Hey um... I just wrote everything in my letter to you. So I'm going to try and tell you something new, but it may just end up being the same thing. I feel like there really is nothing to tell you because life is always the same here. day after day. I swear its been 3 months already when I am only at 1/3 of the way through the MTC.
Yeah, my spelling has always been terrible. However, Finnish is completely phonetic, so I sometimes catch myself spelling things really weird. So that is why Emily always makes fun of my spelling in letters and such. Last Sunday was nice. I had the opportunity to really feel the spirit in sacrament meeting. But best of all , I listened to a talk on prayer and how our heavenly father wants to hear from us, how he cares about us and the desires of our hearts, especially when they are trodden down or desiring righteous things. I was very grateful to be able to feel the spirit there.
I am doing ok with Finnish, but am having a very hard time getting my vocabulary words to stick. I forget like 30 of my 120 words every day, and I have to spend hours a day trying to come up with mnemonics or some way of remembering them. If you have any suggestions, I would like to hear them. Did you know that there isn't a "sir" or "mame" or "please" in Finnish? Its like you can't offend anyone. Weird.
Off subject... but I wanted you to know that I love you and that you are a great support to me. I can't imagine how hard it is at home without help and you being so busy at work. I hope you can find the time to get all of your stuff done. Also, have a good time in Park City with Dad. I'm sure you will. Its always nice to get away and not have to think about anything. Where in Park City are you going to stay? Are you taking Jason with you? When does Jason start school?
Please pass along my love and well wishes to the rest of the family. Oh yeah, one more thing, keep me updated on small stuff. and I will try to tell you as much as I can.
Love Trevor
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Thursday, August 13, 2009
The MTC "Seikkailu" (Adventure)
The email saga continues with very few lines of information. I (Linda) was busy at work and didn't get the "I'm here" email....Celeste and Trevor exchanged a few lines, but nothing substantial. However, Emily received a couple of letters with some interesting information we thought would be fun to share. We are still hoping for a letter in the mail this week.
Letter info from Em:
"I spend a lot of time studying Finnish. I have made a goal to learn so many words a day. My goal is to learn 40+ words a day. I have learned how to pray in Finnish and am studying the scriptures. We also study Preach My Gospel." He can "feel the difference at the MTC and is"feeling his calling work upon him through the Spirit." (Thanks to all for your prayers in his behalf.) "It seems impossible to be ready to be a missionary, but if I rely on the Lord, I hope I'm able to do it." He is realizing how important the temple and ordinances are ....and that it is a "gift to feel the Spirit".
They have volunteers or return missionaries that go to the MTC so the missionaries can practice teaching investigators. "We try to teach them as much as we can in Finnish and then switch to English. My companion and I made it about 20 minutes in Finnish! Well, it was terrible in all actuality. We were teaching two return missionaries...it was 20 minutes of "getting to know you" and 25 minutes of lesson in English. We are still plugging away at it. I am struggling to memorize my vocabulary words. I think I'll make some flash cards. So enough, but the TRC's are my favorite part. This last Thursday at TRC, I struggled with the language for a while...like, I thought the guy asked me if I had ridden a horse, but he really asked me if I liked horses. It was fairly similar, but I was like 'yeah! thinking I had understood him'....The teaching part went a little better. We went through the lesson fairly smoothly, but when they ask questions. Oh my gosh, I tried my best to explain the answers. Well, I guess it went better than I thought."
"P-days are interesting. It starts out with personal and companion study. Then we go to breakfast and the temple. We get back for lunch and can email around 1:30 . We have 30 minutes for emailing and then letter writing time. At 3:00, we do laundry and write letters some more...like now, I am writing while I wait for my socks to dry...it takes forever! Then we can do whatever until 6:00 pm when we go to dinner....more study and then bed."
A funny part...."Oh yeah, so today I taught Elder Sharp how to shine his shoes. It was interesting....funny actually. And I have to stop eating food! It's complete buffet. Normally, I wouldn't even eat the size of the meal they give us. I am going to have to eat salad for ALL my meals. And do a lot of sit-ups....maybe some running."
