Well hello again. Let me tell you, time flies when you're serving the Lord! I'm now on my fifth week (by the MTC calendar, which is not exactly a normal measurement of time).
So, I don't have addresses for Karina or Tim. Someone needs to send them to me. I'd prefer a letter from each of them with a return address on it :).
Um, I think I missed Matt being there to help with this, but could someone make sure Grandpa Ogilvie knows how to get onto the blog. I meant to teach him the day before I went into the MTC, but he'd just gotten a tooth pulled and wasn't exactly perfectly coherent. Then Kyle happened and that went out the window :P.
Um, is someone making sure Grandma and Grandpa Warriner stay caught up. I don't care how you do it(phone, snail mail, carrier pidgeon or smoke signals), just be sure they get the content of these letters.
So the week has been pretty busy. Right after the last email I wrote to you we had the priveledge of hearing from Elder L. Tom Perry. He spoke about companionships and the blessings we receive from them. He talked about his mission companion and how they had both agreed to join the navy after their missions. The funny thing is that they each individually took a look at the bell-bottoms the navy wore at the time and ran straight to the marines. They ended up in the same -insert marine lingo for "district" here- so they were together for either Church or marine service for over 3 years. Pretty cool.
We got to see the Draper Temple dedication on Sunday here at the MTC. Yes, Chalene, it WAS a Utah thing. In the broadcast they mentioned that it was done all throughout the state. It was neat. I hadn't been to a temple dedication broadcast in maybe 10 years. Probably not quite, but it was fun to see through a new set of eyeballs.
I lost my pencil. This sounds trite, but you don't understand. I've had that pencil, and it's the only pencil I've used, since 7th Grade. I lost it sometime between Relief Society and the Temple Dedication on Sunday. I almost cried. I suppose I'm back to #3 pencils for the rest of my mission--unless I find a really cool pencil in Korea. That's okay--#3 pencils remind me of Dad, and I like that.
Um, as soon as there's real news about hte North Korean "satellite" I'd appreciate a dearelder about it. Elder Romero thinks his family will beat mine in up-to-dateness. Obviously he doesn't know the power of the 6 geeks :). I assume there won't be anything new until April 1st-ish.
So, I heard a really good analogy the other day. Sister Hadden said that switching from English to Korean was like switching from Windows to Mac. You've been so involved in chaos that when order comes into your life you don't know what to do with it, but you figure it out because it ACTUALLY makes sense. Korean is a very organized language. My left brain really likes it :).
:) is the newest from of puctuation. Look for it in all the new grammar books.
So, I heard about Karina getting the job in Chandler. Yay you! Congratulations! Mom says you're excited to get a new bow...I hope that's not all that's making you excited--haha. I'm glad you have a job lined up though. That makes things a lot less stressful given the way the economy is going right now.
I ran into Grandpa Robison in the temple this morning. It was delightful to see him. It made my day! It's so nice to see people you know and love! Such a blessed happenstance.
Ashley receives honorable mention for being the first person not related to me--or potentially related to me-- to to write me a letter. Carrie wins the runner-up position. I loved hearing from you both. Friends always in my heart.
Wow, I reached the end of my random list of things to say and still have 10 minutes on this thing. Get ready for a very random paragraph. Here goes:
Um...cafeteria...I've never seen people drink so much in my entire life. Seriously, people come back to the table with 8-10 glasses of various liquids. Even I have taken to getting three glasses: water, milk and either another water or juice. There are many, many choices of what to drink, though, so I suppose it can't be helped. The only problem is that they are more sugar than liquid. Oh well. Besides, the heating systems in these buildings are positively archaic and they made it dryer than the Mojave in here. Everyone is dehydrated and has sandpaper hands. Such is life.
Okay, I'm all out of randomness. Have a wonderful day! Love to all!
~R~
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
March 17, 2009
Hello All!
Sorry the letter is later in the day than usual. I didn't mean to drive you crazy with reloading the email every 10 minutes all day long :). I know the feeling, I promise. Sis. Peterson and I decided to try to email later from now on--it means getting dressed in Church clothes later.
