Week 5

Dear everyone I love,

 

First off, I'd like to start off by congratulating my dad on obtaining one of the HARDEST and MOST REWARDING jobs possible:  Seminary Teacher!  For those of you who are not familiar with seminary or don't know what it is, seminary is a class over scriptures that we members of our church in High School attend.  In Utah and parts of Arizona where there are tons of Mormons, it is taught by paid teachers and it is easily worked into the High School schedule during the day.  However, here in Texas, we do not have that priviledge.  To be able to go to seminary, the teacher AND the high school students must be at a small church building to learn from the Bible and/or Book of Mormon every school day at 6 in the morning BEFORE school starts.  It is NOT an easy thing to attend or teach seminary, but my dad is one of the most capable people that I know for this task.  Good luck Dad!  Hope you love reading the Old Testament this year!

 

Anyway, now about me!  Well, class has been going GREAT and I'm learning a ton of Spanish and Scripture each day.  I've especially gotten pretty good at saying spanish prayers outloud.  Now, you may be wondering, "He shouldn't be boasting like that, should he?"  Well, usually I wouldn't, but I only said that to point out the fact that for the past 2 weeks I everybody in the entire class has had ME say the opening prayer everytime, probably just to frustrate me.  One time I said it about 7 times in a row (we have class twice a day).  Now, here in Provo, it's a much different culture than most people are used to (including me).  But one of the things I like is a saying that they have:  "everytime you say a prayer your future wife gets hotter!"  (I think they just say that to get volunteers to say the prayer.)  But if that IS true, then if you see any girl that has been getting significantly attractive and look about as pretty as my sister, Kamille does, then that just might be my future wife.  Haha!

 

Anyway, I've also been loving my gym time here, but unfortunately, ever since it's gotten a little hotter, most of the people went inside instead of playing sand volleyball outside (Utah people think 80 degree dry weather is hot).  Unfortunately, with that, the quality of vball games has been going down.  I tried to play a game yesterday with a bunch of guys and two girls.  However, the guys were so girl-deprived that they focused on flirting with the girls using 2 methods: 1. Acting like idiots.  And 2. Acting like SUPER idiots.  Punting the volleyball and stuff.  Grrr.  Hopefully a real competition is on next time.

 

I'd like to mention how gratefull I am for my parents and the lessons they taught me while I was in High School.  One of them is to not be overly sarcastic ALL THE TIME.  At the time I didn't understand, but I know a couple Elders who, through there sarcasm, have caused some contention or bad feelings.  Pretty sad, because I HATE drama more than anything (unless it's in theatre.)  The next one is how to iron shirts.  It turns out that my "non-iron shirts" are the worst non-iron shirts of all time.....  Sooooooooo, I have to IRON them!  At least I know how to, though!

 

Anyway, I'm running out of time, but I'd like to close with a couple of spiritual thoughts that I got from a recorded devotional by apostle Jeffrey R. Holland.  We missionaries are just about 19 to 21 years old.  We're not scholars or very learned or biblical experts.  So, why and how can WE teach people about the Lord's message?  Holland quoted D & C 42:14-17 "If ye recieve not the spirit, ye shall not teach."  And that's a COMMANDMENT he said.  Without the Holy Ghost guiding us to teach the truth, we cannot and will not teach with effectiveness.  Because the spirit of God knoweth all things and will not lie.  Not to anyone.

 

I've got to go, but I know that this work is of the Lord, even Jesus Christ.  I'm having a blast here, and I hope that all of you are learning while I'm gone too!  Love you!

 

Love

 

Elder Hutchinson

 

ps Luke 15:4-7

Week 4

ASI ES LA VIDA!

 

Querido todo que yo amo,

 

Mi computadora no esta muy buena ahora.  En facto, espero que no se rompa en el medio de esta carta!  Why did I just write that in Spanish?  Because I CAN!!  Still loving it here in the MTC, and I've learned more here in the 3 weeks that I've been here more than I learned in the 3 years of Spanish that I took!  However, it still takes me awhile to translate in my head and I'm on a limited time scale, so I'm definitely NOT writing anymore on this letter.  Especially with this ghetto computor that might break down... I don't want to take anymore chances!

 

Anyway, I'd like to begin this letter by thanking EVERYONE that wrote me a letter this week!  Not only did I recieve a letter from EVERYONE in my immediate family, but I also recieved many others.  That includes the thoughtful one the Lisa Van Gemert wrote me, which also was my first source of the recent good news:  ZANDER AND REBECCA ARE ENGAGED!!  Woohoo!!  I'm so happy for you two, and I know that you're both looking forward to December 16th!  I'm slightly sad though.  Not because you two will be perfectly married and happy in the temple, but because now certain jokes won't make you two feel uncomfortable anymore.  For example, when you two asked for Dad to pay for a trip for you two to go to New York, and Dad replied, "Oh, I'll buy you a trip, but I'm only gonna pay for ONE room!"  Hint, hint.  Nudge, nudge.  Get married, much?  Haha!

