Officially in Ohio

David finally arrived in Cleveland today after 3 weeks in the MTC.

Hello Ohio!

Last letter from the MTC - sent 10/8/10

In 4 days I'll be on my way to Ohio! Crazy how fast it's gone by. I'll try my hardest to remember what has happened this week - it's gone by SO fast.

Saturday/Sunday - Conference. Conference was AWESOME!! And it was cool to watch it with a gym full of missionaries. Conference was possibly my favorite. Elder Scott also gave a really good talk (I know he's dads favorite!)

Monday/Tuesday - the district above us (they got here the Wednesday before us) left. It was sad. One of the missionaries was Elder Clark - he went to high school with Sean Horrocks, played tennis with him or something (sorry if I spelled that wrong, I'm too tired to care), and left for Mississippi.

Wednesday - the new batch of Elders came in. One of them was Matthew Kirkham's roommates at BYU! (Speaking of Matthew, congrats on your mission call! He's headed to Spain, very cool) The new district are going to Florida and New Jersey. I'm still jealous of the Hawaii Elders

Thursday - my companion and I went to a hospital to get his foot looked at. 8 years or so ago he had foot surgery and has been having some pretty bad pains there recently. They took xrays, found out that his surgery was not done correctly, he needs to get it fixed. Recovery would take 6-8 weeks.

Today - he called home, him and his parents decided they would fix it after his mission.

I'm very very very very tired. Not so much physically and spiritually. Went to the temple today - awesome, as always. I've seen a LOT of friends from BYU - on Wednesday Rufus came in. It's nice to see familiar faces. What else could I write about... Our zone is really awesome. My district and the district below us (going to long beach and hawaii) are way close and have a ton of fun together. I'm gonna miss these guys. Half of our district leaves for Denver, Colorado on Monday, so we'll have a whole day without them. It will be wayyy weird. Even though we've only been here for 2 1/2 weeks, it feels like it's been months. So we're all like brothers. BUT we're all SOOO excited to get to Ohio. The MTC is great and I've learned and grown SO much, but I'm ready for the real world. Ready to meet and talk to real investigators.

Mom - I did forget to mention the cookies you guys sent me. Thank you, they were/are (there are still a few more) delicious. And thank you Sister Scott/the Scotts for those amazing cinnamon rolls. They. Are. The. Best. Thing. We've (yes, I share). Eaten. In. Two. Weeks. Thank you. As for the food here, it's still pretty awful, but bearable. I've learned what to trust and not trust. HA! Funny story - the orange juice. We've heard rumors how it's dangerous. Three of us decided to test this out. We drank 5 glasses of orange juice. Turns out they put laxatives in the orange juice. I'll stick with water/raspberry lemonade.

I don't think I'm going to write letters today. I'm just too beat. But know that I read and enjoy every letter. A lot. They make my day, so keep on writing them! IF YOU WRITE ME ON DEAR ELDER (Bailey) MAKE SURE YOU WRITE YOUR ENTIRE ADDRESS OR I WILL NOT BE ABLE TO WRITE YOU BACK! I would not write me from DearElder after Sunday/Monday morning because they usually take half a day/a day until I get them, and I leave EARLY Tuesday morning. So I will not receive the dearelders.

Alright. I wont email again for 2 mondays (monday will be my p-day in Ohio). But I'm sure my next email will be awesome as I will be in Ohio! :)

I end this with my testimony. There is nowhere I'd rather be right now than here, serving the Lord. The experiences I have had here have been amazing, and just strengthen my testimony and knowledge of the truthfullness of this gospel. Our Heavenly Father loves all of us, more than we can imagine. Pray to him often. He'll always listen. I know that Joseph Smith saw God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, and is a prophet of this last dispensation. And the Book of Mormon - the keystone to this relgion - is the most true book on this earth. Moroni promises at the end that all those who read it, and pray to know if it's true with pure intent, will receive an answer. I challenge all of you who haven't prayed to know of this truthfulless to do so. I have. I have received my answer. I know this church is true. I love and miss you all. God bless.

Elder David Dransfield

Letter # 2 - October 1, 2010

Hey!

It's finally P-day, although this week has gone by a LOT faster than the first few days! I'm drowning in letters - which is awesome.  Again, I can only write letters/emails on my P-days so know that I read all your letters (Steven and Mom - I read ALL your letters, I WILL write you back today). All your letters make me smile and laugh, so keep on sending them! If you write me on dearelder and youre not my family, can you write your address at the bottom of the letter? dearelder formats things weird and some  of you I've wrote back but your address was wrong. It'd be very helpful! And also, include the date at the top of your dearelders. These days are all just meshing together.

This week as been awesome.  I've learned SO much and am finally used to the schedule here. We're kept very busy but that's probably the best part about being here. I find that the busier I am, the happier I am. Down time is just...weird.

