Week Three, or Awesome

Sister Lily keeps a mini-diary of sentence-long synopses of every day, and after reviewing this week's details, we have decided our email theme today is : awesome. A sad little beach-bum sort of word, I know, but it seems to carry with it the enthusiasm and, yes, awe, that we've felt these past seven days.

First, right after my last email we walked up to the temple, where we do endowment sessions every week as a District. Always great, but this time in particular because Sister J had brought us all Indonesian names from friends and family in Jakarta. .......

Second, we taught another lesson to another "investigator." It would have been cool enough just having him there -- he was one of the first Elders ever to serve in Indonesia and helped translate the BoM -- but our lesson was stunning. WE weren't necessarily stunning, but the Spirit working through us most definitely was. I find a strength and steadiness in preaching this Gospel that disquiets every fear my naturally shy self harbors, and that is truly, truly a miracle.

But we returned home from our triumph to find what we fondly call "The Black Spot" on our apartment door-- the announcement that FOUR new sisters would be moving in on Wednesday and, in effect, our solo suite days were over. After the proper period of mourning, however, we girded up our loins (SisL loves saying this to make me squirm) and set to make the most of it -- in the form of maybe the most awesome fort the MTC has ever seen.

Plus, we shared it. We had new sisters arrive last week and settle in our branch -- six girls off to Mongolia after a long three months here trying to get the crazy language down. This is much happiness, especially since only a few nights before their arrival Elder G asked us, none too tactfully, "So . . .do you Sisters have any . . .friends?" It's a very good thing he has Elder M around to set things straight ("Other than us, of course," he said, all too hurriedly.)

But yes, we do have friends. . .we had a pajama party from 9:30 to 10:15 . . .It was quite the success, and such good fun that this tradition carried over until this Tuesday, when we finally had to take down the fort in anticipation of the new sisters' arrival. ........

So, pretty awesome, right? Except for yesterday, when life decided to be hard and I had one whopper of a migraine that simply wouldn't go away. I was in bed all day and, compounded with a sinus-y thing going around these days, could barely lift my head up to talk with SisL who, bless her heart, didn't leave me all day (not that she actually could, but you know. the gesture's nice.) But don't worry a bit about me -- remember the awesome part of this theme? Well, the Elders are awesome. Because just after dinner, after having missed every meal that day and not seen a single one of them at all, a sister knocked on our door with instructions to find the Indonesian Sister-Sister and deliver a care package all eight of them had put together for us, complete with candy, notes and all our mail from the day. We really don't deserve them.

So, everything else that happened that I didn't manage to say: SisL's birthday was the most incredible success . . .she wore her flashing tiara and also the tie that the Elders had so lovingly signed and wrapped for her in paper towels and duct tape. ....... Thank you for all the letters, the packages, even the smallest bits of news from home; I love it all.

kasihlah,
E

A to the Q and Week Two in Review

Family!
I'm skipping all the hey-how-are-you intro to get to the meat of the thing, as already my time is three minutes in and we've got a lot to cover. But you know I love you, right? Because I do. Lots.

So. Sister L., aka Sister Lily as I have the great pleasure of being paired with a companion whose last name is harder to pronounce than my own. It's really ridiculous that I haven't told you much about her, seeing as she's most important these days, but I realized I haven't said anything because we're such kindred spirits I just supposed you already knew her.
---
And here's what we do everyday. Really. Every day. All day. Never changing. (not complaining):
6:30---out of bed
7:00---in the classroom, personal study.
8:00---breakfast.
8:30---opening hymn, prayer, and then into class until
12:30---lunch
1:15---opening hymn, prayer, and then into class until
5:30---dinner
6:15---opening hymn, prayer, and then into class until
9:00---daily planning, closing hymn and prayer
9:30---back at apartment, ready for bed, journal, talk, share secrets, general laughter and much hilarity until lights out at
10:30.

