Airport Call from Elder Christensen - December 27, 2010

Garrett called us from the Los Angeles airport tonight.  He has a six hour layover there, then he has a 15 hour flight to Hong Kong, then a couple of hours to Manila and then an hour or so to Iloilo.  It was so good to hear his voice.  He is happy to be leaving and to start his adventure in the Philippines.  Here are some of the things we talked about.
He loved his two teachers at the MTC.  He said they were young return missionaries and they made learning fun and he hopes to keep in contact with them.
His district at the MTC is 10 missionaries who all room together.  Then there are around 5 districts in his zone.  His zone is going to Manila and Iloilo.  They all learned to speak Tagalog.
He said some of the families met their missionaries at the Salt Lake Airport.  He was surprised that the families did this since they were asked not to.
He didn't have a time limit on his call.
He asked about college and pro football.
He feels really bad that he can't call Kyle or James from the airport.  He didn't find out that he couldn't call them until yesterday. 
He asked me to be sure they know how to access this blog.
He said that he isn't allowed to call from the Philippines, but someone will call or e-mail us to let us know he arrived okay.
Once he gets to Iloilo he will learn Illogono which is the language they speak there.  Knowing Tagalog will help him.
He bore his testimony in Tagalog.  It was amazing!
He asked about the flooding in St. George and the war between East and West Korea.  He said they don't hear anything about what is going on in the world in the MTC. 
He stopped talking with me during our call and he gave a Sister missionary one of his calling cards so that she could call home.
He asked about his dog.
He told Breck that he could use his snowboarding equipment.
He talked with Macy about her EMT classes.
He told us that Missionaries who are in the Iloilo mission told him they live in "huts" and ride in canoes to get around. 
He said several of the missionaries had never travelled before and that he helped them.
He gave a priesthood blessing to a misisonary that asked for one.  He said it was kind of like a father would give his son on the first day of school.
After the call Cliff cried.  I felt good -- no tears for me.  My tears usually come during church or at some unexpected time like right now.....
I'm so proud to be Garrett's mom.  I know he will be a great missionary.

9th letter from MTC - December 27, 2010

Hey everyone! It is 6:45 in the morning and we are down doing our laundry. It is insane that we leave today. We leave the MTC at 11:30 so we have a few hours. I have been getting everything packed and I think I am just going to make weight limits haha. It has been fun packing knowing that the next time I unpack will be on an island in the Philippines. I have really been enjoying the MTC. I am going to really miss it, good food, good schedule, good teachers, great speakers and stuff.

Christmas day we had Russell M. Nelson of the Twelve come speak and he also did a priesthood meeting. Last night I got the chance to do my first ever priesthood blessing. It was really cool. I wrote you all (Mom, Dad, Mace, Breck & Britt) on Christmas day and I am sending a package home with stuff I didn't have room for and Christmas presents for you all.

Travis Reynolds wrote me and that was really cool to hear what he had to say about his mission. I am really going to try and embrace the culture. I think it will be way different but the faster I become one of them, the faster I will be happy and comfortable. I hope the food doesn't wreck my stomach haha. Sorry I am kind of running out of things to say...next week I will have plenty of things haha. umm..The language is going well although I will have to learn something else. But the only difference is the vocabulary, so all the gramar principles are the same so that's good cuz they are what I have been working hardest on.

There are like 30 of us in the same travel group so I will call but I am not going to hog all the time. We will see how many phones there are. We aren't allowed to call from Hong Kong, so just SLC and LA...Also I can only call immediate family which I didn't know about. So tell like Kyle and James I am really sorry because I was going to call them too. Please text them this morning (or have Macy) to tell them I cannot call them, unless while you and I are on the phone you want to call them and I will talk to them through the two phones haha. Well I will be as safe as possible and probably even have some conversions on the plane haha :)

I Love You!

PS...in the package I am sending is my grey pants and coat. I ripped the butt on the pant. If they can be fixed sweet but if not I guess do whatever with them. Love ya. Talk to you soon

8th letter from the MTC - December 20, 2010

Hey everyone!

 

How is everything going? Things here are awesome and I am loving it more and more every day I am here. We got our flight plans the other day and I am stoked but pretty scared at the same time.We fly out of SLC at 3 on the 27th, then to LAX where we have a six hour layover, then to Hong Kong, then Manila then Iloilo. Pretty long day haha about a 30 hour trip overall. I assume LAX is when I will be able to call you but who knows. I got those calling cards today so thank you dad.

