March 24, 2011 - Email to Family

Cody with the Madrid MTC Mission President and his Wife

 Well the Madrid MTC is about a thousand times better here!!!  Spain is amazing and beautiful!!!!  I like the fact that the temple is about 30 feet away from the MTC.  The temple is gorgeous.  Apparently we get to go into Madrid a little because today is P-day.  So Thursdays here are P-day!   

We only have 20 missionaries here at the MTC, it´s very small.  I don´t room with Elder Manning or Peterson but they are right across the hall from me.  The missionaries here are way cool and way close because there is only 20 of us!  We are all in the same district and I believe my companion is Elder Hunt.  He seems awesome and completely opposite of Elder Blanch haha.   

The Madrid MTC

The flight was super long and I didn´t sleep at all!  But it´s all good I have been awake for like 24 hours and I feel like a zombie.  There is six beds in my room but it´s only me and Elder Hunt so that is awesome.  The windows open up and I have an awesome view!  Oh and I do not have a time limit on emails anymore.  I am positive dearelder doesn´t work out here.  But everything in this MTC is new and clean, the beds and rooms...everything!  It makes the Provo MTC look worse than a prison.  So yeah this is awesome I have Elder Peterson and Manning in my district!   

Cody's District at the Madrid MTC

It was so good to talk to you mom! There is a lot of pretty Spanish women here.  I haven´t yet had the opportunity to eat the food but I am still loving the fact I got to eat a real hamburger today, Mickey D´s!!  So there is a lot of Italians here at this MTC, they sound funny.  The Spain accent is cool but I haven´t heard it a lot yet.  I will soon when we go out into the city.  I think I am gonna get some cheap indoors so I start hitting up Futbòl!  The president seems nice; everyone here seems to like him.  There is a weight set right outside my door with a little bench chair thing we have upstairs.  This place is stacked.   

The scenery here is amazing, and it is sooooo green.  It is rainy and cloudy today but they keep saying it has been way sunny lately.   The gardens and surrounding the temple are gorgeous!  I have been blessed being able to come out here.  The Lord has answered my prayers and I am so thankful for it too! I know this is where I am supposed to be right now.  Wow I hope we go out to the city soon so I can wake up; I am super tired.  I am for sure going to learn the language out here quicker because the teacher’s don´t know much English.  They have been speaking English to us!  On Saturday I get to go to a park and attempt to contact people in Spanish, we will see how that goes....I am taking a lot of pictures and when you figure out what you want to do with the camera cards let me know.  I will look for them out here and find out a price.

How is the family?

How is my dog?

How is my other dog?

How are mi padres (parents)?

How are my brothers?

How are my sisters?

Love you all,

Elder CHODES

March 17, 2011 - Email to Family

HOLA!

GUESS WHO'S VISA GOT CLEARED???????????

Leaving the Provo MTC

That's right, me.  Elder Manning and Elder Sean Peterson visas cleared! Us three meet in the travel office on Monday and figure things out.  The Spanish consulate is in Portugal this weekend so we have to wait till Monday to find out when we meet with him and our flight plans to the Spain MTC.  Which is awesome because it's my two home boys that I love the most.  Poor little Elder Rodriguez will probably have my companion now...but my prayers were answered I need to get to Spain.   

So the MTC is pretty good besides the food.  I really do appreciate the meals you have made for me mother.  You too Miss Amy.  I have been told by my tutor that I sign up for; that the Spain MTC is much better.  

Hanging out after a meal in the cafeteria

Also on our P-Days, in the Madrid MTC, we apparently get to go and walk around Madrid, which will be awesome.  Here in the MTC you feel caged but it honestly isn’t bad at all.

The Spanish is coming along; I speak it better than I think.  You all know me I'm hard on myself.  But yeah I can understand so much more and I’m starting to be able to conjugate words better.  I just pray really hard and command myself "tenga fe" have faith.  

How is the family?

How is Brady? How was his b-day? How is his school? Does he have a woman yet?

Dad’s ankle? He told me it is good and healed a lot.

How is little Zac attack?

How is my dog? I miss her.

How is Charles Murphy?

How is Jer and Ames?

