Week #5

Hola!

With 3 1/2 weeks to go, I'm finally starting to feel like I'm maybe getting somewhat near the beginning of the end of my exhaustingly long stay at the MTC. Don't worry, Dad, I've been a diligent journal writer. I write every day, and always try to focus on how I'm doing spiritually and concerning the work rather than things like what we ate for breakfast. We did get to watch the temple dedication on Sunday, so that was pretty cool and great to experience! We watched the 9:00 session. Thanks for that story/thought you shared with me too, Dad! It was really something I needed to hear and got me thinking about things the way I should. The CTR shoes do fit perfectly, and I've been wearing them a fair amount. I think an iPod shuffle will be great! Thanks! I hope you can find one for dirt cheap. I don't want you guys to have to spend a ton of money on me. I've gained 5 pounds since I've been here, so I don't need very many more snacks haha. I still have half the jar of peanut butter though, so it could be nice to have some more Oreos to finish that off (a plastic spoon would help too!).

We finally got new roommates this week, but we're super upset because they're still going to be leaving before us!!! They're going to Bolivia, but they're only going to be here for three weeks because they're switching to the Peru MTC. I kind of wish I'd got to do that with like the Guatemala one or something since it's on the way to Rica, but at the same time it'll be nice to just have a constant training experience in one place, then just head out to the field. Anyway, the newmates are pretty cool I guess. One is from Kansas, the other is from Kaysville. We get along fine but there are some little things every now and then that they do and I'm just like "...what? What on earth?" It's hard to explain. I think it's just that our personalities and views on like everything don't quite match up. I try to crack awkward jokes with them to break the ice sometimes, but it ends up just feeling awkward and not like a joke. They stare blankly a lot. Haha, they're cool though. I'm sure once we get to know them better there will be less moments that feel strange.

I like my camera just fine! I don't have any pictures to send this week though... We keep doing the same thing every day of every week so there aren't really any developments that I feel a need to capture images for! I should have a couple next week though. Chance leaves in a few days, so we're going to take a picture tonight. Also, Kevin Fisher got here this week so I'll be sure to get a picture with him. Then I can send them to you guys and you can put them on Facebook and everybody will go cray! Have you guys even been getting my pictures? I tried to send two last week, but it sent me a return email saying it didn't work. Thanks you everyone who has written me! I love all types of letters. Love them. Thank you so much Lythgoe family as well for your encouraging letters and words of wisdom. I was so pleasantly surprised to receive those! Thanks so much. Sorry this is so short, but I really don't have much else to say! We rarely do anything different here. I'm sure my letters from the field will be huge. Just know that I know that this gospel is true, and that I'm so grateful and happy to be here. I'm progressing every day and I can't wait to serve the Lord in Costa Rica. Love you and miss you.

--Elder Hampton

ONE MONTH!

Hello there.

Can you believe I've been here for one month tomorrow? I can't. We're gonna have a huge district anniversary celebration and party till the wee hours of the morning, or maybe we'll just teach some lessons and learn some Spanish. It really does feel like I just got here in some ways though. In many other ways, not so much. We've officially watched another district in our zone arrive to the MTC and then leave for the field, so we feel like old fogeys/MTC super seniors. Halfway done though! I get so excited when I see other missionaries leaving with their luggage early on Tuesday mornings, looking so happy and thrilled, because I simply cannot wait until that's me. I had no idea there was a regional conference. We definitely did not watch it here. Congrats on doing so well in the marathon, Dad! I'm not the least bit surprised. You're amazing. One of my biggest victories this week was in a zone-wide debate that began with Elder Keysor and me. He insisted that the Jimmy Neutron movie came after the TV show, and I knew that was absolutely absurd. The movie SPAWNED the TV show. He gathered a large band of followers, and I only found a few who would stick to what we knew in our hearts from our childhood. We got a teacher to Google it on his phone, and my team was gloriously correct.

