Hey everyone,

Elder Christofferson {I think that is how you spell it} came and gave a devotional in Spanish last Saturday. It was pretty sick (awesome). I got to shake his hand...yeah

I also went to temple today. Possibly for the last time for two years. Good stuff happening.

So we had to go to some immigration office the other day. After being driven through the "mario kart" streets of Bogota the guy was like "allí esta, buena suerte" and dropped us off in the middle of the city. It was pretty nuts trying to figure everything out on our own. Luckily, we all made it out alive though.

This food is finally starting to get to my stomach. Let's just say for the past 4 days it hasn't been fun.

Oh, I just got the package from the other Chases like 30 mins ago. That was pretty cool. It was fun to show everyone all the pictures and it was much appreciated.

Spanish is slowly getting better. The Latinos are getting sorta easier to understand but they still speak so fast and are merciless and never speak slower when we ask them to.

I have a new companion, Elder L. He is really chill. He's from Boise, Idaho.

There are six guys in my room. One of the guys is elder M. who you said you were talking with his mom.

I really like the city of Bogotá. It's really crowded and pretty ghetto, but in a cool way. There's a lot of graffiti and stuff but it’s still a pretty sick place. I'm looking forward to getting to Cali though. I'm ready for some heat after having been in the cold for a while. It's nuts to think that in a week I will have a companion and be talking to people in the street...in Spanish too. Geez!. I'm nervous but I'm stoked anyway.

Oh yeah, they're gonna give us a CD with all the pictures they've taken of us because they don't let us use our cameras here.

Oh yeah, it turns out it wasn't a good idea to bring all my sunflower seeds into the country. Something about it being illegal to bring large amounts of certain things and apparently 15 bags of sunflower seeds would have fallen under that category. So turns out if they had noticed, I may have gotten detained in the Bogotá airport. That would have been a fun first experience. Luckily I'm here.

We leave for Cali on Tuesday, I think. Pretty stoked.

Geez!, ok so I don't really have much time left. The timer is blinking red at me in the corner. Next time I email you guys, I should be out in the field. Pretty legit!

Cada día trato de estudiar mas sobre español y el evangelio. Es dificíl, y siempre tengo un dolor de cabeza, pero se que será mejor en el campo. Tal vez no será mas facíl pero hace mucho tiempo que yo he estoy en el CCM. Se que si yo hiciera mi mejor, Dios me ayudaría. Es bueno que tengamos el don de langues porque sé que sería imposible si Dios no nos ayudara.

See you in 2

Elder Brandon Chase

Hey everyone,

So the dearelders don't work here and by the time any letters get here I will probably already be in Cali so I guess email would be the best way to talk to me. I don't know if you guys have been doing that but I wouldn't have gotten any since the day I left Provo.

I went to the Bogotá temple today. It was pretty sick (cool). It was hard in Spanish though, but it was still cool.

I feel really tired all the time. We go to bed at 1030, but I usually don't fall asleep until 1100 or 1130. It doesn't help that some of the Latinos wake up at like 530. So I maybe get 5 or six solid hours of sleep every night. Hopefully it will be better when I get out to the field. I like being here in Bogota and it was cool seeing some of the city. Sometimes the MTC life here is repetitive. It's only like 20 feet from our room to classroom and then just downstairs for the food. The scenery doesn't change much. But it's all good. Sometimes I feel cranky just due to lack of sleep combined with the monotony.

I'm still just learning Spanish one little part at a time. The Latinos are still really hard to understand but I feel like I can at least say what I need too.

A new district of white guys showed up yesterday. It made me at least a bit more confident about my Spanish when I saw them trying to understand the Latinos haha.

Entonces a veces me siento que español sea el idioma mas complicado en todo el mundo pero se que si yo confiara en el Señor el me ayudaría

Well, they are kicking me off the laptop now.

Later,

Elder Brandon Chase

Hey everyone!

I actually get 30 mins to write today. Things are going pretty well. It's different having a companion who doesn't speak Spanish as well as me so sometimes I have to take the lead when we are teaching. But he's gotten better now and we both contribute in the lesson. It makes me really grateful that I studied some Spanish before I got here.

Most of the days have been basically the same. We spend a lot of time in the classroom. We have gym time in the morning, so the only break we get in the middle of the day is for 45 mins of lunch.

It's really hard to understand the natives sometime. The ones from the Dominican Republic are the worst. There have been plenty of awkward moments where someone tries to say something funny to me and I have no idea what they said so I can't laugh at their joke and it's just weird.. But it is cool when I actually understand them and talk to them.

I'm really anxious to go exploring around here. We feel kinda trapped cause we’re in this new cool country and we haven't seen any of it besides the MTC basically. We get to go to the Bogota temple on Wednesday so I'm excited for that cause we will actually see some of the city. Also on our last Saturday, before we leave, we get to out with a native missionary and proselyte.

