What's good fam? it was great to get to talk to you all for that long of time, it was just what I needed. Im sure you are all anxious to hear about the Guatemala CCM so I'll get right to it.
Compared to the Provo CCM which was kind of like a boarding school feel, this CCM has like a preschool kindergarden feel to it. Seriously, at seven thirty every day we have snack time, where we have a fifteen minute break to go get some donuts and juice or something like that its way sick. The weather has been a pretty consistent 70-80 degrees, which has been way nice. The humidity hasn't even been that bad except for today! This morning I could see my breath even though it was like 60 degrees it was weird.
All of the native Spanish speakers are so nice to all of us Nortes. They are in a separate district but I still get to talk to them a lot. They are really funny. My companion is 6 foot six inches tall named elder A so he really towers over everyone. A lot of them are maybe a little taller than Maddie. They all struggle with both of our very German names, its always a treat to try to hear them butcher both of our names.
The food here is amazing, all homemade, we have had some authentic stuff but also hamburgers, lasagna, its very good. They have this Mango Juice that you can get every meal but I am trying to be careful not to drink too much. I have heard that It can wreak havoc on your system.
What else... oh Spanish, its getting much better, I am more immersed than I was in Provo but still not completely but I feel a lot more comfortable with spanish which is good. Last sunday we went to church in this tiny chapel directly to the East? of the temple. It didn't have air conditioning but it is just awesome to have the windows open and hear the birds singing in the background. Between that and the palm trees I feel like I'm in paradise.
Unfortunately I can't send pictures from here but as soon as I can I will send you the ones I have. If you google the Guatemalan city temple that is literally a couple hundred yards from where I am staying. I haven't really gotten to go out into the city yet, supposedly on our next p-day we will go on a tour, should be pretty fun. Guatemala City is kind of a weird place, they have dominoes, burger king, etc. really nice cars like audis, or porches, but you also see just the most beat up beaters you have ever seen driving along the road. Its weird to see such a big income gap.
On p-days some of the ward members bring stuff to sell to the missionaries, most of it is pretty cool but it all says Guatemala on it so I'm not really gonna spend too much, I did buy a tie for about 15 quetzals which is about 2 dollars. It is actually a pretty cool looking tie. I might pick up a few more just to add some more variety. Its really all I have to change.
At nights its really funny to hear all of the latinos sing american songs, the other night they were singing I gotta feeling, and Imma Be by the Black Eyed Peas, or Call Me Maybe, I guess there is no where on earth you can get away from pop music.
Sorry if this letter has been really scatterbrained, I am just trying to get as much written down as I can, since I have to read your emails and then write my half hour is stretched pretty thin. This keyboard also doesn't have an enter key that works so no paragraphs for you.
Anyway it sounds like you guys are all doing well, busy but well. I hope Katie is doing okay too, she seemed fine when I saw her but It can be overwhelming at times. Its weird to think that in three weeks from yesterday i will be in the field. its kinda hard to believe, I'm pretty sure I have lived my whole life in the CCM, I will be taking a bus down there too just so you know, but the person I was talking to said it will be something like a greyhound which was reassuring because there are all of these crazily painted old school buses that are packed full of people that zip around Guatemala City, the drivers are seriously crazy. Three hours in that wouldn't be fun at all.
All right everyone, I love you all and have a great week.
Elder Schriever
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Friday, January 25, 2013
Guatemala - Arrival
Hey i have like five minutes to email you and let you know that I made it here okay, the food here is way good, and my district is awesome. I found out that I will take a bus over to El Salvador in a couple weeks, should be an interesting trip. pday is on wednesdays so youll hear from me then. aparently you can send dear elders to this mtc too, but im not sure how. well i gotta go but have a good week and i love you all.
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Leaving For Sure
just wanted to shoot you guys a quick email to let you know i'm leaving for sure tommorow, Ill call from LAX from around 9:30 PM on the 23rd Love you all lots and talk to you soon!
Elder SChriever
Elder SChriever
Friday, January 18, 2013
MTC Week 5
Fam!
