Hello everyone!!
I'm here! In Armenia!! =D It is SO exciting!
I'm with Sister H. I'm not allowed to say the full name, sorry! =) She
has been out for about 12 months, and is super upbeat and
hard-working.
Plus, I am in Artashat!!! We are white-washing this area, which means
that all of the missionaries here for this transfer are new to the
area. So this area is just as new to Sis. H and our two Elders as it
is to me. Hah
The Armenian people here are so funny! Whenever we say hello to people
on the street, they would stop us and ask us how we know them. Hah So
we would just tell them that we didn't know them either. We were just
saying hi.
Oh and there was this super funny thing that happened. There were
these two old ladies that we said hello to. One of them started
talking to us, and so we walked up to them. One of them was super
sad--like nearly tearing up, and she said, "The sisters from before
walked by us...and they didn't even say hello!" Her friend next to her
turns to her exasperated and says, "Ay kezi ban!! (Which means, 'oh my
goodness'). Maybe they were busy!!" The first huffed, "Well, even if
they're busy doesn't mean they can't say hello!" We said sorry to the
sad one, and told them to have a good day, and walked off. Bahaha It
was so funny! Sister H and I were busting up about it later.
It is super exciting to be here in this area, because it's the area
that Camielle was in for about 6 months or something. I can tell you
what, her influence has been so strong here! There are tons of people
who recognize us as missionaries. They either bring up missionaries
from this past transfer, or "Camielle." They LOVE it that I'm related
to her. Haha
One of the members was telling us his conversion story, and he brought
up Camielle, and how she and her companion helped him to come to the
gospel. Hah He was so surprised when I told him that I was related to
her. Then there was one of our neighbors that wanted me to tell her
shame on her for not calling him. (It was super funny.) Haha
By the way, something SUPER exciting has happened!! =D On Friday
afternoon, we were coming back from visiting a former investigator and
walking down the street. Naturally, we were greeting everyone that was
in the neighborhood. At one point, there were a bunch of old men
sitting on a bench next to a house. So we said hi. They asked us about
the Book that Sister H. had (the Book of Mormon). So we started to
tell them about it.
I then had a feeling that I should ask one of the older guys wanted to
learn more about it. Ironically, he said no, but there had been
another man listening in next to us. He piped up, and said that he
would like to learn more about it. So he invited us into his house. We
met his wife, his parents, and two other members of his family. They
were so happy to meet with us. We told them a little bit about why we
were there, and what our message was, and we set up an appointment to
meet with them the next day.
So, the next day (Sunday) we returned to their house and taught them
about the restoration of the gospel. They were SO involved and super
into it. At the end, it's like they all got it. We testified of the
Book of Mormon and about how it's helped us in our lives. They were
all asking for a copy so that they could read it for themselves. It
was SO exciting!! =D They seem very religious, but not tied to another
church right now.
Tomorrow we're going to share a message about the Book of Mormon, and
maybe watch the Restoration movie. It's gonna be so great!! =D We are
both so excited.
Well, I gotta go, but I love you! I'll send pictures later! =D
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
November 13, 2013 She made it to Armenia!!
Hey Mom,
This is just to let you know that I am safe and sound here in Armenia. It's weird that I'm here right now, to tell you the truth. Hah It's been crazy to hear everyone speaking Armenian--especially since the MTC only had the four of us speaking it.
I am super jet-lagged but President and Sister Carlson have been super nice. They let us sleep for a few hours when we got here. Then they gave us a big brunch of French toast and fruit.
I don't know who my companion is, but I'll meet up with her tomorrow. :)
They're going to take us to the Armenian Genocide memorial. I'm excited!
Okay, I've gotta go. Love you!!
