Monday, December 7, 2009
December 2, 2009
Ok, today is my half p day, and guess what, I forgot my camera cable at home! Don't sweat I will send more next Monday, with another baptism picture we have Saturday. Cool huh. We got quite a few progressing investigators. Its real crazy. Honestly, my language is coming along from whence it came. Horrible to begin with. I'm finally figuring out how to study which has been the hardest part. its been 3 separate times now that I feel like i have to take on the hardest part of STARTING to learn. I'm so tired of that: I don't know really what to do, but I'm taking this grammar, phrase and vocab book released by the church and memorizing vocab from there. I got some more flash cards the other day. I guess I'll only learn how to talk about gospel stuff for lessons for now and still not talk to people till later when I can afford to expand my vocal. ah its so frustrating to not be able to do a lot yet. I'm so tired of being new. I want to be aged and seasoned. I'm not gonna give up on working hard though so I'll eventually be okay, and perhaps not so lonely. That sucks a lot but, well, make it through the day.
Man its for sure though, this first few months is gonna be really rough and lonely. My comp is super chill though. we have another baptism this Saturday, I'm stoaked. sorry I'm all mixed up with what I have said the other day and today so next week will be more consistent. Re-ask any questions I completely forget to answer.
Today we got to go to the temple and it was my first time in Spanish. I got quite a bit i was impressed. probably about 40 percent. It's all in Vosotros which is super formal and only used in the scriptures and in Spain so that was cool to hear. Don't even worry, I pretty much failed at the end ha ha so much for being a pro!
have a good week everyone, ill be back around on Monday.
-McLean
Man its for sure though, this first few months is gonna be really rough and lonely. My comp is super chill though. we have another baptism this Saturday, I'm stoaked. sorry I'm all mixed up with what I have said the other day and today so next week will be more consistent. Re-ask any questions I completely forget to answer.
Today we got to go to the temple and it was my first time in Spanish. I got quite a bit i was impressed. probably about 40 percent. It's all in Vosotros which is super formal and only used in the scriptures and in Spain so that was cool to hear. Don't even worry, I pretty much failed at the end ha ha so much for being a pro!
have a good week everyone, ill be back around on Monday.
-McLean
November 30, 2009
Well first things first, my P day is Mondays. Pretty much forever. Except for small times like this week, where it is switched to Wednesday because we are going to the temple. This will be my first Spanish session, we did english last week. We are stopping by here though because my comps mom freaks if she doesn't hear from him on Monday!
My new area is called El Cristal and it is small and quiet. My comps name is Elder Mortensen and he is from Colorado and he has about 8 months left. We get along real well. I'm so blessed that I'm being trained by him. He is so chill. Yes it was hard to say goodbye to all my friends but its okay because the majority of them are serving in East mission as well so I will see them here and there.
Today is Monday, and on Saturday 3 days ago, we had 2 baptisms, and I baptized both of them! Kimberly is 12 and Antony is 15. That was so cool! I have pictures I will send on Wednesday of many things. It was so fun to teach them the last little bit before the baptism and be there for the beginning of the rest of their lives. They are both so cool. Kimberly is amazing and she is going to be a strong member for life. She has such a strong testimony and is such a great little girl, I want to hug her so badly! Our area is pretty small and our house is something else. I'm quickly getting used to the living conditions here...not the states. I will have to tell you more details on Wednesday with the pictures. Refer to dads email mom about how my Spanish is coming along...but its coming believe it or not. An elder from CCM that I was real tight with, Elder Whiting is in my district and we've seen each other a ton so far. We are both trippin' out on how crazy and fun it is here! He was excited to hear that I had my first lesson by candle light as well! There is a light schedule here so we don't have electricity most of the day. We live in a way sweet house compared to so many here. We teach a lot in tin shanties with dirt floors. Its way crazy and way fun. The culture here is incredibly different then anything I could have planned for. Its more or less and acid trip seeing how the mission REALLY is from how the MTC tells you what its gonna be like: it's....Nothing like we were told. The culture is so relaxed and chill here, its just so different. I'm sure one day I will be able to explain it to you. Ive already had my first motorcycle taxi experience. A few crazy dogs, naked kids, drunk people in the streets, you know the works! I haven't seen a lot I know I will though. Last transfer my comp had 10 baptisms here and that is huge, the AP's love us lately so we are sure if we break at least 6 this transfer we will probably stay together next transfer too, and we already have 2. We have a few golden investigators so we will see how this week goes. We have 4 or 5 solid new contacts so I hope that goes well. But I have also had my first taste with heartbreak. There is a girl, Rosi, who is like 20 or something, who was baptized when she was 9 but the paperwork got lost and she doesn't want to do it again. We've talked to her a ton and TONS before I got here and she just wont do it. She came to church yesterday and I talked to her a bit after about why she needs to and she knows she should but.....she just wont. That's how Dominicans are they are just lazy. You have to be very direct and blunt here. Its not like how you could get away with stuff in the states. Sad. I'm sad for her.
Also I told dad that how a missionary would work in the states, just doesn't work here. The church and the teaching here is so much different then I ever expected.
Thank you for your thanksgiving wishes, our day was pretty unspecial till we were walking in the street and I said oh ya, happy thanksgiving comp. ha! Glad you had a good one.
We gotta run now but I will send more pics Wednesday! Love you!
McLean
My new area is called El Cristal and it is small and quiet. My comps name is Elder Mortensen and he is from Colorado and he has about 8 months left. We get along real well. I'm so blessed that I'm being trained by him. He is so chill. Yes it was hard to say goodbye to all my friends but its okay because the majority of them are serving in East mission as well so I will see them here and there.
