Week 4 Complete: Letter from David

Familia!,

Well I've been out for 4 weeks and 1 day now! That has gone by pretty fast. Before you know it ill be out for a year with 15 baptisms! haha i hope. well anyways I love all of you!

Mom- What does it say or whatever on the necklace you got katie?  SO the house is all done?  Thats awesome! How does it look? That story you told me of you and dad, pregnant with MIchael, all by yourselfs without your guys family. that makes me think that in the very near future that same story can be katie and I! haha it true! I cant wait.

I love you mom and thank you for your dear elder.  Oh and those tie you sent me where pretty cool but the material that there were made out of was retarded. It was like paper, I couldnt tie it! haha that was a waste of 15 dollars a tie. Sorry!

Julie- Thank you for you letter cute little girl! actually your almost as tall as me! Thats crazy! Im sooo happy you're making more friends and that they are becoming your best friends! I wont worry anymore about you! Im so proud of you for inviting your friends to young womens with you! Thats so cool Julie! They might come to church with you and get baptized! You never know! You're a blessing in their lives! And by the way....you will never get as many coins as I had! haha I love you.

Dad- Thank you for your package thing! I dont need anymore food for now, I got a ton haha and deffinately no more candy! Im over loading with candy! I barely even eat it so it just piles up haha, Those silly, retarded games grandma makes us play actually turn out to be fun in the end!  Remember when Katie and I came down to california in July and we played shurades ( how ever you spell it) and How me and Michaels skit thing was so funny but we look and sounded retarded hahaha i miss those times! That old english quiz you gave me..yeah I have no idea haha stick with the spanish quizes!

Brandon and Michael- I love you guys a lot! Im so grateful that I have you both as my brothers. you both are like my best friends! Remember who you are and What your potential is! I love you both!

Well Christmas night we had a talent show and the coolest thing was some missionary performed with his yo-yo! It was sweet! haha everyone stood up and yelled and screamed! haha it was pretty awesome! Then we had a fireside with Greg Olsen or something like that. He is the guy who paints all the paintings for the church. What he said was pretty interesting but not enough because I fell asleep haha

Then we watched the movie "Its a wonderful Life" in color. I love that movie and its now my favorite movie! and That movie will be the last movie I see for 2 years haha I loved the movie so much and I just thought about katie the whole time watching it! ( which what doesnt make me think of Katie) haha

Yesterday was alright...actually it sucked. I was homesick pretty badly. I could barely focus during class or study time. I still learned spanish and tried hard but I was homesick and sad. It was the first christmas away from all of you! It sucked and I am away from Katie! its hard!!!

But my teacher near the end of class noticed that something was wrong with me so he talked with me. He helped me by giving me questions to think about and ponder. " Why does the Lord need me?" "what does the Lord want me to become?"

Then we talked a little about the questions. He ran track in high school and a year in college before his mission. so we talked about track! haha it was nice and i could always go for a talk about track haha it was nice (yes I know Im weird)

That made my day slightly better. but once I got the mail. And I got 4 letters and a package....OH BABY! That made my day soooo much better! A letter from Katie and from my fam. always makes my day! haha

My comp poops ALOT hahaha he destroys the toliets here its pretty funny. Our whole zone gives him props for the best pooper haha but he also swears sometimes which bother me and I try to help him. I just say come on man. Thats all... Im mean we're missionaries. seriously! and swearing in general is retarded!! I hate it! Well I thought you guys should know that! haha

WEll, Sounds like you guys had a fun Christmas! I love all of you! Thank you for staying in touch with Katie! It really helps her when she's missing me and having a bad day! I love her and you Familia!

Till next week

Love,
David


If you wish to send David a letter, here is his address:

Please use:  www.dearelder.com and send a letter to him FREE while in the MTC.
His Estimated Leaving Date is Jan 28, 2013.

or

Elder David McNamara
MTC Mailbox #105
Mex-Tamp 0128
2005 N 1900 E
Provo, UT 84604

Christmas in the MTC: Letter from David

Merry Christmas family!!!