This week has been kinda crazy, after the letdown of not getting to talk to you guys, and not going to Guatemala for a week I was a little bummed out. But i'm doing fine now. The five minute conversation was almost worse than nothing because it reminded me how much I miss you guys. but this wednesday we can talk for almost as long as we want. My Spanish is actually getting alot better, even one of my teachers told me that over the past week my Spanish has gotten a lot better, which is really good since starting on wednesday thats all I will be able to speak. but on Tuesday after I would have left, Elder Holland came and spoke at the MTC which was way cool, he also rededicated three of the buildings here that had been remodeled, It was an awesome meeting and I really enjoyed it alot. just so you guys know i haven't really gained much weight! I am sitting around 190 right now but with an hour of Gym every day I have actually gained some muscle mass, it really makes me happy. BTW how are you guys doing on your goals? I really hope that you try to work on all of them, I put alot of thought into what I should challange each of you to do.
Anyway life here is kinda how it always is class, gym, eat, sleep repeat. It is kinda all bluring into one big memory. But I am trying to keep a daily journal, and I have written almost a whole page every day, Sometimes it's hard to think of what to write but I know that someday in the future I will be thankful for the time that I spent recording what I did and how I feel. Its weird to think that it has been almost a whole month! It has flown by so quickly! it seems like only yesterday i was at home getting ready to leave! weird! thank you all so much for the letters that you send me, it really makes my day when I get to hear about how you are doing and whats going on! will you all do something for me? I have a couple songs that I really wish I could listen to that are always stuck in my head and if you guys could listen to them for me maybe vicariously it will help me get it out of my head. I wish I could listen to: Simple song, Australia, Battle Born, New Slang, Carry On (F.U.N.) and Kill your heroes by AWOLNATION. It turns out Elder N is a Killers and Shins fan, so alot of times we will both start singing songs from the killers' or shins' new albums and it brightens my day. yesterday I think we sang simple song all of the way through, it was glorious.
It's weird because I can feel my english starting to slip, alot of times when i try to write Christ, it comes out Crist, because in spanish "Cristo" doesnt have the h in it, I never had very good grammer but I feel like my English is getting worse. Im just grateful I don't have to learn Chinese. I was in the bookstore and I saw a chinese copy of the bible, I flipped though i and it made me apreaciate Spanish so much more! also there was something that I thought was armenian? and It looked imposible, its just a bunch of swoops, strange. anyway i'm almost out of time. But I love you all and hope you guys are doing well.
Love,
Elder Schriever
This week has been kinda crazy, after the letdown of not getting to talk to you guys, and not going to Guatemala for a week I was a little bummed out. But i'm doing fine now. The five minute conversation was almost worse than nothing because it reminded me how much I miss you guys. but this wednesday we can talk for almost as long as we want. My Spanish is actually getting alot better, even one of my teachers told me that over the past week my Spanish has gotten a lot better, which is really good since starting on wednesday thats all I will be able to speak. but on Tuesday after I would have left, Elder Holland came and spoke at the MTC which was way cool, he also rededicated three of the buildings here that had been remodeled, It was an awesome meeting and I really enjoyed it alot. just so you guys know i haven't really gained much weight! I am sitting around 190 right now but with an hour of Gym every day I have actually gained some muscle mass, it really makes me happy. BTW how are you guys doing on your goals? I really hope that you try to work on all of them, I put alot of thought into what I should challange each of you to do.
Anyway life here is kinda how it always is class, gym, eat, sleep repeat. It is kinda all bluring into one big memory. But I am trying to keep a daily journal, and I have written almost a whole page every day, Sometimes it's hard to think of what to write but I know that someday in the future I will be thankful for the time that I spent recording what I did and how I feel. Its weird to think that it has been almost a whole month! It has flown by so quickly! it seems like only yesterday i was at home getting ready to leave! weird! thank you all so much for the letters that you send me, it really makes my day when I get to hear about how you are doing and whats going on! will you all do something for me? I have a couple songs that I really wish I could listen to that are always stuck in my head and if you guys could listen to them for me maybe vicariously it will help me get it out of my head. I wish I could listen to: Simple song, Australia, Battle Born, New Slang, Carry On (F.U.N.) and Kill your heroes by AWOLNATION. It turns out Elder N is a Killers and Shins fan, so alot of times we will both start singing songs from the killers' or shins' new albums and it brightens my day. yesterday I think we sang simple song all of the way through, it was glorious.
