Do Re Mi...

Well as you can tell from the subject line...... I GET TO SING AT GENERAL CONFERENCE!!!!! Sorry mom, but it is during Priesthood Session. All in all there are 364 of us. Because I get to sing in the choir we had practice this morning during our original temple time. So we went to a later session.... that's why I'm a little slow in emailing today. We are singing Hark All Ye Nations, Called to Serve, and Go Ye Messengers of Heaven (it's in the hymn book). WE have practice almost every morning from 7-8 am.... But I'm excited to have the opportunity to sing! I'll let you know more about what our day will be like that Saturday etc.... when I know, but that's what I know right now.

 

Well my mission experience is starting to become a reality now. I recieved my travel plans last night. On October 6 we have to report to the travel office at.... wait for it.... 3 AM. Yeah not too excited about that. WE fly out of SLC on American Airlines flight # 416 @ 6:00 am and Arrive in Dallas/Fort Worth @ 9:45 am. We have a lay over there for about an hour and 15 minutes. Then we fly American Airlines again flight # 1328 Leaves Dallas/Fort Worth @ 11:05 am and arrive in Tulsa @ 12:00 Noon. There are 5 of us total going to Tulsa that day. I'm still not sure if they will let us call. It is up to our  branch president. He has to give us the go ahead before we leave. So I will find  out this week hopefully and let you know. I would have to call you from Dallas because I don't think you would be too happy if I called you @ 4:30-5:00 am from SLC! Plus they don't like us calling from the SLC airport for some reason. If I do get to call (which I believe I will) It will probably be around 9ish your time. I was wondering if you wanted to run up to grandpa and grandma's so I could say hi to you all?  Just a thought... let me know what you think about that idea. But I'll keep you posted. 

 

Okay... enough with the boring stuff... This week we taught the Plan of Salvation for the first time in spanish at the TRC and we had to include the Word of Wisdom. It was definently a challenge, but I feel we did pretty good with it. I'm starting to see a tiny bit of growth in my spanish. I'm still pretty hard on myself  and beat myself up about how bad my spanish is, but I'm starting to see an improvement. I've been to the tutor twice this week, and that has helped alot. It's also nice to have progress interviews with our teachers to hear their point of view of how they think your spanish is coming. But, I know they are being WAY too nice.

 

Overall, this week has been GREAT. Between getting in the choir, and recieving travel plans, and realizing that I'm going to have real investigators soon is a nice change. AS the time to head out I'm starting to get nervous. Just because it's going to be a new change, and I have NO IDEA what to expect. But, I can't wait  to acutally talk to some real people.There's only so much experience you can get teaching other missionaries 24/7. So I'm ready to get going!

 

Well, I don't have too much more time. Sorry this email was a bit boring with my travel plans, etc... But that's the extent of what went on this week. Good luck with harvest. I'm glad things have beeenn going good so far. We'll talk to y'all later....

 

Love- Elder Stoddard

6 Weeks Down

Holy cow.... I don't know what to think of having been out for 6 weeks. Some days it feels like the time flies by, while other days last forever! Como le van? (How are you all?) Estoy bien! How is harvest going? Some days I'm glad I'm not there in the thick of it all, but other days I miss it. The biggest thing I miss about is Arda's fries. Arda, will you FedEx some down??? Gracias!

 

Things this week have gone pretty well. I still haven't heard anything about the choir thing yet. My guess is it would be for Priesthood Session (Sorry mom!) The people in charge of it thought they would probably let us know through the mail this week. I won't have my mail til later today. If I do get something saying I'm in before the end of the day I'll drop you a quick note in the mail.

We had our 2nd complete spanish TRC this week. We had to contact a "store clerk" on our pday. The clerk tried to jack up prices, and we were supposed to jew him down. It was pretty fun. After we bought our things we were supposed to get to know them and share a message about families. We then prepped a lesson based upon The Restoration for ten minutes and went back and taught for 35 minutes in total Spanish! Next week we will teach the Plan of Salvation in Spanish. Should be fun! The TRC's are great, but I'm ready for some real investigators! The spanish is coming along more and more each day. It's amazing at how much you can learn at the MTC in such a short amount of time. I know that I recieve help from upstairs. I'm not feeling to horrible about my spanish because we have a Mexican in our district that can't catch on yet!  

 

A quick update on my foot- all is doing well. It's just frustrating that I can't play soccer with the rest of my district.  The doctor said it will take about 3-5 weeks to heal completely. I just have to rehab everyday during gym time. But talking to the doctor and trainers they seem to think there will be no delay in when I leave!

 

I'm glad to hear Salvador and Roxanna are going thru the temple soon! Can they do a session in spanish? I wish I could be there for it!

 

Well, my time is running out. I'm sorry this is a VERY random email. There's not much to talk about life in the MTC. I hope harvest goes well. You're all in my prayers. I'm so glad to be where I'm at right now. I just can't wait to get to Oklahoma... Getting a bit of cabin fever here! 