It's crazy to think it's been yet another week at the MTC. Life as I know it has been going well and I'm just excited to be here. The food is getting monotonous and the schedule is more of the same, but it's a great place to be.
Mom, I can't sit on a pillow for a very simple reason: I don't have one. I have a regular pillow, but that hardly works on a desk...The "older" group is leaving in 2 weeks and it's tradition to pass one down, so hopefully I'll be picked as a favorite, haha.
Thanks for the ugly stamps. I didn't know that Purple Hearts were so unattractive. Kinda strange, but they get the job done :P.
If people want to send me stuff I'd like more salty things and a bit less sugary stuff. It just makes me tired. I kinda miss having nuts to munch one whenever I want...so that's an idea...
Funny story: Sister Hadden, also going to Busan, has family roots in Butte. Her mom grew up there and we had a good time talking about Montana craziness.
About the drunk guy with a knife story from Scott--I think I have an earlier reference to it in an earlier letter. I'll try to find it for next week, but no promises. It's pretty busy here and I never feel like I have enough time for little things like that. Besides, I think that story fell under the "Don't tell my parents, but..." category for fear of instigating fear and other parental feelings.
Tell Kelly that I kinda miss singing Oklahoma in the house with him all the time. Yesterday I had all the songs in my head and it was irritating because only one, if any, is mission appropriate. Poo.
So, sounds like the ward boundaries got a real jumble. It's funny that there aren't any numbers anymore. What would we ever do without camp skits entitled "Snow White and the Seventh Warders." I think things will work out well for everyone, though. Besides, now Scott and I aren't breaking the "never date inside your ward" rule---wherever that came from :).
So, funny story (hopefully I can make it make sense). We got some sisters in FROM Korea who are GOING to Korea. We've had a blast getting to know them. It was funny because we had quite the language mishap the other day. Sis. Hadden was saying something about me calling me by name "Sis. Ogilvie" and the poor Korean sisters got really embarrassed and started acting awkward. It took us a while to realize that the sisters thought that she was saying "Sister Ugly" over and over again. They couldn't believe that Sis. Hadden was being so mean to me when I was sitting at the table! It was really funny.
Another funny one was when they had a hard time distiguishing between the words fork, pork and folk(there is no f sound in Korean, so they use p, and same with l and r). They had no idea what pork had to do with dancing! I think we straightened that one out, but I'm not exactly sure, really. I think they just got to a point where they started smiling and nodding.
Another funny thing is how fascinated they are with how white I am. They always point out my white feet, which is funny because whenever they see my feet I'm wearing nylons and my feet are rather tan--for me anyways.
I like them a lot and I can't wait to have a Korean companion--hopefully AFTER I can speak Korean a little better--but you never know what the Lord has in store for us.
Well, I'm late for choir, so I have to take off.
Love to all! ~R~
Sorry the letter is later in the day than usual. I didn't mean to drive you crazy with reloading the email every 10 minutes all day long :). I know the feeling, I promise. Sis. Peterson and I decided to try to email later from now on--it means getting dressed in Church clothes later.
It's crazy to think it's been yet another week at the MTC. Life as I know it has been going well and I'm just excited to be here. The food is getting monotonous and the schedule is more of the same, but it's a great place to be.
Mom, I can't sit on a pillow for a very simple reason: I don't have one. I have a regular pillow, but that hardly works on a desk...The "older" group is leaving in 2 weeks and it's tradition to pass one down, so hopefully I'll be picked as a favorite, haha.
Thanks for the ugly stamps. I didn't know that Purple Hearts were so unattractive. Kinda strange, but they get the job done :P.
If people want to send me stuff I'd like more salty things and a bit less sugary stuff. It just makes me tired. I kinda miss having nuts to munch one whenever I want...so that's an idea...
Funny story: Sister Hadden, also going to Busan, has family roots in Butte. Her mom grew up there and we had a good time talking about Montana craziness.
About the drunk guy with a knife story from Scott--I think I have an earlier reference to it in an earlier letter. I'll try to find it for next week, but no promises. It's pretty busy here and I never feel like I have enough time for little things like that. Besides, I think that story fell under the "Don't tell my parents, but..." category for fear of instigating fear and other parental feelings.
