2008_11_01 MTC Photos

Curtis has sent us one bunch of photos from the MTC. I have included a few in this post. He is in very few of the photos. I suspect other missionary mothers are looking at pictures of my son on their computers, while I am looking at their sons. I asked Curtis to swap cameras for a day so I would get some photos of him, but he didn't heed my advice.

On Friday evenings, the missionaries get an extra half hour of free time which they call Fiesta Friday. On this Friday, several of the missionaries were celebrating birthdays with packages that had arrived. The missionary on the right in the Nor Cal t-shirt was Curtis's companion, Elder Blake Bartolomei. This is one of the few photos of him with his eyes open. The other two missionaries were in a different district that left the MTC a few weeks before Curtis did.

The next photo is Curtis's room at the MTC. Notice it is clean, an unusual feat for Curtis! We got him a flag for Ecuador to take with him. He hung it up in his window and said he could see it when they were outside going to other buildings. His bed is the one on the bottom. He got there first, so he staked his claim to the bottom bunk.

This photo shows Curtis's clothes closet. There is not a lot of space, but it is neat and tidy. He said they passed all of their room inspections.

This is Curtis's side of the desk, his own little corner for studying, writing in his journal, writing letters and whatever else he did in his limited time here. They follow a pretty tight schedule, so they don't spend a lot of time hanging out in their rooms.

This is Curtis pointing to Ecuador on the big world map at the MTC.

This next photo has Curtis with Elder Fewkes. They were room mates. As soon as I saw the name in one of his letters and saw that Elder Fewkes was from Idaho, I felt sure that they were related. It took nearly eight weeks to get the details, but it turns out they are third cousins once removed. Merla Fewkes is the mother of Donn Calvert Goode, Curtis's paternal grandfather. The common ancestor is Thomas Henry Fewkes, Jr., who is Curtis's 3rd Great Grandfather on that line. Thomas Henry Fewkes, Jr., is a 2nd Great Grandfather to Elder Fewkes. Curtis said Elder Fewkes was a great guy. In the photo, Elder Fewkes is standing on the curb to be as tall as Curtis is. I don't think Curtis's suit coat is dirty. It is just a glare from a sign that was near them.

This photo has Elder Fewkes and his companion Elder Williams in it. They shared a room with Curtis and Elder Barolomei at the MTC.

This is another photo of Curtis with his companion, Elder Bartolomei. It was taken at the Provo LDS Temple on one of their Pdays in September. Curtis said Elder Bartolomei was great. He loved him.