Crazy Ohio Weather!!

Family!

TORNADO!!!!!

Yep, that's right, I, Elder Foote, saw a tornado with my very own eyes!  We were contacting a referral in a town out west, and as we left their porch, this crazy siren went off!  It was super loud!  Everybody came out of their houses, and they were all looking around trying to figure out what was going on.  Then we saw it.  It wasn't a full-blown tornado, but it was a funnel cloud that started to come down from the clouds!  It was amazing!  I hope the pictures I took do it justice...  And yes, instead of heading indoors, we stood outside and took pictures. =)  It didn't really amount to anything though; after about 10 minutes it went back up into the cloud and disappeared.  But still!

While I'm on the topic of the weather, I finally got a taste of the humidity everyone said I would feel.  We had a few days where it was so humid I sometimes thought I could see the water!  Also, I got to experience one of the crazy Ohio rainstorms.  I thought I had seen rainstorms in Utah, but the one we were in was insane!  We had to pull off the road it was raining so hard, and afterwards there were inches of water left on the road.  It was awesome!

Thanks for the package!  I got it last Monday after we got back from emailing.  It was perfect!  I did think of something else I need.  I don't need it right away because Elder Graf has one, but in the future sometime, could you maybe send me a card-reader thing.  I think Dad has one; it's that thing with the USB on one end and a place for a memory card on the other.  It would help to have one.

No strange food this week.  The members either feed us at their homes, or they give us gift cards to nearby restaurants.  So I've had a lot of Subway and Chipotle this week. =)

As for the work, it is hard.  Finding Spanish speakers in Ohio is an ongoing challenge.  There are only a few central areas where they live, and over the past few years those areas have been tracted by missionaries many times.  So finding people who haven't been talked to before is hard.  We tried a new technique a few days ago.  We got the phonebook, looked up every Hispanic sounding name, plugged the addresses into our GPS, and went contacting!  Needless to say, we are trying to get the members more excited so we can get some referrals from them.

While we are out, we run into all sorts of people with all sorts of beliefs and stories.  A few days ago we talked to some guys from Sudan who had come to Ohio only a few months ago to get away from the wars over there.  There are lots of amazing people and stories out there.

But yeah, we just keep plugging away for now.  We just have to keep in mind that the Lord sent us here for a reason.  In a training meeting last week President Porter said something to the effect of: "The Lord doesn't make mistakes."  I know that's true.  I am where I am for a reason, and if we keep working, we'll find the people the Lord wants us to teach.

Well, that's about it.  I hope you all have a great week and good luck with your last week of summer Katie and Trevor! 

Love,

Elder Foote

P.S.

Oh, I almost forgot.  I might need a bike.  It's not anything urgent, but I've been passively looking for a bike shop around here.  Just thought I'd let you know.

The apartment

My amazing baking job...

A giant statue of Jesus as seen from the freeway.  A few years ago it had it's arms raised upwards, but it got struck by lightning, so they rebuilt it with the arms down.  If you look closely, there's a lightning rod on the head now...

Crazy rainstorm.  Picture doesn't do it justice.

TORNADO

TORNADO

TORNADO

Southern Patriotism in Dayton Ohio...

Fireflies Are Real!

Family!

Lot's to say and not much time, so I'll dive right in!

First off: FIREFLIES ARE REAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yep, I've seen them with my own eyes, and they are amazing.  It took me almost a full week to notice them, but now I can see them everywhere...

Do you remember how the Casto family started calling me Luke because they thought I looked like Luke Skywalker?  Well, I'm starting to think there might be some truth to that statement.  I have now had 4 different occasions where people have told me I look like Luke.  They've come from members, missionaries, and people in the MTC.  One member lady even said I should take a light saber with me tracting to help us get in the doors...

Well, the members here are great!  The branch is super small, so every fast Sunday they have a tradition that after sacrament meeting we go right in to the cultural hall and have a lunch as a branch.  It was really fun, and I got to try cactus!  That's the only really weird food I've had so far.  But anyway, I can kind of communicate with the members.  Most of them know at least some English, so after I've struggled through a few sentences, they'll help me out and respond in English.  I overheard some of them talking about me, and they said that I speak very clearly (or at least I think that's what they said...) so there's that...

