Pamilia!
TRC: was not huge this week, but just as great as ever. The topic for us this week was revelation through the Book of Mormon. Elder Russell M. Nelson gave the devotional on Tuesday, and the highlight was the Oct. Ensign dedicated solely to the Book of Mormon. In fact, all of us missionaries at the MTC received one. AWESOME. Some great advice he gave was to start at the Title Page and read from there--for us and for our investigators. Pinakamahalaga! (Utmost Importance!) It has some great information in it, and was written by Mormon. With the two volunteers we taught at the TRC on Thursday we highlighted that it was written "..for Jew and Gentile....by the spirit of prophecy and of revelation." How important this is for us in our day--it was written specifically for us by prophecy and revelation! It has within it the answers to all of our problems if we prayerfully and sincerely read it. It teaches with plainness and clarity, unlike any other book of scripture. We also shared with them D&C 84:54-59, highlighting that the Book of Mormon is not to be treated lightly because of its importance and sacredness. We also highlighted v. 59, in that Zion is based on the law of the Celestial Kingdom--how can we expect to live there or build it up if we are not obeying that law? We also shared with them Mosiah 5:2, about how the word changes hearts. It was pretty great. In the end, even though we taught them about revelation through the Book of Mormon, we challenged them to read D&C 84 (wonderful section!), specifically looking for how God shows his love and the promises given to the faithful--promises we still have and can see even when we are not missionaries, for they are promised to the faithful. We also asked them to keep the Book of Mormon in their study--for even though study of other scripture is very important (I will be the first to admit it), we cannot ignore the Book of Mormon and its role in bringing us unto Christ--otherwise we bring upon ourselves the condemnation spoken of in D&C 84:54-57.
Spiritual Thought: this week in choir we sang "Consider the Lilies". Funnily enough, I was studying in D&C 84 that Sunday.....and towards the end of the practice realized it had that scripture in it (D&C 84:82). But that is not my thought, just a funny aside. My thought is about something we discussed in that Sunday practice was the 99 sheep vs. the 1 sheep. The director that day made an interesting point. He said that he was teaching in primary one day, and a little girl got up and told the story of "One day a shepherd counted his sheep: 1, 2, ..34, 35,..99, oh, one is missing!" He said that he didn't really hear anything after that because his mind took hold of the thought that the shepherd was counting his sheep. He knew each and every one of them individually, and he made sure they were fed and okay and in safe pasture before going out to look for the Lost Sheep. His point was that the Lord takes care of those who trust Him and put their faith in Him first--those who are going to Church, keeping the commandments, etc. He does not abandon them for the lost one. This really struck me and I really liked it. This is a very important point--the Lord doesn't forget us because we are "okay", because we are already members of His Church: He continues to look after us and take care of us. We just forget that because we always focus on the Lost Sheep. I testify of this. I know it is true, and if we will put our trust and faith in Him, and do what He asks of us, He will take care of us!
Funnies
1) Quote from Elder Waite "I can control myself, I just don't always want to!" (In reference to baked goods ;p)
2) Quote from Elder Herr just now: "Oh no! The trees are turning orange! We gotta get outta here!" (he is from Hawaii)
3) Interaction right before class when we were deciding which song to sing to start class. Sister Cope and I had just gotten back from lunch and Elders Barrow and Herr were talking about how they had Christian rock music stuck in their head from the mail room. Everyone started talking about Christmas music and singing a Christmas hymn. (I will give you the English translation of what went down, because most was in Tagalog)
Brother Cook "Why? Christmas is so far away."
Me: "True, but it comes quickly!"
Bro. Cook: "Like the Second Coming, no?"
Me: "Yes, time to repent and be good children so we don't get coal in our stockings!"
Bro. Cook: "Time to repent so we don't become coal!"
bwa ha ha ha ha ha! It took me a while to stop laughing!
Mom, that is awesome! It you can, tell the Hammond's that I have the 11:40 AM lunch time. I hope I see them! And thanks so much for the package, it was awesome! All the Elders were so happy to get their own loaves of banana bread! If you would like to send more goodies, none of us will deny you :D You are famous here: everyone knows about your absolutely delicious baked goods, even my teachers and Branch President, and sisters not in our zone! Anything you send is coveted, because it brings joy to the soul :D
I love you all! Thanks for all your prayers and everything!