"The MTC has divided the missionaries in wards...around 50 members per ward. We have a speaker, which would be from the presidency or the bishop and a randomly selected missionary. .. that means I might have to speak, so I wrote a talk last week on Diligence. Oh my, worst talk ever...I will continue to work on it in case I'm called on to talk. " After one of the Sunday meetings, Trevor went for a walk around the Provo Temple (with his companion, I assume). Here are some thoughts from Trev: "Today was pretty good. We had a lesson on the Abrahamic covenant and how the prophetic keys have been restored. We heard from the new missionaries and the ones that are leaving on Tuesday. Very uplifting and edifying. Also, Andrew Chen is coming in on Wed! I can't wait."
They have learned how to distinguish a progressing investigator from a non-progressing investigator. "We had a lesson on "how to tell a NP investigator "goodbye". Well, not "goodbye", but "we'll be around" kind of thing. It was an interesting lesson, but oddly enough it made me motivated to work harder. We also learned about taking every opportunity to talk to random people." The missionaries also answer calls from people. He got a person who swore at him or was speaking Spanish. "But it's not too bad. One of the elders talked to a lady for 40 minutes and is calling her back tomorrow. She is ready to hear the gospel and has a Book of Mormon now. Amazing."
Apparently, Trevor is a senior companion. In response to Emily's question about this, he said, "It doesn't really mean anything except that I am obligated to be an example, and I can tell the other two guys what to do if there is a dispute. Mainly, I don't have to tell them what to do...they are both good studiers." Trevor is studying Isaiah as part of his scripture study. "My personal study time is, for the most part, in a classroom rather than outside. Sad! Maybe, I could ask to go outside to study..."
We can feel the change starting to take place in Trevor...living each day as a "Sunday" is uplifting to your spirit. "Ok, I got back from the devotional meeting tonight. It was amazing. It was focusing on Charity and focusing on others. I had such a strong witness that I need to do this, but not just on my mission. I mean, it's so easy to give of yourself when you are here but I had the Spirit testify to me how important Charity is....to change my outlook towards others....I also found out better how the Spirit communicates with me. Absolutely a blessing."
If we all could remember Charity in our daily lives, how blessed the world would be! Today, I think this is the blessing of having a missionary...being reminded to be a better person and feeling the Spirit testify of truth through their testimony of the doctrine and having our own hearts grow with charity. Our prayer is that you will be blessed each minute of every day!
Letter info from Em:
"I spend a lot of time studying Finnish. I have made a goal to learn so many words a day. My goal is to learn 40+ words a day. I have learned how to pray in Finnish and am studying the scriptures. We also study Preach My Gospel." He can "feel the difference at the MTC and is"feeling his calling work upon him through the Spirit." (Thanks to all for your prayers in his behalf.) "It seems impossible to be ready to be a missionary, but if I rely on the Lord, I hope I'm able to do it." He is realizing how important the temple and ordinances are ....and that it is a "gift to feel the Spirit".
They have volunteers or return missionaries that go to the MTC so the missionaries can practice teaching investigators. "We try to teach them as much as we can in Finnish and then switch to English. My companion and I made it about 20 minutes in Finnish! Well, it was terrible in all actuality. We were teaching two return missionaries...it was 20 minutes of "getting to know you" and 25 minutes of lesson in English. We are still plugging away at it. I am struggling to memorize my vocabulary words. I think I'll make some flash cards. So enough, but the TRC's are my favorite part. This last Thursday at TRC, I struggled with the language for a while...like, I thought the guy asked me if I had ridden a horse, but he really asked me if I liked horses. It was fairly similar, but I was like 'yeah! thinking I had understood him'....The teaching part went a little better. We went through the lesson fairly smoothly, but when they ask questions. Oh my gosh, I tried my best to explain the answers. Well, I guess it went better than I thought."
"P-days are interesting. It starts out with personal and companion study. Then we go to breakfast and the temple. We get back for lunch and can email around 1:30 . We have 30 minutes for emailing and then letter writing time. At 3:00, we do laundry and write letters some more...like now, I am writing while I wait for my socks to dry...it takes forever! Then we can do whatever until 6:00 pm when we go to dinner....more study and then bed."
