Hola!
Okay, so much to write! Sorry that I didn't tell you last time, but Wednesdays are my pdays. We didn't get one last week, so it has almost been two weeks without a pday!! Ahh.. but esta bien. We get to go to the temple later today, so that will be fun. It will be in english,but hopefully in a few weeks, I'll be up for a spanish session.
It is SOOOOOO amazing here in the CCM. There are less than 20 hermanas here,so it is so nice to be able to get to know everyone. The latinas are ahoot and so patient with all of us north americans. One of my teachers here is Guatemalan. He was called to serve in Germany, but in order to learn German at the Provo MTC, he had to learn English!!!! How crazy. He said it was defintely the hardest thing he has ever had to do. If he can learn two languages in a short time, I guess I can learn Spanish. I also heard about a Chilean that went to NYC - mandarin speaking!!! Ahh.
The branch President's wife here learned english through watching the show "Mr. Rogers." How amazing is that? Totally thought of Grandpa. It is so interesting trying to communicate with people here. I am understanding a lot more than would be possible than if I weren't on a mission. I know that, but sometimes I forget it and just compare myself to others. I just want to work harder, and harder, and harder! We went contacting on the temple grounds last Saturday for practice. It was truly incredible. It was definitely a little bit difficult to understand some people sometimes, but it was truly inspiring. We talked with a younger lady with 3 little girls and ababy boy. Cutest girls ever (Mom, they were all wearing Hello Kitty shirts). One of them just talked and takled and talked. It's a lot harder to understand little kids speaking spansih by the way haha. We met a woman who LOVES english, so she talked to us a lot and gave usher business card. She said if we ever needed anything to just call her. The people here are so amazing. Granted, we have been dealing with mostly LDS people, but I konw that they're not this way just because they are lds.
The Latinas laugh at/with us a lot. On sundays,we are assigned n.amer/latin companionships. My comp is Hna Mendez. She is super cute. A little bit shy, but def has a feisty side. One of my reg. comps is soooo good at just using the spanish she knows and talking to everyone however she can. I'm a bit more hesistant, but will definitely strive to be more like Hna Winder. I have never listened so intently in all of my life. I have honestly been getting headaches from concentrating so hard on each word everyone says. How hilarious is that? I find that the faster they speak (esp. if they're latin), the worse my headache is haha. But really, it's no big deal. It will come.
Family, I have been thinking so often of the accident. I just know that we are so blessed. I know that angels carried Isaac. I really don't know why we are so blessed to still have him in our lives, but I know that we most definitely need to heed the command of D&C 82:3. I have been studying a lot about angels, blessings, hardships, and "if ye love me, keep my commandments" this week. I know that I MUST work the hardest I can these next 18 months. I have been WAAYYYYYY to blessed to do anything but give it my all. We have nothing but to be thankful and try to give back. I've probably read Mosiah 2:20-25 at least six times these past few days. One of our teachers, Hna Sosa,talked to us a lot about families the other night. She pointed out something I haven't really thought about before. She told us to look at our plaques/name tags. We are not only representing Jesucristo, but the even larger and bolder name on our plaques is not our own, but our family's. Then, she had us look at a picture of our fam (don't worry, I totally have one... minus Kaylie, which is lame). I only want this mission to bless our family. I know we can be happy if we follow Jesus Christ. It may not be the means that we have in mind, but I know that we can.
I am in far too deep to ever deny God and all that He has given each and everyone one of us. So much is expected of each of us,but we have His help the WHOLE way. We have been encouraged to write to our families not about food or people, but about experiences and what we have been teaching. I feel so inadequate to try and give any uplifting thoughts or advice, but I wish I could make you all as happy and hopeful as I have been made. I love you all and am so proud of all you do and who you all are. Thank you thank you thank you for your influence, love, advice, letters, encouragement, prayers, and thoughts. Know that I think about each of you soooooo much. Don'tworry about me one bit, okay?!
Con amor,
Hermana Marin
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Friday, October 22, 2010
GUATEMALA!!!!!
