Not even 72 hours in and I already feel like I've been here for a week.
My companion is Elder Washburn. He's a sweet kid and loves to serve. The funniest thing is we are basically switching locations an hour away from where we're from. He's going to Salt Lake City, an hour away from Provo, and I'm going to Yakima, an hour away from Tri-Cities, WA, where he's from.
My district is awesome. Six Elders, six Sisters. Elder Lawrence is the district leader and there could be no one better for the role. One of the Elders is from Canada and has a rather endearing accent. The sisters are all chatty and sweet. Except for Elder Canada, the whole district is from the states, going to the states. We grow closer by the minute.
I'm sleeping well and staying healthy. I eat a salad every lunch and dinner and still don't eat sugar, and hardly eat flour. [Editor's note: Our family had decided to go the month of January without sugar or flour.] Oh, the flu is going around apparently, so there's a no contact policy in place. No handshakes, high fives, fist bumps, etc.
Classes are awesome. I get lots of revelation and new ideas to explore during class and personal study.
We get to go do a session this afternoon and I'm excited about that.
We met our branch president last night, President Bonham, he's a soft and gentle jokester and his wife is intense. We have two teachers, one looks and acts like David Archuleta, the other is Like a younger Taryn Lewis. Both are great.
On the first night here, we met the MTC presidency and after that Brother Tanner, Carly's dad, asked six missionaries to come up and share where they're from, where they're going, and why they're serving. I thought he would call on me, since he knows me, but he didn't. But when they were done he said, "Well, we have a little bit of time left, and Elder Craig, it just wouldn't be right if I didn't ask you to speak, right?" We all had a good laugh. So I went up and shared about my rich heritage, told how I was going where ancestors had served, and bore a short testimony about how the gospel changes people. It was a great experience and I am very thankful for it.
I'm journaling a lot and I love it, but of course there's never enough time.
I see Sister Lewis and Sister Levie occasionally and that's great.
Love you all and miss you lots.
Service, Love, and Truth
Elder Craig
Editor's Note:
2020 is strange, and the missionary culture has changed dramatically since I [Connor's dad] was in the MTC almost 30 years ago. Within an hour of Connor entering the MTC, we received three different photos of him.
My friend Gerberta has a volunteer position helping receive missionaries at the MTC, and she sent me a photo of Connor about five minutes after we dropped him off.
About five minutes later, one Abbie's [our daughter's] friends, who miraculously is one of Connor's MTC teachers, sent Abbie a photo of her computer screen with Connor on it.
And then, about 30 minutes later, Connor bumped into Sister Ashton Lewis, his friend. It was Sister Lewis' prep-day, so she snapped a photo of them and sent it to her mom, and her mom sent it to us.
Then that afternoon, we got an email from Connor, letting us know his prep-day, etc. The constant communication makes him feel so close. Except when I get home from work and he's not there.
But literally, the end of our street bumps into the MTC, and Connor can see our street from his residence where he sleeps and studies. We are that close. At least until January 28, when he leaves for Washington.
