8-10-2009 first handwritten letter from MTC

Dear Family,

Well, I just finished my first day here at the MTC. It was both long and tiring, but I know it will get better. They have given us a whole lot of instructions and rules and we haven't even done any of the actual classroom stuff yet; that starts tomorrow. I pretty much immediately misplaced my key card that I need to use for pretty much everything -- whoops! It's okay though; I found it shortly thereafter.

So, Aaron is living one floor above me and we're in different districts, but I believe we're in the same zone together. So, I think I'll be seeing him at lunch and stuff. It turns out that Mauricio is living next door to me and we have all the same classes, lunch hour, etc. Oh, yeah, they put me in Intermediate Spanish so we'll see how that goes. My estimated departure date is October 5th.

My companion's name is Elder Doxey. He's from Utah, but spent the last 3 years in Mexico City where hsis dad was a mission president. Funny thing is he bore his testimony in Spanish today and he may be bumped up to advanced classes and only be here for 3 weeks. We'll see how that turns out.

I already ran into Chad, Marshall, Jason and Brian Anderson as well as a few others I know from school. So, things are going well here. Hopefully, I will be able to sleep tonight. The schedule for the upcoming weeks looks pretty demanding. I think there is about 11 hours of classroom time per day. I'm still learning about the going-on's here. Hopefully, I'll be adjusted soon.

Well, I love all of you and miss you already. Don't be too sad. You can expect letters frequently. I'll report to you the progress I've made (I guess after tomorrow I should be able to pray in Spanish). Talk to you later.

Lots of love,
Elder Ryan Mayberry

P.S. I got a card saying that this address would be best to use. Hopefully, it's correct.
Elder Ryan Arthur Mayberry
MTC Mailbox #123
CHI-CON 1005
2005 N. 900 E.
Provo, UT 84604-1793