Sister Fielding
November 7, 2013 from Mom
Hi Ambi,
That's too bad you missed Ty but I'm sure he's doing fine (I hope :) ). It will cost a lot of money to send a case so when you get to armenia, maybe you can just pick up some sort of make up bag or something with a zipper for your scriptures. I'll also make sure you have plenty of money in your St Helens acct so you can pay for luggage, etc. and lunch or whatever you need on your 2 day journey. I double checked to make sure that the credit union knew you were leaving for europe and Armenia and they said that there was a flag on your name. So, as long as you don't exceed your weight for luggage, everything should be fine......
Good luck- we will be waiting for the 7 am phone call from you- that'll be cool Make sure you call us with plenty of time so we have little bit of time to talk- if you can. Can you go anywhere or do anything fun in Vienna? wow- that just seems like you should be able to see the city a little bit and go to lunch somewhere cool......
We can't wait for you to try out your new language and to start sharing the gospel I'm sure you're going to be very good at it and people will be attracted to your happy, go lucky nature and sweetness.
I sure wish you had your neck pillow but, oh well, take care and we'll pray for your safety and well being.... that's a lonnnnng time to be traveling. But hopefully you can bounce back quickly and have a great experience.....
We love you Ambi and you have made us so happy and we are very proud of you!
Good luck and happy flying!
Love Mom and Dad and kid
November 7, 2013
Hello everyone!! =D
I now only have 3 and a half days left!! It is SO exciting. It's wierd to think that I have a trainer already assigned in Armenia and everything. I can't wait to get out there.November 7, 2013
Hey Mom,
That's great that you found my scriptures!! I replaced my scriptures already, and so there's no need to send them. I need a scripture case though. So it would be great if you could send my case down! BUT don't send it to the MTC. I am not going to get it in time. You should just send it to Armenia. My address is on Facebook, but I'll type it out super fast.Plus, I bought a phone card!!! Which means that I can call from the Salt Lake City airport. I will be calling the home phone at 7 am, pacific time, on Monday. Sorry that it's so early, but that'll be about an hour before we have to board the plane.
October 31, 2013 Halloween!
Barev Dzez Everyone!! And Bari Haloveen--Happy Halloween! =D
This week has been a crazy one. Our branch has moved to Main Campus, and honestly, it is a whole other world up here. We live in dorms, but they're not too bad. They can hold six sisters to a room, but we have 3-4 sisters in each room. So we feel like we have tons of space. We're next to everything, and so it's really nice. I don't feel like I really live here though. I feel like my "real" apartment and the "real" MTC is at Wyview. Haha However, it's like a breath of fresh air to move somewhere new.
I can't believe that I only have a WEEK and a HALF left!! Holy crow! These 7 and a half weeks have flown by. I feel like my Armenian is coming along. Usually after coming home from class, I speak non-stop Armen-glish. Hah Either that, or I start speaking Armenian to other people. Then, realizing what I'm doing, I hurry and switch to English. Hah
Katrina Tolman (my second cousin) came into the MTC yesterday. I wanted to see her SO BAD but she left for West Campus before I got to see her. =) It's all good though!
Speaking of family coming into the MTC, TYLLLLERRRRR is COMING!!!!! I REALLY hope that I can see him on Wednesday before he takes off for the West Campus!! It probably won't happen because they just grab their books, check-in, and get on a bus to West campus. I REALLY hope so though. Hah
Anyways, we taught Aram (our teacher, Brother Cook--the teachers pretend to be their old investigators) yesterday. It went SO well!! Brother Cook said that it was the best lesson we'd taught, because the spirit was just so powerful. It was so great! =D We taught about how God is our loving Heavenly Father. We also taught about how the Book of Mormon is God's way of showing his love for us. Man, I love that I'm a missionary!! I get so excited about bringing others to Christ. I love that I can go out there, knowing that I am helping others to feel God's love. I can't wait to go to Armenia!!
I have so loved the MTC. It has been SUCH a great experience. I love all my roommates, my companion, my teachers, and everyone. But despite the great experience that I've had here, finally gotten the bug. I wanna go to Armenia SO BAD now! I am SO excited to go! I am so excited to get started and start talking to everyone!! =D It's a little intimidating, because they're going to talk so fast and everything. I know that it's going to be SO GREAT though!! =D
Well I love all of you!! Remember that God is always there, and is always listening to you. He will strengthen you in your hard times if you have the faith to do the right thing. :)
I love you all! Have a great week!
