week 6 - may 28

MY FAMILIA!!!! HOLA!

hi hi hi! thanks for your letters! ok, i need to answer some questions....I got the package with the pics and everything, so thank you! hopefully i will have time to write those cards, but seriously in the MTC, we have no time. You were asking about my visa, we just went in this morning to take our thumbprints and then we have an interview with the Argentine consul next thurs. But they don't tell us anything about our visas, that is the only thing we have done and we just found out that we were doing those 2 things yesterday. But travel plans usually come about 2 weeks before we leave. So ya.my teachers...Hno. DelToro served in Buenos Aires, Argetnina and Hna. Smith in Puerto Rico. We know the Argentine accent, but we are learning "normal spanish" right now. But the Argentines pronounce their "y's" and "ll's" like shhhha. so, como te llama, sounds like como te Shama. It's pretty i think. Also, the teacher next door served in our mission, and so he said he was going to bring in pics for us!! yay, our district gets so excited when we talk about Argentina, which is not very often because right now we are focusing on learning the language and teaching and helping others.

    How is was the wedding!? i mean it's still going on as we speak, but how is everything? Mom, you have to take pics! i want to see what courtney and dave look like and the backyard with all the decortions!! so make sure to take lots of pics! i can't wait to see! Give court and dave a hug for me too please! So excited for them.

    OK! this is for KRIS...where were you on Tues at 4:15pm? i think it was the 25th. because i was outside your house. let me explain....my companions and I have been on a few "fieldtrips" to the outside world because Hna. Buys has had some tooth problems, so we have been to the dentist. And on tues, after the dentist, we went and picked up some other elders at a chiropractic place and i look across the street and see a blue, mazda 3 hatchback! i said to the driver, "where are we, because i'm pretty sure that is my brothers car and that is his house"....so, we are going to be driving over there any way, and our driver stops our van, and sure enough, the liscence is from CA, and there is an IN-IN-OUT sticker next to it. So our driver honks a few times, and we open the door and i yell your name...we waited for about 1 minute, no response, so we went on our way. QUE TRISTE!!! i had such an urge to run up to the door and knock, but i knew that wouldn't be the best idea, so i resisted. I just wanted a hug. I am surprised by how much i miss physical contact with people...the people i love. I miss hugs and just wanted to give you a hug Kris and be on my way. Pero, esta bien. it's all good. Also kris, i got your letter, thanks, it was so good to hear from you. I was really excited! have fun next week! And i need you to send me your made-up missionary lyrics to Stayin' Alive please:) my comps love it, but i only know the chorus.

     But ya, this week has been good. Our district got to be hosts again. this is when the new missionaries come in, you have a host missionary that takes the new one around for the first 15 min they are here. We just check them in, get their key and take them up to their room, we get thier name tags and their books, and then drop them off in their classroom. It's fun! So we did that this week. Favorite quote of the week....our teacher, Hno. DelToro, the other day, we were talking about Argentina and what if we don't ever pick up the language? and he goes, "IF YOU DON"T LEARN SPANISH YOU ARE GOING TO DIE!" and we all just started laughing, and he goes, "but you will, you'll learn spanish." Our district keeps talking about putting the quote on a t-shirt as our motto. We always tease him about saying that now.

   Entonces (anyways), we started playing a game this week called "el Nativo" (the native). What we do is everyday we draw a slip of paper from a hat, and the paper says either "missionero" or "el nativo" but there is only one nativo and that person has to speak only spanish for the entire day!! it's hard, trust me. But you can't tell anyone what you have. and then at the end of the day we vote for the person who gave the most effort to speak spanish that day, and if you are the native you get double points for every vote. well guess what...i was the nativo wed and thurs (the first 2 days of the game) and the firsty day (i don't know how) the elders knew i was the native. we walk into breakfast and they go, "hna Amundsen, you are the native and we aren't going to vote for you because you are going to win anyway!" what!!! this game is so rigged! i don't know how they new, i denied it of course. And then yesterday i was the native again and it was hard, and one person voted for me yesterday. I really don't care if i win at the end of the week (we add up the points at the end) but it stinks having no one vote for you when you put in all your effort. BUT! i'm no longer the native (not today atleast)!

well, that is all the time i have. until next week. love you all

Hermana amundsen

week 5 - may 21

HOLA!!!!

mom, i read your letter over e-mail. we get 30 min on the comp. as soon as we sign in and then it just kicks us off after 30 min. so it's tough to read letters by e-mail and then have enough time to say everything i want! thank you for telling me you got the letter. i knew you had gotten the cds but i HAD to make sure you got the letter with it too. but ya, your best bet is to write on wed. Dear Elders get put in our mailbox about 3:30 pm everyday, so if you don't write before then, i won't be getting it that day. but thanks for the letters! i love reading them. you're encouragement really does help too, so thank you. and thank you for sending some pics of the bridal shower, Court looked BEAUTIFUL! can't wait to see pics from their actual wedding!!!! just around the corner. tell Court congrats on taking out her endowments (TODAY!) so exciting:) i still can't believe the wedding is next week! 