A funny part...."Oh yeah, so today I taught Elder Sharp how to shine his shoes. It was interesting....funny actually. And I have to stop eating food! It's complete buffet. Normally, I wouldn't even eat the size of the meal they give us. I am going to have to eat salad for ALL my meals. And do a lot of sit-ups....maybe some running."
"The MTC has divided the missionaries in wards...around 50 members per ward. We have a speaker, which would be from the presidency or the bishop and a randomly selected missionary. .. that means I might have to speak, so I wrote a talk last week on Diligence. Oh my, worst talk ever...I will continue to work on it in case I'm called on to talk. " After one of the Sunday meetings, Trevor went for a walk around the Provo Temple (with his companion, I assume). Here are some thoughts from Trev: "Today was pretty good. We had a lesson on the Abrahamic covenant and how the prophetic keys have been restored. We heard from the new missionaries and the ones that are leaving on Tuesday. Very uplifting and edifying. Also, Andrew Chen is coming in on Wed! I can't wait."
They have learned how to distinguish a progressing investigator from a non-progressing investigator. "We had a lesson on "how to tell a NP investigator "goodbye". Well, not "goodbye", but "we'll be around" kind of thing. It was an interesting lesson, but oddly enough it made me motivated to work harder. We also learned about taking every opportunity to talk to random people." The missionaries also answer calls from people. He got a person who swore at him or was speaking Spanish. "But it's not too bad. One of the elders talked to a lady for 40 minutes and is calling her back tomorrow. She is ready to hear the gospel and has a Book of Mormon now. Amazing."
Apparently, Trevor is a senior companion. In response to Emily's question about this, he said, "It doesn't really mean anything except that I am obligated to be an example, and I can tell the other two guys what to do if there is a dispute. Mainly, I don't have to tell them what to do...they are both good studiers." Trevor is studying Isaiah as part of his scripture study. "My personal study time is, for the most part, in a classroom rather than outside. Sad! Maybe, I could ask to go outside to study..."
We can feel the change starting to take place in Trevor...living each day as a "Sunday" is uplifting to your spirit. "Ok, I got back from the devotional meeting tonight. It was amazing. It was focusing on Charity and focusing on others. I had such a strong witness that I need to do this, but not just on my mission. I mean, it's so easy to give of yourself when you are here but I had the Spirit testify to me how important Charity is....to change my outlook towards others....I also found out better how the Spirit communicates with me. Absolutely a blessing."
If we all could remember Charity in our daily lives, how blessed the world would be! Today, I think this is the blessing of having a missionary...being reminded to be a better person and feeling the Spirit testify of truth through their testimony of the doctrine and having our own hearts grow with charity. Our prayer is that you will be blessed each minute of every day!
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Email? Just Write Me A Letter
Well, it seems email isn't working for us these last two weeks. But, Trevor is doing well in the letter writing efforts. Most of our information came in two letters. So I just combined the emails and letters into this posting. Nathan laughed at me when I tried to pronounce Trevor's Finnish words. Jason said he would have been happy to stay home from the Teton hike and send Trevor in his place (it was an endurance hike...not as much fun as expected). And Nathan wants to go to a session at the Provo Temple on Wednesday at 10:00 am.....yes, we miss Trevor, but are happy he is serving the Lord as a missionary. Thanks for supporting him...so, read on!
"Lähteä Kolme Vikko"-- Beginning Week Three
Hey Everyone,
Hi, its 2 40. Sorry, power went out for an hour. I'm sorry to inform you that the power has been going on and off all over the MTC on P-Day. So, I haven't really been able to email you. I sent the first "I'm on" and lost power again. Maybe later tonight we can try again.
I found a building with power by the way. Its in the laundry room. So my other time for email is like 4 or 4 30 depending. Yeah, I'll try to shoot for 1 30 or 2 next time. ok ? sorry. I missed it but we didn't have power anyway.
Thanks for the packages. The peanut butter and honey have helped because I am still having trouble adjusting to the food here. But I think I'm set on food here for the next week. I'll let you know when I need more. I haven't been eating as much, but still have been feeling like I have gorged myself. I think it is because I don't do any physical work here like at home.