Monday, September 26, 2011
Sunday, September 18, 2011
9/18/2011
We sing a lot here, so I thought I would share with you some of my favorite hymns with missionary work: Hope of Israel, Hark All Ye Nations, Called to Serve (which we sing at least once a week, and I love it), and my theme song, Dear to the Heart of the Shepherd.
My district was able to do missionary hosting on Wednesday, and it was so fun! I am proud of myself because I was able to host 4 new sisters--I pulled of doing 2 at the same time! :D It was so much fun to take them around and tell them stuff I wish I had known when I first came in. I had a blast.
Pictures are coming! Make sure you look at the captions on the back! They are grouped together in specific order!
Funnies
1) The "Do not drink the OJ" rumor is not true. I had been drinking it almost every day since my 3rd week here and nothing so far has gone wrong with my GI tract. It is a great source of vitamin C. [speaking of vitamins, thanks for those Mom. Don't worry about me though, I made sure I had plenty when we did our shopping. I gave them to the sisters that did not bring any. :D]
2) So there is some "MTC man-law" that Sister Cope and I have been trying to find out, and our Elders will not tell us. One day we were having a conversation about "man-law" and various forms therein (which Sister Cope and I think we known fairly well due to male family members), and part of the end of the conversation was this: Sister Cope "Where do you learn the man-law?" Elder Carman: "They implant it in our heads at birth." bwa ha ha ha ha ha!
3) Saying from the ever-stoic Elder Carman in reference to his and Elder Oettli's dorm room, which for a while now has been known at the "party room" b/c they like to party and they are the only ones in there (until this week when they got new roommates). He said it because we were all starting to go insane this week from being here so long and being so close to our departure date: "The party room is going to become the insane asylum"......and for a moment there we all really thought we would go insane.
4) Brother Cook, one of our teachers, is scared of Sister Cope's laugh. You should see his face every time she does, and he is so careful to try and not make her laugh. It is because her laugh is really loud and obnoxious....I do not know how to describe it. Anyway, it was really funny when he admitted this. He makes the funniest faces, which always induce laughter from Sister Cope and myself.
Spiritual
1) An epiphany I had this week: I was thinking about all of the scriptures that talk about how miracles follow those who have faith, and all the signs and wonders that are supposed to follow missionaries (the most recent scripture being the last verses in Mark). I realized that I should being seeing miracles on my mission all the time: if I am not, something is wrong and needs to change. I am so excited to see them, and I feel like I have already started to see them here in the MTC.
2) Sunday Fireside: President Brown (MTC president) showed us the Music and the Spoken word from that morning. I urge those who can to try and watch the 9/11 Music and the Spoken Word. It is so beautiful and wonderful--I love it!
3) Elder Ballard came for our Tuesday Devotional
4) I got a priesthood blessing last night from Elder Waite and Elder Su'a. I have been having a really hard time sleeping, especially in the past week. It was a wonderful blessing. I want to share some thoughts that I had about what happened: at first yesterday morning when I thought about asking for a blessing, I wondered if I shouldn't because I thought that maybe I was not having enough faith, and that for some reason I was being a bother to everyone, including God for asking. But last evening when Sister Cope returned to the room for daily planning I just had this feeling to do it. So I did. The Elders felt like I had come out of nowhere. I was talking with Sister Cope about my struggle through the day, and I shared with her my thoughts about it--It has been iterated to me many times in priesthood blessings that God is happy I am seeking blessings from Him. Why should I feel like I should not ask for one? That thought is not from Him, but from the Devil. Also, it is demonstrating your faith when you ask for a blessing--you are showing that you believe He can and will bless you, and that the priesthood holder really does hold authority from God. Sometimes we have to ask for blessings in different ways than just prayer--is that not one of the functions of a priesthood blessing? I am so grateful that I did ask.
