MTC Update

First of all - I couldn't send back the things I had planned to, because they told me that the envelope looked like it was tampered with. They're not allowed to send it if it looks like that apparently, so I'm still stuck trying to find a good sized box that will fit everything without them sliding around.

Thanks for the laundry bag. I used it for the first time last Monday, and it was really helpful. (It didn't feel like it was going to break because of the weight every time I picked it up, which is always a plus.) Mom, did you make it yourself?

I don't have a picture of myself all dressed up. This is partially because I keep forgetting to do it, and also partially because I don't have an SD card reader anyway, and my companion's broke so I can't use his any more, so even if I got one I wouldn't be able to send it to you.

I had a really good devotional last night. It was great. I think hymn#221 (Dear to the Heart of the Shepherd) is one of my new favorite hymns. After the devotional, my district wend to see The Legacy. As it turns out, it is the old version. It is chalk full of bad acting and unintentionally funny serious moments. I feel kind of bad for laughing so much during it, but I don't really think I could have stopped myself. (To make it more funny, The Legacy is supposed to be a sort of religious romance movie. So we were watching a romance movie in the MTC.)

Dad - the bible also gives patterns that validate the restoration of the church. The pattern goes: the church is established on the earth, by the means of a prophet. (First: Adam.) Then, the people become wicked, reject the church, kill the prophets, and apostatize. Through revelation, God calls another prophet to restore the church to the earth. Examples of these prophets are Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. The most recent, and also the last of these "restoration" prophets, is Joseph Smith.

The language is still going pretty slowly. It's hard to see any progress that I'm making, but it's becoming a little more natural.

I don't even know what date I'm leaving yet. All of my companions received their travel plans already; they'll be leaving on Monday and Tuesday of next week. But I'm staying another week after that, which means that I'll probably be paired with a French companion from another district for that week. We will both be next to useless in terms of language study with each other. Oh well.

(French and Haitian Creole have many similar words, but some of them are completely different and even the similar ones are just different enough because of the accent that you can't always recognize them without context.)

I'll receive my travel plans some time this week. I'll probably leave really early Monday or Tuesday, two weeks from now. In general, missionaries are only allowed to call home two times a year - once at Christmas, and again on Mother's day. But we're allowed to call as many people as we want when we depart from the MTC, at the airport. So I'll be able to call really early in the morning two weeks from now some time.

(I said that I'm leaving two weeks from now. It's been getting colder and colder each week. I'm trying to make it these last two weeks without needing to buy a sweatshirt, because I know that I won't need it or even want it any other time in the next two years.)

I did sealings in the temple this morning for the first time.

Eldè Trockel had his liver biopsy a while ago. Today is his appointment to go back to the doctor's office and see the results. So today we find out if the doctors have any idea what's wrong with his liver.

Can somebody look into how much a trip to Haiti costs, if I were to go there after my mission? (note from Nancy:  It is about $550 to fly from Denver to Port-au-Prince, Haiti)

Thanks,

Eldè Slade

Get Desperate By Sister Slade

It is so exciting to hear the news about all of the amazing things that you all are doing and all of the blessings that Heavenly Father pours over you! I'm just not even sure where to start! How about with I love you? :)

This week has been a fantastic week to be serving in the Washington Everett mission! Last Tuesday half of the missionaries gathered to attend a conference with Elder Paul V. Johnson from the seventy, and everything that he shared with us was so inspirational! It always amazes me how when you go to these kinds of gatherings, it's as if they know your thoughts and somehow they know just what to say. Elder Johnson talked a lot about doing your best and allowing the Savior to take care of the rest, and recognizing the things that you are already doing well rather than dwelling on the ways you still need to improve. This is something I've really struggled with recently. I start to feel a lot of stress over all the ways that I'm not a perfect servant for the Lord rather than accepting the fact that Heavenly Father knows I'm not going to be perfect right off the bat. Heavenly Father has been blessing Sister Anderson and I in amazing ways recently, despite all of my flaws. Our Ward Mission Leader told us that we have led the stake in lessons taught and investigators at sacrament meeting for two months now. It was really overwhelming for me to hear this, because I really feel like Sister Anderson and I aren't doing anything. I still experience a lot of anxiety over talking to people, and I still struggle to teach clearly most of the time, although I have improved. I feel like I'm constantly praying for help, and I never stop being amazed at how that help always comes. Speaking of prayer, isn't it an absolutely amazing thing that the most glorious, most loving, most powerful being in the universe not only wants us to talk to him, but answers us?

