So this week has been great. It is officially my third week and feels more like my 100th, but at the same time it feels like my 1st. I am learning a lot and can form coherent sentences in French now, although my vocab is still very basic. And mostly gospel related.
On Tuesday we had Elder Jensen, of the presidency of the seventy, come and give the devotional. It was absolutely amazing. I took about 6 pages of notes and was writing the entire time. He spoke about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. And for the first time ever I saw someone announce a change to the closing hymn, and want to sing a hymn to invite the spirit. It was really cool and I wish I could share the talk with you, maybe I'll copy down some notes and send it some time.
I am currently working on two piano pieces to maybe play for at a devotional. I played piano in a Large Group Meeting, basically a meeting for a few zones that we learn some missionary principle (like how to get people to attend sacrament meeting), and afterwards a sister in the zone, Sister Hall, approached me and asked me if I would be willing to play a piece. She assured me it was easy and I took a look at it. It is Janice Kapp Perry's (who spoke to the Relief Society last sunday, which I could not attend for obvious reasons but I was really jealous) "In the Hollow of thy Hand". The piano piece was pretty easy and with a few more days I should have it ready. She wants to try out next thursday and I hope we can make it. The other piece came from someone in my district. Elder Stratford had a piece he had sung at his farewell that he thought I would enjoy. It is an arrangement of I know that My Redeemer Lives from an EFY year, I forget which one. It is way awesome but a bit harder than In the Hollow of Thy Hand. Hopefully with a few weeks of practice I will have it down and ready to play with hopefully an Elder in my district. I will keep you posted.
In case you were wondering, Dear Elder letters get printed off around 4:30 each afternoon and are in the mail that day, so if anyone sends one of those to me, I will get it the same day. And will write back that week to you. The regular mail comes both around noon and 4:30 each day, so we can get mail twice in a day basically. It is always great to get either regular mail or Dear Elder mail. It is a good boost for anyone's morale whenever someone gets it.
Donc...I guess I can write some French for everyone to see how well I can talk it... J'aime le MTC et mon zone. Le zone est hypercool et tout le monde est heureux. Mon instructures a servir dans le mission de Paris et ils ont beacoup histories au sujet de Paris et France. Frere Le Fevre a enseigner au sujet de Gnarf. Un petit creature que dit "Qu'est-ce que c'est???" et "pourquoi" en tout langues. un Gnarf est un main avec le grande main pour un tete et les autres pour pieds. Frere Emery deteste les Gnarfs, mais nous aimons les Gnarfs.
There. A nice french paragraph that won't make sense to anyone.
So the gnarf. Apparently when my teachers were in Paris, someone invented a creature called the Gnarf. An annoying little hand, using all fingers besides the middle as legs and the middle as a head. They walk around and love holes, especially swiss cheese. They can only say What is that? and Why? but they can say it in any language. They are born when a can of mayo is opened and can only be killed by the power of mayonaisse and snapping their necks. Frere Emery had a companion who did them all too often and really does not like them. And Frere Le Fevre will tolerate them but we avoid over using them. They are very weird and bring lots of laughs for our class.
The MTC is an amazing place and I love nearly every minute of it. I'm really glad that I came back, I know this is the place to be.
Oh, one more cool story. So I was reading my Patriachal Blessing and feeling down one night and Elder Ellis noticed and asked what I was doing, I said blessing, as if that explained it, and he took it as I wanted a blessing. I didn't refuse and Elder Figaro and him gave me one. The power and words that came out of Elder Figaro's mouth were not his, and I knew that he was called of God, as we all are. I witness to the truth of the church and our message. The Priesthood is real, God is real, this is all the truth. I'm glad to be here and would invite anyone curious about the church, or anything about it, to call the referral center or get a hold of missionaries in their area. You have nothing to lose, and everything to gain.
February 27, 2010
February 21, 2010
MTC-second week and San Francisco trip
Bonjour Ma Famille. Comment-Ca Va? Ca va bien ici. Le MTC est tres incroyable.
