3 Weeks - Duece Lutiui's Cousin

September 4, 2013

Dear Mom and Dad and Ben and Sam, and Jasmine and Niles and Kitty,

Hey!  How are you guys doing?  I saw that Dad replied to my email on Saturday and I read it but my email time ran out before I could reply!

Anyways, everything sounds good at home, I'm glad everything's going well.  Tell Ben and Sam to keep working hard in school and do not let their grades get out of their hands!  Keep me in touch about Ben's cross-country and Sam's basketball.  I miss them both and I miss talking to them everyday.  Tell them to write me! If they want or have time.  I wanna hear how sophomore year is going and how 8th grade's going too.  I remember both of those grades so well, it's weird that Sam is almost 14 years old, and that Ben's gonna start driving soon.  I know I've only been gone for 3 weeks, but it feels like I'm missing so much!  Just keep me in the loop.

Yesterday, I met Deuce Lutui's, the Cardinal player's, cousin!  Her name is Sister Lutui and she's going to the Philippines also.  I was talking to her, and when I noticed her name, I had to ask!  I thought Sam would think that was pretty cool.

Oh, and I also saw Daniel Frost!  He's teaching English to Spanish speakers here at the MTC!  We talked for a little bit, it was cool.

Anyways, I miss you guys and Jasmine and Niles and Kitty too!  Hopefully everything's going swell.  I'm excited for Kyle to get here.

Oh, and stamps are expensive, is there any way you guys could send me some?  and envelopes too.  I haven't spent any of my money yet!  I just spend the six dollars I get each week on my I.D. card.  Keep on a look out for sweet vintage ties too.  I like those.
I love you guys!
Love,
Elder Lasley

Oh and P.S. I'm mailing two other letters with this one because stamps are a scarcity, so if you guys could mail them to who they go to, that'd be awesome
Again, Love,
Elder Lasley

For Harrison's letter, could you ask his parents what his address is now?  Thanks!

2 1/2 Weeks at MTC: Creamery Chocolate Milk is the Best

August 31, 2013

Hey Mom!

I did get my package, thank you guys! It was awesome. I vowed to myself that I would never ever wear crocs in my life but my language teacher said they would be very useful so I think I'm going to have to rethink my vow. The tie you guys sent me is wild ahah I love it! That's the kinda ties I like! I like when they're not any kind of normal pattern. But the tag on the back says "gin and tonic as seen under the microscope" not too sure if that's appropriate for the MTC. I'll send you guys a picture of it in a bit. Everyone liked the Mentos too! They're a big hit. And I love the slippers, they're my favorite. 

I love hearing about home too. Its awesome that you guys (dad) set up a blog for me! I'll make sure to keep my emails interesting so the blog doesn't get boring. Sounds like Ben is liking cross-country, that's awesome too. But whats goin on with spanish again! come on Ben! 

That little story dad told me about Sam in Deacon's quorum really touched me actually. I'm glad to know that they miss me, I wasn't very sure that they would. I miss them too. 

Every two weeks we get new Elders and Sister in our branch/zone (Philippines) so just this week we got 12 new elders and 6 new sister going to the Philippines. None of those new 18 are going to Cavite. But I have met 6 missionaries going to Cavite! So there's a total of 7 of us going to Cavite at the MTC. One of the new elders is from Calgary though, I thought that was pretty cool. I told him I was born there and we had a little Canadian pride moment. There's another elder here who isn't new so this is kind of unrelated, but his name is Elder Bobu and hes from Kiribati. Its some super small island about 600 miles east of Fiji in the middle of the Pacific ocean. He speaks very very broken english but hes awesome to talk to. I've gotten to know him pretty well. they're really weird conversations, kind of like charades a little bit because his english is so shotty. But hes a really cool guy. There's actually 12 other missionaries from Kiribati at the MTC, but hes the only one I know. Hes definitely an islander.

Elder Hunsaker and Elder Bobu

I'm definitely getting used to the MTC life, its very routine. same thing most everyday, but it isn't too bad. The food is getting really old though, I just want a real home-cooked meal! I have 2 glasses of that BYU creamery chocolate milk every meal, its heavenly. 6 glasses of chocolate milk a day keep the doctor away! We get an hour of gym time 4 days a week and I usually play basketball, its a lot of fun. I'm practicing for the Philippines. With my height advantage, I think I won't have any problem making the Filipino national team. We go to the Temple every P-day so I've been twice so far and I'll be going again this afternoon. Its a great experience and I'm getting pretty accustomed to it.

