MTC District

 

Photo from left to right: Elder Cahoon from Calgary, Alberta, Elder Ellsworth from Oklahoma, Elder Chelson from California, Elder Terry from Brigham City, Utah, Elder Slaughter from Kaysville, Utah, and his companion Elder Trabing from Wyoming.

Front Row: Sister Carter on the left from California and Sister Hassan from Fruit Heights, Utah

Travel Plans! Last Week at the MTC!

Hey there Everybody!

So first things first I got the travel plans!! We were crazy excited for the next day and a bit, like way distracted, but we are mostly back to business as usual. So, the info for one of the worlds’ longest first flights is we leave July 2 from SLC at 4:25 pm on American Airlines flight 3037 and arrive in LAX at 5:25pm. We then have an 8 hour layover during which I will defs be calling you (they have calling cards at the bookstore and it’s a righteous deal 5$ for 500 mins I will be purchasing one of those and then talking to my hearts desire) so then we leave aboard Cathay Pacific Airlines flight 881 at 1:30am on the 3rd and our destination is ......... HONG KONG!!! we get there at 7:15 am on the 4th (crossing the date line really messes with things) and then we are in Hong Kong for an hour and a half before leaving at 8:55 am on flight 713 of Cathay Pacific Airlines to BANGKOK where we will arrive at 10:35 am on the morning of the 4th of July! So that is basically all I have with info regarding flights we leave the MTC at 12:30 pm this Monday. Also, I have been assigned to be the travel leader of the group, which means I am in charge of everyone during the trip and getting through the airports and during the flight and make sure everything works out. That’s right the Canadian kid who has never been on an airplane before is the travel leader! My district thinks that it sounds like the punchline to a joke "The Canadian who has never been on a plane is going on a 2 day plane trip to the other side of the world and he is the travel leader!"

So this week we got to meet our mission president, which was really cool. They are really awesome but its kinda funny cause Pres Senior speaks Thai with a way thick Japanese accent, but he has got way good tunes and he is coming along quite well. It’s kind of nice that we are all in the same boat of learning Thai. When we were introducing ourselves it was Elder Ellsworth's turn and President asked if he had learned any Laotian while we were here and he was like dead serious! (I will just let that fuel the fires of speculation.) President is pretty funny but you can never quite tell if he is messing with you or being dead serious cause he was doing both to us but he would use like the same deadpan delivery! So we were all thinking way too hard about things and analyzing it like crazy that night but then we haven’t thought much since. Sister Senior is so kind and genuine and nice she is really going to be like a mom in Thailand. They just had two sons return from their missions in the last 6 weeks and one of them is married already!

The pictures of our yard look amazing! It is so green and lush and pretty it is fantastic! And it sounds like you guys have been way busy making everything look so great.

Well, our whole district is freaking out a bit that we are on our last week and we are having a bunch of lasts this week, including our last session in the temple today. Because there is the mission president training going on right now we are almost 100% sure that there is going to be an apostle tonight at our last devotional. My companion and I have both realized this week that we have not taken like any pictures so we are both stepping up our game for the last week. I am way stoked for the events and learning of this last week I’m going to get your package and the elephant and we will learn the elephant song! Although saying goodbye to our teachers is going to be really tough! We had to say goodbye to Br McConkie last night because he is going to a family reunion and won’t be back till after we are gone. It was sooo sad but at the same time sooo awesome. He told us some amazing stories of investigators and spiritual experiences he had and bore his testimony and it was wow prbly one of the best moments I have had here! but then of course he had to leave and so he gave us all a hug, shook the sisters hand, goodbye and left and most of us proceeded to cry. I had to choke back some tears but I thought of him and how he wouldn’t want us to cry but to go forth with faith and be great men and women and become instrument of the Lord and a scripture he shared with us explains how we can be amazing missionaries and it is going to be my mission scripture Alma 26:22

Well, I am way out of time so I have got to wrap up real quick. I might get to email you one more time either on Sat or Mon but I will for sure call you when I get to LA.

I love you all so much and I know this church is true and that this is a great work I am about to embark on!

Love

Elder Cahoon

Shoutouts:

Mum- that’s cool you found Sis Slaughter. Me and Elder Slaughter were both like that’s way crazy, we found out from your emails at about the same time and sitting across from each other. I can’t send pics yet they took out the machine in the bookstore like a month ago.

Mikaela FREEEEEDOOOOMMM!!!! Atta girl all done and finished up and on to bigger and better things!

Tina-Looks like putting that new phone to good use don’t break all their hearts

Ben and Jeana- it looks like that party was a blast

Kenny- thanks for the scripture it is soo powerful it really is

Teddy - yeah air cast!

Dad- The yard is fantastic, defs read PMG and like just become it there are so many parts of it that I want to use for the rest of my life!

Elder Cahoon and Elder Ellsworth

Random Downloads

Salutations One and All!