Love, Sister Fielding
October 24, 2013
Barev Dzez family!!!! =D
It was so good to hear from all of you. I have so much to talk about, but I'm ALMOST out of time. So I'm gonna do my best!!
First of all, we are officially moving to Main Campus this Tuesday. SO crazy!! The Latvian district, Lithuanian district, and all of us Armenians will be there for less than two weeks. The poor Greek district will only be there for about 5 days. Hah Crazy!
Sister Anderson, my favorite New Zealander left for Singapore this week with the two districts of Malay-speaking missionaries. They made up about half of our branch, and so it is REALLY wierd to have them gone. Yesterday, we got a new district though. We have a district going to Indonesia now. It consists of four Elders and one sister. We don't know them very well so far, but it's gonna be great to have them for our final 2 and a half weeks.
Yes, you read that right. We have 2 AND A HALF weeks left. Aah!!! So crazy! It has gotten SO close now! I can't believe it!
Plus, Tyler is coming in soon too!!! Aah! They have been moving all Spanish speakers to West campus and moving all of the non-spanish speakers to main campus. So we're thinking that they're going to have a completely spanish immersion campus over here. (Genius!) So Tyler, you are definitely going to be in for an awesome experience.
By the way, our district went through a "transfer". It's super crazy because now I am teaching with Elder Tyler, and Sister Lyon is teaching with Elder Powell. Elder Tyler is SO much different from Sister Lyon, but it is SO much fun to teach with him. =D
I am so happy to hear from home about everything going on there.
I know that the gospel is true, and that Jesus Christ knows and loves all of you. I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ will help improve the quality of your life. Always remember to read the Book of Mormon. It will answer all the questions you will have in this life.
I love you!!
Love, Sister Fielding
October 24, 2013
Yay!!! I love hearing about how much the church is progressing!! Can you believe that the church has come from 14 million to 15 million??! Holy crow!! It's SO crazy. That's so great that you have been being such great missionaries. =D That is the biggest part of missionary work--the members reaching out to others and loving them. The Lord really is preparing SO many people to the truth. Gah, it makes me so excited. I love your "7 taps" thought, by the way. Because it's SO true! They tell us here that we might be the first or the fifth, or the final tap, but the important part is that we are all trying to "tap". In the end, can you imagine how happy these people are going to be when they have the gospel? They are going to be SO happy.
I was in the choir the Tuesday before last, and our director was talking to us. He said that the gospel is "more precious than gold". He asked us if we would be scared to share our gold --thinking that they wouldn't want it? No, of course not! They would take it, and be SO happy that they have it. Our choir director went on his mission to Brazil about 20 years ago or so, and he STILL talks to people. They love him so much because he brought the gospel to them.
It is SO GREAT to be a missionary!! =D Keep tapping and you're going to start seeing miracles. Honestly, when you have a willingness and fire within you to serve, the Holy Ghost and Heavenly Father are going to put people into your path. =D I am so excited!! Honestly, this is the time for the church to start spreading the gospel. This is such a great time to be alive. I LOVE it. =D
By the way, THANK YOU SO MUCH for getting me some new contacts!!! I am SO grateful. =D I love you!!
I love that you were able to play the hymns out of the Armenian hymnbook. Aren't they SO cool? I love the hymn book. Random side note: You know how they have "Silent Night" in there? Apparently, they sing that song all year round. Crazy, huh? =D
Plus, we have been going to the temple every week (except the first week) since we've come here. I kept meaning to tell you, and then I would forget to tell you to send me some names. We are allowed to do initiatories, endowments, and sealings. But with sealings, it can only be a sealing of the child to the parents, or whatnot. These past weeks though, our zone has been doing one of the French sister's names. Her Father is super into family history and has thousands of names. So we have worked with hers. It's cool because her temple slips are all in French. Haha So crazy! We will be going to the temple two more times after today, and so you should send 6 names down, or maybe even 12! That would be great! They would all have to be endowments. But we could get all of them done all in one round (or two).
