Send some birthday lovin'

Hi Readers,
Just wanted to remind you all that Elder Frazer's birthday is coming up (Wednesday, November 2). If you get a chance to send birthday greetings via a letter, an email, or a note on dearelder.com, I know he would really appreciate it.

Thanks for supporting our favorite missionary!

Letter from 10/25/11

Oi familia! e mai!

So first off, we're only supposed to email once a week so I can't email Mark specifically, so Feliz Anniversado Mark!

I'm going to try and answer all your questions real quick in this email but I'll probably be writing a letter too later today.

My daily schedule changes every day but pretty much always consists of these things: 3 hours of personal study time, 2 hours of language study time, an hour of gym time, 6 hours of class time, and 30 minutes of planning time. There's other stuff too but that's all I can think of right now that happens every day.

My all day of Portuguese was in a word, FRUSTRATING. It was a pretty quiet day. My companions and I even got a little angry at eachother because we just couldn't figure out what we were trying to say to eachother. Pray for me though because we're doing 2 full days this week...

We try to go to bed at 10:30 every night. But my companions are frequently writing in their journals til a little later than I'd like, haha. I sometimes have trouble getting to sleep because my head is just buzzing with verbs, present subjunctive tense conjugations, what we're teaching our investigators, what I could do better as senior companion, and most of all, wondering what kind of food they're going to make us tomorrow. And almost every night I wake up at 3 am. I wake up, I check my clock, then I roll over. Don't know why but hey, at least it's consistent.

We do our own laundry in a huge laundry room with tons of washers and dryers so it's pretty easy to keep all our stuff seperate. But Elder Doyel did find one of my shirts in his clothes. We're still trying to figure that one out...

We get 50 minutes a day of gym time. We either play district kickball or I play bball. Our district is kind of known for kickball now because we're the only ones in the MTC that do it and we are SERIOUS about it. We used our daily planning session a couple days ago just to get our lineup and positions in place. We sometimes play by ourselves but we like to challenge other districts too. Bball is soooooo fun. It's all 3v3 games and they are so much fun! I'm loving it while it lasts!

My teachers are amazing! They are both new but they are both really good teachers. They are both very spiritual and very helpful with Portuguese. Did I mention that every single lesson is in Portuguese? It's definitely, learn the language or learn nothing here I guess!

We don't have a mission president other than the MTC president but we do have a Branch Presidency. He's like the bishop of our ward/branch of missionaries. I've had an interview with him and one of his counselors since I've been here. Also I've had interviews with my District Leader in which I've had to report on my companion, which is him! It's been fun.

We have church in one of the many Chapels/Classrooms. The speakers are called up at random from the pulpit so that means we have to prepare a talk EVERY WEEK! And did I mention that the talk too are only in our mission languages? (Which in our branch includes Portuguese e Italian.) The sacrament preparers, passers, and blessers are asked tghe week previous to do it.

We have all 3 hours but it's scattered throughout the day and our sunday school is just a kind of district discussion.

We get to go to the temple every P-Day.

The food is interesting. I'm getting pretty sick of it. They do NOT know Mexican food here and it's killing me.

There are always missionaries everywhere in the MTC. We see missionaries from every mission all the time.

Everyone eats meals at different times. Our meal time is the last one of the day and we often run our of the good stuff!
I like it here because of my district, my teachers, and I'm just used to it.

Half my district goes to Masao Brazil and half to Recife.

GOTTA GO! I LOVE YOU!!!!

Letter from 10/22/11

Dear Mom,

I couldn't fit everything in the email so I'm adding a few things here.

Russel Askey and Melanie Nelson?!?! That's Crazy Sauce!

Remember how they call Firesides "Sunday Evening Blah Blah Blahs" now? Well not in the MTC. It's all "Firesides" here.

For our three hours of personal study time every week, my companions and I have been speaking only in Portuguese. It is not easy. And this Friday, however grudgingly, they committed to speak only in Portuguese the WHOLE day with me. It's going to be a great experience full of frustration and horrible grammar.

My companion, Elder Doyel gave me a note that said he was so happy to have me as a companion because of my big heart, ability to love everyone, and catchy happiness. It was very special to find that on my desk after a long day.

Today officially marks a third of my stay in the MTC. I think I need to work harder because I don't feel like I've accumulated a third of the knowledge I need to be a missionary in brazil.

