Un Misionero con Mucho Español

Day: one of the ones that ends in -day

Pushup Count: 71

¡Hola a Todos!

2 weeks ish? I'm not really sure - time is so weird here. It's true that once you get past the first Sunday time flies, but also it feels like I've been here forever. Hightlights:

- There's another Elder Page in my residence hall, also Spanish speaking - it's really funny anytime we see each other

- Elder Sutton broke his wrist trying to hurdle the hammock in his room - it was really funny and he got to go to the hospital

- Lots of volleyball

- We started immersion! It's a blast

- We're working on setting up our evening teacher with the Portuguese maestra next door

- That same teacher likes to steal our phones and take pictures of us

- Memorized the missionary purpose in Espanol

- Elder Decker is a spikeball fiend

- Met a ton of people going to a ton of places speaking a ton of languages

- We had a testimony meeting on the second day of immersion - a lot of Elders struggled but the Spirit was crazy strong

- "Que es wrong with you?!"

- Saw a Tahitian bible - the pages were bright red

- I caught Elder Decker's cold

- Elder Hill ran into a door pole

- Elder Goebel yelled at me in Spanish with his mouth full of toothpaste

- We had an amazing devotional with the President of the General Primary Presidency

- We went and did initiatories at the Provo Temple 

- "Well, I'm officially Hispanic now" - Elder Richins

- Elder Richins are I came up with Spanish pickup lines that we'll never use

- Elder Sutton and I roleplayed as Christoff and Sven from Frozen during a teaching practice

For those of you who don't know the story, our district started a trend of saying, "Hola, como se dice?" (Hi, how do you say?) to literally everyone we see. It's absolutely hilarious to see people's responses. Those who speak Spanish just look confused, but those who don't always think we're asking how they're doing and they respond with a "Bien! Y tu?" and that's even funnier. At this point, we're kind of famous, and people say it to us, even when they don't know what it means. 

Spiritual Thought:

At the devotional last night, we opened by singing I'm Trying to be Like Jesus. The spirit was so strong and I couldn't help but think, "Am I really trying to be like Jesus?" It's been a little tough to love everybody here at times, but I'm doing my best to see others as Christ sees them. I invite you all to try to do that, and I know that if you do, your relationships will improve. Also go read the lyrics to that song because they're so good. And remember - Jesus loves you!

¡Nos vemos! 

- Élder Page

Con Elder Judd

Elder Dye eating yogurt covered raisins with a fork

Con Elder Brinkerhoff

One of my favorite signs here

The distrito en clase

Elder Dye and Elder Decker (5'6" and 6'5" respectively)

The best district at the MTC

Hermano Hunter (our evening teacher)

Un Misionero con Mucho Hambre

 Day: The one after yesterday

Pushup Count: 65

¡Hola!

I've been gone a week right? Time is so weird here. The days are incredibly long, but it's crazy to think I've already been here for seven of them. Highlights from MTC so far:

- My district is even cooler (and taller) in person

- My teachers are amazing and they really bring the spirit when they teach

- Elder Dye's mouth is cleaner than the bathrooms here - take that as you will

- Mi distrito hablamos solo en Espanol durante almuerza (we only speak spanish during lunch)

- We walk up an average of 500 stairs per day - no elevators for us

- Elder Dye accidentally said, "In the hunger of Jesus Christ, Amen"

- For my Salem people, I met Cambrie Wilkinson's older sister, and she made my comp pick up a bunch of pigs in exchange for a game of frisbee

- "No I don't have a girlfriend, but my mom is waiting for me... I hope"

- My entire district joined the choir - its massive, and about half the missionaries can't sing parts, but the spirit is still so strong when we sing

- "¡Hola, como se dice!"

- Multiple amazing devotionals

- Food the first night was absolutely disgusting, but since then its been really good - not sure what happened that first night, but don't eat the "steak"

- I eat a minimum of one salad per day, sometimes two

- There are soooo many people here, meals and laundry are loco

- ¡No tentacion!

- My district got to go to the temple and do baptisms yesterday... it took two hours but it was a good break

- Last night was a bunch of Elders' last night in the residence hall, so we sang a bunch of hymns while hyping each other up - super cool

- This morning we had to wake up at 5:30 to get laundry done without waiting

Spiritual thought:

I was working on learning how I #hearhim, but it was kind of a struggle. During our Sunday devotional, we watched a previous address by Elder Bednar who said "Quit worrying about it!" in response to the question: "How do I tell if its the Holy Ghost or just my own thoughts?" Anything good comes from God, just remember that. And remember - ¡Dios lo ama! 

