Hey Corry!
Sounds like there was a pretty good crowd of famous people at that west game! Did you get to meet any of them? Say hello to Mr Harper for me... and She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed (his wife). I hear you're getting ready for golf... how's that going? Got any new clubs? Nah... just kidding, I know you haven't! Get those grades up!
Hey Weenie -
Astro Camp is way fun! You'll have to look up the place where I go for my space fun - www.spaceedventures.org They are both way fun though, I'm glad you got to go! Who did you go with? Why? When you go to EFY, Logan is definitely the place to do it! You can't get Aggie Ice Cream at BYU! Where are you going for Youth Conference? Getting excited? How about your volunteer job at Discovery Gateway? You'll have to tell me how that turns out!
Mom - Elder Faber flipped out when his mom told him that you two met! She made special note that when you met, you were wearing all your Utah clothes - good to know we're in good company! We're both a little worried because we don't know what you two are talking about! As far as the package - did you actually get it sent off? About time! We have zone conference on Thursday this week, so unless it gets here in the next three days, I probably won't get it for a few weeks (when I go in for my interview with the president).
As far as the work - we're doing a lot of tracting and a lot of reactivation. We have a lot of less active members, but we're trying to get them all to come back to church. We're also working on the members' confidence in us. That, and we're shooting for 20 contacts each day. We usually come pretty close. We're teaching a couple and trying to get them ready for baptism. We've tought them most everything that we can... we just need to get them married and stop smoking. There's another woman that we're teaching that wants to be baptized, but needs to get married to her husband first - and he needs to get divorced from his first wife! Ugh... but we did find a pretty golden investigator, we've tought her two lessons already, we want to get her baptized this cambio, because she knows it is true. Now to get her to church! Then just a couple of other investigators here and there.
We've got a strong ward... we have like 600 people in the ward, but only 120-something active. The leadership is really strong and really active, we have a great young bishop. He's fun to work with. And he got me to try "mormon beer", which I thought was root beer, since he called it "mormon beer" but was really "malta", or just non-alcoholic beer. YUCK!
Missionary scripture... I don't have my scriptures on me, but look for the verse about calling on the weak things of the world to thrash the nations by the power of his spirit. If the Bishop doesn't like it, you can use DyC 84:88.
Good to hear emily is growing up... even if potty training is difficult. :P She's in primary already? O.o Say hi to Fam. Foster, Brother Farnsworth, ESLC (with an extra shout out to Denise in return), Grandma, Grandpa, Eric, Krae, Heidi, Aunt Dalene, Jensens, Nanny and Aunt Rebecca and fam!
Dad -
Yeah, my spanish is suficiente... I can usually hang on to most conversations, of course it is much easier to listen than to talk!
Sure, re-do your studio now that you don't have me to mess it up. :P Sound like a pretty fun project though.
Haven't baptized anyone yet... we tried to set a couple of dates for the middle of february, but they didn't come to church so elder faber says we have to set up a new date for them.
Keep an eye out in the Spanish Liahona for me... they have the group pictures from the CCM in there. I think it might be a while though. Just keep an eye out. I'd send you the picture myself, but I left it at the CCM. Bah.
I can't believe I'm already starting another list for my next package, but here goes! Dad, I need you to send a couple of things of oil... good oil is hard to find here and they don't have any at the distribution center here or in Bs As. I'll also need you to send a memory card reader... I just looked at my camera and it has to be different than every other camera and not have a mini-USB connection. So to send you pictures while I'm out here, I need that stupid card reader. I'll keep an eye out here though and see if there are any in these stores (which have ancient computers, btw!)
The work is going great... I'm tired all the time and I can almost hear my legs telling me they hate me.
Elder Faber and I made food today. It was really good. I'll be sending you a picture through email of us cooking. Next week, when I remember to bring my fob, I'll send a picture and video through the FTP which should work a bit better. The internet is so slowwww here!
Well, I better get off soon. Picture on the way, love you all!
MOM NOTE: He also sent me another email where he asked for materials to teach people English. I'll be sending him some workbooks and lesson plans for teaching ESL. He ended both emails with "I love you" or "love to you all" so looks like he is a quick learner! Thanks for all your prayers for our Elder.
Good to know you got the pictures okay! I love my mission president! He is way awesome - he also has a really interesting perspective. He always refers to me as the oldest of 5 kids... I never really thought about it that way, you know?
Good to hear about Brian Jensen! I'm sure he'll love Brazil! I heard Melo - a zone in my mish that borders Brazil - is wonderful, even if the Spanish is a little polluted. :-P
HI MICAELA!
Tell Matt that I'm sending a letter to Luke that he'll be interested in reading, so have Luke pass it on.