Sister Anderson and I have had some exciting success with less actives recently! I love working with less actives and part-member families! We invited Nancy to read a chapter a day from the Book of Mormon last time we visited her, and this last week when we came she was already halfway through 2nd Nephi! She has committed to read the Book of Mormon (something she never did all those years that she was active) and pray to know "once and for all" if it is true. She really is searching and open to learning and we are so excited for her because we know that as long as this is the case, she will get her answer! She said she would be at church this last Sunday, but wasn't able to make it. :/ Hopefully next week! Willie did come to church though!!! We have been working with Willie for weeks now, and it has been such a draining spiritual experience for me. Really getting to know and understand these people, then praying to know what needs to be said to help them realize their eternal potential and responsibilities is such a draining process. Zola is completely reactivated and loving every minute of church!

Something I realized this week is that the secret to effective missionary work is to get desperate. When I truly start to feel a deep love for someone, I start to become emotionally involved in their conversion process, and when that happens, suddenly the intensity and desperation of my prayers skyrockets. I start to plead with Heavenly Father to please help me know what to say and do to help these people, and that is when He starts trusting me with inspiration. It's very tiring. Sometimes I wish I could just not care so I didn't have to feel that intensity and concern for people so much of the time, but I know that if that was the case then I also wouldn't have moments like hugging Verna after her baptism.

I'm sure you have heard the big news recently... now is the time for member missionary work! Please work with the missionaries in the ward and ask them for advice on how to share the gospel directly with the people all around you- people you already have established a friendship with also those that you don't know well with. Friendships and love develop as you share spiritual experiences with people! At the conference this last Tuesday President Bonham told us that the general authorities told him that they want every companionship to be baptizing weekly. There was an audible gasp, because that is pretty much unheard of. It was a little bit overwhelming, but I prayed about it and I've received the confirmation that it is possible... but not through just Sister Anderson and I. The MTC did a study, and 1 out of 1000 convert baptisms are found through tracting. Sister Anderson and I have been doing an unfortunate amount of fruitless tracting, so this next week we're getting smart and filling much more of our time with member-missionary contact. Now is the time for member missionary work!

Bennett and Verna are doing great! We brought them to a lesson with us this week, and I get all tingly inside whenever I hear them share their testimonies. Solid member fellowshippers! At least three times in Bennett's confirmation blessing he was told that he would be a great asset to the church through many teaching and service callings. Bennett is extremely intelligent, and both he and Verna can't get enough of this gospel! It's funny how Bennett told us that he's probably had 5 or 6 sets of missionaries come to his home since they moved here, and each time he would take a Book of Mormon and end up setting it on the shelf and never actually get to reading it. They truly are a large part of why I was sent to the Washington Everett mission!

We have a district P-Day today, and we're all going to go to the home of our first counselor in our bishopric and find sea glass at the beach (which just happens to be his back yard!) and have smores and hot dogs. I plan on telling all of the other missionaries about how I have a brother who very expertly outsmarted the MTC computer system... :)

Sister Anderson is wonderful. She is so bubbly and funny, and we are constantly laughing, most of the time over silly things. She is exactly what I need!

Love ya!

Sister Slade

Baptisms

Hello!

It sounds like you guys had an amazing week! I thought about you guys all throughout Saturday, and I can't wait to hear more about the celebration! And I can't wait to see more pictures! The tree you guys made looks great.

Well, Bennett and Verna went all the way under, all the way in white! It was such a special day. Probably one of the best days of my life so far, actually. very few times have I felt the spirit as strongly as I did at Bennett and Verna's baptism, and I will never forget it! Bennett was grinning from ear to ear, and when I asked Verna how she felt afterwards she said, "I'm a little bit weepy, but that's alright!" They fit right in with our family. :) A little bit after the service Verna came over to give me a hug and she whispered "Thanks for finding me," and of course we both lost it right there. We just stood there hugging and crying for a long time, and it's a good thing Sister Anderson had the foresight to bring me tissues. :)

I got your letter this week, mom! Thanks so much! I love getting mail. You asked for names of our investigators so that you can begin praying for them by name, so here are a few of the people we've been teaching that could use your prayers-

Steve- he's a single dad who recently moved here from Colorado. He has two girls. He has come to church twice, and we had a breakthrough lesson with him this last week where he was really open with us about how he has a desire to believe in God even though he has had some extremely difficult things happen to him in his childhood. pray that Steve will have the courage to pray!

