I am an Old Fogy Now

Dear people,

As the person in charge of this blog now, I feel bad for missing that past week. I was traveling and/or with friends, and therefore took a selfish Sunday for myself. But! I have Caytee’s third email and her fourth, so look forward to an update today AND tomorrow! Wootness.

Without further ado, I turn to Caytee:

*

I seriously loved the Dear Elders I got this week. Keep them coming. Hardcopy letters are so much more special (even if they are not hand written) than rushing though an email. Emails are awesome, though. [Basically, just keep communicating people! She loves hearing from us, although she would probably prefer hardcopy letters. And with how easy it is to do the Dear Elders, we really have no excuse.

And now we pause our normal updates with a pronunciation guide by the dear Soeur Chisholm.]

Soeur is pronounced like a mix of the words "sir" and "s-air." It is kind of hard to explain. Also, desole which means sorry is pronounced "day-sole-ay) So look at y'all. You are learning french, aussi!

[This concludes our lesson in French speaking. For those of you who sounded out the words along with her, please enjoy this photo of sleeping missionaries:]

Elders Landry and Martin

 

Elders Bracken and Carmen

Class is coming along really well. We are teaching two investigators: Anthony and Torie. Anthony was raised catholic and kicked out of his house when he was 17. He has lived a hard life. My heart literally broke the first time we taught him, and teaching him how to pray was one of the most spiritual experiences I have had. Torie on the other hand is driving me crazy! She is an athee (atheist) and won't pray or read, or act, or do anything. Trying to figure out how to get her to understand how amazing it is to know your Heavenly Father is rough.

So I am officially in week 4. Which means, here at the MTC, that I am an old fogy. Most of our floor were Anglais speakers, and half all left so our residence has gotten a lot quieter. Also, with the onset of week four, we have officially gone past my two and a half years knowledge of French. I was doing well until yesterday when we started learning the imparfait tense.

My head exploded. Literally. I couldn't function the rest of the night.

[And I think that it’s appropriate I leave this picture and story here:]

Ici [here] is one more picture I almost forgot about. This picture of Joseph Smith is in our classroom. Joseph looks like Nicholas Cage! And the man he is baptizing kind of looks like a short Liam Neeson. Fun stuff. When you are in a classroom for 11 hours a day, things start to look funny.

Elle est alle au lit. (pronounces elle ay all-ay oh leet) [She went to bed? Apparently, Caytee needs some sleep.]

We thought it was so funny we laughed for like five minutes. Also, we learned the verb to smack this week: Frapper (frapp-ay). So now we say, “frap frap frap,” when we want to make a smacking noise. I think we are losing our minds, but we are enjoying ourselves so that is all that matters.

Honestly, my district is the best district I could ever ask for. I love them all and am sad that we are not all going to Paris.

Caytee is pictured running away from Elder Brown because they accidentally touched.
Missionary Probs

With it being week four, I am officially halfway done with my MTC experience. YAY! I have to say that me, and my whole district, actually, are people who do not like the MTC. We are all super stoked to hit the field.

So, I am in district 46-A. Our zone is districts A-E, however we only have districts A, B, and E with people in them right now. A and E are french speakers going to Montreal, Paris, or Lyon and District B are the Haitian/creoles going to Florida, NY NY south, or Boston. Whenever someone new comes (which won't be until I leave) they form an entirely new district. Your district is your district until you leave.

Also, I am on the main campus. Right before I got here, they closed west campus. The influx of missionaries has slowed down immensely, and we are kind of back to normal numbers of missionaries...sadly. So, everyone is now on the main campus.

The Provo temple is really pretty. We go early in the morning to the 6:20 session so we never have a large crowd of people or long waits. Its like going to Memphis...but walking up and down stairs.  I got once a week on P-Day with my district.

Not this Sunday, but next...my last regular Sunday here, my district is going to sing Silent Night en Francais for sacrament meeting. We have really strong sopranos, altos, tenors, and basses in a class of nine people, so we are going to give our farewell to the MTC in music form. We are really excited.

Every week, for Relief Society all the sister missionaries come together, and we get to hear from a speaker. This week, it was Rosemary M. Wixon. Seeing these amazing women in the MTC is so different from seeing them in conference. They are so cute! They teach with such passion and love, you come out of the lesson wanting to change the world! Sister Wixom's husband also spoke to us a little bit and told us, "Sister Missisonaries are the shazam!" Sunday's are the best!