TRC
Great, another 40 minute lesson with one person. The young man we taught had returned from his mission in the Philippines the day after we went into the MTC. So funny. We had a different kind of experience with him. We ended up talking to him mostly about necessity of sincere, heartfelt prayer, and how a mission is not only to serve the Lord, but it is preparation ground for what we need to become (like Him), and how that process needs to continue after the mission. I talked to him about what the Lord wanted him to be doing, and Sister Cope shared with him Alma 5:26 ) and after she shared with him Enos v. 4, and asked him to read the entire book when he returned home. I told him to Magalak! (rejoice!) This is meant to help you, and the Lord has great things in store for you if you will work for them. The Lord needed him to prepare now for things he would be called to do in the future.
I love you family and I hope you have been having a great week!
My district was able to do missionary hosting on Wednesday, and it was so fun! I am proud of myself because I was able to host 4 new sisters--I pulled of doing 2 at the same time! :D It was so much fun to take them around and tell them stuff I wish I had known when I first came in. I had a blast.
Pictures are coming! Make sure you look at the captions on the back! They are grouped together in specific order!
Funnies
1) The "Do not drink the OJ" rumor is not true. I had been drinking it almost every day since my 3rd week here and nothing so far has gone wrong with my GI tract. It is a great source of vitamin C. [speaking of vitamins, thanks for those Mom. Don't worry about me though, I made sure I had plenty when we did our shopping. I gave them to the sisters that did not bring any. :D]
2) So there is some "MTC man-law" that Sister Cope and I have been trying to find out, and our Elders will not tell us. One day we were having a conversation about "man-law" and various forms therein (which Sister Cope and I think we known fairly well due to male family members), and part of the end of the conversation was this: Sister Cope "Where do you learn the man-law?" Elder Carman: "They implant it in our heads at birth." bwa ha ha ha ha ha!
3) Saying from the ever-stoic Elder Carman in reference to his and Elder Oettli's dorm room, which for a while now has been known at the "party room" b/c they like to party and they are the only ones in there (until this week when they got new roommates). He said it because we were all starting to go insane this week from being here so long and being so close to our departure date: "The party room is going to become the insane asylum"......and for a moment there we all really thought we would go insane.
4) Brother Cook, one of our teachers, is scared of Sister Cope's laugh. You should see his face every time she does, and he is so careful to try and not make her laugh. It is because her laugh is really loud and obnoxious....I do not know how to describe it. Anyway, it was really funny when he admitted this. He makes the funniest faces, which always induce laughter from Sister Cope and myself.
Spiritual
1) An epiphany I had this week: I was thinking about all of the scriptures that talk about how miracles follow those who have faith, and all the signs and wonders that are supposed to follow missionaries (the most recent scripture being the last verses in Mark). I realized that I should being seeing miracles on my mission all the time: if I am not, something is wrong and needs to change. I am so excited to see them, and I feel like I have already started to see them here in the MTC.
2) Sunday Fireside: President Brown (MTC president) showed us the Music and the Spoken word from that morning. I urge those who can to try and watch the 9/11 Music and the Spoken Word. It is so beautiful and wonderful--I love it!
3) Elder Ballard came for our Tuesday Devotional
4) I got a priesthood blessing last night from Elder Waite and Elder Su'a. I have been having a really hard time sleeping, especially in the past week. It was a wonderful blessing. I want to share some thoughts that I had about what happened: at first yesterday morning when I thought about asking for a blessing, I wondered if I shouldn't because I thought that maybe I was not having enough faith, and that for some reason I was being a bother to everyone, including God for asking. But last evening when Sister Cope returned to the room for daily planning I just had this feeling to do it. So I did. The Elders felt like I had come out of nowhere. I was talking with Sister Cope about my struggle through the day, and I shared with her my thoughts about it--It has been iterated to me many times in priesthood blessings that God is happy I am seeking blessings from Him. Why should I feel like I should not ask for one? That thought is not from Him, but from the Devil. Also, it is demonstrating your faith when you ask for a blessing--you are showing that you believe He can and will bless you, and that the priesthood holder really does hold authority from God. Sometimes we have to ask for blessings in different ways than just prayer--is that not one of the functions of a priesthood blessing? I am so grateful that I did ask.
