Week 4 - Buenos Aires Argentina MTC

What's up everyone? This week has been pretty normal, nothing crazy has happened. So last Thursday we got 50 new missionaries, and so that meant six more people in our room. In our room now we have two Elders from Utah and then elders from Nicaragua, Guatemala, Peru, and Spain. So late on Thursday night me and Elder Peterson had to stay up until like 2 am to wait for elder Bustos who was arriving from Spain that night, and we just played soccer in the cafeteria and ate a ton of dulce de leche. I really like all the elders in our room. Elder Dardon and Caledron are 24 and 25, respectively, so its interesting to have some older Elders in the room. 

So, naturally when you get a bunch of new roommates, you have to play the "rat in the ceiling" prank on them. We got all of the new gringos with the prank, and they were so scared. The Latins laugh so hard when we do the prank. We even got one of teachers, Hermana Carillo with it, and she was super-scared actually.

On Sunday I gave a 5-minute talk in sacrament meeting in Spanish and it was pretty awesome except for the fact that the microphone stand was made for midgets and I had to like bend over to be able to talk into the mic.

This week in our district we were trying to brainstorm ways to make sure people speak in Spanish when its time for Spanish only, and ways to motivate people to show up on time to meetings. ...So we invented some "castigos", which means punishments in English. We all write down a couple of castigos on little slips of paper and put them in a jar. The funniest ones that happened were Elder Lunt had to sit and stare out the window until a plane passed by which ended up being like thirty minutes. Then Elder Brereton had to eat a piece of paper. Like these seem very interesting, but believe me when this is as good as entertainment gets in the MTC. One of the castigos was you have to give Elder Christensen a piggy-back ride to the next meal, and Elder Russ, the smallest person in the District, drew that one so he had to give me a piggy-back ride to lunch on Monday.

Something scary happened this week, Elder Schollz, didn't wake up and he was unresponsive and apparently had a seizure in the middle of the night, but everything turned out to be he forgot to get enough insulin and he was fine after like an hour but that was kind of scary.

We got hot showers for the first time in the MTC this week! It felt strange, like I didn't really know what was going on, I had to question if this was real life, when I was taking the shower because I had only had freezing cold showers the whole time here. So, then everyone for a couple days was taking 20-minute showers and now, guess what, back to freezing cold showers.

And I can't figure out how to get this picture thing to work, but one day I'll figure it out because I've got a bunch of pictures to send.

It's been annoying sometimes being with the same eleven people for this long, but I was reading in the Old Testament in Proverbs 15, and the first verse goes something along the lines of, "A harsh response brings wrath and a soft response doesn't." So yeah, I've been working on being patient. But, this has been an amazing first month, and I can't wait to see what more there is in store for me.

Elder Tanner Christensen

For Family:

Dad, so there's an Elder in my room named Joseph Valezquez, from Managua, Nicaragua and he says he was in the same ward as Monsop Collado while Collado was Mission President, so thats cool. Yes Mom, I'm taking care of myself and washing my sheets and brushing my teeth. We are going proselyting again on Saturday. This week I don't really have anything to add, it's all pretty much the same. I'm ready to leave the CCM (MTC) for sure. Going to the temple is really nice every week I didn't even fall asleep during the session this time, so that was a score. It's just really hard to stay awake in the temple.

Elder Christensen and Peterson (Elder Christensen is having some camera issues, can't get the computers to read his memory card, so he was experimenting with his "back up" memory card."

Buenos Aires Argentina Temple, view from the Missionary Training Center next door

Week 3 - Buenos Aires Argentina MTC

What's up everyone? Things are going pretty great down here in BA. So last Friday we had to go get fingerprints and some background checks at some government building. The building was in the middle of downtown Buenos Aires, once again I cannot stress how misleading "Buenos Aires" is, the air is always smoky because everyone smokes like a chimney. But anyway, the city was so cool and so big. We got to walk around the Obelisk downtown which is basically Argentinas version of the Washington Monument.