It's weird because I can feel my english starting to slip, alot of times when i try to write Christ, it comes out Crist, because in spanish "Cristo" doesnt have the h in it, I never had very good grammer but I feel like my English is getting worse. Im just grateful I don't have to learn Chinese. I was in the bookstore and I saw a chinese copy of the bible, I flipped though i and it made me apreaciate Spanish so much more! also there was something that I thought was armenian? and It looked imposible, its just a bunch of swoops, strange. anyway i'm almost out of time. But I love you all and hope you guys are doing well.
Love,
Elder Schriever
Friday, January 11, 2013
MTC Week 4
What's good fam?
Well its been another great week here at the MTC, in response to your questions: Right now I am in a trio with Elder N and B. It has gone alot better than I thought it would, I thought that it would be hard to get three people to go to the bathroom at the same time and still be friends but somehow it works. You guys were right, my layover is from 9:30 PM on the 15th to 12:30 AM on the 16th, It will be a big day for me becuase not only will I be in California for the first time, but I will also be leaving the United States for the first time also weird. I haven't heard too much about the Guat CCM, but I do know that they CCM and the Guatemala City Temple are in the same compound as each other. Im kinda hoping that they let us go out into the city and contact and get used to being out in the real world, but who knows. Dad: just put the guns in my room they should be clean enough to be left alone but you you guys go shooting again you'll want to clean them just a little bit. I will try my best to find an amanita if they let us out of the compound when we're down there but if they don't ill just have to look for one in El Salvador, I'm sure they have them there too. I'm sad that I'm gonna miss Katie in the MTC but i'm excited for her to get out in the field, wish her good luck for me
In answer to your question mom I have been lucky enough to never have gotten the flu, which is a huge blessing on new years day Elder G threw up probably ten times, not fun. I was suprised to hear about the Camry Catastrophe, but the important thing is that no one was hurt. Despite Grandpa's famous line "fingers and toes heal, but tools never grow back" people are more important than cars. Thanks so much for all of your letters every time I get something in the mail it makes my whole day better, even if it is Dad gloating over the fact that he can listen to Bon Iver and I can't. actually today I had "the grand illusion" by STYX stuck in my head, no idea why. its funny how when you are really tired you think of the weirdest songs that you haven't listened too in forever. okay this computer is kinda freaking out right now so ill try to write what I can, I actually feel like my spanish is coming along fairly well, at least my "mormon missionary lesson spanish", so basically I can teach a lesson fairly well but if I try and have a normal conversation with someone I am clueless, my hope is that once I get to Guatemala i won't be able to speak English at all and I will learn alot faster. I guess We will just have to see. Other than that not a whole lot goes on here in the MTC, we try to make it fun and enjoyable and i find myself laughing alot. I have never laughed until I cried very much before being here at the MTC, It helps being super tired and having your brains so scrambled after learning all day that you can't think. okay several of you have mentioned in your email about the missionary mutual activities, would you want to ask Brother McC if he wants me to write a letter to the YM/YW about what the MTC is like? anyway from what i can tell from your letters you are all having a good time. the only thing that I wish you guys would do is just tell me stories in detail and don't assume that other people are telling them, its happened several times where everyone is telling me a story (Anna's Camry fiasco for example) and everyone says "i'm sure everyone will tell you all about this story so ill just make this quick" and I don't get to hear the entire story. it's kinda funny actually. But I love to hear whats going on. anyway love you guys lots and talk to you soon!
