Landed!

Late last night, 29NOV17, I received this email from the Mission President's wife's email:



"It's your son

Hey Mom! I'm not dead. I'm in Montreal with the Phillipses.  I love you!"



A few minutes later came another email from the same source:


"Oh yeah

Can you transfer $700 into my account? I need to buy a coat. Thanks."


From this we can assume that Elder Hadden has arrived safely at his destination, with the appropriately-dated visa attached to his passport, and a heightened awareness of his need for a warmer coat.

Next Stop: Montreal

Dear All,

I hope you appreciate my catchy subject line this week. I spent a long time coming up with it.

This is it. I'm leaving in less than 48 hours. Half of my district has already left and I'm the next to leave. I'm super excited.

It's been a pretty interesting week. We had in-field orientation every day except Thursday. In-field was a wonderful hour and a half every day telling us how to be a missionary. It was essentially the same as what we've been doing for the past nine weeks, except it was in English instead of Chinese. Pretty fun.

Thanksgiving was weird. We started off the morning with a "Continental breakfast" that was exactly the same as any un-continental breakfast we normally have. We then had a really cool Q and A devotional from Elder Bednar. That brings us up to four of the Twelve that we've seen here. Pretty cool. After the devotional we had a big Thanksgiving lunch that was surprisingly good for the MTC. After lunch, we watched a T C Christensen film called "Love, Kennedy," we had a sack dinner, and then bagged dry food into individual portions for a couple of hours. (Here's a link of more info and photos of the service project.  MTC Service Project)  After the service project, we had another devotional from the "Nashville Tribute Band," a country-style Mormon band that just sang a lot of country songs about the gospel and missions and stuff. It was it was fun, but nothing special. During one of the songs, some elders in the front of the hall decided it would be a great idea to stand up and start clapping along with the beat of the song. Pretty soon about half of the MTC joined in and the yells of a about a thousand 18-or-19-year-olds drowned out the actual song. Needless to say, the MTC presidency got really, really mad and we all got a passive-aggressive email about it the next day. It was pretty funny. I did not participate.

I got to talk to the head sound engineer for BYU as he was taking the sound system apart after the devotional. It was really nice to talk to someone from the outside world about something other than missionary work.

Janice Kapp Perry gave the Tuesday devotional last Tuesday. That was really, really cool.

That's about all the news from The MTC this week. Exciting times for everyone involved. Can't wait to get out of here.

The "by no means a role play," "real" investigator we've been teaching for the past three weeks turned out to be 100% a role play. Thanks MTC. In all seriousness though, he's a really cool guy. It turns out he served in Montreal speaking Mandarin, so we had a really long talk about the mission and the culture of the area. It was really cool. I'm stoked to get out.

Love you all. Hope your Thanksgivings were just as exciting as mine was. 

Elder Hadden

Hey! guess what! I actually remembered my camera this week.

Elder Chan and me with Daniel Black (our "by no means a role play" investigator)

Our District With 2 of our teachers (left to right: Elder Mitchell, Elder Stubbs, Elder McKean, Elder Chan, me, Tan Laoshi, Elder Airoso, Sister Rafie, Hong DiXiong, Sister Miller, Elder Turcotte, Elder Biehler)

Our district with Wen Laoshi, our other teacher

Elder Biehler and Elder Turcotte getting ready to head out to Australia this morning.

Mormonspeak

Elder Bednar:  Elder David A Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

Twelve:  The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (which includes Elder Bednar)

Surprise Thanksgiving Visit to the MTC

Elder Hadden was the only one of our children that was not present for Thanksgiving this year, and we felt the loss.  So Caiti decided it would be a good idea to go to the MTC and take a picture of ourselves in front of the sign/gate and send it to Elder Hadden so he knew we were thinking of him and that we were close by.

Surprise visit to the MTC 23NOV17

So we did.

Elder Chan Gets His Christmas Present

If you noticed in the last blog post, Elder Hadden mentioned that his companion, Elder Chan from Birmingham, UK, was going to be at Temple Square  yesterday, along with other missionaries from outside the United States.  This was of interest to me, because I had a Christmas present for him, and wasn't sure where to send it.