Mikayla- I think I mentioned Mikayla a few weeks ago. Shes the 14 year old girl that we had two really solid lessons with. We haven't been able to see Mikayla for about 2 weeks now :( We've talked with her dad and he says he's totally fine with us teaching her even though he's not interested, so we're glad that that's not the problem, we can just never seem to find Mikayla at home. She's been on my mind a lot recently and I would really love to continue teaching her, so pray for help with that.

Nancy and Don- these are two less active individuals in our ward, and for whatever reason I have felt strongly that we needed to go meet them for months even though we knew nothing about them. We finally met Nancy about a month ago and we've been teaching her the missionary lessons. The spirit has been very strong, she has started reading the Book of Mormon again, and it seems like she is really regaining her faith that was lost! We talked with her friend brother Rehaume, who seems to be the only person in the ward that they really have a relationship with, and Brother Rehaume told us yesterday that Nancy sent him an email and told him that she and Don have noticed a huge change in their life since we started coming, and are strongly considering coming back to church, even though they've been inactive for 13 years. I LOVE working with less actives!

Please pray also for all the kids and adults around the world that have come from broken homes. I feel so much sorrow every day for the abuse and neglect that is rampant- it's absolutely astounding how many people we meet and how many homes we go into that have been torn because of it. I wouldn't say I've been sheltered, because I knew that bad stuff happened, but I've been sheltered. There is so much more darkness out there than I ever realized. It's such a foreign world that we are living in- so different from the home that we all once knew. People need God now more than ever, but as the world gets darker the easier route is to believe in nothing at all and mock those who do believe than to risk believing in goodness.

Recently we've been struggling with finding investigators that will progress or who we can have more than one lesson with. We'll meet someone who seems like a really promising potential investigator, or we'll have a really solid first lesson with someone, then after that their life seems to get super busy and it takes forever to get in with them again. I think the adversary uses busyness as one of his favorite tools. My purpose in Oak Harbor has felt so centered on Bennett and Verna- from the first day that I got here and met Bennett and felt that there was something special about him-  that it still hasn't sunk in that I'm going to be here in Oak Harbor for another 5 weeks. I love Oak Harbor, but it is still so weird to think about!

Anyways. I wish I had time to write more but I still haven't written president. Love you all! Can't wait to hear more about all the wonderful blessings that God brings into your lives and all of the ways that you feel His love for you and share that love with others! We have been way too blessed to keep this gospel to ourselves. Give 100% to sharing the gospel with others so that you can feel that joy. Full force ahead- we are so lucky to live at a time where we can say that we are part of the "hastening!!!"

Love,

Sister Slade

Learning at the MTC

I need to get better at thinking of email subject titles. Anyway, here it is again, in no particular order:

I've been feeling the spirit so much in the MTC. Almost each Sunday or Tuesday night devotional, I learn something new from the speakers and the spirit. Looking back, I don't think that I would have been ready to go out in the field after just a week and a half, English speaking or not.

My district got off on a huge discussion today on marshmology. I'd never really considered before how large a topic it was. Eldè Trockel took the AP Marshmology class his senior year, but he only got a 4 because he mistook "Graham Cracker" for "Gummy Bears" and wrote his essay on why you can't make s'mores with just chocolate, marshmallows, and gummy bears. And of course there's the new controversy of burning marshmallows, which some people take to be unpatriotic and which other people believe is simply a way of expressing your political beliefs.

I'd like to thank Story for the tie she gave me before I left. It's really great. On a scale from bad tie to no tie, it's definitely a seahorse. (Seriously though, it's an awesome tie, and I almost can't go somewhere without someone complimenting it, which I like even though I don't really like wearing ties.)

Another awesome word: tranblemandetè, which means "earthquake", and which is pronounced exactly the way you would say earthquake in french.

And: flafla, which is pronounced the way you would say it in English, and which means "hogwash" or "nonsense".

