August 29, 2013. 1 Down, 17 To Go!

Maayong udto!

Have I really already been here for a month? Crazy! Time at the MTC is really weird. I feel like I havent been gone very long but I also feel like I have been gone forever! Weird. But I had a pretty good week this week! I came to the MTC at the perfect time. We have had such great speakers! On Sunday for relief society, we heard from Carol F. McConkie who is in the young womens general presidency! So cool! A couple things she said that I really liked, she talked about Matthew 14: 25-31. She compared leaving the MTC to stepping out of the side of the boat. Just focus on the Savior and we will be fine! Also she talked about how missionary work is hard. She said how can it be easy for us, when it wasnt easy for the Savior? Missionary work is hard but its so worth it! Then on Sunday night we heard from Stephen B. Allen who is the managing director of the missionary department. It was cool hearing from him too. Then on Tuesday night, the speaker for our devotional was Neil L. Andersen! So cool! He talked about sacrifice and love. He said we sacrifice for the things we love, and we love the things we sacrifice for. Its so true! After the devotional was over, we went to leave but they wouldnt let us because it was really stormy outside. When they finally let us leave, we started walking back and got soaking wet! We were just getting ready for the next 17 months. The only difference is we will be hot, not cold. It was great though. I loved it.

This week three of the district in my zone left. They are serving in Cebu. It was sad seeing all of them leave but it was also great because they are finally leaving! One elder had to stay though because he had to have surgery. His name is Elder Orr. He is in my district now. He is from Alberta Canada! But from a different area then Justin. I thought that was pretty cool though. One thing that I did this week was memorize the first vision in Hiligaynon! It was so cool finally getting it down! Good thing I am good at memorizing, Sister Smith is having a hard time doing it. And Sister Smith has been sick. She throws up almost every morning. She isnt sick, she just cant really handle the food here. Its hard because we sometimes miss things because she is in the bathroom. Hopefully she will figure it out though. On Sunday we had to teach our district meeting. We taught about the atonement. It went really well! I was kind of scared to teach but it went really good! Also how is Kam and Hallie? Hopefully they are doing better. I felt bad I wasnt there for them. Also one thing I have been forgetting to tell you is my first week here, my alarm clock broke. I might have dropped it from the top bunk. But I bought a new one today so its okay. I will get to be a host next week so I am really excited for that! It will be a lot of fun! We havent gotten revenge yet on the other district. I think my roommates have forgotten about it. Im glad you are driving my car though! I love that mittens was sleeping on it! So funny! I have had a lot of repeats on the meals but thats okay. I still love the food. I think its great! Also no one try to see me at the temple. It is a big rule here. We would loose our temple walks. And no letter from Taylor or Ryanne? I wrote them and neither of them wrote me back! Mean. Did Ryanne even get my letter?

Yesterday was a really good day. Sister McDonald stayed after class to help us. It really helped me. Then she ate lunch with us! Holy cow, she is the smallest person I know but she can eat more than anyone. She ate more than all the elders. She eats more than Laura and she is smaller than Laura! I thought that no one could eat more than Laura but she proved me wrong! Crazy. But then after lunch she helped us more and she said she would help me practice forming sentences tomorrow. Shes awesome!

The other night, Sister Evans was leaning over the side of the bed. She is on the top bunk. We were sitting there right before we went to bed and she started slipping. She started sliding down the latter face first. Then she couldnt hold on any more and fell face first on the floor! It was the funniest thing ever! We were laughing so hard. And it didnt really hurt her so she was laughing too. It was great! Last night at gym, me and Sister Masse played basketball. Sister Masse doesnt like basketball but she played with me anyway. I told her she didnt have to but she did. We talked the whole time. She told me more about her and I told her about me. It was awesome! We talked about our families and what has been going on with them lately. It was nice to talk about everything that has been going on. She is a great friend. The more I get to know her, the more she reminds me of Ryanne. Its so funny how much they have in common but also how different they are! Its great. I like talking to her. I love that Hallie sleeps with my letters right next to her bed. Thats awesome! I do the same thing! All the letters I get in a week go right next to my bed and every Thursday I put them away and start a new pile. Its great. But anyway, I have been on the computer for too long now so I need to go. I love you all and miss you so much! I cant wait to hear from you! Palangga ko kamo!

