First Email From Elder Cody Larkin Tuma July 6, 2011

No one told me that the mtc is a learning machine!!!!!!!! we have class like 6 hours a day and we have like three hours of personal study time. Stephen and i went to luch when my airplane landed and As soon as Stephen dropped me off i was taken to this room where they gave me my black name tag and my mtc id card and my room key and stuff. Then i dropped off my bags and stuff in my room and then i was taken to class, yes i had class within the first 30 minutes of arriving here. We just met our district and then we introduced ourselves. Then we all went to this devotional for all the new missionaries and the MTC president spoke at it! It started off with us singing "We'lll bring the world his truth" which is one of my favorite hymns but at the end of the song we changed the words to "we are NOW the Lords missionaries" instead of "we will be the Lords missionaries. Then after that song there was a musical number and guess what the song was...COME THOU FOUNT OF EVERY BLESSING!!!!!!!!!!!!!! my FAVORITE hymn!!!!!!! it just testified to me that i definitely need to be here. And of course it made me miss Sister Wynn. It was so great that her and Sister Money did that song at my farewell.  There is such a special spirit felt here at the mtc that cant be felt anywhere else!!!!!!! I LOVE IT HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The food here is just like the food at the cannon center and its really good. We already have fake investigators that we teach and it is so great to teach. i love teaching through the spirit. When i got here i realized that i was going to be here for the 4th of july and it made me sad cause i thought that i wasnt going to get to watch the fireworks but it turns out that i got to!!!!!!! On saturday night we had one of the best devotionals i have ever been to!!!!! It was an independence day devotional!!!!! We sang hymns about america which was so awesome!!!! Then scottish bagpipes started playing "praise to the man" and as that song was playing people from different countries came through the sides of the audience holding the flags from their countries.  that testified to me that this gospel is being spread all over the world through us missionaries. i get chills typing about it!!!! On sunday night we had a fireside and Elder Oaks' daughter spoke and played the violin and it was very spiritual.  On tuesday we had a devotional and this guy from the seventy and his wife spoke.  his wife told us that even though we are paired up in two's we are all actually in threesomes: us, our companion, and the spirit. Its so great to think that the spirit is with us all the time and helping us teach!!!! I am so stoked to get to Texas and start spreading the gospel. My p-day is on wednesday so i can respond to everyones letters on wednesdays!!! Dearelder.com is one of the easiest and fastest ways to send me a letter, its free and we get to read the letters every night before we go to bed! I am learning so much about the gospel. When i first got there, i was kinda discouraged because everyone knew so much and i thought that i didnt know enough. then later on i learned that i dont need to worry because i will be speaking through the spirit. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY FOR THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER DAY SAINTS!!!!!!!!!! ok this timer thing is kinda sketch and its blinking and the time is almost up so this email will almost be done.  I love my district they are all really cool and we get along well.  4 of the people from my district are going to arizona and then 6 of us are going to dallas.  We have a little under two weeks until we leave. Oh i also really like my two teachers. they are so awesome.