They let us write today because we're not aloud to call. But The past 3 days have been really hard Im not going to lie. Sunday I had a meeting and they were talking about how not to be homesick. Which was retarded for them because it made me even more homesick!! I was about to cry! I was seriously about to just stand up and leave the room. I just wanted them to shut up haha they talked about home for about 30 minutes so i was going to die.

Sunday i was also released as District Leader because they have 2 DL in the MTC. Split up the time. SO yeah. I actually felt more relieved and stress free... almost. haha So thats good. 

Christmas eve was the same until the night. We had a nativity scene and all that cool stuff. Then after we got to watch a MOVIE. A christmas Carol! haha I would never watch that back home but it was good seeing that then..yeah. But they handed out a bag of popcorn to every missionary too! Then we went to sleep.

I woke up at 6 to open my presents! IT was different than what i am used to but it still was fun i guess. Thank you mom for the small jesus and the journal and your card! I got a few things from katie, a yo yo, pictures, letters, a pillow case with her face on it! haha it pretty awesome, another journal, a christmas card that has pictures of us on it, and a booklet all about us with pictures and sayings, and a tape with a tape recorder and all that stuff! My favorite present was the booklet of katie and I! sorry mom haha I still love you.

I can deffinately feel all of your guys prayers. They reallly do strenghten me! They help me and the Lord is helping me too! Im still homesick but not as bad as the first 2 weeks. I miss all of you and Kaite and her family!

Today we had a devotional and guess who spoke.....THE PROPHET!!  haha just kidding.  Russell M. Nielson. I didnt know he was one of the 12 apostles but yeah! It was really good hearing him speak and stuuf. One thing that hit me was that we (missionaries) are the link for people to recieve eternal life! 19 year olds are reponsibly for that its carzy but awesome! Im so excited to teach people! I just cant wait to go to mexico! I want to get out of Hogwarts (MTC). We do the same thing everyday haha its hard to stay focused sometimes. but Im trying.

The spanish is coming along. Learning more everyday and how to teach the gospel in spanish everyday! After 2 weeks here I could of aced the spanish 4 class in high school haha its pretty crazy to thing how far I have come in 4 weeks with spanish and gospel doctrine!  

The MTC is the second most spiritual place, the first being the temple! I feel the spirit here everyday it so good and helps me a lot!

Yesterday I was having a hard day missing katie and you guys and one missionary in my district wrote me a little letter and gave it to me. That helped me alot. He just said I know your having a hard time right now and if there is anything I can help you with you can talk to me about anything. he also gave me a scipture that made my day SO mush better. Its a really short scripture but it was John 14:18? It says. I will not leave you comfortless. I read that and thought about it. That helped me alot!

Tonight we have a talent show and then we get to watch the movie, Its a wonderful life, Im excited! I actually love that movie. Its really good! It will make me think of katie.

I love you family! write me all about what you did and how your christmas was! I love hearing from all of you! Use "Dear ELDER.com," it's better to get than emails cause i can write what i want to say before I get on the computer!

yo se que jesucrito es mi salavdor y neustro salvador. yo se que este iglasia es el verdad iglasia en este tierra. Yo amor ustedes muy mucho. mi familia es el major! hijole yo quierro con ustedes muy mal! Feliz navidad!

Love, David

If you wish to send David a letter, here is his address:

Please use:  www.dearelder.com and send a letter to him FREE while in the MTC.

or

Elder David McNamara
MTC Mailbox #105
Mex-Tamp 0128
2005 N 1900 E
Provo, UT 84604

Video of David Speaking Spanish

This video was sent to Katie, and Katie was kind enough to share it with us all here on David's Mission Blog.  Yes, David says things like "babe," and stuff to Katie, but Katie thought it was worth sharing; especially since David is funny and she wanted to share with us his current Spanish-speaking skills.


Enjoy!

