!Hola!

Collin's first email home:

Hola mi madre, padre, y familia!

Im just doing my laundry right now so i have some time to write you.  first of all, im alive and i am breathing... My companion is named Elder Sands. he is from burke, virginia and he's been a member for 1 year 2 months! he's such a great example to me and im glad that i have him.  There are 5 companeros en mi distrito. Elder Gries (gray) and Elder Sands, Elder Bate and Elder Lindsley, Elder Relf and Elder Pickett, Elder Harvees (Jarvis) and Elder Bowman. We have tres hermanas en nos distritos, hermana t, hermana adair, y hermana potrie. Elder Bate, Lindsley, Hermana adair, potrie, and myself are going to Cordoba. Elder Sands and hermana t are going to Rosario, Argentina. the other four elders are headed to el reuplica dominicana en tres weeks!

Elder Sands is from Burke, Virginia. Elder Bate (the DL) is from Springville, Elder Lindsley is from Holiday, Elder Relf is from Sandy, Elder Pickett is from Bountiful, Elder Jarvis is from St. Geezy, Elder Bowman is from Soda Springs Idaho. Hermana T is from Kansas, Hermana Potrie is from British Columbia, Canada, Hermana Adair is from Gilbert, Arizona.

ElderSands went to The University of Virginia for a year studying engineering. He is 19 and his birthday is in april. he is very good at learning spanish and makes teaching the lesson easy.

We started teaching our investigator Luis the second day here.... and no not in english, en Espanol!! He did not know one word of english, and we only knkew a couple words of spanish so it was hard to communicate.  but i think he was a set up investigator because he was so  inviting and understanding.  actually during our first lesson we were talking about his family and the stuff he is going through and i knew every word he was saying. its crazy! I now know that the gift of tongues is not a myth, i know for a fact that it is true. nowhere else in the world can young boys come and learn a new language and turn into a man when they leave. the spirit is so strong here and i know this is what i am supposed to be doing.

It is actually getting hard to communicate with you on this because i am starting to turn into a fluent gringo! the first day we learned probably 200 words and we can pray and testify in spanish already.... and that was only 2 days!! now im on day number quatro and i feel like im starting to lose english.

The MTC schedule is like this:

630: awaken, get ready for the day

7:00: personal/companionship study  (It says personal study for every single study session so we use some of them for comp study.)

8:breakfast

9:class en espanol

12 lunc

1:class en espanol (some teaching investigators)

4: language study

5:dinner

6:study

8:gym

9:plan

9:30:get ready for bed/personal time

10:15 quiet time

10:30 lights out.

The schedule changes around every day so stuff is at different times

The comps call me the baby/Elder Gries because i sleep like a baby and Gries is how you say Gray en espanol.

yo soy que la iglesia de jesucristo de los santo de los ultimas dias es verdadero. yo soy que el don de lenguas is verdadero. yo soy que Dios amor nos, y tu hijo, jesucristo amor nos, y expiacion es por nos. yo soy que al propheta thomas s monson es a verdadero propheta y jose smith es verdadero. yo soy que el Libro de mormon es la parabla de Dios. en el nombre de jesucristo amen.

I love you all and i hope i can hear from you!!

If you dont have my address, you can go to dearelder.com and type in my name and mission (cordoba), and my mtc mailbox # (374) and the MTC will give whatever you type to me for free! I'd love to hear from you!

Thank you for all the support!

Elder Gries