Today is Monday, and on Saturday 3 days ago, we had 2 baptisms, and I baptized both of them! Kimberly is 12 and Antony is 15. That was so cool! I have pictures I will send on Wednesday of many things. It was so fun to teach them the last little bit before the baptism and be there for the beginning of the rest of their lives. They are both so cool. Kimberly is amazing and she is going to be a strong member for life. She has such a strong testimony and is such a great little girl, I want to hug her so badly! Our area is pretty small and our house is something else. I'm quickly getting used to the living conditions here...not the states. I will have to tell you more details on Wednesday with the pictures. Refer to dads email mom about how my Spanish is coming along...but its coming believe it or not. An elder from CCM that I was real tight with, Elder Whiting is in my district and we've seen each other a ton so far. We are both trippin' out on how crazy and fun it is here! He was excited to hear that I had my first lesson by candle light as well! There is a light schedule here so we don't have electricity most of the day. We live in a way sweet house compared to so many here. We teach a lot in tin shanties with dirt floors. Its way crazy and way fun. The culture here is incredibly different then anything I could have planned for. Its more or less and acid trip seeing how the mission REALLY is from how the MTC tells you what its gonna be like: it's....Nothing like we were told. The culture is so relaxed and chill here, its just so different. I'm sure one day I will be able to explain it to you. Ive already had my first motorcycle taxi experience. A few crazy dogs, naked kids, drunk people in the streets, you know the works! I haven't seen a lot I know I will though. Last transfer my comp had 10 baptisms here and that is huge, the AP's love us lately so we are sure if we break at least 6 this transfer we will probably stay together next transfer too, and we already have 2. We have a few golden investigators so we will see how this week goes. We have 4 or 5 solid new contacts so I hope that goes well. But I have also had my first taste with heartbreak. There is a girl, Rosi, who is like 20 or something, who was baptized when she was 9 but the paperwork got lost and she doesn't want to do it again. We've talked to her a ton and TONS before I got here and she just wont do it. She came to church yesterday and I talked to her a bit after about why she needs to and she knows she should but.....she just wont. That's how Dominicans are they are just lazy. You have to be very direct and blunt here. Its not like how you could get away with stuff in the states. Sad. I'm sad for her.
Also I told dad that how a missionary would work in the states, just doesn't work here. The church and the teaching here is so much different then I ever expected.
Thank you for your thanksgiving wishes, our day was pretty unspecial till we were walking in the street and I said oh ya, happy thanksgiving comp. ha! Glad you had a good one.
We gotta run now but I will send more pics Wednesday! Love you!
McLean
Friday, November 20, 2009
November 19, 2009
Hello all! only days until we 86 this place. We leave Tuesday morning at 7. Monday is pretty much just going to be a hang out/get stuff ready day. Laundry, packing etc. Naturally have people write in my transfer book. I'm going to miss everyone here. It seems like we just got here yesterday which is good. As soon as we hit the field it will kick into like 6th gear. Last night a teacher who has a brown belt in jujitsu taught us the know how of the DR, how to deal with robbers and street riots and apostate members. The works. I'm stoked! We had a good experience at the university for the last time the other day. Victor hadn't prayed but he read a little more. He keeps getting hung up on stuff that doesn't matter and when it came down to the wire all we could do was testify of the truth of the book and plead with him to pray (and not fall asleep as he had). It was interesting when Castro said to him "I know that you know the things we are teaching you are the truth" The spirit was there with trash, people, music and chickens all around us (Yes, chickens wander the university...). Cool experience. It helped when later we were talking to another group of people and Castro kinda talked to the people over there, and I was talking to the guy/girl over here. She wasn't really listening but the guy I was talking to was. A really good 15 min lesson that I actually was able to say a lot. It helped when He said "You have only been here for a month? You speak very well!" Wow, ensario?! That was great. I have to constantly remember that a lot of people in my district can speak so well because their Spanish background. I then realize OK, I guess I am doing okay.
I'm getting to the point where my mind has pretty much checked out of this place. BAD! I know, but what can you do! When you do your best but its just way beyond the limit...you pick your battles. I'm having the hardest time getting through Alma...so much for finishing the Book of Mormon before I get out of the CCM. I'm tearing it apart and that section is just trashed with pencil stuff. Its hard to get through something that is like your patriarchal blessing. Entienden? Last night in the middle of the night was weird, fireworks like mad so I opened the window to see what it was and I was convinced it was gunshots! Glad to find out this happens a lot here. 2 experiences happened this week that have finally testified to me, that I am in fact in the Dominican Republic. first we found the roof hatch open and looked out on everything from so high up. Nuts! The ocean from the view OVER the temple and all the hundreds of buildings in the distance of the main part of the city and trees everywhere and probably 5 new skyscrapers going up. It truly wasn't a view you'd ever see in Estatas Unidos. Second was in the temple and we were waiting for the session to begin and the power circuit had a hard time transferring over to our backup generators ( I could hear the engineers talking) so while sitting in the front row we had to wait for 10 min for the power to get steady while it kept clicking on and off and on and off. In the temple, and that happens, you know the church is true because it just keeps going while adapting to the conditions of the country. I'm writing a little ditty that I will eventually send of the things that make the church so different here from the united states. In a really good way. Oh, yeah one more thing. Sunday night we had a choir from a local stake come and sing to us. Tons of people and the situation was super thrown together but it was so cool to feel the spirit as these people sang out their hearts to songs I grew up with, in Spanish. For a closing number my district sang Abide with me, Tis Eventide. (I forgot to say how much we blow everyone away when we sing, we all pick parts and in harmony its amazing. I'm learning tenor so I can try new things other then just bass) the spirit was like POW and for 2 days everyone was commenting on how it was so nice. Hna Hendricks (Wife of pres) loved it. Something funny that happened this week, Elder Tukia (The big New Zealand/Tongan) who is rough with how he plays, threw me through a wall the other day....by accident. Yeah not good that the tile and drywall has to be replaced where my shoe went 1/4th through it! Nuts! ha ha so bad but we got it taken care of.