 

Anyway, enough about them.  Now, about ME!  I got a haircut today!  I was REALLY nervous because I know that all of the haircutters here are volunteers, and that can get pretty risky.  I WAS gonna write a request that Heather come in for a day to do my hair because I didn't really trust anyone else, but I my hair had really gotten too long.  Even the branch president commented on it (luckily I already had an appointment set up by then, so I wasn't in trouble.)  BUT I got lucky, because the guy who cut my hair is a third generation barber in his family, so he's got some experience.  Missionaries have to get quite a few haircuts to keep their hair short enough for the standards and it can be pretty nerverecking that the person cutting your hair MIGHT not know what their doing.  I just gotta hope it's good every time!  Asi es la vida del misionero!  (I lied about no more spanish).

 

Well, my solo in church definetly went well too.  I sang one of my favorites: "I Stand All Amazed".  It's a song that describes how amazing the act of Jesus's atonement for us really was.  And I sang it better than anything I had sung in my life! It wasn't just a simple, basic arrangement, but I tried to keep it as reverent an inviting of the spirit as possible so that I didn't focus the song on myself, but on Christ.  Fortunately, it worked, because the branch president told me that I did so.  I'm not sure that that's incredibly exciting to everyone else, but as a missionary in the MTC, it was definitely one of the most adreniline pumping things that happened to me this week outside of teaching lessons and Gym time.  Asi es la vida del misionero!

 

Also, I'd just like to take this time of the email to tell of a very spiritual experience that I had here.  On tuesday, we had a devotional given by a member of the seventy, or one of 70 general authorities that take part in leading the church along with the 12 apostles and the prophet.  Anyway, this was a devotional JUST about Christ and his life.  When they described the suffring he did on the cross for us, I just could not fathom the amount of pain he went through for ALL of our sins and suffrings in the garden of Gethsemane which made him bleed from every pore.  Our message is focused souly on JESUS CHRIST.  And we hope to tell that message to the world.  Asi es la vida del misionero.

 

Anyway, I'm running out of time, but I'll try to answer everyone!  Remember, I can ONLY write on P-day (once a week), but you can send me letters anytime! (i know, I'm selfish, right) 

 

Love you all!

 

Elder Hutchinson

Week 3

Dear everyone that I love,

 

I hope I can answer the questions for everybody who is wondering how I'm doing here.  Just to let you know, I'm learning A LOT here!  This is definitely the time in my life where I have studied the most, and I know it's paying off with scriptures AND in Spanish.  I know, because I taught the first lesson to some Native Speakers yesterday in COMPLETE Spanish!  Although I sometimes had to sit and think about what word was correct every few minutes, it was STILL an accomplishment in my eyes.  My district also spoke ALL spanish yesterday.  We were NOT allowed to speak any English.  Needless to say, we were a bit silent yesterday, but it was definitely good practice.  Next week we have 2 completely Spanish days, and then after the 4th week, we speak ALL Spanish ALL the time.  Woo, I'm a bit nervous, but I know it will be necessary, especially since I STILL won't be able to understand the Mexicans when I actually get out there.  But my vocabulary in spanish is expanding A LOT.  I'm thankful that we have the oppurtunity to make a lot of stupid mistakes while we're here rather than while we're with strangers in Mexico.  What's an example?  Hmmm, well let's just say I had to make a Note To Self:  "'Yo estoy embarazada' does NOT mean 'I'm embarrased.' It means 'I'm pregnant'."  Not gonna make THAT mistake!

 

So, I had a pretty different experience around the 4th of July.  We actually celebrated it on the 2nd of July and did absolutely nothing on the actual 4th of July.  (Don't ask me why.) ACTUALLY I got everybody on our floor to sing the "Star Spangled Banner" on the 4th, so that was something.  But anyway, I have a story about that day.  So, I so that my Texas flag, which proudly hangs in my room, still had creases in it from it's packing.  And I was like "man, I wish I could get rid of those."  And then Elder Richards was like, let's iron it!  Sweet!  So, we did, and it worked!  But WHILE we were ironing it, I was like "oh, man, I wish I had an American flag so that I could have it in time of the 4th."  And he said jokingly "Eh, you Texas people don't care about THAT! You just care about the Texas."  And then I had an AWESOME reply and I have never thought of it this way.  I said, "No, we Texans believe in America AND Texas.  It's kind of like the Bible and the Book of Mormon.  They go hand-in-hand."  We then both paused and marveled at what I just said.  IT'S THE TRUTH, BABY! Go Texas!  And America!

