Katie's First Email

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Hello family!!!!!!  

I'm actually kind of nervous to write this letter...I hope it's entertaining haha.  

I guess for now I am a real life missionary.  How crazy is that?  This has been a wild week.  I'm going to answer your questions and then tell you some stuff.  Sound good?  

What is your daily schedule like?

My schedule: We wake up at 6:30, go to gym, eat breakfast.  Then we have 3 hours in class.  Then lunch.  Then three more hours in class.  then dinner. than three more hours in class.  Imagine having church three times each day...hahahahahah.  It's really great though actually.

You asked about Sundays and "free time".  Sundays are SO GREAT!  Everyone here says "just make it to Sunday" and it's so stinkin true.  Sundays we go to our meetings and listen to the devotional and then watch movies afterwards.  It's awesome to take a break from teaching and studying and just get to listen to the Gospel!  

We teach lots of lessons in the MTC!   And guess what?  We don't even speak English.  On the third day in the MTC (so Friday) we taught a lesson to a teacher who pretends to be an investigator of the church.  Our first lesson was kind of terrible.  hahaah it wasn't in English...but I don't think it was in Italian either......but the Spirit was there, so that's awesome.  I'll write more about our lessons later.  

Free time is pretty much non-existent.  We have 40 min. (ish) at the end of the night to get ready for bed...so I guess that's kind of free time.  And...uh.......meals are kind of free time right?  hhaha. so not a lot of free time.  But weirdly enough I don't really care.  Free time would be wasting time right?  The schedule is busy and crazy but I have adjusted and it seems so normal now.  Going home and doing nothing all the time would be so strange. 

How is the food?

The food.....hmmm. You know how I like everything?  Ok well MTC food is pretty gross actually.  The meat tastes pretty nasty, I won't lie to you.  Sometimes I wonder if they are using like six week old meat.  hehe.  But the salads are good and CEREAL is always delicious.  Everyone in my district teases me about my cereal obsession.  I always say, "wow, this is good, almost as good as cereal!" even if I'm eating something really good.  I don't know if that made sense...this whole hour time limit thing is FREAKING me out.  hahah. 

Do you ever get to go outside, how often?

We can go to the field outside during our gym time.  Two laps around is a mile!  It is a great run.  Me and Sorella Gates (a sister in my district) both love running so we run a fast two miles every day.  It is greeeeaaaat.  I'll tell you more about the sisters and elders in my district soon. 

Do you get to help out at the Ogden Temple open house?

I didn't even hear anything about the Ogden temple open house.... sad!  I wish I could have gone.  I HAVE been getting your dear elders though and I love them so much.  I can't even describe to you how exciting it is to get dear elders!  Tell Kevin to send me funny jokes.  And Amanda and Tyler and Emma to send me them! Then I'll write them back.  Dear elders are THE BEST.  And thanks so much for the packages as well.  They are so stinking deliciously awesome.  My roommates weren't thrilled with the "crappy" candy though... hehehe.  I of course love it.  THANK YOU!

Oh..I also went outside yesterday cause we went to Salt Lake to talk to the consulate about our visas.  ROAD TRIP! hehe we were SOOOO excited the night before.  All we did was take tracks there and back....so it wasn't actually that exciting.  But leaving the MTC was such an adventure in itself we didn't really care.  

How is your room set up?

My room has four sisters in it.  There are four sisters in my district and two elders.  It's the smallest district in our zone but it is AMAZING.  The sisters are.....

Sorella Robertson (my companion from England.  Idk if you got my letter but I said more about her there.  I love her tons.  I am learning all sorts of fantastic British words).

Sorella Gates (aka the girlfirend of ERIK MIKIA.  Tell Tyler.  She is the sweetest thing in the whole world.  so cute.  Look her up on facebook.  Gaby Gates.  

Sorella Wineager (she speaks lots of Italian already cause her dad served in Italy.  She is wonderful.  She has a brain full of knowledge and has lots of questions all the time.  She is also suuuper funny.  

We all have tons of fun together.  Literally the MTC is NOT a prision.  I don't feel incarcerated. (ok maybe a little....haha but not really).  We have fun and we study and work sooooo hard.  It's great. 

The elders in my district are so so great.  I can't believe they just got out of high school.  Anziono Beesley and Jorgenson.  They are very mature and work super hard.  They are like little brothers.  

Did you buy a water filter?

Nope.  But I will before I leave. Pinky promise.  

Are there things you wish you would have bought for your mission?

Yes. Can you send my cute jeans? The ones with the designs on the bum. Everyone here has cute jeans and I've been wearing....sweats....hahaha classic Sister Brunson I know.  And also either my vans or my toms.  Both are pretty beat up.  Maybe my toms would be best.  

Have you had any headaches?

Headaches only come if I don't take medicine (obedience brings blessings...eh?)  so i just take it every day.  Sometimes it hurts for a couple min. but as soon as I eat it is gone.  So they are NO PROBLEM.  YAYAAYAYAYA.  

How often do you get to see Courtney? Has she left yet?