Jenna arrived in Guatemala Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Oh my goodness! we are here and it is amazing. okay, i probs wont becapitalizing or using much punctuation, because the spanish keyboard is different! ay ay ay. it is absolutely beautiful here. no joke, right when i walked off the airplane... i smelled guatemala. guatemala has the best scent EVER! i love it. everyone so far has been so friendly and patient. we flew in around 630 pm and it was alreadydark, so it just looked like a normal city from the plane, which was sort of a bummer, because i bet it is way gorgeous in the daylight from the air. we got our baggage and and went through customs without any problems. when we got out to the curb, there were a ton of people waiting along a little blocked off area. a man was waiting for us with a sign that said CCM.. an awesome old yellow school bus picked us up. altogether, we had 5 hermanas and 8 elders.. i think. we went straight to the ccm... it was about a ten-fifteen minute drive, so we got to see a little bit of the city. we saw mcdonalds, wendys, quiznos,subway, and some other american things, which was lame.. haha. lots of "farmacias" i think i may have spelled that wrong. it would be super cool to be able to serve in the city, but i am very much looking forward to getting out into the country. we got an amazing welcome once we got here. we are now the new "north americans" group. with the old "north americans" group and the "latinos" that came today, they said that there are about 90 missionaries here! How crazy is that? it is so small and intimate and awesome. they fed us pizza last night,which was very surprising and funny. but don{t worry, we got real guatemalan food today! there is a temp cook right now, but we are told the main cook is amazing and will be back in a couple of days. all ofthe north americans are here for six weeks and the latinos are here for 3 weeks. so we get a new set of each every three weeks. does the cycle make sense? so, we came in last night, greeted the new latinos this morning, we will say goodbye to them and the old north americans and greet the new latinos and north americans in 3 weeks. sorry if that{s confusing. we can{t drink the water here, so they have a ton of filtered water dispensers everywhere. the ccm is actually really nice. there are only two buildings opposed to the 20-ish in provo, but one of them is the gym and is used for housing for people who come to visit the temple. there is a high fence and guards all around, pretty interesting. all of our teachers are locals, but have pretty good english and are so nice. i feel kind of bad for the new latinos,because the majority of the people here speak english, so they are the minority! all of the hermanas here are super friendly and cute. there are probably only 20-25 of us, probably not even that many, so it is fun. it{s cool introducing myself or just when people try to read my tag, because they try to say it the "american" way (which still isn{thow we say it), but i just pronounce it the spanish way. i said it our way to one of my teachers and said "es no bueno" and she just started cracking up. marin really does sound so much prettier in spanish. i actually feel really lucky, because my name is so easy and could be hispanic. one of the elders here has a last name that is a cuss word in spanish... pretty awesome. there has also been some confusion with hna. searle{s name... haha. i love it here. i still have my companion from the mtc, plus one of the sisters we were always with at the mtc, hna winder (we{re a triio), but we will be assigned a latina companion to eat meals, go to gym, and other various activities with, so we can be immersed. it is WARM and sunny and gorgeous and humid (no more gross dry skin, thanks utah!) and beautiful and good-smelling. it has actually been pretty fun and hilarious. everyone is just so friendly and comfortable so there is constant spanglish flying around. we are to help some of the workers here with english and everyone is supposed to help us with spanish, so it is fun. when we greeted the new latinos today, we QUICKLY ran out of things to talk about.. haha. we would just end up looking at each other and laughing. it will be a fun (and frustrating at times, i{m sure) process. they said they are working on us being able to print our emails, read them, then log back on, so we won{t use all of our 30 minutes. we{ll see! times up!! lovvvvvvvvve,hna marin
