First week

Hola! (sorry, the enter key on this keyboard seems to be broken)

My first email as a missionary. Yep. This is it. Here it goes. To start I'll answer the list of questions that you had for me. My companion is Elder Ragusa. He is from Notrh Carolina, and is very cool. He is very out there and fun loving and is a bit of a jokester. Next, My cold has gotten better(ish), but the cold weather really isn't helping. I'm thinking I might actually want to live in a warm place like Phoenix or Tuscon. Bitter irony, no? Some cold is okay, but walking back to the MTC from the temple in a small blizzard is not my idea of fun. Next, at gym I normally run the track a few times, about 1/2 a mile worth, lift weights to build my upper body, then play a game of half-court basketball with the guys in my district. Apparently, we are not supposed to play full court because that would be too aggressive. I have bottom bunk, which is fine by me. There are no ladders so it's kind of a scramble to try to get to the top. I have seen tons of people I know here. It's really cool. I've seen Gage Peterson, Shane Larson, Hans Larson, Jordan Doughty, and Sam Thorpe. Hans and Jordan actually have the same mealtime as me, so I often see them there. The food seemed really great at first but now I'm just sick of it. I really miss Dad's cooking, or even my own cooking. And yes, the food here does give you gas.

My district is 12C. Yeah really interesting name, I know. My instructors are awesome!!! They are Hermano Jarman, who went on his mission to Spain, and Hermana Neves, who served in Washington DC. They keep us really busy, why on the first day they taught us how to pray. It a lot of work and moves really fast. Today we will be greeting people in a "park" in Spanish and then teaching the first lesson in English. The language is hard but it is coming, slowly but surely. The hardest thing is praying for a group in English when the Spanish words you are used to saying keep popping up in your head. Really annoying. But I like it. No, culture classes from what I've seen, but I'll have to send you a copy of my schedule. It's insanely busy. My siblings have no reason to be whining. They don't have 9 hours of classes a day. Solid. Each night is a blessing.

It seems like I've lived here for so much longer than a week. The days seem like weeks and the weeks like days. It was really hard at first but I'm over the worst of it. Seeing as today is Wednesday and I'm writing my letter today, I'd have to say today is P-day. This church is so very true, and the restoration of the gospel is likely one of the greatest things of all time after the Atonement of our Savior. I love this evangelio (gospel). I love you all so very much, best of luck and the Spirit in all that you do.

Sincerely, Elder Gabriel Rallison
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John 14:27