Staying original with this email thing is getting a wee bit tricky. Just a warning, as this a download, subjects will appear and change at random but, this is a compilation of the past 10 or so weeks. I don’t know if I have told you this before but we decided that around here it is Groundhogs Day, like the movie. You wake up each morning and do, almost, the exact same thing for 12 weeks, or until you get right. That’s why everyone leaves before us we just haven’t got it quite right yet. Our other theory is that time just ceases to exist in the MTC because there is no other way of explaining why time acts so weird.

Well, the longer you are here the more desperate you become for entertainment in any form and the more creative you get at entertaining yourself with the simplest of things such as; flipping cups full of water onto a tray (I happen to be the best at that one), playing ninja, drawing, silly putty, chasing birds, having western showdowns with bananas, hiding a mini pineapple, making up weird things to say in Thai, telling first kiss stories, trying to find all the Legends of the MTC etc. I haven’t done all of these but I have either participated or been a witness to these symptoms of MTC fever.

BUT, there is a light at the end of the tunnel! We leave in 12 days!!!!! And, we get our travel plans on Thursday! And, on Saturday we get to do a meet and greet with our new mission pres!! They are doing the new mission president training this week so we are defs going to be seeing some apostles again. I have high hopes for tonight's devotional!

The missionaries who are in The District videos all work here and we have seen 4 so far, they are kinda like celebrities.

Sis Carter got a little stuffed elephant in a package a few weeks back, one of her friends made it for her and we all love it. It is super cute and our entire district is kinda obsessed with elephants! We go around saying in Thai we ride elephants every day, and any room that I go into I write elephant in Thai script and then they know the Thais have been there (elephant in Thai is pronounced chaang with a valley tone) So anyway, Sis Carter wrote home and said how much we all loved it and then the lady offered to make us all one!! So awesome, we will be getting them this week! (We are paying for shipping and handling so we aren’t taking advantage of anyone)

I have already had some of those "Wow, I’m a missionary!" moments. We watched a short little video clip and in it there were some Elders tracting and I thought, “Man I wish I could go on splits with the missionaries. That would be soo much fun. They are so cool.” And then I looked down and my eyes rested on my name tag and I was like, “Wait a minute.  I AM a missionary.” It was kinda funny.

Something amazing I learned this week was about receiving and learning to receive. We had a talk on Sunday from Sheri Dew (I shook her hand! I also shook the hand of a seventy and he said he liked my ray bans!) So we need to learn how to receive all those things that the Lord has already given us. So I looked through the index and have been studying everything about receiving and why it is soo crucial for right now and eternity. So my suggestion to you would be do the same thing. It is, Wow and didn’t even take that long and I was learning a ton.

So real quick, let’s go with blue. I only have 12 days left here (we’re almost 100% sure we leave on the 2nd) so I really hope that’s long enough to get a package. Next week I will email you and tell you the date and time that I get to call you from the airport.

Shoutouts:

Dad- Happy Fathers Day and that is so wonderful that you were ordained to be a high priest that’s huge! Keep pressing on and don’t take a back seat now continue to progress and endure well!

Caroline- thanks for the sweet package!! So awesome! Not cookies, but it was superb!! I loved it

G&G Cahoon- take heed, you have been mentioned in the blog, but seriously its awesome getting your letters and my whole district thinks the epistles are hilarious. You are way cooler than their grandparents.

Grandpa Pilkington- I will be replying shortly to begin our discussion on cabbages and kings.

I Love you all so much soo great to get all the support!

Elder Cahoon,

GO THUNDER

P.S. what are Callin and the Wettestein’s addresses?

P.P.S I got the immunization stuff and the pics I would love to have more pics in the package as well

Nine Down Three to Go and Loving It!!

Hey There Everybody!

Thank you so much for the pictures they are wonderful! Dad- it looks like you have been very busy with the garden but it is looking great! I looked at the pictures before I wrote the email this time because last time I didn’t see Mikaelas’ grad pics until after I had written and so I completely missed the opportunity to tell her how great she looks in them so: Mikaela - DANG GIRL!! You looked amazing!! I loved the dress and your hair colour is fantabulous! Just WOW you looked great, really pretty and poised!

Well no more pillow room adventures this week, however, we did have quite the adventure yesterday. (Monday for some reason seems to be our most exciting day.) Our district got to host the senior missionary couples! We took them to their rooms, carrying their luggage of course, and showed them around and it was actually kinda funny just because some of them actually looked kinda nervous and I remembered how I felt 8 weeks ago on that first day. Just saying, but the rooms they have for the seniors are nice around here they are in a part of the MTC I didn’t even know existed but they have like full blown suites; in there I felt like I had just stepped into the Hilton! The abruptness of the change and the difference from the rest of the MTC was almost startling like it was actually really nice and new and really hotel-ish. So yeah that was fun. I met a couple and the wife was from Alberta didn’t catch her name, sorry but also that reminded me: Do we know a senior couple with the last name of Zobell’s? They looked kinda familiar and so did the name but I didn’t really think much of it.

