MTC Letter #3A

(This was a written letter from Alex that we received on July 23, 2013)

Dear Family,

Hey Guys!  How's everyone doing?  Great I hope!  This may be the only time I have to write letters this week until Saturday.  We all have been pretty busy this week with meetings so its taken up a lot of my time to write ya'll.  I got your packages in the mail and everyone tackled me for the DP's haha!  It was kinda funny actually.  Thanks for sending me that stuff.  It's nice to wind down with a DP in hand at the end of the day.  Today we taught our new investigator "Roberto" (he is really our teacher Hermano Jaen).  It went pretty well I thought.  Elder Haglund and I are learning new things about teaching everyday.  Our first lessons don't accomplish much but we are understanding more and more about what to say in certain situations.  It's really fun to teach all of them and learn about their struggles and trials in their lives.  Our schedules are basically all focused around learning Spanish from 8 - 11, lunch, study time until dinner at five or so and learning more Spanish from about 609 at night.  The schedule is pretty simple.  Its just all in our classroom or in the building where we learn everything.  It isn't that exciting . . . pero aprendiendo!

Mom, Dad, I love both of you guys so much.  Thank you for pushing me in my life and helping me become what I am today.  You both have been such an inspiration to me whether I may have showed it or not.  I want you to know how much I look up to and cherish every moment that I've had with you.  Going to the Temple with you guys was the most fun I've had in a long time and I thank you for that.  I've realized while being out here, that I really miss you and want to be around the both of you, and the family more.  I guess, in short, what I'm trying to say is that I love and miss you.

Con me Amor,
Elder Alex Nelson Proctor

Smile and Keep your heads up!

MTC Letter #3

Hola Mi Familia!

So today I was able to get online a little bit earlier than normal! Elder Haglund and I woke up a bit early so that we could go do some laundry before everyone else got there. Everyone starts their days off really early here. A couple Elders in our zone woke up at 4:30 just so they could go get a washer and dryer without having to wait... crazy huh?

If you have anymore questions, feel free to send me a letter or a DearElder. Those things get here really quickly and hundreds of missionaries here get them. So far, the experience has stayed the same. Nothing special really happened this week. We got two new "investigators" Brother Stallings is now a man named Ignacio. (Stallings served his mission in Columbia, and was also our other investigator named Ivan.) Can't remember if I told you about that or not.) Brother Jaen is now a man named Roberto. I really like Stallings. He reminds me a lot of myself sometimes. He's pretty chill and down to earth. Funny too. Jaen is good, he has a really funny accent when he tries to speak English. Kinda reminds me of a big teddy bear sometimes. He's a funny guy but he just got a new job as a Training Specialist for new teachers that want to teach here so he's been pretty stressed working from 7 AM until 9 PM. Pretty long day for him. We even had a substitute teacher last night because of this. We have been stacked with planning lessons and trying to learn phrases that we can tell the "investigators." It's coming along pretty well, but we are starting to get into conjugations and that was when I lost it all back in High School. I am doin' my best though! I have been really really busy trying to get the language down and learn everything I can about the scriptures before I go so that I wont have to worry about learning much while Im in Mexico.

Don't worry about how much mail you send me or how many questions you ask. I want to get mail and I love getting mail after a long day in the classroom. Its a nice feeling and reminds me of why I'm here. I got your pictures and that was nice to see some of our past adventures, but I want current pictures that are of you all now. I hang them all up on the board that we have to hang pictures on and I look at them every night after I write in my journal.

Anyways, Let me know if there's anything else you want to know! I am staying busy and doing my best with what I do. Love you all!

Elder Alex Proctor

Smile and Keep your Head up!

MTC Letter #2

Hola Familia!
Yo se que es muy dificil, oh wait.... forgot ya'll don't know Spanish ... mi mal.... CRAP! Yeah the language is starting to become a second nature to me, if you cant tell already. I am starting to think in Spanish also.. its really weird! Whenever we head off to bed or something, I go to write in my journal and everything that I am saying in the journal I can translate to Spanish  Its weird to hear myself speak Spanish because I am so used to English.

Anyways, I am glad ya'll had a good time at the reunion. Grandma emailed me and told me some stuff about it. Keep sending those dear elder messages though. Seems like those are the only things that I get here other than a box full of cookies from Grandma and Grandpa! Its nice getting mail here. As I've said before. Write me as much as you have time for! I like the written letters because they are more heart-felt and I like them more to be honest. I don't get a lot of time on the email every Saturday. Expect the emails to come at around 10 or 11 every Saturday though.

I really miss the puppies! I printed off those pictures you sent and I plan to hang them up in my room tonight. I cant wait to see them when I get back! 

I am not sure if i told you or not, but Elder Haglund and I taught our first investigator (His name was Ivan Perez. He is from Columbia but moved to Provo, Utah for work and to support his family. His entire family is devout Catholic.)  about two days after we got here in complete Spanish  He "didn't speak English at all." So we went along with it and taught him everything that we knew how to say in Spanish  We bore our testimonies in Spanish and taught him all about the restoration and the great apostasy. He asked us questions that we never knew and we had to guess what to answer him with. HAHA So a couple of days later we found out that we had another teacher that is different than our current one, Hermano Jaen is the current teacher. They told us that this "new" teacher was on vacation with his family and wasn't able to be here for the first couple of days. So, yesterday, we walk into our classroom at about eight or so in the morning. A white, guy, about 5'10" with blonde hair is sitting in the chair by the computer. (Ivan looked the exact same) We all said "Hola?" We were expecting Hermano Jaen to be teaching us... No. He turned around and said, "Hola Elderes! Como Estas?" IT WAS IVAN! His real name is Hermano Stallings. He got back from his mission about seven months from Columbia and was working in Provo to help pay for school. He speaks English too! They told us that he was on vacation when, in reality, he was our investigator Ivan Perez. Crazy right?! I thought it was pretty funny.