Thank you so much for the package! The notebooks and Oreos will be very needed! But HOLY CLOTHES! I needed like one shirt and one pair of shorts. It shows me how much you care though:). But I'll probably have to send most of it back before I leave.

If you're praying for me to get my visa, pray that it comes in six weeks. I love my teachers and my district! I don't want to leave Provo anytime soon.

In church we sang a rendition of "Ye Elders of Israel" that I put together. It went really well I think! We had an Italian sister play on the piano for us. Did I tell you that the Italians are our best friends? Cuz boy howdy they are! They are so nice and are always leaving us friendly notes in our classroom and bringing us caramel corn and cinnamon rolls and all sorts of awesome stuff. Elder Doyel and I go to choir and dinner with four of the Italian Sisters every Tuesday and Sunday. They are so nice and so fun and so friendly. You can feel their spirits and love of the Gospel being around them. I'm sure LaDawn will love to hear that!

Tell everyone I love them! I hope all you crazy cats are sharing letters I send home! I miss you mom!

Fala o proximo!

Elder Frazer.

Letter from 10/18/11

Oi Familia!

I guess no one wanted some daily communcation cuz I didn't get any emails. That's okay though. I still love you guys!

Well things are going pretty good here! The weather warmed up a bit so I'm not in any danger of hypothermia right now. But they tell me it starts snowing by the beginning of november... It's going to be fun that's fo shizzle! Luckily I have the fire of missionary work burning within me.

So, story time. We taught a lesson in the TRC this past week. There people from off the street, usually byu students, come in and get taught by the missionaries. They don't act like investigators or anything, it's just an opportunity for us to teach real people. Well in our second 20 minute teaching session, we were teaching a guy that just got home from his mission in Portugal about a year ago. (BTW we teach in Portugues). The lesson was going fine and it was on the Plan of Salvation. Then Elder Doyel felt inspired to have him read in the BoM that scripture about there being opposition in all things and the guy started to cry. The Spirit entered the room so quickly and completely. We knew as we continued to teach that we were truly teaching to this guy's needs. He may have already known all about what our lesson was on and he probably didn't understand much of our broken Portugues, but he needed to hear the scripture and he needed to hear our testimonies and feel our spirits. I know we helped that man because we were able to truly teach by the Spirit.

Another story, Elder Fogleman and I are quickly becoming best friends. I'm so glad he's here with me. We have a blast together and we're always laughing or testifying. A few nights ago our district was all hanging out in our room and Elder Doyel started talking about how he could hypnotize people and make them go to sleep. Elder Fogleman volunteered to help him demonstrate. After several minutes of Elder Doyel helping Elder Fogleman to relax and get into the "trance" Elder Doyel violently yanked on Elder Fogleman's arm and yelled, "Sleep!" Elder Fogleman collapsed onto Elder Doyel (who is not a big guy and Elder Fogleman is) and we all sat or stood in absolute astonishment and disbelief. It had WORKED. Elder Doyel struggled to keep Elder Fogleman up and he tried to put him onto a bed. We were all still in shock and awe. Elder Doyel asked me to help me put Elder Fogleman on the bed and when I did I grabbed his feet. Elder Fogleman instantly bust up laughing. He had faked the WHOLE THING. We were all trying to catch our breath for the next ten minute because of how incredibly hard we were all laughing. Elder Fogleman fooled us all, even Elder Doyel.

Last story, Saturday night we were in a weekly workshop learning about applying doctrine in our lessons. These workshops are all in english. We got to a point where we broke up into doubles and were supposed to teach a lesson. I was teaching a very large Somoan. I was teaching first. As the lesson started the words, Ola, Como Vais? Came to my mind. Then I realized I didn't need to speak in Portugues. Then I saw this huge guy staring at me and I just couldn't think. The only words that came to my mind were in Portugues! I couldn't even testify in English! Eu seu que....er Eu know que Cristo... er Ahhhhhhh there's a huge Somoan who wants to kill me! It was a hilarious experience.

Well I love you all! Sorry I couldn't write more!

Thank you for the packages! WHY DO I NEED A BOX FULL OF CLOTHES THOUGH?!?!?!

Talk to you soon!

