The More You Know, The Funnier Your Fall‏! Email - Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Hello Family!

 

It's time for another email. I started my snail mail letter this morning during laundry so hopefully I won't be too repetitive. I got Zach's package! It was AWESOME!! I was the envy of both Ukrainian districts! He sent me a bunch of candy and cotton candy and a little stuffed "King Julien" from the movie Madagascar. We decided that his name is Volodymir and he is the only Ukrainian lemur in the whole world, he's now the district mascot and sits on top of the white board. So we've discovered that you can't attach pictures to emails here at the MTC, but I just got some printed and will be sending them home in my letter today. Sounds like your weather there is starting to get crazy. It has snowed here a couple of times, nothing sticking. It just gets pretty chilly and is really dry.

 

So it was quite the exciting week here at the MTC over Thanksgiving. Our apostle count is now at a solid two. Elder Russell M. Nelson and his wife came to speak to us. They were so powerful. We then worked on our service project. It was putting together 8000 medical kits and sending them around the world. Our zone's job was to put the actual boxes together and then send them down the line to be filled. We were done really early so we got to sing Christmas carols until we were done. At the end of our night we got to enjoy the film "17 Miracles". Overall, it was one of my best days here. We did have turkey, but Mom's is much better.

 

Last night at devotional we heard from Elder Yamashita of the 70. You might remember him from General Conference in October, he talked about missionaries. He and his wife don't speak very much English but it was a testament to those of us learning a language that it's really the spirit that you have that counts. Sister Yamashita challenged all of us to write 100 good things about our companions. I've made it a goal that I'm going to do that for everyone of my companions on my mission. Sister Moore (my companion) and I have decided that we're going to write out the 100 things and give them to one another in a sealed envelope to be opened in our first areas. We figure it will be a good uplifting thing that we'll probably need when we first get to Ukraine. Speaking of Sister Moore, she is a total hand sanitizer junkie, so Mom in my Christmas package would you mind including some sort of hand sanitizer gift for her.

 

So you may be wondering about the title of my email. Well, what we've found in learning a new language is that the more you take risks and learn the funnier the outcome can be. It all started with Elder Call. We were learning how do describe our families and he called his brother "delicious" instead of "funny". Then during a lesson with our investigator, Sister Moore kept saying that God loves Heavenly Father instead of God is our Loving Heavenly Father. She was so distraught that I had to teach the rest of the lesson, that and the fact that our investor/teacher couldn't stop laughing when Sister Moore talked. Then Elders Ward and Schraedel had two mishaps with their investigator. First they wanted her to read Doctrine and Covenants 9:8-9 (read that first) INSTEAD they read Moroni 9:8-9. HILARIOUS!!! Then they told her that bishops only talk to little people. Basically, the more we know, the funnier the fall.

 

So I have a challenge for everyone, they made us do this in class. Start a concept map with the title "My Conversion" in the middle and then think of moments that inspired and continued your conversion. It's a really good way to evaluate your spiritual self, are you still being converted? The most important lesson we were supposed to take from this exercise is that the mission should be the best 18mo/2yrs FOR your life, not OF your life!!

 

лубов,

 

Sister Daniel

Thanksgiving, A Service Project, and One and a Half Apostles E-mail Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Dear Mom, John and Zach,

 

Well, week 2 over and done here at the MTC. You may be wondering about the title of my email. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, everyone who works here says it's going to be awesome. We get our big meal during lunch time and then are doing sack dinners. The reason for this, besides the fact that everyone should be able to go home and spend time with their families is because we're doing a huge service project! We're making medical kits that will go all over the world. It's really cool to see all the missionaries doing the same thing. We really lucked out because our p-day is today and then there's no class tomorrow. It's like two p-days in a row! Now you might be wondering about the last part of my title. Well, last night was devotional and we got a special visit from Elder D. Todd Christofferson. (that's one apostle) And the hype is that either Elder Holland or Bednar will be here tomorrow for Thanksgiving. Apparently Elder Holland has come the last two Thanksgivings so that's the big guess.

