November 22, 2011, Caguas

Hey,

It's still hot here, even on the day before Thanksgiving. Today we're emailing last because we had a turkey bowl with all the elders in the zone. It was a lot of fun. We have a few appointments for tomorrow. We're going somewhere for lunch, and we have an appointment with both the Gonzalez family and the Rosarios (they are in Aguas Buenas, a different zone, but he's the mission leader for their branch and he invited all of us over). So we should be taken care of. It's still weird to be wearing short sleeves though. 

Things were pretty good this week. We had Zone Conference on Friday and that was awesome. President was there, and we learned a lot of really good things to help our area and zone. He told us about when the area was dedicated for the preaching of the gospel that it happened in the Caguas chapel, where we meet. The general authority who was giving the prayer (I can't remember who it was) said in the prayer that government officials would take notice of what was happening with the Church and they'd have an interest in it. That was over 30 years ago and just recently that has happened. There was a conference or something on peace, and the stake president was invited to talk and to share about the church. There is also an activity put on by the church throughout the island, in all the stake centers called the Christmas extravaganza. It's going to be a kind of concert with choirs and soloists and all kinds of stuff, but the Caguas city government heard about it and decided to help put it on, so instead of being held in the Caguas stake center, they're having it at a giant city pavilion that holds up to 10,000 people, and the city is going to be announcing it all week. It's pretty exciting to hear, and it will be an awesome opportunity to share the gospel with a lot of people here in Caguas.Braylin's baptism was really good. I have some pictures, but I might not get a chance to upload them today. We went by Irelsi's house and had another good lesson on faith, and how important faith is in gaining a testimony. We used Alma 32, where it compares faith to a seed, and we told her we could tell she'd planted the seed but that it was up to her to keep the commitments we invete her to make so she can have a perfect knowledge that this is the church of Jesus Christ on the earth. It was good. 

Anyway, I hope Thanksgiving is good, know that we're being taken care of over here. I love you 

Elder Duclos

November 15, 2011 Caguas

Hello,

Wow, it seems like yesterday was P day, the weeks go by so fast out here. But there is also so much going on. We had to stop going to Alex's house. He just hasn't been keeping any commitments. It was hard because he loves it when we come over and we always have spiritual lessons, but he's just not willing to do what's necessary to gain his own testimony. We'll keep stopping by every once in awhile though. Sister Gonzalez's dad has been good. We go over every Monday for Family home evening and teach him. This Monday was the day his son left for the MTC in Utah, so he was kind of sad but I really think that's where his interest is coming from. We taught him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ -  faith repentance baptism receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. It was a really good lesson and we could tell he had a strong testimony of Jesus Christ. Brailyn's baptism was moved from today to tomorrow because the youth are having an activity tonight that they want him to go to with his brother. So tomorrow he'll be baptized and so will Eugenia, whose husband was baptized a few weeks ago on the same day as Randy, Brailyn's brother. The zone leaders have been teaching Eugenia and yesterday one of them, Elder Wardell, went out with us so we passed by her house. It was a good lesson, we just finished up teaching all of the commandments, she was a little unsure about being baptized on Thursday, and wanted to move it to Saturday or next week so we said we could change the date but we invited her to pray about it. Later that night she called and said she'd gotten her answer and that Thursday was the day. That was awesome. So they'll be baptized tomorrow. Elder Griffin and I also have another investigator, I don't think I've mentioned her before. Her name is Irelsi, we found her knocking on doors. Right after we met her, we were talking about how much the Plan of Salvation would help her. Right before we went by again, we were planning what to teach and we decided just to teach the restoration. So we got there and got to know her a little bit and started the lesson and every question she had had to do with the plan of salvation, so we switched and taught her the plan of salvation. It was really good, she always has a lot of questions, and understands everything really well, and she's read everything we've left her to read. She says she still doesn't know that this is the one true church of Jesus Christ but she is also on her way to find that out. We've gone by three times now, with three different members of the ward and four different missionaries (because of exchanges). Yesterday we went by and talked about the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was probably the best lesson I've had on the mission. We started out and she'd read from the beginning of the Book of Mormon, she had a bunch of questions about the testimony of Joseph Smith in there and about Nephi and Lehi. Then we taught about Jesus Christ and we testified that He knows her personally and that He has felt everything she has ever gone through in her life and that it's by coming to Him that we can be completely clean from our sins. It was really powerful and she's coming to the baptism tomorrow night and church on Sunday. The member who was with us yesterday offered to give her a ride and everything. Members help so much with missionary work. When we have members at lessons to share their testimonies and to get to know the investigators, it makes them so much better. So do everything you can to be involved in missionary work. 

