Happy Pioneer Day Monday!

Oh so much to share! This week has been out of this world.

 

Okay well first of all my best friend Sister Morrison left the MTC. She is seriously the funniest sister at the MTC. In the evenings I would literally roll on the floor laughing. I miss her greatly already. She is going to Jersey :] Her district was quite the hoot as well. One of the missionaries in that district, decided he has a gift to find out what each of our spirit animals are. Surprising he was very right about his gift. He's nailed everyone almost perfectly. Last week in our zone we had a walrus, chipmunk, pigeon, pug, gazelle, vulture, flamingo, rat, koala, buffalo, panda, and a bush baby. Oh good times! Can you guess what I am? Yep a kangaroo. Never would have thought that, but I thought he nailed it perfectly.

 

This week I also got to leave the MTC! and they let us back in! Haha.  No my companion, Sister Furnell has tendonitis. Yep from signing. Poor thing. Its very painful and even more painful to sign. We were are going to the physical therapist in Provo for her to have treatment twice a week. It was awesome getting out of the MTC bubble, but at the same time it was strange. The real world has become this foreign unreal thing.

 

So currently I have had a very interesting realtionship with the zone leaders and seeing we have 5 meetings a week together things have been quite fun. We're working on solving our problems and moving on. But yeah it sure has made for a pretty dramatic week. I wish I could say I dont like it. I dislike the fact that we don't have the ideal relationship, but it sure spices things up.  Haha.

 

ASL is coming along. Its either I'm super bored with it or I've been very humbled by the fact that I cannot understand half of what deaf people are saying when they sign their normal speed: SUPER FAST! I'm working on it and fervently asking the Lord for help to grasp the language. Please pray for me to learn ASL better. I need as much as I can get in the next three weeks. Oh and yes I leave in 18 days! They're shipping me out a week earlier than my district so my MTC departure date is Aug 7th. I'll get travel plans next week and I'll let you know what the details are. Any time in the airport I have I can call whomever I'd like. I'm hoping I'll have plenty of time :]

 

Okay so back to ASL. Oh my goodness it's so fun. So ASL grammer is very much opposite of English. So when the missionaries in my district find themselves talking we often find ourselves accidently speaking in ASL grammer instead. So yeah don't be surprised if I come home speaking like Yoda. "Love me you will still then right??" Also the other funny grammer thing we do is the word "not."  When used properly it should be used at the end of a sentence. Its hilarious cause it looks like im saying PYSCH after everything. "Cookies I like, NOT!"  Haha finding fun in the little things here.

 

I'm curently teaching 5 fake investigators in sign language. they're coming along. This week we broke through with success on a few of them.

 

So the ASL classroom is down in the basement with all the ESL missionaries. I feel really quite at home with all the diversity. LOVE IT!  It is quite entertaining. I've made great friends with two elders, one from Hungary and the other from Armenia. Those two elders are quite awesome and its so fun to chat with them. We are always trying to chat with everyone on the floor, so I've picked up a little bit of every language. Okay not really but I keep trying. They are always asking us about ASL and how to say things. So the entire floor is constantly signing "how are you?" We've also taught them "Jesus Christ loves you."  I love them all so much. Funny that other than our zone all of our friends here are learning English.

 

Question for you, what's the difference between the children of Israel, and the house of Israel. Its something I have been trying to find an answer to and I just keep getting confused.  Any insights?

 

Also... I've really been studying my patriarchal blessing a lot since I've been here. Wow it finally popped out the lines that are about missionary work. It's so neat how scripture changes. Not because the scriptures change actually its just our lives and perspective changes. Do you feel comfortable sharing your patriarchal blessings with your children. I think it would be wonderful to share them with each other if you want to do so.  I would love to reshare mine with you mom and dad. Let me know what you think.

 

I am currently in need to classy cute stationary and clothes. I am already sick of the clothes I brought. I'm dying to go shopping the first pday in Sacramento if my trainer lets us. I think I'm just going to wait and buy shoes in the field so I can pick them out myself -- you are are so right that I am too picky, especially when it comes to shoes.

 

Love you all. Don't forget about me. I know the computer is having trouble. Hope it gets fixed soon. that must be very annoying.

 

Sister Oliphant