Well, Family--
It happened: I spent 30 minutes writing you the best email ever, telling you all about my week. How Elder Benar came and talked to us. And how I was mumified alive (aka, tested for swine flu) and how I felt like I forgot all my Thai because I missed 6 hours of class because I was sick in bed, but then how it was all OK because we had an "English Fast" yesterday. So I feel back on track and how I taught a couple from Thailand on Saturday at the TRC and felt like I was beat with the "humble" stick because since they were natives I had NO idea what they were saying but I still LOVED it because they were Thai and I loved Thai people and on and on and then the timer cut me off 5 seconds early! And hence . . . no email from me this week: SORRY!
That is the dark side of things automatically shutting down. I was a little upset, but oh well . . . what can I do anyways? I just wish it would have automatically saved it. It was good one. I'm not gonna lie. Oh well.
However, P-day is so short! and I already wrote to ya, even though you didn't actually get it. Sorry So I will have to give you the short version. OK the medium ish one since I really already told you everything right up there.
This week was great. Like I mentioned before, Elder Bednar came on Tuesday (I wonder who will come tonight?) and gave an amazing talk on follwoing the spirit. He said the #1 question he receives no matter where he is in the world is "How do I know if it's the spirit or just me?" His answer. "Stop worrying about it" He said "if it's a good thought: do it! All good comes from the Lord so it doesn't matter if it was just you or the Spriit. Just do it." Oh man. It was so great. I really could have listened to him for a couple more hours. He was so funny too. He said "Some people don't think we apostles have any personality because we don't tell jokes and such at conference. General Conference isn't the place fo pop off." I love to be blessed to see all these great leaders in such an intimate setting. I met President Monson's daughter on Sunday. Sister Dibb talked to us for RS on Sunday. Yeah for YW leaders. You're lucky Jen. These leaders are so good for you. Don't forget to finish your "Virtue" award.
Good news. I don't have the swine. However, I was tested for it on Friday aka mummified: they put an 8" Qtip up both your nostrils and give your brain a high 5. That was interesting. One Elder in my district (E. Partridge) and 2 in the new Thais have it though. They are now in quarentine. And we're all taking Tamiflu. I was sick though. I had to miss 6 hours of class because I was so tired. So I felt like I lost all my Thai. But like I said, we had an "English Fast" and talked the ENTIRE day in Thai so I got right back into it.
Saturday at the TRC, Elder Blaustein and I taught 3 people. Nani, an RM who we have taught before, also a native couple. They were so cute but I really had no idea what they were saying. Oh man. . . I can't wait for Thailand. Only 3 weeks away!
Well, it was good to hear about all the progress being made at home! It sounds like it will be nice when its done. Sorry to hear about all the little set backs and physical pains. What kind of spider was it, Dad? I'm excited for all you little and big adventures ahead. Yeah! Please give little Cracker a kiss from me.
I love you all!
Sister O'Neil
Jun 28, 2009
Jun 9, 2009
Hanloo
Hello dear Family!
OK... so i came to this realization yesterday.. one month from today I will be in Thailand! What the? That is unbelievable. And crazy exciting. I'm glad to see you got my email last week. I was worried that you didn't becasue I litterally pressed send with 1 second remaining. Awesome. I'm not going to do that again becasue I kept thinking you didn't get it all week...So at 5 seconds, I press send...even if it's in the middle of a sentence. OK. Thanks for the email. Um, can you send it next week again, but not as an attachment? They do let us open them on these computers apparently. Sorry. So you can use DearElder.com if you really need me to get it today. But no hurry. Just so you know. :) I hope everyone had a great week. Did you have the birthday party already? I bet it was so fun (or will be, if it hasn't happened it).
This past week was fun and full, as per usuge (Usual...just shorter sounding) Today starting off really fun with MTC mattress sleeding! We got a note on our door yesterday that said we were getting new matresses and that we should take our matresses down to the main floor in the morning. So at 6:30 this morning I woke up, prayed and then pulled off all my sheets and dragged my matress to the stair well where I promptly yelled "sawadiiiiiii" as I jumped on to it and slid down. Definitely a fun way to start the day. I did it with 3 mattresses, with a total of 9 staircasses. It really reminded me of working at DT. (and Tanner, who I'm pretty sure DOESN"T read this, but maybe might this week becasue I know Kellie does and maybe she'll tell him about it on FB or something.. I know how you people work. Awesome. But if TJ you do read this. 1st... "I will cut you" and 2nd. "dang, anything else?" and 3...Don't judge me for not writting to you when I don't even have your address...you're fault. :) Anyhoo. yes...Good old times at DT. "sometimes i like to jump down the stairs like "weeee!!")
Then of course the Temple. I love starting my day at the temple.. I highly reccommend going there. :) Oh, today on my way back, I actually ran into our own Dr. Brown. It was the first time seeing him, and I'm not sure if he actually really knew who I was at first (or still.. don't know) but it's ok.... He's REALLY BUSY right now at the MTC. We've had people all up in the quarentine area this week. I told him "thanks for keeping us healthy. I know you're really busy right now." and then he kindly reminded me to wash my hands all the time. :) Hopefully I'll
finally REALLY break my habit of bitting my nails.. I REALLY don't want swine flu, so I haven't touched them in a few weeks. This week I'm also realyl glad i got all those shots. You were right mom. As usual. So thanks again! I love you!
We taught in Thai again this week.. Well.. we're really still all in All Thai. It's sooo fun. But I think I kind of hit a wall earlier this week.. I keep forgetting things. Too much is going in to remember it all. But the Lord does have a way of reminding us of our progress. For example:
This week we got 15 new Thai speaking Missionaries. WOO!!! So I now have 3 new roommates [Sister Akagi, Larson and Young (yes, related to all the famous youngs)] They are all so cute and fun and it's neat to have more sisters speaking Thai. There are also 12 new Elders and So far I pretty much love them all. But the reason why I say the Lord helps you when you are weak is becasue with the young Thais being here and them really not knowing ANYTHING yet, and the constant questions of "how do you say this?" and "what does that mean?" It made me realize I have acutally progessed a bit. I KNOW I have SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much more to learn, but to see some progress was really nice too. A tender mercy, if you will.
