What's up mi familia?

What's up mi familia?!?! How's everyone doing? Thank you guys so much for the sweet note and letters for me on the plane! It was super sweet of yáll!! You guys are the best and I love you all. The emailing here is kinda strict. We only get 30 min in the mtc and it feels like a time bomb ready to explode. But it is what it is. Happy Birthday to the big man Brock!! 12 man! I can't believe you are that old! Did you get anything sick? Guys honestly don’t worry about me. I frigin love it here!! Weird feelin but don’t get me wrong, it's tough out here but at the same time its awesome! My companion is elder Jacobsen. He's a pretty chill dood and he even knows Spencer! I love my district too! We got a little crew with me, e. Jacobsen, e. Curtis, and e. Bassett. I have been laughing every day here its so sick and I've made a ton of new friends! I'll be honest Spanish is so freakin hard to learn. I felt like I've learned a ton here but at the same time I feel like important stuff is being pushed out of my brain because I'm learning too much too fast! It's crazy, I can understand some stuff but at times I have no idea what peps are saying. Me and the companion have had to teach like 5 lessons to fake investigators all in espanol. Soooo stinking hard. They talk to you and you can understand what they are saying, but it feels way good to teach a solid lesson! We have jumped into it way faster than I thought we would. I gotta say I wasn’t the biggest basketball fan when I left but I love it here. I live for P.E. time haha! I'm actually decent at basketball compared to the others so its pretty fun for once haha! The food here is pretty interesting too. You go upstairs and never know what your gonna get. Could be some delicious chicken with potatos or nasty fish with weird soup. Its not too bad though. But breakfast is the same thing every day. I bought some belgian waffles at the store which are pretty good though. The classes here are so long and it's hard to focus. It’s a 16 hour day with reading and studying -soo much class!! Its hard but not too bad. All of my teachers are sick though and I love all of them especially Hermono Tyndale. He just got off his mish 8 months ago and he is the sickest dood ever!! His English acent and all! I love the mtc president here! He reminds me of grandpa McDermott. Easy going and nice. He´ll always wink at people and stuff haha. I was able to go to the temple last week and this morning. It is so nice to get away and relax for a bit. The temple is really nice here and the mtc is right next too it! I have learned a ton of Spanish here though for sure. I can say simple prayers, bear my testimony, and say simple phrases! Its crazy how fast I'm learning! I even had a dream that I was practicing praying in Spanish which at least I think I was speaking good!! I feel way blessed to be in the district I'm in though because I have made a lot of new homies! They have made the mtc fun and easier for me. It's tough but soo worth it out here!! Well I gotta go! I'll write a letter or somthing to answer questions and stuff but say sick and home and I love ya! By the way get Shirly (Dane's mountain bike) away asap!! Wanna keep my baby fresh! Plus be nice to my stuff and put it away. Skis and stuff… love you guys a ton and I miss ya!! P.S. sorry for no fotos! The temple was in English thank goodness! Haha Sorry my letter seems choppy I just throw stuff in I forget. Haha Just remember what the Kodiak says ¨when in doubt hammer out! Braaaaap!! I love you all so much and miss you! Thanks for all the sweet emails and such. I will definently respond better next week I promise! I printed your letters off to read em. I'll try to write a hand one too! i just need to get a couple more stamps. love you guys! Love the sickest elder ever Elder McDermott

Double Letter Email

This letter from Dane is hard to read because the keyboard put in two letters for every one that he typed. Good luck reading! :)

