MTC Week 4

This week Karoline answered a lot of my questions and updated us on her MTC life.  We're all concerned about her companion; Karoline is not in any danger but we hope her companion will be okay and, if necessary, receive any help she needs. The usual disclaimer for the spelling/grammer check!

Hello, so yeah, dutch has been difficult, but whatever, I mean it's okay, I know I will learn it eventually. Yes, I sent grandma a letter, and yes it was my testimony, but I told her it was so she should already know that :) I also sent grammie a thank you letter for the money she sent me, but I didnt hear back, so I hope she got it. Did you put that money in my account btw? And can you tell me how much money I have in checking? And will you be sure to keep an eye on it so that my savings can go towards my loans when my checking is out? Did you get my letter about my watch breaking? because thats like urgent... :)

Okay so first thing first. I told my branch president that I recommend my companion receive some counseling while it's available here at the MTC. Turns out, I wasnt the only one who had told him that. He had been thinking about it, and three other sisters had mentioned it to him. So yeah. They interviewed our whole district on Sunday to talk about her behavior and what they think of her, and if she interacts well with teachers and behaves in class and whatever. Anyway, I told him that I was worried for her, and that I didn't think she would have the skills necessary to only rely on your companion once shes in the field. She has totally random mood swings, no self esteem, depression, i dont even know. She cant take criticism, and can't give up any control for anything. Basically, all the teachers told their coordinator to tell my branch president that she has some issues that should be worked out. Anyway, he went to interview her on sunday, and hes a doctor, so he knows what hes doing, but she freaked out. He couldnt even branch the subject at all because she got too defenesive, and hes not really sure what hes going to do with her, but that he was still going to work on it because he was really worried about her and if she was going to be okay. Then he basically told me that I was the only one who they felt like was able to handle her, which is totally true. My district told me yesterday "Thanks for taking one for the team with that one". so yeah. But it's okay,  I am concerned for her, and I worry about what will happen to her for the rest of the mission. The branch president told me that he believes I've done all I can do for her now, and to just stick it out for the rest of the two weeks her, and not to "poision" our relationship. He knows I'm faking it with her, but agrees that it's the best thing to do here. So yeah, I've done what I can do besides being there for her and praying and such.

So, we get travel plans this Friday! That is super exciting, because I think everyone is ready to be out of this place. I havent heard a bout my visa, but no news is good news. Tomorrow we have to go to the travel office because apparently my companion didnt bring any of her original documents only copies, which is a problem. Theres only 17 fast Sundays until I'm home :) and one of them is this week. I think that is a good way to look at it. Sister Hirschi sent me a letter and some money this week, which I thought was really nice, so I wrote her a letter this morning.

I dont think I need anything else before I leave, but if I think of something I will let you know. Sundays: we have breakfast at 7, and then it's study time and interviews until 930 when we have to go to watch the spoken word, adn then have relief society. Oh, this week, the relief society speaker stood us up. It was the first counselor in the relief society presidency, so who knows what happened there. Then we have lunch at 1130 and then study time, interviews, then sacrament. For sacrament, all of us prepare a talk and then they randomly call up two people to speak; it hasnt been me yet. After that, we have district meeting with one of the branch presidency people, which last forever, it's pretty boring. Then we have temple walk, and then dinner, and then some study time and devotional and then my companion always makes me go see one of the movies they show. I do see Holli a lot, and she always looks happy and like shes enjoying herself. I hear from brianna, jared and kj at least once a week.

I dont have a lot of thoughts on sacrifice except: What seems to be the greatest sacrifice now, will turn out to be the most rewarding experience of your life. Im pretty sure thats talkinga bout a mission but you can really turn that into anything. Sacrifice is always rewarded with blessings. It's part of the balance of life. 

 We have a lot of funny language moments, for example, the words for kiss, kill, and died, are all really close, so someone will regulary say something like "I know Christ killed for you: "I know Christ kissed for you" when they are trying to say "I know Christ died for you" Also, the words for holy and horny are um super close so you got to be careful when you say holy ghost. haha.