Last week was the last day of the month, and with our car we have a limit on the number of miles we can drive each month, so we were pretty much out of miles.  So we drove a bit that day, but we planned on walking the rest of the day.  We had everything all planned out, and we were going to get to our dinner appointment right on time, but then we realized that we were headed to the wrong address!  So we ended up having to call a member to come pick us up since we had walked like two miles in the opposite direction of the real house of the dinner appointment.

On a more spiritual note...  We were in a lesson with a Spanish speaking investigator, and before we started I felt impressed to read 1 Nephi 2 with them.  So we read the chapter, and afterwards the investigator related Lehi leaving Jerusalem to his family leaving Mexico and making a better life in Ohio.  It was a super cool analogy, and it led to a pretty good discussion on how God loves each of us and is always looking to bless us if we'll follow him.  And I said everything in Spanish, which was amazing!

Dad asked about how we do tracting, so I'll put something in about that.  We are primarily focused on teaching the Spanish speakers in our area, so we try and focus on finding the people who speak Spanish.  So our tracting is really only focused in places where Spanish speakers live, which aren't too common in the middle of Ohio.  A lot of times we'll ask people if they have any Spanish speaking neighbors and follow that, but we also spend a lot of times in some little towns north of Dayton where there are more Spanish speakers.  It is pretty difficult to find people who speak Spanish that haven't already been talked to by missionaries, and are also interested.  We also teach a few English lessons as well.  So really I'm doing bilingual work, but I really only know one language... =)

Oh, I forgot to mention last week, Dad, our transfer meeting was in Middletown, so I was there for about half a day!  And we have a referral down there, so I might be back there sometime this week!

Well, I think that's about it.  I'll end with a short scripture that I think is pretty cool and applies to me pretty well.  You can find it in D&C 39:14, “Behold, verily, verily, I say unto thee, thou art not called to go into the eastern countries, but thou art called to go to the Ohio.”  It's a great reminder to me that of all the places in the entire world, I was called to Ohio.  There are people here for me to teach the message of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ.  I just have to go find them!

Have a great week!  Love you all so much!

Love,

Elder Foote

Week 1 in Ohio!!!

Hello Family!

Greeting from Ohio!  It has been a pretty crazy week and a half since I emailed last, so I'll dive right in to everything!

First off, let me give you a rundown on what happened last Wednesday, the day of departure!  We got up at 3 am to take Elder Maughan to the shuttle stop.  After that we came back and got everything ready to leave, then went back down to the shuttle stop at 5:30 when our bus was supposed to leave.  We saw a bus leave at about 5:20, but we didn't think that it was ours because they had usually been coming a little late.  Anyways, after an hour and half of waiting, a bus finally came for us at 7!  They told us the driver had gotten mixed up and had left without us!  So we dropped off some Elders and Sisters at the Salt Lake Central mission home in Murray, and then rushed to the airport.  It was cool getting to be back in the real world again!  I had a whole bunch of people at the airport ask me where I was going and wish me luck too!  Well, we finally made it through security, and that was when I got to call you guys!  That was so great and I'm so glad I got to hear all of you again.  I really enjoyed all the stories you told me over the phone, and I'm sorry if I kind of had to rush off the phone, but our flight was boarding...

On the plane I was hoping to sit next to a nonmember so we could talk about the gospel, but there were about 30 missionaries on the plane, so I ended up sitting between two of them.  So no contacting was done on that flight... (Sorry Hermana Osborn).  We got to Cincinnati, and got a whole bunch of stares in the airport.  We got interviewed by a news crew doing a piece about how on the 24th of July the Mormons had entered the Salt Lake Valley, and on this 24th of July, 30 of them were coming back to Ohio.  It was actually pretty cool, and now we're all famous!  After that, we loaded everything up and drove to the mission home.  We had a dinner cooked by Sister Porter, and then we had a Q&A session with the assistants while President Porter was interviewing all of us.  Let me just say now how amazing he is.  He teaches with some of the most power I've ever heard.  He uses the scriptures as he teaches, and then he expounds them and applies them to us in ways I had never thought of.  He's awesome, and I'm excited to be working with him for two years!  Anyways, later on that night he gave us an amazing talk on obedience and diligence.  The next morning we got up and left for the transfer meeting!