In other news, my clumsiness has not worn off. I played volleyball Thursday-Saturday this past week. Thursday I got hit in the face with a serve...I wasn't paying attention. Friday, Elder Cosgrove kicked the ball into my arm. Saturday, I hit the ball off my shoulder and it stayed in play so that was pretty awesome...but then I got spiked in the face. It hit me so hard, it knocked me to the ground! It was actually really funny! All of the elders crowded around me and didn't know what to do. I just stood up, brushed away some tears (because it hit my nose and made my eyes water) and started playing again. I now run away from all spike opportunities, though.

I'm super ready to be in France! AND I WANT SOME MORE LETTERS S'IL VOUS PLAIT!

Je vous aime beaucoup! [I like you very much!]

[Whale, I bid you all a fantastic week. I hope everyone eats a copious amount of food and are transported into food comas. And mostly, you should thank someone for something.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact any of the Chisholms. You can also turn to any Mormon in your area, especially those Mormon missionaries. They’re always willing and happy to help.

I have been informed that you can never be too happy.]

I'm having the Time of my Life...Just Saying

Dear children of God [that means anyone reading this post],

My dear sister has finished her second week of the MTC… probably did that last Wednesday… and she sends her love. As always.

However, this love comes at a price. Apparently, she wants something called a Dear Elder. I know. The demanding child. She asks so much.

But really, we can’t complain. Dear Elder is a website that allows you to send letters [for free postage] or packages [for not free] whilst she is in the MTC. So, really, letters cannot be any easy. So how about all of us just heading on over to the site, and typing up a few words that will make their way to her during the day. And I mean all of you, because I definitely won’t be—I mean, I definitely WILL be setting that good example there. Yes.

Jokes aside, let’s do something simple to make a sister happy.

Now here’s sweet Soeur Chisholm with the weekly MTC madness.

*

This week has been pretty great…kind of. It started out a little rocky. Ma collegue and I had to teach Murielle on Wednesday and neither of us felt super prepared. One of the teachers totally stressed me out, and I had a little bit of a breakdown…We went into our lesson, and both of us kind of just gave up. After our lesson, we were talking about it, and we decided that we were relying way too much on ourselves and not trusting in the Spirit to lead and guide. We asked our zone leaders for blessings. They were busy that night, but told us that they could help us Thursday morning before breakfast. So, the next morning at 7 am, we met the zone leaders in our classroom. We sang “A Child’s Prayer.” Then, they gave us our blessings. After that blessing, I knew without a doubt in my mind that priesthood blessings come directly from our Heavenly Father. While Elder Landry knew I was stressed, he had no idea why, and he was still able to say exactly what I needed to hear. It was awesome.

After that, my week has been much better. We got another teacher, so now we have Frere Adams and Sister Worsham. We are dropping Murielle, though, and picking up two new investigators, Anthony and Torie, on Wednesday. We also get to start teaching TRCs (learning how to give members lessons after dinner and stuff). So yeah, prayers would be great since they all have to be in French.

Half our zone left yesterday for their various locations in France. We lost 19 missionaries, and we have about 25 left, je pense [I think]. We also got 5 new Creole speakers, 3 elders, and 2 soeurs. The 2 soeurs are the first sisters EVER to learn Haitian/Creole in the MTC. Any other sisters have been native speakers. We make History in zone 46.

I LOVE MY DISTRICT!

Les soeus dans ma districte

[Has anyone else noticed that a certain Elder can't stand up straight?]

We have had a little bit of sickness in the zone, but my district has been safe so far…fingers crossed. As for nutrition…my pants are a little tighter this P-day morning. The cookies here are way too good for my own good. I wouldn’t say the food here is awesome…but it’s not terrible. I prefer Mom’s cooking, that’s for sure. And not having taco salad on fast Sunday really threw me for a loop. So, the food isn’t that great, but seriously, the cookies are the BEST! They have one type of cookie that is chocolate with white chocolate chip…anytime those are out, me and Soeur Ulrich have to eat at least two. 

Ma collegue <3

I have, however, found a new love for playing soccer. What are the odds? I’m not too shabby either. I can kind of keep up with the sisters who have been playing for a long time. I seriously love it! That and throwing around a lacross ball with the rinky dinky plastic lacross sticks. They are both fun. So, hopefully, my pants don’t get any tighter. That would not be fun.