I'm so sad that Grandma and Grandpa won't be here while I am! Tell Grandpa I hope the surgery and recovery go well. Also tell them that I met a senior couple called The Wilkins, and that the guy was their stake president! They say hi. An MP3 player sounds great. You can rub it in my face all you want, Mom! Haha. Getting one and loading it with songs was just one more thing I didn't want to have to do in the crazy days leading up to my departure. But now it sounds very nice, and I would love it. Another song that I would love if you can find it is one called "Precious Savior, Dear Redeemer." I don't know any specific versions of this one either, but I'm sure any will do. I also realized that if you haven't been able to find the Sufjan Stevens album, you can download it from my iTunes account with the Cloud thing. I'll give you that info if you need it. Also, can you burn an extra copy of the Sufjan album onto CD's and send them? A sister, Hermana Stum, in our district heard me mention it and said she would really, really love a copy. She realizes that's kind of asking a lot-ish though, so if not, that's fine.

Thank you to all the friends who have written me in the past week! I loved it. Please keep it up! Letters are what keep me going on the harder days. NALISE AND SISTER OLSEN! Oh my goodness. Thank you SO much for the many, many treats. I am absolutely loving them, as is the entire floor of our residence building. That was so thoughtful and nice of you guys. Nalise, I want to write you back, but I don't have an address! But really, thanks so much. Thank you everyone for everything! I'm just filled with so much love for everyone I talk to here and receive letters from. The Spirit is so abundant. Part of the reason why is because I watched a life-changing talk last Sunday. It was an MTC Fireside, so I don't know if it's available to the public online. But if you can find it, everyone reading this watch "The Character of Christ" by Elder Bednar. I promise you'll see things differently.

I'm also loving teaching more and more every day. Even though they're not real investigators, I get so nervous every time we knock on the door to a "house." However, the Spirit guides us, and I leave feeling so fulfilled at the end of each and every lesson, and time just flies by while we're in there. Oh yeah, family, Sister Toleafoa is a sister in my district and her family lives in Orem. So if you ever happen to meet them, you'll have a fun connection. I think that's all I really have to say this week! Again, thank you so much everyone for everything. I'm enjoying my time here decently, but I can't wait to get out into the field! Love you all and miss you as always.

--Elder Hampton

Here is the link to the talk Jake mentioned:
 http://www2.byui.edu/Presentations/Transcripts/ReligionSymposium/2003_01_25_Bednar.htm

Week #3!

Hola everyone,

Time is passing more quickly the longer I'm here. Next week I'll be about halfway done! It's weird sometimes to think that my actual mission hasn't even started. I'm hardly getting the tiniest taste of what my life will really be like for the next two years. I'm still loving this experience though, and know that I'll love that field infinitely more. I'm jealous that you guys got to see Wicked, and in the front row!!! I can't believe that someone in our family actually won a contest, and I also can't believe you happened to sit in front of people from Orem. I'm glad you guys had fun in New York and were safe (especially flying back on 9/11), and I'm so glad that Dad's kidney stones subsided while you were there! I hope you're able to run the marathon tomorrow. Good luck! Let me know how it goes.

I don't think I remembered in my reply to thank Addy for the candy bar that came with her letter! It was delicious, as are the peanut butter and oreos. Thanks so much for all the stuff you've all sent me! My mail traffic from friends has slowed down, and actually almost stopped. I would love to hear from my friends. All of you reading this, please write me! If you don't want to handwrite a letter, use DearElder.com. It's super easy! Tan, Keili, Jared... still waiting on all of you!

Our roommates left for the Guatemala MTC on Tuesday! It was really sad. We'd bonded a ton over the short three weeks. So now our district is down to 9. I don't think we'll gain or lose again during our time here. I think and hope that we'll get nubes (that means clouds in spanish, but we use it to mean newbies/n00bz) next week, but I don't think they'll be in our district. Are Grandma and Grandpa coming on Monday? Even though they'll only be here for a week, I think I'll definitely see them if they're here at the same time as me. I see so many senior missionaries all the time everywhere. I really hope they come next week. I will be so thrilled to see them. We've been teaching another "investigator," and it's been way more difficult than our other one. I like it though. It's a challenge, and I think he's a lot more realistic to how many people will be in the field. He's actually the guy that's been our teacher since we got here, but he's an amazing actor because I don't see him as our teacher at all when we're giving him lessons.