Tell Kelly that I kinda miss singing Oklahoma in the house with him all the time. Yesterday I had all the songs in my head and it was irritating because only one, if any, is mission appropriate. Poo.
So, sounds like the ward boundaries got a real jumble. It's funny that there aren't any numbers anymore. What would we ever do without camp skits entitled "Snow White and the Seventh Warders." I think things will work out well for everyone, though. Besides, now Scott and I aren't breaking the "never date inside your ward" rule---wherever that came from :).
So, funny story (hopefully I can make it make sense). We got some sisters in FROM Korea who are GOING to Korea. We've had a blast getting to know them. It was funny because we had quite the language mishap the other day. Sis. Hadden was saying something about me calling me by name "Sis. Ogilvie" and the poor Korean sisters got really embarrassed and started acting awkward. It took us a while to realize that the sisters thought that she was saying "Sister Ugly" over and over again. They couldn't believe that Sis. Hadden was being so mean to me when I was sitting at the table! It was really funny.
Another funny one was when they had a hard time distiguishing between the words fork, pork and folk(there is no f sound in Korean, so they use p, and same with l and r). They had no idea what pork had to do with dancing! I think we straightened that one out, but I'm not exactly sure, really. I think they just got to a point where they started smiling and nodding.
Another funny thing is how fascinated they are with how white I am. They always point out my white feet, which is funny because whenever they see my feet I'm wearing nylons and my feet are rather tan--for me anyways.
I like them a lot and I can't wait to have a Korean companion--hopefully AFTER I can speak Korean a little better--but you never know what the Lord has in store for us.
Well, I'm late for choir, so I have to take off.
Love to all! ~R~
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Week 2
Well, yet another week. It's insane how it flies by.
You remember that story Pres. Monson told about the Spanish-speaking Elder and sending him to a Japanese class? Well, you know where they send Japanese Elders when they have a hard time? Korean classes. Supposedly it's the second most difficult language taught at the MTC, the most difficult being Finnish. If I start writing in Finnish, you know what happened.
The week has been good and I've really enjoyed it. Korean is hard. There aren't any cognates so there's no correlation like there is for the latin languages. I like it, though. It IS coming, but it takes hard work.
We do a lot of sitting. Class is long and frequent. I sometimes wish that I had a little more natural padding on my bum, but such is life. The MTC cafeteria is doing its best to help me out with that situation. I now know why Tim was so excited to find the fruit loops. Every cereal stand is different, so knowing which line to stand in is definitely a plus.
We just got some missionaries going to Korea FROM Korea yesterday. It's a humbling experience to speak Korean with them. There's a long way to go.
It's funny how everything has to be run through bureaucracy here. Sis. Peterson wanted to call the BYU Asian Elders to give them some names of some Korean investigators she'd been working with before she came in and it took three days of phone call approval procedures to clear a 5 minute phone call to MISSIONARIES! Oh well such is life.
I'm doing well having a companion. I'm grateful for siblings. Sis. Peterson is an only child. Sometimes I think it's hard for her to have a shadow (or maybe she's my shadow seeing as she's a foot shorter). But she's a trooper and I'm grateful for her.
Saturday and Sunday are really fun because...we get to watch CHURCH MOVIES! WOOHOO! Seminary videos never sounded so appealing. I got to watch the Joseph Smith Movie again Sunday. It is SO good. Next time you're in SLC you should go see it downtown. Yayness.
So...Mom and Tim and Megan got facebooks. Go figure. It IS taking over the world, haha.
We watched this movie called "The District" which is a documentary on a district in Texas and their work. Who knew you'd watch reality television as a missionary.
We had Sis. Elaine Dalton as our RS teacher on Sunday. You'll be happy to know she wasn't wearing a man suit and that awful pink color was nowhere to be seen. She had a tactful green sweater on. She had some great things to say and she told us about the development of the Virtue value and gave us the insert for the YW book about it. Apparently we were some of the first people in the Church to get it, so that's cool.
I love choir here! Where else do you sing with a 5 to 1 guy to girl ratio? It's pretty cool. We're singing "Consider the Lillies" tonight for Devotional. I like it.
Mary, I heard a Chuck Norris joke from one of our teachers the other day: Chuck Norris doesn't sleep; he waits.
