First Full Week

Hello!

I wish I could tell you everything, but there is only so much I can fit in an email. Today was my first full week on a regular schedule, though (last week was full of orientation meetings), so I thought I'd write a little about that.

Every day except Tuesdays (preparation day) and Sundays, our day is divided up into three blocks of time, plus a gym period, three meals, and an hour before bed to prepare for the next day.

Two of those three blocks are class time. We have two teachers who teach both Korean and how to teach gospel subjects (which felt a little schizophrenic to me at first--it's the first time since sixth grade that my teachers have taught more than one subject).

The third block of time is "MDT" or "Missionary Directed Time," which is a bit of a misnomer, since after we get in an hour of personal study time, an hour of companionship study, and an hour of Korean study, there isn't much of it left. We do things like go to the Teaching Evaluation Center, where some nice teacher listens to us practice.

Saturdays, we have our "teaching appointment," where a volunteer comes in and we teach the lessons we would teach investigators. Also on Saturday, we spend time in the call center.

Our whole schedule is the same for our "district"--a class of ten missionaries. We go to class together, eat together...I share a room with the other sisters in the district...we're getting to know each other very well.

Tuesdays are preparation day, which means I get to write letters, wear normal clothes, and do laundry. In the afternoon, we go to the temple, and Sister Jensen and I go to choir practice. The choir practices on Tuesdays and Sundays, and sings at the devotionals for the whole MTC that happen on Tuesday evenings.

Sundays are calm days--more time to get ready in the morning (we usually have just a half hour, unless you're willing to sacrifice sleep), more personal time, which I like to fill up with reading. I thought that I would be reading the scriptures all the time here--for more time than I could stand--but it turns out it feels like I never have enough time for them. We have Relief Society in the morning, after watching the broadcast of Music and the Spoken Word from Temple Square (which is a very calming thing--I bring my journal or some other activity). We have Sunday School later with our district, then Sacrament Meeting with everyone learning Korean later that afternoon.

So there you go!

Lots of love,

Carrie

First Letter!

I don't have too long to write an email today--only thirty minutes computer time, though I have plenty of time to write letters. I'm sorry, these are the only email addresses I can remember off the top of my head. Mom, could you please forward the email on and write me back the other email addresses? Thank you, thank you. And about thirty minutes email time--I think I really prefer letters anyway. I feel like they are more permanent and more thoughtful, especially when I won't have much time to read and respond to emails. And I love the feeling of getting a letter, and I love writing letters. And finally, I don't think I have spell check. Bear with me.

Okay. So many things have happened since last Wednesday, I decided just to focus on a few things that have suprised me since then here at the MTC:

1. There are six to a roomI didn't expect to be so packed in! It works just fine, though--we are all so busy that we are practically never there during the day, and everyone goes to bed and gets up at the same time (though a chorus of alarm clocks always starts around 6:15).

2. I love having a companion. I think I had started to adapt a lone-ranger sort of attidue over the last few years, so having a companion with me all the time was one of the things I was the most apprehensive about. But I love having a companion! Sister Jensen is practically perfect in every way. Being together all the time, I always have someone I can figure out how to get places with (every building at the MTC looks the same, which made it harder), someone to study Korean with (we spend our time walking place to place and at the gym quizzing each other), someone to share her books when I forgot mine, someone to plan with (so much more fits into a day when it's all planned out!), someone to teach with, someone to practice with.

3. Phrases first, words laterKorean is hard--I'm so glad I at least learned the alphabet before I came. I am starting to see patterns, which is helping me alot, but the primary purpose of our language classes is to get us going in the language tasks we will most need. We started with prayer, then learned a simple testimony, and now are working on introductions and "I would like to share a message about ______." (Though in Korean it's "I ______ message about would like to share." I've never learned a language this way. Interesting.

4. How different I feelThis is what I keep thinking about. I feel so different as a missionary. I don't feel discouraged--there is so much that I need to be able to do, but I haven't been overwhelmed like I normally would be by it all. I am more attentive in class and interact more. Also, I am so excited by what I am doing. I love the feeling of being a missionary--I am grateful for it and for how I am learning and growing.

Gone!

Well, I've spent the last four weeks organizing, packing, cleaning, reading, and now I'm off! Wednesday morning I start my full-time eighteen-month mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I'll be about twelve weeks in the Provo Missionary Training Center before I head out for the Korea, Seoul West Mission.

I want to share this experience with all of you, so, if things go right, my sister Emmy will be posting my family emails and some photos on the blog (though I won't be able to email from the MTC--so there probably won't be much for the first twelve weeks).

But for letter-writing, here are my addresses:

Korea Seoul West Mission
Provo MTC
2005 N. 900 E.
Provo, UT 84604

And after I leave for Korea (around December 3rd):

Korea Seoul West Mission
Songpa PO Box 31
Songpa-gu
Seoul-si 138-600
SOUTH KOREA

See you in eighteen months!

The Times Are a-Changin'

Listening to the news over the last few months, I've thought not a few times that it is the perfect time to be leaving the country--things are a mess, but I wonder if this is the low point. Here's what I suspect will change in the next eighteen months:

1. The face of the community
as the economy starts to heal and home prices start to balance out again. There are some major projects on the docket for Holladay City, too--this mall was torn down to build up a "lifestyle center" with shopping and housing.

2. The look of the Internet
along with changing technology. In the past two years or so, I've gotten into scrobbling, tagging, posting (though not so much poking)--I can wait to see what they come up with next.

3. The man in the White House
I'm not sure if it's cause for lament or celebration that I leave at the tail end of the campaigns--I'm tired of all the rhetoric, but at the same time, I've really enjoyed talking politics with my family since I moved home. Either way, it's out with the old, in with the new, and a page will turn for our country.

4. The green machine
I compulsively turn out lights and break down boxes. I've noticed, though, a lot of people don't have the same habits I do. The economic downturn seems to only be helping the cause, though--creating, among other things, the perfect environment for developing public transit. That, added to increased public awareness on "green" issues, means home will probably be more environmentally-friendly when I return to it. I hope.

5. My family structure
What was once my parents and three girls is now up to eight people--we'll see how that changes, too.

6. Me
"We know what we are, but know not what we may be." --Shakespeare