As for me...this week was good. i always forget what has happened. on Sun we had Ann Dibbs and Susan Cook come, and afterwards we got to ask Sis. Dibbs about her Dad (the prophet). my favorite thing about the Prophet is his relationship with his wife. you should have heard how Sis. Dibbs just had so much respect for her parents, and the love that they have always shown to each other. she said her dad is constantly complimenting her mother on everything, all day long! i thought that was so neat. we also had a couple good firesides, i can't remember the names though. we've been lucky though to have already heard from 2 apostles! (elder Perry and Holland).

oh! my talk went well on fri night. i just talked about Nephi and Lehi (the sons of Helaman) for about 5 min. i am realizing how much i really do love the scriptures! The book of Mormon is amazing! the other day we were teaching our progressing investigator and we were telling him about the BOM, and as i was talking, the spirit just bore such a pwerful witness that i really do know these things are true. it was so nice to feel that. but i LOVE reading the stories, i get so excited about them and can't wait to tell my companions what i read when we have comp. study. 

so Sundays we always have to have a 5 min talk prepared in SPANISH, just in case we get called on. and we have a paper that has all the topics on it for every week. so last week i prepared my talk on the Law of Tithing....and about 10 min before Sac meeting i glanced over the sheet with all the topics and see that the topic is NOT the Law of Tithing, but in fact Patience. but i just figure i won't get called on, and i bring my Spanish Preach my gospel just in case they call on me cuz then i could just read out of that for my talk. and sure enough, i get called on to speak.  i decided to just use the talk i wrote even though it was the wrong subject. it was all good. "Esta Bien"  

also, this week we started to have all our classes in Spanish! so our teachers speak to us in Spanish except when we are learning grammar principles. so that is a brain workout for sure because you have to pay attention and constantly try and think what they are saying, and by the time you figure out one word they have already said  like 5 new sentences! so our teachers repeat themselves alot, but it's all good. i really do love Spanish. and this week we got a new disctrict! so my district is not the youngest anymore! YAY! it's unusual to go 4 weeks without getting a new district. my comps and i are still the only sisters though. 

mom, it doesn't matter what scripture you use on my plaque...i don't really care. i'm looking forward to the package, i've been looking for it in the mail because i miss all your faces cuz i have no pics. but i have to go. yes Dad, i should be able to call at the airport...missionaries usually get their travel plans 1 or 2 weeks ahead .

gotta go! sorry!

love, hermana amundsen!

MTC pic's

my MTC companions: hermana Mitchell & hermana Buys

is it spring ....y-e-t?

the district

zone sisters: Buys, Whipple, McCombs, Mitchell, Amundsen

hazards of exercising in a dress!

are you kidding?

not

the real deal

Tandy!!!

stylin sistas

my room :D

GREAT COSMIC POWERS.... in an itty bitty living space

p-day means laundry and letters :o)

week 4 - may 14

HOLA!!!! Buenos tardes!

ok so i have been in the MTC for 3 weeks and 2 days, so this is week #4 for me. i got your letters yesterday!! i was so excited! i love cartas! but to answer some questions...no dry cleaning yet, i have enough clothes to last a week just fine, and i can switch up my outfits enough, but i'm definitely already sick of my clothes...go figure. they have skirts you can buy here so i might do that because they would be good for summer, but i won't do that until i leave probably. the MTC food is not bad at all. i don't know why so many kids complain. i eat salads all the time and they are way good! their cooked meals are just alright, but the soups are usually good too, and the muffins!

sorry i couldn't call on mothers day! that was a bummer because i have so much to tell! i hope Court's bridal shower goes well today. tell her HI for me:) i miss that girl so much! but i've been feeling alot better this week...just a slight plugged up nose. my Spanish is coming along. i feel like the lord is really blessing me with the language because in High school i was terrible, and now everyone in my district is always asking for help. as a district we made a goal to speak one meal a day only in Spanish, and it was so funny! every two seconds one of the elders..."hermana amundsen como se dice ______....and then some word" which is "how do you say____". but ya. i really love Spanish! it is so fun to talk and to listen to! i can't wait to be fluent. my companions get stressed with it though, so i'm trying to help them. i've been really blessed in that way though.