Things I miss:
Cocoa that doesn't taste like water. Seriously, nothing beats listening to Dad tap the bottom of the cup as the pitch rises because the Cocoa settles.
Hot cider.
The OJ is terrible here. Chalene would be upset :P.
I've been craving a tomato and cheese.
It's all food this time. That's weird.
Things I'd like for you to send:
The lyrics to Be Thou My Vision. It's always stuck in my head and I don't know the words. It's irritating.
Same with Poor Wayfaring Stranger.
As for news: I'd like to be informed just not a ton. The big things would be nice, though.
I heard about the ward boundary changes from 3 different sources: Mom, Malea and Cristy/Doug. Go figure. I'm sure everything will work out well. The Church is true everywhere.
Random Fact: Missionaries at the MTC consume 400 gallons of milk a day, which requires a dairy farm of 300 cows to produce.
It's great to hear from you all. I love you and pray for you constantly!
Love,
Rachel
P.S Use dearelder.com while I'm still at the MTC. It's free. It's same-day. It makes me happy.
You remember that story Pres. Monson told about the Spanish-speaking Elder and sending him to a Japanese class? Well, you know where they send Japanese Elders when they have a hard time? Korean classes. Supposedly it's the second most difficult language taught at the MTC, the most difficult being Finnish. If I start writing in Finnish, you know what happened.
The week has been good and I've really enjoyed it. Korean is hard. There aren't any cognates so there's no correlation like there is for the latin languages. I like it, though. It IS coming, but it takes hard work.
We do a lot of sitting. Class is long and frequent. I sometimes wish that I had a little more natural padding on my bum, but such is life. The MTC cafeteria is doing its best to help me out with that situation. I now know why Tim was so excited to find the fruit loops. Every cereal stand is different, so knowing which line to stand in is definitely a plus.
We just got some missionaries going to Korea FROM Korea yesterday. It's a humbling experience to speak Korean with them. There's a long way to go.
It's funny how everything has to be run through bureaucracy here. Sis. Peterson wanted to call the BYU Asian Elders to give them some names of some Korean investigators she'd been working with before she came in and it took three days of phone call approval procedures to clear a 5 minute phone call to MISSIONARIES! Oh well such is life.
I'm doing well having a companion. I'm grateful for siblings. Sis. Peterson is an only child. Sometimes I think it's hard for her to have a shadow (or maybe she's my shadow seeing as she's a foot shorter). But she's a trooper and I'm grateful for her.
Saturday and Sunday are really fun because...we get to watch CHURCH MOVIES! WOOHOO! Seminary videos never sounded so appealing. I got to watch the Joseph Smith Movie again Sunday. It is SO good. Next time you're in SLC you should go see it downtown. Yayness.
So...Mom and Tim and Megan got facebooks. Go figure. It IS taking over the world, haha.
We watched this movie called "The District" which is a documentary on a district in Texas and their work. Who knew you'd watch reality television as a missionary.
We had Sis. Elaine Dalton as our RS teacher on Sunday. You'll be happy to know she wasn't wearing a man suit and that awful pink color was nowhere to be seen. She had a tactful green sweater on. She had some great things to say and she told us about the development of the Virtue value and gave us the insert for the YW book about it. Apparently we were some of the first people in the Church to get it, so that's cool.
I love choir here! Where else do you sing with a 5 to 1 guy to girl ratio? It's pretty cool. We're singing "Consider the Lillies" tonight for Devotional. I like it.
Mary, I heard a Chuck Norris joke from one of our teachers the other day: Chuck Norris doesn't sleep; he waits.
Things I miss:
Cocoa that doesn't taste like water. Seriously, nothing beats listening to Dad tap the bottom of the cup as the pitch rises because the Cocoa settles.
Hot cider.
The OJ is terrible here. Chalene would be upset :P.
I've been craving a tomato and cheese.
It's all food this time. That's weird.
Things I'd like for you to send:
The lyrics to Be Thou My Vision. It's always stuck in my head and I don't know the words. It's irritating.
Same with Poor Wayfaring Stranger.
As for news: I'd like to be informed just not a ton. The big things would be nice, though.
