1st Group email of my mission 26 Jan 2024

Hello Family and Friends! I'm finally writing an actual email to everyone so I don't have to respond to everyone's messages individually unless I have time or want to lol. Ever since I've been set apart as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, it has been so cool to have the sacred responsibility to be a representative of Jesus Christ and be a missionary! It's so cool being able to put on the tag every day and have that privilege to share the gospel and grow spiritually. The Spirit has been strong with me and I know the Lord is always by my side through everything. It has been quite the adjustment though and has been challenging at the same time but I know it's just going to be so good moving forward and I know I'm in the right place.The MTC has been awesome! The cafeteria food makes me so gassy it's not even funny lol. I'd just be in class with my district and my body will make this loud groan and it's super embarrassing and funny at the same time cause everyone hears it. All the events here have been so great! They have a devotional every tuesday and we have a general authority come to speak to all the missionaries every week. Our first week we had W Mark Bassett of the Seventy speak to us and he spoke about how his mission was really hard but it transformed him and made him grow. This last week we had George Causse of the presiding bishopric speak to us and he talked about the importance of sharing the gospel to the people we teach through your own personal experiences with the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Then afterwards he played a solo piece on the piano and it was so good! I think he played Come come ye saints, and he had so much finesse haha, i forgot to mention he was Italian lol. My district has been so awesome as well! We have 8 elders and 4 sisters, Elder Mills is my companion, Elder Brown and Elder Hulse share a room with me and Elder Mills, theyre pretty cool. They're all 18 so I kind've feel older being 22 lol. The other Elder's names in the room next to us in my district are Elder Francis, Elder Sever, Elder Moore, and Elder Clark. They're hilarious cause they're always cracking jokes all the time haha.As far as my language learning is going for Spanish, it's pretty hard honestly but I love it too cause we are using more phrases in Spanish, like "Muy bien" and "Que lastima" which means what a shame lol. I can say my prayers in Spanish and my testimony in Spanish which is really cool. The hard part is just conjugating certain words and phrases for the right context or situation but i know it's gonna come along eventually. (: I know as long as I have the Spirit with me and ask for the gift of of tongues all the time, and live worthy of it, I know I'll learn the language and teach the people who want to hear the message of the gospel. I'm still waiting on my visa to go to peru but I'm thinking I'll be reassigned somewhere in the States which I think will be cool cause it'll be like I'm serving two missions haha. I still have my guess on California Spanish speaking, cause I had a dream about it one time, which is interesting lol, well see what happens.I really am so happy to be a missionary now and have this be a reality now and be able to have the opportunity to serve Jesus Christ and teach the gospel to His children. (: its going to be hard and it has been hard already but I'm not gonna give up, cause the Lord has my back and I know this is where I want to be. So I'm hyped! haha. I'll leave with my testimony in Español.Yo se que Dios es nuestro amoroso Padre Celestial. Jesucristo expiar por nuestros pecados y su nos amas. Yo se que Jose Smith fue un profeta de Dios. Te amo Jesucristo mi Salvador, en el nombre de Jesucristo, Amen.  Alright everyone, I'll keep you updated on the MTC and my mission, pray for me and it's good to hear from you all. Love you all! Have a great week! Peace!Elder Fielding