 mmyy ccoommpp hhaadd ttoo eemmaaiill hhiiss ffaammiillyy ttoo ssoo ii ddeecciiddeedd ttoo eemmaaiill yyoouu aaggaaiinn. tthhiiss kkeeyybbooaarrdd ssuucckkss aa bbiigg oonn ccaassuuee iitt ppuuttttss eevveerryy lleetttteerr ttwwiiccee. tthhiinnkk ooff iitt aass aa ppuuzzzzllee. hhaahhaa ii hhaavvee ssttuuffff ii wwaannnnaa tteellll yyoouu gguuyyss bbuutt ssoommeettiimmeess ii ffoorrggeett. ii wwaannnnaa wwrriittee iinn mmyy jjoouurrnnaall aa ttoonn aanndd kkeeeepp aa nnoott bbooookk wwiitthh tthhiinnggss ttoo rreemmiinndd mmee wwhhaatt ttoo tteellll yyoouu. tthhee mmttcc iiss kkiinnddaa ddiissoorrggiinniizzeedd aanndd aallll bbuutt iittss nnootttt ttoo bbaadd. tthhiiss ddaayy hhaass sseeeemmeedd pprreettttyy lloonngg aanndd tthheerreess aa bbuunncchh ooff ssttuuff tthhaatt ii ggoonnnnaa hhaavvee ttoo ddoo tthhaatt ii ddoonntt wwaannnnaa ddoo. ttooddaayy wwaass pprreettttyy eeaassyy bbuutt ii ccaann aallrreeaaddyy tteellll tthhaatt tthhiiss lleeaanniinn ssppaanniisshh iiss ggoonnnnaa kkiillll mmee bbuutt jjuusstt aa kkooddyy ssaayyss ""wwhheenn iinn ddoouubbtt hhaammmmeerr oouutt!!"" bbrraaaaaapp. tteellll cclliinntt iimm wwaayy ssoorrrryy aanndd ggeett hhiiss eemmaaiill aanndd ggiivvee iitt ttoo mmee ssoo ii ccaann eemmaaiill hhiim aanndd tteellll hhiimm ssoorrrryy. aallssoo ggiivvee mmee ccllaarrkkss eemmaaiill. hhoonneessttyy tthhoo eevveerryy tthhiinngg iiss ssoo sscchheedduuaalleedd tthhaatt ii ddoonntt tthhiinnkk iillll hhaavvee mmuucchh ttiimmee ttoo ddoo aannyytthhiinngg. iittss ccrraazzyy hhooww lliittttllee ttiimmee tthheeyy ggiivvee yyoouu ttoo ddoo tthhiinnggss. hhooppeeffuullllyy iillll bbee aaaabbllee ttoo sshhoowweerr aassaapp. ssppaaiinn iiss nniiccee tthhoo oouutt ssiiddee ffeellllss rreeaallllyy ggoooodd ii jjuusstt ccaanntt wwaaiitt ffoorr ssppoorrttss ttiimmee!!!! iimm rroooommiinn wwiitthh ssiixx gguuyyss aanndd tthhee rroooommss aarree pprreettttyy nniiccee. ssoorrrryy iiff mmyy lleetttteerrss sseeeemm jjuummbblleedd ii jjuusstt rreemmeemmbbeerr ssttuuffff aanndd tthhrrooww iitt iinn!!!! ii hhaavvee ttoo wwrriittee aa 55 mmiinn ttaallkk ffoorr eevveerryy ssuunnddaayy iinn ssppaanniisshh ssoo wwee ccaann ttaallkk aatt rraannddoomm. iittss ggoonnnnaa bbee hhaarrdd. tthhiinnkk ooff yyoouu gguuyyss,, sslleeddiinn,, sskkiiiinngg,, bbiikkiinngg,, ttrruucckkss,, hhaahhaa hhaass hheellppeedd mmee tthhrroouugghh ttooddaayy. tt ddoonntt kknnooww iiff ii aallrreeaaddyy ssaaiidd bbuutt ii ggeett ttoo ggoo ttoo tthhee tteemmppllee ttoommoorrrrooww. ii tthhiinnkk tthhaatt wwiillll hheellpp ccaallmm mmee ddoowwnn. loovvee yyoouu gguuyyss aanndd hhooppeeffuullllyy iill bbee aabbllee ttoo eemmaaiill yyoouu aaggaaiinn ttoommmmoorrww aanndd ii wwoonntt hhaavvee ccrraazzyy ddoouubbllee lleetttteerrss. ii lloovvee yyoouu ssoo mmuucchh!!!! lloovvee eellddeerr MMccDDeerrmmootttt

I'm Here!

 

Hi guys im here. its freakin weird that im gone. Its a cool but wired feeling at the same time. like is said i saw you guys on the plane. hopefully ill be able to send pic tomorrow on my p day. p days are on thursday. my comp it elder jacobsen. i slept like a baby on the plane. it wasnt even that bad at all but i dont like american airlines. the food was dec. honeslty i feel like im gonna lose some lbs. i had lunch and the food is kinda wired. some stuff isnt bad but im not hungy at all really. i feel like im gonna be out here forever and im already kinda tired during our meeting and stuff but hopefull ill sleep well tonight. my spanish blows. they tested me and i failed hard. i was under presser and couldnt remember anything. everything was pretty chill till i got to the mtc. everything is alittle overwellming but hopefully ill get use to it. i hear other missionarys talk spanish and it makes me depressed cause i know like nothin. learnin this espanol is gonna be tough. thats sweet about lily and the pillow. ( *Insert from mom: Lily wanted to sleep in Dane's bed that night but we eventually talked her into just sleeping with his pillow!) tell everyone hi. i dont really know what to say but ill most likely be able to email you guys tomorrow and hopefully send you the pic but idk cause the mtc is kinda strict about this stuff. this computer times everyone when they get on for 30 min. its kinda like takin the act. you feel stressed to get everything in the letter. love ya guys!! hopefully ill be able to email you tomorrow! Love elder McDermott

Pictures at the Airport!

Bags are checked in!



Waiting at the airport



One with Dad

One with Mom

 

 

Dane's last kiss!

 

 



The D boys!

Tender moment with Calli

Last hug for 3 years!

Our Handsome Missionary!

Dane's plane going to Spain!

Dane leaves for MTC! 
We left for the airport in the morning and got Dane's bags checked on just fine... one suitcase weighed in at 49.5 lbs. and the other at 50 lbs. Whew! It was a tough day and there were alot of tears. It was hard to let someone so wonderful and central to our family go! Graci Ann was our comic relief and told Brady: "No one wants to see you crying like that!" She also informed Dane: "You know you're going to be wearing those clothes tomorrow!" She heard this earlier and repeated it back to us: "If we didn't love each other so much this would be easier!" We are grateful for that Graci girl! We watched Dane go through security (We found out he takes a long time to get his shoes back on) and then we drove out by the golf course south of the airport. We parked the car and went out on the bike trail to take a picture of the airplane he was on. Dane called us when he got to Texas and said he ended up switching seats so a father could sit next to his son and that put him at a window seat and he could see us out the window waving at the plane! He pulled out his camera and took a picture of us! We can't wait to see it! He met up with about 9 other missionaries and they all gathered together and had a prayer and got something to eat before boarding the plane to Madrid. He had 9+ hours of flying and hopefully sleeping before they would arrive in Spain. We are sad and we miss him, yet we are happy to know his adventure as a missionary has begun!