First letter from MTC

Hello, it has been a few weeks since I have updated this blog. I have been waiting to get some information from Alexander as to how he is doing.

May 10, 2013

Hello this is Elder Gustafsson from the mtc:)

I have arrived here safely & things are going well! I have a great group of people that are in my zone which consist of Slovaks, Polish, Turkish, Czeck, & more I just can't remember them off the top of my head. It feels a little bit like home except I am never alone.. I don't do any chess.. & I have a really really specific schedule everyday. My companion is Elder Vargas he is cool, he is from SLC & speaks spanish. I only have 1 hour to email I believe per week? So do not die if I do not respond quickly.. Also because of the time crunch I will not write too much because I can't remember everything that I do! It's a wave of information & activities. It is pretty cool here, I am learnign Bulgarian just fine but I am going to attempt to study Russian on the side. One Czeck word I learned was Dopsha which means good. It sounds way cooler than the Bulgarian word for good which is Dobre. Well I am off! this is my email

There are 6 people in my district 5 boys one girl named Sister Paxton she is nice & speaks Turkish, English, Spanish, & French I believe. I don't know exactly how well though but her best is Turkish.

My first name is technically Kenneth so that is what got put as my email. But this is Alexander Gustafsson (Goose) now Elder Gustafsson. Feel free to talk to me about anything or ask anything. Well got to run! Чао

Let me give you some information.

My blog is http://eldergustafsson.blogspot.com

My email address is kenneth.gustafsson@myldsmail.net

My address while I am at the MTC is

Elder Gustafsson

MTC

P.O. Box 64

2005 North 900 East

Provo, Utah 84604

After I leave the MTC my address will be:

Elder Gustafsson

Bulgaria Sofia Mission

UI Marin Drinov 21

1504 Sofia, Bulgaria

Drop off at MTC

Today was the day!! The dropping off of Alexander at the Mission Training Center in Provo Utah. He will stay here for the next 6 to 9 weeks and learn Bulgarian and everything that he needs to know about teaching the people of Bulgaria. It was a bitter sweet day for the family. We are excited for him and the new adventures that he will have, but on the other side we are very sad to be without him for 2 years.

Довиждане за сега   Good-bye for now :.(

The day before I leave to the MTC

Today is May  7th 2013 & I get set apart as a missionary at 7:00 tonight. It has been a wonderful experience preparing & getting ready to go. I of course do not feel 100% prepared, I feel like there are many things I do not know still.. but that is okay I will learn a lot on my journey these next two years. These last few days I have spent the majority of my time packing, double checking, re-packing, & re-checking again all my things. I have also been spending a lot of time with loved ones & doing a lot of saying good bye. Even though I am leaving tomorrow it still doesn't feel so real.. but it is. Tomorrow morning I am going to the temple by myself as a missionary, having breakfast with my family & Susan, then it is off to the MTC. I should be there for about 6-9 weeks. I hope I will like it there. I guess I will end my final personal post with my testimony..
My testimony has been made through personal experiences & trials, I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ changes people. I know that God hears all of our prayers & answers them in His own due time which is the right time. I know by studying the Book of Mormon & Bible you can draw closer to God & His son Jesus Christ. I believe Jesus Christ performed the Atonement which can heal us from all sorrow, pain, depression, sickness, & sin if we just come unto Christ humbly & use it. I know from personal experience that the Atonement is real & that it works.
I am proud to serve the Lord & His children by choosing to go on a mission. I love my family, my friends, & Susan my girlfriend & will miss them dearly while I am gone but I'll be back:)

Checkmate! Ciao

-Alexander

Final Preparations

Well here we are, today is Monday May 6th & I am officially arriving at the MTC this Wednesday at about 12:45 p.m. It is crazy how fast time has flown by. It was already about 5 months ago I received my mission call to Bulgaria. It was a huge blessing that I had such a long wait because I was not ready & had many other things on my plate. I thought for this post I would talk a little bit about what I have been doing the last month for my final preparations. So let's go back to April 6th & see what I was doing.

At the time of about April 6th 2013 I was busy working at Challenger School teaching chess 5 days a week at two different campuses while at the same time weaving in private chess lessons. Besides work I have been trying to balance spending time with my family, friends, & girlfriend as well as learning Bulgarian, studying chess, exercising, & studying the gospel, so I have been quite busy. 

My last chess tournament I was planning on playing was my favorite tournament The Farewell Bobby Fischer which is now I guess the longest running Bobby Fischer memorial in the U.S. The tourney would be on April 20th so I figured hey I will play that day & stop all chess teaching & focus strictly on preparations for the mission because on the following day (April 21st) would be my missionary farewell. So it was a plan but then thrown into the mix was prom with my girlfriend Susan on April 19th, it was a very busy & stressful weekend!

Since my farewell I have played in two more tournaments & have been really focusing on getting ready to go. I have been spending a lot of time with family & friends as well as packing & gathering. Some days I have wasted time & goofed off which I don't like doing but it's all good. 

So these last two weeks have been really great, I have been spending even more time with friends & family saying good bye as the days wane. I am nearly completely packed I just have a few more things to gather then I am all set. This last weekend I had dinner with my family & spent our last Sunday together. I love my family & friends very much. I am going on a mission because I want to & believe it is the right thing to do. I am excited to go to Bulgaria to learn, grow, & become a better person with more wisdom & a language to boot! I have a lot of plans & ideas that I would like to do after my mission but I will have to just keep those put aside until I am done. 

I will post once more tomorrow then it will be doing emails to everyone & my mama will be in charge of this blog! Please feel free to leave comments, emails, thoughts, suggestions, etc

-Alexander