Sister Remund

Me and Sister Riley.

I wrote on the board that I was Sister Masses favorite. I mean Sister Masse wrote that. Everyone agreed.

Us playing in the rain the first time it rained. We are kind of excited for the rain for the next 17 months.

Us with toy guns that Sister Smiths dad sent her.

Our district after walking in the rain.

Us right before going to gym. Our favorite time of the day.

Me and Sister Smith. We were opposites that day.

We said a prayer as a zone before all the Cebuano districts left.

Thursday, August 22 from the MTC.

Hello family!

How are you? Everything at the MTC has been great! I'm still having a great time! A couple hard days but that is to be expected! Thank you so much for the bread! You have no idea how good it tasted! I missed bread so much! And please tell Jeff and Susan thank you so much for the package! They put all my favorites in there! Funny story: when I picked up my package that was in the great harvest box, a couple elders saw it and were like "Great Harvest?! Do they deliver?" It was funny. I've seen a few people I know! I saw Mike Stanley! He is a teacher here! And I saw Justin Morgan (Jenessa's friend) and I saw Brooke Riley today! Its always nice seeing familiar faces! This week we heard from Maria Torres on the general relief society board. She spoke to us in relief society on Sunday. For our Sunday night devotional we heard from Vai Sikahema who played football for BYU and also played for a few teams in the NFL. It was cool hearing from him. Then on Tuesday our devotional was by Richard J. Maynes who is in the presidency of the seventy. He talked about our missionary purpose! It was really cool. I love all the devotionals and the speakers. They are always amazing.

I need more clothes! Most of the shirts that I brought are too low at the neck. They are really stick about that. That's mostly what I am sending home. Also if you could look for a couple more skirts and a dress that would be great. I forgot to bring a dress. Also I don't need you to pick them up. I can mail them home from here. I don't know how I would have you pick them up. I cant really take it anywhere that you would be able to get it. So I will just send it. I don't think I have anymore cravings, mostly it was just bread. And I'm doing good on cash. I haven't really used any. I've used it on a couple things but I've only spent maybe 20 dollars. That's cool that dad is working on the laundry room in the basement and then starting on the patio. I cant wait to see all the improvements in 18 months! Also I loved the story on the girl from Arizona who served a mission! I don't know if I would be able to do that. I definitely don't know the language good enough to do that.

Good luck to Hallie on trying out for Annie! I know you will do great! I wish I could sing like you so that I could have done something like that! That will be amazing! And so cool that you get to play up with the 7th and 8th graders for basketball! Clearly you are much more talented than I ever was! I cant wait to see how much you have improved when I get back! I cant believe that you have to wake up at six for school. That's earlier than I get up! I thought my schedule was hard! And I dont care if you eat all my food. It will be bad by the time I get back. Any food in my room is yours Hallie! I give you permission to eat it all! (as long as you don't eat it at once and get fat... Just kidding that's impossible, your too little)

You asked where I was at in the Book of Mormon, I just finished Alma and am starting Helaman! Yay! And so cool that Justin got a job at IHC! His dream job! Yay! Good luck with that Justy! Please tell Cay and Kirk thank you so much! That is so cool that they are doing that! Last night, me and Sister Smith were singing in the room and shooting each other with toy guns her dad sent her. I don't think we are supposed to have them but... it was fun. We were singing wicked. Which might not be mission appropriate either... Oops.

For sacrament meeting on Sunday, they have everyone prepare a talk and no one knows who is talking until they announce it. I am always so scared I am going to have to talk. This week I really felt like I would have to talk, but I didn't! Sister Smith did! It was funny. I kept saying that it was going to be me and then it was her. But she did a really good job.

