Tyzden Styri

hello all!

this is my fourth email home, meaning i have almost been at the mtc for a full month. it is crazy how fast the time flies here. this week has been really good. early in the week i was really surprised to see carol nikita (is that how you spell her name) from ksl walk into our classroom. she filmed a spot in our room and filmed us having a language review with brother van de graaff so perhaps you will see me on tv this weekend when ksl does their special report on the mtc between sessions of conference. the food here still isn't great, but we are learning to be a little more positive about it. i have figured out that the reason people always gain weight in the mtc isn't because there isn't a healthy option, it's because all the healthy options taste like crap. the fruit is always over ripened, and the vegetables taste like soap. yeah, i said soap. the only things that taste good are the doughnuts and the fries and the cactus cooler. honestly that is probably the best thing about the food in the mtc, the high availability of cactus cooler. truly it is the elixer of the gods. if you are reading this and have never experienced the ultimate joy that comes from drinking cactus cooler, i strongly suggest that you go to the store right now and buy some. every time i drink it, i am reminded of all the time i spent eating lunch at croshaw's in st. george, so not only does the drink taste good, but it also brings back fond memories. enough about that, more about the mtc. i have been singing in the mtc choir on tuesdays and sundays. it has been pretty fun. it's definitely a BIG step back from being in chamber singers just a few months ago. the mtc choir probably isn't quite up to the standard set by say...our concert choir last year at skyline, but we have had some performances that i think have gone pretty well. it is kind of upsetting that the one time i am at the mtc, the mtc choir isn't performing for priesthood session, or any session of conference. i was really hoping i would have that opportunity, but o well. they have special musical numbers at all the firesides and devotionals here, and every time they have one, i wish dad were here with me to critique the performances. so far, i think there would have only been one he would've liked. my first sunday here, a sister sang the Lord's Prayer, and did very well, but every other musical number has been some cheesy efy song. why do people think Heavenly Father like pop music? i don't know everything about our Creator, but i don't think that he wants praises sung to him in a way that seems more fit for an american idol audition. we aren't allowed to listen to music here at the mtc. i guess they have had too many problems with it in the past. originally i was upset by this, but actually i'm okay with it because elder bezas told me on the first day here that he brought a lot of efy cds with him. he's a great guy, but i don't think i could stand to listen to anything from efy while in the residence halls. we open every class by singing a hymn in slovak, which is fun. some of the translations are pretty good, but some of them are really REALLY bad. for example, the translation for "love at home" never once uses the word home. it is for that reason that we don't sing that song very much. i'm alright with that because to be quite honest "love at home" is one of my least favorite hymns in the book. cheesy lyrics about roses blooming and a boring bass line does not a good hymn make. i think my favorite slovak hymn translation is the one for "count your blessings." the Slovak title is "scitaj dary" which simply means "count gifts." not your own personal gifts, just gifts in general. things with the language are still going well. it is definitely a difficult language and at times the concepts and the grammar really kick my butt, but considering the fact that i've only been learning it for about four weeks, i'm pretty pleased with my progress. there are a lot of things to remember. there are genders assigned to inanimate objects. there is good ol' mr. oak tree (dub), madam street (ulica), and mrs. bone (kost) just to name a few. there are also words that are neuter. determining gender, though, isn't very hard. the hardest part is remembering all the cases. any word in slovak, depending on where it lands in the sentence, what preposition it follows, etc., and word can be spelled one of six different ways. most words, depending on their gender, follow a similar pattern, but the patterns can still be difficult to remember. however, i feel like i am making some pretty good progress with the language. elder bezas and i taught a lesson completely in slovak this week. it was an uphill battle, but we pulled it off. by this time next week, we won't be teaching in english anymore, which is both exciting and scary. anyway things are continuing to go well here. i know that if i just rely on the Lord, all things are possible. i'm so excited to get out to slovakia and serve. it won't be long now before i will have the opportunity to do so. i love and miss you all! i love reading all of your letters to me, so please keep them coming.

 

dovidenia

sam

 

ps- is opening day for the mlb this week? if so go dbacks! hopefully they don't suck too bad this year

 

Dobry Den!

dobry den!