Oh, so on Sunday I had the opportunity to sit in front of the whole MTC at our fireside becasue my comp was offering the closing prayer. YAY! It was really neat to sit up there and see/hear everyone singing. I loved watching the excitment everyone had when the director said that last
prelude hymn would be out of the Childrens' hymn book. Missionaries are sooo funny. I love it. OH, and you really can see EVERYONE from up there, I noticed every little thing everyone did. Now I know why the presidency always asks us not to do childish things.. haha.
Ok. Well.. 1 min left. I Love you all and hope you're doing well. Thanks again for all the constant love and support. I feel your prayers everyday, so thank you! Rak rak rak (love, love, love) Thai's really not that cool in Romaized...haha) anyhoo.. Goodbye!
Love, Sister O'Neil
OK... so i came to this realization yesterday.. one month from today I will be in Thailand! What the? That is unbelievable. And crazy exciting. I'm glad to see you got my email last week. I was worried that you didn't becasue I litterally pressed send with 1 second remaining. Awesome. I'm not going to do that again becasue I kept thinking you didn't get it all week...So at 5 seconds, I press send...even if it's in the middle of a sentence. OK. Thanks for the email. Um, can you send it next week again, but not as an attachment? They do let us open them on these computers apparently. Sorry. So you can use DearElder.com if you really need me to get it today. But no hurry. Just so you know. :) I hope everyone had a great week. Did you have the birthday party already? I bet it was so fun (or will be, if it hasn't happened it).
This past week was fun and full, as per usuge (Usual...just shorter sounding) Today starting off really fun with MTC mattress sleeding! We got a note on our door yesterday that said we were getting new matresses and that we should take our matresses down to the main floor in the morning. So at 6:30 this morning I woke up, prayed and then pulled off all my sheets and dragged my matress to the stair well where I promptly yelled "sawadiiiiiii" as I jumped on to it and slid down. Definitely a fun way to start the day. I did it with 3 mattresses, with a total of 9 staircasses. It really reminded me of working at DT. (and Tanner, who I'm pretty sure DOESN"T read this, but maybe might this week becasue I know Kellie does and maybe she'll tell him about it on FB or something.. I know how you people work. Awesome. But if TJ you do read this. 1st... "I will cut you" and 2nd. "dang, anything else?" and 3...Don't judge me for not writting to you when I don't even have your address...you're fault. :) Anyhoo. yes...Good old times at DT. "sometimes i like to jump down the stairs like "weeee!!")
Then of course the Temple. I love starting my day at the temple.. I highly reccommend going there. :) Oh, today on my way back, I actually ran into our own Dr. Brown. It was the first time seeing him, and I'm not sure if he actually really knew who I was at first (or still.. don't know) but it's ok.... He's REALLY BUSY right now at the MTC. We've had people all up in the quarentine area this week. I told him "thanks for keeping us healthy. I know you're really busy right now." and then he kindly reminded me to wash my hands all the time. :) Hopefully I'll
finally REALLY break my habit of bitting my nails.. I REALLY don't want swine flu, so I haven't touched them in a few weeks. This week I'm also realyl glad i got all those shots. You were right mom. As usual. So thanks again! I love you!
We taught in Thai again this week.. Well.. we're really still all in All Thai. It's sooo fun. But I think I kind of hit a wall earlier this week.. I keep forgetting things. Too much is going in to remember it all. But the Lord does have a way of reminding us of our progress. For example:
This week we got 15 new Thai speaking Missionaries. WOO!!! So I now have 3 new roommates [Sister Akagi, Larson and Young (yes, related to all the famous youngs)] They are all so cute and fun and it's neat to have more sisters speaking Thai. There are also 12 new Elders and So far I pretty much love them all. But the reason why I say the Lord helps you when you are weak is becasue with the young Thais being here and them really not knowing ANYTHING yet, and the constant questions of "how do you say this?" and "what does that mean?" It made me realize I have acutally progessed a bit. I KNOW I have SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much more to learn, but to see some progress was really nice too. A tender mercy, if you will.
Oh, so on Sunday I had the opportunity to sit in front of the whole MTC at our fireside becasue my comp was offering the closing prayer. YAY! It was really neat to sit up there and see/hear everyone singing. I loved watching the excitment everyone had when the director said that last
prelude hymn would be out of the Childrens' hymn book. Missionaries are sooo funny. I love it. OH, and you really can see EVERYONE from up there, I noticed every little thing everyone did. Now I know why the presidency always asks us not to do childish things.. haha.
Ok. Well.. 1 min left. I Love you all and hope you're doing well. Thanks again for all the constant love and support. I feel your prayers everyday, so thank you! Rak rak rak (love, love, love) Thai's really not that cool in Romaized...haha) anyhoo.. Goodbye!
Love, Sister O'Neil
Jun 2, 2009
Dii thiisud!
Hello Hello!
Yay for seminary being over, ect. ect. It was funny; when i read about Ray and Dad being up her in Utah last week, my first reaction was : WHAT? And they didn't even say hi. Rude." but then i realized...oh yeah...not liek i'd see them anyway. Haha. But that is fun. I heard from Laura and Tara yesterday. My stomach still hurts from laughing (what is this a fairy tail? Plus the English lesson sheets... too bad that's what i sound like, but in Thai. Thanks Tar and Larvina.) Oh dear... I love those girls.
Jenny!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! WooHOO!!! In two days you'll be 16! What the? that's Baaabaaabooboo (that means ridiculously crazy... and since it's in romanized script, it dosen't really sound like that... but that's the best i can do right now... but don't worry- you'll hear me call you that IN PERSON some day and then you can finnally know what it sounds like) BUT YAY!!! It sounds like you are going to be having an AMAZING BIRTHDAY PARTY.. HOLLA!! I'm a little jealous that I won't be ther to party with you, but i'll do a little dance and pretend i'm there. Chris!! Happy Birthday to you too, you old man. ;) Oh my goodness, I just love you both soooo much! YAY! And i'd also like to give a shout out to Ryan. I'm 97.56% sure it's your birthday this week too. Holla! I hope you do something... Anything, really.. It might be a nice change for you . ;) j/k. Yay!