PARENT NOTE: Here's a shot of the Buenos Aires Obelisk

On Saturday then we went proselyting in the west part of Buenos Aires, in the suburbs basically. And no, for all of you hoping, I didn't get mugged it seemed really safe actually, and people just kept to themselves. OK I have two funny stories about proselyting:

1: Right after they dropped us off, me, Elder Peterson, Heineken and Russ kind of stayed together and knocked a couple houses because we were scared to talk to people. So Elder Heineken has been talking all week about how badly he wants to use a bidet because apparently everyone has one here. We even had l a 30-minute discussion on how to use a bidet with our teacher which was very interesting and informative. So we knock on the first door and Elder Heineken just straight up goes to the guy and says like ¿baño? (bathroom?) and the guy was a little puzzled at first, but then let us all in and showed Elder Heineken to the bathroom. So we are kind of talking to this guy about the church, sitting at the table, and then all of a sudden we hear a bunch of water spraying from the bathroom and the guy runs over there to his bathroom and opens the door and Elder Heineken had used the nozzle wrong and water was spraying everywhere. Then the dude gets really mad and kicks us out. Might have been one of the funniest things that ever happened because Elder Heineken just like sprayed water everywhere trying to use this dude's bathroom.

2:  Later in the day Elder Peterson and I were just talking to people on the street and we started talking to an older man about the church and how it was restored through Joseph Smith. He goes on about how he's a Catholic and he always has been, but he appreciates what we are trying to do and just talks for like 15 minutes straight. That's the thing about Argentines, they're not shy about telling their whole life story to some random American dudes at a bus stop. So anyway, we teach this dude basically the first two lessons about the Restoration and the Plan of Salvation. But then we start noticing some weird things about this guy. Like he asked what our names were and where were from literally 6 times within 30 minutes. Then everytime we start talking he mentions that he's a Roman Catholic and we are like, yeah we know buddy. Then we start talking about his family, and how his kids live near him and he keeps mentioning that everytime we bring something about family up. So then after like 45 minutes of teaching this older man we realize that he probably has Alzheimer's or something. Then like 15 minutes later we were talking about families again, and he's like yeah i have a son, and then I said, let me guess he lives in that house down the street, and he started freaking out and was like "wow how did you know that?". So, we gave him a Book of Mormon and the address of the Chapel because we invited him to go on Sunday. Well, we don't know if he went or if he could find the church, heck we weren't even sure if this guy could find his house. But oh well, it was a good lesson, and I could still feel the Spirit.

Our best and most spiritual lesson of the day came with like 30-minutes left of our proselyting time. We were just knocking a few doors trying to ride the time out. But then we knock on this door and a 30ish year old woman comes and starts speaking in rapid Spanish and we tried to talk with her but we weren't getting very far, but then it turns out she speaks perfect English to, even with a British accent which was sick. She tells us that she is an Atheist and hasn't really had any religious background, so we start teaching her about the Restoration and how through Joseph Smith the True Church of Jesus Christ was restored on the earth and she thought that was really special. Then we ask her about her family, and she says she really loves her husband. And then we tell her how families can be together forever and she starts tearing up a little bit and she's like, "I want to know more about your church" and it was just a super-great lesson. Overall the proselyting experience was awesome.


On Tuesday all of the the gringos that had been here for 6 weeks, and latins, left to go to their missions and it was actually pretty sad to see them go. On Monday night we all went outside and sung the national anthems from our country, that was cool. So from Tuesday morning to Wednesday night, my district of 12 people were the only people in the MTC. Hermana (Sister) Pitarch even brought us home-made cookies. Elder Peterson and I of course snagged the best beds and lockers in our room. Last night at like midnight, two new Elders that are staying in our room got here, and the rest are getting here this afternoon i think.

