2016-02-11 Emails

(Email #1)
I miss you guys so much! And I'm so glad for all the emails you probably think "ah whatever" because that's how I felt about mission letters but even if nobody else emails me, I hope I get like, 3 emails from you every week until I come home, because you guys are my family and I miss you so much.

Okay i'm sending this one now so maybe you can get it in time to tell Josh I say good luck at state!!! I know he doesn't swim til tomorrow anyways but still.  You can tell him that I shouted and then cried when I saw that he was going to state and I'm doing a hard thing but I know it's a good thing so I try not to dwell on what I'm missing but I really really really wish I could just be home and go to state tomorrow with you two and cheer for Josh because I know he will do so well.  State is a fast meet and he will do well.

(Parts of email #2.  To give context to - we told her of buying a microwave to replace the one we killed during her farewell party.  Of course today's microwaves are 3/8 inches bigger than ones 20 years ago, so we had to get creative to get it to fit.  We also told her Lady Gaga looked like she had bloody holes for eyes when she closed her eyes because of her red eye shadow.  And that Joshua was going to compete in State for swimming.)

That microwave story made me laugh.  Of course it didn't just fit.  Where did you have to take off, I couldn't see?  Good thing you guys are problem solvers haha.

I'm so proud of Josh for his computer!  Just looking at that picture I was like, ah he doesn't have to be Michael Phelps because he can be Steve Jobs or just like, an IT guy maybe.  Looks way cool.  If i was there that's still all I would say because I know nothing about computers and therefore have no questions I can ask.  I like Bruce I think he's a cool kid.

Yes! $$$ for Italy.  How much money do I have?  Because I have my eye on this Mustang across the street that's for sale and I want to make sure my card doesn't bounce.

Thank you so much for the Superbowl description.  I laughed out loud for sure.  Why can't she be a normal human?  I could actually see her face when you said that.  Some of the Anziani (elders) sidled up to some cafeteria worker on Monday, real casual, and got him to tell them how the game went down.  A couple guys were from states where the teams were from so they were like, tearing out their hair a little bit when we realized it was the superbowl haha.

Poppa, what does Zucca mean?  I like that nickname.  We were talking about motorcycles yesterday (when we should have been studying) and I told them about yours.  We talk about our families when we want to talk about something because it's either that or the gospel, because telling stories about our friends isn't really interesting because most of those are "you had to be there" stories.  I miss you both lots.  

Haha okay I sent you two letters, did you get both of them?  My branch president told us to only write letters on P days but I KNOW I read somewhere that you can write letters throughout the week, but I don't like that rule.  It's hard because they emphasize obedience a lot here (suprise!) and just that we can be better if we are.  It makes sense in the way that Jesus Christ was perfectly obedient, and so our being perfectly obedient makes us more Christlike, right?  It's just a matter of finding which rules would actually make one "Christlike" to follow.  So I'll probably still write you letters.  I promise that letter was in English.  Also I wrote it in my bed so that's probably why it's impossible to read.  I think it's legible because I can read it, maybe I formed my own dialect in all the years I've been writing.

Okay So here's what's been going down.  I have so much to say about the MTC experience and only have like, 15 minutes to express it (I know even on P day we have limited time, it's frustrating.  But actually I could probably go over I just think that s. poletz is probably done soon and I haven't even looked at friend emails yet).  

So I already described the organization of missions.  Since Friday, we've managed to start sitting together, our entire branch which is like 20-something people. 

 It's weird because I'm not a naturally chipper person and I still am not but I don't hate the atmosphere here.  I think because it's not fake maybe, like when I got here tons of people shouted "welcome to the MTC!" at me and I wasn't rolling my eyes because they are just like, genuinely happy to be here and to see new people here.  

But anyways, yeah I really like my district which is of 7 people and we have a lot of fun together.  Us girls are good at studying and the elders are good at breaking up the monotony.  So for example, Elder Younce yesterday (skinny, red, small, did one semester of college, has a really infections laugh) was asking us, "so how do you translate....uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuueghhmmm...."  and after like 5 seconds of this prolonged "um" we just bust up laughing because you can't friggin translate that but then the quiet one, Elder Kim who is partially Korean and from St Geezy from the corner said, "uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuueghhmmm" and we all laughed even harder.  I NEED the elders because when literally all you do is gospel stuff, if you don't get to joke around you'll go insane or turn into a monk and I don't want to be a monk.

or another time Anziano Polombo asked Fratello Sloan how to say "sweet" in Italian. and then A. Younce was like, "dolce!" and we all laughed because f. sloan was like ...no.  but then he started laughing harder and he said "dolce, fra!" and we laughed even harder because it's like, "sweet bro" but "dolce, fra" and idk so just stuff like that.

So that's one thing I feel like I want to convey is just how much your day-to-day life changes once you get here.   You think getting a new job or even going to your first year of college or even moving to a new country is a big deal but the MTC is a bigger deal in the way that your schedule  changes in such a way that you will probably never experience anywhere outside of here, or the military.  Not one minute of my day is wasted.  I get up at 6:30, get ready, walk to breakfast at 7:15, eat breakfast, go to class, have lunch, return to class, have dinner, return to class, go back to the dorms at 9:30 and somehow that hour zips by so that I'm always just barely finished washing my face and changing and writing in my journal and writing a letter maybe by10:30.  

During class you either are taught by your teacher (mine is the handsome guy, remember) or teach your investigator or do personal study time which is mostly preparing for your next lesson.  I kind of had the impression that studying would be very personal and I could read what I wanted for at least some of the time but I seriously only get 5 minutes for the Old Testament which is what I want to study and then I have to move on to BOM and what we want to teach our "investigator"

So that's what else about the MTC is besides your schedule being packed with the Word of God! it really is kind of emotional.  And it's a weird thing because in all of our pictures and just day-to-day in class or the cafeteria, it's not some big existential thing but somehow we all have found time (because we talked about it during testimony or at lunch or whatever) to think about what the heck we're doing here. ... ... ... All I know is the BOM is true and Jesus Christ saves us so that's what I'll teach because that knowledge is enough I think to change a person.

I love you so much and miss you!! Ciao!!


(Email #3)
Haha I snuck onto the computers again bc there's computers at laundry apparently but I'm so happy this is like a mini conversation!! Thanks for telling josh I'm seriously so excited for him!  the pictures are of my branch and district, branch being big and district being small you can probably find the picture of my district it's the small one with me in it.  they're the people i spend the most of my time with.

Jill's MTC Branch.  Jill is front, left of center.

Jill's MTC District.  Jill is in the middle.