So now let me tell you about my week: We TAUGHT in ALL THAI!!! This week and ESPECIALLY Sat was kinda crazy/fun/stressfull.. Sat was our big slap in the face with Thai becasue it was do or die time. (k- that sounds more dramatic than it probably was...but yeah...) But you know what...? It was SOOO Cool. It was acutally a really big testimony builder or faith. We definitely learned that the Lord qualifies those He calls for the work. AND that we will be able to talk when we need to. It was so cool, and fun. The craziness of this week really helped our district become closer too, becasue we were all forced to work hard. YAY FOR new companion!! My new comp, Sister Essma is this adorbale girl from Idaho. She is a ballerina and just a lot of fun. (kinda of an Amber....but fun.If you know what i'm talking about, awesome, if not, just have jenny explain it to you. Thanks Tiff.) The MTC is becoming so croweded. More and more missionaries come each week and no one is leaving (at least for this week...google Provo MTC lock down or something to that effect. We're quarentined for a time. No worries. I just know it was on the news becasue we saw like 4 camera crews outside when we were coming back from gym. But like I said.. no worries. I'm sure DR. Brown is having a grand time right now. :) ) I'm excited to finally meet the 15 new Thai missionaries tomorrow. Yay.
My last P-day was really fun too. I acutally had what I call a mission miracle and got to spend a large chunk of my day with CAMI!!! yay! Since she teaches here, I get to see her on occasion and since I really had no comp for the day, I made her be mine. And it was so fantastically fun. I got to help here prepare her room for her new district. I just love her. Ahh the benefits of being a solo sister.
I think you should read the Ensign article by Larry Hiller about Hope. It's really great. OH!! And Sunday for relief society we got to hear from Sister Susan Black, one of my favorite teachers EVERY. It was a mission miracle. She taught us all about the history of RS and what RS meant to her in her life. I felt like I was back at BYU frantically taking notes. Awesome. Well, I better get off. 54 sec. I LOVE YOU ALL.. SO MUCH!!!
Love, Sister O'Neil
Yay for seminary being over, ect. ect. It was funny; when i read about Ray and Dad being up her in Utah last week, my first reaction was : WHAT? And they didn't even say hi. Rude." but then i realized...oh yeah...not liek i'd see them anyway. Haha. But that is fun. I heard from Laura and Tara yesterday. My stomach still hurts from laughing (what is this a fairy tail? Plus the English lesson sheets... too bad that's what i sound like, but in Thai. Thanks Tar and Larvina.) Oh dear... I love those girls.
Jenny!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! WooHOO!!! In two days you'll be 16! What the? that's Baaabaaabooboo (that means ridiculously crazy... and since it's in romanized script, it dosen't really sound like that... but that's the best i can do right now... but don't worry- you'll hear me call you that IN PERSON some day and then you can finnally know what it sounds like) BUT YAY!!! It sounds like you are going to be having an AMAZING BIRTHDAY PARTY.. HOLLA!! I'm a little jealous that I won't be ther to party with you, but i'll do a little dance and pretend i'm there. Chris!! Happy Birthday to you too, you old man. ;) Oh my goodness, I just love you both soooo much! YAY! And i'd also like to give a shout out to Ryan. I'm 97.56% sure it's your birthday this week too. Holla! I hope you do something... Anything, really.. It might be a nice change for you . ;) j/k. Yay!
So now let me tell you about my week: We TAUGHT in ALL THAI!!! This week and ESPECIALLY Sat was kinda crazy/fun/stressfull.. Sat was our big slap in the face with Thai becasue it was do or die time. (k- that sounds more dramatic than it probably was...but yeah...) But you know what...? It was SOOO Cool. It was acutally a really big testimony builder or faith. We definitely learned that the Lord qualifies those He calls for the work. AND that we will be able to talk when we need to. It was so cool, and fun. The craziness of this week really helped our district become closer too, becasue we were all forced to work hard. YAY FOR new companion!! My new comp, Sister Essma is this adorbale girl from Idaho. She is a ballerina and just a lot of fun. (kinda of an Amber....but fun.If you know what i'm talking about, awesome, if not, just have jenny explain it to you. Thanks Tiff.) The MTC is becoming so croweded. More and more missionaries come each week and no one is leaving (at least for this week...google Provo MTC lock down or something to that effect. We're quarentined for a time. No worries. I just know it was on the news becasue we saw like 4 camera crews outside when we were coming back from gym. But like I said.. no worries. I'm sure DR. Brown is having a grand time right now. :) ) I'm excited to finally meet the 15 new Thai missionaries tomorrow. Yay.
My last P-day was really fun too. I acutally had what I call a mission miracle and got to spend a large chunk of my day with CAMI!!! yay! Since she teaches here, I get to see her on occasion and since I really had no comp for the day, I made her be mine. And it was so fantastically fun. I got to help here prepare her room for her new district. I just love her. Ahh the benefits of being a solo sister.
I think you should read the Ensign article by Larry Hiller about Hope. It's really great. OH!! And Sunday for relief society we got to hear from Sister Susan Black, one of my favorite teachers EVERY. It was a mission miracle. She taught us all about the history of RS and what RS meant to her in her life. I felt like I was back at BYU frantically taking notes. Awesome. Well, I better get off. 54 sec. I LOVE YOU ALL.. SO MUCH!!!
Love, Sister O'Neil
May 29, 2009
Aray Kan?
Aray kan (what's up?)
Well... here I am....STILL.... in the MTC. Today's a bit weird for me
though. I don't have a companion! I don't even have any roommates. I'm
truly a "loner Sister". The Phii-Thais left yesterday and are probably
still in Taiwan, leaving me with an empty room. It's kinda nice though..
only becasue It gives me a chance to clean it and prepare for the next
roommates. My new comp, who is also going to Cambodia, arrives tomorrow!
yay! And then next week we get 15 new Thai missionaries (only 2 are
sisters) So that will fill the room back up.
