Week 2 at the MTC

MY WONDERFUL FAMILY!!!

I have successfully made it through week two.....I know. It is super crazy. The days seem like months because they move by so slowly but then you look back and the weeks seem like days. Now I know why everyone has told me to enjoy every moment of my mission because it really is going to fly by.

This week has been super crazy. My companion(the girl who has fainted now more than once) is still in and our of the doctor ALL of the time. We have been to the hospital or the MTC health clinic at least once a day this last week. Most of the time that we have to be dealing with medical stuff we are missing class. It is also really difficult for her to have a medical problem in these here the United States because she does not speak english well enough to communicate with the doctors. They usually have to set up a specific time and request a translator so that we can figure out what is going to happen next. Tomorrow we are going back to the cardiologist so that she can get a week long heart monitor. They think that it has something to do with her heart but apparently she has been through all of these tests before. In the mean time, I get to go on field trips!! That is right. I am one of the few missionaries who gets to leave the MTC on a regular basis!! It does make learning Dutch a little bit difficult though. But it is crazy to think of how much Dutch I already know. I teach in het Nederlands every day of the week which is pretty great!!!

I was able to be an escort for Zuster Noguiera last Thursday!!! It was pretty cool and she was way nervous but once she figured out that everyone in the temple was there to help her and to support her she was able to relax and then enjoy the opportunity to learn in the house of the Lord. She even had a cool little head set that had the endowment in portuguese so that she could understand everything that was going on. She was literally glowing for probably two whole days after last Thursday. It was so cool to see that happen especially since she is so worried about learning english and Dutch and she is worried about if she is going to be able to stay on a mission or not. It was such a good thing for her to be able to have that relief.

Ok. Craziest thing that happened this week. They have a fireside on every Sunday and they brought in Brother Heaton who is the director of all mission related programs in the world. He informed us of the new program for the missionaries that is starting with our group who leave the MTC at the beginning of December. We will have a 12 week traning program in which our trainers take us through Preach my Gospel and pretty much start us out right away with making appointments, planning baptisms etc. Then, at the end of that 12 week period in the field, we will then be eligible to train new missionaries who come into the field. Those missionaries will only have 6 weeks of language training in the MTC. That means I better learn the language quickly or else there are going to be problems!!!

Everyone keeps asking about the food. The food is ok. It was great for the first week and I kept thinking,'What were people talking about....It's not that bad!!!' But then we came back to Wednesday and I realized that they have the EXACT SAME FOOD scheduled for every day of the week!!! So there is pretty much NO variety. But they do have hot sauce so I can spice things up a little bit.

So our first investigator that we had miraculously became our teacher. His name is Broeder Robinson and his family is from the Netherlands. He is super great and I am glad that he is my taecher because he speaks my IPA language. None of the other teachers know what the heck I am talking about but Broeder Robinson has my back. It's almost as good as having Dr. Keisker here in the MTC teaching me how to sound like I am from the Netherlands except he does not have catchy phrases like,'Chicago, Wisconson' or 'voille la sallade' to help me to remember where to place my vowels!!!

I offically love the Dutch language. I have started to memorize 'Joseph Smith's first prayer' so that I can sing it for one of the weekly devotionals we have in our district (or maybe later for real discussions) but I have to say...the language is just beautiful!!!

My favorite parts of the week are first gym time. We usually play volleyball and the sisters in our district totally rocked the elders last night!!! It was pretty sweet, if I do say so myself. Also, I love that I am the only Aggie in our zone and that everyone trys to talk about how wonderful BYU is, or that they attend BYU and I get to look at them and just say,"Oh, I'm so sorry" and they have no response. Also, we pull pranks on the elders in our district ALL of the time, it usually causes chaos in our classroom for at least 10 minutes as they try to figure out what is going on!! But my all-time favorite thing is being able to be in the choir. It is so wonderful to be able to create music since you can't listen to it in your rooms and the only time you sing during the day is with a huge group of elders. I'm pretty sure that I have become an alto over the last week because the elders like to prove their manliness by how low and loudly they sing. But in choir, I get to make real music and sing like a girl!! The spirit is always so strong when a group of missionaries comes together and sings. I LOVE IT!!

Oh, and I have finally become friends with some of the Elders. Elder Chantry and Elder King are probably the funniest companionship in the world and we just have a blast being crazy all day long!!

30 minutes is NOT long enough to tell you everything that I want to say. I am doing well and continue to learn and grow each day. I am learning fast than I ever thought possible!!! It is so crazy but super fun at the same time!! I will send pictures later today when I get a chance during laundry(that is the only computer in the entire place that reads anything picture like)

I love you all!!! (Ik hou van jullie!!!)
Love,

Zuster Israelsen

P.S. I'm sorry if there is any Dutch in thise letter....I have been writing every word I know in Dutch when I take notes....and I had to try really hard not to have any in here!! So good luck!!

P.P.S. Mom....I know I already sent a list of stuff I needed...but it just barely got really cold here. I have a coat, but for during the night and on my P-Day I would like a hoodie....If you could possibly send me my Aggies hoodie that would be the best thing of my entire life!!!

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!
I LOVE YOU!!!