Emil's Emails: 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