Piecing Together Caveman Sentences
Letter dated March 26, 2012
Mommy Nelson, Thank you for all your cutesy love notes and care packages!!! Really, my Mongolian roommates [Americans who will be serving in Mongolia] have been VERY impressed and jealous of your skills and love. Sister Largin STILL hasn’t received her camera cord from home so she can recharge her camera and download her pics. I MISS THOSE LADIES! It hasn’t even been a week. |
When Sister Sessions left for the Sao Paulo CTM last week [on March 20], I had to move to another room AND building. I’m now in 3M, 2nd floor, and 18M #463 for class. My new roommates are all going to Nauvoo. There are four to a room here, which is nice; although I miss the chorus of snores and the symphony of 6 chirping alarms going off at different times in the morning.
Being with my new roommates--Sisters Baird, Ripplinger, and Umphenour--has helped me more easily get to bed on time and not be late to places. (For some reason, however, we’re almost always late to GYM.) Sister Baird, a 23-year-old, has gone to massage therapy school and has worked as a physical therapist. Sister Ripplinger calls Squaw Peak PRIDE ROCK! (Davi! Jackie Martin! She’s our long-lost sister!) I’m pretty sure I’ve heard of her from BYU. Sister Umphenour, I feel, is the most moldable to all personality types. I like her. :) I think Sister Umphenour went to school with Sister Schiffler, so I can’t complain to my old roommates about my new roommates. Not that I would. I have been working really hard to think outside myself and find the positive in everything and everyone. I’m just SO GOOD at accurately analyzing people hahaha, BUT “if you buy 5 completos, it’s only 5 dollars.”
I, from now on, devote my analytical skills to improve others and build them up. Brother Sikahema is SO GOOD at that. |
A big THANK YOU to Hsin Yao Cho and Mary Ann Taylor FOR THE DONUTS AND BROWNIES! It helped break the ice after losing Sister Sessions, and I got to know my zone MUCH better. :) Also... I may or may not have fed my zone the St. Patrick’s Day cookies and frosting from a week ago. Heehee. Hey, they liked them! ;) |
Did I mention… now that Sister Sessions is gone, I am the ONLY sister in the ZONE?? It was… unsettling at first. I seriously felt like my self-confidence plummeted when my other half left me. However, I revel in the fact that the elders in the zone like me and have accepted me. One of my 3 ZLs [Zone Leader] is Elder Rhodes. Another ZL, Elder Fry, is from Beaverton, Oregon, and went to BYU-Hawaii. Elder Edwards is also from Beaverton. Elder Fitzgerald, from Oakland (THAT should explain it all), has enjoyed bantering with me and teasing me. Elders Byers and Raleigh are the weirdest peas in a pod ever. Thankfully, they’re not companions. Sometimes, they get out of hand, and I get frustrated. So, they have begun writing me sorry notes. Elder Byers has turned into the “Elder Pancheri” of the district: censuring me whenever I goof off and making such excuses as, “Well, we’re 2 years younger, so we’re expected to be more immature.” I have put him in his place, sometimes quoting scriptures; so, needless to say, I can handle myself just fine. When some sisters would be plowed over in said situation, I thrive :) Good thing I had much practice with my three older brothers.
A couple of the elders [names withheld] are both so comfortable with me that they “let ‘em fly” on occasions. I can handle it… when we’re NOT trying to be spiritual; but, gosh, when Brother Cannon was teaching us, “someone” let out a loud one. I could NOT contain myself! I was STILL laughing inside by the time we had the closing prayer! I have a VERY strong testimony of WHY it was not good for man to be alone. I just hope and pray that this zone can step it up when I leave. There’ll be no sisters in the zone to straighten them out.
A couple of the elders [names withheld] are both so comfortable with me that they “let ‘em fly” on occasions. I can handle it… when we’re NOT trying to be spiritual; but, gosh, when Brother Cannon was teaching us, “someone” let out a loud one. I could NOT contain myself! I was STILL laughing inside by the time we had the closing prayer! I have a VERY strong testimony of WHY it was not good for man to be alone. I just hope and pray that this zone can step it up when I leave. There’ll be no sisters in the zone to straighten them out.
The first week of Portuguese was R-O-U-G-H! I had nearly zero faith in this new process, in my teachers, in myself. We knew how to say about 6 sentences in Portuguese and then had to teach a lesson… in PORTUGUESE. Now… well… we still don’t know much more, but we can piece together caveman sentences, like, “I know that Book of Mormon is God. He call he prophets to speak him.”