Jeanna - I'm sorry, I don't know anybody who can format your book for you. And I don't really have time to send more on the subject, and it's kind of hard to describe how to do something when you can't sit down and do it yourself. But if you're interested on learning how, I'll tell you the most important thing: when you're formatting the book, don't apply formatting, apply styles. (Don't bold something, give it a bold style. If you don't know what this means, I'm sorry I don't have time to explain, but I'll tell you the second most important thing: Google!)

I translated "in the jungle" to Haitian Creole. It actually sounds pretty nice, except I had to change "the lion sleeps tonight" to "lions sleep tonight" because "sleep tonight" takes up too many syllables. Oh well. I'll send it home written, but I can't type it because I don't have time and I forgot how to type an O with a grave accent above it. ♫♪♪♫♫♪♪♪♪♫

Another pretty cool Haitian Creole word: sik, which means sugar. It also, coincidentally, means diabetes. (It's pronounced "seek").

Eliza - The way you say "I love you" depends. If you're talking to more than one person, you way "m renmen nou"; if you're just talking to just one person, it's "m renmen ou". "m" sounds like you're saying, "mmmm, that's good", except it's really short. "ou" sounds like the O in "cartoon". "Nou" sounds like "new". And "renmen" is slightly more complicated. You don't roll the R, but it is very guttural. I can't explain it better than that. And the "en" combination is a very nasally E. So "renmen" sounds like "ray may", except... not really. (Also, you should know that the word for "to love" is the same as the word for "to like", which is annoying.)

Almost all sites are banned here, including YouTube. But we're only not allowed to listen to music in the residences, so we've been trying to figure out how to get around the block on the computer's internet and get some good music. Finally, after a few weeks of trying, we did it. You go to LDS.org, find a page with a youtube video embedded in it, and then skip to the end. The video player shows suggestions. You click on a suggestion, and it plays that video, even though YouTube.com itself is blocked. It's pretty easy to get into classical music, and songs by the Piano Guys, but just a few days ago we discovered how to make it (after following this process for ~20 songs) to Disney videos. So now we can listen to "The Circle of Life" while we study!

Eldè Halling, one of my companions, sleepwalks, and sleeptalks, a lot. We have some funny stories about that, and I've already sent a few. (I think.) He has also been to Haiti two different times in his life. He is going to Boston.

Eldè Trockel, my other companion, knows both Spanish and English as his native languages; he has also studied Mandarin for four years, and he is relatively fluent in that. He has been adapting to learning Haitian Creole much better than any of the rest of us. He is going to Tampa Florida.

Eldè Casper and Eldè Ashby are the other two members of my district, but I don't have time to get into them right now. They are both going to New York.

A good quote: "A fish is the last one to know it is wet." (You have no idea what I'm talking about, do you? Hah!)

Thanks,

Eldè Slade

I have a few more minutes. (That means, two.) So I'll add another few things.

Eldè Trockel and I, as a way of learning the language better, have started telling a story. I say a sentence, then he does, then I do, etc., all in Haitian Creole. When we don't know how to say something, we write it down so we can look it up later. It's really fun; I'm not sure how useful it is, though. It's still too early to tell.

Another of Eldè Halling's sleepwalking stories:

Eldè Trockel got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. Eldè Halling followed him, carrying his pillow. In the hallway, he scared Eldè Trockel a ton when he said, right behind him: "I have my stuff. Are you ready to go?" His stuff, meaning his pillow. And we're not sure where he thought they were going anyway.

That's it, I'm out of time.

MTC Update

OK, one hour a week on the computer is not that much time. (Especially with 30+ emails to read through first.) So I'll be quick. I made a list of things I want to talk about, but it'll be in no real order.  I only have 5 more minutes so it'll be a little clipped. Oh well.

First of all, I hope that Becky and Jeremy have gotten moved all right. I feel bad that I wasn't there to help them out, so I'm sorry for that.

Also, I'd be interested to know who of you all know anything about the "Narnia Hole". It seems likely that Dad would know about it, although he might know it by a different name. I'm not going to tell you all what it is, I just want to find out if any of you know it, or if it's just modern-day MTC culture.

This morning I did an endowment session at the temple. The guy was from the 1600s and his name was/is Simon Cluzel.