When I'm in a crowd and need to get my food threw, i throw it up and tray it over everyone's head and then that started a conversation about working in food industry.....OH I miss The Wood so much. I cant wait to come back and serve again. I miss it so much it is where my heart is for some reason. I was reading in Alma the other day during church, where the Zoramites mix with the Lamanites and they get riled up and are gonna come attack everyone...oh man I started laughing so hard I couldn't keep myself under control! Did I ever tell you the story when I was at the wood on a busy sat. night doing expo and i just had question after question for Jen and it was starting to send her over the edge....Finally she turned around and yelled at me "DON'T POKE THE BEAR!" oh man I was almost on the ground laughing so hard because I had never heard that before and it was so funny that she finally just lost it and couldn't keep mad at me any more....Alma reminded me of that and I relived the moment right there in Sacrament meeting. Don't even worry, it says that quote in Alma now. If that story made no sense sorry, ask me about it again in 2 years. oh snaps, 22 months! Its nuts to see how things are influenced with time and location. I'm....actually guilty of speaking of Dominican Spanish already, dropping stuff and slurring.....with what I'm able to say. Como Esta is Comota, and Mas o menos is maomeo. Yup, no ones gonna understand me when I get back. Ill have to take a class on how to speak correct Spanish.
I love the song Dearest children, God Is Near You. We are singing that song for my homecoming k? You know the Fanfare from "God of Our fathers, Who's Almighty Hand"? Don't worry, we sing that song and we break into the fanfare ourselves and make it work. We are getting better at it! AH! The other day on the way to the university I saw....drum roll....a MkV.5 VW Tiguan 2.0TDI!!!! Holy crap it was absolutely amazing! And black! Crap It was gorgeous.
Elder Yates, Falor, Hall and myself have had some really cool talks lately where we discuss little nuggets of church history and it is making me more and more and more excited to come home and drop a G on the Church History Library. I'm feeling that what some of the things say in my P-Blessing are going to come true, for that desire for deeper gospel things. That, and the spirit of Elijah are so incredibly evident in my life and my mission is simply going to set a foundation for what I will be doing with my life, in regards for gospel knowledge....I'm beginning to think more and more that I might want to study at BYU for History over Mech. Engineering and possibly work for the Church History Department one day. Basically be another guy to give crazy talks on temples that you can barely hear, and you wonder whether or not those things should be said outside of the C.R. Ha! Who knows.
Gots to run, I love you tons!
-McLean
I'm getting to the point where my mind has pretty much checked out of this place. BAD! I know, but what can you do! When you do your best but its just way beyond the limit...you pick your battles. I'm having the hardest time getting through Alma...so much for finishing the Book of Mormon before I get out of the CCM. I'm tearing it apart and that section is just trashed with pencil stuff. Its hard to get through something that is like your patriarchal blessing. Entienden? Last night in the middle of the night was weird, fireworks like mad so I opened the window to see what it was and I was convinced it was gunshots! Glad to find out this happens a lot here. 2 experiences happened this week that have finally testified to me, that I am in fact in the Dominican Republic. first we found the roof hatch open and looked out on everything from so high up. Nuts! The ocean from the view OVER the temple and all the hundreds of buildings in the distance of the main part of the city and trees everywhere and probably 5 new skyscrapers going up. It truly wasn't a view you'd ever see in Estatas Unidos. Second was in the temple and we were waiting for the session to begin and the power circuit had a hard time transferring over to our backup generators ( I could hear the engineers talking) so while sitting in the front row we had to wait for 10 min for the power to get steady while it kept clicking on and off and on and off. In the temple, and that happens, you know the church is true because it just keeps going while adapting to the conditions of the country. I'm writing a little ditty that I will eventually send of the things that make the church so different here from the united states. In a really good way. Oh, yeah one more thing. Sunday night we had a choir from a local stake come and sing to us. Tons of people and the situation was super thrown together but it was so cool to feel the spirit as these people sang out their hearts to songs I grew up with, in Spanish. For a closing number my district sang Abide with me, Tis Eventide. (I forgot to say how much we blow everyone away when we sing, we all pick parts and in harmony its amazing. I'm learning tenor so I can try new things other then just bass) the spirit was like POW and for 2 days everyone was commenting on how it was so nice. Hna Hendricks (Wife of pres) loved it. Something funny that happened this week, Elder Tukia (The big New Zealand/Tongan) who is rough with how he plays, threw me through a wall the other day....by accident. Yeah not good that the tile and drywall has to be replaced where my shoe went 1/4th through it! Nuts! ha ha so bad but we got it taken care of.
When I'm in a crowd and need to get my food threw, i throw it up and tray it over everyone's head and then that started a conversation about working in food industry.....OH I miss The Wood so much. I cant wait to come back and serve again. I miss it so much it is where my heart is for some reason. I was reading in Alma the other day during church, where the Zoramites mix with the Lamanites and they get riled up and are gonna come attack everyone...oh man I started laughing so hard I couldn't keep myself under control! Did I ever tell you the story when I was at the wood on a busy sat. night doing expo and i just had question after question for Jen and it was starting to send her over the edge....Finally she turned around and yelled at me "DON'T POKE THE BEAR!" oh man I was almost on the ground laughing so hard because I had never heard that before and it was so funny that she finally just lost it and couldn't keep mad at me any more....Alma reminded me of that and I relived the moment right there in Sacrament meeting. Don't even worry, it says that quote in Alma now. If that story made no sense sorry, ask me about it again in 2 years. oh snaps, 22 months! Its nuts to see how things are influenced with time and location. I'm....actually guilty of speaking of Dominican Spanish already, dropping stuff and slurring.....with what I'm able to say. Como Esta is Comota, and Mas o menos is maomeo. Yup, no ones gonna understand me when I get back. Ill have to take a class on how to speak correct Spanish.
