Hey Everyone,
Not a whole not new here at the good old MTC. We got a bunch of new
Frenchies or French speaking missionaries this last Wednesday. They are
all pretty nice and I have really enjoyed getting to meet them and see
what they are like. Its amazing to think that, that was me 7 weeks
ago. Time here goes so slow for days and so fast for weeks. One thing
that is cool is tomorrow i get to be a host missionary. It will be
kind of odd but i am really looking forward to it.
this last week was pretty normal we taught the usual amount of lessons
and I actually found that the commandments like law of chastity and
word of wisdom are not that hard to teach. my one teacher told me I am
very blunt and to the point when it came to the commandments and that
it was a good thing. The highlight of the week was definitely one of
two things. One they opened the field outside for us to use during gym
time. Sand volleyball is my new favorite thing because its feels so
good to have no shoes on in the sand and the sun is awesome. the other
highlight is my zone started to get travel plans. We have elders
leaving on the 3rd 4th 7th and 8th. i leave on the 7th but don't have
travel plans yet. I am hoping that today is the day.
It has been super hard to focus on studying and what not because we
leave soon but a quote by one of our speakers has stuck with me. "are
you waiting to leave or are you preparing to go" It has really stuck
with me. I think it applies to all the pre-missionaries as well ahem
Tanner and Brady ... Anyways I am doing my best to study hard and
learn this language and its crazy past participles and imperfect past.
Who new that learning french would make me understand English better.
Well that's all for this week Things are going well and I can't wait to
get out there are start talking to the people of France.
Love you all, Elder Lerdahl
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
20 More Days
So this last week was pretty boring here at the good ol' MTC. My
french is progressing pretty slow to the point where I have no idea if
it is getting better and I am getting pretty sick of being here but
hey I am also grateful for 3 more weeks of trying to improve my
french.
So we finally got one of are investigators to commit to baptism and
the other one is right on the edge so hopefully we get that done with.
The downside is now we are at the point where we teach about the
commandments and what not and I am not looking forward to that but I
guess its better to teach it here and get better than to try and teach
it in the field for the first time. We will see how that goes.
So I gave up on basketball during gym because we got a bunch of new
people in our gym time so its hard to get into a basketball game but
on the upside I switched to foursquare and am actually quite good at
it. Its been the highlight of this week pretty much.
So this Sunday we had a Sunday night Fireside as always and Elder
Ballard came and spoke to us about teaching with the spirit it was
pretty great stuff. Also Elder David Archelleta sang a hymn and did
one verse in Spanish. He did a good job. The other day however he was
standing next to me cause his comp was talking to someone in our
district and this other random kid tried to get a picture of him. He
like got all weird and I said "that must be pretty annoying has it
happened a lot" and he looked at me like he was scared of his own
shadow and said like two words. Interesting guy... the upside to that
story is I am probably in some random pictures with David Archeletta
so yup pretty funny stuff.
Tomorrow we get new Frenchies in our zone. I am kinda excited and
kinda not just because I like having a close nit zone but this also
means that we get some new people to talk to and hang out with. should
be fun.
Well that's pretty much in for the week. Hope you all are well!
Love, Elder Lerdahl
french is progressing pretty slow to the point where I have no idea if
it is getting better and I am getting pretty sick of being here but
hey I am also grateful for 3 more weeks of trying to improve my
french.
So we finally got one of are investigators to commit to baptism and
the other one is right on the edge so hopefully we get that done with.
The downside is now we are at the point where we teach about the
commandments and what not and I am not looking forward to that but I
guess its better to teach it here and get better than to try and teach
it in the field for the first time. We will see how that goes.
So I gave up on basketball during gym because we got a bunch of new
people in our gym time so its hard to get into a basketball game but
on the upside I switched to foursquare and am actually quite good at
it. Its been the highlight of this week pretty much.
So this Sunday we had a Sunday night Fireside as always and Elder
Ballard came and spoke to us about teaching with the spirit it was
pretty great stuff. Also Elder David Archelleta sang a hymn and did
one verse in Spanish. He did a good job. The other day however he was
standing next to me cause his comp was talking to someone in our
district and this other random kid tried to get a picture of him. He
like got all weird and I said "that must be pretty annoying has it
happened a lot" and he looked at me like he was scared of his own
shadow and said like two words. Interesting guy... the upside to that
story is I am probably in some random pictures with David Archeletta
so yup pretty funny stuff.
Tomorrow we get new Frenchies in our zone. I am kinda excited and
kinda not just because I like having a close nit zone but this also
means that we get some new people to talk to and hang out with. should
be fun.
Well that's pretty much in for the week. Hope you all are well!
Love, Elder Lerdahl
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
6 weeks down, four to go!
This week has been pretty good, nothing too exciteding has happened
except for had President Packer come and talk to us on Easter Sunday.
It was great to hear him talk about the Savior and his love and
sacrifice for us and how we can best be representatives of him.
