MTC Week 3

Meine Lieblings!

 

First of all, thanks again for the package, Mom. Everything you sent me was perfect. Helps a lot! It's been super freezing up here. It's snowed almost every single day since I've been here, and that didn't help my sickness. I was really, really sick this past week, which was not fun at all since I had to miss class, which meant that my companion had to miss class, too. I feel so bad for that! I talked to my branch president last week, and he said if I wasn't feeling better by Thursday that he wanted me to go to the medical clinic here. And since he's a retired doctor, I took his advice and went there on Friday morning. I guess I just had a really bad virus that was going around. Anyway, he prescribed me some sinus relief stuff and some horrible, horrible nasty cough syrup that was seriously the nastiest thing I've ever tasted. But they helped a lot, and I'm finally feeling a lot better.

 

Thanks for all the letters! They helped me a lot. Sorry, I was just having a sad day last week, haha. But I talked with President Peterson, our branch president, and he made me feel sooooo much better. He is like the coolest guy ever. He's just this little old man with this really white hair, but he has the softest heart and he cares so much about everyone in our zone. I'm hoping to talk to him one or two more times before I go out into the field, because he just wiped away so much anxiety and stress. I wanted to give him a giant hug, but NO ONE is allowed to hug sisters here, and I couldn't even shake his hand because that's against the rules now, too, because everyone in the MTC is like super sick all the time. So we just do this little elbow bump thing. It's silly, but it's a good way to stop passing along that nasty virus I picked up. Lucky me. Anyway, after that the zone leaders gave me a blessing, and that was really nice. Our zone is actually really interesting. We have like four or five British Elders, and we actually have two Elders from Finland, all going to Germany. One of the Finnish Elders is a zone leader, and he gave me the blessing. His accent was so cute, haha.

 

Even though it's hard here, there are so many people that want to help us. We have two teachers, and then we have around four or five resource teachers that are here if we need help with anything. They are all really amazing, and I learn so much, not just about Deutsch but about teaching and relying more on the Spirit. And it's not just the teachers, too. Last week after theTuesday night devotional, a cute senior couple missionary came up to us and the Brother was so excited and said, "Are you sisters going to Germany? I was born in Munich!" And he talked to us for a little bit and told us that Frankfurt is the Shangrai-La (sp?) of Germany. He says the motto is "The sun always shines in Frankfurt!" Then he asked if there was anything we needed help with, and we were like, uh, yeah, of course, we need to know how to speak German. So he took down our building and classroom number, and then the next morning he was there!! He taught us so much. Turns out he was a German professor at UVU for a really long time. Anyway, stuff like that just proves how much the people here want to help you become better.

 

I'm so glad you guys all had fun in Orlando! Sounds like a lot of fun. I was just stuck here freezing and trying to cram all the Deutsch I can into my brain, but that's really okay. It's been a really good week. Of course there are tons of downs, but it's mostly been up. I'm halfway through! Crazy thought. I'm going really, really miss my district, though. They've made me laugh so much. And despite the Elders being nineteen, they've taught me so much about being good missionaries and good teachers. So that'll be a bummer to leave them. But! I'm still really excited. I've learned so much already. We've taught a lot more lessons, all auf Deutsch, of course. Last Friday we taught this little old German lady. Well, tried to, anyway. She was really cute and just wanted to teach us everything. That was okay, though. She was from Freiburg, but I could understand about ninety percent of what she was saying. That's probably because she used a small vocabulary, haha, but it's still encouraging to know that. Tomorrow Sister Miller and I are only going to speak German. We have one Elder in our district who's been speaking only German for more than a week. It's amazing! He's so dedicated, and he's actually the youngest one in our district, but it's crazy to see how hard he works. That just makes me realize how inspired the announcement was last October (even though I'm still trying not to be too bitter about it, haha). All these really young Elders are working really hard.

 

Robert, I'm really glad you learned a lot at tennis camp! When I come back I'll probably be about thirty pounds heavier, so you could definitely beat me. And Lauren, good luck with track!! Josh, thanks for the nice letter. I hope you're doing well in school and are learning a lot! Dad, I miss you a lot, and at each meal I just sit there and miss your cooking! Also, Sarah, if you could, send me your email address so I can email you, too. I can email family here. And BriAnne can send me hers as well. Writing takes a long time, but I'm a fast typist so I can get around to a few emails a week.

