Libia Week 1, change 2 (8/17/09)

(MOM NOTE: Just got notice today that his birthday package emerged from the black hole and is being delivered to the mission home today! A bit late, but he'll get his peanut butter, mashed potato flakes and gracy, University of Utah paraphernalia, birthday cake (uncooked--duh!), and long johns for Elder Casco, along with other misc goodies!)

Elders Casco and Thorderson

ouch.jpg - Elder Smeltzer (such a stud) and I playing some incredibly difficult chords. You have no idea.

Hey fam!

Wow... 20 years old. This decade, I'll have a college degree, a house, a wife, and maybe a kid or too. Whoa, that just blew your mind.

Haven't heard anything about this email thing, I'll give the secretaries a call and find out for sure. But I would say go for it, it looks like a legit address. That would be SO much quicker than DearElder or pouch.

Saludos a Caitlin, Lt Mugridge, Q, Julie Ikeda, Chesty, Aaron A., Jody, Peter Jin, Cousin Kristen, Samantha Behl, Uncle Henry, Cousin Kaliela (thank heaven for copy/paste), Aunt Jill, Jennifer Theissen, Sirui (prounounced SEE-roo), and MarySue. Thanks for the birthday wishes! Oh, and thank dad for the birthday wishes too. Oh no, wait... he didn't wish me a happy birthday....(Mom note: In Dad's defense, it was a pretty crazy week for us!)

This week was pretty exciting. Friday for my birthday, we started out with Lunch with Oliva Verdes. She's from Spain and made some awesome chicken milanesas. Then we went to Elida's house and had a little fiesta with Elida, Celeste, Elida's brother Angel and his wife Julia, Elida's son Marcelo, and later Washington and Marcos Tejera. I got a box of chocolates. They were really good. Then we taught a couple of lessons, had some chocolate cake with the Echevarrìa family, then we went to Valenti's house. We were supposed to have asado, but apparently it was too late in the day so we just ate a ton of alfajorcitos. Then I finished out the day with an exciting Welfare Committee meeting. I almost fell asleep. :P Then Saturday we did service with Miguel Benitez and his fam, they just moved in. We helped clean out their backyard. Then a couple of lessons, then a party in the church for Mariana Tejera because she graduated from high school. It was really a combined party, because they sang me happy birthday. Someone brought Karaoke, and a 73-year-old lady totally rocked out some Kumbia. It was pretty sweet. A couple more lessons, and then we played soccer with some investigators. Now I'm insanely sore and can barely walk. lol out loud. It was a pretty exciting week. Friday, we got a call from the Pres and his wife wishing me a happy birthday. It was pretty awesome. The Tejera fam also called me (at 11:30 PM!!!) to wish me a happy birthday too. All in all, a birthday well spent away from home.

Sister Echevarrìa and her cake. Yum!

trunky.jpg - IHOP... who would have known?

Ummm... not much else to report. Brother Benitez was just called to be our Ward Mission Leader. We're stoked to start working with him, we have a correlation meeting with him tomorrow. We didn't have any investigators in church sunday... we went to three people to get them and bring them to church, two slept in (because it was raining) and the other didn't have clothes to go to church in the rain. But we're excited to work this week and keep helping our investigators to progress and get to church!

Well two Sundays and my camera hasn't showed up... and since it's my birthday... :D

Libia Week 6 and HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELDER THORDERSON!

Just a quick mom note! Today is Steven's 20th birthday! We sure miss him but are sure he's having a most fabulous birthday in Uruguay! I know he'd love to hear from you! Let me know if you need an address to send him a letter!

Hey fam!

They lost my package? LOL out loud! First time the package doesn't get here within three weeks! But we're still waiting with bated breath (bated?)! But apparently it is still going to be cold for a while... we get mixed opinions. It's hot today, I'm just in my long sleeve shirt. Casco is in short sleeves. (MOM NOTE: The post office in SLC lost Steven's birthday package. We had them do a search and they finally found it and sent it off a few days ago! All the worry about the Uruguayan Postal Service and it's the US one that loses the package!)

Transfers... looks like we're staying together! We're way surprised, but we know that it is what the Lord wants and we're ready to keep working hard(er)! Elder Smeltzer is leaving the zone (sad face) but he's headed to Asamblea, my old area (happy face)! Elder Andersen is coming to the zone (we got to UY together). Montgomery is staying here in Pando, and his companion is going to be Elder Coyago (who has been in every zone of mine since the beginning of time). Pretty interesting, but no big surprises.

