A Day In the Life of...

 

First, to answer Dad's question--

 

What to expect from a typical day here at the MTC:

 

6:30 am:  Rise and shine!  There are 6 sisters in my room, all going to Korea, and we all get up a little before or at 6:30, then rush to the showers, blow dry our hair, brush teeth, comb hair, etc.

 

*Special note (only my family would understand the magnitude of this next statement):  I Take 10 Minute Showers every morning.  Crazy, huh?  Exact obedience brings miracles, that's all I have to say... :)

 

 

Then there's breakfast at 7:20ish.  I eat the same thing every morning, which is an asiago cheese bagel with cream cheese and apple/ orange juice.  I love apple/ orange juice!  I have them at every meal.  My district teases me a bit for it but I'll never change.  I crave juice like nothing else!  I love it! 

 

 

Normally the first class block follows breakfast.  We have two teachers, Brother Ball and Brother Andersen, who come each day to teach during one of the two 3 hour long class blocks that we have here (one in the morning and one in the evening).  Brother Ball in the morning and Andersen at night or vice versa.  I LOVE CLASS!  But it's definitely draining, especially now that we're really getting into the complexities of the language.  After Finnish, Korean is the second hardest language to learn here at the MTC. In order for you to fully understand what I mean, let me give you an example:

 

A couple days ago, Sis. B and I were teaching one of the two investigators that we have (both of which look an awful lot like our teachers...) about the family.  I was explaining that through God's plan we can be with our famillies forever, etc.  The investigator kept giving me funny looks but neither Sis. B or I knew why.  After we finished we walked out and headed back to our classroom when I finally figured it out!  The word for family is pronounced "kah-joke," but I was saying "kah-jook" the whole time.  Hence, the lesson took an unexpected turn:

 

ME: "God loves leather. I love my leather. I want to be with my leather forever."

 

Amen.

 

Sis. B and I laughed pretty hard about that one.

 

Besides class we have time set apart for personal study, language study and T.A.L.L (which is a computer program for language learning).  Each is about an hour.

 

And, last but not least, GYM!  All of the Elders live for gym time.  It's hilarious to watch them.  It's always an Elder that volunteers to say the opening prayer and it most often sounds like this, "Heavenly Father, thanks for the gospel, AMEN!"  Then the timer goes off and they're off! I get a kick out of it every time, they're practically jumping out of their farmer-tanned skin to be able to yell and kick and run.  I play volley ball with the same group of Elders every day.  They're all on our same floor and all of them are learning Mandarin.  There are about 10 of us (me and the nine Mandarin Elders) and we play the most intense volleyball I've ever played!  I love it!  Any time I see one of them in the hallway it's always, "Hey Sister Washburn! Volleyball?  You going to play again today?"  They're great.  We're buddies.  

 

Oh, I just love being a missionary.  I love it.  It's such a privilege to teach the Gospel and represent Christ.  My heart is so full of praise and the yearning to bring EVERYONE to the Gospel!  I love missionary work!!

 

Wish I could write more (This week had a lot of adventures!) but I'll save them for next week.  Love you all!

 

I know our leather can be together forever. :)

 

Love, love, love,

 

Sis. Washburn