Everything that happens here is really funny. Well, to us it is. We were thinking about it, and realized that since we have practically been in a box for the past three weeks, everything seems funny, but really its not. And also some things wouldn't be funny to you because you don't know the people here. But a couple funny stories anyway. Every Tuesday morning they check our classroom to make sure its clean. Since I am related to Sherri Remund, I always try and make sure it looks good. Well Sister Masse and Sister Nonu decided to play a trick on us and write on the paper that tell us what is good and what is bad. They said a lot of things weren't good and so me and Sister Smith got mad and wanted to look for the person that does the room checks and ask them what we needed to do better. They thought it was so funny. Well, me, Sister Smith, Sister Evans, and Sister Piula are planning our revenge. And I saved the note and put it in my journal. We will get them back. Haha.

At gym we have been playing volleyball every night. I would play basketball, but everyone likes playing volleyball and I like being around them so I play volleyball too. It is so funny! None of us are really good. There are a couple elders who are pretty good but no one takes it seriously. There was one night, I set the ball and told Sister Masse to spike it. She went up to spike it and totally miss hit it so it almost hit me in the face! The ball went completely sideways! It was so funny! And she always does a little kick whenever she touches the ball. Its really funny. We always are on the same team so that we can laugh at each other. She laughs at me a lot too. We both make a lot of mistakes and we just laugh and laugh. Its a lot of fun. Well I have been on the computer for a long time now so I better get off! (I didn't look at what time I got on in the laundry room and since its not timed I have no idea how long I was on for... oops.) Well I hope everything is going great in St. George! I miss you all so much and cant wait to hear from you again! Palangga ta ka!

Sister Remund

Me with my bread! I love it! My district and the other district love it too!

My package from Jeff and Susan. Tons of food!

I saw Brooke Riley today!

Package from you guys and Susan. 

Me and Sister McDonald.

She described a car like a companionship. The steering wheel is the spirit. The wheels are the companions. As companions we have to be unified or else the spirit cant direct us. If we arent unified, we will go in different direction, but when wheels on a car arent going in the same direction, the car cant move.

Sister Masse, Elder Greening, me, and Sister Piula.

Sister Russon, me, and Sister Bahm.

Me and Sister Clegg.

Sister Lolesi, me, and Sister Clegg.

They are my sister training leaders. This was on there last temple walk. They leave on Monday.

All the sisters in our zone. Except for Sister Smith (my companion) and Sister Evans (Sister Piulas companion) They went to choir.

The sisters in the other district and Sister Lolesi our sister training leader.

Sister Malyon, me, and Sister Peterson.

This is the face Sister Masse always makes. I think I told you about it in my last email. She has the biggest frown I have ever seen but she also has the biggest smile. Its great.

Sister Masse is my Ryanne. She is one of the funniest girls here. We get along really well. She is one of the sisters going to IloIlo. It makes me sad to think that we wont be in the same mission. But thats okay. We will be friends when we get back. 

This is the district next to us that also speak Hiligaynon. Most of them are going to Bacolod but some are going IloIlo.

Then its me and Sister Nonu. Sister Nonu in my Laura Davis

We have to try and have fun in the classroom. We get bored.

You have never seen a more excited missionary to receive a Bible in a language they cant understand. Brother Hong got these for us and when Sister McDonald saw them, she was so surprised. She said she never saw a Bible in Hiligaynon her entire mission. They had to use Tagalog Bibles.

Email #2 from the MTC - Aug. 15, 2013

Kamusta family!

Wow I cant believe I have been here for two weeks and its my P-Day again! Its going by so fast! Everything is still great! Im adjusting to MTC life and I really like the food! I realized though that last week I forgot to tell you why I love emails so much! In the morning I can go and print off my emails and hurry and log off. Then I can go back to my room and read them and plan what I am going to say in my room. Then I can get on and use the entire hour typing my letter to you! So you would get more but Im not very good at typing. I make a lot of mistakes so it takes a while. Plus I can read your emails throughout the week since they are printed off! Its great! Thank you for all the emails this week! It was a big improvement from last week! I love it! And thank you for the package! The bugels are almost gone. I eat them all the time. And I love chex mix. We have so much food though! My roommates parents keep sending them food too so we have a ton! I think you guys are trying to make me fat. Sister Nonu(from the district next to us) is convinced that I never stop eating. Every time she sees me I am eating. One night she came in while I was eating, then came in about 20 minutes later and I was still eating. She said "You are still eating?!?" It was funny. I feel like Laura. I can eat all day. But I need to stock up before I get to the Philippines!

