WEEK 2

This week has largely been similar to last week. Turns out that the
first investigator you have to teach (in my case, Juan) is usually
just one of the teachers pretending to be an investigator. At our
fourth visit, he had finally begun to read the Book of Mormon, and
soon after that we taught him other laws such as the Word of Wisdom,
tithing and chastity, and he accepted the invitation to be baptized in
two months. Every day with regular classes, I have had lessons on how
to teach people more effectively, and we have studied how to greet
people when knocking on doors and how to teach the first discussion.
My Spanish is starting to get better, but still broken and not very
fluent as my brain takes time to calculate the conjugations of words I
need to use. This week I will be teaching two investigators - one,
Augustin, who is actually my regular teacher masquerading as an
investigator for our class, and another one, Daniel De Moura, who is
from Brazil and studied 4 years of Spanish. He could possibly be a
real investigator (although I can't be sure). During the appointment
yesterday, Daniel told me and Elder Torp that he had an open mind to
learn about Jesus Christ, likes the Mormon culture and might apply to
BYU, but isn't quite sure why we need religion. After all, he was
raised Catholic, and the early Portuguese settlers who brought the
Catholic Church to Brazil also took the native people into slavery.
Why can't science and good ethics be enough, he wonders? After
teaching we left Hermana Valle behind in Building 4 (my companion and
I were not the very last to leave) but thankfully the other sisters
found her and brought her to dinner.

I haven't slept here as well as back at home; waking up feels somewhat
like getting up for seminary because it's still dark and I often wake
up in advance of the alarm, just like in school. The food is very much
like the Cannon Center except that you only have time to get one set
of plates (it often takes 15 minutes in line before you can eat, and
sometimes almost 30). Also, I've been drinking club soda about every
day now that they have that in the fountain drink machines. There is
no soft serve ice cream but there are ice cream bars and sometimes BYU
Creamery ice cream. I have also seen two people I knew from my
seminary class, Amity Poulsen and Ben Bartschi.

I also have some other interesting news. My companion was originally
put in the advanced class, but later someone decided intermediate
might be better for him. However, his bishop and other leaders were
not notified about this so his MTC date stood at 8/10 where it would
have been for the advanced class. They should have moved his MTC date
to 7/20 to allow him time to get through the intermediate track but
this change was never made. As such, he will be leaving the MTC next
Tuesday at 3:30am, and we will be having a "transfer day" then and I
will have a new companion for my last 3 weeks at the MTC, most likely
Elder Martin, Monteiro or Silva. Elder Torp will have to pack his bags
and move out and go to Infield Orientation and Departure Devotional in
a companion exchange while I am still in class/choir. Also, I found
that my companion was born at about exactly the same time I was -
sometime very early in the morning of November 19, 1996 but on the
east coast.

As you can see, the schedule is not that much different from what I
had at BYU - I spend most time at classroom buildings studying and am
only in the dorms for sleeping and changing clothes, although I return
back there about 90 minutes earlier. The temple endowment last week
was in English. Devotional and choir were great this Sunday - the
Nashville Tribute Band came to perform, and the choir got to sing "I
Was Born", "John's Song" (the Baptist) and "When the Son of Man Comes
Again".

I'm glad that you could have fun going to Kanab and hiking! That must
have been a nice break from work and getting ready for school. I can't
believe school is about to start - it doesn't feel like summer is
ending since I'm at the MTC and the days and weeks blur together. I
hope everyone can enjoy their first day of class, and I'm excited to
continue hearing from you through the DearElder letters! 

Talk again next week!

It's likely now that my companion will actually be here all 6 weeks
because of new travel plans he was given. He was actually able to call
home for that reason. I just got back from the Temple.

Dakota and his companion Elder Torp

WEEK 1

Hola! Cuando estoy en el CCM (MTC) mi dia de preparacion es el martes.
That's Tuesday. It has been quite a busy week. My daily schedule
usually goes as follows:

6:30 Get Up, Dress, Brush Teeth
7:00 Report To Class/Additional Study
7:30 Breakfast
8:05 Class
11:40 Lunch
12:30 Gym Period
1:30 Return To Dorm (to shower and change back into church clothes)
2:00 Class
5:00 Dinner
5:45 Class
9:00 Daily Planning - figure out what the schedule is for tomorrow
9:30 Return to Dorm/Write in Journal
10:15 "Quiet Time" (It's not really quiet; other elders are still
talking loud even though we're not encouraged to) - I use this time to
brush teeth and get ready for bed.
10:30 "Lights Out"
10:45 Turn the lights off for real and try to sleep.

Class, you see, is split up into three blocks: morning, afternoon and
evening. During one block we learn gospel-related phrases in Spanish
with Brother Martin (a BYU student studying neuroscience) In another
block we practice teaching the lessons to an investigator, Juan.
Yesterday he asked us about what we thought the gift of tongues was,
and before he asked why he needed the Book of Mormon if he had the
Bible. In the remaining block, which we call "Ciclo" we do personal,
companionship, or language study without having a teacher in the
classroom. There is a computer lab near the classroom where we have a
language study program, TALL, installed for us to use. In my district
there are seven elders and one sister. The sister, Hermana Valle, has
to be separated from her companions during most of the day and has to
have two elders with her. Everyone in my district is going on
stateside Spanish missions; at least three are going to California,
one to Dallas, Texas, one to Fort Worth, Texas, my companion to
Everett, Washington, and me to Florida. Two of the elders were born in
Brazil and already speak Portuguese, making Spanish easier for them
than a complete beginner.

