July 26 - Week 9: Final MTC P-Day

It's official. I have an industrial grade body. I have broken zippers and toenail clippers all just before leaving US soil. Thank goodness the seamstress ladies are nice and are fixing a couple skirts as we speak. I'm very excited for what next week will hold.

I forget to tell you a cool story last week. Last Sunday, Carole Mikita (of KSL  news reporting live from the MTC relief society) came and spoke. She has some strong ties to the Yugoslavia so we tried to go up and talk to her afterwards. We were only able to tell her where we were going, see her start to cry and try to talk to us, and then we got pushed away. But hey! We've been finding all kinds of ties to Yugoslavia. This week, we found out we don't have enough teachers (we only had two volunteers for TRC last night and we still had to share them with the other Croatian district) and so when the scheduled teacher was sick and couldn't make it, we were left teacherless.(We've been seeing a lot of Brat Jacobsen recently. Poor man does a lot for us. Maybe he loves us or something weird like that) The other Croat district's teacher came in a little bit every now and then just to chill with us and see that we were causing too much trouble. We found out that HE is the one the Pres Eyring talked about in the Priesthood session talk. When he role plays an  investigator it's always the one from that story, Valentino. 

This week we have learned the secrets to emotional eating in our mission, how many missionaries are in our mission (45-60) and what cities are open. There are 6 in Croatia, 3 in Slovenia, 3 in Bosnia, 3 in Serbia and 1 in Montenegro (THE BLACK MOUNTAIN). With Montenegro added, we barely have enough cities (for our languages) that all of us will be in different cities. We're all so very excited.

A couple little things I thought you would enjoy (Especially Katelin and Bryn) There is a senior elder here who looks like the head servant guy from Downton Abby. Even though he doesn't look like Bates I still keep thinking "There's not debates about it" when I see him. Yesterday, I also said "I look like a beached whale" about twice in my best Kathy Aller voice. No one laughed but me. I really am funny, they just haven't realized it yet. They'll get it in a week or two, I'm sure.

We've been doing a lot of practice contacting. I think I'm too happy for these role plays. "Sure! I'd love a Mormonove Knjige!" and the such. Although, yesterday during in-field orientation, they wanted us to practice talking about mormon.org.  The facilitator type person had me help him with a demonstration. The scene: airport. I told him I was from Ontario, and that I am an editor for a company and I work on their special projects. From this experience, I discovered I am a world class liar. I lost count of how many people came up to me and said "I'm from Canada" and I'd respond with "That's great!" or "My grandma is too! She's from Alberta." Even my own zone was fooled. Glad to know I have this hidden talent. haha

Finally, I would like to wrap up with a list of the things I might possibly maybe miss. I would put it to the music of "These are the little things I'll miss" from Polly, but.... no.

The majestic sight of what happens when you bring a bag of costco dried mangos around missionaries. It's straight out of Planet Earth.

Bro Ryan Egget, the choir conductor. FUNNY FUNNY man. He also has the coolest stories about songs.

The other missionaries. I'm going to be with just one missionary in a place that has no idea why we have a name tag or why we are doing whatever it is we are doing. I'll miss the people in my zone and my district. They are nothing short or entertaining.

The Czech Sestri. I've gone on many splits with them. They are the sweetest sisters! They'll change the Czech Republic.

Chairs with seats that flip up and roll around.

The 3M 1st floor bathroom concert series. Showers: bringing sisters into cleaner harmony

The Nallys and the Pridays. I didn't see much of them but what I did see of them was wonderful.

Dearelders. If you don't send them tonight, I will never get them. Our last mail time is tomorrow at about 2ish. I didn't get very many, but I'll be receiving a lot less in the field.

That's all for now. Next time in Croatia! Then who knows where after that.

Godspeed!

Sister Farnsworth

Cooling down in style! Classy Elder Burssel!

Unity in the mission! Sis Jones is a Slovenian speaking sister. Notice the matching hair, tags, shirts, and belts?

It's a common practice to steal someone's camera and put pictures on it. This is one of those hidden gems.  Elder Sherf is in the Czech Republic and Elder Richards is one of 8 missionaries in Turkey.