I got to see Sister Hurley a ton.  It was amazing.  I have pictures so if I can figure out how to send them you will see!!  We got a pic with a ton of people from my ward.  So fun.  Courtney being here was the best thing ever. We both starting crying when we saw each other.  She is in Korea now!!!  I pray and hope she is doing so well.  

Ahhhh.  Thank goodness that I am done with all those questions.  

Just kidding!  I'm glad I could answer them for you.  

Alright.  So all week I've been keeping a list of things I want to write home about.  Here are some of them.  They are random and all over the place.  Like this email will be.  Oh well! 

1) Bambino means "child" in Italian.  They called BABE Ruth "The great Bambino".  So that was a great realization. 

2) Quazi means almost....so quazi moto (from Hunchback of notre dame.....anyone remember that guy?) means ALMOST MAN.    

3) kapishe (not sure how to spell it, it means "do you understand?" ) is actually a word in Italian. never knew.

4)I saw Darren!  I know you all struggle remembering anyone I date..he's the RM I dated with Rachel Davis and that whole group of people.  He works here.  Anyways I blushed my face off.  It was terrible. haha

5) This week I was chilling in class and I took out a Hershey Kiss from the package you sent me cause I was in serious need of a chocolate power up.  I then was like "oh...elders, do you want a kiss?"  hahahaah it was super awkward cause I realized what I had said and started blushing so much.  

6) There is NO GUM here.  Literally how did no one tell me that? I've never ever heard a missionary say that.  So sad.  So mints would be appreciated :)  

7) HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Nathan Otte and Rachel Shafer.  Amanda will you text Rachel and say I say happy birthday!  And good luck with swim this season? Thanks! 

Ok wow this letter is ALL OVER THE PLACE.  I'm really sorry. Hopefully I'll get better at this.  just soooo much happens and every day feels like a week so I'm not really sure how much to write and what to write. 

So like I said we teach an investigator every day.  At first it was really hard, I used a lot of Spanish because I have been remembering that lately.  It was amazing though the amount of Italian we were able to speak during the first lesson.  It seemed like he understood! 

We have had lots of lessons since then and we get better every time.  My companion is awesome but timid about speaking the language, but she has grown SO much since we started teaching. 

Our third lesson my companion had the idea that we should sing a hymn to our investigator.  Everyone who knows me knows that my singing is like noooooo bene.  So I was a little nervous about it.  But it turned out soooo well!  Even though we couldn't pronounce the words the Spirit was so strong.  I was more nervous to sing in a huge choir during the devotional yesterday than I was when we sang in front of our investigator.  How weird.    

Then in our lesson yesterday we asked our investigator to be baptized and HE SAID YES.  I was so surprised!  It's not very common the investigator just says yes haha.  It was fantastic!! 

For the family.....not everyone....

Mom: Please when you send the letter out explain what a district and zone are for the non-members.  Thanks.  I love you and hope you are doing well and aren't sad!  Please know that this is the best thing I've ever done.  I am not stressed.  Sometimes the language is stressful.  But the awesome thing about the MTC is that it is literally a place where you are supposed to make mistakes.  So instead of worrying about making mistakes with the language or not teaching the lesson the way I should, I just do my best and let God provide the rest through the atonement of Jesus Christ.  I wish I could have learned this concept earlier.  

Dad: Thank you for all your dear elders about your adventures in Utah.  I hope it was way fun!  It sounded great. I hope you are getting some golfing in.  

Tyler: I can't wait till you are here in the MTC.  It's great.  I'll write you a letter today sometime and you should dear elder me back.  I wish you were here serving with me!  We need more missionaries like you. 

Amanda: Has swim started yet?  Are you getting ready for school?  New clothes?  How's life!? 

Kevin:  I would love some jokes.  How are you?  Are you dreading seventh grade or excited for it?  I hope you had fun in Utah.  Go golfing for me. 

Emma: I miss you sweet girl.  I hope you are reading lots and excited for second grade.  I would love a letter!  

You can send this one to everyone if you want..use your judgement.....

Here is what I have learned about missionary work this week.  Heavenly Father didn't have me serve a mission because I am some super stellar missionary who will change the whole world singlehandedly.  This is HIS work, not mine.  I am so lucky I have the chance to help him with his plan.  God is letting me serve the people HE has been preparing in Italy.  Humility is so important on a mission.  We don't do things alone EVER, God is always with us, and guides us.  

I LOVE YOU ALL.  I'm sorry this email was all over the place.....but know that I love being a missionary.  I love working hard and learning the language and doing what's right.  I would not want to be anyplace else.  but it is HARD WORK. 

LOVE FOREVER,

Sorella Brunson 

Your favorite daughter 

PS. I am the current laundry expert.  Everyone was asking me about how to do the laundry today.  So BOOM schackalacka.  

Ok I can't figure out how to send pics.  So I'll figure it out and send some next week!!  Sorry!!!!

People are saying I have to get an SD card reader.  I will!  I'm sorry!  I'm glad you got the ones from my companion though!!!!!!  

LOVE YOU!