Tagalog is going pretty well, I'm only improving. We've been teaching lessons to "investigators" about 5 times a week in 100% Tagalog and its a pretty cool experience. Its really hard saying what I really want to say sometimes, but if I speak from the heart the spirit touches to investigators and whatever I'm trying to say usually gets across pretty well. One of my new favorite words is "batuktok" which means woodpecker, but my favorite is still "pananampalataya" which means faith.

I know you guys are probably curious about what campus looks like and what my room looks like, so I'll send you some pictures later today. Our room is meant for 4 people and two bunk beds, but we have 6 people and 3 bunk beds, so yeah its pretty crowded. Also, we have like 20 guys competing for 8 showers every morning, its pretty wild.

Anyways, when a computer that I'm able to send pictures on opens up, I'll send some pictures!

I love you guys very much and I miss you all a whole lot.

Mahal kita!

Elder Lasley

Elders and Sisters

Photo-bombed during Technology Assisted Language Learning (TALL)

Me and My Companion Elder Shelley, "Shelley the Shellfish"

My District

Our Room, a little messy

 

MTC Life

Aug 24, 2013

Mom! Dad! Ben! Sam!

Have you guys still not gotten my letter yet? I sent a hand written letter on Friday August 16th, over a week ago and you still haven't received it. I think the MTC has some mail problems. But I have gotten all your letters! I guess the problem is only with outgoing mail. So, expect a letter I hope! If you don't get it by like Wednesday or so, tell me and I'll write another. The Dear Elder works great  though, so continue with that.

But hey fam! I'm going to reply to Dad's email in this one too, so its probably gonna be a long one. And yes, my P-day is on Saturdays!

MTC life is rigorous and initially overwhelming, but I've gotten into the swing of things I think. I room with two other companionships besides my own. My companions name is Elder Shelley and he's from SIlver City, New Mexico! The other companionships are Elder Egan and Elder Johnson from Layton, Utah and Ranchocucomunga (spelling? that place is Southern CA) respectively, and Elder Hunsaker and Elder Sagario from Heber, Utah and somewhere in Hawai'i respectively. They are awesome guys and we all get along like we've been friends since birth. I'll send pictures of all of them and some others in separate emails. They are all going to the Philippines Luoag Mission.

 

Elder Egan:  memorizing

 Elder Hunsaker:  happy!

 Elder Sagario:  "Hawaiin Punch"

My companion, Elder Shelley:  Paparazzi

My District also includes 3 Sister companionships, and they are all awesome too. Sister Staker and Sister Anderson from Idaho and Utah, Sister Sims and Sister Andersen from Las Vegas and Utah, and Sister Briggs and Sister Teeter both from Idaho. 2 of the companionships are going to Luoag and the other one is going to Quezan City. I'm the only one in my district going to Cavite!

Learning Tagalog is the hardest thing I've ever had to do probably, but its coming along great. 

Kumusta po kayo? Ako po si Elder Lasley. Ako po ang misyonero para sa Simbahan ni Jesucristo ng mga Banal sa mga Huling-Araw. Alam ko po na tatoo ang Simbahan at alam ko po na salita ng Diyos ang Aklat ni Mormon.

That means:

How are you? I am Elder Lasley. I am a missionary from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I know the the Church is true and I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God.

Crazy, huh? Its a weird language. There were probably several grammar mistakes in that phrase too, that was just off the top of my head. Conjugating verbs is probably the hardest part. My favorite word is probably pananampalataya which means faith! I also like biyaya which means blessing or grace, and paniniwala which means belief. Ahahaha such wild words. 

My Tagalog teacher's name is Brother Mansfield. He's 26 and got back from his mission almost 6 years ago where he served in the Philippines Manila mission. He served much of his time in Cavite though, which is awesome! He says I have the best mission and hes going to give me some names of people to ask if they remember Elder Mansfield. I love him though! He's a great teacher. 

I only have an hour on my email and its almost up, so I'll finish this letter in written form and mail it today, hopefully it'll get to you. 

But I love you guys and miss you very much! 

Love,

Elder Lasley

Elder Johnson, Me, and Elder Egan

 My name tag:  Elder Lasley

Oh! I forgot to ask for a few things that would be very helpful! If you guys could send some stamps and some laundry detergent packs, that would be awesome. Also, it would be awesome if you could send me those cool old brown slippers from the coat closet. Only for the MTC, I'll send them back before I leave. Also, I am allowed to make phone calls from the airport when I leave during layovers and stuff, so if you could send me some kind of prepaid phone with like 1-3 hours of calling time (atleast thats what I've heard) or a phone card with the same amount, I'll be able to talk to you guys from the airport!

I love you guys!

Love,

Elder Lasley