Week 4 - More Byes

Well 4 weeks down, and 5 more to go here in the MTC. I can't believe I've been here for a month now, but it's even harder to believe that I still have 5 more weeks. The Cantonese is coming real slowly, but some how my companions and I can teach a real basic lesson on the restoration the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the plan of salvation. It's amazing to see all the progress everyone in my district had made in just a short amount of time.

The highlight of the week was last night during our weekly devotional. Elder Renland spoke on the atonement, and even though he isn't direct like some apostles or as well recognized, the spirit was felt so strongly within that room especially when he first walked in. The room was just silent, and everyone rose to their feet. He spoke of the healing power of the atonement, and how it ck 4 -n change everyone no matter what happened in their past, and also what we as missionaries have to do in order to help all our investigators find faith in Christ and his atonement.

My mom brought to my attention that I have never really introduced my companions, so here it is. Elder Earls is 20 and is from San Diego, he finished his associates degree at a community college in California. He's probably one of the biggest goofballs in the zone, but he has such a powerful testimony and  one of the most humble people I know. My other companion is Elder Cobabe and is from Syracuse Utah wherever that is. He is 19 and did 2 semesters at BYU before coming to the MTC. He's more of the extreme sports type of people. He's told me about several injuries he has had, and I always ask him how he's still alive and he always responds that's a good question.

Elder Lee, my host when I arrived MTC.  He just left for his Sweden mission

Next Tuesday another district in my zone is heading out to the mission field. They're all heading to Taiwan except for one who's going to Australia. This one will probably gonna be harder to say bye to because we have grown so close together over the last 4 weeks, and I would have to put them all up there in the "best friend" status. That also means that my district would be the oldest one for the last 4 weeks. I really don't know what to think about that, so I guess we'll all see how mature we all really are. Another thing that happened this week was Sports Illustrated was here on Monday because they wanted to know why so many BYU football players put off sports for 2 years to go on a mission. I was super bummed that they interviewed another district in my zone instead of mine, but still look for an article on the MTC and missions in one of the next Sports Illustrated magazines and think that I was in the next room over from that interview, so I guess that will be my claim to fame for the next little while.

Oh and I almost forgot that my district had the opportunity to host the senior missionaries on Monday, which was a lot of fun, so that's pretty much all that happened this week. I did go to the temple this morning so that was fun.

I was able to see President Newell's Wikipedia page and it was accurate so I encourage everyone to read it so I can say I know that guy and brag about it!! His name is Gregory Newell.

 Love you all!!!

Elder Eveson

My zone family

Week 3 - 3 down 6 to go

3 weeks down 6 to go here in the MTC. The only significant thing to happen this week was that one district left, and another one arrived. They're just another group of goofballs to join our district. We often call our zone the most immature zone in the MTC which I would have to agree with. Don't look at it in the wrong way, when we are in class, lessons, or out in public we are mature, but the second we get into the residence you would think everyone was still in elementary school.

Elder Eveson with new district Elders in his zone

For my weekly paragraph bragging about how awesome my Branch President is. Thursday he got a phone call from President Obama and was invited to have dinner at the White House Friday night. I later learned he worked in the White House for during 4 different presidencies, and what amazes me is how humble he is about it. He is friends with some of the most powerful people in the world and the church, and he doesn't even mention it unless asked about it.

Everything here is the same. I still have 4 hours of studying 6 hours of class a day where I really have to think to understand the teachers, and have very little free time. When I got here I was expecting to have some free time, but I was wrong. I'm amazed how well I'm doing learning Cantonese. I keep thinking to myself that I don't know anything, but when I teach the restoration of the gospel I'm able to teach the entire thing with only peek here and there for a vocab word. It's amazing how much me and my district has learned in such a short period of time.

Everything here is all good, and I love all love and support that everyone gives me. I've really grown more spiritually in the last 3 weeks, and am proud to wear Jesus Christ's name on my chest every day, as I continue to prepare to serve him for thee next 2 years!!

Love you all!

Elder Eveson

Week 2 - Don't mind my tone yet

Well I have now been in the MTC for exactly 2 weeks now, and since I forgot to do this last week I'm gonna brag about how awesome my Branch President is here. His name is President Newell, and he is the most humble man I have ever met. He was a personal friend of President Reagan, and he used to be the Ambassador and Mission President of Sweeden. He also is a personal friend of President Monson, and the rest of the Quorom of the 12. He is a great man, and it is a blessing having him being my Branch President here in the MTC.

