We got her first email today
Good morning!!
I can't believe it is Saturday already. Today is my P day from now until 6pm. I can email all day so send me anything you want. Life here is going well. My district is just wonderful. Really wonderful. My compañeras are great too. We spent the first night really getting to know each other and we showed each other pictures of nuestro familias. They and the two other sisters in my district are so cute. They love their families so much and it just shows how faithful they are for coming here even though it is not a commandment for hermanas. They are all super outgoing and taalkative like me, but they all agree I talk the most haha.
Spanish is hard, but I am accomplishing A LOT. One of my compañeras and one of the other sisters both took five years of Frensh. It's been hard for them to switch from using their throats instead of their tongues. My heart goes out to them for their hard work.
I have never prayed so long and hard in my whole life . We have 3-4 hours of class time in one sitting and then we will have a meal or companion study or something for an hour and then we go back to class for 3ish more hours and then personal study, comp study, and language study. The information we learn in one day here is like a months worth of information I would learn of spanish if I were still in high school. My zone is the "Pilot program". The church is trying out a new curriculem. In this new program of teaching, they teach new missionaries the same amount of information in 10 days as the other missionaries learn in four weeks.It is so crazy. In the last three days, I have learned how to have basic conversations, pray, testify, ask questions, and pronounce plenty of words. By next saturday I have to have a talk written in spanish, memorize Moroni 10:4-5 in spanish, JSH 19-21 in spanish, and the my purpose on page one of preach my gospel memorized in spanish. SO MUCH> SO SO MUCH. MY BRAIN IS EXPLODING. A study has been done and it says that both groups retain the same amount of information. They do this not by teaching us all the same way, but also letting us have free rein on our learning. It is run the same kind of way my AP lit and lang classes were run. I like it a lot. But it is so much more than I have ever learned in school haha. We are also on a different schedule than the rest of the MTC. It is so crazy On our first day, my district of new missionaries was given a schedule. Our teacher informed us that that schedule was the wrong one and that our zone would be following a different schedule. So he told us to just throw that one away and he gave us a new schedule. All the times were right on this new one, but the room numbers and building numbers were wrong. So all eight of us kept showing up to classes and sitting in empty rooms. But by the time we finally get to the right room, class is over pretty much.. So the first day we really didn't do anything except wander aimlessly around this whole huge place!
Exercise time is a party. Our zone plays four square and it is way intense. I'm going to put more info about that in my weekly though because I am running out of time on the computers. My phone works here and I've been getting holland's email each day. I love them! And I love and miss you all. I can email back and forth for a bit today so feel free to email me whenever. and send me anything you want during the week because I can read them all day every day! LOVE YOU!!!!
Hermana Morrison
P.S. I left my shower sandals at home and most of my t shirts. I need them lol. I have no clue where my sandals are, but if you could send some t shirts that don't have sweat pits, that would be cool. Thanks!
This is her mass email
HOLA!!!
So much has happened in the last three days and really I can't remember anything, so bear with my scatter brained self por favor.
SO. Day one was crazy. I got here at 12:30 pm and it was insane. I went right in, got my name tag, got my phone set up, got my room key, then went to class where not a single soul was speaking english. Then I was assigned to my companeras and I cried a little. But so were some of the other hermanas so it was all a ok. We learned a few things and then my district was given a different schedule from everyone else. My zone is the "Pilot program" here at the MTC and we have a completely different schedule from EVERYONE ELSE. There was a study done on this program and I guess we are supposed to learn the same amount of info in 10 days as all the other missionaries learn in 4 weeks. The amount retained and committed to long term memory is the same. So far I have learned how to meet people and have basic conversations, pray, testify, ask questions, read and write in present tense, and pronounce several words in El Libro de Mormon. all in espanol. By next saturday, I am to have written a talk in Spanish, memorize JSH 19-21 in spanish, memorize Moroni 10:4-5 in spanish and memorize the first page in preach my gospel in spanish. I also have to have a bazillion words memorized by then too and my brain is pretty much exploding. All the days mush together and I have no clue what is going on. we spend 3-4 hours in class at a time and then we have comp study, meals or personal study, then we go back to class for another 3 or 4 hours. Someone go tell Mr. Potter that I have to get over my fear now. My teacher walks around and listens to us talk in spanish and I get nervous every time and I stop talking. But he doesn't keep walking like Mr. Potter does. He just waits for me to start talking again so he can listen. It is so scary. But I am fine most of the time haha. and I super hope he isn't judging me. He only talks to us in spanish so I have no clue what he is correcting me on when he comes over. But maybe some day in the distant distant DISTANT future, I'll actually know. My favorite phrase that I say more than anything else right now is "No se" hahahaha. It's hard. SO HARD. but I can do it. I get really stressed and by the end of the day I am so tired. At night I don't sleep super well because my mind is going a thousand miles a minute with both english and spanish words, but each day I still get up with full energy and I am just fine. Heavenly Father is real and he has perfect energy and strength even though I am totally dead.