Oh my goodness! we are here and it is amazing. okay, i probs wont becapitalizing or using much punctuation, because the spanish keyboard is different! ay ay ay. it is absolutely beautiful here. no joke, right when i walked off the airplane... i smelled guatemala. guatemala has the best scent EVER! i love it. everyone so far has been so friendly and patient. we flew in around 630 pm and it was alreadydark, so it just looked like a normal city from the plane, which was sort of a bummer, because i bet it is way gorgeous in the daylight from the air. we got our baggage and and went through customs without any problems. when we got out to the curb, there were a ton of people waiting along a little blocked off area. a man was waiting for us with a sign that said CCM.. an awesome old yellow school bus picked us up. altogether, we had 5 hermanas and 8 elders.. i think. we went straight to the ccm... it was about a ten-fifteen minute drive, so we got to see a little bit of the city. we saw mcdonalds, wendys, quiznos,subway, and some other american things, which was lame.. haha. lots of "farmacias" i think i may have spelled that wrong. it would be super cool to be able to serve in the city, but i am very much looking forward to getting out into the country. we got an amazing welcome once we got here. we are now the new "north americans" group. with the old "north americans" group and the "latinos" that came today, they said that there are about 90 missionaries here! How crazy is that? it is so small and intimate and awesome. they fed us pizza last night,which was very surprising and funny. but don{t worry, we got real guatemalan food today! there is a temp cook right now, but we are told the main cook is amazing and will be back in a couple of days. all ofthe north americans are here for six weeks and the latinos are here for 3 weeks. so we get a new set of each every three weeks. does the cycle make sense? so, we came in last night, greeted the new latinos this morning, we will say goodbye to them and the old north americans and greet the new latinos and north americans in 3 weeks. sorry if that{s confusing. we can{t drink the water here, so they have a ton of filtered water dispensers everywhere. the ccm is actually really nice. there are only two buildings opposed to the 20-ish in provo, but one of them is the gym and is used for housing for people who come to visit the temple. there is a high fence and guards all around, pretty interesting. all of our teachers are locals, but have pretty good english and are so nice. i feel kind of bad for the new latinos,because the majority of the people here speak english, so they are the minority! all of the hermanas here are super friendly and cute. there are probably only 20-25 of us, probably not even that many, so it is fun. it{s cool introducing myself or just when people try to read my tag, because they try to say it the "american" way (which still isn{thow we say it), but i just pronounce it the spanish way. i said it our way to one of my teachers and said "es no bueno" and she just started cracking up. marin really does sound so much prettier in spanish. i actually feel really lucky, because my name is so easy and could be hispanic. one of the elders here has a last name that is a cuss word in spanish... pretty awesome. there has also been some confusion with hna. searle{s name... haha. i love it here. i still have my companion from the mtc, plus one of the sisters we were always with at the mtc, hna winder (we{re a triio), but we will be assigned a latina companion to eat meals, go to gym, and other various activities with, so we can be immersed. it is WARM and sunny and gorgeous and humid (no more gross dry skin, thanks utah!) and beautiful and good-smelling. it has actually been pretty fun and hilarious. everyone is just so friendly and comfortable so there is constant spanglish flying around. we are to help some of the workers here with english and everyone is supposed to help us with spanish, so it is fun. when we greeted the new latinos today, we QUICKLY ran out of things to talk about.. haha. we would just end up looking at each other and laughing. it will be a fun (and frustrating at times, i{m sure) process. they said they are working on us being able to print our emails, read them, then log back on, so we won{t use all of our 30 minutes. we{ll see! times up!! lovvvvvvvvve,hna marin
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Too fast, too fast!
Hola Mi Familia y Amigas!
Alright. Get ready for lots of typing errors and misunderstandings!
Dad, I didn't mean to leave you out last week, i just sent it to mom only for time purpuses. It was a mass email, not personal. Sorry.
I cannot believe that it has been two weeks since i got here. absolutely crazy! We leave for guat on tue!!! Cfrazy crazy crazy. But amazing.