 

Things are starting to get kind of weird. Both of my teachers are out of town for the holidays so we are kind of on our own now haha. The language is awesome and I am really enjoying learning it. I am by no means fluent but can communicate pretty well I think. The words might be conjugated a bit of or in the wrong order but I think I pretty much have most of it down. I have been learning so so much from the scriptures and Preach My Gospel, too, it is insane.

 

It has been snowing the last couple days here. It is snowing hard right now. But it has been so warm that it doesn't all stick, and it is slush. The temple is now closed for Christmas so we can't go anymore. I am starting to put a box together to send back home. There are a few christmas goodies for everyone but to be honest there isn't anything good to send you for Christmas so when I get to the Philippines I will see if I can send you a late chrismas present? Sorry...

I cant believe Trevor is getting married. yikes! And when you told me you went to "travis's" homecoming...both of you accidentally said Trevor haha. I hope it was good. Right now I am just on the computer as my laundry is in. I am glad Mom made me do my own laundry because there are some kids here that are clueless. I got a lot of Christmas cards and stuff this week. I tried to mail everyone but tell everyone thanks for the support! I have awesome family and people around me! Mauri has mailed me Taylors letters and stuff and they are really fun to read. I hope Britt is having a good holiday break and loving the cold weather.

I love you all.

nagpapasalamat ako para sa pinakamagandang pamilya

7th Letter from the MTC - Dec 13, 2010

Hey Everyone! This week went pretty well. We are teaching all in Tagalog and it is pretty hard since we have such a limited vocabulary but it is really fun to be learning so much.


 

Last night the BYU mens choir came and sang to us. It was...ehhh. Haha you know I am not a huge music fan in general, nor am I a BYU fan so I just read the whole time as opposed to listening for an entire hour.

I have been getting significantly better at Tagalog and can say and understand almost anything I want. Whether it is correct is a different issue. 


 

A kid from my zone that already left to Iloilo e-mailed me and said that he lives in a small hut and they speak Hiligaynon, so they don't even speak the language we learn here. He also said he has to cross rivers and stuff to get to his investigator's houses. It sounds awesome haha.


 

We get our flight plans sometime this week so I will let you know what our flight plan is like next Monday. I feel like I am beating a dead horse haha cuz every week is the same. There isnt really much to say.....um....


 

Elder Peterson and I made a home gym in our dorms with a bucket used for mopping, and some cleaning supplies haha. I will take photos. I will send all the stuff I'm not taking to Iloilo home when I get to it... probably next P day. I know it is kind of procrastinating but oh well. 


 

I hope everything went well in SLC this weekend. Kyle sent me a package with some pumpkin chocolate cookies and they were awesome haha. I also am excited to get to start opening your 12 days of Christmas gifts tomorrow. They have been unopened and sitting on the counter forever haha.


 

I am really starting to get close to the people in my district so it will be weird to leave but oh well. I am kind of sick of some people here. Like I swear they are 12 but oh well I have been trying to be patient. Our teachers are really awesome too so it will be weird to say bye to everyone.

I got Britt's letter and it was awesome! I will write her back today in the mail.

Please get those calling cards if you can because I forgot to buy some before I left. Sorry Mom! Other than that everything is going really well, no complaints...Just trying to learn as fast as I can and use every second I have here before I get into the real world haha and cant understand anyone.

The ipod is awesome too! who would have ever thought I would actually be happy to listen to Josh Groban and actually like it. Yikes! But it is actually really nice to have something to listen to.

Anyway I love you all and thanks for the support!

Mahal ko kayo!

Ingat po

6th Letter from the MTC - December 6, 2010

What what what’s up!!!

Hey, everything here is going really well! Last night we watched the first presidency Christmas devotional thing. It was pretty good. This Wednesday we taught in 100% Tagalog and it went way better than I anticipated. If you would have told me five weeks ago that I would be teaching in all Tagalog I would have laughed in your face haha, but we really are and it’s pretty fun. It is hard sometimes though because my companion would rather sleep than study so I honestly have to teach 99% of the lesson by myself while he sits there lost and then he will like bear his testimony because that is all he knows how to do. It is frustrating but I know it has helped me learn better because I know I have to do it or it won’t get done.

Yesterday was fast Sunday so we had a big mission conference at 10 then sacrament at 1:45 then study and temple walk time until dinner at 5:45. Pretty much Sunday is the only day to relax a little bit. Except we can’t write letters or anything on Sunday, so I usually just study. I sent Dad a package for his birthday so hopefully it gets there before tomorrow but if not sorry. I also sent Britt a book of Mormon story book in Tagalog that she won’t understand but it should be fun for her to have and look through.