TRC
Great, another 40 minute lesson with one person. The young man we taught had returned from his mission in the Philippines the day after we went into the MTC. So funny. We had a different kind of experience with him. We ended up talking to him mostly about necessity of sincere, heartfelt prayer, and how a mission is not only to serve the Lord, but it is preparation ground for what we need to become (like Him), and how that process needs to continue after the mission. I talked to him about what the Lord wanted him to be doing, and Sister Cope shared with him Alma 5:26 ) and after she shared with him Enos v. 4, and asked him to read the entire book when he returned home. I told him to Magalak! (rejoice!) This is meant to help you, and the Lord has great things in store for you if you will work for them. The Lord needed him to prepare now for things he would be called to do in the future.
I love you family and I hope you have been having a great week!
Friday, September 9, 2011
update 9/9/11
Thanks for all your prayers, I really appreciate them. I am glad to hear that Michael is doing so well, and a baptism! YAY! I am so excited for you my brother, and I am happy that you received the honor of baptizing him. Keep up the awesome work!
I participate in MTC choir every week, and the songs are always so great. I had a feeling this week that I should share the one we sang: "I Marvel at the Miracle" I feel like it is really important to share this highlighted 3rd verse. Lyrics by John V. Pearson, music by Janice Kapp Perry.
I pled with God to shed his grace
And take away my sin.
He did and, yet, I turned away
And stumbled once again.
At last I knelt before His throne
And offered Him my soul.
He wept, then gave it back to me
Renewed, and washed, and whole.
I wonder at the grace divine
And power to redeem;
That Christ alone could overcome
And change eternity.
My thanks cannot sufficient be.
My praise is incomplete.
For all I pay, my debt remains
For God's great gift to me.
Spiritual
TRC: We gave a 40 min lesson this week instead of 2 20 min lessons. So great! We still went a little over time, but we think we were jipped a little time-wise. We taught 2 freshly returned missionaries--they had returned July 28th, which was really funny because we went into the MTC on July 27th. We had a nice chat with them and talked to them about the difficulties in adjusting to "normal life" after having everything schedule out for you, and how hard it is to make the life-important decision (both going to BYU). It was so awesome at the end to call down the powers of heaven for them, and speak to them about things I had no way of knowing. I told them that the extremely important decisions in life--major, career, when to start a family--are so important that if we treat them lightly God will not help us with them. My promise to them (in a nutshell) was that God wanted to reward them for their service but they 1st needed to demonstrate their faith in Him (as Sister Cope had told them), and think about what they wanted in life. What careers their major would lead them to, if they wanted those careers, and what kind of family life they would have if they chose that vocation. Only after they had made a plan and decided what they wanted would the Lord answer clearly to them if that was right or wrong, and what path they should take. So cool.
Thoughts during personal study: one morning I was thinking about the commandment of the Lord to missionaries that they must leave everything behind. Many see that as a hardship, but I see it as a blessing. I was thinking that if I had to worry about everything back home plus doing my best to serve the Lord I would go insane. This leaving behind everything is one of the greatest commandments/blessings I think. We get to serve the Lord and do only that, while at the same time He takes care of everything back home for us in a way that is best for us (although some people don't always see that when they get home). We are blessed many times over for serving. How awesome is that?!!
Funnies
1) I have been playing the piano in sacrament a lot, and also for our sacrament meeting musical numbers. On Sunday the two districts that were leaving were practicing their parting song, when Sister Cope and I heard "Who is playing the piano for us? Someone go ask Sister Biggs, has anyone asked her yet?" She and I started laughing as some of them walked down the hall to us. They were so confused. It was really funny.
2) We had some funny things from two different progressing investigators. One was a guy that wanted to know where we lived. We said "Quezon City" and he said where? We just repeated "Quezon City" somewhere. He gave us a really weird look and asked us if we knew where we lived. We finally got it across that it was bawal, or forbidden. That confused him and he said that we knew where he lived, why couldn't he know where we lived? We said we would explain next time. The other was a mother who asked us if we were married, and how our kids were. When we said we weren't married she asked us "Why? You are beautiful girls! Are you here to marry a Pinoy [Philippino]?" Nooo...... "I know lots of Pinoy boys I can find you one to marry".....We finally explained to her that it was forbidden for us as missionaries. Then she was okay. It was so funny, I burst out laughing several times.
3) So during lunch one day Elder Waite looked in my direction, but not at me, then back at the person he was talking to. I was bored, and I suddenly got this idea to wiggle my eyebrows at him the next time he looked in my direction. I leaned down to Sister Cope and invited her to join me. We put our heads together and stared at him until he looked at us, then we wiggled our eyebrows at him. So funny! Later he told us it was pretty creepy. We would have done it to any of the Elders in our district....he was in the right spot at the right time!