July 19 - Week 8

We got travel plans! Actually, we found them. Well... So the elders got the travel plans at about 7:30 this morning and created a scavenger hunt for the sisters. Hilarious. We had to do push-ups and run all around campus just to get our travel plans. It was very entertaining. They got one of the slovaks to walk around with a mustache and carry our clues. I thought some of the sisters were going to kill him. One of the pictures is us doing push-ups while he talked to us in Slovak. We have less than 24 hours of travel. Sister Lacey Monson has about 3 days of travel. I'm pretty excited! I get to be on a plane for the first time since I was 7! My life will be a lot more quiet in 2 weeks. I don't even know which country I'll be in.

So I was teaching "Ervin" The law of chastity (which he read the pamphlet and he's married and he agrees so there wasn't much to teach) and he agreed to live it. I started a sentence "You're wife will...nishta" and left it there . I realized while I was talking that I had no idea how to say anything that I wanted to say. It was funny and awkward. This combination tends to happen a lot.

It's funny what you miss while you're here. I miss the dentist. I'll have you know that I do brush and floss every day. Everyone has gone crazy here. That quiet kid in the corner? It's all been a lie. He's actually an evil mastermind. Everyone is becoming paranoid and insane. You know that point of tired when everything is funny and you act all strange. It's like that here all the time. They practical jokes are starting come out. Each day gets better and better. I made a Lord of the Rings reference the other day. Everyone thought it was funny. My teacher almost fell out of his seat. We're all becoming weird! We saw a baby at the crosswalk and you would think it was Santa! All in all, I love it here and I will miss it.

 I have to let you know that I truly have THE BEST mother. I don't cry that often, even here. But about half the time that I have shed tears here have been of joy and gratitude for my wonderful mom. I have a mom who takes care of me no matter where I am. I am so inexpressively grateful! I have never been so happy or grateful that I have been moved to tears until now. Thank you so much for your dearelders and packages. Besides my district, that's what I will miss the most.

I love you all very much.

Love, Sestra Farnsworth

PS:  Regarding the attached pictures:  These elders walked in while I was studying in an empty classroom. I love these elders so gosh darn much!

My organized mess of a desk. It's actually one of the cleaner ones, believe it or not.  . Oh! And there's this one of us doing pushups to earn our next clue for the scavenger hunt. I'm actually friends with the Slovak. 

Always a dapper moment, never a dull moment

The MTCs' finest

Sestre and "stranger"

Our little district is off to save souls!

July 5 - Week 6

Bok!

Yesterday we received a mini lecture on the whens and hows of how to say Hello. Turns out saying Zdravo will offend some people in Croatia and Bok will offend some Serbians. At least we can safely say Dobro Dan ili Halo!

Yesterday was also the 4th of July! What a wonderful holiday! It went on as normal, except there was a lot of color coordinating and one of the sisters in my district went all out. Around the time we usually have TRC we had a really short 4th of July program followed by a showing of 17 Miracles. You'd think that we were told the whole world had already committed to baptism, and we just needed to show up! Everybody was so excited! It's a very good movie. There was lots of sniffling and sobbing. The movie didn't end until after our bed time. Nevertheless, they had magnum ice cream waiting for us and we got to watch the Stadium of Fire fireworks. I got to watch fireworks and spend the 4th of July with some of my favorite people! I will never forget it.

On Sunday, our Relief Society speaker was Sheri Dew. As you could guess, that went very well.

I can't believe Liz's wedding is today! And Lizzie's baptism is tomorrow! We had a "baptism" scheduled for tomorrow but it has been postponed to next week. One of my teachers got married last Saturday and was gone the whole week prior. We were a little nervous to see what would happen to 'Ervin' after his "vacation" but it wasn't so bad. He gets baptized next Saturday. Same time as Kristina. Now Kristina, we thought everything was smooth sailing. We originally planned to teach her the law of chastity and word of wisdom in the same lesson, but we never got past Chastity. She doesn't have a problem with it, she just doesn't understand some things. After some racing around campus we printed off a talk from general conference. Good times!

We also get to be progressive investigators for each other now. We've only taught our Darko and Tomislav once but they might already be committed to baptism. It wasn't easy! At least we can understand what they are saying. We got to make up our own investigator and we were given a Yugoslavian name. The way we did it was we told Brat Hansen what our investigator name is and  he gave us a new Croatian/Serbian name. When he finally got to me and my companion (we were last) she said Emily and I said Broomhelga. I had to repeat it to him a couple times. The name I got back was Dragana. It took me almost half the class block to get the joke. Then that night, someone looked up words that are close to our names. It was pretty funny! I love all of our teachers! I love love love LOVE them! They are simply top notch!