Thank you for sending back that mission assignment card Mom. I was kind of scared it might have gotten misplaced, then I would be in trouble haha.  Missionaries from our zone are leaving today and tomorrow so it is way weird to see them leave after being here with them for six weeks. None of them are going to Iloilo so I will probably never see them again. There are two from Samoa that I have gotten pretty close with. They are way funny, they love to sing and laugh and stuff it is fun to be around them. They are also way good at volleyball so one of them would always set me for spikes and stuff, now I have nobody. I will have to do some recruiting I guess?!

Later today we are having a tennis tournament, with a bracket and everything. You might think we are lame. You come to the MTC and you will see what you do for fun haha :) I'm stoked to see how dad likes his Droid (cell phone) I can’t imagine his fingers typing on a Droid. Mine are too big and his are like double the size of mine.

We get our flight plans next week sometime so it will be exciting to get those! We either fly through Hong Kong or Taipei, Taiwan. Either should be pretty cool. I haven't heard from Britt in forever! What is she up to? How is soccer and everything?

Mom how is work going? Are you staying busy? You should go get a massage. You will have to pay for it, but you can think of it as it being on me :) 

I am glad to hear Mike Sharp is doing well. I haven't heard from him at all. Tell everyone at church hi for me too. I see Kyler Walker and Jackson Carter here all the time so they are cool to talk to. We don’t really have time to talk to people much so I usually just say hi, but I do service in Elder Carters building so I talk to him a little.

How is the Dixie basketball team doing? Getting crushed like they did in football? Taylor Webster sent me a crazy picture of an elk hunter with a cougar right behind him. It was crazy. I don’t know how to forward it or I would.

How is Dad’s shed coming along? I bet it is looking good. Oh by the way I expect Dre (my dog) to be fully trained by the time I get back.

A lady named Joclynn or JoLynne did my hair this morning and she said she grew up in Salem with Dad. She said her maiden name was Cole. She is really nice and seems to know Grandma Christensen and Evelyn pretty well. She said she saw dad at the Sunshine Tourney last year. She said "he won that BYU helmet, does he like BYU? And if he does, why do you have a Utah shirt on?" haha it was funny. It was weird getting a haircut from someone else besides Macy haha.  It seems like it wouldn't be a big deal but it is haha I don’t know how to explain how to cut my hair since I never explain it to Macy!

My teachers say it takes about two months to get a letter from USA to the Philippines. So pretty much I will only e-mail I guess. There is also a rule that all packages have to be here by the 22nd of December or we won’t get them by when we leave. I don’t really know why. I got a package from Mauri earlier that had stockings for my companion and I. It also had a bunch of treats. It was awesome and please thank her. I will try to write her today to thank her but I don’t have a ton of time. I got your package with the twelve days of Christmas. That was rude haha now I just have to look at them sitting there on the counter and not open them :)

Anyway I am out of time for now.

Love you all

5th Letter from MTC - Nov 29, 2010

Hey ya'll! I am glad to hear you got some snow! We had a big storm this weekend and got like four or five inches but that has been the only real big storm here. It is snowing lightly right now. To answer your question I will tell you my Sunday schedule.

8 breakfast

10 priesthood meeting

12 district meeting

1 lunch

1:45 sacrament (in a building at the mtc with just our zone approx. 40 people plus branch presidency)

2:45 study time or walk to the temple

5:45 dinner

7 devotional (people wait hours in line to get good seats)

8 movie (they play like BOM movies, Legacy, Testaments, etc)

9 planning

9:30 back to the dorm...

 

Sundays are nice because they are the day we can sort of relax and cool off from continual studying the whole week. The devotionals are also fun to hear someone speak. Lots of people wait hours to get seats because they dont let you in the auditorium until 6:30 but my classroom is in the building so at 6:30 our district walks out and get the best seats (haha we are cheaters).

 

Thanksgiving was awesome. We had breakfast, then a devotional that Elder Holland spoke at and it was awesome! He spoke about giving to the poor and needy and how sometimes we forget how blessed we are and why. He cited Alma 4 and Alma 34 in which it talks about how we must give to the needy and poor. He also talked to the people going to poor places and said that the best way to love them is to live with them, eat their food, sleep in their homes. It really has hit me while I have been here how blessed I have been my whole life. A lot of the kids in my district have hard stories and have had rough lives, but I have had such a perfect life. Perfect family, perfect friends, almost no trials. So I got to thinking and I really think that since our family has been so faithful and must have been very faithful in the pre earth life, that our trials are different. We are tested to see if we are willing to give to people in need, then share what we have been blessed with to the poor. And not be greedy. I think going to the Philippines will be a good start to showing me how to truly be service-minded and love people less fortunate.