Music is still causing me to suffer some days, but not as much as it did at first. When I went to the post office today, "Kill the Messenger" by Jack's Mannequin was playing quietly. I was so satisfied. It was so weird and amazing to hear that kind of music again, even if I really haven't been here that long. Music! I keep forgetting to tell you guys. I meant to pack the album "Songs for Christmas" by Sufjan Stevens, because I hear most mission presidents allow it. Can you guys get it to me in some form? It's two discs... I think you should be able to find it in the bin of stuff that I packed and left by the treadmill. There's a HUGE bag of CD's in there, and I think it's in there somewhere. They're burned CD's that probably just say "Songs for Christmas," but not Sufjan Stevens on it anywhere. Let me know if you can't find it and we'll figure it out. Also, in one of the first devotionals I went to here, these Elders sang a song that I think was called "My Kindness Shall Not Depart From Thee." It might have been my favorite church song I've ever heard. I don't know if you guys can find a version of that song you think I would like and somehow get it to me, even if it's a CD with just that song, or like an MP3 player with Sufjan and that. Either way, I won't be able to use it till the field.

Anyway, I'm learning so much here every day about being a missionary, an effective church member, a disciple of Christ, and so much more. I love it. This is such a huge, important experience for me to have, and I'm so grateful for this opportunity. Thank you guys for all your love and support and postage! Love you all, miss you and think of you often. Adios!

-- Elder Hampton

Week #2

Hello all,

So apparently there was an earthquake in Rica? That's sad that someone died, but I'm glad it wasn't worse. I wonder if there will be lots of cleanup stuff for us to help with when we get there. Should only make things more adventurous, so I'll look forward to it. Tell Kenny I say congrats on his mission call! That's so great. Thank you for already being faithful to my DVD/CD list haha, and for all the donuts and Swedish fish and letters! I thought of something I would love to eat: oreos with peanut butter. If you sent me some, I'd be like three points happier. I'm usually pretty happy here already though.

I love the Sunday and Tuesday devotionals here. I'm waiting for the day that an apostle comes. I'm sure I'll see one if I'm here for a full 9 weeks. Everyone always starts rumors each time that the prophet is coming. It's fun. This past Sunday we got to watch President Monson's 85th birthday celebration which was really cool, and sort of a chance to hear non-hymn music. We watched an old video after called The Labor of Love. It's a cheesy 80's movie with a returning missionary telling his experiences to a stranger on his plane ride home. I absolutely thrived on every single second of it. Our district started this game called "Aspasins" where we all have two lives represented by these little sticky notes we keep with us. When you hear someone speaking English when they could have been speaking Spanish, you shout "Aspasins!" and take one of their lives and keep it for themselves. The last person with lives wins. It could be pretty helpful and sort of fun, but nobody's really playing it. It is making me speak more Spanish than I would be though.

The room next to us was quarantined or something because they had bed bugs!!! We're gonna die. The pictures you should get with this email are a picture of our district and one of just me and Elder Keysor and our roommates. Their names are Elder Moberly and Elder Sparacino. They're leaving on Tuesday for the Guatemala MTC, which we're really sad about. It's gonna be weird without them. We'll laugh significantly less. Anyway, I gotta go. I've felt the spirit so much in the past few days though while reading Jesus the Christ! It's so amazing. I highly recommend. Love you all, always missing of you and thinking of you often. Adios!

--Elder Hampton

The district

Elder Hampton and his comp Elder Keysor, and their roommates Elder Moberly and Elder Sparacino

WEEK #1

Hola!