 

Mom, I did get the Symphony Bar, and I had to laugh when I read your email about sending it because I knew from the lack of a note in the package that you were probably in a hurry when you sent it out. So I don't know if you guys knew this, but Dear Elder was down part of this weekend; so yesterday, we all got a bunch of letters at once. Rachael, it was so great to hear from you, I'll try to write you back snail mail before you leave North Carolina.

 

Zach I read your emails. Companions are hard, even the ones you like, Sister Moore is pretty much the sweetest person, but even she and I have our moments. All I can say is I found this quote by Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley "Get on your knees and plead for help, then get on your feet and get to work." Everything will work out. I know it's hard, I had a total meltdown in the middle of class this week because I was so overwhelmed, but I know it gets better. Zach I'm living in 17M and I have class in 10M with all of the Russians, Germans, Italians, and English as a second language, although it looks like the Russians may be taking over. The week before Christmas there are 53 new Russian speakers coming in!!!

 

I'm really excited about spending holidays here actually. The sisters were talking and I think it's easier to be here for three months now, then in the middle of the summer. On that note, we have had snow, though nothing stuck, today is actually a gorgeous day!!! We have to teach tonight, but I'm even looking forward to that, it's our first TRC. (I'll explain this in my snail mail letter). The food here is great, but there's something to be said that missionaries tend to gain weight in the MTC, it's not hard. As for Ukrainian. I think one of the hardest things I have ever done is try to learn Ukrainian. I think it is particularly difficult because it's a whole bunch of new sounds. Sometimes it feels like there's just a lot of phlegm in your throat.

 

My snail mail letter, which is already written has a bit of a discouraging note to it, bear in mind I hadn't even been up for an hour. It was really early, and I'm just telling it as it is. No one in our zone has gone home yet, on a good note. Although I know there's at least one sister in the other Ukrainian district (one of my roommates) that is really struggling. I think she holds herself to an impossible standard, as only a woman could do and is getting overwhelmed trying to live up to it. We've decided that all of the sisters just need to sit down and talk it out, let her know she's not the only one who has meltdowns. We had to walk off Sister Moore's the other day and mine in the middle of class was pretty embarrassing. Luckily we have the best Elders who put up with all of our emotions. Well, that's it,  30 minutes goes fast. Love you!

 

любов,

 

Sister Daniel

 

Letter - November 21, 2011

Dear Family,

(An excerpt from Meaghan's letter home)!

Sister Moore, my companion is pretty much the nicest person I've ever met.  She's extremely patient and even tempered.  She is a great blessing to me.  I'm not just writing this because she's sitting right next to me either!!  It's kind of the joke that she gets so much mail, the Elders have started teasing her that they're going to white out her name and address it to themselves.  Our Elders are awesome, they are so good with the language and help us all the time.  Elder Cazanave is quiet, but has a great sense of humor and is very kind.  His companion is Elder Call, I think this is funny because they're the two  that skyped with me.  Elder Call is very energetic and is NEVER quiet!  Elder Schraedel is from Prove, he's a great guy who is a genius and really quick with the language.  His companion is Elder Ward a pretty laid back guy from LA.  They are all great and fun.  The Sisters I'm living with are awesome.  Sister Ebeling is from Pennsylvania.  She and her younger brother came in the same day, and since he's serving in Russia, he's in our zone!  His classroom is right next to ours!  Sister Bradshaw is gorgeous and so nice, she plays piano and great comedic timing.  Sisters Webb and Lnizany make my day all the time, they are so funny.  They are  23 and 22 respectively so I don't feel like I'm older than everyone else.  We all get along so well.  It's kinda scary.

Well, right now in class we're teaching an "investigator" named Svetlana, (she's really a teacher here, but I don't know if she knows that we know she is).  We've been teaching her in Ukrainian, the first day was a little rough because it was our second day in the MTC, but it's been going much better.  Tonight we'll be teaching her about the Restoration and Joseph Smith. 