So even though it feels like P day was yesterday there has been a lot going on. People still keep telling me I look like their relatives. Last night a family said I look like their cousin's husband, and the other day we were at Randy and Brailyn's house and they were looking up pictures of Harry Potter on Google, because they said I look like him. Elders are moving in and out of our apartment, they're reopening an area nearby so some elders were living here and are now leaving, so that's been kind of crazy. Also, it's really cool that Steve served in Caguas. I've asked a few people about Miri Flores, but nobody has recognized the name, and they do always use straws to drink from cans here. I've always been sure to use one, thanks Bekah. 

Anyways, that's what's been happening around here. Everything is good and we're doing well. The church is still true.

I love you

Elder Duclos

November 8, 2011 CAGAUS

Hello Everybody,

Everything has been really good here. Today we had transfers, I'm
still here in Caguas with Elder Griffin. One elder left, but his
replacement and another companionship are moving in, so we'll have 10
elders in our house. It's pretty crazy. It's really exciting to hear
about Joseph's mission call! I'm glad to hear about everyone going
out, I don't know if you told me which mission Hunter was going to,
but Elder Geronimo, who lives in our house, is from a place called
Azua in the Dominican Republic. He was excited when I said that my
friend was going there. Where is Nick's new job? I was excited to hear
that he got one, I've been praying for them. And Kendall and Megan are
going to Taiwan!? That's crazy.

Things have been going well with our investigators. We took the stake
president to a lesson with Alex, and they got along well. Alex told
him about how his dad died when he was 13, and President Santos bore
his testimony about how we can be together with our families for
eternity. We told him that the first step to achieving those blessings
was baptism, and that he needed to read and pray to get a testimony of
the prophet Joseph Smith and the restoration of the gospel. Also, with
things changing around we started working with a 14 year old kid that
the sisters were teaching. His mom was inactive and his older brother
was just baptized a few weeks ago. So we are preparing him for his
baptism on the 16th. His name is Brailyn and he's really cool. It's
cool to see the whole family supporting each other and learning the
gospel together. We are also going to start teaching somebody the Zone
leaders were teaching. She's the wife of a recent convert who was
baptized on the same day Brailyn's brother was. He's really awesome
and has been studying really hard to understand the gospel too. We
haven't met with her yet, but we'll go over tomorrow. We taught Sister
Gonzalez's dad about the Plan of Salvation on Monday. It was really
good again to see the power there is in a family supporting each other
in learning the gospel. He's still got some doubts but I can tell that
seeing his son leave on a mission had an impact on him.

It's still been pretty hot here, the past few days have been really
rainy, but still hot. It's hard to believe it's November already.

anyway, I love you and I'm glad to hear everything is okay with the family.

Elder Brock Duclos

PS Cory, what is that smell?

November 2, 2011 Caguas

Hey!

I'm glad to hear things are starting to get back to normal at home. I'm so glad Elise is home now, and I hope everything is okay with Holly. I'm so thankful for the eternal perspective we have because of the gospel. So many people here don't want to hear what we have to say because they already believe in Jesus Christ, but it's such a blessing to have the fulness of the gospel, to know Heavenly Father's plan for us, and what we need to do to follow it. That's why missionary work is so important, and everything going on at home has really strengthened my testimony of that. It's awesome to hear about Joseph, Hunter and Evan getting ready to go out. I'm excited to find out where Joseph is going, so let me know asap as possible. Its really cool that Hunter is going to the Dominican Republic. We have met quite a few Dominicans here, and they're all good people. and good cooks.

