Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Somehow my request for a picture of the Nova must have fallen through the cracks somehow. I think Malea took some decent ones right after Dad had all that work done on it. Maybe she can get it printed. I don't know---you can coordinate that.

Just so you know, Elder Romero went home on Friday on medical leave. He'll still be going to Korea, but when he found out how much time his physical therapy was going to take he opted for stopping the clock rather than spending half of his mission doing nothing at the MTC. He'll be back in in 6-18 weeks depending on how quickly he heals. It's the best way, though, even Elder Holland, who reviewed the case, agreed--and Elder Holland NEVER likes missionaries to go home.

Our teachers have both left. One is doing a study abroad in Pusan, so I COULD run into him, and the other is going to the Jerusalem Center. It's gonna be weird the next couple of weeks with two new teachers and Elder Romero gone. The MTC will be a different place without them. Funny how quickly you get used to a new routine.

Umm, I know this is weird, but would someone send me a pitch-pipe? I can't stand it when people pick super-weird keys to sing hymns in. I'm not a fan of hearing sisters try to hit obnoxiously high notes, nor do I enjoy trying to hit them myself. I'll just have to be the music nerd with a pitch-pipe and the key of every hymn memorized :). So, we went camping the other night :).

Pictures will be in the mail as soon as they are developed. I'll send them to Chalene so she can attempt to upload them onto the blog if she feels adventurous enough.

Good News: They finally opened the Missionary Field!!! This means that we're not stuck inside for gym-time and we can go play in the field. I'm not so good at softball, but I'm a fan. As always, I'm the only girl. I'm hoping some talented girl will come in and save our reputation when it comes to softball, because I'm afraid I'm not much of a representative. I can usually hit the ball, at least. Catching and throwing are a different story. My hand-eye coordination pretty much ends at my calculator--and anyone who's done homework with me knows that even THAT isn't so good.

Ashley, to answer your question about foursquare, yes, there are still goofy names for hte moves, but they aren't the same at the MTC because we've made up our own in our respective languages. I've learned a lot of fightin' words in Japanese :). So it's like Asian foursquare rather than Elementary school foursquare.

We got some native Koreans in again, and this set will be leaving with me. It's probably a good thing that I can understand these ones better than the last ones. Still don't catch much unless they speak really slowly for me. The other night they were chatting away and I was way lost and then I heard the word for "red" and I said "What's red?" and they just thought it was the funniest thing. I was proud of myself for catching a word along the way with how fast they were speaking. THey are really good at helping me practice, though. I like it. It's fun because they are our roommates, so we see them a lot. I like it.

Time's up!

Love to all!

~R~

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

April 21, 2009

Well, hello again.

Hard to believe another week gone by (do I say that every letter?). I just can't believe how fast time flies here.

Elder Romero is doing well. He went to the Temple today, so apparently he's off health clinic arrest. It will be good to have him back in class. It was lonely with only 3 of us at a time (one of the Elders had to stay with him while the other came to class with us sisters). I must admit though, those Elders had the best-looking companions they'll ever have these past few weeks.

Korean story: We had Brother Im (a native Korean) substituting for us the other day and he got a little confused when I pronounced my Konglish version of Ogilvie. Apparently "Gull-bee" is a type od dried fish, so he told me everyone would assume my name was "Oh! Dried Yellow Corvina!" Gotta love it! :)

Another Korean Story: My companion and I were doing some SYL (speak your language) and we picked the topic of games. We were telling each other our favorite games in Korean. Well, I told her that my family had huge Oh Nuts tournaments. The word "oh" in Korean can mean the number 5, so she thought I was talking about 5 Nuts and couldn't figure out what in the world 5 nuts had to do with anything. I thought it was amusing.

Mom, they sell a water bottle that has a purifier here that I think you might like. You can collect water from a stream and it will make it safe to drink. I think it's $35 but I don't know if that's before or after my 40% missionary discount. If you want one let me know and I'll mail it home with all the other stuff I brought and shouldn't have. You might want to go to camping stores and see if they are any cheaper than here. Meh. I just thought of you when they told us about it (it's designed for missionaries going to third-world countries).

Mom, I don't have anyone I want you to forward my letters to because I told most people to check the blog. I wanted to avoid making you send it to millions (oh aren't I so sure people like me) of people every week. If people ask you for it you can forward it, but most people will be content to check the blog. Thanks for asking, though.

Hmm, 12 minutes left and I ran out of notes. That never happens. Of course, the longer I'm here the less notes I take about things to write home. Just getting more involved in the work, I suppose.