This past Sunday, Sister Bonnie L. Oscarson [president of the Church’s Young Women’s program] came and talked to all the sisters in Relief Society! How awesome is that? She is seriously the sweetest lady I have ever seen. She is so bubbly and cute. She gave us advice and ways to not have regrets after the mission. Then, we had choir practice later that night. We are singing “Praise to the Man,” the same one that the MTC choir sang in General Conference a couple years ago with David Archuleta. We are singing it tonight in a devotional that will be broadcast to the other MTCs. How awesome?! I think that means that someone big is going to come…we’ll see though! According to one of the head people at the MTC this is the season of the brethren. They like to come around Thanksgiving and stuff. YAY!

After Sunday’s devotional, we watched Legacy. We hold all the big meetings in the gym. They cover the floor with a tarp, bring in an organ, piano, stage, and a zillion chairs, and pull out the bleachers. So, it suddenly becomes a huge meeting hall. But, people have gym time Monday morning, so we had to help break everything down. Guess what! Putting away the tarp was just like folding up a winter guard tarp. Putting that tarp away was probably my favorite part of the evening…hehe. Oh, the memories.

I’m catching on to the language faster than I thought I would. I almost have the first vision memorized in French. I am remembering the verbs and stuff. I have “notre objectif” [our purpose] memorized. Me and Soeur Ulrich read from Le Livre de Mormon [The Book of Mormon] every night. It is definitely not easy, but I’m working hard.

I can't survive a day without these

The Spirit here really is so strong. I feel it all the time, especially during the personelle and equipe [companion] studies. It is hard to remember that I don’t have to do this work alone sometimes. I rely too much on my own knowledge that I forget that I have angels that want to help me. As I remember that, though, I can feel myself becoming a better missionary. Someone in the branch presidency told us to ask in our prayers to have our testimonies be stronger tomorrow than it was today. That is my goal. Conversion is not a one time thing.

I love missionary work, and I am starting to find my real purpose as a missionary. Inviter les gens a venir au Christ at les aident a recevoir l’evangile retabli [Invite others to come to Christ and help them to receive the restored gospel]. That is only the beginning of my purpose. I’m not here to change the world, or baptize all of Paris. I am here to help them find Christ and help them see that this gospel changes lives and can bring them more happiness than they can imagine.

I go here

I love you all so much! Keep working hard and you all will find missionary opportunities. 

[As I know very little of you who read this blog, I will say that I am sure you are a fantastic bunch. Keep coming back to read about her next email filled with Franglish and spiritual journeys. And I bid you all a lovely week.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact any of the Chisholms. You can also turn to any Mormon in your area, especially those Mormon missionaries. They’re always willing and happy to help.

Possibly too happy.]

Week One

Hello Caitlin's amies,

Caytee, my dear sister, and I, the older and generous sister willing to sort through her emails and dole out the information, would love to tell you all about her mission. For those that receive her emails, it’ll basically be a review of how Caytee’s time is going each week. For those who don’t, do not fear! I will not only copy and paste a good portion of her emails, but I will also explain a small portion of what she writes. [Some of it is just plain unintelligible. I’m not a miracle worker, people.]

Therefore, without further ado, I give you Caytee’s own words pierced with my own commentary and hopefully helpful comments.

-

Bonjour!!

Can you believe my first week is almost over? I can’t. However, it feels like I have already been here for eternity! They weren’t kidding when they said that the days will be long and the weeks short. I did the math the other day, and my district is in class for 11 and a half hours a day.

Holy. Poop.

           

Good news is they split our day into blocks. Some of our blocks are Personnal, collegue, and language study. Another is with Frere Adams where we get the language grilling. And then one block is when me and ma collegue, Soeur Ulrich teach our investigator, Murielle…all in French. It’s so awesome.

-

Already, Soeur Sheesolm [you’ll understand by the end of the email, trust me] is working well with her “collegue” from Ogden, Soeur Ulrich. And as we can all tell from her email, she’s begun writing in Franglish. Her journal is completely made up of it. Apparently, “IT’S AWESOME!” And who could disagree? That’s some quick French learning.

-

So, what have I done this week?

Wednesday, Grandma and Grandpa got me safely to the MTC. We started learning the language and fun stuff like that. The French classrooms are the nicest classrooms in the MTC [Missionary Training Center], so that’s fun. Also, our floor is right above the senior missionaries. J’adore senior missionaries! They are the cutest, sweetest, and most loving people ever.

