Elder Ivan Bowles: Week 3 - MTC - Elder Fakava transferred, Foot Surgery, Key Cards, Form Letter

Elder Fakava got reassigned to the San Jose California Mission, I wasn't happy about that because he's not gonna be in our district anymore. He sure was happy because he doesn't have to learn spanish now, he's speaking English and Tongan. Since Fakava left, my companionship has three people in it now, so idk about that.

I got to watch my companion get toe surgery, so that was cool, he had had ingrown toenail surgery and they missed a loose piece of toenail in his toe so the doctor took it out. We got to leave the MTC for that so that was real fun. After that we mobbed around in Rite Aid and took our blood pressures while we waited for his prescription. According to the machine mine was normal, don't remember the numbers though. I thought that I was gaining weight, because during gym when I'd weigh myself, I was always 161, but then I weighed myself in the morning a couple times and I weighed 158. I guess I eat 3 pounds of food for lunch and breakfast combined. Pretty much I really like the egg rolls and curly fries in the cafeteria, they're real good.

We got to talk in Spanish to some volunteers that came by the MTC yesterday, so that was fun. I learned a bit by doing that.

I guess I snore real bad, my roommates say so. I'm also gettin real good at 4 square, just sayin.

I swear that they add a new flight of stairs to our building when we're gone, because it takes longer and longer to get to the top. On Wednesday I got to be a new missionary host, even though it's my second week here. Since so many missionaries come here during the summer, usually missionaries start hosting on their seventh week. I got to show the newbies where their classroom and bedrooms were, so that made me feel like I knew stuff.

For Sundays our branch president says we're all supposed to prepare talks for church, and then during the meeting he decides who he's gonna call on, so that's new.

Oh, and about the VISA, I went and got blood taken for a test. Also they say that they usually don't have VISA problems with Paraguay.

Also my companion got his patriarchal blessing, and his family got to come for that, so that was good for him. The patriarch said that he and his wife got called to the Pacific Islands, but only really talked to people in English because most of the Islanders spoke English as well as their native language. I also found out that senior missionaries sometimes get language training in the MTC but only for a couple of weeks.

Also, funny story, my companion and I found out that they track whenever we open doors with our card. They track it on the computer, so we wanted to find out if anything would happen if one of us didn't use our card for a couple weeks. I think its cool cuz now I don't have to get my card out to open doors ever, my companion always does it.

Love,

Elder Ivan Bowles