Thursday, September 30, 2010

First week at the MTC

Alrighty, well I'm not really all that sure where to begin.  Umm, the MTC is definitely not as bad as some people back home made it out to be.  The first few days just dragged on and on and on, but now that I have a more normal schedule, the days just seem to be flying by.  Just in case you didn't guess by the date that this email is being sent, my P-Days are on Thursdays, and I didnt get one last Thursday because I had just arrived here. 

My Companion's name is Elder Mitchell.  He's from Detroit Michigan.  He's a pretty cool guy, alot like myself except he's African American.  He is actually 23, and will be serving in the same mission as me!  But unfortunately he is probably going to be leaving me in the next couple of days, as he has a little more knowledge of Spanish, so he is planning on moving to a more advanced class.  But he has been a great companion over the last week, and part of me hopes that they aren't able to move him, even though I know it will probably be a little better for him.

He will be the second of three people to leave my district.  One of the sisters, Hermana Dunagan (Hermana is spanish for Sister) has already left, and Elder Silva is planning on leaving too.  But the rest of my district is pretty tight.  Four of the Elders are going to be going to Bolivia, and my room mates Elders Lee and Mower are going to be serving in North Carolina.  All of the sisters, Hermana Anderson, Lemke, and Angell are going to be going to New York as well as me.  Everyone in my district accept for four of us are from Utah.  The others are from Arizona, California, and my companion from Michigan. 

My teachers are awesome, Hermana Billin served her mission in Chile, and my other teacher, Hermano Sederberg (Hermano is spanish for Brother)served his mission in Spain.  They are both really great teachers.  Recently we have been learning about conjugating verbs, and I must say that I am thoroughly confused.  But the hardest part is memorizing the verbs and what they mean in english.  The conjugates are the easiest part.

Spanish altoghether is not the most complicated language.  It's just hard to learn because it is so different from english.  And it requires a lot of memorization.  On Tuesday we went to a thing called the TRC, (not sure what it stands for.) But at the TRC you prepare yourself for a senario, and it has the things you need to do.  On Tuesday we had to go meet three people, and kinda get to know them a little, and then set up a time where we could come back later.  This first part had to be in Spanish.  Then once you've done this, you go and prepare, then return and teach them the first lesson based on the need that you learned in the original meeting.  Although I learned very little about the people because I couldn't understand most of what came out of their mouths.  Lets just say spanish is spoken a lot quicker than english, even my english is slow in comparison!  But I think the hardest part is my lack of vocab.

My zone is pretty cool.  We just had a guy leave last night after having been here for 14 weeks.  Earlier in his MTC he had broken his knee and had to get surgery, but he was finally able to leave.  We just got another new district in last night which is pretty nice, cause we're no longer the new guys of the zone.  I am definitely looking forward to about the 4th or 5th week when we have a little more of a handle on the language, and I can teach and talk to people a little more using mostly spanish. 

Any ways, my time's about up for my email use, I hope all is well at home.   I'm looking forward to next week when I can hear back from all of you.  I kinda miss you.. jk.  miss you love you,
 -Elder Dilling-

P.S. I got a letter from Grandma and Grandpa Smigel on Tuesday too.  It was really nice, and just so you know, if you send a letter to me here on a Wednesday, I'll get it on a Tuesday.  And if anyone wants to send me some packages with some stuff in them (candy and whatever else.) I wont be disappointed.......

Spanish class with Hermano Sederberg (standing in the suit)

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

MTC DAY!


We dropped Elder Dilling off at the MTC at 12:45 today.  Surprisingly enough, I didn't cry as much as I thought I would, as I know he is where he should be, so it was bittersweet.  I was less nervous dropping him off at the MTC than I was when we dropped him off at BYUI last September!  I told him this earlier today and he said he has felt exactly the opposite.  He wasn't nervous at all about starting school, but he has been a bit nervous about going on his mission, mostly because it's for two years rather than a couple of semesters.  When we drove to the MTC there were Host Missionaries waiting to welcome the new missionaries.  Everything was so well organized.  It was really nice.  We took a picture of Elder Dilling standing in front of the MTC.  We know he will be a great missionary!  We are looking forward to hearing from Elder Dilling soon, and we will share his comments in future posts.

