Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Almost all the girls from my zone
Our names on the door from the Phii Thais
The Map!
Holy huge stack of books!

"Be Careful What You Wish For"

Hello Wonderful Amazing Family!!!
 
Yaaaaaaaaaay! I finally get to email home!!! Happy Pday!!! And this is much faster than trying to handwrite, you'll probably be able to read it better, too!
 
So.... I don't really remember what I wrote in my last letters. Did you get them all? I sent three, I think!
But, yes, there are 18 of us new Thais. 3 elders and 6 sisters in my district. We have Elder Hogan (DL), Elder Black, and Elder Proctor; Sisters Greenwood, Tilley, Muller, Speas, Narayana, and me! Loooooove my district and love my zone! The "phii" (older) Thais are leaving in about two weeks to Thailand and they have been very welcoming. So, soon we'll be the phii thais welcoming in the noong Thais!! Dii Maag!
 
So, I want to answer as many questions as possible and tell you everything I can!
Sister Narayanan is great! She's from California but she was born in India. Her family is Hindu, but are not strict at all and totally support her joining the church. She has a great convert perspective that is really refreshing! I love it and can't wait to see what I learn from her!
 
Also, what I learned this week: be careful what you wish for. I was so nervous about not being able to get in a good work out once I started my mission... I should never have worried. Sister Narayanan is a marathoner and waaaaay into fitness! So, I was excited the first time that we decided to go out for a run (on Monday). She knew that I did half marathons so she must have assumed that I was in super good shape. No. That afternoon we went on a 5 mile SPRINT!!!! I almost died, I really was about to roll across our door into our bedroom! So, I definitely got my wish and then some! And, we also get up a half hour early every day to go run  before we get ready in the morning... and then we have fifty minutes in the gym later in the day. So, needless to say, my companion is going to keep me in shape whether or not I want to! (I do want to! haha) It's great! And kind of funny.
 
My teacher's name is Brother Burgess; however, he may not be for long, I think they kind of switch the teachers around, I'm not really sure still how everything works yet. But, he's great and I really like class.
 
But Thai seriously is sooooo fun! I love love love this language. We have taught our fake investigator, Dtam, 3 times now, and we have a lesson with him tonight. It's definitely been a learning experience! I can already tell that we're quickly improving. Tonight my goal is to give the lesson without notes! We'll see how that goes! haha We are teaching about the Plan of Salvation. Sister N. and I make the outline of our lesson in English, pick what we each want to talk about, then practice our parts in Thai. Our lessons are always less than ten minutes, but we're off to a good start! I love it! Can't wait until we are teaching real investigators.
We do a lot with the other district. Their classroom and residence is right next door to ours, so I can tell we are all going to be great friends. On our floor (there are 4 floors in our building) there are about 60-70 sisters. They are all going to different places!
That is awesome what Monica said about the temple. How awesome to be a part of this work at this time! Let's hope we all work as hard as we can to get that temple!!!!
So, a typical day: (it changes everyday)
(6:00: go for a run)
6:30- get ready
7:30- breakfast
8:05-11:05- classroom
11:05-12:20- personal study (which we just do in the classroom)
12:20-1:05- lunch
1:05-4:05- classroom
4:05-5:20- dinner
6:05-9:30- study/computer study/personal planning/ service/ devotional.... depends on the day!
That is sort of what a day is like... basically most of our time we are in our classroom studying! Or outside studying if it is nice out!
I didn't realize how much unstructured time we have. We have huge chunks during the day where we can use it to study however/whatever we like. For some reason I always thought that we'd be with a teacher, but we actually have a lot of time by ourselves to study what we want... which is good and makes sense!
Also, I am so glad that you are having so many missionary experiences/ support from friends! That is so awesome! And how sweet of Kellie to bring over that Sees gift! So nice!
The cafeteria has a good variety of food, but the main meals are pretty unappetizing to me. So, they have a great salad/wrap/soup bar, cereal, veggies, fruits... you can definitely eat healthy if you want to!
I love you all soooooooooooooo much! :)
Think of any questions you have, things I didn't cover!
Love,
 
Liz :)

Monday, May 6, 2013

First Letter! (excerpts)

First day as a missionary! Wahoo! So, I'm just going to keep adding to this letter as the day goes on.

Right after you dropped me off I was taken by the two host missionaries to get my nametag, MTC card, schedule and HUGE stack of books. The hosts said they've never seen a pile that big!! haha
 Then they took me to my room to drop off my suitcases. Looks like there's going to be six of us in our room. Next they took me to my classroom!!

It was so fun because I could understand everything that my teacher said in that first hour. Sooo grateful that I took that Thai class! We just kind of sat in the classroom until our whole district showed up. My companion was already waiting for me! Her name is Sister Narayanan and she is of Indian origin (as in the country of India), but she is from Sacramento, CA. and is a fairly recent convert...haven't got her whole story yet.

Our district has three Elders and six Sisters. Sister N. is super sweet and I think we're going to get along really well. The other four sisters in our district; Sis. Tilley, Sister Greenwood, Sis. Mullen and Sis. Speas. Once all the districts assembled we had a welcome from the MTC presidency and then went to dinner. Turns out my companion got baptized two Februaries ago. She is also....drumroll...a marathon runner!! Hallelujah! What a blessing. I am so happy about that. You'll like this mom- she also is a marathon-iron-er...she hates wrinkled clothing! ha ha  These companionships are divinely inspired! I LOVE my roommates/district. They are cute and funny and so very nice.

I am so excited to start out with three hours of Thai class in the morning!

My p-day is Wed. and I go to the temple @7:30 in the morning. So... no e-mails until Wednesday.
I love you!
Liz



Wednesday, May 1, 2013