Eric in the classroom at the MTC
Today, Saturday, November 14, 2009 we received a thick envelope in the mail from Eric. It contained pictures, a hand-written letter, and a paper copy of an email he had tried to send us on November 10 but that we had never received. It had been a very long ten days waiting to hear from Eric, but receiving his letter today was like Christmas!
Eric (5th from the left) with his district in front of the Provo Temple
Eric with his district, from left to right: Elder Groll, Elder Anderson, Elder Vanderholm, Elder Wolff, Elder Towner, Elder Ward, Elder Hanson, Elder Philips, Elder CalvertNovember 10, 2009
Hey family, it's great to finally write you. Our P-Day is on Tuesday, which conveniently is furthest from the time you dropped me off! Just the same, I've gotten all of your mail, and love getting it. Missionary mail is a great thing, because although I can only write you once a week (every Tuesday), I can receive and read all your letters every day. I love all your letters so be sure and tell everyone to mail me using the missionary mail. If you use the dearelder.com site, you can use it while I am in the MTC and once I get to Argentina, too! Anyone can send me mail through the regular post office, too. I have received all of your mail through the dearelder.com site, and also a letter from Holly and Scott. (I know that all of the letters you are writing through the dearelder.com site are getting to me, so just keep doing what's been working.)
I love the MTC and a lot of it is because of the awesome district I'm in. My district had 9 elders, 5 going to Argentina, Rosario and 4 going to the Dominican Republic. But just yesterday Elder Towner and Elder Calvert (the one we met in Tucano's Restaurant right before we came to the MTC) left our district to move to a more advanced level, since they've both taken four years of Spanish. I am in a companionship of three, so Elder Vanderholm and Elder Anderson and myself are all going to Rosario. Then Elder Phillips and Elder Groll are going to the Dominican Republic, and Elder Wolf and Elder Ward are also going to the Dominican Republic.
Elder Vanderholm and Elder Anderson and I are all the best of friends and get along great. Everyone in our district puts in their part and we all work together well and have a lot of fun, too. Elder Vanderholm is our District Leader, which he does a great job as, although district leaders don't really have to do too much in the MTC. Everything here is planned, organized and on a set, non-changing schedule. We have 3 meals a day, which is a good thing because working hard and learning so much really makes me hungry. My appetite has grown quite a bit since I've been here, (Mom's note: I didn't think that was even possible!) although so far I haven't put on any weight. The meals are good, but they're never warm by the time we get them.
My teachers are great, they are Hermana (Sister) Burrubs and Hermano (Brother) Rousche (my favorite.) They served in Texas and Mexico City. They're both excellent teachers, although Hermano Rousche's lessons are very deep and really get you thinking.
Waking up at 6:30 a.m. has been a piece of cake (so far anyway!) (Mom's note: have they switched my son?!) and going to bed is, of course, easy. Even though we go to bed around 11:30 p.m. usually, we still have plenty of energy. Getting so little sleep, however, makes us very light-hearted and giddy. In other words, we are drunk with laughter because of the lack of sleep, which makes it quite fun. I'll tell a story about this, because I'm sure Dad has had similar experiences and can relate. We pray, bear testimony and say basic sentences in Spanish. Two nights ago during companion prayer, Elder Vanderholm who was giving the prayer, said "Nuestro Pablo..." (should have been Nuestro Padre...) at which point we busted out laughing hysterically to the point where we were just rolling on the ground. We've also had similar experiences during district prayer where we just start laughing and once that happens, it's hard to do a real prayer. We laugh like no one is watching! Just the same, our district is great at being able to have fun, and then switch gears to move into a spiritual discussion. I love all my district and my companions.
Yesterday for the first time, we got to chat with real people who go to mormon.com and ask questions. It was really fun and I feel I helped some people, although a lot of people just get on the site to Bible bash or mess around.
I only have 30 minutes to write each week so I apologize if there are errors in this or if I forget to tell you something. Please send hangers as I have none for my pants and shirts. Our district is 42. My time is out now, so just know I love you and tell everyone they can feel free to mail me anytime.
Love,
Elder Hanson
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November 12, 2009
Familia!!! Hello from the MTC! It's great to be able to write you right now, although since this is the MTC, there are almost like zero minutes of free time and not even enough time to study all that we need to. Despite this, I love it here and wouldn't want to be anywhere else.
I sent you an email to your email address on Tuesday morning (around 8:00 a.m.) and was shocked that you didn't get my email yet. Did you change your email address or maybe it got put in your junk folder? (Mom's note: I checked everything, including my junk folder, every five minutes since Eric has been in the MTC...so where that email went is a real mystery...where is Sherlock Holmes when we need him?!) Either way, I obtained a printout of my sent email (it was hard to get!) and am now going to send you my email in the regular mail.
Thank you for all of the letters. It's just like in the movie, "The Best Two Years", the scene of all the elders waiting for mail. That's us, all of us waiting anxiously for mail delivery and it always excites us. Just the same, we stay focused which is the important thing. Please also post this on my blog since it's a letter. Also, sorry for errors. The important thing is that I write you, because I don't have time to write and EDIT a letter, just doing the writing is all there is time for!
I love you guys, and there will be a more detailed email this coming Tuesday. Things are great. Included are some pictures. Also, please tell the South's thank-you for sending me a care package. They sent me an all-green box of all-green candies. The theme, of course, was that I am a greenie. It was yummy and I still have some candies left.
Please share my email with everyone who wants it. I'll normally write once a week, through email on Tuesdays, but today was an exception since I had pictures and you didn't get my email. Please tell me which email address you want me to use.
I miss and love you guys, but don't worry, the MTC is set up so that you have no time to think of anything else except the gospel, (with the exception of writing letters!) Again, I apologize because I know my normal handwriting is bad (Mom's note: yes, it definitely looks like a chicken walked across the page...) and this letter was written in like five minutes at Mach 5 speed, so sorry it's a mess. You guys rock, though, and I will write you again soon. :)
Love,
Elder Hanson
ADDENDUM: Eric's email finally did arrive in my email inbox, with the original date and time that he wrote it. We have since found out that there had been some trouble with the server for the missionary mail, but hopefully it has been fixed. I guess his email was floating out in cyberspace for about 5 days before reaching us!
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