Grab some tissue....holy cow this is good.
Heyy! Supp cats? Otay, it's early so this one may be a little well.... early-style writing. We're just doing laundry at this Godless time of morning because my companion's eyes are about to fall out of his head so we have to go check his glasses during our normal time. Anyways, here we go! (Man, I feel like Mario when I say that. Could I pull of Italian?)
Dad. Srsly. I get your DearElders. Stop freakin'. They come in about two days I feel like. They're great. No need to keep printing everything off and sending it to me. It works. Trust the system!! Okay, maybe not, but this part of the system is effective.... I LOVED getting your package. It was mostly just sweet and awesome because of the vast amounts of electrical tape all over it, but the inside was fun too! I walk around with that yo-yo all the time. Definitely helps me to remember the vocab that I'm trying to get down. It's fun. And, it came on Starjesina Armond's birthday, so we had some fun and party time with that. His parents actually sent him a cake in this massive box (he's from Provo, like two secs away....) and balloons and streamers. So much fun. And then of course, back down to quiet time and journal writing. I'm still writing in my journal everyday! It's fun, but I think that it'll definitely be worth it even though most of it is just boring day-to-day. Whatevs.
I'm so excited about Blake! I wish that I could have been there, but it sounds like it was really awesome. Way to go, kid. He's here in like October, right? Or is he just going straight down to Sao Paulo?
Our investigators are great. With Srdan we had a REAL conversation! I was so happy, because we actually talked for 45 minutes in straight Croatian, and half of that was me. Admittedly, my companion does little to help with the whole teaching bit, but it's nice because I usually have him pray or do something along those lines so that he's included. It's hard by myself, but I feel like there's a lot of good things that happen in our lessons. With Srdan, he is an Orthodox Serbian and so is nationalistically decided against baptism because of his family. He's been taught by like 6 sets of missionaries, but has been mistaught something along the way and I can't quite put my finger on it. Like someone taught him that our prayers with God are more of a rote thing? I don't know what that's all about, but he is seeming to be intrigued and interested in what we have to say and when we show him the actual reasons that we're here. It's interesting. Marilena, our other investigator is very interested in the whole after life bit. We talk to her about ordinances for the dead and everything and have now invited her to baptism twice. She just needs to know for herself. Prayer prayer prayer.
OH!!!!!!!!!! I'm so glad I didn't forget. We found out like Thursday sometime that we are now leaving the MTC a whole week early! So now our departure date is like Tuesday August 29 or something like that. You've no idea how excited AND freaked out we were when we translated that message on our chalk board. Vi Odlazite jednog tjedna rano!!!! It was insanity. The thing is, with our new Mission President, transfers have shifted to a different week (apparently we are 9 week transfers) and so they bumped us up. BUT, our mission is losing around 8 missionaries this transfer, and there are around 4 greenies there right now of the 26, which means that after another 6 or 7 leave after our first transfer, and their replacements come in, we will be the majority of our mission and will likely have to train and be the senior companions that second transfer out. Little freaked out? Oh, you betcha. It is so amazing though, we are incredibly excited to get out of here and just start this work. I NEED to bee out there. I'm so excited.
The language is coming along as it is supposed to, I believe. We are speaking only in Croatian for roughly 3 hours every day and are trying a mixed Croenglish whenever it is physically possible. We actually do a decent job of that, though mostly it's just for our entertainment so we can mentally escape the monotony. Yesterday S. Mulder and I were translating Preach My Gospel back into English and I hit about 7 sentences right on the nose word for word. Granted, I can only really call you to repentance and teach the Plan of Happiness, and would have no idea how to ask directions or tell you my favorite colour at all. It's pretty messed up, but it's fun. We sing hymns three times a day in our class in Croatian and are starting to be comfortable with the words and phrasings. I can usually translate about half of them as we sing, which is cool. It's pretty darn easy to rhyme in Croatian, which makes for fun hymns and things. So cool. We're also praying a lot more in our language and have memorized the Our Purpose thing and the beginning of JST in it. Coming along. Polako, polako. As Skylar would say, malo pa malo.
I thought about it on Sunday and thought that maybe I should let you know why I'm here. It's so easy to think that because I'm LDS and a Mormon that I was always destined to come on a mission and had to go through my right of passage. It's easy to suppose that I'm here through blind obedience, but I want you to know the real reasons, or at least the real reasons that strike a chord with me right now.
I am a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints because I love my God. I know that he is there and that he loves me entirely. I have been placed in a wonderful home with parents who sought to teach and to educate me about my purpose here on this earth at this time. I am incredibly grateful for the opportunities and people and love that have been placed along my path and cannot help but feel a sweet desire to in some way pay it back. I am here because of Jesus Christ. My brother has asked that I take on his name every day for a tiny portion of my life and preach his redeeming love; preach joy and happiness and truth. I am here because I love people. I love the people in my life, I love the people of Croatia on an unprecedented level. I love the thought that I get to serve them. I love. And so I share.
I want to share this gospel that causes me to laugh and giggle and cry and feel because I know that it can bring happiness unfounded in the world. I know that if people will but listen to the broken words that I offer, they will find a joy and a peace and a hope that is uncomparable with any here by a far cry. I am here because I hold the Priesthood of God and because I have been given the gift of knowing the truth about why we are here and what our purpose is on this life - to return to him; to love Him. I am here because in the early 1800s a boy had a question and asked it. I am here because he received an answer to his prayer and was given the same Gospel that was given to Adam, Moses, Noah, and Jesus Christ. I am here because I asked. I took the promise of the prophets and asked and felt that warm, filling, comforting, loving, entirely encompassing feeling of joy and peace and love and happiness and goodness. I am here because I cannot be anywhere else. I am here because it is right.
I love my Heavenly Father with an undying desire to serve him in my small way. I love the joy. I love the hope. I love the truth. I hope to continue on and be a good servant and yearn for that day when I might return and kneel before Him. I believe in Christ. I hope in Christ. I know.