In other news Jeremy and Hayden left to the field this morning I said goodbye to Hayden last night but I couldn’t find Jeremy and I also neglected to take pictures (sorry my goal for this next week is to take a bunch of pictures cause I haven’t really done that too much sorry) Also, Nate Haslam is here! Not only do we have the same gym time so we can ball it up but he also lives on the same floor as me on the other end of the hall! Crazy awesome! This week I was released as zone leader and the torch was passed on to one of the brand new noong thais who also happens to be named Daniel! Obviously a name meant for leadership 55 jk (thai type haha 55 because the number 5 is pronounced haa)

The language just keeps on coming along I learn probably, at least, like 10 new words a day! Uncle Devin- I found out the gluay gluay really does mean piece of cake and you were right on with your definition for jeng a as well!

 My Thai slang is coming along bit by bit sue yaad (thats as close as I think I can get for spelling it phonetically, my English phonetics are slowly detiorating) means like tubular/awesome!

The MTC is still doing fantastic it really doesn’t change much but it really is just so awesome I don’t just say this to put on a brave face, this place is great!

I would love you to send your talks and anything else you might want to. I only have 3 weeks left of the free mail stuff!

Shoutouts!

Dad - Happy Fathers Day! I would send you a card but it wouldn’t get there in time so know that you are loved a ton and I pull on your wisdom and teaching that you have given me constantly!

Siblings - Work hard to finish off school and then play hard all summer, don’t be inside, like at all, just enjoy the weather and party it up and just have the best time of your lives!

Elder Cahoon

O Canada

Elder Cahoon and Elder Haslam (I have no idea how to rotate this picture it is just fine on my home computer??)

The Legendary Pillow Room

Hello Everybody!

Great to hear about the Grad festivities! It sounds like everyone involved had a blast! Chrissy, I thought your email was hilarious it was soo sad that it was actually really funny, although I am sorry about the JB tickets and our little sister Lindsay leaving. Did you guys get Netflix while I’ve been gone? That’s pretty sweet! Crazy about the bishopbric Good ole Orvil he will be wonderful and Big Blair too Phenomenal!! Congratulations Tommy and Amara that is so awesome I am soo happy for your new family!

So I have had just a super fantastic week! Our Noong Thais are all great we are learning a ton of Thai every day and even more about the gospel and how to help others receive it! Definitely the highlight of the week happened yesterday morning during service. We did our service (cleaning bathrooms in a residency) lightening fast and did a really good job so our supervisor dude (he is sweet, super chill, going to BYU has 2 daughters and served in the Edmonton mission. He knew Todd Layton and his family! In fact he asked me about them.) gave us a reward. We had time left over so he showed us, after a little persuasion, one of the legendary pillow rooms of the MTC!!! (Hence the title) Our Phii thais had told us about their existence but we kind of thought they were making it up. Not True! He took us up to the 3rd floor to a residency room and opened the door to reveal a large room filed wall to wall 5 feet tall with pillows!! The sight alone was awesome but then when he told us we could jump in then was our joy full! It was wondrous!! So soft and incredible, it was pretty much the best day here thus far!!

So, that’s my story, I hope to have captured a least a smidgeon of the awesomeness that was experienced. In other news, I am going to be released as zone leader in the next week and one of the brand new Noong Thais will be called. So this week, I get to do my last orientation and it is a doozy; 2 districts of 10 elders each. The MTC is filling up fast and the lines for some things are ridiculous but that too just adds to the whole experience here. I also saw Elder Sloan again and he has already got his travel plans! He leaves in a week from today! I also have seen Graham Johnson; pretty awesome to see so many familiar faces! I have been playing basketball a lot more as of late, our Noong Thais have got some ballers and we have been playing with Josh Low (Jeremy, Graham and Hayden have different gym times). It’s pretty much another Beav vs Cent showdown where Beav dominates haha jk it is a lot of fun to be playing ball together again.

I really am loving being at the MTC; so many great experiences every day and it is amazing to be able to go to the temple every week. I am learning tons and I have actually lost a few pounds (Which is kinda really hard to do here. We hear horror stories of Thai missionaries gaining 30+ pounds over their 12 weeks here.)

Alright, now for the logistical part of this message; I am happy to announce that I will be calling you from the Salt Lake City airport! I have no idea when that will be until we receive our travel plans, in like 2 weeks, but nonetheless, I am really stoked to hear all of you (and to show off some Thai ;) haha). I have a couple requests for that package: iPod, some real photographs (the ones I can hold and view over and over again and put up on my wall), those items of clothing you found would be sweet and whatever else you can think of, there isn’t really anything I am lacking here other than time and sleep, so whatever you can think of will be awesome I’m already way excited to get a package!

My time once again draws to a close I LOVE you all so much you are in my thoughts and my prayers constantly. Please know that I am healthy, happy and LOVING being a missionary!

Peace!

Elder Cahoon