July 22, 2009

(Letter from Trevor to the Vincent family)

Let me just start off by saying THANK YOU for all the packages you have sent me. It's been great to get some lovin' from home (even though I am going to have to share some of those cookies to get them all eaten before they dry out!) I may be sending the temple bag home as it is likely that I won't be going to the temple on my mission, it's too far away from my mission and there's only one temple in Chile (it's in Santiago and it is GORGEOUS. Look at some pictures). Thanks for the tape recorder and extra garments, those will really come in handy. If you could also keep sending me stamps that would be great - I picked up a package of about 100 envelopes in the bookstore the other day so I think I'll be set for my MTC stay in that area. I haven't really been getting any mail so far, so it's good to hear about all the goings on in the family. I did hear from Jasmine and Sara McGhie though, so that was good. Has anyone gotten in contact with Brenda for me? I would really like to hear from her, the first letter is always the hardest to write it seems, but I'm hoping that my friends will all get better and sending me letters as I am not able to send them emails (I may just send some emails out as reminders to write me - nothing too personal).

It's good to hear that you have been refocusing your spiritual goals; being here in the MTC has made me realize how much I was missing out on. Granted, I don't think I would choose to live by all the missionary rules and timelines in regular life, but I am learning some important concepts that I plan to apply in my life when I return home. The temple truly is the greatest place to be on earth, I went there this morning with my district and I learned and felt things that I never had before. We have one temple day a week (Wednesday mornings) which I am very much looking forward to. As far as seeing me on the exercise field goes, I would love to see you and Alexis, but if I did it would be EXTREMELY brief. My branch president said that if anyone we know does come to see us while we're on the field we're supposed to keep it under 30 seconds. So I think that would be pretty tough, but I would love to see little Alexis again before heading out. We'll just have to decide more about that later.

(personal notes to family)

Dad, just keep my address for the MTC in my facebook status for awhile - I'm sure more of my friends will be able to see it there. I haven't gotten too many letters yet, so hopefully that will help get the process started. Last night we had a fireside with an amazing speaker - Elder Kolipoki! Brother Jon Groberg whose mission experience formed the basis for the movie "The Other Side of Heaven". He was an amazing speaker and it was really neat to actually see, in real life, one of those missionaries we always hear amazing stories about.

Well, I'm just about out of time for this week (there's an actual timer on the email and it automatically shuts the email down after exactly 30 mintes). I do have more time to read actual letters than email so it would be great if you could send me your messages in a letter and then I can either reply through email or snail mail - it just depends on how much time I have and such. Usually I will have enough time to read and reply through email, so feel free to send me emails. I love you all and look forward to hearing from you!

-Elder Trevor Vincent