Letter 2 (Duha)

Dearest Nanay Kag Amigos,

There is a saying here at the MTC, "The days go by slow and the weeks go by fast!" It certainly is true! I can't believe it's been two weeks! the days really start to blend together, and I've already forgotten things I've said in my past letter. . .  I forget a lot of things now, there is way too much information running around in my brain. Good thing I keep a journal every night now, it makes this much easier!

Alright, so the Second half of P-day (Thursday)

 

We went to the temple, but we didn't want to do a session because we have the last temple time, and when the session is over, so is PDay. So we did initiatories (because we still had things to do after.) First time for me, it was really fun!

We got ready to teach Cherry Mae (our investigator) and as we headed to our classroom we saw Brother Hong walking down the hallway in street clothes. It was the weirdest thing. Kind of like seeing your seminary teacher in jeans. . . Apparently Cherry Mae couldn't make it so he would be role-playing as her brother. Lesson Plans = Thrown out the window.

I'm pretty sure S. Jenkins, S. Quent, and S. Leifson's families are trying to fatten us up before we head off to a Third World Country (3 dozen doughnuts and countless candies later). We've given up on trying to eat it all ourselves, and we just give it away to the rest of the zone.

Friday: We're no longer teaching Cherry Mae, instead we now have two investigators: Marieneto and Dionefe (Jo nah fay). We also have another Maestro (Teacher)! Sister Tamang teaches in the afternoon, Brother Hong teaches in the Morning. She's a lot harder to understand than Bro. Hong for a couple of reasons. 1: She talks WAY faster than we're use to, and 2: she doesn't use as much English. But that's a good thing (at least that's what I have to tell myself). She also teaches at the time of day when my brain decides to turn off; I try to not stare blankly, but sometimes it just doesn't work.

We also had a hard time getting through prayers on Friday. S. Watkins started "Langitnon nga Amay" (Heavenly Father) rather than the "Amay namon sa Langit" (Our Father In Heaven) we're all used to hearing. And since none of us were expecting it, (and it didn't click/translate what she said in our minds) we all peeked at one another giving each other the "What was that" look. We all had to hold in our laughter, for the rest of the prayer. Then later I stared with "Nagapasalamat. . . wait . . . no, that's wrong." I totally skipped the addressing, and no one would have even noticed if I hadn't stopped and corrected myself.

So that night we accidentally locked ourselves our of our room. . . Whoops! We hand to go all the way to the Main Building (S Jenkins and Me, because S Quent was already in the shower. . . Emergency Splits!) But we first had to get a group of elders to let us in 1M because we didn't have our ID cards. They actually spoke to us first, "Will you let us testify to you in a language that you don't know and won't understand?" so after they gave their testimonies in Korean, they opened the door for us. Of course on the way to the information desk we pass E. Hirst, who give me this "What is wrong with you? what are you doing?' look. I should probably mention that I was in my bright yellow PJ shirt, blue capris, flip flops, and no name tag, while Sis. Jenkins still hadn't changed and therefor looked as perfect as ever. So yeah, we must have looked really interesting. After we got the spare key, we had to have a security guard escort us back to our room, because we still didn't have IDs to let us in our residence building. That was an adventure, hopefully it never happens again. . .

Saturday: Some how we got into telling riddles with the Zone. . .they're actually super fun, and I had one that really stumped the Elders, but they got back at S. Quent and me by telling us one that drove us nuts. Elder Jacobs even gave us a hint "the Answer is in the Silence" but that just made us go "Well now we're going to die." Because we're both Whovians, so that hint wasn't helpful at all. But now I have a good arsenal of riddles, hopefully I don't forget them all.

 

Part of my crazy Zone.

 

Sunday: To Answer your question, Mom, I still hate the snow, but I did love seeing the Elders in our zone (Our zone is full of Australians, New Zealanders, Islanders/Polynesians and S. Kumar from Fiji) enjoy their fist snow. So while I hate that it's cold enough for rain to freeze, I loved watching those having their first "Magical First Snow." Unfortunately I didn't have my camera on me to take pictures of their antics.

