MTC Week 5

Wow, it's crazy to think that this is the last week I have here at the MTC.  I should be getting my reassignment tomorrow or the next day, and when I get it I should be allowed to email home to let you all know where I'm going and whatever other information they give me.  I'm really excited!!

This week has been really great, in fact the MTC only gets better and better. This week Elder Belcher and I had a really neat experience.  On Friday we had the opportunity to Skype a member in Brazil to teach a lesson, we were so scared!  So Elder Belcher and I are trying to figure out what to teach during planning and I suggested that we teach a Christ-like attribute, Elder Belcher agreed and eventually we decided that we should teach about Hope.  So the time came to teach and we started the Skype call.  The member was really cool although there were a lot of technical issues with the sound.  In the end we were able to teach a lesson about hope and during the lesson he started crying.  That surprised us a little but eventually we all teared up a little bit.  He said this was exactly the message he needed, he told us how hard it is to raise a family of three kids, financially, and he asked us to pray for his family.  It really made me realize that just because these people are members doesn't mean that they have perfect lives.  That was a really cool experience.

A lot of people are getting their visas, like half of our district has them, and two sisters who were supposed to leave this morning to California (for their reassignment) were told that their visas came and that they had new flight plans.  So I actually think I might be getting mine pretty soon, even if I am reassigned for a bit, so that's pretty exciting!

The language is still coming along alright, I'm learning faster than most but by no means am I the fastest learner, that title goes to Elder Bishop, but I'm surprised how much I'm able to understand.

On Sunday we had a mission conference and our devotional was given by Elder Holland's son who is the president of UVU (I feel a little bad calling him Elder Holland's son).  But his talk was actually really good, the entire day was about Joseph Smith and there were some amazing talks given.

I want you all to know that I love you so much and that this Gospel is amazing.  Again, I love you all so much, keep up the letters.

Elder Chandler Hyer

MTC Week 4

Well I made it 4 weeks, or according to Elder Leonardo we only have 100 weeks left on our mission, not sure which is the better way to look at it. :)

Nana and aunt Julie, thanks for the cookies, they were awesome.  I'm still the only Elder in our district to get homemade cookies and they just love them.  Mom, holy cow, that package was insane.  It was pretty hilarious when I opened it everyone was crowding around looking at what I got, ready to mooch (which there's plenty for mooching) and then when they saw it was all organic treats half of them like physically backed away.  I found that to be pretty funny.  Oh and the clown noses were perfect.  But seriously that was awesome.  I'm basically never going to stop eating.  The song Lindsay recorded was awesome I really enjoyed it, you're really talented.

Also I weighed myself the other day and I would like to brag to everyone that I now weigh more than 150 lbs!! so that's exciting.
Everyone ahead of us in our zone left yesterday, we did get a new district of 2 sisters and 2 elders which is fun, and we should be getting another district tomorrow, so that's cool.  We also got a new teacher to replace Irmao (brother) Henry who left, her name is Irma (sister) Cowan, she's super cool.  I'll make sure to get a picture with her and Irmao Read before I leave.

Yesterday I was talking to one of the cafeteria employees at the salad/wrap station (I spend a lot of time there) and he asked me if I knew any Hyer's who had recently completed their missions, I said just my grandparents and when we figured out it was the same people from his mission he was excited.  He said he had dinner with Nana and Grandpa which was pretty funny.  I think he said his last name is Craner or Cramer? something like that.

Anyways this week Vai Sikahema, a stake president somewhere, gave our Sunday devotional which was really good, he was pretty funny.

So here at the MTC they have volunteers who hang around the MTC for the English missionaries to teach and they are all either investigators or new converts.  Elder Bishop and I met this girl named Lisa while we were on splits and set up an appointment.  We went and taught her and it was so cool.  We taught her in English which makes things so much easier and it was really nice to teach someone who wasn't simply pretending to be an investigator.  Sometimes I get a little frustrated with my ability to explain things in Portuguese so it was really refreshing to teach someone in English.

Every week all the missionaries are supposed to write a 5-minute talk in Portuguese and then during sacrament meeting 2-3 missionaries are called up to speak without knowing who it's going to be beforehand.  So far I've dodged the draft but we'll see what happens, it's always pretty scary.

I've been taking a break from family history because I wanted to finish "Our Search for Happiness" which was an excellent book.  Grandma, the family history you sent me is so cool, I had no idea we were related to settlers on the Mayflower, and I love the stories of Julia Rawlins and the car, that was hilarious.

The Field is finally opened up for gym time now that it's warm.  I've been playing quite a bit of soccer (I'm really really bad). Hopefully I can get a little better so the Brazilians don't completely hate me.  The other day we had TRC which is where we teach in Portuguese to members who volunteer.  We taught a newly returned missionary who complemented me on not using Spanish, so maybe I failed those finals for a reason...:)

Sorry not a whole lot more to say, everything is still great on my end, just lots of studying which is a lot better than it sounds.