Um, last week Elder Holland came. You haven't seen Elder Holland talk until you've seen Elder Holland talk to missionaries. I thought the podium was going to break into splinters under his pounding. The whole room was on fire and we were afraid to breath. But boy oh boy did he get us pumped up and aware of our duty as God's agents. I've never seen someone speak with such power and indignation before. It was very powerful. He got me really excited for the wonderful things God can do with me on my mission if I allow myself to become an instrument in His hands. This Gospel is true and we're gonna take it to all the world! Yay us! Yay God :)!

I saw Elder Larson (Elder Larson's twin) who had the collapsed lung today. He's been medically cleared and will be heading out next week, probably never to play head, shoulders, knees and toes ever again :).

Um, I hereby declare that if any more of my roommates get engaged I desire a dearelder within 24 hours. You all are killing me. I do see Elder Kenison quite frequently, though. He leaves the day after I do. That's weird.

I'm getting more and more excited to go to Korea every day, and I'm realizing that I know less and less Korean every day :). It is coming.Yay for beautiful weather! I can't believe how gorgeous it is! Our class has a window now, too, so we can almost enjoy it! :) It's good.

Anyway, time is blinking away fast!

Much love to all! Thanks for all the love and support!

Love,
Rachel

P.S. Thanks for the Easter packages!

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

The Feet Trees are Out‏

April 14, 2009

For those of you who aren't aware--there's a certain type of tree on the BYU/MTC grounds that smells like a cross between feet and old fish in the Spring when it's blossoms are out. It's lovely, to say the least.

I forgot my notebook in which I keep little jots of what to tell you all throughout the week---so this is from memory and will likely be more spirratic than normal--if that's possible.

Um--Chalene, I know the yoga ball is there. Check under my bed and in my closet. I vaguely remember hiding it from Evan because he wanted to do something uncouthe with it. It could also be in the food storage room. OR you already found it since you wrote that 2 weeks ago...

Karina, how is my computer treating you? Is it working for what you intended? Treat it nice, please :).

Malea, my cd's are in a big black case--odd as it is--in a trash bag under my desk at mom and dad's house. If it's not there it's in the desk somewhere or possibly in the closet. Last resort is among my boxes in the crawlspace.

As you can see, the law of consecration is in full force among the Ogilvie sisters :).

Yes, mom, I do get the dearelders. Thanks so much for them. Thanks for the allergy medicine, too--it came just in time :). I'm glad to hear that you are the ward co-organist. Sharing with one person is better than five, right? That'll be good for you.

I hear Sis. Julie Beck is coming to the Springs (or came?). How exciting! That should be really good. She always has some good things to say. Good woman, that one.

Wah....my brain is gone. I have no memory of what I should be writing about.

Ah, Elder Romero is doing well. His surgery went as planned and it's a good thing they did it because they found more wrong with it than they anticipated. He's all fixed now but will be missing a few weeks of class while he recouperates(did I spell that right?). He'll probably be delayed a week or two so he has some more time to learn the language.

Sorry if I didn't answer all of your questions, Mom--I don't function without my lists.

Ashley, I'm excited to hear you're going to DU. Thanks so much for lettign me know. I hope all is well as you finish up this last little jaunt of school.

Karina, have you made a decision on what job you're taking yet? Sounds like you have a few options. I hope school is going well for you. Crazy how time flies, really.

Tim and Matt--you're both bums--get on DearElder and tell me how you are. It's only free for 4 more weeks--so get with it. I haven't heard from either of you at all. Some brothers. :)

As for the work, it's going well. I'm into the third week of MIKEE (Mini In-field Korean Exposure and Experience) which basically means my teaching evaluation teacher plays the role of a progressing investigator and we do all the teaching in Korean. Hard to believe that I'm teaching all in Korean, but I go in there and the words come out. I know I've studied them, but I'm amazed I remember any of them. All Korean sounds the same, but somehow my brain sorts it. God is good to us missionaries! I've got a few investigators in the referral center--people who have called in from the commercials and things. Definitely praying for them.

Thank you for all the prayers. I truly can feel them working in my life. I pray for you all constantly.