The two oldest districts have left, and now we are the oldest. So weird. Sister Cope and I miss them at mealtimes because they were so funny and kept us well entertained. Our Elders are doing okay as far as that is concerned. One of the Elders in our zone drank 16 glasses of orange juice for lunch one day. So gross.
I have been released as coordinating sister, and now it is Sister Tatafu. So nice to not have to go to meetings anymore!
Okay Mom, I will get the addresses of those you could send packages to! Elder Su'a in our district, his family is in Samoa so he does not get any packages. If you want to send him homemade treats that would be great for him. He has the same address as me, just address it to "Elder Su'a". They loved the cookies btw, and said you could even put more coconut in them. Everyone loves your banana bread. Sister 'Ofa and Sister Tatafu were jokingly fighting over some the other day :D
I love you my family and have a great week!
Kat
I participate in MTC choir every week, and the songs are always so great. I had a feeling this week that I should share the one we sang: "I Marvel at the Miracle" I feel like it is really important to share this highlighted 3rd verse. Lyrics by John V. Pearson, music by Janice Kapp Perry.
I pled with God to shed his grace
And take away my sin.
He did and, yet, I turned away
And stumbled once again.
At last I knelt before His throne
And offered Him my soul.
He wept, then gave it back to me
Renewed, and washed, and whole.
I wonder at the grace divine
And power to redeem;
That Christ alone could overcome
And change eternity.
My thanks cannot sufficient be.
My praise is incomplete.
For all I pay, my debt remains
For God's great gift to me.
Spiritual
TRC: We gave a 40 min lesson this week instead of 2 20 min lessons. So great! We still went a little over time, but we think we were jipped a little time-wise. We taught 2 freshly returned missionaries--they had returned July 28th, which was really funny because we went into the MTC on July 27th. We had a nice chat with them and talked to them about the difficulties in adjusting to "normal life" after having everything schedule out for you, and how hard it is to make the life-important decision (both going to BYU). It was so awesome at the end to call down the powers of heaven for them, and speak to them about things I had no way of knowing. I told them that the extremely important decisions in life--major, career, when to start a family--are so important that if we treat them lightly God will not help us with them. My promise to them (in a nutshell) was that God wanted to reward them for their service but they 1st needed to demonstrate their faith in Him (as Sister Cope had told them), and think about what they wanted in life. What careers their major would lead them to, if they wanted those careers, and what kind of family life they would have if they chose that vocation. Only after they had made a plan and decided what they wanted would the Lord answer clearly to them if that was right or wrong, and what path they should take. So cool.
Thoughts during personal study: one morning I was thinking about the commandment of the Lord to missionaries that they must leave everything behind. Many see that as a hardship, but I see it as a blessing. I was thinking that if I had to worry about everything back home plus doing my best to serve the Lord I would go insane. This leaving behind everything is one of the greatest commandments/blessings I think. We get to serve the Lord and do only that, while at the same time He takes care of everything back home for us in a way that is best for us (although some people don't always see that when they get home). We are blessed many times over for serving. How awesome is that?!!
Funnies
1) I have been playing the piano in sacrament a lot, and also for our sacrament meeting musical numbers. On Sunday the two districts that were leaving were practicing their parting song, when Sister Cope and I heard "Who is playing the piano for us? Someone go ask Sister Biggs, has anyone asked her yet?" She and I started laughing as some of them walked down the hall to us. They were so confused. It was really funny.
2) We had some funny things from two different progressing investigators. One was a guy that wanted to know where we lived. We said "Quezon City" and he said where? We just repeated "Quezon City" somewhere. He gave us a really weird look and asked us if we knew where we lived. We finally got it across that it was bawal, or forbidden. That confused him and he said that we knew where he lived, why couldn't he know where we lived? We said we would explain next time. The other was a mother who asked us if we were married, and how our kids were. When we said we weren't married she asked us "Why? You are beautiful girls! Are you here to marry a Pinoy [Philippino]?" Nooo...... "I know lots of Pinoy boys I can find you one to marry".....We finally explained to her that it was forbidden for us as missionaries. Then she was okay. It was so funny, I burst out laughing several times.