So yesterday (Feb 11)was a "fun" experience. I got called to the Travel Office on Mardi, without even knowing it. (I wasn't giving a evengelcial certificate or whatever it is that says that I can be a missionary in France. So when me and Elder Horne got to the room with our other roommates, Elder Ellis was told he had to go to the Travel Office ASAP. So I decided to head over and ask about my certificate with the service desk while we were there. Well we went to the travel office and they gave Elder Ellis and me travel itenerary's and a voucher for 10 bucks for meals.) So anyways, we were told to be at the travel office at five in the morning to leave to the airport that day. So we got to the airport at 6:30 and our flight left at 8:30, before it was delayed half and hour for fog in San Fransisco. So we sit down and wait until it's our time. We get to San Fran in a small 50 or 60 passenger plane and meet up with a driver who drove us around that day. We got to the French Consulate and spent no more than six minutes putting our fingers on a scanner for them. And that was it. We left and got lunch and walked around for an hour waiting for our driver. We brought pass along cards in case we got a contact. As I was walking around to see the pier we got to talking to a street guitarist, Ron, who was sitting on the side of the sidewalk. We talked for a good five minutes and at the end I gave him a pass along card. I'm not sure what he will do with it, but you never know. Now for the "fun" part of yesterday. For some reason, the church put us on two different flights. One flight leaving at 3:30, the other at 5:30. Mine was 5:30, go figure. We tried talking to the travel agency about it, but all they could say is if there is room they will try to get as many of us on as they can, but that's the most they could do. Turns out the first flight was booked full so we had to wait two more hours for our plane to get there. Four hours in an airport seat is not fun at all. Oh, I thought about calling too and saying I was in an airport, but figured mom would have a heart attack before I could explain the situation, So I decided no call would have been best. Finally we made it on the plane, same size as one we came on, and made it back to Salt Lake with no problem. I even finished a whole crossword puzzle, with little help from the answer sheet when I needed to make sure I was right on an answer, and a hard sudoku puzzle. Anyways, we land and were told to go to passenger pick-up 7 and a driver would be waiting. We came down the stairs to a bunch of families with signs saying "WELCOME HOME ELDER so and so". And I mean a bunch of families, and they must have brought all their friends. Needless to say they got excited to see us, but that changed when they realized we weren't their Elder. Well we got to the pickup spot...and nothing. No MTC Van waiting for us. So we waiting a bit, Elder Ellis saw some friends and talked with them for a few. Then after about 5-10 minutes, we decided to call the travel office asking if a driver was coming. We called the opererator, who connected us with the travel office, which was closed. We pressed 0 to get to the Church Travel Opererator "for emergencies only". I figured this was one, so I pressed 0. I told them my situation, having to repeat it a few times since the phone wasn't very good and I was talking to fast, go figure. They connected us with the MTC, I think. And I told them the sitaution. They said that they don't send drivers to pick us up, which was clearly printed on our travel Itenerary, and that we should go to the express shuttle and use the church's account to get back. I hung up and explained to the other Elders, they were as confused as I was. So we called back again to try and get a better answer, and while we were on hold our driver came. We got back to the MTC about 10. And got to break into the cafeteria and get some chips and drinks for dinner. We then got back to our room in time for bed. So in short, we spent 6 hours waiting in airports for a 5 minute experience. But I guess it is better than waiting 3-5 extra weeks in the MTC while your visa clears.
I'm really liking it here in the MTC. I'm getting along with my companion and we had our first experience in the TRC on wednesday. After attempting to contact three people in french, and failing might I add, we got to teach the first lesson.
So my teachers are both really cool guys. They both served in Paris, have been home about two years, but not sure how long they have been teaching, and have a lot of stories about it.
Church works the same as it has before. Whoever is conducting will get up and announce the program and basically tell two elders, or sisters, they are giving their prepared talk. Then a member from the presidency and his wife will speak. Then we have priesthood after that then sunday school in our class with one of the branch presidency members. After that we study in the class and the Branch President will do interviews. And that is basically Sunday. I had to play piano in sacrament last week so that was fun to do.
Oh I almost forgot, you'll love to hear this Dad. We were in class and our teacher told his he got several emails from Elders in the field, both from the Paris mission and Brussels Mission. Apparently, the Brussels Mission is shutting down and merging with the Paris Mission. Not sure when this will happen, but now I will have most of dad's mission in mine, Geneva mission has Luxembourg now. So that Will be awesome to share that.
Well, it's going really great here and i'm happy that I decided to stay. Mail is always welcome, either snail mail or DearElder. And I would love some more friend's addresses so I can write them or send off some letters I have written.
