MTC First Letter, July 4, 2013

Leaving the MTC was hard and we started just driving around.  We went and visited some old friends and then headed for Idaho to spend the 4th of July with our daughter Lauren and Dennis.  I ended up staying in Idaho after the weekend and the boys drove home to Arizona.  When Dad got home he told me there was a letter from Connor and he read it to me.  He is what he wrote:

July 4^th, 2013

To Whom It May Concern:

Things are going great here at the MTC.  As soon as I got here, they already had me speaking Spanish.  Because of the 4^th of July, they had to cram both Wednesday and Thursday into one day, so it was very overwhelming.  We had a meeting and they told us that on July 3^rd, there were 841 NEW missionaries, where normally there would have been 200-300 this time of year.  We were the largest group of new missionaries to enter the MTC.  They had 100 cars come in every 15 minutes! CRAZY!  They have the MTC’s first missionary from Cuba, and a whole row from Japan that doesn’t even speak English.  We read through D&C 31:3 and it was a very powerful scripture.  Every time I read it I can feel the spirit so strong and I get goose bumps.  My companion’s name is Elder Johnson.  He is a really cool guy.  He is short and scrawny but will be a very powerful missionary.  He is very book smart and very excited to learn.  He is from Huntington, UT and he just barely graduated from high school.  They made me senior companion….but I heard it’s just because I am older.  The first night was rough.  When we got there we dropped off our bags in our room and we didn’t see our room till 9:30.  We had to unpack, read, get ready for the night and pray in just under an hour.  The beds were uncomfortable and unbelievably HOT!  Didn’t get much sleep.  We had steak for dinner our first night.  Let’s just say it wasn’t ribeye…..I’ve been spoiled.  Salad bar was really good though!  So far I’ve run into Spencer Wilkinson, Kelli Torgersen and a couple other people I know.  A guy from my district is from Gilbert and went to Gilbert High.  I don’t hold that against him… He is still some what of a good guy…I guess.  Nah, just kidding.  I love my district.  They are great guys!  Five of us are going to the Buenos Aires North Mission, 3 of them brought sleeping bags.  Apparently, they haven’t taken out the whole southern tip out of our mission.  There is a small part, so there is a chance I will be with the Penguins.  Well….I have to admit that I was wrong.  My Pday is on Wednesday so you won’t get an email till next week and I’ll send pictures.  Tonight we get to walk up the hill and watch fireworks.  So that should be fun!  The MTC is a closed campus, so on Pday I can’t walkover and go to the bank and such so hopefully everything works out there.  So I actually leave the MTC Aug 12^th so my address is Aug 12 ARG-BAN, 2007 N. 900 E. Unit #89, Provo, UT  84602.  I only have 60 minutes for email so try to have people write letters and do Dearelder.com.  I snuck up that Diet DR. Pepper and at the end of the first day I went straight and opened it.  Even though it was warm it was the best tasting thing ever!!  Well, that was my first 2 days.  I’ll try and send more but there is barely time to think!  Everything is so fast paced.  I need to learn how to drink out of the drinking fountain a sip at a time, instead of the fire hydrant! 

With Love,

Elder Connor Olsen

p.s.  I ran into Kelsy Foutz today.  Very Fun.  We got to watch 17 Miracles & then fireworks and ice cream (on the 4^th of July)