Time goes sso blasted fast here! Thank you so much to everyone who has written me. Dearelders are aamizing! Dad, thanks so much for the bread. You are too blasted funny and cute. it was a nice surprise. i hadn't been expecting anytihng
so the next time i talk to you (mom and dad) will be on tuesday! HOw awesome is that? I feel so scatterbrained all the time when i think about getting everything settled before i leave. thanks for sending packages mom and dad. i had hoped to get to you, dad before you sent off the package, but that's okay. i think i decided that i want more of the shirts (the ones i decided to leave at aunt christine's) and some cardigans. But that's fine. It stinks now knowiung that sending stuff to guat is not cheap. That's fine. Hold off on stuff.. it may all change once i get there.
i really have heard close to nothing about the guat mtc. The only thing i have heard istht thety have at leat two amazing teachers that my teacher, Hno Frandsen served wtih. It will be fun and an adventure.
so far i can bear my testimony, say very simple prayers and conjugate a little here and there. everything i can do is super basic and simplistic, but it is coming. I still feel alwasy slightly behind everyone else in my calss, but i can't compare! I am doing well compared to when i first gt her,a nd that's good!
i'll try to print and send some pictures before i leave here. There aren't that many, just the stereotypical ones in front of the big map ;)
This week has been full of lots more learning and growing. I love it here. So amazing. It doesn't feel as much of a big fire hydrant drink anymore, but there is still craziness going on. We have taught the first lesson from preach my gospel twice. and both times seem to have gone pretty well. It's all about the Spirit and He is amazing. Truly, my favorite part of learning how to teach is how to get to know someone and truly love them. I love finding how the Gospel applies to each and every person and can truly bring peace and happiness. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ truly love us. I can't even begin to describe how strongly I feel about that fact.
To think that starting in a week I will actually be getting out and teaching REAL people! At the guat mtc, missionaries that are already in the field take a missionary in the mtc out to the city (I think) once a week! A little nerve wracking, but so exciting. It's funny, bc the mock lessons here seem so REAL. The people who play "investigators" take it so seriously. There have been so many times where I have thought, "Is this person really talking about themselves?" But the person ALWAYS says yes to more visits and lessons from us, which I know will not happen nearly that often in the field. I know why they want us to have that optimism, but it's almost funny, bc sometimes it seems like they are setting us up for uber dissapointment. A lot of people will say no to talking to us and not accept the Gospel, but there will be those awesome people who will feel that Spirit and want that in their life all the time. I am so excited to help people when they let us! I soooooo wish that people knew how pure and loving the message of the restored gospel is. It is truly amazing. God loves us so much and wants us so much to be happy always!
This past tuesday, Richard C. Edgley from the presiding bishopric spoke to us. It was incredible. One of my fave quotes from him said, "You're all weird. The New Testament calls you a peculiar people. You have left your family, friends, college, sports, careers, girlfriends, and so much more to serve. It is because of the feeling in our heart, because a 14 year old boy went to a grove to ask a simple question." That hit me hard. My testimony of Joseph SMith has grown so much. THe sunday before that we watchdd the Joseph Smith movie. Everyone in the whole world needs to see it. I need to see it at least once a week. It is a good reminder and motivator. I never want to slack in this work. I memorized a part of the first vision in spanish... maybe i'll tell it to you on the phone on tuesday :)
Don't forget about pouch mail once I'm in guatemala! It's annoying that I don't know what else to say.
I'll tell you our usual daily routine, bc I remember not having a CLUE what people in the mTC do all day:
630 wake up, get ready
7-745 personal study in our classroom
classroom: our district, 4 hermanas (Me, Searle, Jackson, and Winder) and 6 elders (Weight, Galvin, Rose, Amis, Ward, and Durrant)
745-815 bfast in cafeteria
815-11 in classroom, usually mdt (Missionary directed time: either personal, companion, or lang study) or we have class with Hno Frandsen or Young
11-12 gym
1230-115 lunch in cafeteria
115-530 mdt or class
530-615 dinner in caf
615-900 mdt or class
9-930 plan for next day
930-1015 personal time
1015-1030 quiet time
1030 - lights out!