3) So during lunch one day Elder Waite looked in my direction, but not at me, then back at the person he was talking to. I was bored, and I suddenly got this idea to wiggle my eyebrows at him the next time he looked in my direction. I leaned down to Sister Cope and invited her to join me. We put our heads together and stared at him until he looked at us, then we wiggled our eyebrows at him. So funny! Later he told us it was pretty creepy. We would have done it to any of the Elders in our district....he was in the right spot at the right time!
The two oldest districts have left, and now we are the oldest. So weird. Sister Cope and I miss them at mealtimes because they were so funny and kept us well entertained. Our Elders are doing okay as far as that is concerned. One of the Elders in our zone drank 16 glasses of orange juice for lunch one day. So gross.
I have been released as coordinating sister, and now it is Sister Tatafu. So nice to not have to go to meetings anymore!
Okay Mom, I will get the addresses of those you could send packages to! Elder Su'a in our district, his family is in Samoa so he does not get any packages. If you want to send him homemade treats that would be great for him. He has the same address as me, just address it to "Elder Su'a". They loved the cookies btw, and said you could even put more coconut in them. Everyone loves your banana bread. Sister 'Ofa and Sister Tatafu were jokingly fighting over some the other day :D
I love you my family and have a great week!
Kat
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Kat mission update Sept 4th, 2011
Hey pamilia!
Another good week: time goes by so quickly! I got your banana bread mom, and my patriarchal blessing. Thank you so much. The bread was gone so fast! You are hero worshipped here ;) No, the Elders have not made me die of laughter yet. I will let you know if they do. I really enjoyed the Keefer zoo story. It made me laugh. Keefer, you are so cute!
The TRC yesterday was great, but not quite the overwhelming experience it was last week. It still is so cool to be able to promise specific blessings to people from the Lord. I will never get tired of it. Is this some of what you feel like when you give priesthood blessings, dad?
(Dad here, answering kat's question: Yes!)
I am starting to feel a bit of a plateau with my language learning....will you pray for me to have my mind opened to be able to hold all that I must learn? Thank you :D [specifically remembering verbs, what they mean, and the different conjugations that they have--it is not like latin languages where it is apparent, it is a bit like English and right now feels random to me]
Funny stories:
1. I brush my teeth after every meal (or at least try to), and the Elders have been teasing me about it. Sister Cope has started to do it a little bit as well. Lately they have been talking about "cupcakes". We found out what that meant on Wednesday, when after lunch they all took their toothbrushes and toothpaste out, shook them at us, and proceeded to the bathroom to brush. They called it "operation cupcake". It was hilarious. Just as funny was that Sister Cope could not stop laughing! When we went to the bathroom to brush our teeth she was still laughing so hard that our teacher came by and asked us what was going on.
2. Teaching our progressing investigator: we were teaching him how to pray, and we wanted him to pray with his family, so we read to him 3 Ne. 18:18-21 and asked him to pray to his family. Yeah, apparently I asked him to pray TO his family. So funny. He got this really confused look on his face and said something about praying to God. That is when we realized what I had said. We finally ended up reading vs. 21 to him to get the idea across. It was a morning of language faux-pas (?). The Elders (Barrow & Herr) who taught him before us came in saying "We asked him to kneel in prayer with us, but then he just started laughing hysterically! What did we say??????!!!!!" When we came back, we found out that instead of asking him to kneel, they had asked him to drown with them! How funny is that! One of my favorite funnies of the week!
Tagalog can be a tricky, but easy language at the same time. One must be careful though, because if you mix two noun markers up (no articles in this language), you can end up saying "Jesus killed the people" instead of "the people killed Jesus", really easily. Thankfully I don't think any of us have had a huge problem witht that so far.
