How's life?
I got some bad news, a missionary wrote my teacher and told him that they are delaying the Kyiv Temple dedication till 2011. So I will not be there for that marvelous event. We also learned this week that we will be leaving on July 7th, which is a week earlier than I had planned! I am anxious to get out of the MTC, but I know I need a lot more preparation time.
A sister in my branch had this quote that I thought was amazing, it is by President Spencer W. Kimball:
"Many young women are serving missions! Many are preparing to serve. Not because they are not married, but because they have a desire to serve. Therefore are called to the work! The reason so many are going is because in the next generation Heavenly Father will be sending His priesthood army to the earth and He wants to send them to mothers who have been properly trained and taught in the gospel! And what better training can a young woman have than that of serving a mission?!"
I have never thought of the reason before why I have always had the desire to serve, so I think that is really amazing that a Prophet of the Lord said that! It gives me an extra boost of purpose for my mission, I love it!
For the TRC tomorrow, we are going to pretend we are over at someone's house for dinner and we have to talk about foods we like and don't like and other dinner related phrases. In preparation for the TRC, our teachers told us all about Ukrainian food and how awesome it is! She left us all with our mouths drooling and stomachs grumbling!
But, aside from that, we have to give the whole first lesson in Ukrainian for 35 minutes! I really do not feel prepared at all, I think tomorrow night will be the worst night so far!
I don't think I've written yet about my branch presidency, I love them so much! President Callister was a mission president in Russia a few years ago, he even taught himself Russian- he is so wise, Brother Willkie was a Stake president for the students at BYU- he has eyes that search your soul and reflect the love of the Spirit, and Brother Waits has the funniest laugh and always a smile on his face. All of their wives are soo sweet to us and I can really tell that they care about us so much and really want to know what is going on in our lives. I just wanted to pay a small tribute to them because I greatly appreciate the love and support that they gave given me here. I hope to never forget them.
Oops, times up!
Meagen
5-26-09
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Hello everybody!
Well, since last week when I got to see and hear from Elder Nelson and his wife, I have also seen Sister Lant the General Primary President for the Church. After she gave her talk in Relief Society she met with the sisters out front. My companion and I were one of the first to meet her and she is so nice! She recognized our nametags as being Ukrainian, and told us that last year, she and her husband worked at the temple site there in Kyiv. She said it was such a beautiful country, and she loved it!
This week for TRC, we are going to "help someone move" because missionaries do a lot of that, I guess (I should know!) Plus it helps us learn the vocab for household items and items for cleaning. This week is the last one that we get to give the actual missionary discussion in English! Yup, next week it is entirely Ukrainian! We have already started on writing out the first lesson in Ukrainian, and it is sooo much to remember!
Our teacher gave us a huge lecture on having desire the other day, because we're not moving as fast along as she'd like us to. I think that I do have the desire, but I don't know what to do about it!
The native Eastern Europeans are leaving next week, along with all of the other Russian/Ukraine bound missionaries that where hear before us. I will miss them so much! It will be good practice to say goodbye to fellow missionaries, because I'll be doing that a lot when I get to Ukraine. I can't believe how close we have gotten in the few weeks that we have been together! Now I think I have a tiny glimpse as to the feelings you all had when I left!
Meg
5-19-09
This week for TRC, we are going to "help someone move" because missionaries do a lot of that, I guess (I should know!) Plus it helps us learn the vocab for household items and items for cleaning. This week is the last one that we get to give the actual missionary discussion in English! Yup, next week it is entirely Ukrainian! We have already started on writing out the first lesson in Ukrainian, and it is sooo much to remember!
Our teacher gave us a huge lecture on having desire the other day, because we're not moving as fast along as she'd like us to. I think that I do have the desire, but I don't know what to do about it!
The native Eastern Europeans are leaving next week, along with all of the other Russian/Ukraine bound missionaries that where hear before us. I will miss them so much! It will be good practice to say goodbye to fellow missionaries, because I'll be doing that a lot when I get to Ukraine. I can't believe how close we have gotten in the few weeks that we have been together! Now I think I have a tiny glimpse as to the feelings you all had when I left!