Sunday was awesome! it always is...we had Sheri Dew come and speak. and then Tues night devotional we had Elder Holland!!!! he was, wow! he does not hold back. he just layed it on us, how important our mission is and how important that we are obedient and that we serve the Lord His way. he told us that if one of us came up to him after our missions and we were no longer active in the church that he would punch us in the nose. we all laughed and then he says, "no, that wouldn't be very apostellic." but he really had a strong impact on me, and it made me feel so pumped!

i have to speak tonight at our zone activity...this should be fun. I'm talking about Helaman 5...such an awesome story if you haven't read it...i highly suggest it. i just love Nephi and Lehi, they are the kind of missionaries i want to be...well, i want to be basically every missionary in the Book of Mormon. Captain Moroni is like my Hero, he is soooo cool! but i only have to speak for about 5 minutes, so it should be fine. Ummm...i went to the temple this morning! we did sealings and our sealer was so cool! he just talked to us and explained everything. Oh ya....Mom, we got to the temple on P-day and then also on Sun. and Sun is when everyone goes!!! it's sweet. Our zone goes around 3pm and all the missionaries are there. it's just time to realx and enjoy the day. study if you want, or talk to friends and take pics. there are also people there that aren't missionaries just enjoying the temple grounds on a sun.

so we learned a new word this week. "chiste" is means "joke" and i guess i talk in my sleep everynight, and the other night i was like "Hermanas!!! Chiste!!" and then i laughed in my sleep. hermana Buys told me, she thought it was so funny. and then the other night hna. Buys goes, "you didn't talk in your sleep last night" and Hna. Mitchell laughs and goes "that's because i prayed she wouldn't" then we all laughed! i thought that was so funny. i really love my companions though, we get along so well. we just have a lot of fun, i think the Lord has really blessed me in that too, just allowing me to adapt to other people really easily.

that is awesome that Luke got an extension. good for him, i know he really wanted that. the mission is fun. the MTC is definitely starting to grow on me. it gets better as you start to get to know people. also Mom! could you send me a camera case?

well, i think that's all the time i have for now! until next week! life is good, the gospel is true! thank you for all your support and encouraging letters. tell Dave i sent a letter to his address too, will ya?

I love you!!!! Can't wait to hear from you soon!
Todo mi amor,
Hermana Amundsen.

P.S. yes mom, we have some very silly elders in our district that definitely keep the rest of us entertained. i Love them though!

week 3 - may 7

Hola!
Again, mom, i did not recieve your letter yet because you HAVE to send it way early. i know i got one from you though because you sent a copy to my e-mail. So please send it thurs morning at the LATEST. i did get Dad's yesterday though, thank you. Letters are something i really look forward to. You should have an FHE where you all write. ok, well, this week has been good. I'm getting anxious to be in Argentina though, the MTC is fun, but 9 weeks is a looooong time. This last week we had our oldest district leave (the only other district with sisters) and so now there are only 3 districts, and next week we will only have 2 because the next district is leaving...so hopefully we will be getting some new missionaries in our zone soon!

When the last district left, so did the coordinating sister....so i got called to be the new coordinating sister! Bascially i oversee all the other sisters (which is just me and my companions right now) and go to a couple meetings during the week. My job is just to love, uplift, help, and make sure everyone feels welcome. But it was a really humbling experience to get the call, and I feel as though i needed it. I also forgot to mention that i have been senior companion the last couple weeks, but we will be switching this sunday so that we can all have a turn being senior and junior comps.

I still love my companions, they are way nice and we haven't had any problems...i'm going to go to the bookstore today and get some pictures printed off so i can send some home! I got the new camera yesterday! i was so excited, but i think Hna. Mitchell was more excited. She was jumping and singing, "you got a package, you got a package" it was pretty funny...then she was like "open it!!! open it!!!" It made me laugh. So thank you for doing that mom, i love it!

I'm trying to think if anything has changed....I took a picture of my schedule so you can see what I'm doing everyday. Today is prep day but really we stilll have so much to do...7am - personal study...8:15 breakfast....8:45 companion study....10:20 temple! (today we did initiatories and next week we might do sealings) 1pm lunch....then we have til dinner at 6pm to do laundry, write our families and friends, and anything else, and that time goes by fast! so I will be writing seometime between 1:45 and 6pm on fridays. then we have class tonight at 6:45....til 9pm, and then we plan at 9pm every night.

