Another week at the MTC!

wahooo!!! Once again we are LOVING Alex's letters and are so proud of everything that he's doing! The MTC can be hard at times, 

but it's worth it! I feel it's incredible to see the change in missionaries from the first day to even the following week! Sometimes

I have to remember that it's Alex writing because he sounds more mature than ever (and let's be honest, I still see him

as the troublesome 4 year old who would run around and cause havoc everywhere he went.) 

Well hello family!!!! It sounds like you are all doing well!! I am so excited to hear from you all!:) I love getting letters and hear the amazing things in your lives.  Well, I am doing well and my Spanish is coming along.  Dad, thank you for that letter. I am glad you followed that prompting.  I really needed to hear it at that time.  It has been getting tougher and harder as I get better at Spanish.  I'm not saying I'm getting discouraged, but I am saying it is getting a lot harder.  It just gets really frustrating when I know these simple words that just don't come to me.  I study and study  and I can remember them, but when I do these practice lessons, I forget them.  It's so strange, because I can remember all the grammer and all of these longer and harder words, but I can't seem to remember these small simple ones!!!! ahhhhh! But, I just gotta keep on working and I needed  to hear that dad, Thank you :)

Other than that, the language is coming along.  I am so thankful for great teachers.  They have helped me so much in understanding not just the language, but also the lessons and doctrine.  Hermano Hardy is awesome!! He and Hermana Hall do a tag team on our district and they just do so well with all of us :)  Fun little story.  Almost everyday we have a random teacher help out our teachers when they are are being an investigator.  Well 2 days ago, Hermano Walker comes in.  We get to chatting and he knows David!!! :) He said he knows him from back home in Washington :)  He went to Ecuador (I'm not sure how to spell it:P) on his mission :)  Another quick story, I was studying in the couch in the lounge area on our floor when a teacher comes in that I met from the first day.  Well we get talking and he knows Mitch very well :)  His name is Jarom Auna.  He was so nice and he told me that he'd let Mitch know that I said hi :)

On a more spiritual note, I went to the temple today :) It was so nice to just get out of the MTC and be at the temple.  A couple of days ago Hermano Hardy asked us to pray to know what the Lord wants us to become as a missionary and as a person.  That night I was praying for that.  From that night on I have been praying to know what he wants me to become.  The next day, President Brown came to our table to eat lunch :) He sat right next to me.  We all started talking and he asked us some scripture questions.  I knew them, but I could get better.  He was asking for 10 scriptures in the Book of Mormon on this and that.  As soon as we got done, I had a firm prompting to become so good at the scriptures that I can just remember them like that. 

Well I love you all and thank you for the pictures.  I love looking at them and showing all the elders that ask about my family :)  By the way, the district is good, we all get along very well.  No one knew Spanish before we got here so we are all in the same boat.   We all are very close and help each other out.  But life here is good.  The days are very hard, long, and a lot of studying but I love it!!

P.S.  If my spelling is bad, I'm sorry... Spanish does things to my spelling.  I know it wasn't good before but now it's really bad.  I was writing in English and it switches over to Spanish in a second!  hahahah I guess thats good:P but still it gets annoying asking how to spell a word hahah :P  

I love you all and I hope all is well!

Love, Your son or brother,

Elder Alex Laubaugh

Some pictures of Alex!

Here are some pictures of Alex right before he was dropped off at the MTC! 

Alex and mom-bff's for life :) 

Of course every Laubaugh type reunion revolves around food. Here we all are at Zupa's for lunch! 

Mom and dad!! 

Alex and Bella, we all know that she will probably be missing Alex the most. 

MTC week 2

Hellloooo allll!!! :)  

I have been very busy with studying and work! The Lord has blessed me with a great joy for the gospel!   I just wanted to write you all and say that I have had a great first week :D 

I love the spirit here that all of the elders and sisters bring. It's so nice :)  On Tuesday we had the joy of learning and hearing from Elder Nelson!! Our district/zone had very good seats and we all learned so much from him!  During his talk he said a verse from Isaiah (18:2-3). It talks about being swift messengers.  After he said that, I thought of dad always saying, Light it up! After devo we  had a district meeting with our branch president and his wife.  During this meeting we all got up and said our thoughts on the talk.  I said to the effect of how I thought of my dad when he said swift messenger.  I said during my sports and everyday life he would always tell me to light it up!! Yes, I did get emotional when I said that because I miss all of you so much!! But to the story, after I got done and the others finished, our president said he really liked that saying.  So he is now going to use it, along with his wife and all of my district :) they all love the saying.  I told our branch president that you can thank my dad for always saying it to me.  When he started to leave, he told me  "Light it up Elder Laubaugh!!" hahahaha :) i love it!!

I love the MTC. It's the best place going!!  It's good that I feel that way because I'll be staying here for the rest of my MTC training.  I haven't recieved my Visa so they are keeping me and Elder Bagley and the rest of the Spain missionaries.  So, I'll most likely be here for 9 weeks.  It's a good thing, but I am sad because I do want to learn there too.

My district is awesome and my companion is doing great!! Elder Allen is in a new companionship so he left us. We were sad but he is still in our room. 