I just barely emailed Dustin and Julie so I know they are good.

This will be awesome that I get to fly with Elder Manning and Elder Peterson; I am very lucky and blessed.

Of course Cody would be leading the group in push-ups

So not a whole lot is new with me, just the same exact thing every single week of my life right now.  Sleep, eat and study.  Oh and to answer dads question we get gym time 5 days a week for 50 minutes.  I do a lot of push-ups and play some mean games of 4 square.  Could you please send me out my nice running shoes I want to start running now that my knee feels a lot stronger?  So I will call you at the airport if I leave next week!!!!!

Mom have fun, be happy and I love you soooooooooooooooooo much!  I love your letter and I pray for the whole family every night in Spanish/English.

 Love you all!!!

 Elder baby Cody

March 10, 2011 - Email to Family

HEYYYY!!!

So real quick I had a cool thing happen to me last night.  We have do this thing here it's called the TRC and what we do is a volunteer comes to the MTC and acts like an investigator.  We have to do a door contact in Spanish and teach them about families all in Spanish and I could do it!!!  Then after we did that to three investigators we taught the first lesson on the restoration to an investigator in English.  I'm really good at teaching in English haha.  But it's amazing how I teach with the spirit; I hardly remember anything I ever really say after the lesson haha.

So no, my visa hasn't come in, but when it does they say they will ship us right off to Spain.  My companion turned his in like three weeks ago so he is in bad luck.  But I just hope I am out of here before his, yes fiancé, comes into the MTC.  It's pretty hard already with his sister always around, but I like her companion.  We teach them in Spanish a lot so I guess that's helpful and we gave them a blessing; I did the oil so that was cool.  I am starting to get along better with Elder Blanch.  We are spiritually friends but not in real life haha.

So I finally saw Elder Joe Wells and he gave me a hug from you, thanks.  So Jerame figured out this website dearelder.com.  Use it to send me your emails so I don't use six minutes waiting for the computer to load and read your email.  So ask him about it.  He wrote me on it and it was good to hear from him because at the time I was very frustrated with the language.

Well everything is the same here in the MTC, the same thing every week.  I have been gone for two weeks and it feels like one big giant day.  It goes by fast and sleep feels like a half an hour nap!

The Provo MTC Zone

So yeah Elder Manning is on iTunes I will write you about it. He is really talented though and opened up for a pretty big band called Secondhand Serenade. 

I just got back from the temple it was awesome as always, I love P-days because I get to talk to my family and of course write haha!

I will be sending out Brady's card and my memory card so you can see all my pictures, I have taken lots.  I still need one with Elder Wells and Elder Peterson.  I always see those two but I haven't gotten a picture!  Oh I need a picture with Elder Keenan Karatti.  So just send me food that's not sugar and no more Mtn Dew. I'm out of time!

I Love you

Elder Hafen

March 3, 2011 - Email to Family

Hola!

So yeah my P-days are on Thursdays and they only give me a half an hour to read and write you on the computer!! So if I run out of time I will write you a letter or a paragraph.

So my companions name is Elder Joshua Blanch; he is from Independence, Missouri.  He was a sales man of cars that he bought and fixed up.  He is super friendly and always talkative (is that a word? I don't know).  My district is super awesome; I love every kid in it! Elder Manning is our district leader and favorite Elder in the MTC.  He is from Draper and went to West High School.  He is an amazing musician, he is even on iTunes. Check him out on iTunes and tell me if he is good, type in the search "Nate Manning".  We both think that we bonded together the best and he is serving in Malaga too!!

Okay so the MTC.  It is amazing here, the spirit is so great.  The Spanish is difficult for me though, I feel like I'm the most behind in speaking it.  But I have only been here a week.  I need to chill out and stop stressing.  If I am negative and tell myself I can't speak Spanish or receive the gift of tongues; then I doubt God. I realized that last night after we taught a real investigator that was a volunteer.  We had to contact him first in Spanish then teach him the first lesson according to how we felt he needed.  It went well and I feel like I teach with the spirit almost every time.  Brother Teerlink is the best teacher! He wasn't blessed with the gift of tongues either and taught me not to doubt the power of God!  I am not the one that converts the investigator, the spirit does.  It is amazing that in the MTC or just being a missionary, the gospel makes sense! Like reading my scriptures I actually understand them!  Brother Toone is our other teacher here and he is awesome too, he pushes us hard!

