FIRST P-DAY in the MTC

Spencer finally had his first P-day! Not sure about the rest of you but the last 2 days of his first week seemed to drag by for me. I couldn't wait to hear from him and was so excited to see his name pop up in my inbox.

It sounds like they are so limited on time when they are using the computers to send emails at the MTC so many of you that emailed him probably got a generic response from him telling you thank you for writing and that he didn't have much time to email you back! SIDE NOTE: I told him before he left not to tell people he didn't have time when he responds to them because it's my PET PEEVE with missionary letters right now. They never seem to have enough time and they waste time telling people that! HA! Hopefully he'll get more time next P-day and if he doesn't I'm hoping he won't tell everyone he has no time! (Yes, he will still be getting "motherly advice" from me even though he's far away and this topic will be a part of that advice! :-)) Anyway, I have learned about a service they offer in Brazil similar to DearElder.com in Provo where you can send letters via email and then they print them, put them in an envelope and deliver it to the Brazil MTC. It takes about 2 or 3 days to deliver the letter but its great because then the missionaries get mail on other days of the week and on P-day can spend their time on the computer writing people back, instead of spending their time reading all the emails and telling people they have no time to write! Once I learn more about it and get it all set up I will let you know!  

Anyway, here is this week's letter. He sounds like he's doing great! 

Hello!!! 

Finally!! My first P-day!! Everyone here has been saying how fast the week has gone... not for me, haha! Well at least the first few days took along time but the last few went quickly.

Anyway, I don't really know how to even start this email cause there is so much to tell and we are on limited time so I will try to get as much as I can in!!

TUESDAY- Saying goodbye to the fam was so tough but I know I am here for a reason so that made it a little easier. After I said goodbye to Mom and Dad I was in the security line and the guy in front of me said "What Mission?". He just knew I was a missionary because of how I was dressed and I kept looking back at Mom and Dad. Elder Mabey, the other guy on my flight, and I met up and got on the plane. I sat next to a single mom from Scranton (the town in "The Office"), and a pilot for Delta who was on break for the moment. I got to know them pretty well considering our flight lasted 3 hours longer then expected!! Anyways we finally got to Atlanta and left the next day!

WEDNESDAY-  The flight to JFK was good!! Tried to get some pics of the city from the plane! Got Shake Shack in the airport which I have always wanted to try!! Flying First Class rocked! I slept the whole time! We got through customs all good and baggage was suprisingly fast! We got to our shuttle and the Brazil people drive INSANE. The cars get so close to each other and no one cares!! Everyone stared at us when we got here too! It was pretty funny!

THURSDAY- First day!! I am in a trio with Elder Squires and Elder Brown! Elder Squires is from Georgia and is super smart! Elder Brown is from a town in Michigan that is in dad's mission. Its called Shelby! Our main instructor is Irmão Santos. He is super funny and a good teacher. Portuguese is tough but I think I've got it so far. 

Writing by day is taking too long... so here are the highlights....

We taught our "investigators" everyday in Portuguese which is tough. But on our 3rd lesson I taught the First Vision part and said the whole thing in Portuguese from memory! That made me feel the Spirit so much!. I cannot wait to feel that spirit in the field with real investigators!! My district, which is the guys who I came into the MTC with and who I am with 24/7, is honestly so amazing. I am already so close with everyone and I love them already. Definitely some life long friends here! There are a lot of other sisters and elders here that I am already friends with and I seriously love it here! The food isn't bad, actually it is pretty good!! The spirit here is awesome!  This morning for our first P-day we went to the temple in Sao Paulo! It is so pretty but small but it still has the same spirit as the Los Angeles Temple. 

Love you all! 

Elder Christofferson 

PS- I Cannot send pics from the MTC so I will send them once I get to my mission!!

HE MADE IT!!!

44 hours after leaving home and 24 hours after he was originally supposed to arrive, Elder Christofferson FINALLY made it to the MTC.  We are thrilled he is finally there all safe and sound! I emailed him last night knowing he'd be able to email us once he arrived to let us know he was ok and asked him a bunch of questions. He did a good job answering them! :-) Questions are in parenthesis.  Here is his first letter:

Hi Mom!! We finally made it to the MTC! It is noon here on the 21st. So to answer all your questions...

1. (Did you ever meet up with the other 4 elders? When and where did you end up finding them?)

We saw 3 of the Elders in ATL before we took off to JFK but they were on the direct flight to Brazil which wasnt until 9. They said 2 of the elders had gotten a different flight to Orlando then to Brazil and we finally met up with those 2 here at the MTC. The other 3 got one added in ATL so we met up with them to a total of 6 at the airport and just drove here. 

2. (Elder Mabey's mom found me on facebook after you called last night. Did you like him?)

Yes he's nice! We got along great and he just went with it like me. 

3.(Did you ever find any toiletries for the hotel? )

Yes we found tooth brushes.

4. (How did the luggage situation go when you finally got to Sao Paulo?) 

When we got to Sao Paulo our stuff was just here! It was sweet.

5. (I'm so glad you had your carryon with extra clothes.  I'm guessing you probably stayed in your suit though?) 

Yes I wore my suit again the second day and just changed the "essentials" :-).

6. (What did you guys do all day while you waited to go back to the airport?) 

We slept in a bit since we didnt get to the hotel and to sleep until about 230 AM. Then we got ready and went back to the airport, checked in again and hung out til our flight.

7. (How was the flight from JFK to Sao Paulo? Did you get any sleep?)

The flight from JFK was AMAZING!!! And that is because both me and Elder Mabey got 1st class seats somehow! hahaha. They were the single ones that layed all the way down and we got like full meals and stuff. It was awesome. I slept most of it.

8.(When you write back we would love to hear all the details you can think of. You know me! I need to know it all!) 

I dont have too much time right now but I met a Brazilian family on our flight to JFK and they were really awesome and nice so that made me really excited. Seeing NYC was really cool too. So my next P-day is a week from tomorrow (Friday). So I am not allowed to email anyone else right now because of time so if you could let everyone know I will email them back on my first Pday next week. 

I love you guys!!!! Happy Bday to Avery yesterday!! Tell everyone else I love them and that I will email them next week!! 

BYE!!

Elder Christofferson

Elder Christofferson's email address is spencer.christofferson@myldsmail.net. He'd LOVE to hear from you! If you'd like his physical mailing address let me know and I'll get it to you!