Hello family!
I love you guys :)
You make me laugh when I read your e-mails. Especially Michael. I'm sure I got you sick. I'm sorry. It's no fun. The pink-eye didn't come from me, though.
Oh, and I've met several Elders with twin sisters - one in my district, one in a classroom down the hall, and another one is the Bulgarian teacher. Pretty cool, crazy. I like having that in common with people.
And I've met some Elders going to the Switzerland Geneva Mission! I don't know how long they've been here, but now that I think about it they must be the missionaries replacing Michael. That's weird. I'll tell them to do a good job!
So, my new companion is Sister Brittney Rogers. I went to school with her at Snow Canyon. We were friends in 9th grade, kinda. And we share several friends in common. Pretty crazy. She's going to Bulgaria, so I'm getting to know the Bulgarian elders, too. I ate with them yesterday at meals and they have a game where they try to eat six saltine crackers in less than a minute. I'll prbably try it sometime.
Oh, and last week I forget to tell you guys that we DID have a quorum of the 12 member come talk to us: Elder Cook. It was FANtab! And last weeks devotional was good as well. On Sunday, because we had fast Sunday, we had mission conference, which is when the MTC president and a counselor and other speakers talk to us for two whole hours. The first fast Sunday here was a century long, but this last Sunday was really really really good. It was good. It's nice hearing good talks and advice and reminders over and over and over again. I'll miss that in the field. Which is coming up so fast!
I'm going to be in Croatia in three weeks! I'll probably get travel plans next week and everything. It's insanity! I can't believe it!
My lesson in Croatian went fairly well - I didn't use some of the teaching skills, like asking questions and using scriptures, because that's a little harder and I didn't think I'd really be able to understand my investigators' answers anyways. But I taught the lesson all the way through and only had to look at my notes a few times. This week will hopefully be better!
Thank you all for writing, I love hearing from you!
Sister Martsolf's grandfather passed away last Thursday, so on Friday she got to call home and talk with her Mom and Sister. And several weeks ago Sister Ganbaatar got to call home and talk to her family, because it was Mongolian mother's Day, but I am sorry to report that I do not want to call home yet. :/ I am glad that no one has died and I will be wonderfully happy to call on mother's day and Christmas, (and at the airport too, probably) but I think calling now would be too much distraction and sadness for me.
But e-mails and dearelders are lots and lots of fun! Keep it up!
Thank you for being my family!
Love you!
Sister Keshia Laws :)
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Mar. 23, 2009
Hi family!
how is everyone?
First off, what I need: i need my sisters' addresses because i don't have them.
Mother, you may send the dress. I "measured" my other one and it is approximately 44 inches from the armpit to the floor.
I haven't had my booster shots yet, but I'm supposed to get them in April anyhow. They're on top of things so it will happen no worries.
My clothes are good I'm pleased with everything I bought. I'm thinking of having Mom send me some more skirts like the brown and navy ones I have from missionary mall, like the purple and red colors, because I really like them, but I can't decide. Input?
my shoes are broken in and comfortable, especially the brown ones.
Dad, You may put 2 Ne 2:8 on my plaque. I haven't found a different scripture that I would prefer.
Amelia, the pictures that you sent didn't work. I don't know why, maybe you could try resending them next week?
And Dad again, Thanks for the pictures of Jesse and Justin and the one of Mom. It's nice to see the fam. Justin looks like a wildman! lol.
And Kelsey thanks for the pics of the kids, they are so cute!
Oh and yes, I got the girlscout cookies. thanks Mom! I got the package ON St. Patrick's Day, perfect timing!
Oh and I'm happy to hear that Baby Betts is getting blessed in Logan, sounds like it's going to be fun!
So... NEWS: Sister Martsolf's friend, my companion, got called to the Rapid City South Dakota Mission! Exciting! He may even end up learning Sioux because there are a lot of reservations in his mission area. Small world.
Also, I'm feeling semi-better. I'll probably take a nap today because I'm tired. and I took a nap on Sunday and missed Relief Society, which I didn't want to miss, but my branch first-counselor told me I had to sleep. I also got a blessing, which was helpful.