We had a quick mission orientation before the meeting, and then it was time to get new companions!  Once again, President Porter gave an amazing talk about how our experiences now prepare us for the future.  He also gave us a whole bunch of scriptures in the Doctrine and Covenants proving that the Cincinnati mission is the best mission in the world!  Go see if you can find them!  After that, if was companion time!  And my companion is.....  Elder Graf!  And my area is..... The Dayton Spanish area!  So basically we cover a whole bunch of areas, but we primarily focus on the Spanish Speakers in those areas.  So our area is huge!  So huge that I've hardly seen any of it yet, and we've been out working for 5 days now!  Anyways, Elder Graf is great!  We found out pretty early on that we have the exact same birthday; the same day and the same year, so we're the exact same age!  How crazy is that!?  He's only been out in the field about 4 and half months, so he's a relatively young trainer, but he does a great job. 

Ohio is super green!  Instead of mountains, they have trees!  Seriously, it's like a forest in some places.  And as far as humidity, it actually hasn't been too bad.  We've had a few hot days, but nothing like what I was expecting.

Let's move on to Spanish.  Ok, so I thought I was ok at Spanish by the end of the MTC, but I very quickly learned that understanding MTC teachers and understanding native speakers is a completely different thing!  I have to focus super hard just too kind of understand parts of what are being said.  And speaking is hard too, firstly because I don't know what they're saying, and second because even if I somehow figure out what is being said, by the time I've come up with a response, we have already moved on...  But it'll come; I've already learned so much!

As far as contacting goes, that's an adventure as well.  I'm not the most outgoing person, so going up to random people and starting a conversation about the Restored Gospel is kind of difficult, but I'm working on it.  I've already (in just 5 days!) had some amazing experiences!  I've met people who have said that for the past few weeks they've been feeling like a part of them has been missing, and how they have been studying religion like crazy to try and fill it.  I've met people who agree with a lot of the things we tell them right off the bat because it "makes sense".  It's absolutely amazing how the Lord prepares people to receive the truth.  I know he does!  The people are out there, we just have to find them!  On the other hand, I've had doors shut in our faces, people get in their cars and drive away when they see us coming, and my favorite to date, an old lady who saw us walking up her sidewalk and yelled "I'm not interested dudes, go away!"  So yeah, it's always an interesting experience...

But the tough part right now is finding Spanish speakers to teach.  Our branch is pretty small, so we have a lot of finding that we're doing through door to door contacting because there aren't tons of referrals right now.  We also work a lot with less active members and part member families right now too.

Spanish church was a super interesting experience.  Imagine 4 hours of meetings (we went to branch council as well) in which you could only understand about half of what was being said.  I also had to get up and introduce myself in priesthood and give the opening prayer in sacrament!  Just to give you an idea of how small the branch is, there were 30 people in sacrament meeting yesterday!  But it'll grow!

 The apartment is good.  It's just me and Elder Graf.  We live in a town called Huber Heights.  If you want to send me anything, you can just send it to the mission office and they'll forward it on (I believe).  4610 North Bend Road P.O. Box 11671 Cincinnati OH 45211.  The only thing I really would like would be a few more ties.  Preferably some with some brighter colors, and maybe a paisley tie in there as well.  That's about it.  And you can hold off on sending those journals if you'd like.  I'll need them eventually, but I don't need them right now.

Also, we have a car!  So I’m not in need of a bike at the moment.  We also have cell phones!  New technology might be coming in the future, but for now, that's what we've got!

Well, I'm about out of time, so I'll leave you with a brief testimony.  I know this work is true.  I know it with all of my heart, there's no doubt in my mind.  Every time I have borne my testimony to a random person on the street or to a family in broken Spanish, I have felt the Spirit confirm it to me.  I know that Joseph Smith received a divine answer to his prayer, and that through him the Lord has restored his church once again to the Earth with all the teachings and authority necessary for our salvation.  Our Heavenly Father loves us so much, and all he wants for us is happiness in this life and in the life to come.  I know that as we follow our Savior, we can return to live with him again.

Thanks so much for all the support!  I'll talk to you all next P-day!

Love you all so much!

Elder Foote

Me and one of my MTC teachers, Hermano Mennis.

Our district and Hermano Mennis.

Our district and our other teacher Hermana Osborn.

Colby being Colby :)

The nasty Zone Leader pillow, passed on from zone leader to zone leader in our zone.

Me and Elder Maughan and our Zone Leaders in training.