It varies, but that's usually it. Devos on tue. Firesides and churhc on sun. Of course, pdays are way different.Occassional mock lessons in another building. Pretty awsome. Not as bad as it sounds. A lot of times i think, That is a LOT of mdt, how am i ever goint to fill it!?! But it always goes too fast and there's so much more i need/want to learn and study!!
Everyone, keep me updated, PLEASE!
I love you all so much!!
Fam, I can't wait to talk to you on tue!
I'm so sorry for this scatterbrained, psycho email!
Anny, I need your school address!
Love,
Hermana Nenna Bobenna Twinkle Toes Vee Marie Marin!
Alright. Get ready for lots of typing errors and misunderstandings!
Dad, I didn't mean to leave you out last week, i just sent it to mom only for time purpuses. It was a mass email, not personal. Sorry.
I cannot believe that it has been two weeks since i got here. absolutely crazy! We leave for guat on tue!!! Cfrazy crazy crazy. But amazing.
Time goes sso blasted fast here! Thank you so much to everyone who has written me. Dearelders are aamizing! Dad, thanks so much for the bread. You are too blasted funny and cute. it was a nice surprise. i hadn't been expecting anytihng
so the next time i talk to you (mom and dad) will be on tuesday! HOw awesome is that? I feel so scatterbrained all the time when i think about getting everything settled before i leave. thanks for sending packages mom and dad. i had hoped to get to you, dad before you sent off the package, but that's okay. i think i decided that i want more of the shirts (the ones i decided to leave at aunt christine's) and some cardigans. But that's fine. It stinks now knowiung that sending stuff to guat is not cheap. That's fine. Hold off on stuff.. it may all change once i get there.
i really have heard close to nothing about the guat mtc. The only thing i have heard istht thety have at leat two amazing teachers that my teacher, Hno Frandsen served wtih. It will be fun and an adventure.
so far i can bear my testimony, say very simple prayers and conjugate a little here and there. everything i can do is super basic and simplistic, but it is coming. I still feel alwasy slightly behind everyone else in my calss, but i can't compare! I am doing well compared to when i first gt her,a nd that's good!
i'll try to print and send some pictures before i leave here. There aren't that many, just the stereotypical ones in front of the big map ;)
This week has been full of lots more learning and growing. I love it here. So amazing. It doesn't feel as much of a big fire hydrant drink anymore, but there is still craziness going on. We have taught the first lesson from preach my gospel twice. and both times seem to have gone pretty well. It's all about the Spirit and He is amazing. Truly, my favorite part of learning how to teach is how to get to know someone and truly love them. I love finding how the Gospel applies to each and every person and can truly bring peace and happiness. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ truly love us. I can't even begin to describe how strongly I feel about that fact.
To think that starting in a week I will actually be getting out and teaching REAL people! At the guat mtc, missionaries that are already in the field take a missionary in the mtc out to the city (I think) once a week! A little nerve wracking, but so exciting. It's funny, bc the mock lessons here seem so REAL. The people who play "investigators" take it so seriously. There have been so many times where I have thought, "Is this person really talking about themselves?" But the person ALWAYS says yes to more visits and lessons from us, which I know will not happen nearly that often in the field. I know why they want us to have that optimism, but it's almost funny, bc sometimes it seems like they are setting us up for uber dissapointment. A lot of people will say no to talking to us and not accept the Gospel, but there will be those awesome people who will feel that Spirit and want that in their life all the time. I am so excited to help people when they let us! I soooooo wish that people knew how pure and loving the message of the restored gospel is. It is truly amazing. God loves us so much and wants us so much to be happy always!
This past tuesday, Richard C. Edgley from the presiding bishopric spoke to us. It was incredible. One of my fave quotes from him said, "You're all weird. The New Testament calls you a peculiar people. You have left your family, friends, college, sports, careers, girlfriends, and so much more to serve. It is because of the feeling in our heart, because a 14 year old boy went to a grove to ask a simple question." That hit me hard. My testimony of Joseph SMith has grown so much. THe sunday before that we watchdd the Joseph Smith movie. Everyone in the whole world needs to see it. I need to see it at least once a week. It is a good reminder and motivator. I never want to slack in this work. I memorized a part of the first vision in spanish... maybe i'll tell it to you on the phone on tuesday :)
Don't forget about pouch mail once I'm in guatemala! It's annoying that I don't know what else to say.
