Elder Clay

What a week we have had! We so enjoyed having Orson home for 6 weeks. He is a bundle of enthusiasm, noises, hugs, fun and more.  All of this will help him be a great missionary (except the noises)!  







The day he left, he had a fabulous lunch provided by Nannie and Grandpa Earl from Rudy's Bar-B-Q:  ribs, turkey, potato salad, pulled pork and peach cobbler.




After lunch Orson said good bye to Grandpa Earl and a tearful Nannie.

Before leaving, Katri and Orson played their Rondo duet and some impromptu Disney duets while Dannee stood by singing along (wearing Orson's suit coat).

I got one last hug from Orson in our home, then off to the airport.  

Of course the kids had some last jokes, and fun (and noises!) driving to the airport.


We then went to the airport where we got him checked in.

And we said our goodbyes, not really goodbye but God be with you till we meet again (in two years)!.  That was hard!!! We sadly watched as he went through security. We are excited for him to serve the Lord but will miss him dearly. 

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Today, Saturday June 11 as I was checking my email for some YW info I was so EXCITED to see my first email from Elder Clay.  He wrote it today as he did laundry.  He had 30 minutes on the computer or something like that. Then Cliff walked out to get the mail and we had a letter too!!! The letter was written his first night in the MTC (as directed by the mission president...good man!).


Elder Clay is doing really well. Here are excerpts from his letter. As you will notice he is already using Spanglish.


It is still hard to believe que soy misionero.  One Elder told me the other night that you know you're officially on your mission when you look around and see missionaries and don't think "Wow! Missionaries!" I'm still not quite there but I'm getting the hang of it.  And whoa. Waking up in the a.m. is rough but so far I'm been able to survive.

People that I've seen here so far: Elder Taylor Thevinin, Elder Jared Skidmore, Elder Peter Moore, Sister Molly Moses, and some BYU guys.

Tambien President (now Brother) Steward taught one of my classes and Hannah Steward works in the cafeteria!  Which, by the way, is just like the Cannon Center!  So the food is pretty good.  In fact for lunch on Thursday there were CURLY FRIES!!!! Que excelente!

Oh! Tengo buenas noticias! Pero, antes, my district is awesome.  There are now 14 of us.  Hay 4 hermanas y 10 elderes.  We're the only advanced Spanish class that entered the MTC on June 8.  My comanion, Elder Gonzalez, is from Cedar City, UT and is pretty awesome.  He does triatholons for reals (like four in one month + a marathon.  Tell Schmutz)  We get along pretty well.  It's great.  Also, the thing that is the absolute best is that his little brother looks EXACTLY like Chancho.  Elder Zazueta moved into our district from the intermidiate group and he's living in our room now with Elder Peinado.  Before Elder Zazueta got here Elder Gonzalez, Peinado and I were a trio!

So Hermana Cervetti y yo somos the only ones in our district who aren't native speakers, but Hermana Cervetti is majoring in Latin Studies at BYU so I'm the true rookie.  But my Spanish is improving rapidly.  They all love that I'm a gringo speaking their idioma.  They've all been so helpful and complimentary on my pronunciation and reading abilities and there have even been a few times when I've corrected their grammar or helped out with vocabulary!  Elder Gonzalez has been especially awesome.  I am speaking Spanish for most of my day which is good and literally every minuto that I'm reading el L. d. M. or Predicad mi Evangelio I can feel my understanding increase!

This came as a surprise to me but Elder Gonzalez and I like to talk with the Elders and Hermanas in the intermediate classes in Spanish and I think that I feel like the native speakers when they hear someone learning---I Love it!  It is so awesome to see and hear someone speaking Spanish (take the hint family ;-) ).

I'm not officially out in the field yet, but I'm beginning to get a feeling for the true power of missionary work. 


Having been told about this responsibilidad tantas veces it is a little overwhelming at times.  Literally everyday I flip back and forth between feeling totally comfortable being out in Honduras for two years and being totally terrified.   But I've learrned (ok, I know it's only been like three and a half days...) that taking my days one at a time is going to be the way to serve. 

p.s.I wore the Blue Steel shirt to the Gym yesterday

Sing the tune of "Feliz Navidad" but substitute "Castidad" and look it up. jajaja

I've introduced: EL PULPO, FRACASAR, and GATO to the class.

Other cool word: Chevere - cool