We got outside the gates this week! I mean we do every week to go to the temple but we went far enough so we couldn't actually see the MTC anymore. We took a van down to the west campus which is about a 15 minute drive and it was really cool. It's not really built yet so they had some mock classrooms in these giant white bubble type things and they're really nice. I can't send the pictures because they're on my ipad but I will be sending them to my mom to put on my blog so they'll be on here. I've also begun to notice that a lot of things are breaking around my district. One of the girls broke the water fountain, the air conditioning in my room never stops so we are still wearing thermals to bed with two blankets now and this morning the light in my room also went out. Good times huh? In other news, we switched investigators again so my companion and I are still on a streak of not having the same investigator two lessons in a row but this guy should stay. This week was pretty slow though. Nothing too exciting happened and it's starting to get hard to focus. But I'm still trying really hard and when I am able to buckle down and study the full hour, I end up getting a lot done. Also for church I wrote a talk again completely in Spanish without any dictionary help so that was pretty cool. One of my teachers also told my companion and I that she can really tell that we are working hard, staying diligent and have actually surpassed her expectations for us so that was a bit of a confidence boost. Other than that not much to report on. Still want to send a shout out to all those who keep the Dear Elders coming! 

Elder Rossi

Just reminiscing about 3 weeks ago tomorrow when we dropped Tyler off at the MTC. I love looking at the pictures.

Even though it doesn't look like it...Tyler really enjoyed Riley Jo and me kissing his face!

The kids just playing around for the last time for 2 years!

 

 And Our Final Final Goodbye....captured on camera anyway. Our actual final hugs at the MTC were not captured! But that was just Chris and I.

Tyler just sent me this picture of him and his companion. He captions it "us just goofing around" Ty really likes his companion and they have several things in common. Tyler's words: "He's actually a lot like me. He really likes Volleyball, loves acting like a kid, and also likes watching basketball!"
He is really liking his entire District!

Tyler's Email for this week! He broke his glasses....Two weeks in! No I don't need an extra pair he said. No I don't need to bring my old pair he said. No I don't want contacts he said....Guess we will be sending him some new ones and his broken ones become his extra pair!

Well just like the subject says, week 2 is done! And I've continued to make some good progress! My district and I have memorized the missionary purpose, baptism invitation, the first article of faith and the first vision all in spanish. Which is funny since i don't even know them in English but i still understand what they're all saying so it's cool. i've also taught 3 more lessons, had our first investigator become our teacher and our teacher become our new investigator. It's weird. And also my companion and I have a set investigator aside from our teacher who is really just a volunteer from the church who is really good at acting like an investigator and it makes things fun. We also got our Ipads this week since we are in the pilot program here to see if they will really help us and so far it definitely has. I've used it during language study and because of that I've been able to memorize even more words and phrases and my spanish is definitely coming along. But it probably helps that I don't have anyone to distract me during class *cough* Parker *cough* I also received tons of Dear Elders this week and i just want to thank everyone for that. It really means a lot since it's easy to go insane here and just wonder what's going on in the outside world. Speaking of which, I need basketball updates!!! Obviously with the Warriors but also just around the league as well. Thank you! Okay. Now onto the big story of the week. If you're wondering why my glasses have tape on them it's because I kinda broke them. But it was during basketball and it was technically because of the guy defending me jumped into me and just cracked that part in half. But because of how resourceful I am it was an easy fix and they're all good now. I think that's about it but if you have any other questions just let me know!

Hey everyone! so I will be emailing home every Tuesday around this time just so everyone knows. If you want to contact me in other ways, though, you can go to dearelder.com and then just type a letter, fill out some info and my unit # is 153. So now onto the exciting part. I got to the Mtc around 1:00 on february 4th and it was like the first day of boot camp. We went from station to station in about 2 minutes, running from place to place, had about 30 seconds to set my stuff down then get to my first class. It was pretty crazy. Then in our first meeting as new missionaries, one of the presidents' wives told a story about a mom she talked to about how she wasn't excited for her son to leave but also really excited too, and of course it just so happened to be my mom. So thanks mom! The very next day some random guy named Elder Jacobs pulled me out of class and I thought I was in trouble but he actually knew my family and my grandpa was his teacher's quorum adviser so that was pretty cool. Since being here I've already learned a ton of Spanish, taught 4 lessons total to 2 investigators and reached a breaking point after just sitting in a class for 12 hours on Saturday. I can feel myself slowly going insane but it's still fun! That's part of the MTC experience...right? Oh and the food is pretty interesting, too. It's not really good but it's not too bad either. But it does leave you feeling a little queasy at times. I know some of you are probably wanting pictures but in the midst of all that's been going on, that hasn't been to high of a priority but pictures will come! I miss everyone and hope you are all doing well. I am still able to talk for the next hour or so so please reply! I'd love to hear from everyone! 

Elder Rossi

Tyler's District

Thanks to a friend who works at the MTC who sent me an email and picture of Tyler today!

Terri,

I'm not sure if you knew that I worked at the MTC, Regardless,  I had the opportunity to "bump into" Tyler this afternoon. He is doing great and excited to be in the MTC and loves his district.  He also told me to tell you that Sister Trost, who you talked to yesterday mentioned you and the conversation you had with her and had Tyler stand up in the new missionary orientation meeting with all the 300 or so missionaries that came in yesterday.

It is obvious that you have raised an outstanding young man and missionary.  I hope you all are holding up well.

Love to you all from the Jacobs.

So glad he sent me this email today, even if it did make my eyes leak! Well worth it. And now I have a name for the Sister who helped to comfort me yesterday!

We just dropped Ty off at the MTC! It was hard for all of us to say Goodbye. We were glad we had these extra days in Utah with our family and said our final goodbyes at the Provo Temple. We pulled into the MTC parking lot and the car attendant asked Tyler where he was headed to? Tyler said New York, and he asked "New York New York South?" Ty said Yup!  And the guy replied, "great, they need you there! You'll do great work there!" We dropped him off, grabbed his luggage and stole another hug or two. As we were getting back into the car, an older lady came to give me a hug. She told me that she sent 3 sons off on missions and knew what I was feeling. She cried with me. Which only made me cry harder. She asked for my sons name and told me she would check on him for me and keep an eye on him for me. I'm so proud of Tyler. He is a great young man and I know he will do great things in New York! And Ty is excited to get to New York so I know he will be working hard to learn the Spanish language to get out there as soon as he can!

Follow me on my mission as I train in the Provo MTC then as I go and Serve in the New York New York South Mission in the Spanish Language. I report tomorrow February 4, 2015 at 1 pm! I'm so excited!!