Another Lovely Week

28 October 2008

Hello to you all!

I had another wonderful week, though I'm not quite sure what I can write about it. I feel like I am growing so dramatically in gospel things--which seem to come to me in such whispers, so personally, that I don't know what they would have the same impact if I tried to share them all. So instead, I will say that God teaches us. "Knock and it shall be opened."

A new group of missionaries headed for Korea came in this Wednesday. At the end of their whirlwind day (like when my group came in), they had a meeting with the district presidency. The district is kind of our "congragation" while we're here, and the district presidency act as branch president--like a bishop--and his counsilors (sp? No spell check). The zone leaders (who are elders--missionaries) and I got to go in and talk to them as part of this meeting. It was a lot of fun. Afterwards, I got to give the sisters a tour of the MTC. I used my best tour guide voice.

I really enjoy the association I have with the other missionaries here. The missionaries are such an extraordinary group--we all, of course, need conviction and reasons to be here. I especially enjoy my association with the sisters--who, if I might say it, I think are even more clear on what they're doing and why. We've had a couple more years to think about it, and because it isn't out of obligation.

I love you all and love hearing from you. Have a wonderful week.

--Carrie

Hello, hello!

21 October 2008

I've been thinking lots about our family this week with Tanya's wedding--my heart was there if the rest of me wasn't! I am anxious to hear all about it, and would really love to see pictures (just a note, though, I don't think I'm able to download attached pictures, but I can get hard copies in the mail, no problem!). I was sorry to miss it, and I would love to know how the day went.

I had a wonderful week here, though. Richard Scott addressed us on Sunday, and Sheri Dew talked to us on Tuesday. I started to realize how extraordinary it is to be here. We also taught our first full lesson in Korean this week, which was difficult, simple, and slow, but we did it.

Yesterday was just an especially good day. Classes as usual--Korean is starting to click, which I am so grateful for. The crazy sentence structure is starting to make sense; the pieces are starting to come together. We had our gym time in the afternoon, and my companion Sister Jensen and I went out to the field across the street. It was such a beautiful day--fall seems to have arrived all at once. The sky was so blue and perfect flat-bottomed clouds made shadows on the mountains that are all of a sudden covered in fall colors. I had a wonderful run.

That afternoon, someone came into our classroom and announced we would be starting a program called "OMTC" where we would be meeting with a "progressing investigator" (one of the MTC teachers) twice a week and teaching them the lessons, helping them read the Book of Mormon and pray about it, inviting them to go to church, and so on, like we will with the people we will teach in Korea. And we would be doing it all in Korean. And we would start that night.

I was overwhelmed--our weekly "teaching appointments" where we practice teaching the lessons (which we now do in Korean) felt like plenty to prepare for, now we had these on top of that. We had a few hours to prepare, at least, and I sat down and read a few scriptures. I started thinking about some things. I started thinking about how, according to eternal laws, God gives us blessings when we follow commandments (Doctrine and Covenants 130?). I started thinking about a fireside where we were told we needed to give everything in this service. And I thought, okay. That's what I'll do.

The first visit with our "progressing investigator" went wonderfully. I wasn't nervous; I spoke slowly as I struggled to form coherent sentences out of the handful of words and phrases I know, but I wasn't nervous. It went well, and the appointments will be so helpful in preparing to do it for real.

Earlier that evening, Sister Jensen and I were sitting outside studying when a MTC employee came up and asked if we could take a newly-arrived sister up to her room. It turned out she had just gotten in from Mexico, and barely spoke English. So I got to use my Spanish and we showed her her room and around the MTC a bit. That's exactly why I wanted to learn Spanish--Spanish is useful. I was so glad I had it to help.

That night, when we went back to the residence hall, I was tired. A good tired.

I love you all!

Assignment, Talk in Korean

14 Oct 2008

It's hardly worth talking about weather from Provo, but this morning was so beautiful--cold and crisp and frosty. It felt so fresh. We went up to the temple this morning (it was still dark) and on the way back, the sun was peaking over the mountains, with rays lighting up the sky.

This week the branch president asked me to be the coordinating sister. (I'm going to explain this, because I never understood it before I got here) At the MTC, we are grouped into zones and districts. Our zone had...maybe 60 or 70 missionaries until about half of them left for Korea Monday morning. The zone is broken into districts of about 8-10 missionaries. They're the ones we have class with--and end up spending a lot of time with.

An elder from each district is asked to be the district leader, to keep track of things in the district. Two elders are asked to be zone leaders, to keep track of the things over the whole zone--including things like trying to keep things in order in the residence halls. The zone leaders aren't ever in our residence hall, though, and it would probably be awkward for them to tell a sister her shirt is't buttoned high enough, so they ask a sister to be a "coordinating sister" to (for lack of a better way of describing it) keep track of things with the sisters in the zone.

On Sunday I went to a training meeting with the new district leaders. I was the only girl in the room. It was an interesting experience...I have heard of women in predominantly male workplaces feeling an extra need to assert themselves to make sure everyone else knew they were part of the group. That's kind of how I felt, and a lot of why I participated as we discussed examples of good leadership.

