First email from Tanner in the Mexico MTC

Note from Tanners mom... I will be posting most of Tanners emails here on this blog.. but I will be cutting things out of them that pertain just to his family ;-) Feel free to email him anytime! his mission email address is tanner.burke@myldsmail.net and I know he would love to get emails. He is currently in the missionary training center in Mexico and in January will be moving to Washington state for the next 2 years.  I cant figure out why this pic is sideways.. it isnt like that on my computer when I upload it. if I ever figure it out, I will fix it.

Wow ok, so there is a lot to say without a lot of time. I only get an hour on here so I will try to say everything. the flights were ok, the first one had a lot of turbulance, but I did make it to Atlanta fine and with over an hour to spare. The flight from Atlanta had a ton of missionaries on it! and we filled three busses on our way to the MTC. btw the bus ride through the city is crazy- like italy crazy (at least how I picture driving in italy). And the city itself is so colorful, but so poor looking. And everything here is way cheap!! yes luggage made it fine, they did check one of them but nothing was missing. As for the email thing... that was my fault. i forgot to put mail.com on the end.... oops.:) but we were in a new missionary orientation meeting when president pratt (mtc president related to parley p. pratt) pulls me aside and says I am in trouble. so it wasnt a big scene, but it was crazy. (note from Tanners mom- we didn't get the email saying he had made it to the MTC the first day and emailed them to find out..well, we finally got one, but it was from Pres. Pratt's email account written by Tanner so we thought maybe he had gotten lectured haha)

 they do get packages here if they are sent from mexico through online things. one person even got krispie kremes (hint hint). my companion is good for the most part. we have our differences, but he is forgiving and so am i. we are both going to tacoma after this, so it is really cool that we are here together too. he enjoys exercise way too much! like that is one thing i cannot do. he has diabetes type 1, and some other medical things but so far nothing to be concerned over. it was interesting the first night though when he was telling me all the medical things i need to watch him for.

 both of us are learning spanish fast. he already knew a lot from school, and gets mad at me for not trying to speak as much as i should. but i am learning at my own speed. we have taught an "investigator" three times now in complete spanish, which is the scarriest thing ever. being thrown into that right away the second day was no bueno. and we are constantly asking for el don de linguas (the gift of tongues) so we are hoping faith can take us far. I have realized that i can understand much more than i know. If someone speaks to me I can understand just about everything they say, but responding is the problem because i dont know how to. so i can interpret well :)

 cant believe it has only been 6 days! it feels like so much longer because they teach so much in a day and i honestly think they only thing getting me through all that is Heavenly Father. seriously these days are long and hard, but I am learning a lot. I do wish i could cook here, just to relieve some stress sometimes. but the food is pretty good. everyday is something new, sometimes mexican sometimes not. taquitos (they call them tacos) are good. and they have a drink that is called jamaica (pronounced hamica) that is soooo good! if you can find it, try it. :) they dont have caffiene drinks here (good thing) but they do have sodas. i am buying you stuff at the tienda (store) because they have a lot of cultural things for sale for cheap. and the temple apparently has some cool things so i am going to get more pesos for when i get to visit the temple visitors center (should be in a few weeks).

 taking lots of pictures. it is very cool here, a lot like what you would think of as paradise. 70 degrees most days, slight chill at night. sunny all the time. green grass. palm trees. mountains surrounding. it really is amazing. (yes i am bragging) btw did you get snow yet?

 I am glad you got to the temple. i wish i could have been there. i will say though that the spirit here is amazingly strong. it really helps me get through the day. i have constantly at the randomest times felt this immense love that i think is from you all being sent to me from the spirit. it is such a good time of day when i get that. Yes i have cried a lot here. mostly because of the spirit. it is seriously so strong we all had a district meeting and everyone was in tears at the end (we have another tonight so we will probably get there again)... everyone here is so supportive it is crazy. and the locals who work around the campus are crazy friendly. such a great place to learn the gospel.

 pray for me. it is very hard here, and the language is tough but i only get through the day because of you guys, so please remember that. i love you all soooo much and i miss you like crazy. i did send some snail mail for you guys but i dont know when it will get there. ummm.... cant think of much else. thanks for the support. i seriously love you all. and i think of you guys all the time. so til next week, Elder Burke (still know my first name is tanner btw) staying strong and getting through it. :)

 In a 2nd email we got this:

 oh, i still have 15 minutes, so i am going to write again and just think about you guys. because i don't want to close out my email yet.... ummm lets see I guess since I am running out of time I will end with this: I love you all so much and i really do hope that my being here is blessing you guys as much as it is me. I might be in spiritual overload (if that is even possible) so i hope you guys are getting a lot of it. I think you all deserve it. i pray for you all the time, and i know you are praying for me too. i have thought of so many disney quotes here it is not funny, but they all seem to be relevant for the moment. crazy huh? but the ones that stick out most are from pollyanna "look for the good in them and you will find it" and of course lion king "hakuna matata" oh and "remember who you are" i guess this is really the end until next week. or maybe if i get snail mail from you guys... love you all more than anything. and for the third time while writing these emails i am tearing up, so i really should stop. but i dont want to.... love you and miss you!! -for real this time, Elder Burke (still Tanner)