~Elder Frazer

Letter from 10/11/11

Tudo Bem?!?!
Guess what? I just filled out my online Visa today!!! That means I'm on the final step to getting my Visa! I think... Also I think there's a way for you to know what the progress of my Visa is because other missionaries know but I don't know what it is. We had one missionary this week from our district get a call over the intercom to be ready to depart for Brazil in 45 minutes because his Visa just came in. Crazy right?!?! Pray that happens to me I guess!

How is Ginger? Does she spend most of her time at Casey's? Is she sad that I'm gone? I miss her so much! Will you send me a picture of her? Also a family picture, preferably the one at your wedding with all of us in it?

So since we had one missionary leave and my compionship is so rad, we got the extra companion. His name is Elder Scofield and he's from New York. He has quite an accent too. I don't think he likes me too much but I understand that it's hard for him cuz just when he was settling in here he gets thrown into a new companionship.

We were told today that our residence building is going down on thursday so we have to be ready to move by tomorrow night. Awesome right? We just got used to our new home and how were moving! I think we setting a record though; first transfer of the mission at the 2 week mark!

 

So I was looking through my letters the other day and noticed that I had none from COURTNEY!!! What the heck?! I want to hear from my favorite little high school sister! Get that girl to start writing me rapido! (rapido means fast em portugues)

So I wrote Ladawn, Casey, and Victoria em portugues so I probably won't be writing much in it in this email.

 

Tell Jill and Justin that I'll be writing them next week. I absolutely love their letters! They are so awesome especially because they have pictures of my favorite nieces! I miss those girls so much!!!

Guess who I met here? Bryn Lockhart's twin girl cousins! And one of them is serving in Roseville California! So if you run into a Sister Crossley, her and I are pretty much MTC BFF's.

I have 3 minutes left so this is going to be quick. I love you guys!

My favorite quote of the week was from my companion after our devotional on Sunday. He said, "Take that testimony!" It was HILARIOUS. And so true. We were so uplifted on Sunday! It was a great day!

I love you guys so much! I can't express it in words! TE AMO TE AMO TE AMO!!!!

Vai com Deus,
~Elder Frazer

Dear Elder

For those of you who are interested, here is the link to dearelder.com. You type a letter on dearelder and send it as you would an email. Dearelder then prints it and delivers it to the missionary. Cody mentioned in his most recent letter that he really appreciates mail, so lets support our missionary by sending lots of uplifting letters.

Letter from 10/4/11

Dear Mom,

Tudo Bem?!?

I love you so much! I hope that as my mother you’re able to read my hand-writing. If not, maybe your experience as an elementary school teacher will help you.

First of all, we only have 30 minutes to email time a week! That includes reading and sending. It takes me about that long just to read them! I’ve gotten 9 letters and a package in my six days of being here. That’s about 8 more than anyone else. So thank you for making me the most envied missionary in my district! Getting just one letter can turn a long, down-trodden day into an amazing, uplifting one! If there is sunshine in my soul (which of course there always is) then a letter is like a magnifying glass. Victoria used this thing called “dearelder.com”. I guess it’s like you send an email to the MTC and they print it off and give it to me. While I’m here in the MTC, it’s free and far superior to emails or letters so use it! Please call Victoria and tell her to post something about it on my facebook. Also, if you didn’t get the message, mail is awesome so write and encourage others to write FREQUENTLY!!!

In my district there are twelve missionaries (all Elders) and half of us are going to Recife. Shawn Fogleman, *AHEM*, Elder Fogleman is also in my district. My companion is Elder Doyle. He is a very neat guy with a strong testimony. We were truly inspired to be companions! We get along better than maybe anyone else in the district. I am the Senior companion and he is the District Leader. We are doing our best to inspire and uplift the rest of our district. He is from Sherwood, Oregon (just south of Portland) and comes from an awesome LDS family. I love this kid already!

We got to watch General Conference in the gym here at the MTC. It was great! I’ve never taken so many notes before! Wasn’t President Uchtdorf’s talk on Saturday morning great?! There were great “oooos” and “ahhhs” at the announcement of the second Provo Temple. I tried my hardest but with the taxing MTC schedule I just couldn’t help falling asleep once or twice.

