Happy New Year from Steven 01 January 09

We heard from Steven today. Here is what he has to say in response to the millions of questions I asked him! (I figured if I didn't ask questions, he would run out of things to say pretty quickly! Tricky mom!)

From Steven: (with comments from mom in red)

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!