 

Anyway, my time is almost up and we have to get to the temple, but I just wanted to let you all know how much I love you! I'm learning so much here and I'm having fun a lot of the times, which is good for me. Miss you guys all bunches! Thanks for the letters.

 

Love,

 

Sister Shipton

 

MTC Week 2

Hallo everyone!

 

First of all, thanks for the package!! I loved getting it. Also, I had to share it with everyone in my district and all my roommates because if not I would've just eaten it all in one go and gained like twenty pounds. So I got some, but I shared a lot of it, and that was really good so I wouldn't be tempted to just sit there and eat them, haha. But thanks so much! I hope you all had a fun Valentine's Day. It was just another day here. Just more studying all the day long. It's hard sometimes to just sit in the same classroom for like seriously ten hours a day, but I LOVE my district, so most of the time it isn't too bad. All of the Elders and the other Sister companionship in my district are so, so, so funny. I laugh so much, probably sometimes when we should be working instead, but it's really good for us to just take a break and laugh. It's super intense here all the time. I've been really discouraged this week. It's been super rough, and I feel bad for Sister Miller because she has to deal with me. But I'm really hoping I can talk to my Branch President, who's pretty much like our Bishop. Hopefully he can help me, because I really don't know anymore. It's not just the Deutsch, which is hard, but it's a lot of other things too. Anyway, hopefully he can make me feel better. I dunno. We'll see. Also I think I'm getting sick again, which is not helping at all. I mean, really?? I hardly ever get sick, but here I've been sick from day one.

 

I hope you guys are all having fun in Orlando! I miss you guys a lot. Thanks for the letters. And I hope Dad's shoulder starts feeling better. I will take any and all letters he wants to write me. And I forgot to thank Robert last week for writing me. I miss him, too! I hope tennis goes well for him this season. We'll have to play when I get back. He'll be better than I am, but that's fine. I didn't know Aunt Sharon was getting married. Congrats! That's awesome for her. Hope Grandpa and Shelly had a safe trip.

 

So yeah, it's just a lot of intense work here. I never used to be, but I am insanely jealous of English-speaking missionaries. If I was speaking English, I'd be in the field already. It's already hard enough being a missionary, but to try to do it in a language you don't even know is harder. But my teachers are all super supportive and help us in any way they can. I could be in Deutschland one month from today, which is a super crazy thought. Sister Miller (who's 21 as well) and I won't be companions when we get there. We'll be trained the first couple of transfers by some sisters who are already over there and can actually speak German. There is a possibility we might be companions later on in the mission when we actually know what we're saying, but when we get there we'll have more experienced sisters to help us, which is good.

 

I wish I could tell you guys some funny stories, but all of the ones are the "you had to be there" kind of stories. But yeah, like I said before, I really love my district, and sometimes they pull me through when nothing else can, which is bad because we won't be here forever! (even though sometimes it feels like it) This is really, really hard work, harder than anything I've done before, and that's a scary thought because I've only been here two weeks! I'm really hoping it'll get better. The letters help a lot, though. (hint hint)

 

Anyway, I love you guys so much!! I think about you a lot, which I'm trying to not and get out of that habit because I need to be focused, but it's hard, especially after being around you for the past nine/ten months and not at school. I'm not the perfect missionary at all, but I'm doing my best. And I love letters for anyone and everyone. :)

 

Love,

 

Sister Shipton

MTC Week 1

Hallo Familie!!

So yeah. My PDay is Tuesday, obviously. I'm sure it will change when I get into the field, but for now it's on Tuesdays. We're going to the temple this afternoon after lunch, so that should be good.

MTC. Mmm...yeah. It's obviously a huge adjustment from what it used to be. Here there is a very specific schedule that you are asked to follow. It's crazy. They want you to always be somewhere always at a very specific time. It's good, but obviously a huge change. The first few days were really overwhelming and rough, like everyone says. It's just a big change. I sent a letter to you that first night. I don't know if you got it. It basically just said what I did that day. A lot of orientations and meetings and workshops and stuff. That first night was horrible!! It was for a lot of reasons. First, obviously, is all that stress that comes from just being here. And then you're worried if you can even do all of this crazy stuff. The mattress is like a rock, too, and I'm used to my beautiful bed at home. Also, I was totally not used to going to bed at 10:30. AND I was getting sick again. Yeah, I had a really, really bad cold the whole first week here. I guess the Lord thought it wouldn't be hard enough adjusting, haha. I feel a lot better now, so that's good, and I'm sleeping just fine now. People tell you that you feel better by Sunday, and they're right. You really just have to grit your teeth and make it to Sunday. Yesterday was really good because we knew what we were doing and what we had to do and what was expected and stuff, so that was really nice. Each day is a lot easier. Not the Deutsch, obviously, but just living the schedule and stuff.