it's hard to believe that i have already been at the mtc for three weeks! i am already a third of the way through my training here, which is crazy to think about. in just six weeks i will be in slovakia. i am really excited to get out into the field for quite a few reasons. i'm really excited to go to slovakia and learn about that country and its history and its culture. i'm also excited to go on a tour of prague with the mission president my first day out in the field. after i got my mission call i started readin a lot about czechoslovakia and prague and so i was really hoping that i would at least have a day or two to spend in prague and tour the city and see all the awesome sights there. i'm also excited to leave the mtc. not that i hate being here or anything, but i think dad said it best when he said "they call it spirit prison for a reason." i definitely understand why he said that. as we left the temple today, one of the workers said "get back to your cells elders." i thought that was pretty funny. the food here isn't great, but in my email last week i probably made it sound worse than it really is. i am, however, constantly reminded of the yzma from "the Emporer's New Groove" when she asks "is there anything on this menu that isn't swimming in gravy?" i'm also excited to get away from a select few of the spanish speaking missionaries. they are all very nice people, but some of them just have the most terrible spanish accents. "grassy-us hair-mahna" and "mooey bee-nn" are some of my personal favorites. it's like i'm surrounded by a bunch of Peggy Hills. i mean, i know that none of them are native speakers, but just because you have never spoken spanish before doesn't mean you have to sound like that much of a gringo. anywho, i hope everything is going well back at home, wherever home may be for you. i was sad to hear that the aggies lost in the first round, but i still can't believe that they got a 12 seed to begin with. Catherine was kind enough to send me a bracket in the mail this week. i filled it out. i picked Pitt to win it all. yeah. once again my bracket is busted before they even tip off in the sweet 16. i thought this year my bracket would be flawless, what with me being on the Lord's errand and all, but unfortunately i have been reminded once again that God doesn't care about basketball nearly as much as i do. it sounds like the jazz are mediocre, as usual. you would think after all these years of pain and heart break brought about by being a jazz fan, i would be immune or numb to the feelings of sadness and disappointment that i feel whenever the jazz lose, but alas, i am not. even when i KNOW the jazz will lose, when they do it always upsets me. baseball season starts up soon, and i'm sad i won't be able to see it. but hey, i will be there when the first pitch is thrown in april 2013. i was happy to hear from libby's letter this week that she has a teacher who makes a lot of references to baseball history. it sounds like the void i left is being filled at least a little bit. Iibby: yes, it was ernie banks who made that quip about double-headers. he was also nicknamed mr. cub, and is credited as being the man who coined the phrase "the friendly confines of Wrigley Field." i hope i have a compainion at some point who will get all of my historical/sports related references. elder bezus gets a few of my historical references, but isn't the biggest sports guy, so there is still a little bit of a disconnect there. i want everyone to know that i am doing very well here and i am enjoying my time here at the mtc. i am so excited to get out into the field and serve the people in slovakia. i can't wait to hear what city i am first assigned to. i know it is going to be such a great experience that will bless me everyday for the rest of my life. i hope you will continue to send me letters and messages on dearelder.com. i would love to hear all about your life and all the experiences you have while i am gone on my mission. Love you all!

 

Dovidenia!

Elder Meredith

Tyzden Dva (Week Two)

Ahoj!

Ako sa mate (how are you)? as i have now been through two weeks at the mtc, i am starting to feel like a seasoned veteran. we got new missionaries this last week and we are going to get more tomorrow. by next week my district is going to be the oldest district in our zone, which is super weird to think about. we are going to see three districts come to the mtc and leave before we leave. everything this week went really well. the language is definitely difficult, but i am just trying to focus myself on learning more everyday. every night i sit on my bed and i try to think of some things that i learned that day that i didn't know before, and everyday they add up pretty quickly. i know that a few months from now when i'm standing on the street corner in Banska Bystryca or wherever i'm first assigned i'm going to scratch my head and wonder what form of gibberish the people are speaking, but i am still diligently applying myself here and trying to learn as much as i can. we had to do a contacting exercise on thursday all in Slovak. i think that we did pretty well considering that we had only had about a weeks worth of experience with the language, but there were still a lot of words that our investigator said that i just did not understand at all. this next week we have to introduce our family and ask about someone else's family in Slovak. toto je moja matka. vola sa Gina. etc. i hope everything is going well back at home. i would love to hear all about what all of you are doing, so anyone who reads this is more than welcome to send me a letter or a message on dearelder.com. i am not surprised to hear that the jazz have been sucking it up lately, but i am still very disappointed. from the newspaper clippings that grandma sent me it looks as though al jefferson has been playing really well, but hasn't been getting any help from anybody else. i feel sorry for the guy. he came to utah to win and we can't even beat teams like the timberwolves! speaking of sports related tragedy, i heard yesterday from my teacher that the Aggies got a 12 seed in the NCAA tournament. that. is. total. garbage. i haven't heard of corruption like that since stalin's show trials in the 1930s. winning 30 games and being ranked 17th in the nation does not merit a 12 seed. i do, however, think they will beat kansas state. ANYWAY, back to the whole mission thing. today we went to the temple and after we got out of our session we all decided to eat breakfast at the cafeteria in the basement at the temple because we had all heard really good things about it. the food did not disappoint. we were all commenting on how you don't realize how crappy the food is at the mtc until you try something else. elder coleman quipped that "if this food fell on the floor, i would still choose to eat it instead of the food at the mtc." i wholeheartedly agree with that statement. not that the food at the mtc is terrible, but every time i eat i just think that a matter of weeks ago i was eating at wonderful establishments such as Hires, Cafe Rio, and Molcasalsa. i guess what i'm am trying to say is CHERISH THE FOOD OF THE OUTSIDE WORLD. you don't know what you've got until it's gone. anyway, i hope that everything is going well back home and that you are all finding the blessings that you need. at our fireside this sunday the administrative director of the mtc spoke and reminded us that as missionaries we are taking part in the greatest miracle of this dispensation--the gathering of the tribes of israel. after the fireside we sat in the gym and watched the joseph smith movie. it was very cool to see joseph be martyred and then turn around to see thousands of missionaries who are all preparing to share his story with the world. i am very thankful for the sacrifices of joseph and the other early members of the church. their sacrifices were certainly not in vain, as the work of the Lord will continue until the Great Jehovah shall say: "The work is done."

