Well I am just going to jump right into telling you about my week because I don't have a ton of time! To start it is a huge blessing that my district and I happen to know where the working computers are! BYU decided to go all wireless on us so since they didn't realize that the MTC was all land line, none of the computers have been working for the past week except the computers in our building in the classrooms right below us! It is a miracle!! Well I got to go to a devotional on Tuesday of course and learn about all of the mission stats. Did you know that there are currently 76,000 missionaries and that there is supposed to be about 85,000 by the end of the fall?!! That is crazy but so exciting! The west campus is growing a ton! I think we got about 250 new missionaries down here this past week so it is exciting to see. Also David F. Evans of the Seventy is the one who came to talk to us and he talked all about how this is the most remarkable year of missionary work ever! I am so excited to be apart of it! :)
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| With Sister Megan Johnson, a friend and former childhood neighbor that is going to Japan on her mission |
Rainstorms (the real kind)
I also had my 2nd rainstorm adventure! They are like the highlights of my week! I love them! I just love the rain! So we got done will our personal study about 9:15 and needed to walk back from Raintree (where are classrooms are) to Wyview (where our apartment is) and it was POURING! It was way worse than walking from the Marriott Center. Haha so we just took off our shoes and ran as fast as we could. I have to say I enjoyed splashing in puddles along the way. :) By the time we got back to our apartment we were drenched. I was more wet from the 4 minute run from from Raintree then I was from the 20 minute walk from the Marriott Center. It was so much fun though! I mean you aren't aloud to splash in puddles as a missionary unless you are running in a rainstorm to try and get out of the rain.... so I enjoyed it while I could :)
The Language
Finnish is a crazy language! It is so hard but I love it! Here are some fun things to know about Finnish. There are about 24 cases that you use where as Russian only has 6 cases so they think its crazy that we have SO many (cases are basically different ways to conjugate subjects, verbs, and nouns) . Fortunately, Finnish only has 16 commonly used cases that we really have to worry about ;) Also our favorite mix up is Tapa and Tapaa. Tapa means to kill... where as Tapaa (which you only hold the "a" sound longer) means to meet. haha so you really don't want to mix those up. Finnish has stuff like that all of the time! So you really need to pay attention to what you are saying! We as companions do a SYL (speak your language) every day during lunch except 2 days ago we did it for 5 hours so all we could speak was Finnish. We are going to start doing SYL from lunch to dinner every day and then an all day SYL each week. Yeah... pray for me! It is not easy but it helps me learn fast! :)
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| Where all that language study, and all other study, takes place in the MTC West Campus |
The Zone
Well, our zone has only Finns right now. It was so sad when the Hungarians and the Albanians left this week! We went from 42 people to 16 people in our branch in just 2 days! It was crazy. Plus the Sister Training Leaders were the sweetest girls ever and I loved them! But now that they are gone the Branch President had to call new Sister Training Leaders so he has called me and my companions to be the STL's. We are really excited! But we only have our other 2 sister missionaries to look after as well as eachother. We are hoping to get 1 hungarian sister next week but we aren't sure. There are 4 missionaries coming into our branch next week and that is it until October 16th. 3 Hungarians and 1 Estonian so we are all really excited!
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| Just some of the Finnish Missionaries |
Being Terrified
I have to tell you about Choir. So you know how you said to watch for Ryan [Ryan is her former choir director that also directions the MTC choir]. Well He ended up coming and standing right next to me and so I got his attention and said hello of course! Haha and then guess what happened?! Ryan told me that he was going to have me say the opening prayer!! Yeah, in front of 1000 Missionaries! Do you have any idea how scary that is?! haha It was so funny because as I was asked to come say the prayer and walking down to the microphone, I could hear the Finnish Elders quietly shouting "Suomeksi, Suomeksi!" (In Finnish, In Finnish)! I just kept shaking me head ei ei ei (no no no)! I don't know Finnish that well yet! All I have to say is I don't think I have shaken so bad in my life! But I love choir! It is great and a much needed break from Finnish! :)
Blast from the Past
I also have to tell you about an elder I have run into! So you remember the guy helped me jump my car and the hood fell and hit his face? Embarrassing... Anyway... Yep,he just got to the MTC last week and it was so embarrassing to see him again! And then he asked me how my car was, hahaha, that was the worst! After that he just laughed and said "Awkward, right?" It was so funny but, oh my goodness, I still feel bad about that and was never expecting to see him again. But here he is at the MTC!
Praying for Lost Things
I have learned so much to rely on prayer this past week. I don't know what it is but I honestly forget and lose everything! So after the devotional on Tuesday, I left my scriptures under the seat and didn't realize until after I was back at Wyview. That was bad. I was panicked of course and as a missionary scriptures are kind of essential. So I ended up saying a prayer that I would be able to find them and get them back and that I could feel at peace. It took about two days but I found them today on main campus! So I am so grateful for the Lord's help in finding those and getting them back! I then today lost my camera! I was almost in tears when my companion told me to say a prayer that I would be able to remember where it was and find it. I immediately got on my knees and said a prayer and asked for help. I then realized that it wasn't in the apt. and was probably on the bus. So I had to go to the front desk and they called the ride and they were able to find it. The bus then turned around and came back to give me my camera! I am so thankful that I was able to find it! The Lord really does hear your prayers and will help you with whatever you need! :) Also I had the opportunity to read a talk called Becoming a Consecrated Missionary by Tad Callister. It is amazing and I would love to write about it but I am out of time! If you get a chance read it! Because it really can apply to every one and not just missionaries! Well, I love and miss you all! I will write all of you and answer all your questions!
I have never been happier!
I have never been happier!
Love,
Sisar Knapp
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| The small joys of life |
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