Elder Paxton's first email

hi mommy and family

I'm having a fun time. i really like my companion and the other people in my district we all get along very well and are learning so much so fast. i think i have learned more Spanish in the 2 days I've been here than the entire first year of Spanish in school. my p days are going to be on Friday but hopefully i can do some laundry before then.

Yesterday we had a guest teacher come class. his name is Hermano Martinez and he is a non member going to byu and is from equador. after he taught us we asked him some questions to get to know him and after we did that we had to teach him something about the gospel and fulfill our purpose as a missionary(which is: invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and his atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the holy ghost, and enduring to the end) all in Spanish because he doesn't know hardly any English. it was a little frightening because my comp and i had to go first so we had about a minute to prepare something. we tried to teach him that families can be together for ever and he was understanding our broken Spanish but then he ask us como or how and we could answer him in Spanish but we really wanted to teach him more.

I look forward to gym time everyday because it is a change of pace and i get to play volleyball which is very fun. also my branch president is Rex Shumway's little brother which is fun because he is a lot like Rex and i like Rex. i have my more direct address but i left it in my room but I'm sure if you send anything to the one in the book it will get to me. the things i want the most right now are my other coat hanger and my brown flip flops. you don't need to worry about getting my ipod here so soon because we aren't allowed to listen to any music in the mtc, not even church music.

Conference should be good but a little rough because today alone we will be sitting in the gym for six hours in stadium type seats I'm thinking about bringing my pillow for my butt.

I love you all and I'm loving it here. i hope to hear from every one real soon.

Love,

Elder Paxton