On Wednesday there is going to be a sister coming who is going to the Bulgaria Sofia mission, and she's going to be my/our companion. Mostly, we'll just live in the same room and go to meals together etc. So I'm getting a new comp! I'm also pretty sure that I know who she is, she went to Snow Canyon, if the girl I'm thinking of was called to Bulgaria, it might have been to Ukraine. So that's pretty bizarre!
I got a letter from Michael this last week, it was good to hear from him and he sent me a few pictures which was fun. I can't believe that he only has two months left! That is so bizarre.
I also got a letter from some sister missionaries serving in Zagreb Croatia! The letters were very short, but they said that there are 5 sisters serving in Croatia right now and I'll make 6, so they'll be opening up a new area for the sisters when I get there. I dont' know that I'll be going to it, but that's really cool. They also said that the chocolate there is very good, sounds promising!
This week I learned the cyrillic alphabet for fun (my teachers are running out of grammar principles to teach me so we're filling up the time with whatever we can think of) I really like using it and now I can read Sister Ganbaatar's (my other companion) Mongolian to English dictionary, because Mongolian is written in Cyrillic. Which is fun. We try to learn Mongolian words, but i really can never remember them longer than a day. I also learned a bunch of food wrods this week, so I've been naming my food before I eat it. Which has also been fun.
On Thursday I have to teach the first lesson in Croatian :/ !!! It's crazy. I hope I can do it. The hardest part is simplifying the lesson enough that I know the words to say in Croatian. That's what i'm going to be working on today.
Oh, and I heard that the health care bill passed. Weird! It's so bizarre hearing about the outside world and not being there, and knowing that I don't have to worry about it for another year and a half. We were all surprised to hear that it passed.
What else? Um... I guess nothing.
Love you all!
Sister Laws
how is everyone?
First off, what I need: i need my sisters' addresses because i don't have them.
Mother, you may send the dress. I "measured" my other one and it is approximately 44 inches from the armpit to the floor.
I haven't had my booster shots yet, but I'm supposed to get them in April anyhow. They're on top of things so it will happen no worries.
My clothes are good I'm pleased with everything I bought. I'm thinking of having Mom send me some more skirts like the brown and navy ones I have from missionary mall, like the purple and red colors, because I really like them, but I can't decide. Input?
my shoes are broken in and comfortable, especially the brown ones.
Dad, You may put 2 Ne 2:8 on my plaque. I haven't found a different scripture that I would prefer.
Amelia, the pictures that you sent didn't work. I don't know why, maybe you could try resending them next week?
And Dad again, Thanks for the pictures of Jesse and Justin and the one of Mom. It's nice to see the fam. Justin looks like a wildman! lol.
And Kelsey thanks for the pics of the kids, they are so cute!
Oh and yes, I got the girlscout cookies. thanks Mom! I got the package ON St. Patrick's Day, perfect timing!
Oh and I'm happy to hear that Baby Betts is getting blessed in Logan, sounds like it's going to be fun!
So... NEWS: Sister Martsolf's friend, my companion, got called to the Rapid City South Dakota Mission! Exciting! He may even end up learning Sioux because there are a lot of reservations in his mission area. Small world.
Also, I'm feeling semi-better. I'll probably take a nap today because I'm tired. and I took a nap on Sunday and missed Relief Society, which I didn't want to miss, but my branch first-counselor told me I had to sleep. I also got a blessing, which was helpful.
On Wednesday there is going to be a sister coming who is going to the Bulgaria Sofia mission, and she's going to be my/our companion. Mostly, we'll just live in the same room and go to meals together etc. So I'm getting a new comp! I'm also pretty sure that I know who she is, she went to Snow Canyon, if the girl I'm thinking of was called to Bulgaria, it might have been to Ukraine. So that's pretty bizarre!
I got a letter from Michael this last week, it was good to hear from him and he sent me a few pictures which was fun. I can't believe that he only has two months left! That is so bizarre.
I also got a letter from some sister missionaries serving in Zagreb Croatia! The letters were very short, but they said that there are 5 sisters serving in Croatia right now and I'll make 6, so they'll be opening up a new area for the sisters when I get there. I dont' know that I'll be going to it, but that's really cool. They also said that the chocolate there is very good, sounds promising!
