Elder Tanner Christensen: 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."