Hogwarts

In Elder Black's letter home he told us that the MTC is like Hogwarts but he didn't have time to tell us why. Well thanks to Liza, now we know! Sounds like a pretty cool place if you ask me!

First Letters!

We got Elder Black's first p-day email today! We all are so glad to hear from him and know he's doing great! Where i work, we have a patient who had to come home from his mission to have knee surgery, and he told me that all Josh had to do was get through his first Sunday in the MTC and then he'd be golden. Well, we got a letter from Josh that he wrote on Thursday of last week and he already sounded great! He said he was "already catching the fire." How cool is that? i'll post that one when get a copy from my mom. My little brother is a super missionary, and i am so proud of him! i am so glad that he is doing well, and we don't have to worry about him. He is going to be just fine :) He's doing the right thing and  i know that Heavenly Father is watching over him, helping him learn, and i know he is so proud of him too! Enough of my babbling, here is what you've been waiting for, Josh's first email home:

Familia,

Today is P-Day finally so I"m finally getting a chance to get back to ya'll and thank you for all of your generosity! First item of business is to thank all of you who sent me those sweet dear elder letters. Those were awesome and kept me going and stuff so I'm really grateful for that! I love you all very much. Specifically thank you Kait for the package and the food. I'm a pretty popular elder on my floor now with all those cheetos. Everybody loves them here! I took some pictures of my glorious hallelujahs when receiving the package.

You're probably wondering why this letter is titled "HOGWARTS." I will tell you why in just a second because you're probably just dying to know who my first companion is. I'll describe him first. He is from the Columbia Basin, he has reddish hair, and went to FMS with me! You guessed it! Elder Evan Kendall is my first companion. At first when I found that out I was a little disappointed because I wanted to have some sweet comapnion from like New Zealand or something boss like that. But then it hit me, and I just thought "Elder Black, he is supposed to be your companion for a reason" and it's been really cool having someone here with me that I know really well and we've been good companions. When we teach lessons he's always really spiritual and he gets really emotional and then I get emotional. He's a powerful companion and I love him. I also love my district! We're all pretty different people but we all bond well together and it already feels like we're one big happy family now. Our district includes me and Elder Kendall, Elder Zirker from Mattawa, elder Gawrich from South Carolina (those 4 are my roomies) Elder Nelson from Bountiful, Elder Satterlee from some ghetto place in Utah, Elder Coughlan from Firth, Idaho (he's a duck fan) Elder Foster from Cedar Rapids Iowa (he's now our zone leader) Elder Miles from Utah somewhere (district leader) and Elder Bowler from Arizona somewhere. I'll try to pull up some pictures and stuff but I forgot my cord and I don't know if I can post them just with my SD card so we'll see here in a bit.

Anyway, none of ya'll need worry about me. As Cam would say, "it's not always rainbows and unicorns" but a lot of the time it has been. I also probably sound really happy right now because we just got back from the temple but I'm not faking how I feel either. It's great here. I have amazing teachers who really love all of us and are inviting us to come unto Christ so that we can invite everyone around us to come unto Christ. One of the coolest things we do here is teach investigators that are actors. Most of them are converts to the church but I've heard some of them aren't even members but I think that's a lie. Anyway, it's amazing what it feels like when we teach. Even though they're already members for some reason it's impossible for me to think of them as members and it feels so real. When we teach we are fulfilling our purpose as missionaries which is to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. You'll probably hear that a lot and to those of you I've sent letters to today I'm pretty thats somewhere in those letters too. Anyway, I love it. I'm not a great teacher by any means but when I feel prompted by the spirit to say something and I say it I just feel the Savior's love for me and for who we're teaching. My teacher's names are Brother Sebesta and Brother Anderson and they have helped me understand that any oppurtunity to teach someone is helping them come closer to Christ and it doesn't even necessarily have to be an investigator.

I'm running out of time and I don't think I'll have time to upload any pictures. I'm sorry mom =(

I forgot to tell you why this is like Hogwarts but I dont really have time for that either because I need to ask for some things. Can you send me a sweet scripture case? All the ones here are lame leather ones that I think are dumb and I don't want. Also, a shoe shining kit would be nice with black and brown polish.

Well, this is all I have time for so I'll share my testimony real quick! I know that my Savior lives and he loves each and everyone of us. I know that this is the true church and that Joseph Smith saw what he said he saw and that the BoM is the word of God. I hope you all know that too because it's amazing.

I love all of you and I will return with honor in 700 something days,

Elder Black

Send some love!

As Josh's big sister, I want him to be taken care of and to know he's missed and not forgotten. I never really thought I was protective but maybe I am? All I'm asking is to please send some love! Write him letters, they don't have to be long and send packages if that works for you. If you need help on what to send just ask me or my mom :)

And if neither of those things work for you then please just pray for him. That works too :)

His address at the MTC is:
Elder Joshua Phillip Black
MTC mailbox #144
NM-ALB 1008
2005 S. 900 E.
Provo, UT 84604-1793

And you can also use dearelder.com to set up an account and send letters to Josh for free, while he's in the MTC after he's in Albuquerque there's a little cost. If you send one before 10am he should get it the same day :)

And he's off!

Well, before Josh left for his mission he asked me, Kait, his big sister if I would manage his Facebook while he was gone. Well, even better, I started him a blog. I will post updates from him here :) I've never blogged before so if this thing is a mess, just be patient with me or feel free to help me out!

Here's what went down on Josh's last few days before heading to the MTC:

-We got to spend some good quality family time together before Josh went off. We had a big family dinner at Grandmas house on Sunday, let me tell you, there is nothing better. The people and the conversation are always amazing. There is something about her house that just makes you feel good. Not to mention the food is always the best EVER! Josh was so happy to have some of his Moses Lake buddies that go to BYU, come out and have dessert and say goodbye. I thought that was the coolest thing ever. How comforting for Josh to know that his friends support him. Seems like he has really great friends. Thanks again you guys! Josh also got to play some football with Dad, Jake and Jason.

-Josh played some tennis with Dad and Jake and went to the Timpanogos temple with our parents.

-On Josh's last night with the family we got family pictures done. Good thing he has always been a cheese ball and likes his picture being taken ;) I think my other brothers would protest. Cam and Kiley came from Rexburg to join the festivities and Cam shared some brotherly, missionary advice. Afterward we had a fun dinner at Kneaders.

-The next morning we had another awesome meal at grandmas before we took Josh to the MTC. Our uncle Danny and cousin Jimmy came out to say goodbye that morning. We took some pictures then caravanned to Provo... Mom, Dad, Jake and Josh, followed by me and Jason, and Cam and Kiley bringing up the rear. We said goodbye in the parking lot, it was hard to do but it definitely was the right thing. We left Josh in an awesome place to go change lives and do amazing work.

It is hard to say goodbye. I love that kid so much! Having lived away for years it shocks me to see how grown up he keeps getting. Yes, sometimes I still expect him to be a little boy, running around pretending he was Mario or a dog named Ralphy. But the truth is, he's grown up to be an amazing young man. He's a great example to me and everyone around him. I'm sure he will be an inspiration to the people of Albuquerque! I'm so proud to be his big sister. How lucky am I?