Everything is going great out here. I got one of your cards on Thursday so it only took eight days to get here instead of fourteen or whatever they said. It was really nice to hear from you since I hadn't talked to you guys for so long I really appreciated it. Just make sure to write my name on stuff when you send it to me because the card just had the address and not my name so they weren't sure who to give it to.I'm not sure what the name of the street is but I think you can just type the address into google and it will show it to you. I only have ten days left till I leave the MTC so I will have a new companion then. The Temple was awesome. Do you remember how I was telling you that Amberly went to it and she said it was really small? It is tiny. In the creation room there was seats for twenty four people. So we had to go in two different groups because there wasn't room for all of us to fit in a once. We went to the distribution center and looked around and they had elephant, and ostrich skin scripture covers, and books of Mormon with zebra, crocodile, elephant , and ostrich covers. Do you want me to get you one? The market was kind of boring, it was kind of run down and trashy. I tried to get some money out of the ATM but it wouldn't let me so i don't know what is up because it worked for other people. I might have done it wrong but I don't know. They mostly serve us American food like pancakes and mac and cheese and mashed potatoes and stuff like that but then they have some local food that is really good. Yesterday a bunch of the members from around this area came to the MTC and we taught them, we didn't do very good but is nice because now we know what we need to work on. Today we are going on splits with some of the Joburg missionaries, I'm not sure what we are going to do but I'm excited to get out of the MTC and see some of the town. Tomorrow I have to give a talk in sacrament meeting but its kinda funny because it is on the atonement and before i left dad said to take my farewell talk with me because I would use it again and here it is two weeks later and I'm already using it. We don't get to go to the post office we just give all our letters to Sister Christensen and she takes them to the post office for us. I'll be looking for the cards and package you sent for me. Make sure Michael stays out of trouble. How is everything there? You should send me some pictures, it would be nice to see some of home.
Love Elder Finlinson

well I am finally in South Africa. The MTC isn't too bad they feed us good and they keep us busy. The flight over here wasn't as bad as i expected it to be the plane was only half full so we had plenty of room to stretch out. My companion for while I'm at the MTC is Elder Mamba who is from Swaziland. There are 30 Elders here. There are 22 Elders from the U.S. 1 from Scotland 1 from Australia 1 from Madagascar 1 from Kenya and some from South Africa. The other two missionaries in my room are Elder Knight from Battle Mountain Nevada and Elder Rainibe from Madagascar. Elder Knight and I get along pretty good because are companions have trouble speaking English so we have been helping each other out. We go to the temple every Tuesday while we are here at the MTC . I can't wait to get out of the MTC, I'm learning a lot but my companion is making it really stressful. its still winter here and kind of cold and the days are really short. Every morning I wake up to the most annoying birds I have ever heard in my life. I haven't really got to see what Africa looks like because the drive over here was in the dark and there is a big wall all the way around the MTC. The MTC President is Brother Christensen from St. George. When he saw my name tag he asked me if I was from Oak City, and then he told me how he spent every summer growing up in Oak City visiting family. And that we are probably related. I don't really know what else to tell you, just that i'm doing ok, i miss home and all of you but i'm having fun learning a lot and staying busy. i get to e-mail every Saturday while i'm at the MTC just so you know. it will take about fourteen days for a letter to get here or even a little longer Love, Elder Finlinson

Hey i just got to the MTC. The flight from Atlanta was actually pretty nice. The plane was only half full so we had room to lay down and sleep. I could't see much on the way in because i was right over the wing. There were twelve of us that flew from Salt Lake together the we picked up ten more in Atlanta and one in South Africa. there are only about thirty missionaries at this MTC so it is not very big. It was weird flying in because right after we left Atlanta it got dark and it stayed dark for maybe five hours then it got light and by the time we got to Joburg the sun was setting again. The mission President here saw my last name and asked if i was from Oak City and i said yes and he said we are probably related. On the flight we met a Gideon one of the people that put all the bibles in hotels room and stuff he was pretty interesting guy to talk to. The accents are pretty sweet and they have different words for everything. Some american swear words aren't swear words over here. It was dark on the drive to the MTC so i couldn't see much. Well i'm going to bed so i will talk to you when i can.

love, Elder Finlinson