I came to the MTC without getting my TDap or Flu shots, so I had to get them here. I went to the clinic, got the shots, paid for them, and left. Later that day, I received an envelope from the MTC containing the money that I paid, as well as a bill that said something along the lines of "We're sorry, we charged you the wrong price. The actual price is $X more than you paid. Here's your money back, please come to the clinic and pay up or we'll send a bill home." I was laughing, I've never received money and a bill in the same letter before.

Another funny story, this happened just last night: Eldè Halling sleeptalks a lot. (Sometimes he even sleepwalks.) Halfway through the night, we wake up to hear him telling someone "If you want me to share a scripture, I will do so." A few minutes later, he continues. "Mwen vle pataje temwayaj mwen." (I want to share my testimony.) He then proceeded to start a prayer (not a testimony), in Haitain Creole, thanking God for today, and asking him to help us learn Haitian Creole. He stumbled through a few words, and so instead of finishing the prayer, he said in English: "man, I'm sorry, I'm so tired. Maybe it would help if the lights weren't off." A few minutes later, he wished whoever he was talking to "good night", and that's where it stops. He doesn't remember any of this.

I didn't get to watch General Conference from the conference center, but I watched them all here. It was a great conference, I really enjoyed all of the talks. I think it's interesting how much they're pushing member missionaries. I think that my favorite speaker is David A. Bednar - partially because his talk on Saturday, but mostly because of his talks which they play on Sunday nights here at the MTC. (None of them are published online, unfortunately. I checked.)

But the part that I enjoyed the most is that for the Sunday devotional, after General Conference, we got to listen to Vocal Point. It wasn't as good as they would have been because they were limited to doing hymns, but they still sounded great, and they each bore their testimony in between songs and you could really feel the spirit.

My new favorite word is "an kèskeseksa" which is actually two words, but "kèskeseksa" is never said without the "an" so I put it there anyway. It means "in question" or "in doubt". I have not found a legitimate place to use it yet, but when I do it will be super impressive.

Also, it's ridiculous how many two letter words there are in Haitian Creole. I've made a list of ~60 so far, not including the words that are acronyms or onomatopoeias.

Last but not least, I just wanted to say how similar learning a new language is to learning a new programming language. I didn't think they would be so similar. I've never gotten deep enough into Spanish for me to realize it. But there are a few points:

-The first language is the hardest. It takes years (for a linguistic language, only a few months if you really try for a programming language) to become really proficient in it.

-Each consecutive one after that makes it easier to learn new languages.

-Just because you know one way to say things doesn't mean that you know the language; I can piece together sentences in Haitian Creole fine, but I still can't understand all that much when other people speak.

-The ultimate goal is to become fluent - to get the point across quickly (save time) but with as little ambiguity as possible (readable code/understandable sentences). (For the record, Haitian Creole is ridiculously ambiguous. So much depends on context. I'm having trouble adapting.)

I'm out of time.

Thanks,

Eldè Slade

Great Time By Brandon

Che fanmi mwen ak zanmi mwen yo,

(Dear my family and my friends),

I’m having a great time at the MTC.  The first couple of days were rough because I’m not used to working that much, all day, every day.  But it’s extremely spiritually uplifting to be here.  I can’t wait for General Conference next week.  It will be good to watch it surrounded by so many missionaries going all over the world with the purpose of preaching the gospel to the people, and helping them come closer to Christ.

        I’m going to try to send this letter with a Haitian Creole hymn book, but if I can’t get a good-sized box for it, I’ll just send the letter alone.  There’s only about 30 hymns, but it’s kind of amusing to look at the translation.  For example, the line “high on a mountain top, a banner is unfurled…” loses a lot of detail in the Haitian Creole version, which means something like “on a mountain, there is a flag…”  (Note from Nancy…Britney had a funny post about this hymn a few weeks back, too!) I know you won’t be able to read it (I can’t) but missionaries get ridiculous discounts on language material, and I thought you might like to see it.

        I just got back from the gastroenterologist (did I spell that right?) with Elde Tockel, and unfortunately we don’t have any new information on his errant liver.  He had to schedule a liver biopsy, which sounds pretty gross.  Next Tuesday is when he will go.  They get to stick a large needle into his liver, and he gets  to stay awake to watch it.  If it were me, I would be freaking out right about now.