Finnish is coming along...well, here's a little to show you. "Minā rakastan tiedat" means "I love you all". I have loved the firesides here and am doing great. I can't get pictures by email. So you will have to mail any pictures. If I can go to the blog page, maybe I can see them there. Here is an interesting fact: the Bible (well, Finnish Bible) had to be bought from the Luteran Church and they still have the printing rights.
Tell Jason that it is way cool that he made the LHS golf team. I am also jealous that he and dad got to go hiking in the Tetons. Way Cool. Wish I was there. Also, I got the letter from your Sunday School class, Mom. It was very nice and I think I'll put the drawing up on my wall here at the MTC. If you want to study with me, Mom, instead of picking a time to study, let's study Isaiah. I have already started a couple of chapters. So I'm at Chapter 9.
I think it's cool that Celeste is working already. Sounds like Kate is doing well and growing fast. Bear Lake and boating sounded like a blast. Good luck with work and since you asked, my favorite food yesterday was cereal because it doesn't make me sick. I love to get DearElder.com letters...and questions. Also, we leave the MTC at 9:20 am to go to the temple. If Devin wanted to do a 10:00 am temple session, we are usually there on Wednesdays. Don't go out of your way if it's not convenient, Dev. We went today to the temple. I love going there.
Tell Arica I'm sorry she is sick. But, its awesome that she is expecting. Tell her congrats for me again. You will have to send those pictures of her if I can't get them here at the MTC. Also, stop addressing my letters from the family as "Elder Christensen". I get called "Elder" all day long and it is getting on my nerves, sort of ...address my letters to me ("Trevor"). Thanks for all your support, letters, and packages.
Rakastan sinun, Trevor
Hi, its 2 40. Sorry, power went out for an hour. I'm sorry to inform you that the power has been going on and off all over the MTC on P-Day. So, I haven't really been able to email you. I sent the first "I'm on" and lost power again. Maybe later tonight we can try again.
I found a building with power by the way. Its in the laundry room. So my other time for email is like 4 or 4 30 depending. Yeah, I'll try to shoot for 1 30 or 2 next time. ok ? sorry. I missed it but we didn't have power anyway.
Thanks for the packages. The peanut butter and honey have helped because I am still having trouble adjusting to the food here. But I think I'm set on food here for the next week. I'll let you know when I need more. I haven't been eating as much, but still have been feeling like I have gorged myself. I think it is because I don't do any physical work here like at home.
Finnish is coming along...well, here's a little to show you. "Minā rakastan tiedat" means "I love you all". I have loved the firesides here and am doing great. I can't get pictures by email. So you will have to mail any pictures. If I can go to the blog page, maybe I can see them there. Here is an interesting fact: the Bible (well, Finnish Bible) had to be bought from the Luteran Church and they still have the printing rights.
Tell Jason that it is way cool that he made the LHS golf team. I am also jealous that he and dad got to go hiking in the Tetons. Way Cool. Wish I was there. Also, I got the letter from your Sunday School class, Mom. It was very nice and I think I'll put the drawing up on my wall here at the MTC. If you want to study with me, Mom, instead of picking a time to study, let's study Isaiah. I have already started a couple of chapters. So I'm at Chapter 9.
I think it's cool that Celeste is working already. Sounds like Kate is doing well and growing fast. Bear Lake and boating sounded like a blast. Good luck with work and since you asked, my favorite food yesterday was cereal because it doesn't make me sick. I love to get DearElder.com letters...and questions. Also, we leave the MTC at 9:20 am to go to the temple. If Devin wanted to do a 10:00 am temple session, we are usually there on Wednesdays. Don't go out of your way if it's not convenient, Dev. We went today to the temple. I love going there.
Tell Arica I'm sorry she is sick. But, its awesome that she is expecting. Tell her congrats for me again. You will have to send those pictures of her if I can't get them here at the MTC. Also, stop addressing my letters from the family as "Elder Christensen". I get called "Elder" all day long and it is getting on my nerves, sort of ...address my letters to me ("Trevor"). Thanks for all your support, letters, and packages.
Rakastan sinun, Trevor
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