(Mom note: I am getting a new laptop for my work on the school board. I had as choices the Mac Air and Dell Latitude E6500. I chose the Dell.) The Mac Air would have been sweet - I was just talking about it today to one of my house companions who has missed the last year and a half of technology. But the E6500 is a screamer of a machine, I'll be happy to inherit that puppy! That's the series I had to get re-trained for at Dell before my Canada crosstraining. How is my Dell doing? Still hanging in there, or have you killed it? (Steven gave me his "old" Dell (only a few months old. I dropped it already and cracked the casing to the battery. Don't tell Steven!)
Sounds like Corry's birthday went well... you know I love that roast! Happy birthday, Corry! I thought I mentioned it in my last email... sorry dude! And Hi Tina! Don't kiss any boys!
Package - SEND SWEDISH FISH! It's payment to one of the sisters in the ward who does our laundry. Her name is Patricia, but somehow in my broken spanish I was able to decipher Swedish Fish... :D
Good to hear dad and Krae still have their jobs... is the market still headed downhill? I guess we just have to wait for Obama to take office for the market to come back up, right? ;-P Haha what about other news? What's the deal with India and Pakistan?
Dad - here, everyone has fences outside, but no doorbells. So the usual way to knock on the door is to clap a few times. Same in Argentina - I'm sure Aunt Rebecca had to do that too. The members are great, even though they are few and far between. We have a lot of less active members that we are working on... but the members are awesome! We usually have a lunch (we never eat dinner, btw) and it is always great! That reminds me - feed the missionaries! I'm not sure about the missionaries in our ward, but here, if we don't get food from a member family, we starve! So feed the missionaries!
Anyways... the food is good. I haven't had too much... empeñadas only once in the CCM... but I had milanesa today, which is like chicken fried steak with a piece of ham and cheese melted on top. That was good. Lots of pasta here... but that's okay!
Advice for the week - work like a donkey, but don't teach like one!
(MOM NOTE: again, he didn't say "I love you" or "Love, Steven" or anything like that! Who raised this kid anyway?!)
Interesting note: We received an email from Steven's companion's mother today. She writes: My son Elder Faber is your sons companion. We are from West Jordan UT. I think that it is really neat that both of our sons are together from the same State, and area. Brady has been out for 16 months, and loves the area. He says that he already loves your son.
Yeah, so do I!
Well, I made it in one piece! My trainer's name is Elder Faber, from West Jordan. He seems like a good guy, I'm sure I'll learn a lot from him. He's insisting that we only speak spanish... we'll see how that goes! Also living in the casa is Elder Casco from Honduras and Elder Martindale from Sandy. I'm in the Las Piedras zona, assigned to the Obelisco II barrio. It's pretty stinking hot, but we're getting a little wind, which is keeping us sane.
The mission home address is everywhere, gosh! (Mom note: it was NOT very accessible!) It's on my second blog post, on the Facebook Page, and on my Facebook Notes. When you send the package... basically the smaller the better. Don't skimp on the stuff inside, but if a bigger box moves through customs, it might not ever get to me (theft, etc), so smaller box, and on the top, tape a piece of paper that states that there's about $30 worth of missionary supplies... customs should leave it alone. I'll get the package at zone conference.
Letters will have to be sent through pouch, but I'll be sending letters through Correo Uruguay. I'll be sending a few letters home in one package with names and partial addresses on the front, I'll need you to find out what addresses you can and put them on the envelopes.
As far as email... I think I need to make your life a little harder. I can only send and receive emails to and from immediate family, so go ahead and turn off the forwarding and set up an Outlook account for you to track... if I get any steven@thorderson.com emails, just paste it into one of your emails to me and I'll write a reply back.
I'm not sure what we'll do about pictures... I don't think I'll be able to send photos from the computer, I'll transfer what I can onto a memory card and I should be able to send that through Correo. Or on a CD... we'll see.
Tell Micaela and Bro Rasmussen that I am doing great!
My p-day is Monday... be sure to change your schedule accordingly!
(Mom note: if you send him a letter, be sure to mention the proper ettiquite for ending an email/letter...love, Steven...best regards from your favorite elder...I miss y'all so much, Steven...etc...
Dear Thorderson Family,
Today we went to the airport in Montevideo, Uruguay, to pick up Elder Thorderson and invite him into our mission. He arrived a little tired, but full of excitement and enthusiasm to get to work.
We have spent the day with him getting to know him, and we have recognized that he will be an asset to us here in the mission. With this time that we have had with him he has shown many talents that will be put to use in blessing the lives of many wonderful people.
With the morning comes the day of transfers, where he will meet his trainer and after head off for his first area in order to start ¨ [bringing] to pass the immortality and eternal life of man¨.
We are now sending you a photo that we took with him this afternoon. As you can see, he is extremely excited and ready to start. We are so excited to have your son with us and hope that you receive this photo with excitement and pride in all that your son has done to prepare himself for the opportunity that he now has to serve the Lord for the next two years.
