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

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