1st MTC letter

Dear Family,
Wed Mar. 27:
What a crazy day today has been! When I got here, they gave me my badges and all my books then I did an orientation.  After that, I went to my 1st Spanish class and the teacher only spoke in Spanish for like an hour! Crazy!  My companion, Elder Winward is so chill and awesome. We are very similar. After our Spanish class, we had a meeting with all the missionaries that came in today. We all sang a hymn about 4 times! Then came dinner. We ate chicken fried steak, it was alright but the cafeteria has just about everything! Then visitors came and pretended to be investigators and we got a chance to teach them! So far this has been so amazing and I am so happy!  But it seems like I have no time to do anything. I just need to settle in though.  I also saw Grandpa by my door waiting for me when I got here (his grandpa works at the MTC) and I also saw Braiden right when I got here! I'll send you a picture when I can. My companion knows zero Spanish. He didn't even know how to say the number 5 in Spanish, ha ha, but I guess it helps make me feel more confident. I'm doing great so far!
Thurs. Mar.28:
Today has kind of been a rough day but everyone is saying that today is one of the hardest. Spanish is hard but I know it'll come because I'm working so hard at it.  3 kids from my district got moved into the intermediate Spanish class so Elder Quiroz joined us in a trio. My P-day is on Wednesday.

I saw Ty today! He leaves in 2 weeks and he's gained weight, ha ha, gotta love him! I love you guys so much! Be happy and smile! I always have my ups and downs here but I need to stay focused.
I love you. He loves you.
See you soon.
Elder Smith

Saying goodbye at the MTC

My farewell

I just want to start out by saying thanks to each one of you who came to support me! I was so happy to see all of your faces and I cant wait to see them all again! Thank you for writing those little notes that I will hold dear to my heart on my mission! Also, thank you for all of your presents that will help me. When I walked up to the stand, I could feel my heartbeat in my eyeballs because I was very nervous and there were so many eyes watching me! I thought that I would be used to it because at my golf tournaments, there were many eyes watching me as well. But when I started to speak all that worry and stress went away! It was amazing how greatly I felt the spirit and I am thankful that I got to share everything I wanted to say with you guys. My family did so much to prepare for my farewell, they probably prepared more than I did! You can probably notice that by all of the decorations, food, posters, and slideshow that they had out. I am so thankful for them. You guys made my farewell such a good and fun experience for me and I loved it. My farewell was everything that I pictured it to be! Right after everyone left our house, President Lew and Bishop Estes came over to our house and they set me apart as a Missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints two days early. But it was amazing because it really helped me change my thinking about life and it helped me realize that it's time to go and serve. President Lew gave the most powerful blessing to me that I will never forget. The blessing said all that I needed to hear. As I said in my talk, I cannot wait to go to the people in Peru and share this gospel with them. Thanks again for all of your support and I love all of you guys.
Elder Smith

Me with most (not all) of my cousins!