Oh yeah, and Elder M. is sitting next to me and he is upset he didn't get an email from his family so tell his mom to make sure she writes him haha.

Entonces, espero que toda esté bien alli en los Estados. Me gusta los partes de la cuidad de Bogotá que he visto y quiero ver la cuidad de Cali tambien. No me siento listo pero sé que mediante el espíritu puedo hacer cualquier cosa. he aprendido much y sé que aprederé mas. estoy poquito preocupado porque mi español no es bueno y muchas veces no entiendo los latinos aqui pero tenemos el don de lenguas y tenemos el espíritu. sé que el Libro de Mormon es verdadero y puede cambiar las vidas. estoy agradecido por los maestros y presidente Hall y mi distrito. Escribiré otra vez el viernes. vayan con Dios

Colombia Missionary Training Center in Bogota

Hey everyone,

So I made it to Colombia.  I am in the MTC here it’s only one building. Our class is like right down the hall from our room. There are a lot of weird rules here that they have to have. We aren’t allowed to play futbol cause I guess too many people get hurt.

The food here is AWESOME. It’s nice cause they don’t have to mass produce 2500 meals so the actually take time to cook it nice. They have all sorts of weird juices that are really good.

The streets are like mario cart here in Bogota. There are no lanes and people drive around like maniacs and always honk their horns. }

Our group are the only white kids here. There was no one here when we got here on Tuesday except the 13 of us. 60 more Latinos showed up today.

I have a new companion now. It’s just one of the other white kids who was in the beginning Spanish class. His name is Elder B. They split our group up into 2 classes and Elder H. is in the other class with Elder E. as his new companion. I miss having him. Oh well.

Anyways I get to write again on Friday and the guy told me to short so I guess I’m done now.}

Elder Brandon Chase

Hey everyone

So yeah there is an Elder M if that's who you are talking about. He’s not in my district.  I think he is in the beginner class but I've seen him before. He knows my companion really well he pole vaulted with him and he will be going to Colombia the same day as us.

Oh yeah Chance got here on Saturday. He lives like 2 rooms away from me hahaha. I was stoked to see him. Dave will get here on the 22nd so I won’t see him. Oh and I saw Tyler Kesler in the cafeteria that was cool.

Sorry I took a 3 hour nap today and it really cut into my email time, dinner started 5 minutes ago but I’ll try to say as much stuff as possible.

I scored my second goal ever in soccer yesterday. That was sick.

I’m in a Lab full of kids trying to learn Mandarin. Creo que espanol es poquito mas facil. but yeah

entonces, quiero escribir mas pero tenemos que cenar. estoy agradecido por la oportunidad a ir a Colombia este martes. Ojala que vayamos con seguridad. no me siento listo hablar espanol siempre, pero se que podemos aprender rapidamente mediante el don de linguas. pues, en las palabras de Wiz Khalifa, trabaje duro juege duro. y en las palabras de Jacob, "oh sed prudentes, que mas puedo decir?" yea.

Elder Brandon Chase

Colombia bound Elders at the Provo MTC

Elder Chase in front of the Provo Temple

Hey everyone

So the Colombian VISAs came through. At least 11 of us are heading down to the Bogota MTC on August 14th. So it's gonna end up being 6 weeks here and 3 in Bogota.

When does Erin get here? I’m  guessing it’s after I leave but since I am here 3 extra weeks that'd be cool if I ran into her.

Also Dave is getting up here in 3 weeks or something. I'm pretty sure I’m gonna miss him by like a day or something. But I just got an email from him that was pretty cool.

So yeah I get to call again I'll probably try calling later tonight idk if they will let me but I’m gonna try to call at like 9:30. If I don't call its cause they didn't let me.

I still appreciate all the Dearelders and letters and stuff. I hope you guys get the ones I send. The last one I sent was like all Spanish idk if you guys received it. But in that one I asked if you guys would be able to send in like a letter or something my papers from my mission prep folder, most importantly the one with all the scriptures on in divided by subject. It would be much appreciated.

According to Elder Collet or Dalorian, Chance is supposed to get here next week. I hope I can see him that'd be sick. Another one of my buddies from school got his mission call to Los Angeles California. It’s kinda cool how I see all these random people I know from different places. I thought I wouldn't know anyone but I know a good amount. I ran into the Means girl again and the guy from our stake Elder Cadden. He’s a Zone Leader here. I still see the Korean kid and say hi to him haha

Entonces, he aprendido mucho y es bueno que podamos ir a Colombia y el CCM alla. escribire mas en las cartas. espero que todo este bien. hasta a las nueve y media

Elder Brandon Chase