Week 3: Complete: Letter from David

,

Dear Family,

I miss all you guys! I love all you guys! How are you guys doing!? i love all the letters from each one of you. you may think they are boring but theyre not! I dont have anything for entertainment here besides spanish books and the book of mormon. Those are some good things but its a good break to read letters from home! Can you guys write me through Dear elder instead of email? because reading the emails waste my time that i have on the computer but in mexico i think it'll change and it will be easier to email then but now..yeah

Thank you mom for your letters! I think its okay to write me in sacrament meeting haha i dont know. how's your health now? are you feeling a little better? I miss you so much. I going to miss you for christmas but i'll be okay here. your idea for Katie's christmas present sounds awesome!!! I love that you and everyone else loves katie! cause she's going to be in our family forever!

Dad I got both of your Dear Elders thank you! I'm kinda jealous you got to see the hobit even if it was "okay" haha i miss watching movies or even TV! haha Im glad you got the pictures from Katie. I thought it would be easier to sent them to her and have her email them. yeah i would like a photo of both of us! I will definately hang it up on my board! You right i got a bunch of goodies from katie! she spoils me here haha I have so much candy and chips that i dont know what to do with it haha  

Everyone except 3 in my district are going to Mexico, the other 3 are going to ecuador? i dont know how to spell it. But just me and my comp. are going to Tampico. the others are going to different places in Mexico. The 2 samoans in the picture they just left on tuesday to the Peru MTC. but oh man they were a handful here. They knew some english and they were always loud and didnt listen to anyone! haha it was stressful cause i am the District leader so i tried to help them but it was very difficult. but now they are gone haha. 


Michael I miss ya man! I saw your email today but i saw that you sent it last week! I must have gotten off before you sent it! But thats awesome your arm is coming back! Go PRO baby! thank you for your letter. HOw are you? how much you benching now? haha

Brandon, thanks for your letter and drawings haha they were funny and cool! The one with the missionary half machine was freaking sweet! I liked it a lot! How are you doing? did you end up going to the single ward? you should! there might be normal people there in California haha

julie! how is school? dance? your friends? I miss you little sister! haha little momma! 

Well, my 3rd week went by fast! Time here flies! a day seems like forever but a week seems like a day. its so wierd! Well on saturday one of the missionaries in my district shared a quote by somebody that i really liked  "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is that good men and women do nothing" its pretty interesting, you guys take away what you want from it but definately thing about it. 

My comp and I taught Angel again. We got him to read the Book of Mormon and to come to church with us! haha but he asked us where the church was and we didnt know what to say haha so i said Tampico and then he said where? tampico is huge haha we just started laughing so we just said come with us and show you where it is. which obviously is just a role play investigator so we were caught of guard haha 


Saturday was alright but i was getting frusterated with the 2 samoans because they werent following some of the rules so i tried to kindly tell them and help them lovingly to follow the rules but they didnt listen to me haha and I was done because the mail room was closed in the afternoon so i didnt get any mail besides I got a package from grandma donvan. Which she wrote me a letter in it and it was one sentence long hahahhah it said im glad i taught you to run fast, you be a good missionary. love grandma. thats it haha but can you tell her thank you from me! she also had some food in there that was good. 

Well anyways saturday during gym one of the samoans got in a fight with this one kid. We were playing basketball and the samoan was showing up this kid (which the kid was a d bag and thought he was so cool cause he played high school basketball) so the kid was getting mad and fouled the samoan badly! so after the samoan, his name is ELder togia. he got so mad and straight up said you want to fight lets go, ill kill you. He was being serious. samoans dont take crap from anyone thats for sure. 

SO the samoan threw the ball at the kids feet and then the kid threw the ball back HARD at Togias face it was about to go down but me and my comp stopped it somehow haha but the rest of the day togia was getting all his samoan friends and getting them all pumped up to beat up that one kid. oh man i was stressed out but laughin at the same time cause the kid desired it but anyways...I also got a christmas card from the welch's! tell them thank you please! 