The Bulgarians are leaving on Tuesday. My bestest buddies are in there, so I'm a little sad about it but so excited for them to get out there! We, ourselves, have had the scary realization that we only have 3 weeks left! Last week we were complaining about how we have been here forever and we still have forever left. Now we are beginning to see a possible end. We've been setting new goals and visions for our MTC stay. I guess it's time to start learning the language. I'm also making friends with the new missionaries. They're not so scary anymore.

This week has also been full of companionship exchanges. My companion is a training sister which means she's gone a lot. There's also been some sickness going around. There are often times I'm not sure who my current companion(s) is/are.

I keep losing things! I lost my water bottle (I got a new one from Liz today), my hygiene kit went missing for a day (that was embarrassing. I never thought I could get so excited about brushing my teeth), my razor has gone missing, and I can never find my pen (but that's not new). Since the temple is closed we had some extra time to sleep (we didn't go to bed until very late) and since I woke up before everyone I just read my scriptures. I finished Ether today. One of the chapters begins with a description of a curse. The people would put their swords away wherever they would keep their swords and the next day the swords would be missing. So no one would borrow or lend their things because of this curse. Then the thought came... I'm cursed! Haha I had a good laugh. We all know the far more likely theory is that there is something living in our vents who likes to harass me.

I am loving it here at the MTC. The people are great. The food is alright. The weather is smoldering. The future is bright! And I have the unique opportunity to devote 100% of my all to the Lord! The changes are slow but the evidence is lasting and undeniable.

Oh, I think the natives are catching onto me. However, none of them have figured out it's my birthday. You would think 3 packages in one day (one of which covered in flower wrapping paper) would tip them off.  It tipped off random missionaries who were walking by. I love that people here are so friendly.

Also, I was quite embarrassed. I'm not use to getting much attention here. I couldn't pick up the packages until this morning. I don't think they got here until yesterday. There's probably a total of 15 steps between my residence and the post office and 2 sets of Elders were like "WOAH! Happy birthday sister!" It was pretty funny. Thank you for writing Pooh Bear on it. I haven't opened it yet.

Love you all!

Keep the faith!

Sestra Farnsworth

Drago mi je, missunari!

HOBY alumni make OUTSTANDING missonaries

P.S.

The big group picture is my zone before the new Polski's showed up. I've also seen Clinny Purser, Micheal Scott Peters, and Tyler Barton. These boys are winning! Oh, and of course Elder Bursell. (He's Tomislav)

Until next week!

July 12 - Week 7

Halo!

Sometimes I forget we are in the same place. It rained on my birthday and it was FULLY enjoyed. I got soaked. (But no dancing at the MTC) My companion and I spent our "companionship study" outside and ended up enjoying the rain with our soon to be departing Bulgarians. It was so much fun! Funny how something as simple as rain can manifest how God loves his children. I didn't realize that my cousin's outdoor wedding reception was taking place about a mile away in the same conditions. I'm glad to hear it still went well.

The rain wasn't my only birthday surprise. My district decorated the room and surprised me REAL good. They all threw balloons at me the moment I walked in. Also the second time I walked in. I also got a sympathy card from them. haha Nothing says "Happy birthday" than "We are sorry for your loss." I love my district. Even if they're all stinkers. This was one of the best birthday's ever! I will never forget it.

I guess I forgot to tell you last week. We had a little health drama. My companion passed out during gym. Twice! Of course, this happened while we were on an exchange, so I got back from a fun game outside to find out my companion was in the infirmary. I could barely recognize her. Her eyes and skin were red and she had a nasty rash all over her body (like when I had my allergic reaction to the Typhoid). She couldn't feel parts of her body. 3ish hours later she was fine. It wasn't until the next day we found out that it was probably her negative reaction to another Typhoid shot. Also, this week I was reinstated as senior companion. Weeee!

Sunday was fun! Sister Nally talked about Margaret Yates. They put her picture up on the screen and I was thinking "Hey, I know that picture." which turned into "Hey I know that name" and eventually "Hey! I know who that is!" When sister Nally said she married a Teamster named Philo Taylor Farnsworth. I could see the Pridays smiling at me and my whole zone was going "Hey.... I know that name." Tuesday's devotional was given by George Durrant and Susan Easton Black Durrant. They're fun! I liked them. I think I've heard Goerge Durrant speak before.