I have seen a lot of people i know actually. My comps make fun of me telling me i meet someone new everyday. I have seen Garrett Thornburg, Ben Mack (Ryan's bro. from last summer), Tandy Sheilds!!!, Cody Harder (shane's bro.), Ben Chamberlin, Kellan Gunnar, and Andrea Riggs...and some other people from school and what not that you wouldn't know. But ya! i love running into people! it's kinda funny to see them here.

oh! i don't know if i mentioned this before but my black down jacket is my bset friend. I wear it all the time!! the elders call it my sleeping bag or the black igloo. also whenever we sing in class we sing in spanish, and we are TERRIBLE. always off key and messing up, it's really funny. You would be surprised how hard it is to sing in a different language to the same notes. But i really love my district, they are awesome! the people are what make it the most fun! and my teachers are both awesome! i am learning that my favorite class times are the ones that i feel the spirit the most, because the spirit is truly the teacher and that is when i feel the most joy and get the most out of the lesson. So i hope to be a missionary that invites the spirit and teaches by the spirit. I love the Doctrine of the church though! and the logic of everything, it just makes so much sense! We had a great speaker on Tues. night that used logic to answer questions and it was really great!

oh ya, and i've been sick this week, it started mon night and i am feeling a lot better today! I went and took a nap yesterday and took some night quil last night. Just a slight fever and a cold...but it's all good now. My teacher told me that i needed to rest because all missionaries do what i did, they keep going and don't give their bodies time to heal. So that's when i took a nap yesterday.

I have to go....!!! sorry i wish i could write more. Love you all. please continue to pray for me!
todo mi amor,
hermana amundsen

ok questions!! how did julie's patriarchal blessing go? and sarah's talent show? did you order my plaque? or turn in my tithing? how is the blog? do you update it? I cannot call on mother's day...sorry. PLease send me pictures!! also, maybe you could send me a watch ( a cheap plastic one from target) and also a camera case. they only have bulky ones here and i need something smaller...they have cute simple ones at Best buy. dad...send me ephraim info stuff please!

week 2 - april 30

Hola!
sorry mom, i am not going to be able to read your letter before typing this. dear elder is kinda lame sometimes. i always get them but a lot of times it's a day late, or in the evening when you write in the morning. but i will definitely read the letter when i get it by dear elder. best to send it a day early. the MTC has been more pleasant this week, not as stressful now that we are on our regualr schedule (the one we will have for the next 7 weeks...then the last week is a different schedule). i'm continuing to learn much. Spanish is coming along...i guess i was sleep talking in spanish a few nights ago mixed in with some english. my companions said i was talking fast! that's gotta be a good sign:)

so funny! on mon we had to finish our outlines for lesson one, and by gym time i was done but my companions were not, so we stayed in class all by ourselves and while my companions were working i decided to do some exercises on the floor in my blue plaid dress. so i'm laying on the ground exercising my legs thinking i should get my notebook so i can study while i'm working out. so i reach up to my desk to grab my notebook, and..."RIIIIP". there goes the seam of the shoulder of my dress. so i get up and i'm looking at it, and my companions just bust out laughing so hard! I was laughing too. we laughed all the way up the stairs where I changed, and then all the way down to the seamstress. (yes we have a seamstress here...thank goodness). Hna. Buys was like, "i'm so glad you're our companion, it wouldn't be this fun without you."

we actually taught the first lesson to the 2 women in the seamstress shop. we have to practice:) and afterwards we were like, "that was so cool! lets do that again!" because it was the first time not to someone in our district. we teach people in our zone a lot. the 2 other sisters that are leaving on mon, they taught us the plan of salvation in spanish the other day, and i understood almost all of it! it made me realize how simple and true the plan that our Heavenly Father has for us though. they taught it very simply, because that's all they can do in Spanish (we don't know enough to expound), and it is seriously such a beautiful plan, and it really is so simple.

you can feel the spirit so much at the MTC if you really want to. last weekend i was thinking about why i was here, (no worries...not thinking about coming home, just asking myself) and seriously the next lesson, talk, or something just answered my question. and I get that answer a lot, that reasurance of why I am here doing this. it's because I know this is where I am supposed to be. before i came to this earth, I knew that i wanted to this, that i wanted to bring our Heavenly Father's children back to him, to bring people to the knowledge of their Savior and who they really are. so please pray for me, pray that i may be a tool in the Lords hands, that i can be sensitive to the spirit to know what He needs me to do. also pray that i may love the people of Argentina, and that they may feel of my love for them and our Heavenly Father's love for them.

