Week 2:Settling in at the MTC

July 3, 2013

Two weeks! I've heard this before, and it really is true - here, a day feels like a week and a week feels like a day.

So last week after emailing, we had our last lesson with Aptem. It was kind of rough. We hadn't been speaking/studying Russian all day, so it was a struggle. Afterwards, Brother Dean came and brought us to a room, which turned out to be an observation room for the room we were teaching in. So it turns out Brother Dean had been watching and listening the whole time. Whomp. But because we were first, we then got to watch all the other companionships teach. That was fun. The next day we had a new teacher who looked suspiciously like Aptem. His name is Brother Barnes and he is amazing. Really, our district lucked out on teachers. We have a lot more teacher instructed time now with two teachers, sometimes three when Brother Dean comes, but we still do a lot of on our own instruction.

This week I got into my normal schedule, so I don't have anything really exciting to tell. There is no such thing as a weekend anymore. Fridays and Saturdays are just another day of class, and Sunday is not a day of rest, but the day I go to lots of meetings. All of them are wonderful of course. On Sundays we meet as a zone/branch for Sacrament Meeting at 7:30am (before breakfast). Actually, we meet at 7:00am to sing Russian hymns, which I think I play the piano for because I did this past week. Did I mention I bought a Russian hymnbook? We sing a song before and after every class, and other times in between. I have no clue what I'm saying, but I know the tune and it is good practice for reading. Seriously, everybody sings here. I was never much into singing, but I love singing now. The other day Sister Finlayson and I and the elders in our district went outside to sing hymns because the elders wanted to since they were nervous about teaching. I just don't do that. But anyway, back to Sacrament Meeting. The beginning of Sacrament Meeting is all in Russian. As in, the prayers, the blessing of the sacrament, and the first two talks. The first two talks are also picked at random from the congregation - you're supposed to have one prepared. Scary! After Sacrament Meeting and breakfast we have combined Relief Society ( in English). This week Sister Shari Dew came and spoke, and it was as wonderful as always. Sundays we also have temple walk, where at an assigned time your zone can walk up to the temple and take pictures, or just relax. I also went to choir practice, and then afterwards we had Sunday devotional in the gym. After devotional is Sunday night movie night, where you can go to different rooms and watch either an old MTC devotional, or "Legacy." I watched "Legacy," which follows a young woman's involvement in the early church. You know you're at the MTC when the most chaste kiss you will ever see causes the room to burst into hoots and hollers.

Monday I had my first "contacting" experience. Sister Finlayson and I walked out to some park benches here at the MTC, and there was a sad looking man sitting there who looked a lot like Brother Barnes/Aptem. It turns out his name is Kapl (Carl), and he accepted an invitation for us to come teach him. We teach him this evening back at the park.

Proof the Mormon world is small: I went to choir practice yesterday for the devotional at the Marriott Center. I sat next to this Sister that was going to Brazil, and at one point she asked me where I was from. When I said Northern Virginia, she said she had family that lived there. She then asked me if I knew the Turners. Turns out, she is Doug and Laurie (Stacy's former roommate in DC) Turner's niece! Her name is Sister Siepert (don't ask me her first name - we don't work like that here at the MTC). Oh, and there is also a Sister Eaton in my zone from Rexburg Idaho, who is good friends with Soren Schmidt. And an Elder in my district who is friends with Anna Schmidt. Small world!

Some cool random things (because the rest of this email isn't random and scattered): there is a tree here behind the Samuel Smith statue that smells like Cream Soda/Butterscotch. It is crazy but delicious smelling, and it's pretty funny to see missionaries smelling it. Also, just yesterday a sister entered our zone, leaving Tuesday for Everett, Washington, Russian speaking with Sister Eaton. Why so soon? Because she's a native Russian speaker from Kazakhstan! How crazy is that?! I haven't met her yet, but I hope to before she leaves. I have also run into Maura Jackson, though she is not my teacher. (Soren, Anna, and Maura are Diana's second cousins.)   

 

Also, next Tuesday three districts from our zone leave for the field. That means my district, and the other district we came in with, will be the oldest districts in our zone! Zone leaders, Sister Training Leaders, and probably talks in church are all going to be pulled from our districts! We're still babies!

Every day I am cramming so much Russian into my head, it's crazy. The gift of tongues is real though. How else could I be this far along 14 days in?

Also, in answer to a previous question, there are Ukrainian speakers here. The new L'viv mission is entirely Ukrainian speaking, Kiev appears to be half and half, I think "the other "D"" mission (I can't spell it, but I can pronounce it now!) is just Russian, and Donetsk is just Russian. However, we were given an Ukrainian missionary phrase book and another work book as part of the books they gave us when we got here, and I think we are supposed to take them with us.

Also, I recently developed a sore throat, and sound like a man in the morning. But maybe that makes me sound more Russian. Or not. I could just sound like a man. It doesn't help that every day I am exhausted. But that's the way it should be.

Oh, I forgot my nosebleed story! So I've just been waiting for the dry air to get to me, and the other day it finally did. I went to go blow my nose in the bathroom, and my nose just started dripping blood all over (but not on my clothes, and only on the tile floor). It was gym time though, and I really wanted to play volleyball because you're just cooped up in a classroom all day. So I tried to stop it for a little bit, but then I just took a tissue with me and told Sister Finlayson we were going to the gym. Well, just when we hit the gym doors, my nose stopped bleeding, and I got to play volleyball. Tender mercies.

It has also been ridiculously hot here. No rain, and the AC in our room broke so we have a little fan, but it is sweltering. And loud. At least there's low humidity. But we don't play outside for gym anymore. The sand in the volleyball courts is burning, and even just walking there is exhausting.

I think that's everything, other than it's still really fun to put on my name tag in the morning. I would try to write a bit in Russian, but the Russian keyboard is all different, and I have yet to master the cases (all 6 of them...gross.)

Love you lots!
Sister Tanner

I forgot! We were able to do one session at the Temple last week, which was great, but then they closed it for the next 6 weeks for cleaning. So at some point I might get to go help clean it, but I might not get to go again until right before I leave for the field. Bummer.

Quick Question:  Are there any other Sister missionaries going to Donetsk the same time you do, other than Sister Finlayson? Or are just the Elders in your district and your companionship the only ones going in August?

In my district, no. There are four, maybe six? sisters leaving for Donetsk Tuesday. Next week more may come in. But my week, only Sister Finalyson and I.



Diana's district



 

6 in a room

the nametag