A few short emails

This week, Dylan wrote short, separate emails. P-days are still very busy for him! We hope to get some longer letters in the mail soon.


Hi Dad!
The mission's going good. We do have lots of people to teach every day, although sometimes they're hard to get a hold of. Our building is a quadruplex, and our house only has my companion and I in it. It's pretty roomy. I haven't spoken a ton of Spanish yet, but we're finding more Spanish investigators now. Happy 40th Birthday Aunt Missy! The party sounded like fun. We have one elder in our district who's native Mexican and a couple more in the zone. I'll keep working hard!
Love,
Elder Young


Hi mom!
I forgot my camera again, so hopefully next week for sure. I'm planning on cutting my hair today, so it'll be nice and short for the pictures. Thanks for the Greenie box!
"Characters of Christ" is definitely one of the best talks I had ever heard. I'll try to think of some goals you could make and put them with the letters I'm going to write. We hardly have any computer time today, so I'll talk a lot more in those. Sending down my Texas waffle iron with the huckleberry syrup sounds good though, and I think I need three more short sleeve white shirts.
I love you all!!!!
Elder Young

Hi Cassidy,
Llama fest!!! That's awesome. It sounds like EFY was a blast. I'm sure your lesson on Sunday was awesome. Marching band sounds like it's gonna be awesome too! I hardly have any time today on the computer so I'm going to try to write a bunch of letters later. Keep doing everything you can to stay close to Christ and strong in your testimony. I love you!!!
Elder Young

A Letter from Dylan's Mission President


We just received a letter in the mail from Dylan's Mission President in McAllen and they sent a picture!


Hola From Texas!

Hola familia!!!

I'm here in Texas, safe and sound! I'm working in a town called Weslaco, not too far from McAllen. It's a great place. It gets windy, which sometimes helps cool you down, but biking into the wind can be a pain. We go to the English and the Spanish wards every Sunday. I didn't really understand anything in the Spanish ward, but that's alright. We don't have any Spanish speaking investigators at the moment, but hopefully we find some soon so I can get more practice. I love the people here, though! Everyone is amazing. We get fed at least once a day, and the food is amazing. I'll try to pick up some recipes as time goes on and send some home, but I don't know if you could get all the spices and stuff up in Washington.

It's definitely hot down here, even though it has supposedly been abnormally cool the past few days. They call it the valley, which makes no sense considering there aren't even any hills.

My companion is Elder Charles, and he's great. Maybe I'll remember to take some pictures before next week. He's busy being the district leader, but we still work hard to learn and to teach as much as we can. Our whole district here is great. There are 12 missionaries serving in the chapel here, and four of us are greenies. It's crazy! You know God has something planned for these two wards with so many missionaries here. We're right by the church and the grocery store, HEB, so that's nice.

It sounds like Scout Camp was a lot of fun. I can't believe Spencer is such a good shot! I'm so glad you're working on Duty to God and reading scriptures, Spence. How have you liked Fablehaven so far? I can't wait to see Despicable Me 2.

I hope Cassidy has a great time at EFY, and has a bunch of awesome teachers and friends.

I don't have a lot of time left. P-days are still super busy. I'll try to write more handwritten letters from now on. I love you all and hope you keep finding ways to help people and stand as witnesses of Christ in all things and at all times and in all places.

Con Mucho Amor,

-Elder Young

An Extra Letter

Since Dylan leaves for Texas on Monday, he had an extra mini p-day on Saturday to do laundry and figure out all of the details before he leaves the MTC. So, we received a handwritten letter in the mail and an email this week! They included a lot of trip details that I left out but here are the highlights:

Hola Familia!

It sounds like the Fourth of July was a ton of fun, like usual. Is the old fireworks launch pad still holding up? Is anyone swimming in the lake yet? I miss all of the cute cousins. I haven't seen any babies in a long time. Hopefully I'll see tons in Texas. On the Fourth of July we got to watch the Stadium of Fire fireworks and eat ice cream and stay up late. 

I got the package with all of the camp cousin "Everything's Bigger in Texas" stuff, and it was all so cute! Hopefully I'll be able to eat all of the food I still have before I need to go, but the newer districts should be able to help with that. I got the Dear Elder letter so I'll have everyone's cell phone numbers ready for Monday. And the phone card is already in my wallet ready to go.  I'm so excited! It doesn't yet feel like I'm actually about to leave, but I'm definitely ready to get out of the MTC.
  
I can't believe in just a few short days I'm going to be out in the real world! We're planning to hand out some mormon.org cards at the airport, just to get a head start. The gospel is true!

Thanks for all of your letters and prayers! 

Love,

Elder Young

Our District with Hermano Warburton (one of our teachers)

Our District with Hermano Pence (another one of our teachers)

Last Week in the MTC

Dylan is sending us a letter in the mail this week so we'll post it as soon as it arrives. Here are a few photos of his district celebrating Independence Day and Canada Day.



Hola familia!


Hola familia!!!
Has it already been a month? Holy cow. This past week has been a crazy one. The Condos and Young Women's camp both sounded super much fun! How was the water at the lake? Did anyone go swimming? I can't believe I'm saying this, but I actually kinda miss Zion's camp. Spokane really is a beautiful place.

It's awesome getting to hear about all the new mission calls and life adventures of all my old friends. You have permission to like any significant or awesome post you see, just so they know I'm still thinking about them.

For the Tuesday night devotional last week, Janice Kapp Perry, the composer of a whole bunch of primary songs, spoke. She told us how she met her husband, and the first words he said to her were, "I think those lips were made for more than playing the Clarinet." Then Brother Perry got up from his seat, walked over, and kissed her right there in front of the entire MTC! It was hilarious. He got a standing ovation and everything.

THE DISTRICT

It's sad, but the MTC is dissolving our zone. There'll be no more missionaries coming in, and they're slowly reassigning all of our teachers and eventually even our branch presidency. It's too bad, since we have pretty much the best zone in the MTC, but I'm sure all of our leaders have other important work to do and people to bless.

I've been watching some of the Bible videos about Christ's life the past week, and they're all really awesome. I especially like the one with Him telling the parable of the prodigal son. It's such a strong story of redemption, forgiveness, and love.

YW camp managed to get 200 Young Women away from screens for a week, but just think about how many young men and women are leaving everything behind for two whole years! What other Church could inspire such dedication and sacrifice?

I hope you had fun at the Condos, Spence! I can't believe you know how to play racquetball. Keep practicing and we'll have to have a challenge some day. Were all of the cousins really cute? It's awesome that Jon Rogers is home! How's the minecraft castle doing?

Was it the worst Condos ever, Dad? Did you at least win the ping-pong challenge every day? That reader board ("Sometimes you have to believe to see") was definitely true. We receive no witness until after the trial of our faith. Faith is the most important thing as a missionary so that we can help bring miracles to the lives of others.

I hope I get Cassidy's letter soon!

I think that's about it. The days here at the MTC can get a little bit repetitive, plus my email time is short.

Just remember that even when times are hard, God is always there ready and anxious to reach out and help us. Remember that even if we feel terrible, overwhelmed, lonley, or unworthy, Christ has already suffered through every trial we may have. He stands at the door, knocking. All we must do is let him in.

Con Amor,
Elder Young