The other day we were learning how to pray. I stayed up for a bit and practiced and looked over the night before so that I would be ready. I was so nervous and I couldn't remember anything, but I made a goal to pray out loud in familia prayer all in spanish. Durning the day I was having a hard time praying with sincerity because I don't know enough words to say what I feel in my heart. But I did what I've been told and read in the scriptures and I opened my mouth. I prayed to the very best of my ability and the amount of excitement I felt after I finished was indescribable. After that we had comp language study and we decided to study all together with our district. I could not stop talking because I was just so psyched. Everything anyone said I had a story for and we all got off topic and started talking about school and our families and all the fun stuff about our lives. After that our teacher softly chastised us and I am really working hard on not talking about other things so much. You can bet I still talk just as much if not more, but I try to keep it about church things haha.
There is another Hermana in my zone. I don't know her real name, but everyone calls her Hermana Habla. They all say I might take over that name after she leaves....
Exercise time is a total party. I love it. We all play four square and it is the most intense four square I've ever seen in my whole life. Even more intense than XC four square. It's crazy. Our zone is way competitive. They have positions for everything. There is a miestra or "master", an apprentice and renegades. We all team up and set each other so that we can get anyone from another zone out. They were picking new renegades last night because all the other ones left to go to their mission fields last week. You become a renegade by "playing dirty" to get everyone else out. When you make a good move everyone yells "SUCIO!!!" They yelled that at me a lot. I was just trying to stay in. I wasn't even trying to get anyone out, but they said I have the potential to be the next miestra if I work as hard in four square as I do in Espanol *hair flip*. I guess missions aren't all about the gospel. It's about beating the french and the japanese in four square too.
We went to the temple with our zone this morning and it was the most wonderful experience. My mind has been running and running and running and running faster than I feel like I can keep up with, but I felt so much peace in the temple and I was finally able to relax. I really love it here even though it is hard and I am homesick. The hermanas in my district are so so wonderful and supportive. They are all fun and outgoing and so helpful in spanish. I love them so much! I know that Heavenly father knew I would need them and that I would be completely overwhelmed by life at first. So many tender mercies have been present in my life. Everywhere I turn, someone is quoting D&C 6:36. And at night when I am feeling the most homesick, I get an email from someone. We are allowed to read emails anytime here so keep them coming! Right before I left, one of the girls on the team brought over an envelope with scriptures and notes from everyone on the team. I've already broken into it (Not because I was discouraged, but because I was so psyched) and each of them were just the sweetest most wonderful christmas miracles. I also found three letters in my suit cases from my siblings and parents and they all wrapped me in love and reminded me that I am not here alone. Life is so crazy and I really have no clue what is happening 90% of the time, but I know that what I am doing is part of God's plan for me. I know that there are people longing to be loved and longing to know that someone cares about them. I feel it in my life and I look forward to sharing that love with them.
I am terribly sorry if this whole email makes no sense. We don't have a ton of time on the computers so I am writing super fast and wracking my brain to remember what actually happened this week. I love you all and I thank you for your prayers and ever constant support. I hope you all have the most wonderful week!
-Hermana Morrison
P.S. excuse all my mistakes. I was really trying to go fast. Also, in case anyone was wondering, everyone knows how jumpy I am now. It's a party haha
No comments:
Post a Comment