This week I learned the cyrillic alphabet for fun (my teachers are running out of grammar principles to teach me so we're filling up the time with whatever we can think of) I really like using it and now I can read Sister Ganbaatar's (my other companion) Mongolian to English dictionary, because Mongolian is written in Cyrillic. Which is fun. We try to learn Mongolian words, but i really can never remember them longer than a day. I also learned a bunch of food wrods this week, so I've been naming my food before I eat it. Which has also been fun.
On Thursday I have to teach the first lesson in Croatian :/ !!! It's crazy. I hope I can do it. The hardest part is simplifying the lesson enough that I know the words to say in Croatian. That's what i'm going to be working on today.
Oh, and I heard that the health care bill passed. Weird! It's so bizarre hearing about the outside world and not being there, and knowing that I don't have to worry about it for another year and a half. We were all surprised to hear that it passed.
What else? Um... I guess nothing.
Love you all!
Sister Laws
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Mar. 16, 2010
So this week went by really fast.. It's weird, because there isn't ever very much to say, because I do the same things every day.
Last Friday I started getting a sore throat, which has developed into a very annoying and strong cough, and I started taking that z-pak yesterday, so hopefully that helps, but today at the temple I coughed a ton and we were doing sealings because Sister Mart and me have never done them before and that was good. I was glad that I could cough in there instead of in a session, but I would prefer not to cough at all. Anyway, the temple was good.
Also, I've been meaning to tell you guys that there's another sister in my district named Sister Laws. We looked at each other's pedigree charts and talked about our families and it does not sound like we're related at all. If we are, it's very far back. Her parents are both converts and she's from California, northern I think. It's pretty funny that we are in the same district, she's going to Czech Prague, too. As in, as well as my companions. I spend a lot of time with the Czechs, so it's fun, it isn't like I'm alone all the time or anything.
Croatian is coming along pretty well, this week we're doing a competition between the Czechs, Slovaks, and me, we're calling it March Madness, and we earn shots by memorizing words, scriptures, and passing off tasks, and giving spiritual thoughts, and then at the end of the night we each take our shots and whoever has the most points earns so many real points, etc. Anyway, I'm earning a lot of shots, but my basket-making abilities are TERRIBLE. My percentage is so low, it's sad. I know I would be a disappointment to Dad and Michael, because it I am truly bad at making shots. We hang the trash can up by the chalkboard and stand in one corner to shoot. BUT of course, that isn't the real point. It's been fun, because before none of us have been very good at the langauge, but now we're all motivated to learn more. It's super fun learning Croatian.
Also, I've really enjoyed choir. We have practice on Sundays and Tuesdays and we sing during the Tuesday Devotionals. We've been told ever since we got here that we'd be hearing from an apostle soon, because they come every so often and it's been a while since the last one came - so maybe this week? All of our speakers have been good. Oh, and last Sunday during our fireside, the speaker called up some missionaries from the crowd that were new members, like in the last 2-3 years, and two of them were from St. George! It was cool. He like asked them questions about how they were converted and stuff. It was a good fireside. What else??
I don't have your letters with me so I can't remember any of the questions I got. Oh, the Academy Awards sounded good, thanks for sharing! That's awesome that a female director finally won! Also pretty crazy that Dad was in an earthquake. And one that was so big! And I enjoyed all the pictures I got: Dad sent a couple, Jesse sent her ultrasound, and Michael sent a few pics this last week, thx.
I'm also memorizing the first vision in Croatian right now. It's a little harder because I don't know all of the words, so it's just memorizing the order and stuff. But it's been cool. Oh, and I told you guys I'd update you on our "real" investigator: we finally asked my teacher if he really was real or what and he said that all the progressive investigators are actors. We feel pretty dumb. But the one we've been talking to is REALLY good, he tricked the Slovak Elders, too, and the only reason we doubted him was because the other Czech sisters talked to him and told us what he said and it was conflicted stories. So he isn't real, but we're going to keep "teaching" him to get some good teaching experiences.
Oh, and at the same fireside on Sunday, 4 Elders going to Russia sang "I need thee every hour" in Russian and it was so good! They sounded awesome and that's a good song, of course, lol. Well, hope you've all had good weeks!
Love you! Sister Keshia Laws
Oh, I'm also learning some Czech. It's kinda funny. And Czech seems quite a bit harder than Croatian, so I'm glad I got the good calling. Haha. Just kidding.