I love you all, my family. I hope for you and pray for you and know you to be doing good things always. I am so excited about this work and this joy.
Yours,
Starjesina Adams
Croatia
Monday, August 8, 2011
July 26th, 2011
We got this letter while Jessica and I were at camp so we didn't get a chance to post it that week. Do you like how I got the smack down on the food? Do you know how hard it is to fill a care package if you don't send food? Mike did put together an awesome care package though with fun stuff. Yay Dad!!!
Dobro jutro moj obitelj! I love you kids! Okay, it's weird, but every time that I get on this computer I kind of freak out and tense up because I just don't know if I can get it all in... Well, here goes nothing!
This week seemed like it took about 5.6 seconds to get through, though each individual day consists of about 30 hours of study and simultaneous boredom. It's pretty great. The people are really fun to be with and the teachers even more so. Um, this is going to be all out of order, but I'm just following bullet points that I have. So bear with me. There's really no way of telling which day is which here. Except of course for p day and sundays. Is fun. :) We did something this week for the second time in MTC history - took a picture of ALL the missionaries here. We are about 2500 strong (which is tiny compared to the 52000 out in the field) and it was cool. That was immediately following a really great Sunday Fireside by a seventy about the importance of the Book of Mormon. S. Mulder and I were completely blown away. It was the best, most steadfast testimony of its importance that I have heard since Elder Holland's talk 2 years ago. So, basically I'm sold. Love it. It quelled some of my worries about retention in Croatia because if we just attach them to it, there's no way they can deny it. Such a good book.
I've started a study journal at the bidding of PMG so that I can better keep my thoughts oriented and remember things. It's way fun and a really useful tool for remembering what I've learned. Which just so you know is kind of a lot. It's just been great to write and read. I'm also going for two years straight of not a day missed writing in my journal. I've almost filled a third of Jessica's that she gave me already! Crazy cray.
Um, there's a song Prayer of the Children that S. Mulder was singing a while back that we realized we could translate some of it! So cool. It's apparently about the Bosnian children during the war in the 90s. It says Da li chuete, sve dieche molitve... Which is something about hearing the prayers of the children. It was a really cool moment and a huge boost in confidence for us. Also Come thou Fount. Heard that for the first time here. Ways good. Way.
Investigators. We have two. Marilena is great. We were teaching her a little about the Plan of Salvation and she really opened up about a friend that had died in a car crash. It was way sad, but filled us with hope as we explained about the Spirit world and how we can be with families and friends again. She read this great Hinckley quote with us too and really wanted to read the BoM. So much fun. So great. We also have one named Srjon. (Can't spell it without the "nasties" - the letters not in the standard latin alphabet. So frustrating while typing to you....). He believes in the church, has read the BoM, and loves what we teach. No way he's getting baptized though, because he's Serbian and thus Orthodox. He's only interested in like music and whenever we're exciting. Which means that with S. Harris, my teaching companion, he's often bored. We probably gave the worst lesson of all time on Friday, but we're seeking to redeem ourselves this week with just singing with him. Creative, no? Thanks, Pres. Stapley.
It was Pioneer day here and all the Utahans went crazy! I feel like I know NOTHING about Church History. The choir director on Sunday went crazy with all these little stories and things. So fun, but I'd never heard them. The devotional also talked about being our own self pioneers. First times for everything!
It rained last night. Oh, it rained. I love it. I was trying to breathe through my sicky sick nose to smell it, and it was wonderful. I absolutely love the rain. Oh my gosh, yes.
we play sick nasty tight volleyball during gym periods. We're actually really good, I think. It's fun to play with people who care. I'm too short and white, though so I've no hops for the front row. Ah well, we've got S. Biskup to spike it for us. My sets are getting way good! S. Mulder and I are going to start running a mile every gym period though, because we're getting fat from this nasty food and lack of moving around. It's pretty rediculous.
Sunday in Sacrament we had a really great talk given by our Branch president Presjednik Creer. He's great. Just absolutely fantastic. Love him. He talked about prayer and the need that we have to ponder things and then go and talk to the Lord about them in order to know what He needs us to do. Really simple, really profound. While trying to pray in Croatian all the time, now, we still have some in English and I've seen a huge change in my own. I love it. Prayer is just cool, you know? Such great answers all the time.
Wednesday we had new missionaries come into our zone. We inducted them by having "Zone prayer" and only speaking in our various languages rather loudly, having a speech given by our "Bilbo" and a fight between the new and old gingers. It was pretty great. Wrapped it up with a spiritual thought and prayer and then lights out and quiet time on time. Just to be the examples. Fun fun fun and then be good still. So fun. We realized that we'll probably have 2 more sets of English speakers before we leave here. Should get better every time!
So, tell me about some stuff! how was camp?! How is home? How is work? Really anything is good if it comes in a letter. Mom, I love to get yours because they're fun. This week I wasn't quite so inundated so I was able to read it a couple of times. So great. I like you. There are some things that I would like if at all possible. In your next care package, whenever it may be, DO NOT SEND FOOD. Blunt? Okay, maybe. It's just that we keep eating crap right before bed and it's gross. The gummy bears went quick, because I tried to parce them out and share as much as I could, ending up instead with more cookies and twizzlers than I could have ever dealt with alone. The M&Ms, though I have horded. Starshi Loynes (the British zone leader) has been coming in every night and praising your name. Even so, unless it's like a fruit leather or bag of baby carrots (hopeful look?) please don't? We's dying. Instead you should send me like another pair or two of athletic socks, because mine are pretty gross by end of week. And maybe like a bouncy ball or yo yo or something to keep me occupied and not going crazy in our residence hall. Idk. This is in no way a bash on your last package. We loved it, but just... ya. Love you.