The meeting had a lot of comments about how you do not lead with cooersion (sp?) or force or fear. Later that afternoon I went to another meeting, this one with newly called coordinating sisters, lead by the MTC president's wife. She began the meeting by stating it was a forum for how to serve the sisters, and the first suggestion from one of the new coordinating sisters was that we could put treats on the pillows of the new missionaries coming in. And then I realized men and women are different.

Also this week we had zone conference. We had all been told to write a talk in Korean, and people would be picked at random to give them. I actually don't know much Korean, and I was a bit frustrated with the assignment. But I felt pretty proud of myself after getting together a few coherent sentences and some scriptures to quote. It even had an introduction and conclusion. And guess what? I got called on to give it. That I did--very slowly.

After I sat down, all shakey, there was a musical number. An elder sang--in English--about the God we are serving. And I remembered why I let them call on me to give a talk in Korean, even though I don't speak Korean. And I stopped shaking.

I love you all!

Carrie

This Week's Email

Hello again!

Mom and Dad, I hope you are having a wonderful time in Italy! I love hearing about it.

Dad, happy birthday! I bet it will be a good one, considering the setting. If you ever figure out if someone did resign, pass it on! I'm kind of in a news vacuum.

Well, it was another good week. Classes and our "teaching appointment" on Saturday were canceled for General Conference. Besides the meetings, we didn't have much going on for Saturday and Sunday, which meant a chance to slow down a little and breathe! (I got some ironing done--exciting!--and shined my shoes. I had never shined shoes before. A new experience.)

We watched all four two-hour sessions of conference all dressed up sitting in the big assembly room. I have never done that for Conference before--at home, when it is broadcast, I quite enjoy watching it in my PJ's (though I do sit and take notes even if it's at home on the couch). It was good to listen so attentively, though, and I got a lot out of what the speakers said.

Sunday nights we all meet together for an hour-long fireside. Last Sunday, though, I was a bit suprised that we were having it after already having so many meetings that weekend. They did keep the time-spent-in-meeting factor in mind, though, and the fireside was mostly made up of musical numbers.

We always sing prelude hymns before the meetings get started, since people have to be in their seats early--there is usually an overflow room where the meeting is piped in. Sunday, though, they announced first that they were packing everyone in the same room--no overflow--and second, that one of the prelude songs would be "all eight verses of 'Book of Mormon Stories'."

"Book of Mormon Stories" is a primary song, much beloved, in a minor key, with actions, that most of us hadn't sung in a very long time. And maybe because the rules of a mission help you enjoy simple pleasures, the announcement was met with a lot of excitement. The two thousand of us sang it, many with the actions and a bit of foot-stomping. While this was happening, more people than the room could handle were coming in, and people were trying to sort out where they would sit. Soon elders, in their suits and ties, were carrying in the couches from the hall, lifting them over their heads and arranging them in the front of the room.

Like I said, a mission helps you enjoy simple things:)

I love you all!

--Carrie

(No Subject)

Hello to you all! I hope you have had a good week.

I got over my cold this week. Coming to the MTC and realizing how many people were spending so much time together in such a confined area, I figured it was just a matter of time until I caught something. And I did last week, but I am feeling better.

I think also this week I have adjusted to being a missionary. While I was unpacking in my room when I first got here, I remember some awkward moments thinking about how I wasn't supposed to go places alone anymore, or listen to the music I'm used to listening to...and now those things are more routine.

I've noticed, though, that a lot of the things I used to define myself have gotten stripped down. We don't talk much about movies or music or even majors. Get-to-know-you questions have mostly been stripped down to "Where are you from" and "How many people do you have in your family."

I don't think the other things are bad--that's why missionaries don't do this forever. And being so concentrated on church things has, at times, felt a little odd. Sometimes it feels a bit like I'm living in a convent--a girl in my district called missions the modern Mormon version of "Get thee to a nunnery." In my conservative skirts and mary janes, singing hymns as we walk or finding myself quoting scriptures, I sometimes feel like a nun.

But on the other hand, I have gained a new appreciation for the religious devout. I have thought a lot about missionaries. And before my own mission, I would think a lot about the negative associations with missionary work that have happened over the centuries. I've heard awful stories of missionaries quashing cultures and doing well-meaning but misplaced things in the name of religion.

But as I am surrounded by goodness here, I am seeing the more positive side. Without excusing mistakes, I am seeing the love that motivates such work. Coming into this, I have had a lot of concerns that what we are doing is culturally sensitive. After this week I have more confidence in our missionary work, and I see that it really is motivated by love. None of us is perfect, but God rarely does things by himself--he does them through imprefect people, probably in order to help us all.

That's what I've been thinking about this week. That might be more interesting that what I've been doing: classes and meetings. Last night our district leader came down on our group for being disrespectiful in a class on planning, and the coordinating sister talked to the sisters in our zone about not flirting. We are working on learning the second lesson to practice in our mock "teaching appointment" this Saturday. My companion had to go pick up a prescription at the BYU health clinic down the street, and we were both excited to be able to leave the MTC campus for a half hour. We've learned how to conjugate Korean verbs into past, present, "if," and "when" forms. All is well.

Much love,

Carrie