Us and our Finnish speaking friends (awkward space included...)

Saying goodbye to Elder Maughan... at 3am.

Me and President and Sister Porter in Ohio!!

Me and Elder Graf, my new companion!

MTC Week 5

Family!

Last week in the MTC!!!  To start off, let me tell you everything I know about my journey to Ohio next Wednesday...

My flight leaves Salt Lake City at 9:50 AM.  I have a direct flight to Cincinnati, and according to the info I have, I'll arrive there at about 3:11 in the afternoon.  I leave the MTC at 5:30 that morning, so if I do get the chance to call home, it'll most likely be sometime between 6:30 and 9:00 Wednesday morning.  Sorry that's so early!  And hopefully I'll actually be able to call home.  I imagine I'll get the chance, but just in case something happens, just know that because I have a direct flight and no layover, I won't have the same amount of time or opportunity to call home as other missionaries might.  But I have a phone card for the airport just in case... =)

I believe that's all the info that you'll need to know about travel!

As for this week, it has flown by!  First off, being a zone leader is quite a bit more time consuming than I thought it would be.  One of our responsibilities is to train the new districts that come into our zone during the week.  That's a really fun part, because it reminds me how far my district has come in the last few weeks.  We also go around and visit the entire zone in their apartments every night and check up on them.  That's really fun too, though it doesn't leave much time for journal writing or anything like that by the time we get back to our apartment.  It's a super fun calling though, and I have really enjoyed it.

The Spanish is actually starting to pick up!  Just a few days ago we had a day where it just clicked for our whole district and we spoke Spanish almost the entire day.  We also had the opportunity to teach a convert couple from Mexico, and we could understand almost everything they said!  Responding to them was a different story, but still!  But yeah, we only have two lessons left in Spanish before we have learned everything that they believe we need to know to effectively preach the Gospel in Spanish!

Even though the Spanish is coming, that doesn't end the adventures of trying to communicate our thoughts in Spanish during our lessons.  When I was being taught a few days ago, I was told that "God isn't literally here is this notebook, but he still cares about you" instead of "God isn't literally here in this room...”  It was kind of hard to keep character when that was said...  One of the Elders also told me that he was trying to "retirement home" during one of his lessons, but he couldn't think of how to say it, so he just said "place of the ancient people" instead. =)  So yeah, the adventures are still continuing...

As far as teaching has gone, things are going really well.  I feel a lot more confident about my teaching skills now, and I'm really ready to go out and start teaching investigators out in the real world.  We had some pretty good lessons this week, but the best one happened last Saturday.  Our investigator was going on vacation, so it was our last lesson with her for a while, and we decided to really try and help her feel the Spirit.  We had her kneel and pray with us for a confirmation of the things we had been teaching her, and afterwards we sat for a while and just felt the Spirit work.  We then started talking about how she was feeling, and we got into a long discussion about the Spirit and faith.  I was talking, and I didn't want to do anything to interrupt the Spirit in the room (plus I wasn't sure how to ask her to sit back on the couch), so I just kept on teaching while we were kneeling, and we ended up teaching her for about 10 minutes on our knees!  My knees hurt quite a bit after that...

I'm sorry that this isn't the most exciting email ever, but it is really hard to remember things here because time goes so fast.  I've had days this past week that seemed to go forever, but the minutes that I get back to the apartment, it feels like it never even happened.  I really can't even believe its Thursday again... 

Let's see...  Oh, I think Dad asked in one of his letters what kinds of games/pranks we play as missionaries, so I'll tell you one.  When we first moved into our apartment, I found a teddy bear that somebody had left under the bed.  I left it there for a few weeks, but a little while ago we decided we would hide it in the room of the other missionaries that live with us.  We have bunk beds in our apartments, so we decided we would try and scare Elder Bradford (who sleeps on the bottom bunk) with the bear.  When they weren't in the apartment, we tucked the bear into the springs of the top bunk bed so that is hanging down over the bottom bunk.  Everyone went to bed, and we just sat there, waiting to see if he would notice it.  A little while later, we heard a scream, then the door to their room opened and the bear was flung out the door!  I guess he had reached up to stretch his arms and found the bear just hanging above him in the air...  Anyways, I don't know if that's what you were looking for or if that even made sense, but there you go.

