MTC Days

Joshua flew out of the Salt Lake International Airport on January 14, 2014 to report to the MTC in Santiago Chile on January 15th.  He was accompanied by three other Elder's and a sister missionary.

Elder Lewis, Elder Faber, Sister Vanderhaden, Elder Vasquez, Elder Smith

He didn't say anything about  not enjoying the MTC (or CCM as it is is known in Chile).  He did complain that the menu in the cafeteria didn't have a large variety.  I think he was glad when he could go out on a Tuesday or Wednesday and supplement his diet.

The next picture is of his different stops saying goodbye to his family before he left.  The images are taken two days before he left and on the date of departure.

Top Picture ~ His family

Rebekah, Joshua, Lisa (Mom), Caleb, Stephen (dad), and Jacob

2nd Row

Joshua with grandparents Michael and Paula Faber

Joshua with his Great Granmother ~ Mildred Taylor

Joshua with his Great Grandparents ~ David and Fay Bean

3rd Row

Joshua with his Grandparents ~ Bruce and Bonnie Snider

Joshua with his brothers ~ Jacob and Caleb

Joshua with his sister Rebekah.

Bottom Row

Joshua with our bird ~ Qwincy

Our dog Rascal

Joshua with his dad ~ Stephen 

Joshua made some good friends at the CCM.  It's always a wonderful thing to hear as a mother. You always hope that your child has friends to help them.  Particularly when they are many miles away and you can't be there to help them through their trials, or just give them a hug.

This is an excerpt from a letter that a missionary sent his mom that mention's Joshua.

One of the highlights of my week has been helping to teach people Spanish.  They dont really spend that much time teaching you how to speak Spanish here, its mostly how to teach lessons.  The hardest part is that at the same time, we are expected to teach lessons and just pick Spanish up as we go.  I have had a lot of people in my district ask me to teach them certain things about the language.  I am so glad to have had the head start so I am able to help them.  My favorite is Elder Faber.  He was the only one in our district who came here with no Spanish background at all.  He has been struggling quite a bit with remembering things that we're taught and asked me if I could help him out.  Every night after class, we spend the 40 minutes before bed in my room, running through Spanish.  He thinks the same way I do so I am able to explain things in a way that he will remember.  I am increasingly astounded by the rate at which he is learning.  There is no way my help, or any help of a teacher could help him progress this much.  I know without a doubt that the Gift of tongues is real.  I see it all around me.  Not when I look at it day by day, but week by week, its extremely apparent.  Working with Elder Faber is honestly one of my favorite times of the day.

MTC District
Back row starting from left to right:
E. Viglione
E. Busath
E. Hare
Hermana Taylor
E. Scott
E. Udall
E. Turley
E. Lewis

Front Row (Shortest people)
Hermana Vanderhaden
Me! 

Joshua's MTC companion was Elder Udall from Arizona.  Joshua mentioned that the shortest Elder was paired with the tallest Elder.  It came in handy one day while they were out on P day.

We went and did contacts the other day. It was rather interesting. I got yelled at both an insanely drunk man and a catholic priest. Elder Udall pulled his height card (holy cow he's tall. They paired the smallest elder with the tallest :P I'm smaller than the chilean elders here too!) and they left us be. 

I am going to put some picture of Joshua and his MTC experiences below.  I wish that I knew the names and places, but he's not good at sharing details in his emails.  He also mentioned that even at the CCM he was troubleshooting computer issues. For some reason, that doesn't really surprise me. :)

I got a hair cut today! I think it looks ok. I walked into the hair cut place and pointed at a picture of George Cluney (whatever his name is) and they did a pretty good job. Dad might freak out though because my left side burn is about .05 mm shorter than the right. But oh well I guess :D

Santiago Temple - next door to the CCM

The three coins is when Elder Viglione decided to break physics with 300 pesos

This is from an email dated February 18, 2014:

Also! I get to go on splits next week to go apostaliting with missionaries who speak the language! Very excited to do that. And then I get an hour next week for emailing only on P Day... :( But I'm doing the Lords work so I'm not bothered at all! I'm starting to become very excited to be a missionary and I just love talking to people (ESPECIALLY if they speak english :D)

And yes, I am terrified. It takes me about 5 seconds to form a sentence in my head and then speak it. I'm definately speaking and comprehending a lot more spanish than when I came here, but I probably will not be able to survive by myself without some help. I'm hoping I get a Latino companion for my trainer so that it will force me to speak more of the language so I can learn it faster. 

Also! I got the day when I'm coming home several weeks ago and forgot to let you know! (sorry)

I come home on December 29 of 2015. (I think, I left my card in my shoulder bag) So it's not a full 2 years, but I'll take what I can get :D