Well, I love you!! It was so good to hear from you! I'm going to write a general letter for everyone. So you'll get that one too. =D
Love, Sister Fielding
October 19, 2013
hi Ambi,
The youth did baptisms on Tuesday. I was a little disappointed cuz they group in front of us was so huge and they took forever getting out so they cut us down to 5 baptisms each and they did other peoples names in our ward, in front of my names, so I only got about 35 names done total. the last temple trip I got 130 names done with 13 kids. We had 18 kids this time and I only got 35 baptized. Whatever...... one of these days I'll get all my names finished- either that or well have to just "share" the names with the temple or give to other wards to do.
I saw this on PInterest and I want you to look at it. I ordered this for you and Tyler for your care package this week. I hope you get it soon. It's looks so amazing and I thought it could really prepare both of you. We're going to use it at home too and get "addicted" to scripture study :) I'll try to write you a handwritten letter and yes, we got your letters and your Armenian hymnbook. We played the songs and then we knew which ones they were. It's amazing that you can read that and understand that now...... Crazy.....
Every one is good here. We planted 200 Douglas fir trees today. They were little small trees and the elders came and helped us. they did 70 out of the 200! It was soooo awesome! I really like our elders. We fed them a big lunch and ate out on the deck. It was a bit chilly but a beautiful sunny October day. While we were eating, Rod, Dad's salesman showed up to talk to Dad and so I introduced the missionaries to him. Before I introduced them, I asked the elders if they wanted to "tap" the salesman. So we rigged it so it would look natural and so Rod got "tapped" today. :) I like that tapping cuz you just have to be one of the 7 taps.
Courtney invited the German exchange student to church and she said yes but she canceled today. The elders gave us a German Book of Mormon to give to her. Dad also had one of his crew guys ask if he could "borrow" a Book of Mormon. Which really surprised dad. So the elders gave us one for him too. They said that they usually have a trunk full of Book of Mormons but they ran out cuz so many people started passing out Book of Mormons. They called the 2 sets of missionaries from st Helens and they were all out. They called the rainier missionaries and were able to get 2 book of mormons from them! That's pretty crazy! I guess Rainier stake is starting to share the gospel!!
I did talk to our dentist about you and Tyler and your missions. She thought it was fantastic and asked a lot of questions about missions. I figured it was another "tap" as Brittany's mission president said. Remember he said that once people are "tapped" 7 times, they'll listen to missionaries or at least let them in or be nice to them.
Have you guys been able to go to the temple at all? Have you done any endowments?
I searched everywhere for your contacts- they aren't here. So I went back to Costco and bought you enough to get you to the end of your mission (which cost $200). Also, your mission call is safe and sound and I put it in your box of things in Brady's room.
I'll send your contacts on Monday. Have you gotten your visa yet?
Well have a GREAT week! Hit the red "SEE PIN" at the bottom of the page and look at it. It's cool. I'll have to send you the other things that weren't included in the package.
Love you!
Mom
October 17, 2013
Բարէվ ձէզ!
How is everyone??
I only have a couple of minutes, but I'll give a run-through of my week. =D
So for starters, guess who came to the devotional this Tuesday??? DALLIN H. OAKS! Woo! So exciting!! =D I loved it. It was so good. There were rumors running rampant throughout the entire campus that there was going to be one of the twelve coming--especially since they were having all of West campus walk up to main campus. All of our district were positive that it was going to be one of the twelve, and so we decided to sing in the choir. It was a sneaky/effective move, because it guaranteed us good seats. (It takes about 30 minutes to walk up to Main campus) We sang praise to the man, and it was awesome!