 

If you've seen any of the "Life of Christ" Videos they're really fun to watch because S. Watkins is in some of them as an extra! I love hearing back stage stories from her. Like the actor who plays Christ is actually a redhead in real life. (he's the redhead in Baptists at our Barbecue)

 

It was great getting an extra hour of sleep (thank you daylights savings time! Our Teachers, both of them, had no idea, aren't they lucky that we told them that Saturday?) I've never had such a great Fast Sunday! The Mission Conference was great, David T. Seamons (A District President) and his wife spoke. Along with Diane and James L Hacking (1st Counselor in the MTC Presidency) and Kaye and Lou B. Nally (President of the MTC).

 

Afterward we had a District Discussion, which my companionship was in charge of. Luckily everyone was willing to discuss and share experiences! We didn't' have much to worry about. Steve and Nance Kohlert (Previous MTC President and Wife) spoke at the Sunday Night Devotional. Basically the message was "Relax, and do your best!" We went to the video "The Gift of Teaching" by Elder Holland, it's pretty much a super old training video (Like, really old.) but it was still really helpful.

 

Monday: We do service at 6:05 in the morning (goodbye extra sleep) in the Main Building. This we week vacuumed the Large Chapels (Well. . . We finished 2 of them, and only started the last one.)  The vacuums were the kind that you strap to your back, so the entire time my mind kept replaying,

 

"Who you gonna call? GHOSTBUSTERS!"

 

So all those Mondays working with Bro. Grunvig have finally paid off! While everyone else was confused about Verb Conjugations, Sentence Focusing, and developing headaches, I already understood or knew most everything! (Muwahahaha!)

 

I've given up on jogging all of gym time. I think I get a better work out from laughing while playing Volleyball, than I ever could doing sit-ups. Playing Volleyball with some 6' Islander Elders is WAY different than playing with Beehives and Mia Maids who are still slightly frightened by the ball. But we don't play by the rules, and it's just a bunch of chaos (organized chaos). Sister Warner calls it the "Island of Misfit Volleyball Players" I think it's an accurate description.

 

Tuesday: We started a Q&A Spot light in the district. We've questioned S.Watkins, Kumar, and the Elders so far. It's really fun getting to know each other even more (we're always talking about anything and everything, but it's still fun.) The Tuesday devotional was Wonderful! Jane and Elder Craig Zwich of the Seventy spoke. He spoke on how obedience brings blessings and safety, while disobedience brings spiritual and temporal pain. He also mentioned that L. Tom Perry will be speaking next week! I'm pretty sure he wasn't supposed to tell us that. The Elders in the row behind me were so disappointed, they leave Monday. . . but they said they saw another general authority their first week, so they weren't too bitter about it.

 

Wednesday: My brain decided to turn off again before dinner, we were roleplaying teaching in "Ilonggish" (as S. Tamang likes to call it) and I pretty much couldn't even teach in English. I was teaching Bro. Spieser because Mga Kaupod mo were teaching each other. I think he was just as tired as I was (that time between 4:30 and 6 is just killer. . . . )

 

There is an Elder in our Zone with the some of the longest fingernails. I think the crowing moment of yesterday was when he let S. Leifson cut them. (yeah. . . entertainment is kinda short here. . .)

 

I love you! The Gospel is True, and the MTC is awesome!

 

Love- Sister Smith.

 

Haha, funny story I forgot to type up.

 

So Smith is the best last name to have in the MTC because there are a million of you (well. . . I guess that is an exaggeration.) But I think I had 3 Elder Smiths come up to me and go "Hello Sister Smith!" in one day and I've said that to at least Five different Sisters. . . . Yeah, none of us are related.

 

Also, we met two elders headed to the West Salt Lake City Mission! Small world! Both Sister Quent and I were disappointed they weren't headed to the South mission, but that's ok. . .

The Elders that continually enter our classroom apparently it's cooler than theirs or something.

Some Salt Lake Jordan Stake Missionaries! (and a companion)