Meg
5-19-09
Elder Russell M. Nelson!
That's right-you heard me! Two Apostles in two weeks! Both with "Russell" and "M" in their names! I totally wasn't expecting it because we had just had one and the gym is being worked on so we were meeting in a smaller building, but we got good seats anyways! It is so amazing because we were just sitting there singing the prelude music watching for whatever devotional speaker is going to be, then everyone stands up and you look to see why and there is one the Twelve, right there, in real life! He is so great, when he got to the stand, he remarked "Quick Choir" complementing us on how fast we all stood up while we were singing. He has such a fun and lively personality that is readily evident in person. His wife, Wendy W. Nelson, first spoke to us and she is awesome - I've heard her before when I was in Florida. She told us to doubt not and fear not, but to rejoice in the light of Christ, and to live everyday as we will wish to have lived when we reach the end of this life. Elder Nelson spoke mostly about 1st impressions and how we must reflect the Savior in all that we do. He encouraged us to personally study the Savior by going through all the pages about Him in the Topical Guide - one topic per week, because the only way we can help others to come to Christ is if we know of Him ourselves. There are so many other great truths he shared with us, but there is no way I can write it all right now, so this will have to do.
Meg
5-12-09
Meg
5-12-09
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Shcho-takeh!
That is my district's favorite word! It translates to mean, "What's this?" or "What the?" although that is not the literal translation. When the Elders in my district say it really loud and angrily it is very funny! So go ahead and start using it, because I will surely be using it when I get back. You may have to find a Ukrainian to ask them how to pronounce it, because it is so different from English that I cannot type it with English letters.
Well, nothing more to report then getting to hear from one of the Twelve Apostles last week. It will probably be a while if at all when I get that privilege again here at the MTC.
This week for the TRC we will be picking up a person to take on the bus with us to church, asking them about their work or school, what they did during the week and following up on commitments- all in Ukrainian. Of course I do not feel prepared! But by tomorrow night I hope to work something out of my ever-shrinking-and-expanding brain!
Just to give you a hint at how difficult the language is besides all of the crazy vocab with all strange consonants being smushed together. There is the grammar! There are three different charts for verb conjugations with two options for each chart depending on the ending of each verb. Then for all the nouns, there are seven different cases that are needed to either add an ending or change an ending, including: the accusative case, the genitive case, the instrumental case and the locative case. Each case with masculine, neuter, and feminine endings, and with two options to each case whether they are a soft or hard ending. Then there is the adjectives, they are maybe the easiest because they follow the noun, which is why so much of Ukrainian is rhyming. But there are also many exceptions to each rule! I can loose my mind if I start thinking about it too much! That's why I need lots and lots of prayers!
Love always,
Meg
5-12-09
Well, nothing more to report then getting to hear from one of the Twelve Apostles last week. It will probably be a while if at all when I get that privilege again here at the MTC.
This week for the TRC we will be picking up a person to take on the bus with us to church, asking them about their work or school, what they did during the week and following up on commitments- all in Ukrainian. Of course I do not feel prepared! But by tomorrow night I hope to work something out of my ever-shrinking-and-expanding brain!
Just to give you a hint at how difficult the language is besides all of the crazy vocab with all strange consonants being smushed together. There is the grammar! There are three different charts for verb conjugations with two options for each chart depending on the ending of each verb. Then for all the nouns, there are seven different cases that are needed to either add an ending or change an ending, including: the accusative case, the genitive case, the instrumental case and the locative case. Each case with masculine, neuter, and feminine endings, and with two options to each case whether they are a soft or hard ending. Then there is the adjectives, they are maybe the easiest because they follow the noun, which is why so much of Ukrainian is rhyming. But there are also many exceptions to each rule! I can loose my mind if I start thinking about it too much! That's why I need lots and lots of prayers!
Love always,
Meg
5-12-09
Hey!