I heard about the ward boundary changes from 3 different sources: Mom, Malea and Cristy/Doug. Go figure. I'm sure everything will work out well. The Church is true everywhere.
Random Fact: Missionaries at the MTC consume 400 gallons of milk a day, which requires a dairy farm of 300 cows to produce.
It's great to hear from you all. I love you and pray for you constantly!
Love,
Rachel
P.S Use dearelder.com while I'm still at the MTC. It's free. It's same-day. It makes me happy.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Rachel's first letter home
Hello!
Here I am in the MTC and things are going really well. I love it here. The Spirit is INCREDIBLE!!!
To start off I guess I'll just say that I discovered that hanging out with the Bill Ogilvie's in a dangerous (and expensive)passtime. When I arrived at the Salt Lake airport my aunt put one suitcase in the back while I put another in the front. She climbed into the car and said "Rachel, I'm buying you a new suitcase and help up a wheel that she had broken off of my brand new suitcase. She was very gracious and got me a really nice set, and kept my old set hoping Bill could fix the wheel. Later on in the day we get a phone call saying that Logan had had a very unfortunate happenstance involving the truck and a large concrete pole in a parking garage. Then we got word that Bill, Logan and Kyle were going to go skiing/snowboarding the next day. Sue and I went to the Salt Lake Temple and enjoyed our morning as we ran errands when we received word that Kyle had taken a tumble on the slopes and needed to be picked up to be taken to the emergency room. THey decided to treat it as broken despite unclear evidence on x-rays. Gotta love the emergency room. Wait around for them to tell you that there may, or may not, be something wrong with it. Luckily it didn't take long. I was glad to see those in Provo that I did get to see, but I didn't see you all do to broken ankles and extra hospital time.
Um, make sure all of you who attended my setting apart write down a few notes of what you remember about it and mail them to me. Yes, Dad and Matt, this means you, too.
Just so you know, I received the Valentine package I was expecting from Scott here, so you don't have to keep an eye out for it anymore.
Mary, thanks for the Brownies. I'll forgive you for sending BYU brownies instead of Robison brownies, but only this once :P. I still haven't gotten around to translating the Korean on the box yet, though.
So I'm just loving it here. There's a reason they make you wait a while to write, though. Those first couple of days are really rough. But your body an mind adjust and you learn to really love the structure and the Spirit.
My companion's name is Sis. Peterson. She's from texas, but she was adopted from Korea. She will be serving in Seoul. I love her to death already. We are a really good pair. I'm just glad she's around. She's a good source of strength and I'm learning a lot from her. She's helping me to learn how to better love and serve people. She's an excellent example. She's a hard worker, and she's a whiz at Korean and she keeps me on my toes. She and I were the only Korean speaking sisters entering the MTC that day. I'm glad everything worked out so well.
The language is coming pretty well. I speak kind of like Benjamin with just a noun and maybe a verb so people might get teh idea, but it's gettign better. It was actually really cool becasue the first things they taught us were how to pray and how to testify. Then this past Sunday was fast sunday and I understood almost everything that was said. It was awesome. Then it was really cool to hear the Sacrament prayer in Korean. The Spirit was SO strong. Ahh, I love it!!
My district is really fun. There are only two companionships, which is really small. It's Sis. Peterson and I and three elders who call their companionship "the party" becasue they are like a walking party, apparently. They are fun, and they are all hard workers.
My branch president knows Pres. Jennings and says that if he and his wife had been on Jeopardy against their son they'd have whipped his tail. That would be fun to see.
Thanks for the stamps and addresses, Mom. Very helpful. More stamps would be appreciated, but I can buy them here if you need.
Chalene, could you email the Ogilvie cousins and tell them where my blog is? Thanks! I got the package from Chalene. I laughed so hard when I read Evan's "letter". Very cute.
Do you think you could send me a few pictures of the Nova. At least two, and I was hoping for one from when it was brown. I thought of some spiritual examples tied to it.
Um, Sis. King who will be serving in Seoul knows Marci and grew up with her. She asked me if I knew that she had recently gotten married. I just laughed :P.
