Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Last P-Day in the MTC . . . (Wait, what?)

Hallo, Leute!  (Hello, People!)
 
 
With Sister Edwards and Sister Hansen --
wives of the Mission Presidency
 Today is my last P-Day in the MTC; I can hardly believe it. One week from now I will be in Munich at the mission home, where I'll meet the Mission President and his wife, the Kohlers, and my trainer, and I'll find out where I'm assigned for my first area! I'm so flipping excited. I know that my whole mission will be a time of incredible growth, and I know that my first transfers will be a huge part of that. I can't wait to get out to the real-life, wonderful people of the Alps and get to work!
  
When I leave the MTC I will no longer meet all of the wonderful ESL sisters (English-Speaking
Language).  Sisters Finassi (Italy), Xie (China), Monroy (Guatemala) & Dias (Brazil)
 
One month!  What?  This is my last P-Day
Preparation Day) in the MTC
I know it's a little late, but I might as well acknowledge to the world that DEUTSCHLAND WON THE CUP. We got updates through our teachers every day who was playing who. We're hoping that everyone is still a little revved up about it when we get to Germany. So so fun.

We had lots of celebrating this week, because we hit our ONE MONTH MARK. What? Where did all of the time go? The MTC has literally flown by. I'm actually kind of scared because I only have 17 months left. I want to make every minute count and it just seems unfair that a whole month is already gone, haha. Also, it was Sister Fenton's 22nd birthday on the 22nd! It was a looot of fun. Also, just to make things interesting, all of the Alpine Sisters switched tags for a couple hours, and some people totally went with it. (Brother Field called Sister Wilkes 'Sister Bushman' in class, and some people wished me happy birthday while wearing Sister Fenton's tag. Ha.)
 

We also had one of my favorite lessons we've ever taught this week. We teach up to 2 lessons a day, depending on the day and our schedule. I felt the Spirit so strongly, and I know our 'investigator' did too. Not going to lie; speaking German is scary. Sometimes it's so scary, I have no idea how on earth I'm going to get through our lessons. But even in these fake appointments, we can feel words being put into our mouth. In that particular appointment, I bore my testimony about the Holy Ghost and how its guidance and peace strengthens me and my testimony and just thought: This is happening. I'm speaking German after basically starting it a month ago, and my investigator is feeling the Spirit and feeling God's love for him. This is incredible.
 
Taking a brief break from studying German . . . with Elder Annen
On that note, I've decided that learning another language teaches you a lot about the gospel. For example, in German, the verb that we use for 'repent' is 'umkehren'. When you look that up in a secular dictionary, it literally means 'to turn' or 'to turn back'. Isn't that what we're doing as we try to follow the Savior? Just turn to Him bit by bit, degree by degree, always? And as we continue to turn, our joy just increases. I love that. Also, I think it's really cool in English that we address our Father in Heaven as 'Thee' and use 'Thou', 'Thine', etc. In German, there are two forms of 'you'. 'Sie' is formal, and we use it with our companions, investigators, and strangers. 'du' is only for children and family and very close friends. I love German because we adjust our Heavenly Father as 'du'. The Supreme Creator of the ENTIRE universe, we get to address as our Father, which He is. Isn't that cool?
 
In my new Tim Gunn-ed ASDA
white skirt and new floral top
 
 Some fun little stories for this week. First of all, last week at ASDA (a British Walmart-type store) I saw this super cute white skirt on clearance that was long enough and perfect, except for the fact that it had a transparent strip near the bottom. SO. I Tim Gunn-ed it (made it work) by buying a plain white T-shirt and putting them together. Sister Edwards let me borrow her sewing machine, and I cut up the shirt and sewed it under! It totally works! (Also, in the picture that I'm wearing the skirt, the top I also bought at ASDA. Gosh, I love ASDA.)
 
 Finally, German Rs are not at ALL like American Rs. Brother Field, one of our teachers, told us that the main way to REALLY sound authentic is to figure out how to say the German R, which is like rolling a Spanish R, except it's in the middle of your throat. Holy cow, we Americans are not very good at it yet! It's actually quite funny. We gargle water quite often to practice, and if you're walking around the MTC it sounds like beasts are hiding. Don't worry, it's only the Alpiners trying to sound authentic.
Can we be spiritual one moment and a bit goofy the next?  Oh yes!
Sister Wilkes, Sister Bushman, & Sister Cook
Sending lots of love to the States! I probably won't get to say much next week since we'll be travelling, but I'll catch you up soon.
 
Much, much love! 
 
Sister Bushman
 
 
 

1 comment:

  1. I am so excited to see where she gets to be trained! <3 She is going to be terrific!

    ReplyDelete