        My p-day is about to end, so I have to cut this letter short.  I’ll try to send another next week.

Mesi,

Elde Slade

PS I was hoping to get a box to send home a few more things, but it’s so hard to find one, I’m just sending a letter.

I wrote this letter on Monday, but I’m sending it on Thursday so you may receive my next email first…I don’t know.  (At the time I seal the envelope, I have been here for a few hours more than 2 weeks.)

Thanks for everything,

Elde Slade

PS According to my instructor, Haitians are “the best”!

(note from Nancy…many of the words Brandon includes that are in Haitian Creole—including the word Creole—have accent marks over specific vowels.  Since I have no idea how to make those accents on my keyboard, I am leaving them out.  For example, Elde (for Elder) has one over the second “e”.  I am typing that word specifically without the “r” at the end on purpose!)

The Church is Truer Than True!

Sister Anderson and I had the best week I've had since coming out on my mission. To the point that not only did we meet the mission standards of excellence, but we tripled them. And I feel overwhelmed with gratitude for how much we've been blessed! One of my friends who is on her mission is Spain said that Elder Holland came to visit them recently, and he told the missionaries there that "Your success if directly proportional to your desire" and I truly believe that! Earlier this week I was praying before personal study and I was thinking for a long time about what I wanted to promise Heavenly Father this week. At first I started to ask, "Please help us to find those people that are prepared to hear the gospel," but immediately the thought came to my mind, "Well what is it that you want exactly?" I thought for a long time and then came up with a specific number of lessons in my head that I felt we could promise Heavenly Father as long as we worked our very hardest. At first it felt outrageous, but I felt very peaceful the more I prayed about it. When we accounted on Sunday we realized that we had taught exactly the number of lessons that I had promised Heavenly Father we would strive for.

The most amazing part is that there's no way we would have been able to teach so many lessons and find so many new people if it was just sister Anderson and I. Heavenly Father is leading us to people left and right! A few weeks ago Sister Anderson and I went to find a less active individual in an apartment complex, and on our way out I felt like we should knock on a certain door so we did. The people were friendly but not interested, and as we were walking away they said, "You know I'm pretty sure one of the people living right across from us is Mormon. Maybe try them." Sure enough, when we knocked on that door we were able to meet a wonderful couple who recently moved here. The wife is a member and the husband isn't but he wants to learn, so we've started teaching him. Part-member families are my favorite to teach! :)

That same night we contacted them we were on our way to visit a different name but the name of a less active woman in our ward came to my mind so we suddenly decided to go see her instead. When we got there we had a wonderful discussion with her, and Sister Anderson shared an inspired story! The woman told us that it was really weird that we came that night, because just earlier that evening one of her daughters out of the blue had asked her, "When are we going back to my church?" We've also started teaching her fiance. :)

The ward can't get enough of Bennett and Verna, and Bennett and Verna can't get enough of the gospel! Something special from one of our lessons this week was that Verna has only agreed to say the closing prayer once before, and it was very brief, because she feels that her prayers are too personal and she has a hard time talking to Heavenly Father with other people around. Verna agreed to say the closing prayer for our lesson on Wednesday. She asked Heavenly Father how He was doing, and then she said, "I love you, Heavenly Father" and choked up and started to cry. One of the most genuine, heartfelt prayers I have ever heard. I've decided that when my mission is over you guys need to drive up here and pick me up so that you can meet all of these people with me!

The people here are so wonderful. Heavenly Father fills us with more love then I've ever felt before.

Up to this point we've been spoiled with having beautiful weather, but this week the weather has definitely started changing and I'm learning what Washington is actually like! I think I might have to invest in some good boots! We have transfers next week and it would make absolutely no sense for president to transfer me because Sister Anderson and I are in the middle of the 12 week training, but for some reason I've had a weird feeling recently that I'm being moved anyway. Who knows, though, it might just be me. I guess we'll find out! President Bonham is wonderful, by the way. I'm not sure I've told you anything about him, but he frequently tells the missionaries that they're not allowed to do drugs and not allowed to participate in high-speed races to the Seattle space needle. Okay, President Bonham, whatever you say. :)

The church is truer than true!

Love you all!

Love, Sister Slade