Things have been going well here. I think I told you about Sister Gonzalez's dad the other week. We had family night at their house again on Monday, and he's been reading the Book of Mormon. We had a lesson on it and how it can be a blessing in our lives, and next week we're going to teach him about the Plan of Salvation. They keep saying I look like his son, who is leaving on his mission to Honduras in a few days. I don't know what it is about the way I look but it seems like everyone in Puerto Rico has a son on grandson that looks exactly like me. We've been working hard here, and everything is going really well. We have some goals to strengthen the ward in Caguas, so please pray for the church here. The stake president made the goal to split the Caguas ward into two wards by the end of year so we are working really hard to make that happen. We will need a miracle. Last week was the primary program, and it was really good to see that. It good to see how blessed those kids were to have the gospel in their lives, and to havng of growing up in the church.

Anyways, everthing is going really well, and the church is stilll true.

I love you, 

Elder Duclos

October 19, 2011 Grandma D's Birthday

Hey,

It's been a really good week! We have some really solid investigators that we've been teaching. Alex, the guy we found on the first day, is progressing really well. We had a lesson with a ward member the other night and we taught him the Plan of Salvation. It was really powerful to be able to teach him what his potential is as a son of Heavenly Father, that God set up this whole plan so that he could obtain that potential and that we were there for that reason, to invite him to take the necessary steps that lead toward the Celestial Kingdom. That was really rewarding to watch him learn that because we knew it was something new for him but he accepted it and knew it was true. We have also been teaching Nelson, who is a pretty young kid. We've taught him a few times and he is always really willing to learn and make appointments for us to come back. We had an appointment with him yesterday but he didn't answer the door, we were worried but he called later and said it was because he was sick and he asked if we could come Thursday, so that was a good sign. On Monday we had Family Home Evening with the Gonzales family. The parents were both born in Puerto Rico but they moved to New York and started their family there and just moved in here recently, so the kids all speak English and are learning Spanish. Anyway, we taught the lesson, we taught about missionary work and how they can share the Gospel with their friends and family. One thing we didn't expect was that Sister Gonzales's dad was there, who wasn't a member, but he seemed interested and even participated in some of the practices. At the end we had everyone choose a pass along card to give out during the week and then we gave the family a Book of Mormon to give out too. When we did that the dad said, "hey can I have that, my daughter has been wanting me to read it" so we gave it to him and marked 3 Nephi 11 for him to read. After that, Sister Gonzales said her dad had met a lot of missionaries before and had never even talked to them, but this time he was interested. That was really cool to see.

Puerto Rico has been pretty cool. It's still really hot here. There are some weird things, like restaurants only ever serve Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, 7 Up and Fanta. I don't know why but it seems like that's just what all the Puerto Ricans like. Also in my apartment there's a bidet, but I still have not used it. Also, some people will sell these things called limbers from their houses, they're like popsicles but they're just in a little plastic cup, and they're really good. They also have a sandwich here called a tripleta. It's a huge sandwich with chunks of ham and chicken and all kinds of stuff. I got one the other day when I was on splits with my district leader, and that was probably the best thing I've eaten here. Anyways, I hope everything is going well at home, I love you and I'll talk to you later. The Church is true

Elder Duclos

Pictures From September 7 to October 5, 2011

October 5, 2011

Hey,

 

Things have been awesome here this week. General Conference was really great. I got to watch all the sessions at the stake center and they had it in English for the missionaries and English speaking members, so that was nice. I loved the talk about the Book of Mormon, I can't remember who gave it, but I'm going to use the example of the dots and lines in lessons. I was also really excited that they said the choir from the preisthood session were from Pleasant Grove. I think I saw a few people from the ward, and President Gleason. Christian Hansen said he'd be in it so I was watching for him, but never saw him. It was really cool knowing that everyone back home was watching the same thing I was, just like Dad said. I thought of everyone there and mom making cinnamon rolls, and it made me really thankful that I have such an awesome family. Next conference I'll be sure to look for starburst jelly beans.

