July 19, 2013

Hello everyone!

I'm alive and doing well! I got here about 1:30 on Wednesday and took a really quick walk around and picked up all my Spanish books and stuff to carry to my classroom where I met my "district" or small group of people that I have class with and go to church with and stuff like that. My teacher is really cool and my companion is a really nice guy, Elder Whiting. I share a room with 5 other guys who are all really friendly and fun to be around. I have to admit that I am pretty tired and that we've done so much and gotten tons of information and schedules thrown at us so far that it feels like I've been here for three weeks instead of three days. But it's nice here and the people are super friendly and food is excellent and there's a lot of it so I may or may not gain some weight before I head to Argentina.  It's pretty intense here, and everything is super structured and planned out for us with not a lot of time to spare. 

Today is my P-day or preparation day so I have some time to email and do laundry and stuff like that, but I do have to learn as much Spanish as I can in six weeks. So I have a lot of work to do, but my teacher is really helpful and everyone in my class is cool, so it should be fun. 

Anyway, if you guys would like to write to me really easily, you can go to DearElder.com and I'm not exactly sure how to work it but i think it should be relatively easy to figure out. I think the only information you'll need is my name is Elder Benjamin Williams Roberts, my departure date is August 27th and my Unit number/ Mailbox number is 167. 

(This is Benjamin's Dad:  Some more instructions for writing to Elder Roberts:

• Since he can only check email on Fridays, you might want to use DearElder.com as he mentioned above.    It is a free service and your messages get printed out everyday and delivered to his mailbox.  They do accept donations though.
• Go to www.dearelder.com
• Click on "Open a new account" (upper left corner); fill in the required information and click "continue."
• On the next screen, click "Provo MTC" under account options.  He will be in Provo until the end of August.  
• You can continue to use the pouch option of DearElder when he is in Argentina, but his mission (Argentina Posadas) is not yet listed as it was newly created.
• A pop-up will ask how many more weeks he will be at the MTC (He is scheduled to leave at the end of August).
• The next screen asks you to make a donation if you would like.
• Once you get past that, you can go up to the top of the next screen and click "Write a letter."  Select a mission (for now, Provo MTC).
• Enter his information as indicated above in his message. (Name, Unit 167, departure date August 27, etc.)

Hopefully you won't have any problems using the service.  You can also write to him using snail mail:  

Elder Benjamin Williams Roberts

Provo Missionary Training Center

August 27th ARG-POS

2005 N 900 E Unit 167

Provo, UT 84604

(Continued from Elder Roberts' message)

So I would love to hear from you guys if you do go on the website (DearElder.com) all you have to do is type up a message and send it online and they'll print it out here and put it in my mailbox. And if you write to me send me your address as well so I can write back too. I have limited time to write, but I'll try my best. I miss you guys and hope to hear from you!

Sincerely, Elder Roberts