First few days in the MTC have been fabulous!

Area - Johannesburg MTC
Companion - Elder Bregg
Letter #2

JOHANNESBURG— Wow, so I guess e-mails take a while to get to you! ha. Glad to know you were all so anxious to hear though :D  Tell Ollie I'm sorry but the parrott is gonna take a while to obtain but will be ASAP. I love you all too! I miss you a lot but I am also having an amazing time here in South Africa as well!

I'm sorry to report that I do not have any baptisms yet... Actually nowhere close :/ But, the first few days at the MTC have been so great and I like it a lot. The spirit at the MTC is incredible. We started classes yesterday and it's nonstop all day long. At fist I thought the day would take forever to go by but when you are learning, having fun and feelign the spirit the day goes by fairly quickly. Love is the key to success. LOVE LOVE LOVE! I think I already knew it but when we have our lessons and watch videos of missonaries in action it shows you just how important it really is. I am learning so much after just one day it is hard to remember but it makes it easier that we are only concentrating on learning how to teach and be good missionaries so we are always talking about class. Not to say that we don't talk about other also. My companion is Elder Bregg(not sure if I already told you that) and he is the one who is also from San Diego and that was on the same plane with me. He is a funny guy and even though we are so different we get along well and have a good time. I like him. I have earned the reputation of Elder Kent since all the missionaries think that I look Clark Kent with my glasses on. There are a lot of Africans here from all over Africa like Liberia, Zimbabwe and Zambia and few are from here in South Africa. There are also 2 missionaries from Cananda, 1 from Australia(he is one of my roommates) and 1 from England. They feed us so much here it is ridiculous. By dinner time I can't even finish my whole plate! It's funny, during meal time if you leave your chair and don't tuck it in and someone catches you, they say "chairs out" and then you have to sing a primary song. i have not been caught yet haha. So all my friends told me to bring tons of ties, so I did. Turns out I am one of 2 others that have m ore thatn 8 ties. I have 20 and the other guy has 30! But it's all good cause everybody wishes they had brought more. I on the other hand am wishing that I was a better travel packer. A bag to holld my toiletries nnd another from laundry wouuld have been smart to pack. ha. Oh and if you ever you ever send me a package and you also happen to find my keychain lying around, could you send it to me? I can't find it anywhere.

Ask tons of questions so that I can think of things to tell you easier haha It'[s hard when I only have thirty minutes to write but if you ask questions I mught be able to tell ya more stuff.

I love you guys tons and I'll send ya an e-mail next Saturday! :D

Elder Dirkmaat