I'll tell you our usual daily routine, bc I remember not having a CLUE what people in the mTC do all day:
630 wake up, get ready
7-745 personal study in our classroom
classroom: our district, 4 hermanas (Me, Searle, Jackson, and Winder) and 6 elders (Weight, Galvin, Rose, Amis, Ward, and Durrant)
745-815 bfast in cafeteria
815-11 in classroom, usually mdt (Missionary directed time: either personal, companion, or lang study) or we have class with Hno Frandsen or Young
11-12 gym
1230-115 lunch in cafeteria
115-530 mdt or class
530-615 dinner in caf
615-900 mdt or class
9-930 plan for next day
930-1015 personal time
1015-1030 quiet time
1030 - lights out!
It varies, but that's usually it. Devos on tue. Firesides and churhc on sun. Of course, pdays are way different.Occassional mock lessons in another building. Pretty awsome. Not as bad as it sounds. A lot of times i think, That is a LOT of mdt, how am i ever goint to fill it!?! But it always goes too fast and there's so much more i need/want to learn and study!!
Everyone, keep me updated, PLEASE!
I love you all so much!!
Fam, I can't wait to talk to you on tue!
I'm so sorry for this scatterbrained, psycho email!
Anny, I need your school address!
Love,
Hermana Nenna Bobenna Twinkle Toes Vee Marie Marin!
Thursday, October 7, 2010
One week... woohoo! (Sorry for the unoriginal title)
Hola!!!
Well, This is pretty intense, becuase of the awesome timer in the corner counting down my 30 minutes on this computer. Sorry if you cannot understand what I am trying to say, if there are a lot of spelling, and grammatical errors ;)
I'll anser all of the questions first:
My teachers are amazing. Hermanos Frandsen and Young. They are amazing. One served in Mexico and one in Chile. They both have amazing advice to give and are so uplifting and brilliant! Great, great teachers. Spanish is tough. I am a little farther behind than the rest of my classmates, most of them had at least one year of Spanish in HS, but it isn't terrible. I am trying really hard. We have something called SYL (speak your language), so we are constantly speaking Spanglish. If you know a word in Spanish, you are never to use the English word ever! It's pretty awesome. At times, I can get a little stressed, but my companion is amazing and patient. She is probably one of the most advanced in the class when it comes to Spanish, but she is so gracious and helpful to me. I love it though, it is so fun to learn Spanish. We have been promised that we will be fluent in the language in 5 months. At times, 5 months seems not far off, but at others it seems centuries away! There is much hard work ahead! Sometimes, I wish I were speaking English, just so I could just go out and help people already.
Only 12 more days in the Provo MTC, then off to the Guatemala CCM! Crazyyyyyy!!! Holy cow.
I cried for the first time on Monday (I thought I did pretty well), I was a little disappointed that I cried at all! I just started thinking too much about how I wish I could talk to people, especially mi madre. But really... I am doing sooooooooooooo well. I love everything here. I love the missionaries. I love the leaders. I love the teachers. I love what I am learning about Spanish. I love how much I am learning about the Gospel. I love how everyone's testimony is strengthened so much each and every day. I love how energetic and excited everyone is. The atmosphere is amazing. Busy, fast, crazy, but amazing.
It is truly like trying to drink from a fire hydrant, like everyone says. I wish I could write so much about my experiences, but really... by the end of the day everything just mushes together. Thank goodness for notes, otherwise I don't think I could remember a tenth of the things I learn each day, but I know that in the time of need, those things will be brought to my mind.