We have been playing a lot of soccer during outside time and our whole district gets along real well. It was Elder Hartmann's Birthday yesterday, so as a present we gave him all of the dulce de leche packets that we had taken and gave them to him. Anyways, so far I love my mission, and i miss all of you guys!!!

Elder Tanner Christensen

For Family:

To Answer Questions:

Dad: Carlos Aguero is the manager of the MTC so he teaches like devotionals and workshops with bigger classes, but we have a main teacher for the 12 person district in the morning,  and one in the afternoon. All of the teachers are super fun and super good.

Mom: I answered most of the questions in the big email, but yes the sisters were mad at me for telling them that, but they got over it because they all have a crush on me. I haven't really played basketball since I got here no one is really interested in playing. Nobody was even close to mugging me, it seemed pretty safe. If you want to try to find the neighborhood the point where we got dropped off was in the "Caseros" neighborhood on the streets Fischetti and Torquinst I think. You might be able to find that on Google Maps or something. I haven't felt homesick at all and I feel fine its just the MTC is a little repetitive and after going proselyting I'm ready to go. I love you guys so much and miss you!

PARENT NOTE: This is the "Street level" view of the intersection of Fischetti and Torquinst, using Google Maps to cruise up and down the streets, looks like a solid middle-class neighborhood.

Week 2 - Buenos Aires Argentina MTC

Week 2 is over it feels like i have lived here my whole life inside the MTC. Everyone is going a little crazy inside of here right now.

A couple things i like so far. They have this thing called "dulce de leche" which is basically just like this caramel sauce that you can put on everything. They serve it in these little packets but only at breakfast. So people like me take them and save them for later but the staff are crazy about not eating in the rooms so they were looking in peoples room's for dulce de leche one morning, but i hid mine in the ceiling tiles so i was safe.

My spanish is actually coming along pretty well. I talk quite a bit with all the latins and I can finally roll my Rs. OK we are teaching a bunch of fake investigators right now and me and my comp are getting super good at teaching people. Another thing the showers here are always freezing cold, which stinks. The food has been good this week- lots of beef, potatoes and vegetables. Everyone still after two weeks is still in awe of how tall I am. I have to duck under most doorways and the Latinos will make a show out of it and clap when I duck. 

OK other funny things this week. we have been pranking people by saying there are rats in ceiling. We will bring some people into the room and then I would move the ceiling tile and scream rat then throw like a pair of socks at them pretending to be a rat and they will freak out, it's so funny. A bunch of the latin hermanas were talking to me (because they all have a crush on me, dead serious) and were asking me to teach them some english phrases. So I wrote down on the paper ''I smell really bad'' and told them it meant ''I like to eat cake''. So they went all around the mtc telling people they smelled really bad, it was hilarious. One of the elders in my room is Elder De Diego from Chile and recently he has started calling me "Melman" which is the name of the giraffe off of the movie Madagascar, which is so funny cause this dude will just scream ''MELMAN" every five seconds.

We get to go proselyting in downtown Buenos Aires on Saturday so that will be interesting for everyone, hopefully we don't get mugged because I was told the last time they went with all the people in the MTC, like 5 companionships got mugged, so oh well.

We listened to really good devotional by Elder Rasband last week. His main message was basically that we need to be in touch with the Holy Ghost throughout our mission. It's too long to share, but if you get a chance read his MTC Devotional, it's from May of 2018.

PARENT NOTE: Here's a link to a similar devotional, we couldn't find the video file for the exact devotional he referenced, this particular link is for one by Elder Anderson, MTC Devotional

I miss you all, glad to hear you're all doing well!!! The three pictures at the bottom are me and Elder Peterson, the Temple, and the courts from outside my window.

Letter for family:

2. Are you still getting along with your companion?

Yes i am getting along really well with my companion we are getting to know each other very well. We are teaching super well together and now we don't really plan lessons like before, we just go by the spirit and we compliment each other really well. He's a really smart guy, I just found out the other day that he's getting like the highest scholarship at BYU, he got a 35 on the ACT on his first try, so he's real smart.