One of my 3 roommates was sick the first few days at the MTC. Elder Kitchen, Elder Trammell and I thought we were avoiding it well...but we were wrong. On Tuesday we  woke up and said "Does your guys' throats hurt?" while the roommate who was sick felt fine. So we went to the health center and were told to rest for the day. Laying in bed for 3/4 of the day sucked!!! I felt like we were missing out on so much! But we were able to get over the worst of the cold after that day and since then I've been fine. A stuffy nose but that's all. Everyone at the MTC is getting the cold, so I'm glad I got it at the begginning, and not right before leaving of Ohio.

Last Sunday my companion and I were called to be the Zone Leaders! After only being here for 3 or 4 days and being called to that, we thought it was a joke. It definitley was not a joke. As Z.L.'s we look after the three districts in our zone and are more of a slave than leader (kind of). Basically we just help everyone as much as we can. This include the new missionaries who came in this Wednesday. We've had to explain all the rules/layout of the MTC and are their go-to guys for questions. They're group of 12 elders are going to Hawaii and Long Beach, CA for their missions. So while I'm freezing in Ohio, they'll be in short sleves, tanning. They're a great group of kids though. They're excited to be here - which is awesome. Not only are we "older" missionaries serving as examples to them, but their drive and enthusiasm is a good reminder to us of when we first got here (after a week of the food, your excitement to be here kind of dies.)

I've been seeing a lot of old friends from BYU here which is so cool. I also saw Kristen K. passing by in the halls and Spencer Mason quite a few times. I leave before a lot of my friends (even though they've been here WEEKS longer than me) and they're all jealous. The MTC is amazing, but after 3 weeks I can see why people are ready to leave. You get such a hang of (or so you think) missionary work that you just want to get to the field and do the real work! I have 10 or 11 days left here.

I got my flight info! We leave SLC at 7am, land in Detriot at 12:32pm. Leave Detriot at 1:45pm and land in Cleveland at 2:40pm. I will probably call between SLC and Detriot - SO BE HOME!!!

I tried to upload my pictures/attach them to this email, but the computers dont allow us to access much. So I wont be able to send pictures till I get to Ohio.

Well, I think that's that for this week. The MTC has been a great experience thus far and I can't wait to get to Ohio. I've had to iron my shirts and pants a lot, so when I'm home I'll be a master iron-er. Again, keep sending the letters. There's some kind of point system here for letters and packages (apparently) and so far I'm winning by a lot. Although we're not really keeping score because I'm winning by A LOT.

The Spirit at the MTC is like nothing you can imagine. (unless you've been here). I wake up every morning feeling so blessed and have been showered with God's love. The church is true. Joseph Smith saw God the Father and His son Jesus Christ. The Book of Mormon is the most true book on earth. There's nothing more to it. Moroni's promise in the last chapter is true. If you read it with prue intent, and pray to know if it's true, you will receive an answer.  This gospel is so perfect, it makes me excited everytime I think about it. We are so blessed to have the gospel restored and to have so many truths and keys back on the earth. I know our Heavenly Father loves us. He watches us; He knows us. When we're happy, He's happy. When we're crying, He's crying. I know this. I have had experiences in just this past week and a half that have already changed me so much. And this is why I can't wait to get to Ohio. So I can start to live my purpose: to invite others to come unto Christ, by helping them receive the restored gospel, through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentence, baptism, recieving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. You're all in my prayers. I love you all. Read the Book of Mormon - it'll make your day better.

Elder David Dransfield

Zone Leader

Kristen is a friend of David's who attends BYU and works at the MTC. She sent me this message on Monday, Sept 27:

"Fabienne! I saw David at the MTC this morning! He looked so wonderful. Since I couldn't hug him we just shook hands a lot. He told me to tell you that he hasn't had much time to write, but he will do his best to write soon. His P-Day is Friday just in case he hadn't told you. He also wanted me to tell you that HE WAS MADE A ZONE LEADER!! He seemed pretty excited and I'm sure you will hear all about it in his next letter".

First letter from Elder D.

Saturday, September 25, 2010 1:28pm
Subject: I'm alive!

Hey!!!

Wow, it's hard to believe I've only been here for a 3 days... It seriously feels like it's been a week or two. But everything is going great! Before I forget, the letters everyone is sending me is awesome!! We've been getting our mail since yesterday and I've already gotten 4 letters and 10 dear elders (yes, everyone is jealous and make me feel bad. Maybe you guys should start writing my friends too? Just kidding). Thank you everyone who has written me. It's nice to know there's a world outside of here. It DOES slightly feel like a jail, but a good jail that I'm happy to be in. And also thank you for all understanding that I ma extremely busy and can only write letters on my Preparation days (p-days). Today we have a short p-day but while I'm in the MTC, it'll be on Fridays. Once I'm in Ohio, it'll be on Mondays. So I'll write you all back as fast as I can! Also, when you write on dear elder, can you tell me what day it is? That including the day of the week? Because time here is slowly meshing together and it's nice to figure out who sent what when.

