We finally heard from Jeffrey. His first letter was upbeat and he sounded busy but happy. He said he had lost weight and couldn't eat. I think it may be from stress but I think he is doing better now. The photo is a photo we received from a couple at the MTC. A note accompanied the photo that said "We meet the missionaries curbside," so I assume that the other four Elders are the missionaries that caught the shuttle from Salt Lake Airport at the same time. Below is an excerpt of Jeffrey's first letter home.


Dear Family,
Things are going great so there's no need to worry about me. I have the coolest companion, Elder Clevenger from Arizona. Almost everyone in my district is going to Cuernavaca so that's cool. Since it's a new mission, a lot more Americans are going there. I've made a lot of friends already and we all get along great. Two of my roommates got boxes of Krispy Kreme donuts (hint, hint) so that's cool. The food here is excellent and I know I will gain some weight. Don't worry, our room is on the top floor of our residence hall so that's four floors of stairs I have to go up and down each day. The room are actually fairly nice with a desk and closet and a set of dressers for each Elder. The beds are OK but could be softer. They are bunk beds with two in each room. The rooms are a tad hot at night so I don't sleep through the night, but I'm not tired much.
Could you send me some of my old shirts? I actually lost about fifteen pounds since I got here, bit I still prefer the size and feel of my old shirts. The way that i lost weight is that ever since I got here, I felt kind of sick and queasy whenever I started to eat any of the food. I'm over it now, but I'm glad that I lost some of that weight. Unfortunately, when we went to the Temple this morning, my white pants were too large for me so I might need to find someone to take them in or just deal with big pants.
My Spanish is going great. I already know how to pray and bear my testimony and hold a simple conversation with an investigator. It's so awesome learning a new language and I'm trying my hardest to get it down.
Unfortunately, the guy that takes care of Visas for Mexico got an angry letter from one of the missionaries mothers and now he is only letting ten missionaries in a week and there's about three to four hundred in front of us I think, but there could be more. Basically, that means that most, if not all of us, will be sent to Salt Lake South which is a Spanish speaking mission, but we will most likely stay there until our Visas come through for a month or so. The MTC is the single greatest things that I could do at this time. I have learned so much in both Spanish and the Gospel here and I know it's only up from here. The devotionals are great and we think that the Prophet will visit at least once while I'm here which will be awesome. Anyways, I love and miss all of you and I know that what I'm doing here is one of the best things that I can do at this time.
Love, Elder Hooker