Con amor,
Elder Schriever
Well its been another great week here at the MTC, in response to your questions: Right now I am in a trio with Elder N and B. It has gone alot better than I thought it would, I thought that it would be hard to get three people to go to the bathroom at the same time and still be friends but somehow it works. You guys were right, my layover is from 9:30 PM on the 15th to 12:30 AM on the 16th, It will be a big day for me becuase not only will I be in California for the first time, but I will also be leaving the United States for the first time also weird. I haven't heard too much about the Guat CCM, but I do know that they CCM and the Guatemala City Temple are in the same compound as each other. Im kinda hoping that they let us go out into the city and contact and get used to being out in the real world, but who knows. Dad: just put the guns in my room they should be clean enough to be left alone but you you guys go shooting again you'll want to clean them just a little bit. I will try my best to find an amanita if they let us out of the compound when we're down there but if they don't ill just have to look for one in El Salvador, I'm sure they have them there too. I'm sad that I'm gonna miss Katie in the MTC but i'm excited for her to get out in the field, wish her good luck for me
In answer to your question mom I have been lucky enough to never have gotten the flu, which is a huge blessing on new years day Elder G threw up probably ten times, not fun. I was suprised to hear about the Camry Catastrophe, but the important thing is that no one was hurt. Despite Grandpa's famous line "fingers and toes heal, but tools never grow back" people are more important than cars. Thanks so much for all of your letters every time I get something in the mail it makes my whole day better, even if it is Dad gloating over the fact that he can listen to Bon Iver and I can't. actually today I had "the grand illusion" by STYX stuck in my head, no idea why. its funny how when you are really tired you think of the weirdest songs that you haven't listened too in forever. okay this computer is kinda freaking out right now so ill try to write what I can, I actually feel like my spanish is coming along fairly well, at least my "mormon missionary lesson spanish", so basically I can teach a lesson fairly well but if I try and have a normal conversation with someone I am clueless, my hope is that once I get to Guatemala i won't be able to speak English at all and I will learn alot faster. I guess We will just have to see. Other than that not a whole lot goes on here in the MTC, we try to make it fun and enjoyable and i find myself laughing alot. I have never laughed until I cried very much before being here at the MTC, It helps being super tired and having your brains so scrambled after learning all day that you can't think. okay several of you have mentioned in your email about the missionary mutual activities, would you want to ask Brother McC if he wants me to write a letter to the YM/YW about what the MTC is like? anyway from what i can tell from your letters you are all having a good time. the only thing that I wish you guys would do is just tell me stories in detail and don't assume that other people are telling them, its happened several times where everyone is telling me a story (Anna's Camry fiasco for example) and everyone says "i'm sure everyone will tell you all about this story so ill just make this quick" and I don't get to hear the entire story. it's kinda funny actually. But I love to hear whats going on. anyway love you guys lots and talk to you soon!
Con amor,
Elder Schriever
Monday, January 7, 2013
No Dice
Whats good fam?
Well elder g needs to pack up to leave for guatemala so i get an extra half p-day! I heard that you could send pictures on the computers in the laundry room and it looks like you can but I guess you need to have an SD card reader to be able to send pictures on an email. bummer, hopefully I can send pictures in a week or so when I get to the guatemalan ccm. i send an email to dad earlier but in case you didn't get it ill write a little repeat stuff. i got an email from the president of the guatemalan ccm and on the 17th d. todd christofferson will be at a "live and in person" devotional, not quite sure what that means but with no more than a hundred missionaries i hope that we will get a chance to shake his hand or something. way exciting! other than that not a whole lot happens here at the ccm, we eat food, study, go to the gym, and sleep. but i actually do like it here. also thank you guys so much for all of your letters, it honestly makes my day when i get to hear from you guys.
Im trying to think of the music that gets stuck in my head here, surprisingly beck has been something that i sing to my self alot, maybe its because of some of the spanish that is in his song but me an a couple other guys on the floor have been known to start sing "ssooooooyyyyy uuun peerrrdddiiddoorrr, i'm a loser baby, so why don't you kill me!" that and que onda quero, but im the only one who knows that one. what else, elder n is a huge killers fan, he was front row at the concert in orem, and so sometimes before we go to bed or at lunch we will sing miss atomic bomb, runaways, or battleborn. we got to keep ourselves entertained somehow. well my time is almost up, I spent too much time trying to send pictures. but before i go i want to ask a few questions.
