December 6, 2013

Dear Family,

I love you a lot!

I feel like I've already learned so much being here in the MTC for just under two days. It's very hard, but the Spirit here has been (and is still) very strong. There's a very special Spirit here that helps us missionaries so much.

You've probably wondering where I'm staying and who my companions are. I'm not in MTC West like Thomas thought I would be; I'm staying on the main campus (but in one of the farthest buildings from the cafeteria). There are five elders in my district (no sisters). My two companions are Elder Nelson and Elder Prohaska. The other two elders are Elder Huffaker (don't know if he's related to Val and Tony or not) and Elder Pitt. We all get along really well together! We're still getting used to each other, but I think we'll be great.

We've jumped right into learning! The first thing I did after I dumped my suitcases in my residence hall was go to my first Czech class. That was pretty hard, because the teacher didn't speak any English so we mimed everything that day. Yesterday was better. We had a different teacher yesterday, but he was willing to speak in English to us to help us get a bit more of a foundation in Czech before the teachers start speaking only Czech again.

The first night we had an awesome experience where we basically had panel appointments. A group of 50 or so elders and sisters sat behind a couch set-up and after some missionaries came in and set up the scenario the group started teaching. The Spirit was really strong, and it was really reassuring to see how He will give us the words that we need to teach.

Yesterday we spent the morning in a "People and Your Purpose" workshop. We watched some slideshows from the NYTimes/Religion site where people told about their experiences with God and their faith (none of them are members of the Church). After that we talked about how Christ sees them and how we could help them. Most of our instruction so far has focused on practicing seeing people as Christ sees them. I love it!!

Tonight we're teaching our first investigator as a companionship! In Czech! We'll probably say hello, ask him to read a scripture, bear testimony, and leave because that's all we've learned so far. Our teacher said that it was fine if our first lesson was only five minutes (or less).

Last night I was called to be District Leader. I still don't know much of what this entails, so far I've just been mailman, really, but my first leadership training meeting is on Sunday. I'm pretty nervous about being a District Leader already since it's only the third day of my mission! I'm pretty confident that I'll have lots of help though, especially from my MTC Branch Presidency and most especially from the Spirit.

I'm really excited to be serving! I'm very happy to be here in the MTC. It's a good place (though I definitely have not adjusted to the food yet). The Spirit here is strong.

I love you,

Elder Boyce