I left my room and forgot to bring my little sticky note with what I
wanted to tell you this week, but I think I can remember it. Hopefully.
If not...you'll never know anyways. :) Oh, Happy memorial day. I didnt'
even realize it was yesterday until some random missionary was like
"what's memorial day?" And i said "what the? And you call yourself an
American...." (shaken head) and then he said "actually...no.. I'm
Canadian." Oh, right. haha. Holidays and days of the week don't exsist
in my world anymore. It's just all Sunday- ish... And happy b-day
Adrian! OH! which reminds me: We had 4 elders in our branch for a while
that were going to your parentals mission! They left probably a week ago,
but I kept forgetting to tell you. I was really excited. There was this
one kid, Elder Finance (yep) who we called Napolean casued he seriously
was Napolean Dynamte (yep). Anyways.... I made sure to tell them who
lucky they were every week (cause they really are. That'd be SO fun to
have the McCrackens as my Mission Presidents) And every week I drilled
them to make sure they knew my name and then made them promise to tell
your parents hello for me. So I hope they succeeded in life. For me.
Nicole! I hope you're feeling better! That does not sound like fun. :(
Oh, while I remember. Please forgive me in advance if I forget any really
important date (i.e. Birthdays, anniversaries, O'Neil family national
holidays, independence days (of anyone or country), Pi day, etc etc...)
Like I previously mentioned...I don't know days here, let alone
dates...but I'll do my best. Oh! And please forgive my ridiculous
spelling, I try to go so fast, I don't even care. And then this email
system is so ridiculous it doesn't even have spell check! (so maybe
proofreading this before posting it would be cool.. ;) is that too much
to ask? Sorry I'm so needed... I'm just saying... ) Awesome.
Oh, also while I remember. Check out Dearelder.com... it's a really easy
way to get letters to me that same day FOR FREE..... (FOR FREE!!!?!) yes.
It's like email, but then put in my box everyday in hardcopy form. So
that's fun for everyone.
Umm...what else about the week.. Like I said before, we're 100% in Thai
now. But even more; We're TEACHING in Thai now. For the last 5 weeks
we've been teaching in English, but from here on out, we're TOTAL THAI.
Script is still coming along. I can acutally sing out of a Thai script
hymn book now. It's helping becasue it's broken up into syllables and we
don't really have to worry about tones so much... yay!
Oh, I went to the Referral center to do "chats" this week. If you ever go
to mormon.org and you click on that "wouldn't it be nice if all your
answers could be answered now? Ask us!" button.... you'll be getting
me...Or my fellow MTC missionaries. It's kinda fun. But honestly, people
can be so ridiculous...and by people...i kinda mean Satan. People take no
responsibilty for what they say when they're chatting on line becasue
it's not in person. However, I'm not going to lie...SOME of the chats can
be highly entertaining. (like yesterday someone asked me if getting a
gold grill for the dog so they could have a gold mouth dog"!" would be
considered animal cruelty.) I laughed for a while... And then other
chats are really great and spiritual so it's really neat.
Oh... so i didn't really think there were callings for sister
missionaries, but there are. I'm the new coordinating sister for my zone
(by defult-cuase i'm going to be here for FOREVER) but I like it. I just
get to know everyone who comes through a little bit more. OH! and i get
to go to these great meeting with Sister and President Madsen (Mark
Madsen's parentals. They are so great and funny and Sister Madsen is one
of my favorite parts of the week (she kinda reminds me of Shannon from
Afognak, mixed with Sister Morgan and Sister Roberts) I love her. She
told us how she ate mangos in the bathtub with her companions.. So we
all ate dried mangos on the top bunk together.
Ok... well that's it... 50 sec.
LOVE YOU ALL!!
rag, Hilary!
Well... here I am....STILL.... in the MTC. Today's a bit weird for me
though. I don't have a companion! I don't even have any roommates. I'm
truly a "loner Sister". The Phii-Thais left yesterday and are probably
still in Taiwan, leaving me with an empty room. It's kinda nice though..
only becasue It gives me a chance to clean it and prepare for the next
roommates. My new comp, who is also going to Cambodia, arrives tomorrow!
yay! And then next week we get 15 new Thai missionaries (only 2 are
sisters) So that will fill the room back up.
I left my room and forgot to bring my little sticky note with what I
wanted to tell you this week, but I think I can remember it. Hopefully.
If not...you'll never know anyways. :) Oh, Happy memorial day. I didnt'
even realize it was yesterday until some random missionary was like
"what's memorial day?" And i said "what the? And you call yourself an
American...." (shaken head) and then he said "actually...no.. I'm
Canadian." Oh, right. haha. Holidays and days of the week don't exsist
in my world anymore. It's just all Sunday- ish... And happy b-day
Adrian! OH! which reminds me: We had 4 elders in our branch for a while
that were going to your parentals mission! They left probably a week ago,
but I kept forgetting to tell you. I was really excited. There was this
one kid, Elder Finance (yep) who we called Napolean casued he seriously
was Napolean Dynamte (yep). Anyways.... I made sure to tell them who
lucky they were every week (cause they really are. That'd be SO fun to
have the McCrackens as my Mission Presidents) And every week I drilled
them to make sure they knew my name and then made them promise to tell
your parents hello for me. So I hope they succeeded in life. For me.
Nicole! I hope you're feeling better! That does not sound like fun. :(
Oh, while I remember. Please forgive me in advance if I forget any really
important date (i.e. Birthdays, anniversaries, O'Neil family national
holidays, independence days (of anyone or country), Pi day, etc etc...)
Like I previously mentioned...I don't know days here, let alone
dates...but I'll do my best. Oh! And please forgive my ridiculous
spelling, I try to go so fast, I don't even care. And then this email
system is so ridiculous it doesn't even have spell check! (so maybe
proofreading this before posting it would be cool.. ;) is that too much
to ask? Sorry I'm so needed... I'm just saying... ) Awesome.
Oh, also while I remember. Check out Dearelder.com... it's a really easy
way to get letters to me that same day FOR FREE..... (FOR FREE!!!?!) yes.
