9-11-08

 Hey everybody, 

This place is gnarly. im just gonna start with that. I wake up between 6 and 6:30 every day and get to class at 7, the schedule is packed with instruction, personal study, companionship study, meetings, training exercises to the point that it feels like 9 or 10 at night around 2 in the afternoon. classes dont end until 9pm with breaks for meals in between. I havent learned this much this fast ever. Again this place is gnarly. There are about 12 big dorm buildings here with a huge gym with with ball courts and basketball and stuff. and 4 square which is actually pretty fun. Theres a main building with probably 20 big meeting rooms and 50 classrooms, a giant cafeteria, and a laundrymat/drycleaners. We have a store here. Its a mini-city, which makes sense because even though im only here for 3 weeks the missionaries who learn other languages are here for 8-9 and the ones who learn new alphabets with their language like korean or chinese or hungarian and stuff are here for 12-13. and im glad im not them. there are about 2300 missionaries here. it has been really wierd being called "elder packer" and calling everybody either elder or sister lastname. everytime somebody asks me what my name is i say nate...i mean elder packer. its all good, im having a good time, learning a rediculous amount of things from the bible/boof of mormon daily, and have met some funny people here in the process. the foods not bad, i dont know why everybody hates on it, there is a big ice cream bar a couple times a week and about 4 choices for every meal. I stick with salads, fruits, and bread so i dont gain weight like everyone says they do here. im out of time, hope everybodys doing well. My address is Nathan packer, mtc mailbox #166, wa-evr, Provo utah, then the zip that i dont know. u can email me but i only get half an hour and i have 30 seconds so adios