I sat next to a sister from Tonga, she's going to St. George, Utah--learning how to speak English. She and all the Sisters from her district were SUPER sweet. :) I love meeting the missionaries who are learning English as a second language--they usually come from humble circumstances, and are usually super kind. By the way, this sister's great-grandpa was converted by John Groberg. How crazy is that!
Also, we had Bonnie Oscarson speak to us on Sunday--she's the Young Women's president. Her talk was really good, but I was exhausted and so I had a hard time focusing. Ha Whoops!
By the way, Tyler's old FHE sister is here at the MTC. I saw here last week. I didn't recognize her, but she recognized me because I came to her mission call opening. Hah So funny!
Plus, I saw my awesome friend, Kaylene Hathaway, the other day!! She's going to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. We had our practicum together, and so we would carpool to the elementary school together. She is so sweet!! I saw her getting her lunch (or dinner) in the cafeteria. I stopped mid-sentence, gasped, and jumped up! My chair got knocked in the process. Haha Once I fixed that, I ran over there, squealing, "Kayleeeene!!" Haha It's been so great to have her here!! We always give each other big hugs when we see each other. She leaves on Monday or Tuesday, and so she won't be here long.
I am out of time. I love all of you. I know this church is true. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I challenge all of you to read 1 Nephi 1, and see how God shows his love by speaking to us in these days, as well as in times of old.
I love you all!!!
Love, Sister Fielding
P.S. I am SO happy to hear about the missionary efforts and genealogy!! You are all doing so great! =D Love you!
October 17, 2013
Hello Mother!!
This is just a short little e-mail, but I need to talk about miscellaneous things.
So during my entire stay here at the MTC, I haven't received a handwritten letter. I would LOVE to get letters!! Also, I love your packages (they're super fun) but we have TONS of food in our apartment. Hah No joke! One sister is from here in Provo, and she receives a package--with tons of food--nearly every day (sometimes multiple packages a day) and my companion always gets a huge package on Fridays. I really do love the packages. They make me feel loved. :) However, we're going to have to toss a lot of food either when we move to main campus, or when we all start leaving for all of our missions. So it would be good if we slowed down the food intake a bit. Hah You know? Can I say again that I would love letters?! Haha Just thought I'd get the message across. =D
By the way, have you gotten any of the letters I sent home?? You haven't mentioned them, and so I don't know if you received them or not. I've sent two letters home, and one letter to Tyler. You should ask Tyler if he received my letter.
Plus, I realized that I left my brown paper bag of contacts at home somewhere. I can't remember where. I have a bunch of boxes with me--they'll last me about 4-5 months-ish and so it's not super urgent. However, could you send me the ones that I left at home?
One more thing, I put my mission call, and Patriarchal blessing in my blue folder on the top of the bucket in Brady's room. It doesn't look like it has anything, and so just be aware that those are in there. I don't want something to happen to them! :)
Send the word out to everyone about the letters!! I love you!! I'll be sending out a mass letter right after this one.
Love, Sister Fielding
October 10, 2013
բարէվ ձէզ իմ ընտանիկը: (Pron. Barev dzez im untanikuh)
This means: Hello my family!! =D
How are you??! I'm am doing SO great!
Conference was SO great. All of us West campus missionaries had to take the 30 minute walk up to main campus for both sessions, and we watched it in the auditorium up there. It was so great! Although it was either freezing or burning up--depending on where you sat.
I read Anna's letter just now, and I thought that it was so funny that they were pumped to sing "Called to Serve" during conference. Haha When we heard that we were going to sing it, all of the missionaries in the MTC were like, "Seriously? We sing that like 10 times a week!" Haha I thought it was funny.
Well, we hear that we're going to be moving to Main Campus by the end of October. The news is a bit ambiguous but we've heard it from two different teachers, and so it'll most likely happen. The poor Filipino missionaries moved over here about three weeks ago from Main campus, and then they moved back about a week ago. I felt SO bad for them. Hah Ah well.
