The MTC - Week One

The first week in the MTC was a busy one for Elder Daniels. Shortly after drop off, he ran into some kids he went to high school with, not sure if he has seen his best friend who entered the MTC a week earlier.
While Elder Daniels stayed busy, his family at home waited day by day for his first letter to arrive.  As a missionary, he only gets one day per week in which to do laundry, write letters/emails to family and friends, and any thing else that needs to be done for the week, such as grocery shopping.

And he's off.

We as a family were able to write letters daily, that were delivered directly to his MTC mailbox. Elder Daniels received those letters daily, but could not respond until his preparation day (P-day).
We also learned that some missionaries don't get a P-day their first week in the MTC and that it could fall on day 8, 9, or 10. It was a little strange writing letters/emails each day and not to receive a response back after 7 days.
On day 8 the first email from Elder Daniels was received. The opening line of the email read.

"What a week! I thought that I would be missing you a lot, but the truth is, I haven't because I am so focused on the work ahead. "

"When I got to my room my host said that there are what missionaries call "narnia holes." I thought it was a weird term. Basically, the previous missionaries in dorm rooms hide candy, letters, or a list of all the missionaries in that room in like the outlet holes. It's kinda like a time capsule thing. We found one in the outlet hole that had a list of missionaries that stayed in that room. The oldest year that we saw was in the late 80s. So I thought that they were here when dad was here, but my roomies think that the elders were faking it. We all put our name on that list and hid it again in the outlet hole."

His dad served in Brazil from 1989-91,  and spent 2 months in the Provo MTC, but never heard of a "Narnia hole".

He said the food is good, but would certainly like a greater variety of food. He said that it seems to rotate about every 4-5 days, so he has already eaten the same thing twice in the first 8 days. He was excited to find the ice cream freezer which is available each Sunday and Tuesday.

Eternal "Life" for breakfast please.

Elder Daniels and his companion were called as a zone leaders, and they get to take people on tours of the MTC, he is pretty excited to do so. One thing that he has learned, is that anything you do or say can and will affect those you are teaching.
 Next Tuesday is the day to head off into the Billing Montana mission field, and the first plane ride, or at least the first one that he can remember.

To end his email he said, "My time is up, keep sending me letters."
 Peace out, Elder Daniels"