Okay, I'm sure everyone wants to know about the MTC. First, the basics: the food - it's bearable... I guess considering the cook has to cook for thousands of missionaries three times a day, it's pretty good. My companion - Elder Kitchen is from Santa Rosa, California and went to BYU-I before this (he's good friends with Taylor Cain! It's a small world). He's awesome, we get along great. We're both going to Ohio Cleveland Mission. In my district...(for those of you who don't know , think of this like middle school. District = your class that you do everything together. Zone = your "team" that are full of kids who all have the same teachers) ... so in my district, there are 15 guys. 8 of us are going to Ohio, and the other 7 are going to Denver North Mission (Denver, Colorado, and there are 7 instead of 8 because one guy didn't show up the first day. So the leftover guy became a three-some companionship with two others). But we all get along really well. Everyone is able to be serious yet have fun and nobody seems to get on each other's nerves - this is way good since we're together ALL the time. Our zone has people going to Canada, Philadelphia, aaaand possibly other places that I cannot think of because the timer on the top of this computer is freaking me out a little. Everyone in our zone is English speaking and there's 3 districts n the zone (this is our first week, one's second week, and another's third week, so each week, one district leaves and another joins). My district can't wait for Wednesday when we're not the newbies anymore. My district has two teachers (Sister Page and Brother Murray. Page served in Tennessee and Murray in San Diego. They're both AWESOME!) That's one thing I really like about the MTC so far, all of the teachers are amazing and so caring about you. And they're geniuses. Definitely were awesome missionaries.

The first couple of days here were crazy (we entered on Wednesday, today is Saturday or Friday, I can't remember ... I think Saturday. At first, it was just a lot of orientation stuff and then showing us how things will be working for the next three weeks. The first couple of days were kind of rough, just because we were all tired, very confused, and we all just wanted to start learning. Now, we've been learning and things are getting better. Everyone says to just make it to Sunday and time will stop going so slow. Tomorrow is Sunday. Thank Goodness. A daily schedule for us so far will go like this:

6:30 - Wake up
7:00 - Missionary Directed time (MDT) - companions can choose to study whatever they want)
7:30 - Breakfast
8:00 - Classroom Instruction (our teachers are in charge)
12:00 - Lunch
12:45 - Gym (50 minutes long. I may not have done that math right)
1:25 - Prep for the next activity (shower)
More classroom instruction or MDT
5:00 - Dinner
More classroom stuff or MDT
9:00 - plan day for tomorrow
10:30 - in bed, lights out

We're kept pretty busy. For MDT you and your companion (I only have 8 minutes left to write! Ahh!!) will go over lessons, scriptures, teach each other, etc. Lately (lately, ha! Lately as in yesterday and today) we've been doing a lot of teaching and pretending to be investigators. For example, me and Elder Kitchen will teach elder Prat and Elder Helton and they'll critique us and we'll switch places. It helps a lot. Monday we'll start doing a lot more, and I'll fill you guys in on that next week.

Well everyone, I'm safe and happy. The MTC truly is a special place. There's such a strong spirit here and everyone is so excited and happy (although those who have been here for 7 or 8 weeks are starting to go crazy. I'm so lucky I'm only here for 3 weeks!) Over just the past few days my testimony has grown so much. If I didn't know that this church and gospel was true, I wouldn't be here right now. I've said that before, but I mean it. I know that our Heavenly Father wants us to be happy and has provided us with the means to attain this joy. Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God and I am so blessed and feel honored to be serving where he walked. The Book of Mormon is true and we can learn so much from it, as well as strengthen our relationship with the holy ghost.

My time is up - the timer is flashing. I love and miss you all! I hope all is well in the real world! I love your letters! Until Friday, Bye!

Love,
Elder David Dransfield


P.S. Sorry, I don't have time to upload pictures! I'll try next week! Also, that you grandma and grandpa in-law something-removed Smith for taking me in before the MTC and driving me here! Okay, 1 minutes left. Got to get off the computer!

David leaving for the MTC (Mission Training Center)

Facts only a true Ohioan will tell you

An excerpt from David's farewell talk at church

1. Schools close for the state basketball tournament. Deer season, too.

2. In Ohio you get all four seasons: Winter, Still Winter, Almost Winter, and Construction

3. "Toward the lake" means "north" and "toward the river" means "south"

4. It is not uncommon to have to switch from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day

5. The four major food groups are beef, pork, pop, and Jell-O salad with marshmallows

6. Halloween costumes have to be designed to fit over a snowsuit

7. The local paper covers national and international headlines on one page but requires six pages for sports

8. The only spices owned are salt, pepper, and ketchup

9. Negative 20 degrees Farenheit is considered "a little chilly"

The rest of the facts were either about football, the weather, or hating on LeBron James