Well, hello there everyone and anyone! Okay, first thing, THE MTC IS THE GREATEST EXPERIENCE EVER! I love my district, which is composed of six other studly obedient elders. I love the food (although I'm pretty much just eating salads every day, because, ya know, I'm gonna get swoll)! I love the Provo temple. I love the atmosphere, the waking up early, my teachers, the spirit of this place - everything! Okay, second thing, THE MTC IS HARD! I am sooo tired all the time. Being with someone 24/7 is way more challenging than I thought it would be, the language is ALIEN to me, (there's almost no correspondence between English and Tagalog expect for a few randoms words that are just borrowed from the English language), I constantly feel inadequate, sub par, and lonely even though I'm never physically alone. However, the Lord is with me, and I will not fail. Where I am weak, He is strong, and it will be only through my faith that I succeed in my purpose, because that's what He requires. Elder Anderson, an elder in my district, gave me an amazing quote~ "If it doesnt challenge you, it doesn't change you." I am going to be a whole new person after the MTC and a whole new new person after my mission!
Anywho-sies, some great stuff is happening! I'm learning Tagalog at a steady pace, and I'm always getting better. We went to the temple today, and the Provo temple is absolutely amazing. I've started running, as Kelly would be glad to hear. On our temple walk I saw my first temple protestor, which was weird. What he was yelling made NO sense, and you could tell he had never bothered to learn what we teach. I got to hear an MTC talk from Elder Bednar, and it is without a doubt, so far up until this point in my life, the greatest talk I've ever heard. I don't know if its available on the internet, or if it's just at the MTC, but it's titled "The Character of Christ".
Funny story time- something I had never ever heard of was that your third day in the MTC you teach an investigator that only speaks the language you are learning. We were like, whaatt the heeckk?! Her name is Melody, and she's straight from the Philippines. We're all pretty sure she's actually a member who's just a super good actor. The only reason we know that is, she kind of acts like each companionship is a new lesson, even though the entire district teaches her companionship after companionship. Basically, the only reason we think she's an actress is because she's too good at it. So, getting back to the story, me and my companion are trying to teach her sa tagalog, and we use the word "kami" as we, as in Heavenly Father is our/kami slash Heavenly Father. The only problem is that in Tagalog there are two words for our, tayo which means all our (roughly) and kami which is our, but exclusive. We basically told her that God was mine and Elder Youngerman's Father, but not hers. bnsrobubnwruhnbt3!!! We had to fix that the next day. Unfortunately, we also accidentally said we are God, but that was resolved quickly. All in all, even though its hard, the MTC is awesome and I wouldn't go back for anything if I had anything to say about it! 
These are the elders in my district (usually districts are mixed with sister and elders, but mine is just elders, which is wayyy better I've decided). Elder Youngerman- my super tall companion. He likes to run off on me, but besides that, he is an absolute stud of a companion. He's the district leader. Elder Anderson- is going to be an apostle, his name, the way he looks, the way he talks, everything, there's no doubt in my mind. Elder Curtis- sooo funny. I've had, I think, more emotional bonding with him than anyone else in my district, and he's not even my companion! He's a fantastic elder. He's the elder in every group that has a girlfriend back home that is "totally going to wait for me" and sends him letters every day with kisses on the envelope. Elder Doogal- is sooooooo freaking hilarious, and he doesn't even know it. Like he's serious all the time, but its hilarious what comes out of his mouth. Like here's an example- (Elder Cook) "Sisters have a special place in my heart." (Elder Doogal) "Blood has a special place in MY heart." hahahahahahahahahahaha, weird things become absolutely hilarious in the MTC! Elder Perkins- doesn't talk a lot, but he wears the most good looking ties in the district and is a fellow music nerd. He was born with twelve fingers!!! The extras were amputated and he still has the scars. Elder Cook- super obedient and super well meaning. He's my iron rod in this district. This is my prayer so far in Tagalog, from memory! ama po namim sa langit. nugpapasalamat po ako para sa ebanghelyo at ng alklat ni mormon, at para kay jesucristo. pakiabasbasan po ninyo na koloon ng mga wikas at ng maramdaman espiritu santo. Also, are we going down? in tagalog is bababa ba? So funny! And "good water" is mabuti tubig, which literally sounds like my booty too big! hahahaha! Like I said to a lot of people, I love everyone from back home, but nope, still not homesick! And to all the old people that insisted I was going to go through an awful shock with no fancy electronic gadgets like the internet or my phone or tv or movies or music... to you I say, HA! That stuff I miss probably the absolute least. I'm way better off without them, no doubt. Sorry for all the typos. The keyboard in the computer lab is awful. The computers in this lab are weird, too, and aren't sending pictures... one of them is, but there's a waiting line of like eight elders to get to use it... I'll send them as fast as I can. I'll write more! love you all! Defend the faith!
Elder Mikesell III
(I'm referring to myself as Elder Mikesell the third, dad is the first and Jay is the second. Just so ya know.)
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