Lana Dilling (the crying mom)

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

One day left

Again, my mom is entering this post for me.  Today was cool.  We started out going to the Salt Lake Temple for an endowment session.  My mom forgot her Temple recommend, so that was stressful for her, but they let her in anyway (it helped that my dad is in the bishopric).  The Salt Lake Temple is an amazing building.  I can see why it took 40 years to build.  We ate at the Temple cafeteria and then went to the Joseph Smith building to see the Joseph Smith film.  While we were speaking with someone at the information desk I ran into my wife (from my BYU FHE group that is!).  Her name is __?___ Smith (I can't remember her first name).  We had a lot of fun together.  She is now serving a full-time mission at Temple Square.  The Joseph Smith movie was great.  What it lacked in action, it more than made up for in spirit.  After that we did some shopping at the Distribution Center and Deseret Book and then went back to Temple Square to tour around a bit.  We spoke with lots of Sister Missionaries.  They could tell from a mile away that I was preparing to enter the MTC.  It was good to hear their MTC experiences.  We also ran into quite a few other missionaries who are reporting to the MTC tomorrow, which was cool.

Once we left Temple Square we made our way back to Mr. Mac to pick up my altered suits and then we changed our clothes and headed out for dinner at Tucanos Brazilian BBQ so I could fill up on MEAT!!!

Looking forward to tomorrow!

Monday, September 20, 2010

Two days to go!

I am here in Salt Lake City with my awesome parents (my mom is typing this entry since I'm not allowed on the computer).  I don't report to the MTC until Wednesday at 12:45.  Today we went to Mr. Mac and I got a bunch of stuff.  We had Craig Sutton helping us and he was great!  An interesting side note is that Craig served with my Dad's mission president in Brazil.  After that we drove to Provo to eat at In and Out Burger and check out the location of the MTC.   My mom was upset because they are doing renovations and there was no MTC sign for me to stand by for a picture.  Moms get worked up about the silliest things.  After that we actually visited my dad's Mission President who lives in Orem (my dad went to Portugal).  We then went to Famous Dave's for supper - awesome ribs!  Now we are playing scrabble.  It's pretty rough not having my electronics.  I'm told it will be easier in the MTC because I will be so busy.   Oh, yeah, yesterday at the airport in Calgary we ran into a General Authority and his wife.  His name is Elder Zivic of the First Quorum of the Seventy.  They ended up sitting behind us on the plane as well.  When I was set apart as a missionary one of the counsellors in our stake Presidency, Pres. Laycock, told me I would see more General Authorities during the MTC portion of my mission than any other time in my life.  I guess I got a head start!  Well, it's almost 10:30 - bedtime.  Goodnight.

Saturday, September 18, 2010

The Day Before Tomorrow

So this Last week went by way to fast.  I Cant believe that I'll be leaving tomorrow, it feels like it should only be Wednesday.  But that doesn't really matter, I really am excited to be able to get out there and start serving our Heavenly Father as a Missionary in NYC.  But before I leave I want to make sure that my Addresses will be available to whoever might want to send me a letter or something...

My MTC address is:
Elder Carson Lamonte Dilling
MTC Mailbox # 324
NY-NYNM 1123
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604-1793

And my actual mission field address is:

 Elder Carson Lamonte Dilling
New York, New York North Mission
700 White plains Rd Ste 315
Scarsdale, NY 10583
(But I won't be there until November 22, 2010)

 This next little bit is just for Jeff Harris who was wondering who I would be giving my iPod to, and I have decided that I will be giving my iPod to the next youngest sibling, unless that sibling has a similar electronic device of comparable age or newer.  Which means that Christina gets it, but only if she also agrees to give her iPod to Daniel.

Anyways, for today I'm just gonna pack up all my stuff into boxes, and pack my suitcases so that I am ready to leave after Church tomorrow.