Exciting news! On Sunday, we found out that a FIFTH COUNTRY HAS BEEN ADDED TO OUR MISSION. We now have Montenegro (Also known as Black Mountains). It's in the Croatian/Serbian speaking mission too. We're pretty excited about it, even though nobody really knows about it, besides it's a pretty country.

I think you would like to know that we sang a Christmas song in class. I can't remember which one but we sang it in Croatian.

Another story of how prayers are answered! Sis Marks has been sick for about a week now. She lost her voice and keeps coughing. I started getting sick with the same thing a couple days ago. I prayed that I would not be sick and that my illness would be taken away. Sister Marks went to the doctor and found out that she can only wait for the illness to pass and that it may be a couple weeks or so. I only have a little cough left. My voice is mostly intact. ALL prayers are answered.

What else is new this week? I started on my new planner today. For those of you who don't know what that means, it means this is week 7 and I will be done with the MTC at week 9. Moooj jooook! I finished the Book of Mormon this week and am I already in 2 Nephi with my Croatian/English reading. A couple days ago I got to teach via skype. Sis Hendricks and I thought that meant we were going to teach a Croatian couple, but we ended up teaching an Australian couple Serbian. They'll being joining us in November. It was really fun! We were told we were going to "try something new" a couple minutes in advanced but didn't really know what. My companion hasn't really bothered with Serbian too much (she really doesn't need to. She's brilliant so she'll pick it up in a snap), but I have been doing a lot of my vocab in Serbian so I was able to help! We helped them with how to pray and bear their testimonies.

Could you please send me pictures of the family? I don't mean the family picture, just pictures of the family. Thank you!

Thank everyone so much for the AMAZING birthday! It was such a wonderful surprise! I loved the letters and the packages! I got so many goldfish. Haha I actually didn't get your surprise mochi package until the day after my birthday. I was jako sretan! I'm happy to finally have treats and snacks! Everyone kept asking me what I eat. Now they believe me. Their eyes have been opened to new venues of food! Thank you for mints too! Mints are great! Thank you for everything!!!!! I really cannot express my gratitude! It's better than anything I could have hoped for. :)

We've been having a hoot of fun and working our tails off. I still struggle with remembering the words and speaking the language. Yesterday, we had TRC and it was the first time I didn’t want to die. It helped that the volunteer was more nervous than I was. After we asked how we could improve. He wanted to hear more from me. I explained that my throat hurt and I was losing my voice. He thought I was afraid. HA! No fear here! I told him that (in Croatian) and he laughed pretty hard. I was even able to joke around and talk to one of my old teachers afterwards. I'm a little better at conversationalizing than I am at saying something "prepared". What does that say about me?

I love you so dearly. The phrase "Missionaries leave their families for a while so other may be with their families for eternity" is becoming more meaningful every day. We have something very special. I love my family! My real family, my MTC family, my family of friends! All my families! I'm excited to share the good news!

Love you!

Sestra Farnsworth

P.S.

How is that testimony challenge coming?

Birthday packages!

My companion and I have the most fun. She made it possibly the best birthday ever.

The whole room was decorated and filled with balloons

June 28 - Week 5

Wow! It's been an interesting week. We only taught one lesson, but we got a baptism out of it! Our other investigator has been gone (my teacher is in San Diego getting married, who does that?) and so we look forward to his return next week.

Sunday was the worldwide broadcast. we had two MTC wide sacrament meetings. Guess who spoke! The Pridays! I sat all the way in the back though, so we could hurry and get dinner in time for choir. Did you see me? I was wearing brown and orange. My companion was in bright purple. It's funny to walk through the halls and hear people watching the broadcast then cheering when you can see the top of their head or their neck or an ear. I was in Row nine seat 3. I didn't even recognize Elder Hales when he came in! But what an experience to be in the same room as 11 apostles. Before the broadcast started, we got to sit through the audio visual checks. Those are entertaining! You may remember some people in Hawaii? They were so funny. They didn't know how to mute their mic at first so were heard a lot of them when they were doing checks with the people in Peru and Washington DC. Elder Bednar smiled in my direction!