So yesterday (Feb 11)was a "fun" experience. I got called to the Travel Office on Mardi, without even knowing it. (I wasn't giving a evengelcial certificate or whatever it is that says that I can be a missionary in France. So when me and Elder Horne got to the room with our other roommates, Elder Ellis was told he had to go to the Travel Office ASAP. So I decided to head over and ask about my certificate with the service desk while we were there. Well we went to the travel office and they gave Elder Ellis and me travel itenerary's and a voucher for 10 bucks for meals.) So anyways, we were told to be at the travel office at five in the morning to leave to the airport that day. So we got to the airport at 6:30 and our flight left at 8:30, before it was delayed half and hour for fog in San Fransisco. So we sit down and wait until it's our time. We get to San Fran in a small 50 or 60 passenger plane and meet up with a driver who drove us around that day. We got to the French Consulate and spent no more than six minutes putting our fingers on a scanner for them. And that was it. We left and got lunch and walked around for an hour waiting for our driver. We brought pass along cards in case we got a contact. As I was walking around to see the pier we got to talking to a street guitarist, Ron, who was sitting on the side of the sidewalk. We talked for a good five minutes and at the end I gave him a pass along card. I'm not sure what he will do with it, but you never know. Now for the "fun" part of yesterday. For some reason, the church put us on two different flights. One flight leaving at 3:30, the other at 5:30. Mine was 5:30, go figure. We tried talking to the travel agency about it, but all they could say is if there is room they will try to get as many of us on as they can, but that's the most they could do. Turns out the first flight was booked full so we had to wait two more hours for our plane to get there. Four hours in an airport seat is not fun at all. Oh, I thought about calling too and saying I was in an airport, but figured mom would have a heart attack before I could explain the situation, So I decided no call would have been best. Finally we made it on the plane, same size as one we came on, and made it back to Salt Lake with no problem. I even finished a whole crossword puzzle, with little help from the answer sheet when I needed to make sure I was right on an answer, and a hard sudoku puzzle. Anyways, we land and were told to go to passenger pick-up 7 and a driver would be waiting. We came down the stairs to a bunch of families with signs saying "WELCOME HOME ELDER so and so". And I mean a bunch of families, and they must have brought all their friends. Needless to say they got excited to see us, but that changed when they realized we weren't their Elder. Well we got to the pickup spot...and nothing. No MTC Van waiting for us. So we waiting a bit, Elder Ellis saw some friends and talked with them for a few. Then after about 5-10 minutes, we decided to call the travel office asking if a driver was coming. We called the opererator, who connected us with the travel office, which was closed. We pressed 0 to get to the Church Travel Opererator "for emergencies only". I figured this was one, so I pressed 0. I told them my situation, having to repeat it a few times since the phone wasn't very good and I was talking to fast, go figure. They connected us with the MTC, I think. And I told them the sitaution. They said that they don't send drivers to pick us up, which was clearly printed on our travel Itenerary, and that we should go to the express shuttle and use the church's account to get back. I hung up and explained to the other Elders, they were as confused as I was. So we called back again to try and get a better answer, and while we were on hold our driver came. We got back to the MTC about 10. And got to break into the cafeteria and get some chips and drinks for dinner. We then got back to our room in time for bed. So in short, we spent 6 hours waiting in airports for a 5 minute experience. But I guess it is better than waiting 3-5 extra weeks in the MTC while your visa clears.
I'm really liking it here in the MTC. I'm getting along with my companion and we had our first experience in the TRC on wednesday. After attempting to contact three people in french, and failing might I add, we got to teach the first lesson.
So my teachers are both really cool guys. They both served in Paris, have been home about two years, but not sure how long they have been teaching, and have a lot of stories about it.
Church works the same as it has before. Whoever is conducting will get up and announce the program and basically tell two elders, or sisters, they are giving their prepared talk. Then a member from the presidency and his wife will speak. Then we have priesthood after that then sunday school in our class with one of the branch presidency members. After that we study in the class and the Branch President will do interviews. And that is basically Sunday. I had to play piano in sacrament last week so that was fun to do.
Oh I almost forgot, you'll love to hear this Dad. We were in class and our teacher told his he got several emails from Elders in the field, both from the Paris mission and Brussels Mission. Apparently, the Brussels Mission is shutting down and merging with the Paris Mission. Not sure when this will happen, but now I will have most of dad's mission in mine, Geneva mission has Luxembourg now. So that Will be awesome to share that.
Well, it's going really great here and i'm happy that I decided to stay. Mail is always welcome, either snail mail or DearElder. And I would love some more friend's addresses so I can write them or send off some letters I have written.
February 13, 2010
"Bonjour ma famille et mes amis"
Our first letter from Elder Sanborn:
"My district is a blast and some really great guys. Elder Horne is my companion and is a cool guy. Also in my room are Elders Ellis and Collette. We have a great time together and get along very well. All four of us are headed to the Paris mission. The rest of my district are going to the West Indies. Elder Figaro is our district leaeder with his companion Elder Lunt. Then we have Elders Scwhab and Stratford. Everyone gets along very well with each other and its a really great group of guys.