 

Elder Griffin is from Provo, he played baseball. He really is a hard worker, he's new to this area too and the other elders didn't leave any progressing investigators so we do a lot of contacting. It's pretty cool though. We focus on finding families so we can build the Church here in Puerto Rico, because it's still relatively new. We have picked up a few investigators now, and that has been really cool. The other elders are all from the US except one from the Dominican Republic. His name is Elder Geronimo and he's really funny. Whenever I see him I yell Geronimo! and think of War of the Buttons. Our typical day is to wake up at 6:30, exercise for 30 minutes, then get ready. At 8 we have personal study and at 9 we have companionship study. After companionship study we go to the plaza for language study, we pretty much just contact for language study because the best way to learn is to talk with the native speakers. Then we come back for the other hour of companionship study, the in field training for the first 12 weeks. After that we eat lunch and go out. Usually we pick a few neighborhoods to go knock doors and we just get to work. We live about a 10 minute bike ride from our area so we just ride over and go contact. We go to any appointments we've made and then come back home by 9.

 

We found one investigator, Alex contacting on our very first day in Caguas and we made an appointment to go back last Monday. We didn't have a long time to teach him but we taught him about baptism and how it is such an important step in following Jesus Christ. Part of the in field training is that the new missionary is in charge of extending baptismal invitations so we testified to him about the importance of baptism and the Spirit was really strong and I asked him if he'd follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized and he said yes! That was so exciting. I could hardly believe it when he agreed. I actually asked him again because I wanted to be sure. So we set a date for the first Saturday in November. I'm so excited for him, he is really cool. He lives with his sister and daughter so we really hope they'll come listen too. We are going back today to teach about the restoration. The Zone leaders were contacting in a store and they found a family that lives in our area so we are going to go by their house today too. They said they were really cool and very receptive so that's really exciting.

 

Anyways Puerto Rico is great. I am learning so much, we are having a lot of fun and working hard and we've had some great success too. Pray for us and our investigators and everyone here in Puerto Rico. I love you, the church is true.

 

Elder Duclos

Letter From Mission President

Dear Brother and Sister Duclos,



Sister Alvarado and I were happy to personally greet Elder Duclos when he arrived in

Puerto Rico.  Attached you will find a picture of him with us.


I'm pleased to report he and his companion, who was prayerfully selected

especially for him, have already begun to work together. As two missionaries labor

together in this great work they bless one another's lives. They both grow as a result of

their individual strengths and differences. I trust they will develop a friendship that will last

a lifetime.


Missionary work is intense, as you may know. It can be both physically and emotionally

demanding. Your son will be a part of miracles in the lives of those he finds and

teaches. He will come to love the work and the people. He will grow in unimaginable

ways. I love watching that development process as it occurs over the entire length of the

mission.


Please write your son regularly. Missionaries love to receive mail! Your letters can be

a source of great motivation and encouragement. We have asked him to write home

faithfully every week. His correspondence with you and other members of your immediate

family can be via e-mail, if that is your desire. However, he has been asked to limit

correspondence with friends and extended family and to do so only via regular mail.


I recognize it may be a sacrifice to support your son on this mission, but I want you to

know how grateful I am to be serving with him . If you have questions or concerns, you

may call the Puerto Rico San Juan Mission Office.



Sincerely,



Jorge M. Alvarado

President, Puerto Rico San Juan Mission



PS... President Alvarado served his first mission in the Florida Tampa Mission where Brock's dad served.

