Elder Cody Denton

Elder Cody Denton

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

6/29/10 - Letter to the World

Sent at about 8:00am today:
Do I need anything? - Line of authority please. Have I been able to get everything I need from the MTC store? Yeah, they're pretty stocked. I got a children's song book in spanish!!! Did I have to get more shots? NO, thank goodness! What times are my meals? 7:30/12:30/5:30 Did I get assigned to the advanced class? Yes, with all the natives....scary. Do you have a new off to Nicaragua date? I sure do! July 5. I have to be at travel services at 3 AM. Crazy, eh? How's the food? Hit and miss - some is fantastic, other sends you to the bathroom. What are the activities I do for exercise? Volleyball, soccer, baseball. The laundry room is just a giant laundry mat, you have to pay for soap, fabric softeners, and the machines, but it just deducts from the 6 dollars they put on our blue card every week. I'll write more thank you's today. I'll be back later to write a letter to the world. Love you all!!!!

Sent at around 9:40AM today:
Good Morning! How are all of you doing? I have a lot to say, and only 11 minutes to say it so here I go! Since the Provo temple is closed, we thought that we were going to be bused to the Timpanogus Temple to be able to do a session, but we were told on Sunday that it wasn't going to happen. They've done it before, but since there are so many people here at the beginning of the Summer, it's just not possible. We talk 100% Spanish in my classes which I really enjoy, but we have some native speakers that have been living in the USA for some time now so we have some pretty funny things said, like "A que hora vamos a Lunch". We all just crack up when stuff like that happens, I love it! I don't remember if I already mentioned it, but the first day that we were here we did an exercise with an "Investigator" as a full room of missionaries, I was really focused on the activity, but then I looked over and saw 2 Elders with their tags on and thought "Hey! The missionaries are here!!!" then I realized that we were all missionaries and felt a bit dumb. I got to meet my mission president and his wife on Friday! I already love them both! They are from Guatemala and I think I'm going to be there first missionary. I got my itinerary and as they thought I was going to be in the beginning spanish class (like the rest of the kids going to Nicaragua) I don't have anyone else going with me when I leave. So I'm the only one in my Travel Group. I have to be to travel services at 3 AM and then I'll leave SLC at 6. At 9:35 I get to Texas and I'll leave at 12:35. I get to Florida at 4:35 and leave to Nicaragua at 6:50. I should get there at 7:30. Sooo excited! I snailmailed my Pday schedule home so you can see what a Pday is like here. We got our cleaning inspections back and they told us that our room was Telestial :( - Two people in our room aren't the most organized people I know. I won't say who, but it's not me or Elder Alvarado! I heard something funny from the MTC President. He said that once the Beginning spanish kids leave to the field, they will speak a BEAUTIFUL..........C+ Spanish. That made me laugh! They are going to be launching a new Mormon..org on July 7th which is supposed to be really cool! I'm excited to see how that reaches out to different people around the world. I love being here! The spirit is so strong and the people are here because they have a desire to serve the Lord. In being here I have definately seen how God loves us sooo much and that we need to do all that we can to show our love for him. Love you all! Have a good week - Elder Denton........can I get my oil vile sent???

6/25/10 - A Hand Written Letter Home

Mom & Dad,
Thanks for all of the letters. (We have family/friends write letters before they leave to the MTC and stuff them into different nooks and crannies in their suitcase...we did this for Kyle too.  Whitney may be on to us when she leaves Sept 1st!)  It's fun to see all the other Elders jealous when they don't get anything.  When you want to send me blog stuff, plese do it through dearelder.com.  My 30 minutes isn't enough to read through everything.  Remember that I can receive dearelder.com stuff all week long, so don't be shy.  I'd like a dearelder.com on how mom is doing if you have some time.  I really do love it here and I am bless to be in my district.  I ran out of time on the computer today so you can add anything from this letter to that.  I am in the advanced Spanish class.  Tomorrow I will go to try and work out travel plans.  I've only met 1 other elder going to Nicaragua, but he's not in my zone or anything.  In my class we only speak Spanish.  There are a good amount of natives in my district which makes for great practice as they're great people.  We think we are the biggest district ever in the MTC.  We now have 18 students with 2 more Sisters wanting to join.  We are STUFFED in the classroom as it is.
Most of the Latinos in our class lived in South/Central America, but ended up here in the States, so we have quite a few Spanglish phrases.  Sister Mercader said a phrase in Spanish about going to lunch, but she said Lunch in english and the whole class started cracking up, so now we often make fun of her for it, but tactfully.
Funny story!  We did an intense exercise on the first day we got here.  We were given an investigator to convert and we were having a pretty hard time.  I looked over to the corner, saw some guys with tags, and thought <> - I felt pretty stupid, but I thought it was funny.
All the teachers here have a double identity.  They're a teacher and also a fake investigator.  They're great actors, really quite fantastic.  We study alot and we pray alot...I love it!
I saw Jordan Madsen today...Just saying!  Oops - Elder Madsen!

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

6/22/10 - Letter to the World

(I can't use the enter key) Hello World! - I absolutely love it here! The spirit is always here and it isn't hard to find. The teachers are amazing at what they do, and the influences and experiences of the other elders really helps. My companions name is Elder Dearden and he will be serving in chile after this MTC experience. He is a great guy who has a tooon of knowledge of everything it seems. I think he's a history major. We share are room with Elder Alvarado and Elder Gonzalez. Alvarado is from Florida and has the strongest testimony in the gospel that I've ever seen. He is a recent convert and it's not hard to see that he truly loves everything about this Gospel. He will serve in El Salvador. Elder Gonzalez is from California and he will be serving in Chile. He also has a great testimony and is learning a lot here, just like me. He hurt himself when we were playing soccer yesterday, and today has to use crutches. Times up. See you guys next week. - I'll tell you about the amazing spanish we use here, it's hilarious. Love you all and thanks for you support! The Gospel's true and God loves you! ~ Elder Cody Denton

Sunday, June 20, 2010

No news from Elder Cody Denton yet.

We were hopeful to have a letter from Elder Denton on Saturday, but it didn't happen. Perhaps on Monday? Hopefully all of his friends and family will sign up to "Follow" his posts.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

The Eagle Has Landed!

After a yummy lunch at Olive Garden (thanks Whitney!) we (Connie, Cody, Whitney, Chazz and I) headed to the MTC. After a quick stop at Walmart to do some last minute missionary shopping, we dropped the young man off. We laughed, we cried, we hugged and said good-bye! Then just as quickly as we got there, we left. We got about a mile away when we discovered that Elder Denton had left all of his paperwork sitting on the seat. Back up the hill we go and drop it off in the office. Hope it catches up to him!

Elder Cody Denton is Set Apart!

Last night at 9:00pm Elder Denton was set apart by Pres. David B. Tate. Other's in the circle were Pres. Shaw, Bishop Anderson, Uncle Stephen and Dad. He received a marvelous blessing and has been with a "companion" ever since.

We spent lots of time yesterday gathering clothing and other items, and hauling them downstairs to be either heat pressed with his own special logo, or embroidered with his name on it. Socks, underwear, baptismal clothing, suit and suit pants, shirts, towels, washcloths, backpack and laundry bag. It appears that the members will wash the missionary clothing in Nicaragua so we don't want anything getting mixed up with somebody else's stuff.