I love the song Dearest children, God Is Near You. We are singing that song for my homecoming k? You know the Fanfare from "God of Our fathers, Who's Almighty Hand"? Don't worry, we sing that song and we break into the fanfare ourselves and make it work. We are getting better at it! AH! The other day on the way to the university I saw....drum roll....a MkV.5 VW Tiguan 2.0TDI!!!! Holy crap it was absolutely amazing! And black! Crap It was gorgeous.
Elder Yates, Falor, Hall and myself have had some really cool talks lately where we discuss little nuggets of church history and it is making me more and more and more excited to come home and drop a G on the Church History Library. I'm feeling that what some of the things say in my P-Blessing are going to come true, for that desire for deeper gospel things. That, and the spirit of Elijah are so incredibly evident in my life and my mission is simply going to set a foundation for what I will be doing with my life, in regards for gospel knowledge....I'm beginning to think more and more that I might want to study at BYU for History over Mech. Engineering and possibly work for the Church History Department one day. Basically be another guy to give crazy talks on temples that you can barely hear, and you wonder whether or not those things should be said outside of the C.R. Ha! Who knows.
Gots to run, I love you tons!
-McLean
Thursday, November 12, 2009
November 12, 2009
¿que lo que?
How is everyone? Things on our schedule have changed up here because the Latins are here now so temple times are different. When we go today, it is my last time in English for two years. I'm stoaked. Its funny because every time our roommates here talk, I just yell to my companion "Ayudame" which means "help me!"
This week has been even a little harder than last week up until Tuesday evening. The Lord wants me to drill to the bottom of my efforts before he throws a rope down...then he does. He is tuning me to be the way HE wants me to be and NOT the way I want me to be. It is hard but I am a better person for it. The help of my companion and district are definitely in there too. It started when last Friday we had our simulation. Later we went into a small room with my comp and our teacher that night, Hna. Ruiz, and it was to review how we taught. She doesn't speak a lick of English and that right there is a reason her classes are hard. We sat down and we were all pretty happy and I introduced myself as being very excited and happy! Then the spirit changed quickly and I think it was because of my extreme struggle, she immediately sensed she needed to help me with something. She just sat there and started telling me a story about her mission and Elder Castro translated phrase by phrase for me. It was silent but for her soft voice and his quiet translation. She told me how she struggled. A lot. She didn't think she could do anything she wanted to and one day when she was told by her sr. comp. to teach on the spot she was scared spit less. But she taught. After the lesson her comp was like "Where did that come from? That was amazing." I cried and she cried and bore me her testimony. Then Elder Castro stopped translating and she just spoke. The spirit was so strong in there that he didn't have to. I understood everything she was saying and all her words of encouragement and her genuine faith in me and His love for me. I then told her of my main influence and examples to serve with everything I have and to give it my entire faith and best, being my older sisters who served missions. It was an incredible experience....She just knew I wasn't OK and I was pretending and that I needed to hear the things she said. The spirit is becoming my closest, dearest friend. His moment to moment encouragement and guidance is unfathomably seen in every aspect of my life now. He brings so much to the table and feeds me one thing at a time at a pace I can handle. Since this, my mind has relaxed so much on the language and fear for the future of my lack of ability to speak. My comp and Hna. Ruiz told me that I am bar none, the hardest person on oneself in the MTC. Its true. A) its so frustrating because I don't learn by regular techniques; visual, no. Audio, no. Writing, no. None of that. its by doing and I know that is how I will learn when I get out of the MTC. B) I get so frustrated with myself when I don't get what I want to get out of it. After I applied something to compare this too, its given me a lot of hope. I don't know how to learn how to replace an alternator, or a manifold or a head or anything by watching someone do it, or read a book or look at pictures or read instructions....I simply have to pop the hood and start doing it. Tear it down myself. Then if i make a mistake, learn from it. Dont do it again, and move on. And guaranteed the next time I can do it, and I can do it right. That is how I learn. That is simply it. I'm very excited to get out of here.
We are all going borderline nuts because we live in a room. That is it! Nothing more to it! Castro and I opened our small crack of a window the other day and stuck our heads out and started looking at things, 15 min later we realized how sad it is that we were that awestruck by looking at a view of an alleyway and the back of apartment buildings...its because we've been tied up in here for so long.
Another story is about a giggle fit i had last night while we watched a few clips of the PMG dvd. We had to gather around the TV so me and a few others were laying on the ground. As I looked up I laughed and laughed and laughed, looking at the way I swung the curtain up over itself and had the screen taken out, all for the purpose that my teacher was cold so I allowed a warm breeze to come in for him. The funny part about it, is only I would rig up this whole situation for that purpose...nothing big, but totally something I would do. It was a foresight to the future of all the crazy things that are just going to be a signature that I was there.
Its funny that I have so many tag lines and phrases that I have introduced here that are so popular. Leave it to me to invent new ways of saying off the wall stuff and have everyone pick them up.
So the university this week was good because we met up with our investigator again, Victor. He has read a lot of the L.M. (BOM) and likes it and feels a motivation to read more. We taught him lesson 2 and answered his questions. He hasnt prayed about it yet but we more or less made him do it this week. I hope he does, we will see next week, which is our last time with him. We were so happy he was at our meeting spot like he said he was going to be.