So I went home and wrapped his present in two layers of wrapping paper (the interior one has a warning not to open until Christmas) and went downtown to Temple Square.  

The first thing I saw when I went in the gate of Temple Square was a large group of Elder and Sister missionaries.  I asked their leader if these people were from the MTC.  He said they were, but that they couldn't stop as they were on a tight schedule.  So I walked along with them and asked the group if Elder Chan was amongst them.

No answer.

Not deterred, I approached an Asian Elder and asked him if he was Elder Chan.  He replied that he was not, but pointed out another Asian Elder and said that was Elder Chan.  I approached this Elder, held out my hand, and introduced myself as Rose Hadden.  "You're my companion's Mum!" he exclaimed.  We shook hands.

I gave him is Christmas present (all the missionaries cheered!) and an orange, explaining that this was a family tradition for Christmas.  He thanked me profusely.  We talked about where he was going (Calgary) and some other things.  At the Visitor's Center, his companion-for-the-day took our picture, and I include it here:

Me and Elder Chan at Temple Square 20NOV17

He seemed embarrassed, so I wished him a Merry Christmas and left him to enjoy his tiny view of the United States.

MTC Week Eight

Hello all,

Well, this has been quite an eventful week. We had Christmas on Friday, meaning we all got our flight plans, so we celebrated with lots of candy and a secret Santa thing. Just about everyone in my district got a package that day (Elder McKean got 3!) in addition to our flight plans, so there was plenty to celebrate, and to celebrate with. It even snowed, sort of. 

My flight plans tell me I'm leaving the MTC on the 29th at 4:50 AM. I'll catch a flight to Toronto at the SLC Airport at 10:00 AM to arrive in Toronto at 3:51 PM local time. I'll have an hour layover there and catch my flight to Montreal at 5:00 pm, to arrive in the mission field at 6:12 PM. I'm going to be totally alone for about 12 hours. It'll be a party.

Other than that, we had another member of the Seventy give a really good devotional on Tuesday. I'd tell you what he talked about, but it's 6:30 AM right now, so I forgot my notes. It was good though.

Oh yeah. I'm in the laundry room insanely early today because Elder Chan is going to be spending the whole day at Temple Square. He's leaving at 7:30 and won't get back until 5 PM, so this is the only time he has to do laundry today. It's early, but at least I'll have time to take a nap later. If any of you are in the Temple Square area and happen to see a large group of missionaries from outside the US, look out for an Asian one with a British accent. Be sure to give him a hard time.

This week we have in-field orientation every morning except Thursday. They're gonna orient us about how to work in the field, I guess. We'll see what that means.

For Thanksgiving, we have a small "continental breakfast," and a "sack dinner," but supposedly a proper Thanksgiving meal for lunch. We'll see how that goes. I hope it's better than the rest of the food. My bowels can't take this much longer.  We also have two General Authority devotionals and a service project. That should be fun.

This week I met three Elders from Francophone Countries and got to have French conversations with all three. One was from DR Congo, one from Haiti, and the other from Tahiti. It was awesome and it felt really good to speak a language I'm actually OK at. The Elder from Tahiti is here learning English in preparation to head to Montreal. 

Anyway, that's the news from me this week. I hope I lightened your day. I'm gonna go eat breakfast now.

Happy Thanksgiving all,

Elder Hadden

Mormonspeak:

Seventy - the Quorum of the Seventy:  Members of Quorums of the Seventy are often referred to simply as “Seventies.” Seventies are called to serve as special witnesses of Christ, proclaim the gospel, and build up the Church throughout the world. They work under the direction of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

Temple Square - A 10-acre complex in the center of Salt Lake City which includes, among other things, the Salt Lake Temple, the Tabernacle, two Visitor Centers, and an Assembly Hall.

MTC Week Seven

Mt. Timpanogos after snow

Hello all,

It's been a good week. Elder Chan and I started teaching our real (?) investigator. The MTC told us that this experience was "by no means a role play"; however, I know that the guy we're teaching has already been taught, and I honestly would not be surprised if he has already been baptized or has already committed to be. Sort of frustrating, but
hey, at least he's a cool guy and at least tries to act like a real investigator.  I can't help but feel like I'm in some weird LDS-themed Ender's Game knock off.