1. how are all of you doing on the challanges i left you
2. do you guys like the WiiU? we have been trying to decide if it is a gimmick or not
make sure you guys are home on January 15th, tuesday from 9:30 PM to 12:30 AM because thats when my layover at LAX is so thats when i will get to call
Eli, I saw Jared K here at the MTC it was pretty cool to see a familiar face. good luck at school and study hard.
Buena Suerte!
Elder Schriever
Well elder g needs to pack up to leave for guatemala so i get an extra half p-day! I heard that you could send pictures on the computers in the laundry room and it looks like you can but I guess you need to have an SD card reader to be able to send pictures on an email. bummer, hopefully I can send pictures in a week or so when I get to the guatemalan ccm. i send an email to dad earlier but in case you didn't get it ill write a little repeat stuff. i got an email from the president of the guatemalan ccm and on the 17th d. todd christofferson will be at a "live and in person" devotional, not quite sure what that means but with no more than a hundred missionaries i hope that we will get a chance to shake his hand or something. way exciting! other than that not a whole lot happens here at the ccm, we eat food, study, go to the gym, and sleep. but i actually do like it here. also thank you guys so much for all of your letters, it honestly makes my day when i get to hear from you guys.
Im trying to think of the music that gets stuck in my head here, surprisingly beck has been something that i sing to my self alot, maybe its because of some of the spanish that is in his song but me an a couple other guys on the floor have been known to start sing "ssooooooyyyyy uuun peerrrdddiiddoorrr, i'm a loser baby, so why don't you kill me!" that and que onda quero, but im the only one who knows that one. what else, elder n is a huge killers fan, he was front row at the concert in orem, and so sometimes before we go to bed or at lunch we will sing miss atomic bomb, runaways, or battleborn. we got to keep ourselves entertained somehow. well my time is almost up, I spent too much time trying to send pictures. but before i go i want to ask a few questions.
1. how are all of you doing on the challanges i left you
2. do you guys like the WiiU? we have been trying to decide if it is a gimmick or not
make sure you guys are home on January 15th, tuesday from 9:30 PM to 12:30 AM because thats when my layover at LAX is so thats when i will get to call
Eli, I saw Jared K here at the MTC it was pretty cool to see a familiar face. good luck at school and study hard.
Buena Suerte!
Elder Schriever
Off Schedule Email
well i realize that this email will come as a bit of a surprise but i promise i am doing it "legally" elder G is packing up for the ccm in guatemala so we have a half p-day today which is kinda cool. by the way the shift key on this keyboard isn't working so i apoligize for that it's actually bothering me alot. i've heard that the computers here in the laundry room can send pictures so im gonna try and figure that out. I just got an email that said that d todd christopherson will be at the guatemalan ccm the day after i get there for a meet and greet thing! should be way cool/fun. other than that not a whole lot has happened, nothing much has happened since my last email but ill try to get these pictures on an email so you guys can see what it's like here at the ccm.
Friday, January 4, 2013
Going to Guatemala
i just picked up my travel info from the travel office i am going to the guatemalan mtc for sure! expect a call on Januarty 15th from 10-12 PM!!!!!!
MTC Week 3
Well this week has actually been pretty intersting, in response to your questions about my companion, he is from Sandy Utah. He is a football player. One of the other Elders in my district is Elder N, from Provo and I asked him if he knew Henry L and he does! kinda cool. anyways about this week. Yeah the MTC got hit really hard with some sort of stomach flu, there were some zones I heard about where half the missionaries were throwing up. Pretty nasty. Elder G got really sick and threw up probably over a dozen times and the other two elders in my district were feeling pretty sick. I didn't get touched though which was really nice, I guess all those years of never using hand sanitizer and strengtheing my immune system has payed off.
