Letter #4

Tuesday, 26 August 2014

Well, It's getting a little better. Mon Français est... getting better. One of our teacher's, Frère Call, is pretty great. He's pretty funny and is just great at teaching. I've been getting lots of help and I'm getting better at studying. I'm getting along with my companions better and better now that I'm getting a little more comfortable, and we're rooming with one other companionship and we all get along just fine. Our rooms a bit of a mess, but we'll hopefully fix that today.

Our branch presidency is pretty great. One of them is a French teacher at BYU so that's cool and they've all got some good stories to tell. We did switch up our zone leaders because the old ones left to Paris on Monday. And we got 2 new districts also going to Paris. One of them is a Stapley, but I don't think there's any relation to Sarah. She's from California if I remember right.

The food here isn't terrible, and there's a lot of it. The best is that they have ice cream on Wednesdays and Sundays. And during breakfast I try not to have Marshmallow Mateys everyday :-).

So I've seen quite a few Sky View people out here, so that's gives it more of a high school feel. Dad, Tavish Geunther says, "Hi!". Most of the people here are from the states, but I have met a few people from Australia, Germany, Sweden, Hong Kong, and France. Pretty cool. 

Thank you all for your letters and your packages! I did get Michelle's and the cookies were delicious. I also did get the one from Connie. Thanks for the socks and the Simpsons Lego. I was going to put it by my alarm clock, but it was Crusty the Clown, and he has kind of a creepy smile, so I just pull him out sometimes.

Thank you Nikkolas, Grandma and Grandpa Mcgee and Grandma and Grandpa Perkes for the letters you've sent. They were very uplifting for the end of a long day. The DearElders are nice too.

Here it's just like high school. Except 24/7. and more spiritual, and all you can eat food. 

So the sisters in my district are now the music coordinators for sacrament meetings and they want me to play during one. Now I'll need to find sometime and place to practice.

So Sunday was Awesome. We had to sit in the overflow in a classroom but it was ok. Brother Allen gave a really good talk about enduring the mission and being good missionaries. He made everyone stand up or raise their hands a lot for things like 'do you think that the MTC was more intense than what you thought' or 'stand up if you've been Dear John-d". There were a few.

So I guess since I'm a missionary I should probably say something missionary-like.

You know the plaque with my favorite scripture on it? Well, I forgot which one's I put on it, but I think I forgot what my real favorite scripture was: D&C 121:7-9

"My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over thy foes. Thy friends do stand by thee, and they shall hail thee again with warm hearts and friendly hands."

Before I got here to the MTC, I never really noticed verse 9: "Thy friends do stand by thee, and they shall hail thee again with warm hearts and friendly hands."

I love these verses so much. My mission's gonna be tough. Life's gonna be tougher. I'm glad that we've got the toughest, smartest, strongest, most loving Father on our side. And not only that, we've got friends who are with us, who will help us through, who will be there when we come home. I'm glad I've got friends on both sides of the veil, supporting and helping not only me, but everyone they know and love.

Love all y'all and praying for ya,

Elder Perkes