In spirit of the world wide broadcast, I would like to issue a challenge. Share your testimony at least 8 times before I get back. Share it with coworkers, friends, strangers, just share it! If you share your testimony the same number of times as your age or more, I will give you something from Croatia or the other countries. You are never too young to share your testimony. To my nephews and nieces I say "Get started now!"

Tuesday's devotional followed up with Janice Kapp Perry and husband. I was ecstatic when I found out! I wanted to run up to her and tell her how I love her music and how Polly has been such an influence in my life. I also wanted to let her know that I am going to be the next Polly. We all sang primary songs with her and at once point in the devotional she told us how she met her husband. he then proceeded to go up the podium and give her a great big kiss! The missionaries went nuts.

I've met Pres Rowe's niece. We taught her in TRC. She is so sweet! She will make a very good missionary! It made TRC so much better to have her around. At first I wanted to just lay on the floor and curl up in the corner, but she made me feel right at home. She gave me a hug at the end of the lesson and again when I was trying to leave TRC. I think she loves me too. Anyways, she gave me two really good hugs so I guess she's alright. ;) Then we taught a recent RM who we very possibly may see in Croatia. He's doing a study abroad.

when it comes to improvements in the language, I have discovered that I am very good at what I like to call "sports talk". It's like the missionary version of trash talking. for some reason it comes easier to me than teaching a lesson. There is always room for improvement.

our district has really grown! We got a visit from one of our old teachers (he was kidnapped by the new Croatians) and ended up having a very inspired 3 hour lesson with him. We talked about troubled spirits and doing what’s good, better and best, we talked about teaching others and envisioning them in white, and we talked about fleas in a jar. We talked a little about jumping out of the boat again and having a vision for ourselves of what kind of missionary we want to be by the end of the mission and even just by the end of the week. You can really tell he believes in us. They all really believe in us and love spending time with our district which is great. When they talk about missions they get really really excited and then their voices crack and we spend a couple minutes laughing.

Things have quieted down now that the Russians have left our floor and the Polskis have left. The Bulgs and Turks are expecting to get their travel plans soon. Has it really already been a month? Time is very strange here. The saying goes "Long days make for short weeks, and long weeks make for short months, and long months make for a short mission." It really goes by too fast here. I'm finally beginning to feel like I'm going to the Adriatic North someday.

Look what I can do! волим моја обител! немогу бити стретан беѕ моја обител. знам да чисмо зивјети све за увјек. You'll have to ask Sarah what it says. I use it in my lessons a lot. It's one of the first things I learned how to say. Now I can almost tell a story or explain a scripture. It's amazing the miracles that happen here. There is no other way everything that has happened in just month could happen outside these walls or without have the spirit and this calling.

I hope you find good health! I think about you a lot!

Two things I have learned here: Croatian and Serbian, The gospel is so true! I have been finding things that I don't know why it never clicked before. Read the scriptures! Develop a relationship with them. It is NOT possible to read the Book of Mormon and not feel edified or stronger or just better!

I love you all!

Sestra Farnsworth

P.S.

I actually won't be celebrating my birthday. They don't really do that here. Although this week we all signed a "Congrats on your new arrival" card for one of the elders in my district

June 21 - Week 4

Hi, Folks!

In other news, this week hasn't been too eventful, but it still had its adventures.

We received greenies on Wednesday and a few are from Lindon. We lost a couple of our teachers to them so I'm not too sure if I like them yet or not. Just kidding, if they're in the zone they must be fantastic! I haven't had too much time to meet them.

Monday my district went through media training. We're going to be in some paper in Idaho. The head of church public affairs and a few others came to our class on Tuesday. The training was actually a little intense, then when it actually came time the reporter asked the whole class about two questions. I'm sure the photographer got some nice pictures of my nostrils.

