbye to the stadium.

We then got on the road to happy valley. We were running a bit early so we stopped for lunch. Then we parked across from the MTC and got out to take pictures. We weren't the only ones with that idea. It was full!

Thank goodness for sunglasses! I must say, the fall colors were gorgeous.

Then we jumped in the car and went thru the drop off line. I think it's a fantastic concept. It makes it so much easier. I went to the family orientation when my siblings left on missions and it dragged the whole thing out way too much. We pulled up and they had a group of missionaries there to welcome the greenies.