Last Tuesday President Nelson came to talk to us. He talked about becoming deeply converted to the gospel so that we can teach better and stay converted forever. It was quite the experience to have him come while we're here.

This Wednesday, we got 8 new elders and 2 new sisters in our zone. Only three of the elders are from Utah, the rest of the missionaries are from all over the country: Hong Kong, Korea, and one sister is from a town in Malaysia. They're a really diverse group and it's been great getting to know them as we introduced them to the MTC.

In a little over two weeks I'll be in Québec. It's getting more real every day. This Friday, we're supposed to get our flight plans, and then I'll know for sure exactly what day I'm leaving. This week I remembered that I also need to be able to speak French when out there, so I'm trying to spend what little free time I have watching Mormon messages and reading scriptures in French. Chinese and French are very, very different languages. I do not understand how people can keep them both in their head.

To answer some questions: no, I can't actually order pizza. I wish I could, but the only place Elder Chan and I can call on our 2001-era phone is the MTC front desk, which unfortunately does not deliver. If anyone wants to arrange a back fence pizza for me, I'm sure you will receive blessing enough to compensate for your sacrifice.

Anyway, that's the gospel according to me for this week. Let me know if you're ever confused about my sarcasm. (It doesn't really come through as well as I'd like in email). 

Love you all. Wish you were here.

Elder Hadden
韓長老

My cool Chinese name tags!

Elder Chan in his Halloween costume

Cool sunset at the MTC.

First snowfall at the MTC NOV 2017

Moses and the cure for snake bite

Mormonspeak

Ender's Game:  a book by Orson Scott Card about a boy who is trained to defend earth against an alien race.  Check out the summary here.

President Nelson:  Russell M. Nelson, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.  Here's a quick summary of his life so far:  President Russell M. Nelson

Moses and the cure for snakebite:  Holy Bible, Book of Numbers, Chapter 21, verses 4-9

MTC Week Six

Hello All,

It's been an exciting place down here in the Empty Sea. The excitement started off right away on Monday evening with an Elder in my district rolling his ankle so bad he had to go to the emergency room. It was pretty nasty and he was on crutches for a few days.

Halloween was equally exciting. I dressed up as Elder McKean,

This is my Halloween costume. We didn't communicate this. I didn't see him before I got dressed. I just knew what he was going to wear.

another elder in our district (picture hopefully included). Elder Chan dressed up as an "American" by wearing the 2002 Winter Olympics hat you sent him. In the evening, we went around to all the rooms in our residence and asked for candy, which was surprisingly successful!

This week also brought the news that this week Elder Chan and I will begin teaching a real investigator named Daniel Li who's here attending UVU. He's actually a real person, who really actually speaks Chinese, and is really actually investigating the church. Exciting stuff.

Yesterday, Elder Chan and I were assigned to be the Zone Leaders for the Mandarin Branch. We're now over 30 Missionaries. We're in charge of organizing Sunday meetings, making sure no one does stupid things, and just generally being in charge. More importantly though, we have a sweet flip phone and can order all the pizza we want straight to the back fence of the MTC. 

To answer some questions: 

They do serve me food from my target culture. We get served orange chicken about once a week. 

I can teach most of the lessons decently in Chinese probably, but I know 0 gospel vocabulary in French,and they're not teaching me any, either. I've befriended a couple French Missionaries going to Montreal, so I ask them gospel vocabulary when I see them.

The newbies are great, totally on top of it now. We're getting 8 new elders and 1 new sister this week. The sister is coming in from Hong Kong. There's one Elder coming from Korea (just outside of Seoul I think), one from Ohio, one from Michigan, one from Florida, one from Hong Kong, and three from Utah. I'm excited to get to know them.

Cool sunset last night. (The Y is for Grama and Grampa Hadden)

My cool Quebec T-shirt.

That's the weekly gospel according to me. Hope you all are doing well. I pray for you all.

Have a good week,

Elder Hadden

Mormonspeak:

Empty Sea:    MTC.  Seriously.  Just say it fast a couple of times and you'll figure it out.