I am having spiritual experiences, so dont worry about that :) It's never anything big, but that's okay, because I think being strengthened little by little over time is better for me :)  On sunday our devotional speaker came and told us that he felt like the talk he was going to give was no longer appropriate since we were going to be watching sister monsons funeral after, so he gave his whole talk based on teaching through the spirit. I mean, he didnt know he wasnt going to not talk about what he prepared until he go up there so it was pretty cool to see what he did. After all, thats what we do when we teach lessons. We may have something planned that we think is what the person needs but when we go to teach we find out they need something else.

I'm really confident in sharing my testimony in Dutch. That's pretty much all I do in lessons, because of companion issues, but quite honestly, if you can get the words out for your testimony and testify on what the person needs to hear, and how you know it's true, I think that's the best thing. And being able to say a prayer, of course.  I think that's everything.... oh, I need to buy a calling card sometime this week. We get to call from every airport, so I dont know what I'm going to buy yet.  

So, until next week. :)

 Outside their MTC room,  Zusters Aldous, Western, Ashton, Schwab

Zuster Ashton and Zuster Western.  Karoline's cute skirt actually belongs to Sister Nielson, they like to pick out Karoline's outfit each day.

The district at the temple  5/21/2013.  Karoline is in the white dress.

MTC Week 3.

So the cousins, Sister Western and Sister Palmer, finally found each other and got this picture.  Holli entered the MTC on April 3 and will be serving in the Japan Kobe mission. Yes, Karoline's name tag is in Dutch, she is Zuster Western.

We also received our weekly email. I'm not quite sure how the MTC can be boring, there's so much to learn!  (disclaimer,  Karoline has little time to write, and even less time to proofread and use spell/grammar check!)

So, this week was pretty boring. Nothing all that exciting happened. Except that Elder Nelson from the 12 came on tuesday and it was an awesome talk. I did sing in the choir. And I was on TV because I am just that good looking.

So teaching- our first investigator, they didnt tell us who it was, but it turned out to be another one of our teachers. So every day we teach one of our teachers who is acting like an investigator from their mission. On fridays we go to teach at TRC. This is when volunteers who speak the language come and help you out. You teach them like members not like investigators. This week we taught a cute old couple who really tried to help us out and then two sisters who just got back from their missions. If you go to choir your companion has to go with you, or you can go on a split with a sister from your district. Starting tomorrow, we can only speak Dutch, which is ridiculous, our district cant even go an hour without speaking Dutch but we will see how it goes. No one goes to the referral center anymore. It is a mission. those elders live eat/sleep here for the whole two years.

 So last Tuesday on the way back from the temple I ran into Josh, and we got a picture. And then he asked me why I hadnt written him yet, and I'm like uh hello, I'm the one on a mission. But whatever.

So my companion and I.... well, she didnt blow up at all yesterday, so I call that progress. It's a little weird though. She told me shes jealous of me. On Thursday last week she just freaked out at me and said :Do you know what it's like to have to sit across from you and look at you all day? youre so pretty and so smart and all the elders give you attention and then they just look at me like oh and thats her companion" so I just sat there and said okay, thank you? Like what am I supposed to say to that? so yeah thats that.

Okay, here is everyones bigoraphy from the district, so here we go.

Sister Schwab:

Sister Schwab is from Washington and enjoys playing tennis. She studied for three semesters at BYU provo and is majoring in Elementary Education. Shes very open about her bodily functions. Lets just say we know things we dont need to. She always has the funniest comments in class, and makes the ugliest faces for pictures, on purpose. She sings a wicked alto. She talks in her sleep. She is currently studying Dutch and going to the Belgium/Netherlands Mission. :)

Sister Aston:

Sister Aston is Scwab's companion. She is very quiet at  first, but is very smart and studying graphic design. She is barely nineteen and went to SUU. Shes super intuitive, and is a song writer. She has night terrors. those have been fun.She is currently studying Dutch and going to the Belgium/Netherlands Mission.

Sister Nelson

Sister nelson talks and laughs in her sleep. So most nights we wake up to either one of those three talking or laughing, or screaming. She laughs all the time and loves Zumba. She went to byu provo for one semester and is majoring in how to be a mommy-those are her words, i wouldnt say something like that. She has three foster sisters who work here, they are all handicapped and like 60 years old, but one, Nora, drew us all pictures, it was super cute.She is currently studying Dutch and going to the Belgium/Netherlands Mission.