But wait! There's more! The most exciting part of Tuesday happened after devotional. During devotional I felt extremely uncomfortable. An elder in the bass section actually passed out and threw-up all over himself just before the closing hymn. I went to district review like a good sister and tried to take it easy. It came to be my turn to share a little so I shared an inspiring two sentences. Then everything took a nose-dive (not literally). After my companion was done talking we were going to go to the doctor. I was going to say "I'm not feeling good" but instead I said "I'm going to throw-up." I made it just outside of the door. That is how my night with food poisoning began. I was taken good care of and was able to receive a blessing from a couple of my friends. Have I told you I love my zone? Two of the sweetest Czech-bound elders came with Brother Melville. Elder Sheurf and Elder Olsen are going to be outstanding missionaries. Everyone was very surprised with how cheerful I am when I'm sick. The branch president's wife asked if I had medicine and she didn't even bat an eye when I said "No, but I have DoTerra." I guess her daughter is pretty high up there with DoTerra. The peppermint didn't stay down. I was the 12th missionary to report to the main office. I think the total count came to 40 missionaries. Now they're not sure if it was food poisoning or a virus. Whatever the reason, we are not allowed to shake hands or give hugs. Tuesday was exciting!

The best part is that when I came into the classroom for district review, there were TWO WHOLE LETTERS sitting on my desk. Sestra H was nice enough to bring them with us when we went back to the residence. When I showed up for our night class on Wednesday there was DearElder from my mom! They Lord sure does look after all of us, even in the small ways.

Besides that, it's just been studying the language and the gospel. There's a mission president's meeting, but I haven't seen any. They only reason why we know is because some parts of compass are closed for the week. One of my teachers is getting married tomorrow so we will be getting a new investigator. Our new teacher is Brat Bell. He is two months off his mission. The russians have moved in across from our classrooms. They'll only be here for four more days. They received 100 new Russian missionaries this Wednesday so they needed to make some room. Our languages are really very close.

We lose the Polski's on Monday. We found out last P-Day that they would be leaving a week and a half early. We'll be very sad to see them go.

I hope I see Brian! I don't really have it as a habit to carry my camera with me but I will try to make it so.
How was Father's Day? I'm glad to hear Summerfest was still fun! The Priday's have a life outside of MTC? That's so strange to hear. I'm excited to get pictures! Please send more than just posed pictures. I don't want to feel like I'm lying. ;) I would like to use the pictures in my lessons. Such as "This is my cousin. You can tell by his patriotic speedo that he is a law abiding citizen."

The computer lab we usually use in inaccessible this week, so you shall have to do without pictures from me.

That little fact about humor helping you learn a language, can I get the data behind that?

I love you! I hope everything is alright at home! Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.

Love,

Sestra Farnsworth

P.S.

I love you mom!

P.P.S.

I love it here.

Kako si, Elder Bursell?

He always got the coolest things in his packages.

Elder Pajama Sam!

These are pictures of Elder Bursell. He is my district twin. He's the most optimistic guy I have ever met. He's from Parker Colorado. Just thought I'd send some pictures.

UPDATE: Why so many pictures of Elder Bursell? Because we decided to play a joke on my family and send home only pictures of him.

June 14 - Week 3

I hope you have a good Father's Day!

Turns out, there are a couple things I need to repent of. One, go listen to Sestra Brandie Frampton's new album. It's called Departure and you can get it on iTunes. Second, I am supposed to tell all my friends and family about dearelder.com. Go check it out. We get mail after lunch and after dinner.

Speaking of which, we were eating and my district leader said "by the way, you have a letter." I almost jumped over the table to him I was so excited. Then he left. No worries, we met up later and I was able to get not a letter but a package! Who on earth could have sent me a package? I don't get mail or packages. That's my companions job. Haha Anyways, I opened it and it was as if salvation came in a box. There were gym shorts (so I could stop stealing Sestra H's), THE water bottle (hallelujah), hi-chews (I'm slowly winning over the natives), and goldfish (which somehow quickly disappeared), and words of encouragement. I was so happy!

I've been so inexplicably happy here! I love my companion! I think she loves me back... Just kidding, we are both a good team. We love each other very much. We went on our first exchange which turned into a double exchange and we decided to never do that again unless we absolutely had to. It was awful.

I've also experienced what has been my most stressful hour at the MTC thus far. It's called CRT. I wanted to roll over and die! That's when we talk to volunteers as themselves in hrvatski or serbski. I couldn't understand ANYTHING! I couldn't understand when my teachers were talking to me, when my companion was talking, or what the girl was saying. We gave a short lesson (which our teacher sat in on) and I just sat there. "Ja sam Sestra Farnsworth. Kako ste?" Yep. It's slow work here. At the end I did understand when she said something about how even if we don't have something grammar and we don't something the words we have the spirit, we used the scripture’s, and we could understand her. To which my companion replied "Mislite da radzumjemo." which translates to "You think we understand." I understand that sentence and started laughing really hard. 10 minutes after I was just fine with life and happy to be alive and excited for next week. (Which might not happen because there are rumors of a mission president training and apostles and broohaha). My companion and I really work together well.