Much Love,

~Rachel~

P.S. Dad's a bum, too, but I want a real letter from him--I like his handwriting. Weird, I know, but I'm strangely attached to it.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

This space intentionally left blank‏

April 7, 2009

So, the MTC is a very interesting place, I've decided. It's full of all sorts of cultural anomalies. For example--of all of the games offered in the gym, who'd guess that 4-Square was the one they'd have to watch most closesly to be sure people aren't playing too competitively? Seriously, though, the Koreans against the Japanese in 4-Square is a competition that's been going on for ages--and it is INTENSE! My teacher said it was going on when he was in the MTC 5 years ago. Weird. You'll be happy to know that I've become quite good at the sport and they no longer just let me win because I'm a sister--which was quite irritating. I even made queen several times this week--and that hasn't happened since elementary school (IF it happened in elementary school). It's funny thoguh because the sisters came up to me and said "We were all rooting for you!" I hadn't realized I was the only girl "brave" enough to play. I've taken too many engineering classes if I don't notice I'm the only girl...

Another weird thing is that people always find bizarre ways to injure themselves. For example, our old zone leaders' twin brother had his lung collapse. You'd think he was doing something strenuous, but no--he was playing head, shoulders, shoulders, knees and toes in porteguese class. He's okay, but had to have surgery. And Elder Romero, in my district, dislocated his shoulder-also something you'd think would require something strenuous. No. He was doing sit-ups. You read that right. Sit-ups. He will be getting surgery tomorrow to stitch the tendon back to the bone. Weird.

Um, I have 5 minutes---so I'll just tell you about the box of consecration. There's a box in the residence hall where all of the sisters who are leaving put all of the stuff they don't want. Then sisters sticking around can pick it up. I don't know why I bothered bringing ANYTHING to the MTC--because anything you need will be there in a day or two. It's quite humorous. We've lovingly dubbed it the box of consecration. Okay, maybe that was dumb, but it was funny to me.

BYE!

~R~

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Deep Peace of the Running Wave to You‏

March 31, 2009

Kudos to whomever can guess what song the title came from!

I didn't write many notes down about what to write you in the email this week. That either means my week was really boring and nothing happened or it was really busy and I just didn't have time to write such things down.

You know what? I really miss handbells. The other day I was doing something and my glove (which is a handbell glove) fell out of my coat pocket and...I don't know....I just really wanted to play. If anyone wants to save up $30,000 over the next 18 months for me to get a handbell set it would be much appreciated :).

So, I had to write my first talk in Korea. 3 minutes. Nope, I didn't leave a zero off there. I had to prepare a 3 minute talk--which was harder than you would think to fill. The thing is that they tell everyone to prepare a talk and they randomly pick who has to present theirs (this is for zone conference). So yeah, I didn't get picked, but I enjoyed the talks others gave. It's incredible to me how this odd hodgepodge of Americans can get together and learn enough Korean to have entire meetings in the language after only a few weeks. Wow.

So, here's a little "Konglish" story for you. Our branch president and one of his counselors speak Korean, but the third counselor doesn't. Most of our meetings are in mostly Korean with some English thrown in, so he learns some phrases here and there. The funny part is that, as terrible as our accents are---his is worse---and if we can tell, that's bad. He is a rancher from southern Utah and even his English accent is bad (or at least different). When he speaks Korean, um, you can STILL tell he's a rancher from southern Utah. Well, there's this phrase in Korean which kinda means "Fight" or "Go Team" or something--still haven't figured out an exact translation. Anyway, the closest way to say it in English is the pronuncation of the word "whiting"(make it a spondee....if you don't know what spondee is, find the nearest AP English teacher and ask---or just ask google). Well, I don't know WHERE he got it, but he started saying it to us but we couldn't figure out what the heck he was saying for the longest time. This is simply because the word that was coming out of his mouth sounded like "hot tang" which sounds suspiciously like "hot dang". It's just funny. Guess you'd have to be there, or be Mary to laugh at that.

Um, other funny language stories, a girl who is half Korean has a few things from Korea she was showing us. My favorite was this random notebook. Well, over there they think english words look cool, so you can buy things with english words on them (just like you can buy thigns with random asian characters on them here. I wonder how much sense our asian characters really make). Well, the problem with this is that the english phrases don't particularly make sense. Here are a few examples:"Happy Zoo" or "You are living always happy dream which is sweet and lovely dream" or my personal favorite "I want to protect you and love with your side". Not sure what that means, but it sounds awkward...

Um...Congrats to Britt and John! Nikki told me you were engaged. Yay you! You get my best wishes. I want pictures!

I meant to write a few of you real letters this week, but napping seemed way more important, so I'll have to get it for you next week. Sorry. Thank you for the letters though. They are awesome.

With one minute to go!

~R~