That is all.
Love you all!
Keshia
Last Friday I started getting a sore throat, which has developed into a very annoying and strong cough, and I started taking that z-pak yesterday, so hopefully that helps, but today at the temple I coughed a ton and we were doing sealings because Sister Mart and me have never done them before and that was good. I was glad that I could cough in there instead of in a session, but I would prefer not to cough at all. Anyway, the temple was good.
Also, I've been meaning to tell you guys that there's another sister in my district named Sister Laws. We looked at each other's pedigree charts and talked about our families and it does not sound like we're related at all. If we are, it's very far back. Her parents are both converts and she's from California, northern I think. It's pretty funny that we are in the same district, she's going to Czech Prague, too. As in, as well as my companions. I spend a lot of time with the Czechs, so it's fun, it isn't like I'm alone all the time or anything.
Croatian is coming along pretty well, this week we're doing a competition between the Czechs, Slovaks, and me, we're calling it March Madness, and we earn shots by memorizing words, scriptures, and passing off tasks, and giving spiritual thoughts, and then at the end of the night we each take our shots and whoever has the most points earns so many real points, etc. Anyway, I'm earning a lot of shots, but my basket-making abilities are TERRIBLE. My percentage is so low, it's sad. I know I would be a disappointment to Dad and Michael, because it I am truly bad at making shots. We hang the trash can up by the chalkboard and stand in one corner to shoot. BUT of course, that isn't the real point. It's been fun, because before none of us have been very good at the langauge, but now we're all motivated to learn more. It's super fun learning Croatian.
Also, I've really enjoyed choir. We have practice on Sundays and Tuesdays and we sing during the Tuesday Devotionals. We've been told ever since we got here that we'd be hearing from an apostle soon, because they come every so often and it's been a while since the last one came - so maybe this week? All of our speakers have been good. Oh, and last Sunday during our fireside, the speaker called up some missionaries from the crowd that were new members, like in the last 2-3 years, and two of them were from St. George! It was cool. He like asked them questions about how they were converted and stuff. It was a good fireside. What else??
I don't have your letters with me so I can't remember any of the questions I got. Oh, the Academy Awards sounded good, thanks for sharing! That's awesome that a female director finally won! Also pretty crazy that Dad was in an earthquake. And one that was so big! And I enjoyed all the pictures I got: Dad sent a couple, Jesse sent her ultrasound, and Michael sent a few pics this last week, thx.
I'm also memorizing the first vision in Croatian right now. It's a little harder because I don't know all of the words, so it's just memorizing the order and stuff. But it's been cool. Oh, and I told you guys I'd update you on our "real" investigator: we finally asked my teacher if he really was real or what and he said that all the progressive investigators are actors. We feel pretty dumb. But the one we've been talking to is REALLY good, he tricked the Slovak Elders, too, and the only reason we doubted him was because the other Czech sisters talked to him and told us what he said and it was conflicted stories. So he isn't real, but we're going to keep "teaching" him to get some good teaching experiences.
Oh, and at the same fireside on Sunday, 4 Elders going to Russia sang "I need thee every hour" in Russian and it was so good! They sounded awesome and that's a good song, of course, lol. Well, hope you've all had good weeks!
Love you! Sister Keshia Laws
Oh, I'm also learning some Czech. It's kinda funny. And Czech seems quite a bit harder than Croatian, so I'm glad I got the good calling. Haha. Just kidding.
That is all.
Love you all!
Keshia
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Mar. 09, 2010
Thank you so much for all the letters this week and for the starburst jellybeans, Mom! They are delicio as always. If you want to send girlscout cookies to all of us it might be easiest to send one box with individualized stuff inside, if that makes sense at all... If you want to send them to each of my comps then they have the same address except it says CZH-PRA instead of SLO-CRO. Same po box and everything else.
And thank you for the olympic update! that was fun.
to answer some questions: yes, you can use dearelder.com while i'm out in the field, but it will be delivered to the mission home instead of to me and I'll only get it when I visit there.
I haven't seen Justin's aunt yet in the bookstore, we're going today right after this so maybe then.