This schedule is followed more or less without variation on a daily basis, unless it's Tuesday, where we have an evening devotional; Thursday, when we have out Preparation Day and get this half hour to email you; Saturday, when we spend the morning doing our service hours; and Sunday, when we go to church, choir practice, and a fireside. Also included in every day is an hour for Companionship Study (favorit saya) and Language Study, to be fit in whenever the teacher feels like being done with class and letting us loose to learn on our own.

Which brings me to the language, which is still mostly the best part of being here---it is simply unreal the progress we've made in only two weeks, but it only reminds us how much more there is to know. Sis. Lily and I have been most diligent in applying it to our gospel studies, and actually taught a 30-minute lesson on the Restoration dalam Bahasa Indonesia TANPA CATATAN!! (that's without notes. And yes, yes that deserved capitalization.) We'll see if we can repeat such a feat this Saturday with our next "investigator" and until then continue to hone our skillz with a lot of memorization, which drives the Elders crazy. We've already memorized Our Purpose, the First Vision, and have pounded out the first four Articles of Faith before they even thought of doing such a thing. I mean, not that we're proud of it, or anything . . .

Oh, PE. We have 50 minutes in the gym everyday but P-Days, and I usually run the track, play volleyball with the District, or shoot hoops with Sis. L. Yesterday, however, we told the Elders that I am a certified yoga instructor and they have all signed up for a class tomorrow that Sis. L. and I are frantically pulling together so as to maximize the spiritual experience of yoga and look as legit as possible. I'll let you know how that goes. But Elder N. in pigeon pose? It's just too much not to pass up.
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This week has slowed down a bit from last; Sis Lily and I haven't felt quite as productive but we realized that is because we haven't learned nearly as much as we did in the first seven days. I think it's because we've moved into review, so there's not a lot of new stuff, but it should pick up again next week.

Even so, we've been ridiculously tired. Which leads me to my next topic: the Modern Day Miracle.

Tuesday morning we were ready to fall flat on our faces in exhaustion, and it was only 8:15 AM. All we wanted, all we needed, was a minute's rest, a few seconds to lay down and shut our eyes. And so God gave us the Room of Requirement.

Actually, there's a lot of comparisons re: Hogwarts/MTC here which I'm not going to go into but I'm sure you can figure out. Suffice to say, on this particular morning of no energy and little patience, we passed a door we'd passed several times, always wondering what was inside but finding it locked. That morning, SisL. joked that we should try just one more time, and I gave it a playful push. It opened. Jaws dropped. I pushed it open wider. A whole room. Dark. Sis Lily flipped on the lights.

Beds. Two of them. Two beds and a full-length mirror, plus a TV and a small bowl of M+Ms.

The next day, rejuvenated and energetic once more, we tried the door just for kicks. It didn't budge a bit.

So there you go, folks. Church is True. Now we're off to the bait suci (why do we use the arabic word for 'house' there? I don't know.) and then again to class. One minute, so I'll just say this: Kasih. Banyak banyak.

selalu,

E.

Email Excerpts : : : 09 July 09

dear family,

[some stats]

One (1) companion.

Sister L. is quite literally the best.

Twenty-One (21) Indonesian Speaking Missionaries.

Take a good look at that number. Twenty-one! This is the most ever Indonesian- speaking missionaries they've taught here at the MTC, so we're setting records every day. The last group they sent out was a mere eight, which means we've double-plussed the numbers and hopefully that's just the beginning. We had to split the district in half with so many of us here, so 11 Elders are in one class, all headed to Singapore, and we two sisters and the other 8 Elders make up District 52, of which 5 are bound for Singapore as well and the other half are off to Jakarta.

Three (3) Elders to Indonesia.

My District is, of course, the best . . .Everyone here is so ready to learn and willing to serve. . . maybe I'm a little biased, but they certainly saved the best three for Indonesia.