I really don't have a whole lot else to say, so I'll wrap this up.  Thanks so much for all of the packages!  They've been great, and it's been really nice to get things while here in the MTC!  If you could thank the Heer family and the Brown family for the packages they sent me that would be great!  I'll send them letters too, but if you see them, let them know that I really appreciate it.  I don't know what my mission home address is yet, but will for sure know by next Wednesday when I get there!  So if you're planning on sending me anything before then, just make sure that it can get to me by Monday preferably, but at the latest, Tuesday.

Thanks for all you've done for me, and for all you continue to do for me!  I hope I get to talk to you on Wednesday!  Love you all so much!

Love,

Elder Foote

It's a Jungle out there..

Elder Foote and Elder Maughan

Colby's district with one of their Spanish teachers

MTC Week 4

Family!

This week was just a little bit more exciting than last, but not much...  Anyways, here we go:

So the 4th of July ended up being really great!  We had a special patriotic fireside before the firework show, and it was super amazing.  We got to watch the movie "17 Miracles", and I've never felt the spirit of that movie as much as when we watched it then.  After that, we got to go out and watch the Stadium of Fire fireworks.  We had a pretty good view from the West Campus, and it was a great time.  We were allowed to stay up late to see the finale also, so we ended up going to bed at 11:15!  Crazy night for sure...  Oh, and thanks for the festive package and the one for this week.  That Chex mix was really good, and it was a huge hit around the apartment! 

Not a lot of huge things happened this week, but I did have a few little experiences happen here and there that are worth mentioning.  We had a guest teacher come into our classroom one day, and after class was over, she pulled me aside and told me that she wanted to help me with my pronunciation.  She said that she had been listening to me speak during the lesson, and that I pronounced my T's like a gringo.  We then had a 10 minute mini lesson on how to pronounce the letter "T" in Spanish...  So yeah, I can't pronounce T's I guess, though the way she had me start saying them was basically the same as how I had been pronouncing them before...

I got the opportunity to demonstrate how to begin teaching to a bunch of brand new missionaries yesterday.  We knocked on a door, introduced ourselves, and then got to know the investigator in front of this big group of missionaries.  It was a pretty cool experience.  One of the investigators was referred to us by his friend, and when we asked the investigator why he thought his friend had referred him, he proceeded to tell us this super long story about picking a name for his new son.  It was pretty strange, and basically what he wanted was to have us help him pick a name for his son!  It was one of the weirdest things I've heard so far...

I recently got the chance to start playing the part of investigator for some of the missionaries in my district.  My investigator name is Santiago, and it's pretty fun to pretend like I don't know anything about the gospel and ask questions that make the missionaries think.

I have a new favorite hymn!  I can't remember its name, but its hymn number 88 in the Spanish hymnbook.  It's the only hymn that is written in Spanish but not in English; usually it's the other way around.  But yeah, it's a good one, you should look it up!

I had an absolutely amazing lesson this week with my investigator T******.  He was having doubts about prayer, and so we shared the story of how Nephi prayed to know if leaving Jerusalem was really from God or not.  The scripture ended up applying perfectly to T******, and the lesson went even better than we had hoped.  Talking about it after, both Elder Maughan and I could think of a couple of things in the lesson that had come straight from the spirit and that we hadn't even thought of before the lesson.  It was a pretty big testimony builder that the Spirit is the real teacher and that the Lord knows what we should say much better than we do.

Ok, I saved the big news for last.  Elder Maughan and I got called to be the new Zone Leaders!  Right now we are the Zone Leaders in Training, but starting on Sunday, we will be the new Zone Leaders!  We'll be over about 6 districts, and we'll be Zone Leaders for a week because we'll be leaving for the field.  We got to help orient the new missionaries in our zone last night as part of our Pre- Zone Leader training.  So yeah, that's exciting!

Well, that's about all I've got.  The days all blend together here, and time is flying by.  This time next week it'll be under a week before I leave for Cincinnati! 

I love you all, and thanks so much for the letters and packages!

Love,

Elder Foote

Week #3!!

Family!

I will preface this email by saying that there were few things that happened this week that are worth writing about.  That being said, I'll do my best to give you some things to read this 4th of July afternoon...

First off, I hope you got the letters that I sent out earlier this week.  Sorry again that it took me so long to reply, I'm super behind, I know.  And if you didn't get them, then check the mailbox, because I sent out a letter for each of you on Monday...