28 September 2011

So I'm here in Puerto Rico! Elder Mancía and I landed at about 7:00 Monday night. The mission executive secretary, Elder Button and his wife picked us up. They didn't feed us on the flight, so they took us to Burger King. My first authentic Puerto Rican meal. After that the Zone leaders of the San Juan zone met us there and took us to an appointment they had with an investigator. She has been meeting with the missionaries for two years but never committed to a baptismal date, her daughter has been baptized now for a few months. So we went there, there were three sisters there teaching too, I'm not exactly sure why but that made seven missionaries there. They had food but we had just eaten so we weren't hungry, but everyone thought we were just too nervous to eat. We had some anyway, it was just something the sisters had cooked. They taught the lesson really fast because it was getting close to 9:30. But after they talked a little about baptism, they asked Elder Mancía and me to bear our testimonies. He bore his about baptism being the only way, and I testified that with the Lord on our side we can do anything, and He will support us. The Spirit was really strong and right after that Elder Adams, the zone leader invited her  to be baptized on Oct 22 and she said she would be. It was so awesome to see that, and a great way to start my mission.  We stayed the night at the zone leaders house then the next day we went to the mission office for a meeting for all the new trainers. We went because we arrived earlier than the other missionaries coming from the Dominican Republic. So we sat in on that meeting for awhile, and met our trainers. My companion's name is Elder Griffin from Provo. It sounds like he has trained a lot of elders, and I have heard he's a really hard worker, so I'm really excited. Anyway, at lunch time we went and got some pizza from Costco. Right after we were done with that they took us over to President Alvarado's house for lunch with all the new missionaries, they had make your own pizza, but I was too full to eat again. But I just ate salad and talked with everyone, President served in the Tampa Florida mission so we talked a little about that, he knows the Boyds, so I told him dad baptized her, he thought that was really cool. The missionaries from the DR were so excited to have pizza, they said all they ate there was rice and beans. So we took pictures with the President and his wife, then went back to the mission office for our interviews. My interview was awesome. I really like President Alvarado. He told me all the good things that people have said about my trainer and made me some really cool promises. We had about ten minutes after the meeting to go contacting and I started a contact, it was a family sitting out in front of the house and they were really interested in General Conference so we told them where they could go to watch it. I hope they go. That made me really excited. Missionary work is everything I hoped it would be. We stayed at the Assistant to Presidents' house last night and today was transfer meeting. So we just barely got everything to our house and came over to the library. I'm in a city called Caguas, it's pretty close to San Juan. They gave me a bike already, they said it would cost 500 dollars so I need to know how much is in my account. I have 100 cash right now. So we'll be on bikes the whole time. We are sharing the apartment with two other companionships and one has a car so that will be pretty good.  Anyway, my P day is Wednesday, I'm not sure what we have here. My companion is new to the area too so we'll just have to figure stuff out, but I'm excited for that. I am safe and happy and having a lot of fun, and I'm so excited to be out here. I'm glad I got to come out so soon, and I know this is where I should be. The language has been coming really well and I'm excited. The MTC program I went through was new, I think we were one of the first groups to go through it, and part of that is a 12 week new missionary training program out here in the field. We take an extra hour each day to study and the trainer teaches the new missionary to lead out in a lot of things that the trainer would normally just do themselves. The goal of it is for missionaries to be ready to train new missionaries after only 12 weeks in the field, so that's exciting too.  I think that's pretty much it. I can answer any questions next week I guess. I'll try to send another email with pictures.    Elder Brock Duclos

More Details

Here are some more details about Brock's current situation expressed to me through a letter written Thursday September 22, 2011: "Like I said in the email, an elder wanted to move up to advanced Spanish. Since they don't focus on the language at all, the advanced Spanish districts are only in the MTC for three weeks, then out to the field. So he talked to the Branch President about moving. The President asked him if he'd recommend anyone else & he recommended me. So anyways, last Friday, my teacher took Elder Condie (the one I've been talking about) and me to the advanced class to see how we felt. I understood everything & I took notes & participated so I told them I felt comfortable. She said I should decide by Monday whether I wanted to move. So I had a big decision to make and I really didn't want to go out without being ready, but I also wanted to go out. So I prayed a lot and read my Patriarchal Blessing and I felt comfortable & excited to go out instead of scared. So I decided to move."

Kicked out of the MTC!!

I am writing this post for Brock, to fill you in on a phone call from him today. He had just been interviewed by the MTC President and told of his change of plans. The Pres told him he could take the time to call home. He is going to bypass the MTC in the Dominican Republic and go directly to Puerto Rico. He will leave Monday Sept 26 at 6:20 am. It is such a coincidence that I just happen to be flying out Monday morning also. Funny how that just seemed to work out. When I told Cory about this he asked, "Did you book your ticket 5 minutes after you spoke with him?" Now why would he make that assumption? That is just a bit beyond me, wouldn't you think? Would I be one to try and manipulate the rules? Frankly, I am just a bit annoyed but such a presumption.

Well, we are happy that Brock will get 6 more weeks to go directly to his mission. It is a good thing.