I only have four minutes left and I want to make sure I send this.  I will write my testimony in Spanish!  I can pray in Spanish too!!!

 Love you all!

 Elder Baby Cody

Some New Pictures

We figure most people are not going to always scroll down to the end of the page to look at his pictures, so, here are a few of the latest pictures from the Provo MTC.

Study, Study, Study

Elder Brock Henson

His district

Probably one of Cody's favorite missionary in the district, Elder Manning

His Provo MTC companion, Elder Blanch

Study, Study, Study

Laundry, is he even doing it?  Or do you think he was able to sneak his mom in to do it for him

He just thinks he's cool, but we all know otherwise...don't we?!

This is his buddy from High School, Elder Joe

Thanks for all your support with Cody.  Hope you enjoyed his pictures

Some New Pictures

We decided to add some of the last pictures before Cody took off to the MTC.  The first pictures are of Cody getting set apart as a missionary.  He was set apart the night before, and from what I hear his blessing was very good.  The blessing spoke very high of him and his potential as a missionary.

The next pictures are of him right before he entered the Provo MTC.  My mom told me the MTC does the drop off different from when I went through the MTC, but then again, I'm old.  Here are some pictures of him saying good bye to his puppy dogs and family.

March 3, 2011 - First Email to Family

Hola!

So yeah, my P-days are on Thursdays, and they only give me a half an hour to read and write you on the computer!! So, if I run out of time I will write you a letter, and then put it in Heather's letter so she has to go visit, haha.  I have received three packages from Heather and one from you! She sends me a Mtn. Dew, candy (or doughnuts), and caramel popcorn every time! She is trying to get me fat so that the Sister missionaries don't hit on me.

My companion's name is Elder Joshua Blanch and he is from Independence, Missouri.  He was a sales man of cars that he bought and fixed up.  He is super friendly and always talkative (is that a word? I don't know).  My district is super awesome; I love every kid in it! Elder Manning is our district leader, and favorite Elder in the MTC.  He is from Draper, and went to West High School.  He is an amazing musician.  He is even on iTunes. Check him out on iTunes and tell me if he is good.  Type in the search "Nate Manning".  We both think we bonded together the best, and he is serving in Malaga too!!

Dad with Elders Manning and Rodriguez

Okay so the MTC.  It is amazing here, the spirit is so great.  The Spanish is difficult for me though, I feel like I'm the most behind in speaking it.  But I have only been here a week.  I need to chill out and stop stressing.  If I am negative and tell myself I can't speak Spanish or receive the gift of tongues; then I am doubting God. I realized that last night after we taught a real investigator that was a volunteer.  We had to contact him first in Spanish then teach him the first lesson according to how we felt he needed.  It went well and I feel like I teach with the spirit almost every time.  Brother Teerlink is the best teacher! He wasn't blessed with the gift of tongues either, and taught me not to doubt the power of God!  I am not the one that converts the investigator, the spirit does.  It is amazing that in the MTC or just being a missionary, the gospel makes sense! Like reading my scriptures I actually understand them!  Brother Toone is our other teacher here and he is awesome too, he pushes us hard!

 I can say and write my testimony in Spanish and pray in Spanish too!!!

 Love you all!

 Elder Baby Cody

February 23, 2011 - First Handwritten Letter

i Hola MiFamilia!

     

Well today was kinda crazy. My companion is from Independence, Missouri. I am good, safe and overwhelmed! My companion is way cool, and he's going to Malaga as well. I love it here.  The spirit is so strong. 

Sorry, I'm kind of wiped out and don't know really what to say. My teachers are awesome, same with the MTC President. I've seen Sean and Keenan. They aren't in my district, but Sean could be in my Zone. My companion's name is Elder Blanch. 

Well this is supposed to be a quick letter. My and I companion got to participate in a demonstration of going into an investigators home. I love you and will write you next Thursday.

Love You,

Elder Hafen