Last Letter from the MTC!!!!

Okay so things here are suuuper boring, I cannot WAIT TO GET OUT OF HERE. On tuesday we leave for the airport at 7:30 Am. We then fly to chicago, london, and milan. SUUPER long flight. The mtc has been great and there have been good talks, however, I am definately going stir crazy. however here are the exciting things that happened today! I saw Jacob!!! I pretty much tackled him when I saw him, but he seemed happy to see me!

I also saw Eduardo!! I had no idea he was coming in today!! That was also awesome!

Other fun things: Well this wasnt really fun but Sister Van Alfen had her kidney stone removed yesterday! She really is a trooper. Its also really cool to know that Mom and Sorrella Van Alfens Dad grew up together! She wanted to know if you went to the dance that pretty much ended in a riot. Good times. Ooooh, funny story, So my district has this thing with trust falls, so Anz Alder and Lindley decided it would be a good idea to do a "deep" trust fall, aka fall almost to the floor. So lindey was on the recieving end and caught Alder. With one problem. Upon impact, Anz lindleys pants exploded. it was SOOOOO FUUUUNNNNYYY. its kind of sad but that was the most entertaining thing that happened. We also had 2 Jesus cross protestors outside of our temple walk this sunday. It was midly interesting, but you have to respect them. They in their mind are doing what is right, but there might be a better place to be protestors, It might be a tad hard to be a missionary to 700 other misisonaries. But there ya go! A few points from the devotional this week.

 

- Richard Heaton

       - You are not finding anyone, the Lord already found them, you are the lost one. Your job is to have the faith to find who he has prepared.

       - God doesnt give us just one chance - keep in contact with past investigators, read your area book, sometimes all it takes for conversion is reestablishing that connection with an investigator

- Richard G Hinckley

     - No tool or technology can substitute a misisonary with the spirit

     - The greatest suffering a missionary can experience is regret

     - What will my answer be when I leave the Mission, I wish I had? Or im glad I did.

 

Well Italy is going to be super legit! next wednesday I get my Golden ticket, aka my first assignment, it doesnt really matter where, because everywhere in italy is beautiful. My italian is going much better and I can slowly feel myself becoming more imerssed in the culture. I have started to talk using my hands A lot, and using some of the hand guestures they use, because apperently thats really a thing. Well I figure I should actually say something I learned in Italian. Well the phrase "In bocca al lupo" Literally translates to in the mouth of a wolf, but it means break a leg. The standard reply is "Crepi" Or dead. Apperently thats how you say that. Also the phrase for on the ball in italian translates to in the leg. Weird. Well I figure I could probably start writing some of these emails in italian, but I only have 2 minutes left to write so thats going to happen next week!

 

If youre going to write me this week send it to the italian address! Unless its a dear elder. I will recieve mail every 4- 6 weeks. BYE BYE

 

NEXT EMAIL IS GOING TO BE FROM ITALY! GET EXCITED!

 CIAO

Anziano Trevino

 

So I forgot to mention my companion anziano luening went to canada on monday for his visa. I guess thats kind of important. I am now in a trio with anziano lindley and anziano chamberlain, which puts my number of companions in the MTC to 5. Thats probably a record. I have come to the conclusion that I am either the greatest missionary in the MTC which is why i get sent around to fix other peoples companionships. Or I am the worst and no one can handle me. Im not really sure which yet.

His companion Anziano Lindley

Anziano Delgado ready for a nap!

Week 4 in the MTC

Hello friends! This week has been pretty typical. I PROMISE once I hit italy it will get much more interesting. This week we learned about being bold. We heard from George Durrant, who told us to "be bold, bold is not loud, bold is quiet, bold is sincere." We were reminded to be ourselves and to love those who we are teaching. We are serving missions to give things to those who do not have them and can benefit from them. This work has something to offer anyone and it is our job to find those needs and to help others with their lives. We are to teach people, not lessons! It to me reaffirmed that the needs of those we are teaching are more important than teaching a checklist! Okay so this week has been bonding time with Anziano Young and I. I have a good feeling we will be good friends by the end of the mission! He is SOOOOO Funny! Im sending a few pictures of us having a good time this week. For the Fourth of July the MTC had us watch 17 mericles ( I cant spell) in the gym. However this was during stadium of fire at BYU, in which Kelly Clarkson was performing. AKA the mtc didnt want us to hear it, so they made us watch this movie as a distraction. They thought they were sneaky, but they really werent. After the movie we got to watch fireworks from behind the fence, the view wasnt really that great. Italian continues to go well! I now know present, past, past imperfect, past remote, conditional, and future tenses! I can almost speak like a normal human being! My goal is to speak like an Actual Italian!

Oh sad story time, sister Van Alfen Got kidney stones this week :( womp womp womp. She had to go to the ER and if she doesnt pass them this week, she might not get to go with us to Italy until later! She has been feeling pretty fine as of recently so hopefully things will be looking up! 

Anziano Luening my companion is shipping out this weekend to go back to Canada for 6 weeks for his visa since his foot is all healed! I will be with my roommates Anz Chamberlien and Anz Lindley, which will put me at a total of 5 companions in the MTC, which is probably a record. Things here are going well, I still havent heard from Giusi, tell her to write me!

Till next week!

Anziano Trevino!

I wrote Matea A letter today, look for it, sorry it took so long.

President Dibb hasnt said anything about music rules, A CD player is your best bet for now, itl work best. You can send an Ipod if you want I may or may not be able to use it. tell steve to email me! Ill look for Quinn and Jacob! We will get a picture together!

Valerie - Pop Song! 