I had a good Easter Sunday we went to an MTC wide sacrament meeting
where president Packer spoke and then had a Testimony with our
branches afterwords. It is amazing how much I love all the people in
our zone. We for sure have the best zone we are all so close and have
such a great time together. We also got to hear the Byu Mens Chorus on
Sunday they did a great job singing and inviting the spirit. Every
sunday night we get to watch a video so I watched the First Vision and
the Vision of Kirkland. Its so nice to get to just sit back and relax
for a little bit while watching the videos.
My french is still slowly getting better. I find that I am getting
better and speaking about the gospel but still have a really hard time
in regular conversation. I know that it is because we are always
talking about the gospel and that the other will come when I get to
France which is 4 weeks from yesterday. I am so excited but scared to
go all at the same time.
Today at the temple elder burningham and I had the opportunity to go
and be a part of sealings. We are allowed to be witnesses and sons in
the sealings and it was such a great experience and I really enjoyed
hearing the promises we receive when we are sealed as families. What a
wonderful gift. We also ate at the cafeteria today in the Provo
temple. It sure was nice to get outside food. I am getting so sick of
the mtc food that I am losing weight which i guess is a good thing.
Another exciting thing that happened is we are now investigators so
one of the companionships in our district will teach us and we are
supposed to pick someone we know who is not active and base our
character off this person. I am excited to be the investigator and be
able to learn all about the way other missionarys teach. I hope I
learn something and that this will help me improve my french.
Well things are good and I hope all of you are doing well.
Here is a portion of my testimony in french:
Mon témoignage:
Je sais que l'évangile de Jésus-Christ est vrai et que le prophete
Josheph Smith retabli l'evangile par la pouvoir de Dieu. Je sais que
Jésus-Christ est notre sauver et rédempter et que il a souffert pour
nos péché alor nous pouvon retourner a vivre avec Dieu. Dieu est notre
Père Cèleste et il nous aime. Je sais que nous pouvon par the
expiation et le plan de salut, retourner avec notre famille a Dieu et
recevoir vie éternelle. Je sais que L'eglise de Jésus-Christ de saint
de dernier jour est vrai.
Love, Elder Lerdahl
except for had President Packer come and talk to us on Easter Sunday.
It was great to hear him talk about the Savior and his love and
sacrifice for us and how we can best be representatives of him.
I had a good Easter Sunday we went to an MTC wide sacrament meeting
where president Packer spoke and then had a Testimony with our
branches afterwords. It is amazing how much I love all the people in
our zone. We for sure have the best zone we are all so close and have
such a great time together. We also got to hear the Byu Mens Chorus on
Sunday they did a great job singing and inviting the spirit. Every
sunday night we get to watch a video so I watched the First Vision and
the Vision of Kirkland. Its so nice to get to just sit back and relax
for a little bit while watching the videos.
My french is still slowly getting better. I find that I am getting
better and speaking about the gospel but still have a really hard time
in regular conversation. I know that it is because we are always
talking about the gospel and that the other will come when I get to
France which is 4 weeks from yesterday. I am so excited but scared to
go all at the same time.
Today at the temple elder burningham and I had the opportunity to go
and be a part of sealings. We are allowed to be witnesses and sons in
the sealings and it was such a great experience and I really enjoyed
hearing the promises we receive when we are sealed as families. What a
wonderful gift. We also ate at the cafeteria today in the Provo
temple. It sure was nice to get outside food. I am getting so sick of
the mtc food that I am losing weight which i guess is a good thing.
Another exciting thing that happened is we are now investigators so
one of the companionships in our district will teach us and we are
supposed to pick someone we know who is not active and base our
character off this person. I am excited to be the investigator and be
able to learn all about the way other missionarys teach. I hope I
learn something and that this will help me improve my french.
Well things are good and I hope all of you are doing well.
Here is a portion of my testimony in french:
Mon témoignage:
Je sais que l'évangile de Jésus-Christ est vrai et que le prophete
Josheph Smith retabli l'evangile par la pouvoir de Dieu. Je sais que
Jésus-Christ est notre sauver et rédempter et que il a souffert pour
nos péché alor nous pouvon retourner a vivre avec Dieu. Dieu est notre
Père Cèleste et il nous aime. Je sais que nous pouvon par the
expiation et le plan de salut, retourner avec notre famille a Dieu et
recevoir vie éternelle. Je sais que L'eglise de Jésus-Christ de saint
de dernier jour est vrai.
Love, Elder Lerdahl
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
4 Weeks
Can you all believe it has been 4 weeks that I have been in the MTC!
It is crazy how fast time goes by. So this last week was a great week.
Last Wednesday the French ambassador came to BYU to give a speech and
then he came to the MTC and to our classroom. We got to meet him and
when we introduce ourselves we had to do it all in french. Kind of
intimidating but it was also pretty dang awesome. He told us that the
French people actually love americans but that they will only open up
to you if you embrace there culture and respect the fact that you are
in their country. It makes me excited to get to meet some french
people and to get started on the work.
Last Thursday, I got to take a day trip to San Franciso. We flew out
at 8:00 in the morning and when we got there we got picked up by
Edgar. I thought that a senior couple were going to pick us up cause
that is what happened to the last group but we actually just had a
driver that the church hired so we just told him where to go and off
we went. We were given all of our visa applications and what not and
we had to go drop them off at the french consulate and get
fingerprinted and our pictures taken. Pretty interesting part of the
day that was for sure. The french guys liked to joke with us because
they knew we are learning french.