3. Anything that you didn't bring that you wish you had?

Can't think of anything right now actually, maybe a better towel but I can always buy one later

5. Are you doing any kind of strength exercises?

As far as exercises not much, i'm definitely gonna gain a few pounds. We just play soccer I just kinda want to hang out with everybody and not worry about that. 

So a cool thing is one of our teacher's names is Carlos Aguero, he's a really cool guy. he wrote an article in the January 2006 New Era, you all should go read it.

PARENT NOTE: Here's the January 2006 New Era article he referenced. Brother Carlos Aguero has also been a member of the Seventy, serving as an Area 70 in the South America South area from 1996 to 2005, here's for the announcement in the Church News in 1996. He's also been asked by the church to translate at major church events, here's a snippet of info and a picture from 2015, when he translated for President Uchdorf at a meeting in Peru:

SPANISH: "Tanto durante el evento cultural que se realizó ayer, como hoy durante la ceremonia de Dedicación del Templo de Trujillo, la traducción de las palabras de nuestras Autoridades Generales del Inglés al Español estuvo EXCELENTE!!! ..de la misma calidad de la traducción de los mensajes de las Conferencias Generales ...mi profundo agradecimiento y felicitación al Hno. Carlos Aguero, quien vino especialmente desde Buenos Aires, Argentina para realizar esta magnífica labor."

ENGLISH: "Both during the cultural event that was carried out yesterday, and today during the Trujillo Temple Dedication, the translation of the words of our General Authorities from English to Spanish was EXCELLENT!!! ...Of the same quality of translation as the General Conference messages. My profound gratitude and congratulations to Brother Carlos Aguero, who specifically came from Buenos Aires, Argentina to carry out this magnificent work."

-- Quoted from Peruvian member who was present, Oswaldo Tello, who would know, he's served as Bishop 4 times, and also as Stake President :) 

Photo of Brother Carlos Aguero & President Uchdorf

Miss you and love you guys so much!

Week 1 - Buenos Aires Argentina MTC

We only have an hour to email and i have so much to say. oh and we arent supposed to take pictures so sorry no pictures . I made it through the first week in the MTC. So the flight here was super long and I barely made it on the flight to buenos aires from atlanta. It turns out they lost both my bags when we arrived the airport so when I arrived I had just a change of clothes for the first three days so that was interesting. Honestly they need to change the name of this places to Malos Aires bc its always super smoky from the pollution.

My companions name is Elder Peterson he's from Mesa, Arizona and we get along super well. We both speak about the same level of Spanish so we are some of the better teachers in our district. There are twelve people in my district. 10 elders and 2 sisters. 8 of us are going to buenos aires north, 2 to buenos aires south, and one to santa fe. I really like all the people in my district and in my room. there are a ton of spanish classes and they just throw you into it. I'm glad i took a couple years of spanish bc i would be so lost if i didn't. everyone hear speaks spanish super fast and with a super stupid accent but i can understand most of it its just speaking which is the hard part. 

The food is usually either really good or really questionable. usually its some kind of meat w a side of pasta or rice. We had some really good steak and potatoes one day and then some sketchy lasagna that gave my stomach the rumblies. In our free time we mainly play soccer outside with the latins and they are really good which is crazy like every single one of them is crazy good. After a couple days of getting schooled in soccer we played a game of basketball and I humbled them to set them straight. I'd say there's probably 45 latins here and 20 americans. So thats 5 spanish speaking districts and 2 english speaking districts. Most of the teachers speak little to no english so i am definitely going to learn spanish a lot faster mainly because nobody actually speaks english. 

