Last Email from the MTC!

Sister Zhu decided I needed a cool photo of myself, as well. :) 

Guten Morgen, alles!

Mein Deutsch ist nicht so gut, aber Ich versuche.  Heute Morgen, gehe Ich zu em Temple! Es war ein schone Erfahrung. (***NOTE: until I, Sally's mom, figure out how to add German symbols such as umlauts, the German you see here is not completely correct. I will take time to do that later. )

Okay, that's all I'll give you in German for this week.  In future months, as I become more fluent, I'll be able to give more and laugh at the thought of what Google translate tells you I'm saying.

Anyways.  This week has been better than the last one.  It's still been difficult, but I'm making my way through it.  I'm still really sick of the MTC and I really just want to get out, but I have much more patience now compared to last week.  Thank you for all your support and prayers - I really appreciate it. That being said, this is still very difficult for me, and I would continue to ask for help.

I'm sorry this email is short.  I just don't have much to talk about because every week here is exactly the same.  Very little change in schedule, same people, same class, same same same.  It's very pretty here, and I'm able to find joy daily, it's just a little more difficult than usual.  I know things will get better and that I'll be more excited once I'm out of here.

Speaking of getting out of here, this is the last email you will receive form me while I'm in the MTC! I fly out of Manchester early next Wednesday. I'll be going to Munich, and that's where I'll find out where my first area is.  I'll be able to send my parents/close friends and family an email once I get to Germany, and I'll have my mom post on Facebook.

My mom told me that some of you are sending me letters. :) I really appreciate that and look forward to receiving them! Being able to open and hold a physical letter is so much nicer than reading one on a computer. Especially since I only have access to one once a week..  Letters I can keep and reread whenever I feel like it.

I'll leave you with a scripture and some photos.

"For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding an eternal weight of glory.  While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen, for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. " - 2 Corinthians 4_ 14-18

Remember that the pains and struggles we feel are but a speck in the view of eternity.  All the hardships we go through in this life are given for the purpose of making us stronger and better, so that we may obtain the highest celestial glory in heaven.  All is not lost, all is not broken.  All is well.

Mit Liebt,

Sister Sally Priest

The beautiful Sister Zhu, who will be leaving for the England Manchester Mission next week. 

And I manage to find new flowers to take pictures of each time I walk around the grounds!

Two weeks to go.....

"This sheep was fearless. It wanted our attention, so we gave it." 

Hey all!

We went out on a little tour of Preston this morning. I'm really glad I got to get out of the MTC. I won't lie to you guys-- this week has been really difficult. The main thing that's pushing me through the days is that I'm on my last leg of this stay. I've been here for a month and I only have 2 weeks left. This time in 2 weeks, I will be in Germany.

Part of what is so difficult about the MTC, for those who don't know, is the confinement. I can't just up and take a walk if I feel like it. I can rarely even leave this building. My entire day is scheduled for me, from the time I need to be up in the morning, to the time the lights need to be out at night. I live 16 hour days of constant learning, studying, practicing, sitting in the same room in the same desk with the same people, every day, without varying the schedule. I've been feeling very trapped and claustrophobic. I haven't been able to make many choices regarding my personal self. I don't get to choose what I want to eat, if I want to go up to my room and grab something, I need my companion to come with me. The only time I'm NOT with my companion is when I'm in the bathroom. It's foreign and intense and it's causing me to be rather depressed. 

This is very difficult. I hate asking this because I feel like it's a self-centered thing to do, but if you could keep me in your prayers, or maybe send me an encouraging email with a few words of kindness, that'd be awesome. I'm struggling to feel the love that I know is around me. It's not fun. While I'm sure I'll feel much better once I'm out of the MTC and I can go to Germany and actually walk around and be in the fresh air without having to return to dorm-style housing I have now-- to an actual apartment with my own kitchen, bathroom, etc,-- I still have 2 weeks here to go. It'll either go by very slowly, or very quickly. I'm praying for the latter.

On a brighter note, I AM finding little ways to creatively relieve my stress. I've been practicing my photography with some of the missionaries here, and, even though I have no way of editing them (AUGghhhhhhhh), I'm pleased with the raw photos and think I will enjoy the memories when I get the chance to edit them once I'm home. :)


Remember, have a good week! Try to find someone to serve! Write me something! If you feel like mailing me a hand-written letter, (I can get that ANY day; I only get emails on Wednesdays) the address is:

Sister Sally Priest
Missionary Training Centre
Temple Way
Chorley
Lancashire
England PR6 7EQ

So here's some stuff to look at!

It was really foggy one day and our MTC President told us to go take a walk to the temple to take pictures.