My companion is Sister Miller. She's from Washington state and is so cute. She's small and loves to run and be healthy and all that crazy stuff. So yeah, basically the exact opposite of me. But it's good, because she helps me be healthy. People gain a lot of weight here, and it's no surprise. You see these Elders walking around with seriously like four plates piled high with hamburgers, fries, cookies, all those things like that. So Sister Miller and I have been really good about what we're eating. The food is not amazing like Dad's, but it's not disgusting, so it's pretty easy to keep your portions small. And they make you exercise every day, so that's helpful.

And yes, a few people have asked in letters. There is NO English here. Kein Englisch. From the second I walked into my classroom it's been Deutsch, Deutsch, Deutsch. That's good for us, though. Even if we don't understand, our teacher will explain it in a different way in German--no English at all. The German teachers here have a reputation for being among the best at the MTC. All of the other German misionaries who were here before left this morning, so now it's only the group that came in last Wednesday, and we won't get anymore for six more weeks. So we're kind of on our own! Sister Miller and I would always talk to the Alter Deutschers about things like grammar and pronunciation and vocab and things like that, but they all flew out, so we're just kind of alone now. It's okay, though. It's really good for us. I remember tons of stuff that I've forgotten, and I have a leg up because my German is a lot more recent than most in my district. Sister Miller's German is four years old, while mine's only about nine/ten months old. But it all evens out in a couple weeks, apparently, so I just have to feel confident while I can! haha. And yes, the approximate departure date is March 19. Only five weeks away!!! That is so, so crazy. The Alter Deutschers were here for two months, but they're changing all the programs, like I said, so we'll only have six weeks before they fly us out. But everything will be okay. All of our teachers and our leaders say, "We don't care if you know the language. We don't care if you're not progressing in the language. What matters is your spirit and testimony." And that's really true. The more our testimony grows, the better our German is.

We've already taught three lessons auf Deutsch. Those are always quite an experience. The first time we were basically like THE BOOK OF MORMON IS GOOD. WE LOVE THE BOOK. READ THE BOOK. And then we left. But we're getting a lot better. This last time, we started our lesson and we were like, "Do you have any questions for us?" And he goes off in this fast, mumbling German, and I caught "16" and "date" and "church." So yeah, it's kinda obvious now, but I was like, "Um...Sister Miller, what's going on on the sixteenth and the church??" And she just started laughing so hard and was like, "Sister Shipton, he's asking about dating before sixteen." So then we laughed for a while, and that wasn't the best thing, but it was really funny. And embarrassing.

Sister Miller and I are rooming with two other companionships, and they're going to the Alpine mission, which is the Switzerland/Austria/Southern Germany mission. They are all SO energetic and loud and they love getting up in the morning, and I'm pretty much dead until like ten o' clock. But one of the Alter Deutschers was talking to us and said that he feels so bad for those missionaries because they're not going to be speaking the language they're learning here at the MTC, hahaha. Still, it's really good that we're all learning the same language and can help each other.

Also, for a quick Spiritual thought. You guys all need to watch/listen to/read a talk called Character of Christ. David A. Bednar gave it here at the MTC a year or so ago on Christmas day, and we were able to watched the filmed version Sunday night. It will CHANGE YOUR LIFE. I'm not kidding, you all need to watch it. Watch it for FHE one night. It's like an hour that will change you. You should be able to find it online somewhere. Also you should listen to it or watch it, because he does some pretty funny voices that you won't want to miss out on. But it is so amazing and is such an inspiring message. It's kind of directed toward missionaries, but we can all apply it in our lives. You won't ever regret watching it, and make sure to bring some tissues. It's changed my mission outlook so much. 

Don't have any more time, but I love you all so much!! Thank you so much for the letters and all the love! Keep them coming. I love getting mail more than I should, haha. Also, quick, I need BriAnne's address to send her a letter.

Thanks again for everything! I love being a missionary already.

Love you!

Sister Shipton