Luke has GAINED 20 pounds? He's a little chubster now... lol that's really funny. Can't wait to hear updates on Greg once he hits Hawaii. Has Matt started working on his papers yet? Or is he waiting for his heart to be better?

Elder Faber would love to see you at his homecoming! He's such a stud.

Papi... acà se dice campamentos... campo significa field y estoy seguro que ella va a jugar softball en un campo, pero como parte de un campamento. Quizàs es diferente en Guatemalteco. Y tambien no se dirìa que un programa se chupa. Esto es malo. Mama me dijo que es màs dificil trabajar con Corporate que Elpitha... pobresito! jeje precios para pagar - pero por lo menos tienes un trabajo!

Just so you don't think I forgot... Happy Anniversary Sunday!

Hmmmm... there's a brother in our ward that wants a recipe for cooking Turkey. I told him to put it in the oven and cook it, but he thinks it is more complicated. Next package... if you can find a three ring binder that has the rings 3.25" apart, that would be awesome, but don't look to hard because it really isn't too important.

Well I was going to pull out money, but I decided to look for a camera first... with import taxes and IVA, the same camera I have is like $300. If you really wanted to transfer me $300 for a birthday present, I wouldn't complain.

Quick one today, I'll send a better one Monday with more updates. Love you all!

Libia, Final Week

Hey fam!

Sorry for the late email! We went to the temple today so our P-Day got bumped from Monday. Also, next week's email will come on Wednesday, because changes are next week! We're pretty sure that Elder Casco is going to head... it would be way unexpected if President Da Silva kept us together another change. The area is doing pretty well... we have had some struggles but we just keep going! Lucìa Borges is a struggle... she says that she doesn't feel ready, but we know she is. But her sisters, instead of helping her, are like resisting us and telling us not to pressure her into getting baptized... we had a great lesson yesterday with her, but then her sisters showed up and we didn't end up committing her. Romina is starting to work Sundays, so she can't come to church. We're praying for a miracle. But Manuel is really progressing. He fasted for the first time in his life with us this Sunday, for all 24 hours! He made hamburgers and french fries for his kids, and ordered a pizza for his wife, and didn't eat or drink! He feels really good and says he could get his answer in "a few days or weeks." At least he's starting to talk about time. He's still having problems with wine, we're going to have a good talk about it today. We are still looking... we have 5 people that are ready to be found, we just can't find them! Iris and Mabel are former investigators that moved and lost contact with the elders. They say they want to start the lessons again, but Mabel (who is Iris' mom) was recently admitted to the hospital for complications of diabetes... so we're still working on them. Diego and two of his non-member friends play soccer with Belloni, and we're going to start teaching them. He's really excited to learn, but every time we go to his house after setting up an appointment, his mom tells us that he left to go play soccer! lol and there's also "Gordo"'s girlfriend "Toti" who wants to listen to us, but wants to clear up a few doubts with Gordo's sister.

Questions... I was looking at my genealogical record (wow it is a miracle if i spelled that right), and are we missing some of dad's side's information? Because it looks like I have 3 great-grandparents still living. Also, was dad a preemie, or was he a honeymoon baby? And who introduced the gospel into each family (mom's fam, dad's fam)? When did Dad's side of the family come to the US?

Do you guys think you could toss up the pictures from my farewell luncheon to the FTP site? The ones you took in the living room. That would be awesome. Thank's for the pics of the fam... but I would love a picture of my skinny parents!

Well, here's just an update on your almost 20-year-old son!

What I've lost:

- 20 pounds, 5 inches from the waist (so skinny!)

- The desire to stay up late

- 2 ties

- Camera (got taken out of my backpack during church! argh... I'm pulling out a bit of money to buy a new camera... Just like $80, and I've got my emergency fund)

What I've gained:

- The ability to make sacred temple covenants in Spanish

- The desire to go to bed early

- Legs of steel

- 7 ties

- A stronger testimony of the restored Gospel.

Also, for the next packet, could you guys send a couple of white shirts my way? There's a brother in our ward who doesn't go because he doesn't have a white shirt, and he's big and says they don't make shirts his size. (he's honestly pretty big. I wish I could be more specific), and has a neck of 23 inches. You guys are the bomb! Also, if they sell a little book of the scripture study helps (index, topical guide) separate from the scriptures, I'd love a copy of that! There isn't a spanish equivalent (just a type of dictionary that doesn't list every word nor every occurrence) and I don't really want to tear apart my quad.

I love you all and am so excited to hear about your progress! Saludos a todos!

Libia Week 4 (7/27/09)

Weirdly ordered train of thought, hope you can follow it.