Its so funny with one of our Latins in our room, because of a rule of grammar he doesn't get with English. In Spanish, the sentence would be "La casa de Pedro" or "The house of pedro" but in english we would just say "Pedro's house" He thought that was the funniest thing on the earth and every time we see him, or randomly in the night before we fall asleep, he just says "Pedro's house!" and starts busting up!
There is an Elder here, Yates from Georgia who is too cool. We are definitely getting together after the mission. He is going to East with me and we hope we serve together. He goes to BYU and loves to go pellet gun shooting so we will hit that up. My companion plays the piano beautifully and plays Clair De lune and arabesque by Debussy for me. The other day when I was stressed, I was in the back of the 'chapel' sitting with Yates and across the room Castro starts playing Clair De lune. Yates and i get into a quite discussion about one of his close female friends, and mom, hearing that song took me to Oceans 11 so quick, ah it made me look forward to getting so much, but not trunky! Not to worry. But mom, you understand. It was so nice to listen to him play it flawlessly. Which reminds me, he is always called by everyone to play the piano for him and for me to direct whenever we sing so that is a fun team we have there.
This is how bored we are here. Yesterday Brother Bear (Thanks mom) was standing on the window sill and Castro had some rubber bands he was trying to shoot from across the room at him to knock him down. It turned into a solid 5 minute dialog of how he was a master sharp shooter and BB was innocent but mr. sharp shooter didn't care then he kept missing him and was like "Geez Samual the Lamanite up in here"....I just lost it and laughed so hard because this is what entertainment comes down to when you are in the MTC.......probably the whole mission! Sad huh! Man we are so churched out that that is all that is on our minds!
Time to run, but I hope everyone all has a good week. There are many of you that read this that are in my prayers and in the prayers of many through the incredible blessings of the temple. Thank you all so much for your support, palabras de sabaduria y orares. Muchas gracias por todos cosas y yo compartir mucho de me amor por ustedes. This email has come and gone too fast but I love to read everything that you have to share with me so continue your mail messages as well.
"You're all aces in my book."
-Saul in Ocean's 11
-McLean
How is everyone? Things on our schedule have changed up here because the Latins are here now so temple times are different. When we go today, it is my last time in English for two years. I'm stoaked. Its funny because every time our roommates here talk, I just yell to my companion "Ayudame" which means "help me!"
This week has been even a little harder than last week up until Tuesday evening. The Lord wants me to drill to the bottom of my efforts before he throws a rope down...then he does. He is tuning me to be the way HE wants me to be and NOT the way I want me to be. It is hard but I am a better person for it. The help of my companion and district are definitely in there too. It started when last Friday we had our simulation. Later we went into a small room with my comp and our teacher that night, Hna. Ruiz, and it was to review how we taught. She doesn't speak a lick of English and that right there is a reason her classes are hard. We sat down and we were all pretty happy and I introduced myself as being very excited and happy! Then the spirit changed quickly and I think it was because of my extreme struggle, she immediately sensed she needed to help me with something. She just sat there and started telling me a story about her mission and Elder Castro translated phrase by phrase for me. It was silent but for her soft voice and his quiet translation. She told me how she struggled. A lot. She didn't think she could do anything she wanted to and one day when she was told by her sr. comp. to teach on the spot she was scared spit less. But she taught. After the lesson her comp was like "Where did that come from? That was amazing." I cried and she cried and bore me her testimony. Then Elder Castro stopped translating and she just spoke. The spirit was so strong in there that he didn't have to. I understood everything she was saying and all her words of encouragement and her genuine faith in me and His love for me. I then told her of my main influence and examples to serve with everything I have and to give it my entire faith and best, being my older sisters who served missions. It was an incredible experience....She just knew I wasn't OK and I was pretending and that I needed to hear the things she said. The spirit is becoming my closest, dearest friend. His moment to moment encouragement and guidance is unfathomably seen in every aspect of my life now. He brings so much to the table and feeds me one thing at a time at a pace I can handle. Since this, my mind has relaxed so much on the language and fear for the future of my lack of ability to speak. My comp and Hna. Ruiz told me that I am bar none, the hardest person on oneself in the MTC. Its true. A) its so frustrating because I don't learn by regular techniques; visual, no. Audio, no. Writing, no. None of that. its by doing and I know that is how I will learn when I get out of the MTC. B) I get so frustrated with myself when I don't get what I want to get out of it. After I applied something to compare this too, its given me a lot of hope. I don't know how to learn how to replace an alternator, or a manifold or a head or anything by watching someone do it, or read a book or look at pictures or read instructions....I simply have to pop the hood and start doing it. Tear it down myself. Then if i make a mistake, learn from it. Dont do it again, and move on. And guaranteed the next time I can do it, and I can do it right. That is how I learn. That is simply it. I'm very excited to get out of here.
We are all going borderline nuts because we live in a room. That is it! Nothing more to it! Castro and I opened our small crack of a window the other day and stuck our heads out and started looking at things, 15 min later we realized how sad it is that we were that awestruck by looking at a view of an alleyway and the back of apartment buildings...its because we've been tied up in here for so long.
Another story is about a giggle fit i had last night while we watched a few clips of the PMG dvd. We had to gather around the TV so me and a few others were laying on the ground. As I looked up I laughed and laughed and laughed, looking at the way I swung the curtain up over itself and had the screen taken out, all for the purpose that my teacher was cold so I allowed a warm breeze to come in for him. The funny part about it, is only I would rig up this whole situation for that purpose...nothing big, but totally something I would do. It was a foresight to the future of all the crazy things that are just going to be a signature that I was there.