Joseph - Read your emails! No need for a ryan gosling pic.

Mom - Did you go to timp with a Scott, Doug, or Greg Van Alfen? one of the girls in my district is his daughter! Yall are the same age and her grandparents live 2 blocks from grandma and grandpa! Theyve lived there forever! How cool would it be if yall were childhood friends! 

James emailed pictures but they will not be uploaded for another week and a half. His next letter will also be delayed and will be uploaded no earlier than Saturday the 20th. Until then, enjoy!

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Happy 4th of July! Here is the third update!

Ciao!!!

I havent heard anything from Giusi yet, maybe next week! This week has been pretty average to be honest. And apperently now I have a blog? Cool. We do however get to watch stadium of fire after a devotional tomorrow! So thats kind of fun. Food here continues to be mediocre at best. Oh, a few things I have forgotten to tell you the past few weeks. So  I met President Dibb the week of the world wide broadcast and he is pretty cool! However, there is a 0% chance of us getting to go to the Rome Open house. We arent allowed to leave the mission boundaries, and neither is President Dibb, although he has a SLIGHT chance of being able to go. You arent allowed to listen to music in the MTC which is pretty poopy, but Ill make do, im not sure what Presidents Rules are reguarding music, but he seems like a white Bible kind of guy, and if thats the case, we are in the clear! I got a letter from Sister Jeurgens as well as Mark potter, Tell them thank you so much! Im so excited for Quinn and AJ as well as Jacob to come here! The Days here are SUUUPER long, but the weeks go by pretty quickly, I find it hard to know what day of the week it is very often. I am very ready to leave the MTC, but it has been an alright experience. I just know that once I hit italy time will fly. I can teach in Italian very well, but my conversational Italian is lacking. Its interesting to see how the Spirit will guide you with what to say when you are teaching, but when you are using the language for you own purposes how hard it is to speak. However, im sure that were I learning the language any other way, it would be waaaay harder! Our two investigators right now are Dominico and Sandra, who are based off of people our teachers taught while on their missions in Italy. Dominico is a High school drama teacher from Bari, who has a strong desire to pray, but does not feel he is worthy of Gods attention. He is very quiet and listens more than he speaks. Sandra is a caretaker who moved from Peru to watch after the elderly in Italy (Apperently thats a normal thing over there) Italian is her second language after spanish, so we got her a Spanish book of Mormon to read, she was super excited! She asks a lot of questions and is very sassy. During one lesson I was trying to say the word for ship (Barca) But I couldnt remember it, so I ended up saying machina di mare , which translates to car of the ocean, or machine of the ocean. It was pretty funny, but it got the point across. Its the little things like that that keep us going. When you sit for 9 hours a day, pretty much anything is funny. This sunday we watched a talk from David A Bednar called the Character of Christ. Its an MTC talk which means the church doesnt put it up but I would encourage you to look for it, who knows, you might find it. It is POWERFUL. He talks about how the character of Christ was so strong. He said that "The character of Christ was that when the natural man in us would turn inward, Christ always turned outward" For example, after Christ suffered in Gesthemane and bleed from every pore, he must have been very tired. He had just done something very hard and was drained mentally, spiritually, and physically. But when Peter cleaved off the guards ear who was here to take Christ to his death, what did Christ do? He healed him. He must have not been in the best mood, he must not have had much energy. Had he not healed him, people might have understood. But when everyone else would say "Im tired, ive done so much, let me rest" Christ turned outword. There are many many more examples in the scriptures, but It was a very good talk, I encourage you to look for it, but you probably wont find it :(

 

 On A side note, I would very much like for mom to send me a Texas Flag to put over my bed, as well as my white super mario vans. That would be aweeesome to have another pair of confortable shoes. Valerie  or Joseph- I have a request of you. I would REAALLY like for you to burn me 3 cds and mail them with this package. All the files are on my computer under ipod content 2 in their respective folders. I would really like that Radiohead Piano Cd that val gave me for my birthday, and from jo I would like 2 death cab for cutie albums Plans and Transatlantism, he should know what im talking about. If you think of any other good classical music maybe some coldplay or something If it fits the chill music send it my way. Maybe a recording of Pines of Rome? Idk. Nothing less mellow than coldplay. Instramental is perferred minus coldplay or deathcab. Piano music is fantastic. Classical music, also. Aaand a cd player with little speakers. If it cant be done, so be it. Hug mia for me! 

 

Until Next week!

Anziano Trevino


Let the others know about this stuff, Its easier than me writing them a letter.

Sister Jeurgens - Im So excited to hear about AJ, I cant wait to see how his mission is going! And the Twins are home soon, arent you so excited! I know that his language is going to come super fast and that he will LOVE it out there! The MTC can be very draining but tell him how nice its going to be when he gets to the field! I hope he is working out his arms before he goes, because he is going to have a TON of baptisms! Quinn as well! Its exciting to know that I am serving with a ton of my friends and that we are in this together, There is a sense of brotherhood between all the elders here, the spirit is truly amazing. I cannot wait to get to Italy and teach the people there! But until then Ill continue working here!

Mark - Thanks so much for your letter! I have gained a stronger testimony of prayer since I came here as well. We pray several times a day here, It seems like we pray on average 10 times a day. The spirit here is truly wonderful, and you find that if you ask, the Lord always answers in one way or another, whether it be with personal concerns or teaching investigators. Teaching in italian is going very well, and conversational italian is coming along at a decent pace. Its funny how the spirit works to help you in a lesson when you need it, but when you are floundering outside of class it lets you struggle. Im so happy to be in your thoughts, and you are in mine as well! Keep me updated on things at home!