Elder Bubba Letter #1

Here is the first letter that Bubba e-mailed to our family on August 2nd...Just 6 days after entering the MTC.

Hey everyone! Elder Pond here coming to you from the Provo MTC.....Just so everyone knows...I can only write letters or emails on my P-Day which is on monday. Anyways..The MTC so far has been pretty cool...it's been a big adjustment for sure...but i'm loving it. My companion is a Elder from Reno Nevada...everybody try not to cringe when you see that he went to College at BYU....where he was a star on the BYU marching band! haha i Love the kid...he's quite a dork but he's a really really good missionary and has one of the strongest testimonies i've ever heard. And of course i give him crap every single day for going to BYU (make my family proud)...the first few days were probably the longest days of my life...but I want to share a story with you that happened to me on Friday. I was in the dumps quite a bit, you may find it hard to believe that i was pretty homesick...I was trying my hardest to take my mind off of Home and work and study...but for some reason I couldn't seem to do it...Me and Elder Rouse were out side doing our Companion study for the day...and I was in a bit of a bad mood..i was praying that I could forget myself and get back to work but nothing really seemed to work...til suddenly an Elder that can only be described as a "frickin giant tongan"...came up to me while i was standing there and just simply looked at me and said "Hey Elder, when your Tag is up, someone is thinking about you." I looked down and my Mission Tag was sitting up on my front pocket...he pushed it down and introduced himself as Elder Ihone...the big giant tongan man from Bountilful, that played Defensive line for them...hopefull Dad remembers who i'm talking about. But it was really an uplifting moment and ever since then, most of the time, my mind has been on doing the work of the Lord. Don't get me wrong...I miss all of you so much. But i'm for sure where i'm supposed to be and it feels really good knowing that. Also...Elder Hayden Snow is in my District!!! hahaha it's HILARIOUS. So me and him see each other all day, which kinda makes it hard to be good because we always just want to beat each other up like always...but it's been real good having him here so close to me because we have some real good talks right before we have to go to sleep....he's been struggling quite a bit with homesickness, and keeps having all these bad dreams...but he's still working hard and his testimony is so awesome..By the way Mom and Dad, thanks for the cookies...they were so good...we all went to the vending machines and bought milks and downed them all in one night! Keep sending those Dear Elder letters...those are awesome, and make sure to tell the rest of the family or whoever about them...i'm sure that makes it a lot easier to send mail to me and It feels pretty dang good getting letters...Everyone in my District is starting to get really close and it's been really cool getting to know all of them...We got to go to the Temple today and do a session which was really cool...the Movie was different in the Provo temple though...So i didn't get to see Brother Ballam's beautiful hair cut as Satan...but an Elder that actually stays in my dorm here with me...whom we thought was the most spiritual/worthy of us all...actually got sent home today....PRETTY CRAZZYY!! but anyways...i'm sure you'll all find it hard to believe that I've actually had no problem getting up at 6:30 every morning, and i've been knocked out asleep BEFORE 10:30...because after a long day here...i'm pretty dang tired!! The experience here so far has been awesome, the Caffiene Free coke kinda sucks,,,but i'm getting used to it. All the Elders here are telling us that every day from here on out is going to fly...I hope that's true because i really want to get out there and start teaching... My spanish is actually coming along really well so far...I can pray and bear my testimony in spanish and carry small conversations...so hopefully with the spirit and with my awesome teachers I have, i'll the language down pretty well by the time I get out of here. Please keep sending packages of goodies...and also letters or emails...Ever since that first day on friday night when my District leader finally brought us our mail...I've felt so bad about how I treated Brady, and not ever writing him...so i'm sorry Brady..but will one of you make sure Kim knows about the Dear Elder website or whatever! Anyways, the little clock on my computer is ticking down really fast...and I just ate at the cafiteria...so I need to go run to the bathroom (it hits you real fast here) But I love all of you and I hope you're all doing good!
As Brady always says "The Church is True, and the Book is blue!"
I love you guys, stay out of trouble and tell the guys at Pounders whats up for me!\
Love, Elder Derek Bradford Pond