Its funny that I have so many tag lines and phrases that I have introduced here that are so popular. Leave it to me to invent new ways of saying off the wall stuff and have everyone pick them up.
So the university this week was good because we met up with our investigator again, Victor. He has read a lot of the L.M. (BOM) and likes it and feels a motivation to read more. We taught him lesson 2 and answered his questions. He hasnt prayed about it yet but we more or less made him do it this week. I hope he does, we will see next week, which is our last time with him. We were so happy he was at our meeting spot like he said he was going to be.
Its so funny with one of our Latins in our room, because of a rule of grammar he doesn't get with English. In Spanish, the sentence would be "La casa de Pedro" or "The house of pedro" but in english we would just say "Pedro's house" He thought that was the funniest thing on the earth and every time we see him, or randomly in the night before we fall asleep, he just says "Pedro's house!" and starts busting up!
There is an Elder here, Yates from Georgia who is too cool. We are definitely getting together after the mission. He is going to East with me and we hope we serve together. He goes to BYU and loves to go pellet gun shooting so we will hit that up. My companion plays the piano beautifully and plays Clair De lune and arabesque by Debussy for me. The other day when I was stressed, I was in the back of the 'chapel' sitting with Yates and across the room Castro starts playing Clair De lune. Yates and i get into a quite discussion about one of his close female friends, and mom, hearing that song took me to Oceans 11 so quick, ah it made me look forward to getting so much, but not trunky! Not to worry. But mom, you understand. It was so nice to listen to him play it flawlessly. Which reminds me, he is always called by everyone to play the piano for him and for me to direct whenever we sing so that is a fun team we have there.
This is how bored we are here. Yesterday Brother Bear (Thanks mom) was standing on the window sill and Castro had some rubber bands he was trying to shoot from across the room at him to knock him down. It turned into a solid 5 minute dialog of how he was a master sharp shooter and BB was innocent but mr. sharp shooter didn't care then he kept missing him and was like "Geez Samual the Lamanite up in here"....I just lost it and laughed so hard because this is what entertainment comes down to when you are in the MTC.......probably the whole mission! Sad huh! Man we are so churched out that that is all that is on our minds!
Time to run, but I hope everyone all has a good week. There are many of you that read this that are in my prayers and in the prayers of many through the incredible blessings of the temple. Thank you all so much for your support, palabras de sabaduria y orares. Muchas gracias por todos cosas y yo compartir mucho de me amor por ustedes. This email has come and gone too fast but I love to read everything that you have to share with me so continue your mail messages as well.
"You're all aces in my book."
-Saul in Ocean's 11
-McLean
Monday, November 9, 2009
November 5, 2009
Hello all, and greetings.
This week has been interesting to say the least. Super hard! I feel like I've gone nowhere in language learning. There was good all the way up until Sunday ha ha. Thanks for your well wishes regarding the learning and it coming...Our simulation last week was really good, what we taught was about 50/50 and I was much happier with my work and had a good time doing it. We did well. Monday was slow as junk, but this week has been different so it went fast. Monday was our last day with the West Indies missionaries (Speaking English) cuz they left on Tuesday morning so I have pictures I will send of me and a fellow Elder Thomas also from New Zealand who is really cool and loves to talk to me about Diesels, he is studying engineering and loves it. The TDI van drove by while we were taking pictures as the whole CCM, and someone blurted out "Martel, there goes your baby!" Everyone knows I love them cuz I never stop talking about them. So then I said "I know everything about that motor" and Thomas was like what about this and this and this and I just rattled it off and everyone was like whoa buddy, you know too much about that. Then, Thomas and I got into a heavy discussion about turbo's and our preferences....nerdy? Yes. Tuesday we had the opportunity to go to the mall and get some stuff we needed.
Wednesday blew cuz that's when I got pretty discouraged. Elder Castro hears/sees something and it is glued in his brain and I cant get a THING to stick. I feel like it goes out just as quick as it goes in. I'm trying to have more faith and prepared some questions for the temple trip we had this morning. That was good, really good, but I need some breakthrough of some sort. We get our Latins today because its time for the ones that are only here for 3 weeks. One came last night and I tried and tried to talk to him but it was ultra crap. He is from Panama. Our 2 friends Elder Funk and Luce Moved out yesterday so they have Latins in their room, and we will to by the end of the day. The room got cleaned and that is good, but it was so sad without them last night. But, Elder Castro and I had a really good few moments together and we are WAY closer because of it. He entrusted me with some things and I love him so much more. He has been such a good friend and wonderful support when I go crazy or ballistic or whatever else I do. He encourages me a lot with the language its really great. I'm really going to miss him when we part in 3 weeks, for he is going to the Santiago (North DR) Mission. Yikes that is gonna suck. Oh Tuesday we also went back to the university and only talked to one guy, but he came up to us and wanted to sit down, He spoke English pretty well and had a lot of questions so we taught him the first discussion...or I should say, Elder Castro taught him the first discussion and I gave him a broken testimony every once in a while. That started the week of doubt. But I'm glad its P day and i can kind of start over fresh tomorrow. I never give up and I'm asking the lord very patiently a billion times a day to assist me with faith and comprehending the language that I am supposed to teach. Really good in the temple as I realized that WHEN i get the language, I will go like a train down a hill with no brakes, I am so excited to share the gospel and teach and testify and everything so I know that when that time comes I will start liking this 2 year thing I have gotten myself into. Oh its not that bad, i have a lot of fun here but lets be honest...this box is rough to live in we are getting really itchy. I'm finally getting more and more used to the weather and now its just not thought about. I mean, most of the wet on you is simply water from the air so that helps the mind. It will improve the more I am out in it but oooh its sticky 24/7. Glad to hear its chilly and pretty there. Its an oven and pretty over here. I'm getting a lot better at volleyball and my friend elder whiting is teaching me how to spike and I'm slowly becoming a baller if you will...and Rachel, i know you will! Leave it to me to be the guy to be making the game fun with my random and loud commentary on everything. An elder came to me at the computer lab (here) the other day and was like, oh you are Elder Martel...I hear you are the wildcat in District one...yup! You need to know I listen to you everyday at lunch and laugh at all the things you say" He asked what i did before the mission and was seeking for my drama background...don't worry, he found it! He did it as well. Funny.