My Spanish has been going well.  I can now pray, bear my testimony, and small talk with everyone.  I was very impressed on how much I have learned in 1 week.  It feels like about a month, and I got really sad because since it feels that long I thought I would be speaking more.  At lunch yesterday I sat next to a couple of Russian missionaries and they told me to step back and see all I have done.  It's only been 1 week and I have done so much.  Don't compaire yourself to other people, compare yourself to you.  It really helped me out and it was a blessing from the Lord.  With that said, I went to the temple today and it was awesome!! I loved it!! I had many questions on my mind so I went to the temple with them in mind.  I had all of them answered throughout the time I was there. 

It was awesome too because when I left I ran into one of my best friends!!! I have met so many people from my past from football and track camp, efy, and just from school!! I love it!! It's always nice to see a face from the past :)

I love all of you so much and miss you all!!!  I have gotten some letters from friends from college and from family.  Sister Lockwook, Uncle Ken, and Grandma all have written me. I love the support from all of them! :) It has really been a blessing because I do need all the support I can get. 

I am so happy that I will have a nephew!!!!! CONGRATS MANDY!!!!!!!! I am so happy for you!!! ahhhh I can't wait to get pictures of you and the Baby!!

And yes dad, I've been able to get in a little exercise.  I have been running and maybe an intense game of four square :P

I love all of you so much and I am so glad that all of you are doing well.  I am sorry that I haven't written back. I have been so busy and so this is my letter to all of you :) I love you all and I miss all of you so much!!

Also I want some more pictures please :) I don't have enough! :P I always look at my photo book and I feel that I could use a couple more :) I love all of you so much!!! ahhhhh!!!! i can't say it enough! I miss all of those great hugs and amazing walks.  I would like to add that the walks really helped me out.  I have had a little of everything here and I really do love how I know what to do and what not to do.  I hope all of you have a great week!! I'll write a hand letter too if I have some time :) I love you

WAhooo!!!! First MTC letter!

So, Alex has been in the MTC for a little bit now and he is seriously LOVING life!!!! As we all expected, he is working as hard as he can and seeing great rewards! Alex is adjusting well and couldn't be happier. Here is his first quick shout out from the MTC and I'll post his latest letter in just a few min! I don't have any pictures yet, but I'll post them as soon as we get them!

HOLA Everyone!! Today is just a quick little p-day to just write, do some cleaning and some other stufff :P  Well I have read all of your letters and I really do enjoy every letter I get.  I haven't checked the mail today since I can't till lunch.  Anyways, I have been doing great!!! I really like the MTC and all the teachers here.  To answer all of your questions I will just go down the line.  I have a great district.  They are so nice and very humble.  We have two converts.  One is from Canada and the other from Cali!! Elder Allen (who is a convert from Cali), is in my trio.  We have me, Elder Bagley, and Elder Allen).  In our district we have 11 elders.  With that said we have a cultural background.  One elder is from Sweden, one is from Australia, and the other is from Canada!!! The rest of us are from the states!! 

 

Going on I have great companions :)  We all get along and we all want to LIGHT IT UP!! hahahaha It was great because I have been getting up at 6 every morning because I want a warm shower, so we all get up at 6.  We all want to support and help each other with the gospel and Spanish.  With that said Spanish is coming along.  If feel that I have learned more in these 4 days than my 3 years of Spanish combined!! haha the joke I use is "yeah I took 2 years of Spanish 1 :P"  Everyone laughs and we all just love to work and get along.  The best thing about this is our lab time.  They have a software package that helps us understand what we are learning and studying.  It's called TALL and it's a study tool to help us get a head start on our Spanish.  It's really cool. Now about the teachers :) His name is Brother Hardy, he has been back for 4 months and he is a great teacher.  He only speaks Spanish but sometimes.... only sometimes he will speak a little English.  It's a breath of fresh air when he does.  The first time he did (yesterday) I wrote in my journal... he finalllyyy spoke in English!! He has been using more and more English, but he says he doesn't like to because he wants to teach us more about listening to him.. Which I thought... hmmmm I wonder where I heard that from :)  Which by the way thank you for the walks.  They really meant a lot and I see every single talk we have had come to life in the MTC!!! I have really been trying hard and studying like crazy!! In the end we are all in the same boat.  Some Elders are a little bit faster learners than others.  I am in the middle of it all.  I understand him, but at the same time I don't.  I listen for key words to know what he is trying to say.  I really do love the MTC.  I can already tell that i have been ready for a long time.  

Mom Dad, I love you so much, thank you for teaching me all the lessons I needed to know early on so I can use them here.  I love you so much :) I hope all is going well, I will write more about everything when I get more time.

Mandy, I hope the baby is doing great!! I love you so much and I hope work and keeping David in line is going good :P And I loved that story you told me :) hahahahah good ol' times!!

Mitch Thank you so much for being a great big brother. Thank you for pushing me around and keeping me humble.  I can see now all that you have been saying.  The MTC hard but is going well.  Say hi to baby Brooklyn for me :)  And thank you for the letter :) it means so much to me!! Love you all!