I was so happy to see so much mail today! I definitely felt like at first I was being ripped away from everybody but recieving the mail and packages helps me to know that we are going to be able to communicate just fine. It comforts me in a lot of ways. The MTC is a pretty cool place but I can definitely understand that 9 weeks would be pretty crazy, especially learning korean on top of that. I thought of you when a group of missionaries shouted onyonghaseo to me and my companions. I talked with a sister who is going to puscan, korea. That was pretty cool. Thanks for keeping me up to date on sports. That would be sweet if the Jazz got Jabari. I figured it would probably be Spurs and Heat in the finals. Today we went to the temple. it was cool. i read Alma 42 and felt like it applied to me a lot but had a few things I was confused about. if you could read that chapter some time and help me try to understand that would be awesome. I like the last verse the best. Class time at the MTC is my favorite part. My teachers are all so awesome!! Sister Howell is our afternoon teacher. She has been home for about 2 years. Brother Mills is so cool! he served in North Carolina and has only been home for 6 months. He is so good at teaching from the scriptures and relating everything to our purpose to invite others to come unto Jesus Christ. I think my favorite teacher of all is Brother Weekes. He is also recently returned and is playing the role of our investigator Justin, who we teach almost every day. Brother Mills gave me some good advice on how we can teach him based on his current needs. I am going to challenge him to make more time in his busy life to really study the scriptures. I think if he does that he can have the spirit testify to him more fully. My district is two trio companionships. Me, Elder Cordon and Elder Broadbent and then Sister Marcom, Sister Allred, and Sister Gresham. Being the district leader is pretty cool. I have had to assign everyone topics to speak briefly on following our devotionals. It was awesome on Tuesday night to have Russel M. Nelson come and speak to us. it has been awhile since i have heard an apostle live. We were on the fifth row. He spoke about how we need to be striving to become converted to the gospel ourselves so that we can help the investigators better. He was great. I haven't had too many chances to play basketball, my companions aren't really into it at all. They agreed to play on the first gym day. I had the opportunity to demolish them in 21. That was pretty cool. We have played volleyball and done some cardio on the bikes. I am gonna try and get them back into the basketball courts this weekend. Last night we went over to meet the missionaries that arrived yesterday. I did the best i could to help them feel welcome and happy to be there because I know how hard this is. it is still hard for me so it is way hard for them. I saw Meagan in the cafeteria on Wednesday. She said that she accomplished her goal on sunday and made grandma cry hahaha. i bet that was hard to do. Still keeping an eye out for Cass. Thanks for all the prayers, i pray for you every day too. ill keep doing my best to live up to the expectation of your mission pres. to be as good as you were. Mom, that package was awesome!!!! not sure im gonna be able to finish everything but we'll see. My companions have been helping me a little bit. There are a lot of details in dads letter that Im sure you will appreciate. We have two investigators right now. Justin (he is actually our teacher bro. weekes) and sydney who is a nice old lady and i don't know if she is a member or not. Some of the volunteers are and some aren't. i saw meagan yesterday and talked to her. I am still looking for cassidy. It feels better to know that i am not the only family member in the MTC anymore and more of my cousins are heading out too. i am happy for the facebook messages thats cool that you kept me posted on that. Since i wrote you and dad separate i will probly include things in the messages that are different and you can share them with eachother to figure out all the details. i forgot to talk about the food in dads letter so ill tell you. I was worried the first day because we had a salad wrap with cilantro dressing, but it has gotten a lot better. We have had bacon cheeseburgers and chicken and rice, spaghetti and meatballs. its pretty awesome. I am still looking out for people that look like lex. i found out that Elder Cordon has seen all of smallville and is a fan. That was pretty fun to find a common interest like that. I will definitely pray for the Sperry family so that they can have comfort. hopefully that funeral and the baptism won't conflict, we would "have a situation" as you would say ahahaha. The shoes feel great, even the athletic shoes feel a lot better. maybe that one day was just breaking them in. I havent got to play too much bball but hopefully I can talk my companions into another day. We went to the temple today so i guess i actually did see someone that looks like lex if you know what im talking about hahaha. i was jealous about hearing jena sing aint it fun. That is one of the greatest songs ever and im sure she did it awesome. Thanks for all the updates. i hope you are pleased with the details and realize that there are some in your letter and some in dads letter. I pray for all of you every day and i can tell you are praying for me. Its still hard but it is starting to get better. I was suprised how fast the first week went by. I look forward to hearing more from home. its great.

Love ya, Elder Newbold (hunts)