Dear Family,
With Monday's passing we've officially hit the downhill sprint---there's less than a month left here, and we're all feeling the strain of it. On the one hand, we don't ever want to leave this. The familiarity of the MTC, its quirks and charming failures, the family we've found in our little District, the security of always knowing where you're supposed to be and who you should be with. It's going to be quite the farewell when it comes time to split with the Singapore Elders, and all the more heartwrenching when the five of us Indos say sampai jumpa in Jakarta. On the other hand, we're chomping at the bit to hit the field. Every new day here as we learn and teach gives us only the smallest taste of the full joy in missionary work.
Last week we began teaching a progressive investigator---each companionship is assigned one of the teachers and we teach them as if they were actually investigating the church, which puts our lessons in a whole new perspective. We're not just going off outlines anymore, but by situation, need, and (always) the guidance of the Spirit. This has been nothing short of phenomenal. SisLily and I are teaching Disan (aka Brother Merrill), and just yesterday morning taught him about Christ's Atonement and what it means to have faith in our Savior. What is mostly incredible about this is that there we were, sitting cross-legged on the floor of the French tutor room with the same guy that had minutes before taught us the grammar behind KAN and I (you don't want to know, trust me), and it couldn't have felt more real. It gave me an ever-more solid sense of the term "anxiously engaged," and brightens my hope of what's to come.
In other learning news, the language has taken a new turn as we made it a District Goal to begin speaking Indo non-stop every morning from 7:00 to 12:30. Penalties include a push-up for every English word that happens to slip into conversation, or the dunce cap for anyone who dares murmur an entire sentence in our Mother tongue. The process has been fascinating to watch---the strength of speaking a language to learn it is incomparable. We're all on somewhat of an Indo high, which means that we don't so much play with the language anymore as we do butcher it. Seriously, some of these sentences we cobble together could make anyone cringe---but we all love to laugh about it, too and the point is to be understood if not absolutely eloquent (note: we are far from the latter).
This also means we've improved much of our real life vocabulary with really non-relevant words to the life of a missionary but apparently essential to the conversations we've had this week. They're all incredibly fun language-wise, however, so we've got to share. Among them:
gossip: buah bibir, which literally translates to "fruit of the lips"
crush: cinta monyet, or "monkey love"
and
mata main: flirting, lit. "playing eyes"
We also do a right terrible job of translating English phrases over to Indo, which makes our teachers cringe but they simply cannot stop us.
In otherwords, we're doing wonderfully. Still so much to learn and to love. In a letter to Leah this morning I told her about how it's so easy, to talk about what you love---the turquoise door and orange brick at 1920, the way Olivia sings harmony to any melody you throw at her, how Daniel cares for Lucy---and that's what makes missionary work the same. I love to talk of Christ, rejoice in Christ. I love to teach that He lives! and that He is here for us now and always will be. It makes the missing all the easier, though that's not to say it isn't there. I miss you every bit of every day, wishing not that I could come home but just that you could be here with me. It is a beautiful work and a beautiful Gospel---thank you for bringing me up in this Light and such Love.
selalu+selamalamanya,
Sister E.
With Monday's passing we've officially hit the downhill sprint---there's less than a month left here, and we're all feeling the strain of it. On the one hand, we don't ever want to leave this. The familiarity of the MTC, its quirks and charming failures, the family we've found in our little District, the security of always knowing where you're supposed to be and who you should be with. It's going to be quite the farewell when it comes time to split with the Singapore Elders, and all the more heartwrenching when the five of us Indos say sampai jumpa in Jakarta. On the other hand, we're chomping at the bit to hit the field. Every new day here as we learn and teach gives us only the smallest taste of the full joy in missionary work.
Last week we began teaching a progressive investigator---each companionship is assigned one of the teachers and we teach them as if they were actually investigating the church, which puts our lessons in a whole new perspective. We're not just going off outlines anymore, but by situation, need, and (always) the guidance of the Spirit. This has been nothing short of phenomenal. SisLily and I are teaching Disan (aka Brother Merrill), and just yesterday morning taught him about Christ's Atonement and what it means to have faith in our Savior. What is mostly incredible about this is that there we were, sitting cross-legged on the floor of the French tutor room with the same guy that had minutes before taught us the grammar behind KAN and I (you don't want to know, trust me), and it couldn't have felt more real. It gave me an ever-more solid sense of the term "anxiously engaged," and brightens my hope of what's to come.
In other learning news, the language has taken a new turn as we made it a District Goal to begin speaking Indo non-stop every morning from 7:00 to 12:30. Penalties include a push-up for every English word that happens to slip into conversation, or the dunce cap for anyone who dares murmur an entire sentence in our Mother tongue. The process has been fascinating to watch---the strength of speaking a language to learn it is incomparable. We're all on somewhat of an Indo high, which means that we don't so much play with the language anymore as we do butcher it. Seriously, some of these sentences we cobble together could make anyone cringe---but we all love to laugh about it, too and the point is to be understood if not absolutely eloquent (note: we are far from the latter).
This also means we've improved much of our real life vocabulary with really non-relevant words to the life of a missionary but apparently essential to the conversations we've had this week. They're all incredibly fun language-wise, however, so we've got to share. Among them:
gossip: buah bibir, which literally translates to "fruit of the lips"
crush: cinta monyet, or "monkey love"
and
mata main: flirting, lit. "playing eyes"
We also do a right terrible job of translating English phrases over to Indo, which makes our teachers cringe but they simply cannot stop us.
In otherwords, we're doing wonderfully. Still so much to learn and to love. In a letter to Leah this morning I told her about how it's so easy, to talk about what you love---the turquoise door and orange brick at 1920, the way Olivia sings harmony to any melody you throw at her, how Daniel cares for Lucy---and that's what makes missionary work the same. I love to talk of Christ, rejoice in Christ. I love to teach that He lives! and that He is here for us now and always will be. It makes the missing all the easier, though that's not to say it isn't there. I miss you every bit of every day, wishing not that I could come home but just that you could be here with me. It is a beautiful work and a beautiful Gospel---thank you for bringing me up in this Light and such Love.
selalu+selamalamanya,
Sister E.
1 comment:
Ahhhh! Yet again another favourite blog post. The MTC sounds amazing. It's truly even more amazing that missionaries can learn a second language in two months. The part about what we do love is very true to every heart.
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