It's like email, but then put in my box everyday in hardcopy form. So
that's fun for everyone.
Umm...what else about the week.. Like I said before, we're 100% in Thai
now. But even more; We're TEACHING in Thai now. For the last 5 weeks
we've been teaching in English, but from here on out, we're TOTAL THAI.
Script is still coming along. I can acutally sing out of a Thai script
hymn book now. It's helping becasue it's broken up into syllables and we
don't really have to worry about tones so much... yay!
Oh, I went to the Referral center to do "chats" this week. If you ever go
to mormon.org and you click on that "wouldn't it be nice if all your
answers could be answered now? Ask us!" button.... you'll be getting
me...Or my fellow MTC missionaries. It's kinda fun. But honestly, people
can be so ridiculous...and by people...i kinda mean Satan. People take no
responsibilty for what they say when they're chatting on line becasue
it's not in person. However, I'm not going to lie...SOME of the chats can
be highly entertaining. (like yesterday someone asked me if getting a
gold grill for the dog so they could have a gold mouth dog"!" would be
considered animal cruelty.) I laughed for a while... And then other
chats are really great and spiritual so it's really neat.
Oh... so i didn't really think there were callings for sister
missionaries, but there are. I'm the new coordinating sister for my zone
(by defult-cuase i'm going to be here for FOREVER) but I like it. I just
get to know everyone who comes through a little bit more. OH! and i get
to go to these great meeting with Sister and President Madsen (Mark
Madsen's parentals. They are so great and funny and Sister Madsen is one
of my favorite parts of the week (she kinda reminds me of Shannon from
Afognak, mixed with Sister Morgan and Sister Roberts) I love her. She
told us how she ate mangos in the bathtub with her companions.. So we
all ate dried mangos on the top bunk together.
Ok... well that's it... 50 sec.
LOVE YOU ALL!!
rag, Hilary!
May 19, 2009
1 down, 17 to go!
Sawadii Kha!!
Yup that's right, 1 month down and 17 to go. K-just kidding. I'm not counting down. I love being a missionary and haven't had any kind of desire to leave. i feel like with every passing week I spend here in the MTC my letters will get progressively lamer and lamer.. (for you to hear
about...not for me). We basically do the same thing every week. To an
extent. But alas, and none. I will continue to write and share some of my
favorite moments and hope you don't find them boring.
So 2 weeks ago we were privilaged to hear from Elder Ballard (yay!
Apostles are the best!) and then Last week we got another surprise and
got to hear from Elder Nelson. It was seriously an amazing meeting
begining with the most beautiful violin solo my ears have ever been
graced with. Then by deafult Elder Nelson was awesome, but my favorite
part was probably when Sister Wendy Nelson Spoke. I've never seen/heard
her speak before and I seriously LOVED her. She basically talked about
being obediant and how we should careful not to spend time doing things
that aren't on our "To do while on earth" list (it applies to us as
missionaries, but also in our non-missionary lives). She was just
amazing. I kinda want to be her when I grow up. I think I might have
mentioned this before, but I still think it all the time. I've decided
that the MTC is basically a 3 week-3 month motivational speaker seminar.
Or EFY / Ed week on steriods. I love it. There are some wierd moments
when I feel like I'm in an army and I have no feel will (example- "get
out a piece of paper and write all of these 50 things down. Now. Where's
your paper? Write it") But then I realized that I have all the agency in
the world. I could get up and walk out of here right now. But I won't.
And yes. The MTC continues to be great and I continue to love it. (sorry
to everyone out there who hated this place....I guess i'm just weird. but
then again... you know this.. so yes).
So probably one of my favorite things about this week was one of the
activities we did in class. As you know, I love my teacher Brother
Saakhaa (which ironically means 'branch" in Thai so this week when we
were talking about Branch Presidents and such I was totally confused for
a little bit...) So this Brother Saakhaa is great and really knows our
district and what we need. We're really loud and excitable which can
sometimes lead to problems (maintaining quiet dignity can be a challenge
for us). So one day he said "ok. we're going for a walk around the MTC
and your only rule is: You can't speak. Don't say hi to other
missionaries or say thanks to people who open your door... just be rude
and stay quiet. haha. But really... NO talking. Just listen." It was
probably the coolest experience ever. It's amazing how much you can learn
when you just be quiet and observe things. It was so neat to learn from
the spirit. My thoughts covered everything from the Creation to "oh, Do
the 3 nephites hang out all the time? What about John the beloved? Does
he get in on that reunion, too? Do they ever try to stalk Cain as a
joke?" but then also to more serious things. I had some change in my
pocket and when I heard it clink together, it made me think of Judus and
how he ruined his entire life and eternal salvation because we valued
false riches over perfect joy and happiness. What a sad little man. But
yes...It's amazing what you can learn when you just LISTEN.
In other news.. We are now all 100% in Thai. I pretty much feel like my
brain is being ripped in half and then shredded and then minced and
blended and then glued back together by a 6 year old (thanks Eric). But
it's really great at the same time. Especially when we make mistakes.
Yesterday, Elder Partridge said " You possessed my body. I need to
fart."I'm not quite sure what he meant by the first part. But I'm pretty
sure he meant "I'm sorry" by the last part. Hilariously enough: depending
on your tone, "Kha tood" can mean I'm sorry... or I need to fart.
Excellent.
Sad news.. ALL of my friends are leaving this week. It's sad. Plus, I
won't have a Thai speaking companion until I get to Thailand. My next
comp will also be going to Cambodia.
Ok-My times up now. Thanks for the letters, I'll be writing to you again
next week. Which seems like 2 seconds away to me... time is weird as a
missionary.. We're gonna go for a walk now. YAY! I love you all!!! LOVE
LOVE LOVE!
Yup that's right, 1 month down and 17 to go. K-just kidding. I'm not counting down. I love being a missionary and haven't had any kind of desire to leave. i feel like with every passing week I spend here in the MTC my letters will get progressively lamer and lamer.. (for you to hear
about...not for me). We basically do the same thing every week. To an
extent. But alas, and none. I will continue to write and share some of my
favorite moments and hope you don't find them boring.