My halloween was....fun? Its in a ranting journal entry ha ha, but we got 2 cookies and a little bit of candy each, thanks to Hermana Hendricks (Wife of the President).
An elder that im close with, Elder Yates, is from Georgia and we had a good talk in the Celestial room about some things...wow! Opened my eyes to the symbols of baptism that are incredible. Dad, Im sure you know everything about it! Crazy cool.
I feel your prayers and it helps me a lot to know what my purpose is here when it gets tough. My buddy Elder Tukia (remember, from new Zealand, Papa bear?) He is here being my best bud I cant wait for you to meet him.
I love you all and appreciate everyting you are doing for me. I think about you probably a thousand times a day. Food still blows, but only 3 weeks left. Talk to you soon! Love you
-McLean Christian Martel
This week has been interesting to say the least. Super hard! I feel like I've gone nowhere in language learning. There was good all the way up until Sunday ha ha. Thanks for your well wishes regarding the learning and it coming...Our simulation last week was really good, what we taught was about 50/50 and I was much happier with my work and had a good time doing it. We did well. Monday was slow as junk, but this week has been different so it went fast. Monday was our last day with the West Indies missionaries (Speaking English) cuz they left on Tuesday morning so I have pictures I will send of me and a fellow Elder Thomas also from New Zealand who is really cool and loves to talk to me about Diesels, he is studying engineering and loves it. The TDI van drove by while we were taking pictures as the whole CCM, and someone blurted out "Martel, there goes your baby!" Everyone knows I love them cuz I never stop talking about them. So then I said "I know everything about that motor" and Thomas was like what about this and this and this and I just rattled it off and everyone was like whoa buddy, you know too much about that. Then, Thomas and I got into a heavy discussion about turbo's and our preferences....nerdy? Yes. Tuesday we had the opportunity to go to the mall and get some stuff we needed.
Wednesday blew cuz that's when I got pretty discouraged. Elder Castro hears/sees something and it is glued in his brain and I cant get a THING to stick. I feel like it goes out just as quick as it goes in. I'm trying to have more faith and prepared some questions for the temple trip we had this morning. That was good, really good, but I need some breakthrough of some sort. We get our Latins today because its time for the ones that are only here for 3 weeks. One came last night and I tried and tried to talk to him but it was ultra crap. He is from Panama. Our 2 friends Elder Funk and Luce Moved out yesterday so they have Latins in their room, and we will to by the end of the day. The room got cleaned and that is good, but it was so sad without them last night. But, Elder Castro and I had a really good few moments together and we are WAY closer because of it. He entrusted me with some things and I love him so much more. He has been such a good friend and wonderful support when I go crazy or ballistic or whatever else I do. He encourages me a lot with the language its really great. I'm really going to miss him when we part in 3 weeks, for he is going to the Santiago (North DR) Mission. Yikes that is gonna suck. Oh Tuesday we also went back to the university and only talked to one guy, but he came up to us and wanted to sit down, He spoke English pretty well and had a lot of questions so we taught him the first discussion...or I should say, Elder Castro taught him the first discussion and I gave him a broken testimony every once in a while. That started the week of doubt. But I'm glad its P day and i can kind of start over fresh tomorrow. I never give up and I'm asking the lord very patiently a billion times a day to assist me with faith and comprehending the language that I am supposed to teach. Really good in the temple as I realized that WHEN i get the language, I will go like a train down a hill with no brakes, I am so excited to share the gospel and teach and testify and everything so I know that when that time comes I will start liking this 2 year thing I have gotten myself into. Oh its not that bad, i have a lot of fun here but lets be honest...this box is rough to live in we are getting really itchy. I'm finally getting more and more used to the weather and now its just not thought about. I mean, most of the wet on you is simply water from the air so that helps the mind. It will improve the more I am out in it but oooh its sticky 24/7. Glad to hear its chilly and pretty there. Its an oven and pretty over here. I'm getting a lot better at volleyball and my friend elder whiting is teaching me how to spike and I'm slowly becoming a baller if you will...and Rachel, i know you will! Leave it to me to be the guy to be making the game fun with my random and loud commentary on everything. An elder came to me at the computer lab (here) the other day and was like, oh you are Elder Martel...I hear you are the wildcat in District one...yup! You need to know I listen to you everyday at lunch and laugh at all the things you say" He asked what i did before the mission and was seeking for my drama background...don't worry, he found it! He did it as well. Funny.
My halloween was....fun? Its in a ranting journal entry ha ha, but we got 2 cookies and a little bit of candy each, thanks to Hermana Hendricks (Wife of the President).
An elder that im close with, Elder Yates, is from Georgia and we had a good talk in the Celestial room about some things...wow! Opened my eyes to the symbols of baptism that are incredible. Dad, Im sure you know everything about it! Crazy cool.
I feel your prayers and it helps me a lot to know what my purpose is here when it gets tough. My buddy Elder Tukia (remember, from new Zealand, Papa bear?) He is here being my best bud I cant wait for you to meet him.