I'm worried about the Croats. I don't know if I'm doing enough to be ready in the languages I'm learning. Croatian is easy compared to this gospel thing. I have a hard time simplifyng. I just worry that there will be people I miss because I'm not doing all I can here. Our 50 words per day goal is cute and all, but is it enough? Maybe. Our serbian teacher pushes us really hard. But it's good. I am trying to learn cyrillic on my own, because I think it's beautiful. It's really great. Maybe they'll transfer me to Serbia! Lawlz. Someday maybe I'll be ready to understand the magnitude of this. Will I? Idk. I hope so. It's the work. I'm hoping to do it my whole life long. My life is so incredibly rich right now. I am raw and sensitive to every emotion and spiritually uplifting teaching right now and I couldn't imagine a better place for me. There's so much for me to learn, there's so much for me to teach. I love you, guys. I love home. I have been blessed, however, with not being able to focus on home at all. I cannot think of you. It's not an admonition to myself, but rather a physical impossibility. Strange tender mercies. Be well this week. I love you all.
Znam da ovdije je dobro za ja. Volim moj obitelj, prjatelji, i Bog. Ja sam dobar sada. Ciao Ciao.
Starjeshina Adams
Dobro jutro moj obitelj! I love you kids! Okay, it's weird, but every time that I get on this computer I kind of freak out and tense up because I just don't know if I can get it all in... Well, here goes nothing!
This week seemed like it took about 5.6 seconds to get through, though each individual day consists of about 30 hours of study and simultaneous boredom. It's pretty great. The people are really fun to be with and the teachers even more so. Um, this is going to be all out of order, but I'm just following bullet points that I have. So bear with me. There's really no way of telling which day is which here. Except of course for p day and sundays. Is fun. :) We did something this week for the second time in MTC history - took a picture of ALL the missionaries here. We are about 2500 strong (which is tiny compared to the 52000 out in the field) and it was cool. That was immediately following a really great Sunday Fireside by a seventy about the importance of the Book of Mormon. S. Mulder and I were completely blown away. It was the best, most steadfast testimony of its importance that I have heard since Elder Holland's talk 2 years ago. So, basically I'm sold. Love it. It quelled some of my worries about retention in Croatia because if we just attach them to it, there's no way they can deny it. Such a good book.
I've started a study journal at the bidding of PMG so that I can better keep my thoughts oriented and remember things. It's way fun and a really useful tool for remembering what I've learned. Which just so you know is kind of a lot. It's just been great to write and read. I'm also going for two years straight of not a day missed writing in my journal. I've almost filled a third of Jessica's that she gave me already! Crazy cray.
Um, there's a song Prayer of the Children that S. Mulder was singing a while back that we realized we could translate some of it! So cool. It's apparently about the Bosnian children during the war in the 90s. It says Da li chuete, sve dieche molitve... Which is something about hearing the prayers of the children. It was a really cool moment and a huge boost in confidence for us. Also Come thou Fount. Heard that for the first time here. Ways good. Way.
Investigators. We have two. Marilena is great. We were teaching her a little about the Plan of Salvation and she really opened up about a friend that had died in a car crash. It was way sad, but filled us with hope as we explained about the Spirit world and how we can be with families and friends again. She read this great Hinckley quote with us too and really wanted to read the BoM. So much fun. So great. We also have one named Srjon. (Can't spell it without the "nasties" - the letters not in the standard latin alphabet. So frustrating while typing to you....). He believes in the church, has read the BoM, and loves what we teach. No way he's getting baptized though, because he's Serbian and thus Orthodox. He's only interested in like music and whenever we're exciting. Which means that with S. Harris, my teaching companion, he's often bored. We probably gave the worst lesson of all time on Friday, but we're seeking to redeem ourselves this week with just singing with him. Creative, no? Thanks, Pres. Stapley.
It was Pioneer day here and all the Utahans went crazy! I feel like I know NOTHING about Church History. The choir director on Sunday went crazy with all these little stories and things. So fun, but I'd never heard them. The devotional also talked about being our own self pioneers. First times for everything!
It rained last night. Oh, it rained. I love it. I was trying to breathe through my sicky sick nose to smell it, and it was wonderful. I absolutely love the rain. Oh my gosh, yes.
we play sick nasty tight volleyball during gym periods. We're actually really good, I think. It's fun to play with people who care. I'm too short and white, though so I've no hops for the front row. Ah well, we've got S. Biskup to spike it for us. My sets are getting way good! S. Mulder and I are going to start running a mile every gym period though, because we're getting fat from this nasty food and lack of moving around. It's pretty rediculous.
Sunday in Sacrament we had a really great talk given by our Branch president Presjednik Creer. He's great. Just absolutely fantastic. Love him. He talked about prayer and the need that we have to ponder things and then go and talk to the Lord about them in order to know what He needs us to do. Really simple, really profound. While trying to pray in Croatian all the time, now, we still have some in English and I've seen a huge change in my own. I love it. Prayer is just cool, you know? Such great answers all the time.
Wednesday we had new missionaries come into our zone. We inducted them by having "Zone prayer" and only speaking in our various languages rather loudly, having a speech given by our "Bilbo" and a fight between the new and old gingers. It was pretty great. Wrapped it up with a spiritual thought and prayer and then lights out and quiet time on time. Just to be the examples. Fun fun fun and then be good still. So fun. We realized that we'll probably have 2 more sets of English speakers before we leave here. Should get better every time!
So, tell me about some stuff! how was camp?! How is home? How is work? Really anything is good if it comes in a letter. Mom, I love to get yours because they're fun. This week I wasn't quite so inundated so I was able to read it a couple of times. So great. I like you. There are some things that I would like if at all possible. In your next care package, whenever it may be, DO NOT SEND FOOD. Blunt? Okay, maybe. It's just that we keep eating crap right before bed and it's gross. The gummy bears went quick, because I tried to parce them out and share as much as I could, ending up instead with more cookies and twizzlers than I could have ever dealt with alone. The M&Ms, though I have horded. Starshi Loynes (the British zone leader) has been coming in every night and praising your name. Even so, unless it's like a fruit leather or bag of baby carrots (hopeful look?) please don't? We's dying. Instead you should send me like another pair or two of athletic socks, because mine are pretty gross by end of week. And maybe like a bouncy ball or yo yo or something to keep me occupied and not going crazy in our residence hall. Idk. This is in no way a bash on your last package. We loved it, but just... ya. Love you.
