When I first got here it didn't really feel real yet. Just kinda felt like a tour in a suit and tie. I was put in a trio companionship. Elder Lindsey is from Provo, so a local guy, and Elder Becker is from South Carolina. Both great guys, interesting in there own way but easy to get along with. In our district there was 10 of us, 7 Elders and 3 Sisters and half of us are all headed down to Arizona in either the Gilbert or Mesa missions. And the other half is headed to cali and boston.
We have the coolest district! We seriously all just get along so well and are always making sure to communicate and everything! Elder Anderson (district leader) he's a really short American Japanese and is super energetic and we all have these really awesome handshakes he has for all of us (I'll try to throw the video in if I can) and everyone is super impressed with the handshakes!
We have a 3hr class in morning and night and the teachers we have are phenomenal! They just really love the gospel and love missionarys and are very engaged and still young so kind of immature, which is great cause we get along amazing!
The thing about the MTC is you sing.... you sing a lot..... like, A LOT!!! I'm pretty sure we sing like 20 hymns a day (excluding Christmas day/eve) and we sing all the verses. THE FOOD! I've been getting that question a lot! I actually love it! They do a really good job at mixing it up and if you don't like what's for dinner they have leftovers from lunch you can choose from. You can have as much soda and ice cream and food and cereal and anything they serve, you can have as much as you want! So if you're ever hungry, it's really your own fault.
I know probably 20 kids from different schools and stuff that are here so that's cool to run into them and see where they're headed.
One of the coolest things about the new MTC buildings is their mural pictures... wow I can't even explain how beautiful and real and recapturing they are! I'll send a few pictures but they don't do justice for them! What these pictures are, are a fabric picture with lots of vibrant detailed colors that are framed and behind the fabric they have rows of small LED lights that light the entire canvas and make the picture fell alive. You almost wanna step into the picture. We've all tried to take candid photos the capture the "moment".... well these photos are captured MOMENTS that make you feel apart of the doctrine.
For Christmas eve/Sunday we had a sacrament with just our branch of 18 people. We talked about the nativity and other stuff but i don't remember the other stuff cause i was sleeping. We had a Christmas program and later that night we watched a movie called Christmas For a Dollar. It's a really good show and it's got its fair share of humor as well.
As good as Christmas eve was, Christmas DAY was full of surprises! In the morning we had a Hot breakfast (although breakfast is fresh, it's usually only kinda warm) and it was delicious! And at lunch, we had sirlion steak! i ate two and it was so darn yummy! In the afternoon, we had a general authority come and talk to us and it was Niel L Anderson! He's really funny and has a very engaging presence when speaking (although i did fall asleep half way through, so maybe not as engaging as i needed :P) and at the end he walked around and was shaking peoples hands. He was headed our way when he started heading out the door, and the Sisters in my district were just dying to shake his hand! So AS Elder Anderson was HALF way out the door, two of the three sisters ran up and shook his hand squeezing past his body guards and it was hilarious! It was one of those embarasing but proud moments of the sisters. After Elder Anderson we had a class and dinner and nothing very significant there. At 7:00 that night we had a devotional and that was all we were told. As we were singing the opening hymn, David Archuleta walked in! The MTC president stood up and explained that we were having a surprise concert with David Archuleta singing and his friend Madeline Paige. Every sister (and some Elders) lost there minds! He was phenominal, he sang obviously lots of Christmas songs and a few popular reverent songs like his cover of Glorious and other songs that just help us all feel the spirit and made Christmas all the better. He shared some stories from his mission that were really inspiring to hear. He had one experience where he was on a bus and spotted a young lady who had piercings and just looked very intimidating to a Missionary who had only been in the field 3 months and only spoke some broken spanish and the spirit told him to give her a YSA Invite to an activity and he talk the spirit no 2 times and finally gave in the third time. Through much broken spanish difficulty, He gave her the Pamphlet. 2 years later he finds out that the young woman joined the church, converted her family and lots of friends and was preparing to serve a mission. It was so cool to see how listening to the spirit can have a huge dominoe effect that changed so may lives by just listening to the spirit. He was very inspiring and made me more excited to get to the mission field. Well Obviously all of us were just wanting to shake his hand and maybe get a photo afterwords but knew it was not going to happen (Including me). Well following his performance and his friends he announced that he was willing to stay a bit longer and shake EVERYBODY'S hand! We all were really excited to be able to shake his hand and that's all it was because there were so many of us and we weren't supposed to take any photos but I asked a sister to get a sneaky pic to prove I'm telling the truth and she Did! So i have a blurry photo to prove I'm being serious!
Anyways the MTC has been really great overall. Learning lots about how to teach through the spirit instead of walking in with just a set layout of a plan. It's the coolest thing being able to learn so much everyday. Like we have a three hour class and every time we feel like it's gonna drag and be a long day but by the end we all feel like we want more time because we get in this learning groove that we just don't want to end even though it's 9:00. It's amazing how my h you learn in such a short time and I've got 2 years of it! One thing I'm struggling with is making sure I say sisters and Elders. We all just keep saying You Guys or Dude or any other lingo we're use too and it's hard to switch how we address everyone. I have so much that I wanna keep telling you all but my fingers can't keep up with me.
I love and miss you all and if you send me an email any day I can read them and I'll respond on Thursday's since that's my P-day.
Let me tell ya, as a missionary it's always good to hear what's going on in all of yours lives! Since I don't have Insta to keep me updated 
If I have more time today I'll send more about what I've learned and other things they're happening.
-Elder Hales