It was such a good week! On Sunday we watched music and the spoken word. I loved it! I love listening to music! It really brings the spirit! After that was relief society. And it was amazing. Relief society is combined with all the sisters at the MTC. It was so cool! And also the speaker was Rosemary M. Wixon, general primary president! That was amazing! I loved hearing from her. She is amazing! Then we continued the amazing speakers on Tuesday night for the devotional. Also at the devotional I sang in the choir, I know, shocking. But it was really cool! And it made it even better that I made it on camera three times! But I didnt see myself because they dont let us look at the screen. But I was told that I was on camera three times! I felt pretty cool. But anyway the speaker was Richard G. Scott and it was amazing! He talked about prayer and the spirit was so strong. One thing he said that I really liked was that answers to prayers come in three ways. A calm, peaceful feeling tells you its the right choice. A stupor of though is the wrong choice. But we all know that. What I really liked was the third one. The third answer is no answer. He said that the Lord will do this so that we can grow in faith. Also when the Lord doesnt answer, dont start murmuring, act. When we act in faith the Lord will provide blessings. I loved it!

Also I get to go to the temple today! It reopened this week! I feel like I havent been in forever so Im excited to go today. Another thing I love about the MTC is we will be outside studying and someone will come up and ask if they can practice their testimony in their language(something that I have had to do a few times) Its amazing how I cant understand anything they are saying, but the spirit is the same. I love it! I also love Wednesdays because all the new missionaries come! I love seeing them! I love walking around and welcoming everyone. Since everyone welcomed me when I came, I feel like I should welcome everyone else and let them know it will be okay. I also saw Steevi Hutchings today! She just got here yesterday! I love seeing familiar faces! It doesnt happen very often.

That was nice of Uncle Kirt to think of me! Its crazy that I am so close to them now. Im way close to everyone up here, but I also feel so far away from them. Its weird. I got Lauras letter! It was so nice hearing from her! I miss the bakery so much! I want bread! Everyone here thinks Im weird because I keep saying how much I want and miss bread! I love how you put the picture I sent up at the bakery. Thats funny. Also its funny that you mentioned the quote from Mulan 2. Every night while I am showering someone starts singing I'll Make a Man Out of You. I always think of when we were in Idaho  and we sang that song in the car with Ashley! And also grandma wrote me and said that you guys have been crying a lot so the quote is perfect. Kams extensions look great! I like them a lot! Teemer you have long hair again! That cool that she taught YW too! I wish I could hear it! Im sure it was amazing! And of course you let her start making cupcakes. You never even gave me a chance to prove myself. I could have been really good at it! I was the best cook in the house remember? But thats awesome that she is working at the bakery too! She will actually have money! Haha. And with Laura right? They will have so much fun together! I love that my sister and one of my best friends will get to work together! It will be awesome!

Also Im not really homesick, but I've read every letter from my farewell... oops. I just like reading at night and they are perfect! Hiligaynon is coming. Its really hard though. I love it and hate it at the same time. No mom we didnt say it right. I will tell you how to say it when we talk on the phone. Its hard teaching because I can understand the questions they ask, and I know what I need to say to answer, I just dont know how to say it in Hiligaynon! It makes me mad. But I will learn. The card you see on the bottom of my shirt is my ID card. All the buildings are locked so I swipe that card so I can get in. And it gets me into the cafeteria. Sorry mom but you wouldnt be able to break in anymore. Thats so cool that Kayla is having a good time! Thats crazy that there are three sets of missionaries in her ward! Wow! And I still cant believe my baby sister is going to Lava Ridge. Its sad that she has to go to school so early. I dont like waking up early so I know how hard it must be for her. That stinks! Sorry Hallie. And I love what Hallie said in her letter to me about Cluso. "We must never quit. Again! Again!" I wont quit Hallie! And all my roommates love that I know the banana song. They want me to teach them.