i think i said this before, but i feel like there is so much to learn, and not enough time to do it. we have 3 hours of study a day...personal, companion and language, and then like 5 hours of class, and that's about it. we have meals, gym, getting ready...there is just not that much time in the day, and at the same time the days feel really long. i hardly have time to write in my journal at night. i started falling asleep during personal study the other day. so my companions and I started walking around to help us stay awake, and then we got ice cream from the vending machine to wake us up. so ya, i'm starting to get more tired, but we took a nap today because we are allowed to on P-day which i did not know!

i have to go! sorry i can't write more!!!! i love you guys! please keep writing to me because i love receiving mail!
mom...spanish...we haven't covered those 3 years of high school spanish yet.
love, Hermana amundsen

the MTC

HOLA!
wow...the mtc is crazy! so once i got dropped off these elders took my luggage to the sister building and another sister missionary took me around and got my room key and went to the bookstore with me and took me up to my room, then some other room to grab stuff and then to my classroom. it was crazy though because we were walkng so fast just in and out of all these buildings. i had no idea where i was or what was going on. the first 2 days were pretty much like that. but it's fun! everyone is super nice. so i have 2 companions! Hermana Mitchell and Buys. they are both from Utah, one from saint george and the other from eagle mountain. But we get along so well! we are all going to the Rosario mission too! and so are 6 other elders in our district.

so once i was dropped off in the classroom, i met my 2 teachers, bro. DelToro and Sis. Smith. Both are way rad and have a lot to teach us. there are 11 people in my district. the other 2 elders are going to Puerto Rico and leaving in 3 weeks to a different MTC. but our district is cool, we are getting to know each other. our zone has 4 districts, and only 2 other hermanas who are leaving in about a week for Chile. but this classroom is where we spend a lot of our time. we have tons of books and we got scriptures in Spanish and we just leave everything in the classroom because that is where we do all our studying and learning...unless we have MDT where we can study nearby. but that is our classroom.

they have this program for the sisters though! every morning from 6-6:30am there is a workout..such as pilates, aerobics, kickboxing, yoga...etc. and yesterday we did kickboxing and we are all sore!!! it was more intense than i thought it would be. we have 2 other sisters as roomates who are not in our zone or anything but are going Spanish speaking as well. they are pretty nice but we don't really see them because basically the only time you spend in your room is in the morning when you get ready and evening for sleeping. we get back to our room at 9:30 every night, but it is surprising how quickly that hour goes by! and then i can't fall asleep til 11pm or later. i'm sure i'll have no trouble falling asleep soon though.

there is so much to tell i feel. today is sat and it is the first day we have actually had some time to ourselves, and next week we will have a lot more time to ourselvs as well to do studying and to complete our commitments, which are given to us every day by our teachers or other people. they really keep you busy here, but we have fun too. our class times are long, but they go by fast and i feel like we have so much to learn and not enough time to learn it. i love learning Spanish though! i think the Lord is really blessing me in that way because my companions basically know nothing (or at least they did) and so they have to turn to me and ask me how to say stuff. we walk around saying Hola to everyone though! and the elders day "hola hermanas!" it's fun and sometimes they ask us things in Spanish. the elders treat the sisters really well though, they open our doors, let us cut in line in the cafeteria, then take our trays for us when we are done. and we really appreciate it and it makes us love them so much more.

my companions and i were laughing so hard a couple hours ago because we went outside to study and some bug pooped on my foot. and it looked like mustard and they were laughing at me trying to clean it up. Then as i am walking back from the trash can my blue card (for meals and stuff) goes down my shirt (we clip to the other side of our name tags because we have to have it on us at all times) and they were laughing because i had to reach down my shirt to get it. and then my button gets stuck on the bench (don't ask how...) and this all happened in less then 10 min. so we were just laughing so hard.

oh! my p-day is Friday, and my estimated departure date is 6-22-10 but i heard that it will change. i also get to see Tandy quite often! we live on the same floor! i saw her my first day at dinner in the cafeteria and we basically ran to each other, we were so excited to see eachother. she is doing well, but i think she is ready to leave. i think i'd be ready to leave after 2 months as well. today in class we learned how to bear our testimonies in Spanish! it's cool! and on Mon we have to be ready to talk to, get to know someone, and testify to them in Spanish! it's our first TRC (ask Kris). my companions and i are pretty nervous, so we've been praying alot. we know how to pray in Spanish too:) ok. my time is going to expire, so just know that i am good! that i have a strong tesimony and am learning and growing everyday! i will talk to you guys on fri. happy late b-day kris! and thank you for the dear elders, those are the best!!! i love you mom, dad, kris, julie, jodi and sarah!

todo mi amor, hermana amundsen!!