Week 1-- MTC

Cooper mentions Dear Elder in his email. This is a free letter service for kids that are currently in the MTC. You can write a letter and have it delivered that same day, as long as it's before noon. To write him you need his name (JOHN Hopkin) his Unit # (212) and his departure date (OCT26), his mission (NIC-MAGS) is optional. That's it! Please send him a note if you have a minute. Even if it's just the word Hi! 

Mom,

I'm totally not homesick. Totally.

Elders Isham, Black, Peterson, Hadley, Meza, Hopkin, Seneca, and Jonovich

I definitely haven't thought of running the block and a half back home, and yours and dad's letters and emails most definitely didn't make me cry. I definitely did not cry front of all the elders in my district. In all seriousness though, I do seriously miss home, but at the same time, I definitely know that this is where I'm supposed to be right now. The work is difficult, the language is hard, my companion is hard to get along with sometimes, but through all this, I can feel my testimony growing every day. In that video that we watched, the elders that spoke weren't lying. You can always feel the spirit in this place. Which is good, because we all definitely need the gift of tongues. But it's definitely a thing, because I know for a fact that I know more Spanish now than I even came close to in school. 

Anyways, to answer some of your questions: My companion's name is Elder Seneca. He's from Northern Virginia, and he's going to the Nicaragua Managua South mission, like me (in fact, most of our district is, but I'll cover that in a sec). He's kind of a quiet kid, and really likes rules, but is probably one of the most studious (I can't think of a better word for it) missionaries in the district. We have some friction, but he's my companion, and I don't think it was by random chance that we were assigned to each other. In my district, we have 11 missionaries in total. By companionship, there's Elderes Seneca and Hopkin (hey, that's me!), Elderes Peterson and Jonovich (E. Jonovich is the DL), Elderes Black and Isham, Elderes Meza and Hadley, and Hermanas Hawkins, Tobey, and Hussey. We're from all over, the closest probably being E. Peterson from Morgan, and Hna. Hussey from SLC. Almost all of us are going to the Nicaragua Managua Sur Mission, except for E. Jonovich, who's going to El Salvador, E. Hadley and Hna. Tobey in Mexico, and E. Meza in Chicago. We're definitely a quirky district, but I love each and every one of them. We're a family. Which, since I don't have direct access to all of you, is definitely a blessing. 

As for schedule, it's more or less the same every day. About nine hours of study time, which includes personal/companionship/language study, teaching investigators, and class with Hna. Lamb, our spanish teacher. We currently have two investigators, Travis and Diana. We've had three lessons with Travis, and he's said that he would get baptized if he felt like what we've been teaching him is true, so that's what we're trying to help him know, at this point. As for Diana, we've only had one lesson with her, but we committed her to reading the Book of Mormon, and about praying about its truth. Diana is Catholic though, so the talk about baptism is going to be... interesting. Alongside all of that, we have choir and devotionals every Tuesday and Sunday. The devotionals are really cool, because we get some really cool people who come to talk to us. On Sunday it was the man who does Music and the Spoken Word (I've forgotten his name), and on Tuesday is was Elder Cardon of the Seventy. All in all, it's been really interesting, and I've definitely never studied this much in my entire life. The whole "MTC experience" is taking some getting used to, but I feel like I'm adjusting pretty quickly. I don't think the homesickness will ever truly go away though, there'll just be some times where I get distracted from it. 

For housekeeping, there are a few things that I need other than the raincoat. If at all possible, it would be great if you could send me my towel that I'm pretty sure I forgot in the downstairs bathroom, and one of my sweatshirts would be a good thing as well. Besides that, there really isn't a lot that I can think of that I really need. I'll be very receptive of anything you would like to send me :) The only other thing I can think of along these lines is that it would be great if you could get my Dear Elder information everybody, and send the information to this email as well. It's fun getting letters during the week, and it would be nice to hear from people on more than just my P-day. I'll be checking my email again just really quick at around 5:30 or so later today, so if you could send me that info quickly, that would be fantastic. And finally, my tentative return date is currently set for August 28.

To finish, I just want to say that I really love and miss you all more than I could possibly describe. I know that I'm where I'm supposed to be, doing what I'm supposed to do, but that doesn't mean it isn't so impossibly difficult to go two years without seeing the people I love. Thank you for all of your prayers, and know that you are all in my prayers every night as well. And tell Evie I love her, but that I definitely don't miss loading the dishwasher :) 

Love,

Cooper

P.S.: Pictures! More to come, eventually.