I love you all and appreciate everyting you are doing for me. I think about you probably a thousand times a day. Food still blows, but only 3 weeks left. Talk to you soon! Love you
-McLean Christian Martel
October 29, 2009 Pictures
Bienvinitos Todos!
Thank you so much for your emails! We just got back from the temple, it was great! The language must be coming, because after the session, in the Celestial room, my prayer in which I wanted to say some intense things, I was able to pray completely in Spanish. That was kind of nuts. The past two days I've been feeling that the language, however slowly it may be, is indeed coming. I'm understanding more and more, and being able to say one or two things more. I sure know that I will understand it before I can speak it.
Tuesday we went to the university again, which was a mix of good and super bad. Good because We got Book of Mormons to give out this time and i just casually walked up to a group of people and my comp and I ended up talking and dropping a book to a girl. It was cool how much I was able to say. It was a little life changing to realize that its a completely similar person, who likes to do the exact things I do, has emotions that I do, and the only difference is she spoke a different language than me. Its fun how nice they are and willing to correct you when you conjugate stuff wrong, which I do constantly. I can actually say prayers decently now and my testimony has moved on from stupid scripted stuff to things I really want to say. Class still sucks because its so long and so much of it goes over my head, but I'm able to throw things together enough to get through the day. We have a 'simulation' every Friday, similar to the TRC and my comp pretty much did the entire thing last week, but was cool cuz our maestro said after to us, we did TOO well. I'm confident this week teaching lesson two I can do a bit more. So the bad part of the university...so pretty much my body has HATED the food here and things have not been normal in any small way since I got here. Needless to say I was sick and NEEDED to find the facilities. Don't worry, they don't have baño paper, and you bring your own, so I guess I'm out of that option. Good thing my comp had a notebook. Oh, and there aren't any toilet seats here. Mix everything you can imagine with the fact that my body was the complete opposite of happy. Though being the worst public restroom experience I've had yet, I feel it is only the beginning of many stories. Yikes. All ended up being well.
So let me take you through a quick day here. Alarm goes off at 630, we finally figure out a way through prayers and much anger how to get out of bed by 650. Breakfast for 30 min. an hour of personal study and then an hour of comp study (where you are fighting with life to stay awake) then class for 3.5 hours. 45 min lunch, which is the SAME CRAP everyday, where you bust through it to run up 4 flights of stairs to lay down for even 15 minutes. Then 3 more hours of class, an hour of gym/shower time (which is the best part of my day, VOLLEYBALL!), dinner (same routine as lunch), 4 more hours of class, bed. repeat. Days and weeks are mixed up and we are robots who somehow continue to keep running. Like Eleisha and Rachel said, a whole different kind of tired that you cannot experience anywhere else on this earth. I promise.
3 elders in my awesome district of 10, know the same random no-ones-ever-heard-of music that I listen to, and they listen to it also! So after now everyday of singing them and listening to them in my head, this is 100% torture. my music is my LIFE and i am starting to be affected by it PHYSICALLY. Is that possible? Yes, I testify to that. I testify to a lot of things that blow here. It may be colder there in boise, but its still hotter than ever here. You literally cannot go outside for 3 minutes without having sweat running down your back. Gym time is a whole different story, where you peel your clothes off of you when you get in the shower.
We do live in a Hostile, just north of the temple. Its rough because meetings, dorms, classes, the office, teaching....EVERYTHING is on the 4th floor. dad, you saw how not big that building is. Then we get to go downstairs to eat. Yikes its rough.
Pictures. That last group one is with Elder Hinkley! Pres.'s son! He came here this week and talked to us, i shook his hand on 3 separate occasions, it was sweet! We also have my comp and I elder Castro with the temple behind us in a similar fashion to the New Era cover for October. Dont even worry that 70% of vehicles here are diesel. I am in heaven. As you can see, the MTC owns 2 TDI vans. I die every time they start. There are Skoda's here, VW's ive never seen, wow every Euro car company I can think of is here, even Citrion! Everything! It's so amazing and I die every time one drives by. Even Diesel Hilux's (Toyota trucks) so cool. So there's a pic of that silver van. you can see the condensation on my camera lense.We got the awesome guys in my district from provo by the map, they are going to argentine.Cassie Erikson at the map, Shalyn Blackham (Rachel's friend), The 3 girls are the Hermanas from provo district and elder combs and me. They are great pictures, I'm glad I got my camera working today.
I miss doing Initiatories. I couldn't stop thinking to day in the Ordinance room how awesome it will be when you and mom are here and are the only 2 with headphones. We will hit a Spanish session our last week in the MTC here, crap, 4 to go! "Elder, you know how long weeks are here, its an eternity!" That is my comps quote from the other day. So true. I really hope this plateau spikes again. I'm going crazy with all this practice junk and want to be in the field so bad, working with REAL people! P day and Tuesday for university is what we live for here. Because its real. Plus freedom when we get out to do what we want. Its really a joke here with a lot of things cuz It just cant be really applied yet. but i understand, its to get us in routine. But it is true what you said, doing whatever needed to get to the next hour, the next break, the next meal, the next sleep time...just to get through it again the next day. I honestly believe you and have hope that it will pay off i just am struggling to survive through it now. I'd never give up. I have a friend back home who left early and he said that its a burden on his shoulders everyday. I could never do that. Even though i want to be done, or i stop caring about stuff all the time, I know that the lord knows my hearts desire and my devotion to him and the work. I never REALLY give up but I'm learning its really okay to just turn your brain off and make it to the next break to try again. It sure is work. I'm wondering if once i get out of here....it actually gets easier. Its possible. I know there will be different challenges, but at this point, anything that resembles different is totally welcome.
Any way, c-ya!
-McLean
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