Ryan's First Email--August 8, 2011

Thanks for the email from Scott. He is definantly right it is tough, I thought me and a bunch of the other guys in my district(classroom) were going to lose it on Thursday. We are in classrooms trying to learn Portuguese for 7 hours a day and then we have study time for another 3 hours, it is intense and grueling but I have started to get used to it. I have 3 other guys who I knew before in my district of 11 people so its a lot of fun. Although having a companion is kinda weird and was very tough at first, I am definantly not used to being around some one nearly 24/7. Elder Clingman, my companion though is a pretty nice kid from Utah, a little different from what I am used to...he is from utah after all but he is nice and works really hard so no problems there. Brother Bateman gave a talk on faith last night which was absolutely incredible and inspired me to try harder and he talked about some things I had never thought about before, it was great. I also got the chance to go to the Provo temple this morning which was nice, but I had to wake up at 6:15 which is getting easier but is still pretty though. The MTC is not what I expected, its a compound lets be honest but that has also helped me to focus and learn portuguese and study my scriptures and other things. Oh and another thing I never though mail from the outside world would be so exciting. People here literally love letters and cant blame them. Dear Elder or a letter is definantly the way to go over myldsmail.net which we can only use for 30 minutes. Being here at the MTC is a learning experience and I am learning a lot and my testimony is growing and with sole purpose being on missionary work for the lord, I learn new things every day and strive to be better and work harder.

Love your son,

Elder Ryan McCord

heres my address