 

Take Care,

 

Elder Stoddard

The Lord Answers Prayers

Sorry I'm so late getting to you today. I've been at the doctor most of the day getting my ankle checked out. I'm sorry mom if the phone call from the nurse scared you. Yes I was sitting right there when she called you. To make a long story short I came down on someone else's foot while playing soccer last Tuesday. I dind't think anything of it, but after a few days it kept getting worse and started to swell and I couldn't put any weight on it. I went to the trainers at the gym and they iced for a few days and then sent me to the clinic here. They took X-rays and then said everything looked alright, but they still wanted me to go and see a podiatrist. I just got back from there. He took more x-rays because they thought something was maybe fractured on the side of my foot. However, after taking more x-rays he believes it's a pretty good case of tendenitis. He showed me some stretches to do, gave me a brace to wear, I'm supposed to ice and heat it everyday, and not play any sports whatsoever. He said it should heal within 3-5 weeks. (That's about when I leave this place!) He also said to take some anti-inflamatory for it. So I'm going to take some Tylenol. But, thankfully nothing was broken. I didn't want to go and see anyone about it. I don't want it to slow me down, but I had to give in. It was pretty neat though because the guy that drove us to the doctors office just got back off of his mission to Tulsa and loved it. He said that the spanish missionaries cover 8 areas and are in CARS!



I know the Lord answers prayers. I fasted last week that we would get roommates, and that I would make it through the TRC fine. Prayers were answered.... WE HAVE ROOMMATES! We moved down the hall into another room. We are rooming with Elder Cook from Hawaii, and Elder Montgomery (not quite sure where he's from) both going to Orlando FL spanish speaking. They are both great Elders. It's nice to have someone to lean on.


The TRC in total spanish went really well. I think that I'm my own worst critic sometimes. I got so sick before we went in to do it, but I made it thru. I didn't know I could speak so much spanish! I shared a scripture from Ether 12:4 and then we taught the first lesson in spanish. I'm grateful that I was able to make it through just fine. It amazes me how much the Lord blesses his missionaries. It's just another brick on the stack to show that this is HIS church.


Another thing, they started up MTC choir this week. We went and sang in it on Tuesday night for the devotional. They announced there that they are putting together a choir of Elders......... Wait for it....... for General Conference! they had us fill out a survey about how much background in music/singing we have. I filled one out and then they are supposed to let us know thru the mail. I'll let you know when I do.


This week I gave my first blessing.... Last night as a matter of fact. My comp came and asked if I'd give him one. He hasn't been feeling very well lately and said he needed a blessing from me. Elder Cook, the roommate, annointed him and then I gave the actual blessing. Other than flying, I have never been so nervous in my life! I've annointed before, but have never given an actual blessing. But it was good experience as well. Because he asked for a blessing I believe our companionship has been strengthened.


The spanish is starting to come a bit more now. It's still slow. Somedays I feel like Laman and Lemuel saying, "This is too hard!" and other days I feel like Nephi, "I will go and do the things the Lord commands." Now to answer a few questions: Dad wanted to know who gets to go out and pull the missionaries away from the balling mothers. Usually they let the missionaries who only have a week or two left do that. So hopefully I will get to in a couple of weeks! I can't wait!
Well, my time here is about done. Don't worry about me though. I'm doing good. I'm getting ready for a change of scenery though. It will be nice to see the real world soon.....


Love Elder Stoddard

1 Down 23 to go...

Wow... I don't know whether I'm shocked that one month has passed or if it has gone by slow. Here in the MTC you have NO concept of time. Days feel like weeks and weeks feel like days. In just 4 and a half weeks I will be on my way to Oklahoma. We got 2 new districts this past week in our zone and there is an Elder from the part of Kansas that my mission takes in. He said to be ready for some rednecks! He also said they have quite the questions about the bible.


Anywho, before I forget... I just barely saw Elder Schenk about 5 minutes ago. He can't get a VISA and is being re-assigned to Eugene, Oregon and leaves on Monday. He said he hasn't learned anymore about his VISA or whether he will be speaking Portugese, Spanish, or English when he gets to Oregon. He just found out yesterday he was being re-assinged for now.

This week we taught our VERY LAST lesson in English. From here on out it's all in Español. I think that this Wednesday will be the scariest day of my life. We will teach our first lesson in Spanish. They say it's your first time to measure your progress with how well you are learning the language. I'm excited and nervous both. So keep me in your prayers that I can make it through Wednesday. Since we have also hit our halfway point we are now supposed to go cold turkey with Spanish. We can't say a word in English in class, and we're supposed to say as much outstide of class in spanish as well. Let's just say I'm glad that we get to come to the MTC for a while to learn the language. Here we can make mistakes and be alright. Everyone will be understanding. I'm glad I'm not out in the field quite yet to be thrown out into the fire without being able to communicate very well yet.

I think my first wave of homesickness MAY hit tomorrow around 5pm. (BYU football game). LES is literally outside the backside of the gates of the MTC so we'll be able to hear everything. We are supposed to have gym while the game is going on. I already informed my comp that we will be doing gym inside that day. No, I'll be fine though.

Well, my time is almost up. This half hour flies by each week! Keep the letters coming! Don't worry I'm NOT homesick. It helps that they keep us pretty busy here 24/7. Hopefully you will be able to cut grain soon. Maybe you'll have to put Erica, Heidi, and Roxanna on the combines during potato harvest to finish up cutting grain! Ha! Well, take care and we'll talk to y'all next week!

Love- Elder Stoddard