. . . this MTC business is definitely an experiment in social behavior. Three meals a day with 19-year-old boys? Dinner topics thus far have included: cars, motorcycles, football, pyrotechnics, and a number of farcical story-tellings that have to be the stuff of Mormon Myth. But they also make every day more fun than it could be, playing with the language so we know really important things like Who's Your Daddy? (Siapa Bapak Anda?) and awkward turtle (risih punyha). They're such gentlemen and treat us girls really well. All in all, such the best.

Which leaves me with seven minutes and all the rest to tell you (can I explain to you how dearly I hate that little ticker in the right hand corner that counts the time? no, no I cannot.). The language is my most favorite part of the day---I love how the words are so conducive to play and laughter. One of our favorite things about it is the double-noun to make a plural; we call each other Elder-Elder or Sister-Sister in groups and it's just as amusing today as it was last week. N___ decided yesterday that we could say Indonesia batu-batu for Indonesia Rocks! which really doesn't work at all but is such a lovely effort that it's a part of our permanent vocabulary today. We've learned how to bear testimony, pray, and teach lesson one---which, according to other foreign language missionaries here, is absolutely insane.

Apparently most people don't teach until their second week here, but we're being pushed to the max and it's absolutely exhilarating. Teaching still scares me mostly half to death but we had a practice run yesterday and it went all right----certainly with two more days of 7-9 study we'll make it through.

xoxo

E

In which we get our first letter:::

and learn some Indonesian. . .

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

:::01 July 09:::

Fare thee well, Sister E.

e.rhondeau//farewell // june 28 2009

Excerpt from talk:

The night before opening my call, I dreamt I stopped in at the BYU Bookstore to pick up a class-required Mission Prep manual. It's a slim volume, only a few dollars and all of sixty pages, yet by the time I arrived home the book was the size of a small elephant. This development, however, didn't seem to phase my dream-self until I opened the package and evaluated its contents, stunned. The thing was packed. I began pulling out skirts, shirts, dresses and shoes as well as books binders, notes and charts until things began to get even more metaphorical and I was reaching at slamming doors and absent investigators, difficult companions and alarm clocks set to six a.m. Panicked, I shoved everything back into the box and raced back to the bookstore.

The girl at the register listened politely to my predicament, but then informed me that a return was impossible. "But this wasn't what I asked for!" I explained frantically. "This isn't what I expected!" She smiled apologetically but simply pointed behind me to the box which, while now the size of a 4-door sedan, was also completely transparent.

Turns out my subconscious isn't all that subtle---I awoke to the sheer terror of it all: what on earth have I gotten myself into? The question was heightened that morning by the uncertainty of a future outlined in a white envelope, but I think quite a lot of us field the same panic every day, forgetting the counsel in Doctrine and Covenants 38:30:if ye are prepared ye shall not fear. And still this scripture might only bring about more questions. What does it mean, to be prepared? To be ready, to be strong? And what, in the end, are we preparing for? There are any number of spiritual surprises that strive to shake us. Yet these great things are made up of the small and simple, and the preparation I would like to talk about this morning is in the day to day baby steps of living; the steps that daily bring us closer to God and prepare us to become as followers of Christ.

In my very limited experience, I have found that this preparation is in knowing, doing, and being. First, we must seek to KNOW. This could easily be a list of the usual: go to church, read your scriptures, say your prayers. We know these constants and strive to live by them--- and yet by knowing these foundational principles, we are held to a higher task. To truly be prepared, we must actively search out truth, or as the prophet Joseph Smith said,

"[thy mind] must stretch as high as the utmost heavens, and search into and contemplate the darkest abyss, and the broad expanse of eternity---thou must commune with God."

dear family,

I would tell you how much I love you

but I don't think anyone's invented words
for something like the way I feel.

Except for maybe that
{ i love you thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiisss much }
and also
a hundred trillion swedish fish.

thanks for
teasing me when I'm too much drama,
hugging me every time I come home,
indulging my love of books + language,
growing peonies in the front garden,
learning the jai ho dance,
pretending that sometimes I'm funny,
and
taking care of my blog while I'm away.

{ eighteen months is really nothing, you know. }

I love you.
xoxo.
E.