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