First Blog Post

NOTE:  Cody has arrived in Paris and was already assigned to work in a suburb of Brussels, Belgium.  We should get photos and hear all about it from Cody on Monday.

 Hello everyone! This is my official first blog
post, and I am already leaving the Missionary Training Center for
Paris tomorrow. These past two weeks have been an incredible
experience. 

The first day at the MTC here in Madrid, was quite
exciting. I was suprised to learn that I was only going to be at the
MTC for two weeks. They thought my french was good enough to skip the
language study. Therefore, 6 weeks quickly turned into 2 weeks. 

My companion´s name is Elder Nagloo. He is so funny! He grew up in
Mauritius but has live in Belgium for the past 3 years. We have had
such a phenomenal time together. There are 4 other elders in my
district. They all speak french fluently so it is sometimes hard for
me to understand them. My french in general has been increasing
exponentially. Everyday I get a lot better than the day before. I am
still no where near fluent though. Haha. 

I lived with 4 Russian elders in my room. They were so fun to be around. Every night they'd teach me new russian words and folk songs. haha. There are approximately 66
missionaries here and we have class on the 4th floor, sleep on the 5th
floor, and eat on the 6th floor. The majority of the missionaries are
Americans learning spanish, and going to serve somewhere in Spain. So,
if I ever get tired of speaking french I can just talk with them. 

The food here has been surprisingly good. I am always tired though. We go
to sleep at 10:30, wake up at 6:30, but use every minute of the day to
do something. I have never been more productive in my entire life.
Haha. We have an hour to play sports evey day and so I usually play
soccer. My stat sheet has been amazing, through 4 games I have 6 goals
and 7 assists. These europeans can't keep up with me. hahaa. 

On Saturdays we go proselyting in a Park in downtown Madrid. That is
really tough because I dont speak spanish, but it is a good experience
nonehteless. On P-Day, on Thursday, us French elders went to Real
Madrids stadium. It was absolutley incredible. We got to go to the
trophy room, walk on the field, sit oon the bench, walk through the
tunnel, sit in the press room, and finally walk in the locker room.
The seats on the bench are the most comfortable things I have ever sat
on. It is honestly like a cloud. 

One of the elders had appendicitis so that was quite the experience. We got to go visit him in the hospital and everything went well in surgery. 

In summary, the MTC has been one great experience. I have grown so much in the gospel, and made memories I will never forget. I know that what I am going to preach
for the next two years is true, and I know God loves us all. He has a
plan for each of us individually. 

I will write next week from somewhere in France/Belgium/Luxembourg. Sorry, I don't have any pictures. These MTC laptops don't allow it, but next week I promise there will be some.
I apologize if I wasnt able to respond to your personal emails. We
have a limit of time at the MTC for emails. Once I am in the field I
will respond to everyone. Thank you so much for them though. 

Have a wonderful week. Elder Hein