Spud only has one week left before he heads out. He will leave on March 3 around 5:00 in the afternoon. He will fly to Los Angeles and stay there until 10:00 at night. They will fly all night long (about a 10 hour flight) and arrive in Samoa early in the morning. He's excited and ready to leave the MTC. He's looking forward to a Big Mac at the airport. He's also nervous and wishes he had the language down better. Ready or not, here it comes!

Just another fun picture I liked...

These are some of the missionaries in Spud's district. They had a lot of fun together. They gave out MTC awards... "I want my mommy", "most likely to go bald first", "most likely to bible bash"... and Spud won "the biggest flirt". I'm not sure how he won that when there are no girls to flirt with. I think it's from all the mail he gets.

On Valentine's day, we sent these guys a fun package. Today they are sporting their Valentine ties. Don't they look sharp?!? I'm sure all the other missionaries were envious of these guys!

I just thought this picture was cool. This is Spud's ring. I like the heart that the light made on his scriptures. What a photographer!

Here is Spud with Brother Hunter. He says that Brother Hunter is one of the most gospel sound, smartest men he has ever met. He thinks he is one of the three Nephites... or a prophet in disguise. He has really enjoyed him and all his teachings. He is one of his branch counselors and an institute teacher at UVU.

Spud has made it over hump-day in the MTC. He said that now they are speaking only in Samoan. This is a little frustrating to him, as he still feels he doesn't know as much as he would like. He's determined to keep pressing forward and working hard. Here is our newest addition to the family... the next best thing to Spud being here. We just keep moving him from room to room. (Sometimes we put a Red Sox hat on him)

Here are Spud and his MTC buddies in front of the Provo Temple. They go every Thursday at 3:10. He tells us that if we ever feel the desire to attend a session in Provo, 3:10 is the ideal time to go. It's tempting! I will say the Elder Teaupa wins the contest for the ugliest tie. A couple of these Elders are from Samoa going to Denver. Hopefully Spud will see them back in Samoa at the very end of his mission.

Here's Spud with Brady Thompson. He lived in Grandma's ward and his dad is grandma's bishop. Brady played baseball at Bonneville High School and now the two of them are already planning on playing softball together when they get home. Brady will be serving in the Washington D.C. Mission.

Spud's buddy, Cameron Oldham, was in the MTC at the same time for about a month. Cameron actually went in a couple of months before Spud, but he had to stay a little longer to learn his language. He was called to the Ukraine Mission. He should be there now.

Spud's Aunt Karen and Uncle Bruce were in the MTC at the same time. They entered on Jan. 5th and left on Jan. 10th. They are going to serve in India. It was great for Spud to see them while they were there! Good luck Kinneys.

Here's Spud and Elder Vaenuku during class. Check out the language in the background. These Elders are in class for 10 hours a day. This language looks hard and a lot of vowels. It's fun to think that Spud will be speaking this fluently before too long... even though he doesn't think so right now. There are just the 4 of them in their class and their sikivi (teacher) is Brother Stevens. Actually, Spud said the language is starting to fall into place just a little.