After the consolate we got to go to pier 39! I was so stoked to be
back in San Fran. I got to eat my Clam Chowder and some Sourdough
bread. Unfortunately though as soon as I sat down to eat it I got
crapped on by a bird on my suit jacket that I had just barely had dry
cleaned. I was not happy but was at least able to contain my anger
because I had a bowl of delicous clam chowder in front of me.
I really enjoyed conference. It is amazing how when you actually watch
all the sessions you get more out of it, who would have figured.
My favorite talks go as follows. In order of preference
L tom perry sunday afternoon
Jeffrey R holland saturday afternoon
Thomas s monson sund morning
dieter f uchtdorf sunday morning
M russell ballard sund afternoon
dallin h oaks sat monring
David a Bednar priesthood
Niel L anderson sund afternoon
Quinten l cook sat aft.
Ulisses Soares sat aft
D todd christofferson sund morn
Larry Y wilson sund afternoon
The reason L tom perrys and Jeffrey R hollands talks were my favorite
is because in my personal study I had read the stories out of the new
testament and the BOM the day before their talks and I feel like these
talks were the ones I needed. It was so crazy when they started their
talks and I realized the day before I had read the stories they were
going to use.
Needless to say I really enjoyed conference I feel like there were so
many wonderful talks that apply to all of us Especially Pres. Uctdorfs
talk where he said STOP IT I find that i often need to say that to
myself.
Mine and Elder Burninghams lessons are going better and better. We
were told no more notes so we have been going in to our lessons really
nervous but when you prepare and are obedient you qualify for the
spirit. I feel like the last two lessons we have taught have gone so
well because the spirit has been there and I have been able to speak
so much better french. It is amazing how much you actually know and
that you just need the spirit to lead you in what to say.
I also have memorized the first vision in french and am memorizing the
baptismal covenant.
My favorite thing to say here is "Toujour Chaque Jour" (toojor shack
jor) which means All day each day so we constantly say that in our
district when we do something awesome
Well thats it for this week. I hope all of you are doing well
Love, Elder Lerdahl
It is crazy how fast time goes by. So this last week was a great week.
Last Wednesday the French ambassador came to BYU to give a speech and
then he came to the MTC and to our classroom. We got to meet him and
when we introduce ourselves we had to do it all in french. Kind of
intimidating but it was also pretty dang awesome. He told us that the
French people actually love americans but that they will only open up
to you if you embrace there culture and respect the fact that you are
in their country. It makes me excited to get to meet some french
people and to get started on the work.
Last Thursday, I got to take a day trip to San Franciso. We flew out
at 8:00 in the morning and when we got there we got picked up by
Edgar. I thought that a senior couple were going to pick us up cause
that is what happened to the last group but we actually just had a
driver that the church hired so we just told him where to go and off
we went. We were given all of our visa applications and what not and
we had to go drop them off at the french consulate and get
fingerprinted and our pictures taken. Pretty interesting part of the
day that was for sure. The french guys liked to joke with us because
they knew we are learning french.
After the consolate we got to go to pier 39! I was so stoked to be
back in San Fran. I got to eat my Clam Chowder and some Sourdough
bread. Unfortunately though as soon as I sat down to eat it I got
crapped on by a bird on my suit jacket that I had just barely had dry
cleaned. I was not happy but was at least able to contain my anger
because I had a bowl of delicous clam chowder in front of me.
I really enjoyed conference. It is amazing how when you actually watch
all the sessions you get more out of it, who would have figured.
My favorite talks go as follows. In order of preference
L tom perry sunday afternoon
Jeffrey R holland saturday afternoon
Thomas s monson sund morning
dieter f uchtdorf sunday morning
M russell ballard sund afternoon
dallin h oaks sat monring
David a Bednar priesthood
Niel L anderson sund afternoon
Quinten l cook sat aft.
Ulisses Soares sat aft
D todd christofferson sund morn
Larry Y wilson sund afternoon
The reason L tom perrys and Jeffrey R hollands talks were my favorite
is because in my personal study I had read the stories out of the new
testament and the BOM the day before their talks and I feel like these
talks were the ones I needed. It was so crazy when they started their
talks and I realized the day before I had read the stories they were
going to use.
Needless to say I really enjoyed conference I feel like there were so
many wonderful talks that apply to all of us Especially Pres. Uctdorfs
talk where he said STOP IT I find that i often need to say that to
myself.
Mine and Elder Burninghams lessons are going better and better. We
were told no more notes so we have been going in to our lessons really
nervous but when you prepare and are obedient you qualify for the
spirit. I feel like the last two lessons we have taught have gone so
well because the spirit has been there and I have been able to speak
so much better french. It is amazing how much you actually know and
that you just need the spirit to lead you in what to say.
I also have memorized the first vision in french and am memorizing the
baptismal covenant.
My favorite thing to say here is "Toujour Chaque Jour" (toojor shack
jor) which means All day each day so we constantly say that in our
district when we do something awesome
Well thats it for this week. I hope all of you are doing well
Love, Elder Lerdahl
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