Week 6 in the MTC

Hey!

This week my amigos that are going to Tampico (but are in another zone) found a teacher who just got back from the Mexico Tampico Mission 7 weeks ago. Elder Girot and I talked to him a few days ago for a while, and he told us alot about the different areas in the mission. He was an Assistant to the President for a while so he really knows alot about the mission, we looked on a map on the LDS website and he like literally gave us a little tour of the whole mission. He said there are about 9 zones in the mission, 5 are in Tampico city, and the others are spread out. He said that there is quite a bit of poverty and that the locals are very friendly. Elder Girot and I are going to meet up with him again on Saturday to see some pictures and ask him some more questions about the mission. Hearing some specifics about the mission are has really helped me to feel more excited and motiviated to learn as much as I can here at the MTC.

Elder Girot and I stopped by the travel office earlier this week because some of our friends who were supposed to leave for Mexico on Monday didn't recieve their visas in time and now have to do another week in the MTC while their temporary reassignment gets figured out. The lady at the office said that the office that approves visas in Mexico had been closed for like a month and so everything is supposedly really backed up down there. She told us that it is very unlikely that we have our visas and told us that we would know a week before we are supposed to leave. Even if I don't get my visa in time to leave for Mexico right away, I know that whatever happens will be what is supposed to happen. There is nothing I can do about it anyways so worrying about it wouldn't do me any good.

My companion, Elder Girot, is doing pretty well. We are pretty different in a lot of ways but he is very kind and easy to get along with. There is another companionship in our room, Elder Gardner and Elder Wright, and they are in my District and are the Zone Leaders. We get along really well, Elder Wright was at BYU this past Fall but he lived in Heritage Halls so I never met him. Our Zone has been getting new advanced Spanish Districts (which stay at the MTC for only 3 weeks) but we were the last intermediate Spanish District until this week. The new intermediate District has an Elder who is also going to Tampico so thats kinda cool.

The Spanish is coming along very well. There is this thing called "Subjunctive" and it used to drive me nuts. Subjunctive is basically whenever I am expressing judgement, emotion, doubt, or influence in a sentence, I need to do a different conjugation of the 2nd verb in the sentence. It is something that just takes a lot of thinking and practice to learn. I have been memorizing the triggers that always set up it up to be subjunctive so I am getting better at it.

Thanks so much for the package! I love the calendar, its nice to have a big picture of our family. The two cans of pizza pringles have also given me a lot of joy. That FHE sounds pretty fun, I bet the people without homes were very appreciative. That is awesome that Natalie Lambert is going on a mission and that she will be so cloase to Derek's mission! I am also happy to hear that Kelsey got into BYU-I from her letter, has Kaitlyn heard back yet? I love you all and I love hearing from you. I will keep you in my prayers and in my thoughts. Have a good week (and Valentines day)!

con amor,

Elder Johns