Thursday, we met our zone and branch president. One of the counselors was a make-up artist in Hollywood. How cool is that?! Also, in my zone I have Soeur Bond, the sister from Tupelo, and Soeur Proudfoot who I went to EFY with my first year. SMALL WORLD.

[I’m just going to break in here and discuss the idea of districts and zones because I had no idea what exactly these were until my hubby explained it to me (ignoring the fact that I’ve heard these words casually a million times). In the world of MTC, districts and zones organize the place into small and smaller groups to help people learn and grow efficiently. Districts are the smallest groups, and these people are the ones you go to classes with, eat lunch with, explore the world with. Basically, everything they do is done in districts.

Zones gather a bunch of districts for church, but are also used if they have big meetings throughout the week.

According to my sports fanatic husband, districts are like schools, and zones are conferences.

For those who speak Mormon lingo, we’re looking at districts as wards and zones as stakes.

Back to Caytee.]

I should probably tell you about my district. Me and Soeur Ulrich are both going to Paris. Soeur Higgins (who is from New Zealand) is going to Paris. Her collegue is going to Montreal Spanish speaking, but her call said she would learn French in the MTC.

[I’ll just leave this picture here. From context clues, and another picture, I am going to assume the ladies on the left are the Sisters Higgins and her collegue. On the right, we probably have Sisters Ulrich and Chisholm. I could be wrong though. Maybe Soeur Sheesolm is all the way on the left. *sigh*]

Les souer at the temple

Elder Carman and Elder Bracken are going to Montreal aussi [too]. Elder Landry, Elder Martin, and Elder Brown (our Trio) are all going to Lyon. Toulousse is no longer a mission. Lyon covers the entire south part of France and some of Switzerland. However, Switzerland no longer allows American visas, so they will only be allowed in part time.

[And here’s the other picture she sent out. Don’t even ask me who is who. That will just have to be a mystery, explained only by the girl herself.]

District Selfie Sunday

Friday, my district taught our first lesson to Murielle. And it did NOT go as planned. We planned to talk about how Pere Celeste [Heavenly Father] and Jesus-Christ love us and stuff. Nope! We ended up talking about how Pere Celeste and Jesus-Christ are two separate people. How we did that all in French, Je ne said pas. (My favorite French phrase right there, “I don’t know.” I use it tout le temps. [I don’t know about you guys, but I giggled when I read that. My sweet, Franglish speaking sister. It means “All the time.”]) Since Friday, we have taught Murielle two more lessons.

SUNDAY WAS THE BEST DAY EVER!

Since it was Fast Sunday, we had a missionary conference, which is like a huge stake conference. The entire MTC presidency talked to us. That lasted two hours. Then, we had a combined district meeting where I had my first ever deep doctrine class. My head literally exploded. I still don’t exactly know what happened… Then we had testimony meeting, which was bon [good], of course.

Then, we had Sunday night devotional. Holy. Cow. That was incredible. Sister Nelson (Russell M. Nelson’s wife) spoke. She talked to us about why we are on missions—that in the premortal life we signed our premortal commitment sheet that we were going to serve a mission. We are here because we are supposed to be here. We need to stop comparing ourselves to others and ask for angels to help us.

Then, we got to go watch a movie! Crazy, right? [Missionaries do not watch movies. Thus we have a missionary joke, people. No cause for alarm. It will pass.] We watched a talk by Elder Bednar that he gave Christmas Sunday in the MTC a while ago. It is only shown in the MTC. The biggest thing I got from his talk is this mission is not about me or what I want.

I HAVE NEVER BEEN SO SPIRITUALLY UPLIFTED IN MY WHOLE LIFE! I wish every day could be Sunday.

So, other things I have done or learned… Oh yeah! We have some native Parisians on our floor learning Tahitian. Frere Adams called them in one day so that we could figure out how they would say my name in French. It is literally impossible to say Chisholm in French. They do not have a “ch” sound. We ended up agreeing on “Sheesolm.” I am now Soeur Sheesolm.

[I told you, you’d get it.]

Basically, the MTC is the bomb.

[As is my sister. Tune in next week for adventures in the MTC round 2. And have a lovely week.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact any of the Chisholms. You can also turn to any Mormon in your area, especially those good ole’ Mormon missionaries. They’re always willing and happy to help.]