Thank you everyone for the letters you've sent, and also for the cookies. Overall, I love the MTC so far. After you guys dropped me off, they walked me to a building to check in, and the way it was set up really reminded me of joining the DHARMA Initiative. My companion's name is Elder Keysor. He's from Danville, California. He's a pitcher for BYU baseball. He's going to Costa Rica as well, and he actually won't even turn 19 till we're there. We get along great. It's only been like ten days, but it already feels like I've known him and our roommates for a lot longer. Somehow, I came here thinking that I'd have to be pretty serious 24/7 for the next two years, but it's actually been the opposite. I've laughed to the point of tears more in the past week than I have probably all summer. We have so much fun, and so many inside jokes already. One of my roommates is one of the funniest people on the planet and he doesn't even know it. We're all serious when we need to be though. Elder Keysor and I were the first one's to get our district's "investigator" to commit to baptism! Even though it was just a practice, it still was the best I've felt since getting here.

Our district has already changed a couple times, and will change again in a couple weeks, but for now, there are 11 of us total: 7 elders and 4 sisters. My companion is the only other person I've met that's going to Costa Rica, but a few missionaries have mentioned they have friends here going there. The rest of my district are going to Guatemala, Chile, Louisiana, New York, and PROVO (all Spanish-speaking of course). It's just one of the Elders that's going to Provo. His name is Elder Page and he's from Minnesota. He's half black, tall, skinnyish, and his mission covers Orem, so if you ever meet him, feed him dinner. To answer Dad's question, we do only get to go to the temple on P-Day. We went this morning and some of us ate in the cafeteria after. It was a good, spiritual time. It was nice to be in a building I was familiar with.

The food here ranges from 2/5 to 4/5 on my scale. A lot of it looks really moist and delicious, then turns out to feel and taste like a plastic toy. I wasn't hungry at all the first few days. Last Friday was the first time I actually ate more than a few bites. It was Papa John's pizza. I still don't get hungry very often, but I eat most of what I get at meal times. I always try to mix Sprite with the different juices they have, but they're all gross except for when I do it with apple, because then it tastes a little like apple beer. I've seen tons of people from OHS here. I've seen Tay and Chance. I see Evan Johnson (Ventana/Tie One On) several times a day. We talk a lot during gym time. Gym time... I like pretty much everything at the MTC, but if there are two things I don't like, it's shaving every day and gym time. I've kind of established myself as the weirdo who bums around the track alone humming to himself. I'm not really kidding. I know it's a commandment to exercise though, so I usually try to mess around on a bike or eliptical for a lot of the time while my companion plays basketball.

I really do hum a lot. I hum through entire albums sometimes. I miss music SO much. We can't listen to anything here, but even if we could listen to mission music, I'd still be dying. It's really been hitting me the past couple days now that I've been here longer than a week, because I've done a week without music before for scout camps and things like that. I'm slowly getting over it though haha. To answer some other things people have asked me: there's nothing really specific we do on p-days here besides temple and laundry, and of course e-mail. I'm really liking learning and speaking Spanish. It's nice to be using it and hearing it a lot again. I weirdly missed it after I was done with it in high school. There's a returned sister missionary who I think actually lives near our house. Tawni (spelling?) Christensen? She came into our classroom. She lived in Costa Rica this summer and told me and Elder Keysor about the living conditions and taught us some Costa Rica slang.

I'll try to write replies to Morgan and Addy's letters today, as well as other people reading this who are awaiting written replies. I'm sure you'll post this on Facebook and stuff, so I need to say a couple things to people: Sam, thanks for writing me that letter! I hope this email answers most of the questions you asked me, because I can't write you back without a return address! Marci, thanks so much for the nice letter! It made me feel so good. Tan, you should probably write me sometime since Sam and your mom have and you haven't haha. Also, give my family $40.


Love you all and miss you! Sorry this is a little short, I'm scared that it'll kick me out of the account when my 30 minutes are up! I'm not sure if it worked, but there should be a picture of Elder Keysor attached. Adios!

Until next week,

Elder Hampton


PS please send me a picture of me getting my black belt, just like with a package or letter. My companion and roommates don't believe me

Jake and his companion, Elder Keysor