By the way, BYU's Vocal point performed for us on Sunday night!! Aah! It was so great! The MTC has a devotional on Sunday night and on Tuesday night. Their group took over the devotional for Sunday night. It was so great because each gave a message and tied it into a song that they were going to sing. It was super cool.
We are teaching two "investigators" right now. (To those who don't know--investigators are the people who are learning about the gospel.) They're really just two of our teachers acting as investigators that they had when they served their mission. We're teaching a lady named Susannah (pronounced as Soosahnah) and Aram (pronounced as Ahrahm). Our teaching, when we were doing it earlier, was super rough. My companion and I weren't teaching together very well at the time. But when we've gotten closer as a companionship, we've taught better and by the spirit. It's crazy how important it is to have a good relationship with your companion!
Speaking of which, Sister Lyon and I have never been closer. We've gotten to the point where we really do love each other. It is SO wonderful. I think that we've been so lucky to have each other, because many other companionships have a hard time getting along. To tell you the truth, it took a little bit to get used to each other, but now we both understand each other, and we have a really great relationship. Hence, there is nothing keeping the spirit of the Lord from being with us, in that regard.
Man, so many people say the MTC is like a prison, but I really don't think so! I LOVE the MTC. It's hard at first, because you have to get used to other people and to your surroundings, but then you really start loving the people around you. So many people have sacrificed for us to have this training center--either through tithing money or through the people who work here.
I love the atmosphere here, the missionaries, and all of my teachers. Oh, by the way, we got a new teacher this week. Her name is Sister Boyle, and she is AWESOME! She came in because Brother Carlson is taking pre-requisites to go to law school. (He is so awesome too! He's fluent in Armenian and Russian, and wants to work for the Russian state--how cool is that??) Anyways, we all love Sister Boyle so much! She is super funny, spiritual, and knowledgable about the language. We all liked her right off the bat. :) At least, I did.
It's so amazing to be here at the MTC. The spirit of the Lord really is here. The more that I have the spirit with me, the more that I can speak faster. It's REALLY crazy actually. Last night, I had a really spiritual prayer, and this morning, when I was praying, I was hardly praying in English. That has been the most evident sign of the gift of tongues (the gift to be able to speak other languages) so far. It was an amazing experience.
Well, I just want to close by saying that the Lord knows you. He knows your trials and everything that is happening in your life. I know that if you pray, tonight or anytime, the.S. n he will hear your prayers and answer them. I want all of you who are reading this, I want you to know that I love the Lord. I love him, and I know that he loves each of you so dearly.
I love you!! Love, Sister Fielding
September 24, 2013 From Mom
Hi Amberlie,
Tyler and Kayla went to the temple again this morning and they did baptisms. Tyler baptized and confirmed kayla. Kayla said there was one particular name that she felt like the deceased lady said "Thank you". then when Kayla was confirmed for that same lady, she felt it again! I keep having promptings and finding people . I always think it's interesting how people have linked up the generations- for example, I don't think an aunt or a grandpa or a brother realized that they were actually 'helping" with geneology and temple work 200 years ago when they moved in with their niece or their granddaughter or their sister. But because there are "clues" and ways to verify who is who because of one name, it brings a whole entire family into the system and gets them temple ready.
I am paying all the bills today and Brighton has done a great job as Dad's assistant. I guess it really is turning into a family business. lol.
Love Mom and Dad
I was just wondering if you have heard anything about your visa yet? I'm getting a little nervous but I know you still have 7 weeks to go. I have been working on Tyler's and then I get a panic attack over your's and it's status...... so, yes, I'm still being a worry wort momma.
Did I tell you that Brady and Christa are having a Boy? They are so thrilled. Christa went out and bought a little "onesie" that looks like a football. They can't wait. She's especially excited because her sister in law, Britta is having a boy 3 weeks before Christa (you probably know that ..... It seems like you've been gone so long but really it's only been a couple of weeks).
Did you get your Ecco shoes? You should have gotten 2 pairs.
What about music? How can you listen to music in Armenia? Anna just sent out a cry for music and she can listen to anything LDS so do you know the rules and what device you can use?