Sunday some guy from the 70 spoke but i fell asleep haha im always tired here! Its so hard to stay awake sometimes but i remember one part he said that the apostles have "Elder" as part of their calling and we (missionaries) shared that with them. So i thought that was really cool! And they said like if your learning a certain language raise your hand and guess what?! Most elders here are learning SPANISH more than half the MTC. And they said coming January 1st there will be SOOO many more missionaries coming and a ton of new sister missionaries. ITs going to be crazy here real soon! then at night we watch a church movie. Im starting to like them now cause its all i got here! the only movies haha dont think im wierd now! 

MOnday i cant remember what happened haha but tuesday was good. During one of our lesson, teaching the investigator i wanted to say something important to him and I knew how to it in english but i only knew how to say the first word in spanish. But I started saying it in spanish and the spanish just came out of me! I said exactly what i wanted to say and said it pretty fast! theres some scripture that says something like this...I will help you in the very moment you need it , just open your mouth and i shall filled it with the power of the holy ghost... oh man it was awesome! 

Well thats about all the cool things that has happened to me this past week! Now its start of week 4! crazy i know. Merry Christmas. Im going to miss being with everyone on christmas dont worry to much about me. ill be okay or atleast try to be okay. I love you all! 

Love,
David

p.s. Stay in contact with Katie please! I love her 


If you wish to send David a letter, here is his address:

Elder David McNamara
MTC Mailbox #105
Mex-Tamp 0128
2005 N  1900 E
Provo, UT  84604

Week 2 Complete: Letter from David

Dear Family, (and who ever reads this!)  

Thank you all for the letters! I got them all from Mom, dad, julie and brandon, and Wendi and of course Katie. haha Brandon thanks for your letter. 

There are pretty bizarre kids, i mean elders, here but my district is pretty normal for the most part. except for this one kid. He is the most cockyiest kid i have ever met in my life. everybody wants to just tell him to shut up. No one can feel the spirit when he's talking. Its like he' s trying to impress someone by being a missionary. idk. 

But my comp. is pretty cool, he's like me we quote movies and songs all the time. we're becoming like best friends now. Youre right I am getting bombarded with spanish but im learn a crap ton of it. Thank you for the pictures! I hung them up!

Julie thank you sweet girl for your letter! Im glad your learning and using what i write home about. Especially about humility. Thats cool that you have improved in dance thats aweome! I once again aced your little spanish test! but you messed up on some spanish actually haha keep working hard in school and dance!

Dad thanks for your letter! I sent you one like on saturday? i dont know. You'll hopefully get it soon. But mom already sent me Jesus the Christ but thank you! Im glad you and the whole family are staying in contact with Katie! I love that and so grateful for you guys for talking with her. That makes me feel a lot better.  

That would be awesome if you could update your books. You should do that!. Your right letters here on the mission ARE oxygen!   Everyone here in my district are getting letters but im getting the most haha mostly because of my sweet katie haha.

I'm taking my usana dont worry!  I sent my memory card with my pictures to katie. she should email them to you!

Mom I miss you! and i miss all of you guys!  Thats crazy youre putting christmas stuff up! I kinda forgot about christmas actually. It doesn't even seem like christmas here, besides they have lights up in some places.

And that I study for 9 hours a day. Thats not even a joke. I have 2 class times both 3 hours each where I "learn" spanish then 3 more extra hours where I do personal study time then another hour for language study time haha so 10 hours a day. My wieght gain has actually....gone down! I've lost 3 pounds so im back to where I started at 185. Just stopped drinking soda for every meal. Now i drink apple juice in the morning and poweraide the rest of the meals! 

My days here are pretty much the same. wake up at 6:30 except for my P -day. I wake up at 5:30 so we can do laundry before everyone else so then we can have a 5 hour nap in the afternoon when we actually have time to wash our clothes. I love all you guys so much! I really do. Being here away from everyone makes me love you all more!

