January 8, 2009 E-mail

Hey everyone,
It is great to hear from you all. Keep the letters and stuff coming. They are very motivational.
That was cool preston is doing so good. I'm glad to hear it. He asked when my departure date is. It keeps getting switched between feb. 2 and feb 9. But as of right now it is the 2nd.

Things are going good. The language seems to be coming good. That is until I speak to a real fijian. Ha ha! They talk really fast and quiet. But there are two elders here who i try to talk to everyday. I can usually only catch about every third word. So i do my best to decide what he is saying and then struggle to compile my own mess of a response. ha ha! I am going to keep talking to him every day to try to improve.

We have been doing alot of SYL, which is 'speak your language' within our district. We have been doing 8 hours a day where we speak only fijian. It's really tough, but alot of fun talking about people when they have no clue what we're saying. There is a whole 8 people in the whole mtc who speak it. Its fun. The more i learn and talk to people about fiji, the more excited i am to go.

Talking to the elders from fiji is great. They love telling stories especially when the stories are
about bragging about fiji. So i have heard all kinds of cool things. My teacher said we have to watch out though, because embelshing a story to make it funnier or more interesting is a common practice in fiji and not considered negative at all. He said hearing the same fish get bigger and bigger is hilarious and happens all the time. But ya things are going good.

I am definitely ready to be out of the MTC. I have cabin feaver for sure. I just want to get out. We're going to the temple today for the first time in three weeks since it has been closed for cleaning and renovation. I am way excited. It is going to be awesome.

It has snowed like crazy here, so i am sure that you have had even more than we have here. I bet you're having a blast.

I have seen patrick a bunch of times and finally got to see aaron once. They both seem to be doing very good. Glad to hear it.

Well I ran out of things to say like ten minutes ago so I will stop rambling. Love ya'll
thanks for the support. Keep the letters coming. I am praying for everyone.

Oh ya! Real quick: my teacher said letters to and from fiji take about a week, so thats not too bad.

Love Elder Wall