I'm worried about the Croats. I don't know if I'm doing enough to be ready in the languages I'm learning. Croatian is easy compared to this gospel thing. I have a hard time simplifyng. I just worry that there will be people I miss because I'm not doing all I can here. Our 50 words per day goal is cute and all, but is it enough? Maybe. Our serbian teacher pushes us really hard. But it's good. I am trying to learn cyrillic on my own, because I think it's beautiful. It's really great. Maybe they'll transfer me to Serbia! Lawlz. Someday maybe I'll be ready to understand the magnitude of this. Will I? Idk. I hope so. It's the work. I'm hoping to do it my whole life long. My life is so incredibly rich right now. I am raw and sensitive to every emotion and spiritually uplifting teaching right now and I couldn't imagine a better place for me. There's so much for me to learn, there's so much for me to teach. I love you, guys. I love home. I have been blessed, however, with not being able to focus on home at all. I cannot think of you. It's not an admonition to myself, but rather a physical impossibility. Strange tender mercies. Be well this week. I love you all.
Znam da ovdije je dobro za ja. Volim moj obitelj, prjatelji, i Bog. Ja sam dobar sada. Ciao Ciao.
Starjeshina Adams
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
07/19/2011...Week 2 in the MTC...still going strong...
Hey! Okay, here's goes....
The MTC life is basically rocking. It's fun, it's hard, and most of all enriching. Seriously though, I'm absolutely in love with where I am. I don't even know what I could do more to make it more enjoyable. I'm just going to run through what I've slotted myself to talk to you about because of this silly timer.
Croatian is absolutely beautiful. Like, I thought it was going to be ugly, harsh and basically a mouthful of masochism, but it's not! Fancy that. When my teachers speak it, it sounds so pretty and I'm excited to learn more about it. My companions and I are trying to be better at praying more in the language and so are having around 6 prayers a day in it together for the practice. Loving it. We have also been teaching an "investigator" called Urosh in only Croatian. Funny thing is that he's actually an RM who went to Slovenia and so speaks very little Croatian. Ya, little peeved when we found that out. Two new investigators now - Marilena and Srgn. Starjesina Mulder and I love to speak in it, and actually last night we stayed up for like an hour and a half talking in only the language. It was great. Simple, but great. We're now trying to learn 50 words a day. We figure we'll know like 2500 words at that point if we can keep it up before we leave. Volim hrvatski zbog on je ljubav...
Dear Elder is pretty okay but I don't think it's same day. I've tried to time it and I got mom's letter on Thursday evening. Just so you know. I love the mail, and love to get it.
Care Packages. Wow. So much love. The elders are basically all jealous because of my overabundance of stuff. I've managed to parce out the gummy bears, but have been holding on to the mam mams... I actually tried to give away some cookies and gummies, but the freaking Russians just gave me twizzlers instead. Now starjesina Mulder hates me. So much sugar. We never sleep, seems like
I see a lot of people I know here. Mostly from the ward, but also from home. Saw Daniel and Adam Jacobs and Andrew Sypher and a few others. Seems like I know most of the MTC. It's great. Just like home, but basically better. (sorry mom, you've still got em on cooking and all, but that whole busy thing kind of rocks. :))
Class is going really well. It's very fast paced but I'm keeping up alright. This pilot programme rocks. Very geared towards learning how to be a good missionary, and how to learn the language. My guy teacher, Brat Morris is fantastic. He served in Serbia, and so almost speaks Croatian, but not quite. He is really funny. Totally plays the angry serb card really well. I kind of mess with him a lot though, as much as I can really. Once he was walking near us to the cafeteria, and had his hands behind his back like the angry serb he is and I just copied him all the way down the hall. I impersonate him as much as I can. So fun. Teaching is going great, and our new investigators are cool. We're being pushed really hard to commit to baptism early on, which I'm not a big fan of because I feel like people need to understand and need to really grow their testimonies before they can really be ready to make that commitment. But, the prorok says, so who am I to judge?
Gonna go through a standard day: Alarm blares at 6:15 and I wallow in self pity for 15 minutes before being good and getting up. Breakfast at 7, class at 7:30 until 10:30. Personal study. LOVE! Lunch at 11 30. Class again at 12:15 until like 3:15. Maybe then some TALL (which is their infantile way of teaching us to pronounce Croatian words well even though each letter has but one sound). Gym at which we as a zone (slovaks, czechs, slovenes, croats, and bulgarians) play either futbol or volleyball. Then some more personal study, language study, companion study, and some planning. Ya. We's be busy. I really like it, though we can't ever tell what day it is that we did things on, because it's all the same. The food, the study, the screw-around time, and ya. All the same. But we love it. Especially companion study. It's usually Starjesina Mulder, Sestra Black and I and we just go into some quiet room and talk about the gospel and our worries and fears about what we're called to do and how we're going to best do it.
Sundays, on the other hand, are quite different. We have personal study at 7 and then breakfast of like nothing at 8. Then Study and interviews by our branch presidencies until priesthood at 10ish? Priesthood is cool. Usually read out of the white handbook and then have a lesson by a member of the presidency. Feels like class, but better because we're out of that place. Ah, jeez. We're talking in the laundry room now about my mush on Starsi McClellan and how much I'm in love with him... He's my ZL and going to Slovakia and he's great. Well, you know that things never change. Still mushing all over other guys. Sheesh. Anyways, Sunday. Sacrament is cool, but way short because we have about 3.78 members in our branch so the actual sacrament takes like 6.94 seconds. But I'm rounding for math's sake... haha. Um, then more personal study and meals and stuff. Devotionals are fantastic!! Love them. We had a 70 here this time and he spoke very well about the things that we are supposed to do as missionaries. Lots of good quotes. Mostly abiout how to set good goals to become a better missionary. Talked about how we should compare ourselves to the good BoM missionaries in order to know if we are doing well. I've set aside now, at the urging of PMG, a "study journal" in order to collect my spiritual thoughts and goals. It's actually really nice. Sundays are cool, too because we get to go and walk to the temple. I see all sorts of people I know there, and it's just nice and peaceful. Gotta remember to take my camera next time though. Srsly, not a lot of time for piccis here.