My district is awesome. 6 elders and two other hermanas. The elders are sooooo mature for their age (don't get me wrong, they still have their moments) and are completely here for the right reasons. They work so hard and want so badly to do well and help people. My companion's name is Hermana Searle (Jamie). She is wonderful. She graduated from BYUI in nursing. She is actually going to be the mission nurse in Guat C.Central. Her and I, along with the other two AWESOME Hermanas in our district are going to the Guat CCM in two weeks. It will be so nice to have our little support group. No one has really told us what it is going to be like, but we have high hopes and know how fortunate we are to be able to get immersed so soon and quickly.
The food is not bad at all. I don't know what people complain about. I'm sure it has changed a bit since you have been here, Toph. They have wraps and salads usually at every meal. Of course, most of the food is cafeteria food, but it isn't that bad. Mom, no pies, but we get ice cream on Wednesdays and Sundays. They usually have some pretty decent desserts all the time, too. My fave part is probably the limitless amount of fresh fruit! It's awesome.
Thank you so much to all of you who have written me! You have no idea how wonderful it is to hear from each and everyone of you! Thank you so much for your encouraging words, advice, and for telling me what is going on with YOU. I love it. Dearelder is DEFINITELY the best way to communicate. No joke. We get them all throughout the day. Email is probably no good, bc of the limited amount of time on the computer and I can only check it once a week. Letters in the mail are awesome, too.
General Conf. was amazing. It was a nice little phasing time, bc we didn't have a crazy weekend - no teachers. We usually have teachers on Saturdays, and Sundays definitely don't feel like Sundays, bc you work just as hard as all the other days (except for pday).
It takes a little longer for me to fall asleep, I really don't know why. I still fall asleep pretty quickly, but not compared to my usual hit the pillow and out in 1 minute routine. Which is funny, bc I have been working so much harder here and have had such longer days. The days go by SO slow. By night time, the day felt like a week, but by the end of the week, you just think "holy cow!! A whole week just went by!" It's crazy and unbelievable. I'm going to the temple later today. Right now is laundry (we're actually late in picking it up). Sorry, Mom, I won't be able to see Cathie on the tenth. I only have one more day of the temple here and that will be next Thursday - only on pdays.
Dad, I got the pedigree chart, thank you. We haven't used it yet so we are good. The verse I would like would probably have to be Isaiah 58 ?? Ahh... the one where it says... "and with his stripes were are healed." I think the verses are 2-5. Sorry, sorry, sorry. THanks for taking care of that. Could you also do it for singles ward please?!? Thank you thank you. Ahh... 3:10 minutes left...
I love you all so much and think about you a lot, but not enough to keep me distracted... don't worry ;)
Mom, a care package would be awesome ;)
Everyone, check out 6billionothers.org. we have used it to figure out how the Gospel applies to everyone.
I love this work. I love that I will be helping people, if they allow us. Even my personal study is for the future people I will try to help. Did you like the Mtc choir at p-hood session? We got to hear two fo the hymns. Incredible. Powerful. Amazing
My shoes already stink.
Con amor,
Hermana Marin
Well, This is pretty intense, becuase of the awesome timer in the corner counting down my 30 minutes on this computer. Sorry if you cannot understand what I am trying to say, if there are a lot of spelling, and grammatical errors ;)
I'll anser all of the questions first:
My teachers are amazing. Hermanos Frandsen and Young. They are amazing. One served in Mexico and one in Chile. They both have amazing advice to give and are so uplifting and brilliant! Great, great teachers. Spanish is tough. I am a little farther behind than the rest of my classmates, most of them had at least one year of Spanish in HS, but it isn't terrible. I am trying really hard. We have something called SYL (speak your language), so we are constantly speaking Spanglish. If you know a word in Spanish, you are never to use the English word ever! It's pretty awesome. At times, I can get a little stressed, but my companion is amazing and patient. She is probably one of the most advanced in the class when it comes to Spanish, but she is so gracious and helpful to me. I love it though, it is so fun to learn Spanish. We have been promised that we will be fluent in the language in 5 months. At times, 5 months seems not far off, but at others it seems centuries away! There is much hard work ahead! Sometimes, I wish I were speaking English, just so I could just go out and help people already.
