Hey everyone!
First off, apologies for not writing earlier. They just
barely changed the email policy to allow missionaries to email each other and
friends and so my inbox every week is very full with messages from people who
are excited that they finally can email me now. It takes me the full time just
to read and reply to all of those emails in my inbox, and I don't even get the
chance to send a real letter home for the blog. But I'm forfitting my laundry
time today in order to finally write something.
I have been so lucky to receive so many letters and
packages. I got a package from you, an easter package from Tutu, a conference
package from Heather, and a picnic package from Cherie (plastic cutlery rolled
in napkins with pink bows around them, plates, and cinnamon rolls). I've
gotten Dear Elders from Jeremy and Jill Erb, the Dowlings, and Kamalie in
addition to the letters/dear elders from home. My first night in the
MTC I recieved a handwritten note from Bishop Makechnie. Erica Ernenwein
also sent me an easter package (oreos and peeps!) with a handwritten
letter. I'm so lucky to have all of you and it makes my rough days easier when
I know I have a package or letter to open at the end of the day. Thank you for
all the kind messages!
I keep a running list in my journal of all the familiar
people I see everyday. New missionaries come in on Wednesdays, and every
week it's new familiar faces that I didn't know would be at the MTC
the same time as me. I see Drake Allen (friend from BYU) all
the time, and Mele Etsitty just got in on Wednesday. Jacob Johnston (friend
from BYU who I hung out with and played frisbee with a lot) just left
last week, and it was really nice to see him all over for my
first three weeks. He had some great stories; in one he taught an
investigator to endure to the end by running laps around the building, after
which the investigator (gasping for breath) said, "Okay, I'll be
baptized". His investigator stories show me that there's hope for mine; in
our first lesson we accidentally told ours that he wasn't a child of God
because we completely misunderstood what he was asking. He looked at us puzzled
and then asked again, and we were like, "still no" (we thought he was
asking if God and Christ were the same person). So then he had to go over to
the chalk board and draw us out a diagram of what he was asking, and once it
was thoroughly spelled out for us, we said, "ohhh. Well in that case,
yes." What a mess! Our investigator had to correct not only our
pronunciation and our grammar, but our doctrine as well. We haven't had a
lesson quite so bad since then, but I never leave feeling like I understood
more than 20% of what happened. We (my two companions and I) usually sit
together after a lesson and just piece together what each of us understood so we
can learn what we missed that someone else might have picked up on.
My district is crazy and awesome. They're all headed to
Cambodia, minus one Elder going to Long Beach, and me to Tacoma. As it turns
out, I'm the very first Cambodian speaking missionary in Tacoma for 30 years.
And seeing as I'm the only one in my district, I'll be the only Cambodian
missionary until at least September (assuming the next group coming in
June/July will have a Tacoma-bound missionary, which they might not). They
don't send native Cambodian sisters to the states anymore because they've had
problems with them never going home at the end of the
mission. There will be four Cambodian speaking missionaries in
Tacoma total, so I'll be curious to see if that means two sisters two Elders,
or four sisters. I'll definitely have English speaking companions for at least
a portion of my mission.
The language is tough. Let me just say, the gift of
tongues is real because I'm dumb and I'm still able to get by.
I've been in the MTC 4 weeks, and the church is true here
too!
-Sister McQuivey
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