Subject: Week 3

Hi Everyone!

I hope your week has been swell! Everything's good over here at the MTC, I've finally fallen into the monotony of a regular schedule. It's up every morning, breakfast, study, lunch, class, dinner, class, bed. Wash, rinse and repeat. Haha it's good fun though, I've been enjoying learning Korean and increasing the relationships with everyone in my zone.

This past week we got a new teacher, Brother Madsen. It was hard at first to get acclimated to a new teaching style from a new person, but our district is slowly starting to like him more and more. Thankfully we still have Sister Sagers as a teacher as well, because we all love her!

In other news, I have an exciting announcement! I don't know if my letter has come through or not, but I've been called as the New Zone Leader! I'll be the Junior ZL for 3 weeks, Senior for another 3, and then I'm outta here! I'm excited to have some new things to do, except that I hear sundays are full of meetings. It's okay though, the other ZL Elder Wagner is a blast and I know we'll have a ton of fun together. Elder Wilkinson (my comp) has replaced me as District Leader, and I am so happy for that. He's already done an incredible job, and I'm glad that we get the support of each other in our assignments. I do get worried because he can get really stressed, but I think that as he gets more comfortable as DL the stress will go away. He is always such a good example to me of looking for ways to serve our fellow missionaries. There've been countless times where I've wanted to take a five minute nap between classes and instead he has us go out making sure everyone is alright and finding ways to serve. I love it.

The language is getting better every day. I am having less and less frustrating moments which is a good thing. I can finally say a prayer in full Hang-gu-mar (Korean), and I've almost got my testimony. Korean is a very logical language, and a lot of times if I am not sure how to say something a good guess is usually close. We had 6 Korean missionaries come in last week, and talking to them has helped loads with pronunciation and such! It's been great really getting to experience what talking to native Koreans is like.

Tuesday night devotional was incredible. Whenever someone really important comes, they always keep it a surprise until you see the speaker walk into the Marriot Center. This time it was Richard G. Scott, and he gave a beautiful talk on prayer. He started out by giving all of the Language learners an Apastolic blessing regarding the gift of tongues- that we will be blessed with it according to our faith. I've been studying faith a lot this week, and it was so comforting to know that an Apostle of God promised me the very thing I need most! Following that blessing, he gave a simple yet beautiful lesson on the power of prayer. Some thoughts I'd like to share about it is that he said to never ever speed through a prayer, but to take your time and really bear your heart. Heavenly Father is the greatest being on the planet, and we should never rush through such a precious opportunity as praying. He also said that if we should ever feel distanced from Heavenly Father, the greatest way to grow closer is through prayer. We are never too unworthy to pray, and should make it a priority to take time for Heavenly Father. I feel like often I just run through the motions during a prayer, so it was a much-needed reminder for me.

I can't even believe that two full weeks have gone by! It seems like just yesterday I walked into the MTC for the first time. Already I have made some close friends with the Elders and Sisters, and it's breaking my heart because on monday the older district is leaving to Korea. I think we all know I have a hard time with goodbyes, and I'm really sad that I'll have to say goodbye. On the flipside, next week we get a fresh new batch of Korean Speaking missionaries!! I really hope some of them are headed to Sydney as well.

Speaking of goodbyes, I didn't get a chance to see Brett before he left. I went down on tuesday to his dorm, but they'd already been long gone. I'm so grateful that he's been there for me these past two weeks, but I'm also happy for him to finally be free and out in the real world. The MTC can do crazy things to your brain, or so I've heard..! Yesterday, I was talking to one of our Sister Training Leaders Sister Pappa, when I mentioned that my cousin had just left this week for Thailand. She asked who it was and I said Elder Crump, and she and her companion started laughing really hard! Apparently Brett has gained quite a reputation with the Korean Sisters in my zone, and they all love him. It doesn't surprise me in the least that they all know Elder Crump, as he's kind of a celebriy here.

Other than that, it's been same old, same old. My companion and I are doing great, the language is coming as well as can be expected, and I'm finally getting to sleep much better. I had a cold earlier in the week, but it's all gone know which is a relief.

Well, that's about it everyone. Thanks again for all the packages, letters, emails, and notes. They mean the world to me. I love you all!!
Sarangheyo,

Elder Easton