The MTC doesn't really feel like a different country, it feels more like a separate world. Like the outside world doesn't exist anymore. When we walk up to the temple and see other people in normal clothes, etc, it's always really weird. And when we went to the BYU police office to get fingerprints it was really strange to be outside of the MTC campus surrounded by normal people.
So. It's good to hear updates: Jesse, it's so crazy that you're so far ahead of schedule, etc. and that you have to stay home from now on! How are you dealing with it? I mean, is it hard to be in your house all the time and not get out of it? And I love hearing about the kids. We saw a little girl - 7 mos. - today when we were walking back from the temple and she was so cute and it was bizarre kinda to see a little person. And I'm glad your birthday was good, Mom. Did you like the picture on the card? I thought of you when I saw it and thought it was very cute. We got to the temple every p-day for a session and we walk up there every Sunday to take pictures, etc. and see other missionaries. From my high school I've seen Tia Ray, Starley Nuckles, Kaitlyn Pallas, Katelyn Black, Kollin McMullin, Elder Weinheimer, Elder Wilkes, and I randomly started talking to an Elder from Snow Canyon that I vaguely recognized but don't remember his name. It was his first day, so it was funny.
I have class all day all the time - between breakfast and lunch and between lunch and dinner and between dinner and bed. It's alright, because I really like my teachers and I'm learning a lot about Croatian and teaching and etc.
For pdays we go to the temple, do laundry, write family, have personal and companionship study, go to the bookstore - laundry takes a long time so we spend it writing letters to people. Which reminds me that yes, I would like the addresses for my Grandmas and any other family that you think of. It also reminds me that I wrote to Sister Blackburn and I heard back from her and she said Jack Amundsen is going to England on his mission and he also gets to go to the England MTC, instead of the Provo one. Bizarre, huh?
Croatian is coming along - mostly now I just need to build up my vocabulary, I've learned a ton about the grammar. We have tasks every Thursday night (like greet someone, say your testimony, get to know someone) that we have to do in the language, so that helps me stay focused on learning the words so that I can actually speak when I have to do that. It's really cool. Uh... Znam da Bog je nas Nebeski Otac i znam da Bog obnovio njegovo evandelje kroz proroku Josephu Smithu. Znam da Bog odgovori nase molitve. Uh... Hocete li uciti vise? haha. Um, there are quite a few accents missing from the some of the c's and d's, so I hope if you throw that all into a translator you'll get something back.
I like Croatian because they just leave out all the "the"s and "i"s and "he"s. Those are all just implied when you talk about stuff. So gender is usually based on the ending of a word and when you congugate a verb you know already who you're talking about by the way you congugate it. I like that. It can be harder to remember sometimes because in my brain I take the English words and translate them into Croatian, so I might be thinking "I know" and then "Ja znam," but they usually just say "Znam" so sometimes I get caught up in English language trends. If that makes sense.
The days blur together a lot, because we're doing the same thing etc. and so it's pretty bizarre that it's already been three weeks this wednesday. Oh and we had a really good lesson last night with our investigator, but then we heard some stuff about him, and we're not sure if he's a real investigator or if he's just acting. so that's kinda weird. i'll tell you more when i find out.
And it was Sister Mart's birthday yesterday, it was fun. It was women's (mother's) day in Mongolia and so she got to call home to her family and talk for a few minutes. Which is cool, because she hasn't heard from them at all. Her parents don't have e-mail.
Gym is awesome, I usually play four square and it is so much fun! and it can be pretty intense sometimes, which is awesome, because the volleyball isn't intense for me at all, so it's boring, but the four square is super fun.
And I've heard from Alicia and Rebekah so that's really fun. I like getting letters from you all (dearelders are awesome) and from others. And pictures, too, thx Kelsey! Your kids are always so cute! HOpe you all had really good weeks, and will next week, too, etc.
Volim vi! Sister Laws
And thank you for the olympic update! that was fun.
to answer some questions: yes, you can use dearelder.com while i'm out in the field, but it will be delivered to the mission home instead of to me and I'll only get it when I visit there.
I haven't seen Justin's aunt yet in the bookstore, we're going today right after this so maybe then.
