Monday, April 11, 2011

Courtney's Week #1

So I am a little panicked because we only have 30 minutes of email time and I have so much that I want to say. But, you don't need to worry about how many or how long your emails to me are. Our Zone Leaders showed us a really cool trick about how to print our emails super fast, shut the computer down, and then read and respond to your emails later in the laundry room. So point of the story-Long emails=bueno!
 
This week has been so overwhelming, exhausting, and exciting. Oh, so first of all, I have two companions, I am in a trio. There is Hermana Taggart from Orem and Hermana Kimball from Belgium. She is not actually a belgian, she just lived there for 7 years and then went to school at BYU. Hermana Taggart also went to BYU. It seems that that is the school of choice for everyone here, which I think is Lame! Oh Her. Taggart is 22, and Her. Kimball is 25.
 
So next on my list, I have seen Walker. He and I actually have the same meal times so I see him fairly often. So my Branch Presidency told me that I should not hug him because the handbook says no contact "regardless of relationship," but his Branch Presidency told him that he should most definitely hug his sister. So in my mind that means that we can hug, I just can't be the instigator. And Walker seems to have softened a little bit so he has given me a very good hug. It was actually very comforting to me because the first few days here are so stressful.
 
So my District has six Elders and then us three sisters, in my Zone there are about 55 people and only 5 sisters, including me and my companions. Which is okay, the Branch President loves the sisters, yesterday his wife brought us two huge boat bags full of junk food. It was really nice but it hasn't done much good for our physiques.
 
The food here isn't too bad, except I am most definitely sure that Fruit, Turkey, Nuts, Milk, and Lettuce should definitely not be mixed and should not be considered a salad. Other than that the food isn't too bad.
 
My Zone is in the "Pilot Program," which means that they have one Zone of each language that they are using as guinea pigs for a new program that they plan on implementing accross the whole MTC. Some of the major changes are that we have a lot less down time, our P-days end earlier, and there is a lot more emphasis on teaching. We taught an investigator on our second day, in SPANISH, just for the record, I do not know Spanish! But Hermana Taggart spent some time in Guatamala, so she knows some Spanish and taught most of the lesson.
 
Spanish is super hard! But I know that the Lord is helping me because in situations where the Spirit is super strong I can mostly understand what is going on, but if not I have no idea what the conversation is even about. I am currently using a ton of flash cards to try to get the vocabulary down and it is going okay. I will get it, but my mouth seems to struggle with the actual annuciation of Spanish.
 
So in our Branch we have to prepare a talk for Sacrament meeting each week and then you find out if you are actually giving the talk as they announce your name over the pulpit. Oh, and the talk is in Spanish!
 
Funny Story, so during our first investigator lesson we challenged the investigator to read El Libro de Mormon, so Hermana Kimball "placed a book of mormon". Then after the lesson we left and Hermana Kimball realized she had just given out her own Spanish Book of Mormon, so then she knocked on the door and asked her for the book back. It was the funniest thing I have seen all week. And then if things weren't bad enough she proceeded to ask her a question about Spanish grammar. The lady was kind of taken aback, probably because we took back the book that we had just barely gave her. It was so funny. We later found out that our "Investigator" was actually one of the teachers acting the part, but it was still way funny.
 
Another funny fact, the sisters rooms all have six beds as opposed to the Elders who only have four. Also the Elders have bars on their windows, which I find hilarious. because ours open freely.
 
Oh the Provo Temple is pretty inside, but it does seem rather rushed. We went there this morning and we kept dozing a tiny bit during the session because we were up all night. Our roommates left this morning, one at 3:00 am and the other at 4:30 am. And we stayed up late to visit with them, which pretty much means no sleep. And then a 7:00 am session was no bueno.
 
Allof my district is going Spanish speaking in the states except for Hermana Taggart and myself who are both going to the same mission in Chile.
4 going to New York
 
I am completely out of time and it will not send if I go over.
Much Love,
Hermana Evans!!

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