Um, the card they gave Sue with my address has the wrong departure date on it. I'm leaving 0511. If you sent anything with the wrong date, don't worry. They assured me it wouldn't throw them off. It only matters when we get closer to me leaving.
I hate this keyboard. It hurts.
Well, I have one minute left, so I must go. Love to all!
~Rachel~
Here I am in the MTC and things are going really well. I love it here. The Spirit is INCREDIBLE!!!
To start off I guess I'll just say that I discovered that hanging out with the Bill Ogilvie's in a dangerous (and expensive)passtime. When I arrived at the Salt Lake airport my aunt put one suitcase in the back while I put another in the front. She climbed into the car and said "Rachel, I'm buying you a new suitcase and help up a wheel that she had broken off of my brand new suitcase. She was very gracious and got me a really nice set, and kept my old set hoping Bill could fix the wheel. Later on in the day we get a phone call saying that Logan had had a very unfortunate happenstance involving the truck and a large concrete pole in a parking garage. Then we got word that Bill, Logan and Kyle were going to go skiing/snowboarding the next day. Sue and I went to the Salt Lake Temple and enjoyed our morning as we ran errands when we received word that Kyle had taken a tumble on the slopes and needed to be picked up to be taken to the emergency room. THey decided to treat it as broken despite unclear evidence on x-rays. Gotta love the emergency room. Wait around for them to tell you that there may, or may not, be something wrong with it. Luckily it didn't take long. I was glad to see those in Provo that I did get to see, but I didn't see you all do to broken ankles and extra hospital time.
Um, make sure all of you who attended my setting apart write down a few notes of what you remember about it and mail them to me. Yes, Dad and Matt, this means you, too.
Just so you know, I received the Valentine package I was expecting from Scott here, so you don't have to keep an eye out for it anymore.
Mary, thanks for the Brownies. I'll forgive you for sending BYU brownies instead of Robison brownies, but only this once :P. I still haven't gotten around to translating the Korean on the box yet, though.
So I'm just loving it here. There's a reason they make you wait a while to write, though. Those first couple of days are really rough. But your body an mind adjust and you learn to really love the structure and the Spirit.
My companion's name is Sis. Peterson. She's from texas, but she was adopted from Korea. She will be serving in Seoul. I love her to death already. We are a really good pair. I'm just glad she's around. She's a good source of strength and I'm learning a lot from her. She's helping me to learn how to better love and serve people. She's an excellent example. She's a hard worker, and she's a whiz at Korean and she keeps me on my toes. She and I were the only Korean speaking sisters entering the MTC that day. I'm glad everything worked out so well.
The language is coming pretty well. I speak kind of like Benjamin with just a noun and maybe a verb so people might get teh idea, but it's gettign better. It was actually really cool becasue the first things they taught us were how to pray and how to testify. Then this past Sunday was fast sunday and I understood almost everything that was said. It was awesome. Then it was really cool to hear the Sacrament prayer in Korean. The Spirit was SO strong. Ahh, I love it!!
My district is really fun. There are only two companionships, which is really small. It's Sis. Peterson and I and three elders who call their companionship "the party" becasue they are like a walking party, apparently. They are fun, and they are all hard workers.
My branch president knows Pres. Jennings and says that if he and his wife had been on Jeopardy against their son they'd have whipped his tail. That would be fun to see.
Thanks for the stamps and addresses, Mom. Very helpful. More stamps would be appreciated, but I can buy them here if you need.
Chalene, could you email the Ogilvie cousins and tell them where my blog is? Thanks! I got the package from Chalene. I laughed so hard when I read Evan's "letter". Very cute.
Do you think you could send me a few pictures of the Nova. At least two, and I was hoping for one from when it was brown. I thought of some spiritual examples tied to it.
Um, Sis. King who will be serving in Seoul knows Marci and grew up with her. She asked me if I knew that she had recently gotten married. I just laughed :P.
Um, the card they gave Sue with my address has the wrong departure date on it. I'm leaving 0511. If you sent anything with the wrong date, don't worry. They assured me it wouldn't throw them off. It only matters when we get closer to me leaving.
I hate this keyboard. It hurts.
Well, I have one minute left, so I must go. Love to all!
~Rachel~
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