Our teachers are Frère Emery and Le Fevre and they are probably the best teachers here. My old teachers are all gone, but Frère Emery said that Frère Larson was his roommate before he (Larson) got married. The class periods with either of them are a lot of fun and very insightful. They both served in Paris, which is great since they know the slang and accent better so we can speak better towards them.
The Zone was really small from what we were told, about 10 or 12 elders and sisters. When our group came we brought in 28 elders and 1 sister. We are now very large and it's hard to tell who the new elders are and who are the veterens.
Since I have been here before I have earned several nicknames from my companion an Elders in my room. Some of these include Elder Sneebly (since Elder Collette didn't fully know my name at first), Sacageweah (probably spelt wrong but it is because I know my way around) The Den Mother (since it's what I felt like when walking around leading my district around), The Key Master and Gate Keeper (since I always have my blue card to get into the building and key to get into the room), and our personal favorite, Waldo. Waldo came from a very interesting story. On the second day we went and took care of our immunizations. Since I had already been here once, they didn't have a paper for me so they can make sure I had all the required shots. So I had to go to a special line and get a new paper and get it filled out. Well I was done pretty quick and went into a waiting room they made for Elders whose companion wasn't done yet. So as I'm waiting, I guess my buddies were told to leave me, for some reason...so they did. After a half an hour of waiting, all the staff left for lunch, so I decided to go to lunch to find my companion. I got there and sat with some other Elders in the district and when we got back to class found my companion. So since I'm always getting seperated from my companion and roommates, they have dubbed me Waldo.
I love you all and miss you a lot. I would love to get some more mail, either from Dear Elder or from acutal letters. Some from friends would be very nice. It was great hearing from you on the second day though. My address is :
Provo MTC Mission
MTC Box #293
FRA-PAR 0413
2005 N 900 E
Provo Ut 84604-1793
Until next time,
Elder Sanborn"
"My district is a blast and some really great guys. Elder Horne is my companion and is a cool guy. Also in my room are Elders Ellis and Collette. We have a great time together and get along very well. All four of us are headed to the Paris mission. The rest of my district are going to the West Indies. Elder Figaro is our district leaeder with his companion Elder Lunt. Then we have Elders Scwhab and Stratford. Everyone gets along very well with each other and its a really great group of guys.
Our teachers are Frère Emery and Le Fevre and they are probably the best teachers here. My old teachers are all gone, but Frère Emery said that Frère Larson was his roommate before he (Larson) got married. The class periods with either of them are a lot of fun and very insightful. They both served in Paris, which is great since they know the slang and accent better so we can speak better towards them.
The Zone was really small from what we were told, about 10 or 12 elders and sisters. When our group came we brought in 28 elders and 1 sister. We are now very large and it's hard to tell who the new elders are and who are the veterens.
Since I have been here before I have earned several nicknames from my companion an Elders in my room. Some of these include Elder Sneebly (since Elder Collette didn't fully know my name at first), Sacageweah (probably spelt wrong but it is because I know my way around) The Den Mother (since it's what I felt like when walking around leading my district around), The Key Master and Gate Keeper (since I always have my blue card to get into the building and key to get into the room), and our personal favorite, Waldo. Waldo came from a very interesting story. On the second day we went and took care of our immunizations. Since I had already been here once, they didn't have a paper for me so they can make sure I had all the required shots. So I had to go to a special line and get a new paper and get it filled out. Well I was done pretty quick and went into a waiting room they made for Elders whose companion wasn't done yet. So as I'm waiting, I guess my buddies were told to leave me, for some reason...so they did. After a half an hour of waiting, all the staff left for lunch, so I decided to go to lunch to find my companion. I got there and sat with some other Elders in the district and when we got back to class found my companion. So since I'm always getting seperated from my companion and roommates, they have dubbed me Waldo.
I love you all and miss you a lot. I would love to get some more mail, either from Dear Elder or from acutal letters. Some from friends would be very nice. It was great hearing from you on the second day though. My address is :
Provo MTC Mission
MTC Box #293
FRA-PAR 0413
2005 N 900 E
Provo Ut 84604-1793
Until next time,
Elder Sanborn"
February 12, 2010
MTC
I am posting this for Jonathan--he went into the MTC on Wednesday February 10th. We have not heard from the MTC for his address, so I made a quick call and here is how you can get in touch with him:
Elder Jonathan Sanborn
Box 293 0405
2005 N 900 E
Provo, Utah 84604
His 20th birthday is coming at the end of next week and I am sure that he would appreaciate a card or note.
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