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Soon Leaving for Argentina

Well, I'm getting ready to head out. I just got a haircut, I'm on my last p-day, last time heading to the temple, and I'm constantly reminded that I have only a few days to the heat, mosquitos, cultureshock, and goodbyes. Ah well, I'll learn to love it. I'm not sure but DearElders may be free within my mission, it may be worth checking.

Um, not sure what to write.... I suppose that it may be a good idea to write on my blog that I'll be in Argentina from now on. It takes about 7 days for letters to get here from home so any letters sent from now on should likely be directed to Argentina. Oh, and may as well put up there that I didn't bring any pictures and so I would love some, especially of my friends. Just out of curiousity, is there anyone who follows the blog?

Well, I guess that this'll be my last e-mail from the MTC. Not sure what else to write so TTYL :)

~Elder (Levi) Schlachter

Writing in Spanish

Now starting to write in Spanish!

Escribiré en inglés ahora; I'm here until the 21st or so and I get my travel plans this Friday. I'm not looking forward to leaving because I'll miss the people here like crazy, my zone in Epic. That and the difference in temperature is probably going to send my body into shock so I'd like to put that off as long as possible.That said, I am looking forward to liking Argentina.

It doesn't surprise me that Matthew's the fastest skier. Last time I went with him he had a habit of "bombing" all the hills :P but it's great to hear that he was able to keep up with those two.

It's been a regular week here at the MTC. My teacher's just changed because of the change of semester at BYU. The plague is pretty much gone (though Hermana Merkley still has the Flu, luckily she's healthy enough now to come to class). Nobody I know has died or been sent home. I saw a missionary from our stake at the Sunday night devotional but I don't remember his name. Elder Slaven's stitches are about ready to come out. Hermana Doxey is staying with us another week as she trains our new teacher who has never taught here before. And I'm using a bit of free time (mostly at night) to work on a picture that Hermana Hazelgren has requested. Ummmmm, I think that's about it foor my week, oh, and Dad's letter arrived.

Enjoy your week,
~Levi Schlachter

Christmas in the MTC

Christmas here was alright. Christmas Eve we all had a fireside and then watched "A Christmas Carol". The MTC, as always, provided kettle corn. Christmas day we didn't have any classes. We woke up at the same time, had breakfast, and then went to our classroom to waste away some time. My district used the time for a Secret Santa. The most memorable gift was a Book of Mormon picture book that Elder Slavens got for Hermana Baker. He bought it a few weeks early and found out, when he gave it to her, that it was in Tagalog instead of Spanish. We all had a good laugh. My companion had me and gave me a sketch book (which is awesome). The we went to the morning devotional, guest speakers were Elder and Sister Nelson. There was food, a temple walk, a bit of e-mail time, and then a talent show. The most memorable acts were a guy who did amazing yo-yo tricks, a very spirited rendition of "It was the Night Before Christmas", a set of twins who did a piano duet/routine, and an Elder who played some very lively and amusing piano piece. This was followed by a fireside featuring Greg Olsen (who paints all sorts of pictures for the church). It was fun and we saw a bundle of his pictures via his slides. Then we left for sac supper, and came back to the gym to watch (a slightly censored version of) "It's a Wonderful Life". I also found out that some of the Hermanas in my zone are incredible artists. (We managed to get almost our entire zone seats together.) And then 10:30 bedtime as normal.

Also, thank-you for the christmas package and the calendar :)

New year's at the MTC is the same as any other day except that there seems to be a super horrible flu going around. Tons of people puking and in solitary confinement. There's even a "No handshake" policy to try to stop it. Theories are going around that it may just be food poisoning but nobody wants to take that chance so they're treating it as a contagious disease. As far as I can tell I'm healthy.

Also, I don't really need any tie trade ties. A bit after I sent the request we were told that tie trading is to be stopped. Though the night before that though was like a tie trade flea market, it was pretty amazing.

Best of luck and Happy New Year!
~Levi