So this week was pretty good. In terms of the schedule it was the same as last weeks. Weeks 2-5 for us are all the same.... which is lovely.... But it honestly was a pretty good week! In terms of investigators, we have been continuing to to teach Lucio and Jose. Our lessons are continuing to get better as we are learning more Spanish. This week we also taught two member lessons. It was harder than i thought, but towards the end we were getting the hang of it. We also started teaching our other teacher this week. Her fake "persona" is named angela who is 16 years old. Our lessons with her have been going great as well! The main focus has been trying to keep her attention throughout the lesson because she does a really really good job at acting 16. After all of our lessons I wink at her and give her a piece of candy. She always breaks her character and starts to laugh. So we always walk back into the classroom with grins on our faces because we are the only ones who can break the teacher.

In terms of the classes, we are continuing to learn more and more Spanish. Mixed in with those lessons, we have classes on gospel stuff and how to teach better; always in Spanish of course:) The main focus has been "teach people not lessons". And if i got a day subtracted from my mission every time i heard that phrase i would have been home last week.... 

In terms of entertainment, we get mail twice a day; once after lunch and once after dinner. I'm the district leader so i get the pleasure of going to get the mail and bringing it back to our district. In case you didn't know, mail looks like a piece of heaven in the MTC, and every time I pass at the mail I feel like Santa Clause.... Which has been pretty fun:).... My district is super awesome. We own the MTC. We all get along really nicely and our branch presidents wife is basically in love with us. One of the hermanas's mom got us all yo yo so that was pretty awesome too!!!!  

But anyways, this week has been great. My companions and I have been growing a lot in all aspects of becoming the best missionaries we can possibly be. We are all really excited to leave this place but are enjoying the MTC as much as possible.

Elder Townsend

Well, another week down at the MTC. I think the rumor about time speeding up in this place is an urban legend. It's getting better though. The longer we are here the more busy we get, which is good. The days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days... so I'm told... It doesn't even feel like im in Provo. The MTC is like a world of its own. We are all starting to have dreams of escaping. Whenever they announce on the intercom they are looking for someone we cheer because that means someone actually did it.

The MTC itself isn't terrible, it's just the countless hours spent in the classroom. I'm loving all the lessons and the things im learning, but I'd much rather be down in Argentina walking around and teaching and talking with the people. Honestly, I think the MTC does this on purpose to make us excited to go out into the field... Elder Bunker's mom sent us yo-yo's d that has offered some amusement over the past few days.

The food here isn't actually that bad. It's the exact same stuff the had at the Cannon Center so that kinda stinks, but unlike the cannon center they have this salad  wrap bar which is stinking awesome! They have salads already made for you and you can also have them make you a salad wrap whenever you want. And they are good salads! They sometime have meat or fish in them and nuts too. it's different every meal everyday. They also usually have a lot of fruit and yogurt. So honestly, I guess i don't know what the rest of the food is like because I've only eaten from that salad bar for the past week in a half.... And, put simply, I feel great!! Everyone is getting sick and feeling crappy when I'm just chugging along! 

Everyday we get an hour to exercise. What i"v been doing is lifting weight upstairs by the indoor tack for about 30 minutes and then ill head downstairs to do whatever on the gym floor. They have volleyball, basketball, and four square. I've played a little bit of both, but my companions and I have really been loving four square! We tear it up!

This week we also got a new investigator. His name is Jose. We have only had two lessons with him so far but it is going super great. He is really funny and a lot more open than Lucio (our other investigator). Our Spanish is coming along very well and we are getting a lot better at sharing the message we have. Jose is probably a member who is just hired to pretend to be an investigator but out of the two lessons we have had with him we broke him down to tears. And when we go out to talk about how our lesson went as a companionship and to do our evaluation, we don't even remember like anything we said. All we remember really is the topic and just spitting out stuff in Spanish guided by the spirit. Super cool stuff! 

For Lucio, our other investigator, it was a lot harder. Everyone in my district has been having to teach him and everyone was struggling with him. But last night a fast one was puled on us. During our study time in the classroom, stinking Lucio walked in a suit and it turns out he is our other teacher!!! My companions and I kinda saw it coming because we had heard some rumors, but it was still hard to except. But it turns out he is a powerhouse! He taught us from like 6:00-9:00pm last night. Simply put, ive had a lot of incredible lessons over my life and have been taught in person from some incredible people growing up in the church and going to BYU, but no one has ever taken control of the room like Lucio. The whole lesson he just rocked our socks off. His lesson was basically on obedience and fulfilling our purpose as missionaries to be the best missionaries we can be. Never in my life had i been so mentally, physically, and spiritually drained than after that class. Not to be melo-dramatic but he freaking changed my life and total view as a missionary in three hours. He is incredible. Apparently he has been teaching at the MTC for three years since he got home form his mission and is just a stud!

So for the last few weeks I'm here we will have 9 hours of class almost every day. 3 of those will e spent studying and preparing on our own, the other three with our first teacher (Hermana Richards), and the last three with Lucio.

Also, for those that care, we found out today the days we are returning home. Mine said September 19th 2017.

I'll send pictures in another email

Well, it's been a crazy past few days. Life at the MTC isn't exactly glorious, but its doable. The days are soooooo long, but everyone says that once you hit Sunday its starts to speed up and then when you hit the mission field everything goes lightning fast.... but we will see about that... So far, in the past 3 days, we have probably spend 30 hours in our classroom learning Spanish and less than one third of that was with our teacher Hermana Richards. The rest of that time we have been on our own. I have two companions, Elder Bunker and Elder Broadhead. They are awesome! We have been having a lot of fun together so far.

Learning Spanish is going ok... We are in the advanced class so sometimes it seems like a little much but it's never too bad. Our teacher is really nice and cool but its frustrating to only hear Spanish for several hours. Whenever she slips up and starts speaking English I swear she start to look like an angel. We taught our first lesson to Lucio yesterday. We taught him about God and how to pray. He is a native and only speaks Spanish so I'm not going to lie; it was difficult. I'm also a little ahead of my companions so it was a little stressful because he would only look at me and I had to do most the talking. Which, isn't too bad at first when we are all learning, but it's hard when I'm not as quick on my feet.

Our p-day for the next five weeks is going to be on Saturday. Which is awesome. Also, something else I've learned is that we can receive mail everyday. There is a website that is called dear elder and you can go on and type my name and unit number ( Which is 102) and I can receive that message later the afternoon and evening. So hit that up!!

All the instructors and leaders here are so incredible. They are powerhouses. We met our branch president yesterday and the whole time I was kinda freaking out because I realized my top button on my shirt wasn't buttoned, and apparently, he is a SUPER big stickler on that type of stuff. So the whole time I just beamed into his eyes hoping he wouldn't break I contact and look down at my shirt... And im proud to say.. It worked.

My companion  Elder bunker is going to the south tip of Argentina and Elder Broudhead is going to Manchester New York Speaking Spanish. I've only heard of one other person ever going to my mission and that was from a guy in my district whose older brother went to my mission a little while ago. He was telling me that his brother got robbed twice at gunpoint, 3 times with knives, and 4 other times with no weapons. Apparently, he also got special training on how to avoid that type of stuff. He would carry a wallet full of fake cards and strap his real wallet to his chest. Whenever someone would ask him for the time he would just carry an extra cheap watch to give to them because apparently whenever missionaries would look down at their watches, the thugs would punch them in the face and knock them out and take their stuff.... So basically what I learned from those stories is that I have the potential to become Jason Bourne these next two years.

Oh, and I'm sorry to my Mom and Hanna who had to read that....

Well, we only have an hour to write, so till next time.