Dad is working his bum off. He's had huge emergency jobs this weeks because the weather has decided to monsoon and downpour- which is great for business. He has bought another stump grinder and is working 3 crews- even on the weekends. His 4th truck is still in the repair shop so he's really frustrated. I wish he wouldn't get so frustrated- he's the service provider that people need but he tries to please the public so much that it stresses him out. Just like ladies have to wait in the doctors office, he should know that people need him and they have to wait or pay extra somewhere else. I finally convinced Dad to raise his prices and so he told Rod and Steph to charge more and the calendar is so stuffed and full, he can't keep up with it.
yesterday I was coming out of Fred Meyer and the Wheelers pulled into the parking lot. Josh and Cam jumped out and ran over to me and grabbed the groceries out of my hands and quickly unloaded my cart. It was so surprising and fast and unexpected and wonderful. I just love the Wheelers so much!
Well, I just wanted to say hi. Did you get your chocolate chip cookies and if so, were they good and fresh?
Take care Ambi and answer all my questions, especially about the shoes and the music
WE LOVE YOU!!
September 26, 2013
Barev (բարեվ) Mom and Dad!
We don't get our travel/visa information until the week before we have to leave. So I won't have a clue for another six weeks. So there's nothing that you can really do. So there's no use worrying about it. ;)
Oh, I'm so happy to hear about Brady and Christa!! Yay!! That is so adorable. I can't wait to see my year old nephew in 2015. ;) Send my love to them!
Yeah, my Ecco shoes came in, the cookies were great! I was especially excited about the FLAG! =D It was so awesome. I don't know where to put it though. I might just put it up in my room. I can't put it on the building like the Argentine elders, because there are a ton of different countries that the sisters in our building are going to. It would be a little wierd. But it would be SWEET to put it up in our room.
I don't know if we are able to listen to music in the mission field. We might, but I don't know. I do know that we're not allowed to listen to ANY music here in the MTC. Hey
By the way, it's great that Dad is so busy. More money to send me, right?? Just kidding.
Hey, I bought a new set of scriptures for a good price at the bookstore, and so you don't have to send me my old ones anymore. =)
By the way, I wrote a letter to the family earlier today, and so you should be getting that soon! =)
Sorry that this is such an anticlimactic letter. Haha I will try to do better later! Oh! I have pictures!! It's only letting me send a few at a time. So, I'm going to be sending a bunch of e-mails. Here they are!!
September 16, 2013
Hey Mom!!!!
I am such a terrible daughter because I haven't written until now. I feel like I just run around from place to place. :) So sorry! I got your greenie package, and your letter. That letter made me laugh. I loved it! I got it the same day that you sent it, so that was great.
Okay, so now for your questions!
The language learning is CRAZY! We taught an "investigator" in Armenian on Friday, and then on Saturday. We were reading off our little cheat sheet. Whenever he asked a question, we didn't know how to respond and so we would get super flustered and go on, or I would try to explain, accidentally speak something in Russian, and then go on. Haha I know that I said "Da"(yes) a ton of times, tri (three) and zavtra (tomorrow). It was so embarrassing! The investigator told my teachers that "one of the sisters studied Russian because she kept saying 'Da' instead of 'ayo'. Haha It's all good though. Well, I already know how to pray in Armenian, teach bits and pieces of the discussions and bear my testimony in Armenian. It's really crazy that we've learned so much so fast. The teachers keep telling us that they're super excited because we seem to be picking up the language a lot faster than the previous groups. The Lord really has blessed us!
By the way Brett, no, we haven't really had gas. Haha Jeez. Oh! By the way, I'm on the MTC West campus. It is SO nice! We all live in our own apartments--they're not really dorms. It is SO nice because they have tons of storage, a kitchen, and other things. They were built originally as BYU housing, and they were only built a little bit ago.