 

Well, as you may know, we have class all day, and because of that, you have to get up for a bathroom brake a couple times a day.  Unfortunately, if your companion has to go, but you don't, you STILL have to go with him (not inside the bathroom, just outside the room to the bathroom door.)  Anyway, there sits what is called "La silla del ba~no" or in other words, the bathroom chair.  Some very smart elders must have put that out there awhile ago, because sometimes, you have to wait a loooooong time for your companion while he's in the bathroom and you DON'T want to stand the whole time while he's in there.  Well, that's missionary life for ya.

 

Like I mentioned before, I love the guys in my district.  We can joke about things so easily, but we also support each other in trying to focus on the work as much as possible.  One of the things that I find pretty funny is that sometimes they call me John Stamos because they all think I look like John Stamos from "Full House".  I don't think I really remember what he looks like, but I'm assuming he's a rather attractive man, so I'm alright with that. Haha!  Also, yesterday, the Zone leaders came into our room and asked who had musical talent.  Immediately EVERYONE in the room pointed to me, because I sing all the time.  Soooooo, now I'm singing a solo on Sunday at church!  Haha!  What can I say?  I'm just a Renaissance man!  And really humble too!...

 

Anyway, I've gotta go soon, but I'll leave you with a scripture that really applies to me right now.  Doctrine and Covenants 58: 27-28 "Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness.  For the power is in them wherein they are agents unto themselves.  And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward."

 

Thank y'all SO MUCH for your letters!  And MOM thank you SO MUCH for my package with all of the sweets and pictures in it.  I LOVE it!  If I haven't written you back yet, I'm sorry, but I will try!  And if you haven't written me yet, please do, because I really miss ALL of you that read this.  Anyway, hasta luego!

Week 2

Dear everyone I love (including my loving mother who keeps on checking her email every 5 minutes for a letter),

 

It's been a whole 10 days here at the MTC, and man, does it feel crazy!  Sometimes I feel like I've been here for like a month, and other times it seems like I just got here yesterday!  Does that really make since to anybody?  haha!  Well, I'm definitely LOVING it here still.  My district has grown very close already, and as we learn the gospel and attempt to speak spanish with each other, we continue to support each other with things that are hard and things that are fun.

 

To all of you who sent me letters, THANK YOU SO MUCH!  I kind of knew that missionarries liked letters before I came out here, but now I REALLY know what they meant when they told me that.  Think of how addicted every living young adult and I was to facebook.  Now take that and multiply it by about 6 billion.  Yeah, THAT'S how much I love getting letters!  So, I'd love to here from you, friends!

 

Ok, so one of the awesome/weird things about the MTC is all of the familiar people that you run into AND the people with random connections to your relatives.  First of all, I keep on running into a ton of people from each of the 3 wards I was in at byu.  It makes me feel pretty popular, so I kind of like it, but I hope it doesn't annoy Elder Oldroyd too much.  The big personallity sometimes is all one can handle sometimes. haha!  Also, I ran into 3 other people.  First, you may have heard of a certain Sister Brinkerhoff who left from the Arlington 1st ward a few weeks before I did?  Well, I saw her, and I was so surprised that I almost hugged her!  And then I was like "oh yeah..... dang it"  (That's probably my only problem about being a missionary.)  I also ran into Sally, Kamille's good friend who goes to BYU.  And not to mention my teacher Hermano Lewis who served in Williams mission, AND today in the temple, I ran into a worker who's name was Bryce Walker (or something like that) who apparently was a good friend of Uncle Ted when he was growing up!  Yep, it's a small Mormon world around here.

 

Classes continue to get more challenging and more involved so that we can start using the language as soon as possible.  We now have to speak in ONLY Spanish during classtime, and if you slip up and say something in English, you have to carry this HUGE rock that I like to call "La piedra de shame"  (I don't know how to say "shame" in spanish).

 

I've learned that Gym time is probably my favorite 50 minutes of the day.  It is SUCH A RELIEF because when you do 12 hours of class and study a day, you need something to shake it all off.  Fortunately, the people around here are not NEARLY as terrible at volleyball as the people were at Heritage Halls.  So, now, the games are actually challenging and fun!  Also, I've discovered how magical (yes magical) P-days are!  Today was my first P-day, and it has been so cool.  It's only one day, but as a missionary, it really does feel like I'm on vacation.  It's wonderful.  Plus, I had such a great experience going to the Provo temple for the first time today!  Before, I made fun of that temple because I thought it always looked like a cupcake.  However, now that I've gone inside and seen how beautiful it is in there, I probably won't be doing that anymore.

 

Well, I'm running out of time, but I'd just like to leave off with a scripture.  2 Corinthians 5:6-7.  I came across this while studying, and I loved it so much.  We trully do walk by faith and not by sight when we exercise our love for God.  I love you guys so much!!  EVERYONE OF YOU reading this right now (yes, even you, Tanner).  haha!  I'll email nexy Thursday!  Buenos dias!

 

Elder Hutchinson

 

PS. Mom, do you have my pictures?  I'll send you and grandma another letter this week!