The food here is great, I can see why they say you gain weight here.  Fortunately Sister Weldo has the AB workout that all the girls are doing.  We call it ABS of CMEPT (death).  Plus I play volleyball every day.  Every week we write a letter to our Branch President, apparently that continues into the Mission field, with your Mission President.  Well, P-day is almost over, we have dinner then class (during which we teach our investigator) so I'm going to close this letter with I lover you!

Love,

Sister Meaghan Daniel

HELLO!!!! E-mail Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Hello Family,

 

Wow, what an incredible week! As I said in my snail mail letter, the minute we got to class all we heard was Ukrainian, and that hasn't changed. I'm so grateful for the gift of tongues. I know now that it's not just about being able to speak perfectly after you pray for that gift, but I also know that there is no way I'd be able to speak as well as I do if I didn't have the gift of tongues. We're already praying, bearing our testimonies, and teaching lessons in Ukrainian! Crazy I know. Maybe when I figure out the keyboard in Ukrainian I'll write something to you.

 

So Sundays at the MTC, they are fantastic! Like everyday, we start out with personal study, then at 9:30 the sisters get together for Music and the Spoken Word. At 10:00, Relief Society starts, all of the sisters in the MTC meet for Relief Society and it's more like a devotional, someone usually from the General Relief Society Board comes to speak. This week it was Sister Barton, and she talked about overcoming adversity. Next is district meeting, where we meet with our district (our class) and have a Sunday school block, one of us teaches. This week it's Elder Cazanave, he's from California. He and Elder Call are companions which I think is really funny and a huge coincidence. Then it's lunch, then we have Sacrament Meeting. Our zone is our branch, and we have a branch presidency that live outside the gates (in Babylon). We have four districts (classes) in our zone. Every week we're given the Sacrament talk topic before and asked to prepare a talk, they pick us randomly to give them in church. For the first 3 weeks we're allowed to do it in English but beyond that we have to give our talks in Ukrainian. After sacrament is the temple walk with our zone. Then choir practice. Sister Thomas was right the MTC choir is awesome, the directors are fantastic and offer awesome insights to the hymns we sing. We sang "Be Still My Soul" in this week's Tuesday devotional. Sunday night it was fireside, no Zach. It wasn't an apostle, it was the administrative director of the MTC, he talked about tithing and why it is so important to teach the concept to investigators well.

 

This Tuesday devotional was Elder Tad Callister, you may remember he gave that awesome conference talk about the Book of Mormon? He gave an astounding talk on the Apostacy last night that blew my mind.

 

There are two Ukrainian (6 missionaries in our class, and 8 in the other), and two Russian speaking districts, they're going all over Russia, Ukraine, and even Romania. However there are two Russian speaking elders going to Kiev who will be going with us, they came in last week too. And at least one sister going to Kiev speaking Russian but she's six weeks ahead of us. They rotate our zone every 6 weeks so we won't see any new Russian/Ukrainians for another six weeks. Although there is another zone of Russian speakers on our floor.

 

New missionaries come in today, it's weird to see them and know that that was me one week ago. Today we went to the temple. We have the opportunity every p-day to go. The Provo temple is HUGE!!! It's also absolutely gorgeous. I've run into a couple of friends here. I finally saw Elder Ethan Jackson on Monday, he looks so good and speaks Spanish, crazy!! I hope everything at home and with all my friends is going awesome, it would be nice to have some updates. You can email me or use DearElder.com!

 

Mom, I'm planning on writing a letter today too, so I'll give more details. And keep going, you can do it! I can't believe you actually went to IHOP after all that! (I'm going to write Grandma too!)

 

Love you!!!!

 

Sister Daniel

 

PS. I didn't hear from John this week, were you really that excited to see me go?

PPS. Mom I don't need my temple clothes it's free for missionaries at the Provo temple to borrow clothes and the same in Kyiv. So I'm going to be sending you my temple bag and clothes soon.

PPPS. Please send a package, I don't care what it is as long as it has some form of chocolate.

PPPPS. I'll send pictures next week.