So 2 weeks ago we were privilaged to hear from Elder Ballard (yay!
Apostles are the best!) and then Last week we got another surprise and
got to hear from Elder Nelson. It was seriously an amazing meeting
begining with the most beautiful violin solo my ears have ever been
graced with. Then by deafult Elder Nelson was awesome, but my favorite
part was probably when Sister Wendy Nelson Spoke. I've never seen/heard
her speak before and I seriously LOVED her. She basically talked about
being obediant and how we should careful not to spend time doing things
that aren't on our "To do while on earth" list (it applies to us as
missionaries, but also in our non-missionary lives). She was just
amazing. I kinda want to be her when I grow up. I think I might have
mentioned this before, but I still think it all the time. I've decided
that the MTC is basically a 3 week-3 month motivational speaker seminar.
Or EFY / Ed week on steriods. I love it. There are some wierd moments
when I feel like I'm in an army and I have no feel will (example- "get
out a piece of paper and write all of these 50 things down. Now. Where's
your paper? Write it") But then I realized that I have all the agency in
the world. I could get up and walk out of here right now. But I won't.
And yes. The MTC continues to be great and I continue to love it. (sorry
to everyone out there who hated this place....I guess i'm just weird. but
then again... you know this.. so yes).
So probably one of my favorite things about this week was one of the
activities we did in class. As you know, I love my teacher Brother
Saakhaa (which ironically means 'branch" in Thai so this week when we
were talking about Branch Presidents and such I was totally confused for
a little bit...) So this Brother Saakhaa is great and really knows our
district and what we need. We're really loud and excitable which can
sometimes lead to problems (maintaining quiet dignity can be a challenge
for us). So one day he said "ok. we're going for a walk around the MTC
and your only rule is: You can't speak. Don't say hi to other
missionaries or say thanks to people who open your door... just be rude
and stay quiet. haha. But really... NO talking. Just listen." It was
probably the coolest experience ever. It's amazing how much you can learn
when you just be quiet and observe things. It was so neat to learn from
the spirit. My thoughts covered everything from the Creation to "oh, Do
the 3 nephites hang out all the time? What about John the beloved? Does
he get in on that reunion, too? Do they ever try to stalk Cain as a
joke?" but then also to more serious things. I had some change in my
pocket and when I heard it clink together, it made me think of Judus and
how he ruined his entire life and eternal salvation because we valued
false riches over perfect joy and happiness. What a sad little man. But
yes...It's amazing what you can learn when you just LISTEN.
In other news.. We are now all 100% in Thai. I pretty much feel like my
brain is being ripped in half and then shredded and then minced and
blended and then glued back together by a 6 year old (thanks Eric). But
it's really great at the same time. Especially when we make mistakes.
Yesterday, Elder Partridge said " You possessed my body. I need to
fart."I'm not quite sure what he meant by the first part. But I'm pretty
sure he meant "I'm sorry" by the last part. Hilariously enough: depending
on your tone, "Kha tood" can mean I'm sorry... or I need to fart.
Excellent.
Sad news.. ALL of my friends are leaving this week. It's sad. Plus, I
won't have a Thai speaking companion until I get to Thailand. My next
comp will also be going to Cambodia.
Ok-My times up now. Thanks for the letters, I'll be writing to you again
next week. Which seems like 2 seconds away to me... time is weird as a
missionary.. We're gonna go for a walk now. YAY! I love you all!!! LOVE
LOVE LOVE!
May 12, 2009
MTC take 3
Sawadii Kha!
well, here i am again. still in the MTC. I can't remember a time I WASN'T at the MTC.... or eating these delicious cookies (thanks Nicole!)
So let's think...what can I report?
This week was eternally long and amazing fast at the same time.
Seriously. Everyday is filled with 6 hours of class and 3 hours of
personal study time, companionship study, missionary directed time, etc
etc, yadda yadda. Same as the last 3 weeks. Some new and exciting things
are the fact that now our teachers are talking to us in almost 100%
Thai...which means I'm almost 100% lost...every day....all day...
Awesome. Acutally...it's not too bad. We're learning how to read and
write script now and I'm excited because I think that will be easier for
me to understand. It makes it easier to be able to say some of the
vowels, too.. Maybe one day my teacher will stop telling me it's ok to
throw up (he says it now because we make disgusting faces when we try to
say some of them). Speaking of teachers. Our one dear Brother Parker has
left us for the land of India! (dumblydore) He is really excited but he's
kind of a nervrous wreck too. One day he came in and was like "ok---for
BOM study today can we find all the scriptures about comfort? I just went
to our orientation meeting where they told us about all the things to be
careful about in India" I'm fairly confident he felt much better after
our discussion, especially becasue the first 5 scriptures Elder Cooper
shared were all something to the effect of "least ye die a horrible death
on this earth, be not affraid.."etc, etc. K that wasn't actually
scripture, but you get the idea. Speaking of scriptures. I realized
this week that I know absolutely nothing about the bible.... "the animals
they came on, they came on by twos-ies, twos-ies" LIES!!!! ALL LIES...
only some of them came on by 2s.... And where did these Giants come from
in Genesis Chapter 7? Are they just Adam and Eve's children who happen to
get Elephantitis? I have some much to learn....I'm so excited.
I hate how much I lose everything here. If it's not my pens, or planners
(both have been missing at one point) or PMG, or my mind...it's my blue
card of good and evil..(minus the evil part). I only go to 3 different
building everyday, why is it so hard? haha.
Oh, Elder Ballard came this week! He talked about desire and it was just
simply incredible. The church is true! Last night was hilariously fun.
My comps and I decided we needed an object lesson about Lehi and his
family. Therefore we recreated his journey in the wilderness by making a
tent in our room. Best sleepover ever...and we were still asleep by
10:30 (as mandated by higher powers). I love the MTC. I love being a
missionary. I'm sad that my comp leaves next week though. She's off to
Cambodia already! Then in 2 weeks the Phii-Thais leave.... AHHH... I
don't know what I'll do.