At basketball the other day, I was playing with the other district and it was so funny! Sister Russon kept hitting me with the ball. Im a ball magnet! Nothing has changed! And last night we all went out and played sand volleyball. It was so funny because we all are so bad! It was a miracle if we hit the ball over the net more than three times! We got a better workout from laughing and chasing the ball then anything else! It was great! Also Elder Johnson reminds me of Uncle Jeff Hall. The other day he was doing the Napolean Dynamite dance in class. It was so funny! And I get along really well with Sister Masse. You saw the picture where we popped our collars? She didnt even really have a collar so it was so funny! And she has a face she always makes that is hilarious! She usually doesnt even realize she is making a face which makes it ten times better! And during companion prayer one night, Sister Smith was saying it and you are supposed to start with Amay namon sa Langit (our father in heaven) but she said pwede kami which means can we. We had to start over because we were laughing too hard! And she also said "Have we learned how to say yes?" Sister Evans said yes and so Sister Smith went "oo ooo" Sister Evans replied with "You just said it!" Yes is oo. It was so funny! And yesterday while we were teaching our investigator, they came on the intercom and was looking for an elder. There wasnt a class in there so she made us go look for the elder and tell him he needed to go to the front desk. It was funny. We had to pause our lesson. I think Sister McDonald wasnt very happy about it. I thought it was really funny though. But I love hearing from all of you and cant wait to hear from you again! I love you and miss you so much! Halong! (Goodbye)

Sister Remund

This is Sister Masse. I will tell you more about her in my email but we popped our collars to be gangster and her and Sister Nonu (her companion) think I am always eating so they took a picture of us eating.

Also the picture of the minion that Ashley drew for me

Also I really miss Great Harvest and want bread! And then a picture of all the food we have received! This is only like half of it. I think all you parents got together and decided that you were going to try and make us fat before we go to the Philippines.

We bought shirts with the Philippines flag on them! And found a picture of the Philippines so we took a picture by the picture! Also thats our door decoration. Everyone goes all out on it but we just put a sticky note with smiley face stickers and wrote welcome to the MTC!

Kenna wrote this letter later on her first P-Day.  After she had sent her first email with pictures.

The FIRST EMAIL!!! From Sister Remund

Kamusta! Maayong Hapon! (Good afternoon!)

Kamusta ka? How are you? The answer is... maayo-good, maayo gid-very good, okay lang-okay, kapoy-exhausted. And that answers your question on what kapoy means. Haha it makes me think of Hallie and the minions. Speaking of Hallie, why have I not heard from her? Come on Hallie! Why wont you email your favorite sister? Other people that I havent heard from... Mom and Dad I know you sent me letters on dear elder but no email? Come on. And Laura? Tell her Im mad at her. Haha just kidding. But she did break her promise of emailing every week. And its only week one. Ahh I have so much to tell you I dont know where to start! I love it here! Im having such a great time! Mom you asked what we do on Sundays. Since it was fast Sunday we had a mission conference. It was really good! I loved it! Since we couldnt eat mostly all we did all day was personal study. That night we had a devotional by Jenny Oaks Baker. Daughter of Dallin H. Oaks. She is such a good violinist! It was amazing! After that we watched a video of David Bednar on the character of Christ. It was probably the best video I've ever seen! I wish you could watch it but its only in the MTC. I loved it! I wish I could tell you all about it but I will run out of time. Then we had another devotional on Tuesday by Jay E. Jensen and his wife. That was really good too. Pretty much everything is really good! One thing I really liked was something Sister Jensen said. She talked about how Christ gave his life for this gospel and thats what we are called to do as well. She said serving a mission is the best thing we can be doing right now but when we get home we cant stop. We have to always be serving the church somehow. It never ends. It reminded me of a scripture I read. 2 Nephi 2: 6-8. So if you want to read that you can. I liked how in verse 8 it said that spreading the gospel around the world is the most important thing!

My companion is really cool. We get along really well for the most part. We are very different though. She likes singing and dancing and doing plays and stuff like that. She also doesnt like playing any sport with a ball. Luckily we can both do whatever we want in gym because we dont have to be right next to each other and we usually switch companions with someone in our district. So it works. But shes great. She reminds me of Taylor Armour if that helps you get a better picture of her.