The MTC doesn't really feel like a different country, it feels more like a separate world. Like the outside world doesn't exist anymore. When we walk up to the temple and see other people in normal clothes, etc, it's always really weird. And when we went to the BYU police office to get fingerprints it was really strange to be outside of the MTC campus surrounded by normal people.
So. It's good to hear updates: Jesse, it's so crazy that you're so far ahead of schedule, etc. and that you have to stay home from now on! How are you dealing with it? I mean, is it hard to be in your house all the time and not get out of it? And I love hearing about the kids. We saw a little girl - 7 mos. - today when we were walking back from the temple and she was so cute and it was bizarre kinda to see a little person. And I'm glad your birthday was good, Mom. Did you like the picture on the card? I thought of you when I saw it and thought it was very cute. We got to the temple every p-day for a session and we walk up there every Sunday to take pictures, etc. and see other missionaries. From my high school I've seen Tia Ray, Starley Nuckles, Kaitlyn Pallas, Katelyn Black, Kollin McMullin, Elder Weinheimer, Elder Wilkes, and I randomly started talking to an Elder from Snow Canyon that I vaguely recognized but don't remember his name. It was his first day, so it was funny.
I have class all day all the time - between breakfast and lunch and between lunch and dinner and between dinner and bed. It's alright, because I really like my teachers and I'm learning a lot about Croatian and teaching and etc.
For pdays we go to the temple, do laundry, write family, have personal and companionship study, go to the bookstore - laundry takes a long time so we spend it writing letters to people. Which reminds me that yes, I would like the addresses for my Grandmas and any other family that you think of. It also reminds me that I wrote to Sister Blackburn and I heard back from her and she said Jack Amundsen is going to England on his mission and he also gets to go to the England MTC, instead of the Provo one. Bizarre, huh?
Croatian is coming along - mostly now I just need to build up my vocabulary, I've learned a ton about the grammar. We have tasks every Thursday night (like greet someone, say your testimony, get to know someone) that we have to do in the language, so that helps me stay focused on learning the words so that I can actually speak when I have to do that. It's really cool. Uh... Znam da Bog je nas Nebeski Otac i znam da Bog obnovio njegovo evandelje kroz proroku Josephu Smithu. Znam da Bog odgovori nase molitve. Uh... Hocete li uciti vise? haha. Um, there are quite a few accents missing from the some of the c's and d's, so I hope if you throw that all into a translator you'll get something back.
I like Croatian because they just leave out all the "the"s and "i"s and "he"s. Those are all just implied when you talk about stuff. So gender is usually based on the ending of a word and when you congugate a verb you know already who you're talking about by the way you congugate it. I like that. It can be harder to remember sometimes because in my brain I take the English words and translate them into Croatian, so I might be thinking "I know" and then "Ja znam," but they usually just say "Znam" so sometimes I get caught up in English language trends. If that makes sense.
The days blur together a lot, because we're doing the same thing etc. and so it's pretty bizarre that it's already been three weeks this wednesday. Oh and we had a really good lesson last night with our investigator, but then we heard some stuff about him, and we're not sure if he's a real investigator or if he's just acting. so that's kinda weird. i'll tell you more when i find out.
And it was Sister Mart's birthday yesterday, it was fun. It was women's (mother's) day in Mongolia and so she got to call home to her family and talk for a few minutes. Which is cool, because she hasn't heard from them at all. Her parents don't have e-mail.
Gym is awesome, I usually play four square and it is so much fun! and it can be pretty intense sometimes, which is awesome, because the volleyball isn't intense for me at all, so it's boring, but the four square is super fun.
And I've heard from Alicia and Rebekah so that's really fun. I like getting letters from you all (dearelders are awesome) and from others. And pictures, too, thx Kelsey! Your kids are always so cute! HOpe you all had really good weeks, and will next week, too, etc.
Volim vi! Sister Laws
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Mar. 02, 2010
Hi family!
I love you all so much and I'm so glad that I get to e-mail you this week!
Last week my e-mail was locked out for some unknown reason and then when we got it fixed it was too late to write. It was very sad for me. I hope mom and dad let you know that I got here safely I sent a snail-mail letter along and to tell you guys that it would be cool with me if you used dearelder.com the whole time I'm here, because then I'll be able to receive your letters any day of the week and I'll be able to spend more time writing you and giving details.