Learning a language here is a very self-responsible, pro-active process, which just overwhelms me!! It’s comforting to know our teachers are rooting for us and keeping us spiritually strong. When it’s my turn to share something, I usually just read something already written. If not, I spit out words like Homestar Runner spits out Teddy Grahams. “Pa-TOOOO… pa-tooooo… pa-tooo… pa-too-pa-toooo…” However, from one Sunday to another, I could pick up and understand SO MUCH MORE!! One elder, who was a week ahead of me in Portuguese, got called up to speak. It was SUPER comforting to hear him speak because he sounded just like me: “Pa-toooo… pa-too-pa-too!”
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Doing laundry today, there was a poor Chinese sister who had a breakdown across the laundry table from me. I’m sure she is feeling exactly how I feel… TIMES 5. What strength she has, coming to a foreign country, knowing little English, and trying to learn another language. I wanted to just hug that wonderful woman and let her know that she’s not alone. Language skills are weak. All languages are imperfect, but God’s love is perfect; and the Holy Ghost speaks not only every language, but the language of the heart. It takes longer for the mind to download truth than does the heart. Now, if only I could remember that when I’m on the OTHER side of the laundry table.
Transitioning from teaching with Sister Sessions to teaching with Elder Clawson, DL [District Leader], and Elder Raleigh was a major setback. Somehow, Sister Sessions and I were able to adjust lessons to the investigator, “Bruno.” I really miss Sister Sessions’ planning skills. She was excellent at utilizing her personal study for the needs of our investigator and adapting every weakness of her own into a strength of the investigator. Even though Elder Clawson is the proficient pupil in our class, it’s difficult NOT to build “wooden” lessons when you don’t know the language. I moseyed along for the first 2 lessons with Elders Clawson and Raleigh, then I had to speak. I tried to open Elder Clawson’s eyes to teaching people, not lessons. I got the vibe that he thought we were wasting time; but after the lesson, he admitted he could tell a difference. I also tried to help him see that asking questions was crucial in involving the investigator and addressing that person’s needs. Elder Raleigh is more malleable because he recognizes he’s not the best at the language and has less experience teaching. |
Before Sister Sessions left, she needed to go to the bank. We got shuttled in a van down University Avenue to the bank. I KNEW BYU was close; after all, I could see the SWKT from my previous room. However, driving past the track, seeing someone finish her workout, and driving past the Elms, knowing ma gurlz were 100 feet away, I was shocked. LIFE was that close, and we weren’t part of it any longer. We are set apart from the world to represent our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. |
I have had many breakdowns; yet, multiple times, Brother Villanova and the temporary floating teachers have all expressed how impressed they are with me. Me? ME?! I just don’t get it! I don’t get it when I’m doing well. I feel like the first week, in our lessons, you could cut the feelings of the Holy Ghost with a KNIFE! Now, just as my life has always gone, I level out and am just like all the others. I’m one of the slowest in the district. Sure, I can speak well, but I have no words to SAY.
Nevertheless, Friday night, I believe, Brother Villanova was finishing his 1-to-1 interviews. He had me bear my testimony in Portuguese. It was the worst I have ever done, but the Spirit was there. He said he has been very impressed with me and that he has a special place in his heart for sister missionaries. His parents were converted by sister missionaries. He continued, “They probably will never know that my parents, who they converted, had me, who has served a mission, you know, and taught and got married, you know, in the temple.” His parents were converted by sister missionaries, and his wife was a missionary. Sisters have such a spirit about them. President Braithwaite also mentioned, during my exit interview, that I’ll do well because I have a wonderful spirit about me. I feel like I need to have the gift of the spirit to “have faith on the testimony of others.” Haha. Nevertheless and notwithstanding, I always glory in my God for all that I have and all that I am. |
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Dear family, I’m sorry for always being so selfish, wanting to do what I want to do in the moment and not sacrificing my time for you. I apologize for being too dependent. I’m learning; but please give me time to learn, grow, and change. If I’ve learned anything, it is that the learning and growing-up bell curve is real.
I know that without your support, I would still be pretty lost. I am lucky that I get to be with you all forever. I know our Heavenly Father loves us and is patient with all our weaknesses. He gives us weaknesses that we may become humble. Just remember, we are all equally dependent on God. Always. And we will forever be indebted to Him. All we can do is pay it forward, and you all are doing a wonderful job of that. Daddy, thanks again for the note. I needed your positive words that day.
Well, I’m sure growing up fast! Brrrrazil, here I come! Love, Seeeshtur Noiston Oh, P.S. ANDREW E!! [10-year-old boy from Sister Nelson's Primary class, wrote a letter to her] You are a stellar kid, did you know that?? I love the teachers here, and I saw Jeffrey R. Holland, Dallin H. Oaks, and his wife! They talked to us at a fireside! I know they were called by God to be apostles. What does apostle mean to you? |