 

The language is going well. We started teaching in Tagalog which is rough but from now on we can't teach in English. I am sure I slaughter the language but I try haha. It is hard sometimes because my companion is not very diligent so he is far behind everyone in the language so it is like 99% me teaching and all he can do is bear his testimony. Maybe just another trial I have been given haha.

 

How was your Thanksgiving? Hopefully everything went well and you ate plenty of food. We did a service project also on Thursday and we made 63,000 backpacks to give to poor children throughout the world with school supplies. It was fun to be a part of. Also something fun you might want to know about is that every night before bed we have a rap battle between two kids in our district. We are given a gospel subject and write a rap about it haha. It is hilarious sometimes. Also during free time, we put up a blanket in the middle of our room and play tennis with a raquetball and our hands as racquets. So yes, we get pretty bored sometimes.

 

One of these days i am going to send britt a cool book in Tagalog.

 

Anyway i gotta go so I will talk to you later.

ps I have more time so I will get on tonight and e-mail dad back.

Love you all

Mahal ko kayo

Elder Christensen

4th Letter from MTC - Nov. 22, 2010

Hey everyone I am glad all is well! Just so you all know, I do get all the letters from the post office, e-mail, and Dear Elder it is just hard finding time to respond to all of them. I can only (technically) write letters on P-days so the ones I get during the week I try to address every Monday! I am not really sure how to tell Breck to do the music. Nobody here knows. And really anything is good. It is just for when we are studying and stuff for background music and then at night we have an hour to chill at our residence and sometimes we get pretty bored so music would be nice to have on. I have been just fine without a coat so don’t worry. I always wear that black under Armor sweater we bought at the mall under my suit coat and I brought some ear muff things that I wear also.

I can’t believe Dad is finally doing the shed.  I am so impressed haha it took him until I was gone and couldn't help to start it! I did get those shirts from Mr. Mac by the way. To answer your questions about the Dear Elder letters… If you send a Dear Elder letter before noon, I will get it the next day, Monday through Thursday because they don’t do Dear Elders on Saturday. So if you write it at 11 am on Thursday, I will get it Friday at 4 pm. Hopefully that made sense and to be honest I don’t care about Dear Elder vs. normal letters. Dear Elder is faster, easier and cheaper so I would just assume do that, plus I can read all the writing haha.

700 new kids came in on Wednesday so there are like 3,000 missionaries here now. We got some new kids in our zone, 4 of which are Tongan and one red-shirted at Utah as a nose tackle! He is BIG. I haven't gotten a chance to host yet but I probably will since I am here so much longer haha. It doesn't seem like a month has already passed but we are close to the one month mark! You told me to take photos of things but in the lunchroom we aren't supposed to have cameras so I will send photos of other things. But send back that memory card when you can.

To be honest there are a few really cute sisters haha (no distractions though!) I was actually surprised but a few in my zone are really cool/pretty. I won’t even have to go to the Philippines to get my wife mom :)

The Tagalog is coming along really well! I can understand pretty much anything. Saying things is harder but I can still do it most of the time. The hardest part is conjugating verbs because English has run, ran, running....where Tagalog has like ten ways to conjugate "to run" depending on who is doing it, where you are doing it, and when you are doing it(past, present, future.) But overall it is good. This week I have to write a sacrament talk in Tagalog on baptism haha.

How are the dolphins doing? I have found that besides missing you all (family and friends) I miss football a ton!  We can’t play football here. All we can play is volleyball and basketball now because, due to the snow, the grass field is closed. To be honest it has barely snowed! Yesterday was the first real snow and there is only like one centimeter, if that.

Springdale sounded fun I bet you all had a blast!

Everyone has been amazing, I have been getting letters from lots of people back home and it makes my day for sure! I am excited for Thanksgiving because I hear they have a big devotional with one of the first presidency or one of the twelve? Either is cool.

I never told anyone back home… cuz I didn't want mom worried… but both my companion and I were really sick the last couple weeks with a cold I guess…. coughing and congestion, but we are both coming out of it now!

Anyway I gotta run, I love you all!

PS: If you have time you could send me some garments. No rush though! Also this will sound weird but could you send me a jump rope. Just a cheap one is fine but something to burn time with haha thank you. Love you all!

Britt, sorry I don’t have much time but I will write you a letter! Love you!

Also tell dad I am writing him specifically a letter but I ran out of time so you'll get to my letter Wednesday or something