I really wish I could edit the lighting on these, but it's still pretty good. :)

These were fun to do. If you're ever feeling down, find someone to serve.  Service works wonders. :) 

Above: Elder Nielson, Elder Maw, and Elder Svzoboda. He's Swiss-German

Hungarian, speaks about 4 different languages, and is going to Greece. 

Experimenting with some macro shots:

 Above is a picture of a building in Preston and I know nothing about it, I just thought it was interesting and I liked what it said. Yup.
 "On Earth, there is nothing great but Man, in Man there is nothing great but Mind." 

Week 3, Day 7

Today is week 3, day 7 of the MTC. I have 20 days left, and I'm feeling a little more ready to get out into the Germany/Austria area. German is still really difficult-- we're getting to stuff I didn't even begin to cover in high school, but it all makes sense to me, I just have to practice it. 

I don't really have much to say about this week, to be honest. Thursday was a bit difficult, but difficult days happen and it doesn't even really matter that much anymore. 

Our practice lessons are going well. We pretend-taught one of our instructors who was playing a guy named Robert last night. For us, he was well behaved, he was paying attention, and he understood and agreed with what we were teaching him. For everyone AFTER my companion and myself, he acted like he was on drugs. Like, serious drugs. Hallucinating and yelling and such. Nobody knew what to do, but hearing their stories was hilarious. It's also pretty funny because this teacher is like, the calmest, most normal guy ever. He's pure English in his demeanor. Very sophisticated and intelligent person, one who'd never act the way his character did. 

My companion is practicing her German by writing all our teachers letters. I'm practicing my German by trying to speak it in grammatically correct sentences, which is actually pretty difficult sometimes. 

I'd like to talk for a moment (or maybe two) about the Book of Mormon. First off, I want all of you to know that I firmly believe and have had a personal confirmation through prayer that all its teachings and all of its history is true. Next, for all my non-LDS friends, I want you to know that the Book of Mormon does not replace, disprove, disagree with, or go against any teachings, stories, or aspects of the Bible. The same way the Bible is written by several prophets going across several centuries, the Book of Mormon has also been written by several prophets going across several centuries, prophesying of the coming of Christ, His atonement, His teachings, and His Resurrection. The main difference is that the Book of Mormon takes place in the Americas. 

That's all I'll say on it, because I don't want this email to turn into a lesson for everyone who reads it. If you have questions, hit me up, or go to mormon.org and someone who's doing exactly what I'll be doing in Germany will be able to answer your questions the same way I would.

Anyways. It's really cold here. The pond has been frozen over for a couple days now. 

I don't have a ton of pictures this week, just this one. From left to right, it's Sister Zhu from China, Sister Kramer, Sister Longin from France, and myself. These two sisters are the only ones besides sister Kramer and I that will be here for a total of 6 weeks. Their English is much better than my German, but I'll catch up :)

Have a great week!!!

Wiedersehen!

Mit Liebt, 

Sister Sally Priest

Guten Morgen!

 Guten Morgen, alles!

I hope you all had a great week. This weeks has both seemed to be very long, yet very fast at the same time. 

I'm trying to remember what all has happened this week... I've been learning more and more German. Our pretend person we were teaching agreed to get baptized (probably a given, since I'm in the MTC), but it took us quite awhile to get there with him. Part of that was because we couldn't understand all of what he said, and the other part is that he had some disagreements about the LDS lifestyle. It happens. Now we're teaching another pretend person, named Nilton. "Nilton" has moved to Germany from Spain and speaks very little German. My companion, Sister Kramer, speaks fluent Spanish. "Nilton" actually one of our instructors, Brother Toropeinen. He doesn't actually speak Spanish. So Sister Kramer and I go into the lesson and she starts speaking Spanish, just to be funny, and he looked so lost. It must be how we all look when he starts speaking German really quickly. We had a good laugh over it. 

My German is improving. We're learning things I didn't even start learning until my 3rd year, and I'm only just now beginning my 3rd week here. I know more German than I think I do. I get a little scared when I'm asked to stand up in class and hold an impromptu conversation about the Gospel of Jesus Christ auf Deustch (there are big scary words like Wiederhelgestellte), but I can usually figure out what questions I'm being asked and give an appropriate response. 

My low for the week... I know I had one, but I honestly can't remember it right now. I ate something that disagreed with me and got a bit sick, but it's been a pretty smooth week otherwise. I did get some pretty bad anxiety this week. My self esteem dropped and I got really discouraged. I'm doing better now though. 

I've started running again, I really like the treadmill they have here. We can't run outside much because it's cold and rainy all the time, but the gym here is pretty decent. I'm going to start taping German phrases to the wall in front of me while I run so I can memorize them. Give myself something to do instead of just stare blankly at a while wall and run to nowhere. 

