Quote of the week:

"The Lord doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called"


Thursday, August 11, 2011

Week 2 MTC

The FIRST ever Elder Hjelmstad!


FAMILIA!!!
Hey guys!

2 WEEKS!! WOOHOOO! Haha I cant believe its already been two weeks. craziness. First off Last week when I emailed you saying I hadnt seen Jon, well I saw him like an hour later after dinner! I saw him down the hall and yelled ELDER LYON really loud, probably not okay, but he heard me and then we embraced. haha its fun seeing him around! whenever I hear "HJELMSTAD" I know its him!

THANKS YOU SO MUCH FOR THE PACKAGE! That was so fun! I loved every single part of it! Right when I opened it up I looked at the picture album. Btw I cry every time I think of my family... but well get to that later. So anyways, my district wanted to see you guys, so I started showin them the pics and of course started crying. haha so annoying! But the Granola is AWESOME. toffee is AMAZING, zone bars were hilarious, and LETTERS WERE SO GREAT! I was chompin at the bit to read them asap but I had to wait until night. They were so fun to read!

So, my spanish is comin along... I'm pretty good at vocab, so I'm just workin on tenses and all the weird rules that the spanish language has. Its hard but NOT EVEN close to how hard it would be to learn chinese or somethin crazy. I just keep tellin myself to take it little by little and itll come. It already is.

So, this past Sunday was like the weirdest day of my whole life! Ultimate roller coaster day. Testimony meeting was amazing. Elders can bear their testimonies in English or Spanish, and they were all fantastic. Towards the end of the meeting I was crying and couldnt even sing the last song cuz I was crying...so annoying! Once again, I'll come back to that later. haha! So ya testimony meeting was GREAT! Then we had lots and lots of personal scripture study time and also had a mission conference where the MTC pres talks about stuff. During personal study and the conference I was just super depressed and down for some weird reason. I was overwhelmed and stressed out and I couldnt get rid of it. I kept doubting myself all the way til the Devotional at night. The devotional was on faith and was so GOOD! I said a prayer in the middle of the address and all of a sudden felt better than ever. It reminded me of the anology of the heart monitor and how we know were alive when the line goes up and down. Sunday turned out to be great though!

OK so my district thinks that I cry a ton and that I have a story about everything. haha gotta love that reputation! I seriously cry almost every time I bear my testimony or talk about my family. haha Ive never been a cry baby until now! But I keep everybody intrigued with my stories I guess. I told them I was colorblind and how I broke my leg sledding. They liked those ones! haha

So, today we were in the temple and this cute old lady came up to my companion (the white one-Elder Chrtistiansen) and I and another companionship and asked where we were goin. The other elders said they were goin to Paraguay and that they were better than us. She replied and said, "ok well, THEY are HOTT!" while she looked at us! I was dying laughing! I love old ladies! hahaha

In my personal scipture study this week I've just continued to read the Book of Mormon and I'm loving every minute of it. If anybody has questions about the Book of Mormon, they should pick one up and read it for themselves. No words can explain the comfort that It brings me. I've been underlining stuff that I like, but the two words that I circle the most are JOY and PREACH. And thats what I'm doing! I'm preaching joy! Joy that I have had my whole life because of the gospel. To me Joy is more than happiness. It's a view of life and a way of life. I'm so grateful for the gospel in my life!

So the spanish word I found out this week that was my favorite was "ESCONDIDO!" It means "hidden!" I was so surprised when it found out! I just thought it was cool for some reason. haha

I was so sad to hear that Gramma had to put down Yogi! :( She needs a new dog PRONTO! Please let her know that Im thinkin about her and love her!

Lastly, I just wanna thank everybody that has written me! You guys are AMAZING! I get so many letters! I have the best fan club ever! haha but seriously they mean a lot to me. They are all so uplifting and I love hearing what's goin on in your life. Come up with some questions that I can answer cuz I never know what to write you guys about!
I LOVE YOU ALL!

K Mom I dont need a sleeping bag and I'm pretty sure Ill be fine without a rain coat. And could you send Dee's emails to me through dear elder?

Dad- How do you shine shoes? haha you never showed me!
How's Travis doin? Tell him to write me with some MTC advice, please.

I'M SO EXCITED FOR KELLIE!!!!! That makes me so happy! I sent a letter home to Linds and her before I found that out. Please get it to them if you can asap and tell Kellie to write me.

I LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH!

I MISS YOU LIKE CRAZY!
Elder Hjelmstad


Wearing it proudly!!!!



Argentina is a long way from Temecula!!!!!



Can't wait to get there... 7 more weeks!!!!




Josh's District



Josh and other spanish speaking missionaries



Josh's first two companions...
Elder Lynn, Elder Hjelmstad and Elder Christiansen



Elder Lynn setting up in Josh's room at the MTC



The famous MTC bunk beds...

1 comment: