Monday, January 28, 2013

Hola mi familia!

This week has gone by soooo fast! I can't believe its Pday again. It has been really good though, I had a couple of days that were really trying my patience but im working on it and Heavenly Father is helping me i know he is. I've been getting food overload!! If people ask what i need, tell them i need ties and less food! My whole district just comes to my room every night to pound the food cause i have so much! It is good though cause some of them haven't gotten much as far as mail/packages. Last night i got to go see Elder Miles and Elder Buhler they live a couple of buildings over. I also saw Sister Faux and Sister Larsen.

There isn't a ton of new things that i didnt tell you last week, starting tonight we will have 2 investigators instead of one. They are going to be our 2 teachers so it will take some getting used to to be able to teach them. We have awesome teachers!! Our main ones are Hermano Krueger and Hermana Messina. Then we have a few that come help sometimes like Hermano Sanchez, Hermano Hopate, Hermana Gurecki, and Hermano Snyder. They are all RMs and they have great insights. Hopate might be my favorite one, he is from springville and he has a little bro who is a sophomore this year.

Our district has gotten really close! Maybe too close because its hard to go to bed on time because we stay up talking a lot but they are great guys!! Elder Miles' companion is one of Colin Montgomery's best friends he said, i can't remember his name, but he is going to Sweden. 

My branch pres. is Pres. Jackman. He is an awesome guy, super funny but he likes things to be certain ways and he likes us to look good. (no walking around with your suit unbuttoned, only the top button) and stuff like that. Brother Williams and Brother Menlove are the other 2. I really like Brother Menlove a lot, and he is from Spanish Fork.

The Spanish is coming along, its amazing how quickly missionaries pick up on the languages here, even Jake and Josh are already praying and testifying in their languages. We have been learning how to better use our materials to learn the most possible. This is truly God's work! I love it!

What have you been doing with my letters? Facebook? Blog? just curious! It's weird to not be home but I really do love being here and that is making it a lot easier to not be at home. I can't believe i'm almost 1/3 done at the MTC but its awesome!

So we found out that the night before we got here, Elder Holland was here speaking... how crazy is that??? Everyone said he was awesome (as always) but this week we had Elder Evans of the 70 who is over Missionary work, he did an awesome job! Last night we watched the Joseph Smith movie and it was so cool to watch where the church began and then i turned around to 2000 missionaries in the gym and thought "and this is where it is now".

Me gusta este Evangelio. Yo se que es verdadero. (I love this gospel. I know it is true) I really can not wait to get to Argentina, but I also know that i need to do this first.

Sorry if this seems kinda short, but i love you all so much and i hope everyone is doing awesome! Whenever its a hard day go read D&C 6:36, God is there for us and he will help us through anything. But we have to put him first in our lives!

Much Love,

Elder Sisk

First email, January 21, 2013

Hola Mi Familia!

First P-Day has been good so far! we just got back from the temple and it was really cool and familiar! It has been awesome here so far, i really am loving it! The spanish is coming a long but is still not very good. We have already taught our investigator 2 times and we have another appointment with her today. Its so hard because she only speaks spanish, and i can understand her really well, i just do not know how to respond.

The classes are a little rough.. we are usually in the classroom for 9 to 10 hours per day.  Its safe to say that our classroom gets really old, but its good and i think we are all learning a lot! 6/10 in our district are going to our same mission. 2 pairs of Hermanas (sisters) and me and Elder Thorn. it has been really great and i was actually called to be the district leader on our second day. We have an awesome branch and branch pres. he reminds me a lot of grandpa dee! The elders in our Zone are all super helpful and they are really good at spanish, so its awesome to have their help.

The food is sub-par to say the least. I really am not a fan so far, its not terrible, just not as good as Mom's cooking. I actually love the OJ and it has not been a problem yet so we'll just have to see how that goes! Yesterday i saw Elder Slavens and Elder Paystrup, they both left the MTC today! I have also seen Elder Wiscombex2, Elder Stahlei, Elder Nemelka, and a few more kids that i know. Everyone in my district gives me crap for knowing everyone that i see because i know a lot of missionaries here. It is awesome though to see so many awesome Elders that i know.

The time has been flying by! The truest statement that you can base the MTC on is "days feel like weeks, and weeks feel like days" it is so true, but I still really like it. my roommates and i have gotten really close and that is super nice to be able to talk to them.  It is good though, i have been praying a lot and its so great to have the Lord blessing all of us here. The gift of tounges is absolutely true! Everyone here can testify of that!!

I can already bare the basics of my testimony and say basic prayers in spanish, it is so great because nothing brings the spirit into the lessons like baring your testimony! Claudia has been such a blessing and she really helps us want to make the most of our study time. Its hard waking up at 6:30, but not even close to as hard as i expected! By the time 10:30 rolls around we are more than ready to go to bed, but sometimes its hard to not talk, you know me! Most everyone in our zone and district are loving it and everyone is getting to be really close.

I am so excited to see Josh and Jake this wednesday! hopefully they will have a similar schedule to me so i can see them a lot.

Keep me posted on a little bit of what is going on, i dont need to know a ton but its killing me not to know what is happening with sports. It has not been very hard to not have my phone because we are busy almost all the time, but i do miss sports and playing games. This week i got 3 packages from Mom, The Finlaysons, and Emma. It was awesome because now i have some food to eat in my room, I AM HUNGRY ALL THE TIME!!!!!! The problem is we are not allowed to eat in the classroom, and we are only in our room at night and while getting ready in the mornings. They say the average weight gain in the MTC is 15 pounds, but i think i will lose weight if anything, because i cant eat constantly like i do at home. We have had gym time or time to do stuff every day so far, i feel good because i havent excercied like this in a while, i am in terrible shape. But Saturday i ran a mile without stopping!! :)

A few things i need: I forgot my shampoo, and if you could somehow send my pillow, that would be incrideble. The one in the white pillowcase. Other than that i am doing great! I usually have been wearing short sleeve shirts under my suit because I get soooooo hot in the classroom and its hard to stay awake!

Im almost out of time, im sorry for any bad grammar and spelling, i didnt take the time to go back and fix anything. I love you all, and i can't wait to hear from you soon! When in doubt or need help, pray!!! I pray like 20 times a day and it is becoming so great!

Yo se que Jesucristo es el Salvador y El Libro de Mormon es verdadero. Yo se que Dios es muy amarado. Yo se que el Expacion es a big blessing. Yo se que Dios y Jesucristo vivir. Yo se que oracion es muy bueno.

Elder Sisk

PS will you forward this to everyone so they know whats up? and tell Dallin, Murph, and Mac they need to write me!

Me and my district at the temple

Me and Elder Francis

Me and Elder Paystrup