My roommates, Sister Marsden and Sister Gombe left this morning. They're being stationed in Birmingham, so they only needed 2 weeks of training. Right now there are only 4 girls here. Sister Kramer and myself, along with two girls-- one from France and one from China-- who are both learning English. Their English is much more advanced than my German, considering they've only been exposed to it for 2 weeks. Then again, they're completely immersed. Everything here is in English. They don't have much of a choice if they want to communicate. We'll be getting a new batch of missionaries tomorrow. 

I sing every day here. I don't know what started it, but if it's too quiet during lunch or while we're all getting ready for the day or getting ready for bed, I'll just start singing hymns, sometimes in German. I actually bought a small German hymn book so I could start learning them. I think it actually started in the shower, to be honest. Sometimes other sisters join in, other times they all just listen. Either way, it's a great part of the day. 

Oh, funny story--- I mentioned in the last email how Sister Gombe and I would never get anything accomplished if we were companions because we joke around too much. Well, long story short, I decided to hide in her closet one night and wait for her to come into the room so I could scare her. It took her a good 20 minutes, but it was hilarious. 

I had my first Kinder Surprise Egg this week. It contained a toy dinosaur. It was glorious. 

I've gotten the photos to work this time, but I'll have to send them in additional emails because Gmail is being picky and keeps yelling at me, saying that I have too many pictures. Pfft. No such thing. 

Oh, and yes, Mom, I DID get a birthday cake!! Our MTC is small enough that the chef made me a small, personal cake. It was chocolate with very rich butter cream frosting, and a pocket of pudding and fruit in the middle. It was also decorated with Strawberries and Raspberries. If I could have taken a picture of it, I would've :)

Mit Liebt,

Sister Sally Priest

Time for photos!

All the sisters: 

Sister Marsden, Sister Kramer, and Sister Gombe!

 Sister Marsden                                                           Sister Priest

 Sister Marsden, Sister Priest, and...?

Alright, so only 5 more weeks in the MTC, but 77 until I come home! But don't let that make you think 

that I'm counting down, because I'm not. I can't believe I've only been gone a week. I seems like

I've been here a month already. It's really weird.

 

German is HARD. I mean, it's easy, because it all makes sense to me (Thanks, Senior High School), 

but we learn SO MANY words and phrases each day, it's hard to keep up.

 

My first few days were rough. Jetlag got to me. I had a four hour flight to Newark followed immediately 

by a 6 hour flight to Manchester, which I barely made. When I arrived in England, it was 6:30 am local

time

meaning in Las Vegas, it was 10pm. And that was the start of my day. It was really difficult to sleep on

the plane because we flew through a bit of a storm and the turbulence kept me from sleeping. I think I got

an hour nap on the first flight and another hour on the second flight. Otherwise I'd just talk to my neighbor.

My first neighbor was an elderly lady with all her friends and she was fun to talk to. The other guy on the

flight to England was pretty quiet, but I was able to joke around with him and pass the time.

 

My companion is AWESOME. Her name is Sister Kramer. We really balance each other out. She came

into this knowing no German, so I help her with the pronunciation and grammar, and she helps me get 

through my moments of anxiety with ease. We are the perfect companionship (at least so far, anyway).

There was a night we got really annoyed with each other, but we slept it off and were fine the next day.

 

Sister Kramer and I share our room with two other sisters-- Sister Mardsen from Idaho Falls and Sister

Gombe from Zimbabwe. Both of them are going to the England Birmingham mission, so they'll only be

here for two weeks since they're not learning a foreign language. I'll be here for 6 weeks. Sister Gombe

is absolutely hilarious. If we were companions, NOTHING would get done.

 

I legitimately feel like I'm in a fairy tale. The MTC here is pretty small. The bottom floor is the cafeteria,

a small gym with a few ellipticals, one treadmill, and some really simple weights, along with one hallway

of classrooms. The main floor has the main office, our sacrament meeting room, and one very long

hallway of classrooms. The next level has dorms. On the men's side, there are two stories of dorms, 

while on the girls, there's only one. There are six beds in each room and a gym style bathroom with

showers and such. It's nice. There are only about 50 of us here for now.

 

OH and there's a pond, and there are SWANS in it. It's great.

 

Sister Kramer and I went for a run yesterday ( I ran in England, guys!!) and we passed the edge of a 

wood and two deer just start running by us and then freak out and jump right in front of us. It was really

cool. Fairy tale, I'm telling you.

 

Here's a little breakdown of my schedule for those who asked:

I get up at 6:15, get ready

Breakfast at 7

Personal study until 8

8 is German studies. We do different exercises until lunch at 12.

