Bad Hygiene: Check

No toothpaste: check.

No shower shoes/mandals: check.

Too tired to wash face: check.

Bad hygiene: check.

 

Haha, just kidding, kind of. I borrowed toothpaste, showered without shower shoes (the bathrooms were ok), washed my face in the morning, but I guess that still equals bad hygiene haha.

 

Hola! Como estas? Muy bien, y tu? Tres menos veinte.

^My new found (or re-found from 1 year of high school class) Spanish skills.

 

Hey!

Just a small update on looooogggistics (you know who I am):  I have Preparation Day every Friday. I am in an English speaking district for two weeks and then I will get switched to a district of missionaries going to Taiwan or maybe they're just Mandarin speaking, I actually don't really know a thing. But anyhow, it is fantastic; because even though I don't speak a lick of church Chinese (I did learn how to say a couple of things when we had to teach the first discussion in Chinese on the first day of class...talk about high expectations) I am in an ESL class. For those of you who don't know, that means English as a Second Language which also means that I have great stories from class when there are some mistranslations or problems with words.

 

Day 1:

There are 2 elders from Brazil going to New York speaking Portuguese. 2 sisters from Guatamala speaking English in North Carolina and California. 2 elders from Utah going to Taiwan with me. One Taiwanese/Hong Kongese raised in Provo sister going to Sydney, Australia Mandarin speaking. And me. So the two from Utah and I are the only ones who can speak perfect English (although perfect is relative). Oh, and there used to be one sister from Korea/Canada/Idaho/California who is going to Korea but she switched districts to be with some other Korean speakers. The first story has to do with her:

She was talking about how someone thought she looked Chinese and I told her no, you definitely don't look Chinese. Then she said that she doesn't look Korean, even Koreans tell her that she looks Vietnamese. She kind of does. Then she said, "I guess no one can tell the difference between Asians because we all have chinky eyes." Needless to say, I burst into uncontrollable laughter (and no, there is no spell check on this computer and I am starting to second guess myself) and felt slightly uncomfortable but she was laughing too so it was ok...I think. Then she apologized for taking that too far. Hahaha. No boundaries. Love it.

 

Day 2:

We were talking about how reciting Joseph Smith's account in his own words is so much more powerful than trying to summarize it. Then one of the Brazilian elders said, "It's like a shot of the spirit." The other Brazilian elder said, "A straight shot." Our teacher started laughing and explained that a shot meant alcohol and they started making gun motions and said, "We meant this kind of a shot!" Now that I've typed that one out it isn't nearly as funny as I remember it being in class, but regardless (a word my companion just learned today), I thought it was funny at the time and figured you wouldn't mind reading it.

 

Day 3: P-Day and Temple Day:

Today we had to change in and out of our church clothes 3 times because we didn't actually know when/where we could wear green pants with orange suns on them or if we had to wear a black skirt (and by we, I just mean me). But because of these Jerusalem pants I'm wearing, Sister Wagner and Elder Danielson (from BYU Jerusalem) both recognized me from afar and came to talk to me. The MTC doesn't really feel foreign because everywhere I go, I see someone I recognize or someone I'm good friends with. Since being here I've seen Elder Tyler Bell, Elder John Erikson, Elder Preston Danielson, Sister Carli Barlow, Sister Ashley Parker, Sister Anne Holyoak, Sister Kara Trammel, Sister Michelle Wagner, Sister Katie Downs, and I'm sure there are others but that is a lot already. So it's been like a little reunion and I feel bad for my companion who has to keep meeting these random people.

 

Also, today an Elder from our Zone was having a food eating competition with another Elder and when I joined the table I said that I would join. They laughed and didn't think about it. But when I went back for another burger, another cookie, more water, chocolate milk, and a pasta salad, he looked at me in awe and incredulously said, "You weren't joking were you?" So now I have found the future inscription/epitaph on my headstone:

Sister Perkins: Wowing the world with her appetite and food eating abilities since 1993.

 

I forgot to say that the reason I have these newfound Spanish skillzz (yes, 2 z's are necessary) is because my companion is Sister Monterroso from Guatamala. We wandered around the MTC for 2 days in a group of 4 because we weren't assigned a companion; but we kind of assumed that the two Guatamalan sisters speaking English would be together and that the two Mandarin speaking sisters would be together. We were wrong. And I love it. Sister Monterroso is great. She is quiet, hard-working but easygoing (like me. If that even makes sense). She has a great testimony. She is so humble (she is really good at speaking English but studies hard and thinks she isn't) (I guess one of us has to be haha). And last but not at all least, she gets my sense of humor. Even though my amazing puns don't always translate, she thinks the faces I make are funny and we both love laughing after someone makes a not funny joke and there are a couple pity laughs but it is mostly silent. Anyway, she is great and I love her.

 

We met our Branch President last night and wow, he is intimidating. And strict. We MUST have our White Bible (Missionary Handbook) and Preach My Gospel at ALL times. We MUST have companion inventory 3 times a day (not sure if that is overkill or genius. Right now I´m leaning towards the first). Elders MUST have suitcoats (even though it is summer and hot and the MTC said they don´t need to wear them. Also, I just figured out why all the ()"*' things were weird, this computer was set to Spanish. But our Branch Presidency seems great and we had a good meeting last night. Sister Monterroso is my senior companion, so she's the boss. I pray a lot. Haha, we both joke that the past 3 days at the MTC we have said more prayers than our entire lives combined. She actually does a good job making sure we pray about the same amount in our companion prayers. I was called to be a Sister Training Leader. No idea what that means. They handed me a folder and told me to read it (which I am doing in my study time later today). I think I gather the international sisters next week who get in on Tuesday and befriend them and let them follow me around and whatnot until the rest of their district arrives on Wednesday. But I have meetings all day on Sunday to train me for it.

 

All jokes aside, I love the Missionary Training Center. I love the temple. I love the Lord and I am so grateful for this opportunity I have to serve Him. This is His time and I'm trying not to waste it (I thought I would never be able to study for 3 hours a day, but I'm finding that - oh gosh, am I really saying this? - I want more time to study because I have so much to learn and I realized I don't actually speak Chinese haha).

 

Love,

Sister Perkins

 

PS. I took a Christlike attributes test to see how I was doing in each of the attributes. Can you guess my two lowest scores? Humility and Patience. Patience was my lowest scoring. I guess the whole not praying for patience thing worked, Mom! And I guess I don't have any haha. But when I chose two things to work on I chose Humility and Obedience...still avoiding the patience thing. Hahahah. And humility? Who would've guessed? I'm so humble someone could bake me into a humble pie (bad joke, but it proves a point haha). Anyway, I love you!!