Only 12 more days in the Provo MTC, then off to the Guatemala CCM! Crazyyyyyy!!! Holy cow.
I cried for the first time on Monday (I thought I did pretty well), I was a little disappointed that I cried at all! I just started thinking too much about how I wish I could talk to people, especially mi madre. But really... I am doing sooooooooooooo well. I love everything here. I love the missionaries. I love the leaders. I love the teachers. I love what I am learning about Spanish. I love how much I am learning about the Gospel. I love how everyone's testimony is strengthened so much each and every day. I love how energetic and excited everyone is. The atmosphere is amazing. Busy, fast, crazy, but amazing.
It is truly like trying to drink from a fire hydrant, like everyone says. I wish I could write so much about my experiences, but really... by the end of the day everything just mushes together. Thank goodness for notes, otherwise I don't think I could remember a tenth of the things I learn each day, but I know that in the time of need, those things will be brought to my mind.
My district is awesome. 6 elders and two other hermanas. The elders are sooooo mature for their age (don't get me wrong, they still have their moments) and are completely here for the right reasons. They work so hard and want so badly to do well and help people. My companion's name is Hermana Searle (Jamie). She is wonderful. She graduated from BYUI in nursing. She is actually going to be the mission nurse in Guat C.Central. Her and I, along with the other two AWESOME Hermanas in our district are going to the Guat CCM in two weeks. It will be so nice to have our little support group. No one has really told us what it is going to be like, but we have high hopes and know how fortunate we are to be able to get immersed so soon and quickly.
The food is not bad at all. I don't know what people complain about. I'm sure it has changed a bit since you have been here, Toph. They have wraps and salads usually at every meal. Of course, most of the food is cafeteria food, but it isn't that bad. Mom, no pies, but we get ice cream on Wednesdays and Sundays. They usually have some pretty decent desserts all the time, too. My fave part is probably the limitless amount of fresh fruit! It's awesome.
Thank you so much to all of you who have written me! You have no idea how wonderful it is to hear from each and everyone of you! Thank you so much for your encouraging words, advice, and for telling me what is going on with YOU. I love it. Dearelder is DEFINITELY the best way to communicate. No joke. We get them all throughout the day. Email is probably no good, bc of the limited amount of time on the computer and I can only check it once a week. Letters in the mail are awesome, too.
General Conf. was amazing. It was a nice little phasing time, bc we didn't have a crazy weekend - no teachers. We usually have teachers on Saturdays, and Sundays definitely don't feel like Sundays, bc you work just as hard as all the other days (except for pday).
It takes a little longer for me to fall asleep, I really don't know why. I still fall asleep pretty quickly, but not compared to my usual hit the pillow and out in 1 minute routine. Which is funny, bc I have been working so much harder here and have had such longer days. The days go by SO slow. By night time, the day felt like a week, but by the end of the week, you just think "holy cow!! A whole week just went by!" It's crazy and unbelievable. I'm going to the temple later today. Right now is laundry (we're actually late in picking it up). Sorry, Mom, I won't be able to see Cathie on the tenth. I only have one more day of the temple here and that will be next Thursday - only on pdays.
Dad, I got the pedigree chart, thank you. We haven't used it yet so we are good. The verse I would like would probably have to be Isaiah 58 ?? Ahh... the one where it says... "and with his stripes were are healed." I think the verses are 2-5. Sorry, sorry, sorry. THanks for taking care of that. Could you also do it for singles ward please?!? Thank you thank you. Ahh... 3:10 minutes left...
I love you all so much and think about you a lot, but not enough to keep me distracted... don't worry ;)
Mom, a care package would be awesome ;)
Everyone, check out 6billionothers.org. we have used it to figure out how the Gospel applies to everyone.
I love this work. I love that I will be helping people, if they allow us. Even my personal study is for the future people I will try to help. Did you like the Mtc choir at p-hood session? We got to hear two fo the hymns. Incredible. Powerful. Amazing
My shoes already stink.
Con amor,
Hermana Marin
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