Tuesday 8/23/11

Dear all- I only have a half hour so I have to make this short. Instead of replying by email on this account, please go to dearelder.com and you can write me there and they will print it off for me and put it in my mailbox the same day. you can write everyday if you want! and then i can write back to everyone on here. Ive had great first week at the MTC. It was kind of hecktic coming in here when my aunt Heather dropped me off.  I didnt really know what was going on but i got to lunch right away. After that, we went to our classrooms and the teachers didnt speak anything but Malay. I was glad that i learned the little bit that i did before I came here because that really helped me.  I met my companion Elder Steadman. He is a pretty cool guy from Riverton Utah. We get along pretty good. Which is a big relief because i was nervous about getting some kid that was a goon for a comp. So I room with him and Elder Brown and Elder Meister. These two Elders are great. They are both going to Singapore too. ELder Brown wrestles for Chicago University which is super cool. ive talked wrestling with him a couple times and it makes me really miss is, so i try not to do it too much. Elder Meister is from Australia so all we do is make fun of his accent. But usually he'a alright with it.  So we didnt do much the first day. And the second day was AWESOME! So i guess the elders that lived in our room before us decided to leave us a little present! some elders came to our room and told us to to look around all the hidden spots in the room for candy. we did. and we found A TON! in every little hidden nook and craney. we took off the air vent with a screwdriver and sure enough....FOOD! we got boxes of cheeze its and oreos and tons of king size candy bars. I wish i would have filmed it all. it would have been fun to watch us all freaking out. So in the MTC they give us "investigators" to practice teaching with. Its amazing how fast you can learn the language they are teaching us here. We gave out first lesson completely in Malay to our investigator, Juni, after the third day. Its awesome. There isnt anything that makes you feel as cool as teaching someone the gospel in a completely different language and knowing that they are understanding everything youre telling them. I have only been here for about a week and we are already giving complete lessons, praying, and bearing our testimonies in Malay. Yesterday, Elder Steadman and I taught Juni a lesson on reading the Book of Mormon and praying. It was such a good feeling to see how he took it all in. We gave him a Book of Mormon the day before and he actually read it.  We went over with him the promise at the end of the BOM in moroni. And he was totally stoked on it. then we taught him to pray and he said his own prayer! and we did this all in a different language!  I almost didnt want  today to be P day just so i could teach again and feel like i did last night. It was honestly awesome. So other than that we have been super busy. we dont have any time to rest or do anything for ourselves. Everything is all about the LORD! and for some reason everything seems a lot funnier than it usually would. Things i normally wouldnt laugh at seem like a comedy show. Like last night, Me and Elder Meister just had a laugh attack. He started laughing and then I started laughing and we could stop! it was out of hand haha.  I guess thats what happpens when you have no source of entertainment besides the scriptures and preach my gospel. So thats about all i have time for. Im like the only elder that hasnt got any mail yet from my whole district. hahaha so write back! and as much as you want. mail is like christmas around here. its great. I dont really know what to ask about, but ask me any questions you want! id love to write to everyone!
                                                                                                     Denang Kasih, Elder Jacob Trotter