01/01/2013
Boy
howdy has time gone by very fast! Which I am very grateful for! In about two
weeks 70% of our branch will be leaving, and this Thursday, they all get their
travel plans! I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!!! Just 3 ish more
weeks for me here and I will be out of this cold desert, and on my way to
Tahiti, wooh! The thought is a little scary though, If I wasn't learning two
languages, I would be leaving with them in two weeks and it makes me realize
how important this time at the MTC really is! I don’t feel like I know enough French
to go bring another one of Gods children back to him! But I definitely have
faith, and enough knowledge of French to get by, (with a few laughs of course.)
The fact that the way I speak in English is starting to get messed up because
of my French freaks me out! I feel like I’m going to have a very hard time
understanding you all when I come back, and you all will have a lot of phun trying
to understand me :)
Tahitian
has been going well; it is completely different than my learning French
experience. 90% of learning this language is memorization of vocab and nouns.
Tense markers are the only thing that we really need to know about sentence
structure. For example, if I want to put something in the past, I put
"Ua" at the front of the sentence, followed by the subject, and then
the verb. If I want to put something in the present, I put "Te" at
the beginning followed by the verb, "nei" then the noun, and future
is just putting an "E" at the beginning. It’s pretty crazy memorizing
all this stuff because the words are all so similar! Moa means chicken and Mo'a
means holy... so when I’m teaching, I need to make sure I really pronounce that
space between the o and a or else my investigator will laugh at me and offer me
a chicken. Same goes with pearls (Poa) and pudding (Po'a) so I have a feeling
that I will be laughing at myself a lot these next few months!
Being
district leader has been a lot of phun, I really enjoy serving others and I
have a feeling that this has played a part in how I got this calling. My
heavenly father knows that the time would go by much faster and easier if I was
serving my district. So for that I am very thankful! I've been reading D&C
every day and have been loving it! One of my new absolute favorite scriptures
is D&C 6:36 (translation from French) "Turn unto me, in each of your
thoughts, doubt not, fear not." That scripture has been helping me a lot
lately. Learning two languages can be really stressful and scary at times, and I
am so glad that comfort is just a prayer, or a scripture away!
It is so easy to see all
of the blessings I have received since I have been here, I teach without notes
in French now. I can’t think of any other way a human could get to this level,
in 8 weeks mind you, without help from Heavenly Father. I took French for 4
years and all I could remember from it is "puis je alle au toilette?"
C'est marveilleux! I’m honored to be serving others for the next two years, I’ve
learned so much already and it’s hard to understand that the blessings have only
just begun.
I’m so happy that I made the decision to go on
a mission. I remember always saying to Grandma Sandra, "Worry about your
own salvation." when I would decline her invitation to go to church. I
realize now how stupid I was being! There is no greater gift that you can give
someone than their salvation by coming unto Christ! I love you so much grandma,
and thank you for the example that you have ALWAYS been for me! I’m so sorry if
any others of you got the pleasure of hearing that from me. I was not the same
person as I am now. I’m still the same messed up child; I’m just now realizing
how important this gospel is. So because of that, I’m blessed with a higher
appreciation of all of you, and a much higher determination to do my best while
I’m out here for such a small portion of my life!
I can’t wait to keep converting myself these
next two years! Thank you all so much for the letters that you continue to send
me; it takes time to do that, so I really appreciate it! The MTC would be so
much harder if I didn’t have the support from all those letters. I’m sorry if I
haven’t responded to some of you yet, I’m trying my hardest to remember/ find
time on p-day to write them!
Well, it’s
time to go change my laundry! Ua here au ia tatou! (I love you all) Ua ite ia
oe te peropheta mau, ua ite ia oe parau mau te buka a moromona. Ua ite ia ua te
Atue it te metua i te Tatou. (I know we have true prophets, I know the Book of Mormon
is true and I know God is our Heavenly father) Please continue to be safe while
the stupid snow is on the roads! I love you all so much! A faaitoitoito!
Otomatua Fyffe
Otomatua Fyffe
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