We've had the fire alarm go off at least 5 times since we came here. Yesterday the fire alarm went off during breakfast. Then I saw Bro Moss! It was pretty cool. Then last night my building (with the classroom) smelled like meat or smoke or hickory. Later we found out there was a fire a mile or two north of here. The fire alarm did not go off.

Tuesday was the first ever MTC devotional to take place in the Marriott. Two or three more weeks until the world wide training. It's called "Work of Salvation" and one of our teachers told us Elder Nelson said "it will be the missionary meeting of the stoljece."  He also said not to quote him on that so I'm not sure if he was making it up. You'll be able to watch it online. There's has been rumors that a big announcement will be made.

I gave a prayer in relief society. Turns out that makes you an instant MTC celebrity. People have been asking Sestra H and I if we were the ones who gave the prayer. Sister Anne Clegg was the speaker. I liked it. I didn’t get to meet her though.

I've been learning a lot about the gospel since coming here. I have also learned a lot about the role of missionary. The two kind of go hand in hand. One of the big "ah-ha" moments this week was when I realized that missionaries are not salesmen. We are a bunch of little kids who can barely put a sentence together and who painfully share their testimonies. The only reason why anyone would be a missionary is because they know the church is true and because they love the people so much they want to share what we have found.

I have finally made my way through the Cyrillic alphebet. We haven't learned in class but one of the teachers always writes in Cyrillic. Slow work, but I see miracles every day. I love it!

Funny story about the language. I keep mixing  up words, and sometimes I make them up. That's normal for learning a language, right? So during companionship prayer, I meant to say "zahvlana smo za priliku bili ovdjie" which means "we are thankful for the opportunity to be hear" but instead I said "zahvlanan smo za priliku bili ubljeni." Which means "We are thankful for the opportunity to be killed." I corrected myself kind of midway and hoped that Sestra H didn't notice. She's brilliant with the language. Of course she noticed. We laughed through the rest of our weekly planning. At least I can kind of explain the Veliki Otpad (Great Apostasy).

If I could get pictures of my family to show to my roommates, district, zone, random missionary in the hallway, but mostly my investigators I would be happy.

Laughing and praying all the way,

Sestra Farnsworth

P.S.

After my email last week, I had an adventure in the laundry room. Every item of clothing I own, excpet for a couple shirts and a couple skirts, is now PINK.

P.P.S

My camera went on an exchange and it came back with some strange pictures. One of them is a Bulgarian teacher. One of them is Elder Goose's notes (in two different kinds of Cyrillic and english). And one is my classroom. 13 desks. The most we have had in the room is 13 missionaries and 3 teachers. Kako ste kaze "sardines"? (How do you say "sardines"?)

Oh, another scripture which could work as my mission scripture is Alma 7:11-13. Especially 13. Bye!

June 7 - Week 2

Hello Mom!

Even though my companion is from Virginia she knows everyone here. I'm just randomly related to them. I have seen a couple of my HOBY boys, followed by exuberant handshakes.

This week we taught four lessons in Croatian. I got to teach specifically on the Atonement and the Law of Chastity. Woot!! Fun times! When we taught the restoration, we decided to sing with him about the first vision instead of tell him the story. It worked better than we thought it would! We got a baptismal commitment the second lesson and got him to commit to bringing his dad to church. My favorite lesson so far was the "member lesson". We asked one of our teachers to join us as a "member". It was fun! We've been working on "Jumping out of the boat". I love my teachers they're great!

For personal study time I read the stories about my ancestors. POWERFUL! I loved it. We had Tad Callister speak at the Tuesday Devotional. I sang in the choir. Good news! In like 3 weeks we will be singing in a worldwide broadcast for the prophet and all the apostles. We're getting our whole district to go!
Sister Hendricks and I are still getting along splendidly! Does anyone have any tips on learning a new language? (Anything from the alphabet, to grammar, to sentences, etc.)

It may surprise you to find that I am actually very quiet. It's very strange. It hasn't been too much of a problem. I still laugh. Which reminds me! About everything my brothers have said to me right before I left has come into play. Sam: "If you're not smiling, something is wrong." Followed by Joel's advice "Shut up! You're going to Hawaii!" (Which in my case translates to the Adriatic North Mission), Bryn's advice and a lot of what Peter said to me. Funny how those last words can have so much effect!

