MTC Week 3: Studying Spanish and Teaching

Yo. So I got a haircut today and I don’t think the lady knew what she was doing.  It doesn’t look bad but it doesn’t look good, haha but its ok! 

Well my week was pretty good and it went by very fast! Thank you Mom Dad and Maggie for the packages. I received enough food that I could live through a zombie apocalypse for a year. Either that or it will just give me diabetes, haha but thank you. Oh and Dad, the MTC doesn’t allow perishable food to be sent here so I didn’t get the empanadas or hot dogs cuz they took those out, but I got everything else so thank you. I cried when I saw they took the empanadas... ok no I didn’t, but I was pretty bummed haha.

This week we have been teaching our investigators a lot more and it has been awesome! It’s funny cuz my companion knows quite a bit of Spanish but he never talks during our lessons so I always end up teaching most of it but I guess that’s ok cuz I think its fun!!:D

Kolby, because I love you I’m gonna offer you some advice. Drop out of Ms. Lilo’s English class!!!!! Having class with her was like dwelling in the realm of satan. Ask Austin, he knows, haha! But seriously, get out. So LeBron and melo, they might sign with the suns? I don’t know how I feel about that cuz melo is a ball hog and LeBron always cramps up and cries. No I’m just kidding haha, that would be sweet if we got them cuz we could finally win that championship, but I doubt they will come.

Braxley your letter was awesome!!!!! A whole two sentences haha! So how was the culdesac of fire? It was probably best that I wasn’t there so I don’t blow up another kid, haha. Ya that kids mom still probably hates me!

We had a devotional and watched 17 Miracles and then we got to watch the fireworks outside the stadium of fire! But we didn’t get to hear Carrie Underwood:( But it was a fun night!

We got a whole bunch of new missionaries in our Zone on Wednesday and they are all super cool!! I’m excited to be with them for the next few weeks! Ya dad, Elder Eliason knows Brother Quackenbush haha, but he knows everybody from Delta cuz only like 10 people live there haha!

How is work going Brinkley? How is Parley? I hope you and Cameron are doing good!:) I miss going over to your guys house and chillin.

Hey Mom, tell Sister Riley thank you for the card she gave me that was very nice.

To answer some more questions: I have gym everyday at 10:30 am, so I wake up, shower, and go to breakfast and class, and then to gym, and after gym I shower again, and go to lunch and eat the delicious food, and then I have more class, and then study time. And sometimes we have personal study time in the morning and I like that way better!!  

(Gyms)

Our district got a new classroom and the A/C works haha, and they fixed the A/C in our residence hall so we keep it at a delicious 60 degrees!!  It is fantastic!

Brady how’s everything going? Dude, you have a computer haha, get on it and write me a dear elder or something!!

So Argentina is going to the semi finals!!!  We just got back from lunch and we were watching the game! Still not sure if that’s allowed, but whatever.

Sunday night for our devotional we watched the talk from Elder Bednar "Character of Christ." It was the best talk I have ever heard in my life!!! I want all of you to look it up and watch it or read it for personal study or family night or something, cuz I think we all can learn a thing or two from that talk.  It really was amazing!! So watch it.:)  Other than that not much else has been going on this week, just lots of studying and teaching and learning!

There is a little creek here on west campus and every time I walk by it I wanna jump in and swim! AHHHHHHH I miss the water haha!

(Creek)

So I discovered a new thing they serve here at the MTC cafeteria. It is a breakfast sandwich with an egg on it, but its not an egg. It’s like a yellow square that looks like SpongeBob. I just looked at it and was like, uhmmmm I’ll pass. But they have bagels thank goodness haha!

How is the backyard coming along Robert?

Thank you for all the dear elder letters you all have been sending me they are awesome!! And again thank you for all the packages!!!!!!! You guys just want me to get fat huh? Good luck!!!

Dad I really liked that story of the seminary teacher and the donuts that was really cool haha I cried. But that was a very neat story!

I’m glad to hear everyone is doing ok and working hard! The Temple is closed for the next couple weeks so we have a lot of extra time on pday but we have just been studying Spanish! 

Ok so I have pictures!!!!!!!:D

Well I love you all and hope you are all doing awesome!!! Talk to ya next week!

Hey Mom!!!! I love you tons!!!!:)

Love,

Elder Lester

Pictures!