There’s so much to do here and so little time to do it. They keep us BUSY and FULL. I’ve never eaten so much in my life. And the eating times are so awkward. Sometimes we’ll have meals just two hours apart and sometimes eight hours apart. But boy howdy! When we have meals, WE HAVE MEALS. They tried to make chicken with creamy stuff but they failed epically. I thought I’d love the unlimited cereal bar but it’s all off-brands! I mean, what’s up with that?! But anywho . . .

I’m also only allowed to write letters on P-day and when most of the day is taken up by the Temple and laundry, it doesn’t make for a long letter writing experience.

Most of our day is learning Gospel stuff in Portuguese. Our teacher only speaks in Portuguese, and I mean No English. We also have lots of Personal Study Time. I’m definitely struggling with the language; others are learning much faster than me. But I’m still surprised with how much I have learned. I can understand it very well. We’re teaching an “investigator” named Junior. He’s from Brazil and going to BYU. He is a very good actor. He apparently doesn’t know English and let’s fact it, my companion and I don’t really know Portuguese. This makes for very . . . interesting . . . lessons. We just hope the Spirit is teaching him in Portuguese because I’m pretty sure he hasn’t understood anything we’ve tried to say in it.

We just had one member of our district get his visa and take off to Brazil today. His companion is joining my companionship so we’ll have a trio. We went to the Temple today; it was awesome.

The best part of the day is gym time. I’ve become a bit of a 4-square legend here. Thank goodness I worked at Neal Dow! There’s also a lot of volleyball and basketball.

There so SO many Sister Missionaries here! They are everywhere! Most of them are absolutely awesome too! I would encourage every woman of the church to serve a mission because the sisters definitely keep us Elders from getting too crazy.

On Sunday I thought I was going to snap and stat punching people because of the monotony of being here. But yesterday was certainly a blessing and calmed me down. I got my glasses (THANK YOU!!!) and 7 letters (THANK YOU!!!) and got to go on a field trip! Elder Doyle surprised me with a trip to the Provo Medical Center. He had to get his eyes checked or something lame like that but it meant two hours off campus! We were in a missionary shuttle for about 30 minutes and in the doctor’s office for another 30 minutes which means we tasted sweet freedom for a whole hour! We contacted lots of people while waiting for our ride. We also planned our second lesson with Junior. (We challenged him to baptism. He said it was too soon but that he’d prepare.) The field trip was definitely amazing. Talking and haring our spirits with real people!

Please share this letter with everyone. Also, call Victoria and share it with her or email it to her or something. Please Please Please Please Please PLEASE send me a couple more P-day shirts like the purple Funland one and send me another pair of gym shorts and a pillow case. (ASAP!) I SO do not have enough regular clothes for pj’s, gym time every day, and P-day clothes!!! Also, the bad weather has already started here! I’ll tell you when it starts snowing, I might need a jacket or something . . . By the way, we just had an Elder in our branch who was supposed to go to Brazil get permanently reassigned to Montana due to visa complications. And I’ve heard that’s not a too rare thing either. Keep your fingers crossed that that doesn’t happen to me I guess! There are over 230 missionaries here waiting for visas to go to Brazil. Crazy huh? Anywho . . .

I love you guys a ton! I’m already excited to see you guys again! I really do love all of you! Please be sure to share this with the Mark’s, Courtney, Kari, Kiersten, Jill, Jonathan, Casey, Justin, Grandma, and LaDawn and anyone else you want to. Tell them all that I love and miss them. And when you call Victoria tell her that I love her too! Also, can you find Elder Carr’s contact info for me? Thank you so much for everything mom! I hope your job is going well! I hope my service is blessing you! Boa Sorte!!

Eu seu que Jesus Cristo e nossos Salvador e Redentor! O Livro de Mormon e verdedeiro!

Con Amor,

Elder Frazer

P.S. Also a spiral-bound notebook if you can.

First Email

Mom received a short email from Elder Frazer yesterday:

I'm doing laundry right now. Tuesdays are my P-days (woot woot!) I have a ton to do but I'll try to write later today. I just wanted to tell you I'm doing great! I love you! Thank you so much for the emails and letters!

~Elder Frazer

*Note: For those of you unfamiliar with the missionary lingo, "P-day" stands for Preparation Day. It is the day in the week when the missionary does laundry, grocery shops (not necessary while in the MTC), checks and sends email, etc. Every other day is devoted 100% to missionary work. Aren't those missionaries amazing??