Sister Aldous:

Sister Aldous just turned 21 so shes the oldest. Shes fluent in German and has a boy waiting for her. Shes been to 22 countries. She is currently studying Dutch and going to the Belgium/Netherlands Mission.

Elder Nielsen:

Elder Nielsen has a little bit of an ego, but hes pretty cool when hes not acting like a teenage boy. His dad owns a car dealership up by Logan. Hes always got my back when my companion freaks out.  He gets at least three packages a day. He is currently studying Dutch and going to the Belgium/Netherlands Mission.

Elder Corsini:

Elder Corsini is already fluent in 6 languages! Thats ridiculous, he was called spanish speaking, and learned he would be speaking dutch when he arrived at the MTC. This guy is going to be a future apostle. Seriously, if you met him you would get what I mean. He was excepted to several Ivy league schools including, harvard, yale, and then others like stanford and NYU. However, he chose to go to BYU-Idaho. Because in his words, it is an apostle training center. yeah okay. His dad was a mission president in Mexico, and elder corsini graduated high school at 16 and has been living on his own since then. He has  a full ride scholarship and worked for fun since he was 14 and saved nearly everything, so hes got some money.Hhe is currently studying Dutch and going to the Belgium/Netherlands Mission

Sister Hoff is from Colorado, she went to a semester at a community college there, and is an English major.She is currently studying Dutch and going to the Belgium/Netherlands Mission. 

(The top picture is Sister Western and Sister Aldous, the bottom is her MTC district)

 (Her district, back row, left to right:  Elder Nielson, Sister Nelson, Sister Hoff, Sister Western, Elder Corsini

front row:  Sister Aldous, Sister Aston, Sister Schwab)

anyway, this week has been the best so far. Time is moving really quickly. I cant believe tomorrow starts week four. So yeah.... Bye :)

oh wait, and I lied, something exciting did happen this week. On sunday at our devotional, I sat next to a British elder, when we asked what his favorite cereal was he replied with porridge. As if thats not the most english thing youve every heard. anyway he had Visa problems and spent 6 months in the Ireland Scottland mission before he could come here and then he goes to washington. thats that.

Much love

-Karoline

MTC Week 2

Hello,

So another week has gone by. Yay! So the days are super long, but then you look back and it seems like time is flying by. So I did get the package you sent, thank you. That water bottle is the one that leaks though, and there was still some water in it, so everything inside was wet, but that's okay. If you are sending contacts, if you could send a bottle of contact solution that would be great because I only brought little travel sized ones.  For gym time we can pretty much do anything. We can lift weights, play basketball, volleyball, four square, whatever. You just cant dance. Or play soccer with the boys. You can also run along the fence but every time Ive done that Ive gotten a bloody nose, so that's not really my favorite. But it totally freaked some people out because one girl has never seen a bloody nose before, so yeah. So I have something funny to share. I asked my companion what her first impression of me was because obviously we've been having problems and whatever so I was curious, and she said she thought I was the biggest flirt she has ever met. Isn't that funny? I don't think anyone has every told me that before. I just call it being friendly to the Elders but whatever. Happy Mother's day by the way :) Oh, and our service hours are usually cleaning something,. Last week we had to clean  7 classrooms top to bottom, which was terrible This week we go to vacuum a building, and then reclean a bathroom that some elders had already cleaned, because they didn't trust them to do it the right way. Yeah, okay. Also, on Sunday we had our new sisters meeting, which was totally offensive. They basically went through and told us what we could and could not wear, and that we had to shave our legs, and make sure we do our makeup because it's not okay to look like a frump. It's was pretty ridiculous.

