I just want to begin by saying this.
Mom, you wouldn't make it in the real world zombie apocalypse. Those zombies
would use the Tabasco sauce to eat you. I've been in the kitchen before; there
are tons of better things than Tabasco sauce.... anyway....
This has been another long week! But
there isn’t too much different so I’ll use some of my time to talk about the weird
things that go one here at the MTC. First are the secret combinations. I have
witnessed many but only been able to take part in one. After the fourth of July fireworks thing I
went back to the residence ready to fall asleep so I could be functional the
next day. After I got into my pajamas I went out to get a drink from the water
fountain. But there were about 25 missionaries gathered around it. I tried to
get through them to get a drink but suddenly they grabbed me and started
yelling "give some to the new guy!" I must admit I was expecting much
worse than actually occurred. I got pushed to the center of the circle where
somebody pushed a double shot glass into my hand and filled it to the top with
Martenelli’s. Everyone was chanting and stuff and dancing around and I imagined
when Moses came down with the 10 commandments he saw something like this waiting
for him. But anyway everyone was chanting as other people filled their glasses
and then one shirtless guy with the most defined 6 pack I have ever seen raised
his glass and everyone fell instantly silent. Then he screamed "TO THE
UNSHAKEABLE BROTHER HOOD!" and everyone responded "THE BROTHERHOOD!"
and drained their glasses. Then he yelled again, "We're getting real weird
tonight!" that’s when I decided I could just get a drink in the morning
and I politely .... pushed my way out of the circle and ran back to my room.
There are some other weird things that go on too. Almost every night the guys
do p90x [workout] for like an hour and most of them are all but(t) naked. (See what I did
there?) It made me think of Maryann (not the naked part though). It's kind of weird
because sometimes they also wrestle and stuff when they're all sweaty... kids
these days.
I saw Dr. Peer [one of Sam's professors from BYU] on Monday which made
me super duper happy. He was in the cafeteria and I broke the rules and yelled
out to him, he came running(walking) over and gave me a huge hug which made me
sooo happy. He remembered where I was going and asked me how the MTC was and we
talked for a few minutes. Then he recognized Elder Harvey which was cool too.
We all fist bumped and he went off to do his branch presidency stuff. He told
me to tell my dad hello, so dad - "hello" from Dr. Peer. What was cool was when I
sat down, the elder next to me said "habla espanol?" I laughed and
said "un poco" and then he (in Spanish) asked me if I was going to
Las Vegas and I said I was and he told me he was too! We talked for the rest of
the lunch and he was a really cool guy (elder). He knows more English than I
know Spanish which made me embarrassed but he was really sincere and I’ve seen
him a couple other times around the MTC since then and he always calls me Elder
Vegas and throws his arms around me. It makes me feel really good.
I’ve realized that a full day of
class and learning and study stresses me out a lot so I spend some time at
night drawing on the board and it makes people happy and unstresses me out
which is a double win. Recently I drew up a Teacher versus Preacher bracket
where the 8 district and zone leaders from our branch fight in the arena with
the 8 teachers that have been teaching us. All the teachers thought it was
hysterical and the nicknames have started to stick which is cool. Making people
laugh is like the only thing keeping me sane here. And reading all the letters
each week I get. I feel super loved when I get a nice big stack :) Thanks guys!
Quick shout out to the Johansson’s
to the giant box of food they sent me!!!!
It was like 10 pounds of delicious junk food. I haven’t been eating much
junk food here so I shared most of it and was an instant celebrity. Another quick shout out to Hannah - congrats
on getting engaged! You probably will be too busy to read this, but if not way
to go ginger!
They closed the gym to redo the
floor so I've been playing a lot of sand volleyball. Cool story huh? It's way
different than indoors because it takes a lot longer to start moving but you
can dive out there so that (almost) makes up for it. The problem is the sand
gets everywhere and is really fine so it has like stained my towel and some of
my shirts.
BUT IT’S OKAY BECAUSE ELDER MAYO
BROUGHT ME SOME NEW ONES!
I saw Cameron on Wednesday! I was
super happy to see him. I was coming out of lunch right as he left the
bookstore and I ran up and gave him a huge hug. I don’t think he was prepared
for it because he looked a little lost and overwhelmed, oh nuevos, so young and
inexperienced. He got some goof new glasses so I almost didn’t recognize him, but
not really. It made me happy to see him but I wish I had more time to talk with
him. Maybe we can sit next to each other before a devotional or something. But
he will have his hands full with Malay I am sure. He has to teach his first
investigator tonight in Malay and I am not too envious of that. I was talking
to another elder in his district who said that he was going old school and
memorizing a lesson because he couldn’t speak at all. That made me laugh.
Speaking of making me laugh I think
the worst band goes to Dad and the best (I promise I’m not playing favorites)
goes to Cameron. Dad you're a loser :)/
Kate - thank you so much for your letter. Of all the ones I received this week yours was my favorite. I must
admit that it made me tear up a little bit. You do need to work on your college
essays your senior year should be a fun time to learn a lot and not have to
worry about just like college apps. Get them done over the summer and then have
fun during the school year without having to worry about them. But I know that won’t
be a problem for you. The part about you throwing up made me laugh so hard. I
was picturing it 100 percent like the sandlot when they swallow the chaw like
splashing all over themselves and the people below the rides. Your signature
"Kato" really made me happy too.
I have three requests this
week 2 for the fam and 1 for everyone else. Mom and/or Dad can you send me
"The Nights Watch Oath"(it might not be called that). It’s from a song
of ice and fire it’s like 1 paragraph and can you also send me the walrus and
the carpenter poem? Thanks. I’ve been thinking about those a lot. Everyone else
keep sending me letters!!!! I love hearing from you all so much and they all
make me happy and smile. If you don’t know what to write just tell me about
your week and then end with a joke or your zombie apocalypse weapon or your
super band. I love, love, love, love, love reading your letters. I feel like
this letter was really short I hope it isn’t too short. But whatever it’s not
my fault, I've gotta be obedient right?
I miss you all so much. But I'm
having such a great time learning about myself, Spanish, the gospel, and you
weird human people. I'm so glad I’m not one. I don’t think I could handle it. I’ll
send home a paper tonight of more things that I want ya’ll to type up and put
on here but you probably won’t get them till like next Tuesday. Tsk Tsk. Snail
mail.
Thanks again for like the 30th time
for all your letters. Let this be like my SOS. If you can read this shoot me a
dear elder because I'd love to hear from you. I don’t want to seem needy ...
but I am.
Alrighty!
Your Favorite Martian
- Sam
PS. I thought about starting this
letter out like an Elder Hafen with a cool thing I've eaten this week but I don’t
think anyone wants to hear about the MTC food. It's probably way grosser than
that cobra blood smoothie!
Adiosciaobye!
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