Since the last time I wrote you guys a lot has happened. I wrote you guys at 6 in the morning last waiting for my laundry. But I went to the temple later that day. It was amazing! I fasted that morning because before then I have had a HARD time missing Katie A LOT. It was killing me inside. she means the world to me and I didnt want to lose her. But I fasted so I would recieve an answer if she would wait or not. And I DID recieve an answer! 

It was the most real, profound answer I have ever had! It helped me a lot thats for sure. Katie has already told you like you have said mom. so im not going to write it. But it was the most real thing ever.

Well friday I cant really remember what we did. all the days are like the same. They start to blend together. Saturday we have service time. And our district has to clean a dorm building. And my comp. and I had to clean the pubic/butt hair from the shower drains in the whole building! It was freaking nasty I about threw up haha! Well anyways on Sunday it starts out the same as any other day. But then I have like 4 meeting cause Im district leader. It kinda sucks but there cool at the same time. I learn a lot in them. 

Then we have preisthood then sacrament ( which is all in spanish) haha They randomly choose whos speaking like 5 minutes before they have to speak so you have to prepare a talk in spanish. So i did but i didnt get chosen. On sunday night we had a devotional. The BYU mens Choir came and sang the whole time but through out some songs someone from the choir would share a little something from their mission. 

Monday we got 2 new investigators to teach..which they both are our teachers. But my comp. and I taught one on monday, It went alright,. I can understand spanish a lot more now so thats good. We just taught him the first lesson. 

Then tuesday we had to teach the other investigator in the afternoon.  But that morning I wanted to be able to say the 1st vision in spanish so it would be more powerful. So I studied it for like 2 hours and I got it done..in spanish. I said it during the lesson and I felt the spirit so strongly when i was speaking spanish! it was awesome, I just had to look at the scriptures once cause i forgot one word which was sanalando which means he pointed. 

But after class m teacher came up to me and said " holy cow good job on the 1st vision. I felt the spirit" I asked him if i pronounced everything correctly. He said most of the words but a few of them were wrong but he still understood it. haha thats okay ill get it soon enough. Yestrerday was a good day except for the morning. It was pretty rough. I woke up and ALL i was thinking about was Katie. I was missing her like crazy. I just wanted to cry but I had to hold it in. It was so hard! We had breakfast then class. I was on the verge of crying the whole time. I was missing her a lot! But halfway through class my teacher started talking about faith. I started listening. He had us read the bible dictionary about faith. what it said helped me a lot.

"Where there is true faith there are miracles, visions, dreams, healings, and all the gifts of god that he gives to his saints." then I wrote a question down "How can I increase my faith?" then I started writing down my thoughts and feelings. here there are.

In my patriarticle blessing it talks about how I will be called, prepared to go forth and preside over the saints in zion. It says I will do this because I showed exceeding faith in my savior in my heavenly home. I desire for the great faith that I once had in heaven. Im striving for it. I have faith heavenly father will watch over katie while Im gone and I have faith in katie. I know we are going to get married! Becasue of my hope and faith that we will get married and faith in christ, I saw a glimpse of our future together. I believe Heavenly father showed me that so I know for a fact so I dont have to worry. SO I can focus on the work, His work. Help people recieve and have what I want for myself. Which is to be sealed to the love of my life forever, for all time and eternity. To live with my family in happiness and rightousness in the sight of god. I have faith God will help me accomplish this if I help him first with helping other people hear/ have this amazing gospel.

Here at the MTC, Im on an emotional roller coaster. Im really happy and cant wait to teach people. Im doing well with spanish. Then sometimes Im on the verge of crying because I miss katie so much. I want to be sealed to her already. I want to start my life with her already. But thinking about all that, Im being selfish. I want the blessings of this gospel for my family, and my future family. But thats not what its about. I need to help god by helping other families that dont know about this gospel. Who dont have the blessing you can get from this gospel. I need to serve the Lord first, then He WILL help me out with my own life with Katie and my future family.

That was what i wrote down! 

Well family and katie and wendi and whoever else!   I love you all! I'll write next week! please write me too!