Well time is almost up again. Thank you everyone for your amazing letters
of love and support. This week I totally won. I got 6 letters AND a
package in ONE DAY. BONUS. So thank you, thank you. Oh and a couple
things. Jill and Riles...Cracker is sooooooo cute!! I show him off all
the time. Tarlena...I need your address..so write to me! Oh, and TJ..
spider dead. Spider= your address.. Please, write immediately. :)
AHHH 38 seconds!! BYE!!!
Love you alll!!!
rag, Hilary!
well, here i am again. still in the MTC. I can't remember a time I WASN'T at the MTC.... or eating these delicious cookies (thanks Nicole!)
So let's think...what can I report?
This week was eternally long and amazing fast at the same time.
Seriously. Everyday is filled with 6 hours of class and 3 hours of
personal study time, companionship study, missionary directed time, etc
etc, yadda yadda. Same as the last 3 weeks. Some new and exciting things
are the fact that now our teachers are talking to us in almost 100%
Thai...which means I'm almost 100% lost...every day....all day...
Awesome. Acutally...it's not too bad. We're learning how to read and
write script now and I'm excited because I think that will be easier for
me to understand. It makes it easier to be able to say some of the
vowels, too.. Maybe one day my teacher will stop telling me it's ok to
throw up (he says it now because we make disgusting faces when we try to
say some of them). Speaking of teachers. Our one dear Brother Parker has
left us for the land of India! (dumblydore) He is really excited but he's
kind of a nervrous wreck too. One day he came in and was like "ok---for
BOM study today can we find all the scriptures about comfort? I just went
to our orientation meeting where they told us about all the things to be
careful about in India" I'm fairly confident he felt much better after
our discussion, especially becasue the first 5 scriptures Elder Cooper
shared were all something to the effect of "least ye die a horrible death
on this earth, be not affraid.."etc, etc. K that wasn't actually
scripture, but you get the idea. Speaking of scriptures. I realized
this week that I know absolutely nothing about the bible.... "the animals
they came on, they came on by twos-ies, twos-ies" LIES!!!! ALL LIES...
only some of them came on by 2s.... And where did these Giants come from
in Genesis Chapter 7? Are they just Adam and Eve's children who happen to
get Elephantitis? I have some much to learn....I'm so excited.
I hate how much I lose everything here. If it's not my pens, or planners
(both have been missing at one point) or PMG, or my mind...it's my blue
card of good and evil..(minus the evil part). I only go to 3 different
building everyday, why is it so hard? haha.
Oh, Elder Ballard came this week! He talked about desire and it was just
simply incredible. The church is true! Last night was hilariously fun.
My comps and I decided we needed an object lesson about Lehi and his
family. Therefore we recreated his journey in the wilderness by making a
tent in our room. Best sleepover ever...and we were still asleep by
10:30 (as mandated by higher powers). I love the MTC. I love being a
missionary. I'm sad that my comp leaves next week though. She's off to
Cambodia already! Then in 2 weeks the Phii-Thais leave.... AHHH... I
don't know what I'll do.
Well time is almost up again. Thank you everyone for your amazing letters
of love and support. This week I totally won. I got 6 letters AND a
package in ONE DAY. BONUS. So thank you, thank you. Oh and a couple
things. Jill and Riles...Cracker is sooooooo cute!! I show him off all
the time. Tarlena...I need your address..so write to me! Oh, and TJ..
spider dead. Spider= your address.. Please, write immediately. :)
AHHH 38 seconds!! BYE!!!
Love you alll!!!
rag, Hilary!
May 5, 2009
Sawadii Kha!
MTC: Week 2
so after the craziness that was last weeks email adventure, I decided to use the methods they've been impounding into our tiny little brians the whole time we've been here and actually PLAN out what i was going to write to you about today. Otherwise, I might forget things. Which I have come to realize I forget A LOT of things here. Everything is always go go go! and so I find myself asking questions such as, "wait, what time is it?' "is today Wed or Sat?" "Did i write in my journal today?" is this the 7th day we've been her or the 47th?" "Did i tell you this already?" so I am sorry if I ever repeat myself, I Just i'm trying to learn so much Thai and doctrinal things, that I forgot the little things like waht I told you about last week.
The MTC still ahhhh mazes me! It is a spiritual powerhouse that never sleeps (except from 10:30pm to 6:30am as maintained from the powers that be.) Everything is starting to become more routine and more comfortable (k.... well the rooms, food, study times, companions and such..... maybe not the language). My teachers have continued to inspire and teach us an unbelivable amount and it's so fun. One of our teachers. Brother Parker will be leaving us this Friday. He's going to India for and internship with HP and he will be deeply missed. He is probably one of the best AND guirkiest people I've met to date... and you all know I've met a bunch of those, so there you go. Our new teacher [ who teaches the P-Thais (or older Thai district)] started this week as a subtitute( for Sister K who is at home for 5 days in seattle) and let me just tell you.... HE IS WONDERFUL> Seriosly... every time he speaks... I want to cry. And did... once (he told us his conversion story, ok... it was totally acceptale that I cried a little bit) He is Thai and grew up there and was a Buddhist monk for 3 years and finally joined the church when he was 21. He went on a mission to Canada and is now teaching us! YAY!
As i get to know my district more and more each day, I just love them so much. They are ridiculous. Always. 7 elders and Me. haha. As my companion( Sister Askerlund- who's going to Cambodia) and I say " If we didn't love them, we'd hate them." And sometime we do both, at the same time. So every week we're here we have a "test" which is bascially jsut a teaching appointment. For those of us learning a language, each week we have to teach more and more inour mission language. so this past Saturday was our 1st appointment and it was SO fun! Ok... sooo we only had to talk in Thai for 15 min., Basically introduce ourselves and bear testimony and then ask if we can come teach them at their home, and i guess it went ok. The people we teach are all RMs of Thailand, so they're really nice and encouraging. THANK GOODNESS. Earlier this week my Teaching Comp (Elder Blaustein) and i went to the TEC ( A center where we can go and practice teaching and learn, etc.) to get some practice teaching. The 1st time we were seriously jsut beat with a humble stick! It's harder that I thought! but the 2nd time was sooooo much better and so when our "test" finally came, we were just fine. Since I'm a solo sister and we have a trio, i switch teaching companions every week. So THIS week, I'll be with Elder Jensen, or Elder squirrel as the P-Thai sisters and I call him. I think we were both a little hesitant at first, but after one comp study with him I think it will be jsut fine. The Elders are SOOO GREAT! and they know so much. I'm the oldest and have a Bachelors degree, but these Elders know so much more than I do. I'm learning a lot from them.