After this Sunday fireside my district got to watch the Joseph Smith movie (not the Temple Square one) and it was great. It really is the best and absolute worst story I have ever heard of in my entire life. I love it. Afterwards I had something kind of weird happen to me. I was just kind of in my heart asking well, is it true? and I had that warm feeling go to every last corner of my body. Never happened to me before. So, I was excited about that and once again humbled by the power of the Holy Ghost because basically I just love it. I just thought it was so cool how it got out of my chest and all the way to everywhere. Cool, huh? Love.
My companions are great. Mulder is a philosophe and loves to debate things about the gospels. Loves to talk about all the conspiracy theories and stuff. Very interesting, and I love listening. You know me. He knows the scriptures better than anyone I have ever met. I love it. Elder Harris is confusing for us. He's not like anyone we've ever met. I've described him to myself as a 12 year old in a 10 year old's body sent to do an immortal beings work. Tricky. We are trying really hard to be accepting and loving, but he's very random and not incredibly cogent in his thought processes. But his spirit that he brings to our companionship is excellent. Very faithful. Incredibly obedient. There's a lot I can learn, I know, but I just am having a hard time believing that's true and in allowing myself to do so. Sestra Black is basically our fourth member. Really excellent sister. She is intent on every aspect of our learning and loves to understand us and the language and the lessons. She's so worried about the people of Croatia, and us. Very loving. We absolutely love her.
I love your continued support and love. I'm so excited to hear about the things you are doing. You're in my prayers and heart constantly. I will do all that I can to appreciate my time. I love you guys. gtg. Wish me luck.
\
Starjesina Adamsl
I just love how Chase has such happy feet. We all knew that he was going to love the MTC...he's learning a foreign language, busy all the time and getting tons of mail from lovelies like you. Keep sending the love. I will be sending a care package every week until he leaves for Croatia, so if you want to slip something in there, just let me know. I am happy to include it.
Thank you all for your support of Elder Adams. In the hard times, you will be like guardian angels.
The MTC life is basically rocking. It's fun, it's hard, and most of all enriching. Seriously though, I'm absolutely in love with where I am. I don't even know what I could do more to make it more enjoyable. I'm just going to run through what I've slotted myself to talk to you about because of this silly timer.
Croatian is absolutely beautiful. Like, I thought it was going to be ugly, harsh and basically a mouthful of masochism, but it's not! Fancy that. When my teachers speak it, it sounds so pretty and I'm excited to learn more about it. My companions and I are trying to be better at praying more in the language and so are having around 6 prayers a day in it together for the practice. Loving it. We have also been teaching an "investigator" called Urosh in only Croatian. Funny thing is that he's actually an RM who went to Slovenia and so speaks very little Croatian. Ya, little peeved when we found that out. Two new investigators now - Marilena and Srgn. Starjesina Mulder and I love to speak in it, and actually last night we stayed up for like an hour and a half talking in only the language. It was great. Simple, but great. We're now trying to learn 50 words a day. We figure we'll know like 2500 words at that point if we can keep it up before we leave. Volim hrvatski zbog on je ljubav...
Dear Elder is pretty okay but I don't think it's same day. I've tried to time it and I got mom's letter on Thursday evening. Just so you know. I love the mail, and love to get it.
Care Packages. Wow. So much love. The elders are basically all jealous because of my overabundance of stuff. I've managed to parce out the gummy bears, but have been holding on to the mam mams... I actually tried to give away some cookies and gummies, but the freaking Russians just gave me twizzlers instead. Now starjesina Mulder hates me. So much sugar. We never sleep, seems like
I see a lot of people I know here. Mostly from the ward, but also from home. Saw Daniel and Adam Jacobs and Andrew Sypher and a few others. Seems like I know most of the MTC. It's great. Just like home, but basically better. (sorry mom, you've still got em on cooking and all, but that whole busy thing kind of rocks. :))
Class is going really well. It's very fast paced but I'm keeping up alright. This pilot programme rocks. Very geared towards learning how to be a good missionary, and how to learn the language. My guy teacher, Brat Morris is fantastic. He served in Serbia, and so almost speaks Croatian, but not quite. He is really funny. Totally plays the angry serb card really well. I kind of mess with him a lot though, as much as I can really. Once he was walking near us to the cafeteria, and had his hands behind his back like the angry serb he is and I just copied him all the way down the hall. I impersonate him as much as I can. So fun. Teaching is going great, and our new investigators are cool. We're being pushed really hard to commit to baptism early on, which I'm not a big fan of because I feel like people need to understand and need to really grow their testimonies before they can really be ready to make that commitment. But, the prorok says, so who am I to judge?
Gonna go through a standard day: Alarm blares at 6:15 and I wallow in self pity for 15 minutes before being good and getting up. Breakfast at 7, class at 7:30 until 10:30. Personal study. LOVE! Lunch at 11 30. Class again at 12:15 until like 3:15. Maybe then some TALL (which is their infantile way of teaching us to pronounce Croatian words well even though each letter has but one sound). Gym at which we as a zone (slovaks, czechs, slovenes, croats, and bulgarians) play either futbol or volleyball. Then some more personal study, language study, companion study, and some planning. Ya. We's be busy. I really like it, though we can't ever tell what day it is that we did things on, because it's all the same. The food, the study, the screw-around time, and ya. All the same. But we love it. Especially companion study. It's usually Starjesina Mulder, Sestra Black and I and we just go into some quiet room and talk about the gospel and our worries and fears about what we're called to do and how we're going to best do it.