Love, 
Elder McNamara



If you wish to send David a letter, here is his address:

Elder David McNamara
MTC Mailbox #105
Mex-Tamp 0128
2005 N  1900 E
Provo, UT  84604

Week 2: Day 2

David thought ahead, and bought Katie one of her favorite things to collect: Christmas Nutcrackers. Katie was excited to get this from Daivd, ...something to hold on to (and kiss) since David is in the MTC for Christmas and cannot be there to give out kisses.

Meanwhile:

David said, "I'll be back."  Which inspired his brother, Brandon, to draw the following sketch of David as the "Missionary Terminator."

Brandon is sending David letters with drawings to give David a good laugh.  

Week 1 Complete: Letter from David

Hola familia!,

Well looks like i have no emails from anybody. Thats okay. its 6:30 right now on thursday which is my P day if you haven't got my letters yet. I've sent 3 letters to you guys but nothing back? It took me 5 days to get that letter from julianne so i guess it takes 5 days! 

Well if you haven't gotten my letters yet. guess what? Im district leader for my district! yaya. This week has been a roller coaster. Having fun sometimes, doing okay the other times, and then at night....yeah kind of bad at night. I really miss you guys and katie alot! I can't stop thinking about Katie. I love her so much and everything reminds me of her. Sometimes I have doubts if she will really wait for me, but I know she will. or atleast hope she will. 2 years is a really long time. any advice on that? 

Today im fasting and we're going to the temple so Im going to pray about katie. She is the love of my life and please, PLEASE stay in contact with her and her family. I REALLY want her to be there when I get back.  Thank you all for praying for me! I can really feel the strength from the prayers. Thats cool dad that you got the blog site up! please tell katie about it! 

Brandon thank you for the letter you sent me! it really meant a lot. I love you man so much and going to miss my bestfriend too! 

Julie thank you so much for your letter! it made me cry haha it really touched my heart what you said in it. Its true we have always been at each others side. You have always made me laugh when im sad too! Im glad your friend is helping you with me being gone! thank you for being my sister! Hows school, dance, and friends? Text katie every once in awhile and ask her hows shes doing okay? will you please do that? By the way I aced your little quiz you made for me. 

(Dad takes David, Katie, Brandon, and Julianne to Sea World in San Diego the weekend before David entered the MTC.)

Now time to talk about spanish. for the first week the teacher ONLY spoke to us in spanish! The first couple of days I didn't understand a thing he was saying haha but on the 3rd day I started to understand him! it was crazy, i got a little proud of myself for understanding the teacher and a few seconds after I got pridful is when i couldn't understand him anymore. Also on the 3rd day is when we had to teach an "investigator"...in spanish! he only spoke spanish, really fast spanish. so me and my comp. couldnt understand a thing. 

We read a few sentances from our spanish book and then left haha it was really awkward. Then the next day we had to teach him again (his name is Adith) so we prepared a little about prayer and we were going to teach him about prayer. We prayed before we went in there that we would be able to undedrstand Adith. And guess what? we understand most of what he was saying. And earlier we learned how to say a prayer in spanish! so i said the opening prayer, in spanish! then we tried to teach him about prayer. 

Then monday we did better with the lesson and with spanish and asked him to read the book of mormon so we gave him one! Awesome! we were so happy when that happened! Then yesterday we taught him. We asked him a few questions like what he thought about the book of mormon. Que esta su pesamientos sabre el libro de mormon. Then we tried our best to understand his response. then we didnt know where to go with that so i felt like we should have him read the first vision. So he did and i asked him if he felt the espiritu. he said he did. and then we got him to pray at the end! oh yeah! so today we are going to ask him if he would get baptized! hopefully he accepts! wish us luck.