 (Elder Lester & Elder Eliason)

 (MTC District)

 (MTC Room)

 (Elder Lester & Elder Eliason at the Provo Temple)

 (Elder Lester Strong)

MTC Week 2: Zone Leader, Devotionals, Meeting President and Hermana Chaparro, Love of Reading and Trusting HIM

Hey family how is everything going?!  Well I have had an awesome week!! Sunday, we had a devotional and a lady named Janice Kapp Perry spoke to us. She has composed hymns and stuff like that and she had us sing a whole bunch of primary songs. When we started singing the Army of Helaman song, all the missionaries in the building stood up and it was amazing. I was crying so much that I couldn’t even sing anymore because no words would come out of my mouth, haha.

So all the Mission Presidents are here and I got to meet mine on Monday and they are soooooooooo cool!!!!  President and Hermana Chaparro are their names. They told us some cool things about Salta. They are both from Buenos Aires and they both served in Salta. Apparently it gets like over 100 degrees with 90 percent humidity during the summer..... I don’t want to believe them. They say you can sweat when you shower! That’s gross dude. But I guess it’s ok because the A/C in our classroom here and our rooms don’t work so it’s hotter than corn, so we are gonna be used to it, haha. I’m just not used to the humidity so we shall see how that goes.

Tuesday, we had another devotional and D. Todd Christofferson spoke to us. It was soooo cool. He talked about the worth of souls and he said "the worth of a soul is the capacity to become like God," and I really liked that because I never thought of it that way. It really helped me realize I need to love more deeply because we are all potential heirs of God. Nobody is normal.

My companion is from Delta Utah and he is a great guy and the other two Elders we room with are Elder Romer, he is from Texas, and Elder Hales he is from Aurora, Utah. We have gym time everyday for an hour and we usually play volleyball or basketball. We always work out in the morning and night in our rooms too because we all wanna come back looking like Thor or Captain America..... HA ya right.

Saturday, we go to the Temple in the morning and then we go to a place called Brigham’s Landing right up the road from campus to get some real food. They have Jamba Juice and a burger place and some sandwich place. We love pday haha.

Every Sunday they serve chicken cordon bleu in the cafeteria and that is the only thing I really like here, haha. I had five last Sunday and me and another Elder in my zone, his name is Elder Sandberg, are gonna see who can eat the most. I said I’m gonna eat ten and he doesn’t think I can. Psshh, Oh ye of little faith. They kind of remind me of jack in the crack tacos because they are insanely disgusting but really good at the same time. So after tomorrow I will either have gained 20 pounds or I will die.... So I will let you know how that goes! I actually probably wont gain a pound. I have actually lost 3 pounds:/ Ya I’m upset, haha. It’s probably because me and my companion work out on all our free time, but it’s whatever.

So last Sunday our Branch President asked me and Elder Eliason to be Zone Leaders. Uh, I’ve only been here four days and your already asking me that, haha. We start tomorrow and I’m really excited but I feel kinda weird because there are Elders in our zone that are older than me and Elder Eliason and I would feel weird being a Zone Leader over everyone, but it should be ok!:D

So how is chimi doing?...... is he dead yet?:P I’m just kidding haha. By the way I hope you have an awesome birthday on Monday Shelby!!!

Oh ya, I also saw president Bloothe and his wife and said hi to them! Is that how you spell their name? Bluthe? Blewth? I don’t know haha.

Hey Mom can you ask Edog or Jemesa or the priests in the ward and see how Brother Cutler is doing? I was thinking about him the other day and I miss seeing him, and I know he wasn’t doing too well when I left so I hope he has been getting better.

One thing I really liked this week during some of my study time is John 16:33. Christ is our only hope for peace. TRUST Him. It doesn’t matter what it is. He can restore harmony in your life because "He has overcome the world." The word atone means to restore harmony and I thought that was pretty cool. His love can pierce all darkness, just remember that. It was humbling for me because I realized that I need to apply this in my own life more because I have a hard time trusting and admitting that I am hurting or in pain. But He is there to listen and He will give us comfort and the strength to overcome anything. Haha, it’s funny because I used to hate reading but I love it soo much now, haha. Ya, I’m a nerd now! But it’s like food for the brain and the heart. Its cool:D

I met an Elder going to Gilbert on his mission and he is from Brazil and he is 30 minutes away from Piricicaba where Dallin is going and he said it’s such a cool place, so I know Dallin is gonna have a great time!!

Last Saturday after the Temple we went to get burgers at the Brigham’s Landing place and the Argentina game was on so we were all like watching it but not watching it, haha.  So I kinda know what’s going on with all the world cup stuff.