Free time (including Ciclo ) can be interesting sometimes. Somehow the
subject of leap seconds managed to come up in one of my district's
conversations with my companion, Elder Torp, and one night somebody
said, "I could sure use the extra second of sleep!" Also, I found that
my companion also knows how to make chloroform, and was exposed to it
a bit when his best friend made some (inadvertently) while using
bleach to clean a sink that his girlfriend dripped nail polish remover
into. Thankfully it was late at night and he was planning to sleep
anyway, so he just got a bit tired and got to bed before the
chloroform vapors could knock him out.

On Sunday's the day begins as normal, until 11:00. Just after that
time we have district meeting, then lunch, then 2 hours of church -
first sacrament meeting at 1:00, in Building 11 (we call the sacrament
la Santa Cena, and opening business, sacrament prayers and talks
(other
Than those from the branch presidency) are all in Spanish. All
missionaries are supposed to prepare a 3-5 minute talk, and two are
randomly selected without warning to go up and speak just after the
sacRament is passed. After sacrament I return to Building 8 for
priesthood meeting. My district is broken during this time but I stay
with my companion. After church we walk to the temple. When you first
go to the MTC it can feel a bit like a prison, so any chance to get
off compound and see the outside world, whether to run, play soccer as
my zone did Saturday, or go to the temple, is very thrilling. After
you get there it's about 48 hours until you get to exit the compound
(which is fenced on all sides and has many shade structures up so you
hardly see the sun).

After choir (which attracted thousands of missionaries including me
and my companion) and devotional, which was about converts in Ghana, I
watched a great film called the Character of Christ which showed how
even ordinary people can be Christlike if they just leave behind the
natural man and put others' needs first.
In class we speak mostly Spanish when the teacher is there; not as
much during other blocks. Yesterday for the hour just before lunch we
were supposed to speak only Spanish and had to do push ups if caught
speaking English. I also got my allergy shot early Monday morning.

Here, the mornings are crisp at only 55-60 degrees, and classrooms and
computer labs tend to be cold, although it does still get warm outside
in the afternoon and in the laundromat where I am now. I hope the
weather gets more comfortable for you at home!

I also have seen a few BYU security guards at the MTC. I hear they
patrol the dorms after hours and report any lights left on to the
corresponding missionary's branch president.

To Cass, I hope she does OK with the last bit of reading. I remember
that the AP English students had to read How to Read Literature Like a
Professor when it was my senior year, too. Carly, I enjoyed your
tickling through e-mail and hope you like your play date. Depending on
when I find the camera cable I might send you pictures today or next
week. I'm also excited to do the temple endowment today at the Provo
Temple - probably in Spanish. One week down, five to go. Have a nice
week, and I'll be back next Tuesday!

Also, someone I know from BYU Custodial (Hermana LeVitre) is in my
zone and going to Kansas Spanish speaking. She has class in the same
building I do and I run into her all the time, even when running on
the track.

DAY 1

Today was quite busy but still fun and meaningful. Just after you dropped me off, the host missionary handled my bags for me until I made it to my dorm room. Before that point, I was given a heavy blue bag with all the Spanish language materials and other MTC documents. Next, I packed up my scriptures and important books in the messenger bag which I left in the classroom. I then went to a computer lab to complete an entrance survey and the gym briefing. I then went back to class and met my companion, Elder Torp, at around 1:50. He is from Atlanta, Georgia and will be going to the corner of the country opposite from where I'm going for his mission - Everett, Washington. I was temporarily in a trio with Elder Holmstrom, as well, since his companion's flight was delayed, causing him to arrive late. I am in Zone 24, and everyone in my classes/dorm group is assigned to a Spanish speaking mission. After one hour of class taught almost completely in Spanish, I went to the president's orientation and learned more of my purpose and reasons for being here. Next I went to dinner (at 4:15; normally it will not be quite that early) and then reorganized my bags for the evening's classes. There, I got to see three simulated lessons with investigators - which were all quite interesting. The second investigator did not belong to any religion but still believed God was real because she figured that most human cultures worshipped a Supreme Being - something greater than ourselves - in some form or other. Even Stephen Hawking, she said, thinks of physics as a higher power instead of God. Her questions eventually led us into deep doctrines such as "If God has a body, does that mean he came from another planet?" and she left the lesson confused. Different missionaries from a number of districts helped comment in these lessons. Next, I met my zone leaders and they have given me a short tour of some buildings in the MTC, leading me to Building 2, where I am e-mailing you from in a computer lab. My dorm is in Building 15, most classes are Building 8, church in Building 11 and the cafeteria in Building 1. I know that I still have a long way to go before I can teach lessons effectively and learn to do what's best for the people I teach, but that this is the place to be to prepare to do that. People have different reasons for being curious about the Church, and I have to learn how to address them. It will be good to get through a few more days and settle into the routine of life here. Sleep well!