As ya'll may have noticed, my emails tend to be a conglomeration of random thoughts as a I attempt to put into words everything that has happened in the past week into one email in about 20 minutes. Today will be no different so hold on to your hats. 'Tis the season of birthdays! Last week my dear hermanito Elder Clarky DeFranco forever left the ranks of teenagerism. Yesterday my one and only (so far!) nephew finally achieved the status of his age being counted in years (well, year) instead of solely in months. This past Tuesday was my hermanito Elder Russon's birthday (I consider all the elders in my district to be my little brothers). Next week, my Father bids farewell to the 50s and becomes an adult (maybe).
Last p-day the Hermanas in my district got some cupcakes from Brigham Landing and presented them to our elders in honor of Elder Russon's birthday. Then on Tuesday we gave him 10 boxes of marshmallow mateys that we smuggled out with our sack breakfasts along with 20 q-tips and some toilet paper tubes with Domo drawn on them. Yeah... we're kind of weird.
My Spanish is slowly slowly progressing. Hermana Schaumkel and I are able to teach our lessons mostly without notes (a few keywords and a basic outline). We speak very slowly and with very bad grammar so I doubt anyone but our teachers could actually understand us... but we're getting there. I still have to think about every word I say. That makes saying long sentences very interesting as I tend to forget what I said at the beginning of the sentence by the time I get to the end. The MTC language training program is very unique, and quite effective. My favorite part is the sample sentences. For example, sample sentences for the grammar concept of "querer + infinitive" (to want to do something) include: Queiro recibir el perdón de mis pecados. (I want to receive forgiveness for my sins) and Queremos sentir el amor de Dios. (We want to feel the love of God). Not very useful in the bus station trying to get from A to B, but very useful in a lesson; which is why we are learning Spanish anyway.
Nuestro maestro Hermano Johnston is very funny. El nos dijo un chiste: Cual es la differencia entre una pera y una novia de misionero? Pera es pera. Pero novia no espera. jajajajajajaja
Elder Johnson en mi districto no le gusta este chiste :D
Oh! I should probably tell you all about Thanksgiving (La dia de accion de gracias, I think that's what it's called). We spent the whole day up on main campus (kinda weird really). We got to listen to an awesome devotional from Elder Nelson of the Quorum of the 12 then had a big Thanksgiving lunch in the cafeteria. It was very good, although strange to have Thanksgiving from a tray in a cafeteria... After lunch, we listened to a presentation about the Church's humanitarian organization. Service is great by the way. If everyone in the world just decided to serve one another, we'd never have any problems again. Love is all you need... I hope that song is stuck in your head for the rest of the day now, because it's stuck in mine. We had a fun Thanksgiving program that was a mixture of silly and spiritual. Then we ate a sack dinner and worked on our service project, making thousands of soup mixes for children in Utah who live with food insecurity to take home on the weekends. It was fun! We wrapped up the day by watching the movie "Ephraim's Rescue." West campus had to walk home after that so we didn't get home until 10:20. It was a long day, but I couldn't have asked for a happier Thanksgiving. The entire day I was absolutely filled with a spirit of gratitude and love. Thank you to all of you. Each one of you have blessed my life in many ways. Give God praise for such a wonderful world and a wonderful life! Above all, thank Him for His Love and his Gospel!
Love,
Hermana DeFranco
P.S. Sorry it's late. ~ Alysa's Blogger
Last p-day the Hermanas in my district got some cupcakes from Brigham Landing and presented them to our elders in honor of Elder Russon's birthday. Then on Tuesday we gave him 10 boxes of marshmallow mateys that we smuggled out with our sack breakfasts along with 20 q-tips and some toilet paper tubes with Domo drawn on them. Yeah... we're kind of weird.
My Spanish is slowly slowly progressing. Hermana Schaumkel and I are able to teach our lessons mostly without notes (a few keywords and a basic outline). We speak very slowly and with very bad grammar so I doubt anyone but our teachers could actually understand us... but we're getting there. I still have to think about every word I say. That makes saying long sentences very interesting as I tend to forget what I said at the beginning of the sentence by the time I get to the end. The MTC language training program is very unique, and quite effective. My favorite part is the sample sentences. For example, sample sentences for the grammar concept of "querer + infinitive" (to want to do something) include: Queiro recibir el perdón de mis pecados. (I want to receive forgiveness for my sins) and Queremos sentir el amor de Dios. (We want to feel the love of God). Not very useful in the bus station trying to get from A to B, but very useful in a lesson; which is why we are learning Spanish anyway.
Nuestro maestro Hermano Johnston is very funny. El nos dijo un chiste: Cual es la differencia entre una pera y una novia de misionero? Pera es pera. Pero novia no espera. jajajajajajaja
Elder Johnson en mi districto no le gusta este chiste :D
Oh! I should probably tell you all about Thanksgiving (La dia de accion de gracias, I think that's what it's called). We spent the whole day up on main campus (kinda weird really). We got to listen to an awesome devotional from Elder Nelson of the Quorum of the 12 then had a big Thanksgiving lunch in the cafeteria. It was very good, although strange to have Thanksgiving from a tray in a cafeteria... After lunch, we listened to a presentation about the Church's humanitarian organization. Service is great by the way. If everyone in the world just decided to serve one another, we'd never have any problems again. Love is all you need... I hope that song is stuck in your head for the rest of the day now, because it's stuck in mine. We had a fun Thanksgiving program that was a mixture of silly and spiritual. Then we ate a sack dinner and worked on our service project, making thousands of soup mixes for children in Utah who live with food insecurity to take home on the weekends. It was fun! We wrapped up the day by watching the movie "Ephraim's Rescue." West campus had to walk home after that so we didn't get home until 10:20. It was a long day, but I couldn't have asked for a happier Thanksgiving. The entire day I was absolutely filled with a spirit of gratitude and love. Thank you to all of you. Each one of you have blessed my life in many ways. Give God praise for such a wonderful world and a wonderful life! Above all, thank Him for His Love and his Gospel!
Love,
Hermana DeFranco
P.S. Sorry it's late. ~ Alysa's Blogger