I love you all so much,
Elder Chandler Hyer

MTC Week 3

Hey guys,

So not much to say honestly, the weeks are pretty repetative here although everyday is a blast.  Elder Leonardo has been "making" me do push-ups every night so I might actually be proportionate by the time I get home.

Family History has still been awesome.  I just finished Lindsay Rawlins autobiography, it was very long.  I would laugh out loud at some points which got some looks from my companion.  I especially enjoyed the stories of his wife learning how to drive, that made me laugh.  Again, it was really interesting to read the mission stories, they were pretty cool.

Mom I broke out the book you gave me because people were showing theirs off and let's just say you're pretty tough competition, ha ha.  But seriously that has been great to have already.  I still can't believe the amount of time you put into it.

So this week we got a new solo sister missionary in our district which takes us up to fourteen desks crammed into one classroom, but she's really nice.  We started TRC this week which basically means every Friday we teach members in Portuguese, and a lot of them are either natives or returned missionaries.  It's really spiritual and very fun.

Brother Henry, one of our teachers, taught us for the last time yesterday.  He's moving to Georgia.  It's a little sad because he was a great teacher.  He took the last hour of class and just showed us mission pictures and told stories.  He is an inspirational guy, I'm pretty sure we all got renewed excitement to actually get out into the field.  Our zone leaders also left yesterday, that was sad.  But Elder Bingham and Elder Young from our district are the new zone leaders, they'll do a great job.

The Gospel is amazing.  I'm so grateful that my Heavenly Father sent his son Jesus Christ, a perfect being, who was willing to die for all of our sins in order to allow God's perfect plan of happiness to come forth.  Missionary work is an amazing thing.  There is nothing else I'd rather be doing right now than this great work.  It brings hapiness to so many people's lives, not the least of which being mine.

I miss you all, keep up the emails.  It's always nice to hear about what's going on in all of your lives.

I love you so much,
Elder Hyer

MTC Week 2

Hey everybody!

It's not quite as busy now that conference and all the first week orientation stuff is over.  Let's see, we typically have 3 different 3-hour blocks of study per day. Two of those are with teachers (Brother Read and Brother Henry) who are both really cool returned missionaries.  Then our third block is personal, companion, and more language study (so much language study.)  But my Portuguese is improving so fast.  I'm pretty sure I've learned more Portuguese in 2 weeks here than I did Spanish in 3 years at school!

I've incorporated 20 - 30 minutes of family history study as part of my personal study which has been really really cool.  On Thursday I started Dorris Dale Hyer's history and it was so interesting!  I was reading for 45 minutes before I checked my watch and realized I only had 15 minutes to read my scriptures!  I finished that on Sunday and I really enjoyed it.  His entire life was one centered on missionary work which was really interesting and I learned so much.  I can't wait to someday have the opportunity to talk with him and hear some more of his stories.  I'm now in the middle of Lindsay M. Rawlins which is really cool and also a little more lengthy, :) but I've never been this excited about my family history before.           

I read through my Patriarchal blessing again last week carefully pondering about each phrase and paragraph.  Something I had always just read over was that I have the gift of teaching, which intrigued me because I had never really thought of myself as a teacher.  As a missionary I'm hoping and praying that I can practice and improve this gift as much as possible.  I've never felt particularly talented in my life.  I was always jealous of those who are musically and artistically talented (in fact I still am.)  But we all have different strengths and weaknesses and I'm starting to find some of mine.  I hope to improve and use these strengths as much as possible to help the people I will be teaching and those around me.

On Sunday the BYU men's choir sang for us which was nice, and the Sunday before that, Vocal Point came and sang which was actually really cool.  Normally devotionals are not concerts but recently they have been which has been fun. :)  Tuesday we did have Elder Gong of the Seventy speak to us which was really good.

Last Sunday I went to the MTC choir practice with two guys in my district because I didn't want to take a nap with everyone else, and was surprised to find that I actually really had a lot of fun.  I'm definitely going to go every week.  Maybe I'll actually really learn a few singing techniques.  A few days ago at lunch 5 of us elders were humming and whistling Pokemon and Zelda songs.  That was pretty funny.

I pretty much play volleyball every day during gym which is fun.  I wish I could have been there to hear Lauren sing, I'm sure she did amazing.  I love you all so much.  I hope you all know how blessed I feel to have all of you in my life.

Love,
Elder Hyer

1st week is amazing!!

