Erik's first email from Guatemala MTC (2/24/2009)

Hey mom-Sounds like everything is going great back home. That's great to hear. We got here safely and we got picked up at the airport in a yellow school bus. It was really funny. The CCM here is really nice and amazing. There's like 25 or so Americans and 50 plus Latinos here. My companion is Elder Judd and he's from Orem. His dad is in the Sunday School Presidency or something like that. My companion is a natural teacher. I'm just trying to take notes from him so i can be a better teacher. Its so much different down here than in Provo. I like it better here. The food is actually really good and black beans aren't that bad if you mix it with eggs or anything else. Its not that big here but its a block away from the temple. Elder Judd and I went with our district to the temple and just contacted people and told them about the Restoration of the gospel through Joseph Smith. The restoration is a lot more than i thought it was. It was amazing to learn. The people here are so nice. Very friendly and understanding that our Spanish isn't the best. They helped us out a lot. Same with the Latino elders here. We have two Latino roommates. Its always fun talking top the Latinos. Its a great learning experience. The church also owns this house right next to the temple called the Casa de Cre and we have done a few lessons in there in a real atmosphere. Church was amazing. Elder Judd and i taught the priesthood lesson. We talked about D&C 20:37. It went really well. Then sacrament was with everyone. I couldn't understand anything but i enjoyed the whole meeting. I'm starting to feel the love for these people. Always have a smile on their face. My Spanish is coming along you can say. I just need to speak it more. Its hard but i know that if i talk with the Latinos that they will help me out. But ya. We get to go to the temple later today. In English of course. That should be fun. Its been a really fun week. I really like it here. Oh and the beds are amazing! But anyways...love all you guys. Tell everyone hi for me. Sounds like you, dad and Lauren are doing great. Almost one month down. That's weird to think about. Love,Elder Larson

P.S. I only need that toothpaste from the doctors office. I'm almost out.I cant think of anything else. Thank you

Greetings from MTC President in Guatemala (2/18/2009)

Dear Parents and Loved Ones:Your missionary arrived "safe and sound" last night and has been involved all morning at the MTC here in Guatemala --- in orientation for their next phase of training. They finally got into the classroom and have started learning more Spanish & teachings from Preach My Gospel. For proof, I've attached a foto. Sorry, it’s not a great one---but enjoy! You are no doubt very proud of your missionary. You should be!

This is a very good group of 13 missionaries who join another extraordinary group of 11 North Americans who are in their final three weeks PLUS 40 Missionaries from Mexico, Guatemala, Bolivia, El Salvador, Chile, Panama, and other Central American countries arrive tonight and tomorrow morning.

Your missionary has Preparation Day on Tuesdays and will be writing to you then. I know that your support and letters bless your 'missionary' a lot --- and will be greatly appreciated.In addition to email, you may choose to send letters as well through the pouch according to the instructions received in the call packet of your missionary. This is a one page 8.5X11, triple-folded, taped or sealed withthe address and stamp on the outside. (see written instructions in the call packet)Pouch Address:"POUCH" ---NAME OF YOUR MISSIONARY--- Guatemala MTC P.O. Box 30150 Salt Lake City, UT 84130-0150

For the next several weeks you can ALSO send letters, packages, or other mail to your missionary at the following address: ---Name of your Missionary---Centro de Capacitation Misional Boulevard Vista Hermosa 23-71, Zona 15Vista Hermosa 1 C.P. 01015Guatemala Ciudad, Guatemala C.A.I recommend that you don't send anything to the above MTC address after March 20th or it may not arrive before the departure of you missionary on March 31st. Anything you send after the 20th of March should be addressed to his/her mission address. Otherwise, there can be significant delay in them getting their mail because of the time it takes to forward the or have the missions drop by at their convenience and pick up and distribute mail to missionaries all over the mission.

I also invite you to go to our personal website at:www.davidachristensen.com When you get to the site, click on “Guatemala MTC”... You can then browse around or take a tour of the MTC. Within a few weeks you may find your missionary in one or more of the pictures. ENJOY!!! If you feel the need to communicate anything to me, please feel free to do so at this email address ---- mtcpresdac@gmail.com.

