Week 2.5

So I went to the Ogden Temple dedication on Sunday. That was pretty sweet. It was cool to look up and see all the missionaries there.

Teaching lessons is getting harder. I want to be able to say a whole bunch of deep doctrinal things really quickly, but I am unable. And when I try, I look like a fool. It really sucks. I need to stop trying to go beyond what I know I can. If I would just be content with the fact that I don't know Spanish, and that I should keep it simple, then I would be fine. So that's what I need to work on.

On tuesday, we were scheduled for the TRC, or Teaching Resource Center. And I remembered that Grandma Jenson volunteered there on Tuesdays! So I was spreading the word around my district, and we were pretty much freaking out. So we showed up. They gave us a quick shpeal. We would just practice-teach a random member. So me and Elder Fallentine were assigned to Room A. We walked in the doorway, and I saw a very familiar woman sitting on the couch!!! GRANDMA was there! So I pretty much was jumping through the ceiling. Gave her a hug. We taught a really crappy lesson, because I was so shcked,  and I didn't really say anything, I was just staring and smiling ahaha so we finished, and said bye, and that was t!

That night, We had two other Elders stay with us. They were the last two Elders in their district, and were getting on a plane to Go to their San Francisco Missions in the next couple days. Everyone else had already left, and their room had already been reassigned, so they stayed in our 'guest room.' Elder Perry and Elder Wallace. Elder Perry looks exactly like Luke Larsen, Shelby's old... friend. It was hilarious. And he was way funny. And Elder Wallace was from England, and equally as hilarious. Pretty much the two nights they stayed with us were two enormous parties. They hour from when we got let out of class to quiet time. We had so much fun just sitting around joking.

The first groups of Spanish Speaking missionaries are starting to get moved to Main campus. we are the last group that willl not spend any time at Main campus. In like 3 weeks, West Campus is getting shut down. It's intense. Like camping.

I seriously LOVE preparing lessons with Elder Fallentine. I never thought I would, but companion study is one of the best hours of the day. Our 'investigators' are just our teachers, playing the role of someone else. EXCEPT we just barely started talking to a real investigator! They have a bunch of investigators just sit around campus, waiting for us to give a lesson to them. So me and Elder Fallentine started talking to... Maria. She is from Guadalajara and is very Catholic. We pretty much just talk to her about that. What she believes about God, and What we do. It makes me pretty freaking stoked just to talk to people. Because it is very enjoyable.

I had to go to the police department a couple days ago to get fingerprinted again. So what that means for my visa, I don't know. But everyone going to the Argentina Posadas mission had to go, and no one else, so we'll see how that works out... we got to drive in a police car! and we got to turn on the sirens, so that was pretty darn legit.

We went to the temple again today, and it was great. It was raining like a mother. We got so wet. Well not really. We all had umbrellas and were perfectly dry, but it was raining way hard. Every time I go to Main campus I see Elder Lund, and I love it.

We listened to Elder Richard G Scott of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles give us a devotional on Tuesday. It was great. He's a great man. Spirit was awesome.

That's about it. Have a nice day

Elder Trevor Emil Christensen

My old District 

Week 1.5

So the MTC is confusing.

I still hadn't gotten my travel plans as of….Thursday. And my entire district had theirs. They will be leaving on Monday or Tuesday. So I was kind of stressing a little.

That day, someone from the MTC gave me another language evaluation, to see where I sat. Then they told me that my visa still has yet to come through. They called my mission president, and my mission president told them that transfers are two weeks away. It would be best to keep me in the MTC for 2 more weeks, let me learn more Spanish, then get into my mission during a transfer week. Instead of getting reassigned to another area and being a third wheel with a companionship and kind of being awkward for 2 weeks.

So I'm staying here until October 6.  Not too bad. I wasn't upset at all, since I was expecting to be at the MTC for 6 weeks, and now I'll be here for 4. And two weeks is a long time.

So I changed districts. I'm in an intermediate district, so pretty much everyone took a few years of spanish in high school, and that's it. I broke up a trio of elders, so that was pretty convenient. My new compainion is Elder Fallentine. He's from San Diego. All he talks about is the Beach. And I smile and nod. Our roommates are Elder Osgood from Bay Area, California. Santa Barbara? No. I dont remember. Something like that. And then we have Elder Smith from Knoxville, Tennessee. They're nuts. They are pretty dang funny and have a ton of fun here. We have a solo hermana in our district, Hermana Myers from Chicago. Our teachers are Hermano Draught from Michigan and Hermana Martinez from Mexico. It's weird to be the only one From Utah.

My old district was WAY quiet, and it was very nice and subdued. My new district talks a lot, and that's fine. We still study when we're supposed to, but they spend every second of free time talking about life, or whatever. And there is some pretty intense stuff that goes on outside of Utah. I'm very happy that I live in the bubble that I do. Is that bad? I don't know. Well of course it's not bad. Like nothing bad happens in Utah compared to everywhere else. It's very nice. I didn't really appreciate it  until now. Having like ALL of everyone I know going on missions is such a blessing. I'm so happy I had such awesome friends.

That's pretty much all that has happened. Oh! I went to the temple again today, and it was great. twice in a week. My PDay changed. It's on Saturday now, in case you couldn't guess....

I should have brought a blanket here. The blankets they gave us are like 5 feet long, and it's freezing in our apartment. I use 2 blankets and 3 sheets, and I turn out okay, but sheesh. It's very inconvenient.

Class in this district is SO much different than in my other district. The teacher talks so much slower, it's almost harder to understand him. And all the missionaries have such gringo accents, it's awful. But whatever. I am struggling to remember that this is where I'm supposed to be and I should be taking advantage of being here for 2 more weeks. I don't know why I'm struggling. I got here, like 10 days ago. It hasn't been long at all.

So that's about it

Have a nice day!

Elder Trevor Emil Christensen

Despite what the pictures show, I actuallly am happy hahah

Week 1

Soprendido!

So I get to class, after I got dropped off the curb, took a 10 minute bus ride to the Spanish MTC, and dropped my bags off at my room.  I look on the bag of materials they gave us, and it says, in pen, "Adv" below my name. I thought "Wow. That might stand for advanced." I knew C-bear was in the intermediate class, but I thought that I botched the language exam, so I was kind of curious to see what it meant. Then my district came into the classroom while I was just talking with the teacher. I am the only white guy in my district. I didnt see that coming. The lesson started, and I was the only one that day that didn't really participate in the lesson. It was all in Spanish. And I expected that, everyone told me that It was, but it was most discouraging to see EVERYONE in class be able to communicate with the teacher. I understood probably 80% of what he said, but I only had something to say like three times.

So they gave us a schedule for our time at the MTC. And the schedule was only for 2 weeks. And I thought. Weird. The whole last day was "PACK or leave" so I thought... wow. I might have to do this 3 times.

Elder Marroquin is my compainion. He's 19 and lives in West Valley and is from North Hollywood. He's cool. I like him.

The next day was 9/11. My roommate, who I recognized a little, and then he said "I recognize you" when he saw me and I said "yeah, you do look familiar..." Elder Pastrana. Well, he's from Maple Mountain, well Uruguay, and he said that he was living in NYC during 9/11. He said they told everyone to go home, and the teachers were kinda freaking out, and he was just happy to get off school. NUTS!

We met our branch presidency. They're awesome. I feel so much love from them. I'm in the branch that speaks fluent Spanish. ALL day. Every meeting. Anyway, Brother Nilsson in our presidency went to Posadas on his mission! WITH STAN ROBERTS!! He knows him! Crazy! I love him. He's a great guy. I'll send a picture eventually, but I don't have one right now. They interviewed us. I was interviewed by Brother Jeffs. I told him about my 2 week schedule, and how it still says I'm scheduled to leave in October. And he said "Oh, no, dont worry about that. If you're in our branch, you leave in 12 days." And I just started laughing, and he started laughing with me, and he said something like "SI, se puede!" (you can do it!)

Elder Cruz is my other roomie. He's from .... Puebla? Mexico. And speaks 3 languages. He looks like he's 50, even though he's only 22. He was baptized 5 years ago, and has a strong testimony. He's great. He always asks me "donde vas?" and I say "argentina." and he says "NO. Ar-HEN-tina" And I say "oh. yeah. arhentina." It's funny.

So yes, the language is hard. But everyone in my district reassures me that I belong in advanced Spanish class.  Walking around, since everyone is learning spanish, we all say hola when we see each other. My roomies told me to say "Pasa la bola" (pass the ball) or "cameron sin cola" (shrimp without a tail) in response. It's funny because it's just so random and doesnt make sense, BUT it rhymes!! "hola, pasa la bola!" And its also HILARIOUS be cause no one speaks Spanish, so they just say "si..." or "y usted..." Not only is it reassuring because I can see that no one here speaks Spanish, but it also lightens the mood for my district.

Sunday was awesome. We just studied the scriptures, and that made me feel SO MUCH BETTER. I hadn't really ever been taking advantage of personal study, and I was really feeling like crap. Then after I studied for like 3 hours straight, I felt the spirit, I felt God's love, and I just felt prepared to be a missionary. It was so relieving. I kind of expected the first few days to be hard, but in reality, they were just that. It's more than just studying. It's relying on the Lord. It's knowing that you will never be enough. I am so used to coming to an obstacle and tackling it, but now I can't tackle it. I need to have the faith that when I come to the obstacle, I won't run through it- God will lift me over it.

Today is Preparation day. We went to the temple and I almost fell asleep. It was exhausting, and it was nice, and comfortable, and I felt good, and I was tired, okay. We did laundry. That was fun. The food here is not as bad as Drew says it is. They have cereal as far as the eye can see. And I eat a banana every meal. And I've had probably 10 apples, and since I'm with all the Mexicans, they told me to smother everthing in the famous mexican hot sauce- tapatio. They drink that stuff. And It is pretty good. I use it a lot. I did my laundry today. That was fun. My teachers are great.  Brother Alletto is really easy to understand. He's from Savannah, Georgia, and he enunciates well, and I understand 95% of what he says, and I feel like I can participate, and It's awesome.  Brother Wood kind of scares me. He smiles all the time, and he has a weird accent, and he's taller than me, so that's not good. He has helped me SO much with my Spanish. I think he has done more for me than he thinks he knows.

Well that's about it. I love you all. Tell all the Salesmen that I love them. Especially you, Tim.

I'm having a great time.

Have a nice day,

Elder Trevor Emil Christensen

PS OH!! So they pulled me out of personal study, and brought me to another apartment, they told me that there was some confusion with my flyout date. The system STILL says I leave october 20th, but if I am in the advanced class, then I will have to leave next week. and had me take another language evaluation, since I am not fluent, and they said they don't know if I will stay in here for 5 more weeks, or leave next week... So I will tell you what happens. I might be in the missionfield next time I email, but I will definitely know what's going to happen to me next time I write!

PPS I LOVE GRANDMA"S DAILY NOTES

With Jordan Mack from our ward (going to Madagascar)

With Paul Evans (Lacrosse Team)

I look SO HAPPY in all these pictures.  haha

Soprendido

hey.
I am well. I am excited. I am safe. I am in the advanced spanish class, and it's scaring the crud out of me. So I will probably be here for 2 weeks. not 6.
I sent you a letter.
Have a nice day.
Elder Trevor Emil Christensen