Soooo I have only taken one picture and that was at the Temple this morning and it was just all us Elders all doing some gay pose haha, so I promise again that I will take more pictures this week and I will get them emailed next Saturday. I figure you don’t just want one picture of me and a bunch of other missionaries acting weird. Cuz you will just be like "so this is what my son does at the MTC?..."

I got Cameron’s dear elder letter and when I opened it and saw it was in Spanish, I was like oh crap. So it took me like an hour to figure out what he said, but I think he was saying to listen to the Spirit and teach people and not lessons. Listening is more important than talking and that has been something I have been trying to work on when me and Elder Eliason teach our investigator, so thank you Cameron for the good advice.

We LOVE getting mail because it totally makes our day, haha. We are like the missionaries on the Best Two Years movie and we are all freaking out and going crazy when there is letters in the mailbox, haha, so keep sending them!!!!

Anyways I think that is it! Does Brady have a new job yet? Better question. Does Brady have a girlfriend yet? I’m just kidding haha! Sort of:D

Wow I just looked at the screen and everything is underlined in red because I don’t capitalize and spell things right. It’s hard to hit the shift button or add an apostrophe. The struggle.

Dude Mom, can you send me a ginormously huge bag of dried mango because I miss mango stuff so much! They have a little BYU creamery here that we can go to and they have simply orange juice but not simply orange with mango. They have mango jumex and that is ok but I am having mango withdrawls, haha. Oh and can you order or buy an Argentina flag and send it to me because I wanna have all my companions sign it on my Mission!

Anyways, I hope all is well. I miss you and love you all. 

Love,

Elder Lester

MTC Week 1: The Spirit is so Strong, Work and be perfectly Obedient, The Lords hand is noticed in everything we do, Have Faith

Hola Mi Familia!!

Well the MTC is sooo fun!! It is alot of studying and class but I kinda like it! :) Spanish is hard but we have already learned to pray in Spanish and share our testimony, and me and my companion have already taught a lady in Spanish who we were told is an investigator, but either way it was so fun! We actually knew enough to communicate and understand a little. But that is because the Lord has blessed us. 

My companion is Elder Eliason and he is way cool. He is a hard worker and super fun to be around. Our goal is to work work work and be perfectly obedient. 

My P-day is Saturday and  that is the only time I can write or email but I can get and read my hand written letters the day they get here. We went to the Temple today and did a session and it was a cool experience. The Provo Temple is gorgeous!!! 

I am not on the main MTC campus.  I am on the West campus and it is right across the street from the BYU football stadium,  but I like being over here because it seems more chill than the main campus. It is also cool because everyone on West campus is speaking Spanish, so we all get to help each other.  My zone and district is super cool and we are all going to Argentina! My companion and my district is all going to Salta or Buenos Aires so that is pretty neat.

The Spirit is so strong here and I am loving every minute of it. It is hard but I just have to remember to look at the name on my badge and remember why i am here. And I'm not talking about my name, haha. This is such a humbling experience because the Lords hand is noticed in everything we do. He blesses us even when we don't deserve it. 

The food... no comment. It's kinda depressing because everyone says don't drink the orange juice and orange juice is the bomb!! But they have a whole bunch of other juice and I can drink as much as I want and not have Mom say "Kasey why did you drink all the juice?!!" haha.  

My Branch President is a super awesome guy and he is very strict and I like that. It is tough because my district and I are all in one class, and when we are studying for hours at a time they kinda lose focus and it kinda bothers me because we need to be working, and when I tell my companion to get back to work he will, but the others don't listen as well, but its their choice. 

We had to write a talk in Spanish and every Sunday they choose two random people to share it, so I hope I get picked because that would be cool!! It's weird because I hate speaking to others and getting up in front of people to talk, but I actually want to now. Weird huh? 

Momma could you please forward this email and all my emails to Juli please!:) And I will email pictures next Saturday so be patient with me, haha. I don't like taking pictures but I will do my best, I promise. 

Well I think that's it for now, but I'm sure I will have some more fun stuff to share next week but I love and miss you all and am praying for you all. One thing I learned over these past couple days is HAVE FAITH. We all know we need to have faith, but if we let all our worries and struggles go and give them to the Lord, He will bless us and strengthen us, and it is an amazing feeling. The Spirit is something we need every minute of everyday and we should do all we can to be worthy to have it.

Love,