Hola!

Hola!

 

So this week, and every week for that matter, has gone by super fast! Before we know it we're going to be leaving! I think I really will be sad when I actually leave and go to Denver, I really do love it here. I love my teachers, all the Elders and Sisters and everything else about this place!

 

So my Colombian teacher learned English because she went on her mission to the Temple Square mission, and she actually speaks really, really good English, but sometimes she totally says the wrong word or pronounces things wrong and it turns out to be hilarious. Two weeks ago we were learning about conjugating. So she kept saying, "you just have to practice congregating." And we'd say, "Hermana, it's 'conjugating'" and she'd say, "oh, ok. Conjugating." Then literally 30 seconds later she'd say congregate again. So everyone was laughing and saying we know how to congregate really well, we do it everytime we all go out in the halls, what we really need help with is conjugating! So now she says (very slowly or she messes it up) "Whenever you congregate, conjugate!" Haha she's so funny :)

 

We had a Sister in our zone who had a birthday on Saturday so Hermana Sandavol says, "Hermana Severinsen, do you want me to bring you some x for your birthday??" and we all look at each other and her really weird and she's like "what?" And I was like, "what is x??" And this other sister is all, " I don't know, but it's a common name for ecstacy!" So we all bust up laughing and Hermana Sandoval has no idea what's going on so we explain what it is and she started laughing way hard and she's all, "No, I meant to say EGGS!" Then, we were still confused because why would you want eggs for your birthday?? Turns out in Colombia it's tradition that when you go to school on your birthday they all throw raw eggs on the head of the peron who's birthday it is... I have no idea why, but it made for a good laugh in class :)

 

Hermana Johansen and I did this TE thing to better understand how to teach the second lesson and we did it with this teacher named Brother Ang. I asked him where he served his mission and he said the NY north mission and I asked him if he happened to know Jon Miller and he's like, "yeah, I love that kid!! He's the best missionary!" So I told him he was my cousin and he was like, "that is so cool! He was one of my favorite Elders!" I usually don't ask people if they know people who I know served in their area because they never do, so I thought it was funny the one time I asked he actually did know him!

 

Cool story of the week: Actually, it's kind of cool and sad, but I thought it was awesome.

Last weekend Hermana Johansen and I were sitting outside of a classroom with Hermana Royle and we were waiting for Hermana Severinsen to get out of a meeting and these two other Sisters came up and sat across from us so Hermana Royle and I started talking to them. We asked them where they were from and the one, her name was Hermana Panoveistongo or something like that, and she said she was from Hawaii and she's tongan, so I asked her if she came to the MTC there or if she had lived somewhere else before. She said she lived in Oregon for three years and was going to school there and she said something about her being baptized there. So I said, "Oh, are you a convert?" She said, "Yeah, I got baptized three years ago!" so we talked about that for a little bit and then I asked her if any of her family had joined the church and she got this super serious look on her face and was like, "No, in the Tongan culture you do not change your religion. Ever. I flew home from Oregon to tell my family that I was getting baptized into this church and I was beat, literally beat, because I was changing religions. My family was really upset with me, but they just don't understand it at all." We kept talking about it for a little while and she said that she has written her family every week for the last 9 weeks and hasn't heard back from them once. They're that upset with her about it.

 

We were talking more and she said that her Grandpa had died last week and in Tongan culture there's very specific things that the oldest grandchild (she's the oldest) does at the funeral and it's very disrespectful if you aren't there to do it. So her mom actually called the MTC to talk to her and told her that her Grandpa died and her mom was totally expecting her to come home because she was supposed to the things the oldest grandchild was supposed to do. She told her mom that she wasn't coming home because she knew she'd never come back if she went home and she said her mom was furious with her and the rest of her family is super ticked at her too. But she said she hopes eventually they'll realize that maybe there is something super important about the work she's doing here since she wouldn't give that up to be with her family and go to her Grandpa's funeral.

 

I just thought it was insane that she was physically beaten and that her family won't even email her or write her letters because they're so upset, but she said, "Even though all that's happening, I'm still way happier than I was before I was a member of this church." I think it's amazing when people have such hard things to go through to become a member of the church and yet they still go through with it. I think it helps them appreciate it even more actually.

 

Today we are getting 10 new Elders in one district! That's huge and the classrooms here are tiny. We have 6 people in our district and we all barely comfortably fit into our classroom. I love getting new Elders, it's always so fun to meet them all :) I hope we get some new Sisters before we leave!! We'll probably get some the last week or two before we leave, which isn't very long to have with them, but we may not even get any at all!

 

I wasn't very prepared with writing down things during the week that I wanted to talk about in my email, so that's why this is so short... Haha, next week I'll be better! It's hard to remember throughout the week because we have so much to do and so little time to do it! I've printed off a bunch of conference talks that I want to re-read and every day I'm like, "I'm going to read this during personal study!" But then something comes up and I never get to do it! Seriously, the last week that's what happens everyday!

 

Spanish is coming along well. I REALLY wish I knew English grammar better because that seriously would make Spanish grammar much easier! They're like today we're going to talk about preterit regulars and irregulars. And I think, "I have no idea what preterit means, and how can words be regular or irregular? They're just words..." But luckily Hermana Johansen is freakishly good at grammar AND Spanish so she helps me out a ton, even though she gets frustrated with me sometimes :) I figure I'm just helping her learn how to be more patient... haha :)

 

One of the Elders in our zone said something really cool last week, he said that once he started learning Spanish for his investigators and not for himself, than that's when he was able to learn and understand Spanish a lot more. And I notice that, when I pray before language study and ask Heavenly Father to help me stay focused on the fact that I'm doing this for investigators I learn a lot more during my study!

 

Funny story, but it has to be super quick because I don't have much time! We pray A TON in the MTC, like  you have no idea how much. And we switch off between companions whose turn it is. The other day Hna J. said whose turn? I said, "I don't know, we haven't prayed FOREVER... like hours!" Hahaha it was hilarious!

 

Oh my crap, I have to go!

I love you all!