Sup, everyone!
So another week's gone by in the MTC already! It feels like
I was just barely sitting here and writing an email home, and that was seven
whole days ago! The time is sooo weird here--every day feels like ten
lifetimes, and the weeks are blinks of an eye. Hope everything's going well
down in 'Zona!
We've actually been really lucky to have nice-ish weather
here this week. I still think it's pretty cold, but everyone tells me I should
be super grateful because it's so warm. We haven't had any snow yet, so that's
good news! But it's still freezing every morning haha.
We're doing lots of learning every day here! It feels kind
of discouraging at times to think about how much we know with the language, but
then we remember that we're actually learning a super hard language and that
it's okay! It's kind of fun to be able to say the few phrases and words that we
know in Hungarian. We practice all the time--at the soccer field during gym,
during lunch, in the hallways... In fact, we've even adopted some wacky
Hungarian phrases into our English (and Spanish) vocabulary! "Nem" in
Hungarian means "no," so we've started saying things like "awh,
nem!" anytime something goes wrong. ...People must think we're dyslexic
with mental issues and saying "awh, man!" incorrectly hahaha. And
"igen!" That means "yes" in Hungarian, so I'll be saying hi
to the Spanish elders in the hallways and then I'll throw in an "igen"
instead of "si" and it makes me kind of sad/happy/excited because it
means that I'm learning Hungarian! Pretty cool stuff. :)
So I totally drop-kicked the ladder in our dorm last night
after showering. I'm pretty sure I hurt it, but I didn't come out of the fight
totally unharmed, either. My pinky toe started bleeding all over the place, and
I think they might have to amputate. It's rough here. ;) No but it really did
start bleeding all over the dorm lol.
My companion's been an awesome help this week! He knows a
TON about everything and anything that you could possibly think of. We'll be
talking about something, and he'll just totally stop the conversation and
explain why what we're saying is technically incorrect somehow. Might seem kind
of annoying, but it's actually kind of cool because he teaches us random stuff,
like: "Well, actually, Elder Priest, a narwhal's horn is a tooth..."
and weird stuff like that hahaha. Actually, we were at the bookstore yesterday
and he really needed to buy something I guess, but he had forgotten his wallet
all the way across campus. At first, I was like, "awh, nem!" because
it was getting late and we were supposed to be back to the dorms soon, but then
I remembered that Grandma Likes had mailed me a letter and some money to use
here! I pulled out her letter and the money that she had sent and gave it to
Elder Winegar to use for his supplies. It's nice that the Lord has ways of
helping you, even if we don't realize that until we're in the moment! Grandma's
letter and gift was just a little thing, but it ended up making a big
difference for my friend when he needed help!
Elder Martineau is such an awesome guy. He's like our big
brother, and he kind of picks on us from time to time because he's bigger and
stronger than we are. But we really love him because, even though he's a big
tough guy, he's still super nice and he'd do anything to help us! And he's
hilarious. One of his girlfriends (plural) from home mailed him a breakfast
burrito today hahaha. He just opened his package, calmly took out the burrito, and
went downstairs to the microwave like it's a normal thing and everyone should
be used to getting breakfast wraps in their mailboxes lol.
Elder Winkel is a softie. He's got his girlfriend, Lizzie,
at home that he talks about all the time, and the sisters in our district love
to hear about it. He's honestly kind of worried about her at times, but we just
tell him that everything will work out in some way or another, and that he's
probably fine. His family sent him some Krispy Kreme donuts the other day, and
we thought it'd be nice to share it with some new elders who just flew in from
Japan. They were so scared and slammed the door on us! I guess they don't trust
us American folk yet. After some coaxing, we got them to take the donuts and
they went NUTSO. I guess Japan doesn't have sugary foods like that, I dunno
haha...
Elder Deitrich is getting so good at his English! He learns
new words every day, and the best thing that he does is ask when he doesn't
understand something. He wrote his girlfriend back in Germany and asked for
some of the lyrics to Imagine Dragons songs, and now I'm teaching him how to
sing all of their best tunes. I taught him how to beatbox, and we just jam out
all the time hahaha. He says he wants to come visit Mesa someday after the mission's
over! In return, he's also invited me to visit all the cool places in Germany.
Good trade, right?
We had an awesome Christmas devotional on Sunday night this
week! We watched some really cool video clips about how we can be more
Christlike during the Christmas season, and we got a huge surprise when they
had Vocal Point come to visit! Then, on Tuesday, we had another devotional
focused on feeling the season even in a place as different as this, and the MTC
presidency invited some little girl to come sing (I don't remember her name,
but I think she was twelve.) She had one of the best voices I've ever heard!
All 2100 of us missionaries were pretty much crying by the time she was done
singing her songs for us, because she was so sincere and humble yet so talented
at sharing music with us. It was one of the best Christmas presents so far.
If you haven't seen it yet, look up the video clip on
YouTube called "#ShareTheGift." It's an incredibly done short movie
that's not more than 5 minutes long, but it definitely teaches how to share the
true meaning of Christmas more! It's a great time to give and get gifts, but
it's also important that Heavenly Father gave us the best gift of all: the
Savior. The best part is that he knows exactly what we're going through! Even
in the hard times and sad times, he's right there beside us for every step of
the journey.
Time is short here to email, so I'll have to bring this
email to a close! Just remember that I love you all and wish you a very merry
Christmas! It's really the best time of the year! Hope to hear from you all
soon, send pictures and letters! Sok szeret! Keremes karacsonyt!
Priest Elder
Kinnon's district on P-Day
Elder Priest and his companion, Elder Winegar
"Merry Christmas" in Hungarian
The Elders' Christmas decorations from family
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