One thing I've learned is that you need to send dear elder letters by noon if you want me to get it that day. If its afternoon I will get it the next day. If you are ever wondering what I am doing during the day, the answer is studying. Whether its personal, in the classroom, or companion, we are studying all day. But I like it so its okay. Im starting to get used to the routine. It was weird yesterday when the new missionaries came. We walked around saying welcome to everyone that was new. That what people did when we were new so we did it to the new ones. I felt like I had been here forever and all the new missionaries probably had too. That what I thought about everyone that said welcome to me. Its weird not being in the newest group of missionaries now. I saw Elder Berry twice on the first day! I havent seen him since though. I also saw Sister Jones( I played volleyball with her- suva. Kylie Jones.) And today I saw Sister Heger( Leah)! She just came yesterday! Its nice to see familiar faces. Also I asked Sister McDonald if she plays the violin and she does! She said that the other McDonald girl you remember is her older sister. Shes really nice. I like having her as my teacher. Shes really good. That language is so hard but also I really like learning it! Its hard trying to teach in Hiligaynon. We have taught every day for the past week. Its crazy. The food is really good! I like it a lot. I also like having a regular schedule of when I eat. Its nice knowing exactly when I am going to get food. Along the lines of food, thank you so much for the packages! I love all the candy and so does everyone who has visited my room! My sister training leaders say the love visiting with us but I think its only because I give them food. Haha just kidding. They are really nice. Elder Johnson is in my district! The one whos mom took our picture. It was cool to meet him. Also please tell Judy Jensen I said thank you so much! My roommates and sister training leaders loved the pumpkin chocolate chip bread! I loved it too! Its my favorite! For exercise we go to the gym. We have a time on our schedule to go. I already kind of talked about what we do but I play basketball for the entire hour. I've missed basketball so much! I love getting to play!

Thank you to everyone who has written me or sent me anything! I love coming back from lunch or dinner and seeing a letter on my desk! Its so nice getting to read stuff from you! Send more! Also if you want to, you can add President Lopez on Facebook. Sister Evans said he posted pictures almost every day. And he said in his last email he will let you. Also I am going to need to send some stuff home before I leave. I brought a lot more than I need and a lot of stuff I cant have! Oops. Another thing is I might have already broken a rule. I didnt know that I wasnt supposed to write letters if its not my P-Day. So I will write them on my P-Day and send them but thats the only time you will get them. Also HAPPY BIRTHDAY RYANNE!!! Your letter is in the mail. And on our picture in front of the temple with our entire district, notice the big gap between us and the Elders. We laughed so hard when we saw that! I have some more funny stories. First, while me and Sister Smith were teaching, we asked our investigator if we could do anything for him. We answered and since we had no idea what he said, we wrote down what we thought was most important. We wrote down basi tulod. We looked it up when we got back to class and it means fear of eggplant! We laughed so hard!! Then we realized he said basi pu lang which is a conjunction. So we still have no idea what he said. Also Sister Evan always hits things or falls. We laugh really hard. She does too so its okay. I have more but Im almost out of time. Pretty much we have had a lot of funny experiences!

We all bought a shirt in the bookstore that says Philippines on it and has the flag. We are all wearing it today. I will take a picture and send it next week. Also I do need some things... Like flipflops for the showers. Forgot those. Just send some cheap ones from Old Navy or something.  If I think of anything else I need I will let you know! But I have to go! I miss you all and love you so much! Hope you are having fun at home and ready for school to start! Have a good first week! Bye!

 Another one of my district.

 Also our district. From left to right, Elder Hillman, Elder Carnahan?, and Elder Johnson(the one whos mom took our picture)

 Me and Sister Smith at the map.

 From left to right, Sister Piula, Sister Evans, Sister Smith, and me.

 Love the bread and Dr. Pepper!! And supporting Great Harvest.

 Some pictures that didnt work on my camera. I dont know why. But me and Sister Smith the first night and my roommates at the big map! Me, Sister Smith, Sister Piula, and Sister Evans!