Letter #9 07/28/01 Goodbye MTC!!!

Hey family!

 

Thanks so so much for all the packages and letters. I think the packages this week were the best i've had so far. And i was glad to hear from the killbournes and get the mint brownies! Those might have been the best mint brownies i've ever had in my life. I actually still have some. I'm glad they sent me there trip journal! I've read like half of it so far and it's really funny. Sounds like it wa a pretty amazing trip. And if you see Taylor's parents you should tell them thanks for the card and the money that they sent me.

 

Sounds like you've been having a fun time out boating! Whenever i ride the bike in the gym i can see Utah lake and i always wonder if you guys are out there. We all finished with gym which kind of sucks.. But i'm so excited to get to Mexico! You guys should send me some pics sometime of your summer. So i guess i don't have to bother about telling you my travel plans.. Be expecting me to call sometime when we're in LA. I might try and call in SLC too, we'll just have to see. If i don't end up calling for some reason then i'm really really sorry. It's kind of weird to think that i'll be talking to you guys in a few days... These last 2 months have flown by. I feel like the MTC has prepared me about as much as possible and now the only way i can learn more is to actually get out there. It's probably going to be tough at first though..

 

This past week Elder Prince has been a little sick. He has some virus in his throat so he's been sleeping quite a bit which means that either Elder Nordfelt or i stays in the room with him while he sleeps. Yesterday was really exciting because we got to walk down the street from the MTC to the doctors to pick up his perscription (it's like a 5 minute walk, but still really cool to leave). If that would have happened 2 weeks ago i would have been going crazy, but it wasn't as exciting knowing that in a few days we're going to be flying to Mexico.

 

My spanish is getting pretty good, or at least i thought that until yesterday.. We were talking to some argintinian girls during lunch in spanish and i thought I was doing really good, but then when we told them that we're leaving to Mexico next week they burst out laughing! It kind of shattered my confidence a little.. But at least we were able to have a normal conversation with them. I really feel like i've learned all i can here. I've memorized everything in the books they give us, now i just have to learn how real mexicans talk, which i can only do in Mexico.

 

To answer your question, the four of us that are going to Culiacan are all on the same flights, but the 3 who are going to Chiwawa are going to Dallas and then to Chiwawa. They have to leave the MTC at 3 in the morning!! Pretty crazy. Elder Prince is going to Chiw by the way. And he's feeling a lot better today so he should be all set to leave. It's kind of sad that i'm not going to see the other 3 again. I love all of them. Our district has gotten really close since we only have 7 people. But a couple of them are going to BYU after so i'll probable see them at some point.

 

Tomorrow we have some big departure conference all day long and i guess we just get instructed on being a missionary all day and have to watch a bunch of videos about being sanitary and everything. I'm not really looking forward to that. I've really loved the MTC though. It's awesome here, even though it's a little like prison. The food is pretty decent and you learn a ton. My testimony has grown more these last 2 months than it has the last 5 years of my life. I know the church is true and i'm so excited to go and bless people! Way more excited than i thought i would be. But i'm really going to miss getting letters and packages every week. And air conditioning and hot showers. Tonight i'm going to take a hot bath. I think it'll be my last chance in 2 years so i'm going to really enjoy it.

 

Anyways have fun at the cabin tonight!! And tell every one i love them!

Letter #8 7/21/11

Hey fam.

 

Happy birthday!!! Love you mom!! This week has been encredibly fast.. It sounds like Killbournes had a blast! They sent me their trip journal. I printed it off and i'm way excited to look through it! I'm pretty jealous of that whole trip, and lake powell right afterwards.. wow. Thanks for the packages! Everything tasted delicous as usual. I kind of wish lexi and mckell would have sent me some more Harry Potter food, haha it's okay though. Sounds like the movie was awesome!! Can't wait to watch it.. in 18 months. It's okay though, I love being a missionary!! And i'm going to love it even more once i'm a real missionary in the real world! Reading Matt's and Tyler's letters gets me so excited! 10 more days!! We should get our flight plans today; not for sure though. But i'll let you know if i do.

 

Dear Mom, thanks for being such an amazing mother. I love you!! And i'm proud of you for walking so much. I wish i could join you. And thanks for sending all those pics! I wanted to put some of the ones of Lexi and Mckell up on my desk but i think they're a little immodest.. It's okay though, i put the one of Dad with his sunglasses on. My companions tell me i look just like him. I also have a pic of grandma and grandpa :) I love them! Please continue sending pics, It's the absolute best. But maybe a pic of our whole family sometime during my mission? Just a thought.