Sundays, on the other hand, are quite different. We have personal study at 7 and then breakfast of like nothing at 8. Then Study and interviews by our branch presidencies until priesthood at 10ish? Priesthood is cool. Usually read out of the white handbook and then have a lesson by a member of the presidency. Feels like class, but better because we're out of that place. Ah, jeez. We're talking in the laundry room now about my mush on Starsi McClellan and how much I'm in love with him... He's my ZL and going to Slovakia and he's great. Well, you know that things never change. Still mushing all over other guys. Sheesh. Anyways, Sunday. Sacrament is cool, but way short because we have about 3.78 members in our branch so the actual sacrament takes like 6.94 seconds. But I'm rounding for math's sake... haha. Um, then more personal study and meals and stuff. Devotionals are fantastic!! Love them. We had a 70 here this time and he spoke very well about the things that we are supposed to do as missionaries. Lots of good quotes. Mostly abiout how to set good goals to become a better missionary. Talked about how we should compare ourselves to the good BoM missionaries in order to know if we are doing well. I've set aside now, at the urging of PMG, a "study journal" in order to collect my spiritual thoughts and goals. It's actually really nice. Sundays are cool, too because we get to go and walk to the temple. I see all sorts of people I know there, and it's just nice and peaceful. Gotta remember to take my camera next time though. Srsly, not a lot of time for piccis here.
After this Sunday fireside my district got to watch the Joseph Smith movie (not the Temple Square one) and it was great. It really is the best and absolute worst story I have ever heard of in my entire life. I love it. Afterwards I had something kind of weird happen to me. I was just kind of in my heart asking well, is it true? and I had that warm feeling go to every last corner of my body. Never happened to me before. So, I was excited about that and once again humbled by the power of the Holy Ghost because basically I just love it. I just thought it was so cool how it got out of my chest and all the way to everywhere. Cool, huh? Love.
My companions are great. Mulder is a philosophe and loves to debate things about the gospels. Loves to talk about all the conspiracy theories and stuff. Very interesting, and I love listening. You know me. He knows the scriptures better than anyone I have ever met. I love it. Elder Harris is confusing for us. He's not like anyone we've ever met. I've described him to myself as a 12 year old in a 10 year old's body sent to do an immortal beings work. Tricky. We are trying really hard to be accepting and loving, but he's very random and not incredibly cogent in his thought processes. But his spirit that he brings to our companionship is excellent. Very faithful. Incredibly obedient. There's a lot I can learn, I know, but I just am having a hard time believing that's true and in allowing myself to do so. Sestra Black is basically our fourth member. Really excellent sister. She is intent on every aspect of our learning and loves to understand us and the language and the lessons. She's so worried about the people of Croatia, and us. Very loving. We absolutely love her.
I love your continued support and love. I'm so excited to hear about the things you are doing. You're in my prayers and heart constantly. I will do all that I can to appreciate my time. I love you guys. gtg. Wish me luck.
\
Starjesina Adamsl
I just love how Chase has such happy feet. We all knew that he was going to love the MTC...he's learning a foreign language, busy all the time and getting tons of mail from lovelies like you. Keep sending the love. I will be sending a care package every week until he leaves for Croatia, so if you want to slip something in there, just let me know. I am happy to include it.
Thank you all for your support of Elder Adams. In the hard times, you will be like guardian angels.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
First Real Email
So Tuesday was Elder Adams' first P-day. He took time to write a detailed letter about his adventures. As a mother, it is so comforting to hear that he is doing well, getting along with his companion(s) and learning many things. Tomorrow will mark his first complete week in the MTC...only 8 more to go. It will go so fast. If you feel inclined to send Elder Adams mail but don't want to pay for postage, I am sending care packages once a week and you are welcome to piggy back on my package. Just get it to me by Wednesday morning. Here's Chase's letter:
Thug life!
Hey, this is Starjesina Adams checking in from the wonderfully adventurous area that is the Provo MTC! Absolutely loving it here and am really excited for the next few weeks to come. Over-verbosity out of the way, this is a great place. I really enjoy the classes, my teachers, this beautiful language of Croatian, and especially my classmates and companions. Yes, companions. We were placed in a threesome on our first day because we had an Elder who was supposedly going to Serbia never actually show up. So now Starjesine Harris, Mulder and I form this wonderful crowd. So, you'll have to forgive any typos or things like that but I only get 30 minutes to do this and if not apparently, it doesn't send. Keep that in mind if you don't get a weekly e-mail at about this same time every week. There's a giant red ticker in my screen corner that is now at 23:50... Um, the Mission president said in order to combat this, try and send your e-mails through what is called Dear Elder. Ask Neder what that is all about because I got a letter from her. Saves me time reading on the compy, you know? totes
So, got dropped off, whisked through this whirl-wind adventure that was the first day, got a companion, and then was spoken at in Croatian only in class all day. It rocked. Apparently we are on the new learning schedule that is basically experimental at this point, but they've said that they've seen good results thus far. I mean, on day three we taught our progressing investigator, Urosh, in Croatian. We taught him about prayer and got to know him a little bit on that day, but have since quelled some misconceptions about Jesus Christ, described the Holy Ghost, taught him to pray, and given him a challenge to read Chapter 12 in Eter of the Mormonova Knjiga. So cool. Starjesina Harris and I are teaching companions and Mulder is with Sestra Black, our solo sister in our class. She is great and very upbeat. I really do like my class. So much fun. It actually is pretty cool because we went around the room and everyone in my class has had at least a little bit of foreign language study. We have latin, greek, arabic, german, japanese, spanish, portugeuse, french and italian students. Sestra Black is even a Com. D. major at the Y. We all have a lot in common and are just loving helping each other out.