Ask me lots of questions because so much has happened that I don't know what all to say and not.
I don't have a cold anymore, starting the first day I got here. I could tell that I didn't have time to be sick so it went away. I like how that happens.
So I am the only missionary here at the whole mTC going to the Slovenia/Croatia mission. I am the only missionary learning Croatian, so I have a whole classroom all to myself. I don't know how this happens, but it happened to one of my teachers when she was here, too. So it's bizarre.
My companions are two sisters going to the Czech Prague mission, learning Czech. It's a somewhat similar language. We live in a room with six beds and we had two other sisters living with us but they left today for Montana. My comps names are Sister Martsolf from Colorado and Sister Mart from Mongolia.
I started learning Croatian straight away. I learned how to pray in Croatian first and I've learned tons and tons about grammar and cases and etc. And now I'm just trying to build-up my vocabulary. It has been awesome. I love learning a language. When I went from high school language classes to college I thought the speed that we learned picked up, but I have learned basically everything I ever learned in college about french here in a week and half about croatian, if that sentence made sense at all.
From my high school I have seen four other sisters here at the mtc, and it has been really fun to see them and catch up with everything with them.
My comp Sister Mart doesn't get a lot of letters so if you guys ever feel like it, write her on dearelder.com and say whatever you feel like!
As for the gospel side of being at the mtc - yesterday we signed up to practice teaching the first lesson to a teacher but when we got there we ran into a guy that we met as a group the very first night. he was acting like an investigator, at least we thought so. His name is daniel and he's from mexico and he gets extra credit in school for working at the mtc. So he isn't a church member and last night he recognized my comp sister mart and wanted to talk to us and asked her a bunch of questions about why her family chose to be mormon and so instead of practicing with a teacher, we kinda practiced with a real guy! we didn't teach very much doctrine necessarily because he said right away that he didn't want to hear the first lesson, so we just talked to him and it was so great! we are so excited, we signed up to talk to him again on wednesday and hopefully we can help him receive the answers to his prayers about the book of mormon. he said he has prayed and hasn't felt anything. but we're praying and i'm praying praying praying that we can soften his heart. I didn't think that we would get this type of experience at the mtc! so pray for him, too, please :)
Also, I'm guesstimated to leave the mtc on the 19 of april and the guesstimated date of my completion is the 6 of september 2011. fyi.
Ask me lots of questions because my brain is basically mush most of the time! thank you guys so much for all the support. i love hearing from you and hope you have a wonderful week!
Happy birthday to Mom next Saturday! u Subota! And congrats on being primary pres you will be wonderful, I know it.
Oh - last bit of news: I was at the travel office with my comps and asked about the visa stuff and they were really surprised to hear that I hadn't received a visa packet! so they gave me some stuff to fill out and sent my passport into salt lake for all that. when i was in there the next day handing back in some papers i'd filled out the lady who was helping me called into the travel agent working with croatia and the travel agent said that she had just got my packet back that day as undeliverable address. what is up with the postal service?? can you believe that?? I think it's pretty crazy that TWO of my things got lost/whatever in the mail. I am convinced that it's the devil and he was trying really hard for me to not make it into Croatia and it's just convincing me all the more that I'm supposed to be here. unbelievable.
lastly, i would like to know more about the olympics - we heard in a talk that canada won the gold in hockey, but i'd like to know what happened in the couples figure skating, did the chinese pair win? and anything else that sounded interesting!
oh, and amelia - in mongolia there are a lot of deaf people so everybody knows mongolian sign language and they teach the missionaries here about it. 2-4-7 means I love you and zero-zero means bathroom. it's pretty fun to learn from sister mart about mongolia and i thought you'd be interested!
ok - i think that's everything i have to say...
oh lastly for real - i was sure the weather would be better here and it has snowed or been really cold and cloudy almost every single day. that kinda sucks. but we've had two days of really nice sunny and we sat outside for companionship study and it was so nice! icna't wait for real spring and summer!
ok love you guys i'll e-mail next week!
love, sister laws
I love you all so much and I'm so glad that I get to e-mail you this week!