AHH! I'm running out of time again! 6 min....
Ok!... P-day's are still the best. We begin by going to the temple at 7 am, then enjoy a delicious non- MTC breakfast ( oh, BTW.... the food here has actually been just fine. much better that DT was and I survived that. I love the salad bar... Yumm... so don't worry- it's not as bad as everyone cracks it up to be. albeit, some meals are. but overall it's fine.)
I'm sleeping well here... most days.. I'm having TOTALLY bizarre dreams that could take days to describe. some sisters stay up WAYY past 10:30 and we have to go tell them to be quite cause our room is right next to the lounge area. Everyday we experience "mission miracles" such as having a good dinner, not having to tell the sisters to be quiet, and our favorite one this week was finding the MTC's "Room of Requirement" Yes... like from Harry Potter. It was great. A door in the bathroom was randomly unlocked one day and we found this room with 2 beds a mirror and a TV. It came at a time when we all needed it, hence the name. I wish I had more time to explain some of the radom funny things that happen. But like i said before... The MTC makes things that aren't even funny, HILARIOUS!!!.... so... I'll just apare you caouse it probably won't be funny.
Anyhoo... only a min left. Feel free to email me. I just can't email anyone except the family back so SNAIL MAIL YAY!
OK. I love you all so much!
Love, Sister O
so after the craziness that was last weeks email adventure, I decided to use the methods they've been impounding into our tiny little brians the whole time we've been here and actually PLAN out what i was going to write to you about today. Otherwise, I might forget things. Which I have come to realize I forget A LOT of things here. Everything is always go go go! and so I find myself asking questions such as, "wait, what time is it?' "is today Wed or Sat?" "Did i write in my journal today?" is this the 7th day we've been her or the 47th?" "Did i tell you this already?" so I am sorry if I ever repeat myself, I Just i'm trying to learn so much Thai and doctrinal things, that I forgot the little things like waht I told you about last week.
The MTC still ahhhh mazes me! It is a spiritual powerhouse that never sleeps (except from 10:30pm to 6:30am as maintained from the powers that be.) Everything is starting to become more routine and more comfortable (k.... well the rooms, food, study times, companions and such..... maybe not the language). My teachers have continued to inspire and teach us an unbelivable amount and it's so fun. One of our teachers. Brother Parker will be leaving us this Friday. He's going to India for and internship with HP and he will be deeply missed. He is probably one of the best AND guirkiest people I've met to date... and you all know I've met a bunch of those, so there you go. Our new teacher [ who teaches the P-Thais (or older Thai district)] started this week as a subtitute( for Sister K who is at home for 5 days in seattle) and let me just tell you.... HE IS WONDERFUL> Seriosly... every time he speaks... I want to cry. And did... once (he told us his conversion story, ok... it was totally acceptale that I cried a little bit) He is Thai and grew up there and was a Buddhist monk for 3 years and finally joined the church when he was 21. He went on a mission to Canada and is now teaching us! YAY!
As i get to know my district more and more each day, I just love them so much. They are ridiculous. Always. 7 elders and Me. haha. As my companion( Sister Askerlund- who's going to Cambodia) and I say " If we didn't love them, we'd hate them." And sometime we do both, at the same time. So every week we're here we have a "test" which is bascially jsut a teaching appointment. For those of us learning a language, each week we have to teach more and more inour mission language. so this past Saturday was our 1st appointment and it was SO fun! Ok... sooo we only had to talk in Thai for 15 min., Basically introduce ourselves and bear testimony and then ask if we can come teach them at their home, and i guess it went ok. The people we teach are all RMs of Thailand, so they're really nice and encouraging. THANK GOODNESS. Earlier this week my Teaching Comp (Elder Blaustein) and i went to the TEC ( A center where we can go and practice teaching and learn, etc.) to get some practice teaching. The 1st time we were seriously jsut beat with a humble stick! It's harder that I thought! but the 2nd time was sooooo much better and so when our "test" finally came, we were just fine. Since I'm a solo sister and we have a trio, i switch teaching companions every week. So THIS week, I'll be with Elder Jensen, or Elder squirrel as the P-Thai sisters and I call him. I think we were both a little hesitant at first, but after one comp study with him I think it will be jsut fine. The Elders are SOOO GREAT! and they know so much. I'm the oldest and have a Bachelors degree, but these Elders know so much more than I do. I'm learning a lot from them.
AHH! I'm running out of time again! 6 min....
Ok!... P-day's are still the best. We begin by going to the temple at 7 am, then enjoy a delicious non- MTC breakfast ( oh, BTW.... the food here has actually been just fine. much better that DT was and I survived that. I love the salad bar... Yumm... so don't worry- it's not as bad as everyone cracks it up to be. albeit, some meals are. but overall it's fine.)
I'm sleeping well here... most days.. I'm having TOTALLY bizarre dreams that could take days to describe. some sisters stay up WAYY past 10:30 and we have to go tell them to be quite cause our room is right next to the lounge area. Everyday we experience "mission miracles" such as having a good dinner, not having to tell the sisters to be quiet, and our favorite one this week was finding the MTC's "Room of Requirement" Yes... like from Harry Potter. It was great. A door in the bathroom was randomly unlocked one day and we found this room with 2 beds a mirror and a TV. It came at a time when we all needed it, hence the name. I wish I had more time to explain some of the radom funny things that happen. But like i said before... The MTC makes things that aren't even funny, HILARIOUS!!!.... so... I'll just apare you caouse it probably won't be funny.
Anyhoo... only a min left. Feel free to email me. I just can't email anyone except the family back so SNAIL MAIL YAY!
OK. I love you all so much!
Love, Sister O
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