Serving in Kentucky: 1st Email Home

April 7, 2015

Hello Family,

I'm 6 days in and I'm doing fine. The MTC was a bit of a hard adjustment, I'd still rather be out in the field I've become much more comfortable with the place. Right after I was dropped off they took me through some of the main buildings to get things like my name tag, schedule and other missionary info. After that I was taken to my room where I left my bags for the day. After that I was taken to my class room which is sort of a "home base" for everyone in our district. That's where I met my companion. His name is Elder Sharp and he's from Oregon. Not Utah like you were thinking.

After I met my companion the days started to blur together. I'm not sure what happened exactly on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, or 5th days but I'll tell you what comes to mind in this email. I don't have my journal with me at the moment. Not because I lost it, I know exactly where it is, I just don't have it with me at the time of this email.

At the MTC we wake up a 6:30, get dressed, go to our "home base" classroom and study for almost the ENTIRE day. It's hard but I've learned quite a bit. They have us do role plays here. They have given me and my companion 3 investigators to take just as seriously as actual investigators. One of them I know for a fact is a teacher. The other two... I'm not sure on. They seem very legitimate. They told us that most of the role play investigators will be teachers but some of them are real. Role playing is probably the scariest thing here but It's all meant to build experience. I've already noticed a huge difference in my teaching just after 6 days.

The first letters I got were on the 3rd day. The first one I opened was from Adam. I was thinking that Mom was going to be the author of my first letter but no. It was Adam. He sent me a really really good letter.

All the letters that Mom sent me have been of great comfort to me. They had a lot of questions but the answer to all of them is "I'm fine". I'm warm, I'm doing great, I found that family book, etc, etc. I thought Ammon and Tessa's letters were great! Those were great to read because I could hear your voices when I read them. Dad's letter was amazing! I've ready used on companions AND investigators. The advice in that letter is perfect! I re read it every 2 or 3 days or so.

I can't really think of much else to say other than thank you for everything! Thank you for the letters, for the book marks, for the freaking huge box of candy, for the beanie, for your support, for keeping me updated and thank you for being awesome! This is my first and only letter you'll get from me while I'm in the MTC. I ship out to Louisville on Monday so my next letter while be while I'm out in the field. I'll be a lot more specific next time but I just wanted to write what came to my mind today.

Thank you for listening.

-Elder Benjamin Kohkonen Cox