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| This was Monday night, right after Carley was "set apart" as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. |
We are totally pumped to have heard from her so soon, but honestly it couldn't be soon enough. Cassidy was the big crier before Carley took off (she broke out in tears 3 different times on Sunday) but I think it's hit my mom the hardest since Carley actually took off on Wednesday morning. BUT, I haven't heard my mom as happy as she sounded this morning when I talked to her on the phone and she frantically asked, "Did you get the e-mail? Isn't it it so sweet?! It's the sweetest e-mail I've ever read. She wrote a paragraph to each of us, and even though she gave me a laundry list of things to do, it's the best e-mail I've ever read." I was like, "Hi to you too mom, what e-mail are you talking about?" Haha, she was so pumped, almost as pumped and excited as Carley sounds in her e-mail!
Carley's e-mail is just a lovely glimpse into the cheerful life of "the chick in czech/the mtc." Here are a few highlights.
From: Carley Schoen
Date: May 31, 2013, 2:45:19 PM CDT
Subject: AHHHHHH!!!!!!! :D
Hey Family!!!
So turns out I CAN email!!! But I dont have near as much time as I wish, so I am going to cram as much as possible in this time, so excuse all the typos.
First off, I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH. I miss you like crazy!
But....IT HAS BEEN AWESOME. SO MUCH CAPS!!!
I gave the guy seated next to me on the plane a pass along card. Woop!
I love my Sestri (sisters). We are a trio because we are the only sisters speaking Czech. My Zone is also really awesome, it includes: Croatia (Adriatic North Mission), Poland, Turkey (I think), Slovakia, Bulgaria, and a couple other that I cant remember right now. We played kickball all together yesterday, it was fun. The MTC is an awesome experience and I know I am going to LOVE it, and Dallas I am 100% confident you will too. I am already super close with my Czechees and just the whole atmosphere is so exciting.
Its difficult too, not gonna lie. You feel so scatterbrained being everywhere at once and having so much expected from you, plus a ton of rules you can't break. My sestri are, Sestra Huggard (the one I knew from facebook) who is from American Fork, Utah, and Sestra Jackson who is from Ohio. Both are super sweet and we get along really well. We have 6 girls living in one room so its a bit cramped! But they are all really fun and waaaay different experience than my college roommate experiences. Plus the whole constantly having to be together thing has been really fun... especially when we all take turns forgetting something and end up having to go back to the room a bunch.That gets annoying but oh well!
Sestra Jackson got sick last night and I had to leave our District meeting to take care of her. But it's okay, I'll learn the material covered later and I'm trying to put my companions first. That's what I am learning, how to be less selfish. We had a bunch of training meetings...yesterday? I think then....it's all a blur now. But anywho, the classes had an "investigator" and missionaries would role-play teach them as the class watched then discussed what had happened. Well, in the last class, the designated missionaries had to leave so the teacher chose us to teach them out of the whole class, so we had to go up there with the mic and teach this woman, Helly. It feels so real though, they do suuuuuch a great job acting. What I learned though was that while I have a tendency to want to kind of overtake the discussion because I really like what I am thinking of saying, when I didn't and I let the other sisters speak, the spirit was so strong and I learned, too. So I have gotten alot better about allowing them the opportunity to share.
Sestra Jackson shared a very personal story with Helly, but the entire class (which was BIG...though don't ask me how many were there! lol)--insert Courtney's note here: Carley has many talents, but estimating time, quantity, or size is not her forte--and the spirit was tangible. Then after we were done, Helly, who was actually a recent convert shared how much Sestra Jackson's comment had helped her understand something she had been struggling with. So it's not necessarily what YOU teach but what the SPIRIT teaches.
We will be diving more into the language tomorrow, but already we have a Progressing Investigator (PI) named Hanza (who only speaks in Czech) that we have to teach TONIGHT. Freaking out just a tad, but we have already learned how to bare a simple testimony (svedectvi) which is great and I cant wait to learn to pray. So we are going to have to rely HEAVILY on the spirit.
I miss you all so very much and I will be sending a ton of pics next week (Friday is our P-day). We went to the temple today (yay!!) and I saw David
Todd, err Elder Todd and it was fun. Everyone just smiles and waves at
each other all day and are so happy.
Dad, thankyou for droppin me off at the airport, that was one of the hardest moments of my life but I KNOW it will be the most rewarding of any "See you later's" I will give.
Mom, I love you!!!! I cannot wait to hear about your week, I miss your friendship and the jokes we used to crack together. Here...the jokes are not quite the same, but I promise I wont turn into a complete Molly--insert Courtney's note here: "Molly" is a term we Mormons use to refer to the most strict and uptight of fellow Mormons as in "Molly Mormon", the male equivalent is "Peter" or "Peter Priesthood"-- I hope you are doing well, how are the houses you are working on going? I want to know about your week so please tell me!! You are in my thoughts and prayers <3
Courtney, I will prepare a better something for next week I promise, but do you mind summarizing this a bit to put something on my blog? If not, no worries and we can wait till next week.
Cam, again Happy Birthday, sorry it got lost in my departure time.
Dallas, I freaking miss you buddy. Especially having these elders
here because they are all about your age and sometimes I see glimpses of
you and I know that you will be a fantastic missionary!!!! I am sooooo
excited for you!! You will love the MTC experience, even in a different
place, it's the spiritual infusion...gets to ya. Insert Courtney's note here: Dallas reports to the Sao Paulo, Brazil MTC, not the MTC in Provo.
Cassidia, you are the SWEETEST. I love you and I hope you have a
great summer. How is the whole animal shelter thing coming along? Tell
me how you are!
I cant wait to hear back from y'all!! (btw when I say "y'all" people like freak out for some strange reason).
My address for the MTC is
Sister Carley Jordan SchoenJUL29 CZE-SLVK2007 N 900 E Unit 90Provo, UT 84602
And you can write me using DearElder.com too!!!!!
I love y'all soooooo much!!!! Write you soon and next week I will load a ton of pics just havent figured out how to do that yet!
Oh and Dad, I would like my missionary scripture (for the missionary board at the stake center) to be Doctrine and Covenants 31:3. I LOVE IT!!!!!
3 Lift up your heart and rejoice, for the hour of your mission is come; and your tongue shall be loosed, and you shall declare glad tidings of great joy unto this generation.And Mommy, could you send me my chevron flip flops (I need shower shoes) and that robe? and maybe if you can find them, my gray sweat pants from my to be moved stuff? its kinda cold in my room and those would work great for P days, they should be half-way down in the tall box. Y'all are the best family IN THE WORLD. And I miss you like the dickens.
Milute
Sestra Schoen :)
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