My comp is really cool. His name is Elder Griffiths. He's from Logan utah and he is pretty much like me! We get along really well and we always quote movies. its awesome. he has a girlfriend too so that kinda helps. He is becoming my best friend! we'll hopefully i get a response from any of you guys! I love you ALL! So much

Love,

Elder McNamara

p.s. I got a lot of people to call me Elder Mac cause they don't know how to say McNamara right haha

Dad's Editorial Note:  Both Susan (his mother) and I, have both sent David letters (and emails), and apparently David has not received them yet.  Boo!  :(

Below is Katie on the first night after sending David into the MTC.   Ice cream helps the pain.  :)

Later during David's first week, she posted the following on Facebook, with the statement:

"I love and miss this boy more and more each day!"

If you wish to send David a letter, here is his address:

Elder David McNamara
MTC Mailbox #105
Mex-Tamp 0128
2005 N  1900 E
Provo, UT  84604

Week 1, Day 2

Katie received her first letter from David.   She was one happy girl.

Clearly, this is a personal letter to Katie, but Katie did say that David reported that it has been hard to learn Spanish (this is on his second day), but said that it is slowly coming along.  

David said that he shared his testimony in Spanish, but that was limited to saying that he knows that Jesus Christ lives.

David was honored with being called to be District Leader of his group, and the only other news now is that his P-day (preparation day) is Thursday (at least while in the MTC).

The rest of us await news from David, and it will be posted here on the blog.  As we get photos and emails we will post them here on the blog.

If you wish to send David a letter, here is his address:

Elder David McNamara
MTC Mailbox #105
Mex-Tamp 0128
2005 N  1900 E
Provo, UT  84604

Week 1, Day 1

David R. McNamara Entered the Missionary Training Center (MTC) Nov. 28, 2012.

Mexico, Tampico Mission

Dropping off David at the MTC were his parents:

Father: Ladd McNamara, M.D.,

Mother: Susan (McFerson) Smith,

Brother: Michael McNamara

Girlfriend: Katie Christensen

Future In-Laws (?):

Barry & Wendi Christensen

Unable to be present, were David's other siblings, older brother, Brandon, and younger sister, Julianne.   They had to say good-bye on the phone.   Their hearts were with him very much.  

David is going to Mexico, Tampico Mission after first spending 8 weeks in the MTC to learn the missionary lessons and Spanish.  He will also have to learn some cultural do's and don'ts, as well as how to best be an ambassador of the Lord, and represent the Church.

Here a "host" missionary escorts David into the MTC after he is dropped off.  He will soon meet his MTC companion and district.   The first day will probably be the most challenging regarding separation anxiety. 

David was obviously sad to say good-bye to his loved ones, especially Katie, but at the same time very excited about what was to come. 

David met Katie at Alta High School, in Sandy, UT.  Katie is a senior there now, and plans to attend Snow College next year.   

They met in the last semester of his senior year at Alta, and got very attached.   He was "adopted" by Katie's lovely family.

David was set apart as a missionary the night before with his parents and Katie and her parents present.   Afterwards, they strolled around Temple Square, viewing the Christmas lights.

Besides missing everyone, his biggest concern was the challenge of learning the lessons in Spanish. 

Everyone was pretty sad to say good-bye to David, but very, very proud of this young man.
 

David with father, Ladd McNamara, M.D.

Ladd served his mission in Korea, Pusan Mission (1978 - 1980)

Ladd lives in Carlsbad, CA.

David with father, Ladd, and mother, Susan Smith.

Susan lives in Orange County, CA. with her husband Brad Smith, along with her (and Ladd's) daughter, Julianne McNamara.



David with Katie, and Wendi and Barry Christensen

from Sandy, UT

The Christensens already feel like family to David, as well as to Ladd and Susan.

Wendi has become a "second mother" to David, and Barry helped out David a lot during his final few months before entering the MTC.  They all became very fond of David.

David with oldest brother, Michael McNamara.

Michael served his mission in the Washington, Everett Mission.

Michael currently resides in Oceanside, CA., along with brother, Brandon McNamara.

If you wish to send David a letter, here is his address:

Elder David McNamara

MTC Mailbox #105

Mex-Tamp 0128

2005 N  1900 E

Provo, UT  84604