Club Frandsen's Missionary: Hi Everyone! August 14, 2015

Hi Everyone!

I can’t believe It Is P day and that I am writing another weekly letter. At times I never thought this past week would end and at other times I couldn’t believe how fast it went.

Well here was my week

Friday: I received my first package! Packages not only make me happy but it makes every single person in my room happy because they know that they will be getting some of the goods as well. It’s like winning the lottery when the district leader comes out of the mailroom telling you that you have a package or a letter, ha-ha. Next we went to the temple and did a session but we just missed the 2:40 time, so we sat In the chapel for 20 minutes and every one of the missionaries In the group fell asleep... If that doesn’t tell you how long the 3 previous days were I don’t know what does. Anyways, after that we had to go and prepare for our first lesson In Spanish. Elder Southwick and I used a pamphlet In Spanish on the Restoration which when we got In it was going okay until she started to ask semi complicated questions then we just got lost... It was cool though because I could understand what she was trying to ask us which is crazy because I had only been at the MTC for three days but the problem was I couldn’t say anything back to her. We probably said maybe 10 words In 15 minutes, at this point we decided to bear our testimonies In Spanish and immediately the spirit came into the room and the lesson was amazing.

After that the investigator even tired up a little:') Overall It was a great day at the MTC.

Saturday: The Food here is not agreeing with my stomach, which is probably a good thing because I have started to just eat fruit and salad. This is the first real full day of classes and a normal schedule without any orientation or anything. It was a super long day but It made me realize just how real the gift of tongues Is. we had our second lesson with Maria today and we again taught out of a different pamphlet, but this time I was able to ask her a few questions in Spanish and was able to respond to about half of her questions with answers In spotty Spanish but I still was able to tell her what I needed to say. It was a pretty good lesson. But after the lessons my Spanish goes away and it gets hard again but we are still learning a lot each day. We have named my companion elder giggles or elder Santa because he Is constantly laughing and If he had a white beard he would look like him and If Santa snores then elder Southwick probably snores like him too. Oh and talking about snoring we got earplugs for the whole room so we can sleep at nights ha-ha. It was another great day at the MTC.

Sunday: Everyone calls Sunday’s spiritual P days because all you have is church a temple walk and then a devotional at night. Our branch presidency decided to add something so that we wouldn’t just be lazy the whole day they make everyone prepare a talk for sacrament meeting In Spanish and they don’t tell people who Is going to speak until we are In sacrament meeting and they call them up from the pulpit so It Is kind of nerve racking. Luckily since we are new they said they would give us a pass this week but I have become friends with the zone leaders so he decided It would be nice of him to pick me to say the closing prayer all In Spanish which was a good experience to be able to practice In a public and real situation. But I accidentally said a bad word Instead of but and they are very similar but It was still embarrassing but Vie learned its better to laugh at yourself and learn and move on then get embarrassed. The temple walk is where we walk up to the temple and talk with friends and districts and It Is super relaxing and nice. That night we had a devotional from the director of the MTC which was great but hard to stay awake because they put us In a tiny room to watch It on a screen with the lights off but very time one of us would start to fall asleep someone In the district would put a sticker on your forehead so we learned to stay awake really quick. Also we have a tradition now of after we finish with classes or devotionals at night we go and smell the tree that smells like crème soda. I have come to love this tradition because it means its time for bed. Overall another good day at the MTC

Monday: the beginning of my first full week here at the MTC... I feel bad because I got after one of the members In my district because he has been taking away from the lessons by falling asleep and when we have study time he gets off topic and has started to act like he doesn’t want to be here which makes It hard for the rest of us In the class. After I said something about it he started to act get better slowly and apologized for how he had been acting. So I hope it helped and it didn’t make things strained. We had another two lessons today one with Alan and one with Maria. Marias went great she said she would come to church and she had been reading the book of Mormon and would pray to know If baptism was fro her because she had already been baptized In the catholic church. Alan Is a super nice guy but he loves to party on the weekends so when we Invited him to come to church he said he would think about It because he doesn’t usually wake up till 1 or 2 on Sundays. I love it here and I love the people. Our zone goes out and plays sand volleyball for gym time and It Is super fun. It was sad to see the oldest district in our zone head out today they were great guys.

Tuesday: we had to wake up at 6 to go and do service and me and my companion have the worst job of cleaning all the toilets but it ended up not being so bad. Other than that It was like every other day of going to class for six hours and eating for the other six... other than on Tuesday nights we have a devotional and tonight we had one of the members of the presidency of the seventy come and he gave a talk about being obedient It was great. That night afterwards we went back to the apartments and someone had received a package with jelly beans In It and half of them were disgusting flavors like skunk or dog food while the other half were black licorice and chocolate pudding. You spin and whatever one It lands on you have to grab but you don’t know If It Is the good or bad one and It was hilarious because whenever someone got the bad one they would almost throw up every time.

Wednesday: I have been here for a week, which is crazy because it feels like a month but at the same time I feel like it was yesterday day that I was dropped off. The nice thing is we aren’t the newbie’s anymore. So now we are the ones who get to tell the new guys welcome to the match and watch there faces as they take It all In. this was the first day that I had a hard time with everything. The past couple nights before my comp. Was not really working with me during comp study so we didn’t really have a lesson planned and it was a pretty bad lesson and both of us like completely forgot all our Spanish and couldn’t answer a single question. We sat down afterwards and talked about it so hopefully things get better.

Thursday: when we were doing service this morning we were at the top of the big building and I looked out and I could see my house elk ridge and Salem hills from there. That Is the first time I realized that I am going to be gone for two years and how much I missed everyone but after that we went to breakfast so I was good again because food makes any man happy.

Well that was my week! I promise it will get shorter next week.

Here are some things Vie realized... do not use the middle showers because they are freezing. For some reason 5/7 last nights we have had someone different knock on our door around 2:00 fro different reasons or another. As long as I am obedient I will have the spirit with me while I am teaching and learning. Be able to laugh at my self for dumb things it makes it go by faster. My companion snores like a bear loll.

Quick story. One of the elders was teaching and he kept saying feat Instead of fee, which means ugly Instead of faith and he kept calling the Investigator ugly Instead of telling her to have faith.

The church is true.

Love you all

Thanks to those of you that sent me packages I appreciate it :)

Elder Frandsen