I want to talk about Sunday cuz it was pretty cool. lawlz. Um, so we had a lot of meetings which were pretty decent, and no class which was a nice break, but the best part of it all was our Branch President's talk in Sacrament. Well, first we had two talks by random selection (we all have to prep a talk for Sunday, this one was on the Atonement) and then a musical number and then he spoke. His name is President Creer. Really great guy, loving, compasionate, understanding of a lot of the things that we are going through. I really liked it. Well, I guess the real best part of Sunday was the fireside. We had a guy talk about the wonder of Repentance and he took the word back to its root in Greek, Latin, and Hebrew and apparantly it's another fake word like Atonement and so is misleading. I'd always assumed that pain and sorrow went with it, but he talked about how exciting and joyful the whole thing can and should be because heck, we get to change! It's nice. Like. ya.
I absolutely loved your package that you sent! I actually got it yesterday, though I was given the slip to go pick it up on Saturday. Problem is, the post office here closes on Saturday at 2 o'clock. All other days it's open until 8, but not so on Saturday. Whatevuhs though. 'Course, you and CarolAnn have got to be in some weird competition because I also got a wonderful package of carmel brownies yesterday too. I used a package of them to bribe my District into liking my little evening devotional. Remind me to talk about my district... So ya, totally have been showered with mail and packages and just love. I love you guys. So much. :)
So my district. We are just the Slovenes and Croats led by a Slovene, Staresina Defreitas, who is fantastic. From Virginia, really great guy. His companion is Staresina Bateman. Looks like the Washington Batemans. No relationship. In the Croats there are Elders Marcek Armond Smith Bishop Harris Adams Mulder and Sestra Black. It's great. The Elders hang out for study and stuff and its really nice. We get along really well. In our Zone we have the Slovaks, Czechs, Bulgarians, Croats, Slovenes and Serbs. Our Branch also has some Jamaicans and Las Vegas'ns... So we're a little wide spread.
I get snail mail whenever it arrives twice a day and whatever Dear Elders are sent we get that day. Thanks so much for forwarding my letter from Kyra! What a kidder... :) I like mail. So. Ya.
I know basically like half of the people in the MTC from my student ward and just work and stuff. Elder Mulder is always on my case about my supposed popularity. I think it just peeves him because he's from Utah and knows like one person here maybe. But ya, I've seen Scott, Steele, and a ton of my friends from school. We see the Colombians and Russians and Hungarians everywhere. We have a good time joshing eachother.
So, Elder Mulder. I really like this man. Like, I really do. He and I just clicked and are able to just totally screw with eachother and laugh and at the same time be totally serious. It's way nice. He's a philosophe who knows basically everything about the Scriptures. He likes conspiracy theories in them and stuff like that. We just talk and talk and talk about everything and it's nice. Friend fo life fo sho. I really just want what's good for him and he for me. We like to play with what we know of the language and I like to listen and learn to everything he knows. Last night Starjesina Harris prayed for our companionship in croatian and we had a really strong sense of the Spirit and everything was nice and so I lost my composure a little bit. He just looked at me and asked if I'd be okay and then we stayed up for like another hour in the dark just talking about hopes and dreams and fears and everything that excites us and is happy. We are good for eachother.
I love it here, I am happy and doing well. Food stinks. Class is long. It is fantastic. I love you all and hope to keep you in my prayers and know that you will all do good wherever you are. Peace be upon you. Lovesies. :)
Starjesina Adams
Please keep Elder Adams in your prayers...specifically that the language will come to him quickly and that he will stay healthy. Thanks for following the blog. It is going to be a great adventure.
Thug life!
Hey, this is Starjesina Adams checking in from the wonderfully adventurous area that is the Provo MTC! Absolutely loving it here and am really excited for the next few weeks to come. Over-verbosity out of the way, this is a great place. I really enjoy the classes, my teachers, this beautiful language of Croatian, and especially my classmates and companions. Yes, companions. We were placed in a threesome on our first day because we had an Elder who was supposedly going to Serbia never actually show up. So now Starjesine Harris, Mulder and I form this wonderful crowd. So, you'll have to forgive any typos or things like that but I only get 30 minutes to do this and if not apparently, it doesn't send. Keep that in mind if you don't get a weekly e-mail at about this same time every week. There's a giant red ticker in my screen corner that is now at 23:50... Um, the Mission president said in order to combat this, try and send your e-mails through what is called Dear Elder. Ask Neder what that is all about because I got a letter from her. Saves me time reading on the compy, you know? totes
So, got dropped off, whisked through this whirl-wind adventure that was the first day, got a companion, and then was spoken at in Croatian only in class all day. It rocked. Apparently we are on the new learning schedule that is basically experimental at this point, but they've said that they've seen good results thus far. I mean, on day three we taught our progressing investigator, Urosh, in Croatian. We taught him about prayer and got to know him a little bit on that day, but have since quelled some misconceptions about Jesus Christ, described the Holy Ghost, taught him to pray, and given him a challenge to read Chapter 12 in Eter of the Mormonova Knjiga. So cool. Starjesina Harris and I are teaching companions and Mulder is with Sestra Black, our solo sister in our class. She is great and very upbeat. I really do like my class. So much fun. It actually is pretty cool because we went around the room and everyone in my class has had at least a little bit of foreign language study. We have latin, greek, arabic, german, japanese, spanish, portugeuse, french and italian students. Sestra Black is even a Com. D. major at the Y. We all have a lot in common and are just loving helping each other out.
I want to talk about Sunday cuz it was pretty cool. lawlz. Um, so we had a lot of meetings which were pretty decent, and no class which was a nice break, but the best part of it all was our Branch President's talk in Sacrament. Well, first we had two talks by random selection (we all have to prep a talk for Sunday, this one was on the Atonement) and then a musical number and then he spoke. His name is President Creer. Really great guy, loving, compasionate, understanding of a lot of the things that we are going through. I really liked it. Well, I guess the real best part of Sunday was the fireside. We had a guy talk about the wonder of Repentance and he took the word back to its root in Greek, Latin, and Hebrew and apparantly it's another fake word like Atonement and so is misleading. I'd always assumed that pain and sorrow went with it, but he talked about how exciting and joyful the whole thing can and should be because heck, we get to change! It's nice. Like. ya.