 

Sounds like Powell was a blast!! I saw that Kameron was getting some major air.. Looks like i might have some competion. Haha. And Congrats to Lexi for winning the competition. It sounds like it was a pretty big deal. I'm a little dissapointed in Kameron... Haha. So in a next package maybe you could send some clean and pure face lotion, some burtz beez, possibly a watch if you remember that one that i bought last summer from wallmart, i showed lexi too. You don't need to, but it's a brown one, i think Timex brand. But it's like 30 bucks, if you see one like it that's cheaper that'll be good. Or just don't send me one. It doesn't matter, and possible another journal. I love the one Mckell gave me though! I just think i might fill it up at some point. And for my Missionary plack i want Alma 26:12. Please.

 

I see Taylor all the time during meals and in my classroom building. We talk quite a bit. I see brandon around but i normally only get to talk to him on Sundays. Once he sat by me at a fireside so that was nice and we got to talk quite a bit. He actually just tapped on my shoulder as i was writing that to say hello. Haha kind of funny. He was coming to write his letter i guess. He's still really buff. Last week we took a picture with a lot of Alta kids. We had 16 total and i know there's more that didn't show up. I'll make sure to send it home to you.

 

So about Elder Prince. He's awesome! He's one of those really smart genius kids. I seriously think he's the best White American Missionary in the MTC at speaking spanish. He also got a really really high ACT score but he'd probably be mad if i told you. But it was one less than perfect. He really like running, so i run with him during gym a lot. He really brings a lot to our companionship. He went to BYU and i think lived in Heratage. He went to bingham highschool.

 

We taught the old lady at the TRC again. She almost fell asleep multiple times but we'd just start talking really loud and ask her questions so i don't think she ever actually fell asleep. The Spanish is coming along pretty good. I am definately improving every day. It all makes perfect sense in my head, but it's a little harder to speak. I can understand everything our teachers say though. After a little time i'm sure i'll be able to speak it as well as i know it. I hope.. It's pretty crazy that i'll be in mexico in less than 2 weeks!! I'm extremely excited.

 

Love you guys!

 

 

Letter #7 7/14/11

Hey family!

I'm glad you guys had fun at Lake Powell! I haven't had much time to really get sad that i'm not there, but i definately am pretty jealous. I hope you send pictures and tell me everthing! I sure do hope that the you guys were able to do the poop decks without me and matt. Haha i'm sure Slater and Parker stepped it up. And tell Amy thanks for sending that package! And same with Sue Shipman! She sent me applesauce cookies. They're delicous! I always used to eat them at brandon's house.

This week has been pretty good. Not much has happened. But the older district left, which is kind of sad. They were a lot of fun, and i made pretty good friends with a lot of them. And they also ate a lot of my food.. We already got a new district though, they're all pretty nice. Only one of them is from utah though. And last sunday i gave a talk in sacrament! Our sacrament meetings are just our zones so there's not that many people. The way the talks work is pretty cool though. Everyone writes a talk, and then they announce who's giving it right after the sacrament. So it's always a surprise. And the talks are in all spanish! Only five minutes though.. The point is so that we all have a bunch of talks written for once we get to mexico, but i can't see myself ever giving one of these talks to real mexicans. I don't spend much time on them because none of our presidency speaks spanish. So it's just the missionaries who understand what you're saying but if you talk fast enough then the majority of the missionaries have no clue either. I basically just say the same thing over and over again in a bunch of different ways.

The most exciting thing that happened this week was on Tuesday. We taught a real Mexican! She was from Mexico City! She's here visiting family and decided she's volunteer at the MTC. She didn't speak any English so it was awesome! We taught her the restoration and she understood everthing we told her. Only i only got like 3/4 of what she said. She was extremely nice though. I love mexicans! Teaching her, and having the older district leave really just made me want to go to Mexico. All of our teachers tell us that as far as the spanish goes, we're as prepared as the majority of people leaving. And i believe it because the district that just left is not too good. Our district really works hard at spanish. We have English fasts a lot, and we try to always speak as much spanish as we can. Even when we're just in our rooms or at lunch. I can tell that doing that really makes a big difference because the older district hardly ever did that and it really showed.

