I received the dear elder letter you sent me :) I will try to just answer your questions in the time I have. The flight went okay. It wasn't very comfortable on the cathay pacific flight but the delta airline flight was where I was able to get some sleep.
I had a great time at Uncle Neil's house and being able to talk to them for a little bit was great. I also had a wonderful time with the Morey's and Anne, Amie, and David were all able to come up. (Mom I did get a few pictures of David but I don't think it was as many as you wanted... sorry.) Also, it wasn't too hard to say goodbye because of my experiences and I know I will see them all again.I met my MTC teachers on Wednesday and they are awesome. Their names are Qian lao shi and Bao lao shi. Brother Money (Qian) is very excited all the time and can't sit still very easily ;). Brother Barton (Bao, first tone) is less active but still just as excited. They are great teachers. I love my district and was actually called as District Leader for the first half or so of the MTC experience. Pray for me ;) I love my companion, Elder Burton. He and I are both not too active but are getting along very well with each other. We are both left handed :D and have already found a few times that we both think very much alike. The other companionship of Elders and the Sisters are great too :) All but one of us have had some sort of Mandarin experience and so we are all on different levels but all striving to grow together in our understanding. I have seen a few people I know here, mostly from Men's chorus and BYU Idaho. I also saw Elder Rawle (actually Brother Rawle now) and that was really exciting. The chinese missionary was not on the airplane that I know of. Matt and I took about an hour to find each other at the airport but it all worked out well. The weather is just amazing. Not as cold as I thought it would be and much clearer than I imagined :D I love it here at the MTC.
On Tuesday we had Elder Richard Hinckley come and speak and he gave a great talk about groundhog's day and trying not to make our experience here at the MTC like groundhog's day. Since then I have listened to a few more talks from the mission presidency and a couple of others. They were all well written and presented and I learned quite a bit.
I am starting to pray in mandarin as often as possible and have been learning more about bearing my testimony. Actually, just before I was called as District Leader I was having a harder time and wondered what was happening and the day before I thought "I am going to be District Leader" and then thought "No, I can't be District Leader." Well, apparently I was right ;) I am excited and nervous since I still am not sure how to do a lot of things but I am putting all of my faith into my areas of weakness and I know the Lord can and will bless me to do the right things. I love this gospel. I know that it is true. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and that he was called of God to bring for the Book of Mormon to bless out lives. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I know that God loves us all and will give us what we need to complete His calling. I love you all!! Oh, I was also able to go to the temple today and had a wonderful time. My District is already growing very close and we are all working together very well. I love you all!!
Sincerely,
Elder Ke
