Week 3

Here's an update from Elder Claiborne. Notice that he attends to the "most important" information first. lol. He might be serving a mission, but he is still a Claiborne. If anyone wants to respond to his not so subtle hint for packages and wants to know what to send, here's our response -- we have NO idea. Sorry. Good luck and thanks for thinking about him:

Hey everyone! I don't have much time to email (like always at the MTC!) but I'll try to fill everyone in on some general updates. First and foremost, the basketball courts finished getting refurnished, and opened up this past Monday! That gives me something more to look forward to each day. Also, no other district has been able to beat the team my district organized, or even get close for that matter. Swag. Something that hasn't opened up yet however, is the Temple. It sure would have been nice to go there these last couple weeks. It will be open for my next preparation day (P-day), which I'm really excited for. That will be a really peaceful, nice break from all the studying we do here each day, I can't wait. Speaking of studying, the language is crazy! It is coming though, slowly, but surely it is coming. The days here are very long, and very tightly scheduled. I've sure had a lot of ups and downs. More downs than ups to be honest... It's been rough on me so far, but I'm still pushing along. I know that the harder I work here in the MTC, the better I will be able to serve the people in the Philippines when I get there. My companion's name is Elder Lindsey. He's from West Virginia, and we get along really well. It is hard adjusting to having a companion all the time though. Oh, and by the way, packages will be very hard and expensive for me to receive when I'm in the Philippines, so if anyone would like to send me packages (like for my birthday on September 7th ;) then please make sure they get here well before September 5th... That is the day I fly to Manila. Oh yeah, and I found out I will be stopping in Hong Kong for a layover and you don't need a visa to leave the airport there, so I get to see Hong Kong for an hour or two. That's exciting. But yeah, please get any packages to me well before September 5th. I miss everyone and love you all very much! Keep me in your prayers, I can use them. I have everyone in mine. God bless.