September 22, 2011

Hey,   So a lot has changed since last P day. The biggest thing is that I am no longer going to the MTC in the Dominican Republic. There is an elder in my district who felt like he could move up to the advanced Spanish district so he talked to some people about moving up. He also recommended that I go too so I had some interviews, and they decided that my Spanish was good enough to move up, which means I'm now going right to Puerto Rico after the Provo MTC. I wish I had more specific information for you but they are just processing the travel plans and they said they'd have an itinerary for me today, but we just checked our mailbox and it's not there. It will probably come in the evening mail today but by then my P day will have ended and I won't be able to email anymore. So I'm really not sure what is going to happen. I do know that there is an Elder that entered an advanced district on September 7th who is going to Puerto Rico and he leaves here Monday. So it's possible that I'll be in the mission field as early as Monday! I feel ready, throughout the whole process I was wondering if this was right and if I was prepared enough but after praying a lot and reading my Patriarchal Blessing I really feel like this is what's best for me. So Puerto Rico here I come. (The other elder who is moving up just told me there might be a way we can find out our travel plans before the evening mail so I may send an email later with specific info)   Other than that, things have been pretty much the same here. I'm going to try to use the SD card reader to send some photos. I'm not sure how well that will work. We had another awesome devotional on Tuesday. Elder Russell M. Nelson came. We're two for two on apostles coming. Both named Russell too. He talked about the Book of Mormon edition of the Ensign. It's really good, I'd recommend you read it. It was really awesome, and I really have a testimony of how powerful that book is. It really is the tool we're using for the gathering of Israel and I know more certainly than I know anything that it is true and that it is the word of God.   Everyone keeps asking if I heard anything from the BYU Utah game but all I heard was silence. Beautiful silence. I had gym time outside right before it started and I saw a bunch of BYU fans walking over to the stadium. After that I heard nothing. No score updates, not a thing until sacrament meeting the next day when someone told me that someone said the score was 50 something to 10. Then the silence made sense. I'm glad to hear we won, I hope it was a fun game to watch.   Anyway, I hope to send another email later with more specific information on when I'm leaving. I'm not sure who I should call from the airport when I'm there, so a Dearelder would be good to let me know that. Also the phone number, because I only remember dad's and my old one.   Pictures didn't work, sorry   I love you, I will talk to you later. The Church is true.   Elder Brock Duclos

Deep Thoughts

Saturday, September 11, 2011

I am laying in my bed at the MTC with the window open. Why do I keep hearing "UTAH MAN"? It seems like it has played 54 times. I guess I will sleep well tonight.

September 15, 2011

Hey,


 The best best way to write me is to use Dearelder. We get Dearelders every day. We're only allowed to write on P days but they let us write home that day to make sure you knew we were okay. I'm okay with the suitcase. It was just the carrying handle that broke so it's no big deal. I'll try to send the watch home to get it replaced. I can't really think of anything else I'd like. Treats are always good, I liked those swedish fish and I did get Wyatt's letter with a dum dum in it. I don't know, you know what I like. Handwritten letters are always good, and I think the Dear elder is about as good as email, if not a little better because I can read them without using my email time and I can get them during the week. It's always nice to get letters during the week.

The MTC has been really cool. Every Tuesday we have a devotional and on Tuesday Elder Ballard came. He talked about how the First Presidency and the Quorum of the 12 pray for the missionaries every Thursday morning in the temple, that was really cool. I heard that two devotionals before I got here was Elder Holland so that was a little bit of a bummer but I am glad I got to see an apostle in the three weeks I'm here. Speaking of the Dominican Republic MTC, my branch president said it's not uncommon for elders going the Dominican republic to stay in Provo for longer than expected because they are sometimes short on room over there. He said he's seen people stay as long as 5 weeks, but I really hope I get to go over right away. I'll miss my district though, I like all the elders here. I feel like they're all my friends, and we have a lot of fun.

 Today is the first real P day we've had, and it's been really good so far. We went to the temple this morning and I saw an yson twin there. It was nice to go to the temple and take some time to just sit in the Celestial Room and think. It's a good contrast from the usual because we're usually all over the place. We have every hour from 6:30 to 10:30 packed with class and study time. I'm surprised at how much time is just personal study where we study whatever we feel like we need. We haven't even had much Spanish instruction in class time, it's mostly just teaching our progressing investigator, Berta. That's been fun and pretty exciting. So it's cool that they let us work on the things we need and follow the Spirit.

