First Email from the MTC

Hey everybody this is your son/sibling formerly known as Johnny. Now I go by Elder Hullinger. I'm loving it here so much. It is such a spiritual environment and I have already learned more about the gospel and about myself than I ever could have imagined. I'm always ridiculously busy, but it is good. Here's a typical day for me:

6:15 Wake up, pray, shower and get dressed.
7:00 Eat breakfast-usually good food.
7:30 Class with one of ours teachers, Brother Harris(Who by the way is an incredible teacher. We are learning so much in class right now.
10:15 Gym time. I usually play basketball but we only get to play half court and we only get three or four gym times a week. Plus they feed us so much I'm trying not to get fat.
11:30 Lunch
12:15 Personal Study
1:15 Companion Study
2:15 Missionary Directed Time (MDT) This is where we can do whatever we want that applies to mission work. I usually go to workshops where my companion and I can work on whatever we want. These are things like door knocking and teaching investigators to fill a need in their lives.
3:15 Large Group Meeting (LGM) This is when everyone meets together as missionaries to listen to talks or we go to a devotional. Yesterday Robert D. Hales spoke to us. It was amazing.
4:30 Dinner. Can you believe that? I used to eat lunch at 4:30.
5:15 More MDT
6:30 More classroom work with our other amazing teacher Sister Vernon.
9:00 Plan out the next day.
9:30 Return to our dorms where we can relax a bit. I usually write in my journal, brush my teeth, and talk about regular stuff with the other elders in my district.
10:15 Companion prayer.
10:30 Lights out and personal prayer.

I usually don't fall asleep until about 11:30. I like the hour where i can just think about everything that has happened during the day and think about my future as a missionary. I also pray a lot. I've never had such long prayers in my entire life. I honestly probably prayed for around 8 minutes just last night. I have realized how much i have to be grateful for. I have the best family in the world and I'm so lucky to have been born with this gospel. My testimony is growing every day and I'm so happy. My companion is a really nice guy who wants to work hard (which is super important). His name is elder Eaton. We're pretty different. The only sport he likes is Nascar... haha. But we get along just fine. It can be tough working with a companion at times but I know it is important to have one. Elder Eaton is from Virginia and he really does want to do well. I'm working on being more tolerant with people which can be tough sometimes but with the Lord's help I know i can overcome it. I want you all to know how much I love every one of you. I didn't show you enough when I was there but I truly do. The church is true.

Your loving son/brother
Elder Hullinger