The church is true. Every day we "jump out of the boat" which means we take a leap of faith. Even though I can only limp my way through a prayer and give a haphazard testimony, I have been stretching myself. My companion and I look at each other all the time and say "Jump out of the boat." To which I sometimes respond "It's okay. I'm getting pushed out of the boat whether I like it or not."

I love it here! I love the experience, the growth, the ever growing spirit, the language, the purpose, and I just love everything!

I love you! Thank you for everything you have done!

Love,

Sestra Farnsworth

P.S.

On the way back from the temple today I saw Sister Anderson (from my Provo singles ward)! It was indeed a joyous occasion!

My district studying in the hallway

This is what happens if you don't obey the exact obedience rule, namely quiet time in the residence.

June 5 - Week 1

Dobar Dan!

We made it to the first P-Day! I love it! I love wearing the name tag, learning the difficult language, I love the other missionaries and I love LOVE learning so much about the gospel and increasing my testimony.

We by far have THE BEST district, the BEST zone and probably the loudest zone too! We have in our zone the Pols, the Belgs, the Turks, and the Czechs. I am staying on main campus, however the west campus did receive its first missionaries this past Wednesday.

I haven’t met the Nallys yet. They talked to my group, but I don't think they quite know who I am yet. My Branch president is President Jones from Mapleton. He was Bishop Rymer and Bro Anderson's bishop! And his first counselor? Brother Melville, also known as Principal Melville! I recognized him as soon as he started talking.

In our district we have one elder going to the ASM. He's from Slovenia and went through the temple for the first time today! How exciting is that! We've already becoming really close! My companion and I get along extremely well. She is Sestra Hendricks from Virginia. We even do that weird thing sometimes when we say the same thing at the same time. And it's only day 2.5! I love it here.  We're suppose to meet our first investigator either today or tomorrow, and we are expected to teach in Hrvatski. Good thing Sestra Hendricks excels at the language. I'm the senior companion but that really doesn't mean much. We are always joking about how much we hate each other. We had a companionship inventory and one of the Training Sisters was listening in when during the meat of my "love sandwich " I said "Sestra, it would mean a lot to me if you stopped trying to kill me. It's hard to breathe when I wake up with you hugging my face with your pillow." the meat of her love sandwich was "It would be great if you stopped trying to burn down the cafeteria and blowing up our mission. Stay out of the woods." Our Training Sisters love us. haha Everyone in our district is in the perfect companionship. It's amazing! She also knows a lot of people here. She could be a Farnsworth.

It's been a fun two days. I wish I never had to leave this life. We study and work constantly from 5:50am (Sestra Marks has us all up and working out at 6. She's amazing and such a beast! Reminds me of Sarah) until the lights turn off at 10:30pm. If school was like this I would be ever so happy with it. The big difference is the spirit. I wouldn't describe it as overwhelming but you can see it constantly at work as you see people learn the language and young folks (cough cough 18 year old boys cough cough) testify and say things that no normal young adult would say. Especially not nearly so eloquently.

I hope everyone is good. I heard from Dad. I knew he would miss my noise. ;) I'm very grateful to be number 6 missionary and have been prepared as much as I was.

By the way, no one told me about the creme soda tree. I thought the Belgs were trying to pull a quick one.

I love you all! I am so grateful for every person and every friend and especially every hug! By the way, I saw Elder Nate Church. Hardest handshake to give ever. I almost ran up to him to give him a hug. HANDSHAKES ONLY! I also found out dancing isn’t aloud. You can imagine how well that's going.

I know this gospel is true. I know it so much I can't help but to want to shout it! haha Znam da Jesu Kristu nas spasitelja! Znam da porok Thomas S. Monson.

Oh. We all found out on the first day that we will be learning Serbian as well, including the alphabet. At the same time as Hrvastki. No one got the same visa papers either. We have all been having fun!

Everything is dobro! I'll talk to you next week!

Love,

Sestra Farnsworth

P.S.

The picture is of all my roommates. Sister Hendricks is in purple. We're spread out amongst the threesome. There are six bunks, four closets, and four study areas. You can see someone has been using the bed above mine as their closet.