Last week my e-mail was locked out for some unknown reason and then when we got it fixed it was too late to write. It was very sad for me. I hope mom and dad let you know that I got here safely I sent a snail-mail letter along and to tell you guys that it would be cool with me if you used dearelder.com the whole time I'm here, because then I'll be able to receive your letters any day of the week and I'll be able to spend more time writing you and giving details.
Ask me lots of questions because so much has happened that I don't know what all to say and not.
I don't have a cold anymore, starting the first day I got here. I could tell that I didn't have time to be sick so it went away. I like how that happens.
So I am the only missionary here at the whole mTC going to the Slovenia/Croatia mission. I am the only missionary learning Croatian, so I have a whole classroom all to myself. I don't know how this happens, but it happened to one of my teachers when she was here, too. So it's bizarre.
My companions are two sisters going to the Czech Prague mission, learning Czech. It's a somewhat similar language. We live in a room with six beds and we had two other sisters living with us but they left today for Montana. My comps names are Sister Martsolf from Colorado and Sister Mart from Mongolia.
I started learning Croatian straight away. I learned how to pray in Croatian first and I've learned tons and tons about grammar and cases and etc. And now I'm just trying to build-up my vocabulary. It has been awesome. I love learning a language. When I went from high school language classes to college I thought the speed that we learned picked up, but I have learned basically everything I ever learned in college about french here in a week and half about croatian, if that sentence made sense at all.
From my high school I have seen four other sisters here at the mtc, and it has been really fun to see them and catch up with everything with them.
My comp Sister Mart doesn't get a lot of letters so if you guys ever feel like it, write her on dearelder.com and say whatever you feel like!
As for the gospel side of being at the mtc - yesterday we signed up to practice teaching the first lesson to a teacher but when we got there we ran into a guy that we met as a group the very first night. he was acting like an investigator, at least we thought so. His name is daniel and he's from mexico and he gets extra credit in school for working at the mtc. So he isn't a church member and last night he recognized my comp sister mart and wanted to talk to us and asked her a bunch of questions about why her family chose to be mormon and so instead of practicing with a teacher, we kinda practiced with a real guy! we didn't teach very much doctrine necessarily because he said right away that he didn't want to hear the first lesson, so we just talked to him and it was so great! we are so excited, we signed up to talk to him again on wednesday and hopefully we can help him receive the answers to his prayers about the book of mormon. he said he has prayed and hasn't felt anything. but we're praying and i'm praying praying praying that we can soften his heart. I didn't think that we would get this type of experience at the mtc! so pray for him, too, please :)
Also, I'm guesstimated to leave the mtc on the 19 of april and the guesstimated date of my completion is the 6 of september 2011. fyi.
Ask me lots of questions because my brain is basically mush most of the time! thank you guys so much for all the support. i love hearing from you and hope you have a wonderful week!
Happy birthday to Mom next Saturday! u Subota! And congrats on being primary pres you will be wonderful, I know it.
Oh - last bit of news: I was at the travel office with my comps and asked about the visa stuff and they were really surprised to hear that I hadn't received a visa packet! so they gave me some stuff to fill out and sent my passport into salt lake for all that. when i was in there the next day handing back in some papers i'd filled out the lady who was helping me called into the travel agent working with croatia and the travel agent said that she had just got my packet back that day as undeliverable address. what is up with the postal service?? can you believe that?? I think it's pretty crazy that TWO of my things got lost/whatever in the mail. I am convinced that it's the devil and he was trying really hard for me to not make it into Croatia and it's just convincing me all the more that I'm supposed to be here. unbelievable.
lastly, i would like to know more about the olympics - we heard in a talk that canada won the gold in hockey, but i'd like to know what happened in the couples figure skating, did the chinese pair win? and anything else that sounded interesting!
oh, and amelia - in mongolia there are a lot of deaf people so everybody knows mongolian sign language and they teach the missionaries here about it. 2-4-7 means I love you and zero-zero means bathroom. it's pretty fun to learn from sister mart about mongolia and i thought you'd be interested!
ok - i think that's everything i have to say...
oh lastly for real - i was sure the weather would be better here and it has snowed or been really cold and cloudy almost every single day. that kinda sucks. but we've had two days of really nice sunny and we sat outside for companionship study and it was so nice! icna't wait for real spring and summer!
ok love you guys i'll e-mail next week!
love, sister laws
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