Love,
The Ashbys
This will be a quick one, my last message just got erased! Darn Novell.... I'll simplify some things by using a good news/bad news template.
Good news - They have fruit loops here!
Bad news - They aren't very fruity.
Good news - They have corn on the cob!
Bad news - They eat it with mayo.
Good news - All the latinos supplement their speech with sound effects.
Bad news - It doesn't help.
Good news - I have been here for almost two weeks!
Bad news - Nobody can pronounce my name! They have started to call me "Thundercats"... it could be worse, I guess!
Good news - Dad wrote me an email! (note: email was in Spanish)
Bad news - I didn't understand it.
Good news - They have fry sauce! They call it salsa golf!
Bad news - (Actually, not really bad news for this one.)
New years was incredible! We had flan and huge steaks! I asked for the secret for the stakes.... the cook said that it is loin meat, and that's the secret. And tenderize it really well. Either that or kick your dog... my Spanish is kinda rusty. jeje
The President of the CCM is President Wilson. He is a cool guy, starting to loosen up with our group, and I think I saw him smile a couple of times. And he remembers to speak English with me.
My companion is Gabriel Lira (he has another first name and another last name, but I don't know what they are). He is the district leader. We are having problems... we get along together well, we just don't always agree. I think God sent me to a foreign language mission so I couldn't get mad at my companions... I don't speak their language! jaja but he just has difficulties adapting the lesson to the needs of the investigator, and I know I can, just not in Spanish.
His address is
**Edited by mom**
I think that's right... I don't know how their addresses work.
We have a good District, the district of Ammón. We have the three Sisters, and four other companionships in the district. We're a pretty tight group, but we're struggling with obeying con exactitud.
My schedule - wake up, eat, study, class, eat, class, play, class, eat, class, sleep.
In the package - send a data cable for my storage solution (usb to mini usb, the standard).
That's all for today! I'll be glad when there aren't a bunch of elders to breath down my back in the field!
Ciao!
Wow, that's a lot of questions, and I'm not sure I'll be able to answer them all because of this funky keyboard! I also won't be able to send any photos while at the MTC... They've got these computers locked down pretty good. I was able to work my way onto Facebook, but I was afraid to do anything on it for fear of excommunication! :P
I have good news and bad news... Corry's birthday is coming up quick! That's the good news, btw. The bad news... I'm leaving the CCM that day! 12 days, and I'll be in Uruguay! I'm so not ready....
I'll just tackle these questions one by one, and hope I didn't miss anything.
Dad, MUM = Misión Uruguay Montevideo. (his email address has MUM in it--you can send to steven@thorderson.com and it gets forwarded to the MUM address)
P-Day is in fact Thursday. (so look for updates every Thursday!)
Regarding the next package.... I also need pictures! I don't have pictures of my family, friends, house... nada! Oh and I need garment bags, that either I don't have or I can't find.
Okay... now the part of the email that matters! Here at the MTC we have about 60 missionaries... 20 norteamericanos and 40 latinos. Me and my companion are kinda the middle ground. Elder Lira (my compañero) is from Mexico, so that's kinda north american, right? And I'm obviously a norteamericano, but I'm not in classes with them. I'll have 7 other people go to Uruguay with me in a couple of weeks, and then like 6 norteamericanos in a month and a half.
The norteamericanos are learning spanish right now, with english teachers. I am learning how to teach the gospel, in Spanish. I have two teachers, Hermana Juarez from Argentina, who served her mission in Uruguay, and Hermano Biosca, also from Argentina, but who talks a lot faster. I like Hermana Juarez, she's easy to understand and she talks like a Uruguaya (ll, y, s), Hno Biosca talks like a Chilean with an Argentine accent... muy rápido!
I'm friends with most of the norteamericanos, because I'm their free translator, right? And I'm friends with most of the Latinos, because I'm their free translator, right? Do you see where I fit in? jaja It's weird to sit in Spanish classes all day, hanging on for dear life... then talking to someone in English and not realize that they are speaking English because I'm so used to hearing Spanish.
We usually get to go to the temple next door on P-day, but since it's the new year, the temple and Distribution Center are closed. So we're going tomorrow. We eat in the morning, afternoon, and evening, duh! (I asked when they ate meals--in South America, they eat dinner around 10pm. I wondered if they did the same at the MTC...) There's fruit and dulce de leche at every meal, as well as hard boiled eggs. In the morning, we always have cereal. Lunch is usually pasta of some sort, and in the evening it is always meat. And there's delicious pan at every meal.
My schedule... I have to tell you next P-day because I have people breathing down my throat... I'll have to explain that next week too.
The president of the MTC is called of God - not much else to say. He's a good guy, doesn't always seem like it though. He always has this disappointed look on his face. jaja
Well tengo que írme. I miss you all, and I look forward to hearing from you!
Hasta luego!