Thanks again for your missionary!!! We come to love these missionaries a great deal and appreciate you lending them to the Lord for this season of their lives.

Presidente David A. Christensen

Guatemala MTC

Off to Guatemala tomorrow! (2/16/2009)

Hey mom,Sounds like everything is going well back home. Busy all the time. Granny and i have wrote back and forth a couple times. That's been good. You may want to tell her about dearelder.com. I got your package. Loved it. We are fed really well here and having some food at night isn't too bad too. So dad told me about the Camry. that's so funny. i knew it would happen sooner or later because of the way we all back up out of the driveway and where they've parked their cars. too funny though. But we leave tomorrow. crazy to think about. I'm not scared but just ready to get there. should be fun. all the questions you've said are fine. everything is taken care of. my wrist is getting better. trying not to use it that much. saying goodbye to America for two years tomorrow. that should be fun. SSSSSSSSSSSSSPPPPPPPPPPPAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNIIIIIIIIIIIISSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH 24/7!!!!!!! That'll be me pretty soon. Hope all is going well back at home. Love ya. Elder Larson

Second week at Provo MTC (2/9/2009)

Hi mom, Some answers from your letter from your package. I don't' think I'll need a mp3 players or ipod. I'll be fine. I'm going to get the shots done sometime today or sometime early next week. I think the visa should be fine. we don't really know until a couple days before we take off. I thought i was worried. Elder Ava turned in his Visa the Friday before we reported. I'm going to go to the doctor again today and we'll see what's really going on. He wants to get it done before i leave the country. so we'll see what's going on. No i don't think i want another missionary towel. There nice but i like my other one. Ive been using both. And i can call home at the airport. i got a calling card at the bookstore. so I'll call sometime on Wednesday. i think midday or so. I'll call the house and dads work if hes not home. And i think I'm just going to email you. and you can send it to the family or whoever else asks to see it. the emails wont get that interesting until I'm actually out in the field but ya. This week was good. Time just goes by really fast here. It's really weird. I've taken some pictures. I'll send some home if i remember. no but really I'll try to send some back. On Wednesday we went to the referral center and got to talk to real people and follow up and an order they placed on a bible, book of Mormon, DVD, etc. And then we got to see if they wanted to have the missionaries come over to their house. I was really nervous but it was fine. Not a lot of people answered. But that was fun. I'll probably go again soon. The temple is great. It snowed a little bit today while we were walking there. The devotionals/firesides or really good as well. So there's like tons of branches here at the MTC and our branch president is President Studdert. He is quite the guy. He was in charge of three president swearing in inauguration's. sorry couldn't spell it. Close friends with 3 or 4 presidents, President Hinckley. He was on the preach my gospel committee when they put it together. While he was traveling from Virginia to Utah President Hinckley called him to be a stake president in Utah where he was moving to. He hasn't even been there before. Crazy. But anyways this week has been great. Staying busy like crazy. We arrive in Dallas at 3:35 PM on Wednesday. We don't leave until 6:55. So that's the time range. Spanish is hard work. Takes a lot out of you after a while, but it's good. I'll talk to you all soon. Love you.Elder Larson

Mission (first email from MTC 2/2/2009)

Hey mom-It's Monday and it's our p-day. Just thought I'd email you and see how things were going. Its been great here. It's been like 5 days now. It's crazy. It's gone by so fast. My companion Elder Ava is from Hawaii and he's pretty cool. Our classes are great. Full immersion into Spanish and Preach My Gospel. We're always busy. It's going to take a while for the Spanish to come though. It'll only come by prayer and actually practicing the language. It's fun and hard at the same time. Hopefully this next week will be a lot of fun as well. So there's about ten or so buildings where missionaries room and my room is right next to where Elder(Jordan) McKee. I don't know how to spell his last name but I think you know his mom if I'm not mistaken. It was cool talking to him. He leaves tomorrow morning for Canada. Crazy. We went to the temple this morning. That was pretty fun. I also bore my testimony in Spanish yesterday. Nothing big but i totally forgot what i was going to say when i got up there. Well we're only allowed 30 min of email on our p-days. Hopefully this all made sense. Love you guys. Tell everyone hello for me. Love,Elder Larson