Elder Devin Pfister email Oct. 28, 2011

Hola Padre y madre!
Thanks for all the mail! getting mail is like the best part of the day! Some cool things that happened this week were that I got to give my first blessing. My companion got really sick so the zone leaders came and helped me give him a blessing and he got mostly better by the next day. and a bonus is i got to take a nap while he was sleeping which felt great. Another cool thing is that one of the teachers here just got back from panama so i was talking to her and apparently there are over 300 islands in Panama and there are tribes on them we get to teach. and if you're lucky enough to go over there you get to learn a new language, Kuna or something like that. It has a whole new alphabet and stuff so it would be really hard but way cool too. Also the mission president lets us go to the temple most p-days down there so I'm excited for that.

The mtc weirdly enough is starting to feel like home to me. I feel like I've known and been friends with the elders in my district for years. i feel like i know some of them better then some of my friends in Logan. and my companion is great, he gave me a tongan haircut, which is super awesome! and a cool tongan rugby shirt.

So as you suspected i found my missing sock in my suitcase somewhere so no need to send me anymore. And to dad, remember when i was trying to figure out that story for my farewell talk about the guy on the top of a hill and a guy on the bottom and poisoning by degree but you said someone must have made it up? Well I found it! Alma 47 or 48 verses 8-19. :)

Thanks for the Halloween package! I now have way more sugar than i can eat haha but my tongan comp. loves it and he can eat alot. also I really enjoyed the glowing pumpkin snow globe. I'm excited to see the Australia book you guys are making, those books are really fun. I will be sure to mail grandma today. 

Are you excited to go to Brazil? Did you have problems getting a visa? Because there are a ton of elders here who are supposed to be in Brazil but they can't get visas. Every elder is supposed to go to the Sao Paulo mtc so there aren't supposed to be any here at all, but there are some who have been here over 9 weeks and are getting reassigned.  I think there is a way that i can borrow a coat and give it back to the mtc as long as it is in good condition so i don't think i'll need a coat. I've been lifting and running a mile most days. And we play soccer alot which is super fun! Can't wait to go down to panama and get schooled by the latinos haha.

Spanish is going good, i can pray, testify, get to know someone and teach the first lesson pretty well. :)

I got to do sealings today in the temple; it was really cool! It felt super spiritual and sweet to be able to seal people that can't do it themselves. It's really nice getting to go to the temple and relax and just feel the spirit in a nice quiet peaceful setting. It also reminds me of going to the temple with you guys and it makes me miss you.  And it's cool I can go to the temple in Panama.

In answer to your questions, I had to use a knife to eat my cereal because I grabbed one to spread cream cheese on my bagel but I didn't get a spoon for my cereal. My roommates are still on and off - going at each other, the bad part is the lows are getting lower but the highs higher too. And half our district is leaving on Tuesday so it's only gonna be 6 of us left. My Spanish is going pretty good i think. I can get to know people, pray, testify and give the first lesson pretty well. I am still kind of frustrated with it though cuz I can't focus as much on the gospel while I'm learning Spanish, I have to focus on that more. One really fun thing here is playing soccer during gym time. I'm excited to play with the latino people even though they're going to school me. It's getting kinda cold here but we're inside most the time so it's not bad. It's funny watching the people from like Arizona freezing to death while the people from Utah are still in shorts and are fine haha.

I'm sorry to hear that the car hunt for Cory isn't going so well. Hopefully he will find one soon before it gets really cold in Logan.

For Christmas the only thing i can really think of that I want are ties, ties and more ties. It's cool, at the mtc everyone trades ties and stuff. I'm proud to say I have the coolest tie in our district. Everyone is jealous of it and have offered to trade 4 ties for that one. They even stole it once but I got it back :) but besides that maybe cool pen or nice little day planner or something. I'm not really sure; anything you think would be nice for a missionary to have.

some things i could use are:

-a little simple calender

-another pair of jeans (the boot cut ones, no holes in them)

-my black Nike sweats

-a few more pairs of white ankle socks

-my brown flip flops(the blue ones are too small)

-and maybe a plain black zip-up hoodie

oh and Dad, could you photo copy those pages in your mission scriptures with all the good bible verses pertaining to the Book of Mormon? Those come in really handy in our teaching. 

Thanks, I'll be sending most of it home before I head down but it's getting pretty chilly right now.

Any luck on Kevin's address? If you want something to tell the priests, tell them to study their Preach my Gospel like no other. Besides the scriptures it's the most used thing here. Before any of the teachers will help us with anything, they tell us to go and read that section of the PMG even if we've already read it alot. We use it for everything!! I wish I would've really studied it before I came. And I wish I'd read Jesus the Christ, True to the Faith, Our Heritage and Our Search for Happiness.
All of which I just bought so I can start reading.

Thanks for all the mail and packages! They are what keep me going sometimes. but you'll be happy to know I'm not really homesick at all anymore.  Lots of my district are getting really homesick but it already passed for me.

I can't think of much more to say... any more questions? How's life going? Pet and give Yukon a treat for me!

Thanks for everything! You guys are the best parents ever!!

I love and miss you guys so much!

Love, Elder Devin Pfister