Oh, I have some EXCITING news for you!! My companion, Sister Lyon, and I sat next to a group of elders during lunch or dinner. Naturally, we started talking, and I found out that they were going to the ARGENTINA ROSARIO mission!!!! Which means...TYLER is going to be over here on West campus too!!! So we are definitely going to see each other all the time here on West campus for his first week. Also, his housing for the MTC is just two buildings down from mine. I know that, because they have a giant Argentine flag hanging over the balcony. So EXCITING! I am so happy, because that means that I really will see Ty-man before both of us are going to opposite sides of the world. :) It totally made my day when I found that out, and those Elders are super nice.
So, I have three other people in my district. There's my companion, Sister Lyon, who is from Eagle Mountain, Utah. She is the oldest of four, and HER younger brother is here in Provo too! He's going to the Phillipines, and he's Tagalog speaking. So much fun! She's pretty cool. She says that she's a "true blue aggies fan" and so we banter back and forth all the time. I defend BYU and she defends Utah State. Hah
Then there are two elders in our district. Elder Powell is from Wales, which is super cool! He's going to Armenia with us too. He makes fun of us "Americans" and our accents but it's okay, because we make fun of his accent and of half the things he says. So it's pretty fun. :)
The other Elder is Elder Tyler who is going to the California Arcadia mission, Armenian speaking. He is super excited. He has an Uncle who married into the family, who is Armenian. So it was super crazy for him to get called to an Armenian speaking mission. By the way, I am the OLDEST person in the group. Elder Powell's eighteen, Elder Tyler's nineteen, Sister Lyon's twenty, and I'm twenty-one. Sometimes I feel old--especially when the elders are goofing off.
We have SUCH a culturally diverse zone. It's crazy! We have every country from the UK--Scotland, Irish, Wales, and England. Then we have around four French Elders and Sisters, a New Zealand sister, a Finnish sister, a Norway elder, and then last night we just got a new sister move in who's from Mozambique. There are also a TON of people who came from Utah, but I guess that that isn't that much of a surprise. Hah
I live with five other sisters. There's my companion, two sisters going to Latvia on their mission who are Sister Mitton (whose house is seriously across the street from the Provo temple haha) and Sister Green--her birthday is today (they are the sweetest girls ever!), then there's Sister Anderson--the sister who is from New Zealand (she seriously is my favorite; she is super outgoing and excited and she has made me laugh so hard SOOOO much. LOVE her.) and then there's Sister Guilamba who just got in from Mozambique.
Sister Guilamba is super soft-spoken but you can just see that she has such love in her heart. She is super cute and so happy to be here. By the way, she knows SIX languages!! She speaks French, Spanish, Portuguese, English, and then two different African languages that I don't remember how to say. Now she's learning Malagaski (the Madagascar language) and so she'll be here for five weeks. It's interesting because she was supposed to come out here in August, but she was delayed and so she "started" her mission down in Mozambique. She was set apart as a missionary down there, and so she was with the Sister Missionaries down there. She taught a bunch of people, and now there's a sister who will be getting baptized down there on Friday. She is so sad because she missed her baptism by about two days.
Well I'm about to run out of time. I just gotta say that I am so grateful for any prayers that come my way, because this week has been a rollercoaster. It has NOT been easy to learn Armenian. The MTC has been SUPER hard but SUPER good at the same time. I could hardly believe it when we found out that we were going to be teaching a my lesson just two days after getting here. But...whenever I'm super stressed out/discouraged because of this or that, I always remember my father's blessing which said to "soak up the spirit of the MTC". It has been such a great experience here. I have finally gotten used to having full days of non-stop studying and running from place to place. I feel like I have already been here for three weeks or something.
Okay, well I love you!! Keep praying for me and my companion!! By the way, I forgot my camera at home and so I can't post pictures today, but I promise that I will try to remember to bring it for my next preperation day. =D Sorry! Don't worry, you'll see them all soon! \
Love, Sister Fielding.
P.S. Brett, I flew on a B737 plane. Haha Thought you'd like to know.
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