So my companion.... well, I think she needs counseling, and I'm not saying that in a light manner. I am totally serious.One minute she is totally and completely jumping off the walls happy, and the next she is yelling at me and freaking out. I dont know what I can do for her. She has now yelled at me in front of the class three times. Our district leader basically told her to calm down and that she was driving the spirit away, and that she was treating me totally inappropriately and well yeah, that kind of didn't make matters better. I am so tired of being told by someone every day that they don't know how I handle that and that they're sorry for me and whatever. Sometimes it's pretty funny though because we were reading scriptures in class one day, and we were supposed to discuss what it meant to us, and she told me I was wrong. Like flat out wrong. Okay then. Other times I feel really bad though, like I get mail every day, and she hasn't really gotten anything, and it bugs her a lot. Like what am I supposed to do about that? It's so incredibly frustrating. She interrupts me every single time I open my mouth, and it finally got to the point where one of our teachers is like uh you have to let Zuster Western finish her sentence before you tell her shes wrong again. That was funny, but they probably shouldn't have said that.... Anyway it's not always terrible. On the days where she doesn't freak out shes pretty nice, like she will refill my water for me, and write cute things on our mirror and whatever.

Overall, this week has been okay. There are still some times where it is really difficult, but that's just part of it. For me, dutch is really challenging, because I understand almost everything in the conversation, but I don't have the language to respond. But, I think that's more me. I'm just more of a listener, and when I do talk, I just say things simply, which is really the best way to teach an investigator anyway. I really like our teachers, we have three. Brother Wells, Brother Klipple, and Sister Moses. They all went to the same mission as us. And they're all very nice. Oh! so we have elders going to Turkey on our floor where our classroom is. It's sad though because they're not in our zone so they don't do anything with us, so no one else really ever talks to them. That's okay though, because I'm pretty much their best friend now. We've got pictures together and everything. Our visits are their favorite part of the day, of course, but how could it not be when you're stuck in a room with 6 guys struggling to learn a language. But seriously, it's nice to take a break from all the girls going to our mission, and we make sure it's never during a time when we're being taught or are supposed to be doing language study or something. Theres 6 of them, and none of them are from Utah. That's pretty rare. hmm... we have not had a devotional by a general authority yet, but I hear today's is supposed to be special, so I'm going to choir just so I can get a good seat, and share my lovely voice, obviously. :) I did get a picture with Holli, and you know that kid that we are related to that is going to Wisconsin speaking Mong or whatever that Cambodian language is? yeah, I met him, we had a family reunion, their classroom is on the other side of the hallway from us, along with Thailand, but Corola's son is not in that classroom. I met him in the ice cream line and I looked at this name tag and asked him he was her son, and he was. Also, thanks for that picture you emailed me, mom. anyway, I have to go.

Much Love,

Karoline.

Happy Magic Tuesday

email # 1  5/7/2013

Hi,

So p-day is tuesday.  Can you please please please send me my Camelbak water bottle? I'm continually dehydrated here. like my lips are white. For real. Also some pictures would be nice, everyone else has them but me. Thanks for sending the thank you notes out for me.  I saw holli on Sunday too, at the mission conference.

So anyway, my companion is Zuster **** from Colorado. We have a lot of little things in common, like working at Toys R us and such. There are two Dutch districts. Our district has 2 elders, and one is going Spanish speaking. He's already fluent, so they're basically giving him a crash course in dutch, so he gets to leave before us. Then there are six sisters, and the other district is the same. Our branch is called the Scandinavian branch, plus the dutch. So we have the Finnish, Norwegians, Swedish, Icelandic- but they just left, so they wont get new ones for a couple months, Danes, and then the two elders going to the West Indies mission speaking dutch, it's a country in south America that starts with an S. Cant remember the name. I get a lot of mail. I pretty much hog our mailbox. I'm not even kidding. Especially with what we call "male, mail". The first few days here were terrible! I didn't know if I could do it, but look at that, I totally did. A typical day: we get up, go to gym, shower get ready, have breakfast, personal study, and then three hours of language study, lunch, then we teach our investigator, in dutch so we have another three hours of classroom time to do that. Anyway we don't get a long time to email so I will talk to you next week. I hope all is well.

Much love

Karoline

Oh, by the way, today was "magic Tuesday" so anyone who is going to Belgium has to get their blood taken and collect a stool sample. so gross. They told us that Belgium is pretty much the only country that requires a nice little stool sample. The lady who collected my blood missed my vein and then fished around for it, so i got to have that lovely experience. Eventually she just changed arms. Fun day!