Dad, did you share that same scripture (D&C 19:29-31) with Michael? I think it could help with his companion..... Thank you so much for that by the way, I really like it! I am glad you are enjoying the fun language mistakes. We really had quite the laugh....and are still laughing about it! So exciting about Keefer's friend. Guess what? There are quite a few missionaries in our district from New Zealand, or the islands. Two of the sisters that just left were from there, and one of the new sisters that came in on Wednesday is also from there, plus some more Elders. So 4 sisters came in: 1 from New Zealand, 1 from Riverton UT, 1 from Tonga, and another from a really tiny tiny island by Figi. According to Sister Stott (our Branch President's wife) she is the second missionary to ever come from that island. So now our room is split in half: 3 white girls, and 3 girls from the islands! They seem to be adjusting okay, and we will see how it goes. So much to do for a Coordinatin Sister! We (myself and the two zone leaders) oriented them on Wednesday night and on Thursday night. So glad I am not a Zone leader and in charge of a bunch of Elders. I only have to worry about 6 people. It is great!
Thanks you so much my family! I love you tons! [And I luva luva luva you too momma meatball! ;D]
Kat
Another good week: time goes by so quickly! I got your banana bread mom, and my patriarchal blessing. Thank you so much. The bread was gone so fast! You are hero worshipped here ;) No, the Elders have not made me die of laughter yet. I will let you know if they do. I really enjoyed the Keefer zoo story. It made me laugh. Keefer, you are so cute!
The TRC yesterday was great, but not quite the overwhelming experience it was last week. It still is so cool to be able to promise specific blessings to people from the Lord. I will never get tired of it. Is this some of what you feel like when you give priesthood blessings, dad?
(Dad here, answering kat's question: Yes!)
I am starting to feel a bit of a plateau with my language learning....will you pray for me to have my mind opened to be able to hold all that I must learn? Thank you :D [specifically remembering verbs, what they mean, and the different conjugations that they have--it is not like latin languages where it is apparent, it is a bit like English and right now feels random to me]
Funny stories:
1. I brush my teeth after every meal (or at least try to), and the Elders have been teasing me about it. Sister Cope has started to do it a little bit as well. Lately they have been talking about "cupcakes". We found out what that meant on Wednesday, when after lunch they all took their toothbrushes and toothpaste out, shook them at us, and proceeded to the bathroom to brush. They called it "operation cupcake". It was hilarious. Just as funny was that Sister Cope could not stop laughing! When we went to the bathroom to brush our teeth she was still laughing so hard that our teacher came by and asked us what was going on.
2. Teaching our progressing investigator: we were teaching him how to pray, and we wanted him to pray with his family, so we read to him 3 Ne. 18:18-21 and asked him to pray to his family. Yeah, apparently I asked him to pray TO his family. So funny. He got this really confused look on his face and said something about praying to God. That is when we realized what I had said. We finally ended up reading vs. 21 to him to get the idea across. It was a morning of language faux-pas (?). The Elders (Barrow & Herr) who taught him before us came in saying "We asked him to kneel in prayer with us, but then he just started laughing hysterically! What did we say??????!!!!!" When we came back, we found out that instead of asking him to kneel, they had asked him to drown with them! How funny is that! One of my favorite funnies of the week!
Tagalog can be a tricky, but easy language at the same time. One must be careful though, because if you mix two noun markers up (no articles in this language), you can end up saying "Jesus killed the people" instead of "the people killed Jesus", really easily. Thankfully I don't think any of us have had a huge problem witht that so far.
Dad, did you share that same scripture (D&C 19:29-31) with Michael? I think it could help with his companion..... Thank you so much for that by the way, I really like it! I am glad you are enjoying the fun language mistakes. We really had quite the laugh....and are still laughing about it! So exciting about Keefer's friend. Guess what? There are quite a few missionaries in our district from New Zealand, or the islands. Two of the sisters that just left were from there, and one of the new sisters that came in on Wednesday is also from there, plus some more Elders. So 4 sisters came in: 1 from New Zealand, 1 from Riverton UT, 1 from Tonga, and another from a really tiny tiny island by Figi. According to Sister Stott (our Branch President's wife) she is the second missionary to ever come from that island. So now our room is split in half: 3 white girls, and 3 girls from the islands! They seem to be adjusting okay, and we will see how it goes. So much to do for a Coordinatin Sister! We (myself and the two zone leaders) oriented them on Wednesday night and on Thursday night. So glad I am not a Zone leader and in charge of a bunch of Elders. I only have to worry about 6 people. It is great!
Thanks you so much my family! I love you tons! [And I luva luva luva you too momma meatball! ;D]
Kat
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)