Anne Ashworth is the bomb! Saludos to both for me. I'm glad Greg's getting pumped. He'll love it, but will find that it isn't a walk in the park! Especially in the summer. heh

I hope you guys have fun at bear lake with the canoes and all. I wish I canoed more often... never really did until THAB. And that was some extreme canoeing. Be sure to take some photos for me! I was going to send a pic your way too, but I don't have any new ones. Next week.

Nope, not sick anymore. Just a little bit of a runny nose, but that's just because it is so cold that my snot glands have gone numb and can't hold it in. This last week was terrible. It got down to -6 degrees celsius with wind of 100 km/h. Ridiculous. It is so cold down here, it snowed in Buenos Aires. It's never snowed in Bs.As. And apparently it snowed here in Maldonado too, but I don't have a credible source for that. Definitely missing out on the cul de sac of fire, especially now that you have illegal fireworks! (and sun)

Good to hear Corry is progressing. I hope he keeps going, I'm planning to fast for him (again) Sunday if you guys want to join me.

Ummm business cards, I want my home address, phone number (001-801-..... am i getting 680-2916 back or what? i don't even know), elder@thorderson.com, my name, Dec 2008-Dec 2010, a little pic... wicked photoshop skills... :P lo que sea.

Yesterday we discovered a whole new part of our area... we have three neighborhoods in our area, Flor de Maroñas (where we live), Jardines del Hipodromo (where the Danubio Stadium is), and Villa Española (where there's no members nor investigators). Elder Casco, in his 2 months here, has never been to Villa Española, but we are hurting to find new people so we headed out there. It was like doing a whitewash. We had no idea where we were or where we were going... there are five apartment buildings of 10 stories each, 6 people on each floor, that's like 300 people. But to get into the buildings, we have to ring the doorbell and talk to the speaker. YUCK! Poco a poco, but I hate it.

We had a slightly better week this week, looking forward to a much better week this week! Pray that we can find Iris and Mabel and Lucìa's friend Victoria this week!

Love you all!

Libia Week 3 (7/20/09)

Hey fam!

Some lady just walked into the cyber who is in a different stake. She said "saludos a las familias", so just letting you know she says hi.

Yeah, I'm feeling much better. Working hard as ever! So I have Jeff Brock, Brian Jensen, Aaron Karr... anyone else in Brasil? Greg's headed off soon! There's a letter for him coming... hope it gets there! Iit's awesome to hear that Scott's getting ready for his mission! I wrote Micaela back, should also be coming. Saludos to Bro. Rassmussen and Obispo Organista. Did he serve here? Wicked!!

I'm glad to hear Tina loved EFY. Definitely an awesome experience, even better up in Logan! I look forward to her email! Let's hope she stays angelic (*cough*) in Highland!

We had Zone Conference Wednesday. I got to see my daddy (Elder Faber). He's starting to smell like dead elder...heads home in September. He's one of the Zone Leaders in Norte. I also got to see Elder Martindale (Elder Casco's dad), Elder Belleau and Elder Rostaing (in the MTC with me) and the President and his wife. Pte Da Silva is such a capo! He is letting us take an hour a day to study the language. But I'm using my hour to help out Elder Casco with his English program, so my spanish isn't getting much attention. But poco a poco... haha Hermana Da Silva totally dropped the cane on all the sick people. She said (translated) "I'm sure that if you studied the Missionary Health Guide like Preach My Gospel says, there wouldn't be as many sick people that can't work."

Lol out loud! Elder Faber gave the musical number for the Zone Conference. There's someone in his zone that plays the Ukelele, so he totally rocked Love at Home singing along to a uke. Elder Casco has a recording.

We celebrated my birthday in zone conference. I got brownies made by the Hermana. They had nuts in them, but still pretty good.

We've started to teach another girl named Lucìa. Lucìa Schmit - lol! She's 12 years old and way ditsy. Her grandma was baptized when she was 9 and hasn't been back to church since. We knocked their door and we're teaching them a full! Lucìa wants to come to church, but hasn't yet. The grandma wanted to too, but got stuck taking care of the grandkids. Lucìa wants to bring her best friend to church next week too! So we're going to go with Carolina and Mariana Dos Santos (who are her age, and awesome member missionaries) to pick them up Sunday and take them to church. We went to teach her with the Dos Santos girls, but her grandma wasn't there. So she got embarrassed (because she didn't want to answer questions wrong) so she went up to her room and wouldn't come down and talk with us. One of her cousins said she was crying because she was so embarrassed (I think embarrassed is the right translation of verguenza...). But we went back the next day and had an awesome lesson with her. We're going to start teaching her friend Victoria and her together. She's a golden investigator (when she talks with us! haha)

We also had a pretty interesting lesson with an investigator named Manuel. He's been taking the lessons for 4 months and isn't really progressing. Comes to church every now and then, and won't take a baptismal date. So we went with the 1st counselor in the bishopric (got back from his mish 3 years ago) to try and resolve the doubt - the root of the problem. It pretty much comes down to a lack of faith - he's taking the charlas and reading the book of mormon because "he has sympathy for us (because we come here and leave our families and stuff) and doesn't want to lie to us, or tell us that he hasn't read the book of mormon." Pretty fun charla. We'll see what happens with him.