Next, I guess I'll talk a little bit more about our investigators.  We've been working to get them to commit to pray, but neither of them feels like they understand enough about Heavenly Father or his love for us to justify their praying.  I just want to let you know that I know that prayer is real, and that it is the way that we learn of truths for ourselves.  It is how we talk with our Heavenly Father, and it is the way that allows him to talk to us and help us with whatever we may be experiencing in our lives.  I just wanted to share that with you, because as I've been focusing on the importance of prayer this week, I have learned for myself even more how important it is.

As far as Spanish goes, it's coming.  It's kind of crazy to be able to sit down and give a 20 minute lesson in Spanish no problem.  Well, when I say no problem, I mean I feel like my Spanish is ok when I'm giving the lesson.  Then I get out and think about what I said, and I can pick out all sorts of crazy things that I said wrong.  For example, I just found out a few days ago that I have been saying "Heavenly Father loves himself" instead of "Heavenly Father loves you" for the past 5 lessons or so.  No wonder the investigators have been giving me weird looks!

And really that's about all I've got about this week’s experiences.  I now have less than 3 weeks here, so we are quickly approaching veteran status as the older districts leave.  That also means that things start to fall into a bit of a routine, but we still have fun and learn lots!

So happy 4th of July!  I hope you guys have fun with whatever you're doing.  As for us, we get the opportunity to go and watch the fireworks at the Stadium of Fire!  We are all super excited about that!  Though they don't want us to hear the music of the performances (Sister Clarkson and Sister Jepson), so they are having us go into the chapel until the fireworks start...  But yeah, we're super excited for that.  Also, me and Elder Maughan have been working on a Restoration rap in our plentiful free time. =)  Seriously though, we don't have much time, so it's pretty short, but it's pretty amazing if I do say so myself.  We may or may not be performing it tonight during the fireworks...

To answer your questions: no, I haven't gotten the package yet.  I didn't have time to get it yesterday, and the mail room is closed today.  I'll go get it first thing tomorrow morning though.  When I say investigators, I really should say "investigators".  They aren't actual investigators.  They are usually just members portraying people they met on their missions.  But we treat them as investigators, and we do all we can to teach them what they need to know.  All of the Elders in my district (all 6 of us) are learning Spanish, and we all leave around the same time.  3 of them are going to Washington D.C., two of us are going to Cincinnati, and one is going to Columbus.  As far as Cincinnati goes, I don't know very much, you probably know more than I do.  Though I doubt they would pair me us with an English speaking missionary as my trainer.

Well, that's about it!  Thanks for the letters, packages, and emails!  I hope you all have a great 4th of July, and a great week!

Love,

Elder Foote

MTC Week 2

Family,

Hey everybody!  Week 2 is up, and here are some of the things that happened this week:

First and foremost, we had that worldwide leadership broadcast!  Wasn't that amazing!?  I absolutely loved hearing about ways that members are working with the missionaries all over the world!  It was an amazing experience to hear from Apostles of the Lord and the Prophet about ways that we can help spread the Gospel.  I just want to add my testimony to theirs that the Lord is hastening his work.  They tell us that at every devotional we have, and it is completely true.  There are now more than 70,000 missionaries, and the number just keeps on growing!  I know that if we all chip in and do our part, the Lord will bless not only us, but the whole Earth as his truth rolls forth!

I saw some familiar faces at the conference as well.  I saw Sister Karista Williams, which was great, because we have been on separate campuses and she left on Tuesday.  I also saw a couple of my friends from school and lacrosse, which was really nice!

On Saturday I got the opportunity to take the bus up to main campus and meet my mission president, President Porter.  President and Sister Porter are amazing people, and I am super excited to be serving with them for the next two years!  I also got to see all of the other missionaries that will be going with me out to Cincinnati in 4 weeks.  Currently, there are 4 Elders (including me) in the entire MTC going to Cincinnati!  And all of us are Spanish speaking!  From what I could gather, it sounds like the Hispanic population in Cincinnati isn't terribly high right now, so I will be doing a lot of teaching in both languages when I get out there.  But that also explains why there are so few missionaries going to Cincinnati here right now.  All of the English speaking missionaries to Cincinnati will most likely be here in a few weeks so that they arrive the same time that us Spanish speakers do!  But anyways, President Porter is amazing!  Me and 3 other Elders got to meet with him and his wife for an hour and just talk about ourselves and the mission.  President Porter said something that I really liked in that meeting.  He said that 200 years from now, people would remember our names as the missionaries that had helped to convert their ancestors.  He also said that the work that we are doing now "will change eternities..."  Isn't that amazing!?  The Lord's work that is rolling forth right now is literally changing the eternities of countless souls!  It just blows me away to think about...  So yeah, needless to say, meeting with President Porter got me super pumped to get out in the field and start serving the people of Cincinnati!