The gym has been closed this whole week so we've been going outside everyday. I always run around the field with elder prince. It's always a little strange though because they're so many real world people that run on the side-walk. And some are girls our age, we never know what to do so we normally just act like we see something on the mountain and point in the opposite direction when we pass the runners. I'm pretty sure they can fell the awkwardness though.. haha

Getting my visa was so awesome!! We got to drive to Salt Lake in the MTC bus, then just sat in the consult for a couple hours. It was pretty weird driving past Draper. I tried taking pictures of lone peak but it was pretty cloudy. It was really nice to get into the real world for a little bit though. And now i know for sure that i'll be able to go to Mexico! That's a huge relief. The other Elders in our district are going to Chiwawa and they still haven't gotten theirs.

Well i hope to hear from you guys soon. And Please send me pictures!! And that's really exciting about Nick and Chase!!!

Love landon

Letter #6 07/07/11 Visa is here!!

Hey family!

Thanks for everything! I'm loving all the packages! I'm glad you guys haven't forgotten about me yet. I'm especially loving recieving mints :) And everything else. The new district doens't really get much food so pretty much every night they're in my room snacking on everything. They're all pretty jealous. I hope you're having an awesome time at girls camp! And you guys are going to powell on saturday? Wow... i'm a little jealous of that. But i hope you have fun! You should definately send me some pictures and let me know how it was. And i hope the Killbournes had an awesome time in europe!! That's pretty exciting. Are they back yet?

This week has been pretty crazy. Saturday we got to watch the fireworks! I couldn't hear any of the music though... We had to stay in the MTC campus but you could still see everything pretty well. And we got to stay up until 11:15! They actually forced us to.. I think i'm still recovering from that 45 minutes of sleep i lost. It was a good way to celebrate the 4th though. We also had a little devotional right beforehand and it was awesome! And on sunday we had a few changes in our district. Elder Nordfelt got made District Leader and the old district leader one of his companions got made zone leaders. They were in a trio so now me and elder nordfelt have their other companion so now we're in a trio. His name is Elder Prince. He's from South Jordan, and went to BYU. He's a really nice elder. And he's extremely good at spanish. Elder Nordfelt is also really good at spanish. I'm probable the worst in our companionship. I won't lie it's a little frustrating. I think i should be learning it faster than this. But Elder Prince is going to be a really big help. But at the same time i'm a little worried that i won't be able to get as much time in our lessons to teach our fake investigators. I really need to work on my teaching and i probably won't get quite as much practice now.. But that's allright because i really can learn a ton from both Elder Nordfelt and Elder Prince.

It's pretty crazy, the oldest district in our zone is leaving on monday. I really like all of them and i'm definately going to miss them. about half of them are going to Villahermosa so maybe matt will see them at some point! They're all really awesome. And it's crazy that they're leaving because when i got here they'd only been here for 3 weeks. Time is flying by! I'm thinking that i'm really not going to know that much spanish when i'm out of here. It seems like the other district doesn't really now that much more than us and they're leaving in 4 days. I actually think we know more than some of them. I'm going to really study hard until i'm out of here. I want to be as ready as possible.

And i have more good news! Our Visas came! We're going today to get them. We get to go to salt lake city!! I'm pretty excited to drive past draper. I hear that it takes anywhere from 3-5 hours to do it. I hope it's closer to 5. And i hear you can sleep! I'm pretty excited. Only i kind of wish that we weren't going on our P-day. I'm not going to have that much time to write and prepare today. The temple is closed for the next couple weeks.. I'm pretty bummed. I'll only get to go one more time before i go to Mexico! And chances are i won't be able to go in Mexico..

I've seen Brandon quite a bit and got to talk to him for a while on Sunday. And yesterday i talked to Taylor for a while during lunch. Both of their classrooms are in my same building so i'm going to look for them more often. Both Kyle and Austin are leaving next week! It's crazy. I think we're all going to get together at the map and take a picture sometime before they leave. It's pretty hard to coordinate these things with everyone's different schedules though.

The gym is closed for the next 10 days!! I'm bummed because i was just starting to enjoy basketball.. It's okay though i like going outside too.. Elder Prince and i always run around the feild a few times then play soccer or something.

I'm still loving it here! I think it basically just gets better the longer you're here. I'm loving both of our teachers. One of them is going to teach seminary this fall and he is seriously awesome and really helps us with our teaching and feeling the spirit. The other is just really funny. He teaches us a lot, but also just makes us laugh a lot. The balance eachother out pretty well.

You don't need to worry about a camelback or anything. If i decide i want one i can just buy one. And no Elder Nordfelt doesn't have a girlfriend. He's never kissed a girl. It's a little weird, my whole distric is like that...

I hope you guys have an awesome time at Lake Powell!! I love you!!