San Fran

Hey all. sorry this is so late. we flew to San Fran yesterday so i didn't get a chance to write. or do laundry. or get a haircut (which i really need at the moment). So it was 5 elders and 1 sister who all flew to the consulate on Tuesday. Only me and 2 others were from my district. the others fly out on Thursday. we had to wake bright and early at 4:30 to get to the travel office and get on the bus to the airport. it was weird for us because everyone else on the bus was leaving for the field and we were just leaving for the day. it was cool seeing what it is like being a missionary in public. everyone stares at you constantly until you look at them because they don't want you to talk to them so they avoid eye contact. even some dude wearing a skirt was staring at us. there was this one sweet lady though who walked past us and asked if we were Mormons  when we said yes she said "i like you guys!" that made us feel good. when we got to the consulate it only took like 20 minutes for all of us because all you do is hand them paperwork and scan your finger prints. after that we had more time so we drove around. we went to some pier. (41 or something like that). after that we went to china town. it was crazy there. if you think people stare at missionaries just add the fact that we were the only white english speaking people. some crazy dude cussed us out from the other side of the street. we went to this chinese restaraunt after the very enthusiastic lady on the street pressured us into coming inside. It was super awkward being there. we were so out of place. later we went to the golden gate bridge and took pictures and handed out pass along cards. when we got back to the airport and were in the terminal going back to salt lake we were treated like celebrities because half of the people there were members who wanted to know where we were going. when we drove back from the airport the shuttle guy took us to wendys if we promised not to tell the front desk. we stopped at the one in lehi and it felt really weird being there as a missionary. it was great being out of the mtc for a day though. anyway since this isn't technically my p day i need to end this a little early. I love you all and hope all is going well. 

L'amour 
Elder Swenson

Another Letter!

Bonjour ma famille!

Another week has come and gone. I still don't understand how it can feel like the days last forever but the weeks fly by. But here i am starting my third week. so i guess i'll start off by talking about thanksgiving  It was a super relaxing day because we didn't have class. Elder Holland came and spoke at the devotional. He brought his family and made some of his grandchildren do musical numbers and bear testimonies. I'm glad that my grandpa isn't an apostle who would make me speak in front of the whole mtc. Elder Holland gave a great talk on being thankful about the blessing of living at this time on the earth and how we have so much and that the gospel wont be taken away again. We had a big thanksgiving dinner (at lunch) and then we did a service project where we put together health and school kits for kids in Africa. Later that night we had a weird thanksgiving program thing. It was pretty bizarre  i'm not gonna lie. After that we ate popcorn and watched the movie 17 Miracles. On Sunday Stephen B. Allen (not a general authority  I think he helped put together preach my gospel or something) came and talked to us. He showed us a bunch of old Mormon commercials. We watched Andy's favorite one with the sad little kid eating cereal (ask ash or Andy and they will show/ explain it to you.)

We've been teaching alot more and I can finally pray, bear testimony, and teach basic principles in french without using notes. i feel like i've learned way more in these past 2 weeks than i did in 2 years of highschool french. I love how you learn so much and constanltly feel the spirit at the mtc. I still see more and more elders and sisters from PG. I think i've seen like 20-25 people i know. Crazy. We finally found the alarm clock that was hidden in the celing and going off at 3:00 every morning. I climbed up on the ironing board and looked around in the celing with a flashlight. Oh the joys of the mtc. They still haven't told us when we are glying out to the consulate but i think it should be sometime next week.

Anyway, I love you all and hope all is going well. Thanks for all of the letters. I was going to pick up some envelopes and stamps at the store but i decided to sleep instead. You're constantly tired here and it can be especially hard during the sunday meetings. Anyway, until next week.

L'amour, Elder Swenson

First Letter!!!

Bonjour!

Hey everyone. So FYI my P-day is Tuesday so that's when you'll get my emails. It's been a good week at the MTC. It's a lot to take in when you first get here but you catch on fairly quickly. There are a lot of elders that i know from school. I think I've seen between 15-20 people i know, and run into more every day. Any way there are 3 sets of elders and 1 set of sisters in my district  3 are going to Paris but the rest of us are going to Lyon  My companion is Elder Gonzalez. He is from Spain. He is an awesome guy. my favorite thing is hearing all of the american quotes and pop-culture references that he says in his accent. Pretty great. I've taken a few pictures but i don't know if i'll be able to send them on the MTC computers. Apparently you used to be able to send pictures on certain computers but i couldn't get that to work. I'll ask around to see if there is a way to do that. It's nice to have a P-day  because i feel like there is never time to relax here. This is mostly because we have to teach lessons to this investigator in french, and it's kind of hard and frustrating to teach in a language that you don't know. We've taught 3 lessons so far. Not only do i have a limited vocabulary but i have no idea what they are saying when they respond back. But i'm sure the language will come eventually. I thought there would be a lot more language classes here but instead they pretty much just turn you loose with a dictionary and some french gospel phrases and expect you to teach yourself. We only have a teacher for like 2 maybe 3 hours and the rest of the time we just sit there trying to prepare lessons and write talks and such. The food here is good but does strange things to your insides. especially the potatoes. Sunday we got to watch a video of a talk that Elder Bednar gave at the MTC on Christmas  It was so good. I love how blunt they can be when they are just talking to the missionaries. He does a pretty good cookie monster impression by the way. I'm pretty stoked that we get to hear an apostle on Thursday  Any way all is going well. I did get those shirts and a few letters so thanks for all those who wrote. I will try to write some letters but i need to pick up some envelopes and stamps from the books store first. Or maybe i can just mooch some off of one of the other elders. Any way the timer at the top just turned red and is scaring me so i'm going to end this letter. If you have any questions for me just ask.

L'amour, Elder Swenson

P.S. Costa Rica! That is awesome  Congrats Madison.  

It's Official!

Trent did a great job speaking in church on Sunday.  Afterwards we all went back to the house for some good food, and fun visits.  Thanks to the family and friends that came and supported our Elder.

Yesterday was the big day and Trent reported to the MTC!  We are proud of him and know he will be a fantastic missionary!  We are anxiously awaiting the first letters, and will keep you posted on all of the exciting and not so exciting ups and downs of Trent's mission!

I love to see the temple

Tuesday October 23, 2012 was a special night. Trent was able to go through the temple and take out his endowments.
Of course mom and dad were there, and all four of Trent's siblings were able to attend as well. Shayna accompanied Bryan, but Megan, Bret and Andy were each left home to look after their kids. It was a special moment to have our whole family together in the temple.
Afterwards we celebrated by eating ice cream from sub zero.