You'll be proud to hear that I did my own wash this morning! Its a lot easier than you made it out to be HAHA sorry mom. Companionship is going well and we are both loving it here at the MTC. The campus here isn't as big as everyone makes it out to be. I will try to send pictures. Sometimes the computers here work with the pictures and sometimes it doesn't. They are kinda mental... Keep sending my whatever you want. I would really like to hear from all of you more! Keep me updated on stuff you do!

I hope everything is going well for all of you! You all mean the world to me, and I will be forever grateful for the support that you have all given me over the course of these last few months. I cant wait to see all of you, (and the puppies) again in two years, That'll be the day... I am wishing you all the best and I am praying for you every day. Stay strong in everything that you do. Stay busy with work, school, and whatever else you guys do. Keep in touch and send me as much as possible. I want to hear from you guys as often as I can. I can honestly say that I have never cried so much in my life when I said good-bye to you all two weeks ago. That was the hardest day of my life and I really wish that I hadn't been so unhappy that day about everything. I am sorry for that. I am sure dad knows the feeling... Don't worry about me. Ill be fine. I am loving life here, and I know that the Lord is already blessing my life for choosing to be a missionary for this church. 

Yo se que la iglesia de Jesucristo es verdadero y el libro de Mormon es tambien. Yo se que Jesucristo es mi salvador y mi redentor. Yo se que Jose Smith traducir el Libro de Mormon y libro es solo verdadero libro en el tierra. En el nombre de Jesucristo, Amen.

Con Mucho Amor,

Elder Alex Proctor

Smile and Keep your Heads Up!

MTC Photos

Photos Alex's District and MTC.

 The District.  Alex and his MTC Comp. Elder Haglund are #3 & #4.

 All you can eat . . . looking like ice cream and chips.

 Where Alex spends his days.

WE ARE GOING TO MEXICO!

MTC Letter #1A

July 13, 2013

Hola!  How is everybody doing?  This is is my first hand-written letter home so you better keep it!  the stamps and envelopes here are very expensive so i don't want to be spending a lot of money on them.

With that being said, my time here at the MTC has been great so far.  My companion and I taught our first investigator yesterday all in Spanish and it went really well!  Our "investigator's" name was Ivan Perez.  He is from Colombia and is only fluent in Spanish.  They really hound you with Spanish while you're here . . . 4-5 hours a day in the morning and at night.  It is a lot of Spanish.  I am learning so much about the language and about the scriptures that I never knew before.  I can't really get around the fact that I am a missionary.  I wake up at 6:30 and put on a name-tag.  Its weird to look at myself in the mirror and see the name-tag there in my suit pocket.  It is a hard lifestyle to get used to but it is coming along fine so far.

I figured out how to send picture so look forward to those also.

Te Amo!

Con Amor,
Elder Alex Nelson Proctor

- Keep your head up and smile!

MTC Letter #1

Hola!

I have been at the MTC for a little over three days now and I am loving it! My companion is Elder Haglund and he is a super nice guy. Turns out that he played for A-Train and was playing on the team that I that night when I broke my arm! He is about 6'3" and is about 240lbs. He is a little bit bigger than I am. We get a long very well though and I am positive that he will be a great example to me. The room where I am staying is quite a ways away from where all the action is but I am rooming with two of the best missionaries in our district; Elder Echo Hawk and Elder Enos. Echo Hawk is from Idaho and Enos is from Mesa, Arizona and is Hawaiian also. They are both great and very fun to be around. My district is great also, in fact, my district leader is Elder Enos. It is all Elders with no sisters at all. We all get along very well. My teachers are great and are very understanding of the amount of language that we can contain in one day. His name is Maestro Jaen. He is from Mexico City so he is a native of the language and he is a great help in learning the language. The hardest part, I believe, is waking up at 6:30 and then immediately going to class for four hours every morning, but I can honestly say that I have learned more Spanish in three days than I had three years in high school. Its really weird to hear myself speak a different language but I am understanding more and more and it is feeling more natural each day we learn something or say something.

I like receiving mail here. Its nice to get a letter in the middle of the day and read it at night when everyone is asleep. Send me as much as possible because I would love to get some stuff from home whenever I can. Some Elders are getting food in the mail. (Elder Haglund got a butt-load of cookies yesterday night and they were gone in five minutes.) So, please send whatever you want to. I believe you have my address. If not, then send me an email back so I can give you the address next week. My P-days are Saturdays so I can email for an hour each day now because the Temple is closed for maintenance until the twelfth of August. I also found out when I leave for Mexico, August 20, and I also know when I get back also; June 23, 2015. Don't ask me why its two weeks early because I have no idea why. But that's perfectly fine with me!

I am loving it so far. Yes, I do miss home, and I miss you guys a lot, but I know now that I am doing is the right thing. Thank you all for your examples to me. I know I don't say it enough in person or face
to face, but I want you all to know that. 

Yo se que la iglesia de jesucristo es verdadero y yo se que familias son eternos. Te amo! 

-Elder Proctor

Smile and keep your head up!