We had a zone activity last P-day. It was alright. I mostly just played the piano. The 14th ward building has a Clavinova, and I'm with Elder Smeltzer in the zone (finally!) so we rocked it out. We had like a two-hour four-hands jam session. SO MUCH FUN! Elder Smeltzer is the bomb. He's a little methodic, but we play a mean four-hands. He does some interesting chord substitutions when I want to do other chord substitutions, so we end up playing a lot of Δ7b9#11 chords, or lo que sea. Haha dad just laughed, I'm sure.

Thanks for the package! Thank Denise for me. Mike and Ikes are awesome - one of those things you don't know you'll miss until you don't have them. But it is SO humid that they stick together after a couple of days. Loving the pens... they write sooo smooth!

Can you find out a little more about package restrictions into the US? I found out that I can /send/ alfajores without a problem (just lots of money), but the Correo says that I shouldn't send it because the US has lactose import restrictions, and alfajores have milk in them. So the USPS will get it and won't send it on to you guys. So they say.

Look forward to hearing from you! Love you all and I'm praying for you!

Photos, Photos, Photos...

I just uploaded about 300 photos to Elder Thorderson's fan page. Go check them out! http://www.facebook.com/pages/Elder-Steven-Matthew-Thorderson/44913571878?ref=ts

Libia Week 2 (7/13/09)

Hey fam!

We honestly had a pretty bad week last week. I'm sick as a dog with this cold, and it hit me hard this last week. The doctor told me to stay in bed for two days... but there was work to do so we went out in the evening to work those days. So numbers are down. No investigators came to church Sunday. lol Lucia didn't come because last week the Bishop read a letter from the Area Presidency asking that sick people don't come to church because of the Influenza A problem in Argentina. So Lucia didn't come because she's sick. lol at least now we know that she has a testimony of the church leadership! Haha our investigators are a mess... Lucia is sick and can't come to church. Romina's boyfriend's brother got hit by a car riding his moto, so we can't have lessons with her. Manuel wants to keep learning and know everything before he gets baptized... we'll be meeting with him Tuesday with the Bishop to help him find his answer (because he felt the Spirit, just didn't recognize it). The Rodriguez family is awesome, but the dad just started to work days and evenings delivering pizza, so hard to have lessons with them too. But the work is progressing and we're looking forward to finding more people this week!

We had a mission conference last Friday with the new president. He is a stud. Really soft spoken, but full of one-liners, and thus way funny. He says that his focus for the mission in these three years will be to help the missionaries be more sensitive to the whisperings of the Spirit. I'm really excited to learn from him! He says his wife is really direct, really blunt... I'm frankly afraid to talk to her. lol but they're awesome. Only downside to their fam is that two of their kids are down at BYU... too bad, huh?

I made an incredible discovery the other day. I went to make toast (because my diet the last week has been rice and toast) and had the bread all buttered and ready to go. But then Elder Casco asked me for help making french toast, so I showed him the right egg/milk ratio. But then I had french toast mix to use, so I dipped my buttered bread in the eggs and made french toast. INCREDIBLE! Try it, you'll like it.

Birthday package: you could send me some maple extract, because there isn't any here, and Vanilla syrup isn't as good. Also, look for the best deal on an 8 GB flash drive... probably one of those black ones that slides... I've misplaced mine. Luckily, there wasn't anything important on it. I'm devising ways to not lose it.

Pack of letters on the way, and I think I'm all caught up. Mykin needs an address, Aunt Dalene and Uncle Fred need an address verification, Greg is hand delivery. Tina and Corry both get letters this round, I'll get some alfajores over to corry.

Thanks SO MUCH for my priesthood line of authority! I've been studying my patriarchal blessing in my spare time too while I've been out sick... wow! (Try cross-referencing your blessing with the scriptures. Way cool.)

Loved the pictures - Tina looked miserable and I can't wait to hear how Emily reacts to Bear Lake! (Mom note: sent photo of Tina with Swine Flu and Emily reacting to nature, i.e. a bug--she HATES them!)