I absolutely loved your package that you sent! I actually got it yesterday, though I was given the slip to go pick it up on Saturday. Problem is, the post office here closes on Saturday at 2 o'clock. All other days it's open until 8, but not so on Saturday. Whatevuhs though. 'Course, you and CarolAnn have got to be in some weird competition because I also got a wonderful package of carmel brownies yesterday too. I used a package of them to bribe my District into liking my little evening devotional. Remind me to talk about my district... So ya, totally have been showered with mail and packages and just love. I love you guys. So much. :)
So my district. We are just the Slovenes and Croats led by a Slovene, Staresina Defreitas, who is fantastic. From Virginia, really great guy. His companion is Staresina Bateman. Looks like the Washington Batemans. No relationship. In the Croats there are Elders Marcek Armond Smith Bishop Harris Adams Mulder and Sestra Black. It's great. The Elders hang out for study and stuff and its really nice. We get along really well. In our Zone we have the Slovaks, Czechs, Bulgarians, Croats, Slovenes and Serbs. Our Branch also has some Jamaicans and Las Vegas'ns... So we're a little wide spread.
I get snail mail whenever it arrives twice a day and whatever Dear Elders are sent we get that day. Thanks so much for forwarding my letter from Kyra! What a kidder... :) I like mail. So. Ya.
I know basically like half of the people in the MTC from my student ward and just work and stuff. Elder Mulder is always on my case about my supposed popularity. I think it just peeves him because he's from Utah and knows like one person here maybe. But ya, I've seen Scott, Steele, and a ton of my friends from school. We see the Colombians and Russians and Hungarians everywhere. We have a good time joshing eachother.
So, Elder Mulder. I really like this man. Like, I really do. He and I just clicked and are able to just totally screw with eachother and laugh and at the same time be totally serious. It's way nice. He's a philosophe who knows basically everything about the Scriptures. He likes conspiracy theories in them and stuff like that. We just talk and talk and talk about everything and it's nice. Friend fo life fo sho. I really just want what's good for him and he for me. We like to play with what we know of the language and I like to listen and learn to everything he knows. Last night Starjesina Harris prayed for our companionship in croatian and we had a really strong sense of the Spirit and everything was nice and so I lost my composure a little bit. He just looked at me and asked if I'd be okay and then we stayed up for like another hour in the dark just talking about hopes and dreams and fears and everything that excites us and is happy. We are good for eachother.
I love it here, I am happy and doing well. Food stinks. Class is long. It is fantastic. I love you all and hope to keep you in my prayers and know that you will all do good wherever you are. Peace be upon you. Lovesies. :)
Starjesina Adams
Please keep Elder Adams in your prayers...specifically that the language will come to him quickly and that he will stay healthy. Thanks for following the blog. It is going to be a great adventure.
It came....it came...it came!!!!!
At last, the long awaited first letter arrived....short, sweet, and to the point...but nothing could be better than seeing his name on the return address. It was handwritten, so I will just type it for you all:
Moje obitalje!
This is the part where I tell yo that I'm alive and well and absolutely loving this. My P-day is on Tuesday so I'll get 30 mins. to e-mail you on that day sometime.
My classes are fantastic, upbeat, quick. My companions (in a threesome; the Serb didn't show up...:/) are incredible. I love it here. I love Croatia, Croatians and the people here. Love love. TTYL :)
Chase
07/10/2011
More news to come....how exciting!!!
Moje obitalje!
This is the part where I tell yo that I'm alive and well and absolutely loving this. My P-day is on Tuesday so I'll get 30 mins. to e-mail you on that day sometime.
My classes are fantastic, upbeat, quick. My companions (in a threesome; the Serb didn't show up...:/) are incredible. I love it here. I love Croatia, Croatians and the people here. Love love. TTYL :)
Chase
07/10/2011
More news to come....how exciting!!!
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
The Beginning
After many lasts...last July 4th, last lunch with his family, last time on BYU campus, Chase entered the MTC today at 12:45pm.
Elder Adams and his sister, Bethany and brother-in-law Seth, began the short walk to the MTC (missionary training center) from Bethany's apartment. Only feet away from his destination, he was told that he would have to arrive by car...why? We're not sure. But, Seth ran the few blocks back to their house and drove the car to pick Bethany and Chase up to drive across the street. There were many missionaries saying their farewell's to loved ones. Other missionaries where waiting to escort Chase to his new home away from home inside the MTC. Just as Chase was about to walk in the door, out rushed Adam Jacob's, a dear friend who had arrived at the MTC 2 weeks ago. It was a great reunion..what an awesome way to start his new adventure.
Now Chase is hard at work...okay probably sleeping, but ready to get to work, learning and growing. We will post letters, emails, pictures and any info we get so you can join in our journey.
Check out the video on my facebook....it is wonderful.
Elder Adams and his sister, Bethany and brother-in-law Seth, began the short walk to the MTC (missionary training center) from Bethany's apartment. Only feet away from his destination, he was told that he would have to arrive by car...why? We're not sure. But, Seth ran the few blocks back to their house and drove the car to pick Bethany and Chase up to drive across the street. There were many missionaries saying their farewell's to loved ones. Other missionaries where waiting to escort Chase to his new home away from home inside the MTC. Just as Chase was about to walk in the door, out rushed Adam Jacob's, a dear friend who had arrived at the MTC 2 weeks ago. It was a great reunion..what an awesome way to start his new adventure.
Now Chase is hard at work...okay probably sleeping, but ready to get to work, learning and growing. We will post letters, emails, pictures and any info we get so you can join in our journey.
Check out the video on my facebook....it is wonderful.
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