Well, this week has been amazing.  I'm really busy, like really really busy.  I haven't even had time to think about home let alone miss anybody.  
Lindsay, Lauren your letters were a pleasant surprise when I opened my bag but I couldn't even find the time to read them until yesterday, but they were really fun.  I barely even have time to write in my journal or at least it doesn't seem like it because I have so much to say.  I sort of expected the MTC to be just hours of scripture study everyday, but it's not.  You have to really schedule and make the time to get personal study and journal writing in every day.
We have sooooo much Portuguese study pretty much all day everyday and

yet it still doesn't seem like enough.  Our third day in we had to teach our first lesson to an "investigator" (who turns out to be your teacher) but anyways our lesson had to be in Portuguese, on our 3rd day!!  So Elder Belcher and I probably spent a good hour and a half preparing a lesson and translating it into Portuguese.  We had our organized notes all ready when the time came.  So we walk up to the classroom, knock on the door, introduce ourselves, sit down, and we get about 2 lines into our lesson when Brother Anderson, our investigator, smiling, reaches over and shuts our books.... we were so scared and after a few broken phrases I bore a very short testimony and Elder Belcher remembered how to pray in Portuguese and we left.  That was terrifying and yet it's surprising how much you can say when you are put on the spot.  Our other teacher, Brother Read, came into class the first day speaking full on Portuguese which caught us by surprise.  It really makes you listen to what they are saying.  It's amazing how much we are all able to say after just a week of practice.  
My companion, Elder Belcher, is such a cool guy.  He is truly a peacemaker, never wanting anyone to have a hard time, always  ready to build them up.  
Overall the MTC has been a blast, gym time is especially fun.  My companion loves to lift weights which will be good for me, but most days I go play volleyball which is really fun.
My district is so much fun.  Elder Leonardo is one of the funniest guys I have ever met.  Besides him there is Elder Murdock, Elder Bishop, Elder Wilmeth, Ellsworth, Young, Bingham, Sister Nutt, Siter Calevosso, Sister Whitfield, and Sister Freshour.  There are six guys in our room which can be a little cramped but it's lots of fun.

General Conference this last weekend was amazing!!  I hope you all listened to it.  This was probably the first time I actually listened intently to what was being said while taking notes and I got so much out of it.  
After learning so much stuff about everyone in  my district, I realize now that my life has been really really easy and I'm not really sure why.  I've never lost a family member, I've never had a family member go inactive, or had to deal with my parents divorce, and my siblings never introduced me to drugs.  Hearing all of these hard stories from people and after hearing the stories in conference I realize that I've had very few trials in my life and I feel so blessed.  I love you all so much.  I can't even believe how many blessings I have.  It's hard to even fathom.  I don't know how or why but for some reason I got sent to the best family that has ever existed and I'm so lucky.
Here in the MTC I feel the spirit every day and I only feel excitement for the weeks to come.  Thanks for being so awesome, I love you all so much,
Elder Hyer

Here are the answers to some of your questions:

Q.  How many in your room/district are going to the same mission/or Brazil?
A.  We are all going to Brazil, half of us to Brasília, half to Curitiba.  Elder Bingham is going to Teresina, and sister Nutt is going to Belém.
Q.  How is the food?
A.  Decent, not as good as home.  Some days it's actually pretty good other days not so much.
Q.  What day is P-day/computer time?
A.  Tuesday is P-day, I'll probably get on the computer anytime from 9-11.
Q.  Will you be able to go to the temple?
A.  Yes, every P-day.
Q.  Do you have a better idea whether your visa will come through or not?
A.  Ha ha, nope.  Everyone in my district is waiting on their visas, for that matter everyone from our zone is.  I can pretty much say for certain that I'll get reassigned at least for a little while.

MTC is Awesome!!

Hey everyone this is going to be a quick email.  They're just letting us get on for a few minutes to let you guys know we made it and we're not dead :)  My address is:

Elder Chandler Travis Hyer
MAY11 BRA-BRS
2009 N 900 E Unit 180
Provo UT 84602

The MTC is awesome, my district in full of amazing people and my companion is Elder Belcher and he's an awesome guy.  There are six people in our room, it's a little tight but we have enough room.  Last night Elder Murdock (one of the guys in my room) ripped his entire toe-nail off while trying to get onto the top bunk!  It was a bloody affair.  Fortunately I am on the bottom bunk,  Anyway this is really short and I promise to provide more details on my P-day, which by-the-way is Tuesdays.  Lauren and Lindsay, all of your letters were a pleasant surprise and were fun to read when I got into the MTC.  Also, one of the couples in the branch presidency lives right next to uncle Joey.  I actually have to go so I'll email you Tuesday.

Love you all so much,
Elder Hyer

Arrived in Utah - (mom post)

After a bit of stress (blown tire on the way to the airport) Chandler made it to Utah.  He enjoyed an entertaining meal with some of his aunts and uncles...and a bunch of his little cousins.  He was pretty popular with all his cousins and they loved his attention.  The next day Nana and Grandpa made it back just in time, from their trip out here with us, to give Chandler one last hug.  Then Jeff took him to my parents to get in a quick lunch at Cafe Rio then off to the MTC . He checked in at 12:00 on April 1st.