Okay now for a kinda funny story, so every week in Sacrament meeting we don't know who is going to speak and so they tell us what the topic is, and we are all supposed to prepare a 3 minute talk in Spanish to give in the meeting, and after the sacrament has been passed they tell us who will be speaking. Well I figured that since it was only my second Sunday here that they wouldn't call me up so I didn't really even prepare anything. unfortunatly I got called up and stumbled through a one to two minute talk in Spanish about baptism. It was really embarassing! we had a lesson two days ago with my teacher Brother R, it was the first time we were teaching "Roberto" and before all of our mock investigators had been cooperative and really easy to teach. not so much with Brother R, we had a horrible lesson, here is my english version of what is sounded like in Spanish:
"Hello how is family" "good and yours" "good" "so we to have a message about restorized gospel of Jesus Christ, a ten and four year young named Joseph Smith prayed to jesus to know what church truth, and God the father and Jesus Christ the son to appear him. he recieve the priesthood and we translated the book of Mormon" "where did he get the priesthood" "three spirits... no ... uhhh angels who was Peter, James, and.... this other guy gave it to him" "so your telling me that this kid, Joseph Smith got the priesthood from Peter, James, and this other guy and saw God and Jesus, you mormons are crazy" "we know these things are true you gotta believe us, oh and by the way your bible incorrect"
you can imagine how well that went over, its really hard to explain difficult or sensitive ideas in broken spanish but hopefully Elder G and I will get better soon. Oh, by the way He is leaving for the Guatemalan CCM this Tuesday! I don't know for sure but im guessing that that means that I am going too! I should get my flight itinerary tommorow and know for sure if I am going by about next friday. but I think it looks like I will be going to the Guatemalan CCM pretty exciting.
Dad in answer to your questions:
1 Elder G is from SLC area and unfortunatley the MTC computers won't let me send pictures
2 only Elder R is going to ES-SA/B and he is my zone leader
3 not yet
4 already answered in previous paragraph
5 Not quite thinking or dreaming in Spanish yet but I'll keep trying
I don't need anything really, not word on dropbox , and not sure about the transfers
Sorry guys im running out of time I tried to fit as much as I could in this email as possible. It sounds like you are all doing really well, and I hope you guys are all working on the challenges that I gave you. I love you all and hope that you are doing fantastic. oh and happy 2013!
Love
Elder Schriever
Okay now for a kinda funny story, so every week in Sacrament meeting we don't know who is going to speak and so they tell us what the topic is, and we are all supposed to prepare a 3 minute talk in Spanish to give in the meeting, and after the sacrament has been passed they tell us who will be speaking. Well I figured that since it was only my second Sunday here that they wouldn't call me up so I didn't really even prepare anything. unfortunatly I got called up and stumbled through a one to two minute talk in Spanish about baptism. It was really embarassing! we had a lesson two days ago with my teacher Brother R, it was the first time we were teaching "Roberto" and before all of our mock investigators had been cooperative and really easy to teach. not so much with Brother R, we had a horrible lesson, here is my english version of what is sounded like in Spanish:
"Hello how is family" "good and yours" "good" "so we to have a message about restorized gospel of Jesus Christ, a ten and four year young named Joseph Smith prayed to jesus to know what church truth, and God the father and Jesus Christ the son to appear him. he recieve the priesthood and we translated the book of Mormon" "where did he get the priesthood" "three spirits... no ... uhhh angels who was Peter, James, and.... this other guy gave it to him" "so your telling me that this kid, Joseph Smith got the priesthood from Peter, James, and this other guy and saw God and Jesus, you mormons are crazy" "we know these things are true you gotta believe us, oh and by the way your bible incorrect"
you can imagine how well that went over, its really hard to explain difficult or sensitive ideas in broken spanish but hopefully Elder G and I will get better soon. Oh, by the way He is leaving for the Guatemalan CCM this Tuesday! I don't know for sure but im guessing that that means that I am going too! I should get my flight itinerary tommorow and know for sure if I am going by about next friday. but I think it looks like I will be going to the Guatemalan CCM pretty exciting.
Dad in answer to your questions:
1 Elder G is from SLC area and unfortunatley the MTC computers won't let me send pictures
2 only Elder R is going to ES-SA/B and he is my zone leader
3 not yet
4 already answered in previous paragraph
5 Not quite thinking or dreaming in Spanish yet but I'll keep trying
I don't need anything really, not word on dropbox , and not sure about the transfers
Sorry guys im running out of time I tried to fit as much as I could in this email as possible. It sounds like you are all doing really well, and I hope you guys are all working on the challenges that I gave you. I love you all and hope that you are doing fantastic. oh and happy 2013!
Love
Elder Schriever
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