 

Dovidenia!

Starsi Meredith

Week 1

Hello all!

today is my first p day at the MTC. i hope all is going well since i last left. in order to make these emails more efficient, i would appreciate it if you guys could use dearelder.com. that way i can read before hand what you have to say and i can use my full 30 mintues in the computer lab to respond to everything. mom, i know you are worrying right now, but stop. i'm fine. i am in really good hands here. i do have one favor to ask, though. i forgot to bring my extra contacts to the MTC so could you send those sometime this week? the first week here has been really interesting. it has been really tough having to adjust to life as a missionary, but i'm starting to get into a groove. waking up at 6:30 every morning still isn't fun, but i don't expect it ever will be. the first meeting we had when we all got to the MTC last wednesday featured a vocal solo by an elder whose voice sounded quite a bit like the voice of Dr. Nick Riviera from the Simpsons. i don't think i have missed my family any more during my time in the MTC than i did at that moment. i really wish dad could have been there to laugh with me. my comanion, Elder Bezus, is from twin falls idaho and he's a really nice kid. we get along well and he seems to be dedicated to the work just as much as i am. i think just as long as all of my companions are dedicated and diligent, i will be able to look past some of their personality issues. my teachers are all really good. Brother Van De Graff is from Chicago and is a big NBA basketball fan, so i have something to talk about all the time with him. Brother Starling is British, so i still chuckle inside every time he says "Book of Mormon." they were all missionaries at the same time in Slovakia, and they were all very successful. two of my teachers set a record for lessons taught in a week in Slovakia that still stands. they told Elder Bezus and i that we need to break that record as soon as we get there, because it has been standing for far too long. i have been called as a district leader. i'm really excited to serve in this capacity. i have always enjoyed serving in leadership positions, so i'm excited to be able to do it again. i do have to attend a lot more meetings, and teach a lot more lessons on sundays, but i don't mind, because i know if i serve righteously in this calling, i will be greatly blessed. besides, as district leader i get to take the mail out of the box everyday, so i know right away if someone has written me a letter. the language is going well. people told me before i came that Slovak was a tough language to learn, and they were definitely right. there are a lot of different cases, genders, and verb conjugations to remember. nevertheless, i am definitely making progress. a week ago i didn't know any Slovak other than simple phrases like hello, goodbye, and how are you. now, i can pray in Slovak, bear testimony, read the scriptures, and even carry on a simple conversation with someone. Elder Bezus and i have been talking about how it is easy to feel inadequate when you have a task as difficult as learning a language like Slovak, but if we just put our trust in the Lord, we can do anything that he asks of us. i know that learning this language and becoming an effective teacher of the gospel isn't so much a matter of having confidence in yourself, but rather it is a matter of having confidence in the Lord, and i have the utmost confidence in Him. there have been times already when it has been very difficult, but those feelings have always been very quickly replaced by feelings of joy and comfort. i think it is in D & C 88 where it says that the Lord will send his angels to bear you up. after just 6 days in the MTC, i know that to be true. i hope that you guys will tell me all about what has been going on since i left. keep me apprised of all of the important things such as, how the jazz have been doing, and how the aggies have been doing. if they don't make it past the first round this year, i don't know what i will do. i also expect the occasional update on the diamondbacks once baseball season starts. o, and i guess if you want to tell me about what's happening in your lives you can share that with me too. say hello to everybody for me, and just keep pressing on! love you all!

 

Elder Meredith

 

ps- if you would like to send me mail, send it to P.O. box 88 at the MTC (2005 N 900 E Provo, UT)

Just a few pre-mission photos...