Last week to write to Jake in the MTC! Jake only has one week left in the MTC. He is not sure where he will be going, because he has not received his VISA. Many of the missionaries are having their calls changed.

Jake Is excited to share the Gospel and his testimony!
Jakes Testimony
"I don't think I can do full Justice in this letter to how I feel, but I will try.
Plain and simple no doubt in my mind this church is true. This is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is not just a part of our lives, it is our lives! This is the reason that we are here. The Atonement of Jesus Christ is everything. Before coming here I knew this, but here things just click so simply. I know without a doubt that it is true. We are either growing closer to God or growing apart, there is no third direction.

I am starting to better understand what charity is. Charity is one of the biggest parts of this GOspel. Without it we aren't coming unto Christ. A big part of charity is sharing what you know ,having others come unto Christ with your help. If you understand this Gospel you should be dying to share it. The more that I understand, the more I want to get out of here and start telling everyone! Through reading the Book of Mormon and prayer there is no way that you can deny this is true. I feel so bad for those without this knowledge, because What is lie to them? Joseph Smith was a great prophet of God, who did great things. I have a realization more and more , this is not about Joseph Smith. This is about what he restored. He restored the full Gospel of Christ and the Priesthood Authority, to live it. This is His Gospel. We need accept Him and use His Atonement. If we do this then anything and everything is possible. This is why I am here. I cannot sit around and call myself a follower of Christ. I need to be helping others learn what I know. I know this to be true in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

Missionaries Are Silly

Here are a few more pictures from Elder K. Below each picture is a caption that Jake wrote in a letter.

My district. Top left to right: Elder Valle, Elder Adair, Elder Phillips, Elder Snyder, Elder Hatfield, Elder Reed, Elder Houghton, me. Bottom left to right: Elder Wright, Elder Measom, Elder Christianson.

Relaxing on the temple grounds.

Jedi Elder Snyder and Elder Phillips

[This is Summer here: Does anyone get what is going on here?!]

Jedi Elder Snyder and Elder Phillips again.

Elder Wright pulled out his tooth! [Summer again: huh?!]

I'm a missionary!

You gotta love that last one, I know I do!

Update from the MTC

So, it's been six weeks now. Holy cow. Feels like I have been here my whole life but at the same time it feels like I have only been here for a day or two. The spanish is coming along good and ba--haha--depends on the hour. I will be talking to someone or teaching a lesson and it feels like I can't say anything and I get frustrated and then an hour or so later I will teach a lesson and it feels like I could talk forever saying whatever I want. It has a lot to do with the Spirit so I work to have it all the time. Thanks for the package it was much needed. Did you guys like the pictures I sent? I will try to send more before I leave the MTC in a couple weeks.... If I leave the MTC that is. Visas are really bad right know. I hear that a lot of people are getting their calls changed in the MTC and before they even enter the MTC because Visas are really bad everywhere [hard to get]. Sounds like Maddis brithday was fun. What else have you guys been up to? That's awesome that tile is going down! I can't wait to see the house, and I am very excited about the arcade games. Thank Diane for me--haha. I keep forgetting to tell you my companion is going to Monterry Mexico East, so close to the same mission. I have not meet another missionsary going to my mission, but we just got a bunch of new missionaries yesterday in our zone and four are going to my mission so I will have to get to know them. I get e-mails from Ben Graff every week. It's nice to talk to him. well I will write more my letter. Love you all and miss you, Elder Kartchner

The MTC

Here are a few pictures of the MTC that Jake sent. It looks nice from the outside, but he nicknamed the classroom "prison". Kidding, of course. He is learning so much so quickly and is already doing really well with his Spanish. So here is where Elder Kartchner (and thousand of other young men and women) spend their days!

At least he has a candy stash for those tough days!!!

Temple Day

We got a memory card in the mail yesterday with pictures that Jake has taken over the past month that he has been in the MTC, so we'll be posting them all week. I'm starting with my favorite ones, which are from one of his visits to the Provo Temple. It looks like a beautiful day and I think the missionaries were excited to get outside (to walk to the temple) after spending so much time inside studying and learning. Jake's companion is Elder Snyder and he says that they get along great--I think that's obvious!

Working Hard

Jake wrote on the back of this picture: "This sums up the MTC--ha ha. This is a real picture. It was not staged." Notice the sister missionary on the far left is actually studying. Looks like hard work!

Excerpts from a recent email

So I don't have a ton of time so I will get as much as I can in and anything else will be in a letter. Me and my companion are doing great. We get along so well and teach very well together.... in English haha. I haven't seen many people I know here just one or two but I know more are coming in this month.

I am taking a lot of pictures and I will send my card from my camera in the next week or two.

You can deffinantly tell fall is coming. I can feel it getting colder every day when I walk out the door at 7, but at least I don't have to see snow for the next two years hehe. I am learning so much here, I can't even put it all in words. At times I think my head will explode and I just want to come home and talk to everyone, but I know this is where I need to be and I love it. I cant wait to get out to the field... the MTC is getting old.

I forgot to tell you last week that Elder Holland came and spoke to us. It was awesome!!

I love you all so much and think about you all the time. Can't wait to share baptism stories. My scripture this week is D&C 20:22. It is short and sweet. It tells us that even though Christ was perfect he still felt that temptation. He still had to go through what we are going through and if we follow him we can be as he was. I can't wait to bring people closer to Christ and show them the power of using the Atonement. Things are Hard.... very hard but as missionaries espeacially we need to be brought down and humbled so we can have just a tiny little taste of what Christ felt when He atoned for us. This way we have a better understanding of what He did for us and why. I love you all so very much and I hope to hear from you soon.

Elder Kartchner