My Zone, 3 Elders and 4 sisters serve in China Hong Kong Mission

Nothing really has changed here in the MTC. You have the same schedule almost the entire time here. We still have like 6 hours of language class and like 4 hours of PCL. One of the districts from our zone left yesterday morning to head over to Taiwan, and I have no doubt in my mind that they will be great missionaries. So I'm no longer the new guy here, and today our zone is receiving 8 new missionaries. It was super sad to see them leave because we had all become great friends. Their last night here in the MTC, all the Elders in the zone had shot glasses and drank some cider haha, it was a great last night with those Elders and they will be missed.

Elder Robinson, one of missionary leaving to Taiwan Mission

So everyone probably knows that Cantonese has several different tones, and I have a couple of stories about how I said something and it meant something completely different. A couple of days ago during our language class, we were repeating stuff in class, and my teachers just started laughing and we were all confused. What we were trying to say was will you go to church, but instead we were saying will you go to a chicken reunion, then another time we were teaching a lesson, and we said discrimination instead of revelation haha. So me and my companions were pretty embarrassed when we found that out, and good thing we were just teaching our teachers, not a real investigator. 

Sisters in back are the sisters leaving to Taiwan Mission

The last 2 weeks here have been very tiring but also very rewarding. I'm grateful for the opportunity to be here in the MTC, and I love getting all your emails! i hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Elder Eveson

Week 1 - at MTC, Spiritual, Drain and Uplifting

I can't believe I've already been in the MTC for a week. I have made some great friends with the people in my district, and also my zone. The zone has the perfect amount of spiritually uplifting and also the complete crazy. The first couple of days were really difficult to me, but the spirit in the MTC is felt strongly here. It's crazy to think that my district of 3 elders and 4 sisters are the only people in the MTC that is learning Cantonese. The language is super hard to learn. The very first thing I did when I got here was go straight to my language class. the teachers weren't allowed speak a single word of English, and it was very difficult to learn. I think I finally am starting to understand what they are saying during each lesson. we have 6 hrs of language study everyday along with of 3 hrs of study time. it is mentally draining everyday, but when I think about it, everything that is happening to me now, will help prepare me for when I get to Hong Kong.

My original companion was Elder Hintze. He was actually supposed to head over to Hong Kong before I even got here, but had to be delayed due to knee problems. He is the tall skinny white guy that never smiles in the pictures. He was a great help to me and my district because he was practically fluent when I got here (I thought), but he actually had to go home yesterday and will go straight to Hong Kong when he recovers, which was kind of sad, but I'm already looking forward to seeing him when I get to Hong Kong. So now I'm in a trio with Elder Earls and Cobabe.

During yesterday's devotional we had the opportunity to hear from Sister Bonnie OScarson, the YW President and she gave a great talk on how we can grow as missionaries. the spirit was felt so strongly. 

On my third day here I actually had to teach an entire lesson in Cantonese, and I had to write down everything I was going to say. I was expecting to not understand a single word the investigator was saying, but I was actually surprised I understood most of the things she was saying. I have learned so much in my short time here, and I am looking forward to the rest of my stay here, and being able to learn the Cantonese language so I can help the people of Hong Kong.

My Zone leader are calling me to hurry up, so we can go to the temple so bye bye  

If anyone has any questions just email me, and I'll respond every Wednesday, which is my P day.

I Love you all and hope you have a great week.


Elder Eveson

Only 4 Elders learning Cantones

MTC Day 1

Hey everyone i just got dropped off at the mtc, and am going through the online orientation right now. The host who showed me around Elder Lee who's going to Sweden was super awesome and helped answer all the questions i had about what to expect inside. When i first got to the classroom the teachers only spoke Cantonese so it was super difficult to know what they saying. I'm super excited and feel super honored and special to have the name tag on my chest. I found out I'll be in the mtc for 9 weeks, so I'll be stuck here for a while. they gave me like 30 pounds of textbooks for the language learning, and i really hope they don't expect me to read all of it because i really don't think i have the patience to do it. Oh and they said there's only about 900 missionaries in the mtc right now.

love you all and thanks for all the love and Support!!

Elder Eveson

With Parents

Uncle and Cousin take hm to MTC

With cousins before entering MTC