For the devotional on Tuesday night we had the pleasure of having M. Russell Ballard of the quorum of the 12 apostles speak to us! It was so amazing! And I was only sitting seven rows away from him! He has a very down-to-earth personality that I don't think you can catch during his talks at conference. He spoke to us on the principle of desire and how that is the most important thing we can have as missionaries. I'd never thought about it before, but it is so true! The word "desire" is all over the scriptures even! At the conclusion he gave us an apostolic belssing in which he blessed us to be ever aware of our surrondings, have the gift of dissernment, and to have the Holy Ghost as our constant companion, and to have the desire to do the Lord's work fill our hearts. It was amazing! The spirit was so strong! It is a different experience to watch apostles on T.V. but to be in their presence!-Nothing is like it! I hope so much that the dedication of the Kyiv temple will happen when I'm there so I might even get to see a Prophet!
Love,
Meg 5-7-09
Love,
Meg 5-7-09
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Greetings from the MTC!
Dobre Dayn!
Tomorrow will be my two week mark here at the MTC, but it feels like I have been here forever! Yet, I feel I haven't learned anything! I can't even remember what life was like before this. It is starting to become routine, but I still am running late for my classes. It is also still hard for me to stay awake for the ten+ hours a day that I am in the classroom especially in the morning and after lunch.
Tomorrow, our "task" in the TRC (teaching resource center) is to contact someone, ask about their family, work, hobbies, where they are from, and testify of the eternal family. - All in Ukrainian! I feel like I am not ready for it, but ready or not, it will happen! I thought twelve weeks here was going to be plenty of time to learn a little of the language, but they are going by so fast, I am going to be in Ukraine before I know it!
The five of us Ukrainian speaking missionaries are in a branch with all of the Russian speaking missionaries. So we got a huge group of native Russians who are here for one month to be trained to be a missionary and then are going back to Russia to serve. They are so cool! And it is also very frustrating because since we are learning Ukrainian we can not speak to them unless they know English which very few do. There are three though, who are from Kiev and speak both Ukrainian and Russian, and they try to help us out with the language, but I think that it is more confusing than helpful! This morning, we had the wonderful opportunity to attend the Provo Temple with them as most of them, it was their first time because they do not have a temple close to their home. It was a very sweet experience.
Being a missionary is the absolute hardest thing I've ever done, and it is the most wonderful! I am truly surrounded by the spirit every second of everyday!
I absolutely love the firesides and devotionals here! They are so inspiring and remind me of my purpose and give me strength! There is nothing like being in a huge room with thousands of missionaries singing praises and having the most reverence for the speakers! I wish everyone could have the experience!
-Meg
Tomorrow will be my two week mark here at the MTC, but it feels like I have been here forever! Yet, I feel I haven't learned anything! I can't even remember what life was like before this. It is starting to become routine, but I still am running late for my classes. It is also still hard for me to stay awake for the ten+ hours a day that I am in the classroom especially in the morning and after lunch.
Tomorrow, our "task" in the TRC (teaching resource center) is to contact someone, ask about their family, work, hobbies, where they are from, and testify of the eternal family. - All in Ukrainian! I feel like I am not ready for it, but ready or not, it will happen! I thought twelve weeks here was going to be plenty of time to learn a little of the language, but they are going by so fast, I am going to be in Ukraine before I know it!
The five of us Ukrainian speaking missionaries are in a branch with all of the Russian speaking missionaries. So we got a huge group of native Russians who are here for one month to be trained to be a missionary and then are going back to Russia to serve. They are so cool! And it is also very frustrating because since we are learning Ukrainian we can not speak to them unless they know English which very few do. There are three though, who are from Kiev and speak both Ukrainian and Russian, and they try to help us out with the language, but I think that it is more confusing than helpful! This morning, we had the wonderful opportunity to attend the Provo Temple with them as most of them, it was their first time because they do not have a temple close to their home. It was a very sweet experience.
Being a missionary is the absolute hardest thing I've ever done, and it is the most wonderful! I am truly surrounded by the spirit every second of everyday!
I absolutely love the firesides and devotionals here! They are so inspiring and remind me of my purpose and give me strength! There is nothing like being in a huge room with thousands of missionaries singing praises and having the most reverence for the speakers! I wish everyone could have the experience!
-Meg
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