 Anyways, that's pretty much it. I love you guys and I'll talk to you next week.

 Elder Brock Duclos

Letter in the Mail

As of right now, I am leaving for the MTC in the Dominican Republic on Sept 29th. My hope is that Dad will be flying out at the same time so I can use his phone to call Mom, and Brooke, Noel and Ellie (all of my girlfriends)

There are 10 Elders in my district. One went to Boise State, one went to SUU, and 7 are BYU students. I wear my Utah stuff every night to bed. I am the only one representing the U!

I am really excited for my time here. My P-Days are on Thursday, so I will eMail then. Amazingly, I pretty much packed all I need, except for a few hangers. I can get by though.

They made me get some vaccinations and it cost about $130 bucks. The Church will send the bill to the Bishop. I did not need them, but they did it to be safe.

It is great here! I am learning a lot and the Spirit is strong. I love you. The Church is true.

Elder Brock Duclos

PS Tell Kendall thanks for the letter! He was the first one.

September 10, 2011

I've been at the MTC for three days now. I may forget how to speak English after learning all this Spanish. Things have been pretty good. I got my package and Dear Elder last night, thanks for the pillowcase and fish. There are 11 elders in my district and only three of us didn't go to BYU, but I guess I told you that in the letter I sent. Sorry about the bill, I didn't really have a choice, they took my paper and stuck a needle in my arm.

My companions names are Elder Peacock and Elder Booher, Elder Booher just joined our companionship yesterday because he moved up from basic Spanish to Intermediate. Elder Peacock is from Kaysville and Elder Hooer is from Arizona. They're both pretty cool.

The first day was really crazy. I went with Elder Tucker and he took my luggage and I went in a room where they gave me my tag and a card for my laundry and food and stuff. Then he took me to my room and left the stuff there. When he picked up my suitcase to go up the stairs the handle broke on the big suitcase. Then he took me to my classroom and left to do his own thing, and I was with my district. They're all pretty cool, and we get along well. Only Elder Peacock and I are going to Puerto Rico but two other companionships are going to the Dominican Republic so they'll come with us at the end of our three weeks. The first meeting we had was with the MTC president, not a general authority but it was good.

I wish I had a toothbrush holder and my watch broke, so that was a bummer, it's really nice to have a watch because I don't have a phone with the time or anything, also I think I was supposed to have a line of authority but I don't remember hearing that. I think I can get everything else at the bookstore here. I did need a hymnbook but it was only about 3 dollars, and the other books are just if I want to use them to study so I might buy Jesus the Christ. We get a discount here.

The classes here are really cool, we focus a lot on concentrating on the needs of the investigator and teaching them what will help them come to Christ. We have a progressing investigator named Berta who we are supposed to teach for 2 weeks I think. It's a really cool experience becuase even though we know she isn't a real investigator, we have a whole background on her and we are teaching her the lessons. We had our first appointment with her yesterday and we had a whole plan on what we were going to teach but it went a whole different direction but it went well anyway. My teacher is Mr. Barnard's cousin so that is really cool, he even reminds me of him a little bit. The language is going pretty well. It was really helpful to go to Chile for those two weeks this summer. It's made me a lot more able to have conversations with people.

The food isn't bad. It's about the same as the Heritage Center at the U. I have seen so many people that I've known. Neider, Landon Bowerbank, Steve Durtschi, Kyle Tucker, Blake Dastrup, Brycen Bigelow, and two sisters from my ward up at the U. Those are who I can remember now. It's like there was a big party here without me knowing it because I have more friends here now than there were at home. The days here are really long because we get up at 6:30 and go to bed at 10:30, but I love it here. The Spirit is really strong and I'm learning a lot. We watched a talk by Elder Holland that he gave to new missionaries a few years ago and it was really powerful. Anyways, I love you guys, and I will talk to you later.

Elder Duclos

PS today is partly a P day because we didn't have one our first week but my real P day is Thursday so that's when I'll usually email.