Then after lunch, it's gospel study. We study what we teach so that we can help people have a better

understanding of it. When you think about it, whenever members of the church have a question, they go

to the missionaries, so I have to know all the answers!! It's a lot to take in, but it all makes so much

logical and spiritual sense, it's somewhat of a no brainer once you get the hang of it.

Dinner is at 5, then after that, we prepare a lesson and go teach our pretend investigator...

 

Auf Deutsch.

 

That is by far the hardest thing right now. They'll ask me a question that I can understand, and I'll know 

how to answer the question in English, but not in German!! It's something that will come with time and

 practice.

 

I swear I'm picking up on bits of the accent here. All my instructors are from England. There's one lady 

here who has a really thick Scottish accent and it's absolutely adorable. 

I'm running out of time and I'm trying to upload some pictures, but this computer isn't accepting any of my file

formats!!! I'm not quite sure what to do, and it's making me just slightly crazy. We've been told that our

mission will most likely be given iPads soon, which will make taking and sending pictures a lot easier.

Worst case scenario, you'll just have to wait until I get back to see all my pictures.

 

If I can't figure out a way to attach them, I'll start rotating SD cards. I'll send one home to my parents and

they can upload everything on it, then send it back to me while I use my second card. My companion's

camera is cooperating, so maybe I'll just have her send me all the picture's she's got and then I'll send

them all in a different email.

 

I'm definitely out of time, and there's a line of missionaries waiting for the email, so I've got to go!!

 

Mit Liebt,

Sister Sally Priest

Sally Priest	8:05 AM (39 minutes ago)

Aha!! I switched computers and this one likes me!!!

I swear I'll have a better grip on life next week and you won't get a bajillion emails from me at once. 

Life is hard!!
​

This one is of our district. It was on my birthday!

 From the back row:

 It's Elder Nielson, Elder Bates, Elder Maw (he's my favorite person here), and Elder McLean.

 Front row is Elder Carter, Elder Donald, Elder Faux, and Elder Bowers. Then Sister Kramer and I 

are obviously in the middle :)

Birthday selfie!

​

Preston Temple​

First email from Sally! "I'm Alive!!"

Yesterday was a rough, rough day for me, Sally's mom - something about not knowing she was safe and sound until her plane landed in England, and all that.  Anyway, she was able to email us in the wee hours and I feel SO much better:) She asked me to put that email on the blog for her.

My mission president wanted me to tell you five things.

 

1. I'm here

2. I'm well

3. They're treating me like gold

4. This is the best experience I've ever had in my life

5. Send money.

 

Hahaha, seriously though, it's really beautiful here and everyone is friendly. It's pretty great.

 

My P-days are on Wednesdays while I'm in the MTC. I'll be here for 6 weeks. I don't have a companion yet, but there's only one other sister here going to my mission, so I'm betting it's her, unless more people show up.

 

I BARELY made my connecting flight to England. The ground crew forgot that we were unloading at gate C80 in Newark, so they had already put the departing plane at the gate. We had to wait for a while in the plane while they moved the other one out of the way. I was seated with a bunch of old ladies, and when they found out I had a connecting flight to catch, they all started yelling and sreaming up the aisle, telling everyone to get out of my way. Being in the very back of the plane, it was very helpul, but also really funn. By the time I got to my next gate, they were boarding. They served us both dinner and breakfast though. It was all free. It was nice.

 

I've already been assigned as chorister, so that's fun. I just had an interview with a member of the MTC presidency. The current president is leaving this weekend and we'll be having a new one, but the counselors are staying. I met with one of the counselors for a sort of "get to know you" interview. He told me he was getting the impression that I was going to be a vital force in this district, as well as out in te field. He also told me that, when the Elders inevitably start goofing off and being irreverant or whatever, that I should be the one to tell them to quiet down. Ha. Hahahhaa. We'll see about that.

Side  note-- these keyboards are weird and there's no autocorrect (AUGHHH), so I apoligize for any errors.

 

With Love,
Sister Sally Priest

Mission Bound!

Right, so I'm really bad at posting here. Hopefully my mom is better at this, because pretty soon she will be posting for me becauseeeee *drumroll*

I AM GOING ON A MISSION YAAAAY!!

I've been called to serve in the lovely lands of Austria/Bavaria. It's called the Alpine German-Speaking Mission, so, essentially, I will be living in the Alps and speaking German. I leave on January 14th and will return August of 2016.

This is actually kind of old news. I've had my call since December 10th. I'm just really bad at this whole blog thing.

But look!!

Look how pretty!

That's where I will be!

Serving the Lord and preaching His Gospel!

Yaaaay!!!

I will not have access to this blog, but this is where you will be able to find my emails home, the stories I have, and pictures I'll be taken.

Let the Adventures of the Mighty Salasaurous continue!