Hmmmm... Some funny things that happened this week, so there are 2 rooms on our level and they have the ceiling with the ceiling panels that lift up and then there's a big attic space that connects to the other rooms. So the last couple nights me and elder martinez have been throwing stuff across the attic so it lands on top of their ceiling tiles so they are convinced that they have rats above their bedroom which is really funny. We also teach all the latins a bunch of phrases in english. One night elder gamboa from mexico comes up to me with a super thick accent and says "elder does these words mean". and i thought he was gonna say like "my name is" or "how are you" but hes says "today i secured the bag" and we all just started dying. Another thing so Argentina played France on Saturday and suspiciously all the teachers had a meeting at the same time of the game. After they ended up losing our teacher was literally crying like bawling it was super funny.

All of the missionaries are super nice and its been a great week so far. We went to the temple today which is just across the street and it was super pretty and super awesome. Anyways spiritual thought for this week is during Sacrament Meeting which was testimony meeting this week Elder Heineken got up to bear his testimony. now Elder Heineken is this super hick dude from St. George, Utah and probably knows a total of 12 spanish words so i start laughing because he's just a goofy guy and we joke and i know he doesn't speak any Spanish. But anyway he gets up and says "yo se que jesucristo es nuestro salvador" and sat down but that was really powerful and Icould definitely feel the spirit which reminds me of the scripture in Moroni 10 which basically goes "by the power of the spirit you shall know the truth of all things". I love you guys hope you all dont miss me too much!

Elder Tanner Christensen

PS - Somebody update me on the world cup all the teachers are still mad about Argentina losing so I'm scared to ask.

Family notes:

hey guys i miss you all so much. i'm pretty sure that i will be emailing every week on thursdays from 1 to 2 my time so you guys can get on google hangout or whatever it is and chat with me. garret good job keeping me updated on sports news. katie good job telling me everything about the reunion and i saw sadies xray that looks like it hurts. it sounds like the reunion in mink creek is pretty cool. people in my district that are going ba north in case you want to look them up are elders smith, peterson, johnson, russ, heineken, hartman, and sister greaves. im probably the best friends with peterson russ smith and heineken.

to answer moms questions. 1. during the la airport layover i read Our heritage and talked with a bunch of missionaries who were actually coming home from the philippines. 2. i had to sprint from my plane to the one in atlanta but a bunch of other flights were delayed so it was fine. 3. the plane was only like 3/4 full so i got two seats to myself. 4. i slept for a couple hours on the plane. 5. like i said i talked to those other elders in la and had a couple random conversations but nothing cool. 6. i did not see any of the other ba missionaries until i got off the plane bc we were all supposed to sit in the back of the plane basically but the lady at the desk saw how tall i was and gave me two seats in the front part. 7. a worker from the mtc came to pick us up promptly. 8. i got my luggage friday at like 3 pm which was early than i expected it so everything worked out fine. 9. my comp is elder peterson really nice kinda quiet i like him. 10. from arizona just graduated high school going to byu when he gets back likes to snowboard and wakeboard and actually broke his pelvis snowboarding like 3 months before. 11. first day we did a bunch of random stuff, give our passports, unpack our luggage which i didn't have, make sure we had all the immunizations, get acquainted with the mtc. 12. daily schedule is wake up go to breakfast, study, and then teach IPs which are progressive investigators which we have like a fake investigator who we teach everyday, lunch, outside time, more studying, then language study a lot of the afternoon with a teacher, dinner, more studying. we do a lot of studying. then throw in an occasional devotional or service project and that's our day on pdays we go to the temple, write emails, then just play outside or hangout in the rooms. 13. honestly it depends whose talking. some people speak super fast with a thick accent and i have trouble understanding which is mainly the argentines. i actually talk a ton w the latin elders and sisters and understand quite a bit its just hard getting the words out. most people i can understand and basically communicate with. 14. the food is good mainly we ate horse one day which i didn't know till after and then another day we had sketchy lasagna and then some grass enchiladas which were terrible but other than those outliers the food is good.

i'm sad to hear about michelle i put her name in the temple bag thingy and just want to let her know im praying for her. sorry that this is so unorganized i just had to get everything out as quick as possible love u guys