Love, Elder Page

The turtles! Just for you Mac ;)

Elder Dye taking a .5

Elder Dye and I are Elder Goebel's bodyguards

Elder Brinkerhoff y yo

Trio at the temple

Distrito at devotional

Distrito at the temple

Some meal

Un Misionero con un Otro Compañero

Day: Wednesday, July 12, 2023

Pushup count: 58

¡Hola mi gente!

First week of MTC is done and I'm heading to Provo today! To be honest, it has been the longest week of my life, but a really good one. The biggest piece of news from this last week is that I got another companion! Elder Goebel got transferred to our district from the Mexico online MTC because of some Visa delay issues (I feel like all my missionary friends can relate to that), so he has joined Elder Dye and me in what we call the Power Trio. Highlights from at home training:

• I hiked the grotto with my perro loco
• I learned a whole ton more about teaching the Preach my Gospel lessons - we have our first teaching appointment tomorrow
• I run a 1.5 mile loop every morning - my district thought that was long....
• I sat through roughly 26 hours of Zoom calls
• I tried octopus - it'll probably be the craziest thing I eat on my mission, and I haven't even left home yet
• Cooper learned a bunch of Spanish words - his favorites are crema de cacahuate (peanut butter) and pulpo (octopus)
• I'm getting used to people staring at me in public
• I bought yet another Libro de Mormón, this one to annotate with all the PMG scriptures
• My facebook account is back! Apparently they decided that I am myself and I'm not trying to steal my own identity
• Our new district goal is to read the entire Libro de Mormón out loud by the time we leave the MTC - its taking up all my free time and I fear my mouth will be dry forever
• I got to go to the homecoming of an Elder from my mission on Sunday
• Free slurpees!
• I went to Pizza Pie Cafe and stuffed myself... and then ate some more

Spiritual Thought:

Because yesterday was 7/11, I thought I'd share one of my favorite scriptures - Alma 7:11-12. These verses talk about how the Savior suffered and died for us. I'm so grateful for his atonement, because without it I wouldn't have even been able to serve a mission, let alone survive the first week. Whenever things get hard, or you feel trapped by sin, just remember that Christ felt your pain and made it possible for you to be freed. All you have to do is turn to Him. And of course, God loves you!

¡Hasta la próxima semana!

Elder Page

The grotto

 

Cecee and I

Slurpees!

Adios a mi amigos

Un Misionero Muy Cansado

 ¡Hola a todos!

I can't believe I've only been doing this for two days, it feels like so much longer. Highlights of my first couple days at home:

• I accidentally set my alarm for PM instead of AM on the first day
• Classes go until 9pm most nights - it's tough
• My district is all elders - I fear for our teachers
• I met my companion, Elder Dye, and I knew we were going to get along the second he said that he didn't trust himself in a mission near the ocean (because he wouldn't be able to resist the temptation to swim) -  He's heading to Fort Worth, Texas
• Everyone else in my district is going to either Peru or Ecuador
• My facebook account got taken down immediately after I created it
• I've been fighting to keep little siblings and my dogs out of my room because they already miss me
• I have had some really awesome classes (more on that later)
• My district's schedule got thrown off, so we got more time to watch fireworks!
• My neighbor put on an amazing firework show, and I couldn't help but think of how blessed I am to have such supportive family and friends, and to live in a country where I have the freedom to blow things up with them!
• My district set a goal to have everyone be able to pray in Spanish by next week. I already know how, so I decided to teach my companion, and by the end of our study, he gave the closing prayer in Espanol!

Spiritual Thought

Yesterday when I woke up I felt pretty discouraged. I was super tired and I didn't know how I was going to stay awake during class. During my first class, our teacher invited us to think of a question we had and pray for the answer as we read the first chapter of the Book of Mormon. I wrote down the question, "How am I going to stay engaged in class when I'm so tired?" The answer came to me so strongly when we read 1 Nephi 1:20: "the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith". I know that the Lord will support us if we show faith in him. I invite all of you to try writing down questions as you read scriptures and pray. It has made a huge difference in my study already. And just remember, God loves you, no matter how tired you are!

¡Adios!

Elder Page

Where I live now

Fireworks party with Dad

Fireworks party with Mom