Let me tell you about one last meeting that I had this past week that was absolutely amazing.  In our Tuesday night devotional at the Marriott center, Janice Kapp Perry came and spoke to us.  Now I didn't know who she was at first, but as people started introducing her, I recognized whop she was.  Sister Perry wrote a whole bunch of the Primary songs that are often sang in Primary, and she also edited a few hymns in the hymnbook (I think).  So she basically wrote the songs that I grew up singing!  The devotional was a musical devotional, where the whole MTC sang primary songs in this amazing chorus, led by Sister Perry herself!  The Spirit was incredibly strong, and it was an amazing experience.

Ok, so let me now talk about a few of the more day-to-day matters.  First off, I apologize for not labeling those pictures I sent last week.  I'll try to do better at that.  I believe I sent a picture of our district in front of the temple, one of me and Elder Maughan, one of me and Elder Rawle, and one of a picture someone drew of me on the board.  I'll try to send a few pictures later on today.

For this past week I have been in a trio!  It has most definitely been an interesting experience, but it was also so much fun!  Me, Elder Maughan, and Elder Bradford had an awesome time being in a trio over the past week.  This morning Elder Bradford was assigned a new companion, so I'm back in a companionship again!  It was most definitely a great experience!

I am now teaching two investigators (in Spanish of course).  It's been kind of difficult teaching them because we don't really speak Spanish, so we can't connect with them too well.  But I had an experience with one of them that completely changed how I think about missionary work and my role in it.  We were teaching one of our investigators named Ruby for the first time, and things weren't going terribly well.  She wasn't very talkative, and neither were we because we couldn't figure out to respond to her in Spanish.  After we had talked to her for a bit, we decided we had better start with a prayer.  One of my companions offered a prayer, and immediately afterwards, the Spirit came into the room so strong.  It was almost overwhelming, and it bore testimony to all of us of the love that Heavenly Father had for Ruby.  We could feel it all through our lesson and for a long time afterwards too.  That experience was a huge testimony builder for me that missionary work is all about love.  It's about the love that God has for each and every one of his children.  He loves us more than I can comprehend, but I felt like I had just a small taste of that love when I felt the Spirit in that room with Ruby.

Let's see, what else? I gave my first blessing as a missionary a little while ago, and that was an amazing experience.  I've started playing basketball at gym.  Granted, it's only that shooting game called Speed, but still... Basketball for Elder Foote!!!???  We have a pretty long walk from West Campus up to the Marriott center for devotionals, but I absolutely love it!  Every time we walk up there, we get honked and waved at all the way there!  I feel like a celebrity!  I'm sure that's only because it's Provo though; I doubt that will continue in Cincinnati...  Yesterday I got to host the new missionaries coming in, and that was super fun!  It's crazy to think that I was in their shoes only 2 weeks ago...  It feels like I've been here for forever... and I've still got 4 weeks left!  I'm not complaining though, don't get me wrong.  I really like it here at the MTC.  The companionship of everyone here is incredible.  Never before have had I felt as much a part of a greater whole as I do here.  I guess that comes out of us all having one goal and one purpose; to further the work of the Lord!

Well, that's about all I can think of for now.  Like I said, I'll send picture a little bit later on.  Oh, and thanks for the letters from dearelder!  I got them all, including Dad's original and his shorter duplicate...  Letter writing time is a little bit limited, but I'm working on some responses, so you can expect some replies shortly!  And thanks for the doughnuts as well!  It was basically a doughnut part at our apartment last night.  Our trio ate a bunch, and the Zone Leaders came over and had some with us too.  Party for sure!  Anyways, thanks so much for the letters and packages.  And also, you can still email me; just know that I won't be able to reply with a huge long reply while I am here in the MTC. 

Thanks so much!  Miss you all!  Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Foote