Autumn MTC week 2 January 12, 2011

Sciastok csaladot es baratainkat! (Hello my family and friends!)

IT'S ONLY BEEN TWO WEEKS!!!?!?! Wow I still feel like I've been here FOR YEARS!!! so much happens in these week that it's hard to even summarize it all. This week I learned... well, i bet you can't guess....MORE HUNGARIAN!! ...so we had a surprise and last thursday we had a teaching appointment, we showed up and found out the first 15 minutes were suppoed to be in HUNGARIAN! WHAT?!.... sooo.. that really caught us by surprise. I felt like it would just be comical, since well we don't really know any hungarian.... but we limped along and I did a lot of miming and funny faces...haha.. i think it got the message across. Then the next day we taught again TWO LESSONS in hungarian! .yikes I guess they are really thinking we should know this stuff! Those lessons went better, i think i understand like..hmm.. 1/6th of what they were saying. So every 6th word... or maybe only 6 words. haha i can't quite remember. but I feel like I'm getting stronger in the language everyday. It's crazy to think that I'm actually learning this. oh also we did 2 days of SYL or speak your language where we only speak hungarian. so we've gotten really good at saying hilariously short phrases and gestures..our hungarian is coming along slowly but surely.

The language is so stinkin hard because there are 24 cases.. or like conjugations so. there are essentailly 24 different ways to make a word. instead of the 6 you have in english. and all the words just blend together. So inenglish you would say: Happy birthday to you from me! ... and the english/hungarian equivilant would be something like: birthdayhappyyouilikefromme! ....so they essentially just cram a whole sentence into one word. so normal words in english that are only like 5 letters long are like 24 letters long in hungarian! ... so needless to say it's super hard. but i'm giving it my best shot!

So i think my whole life changed last night. Elder Holland spoke for devotional, and he just blew me away. like... my mind really is still just in shock. the things he said were so powerful and just really made me reprioritize my whole mission and my whole life. He said "my mission meant more to me than anything. and I will be HEAVILY DISSAPOINTED if it doesn't mean the same to you. You should be able to trace every good decision, every event and every good thing in your life from here on to you mission. Your life should be woven around the things you learn on your mission..." etc etc. anyways.. i took like a billion pages of notes, and it just made it all click! this is the BEST thing I could be doing right now! Though I really wish I could be doing an awesome Code or something, or get a really good trauma... haha.. or see my family. This is THE PLACE TO BE!

We had another fireside where they had a bunch of people randomly get up and share their conversion story... so out of the 8 people that got up and shared their experience. 5 of the elders said "well...I had this girlfriend..and well, she was a member of the church. so she made me take the discussion"... then the next one got up "well there was this girl"...ahah..... then the next "well.....you see, I was dating someone". HAHA. i don't think it really had the effect he wanted. Then he randomly called up this old senior man from the audience and said "what was your conversion story" and he said "....well...i met my wife back in highschool..and.....she made me take the discussions!". It was so funny, cause i don't think that was QUITE the effect he wanted. but then they all actually had true moments of conversion.

All of the classes and devotionals are FANTASTIC! i love it, really soakin it up. If my brain isn't exploding from hungarian, it is exploding from sheer gospelness getting crammed into every corner of my brain. I love it!

So funny story about an elder in my district. So this poor sheltered elder is from Idaho and he didn't eat anything before his mission besides chicken nuggets and hot dogs! He had never eaten a WHOLE BANANA in his life. so his companion has been trying to wean him into the real world. He was working on a banana and I said "you know... if your body is not used to that much potassium, it might not be good."...."huh? what do you mean?"... "well, lethal injections are performed with a large dose of potassium..and then they die.. so if your body gets to much potassium then....well...elder..you might die.".....his face got so red, he about puked the banana out of his mouth... and then finally after all of us laughing our guts out we told him that it wouldn't kill him. but he believed it FOR REALS!

also I just got back from the temple and saw NIE NIE in the temple. that was a neat thing, I've always wanted to see her in real life instead of just on her blog.

I LOVE YOU ALL!!! SO SO SO MUCH!!!

-Papritz Nover (sister papritz)

Austin - Madison Wisconsin - January 10, 2011

Hi family,

So I'm not gunna lie. This week was a pretty rough week. It started out super decent when I went on exchanges with the zone leaders and set a baptismal date with a Hispanic investigator up there. And then it went downhill from there. First of all that baptismal date is way far away and we will probably not be able to baptism him because he lives so far away from the branch building and we don't have a car so we can't even really go up and teach him that much. Also, he has cancer so he can't live his house too much. But the next day when I got back to my area we got dropped by 4 investigators progressing to baptismal. On Sunday I had knocked on their door and I knew they were inside but they didn't come to the door. Then I decided to look through the window on the top of the door and I saw the grandma and the little sister of the family just sitting their watching TV. I waved them down and told them to come to the door. The grandma just shook her finger at me and shoo'd me away. (Rosa the grandma, Antonio the dad, Mireya one of the sisters and Beto (Mireya's boyfriend) all had baptismal dates in this one household.) But Mireya's Mom who owned the one decided one day that if they were all going to live in her home that they weren't going to meet with us. But I didn't know that at the time. I was just confused as to why they didn't want to talk to us. So 2 days later I went back and the little sister who was watching TV answered the door and told me that no one was home. I knew she was lying and eventually I figured out that someone was hiding around the corner. It was the brother. He explained to me what his Mom had said. He told me, "Sorry man, it's over. You gotta go." Then he grabbed me by my arm and helped me out of the house. I was so completely stunned. That was a family I had worked with for 5 months. Gone.

To answer a question from my Mom. I haven't had a baptism yet. I was at the baptismal for the other Spanish missionaries here in Milwaukee. But I did baptize him because I knew him the best and had taught him a few times and he just decided that he wanted me to do it.

On top of all of that, I lost my phone on a bus on Saturday and the lost and found was closed on the weekend so I just called in today and they don't have it. We rode buses for 2 hours to try to find it (there were 4 buses on the route where we lost it). It's been pretty miserable without a phone. We're pretty worthless without it. We still have plenty of investigators and quite a few progressing towards baptism.

Training is going really well. I really love my companion. He reminds me more and more of Alden every day. I wish I could provide him with a little better experience than we've dealt with this week but he's awesome and remains totally optimistic.

Cool stuff. I'll see ya'll next week.
Elder Papritz

ps. The electric sox are decent. I guess they do exactly what they say which is make the feet warm but I wish it would get hotter not to mention the holster that the battery's in makes a bump in my pant leg where it sticks out. I haven't mailed the sweaters yet. I still haven't found a UPS but I'll make sure to call the store to see if they even have exchanges for it before I send it.

Amy - Jilong, Taiwan January 09, 2011

Qinai de jiating,

Wow this week has been a week of miracles! I love it here in Jilong!! Sister Howell and I have seen so many miracles this week its crazy!! We are having so much fun though! Sister Howell is fantastic. She is the youngest of 4 and all of her siblings served missions. She is from Utah and is best friends with Sister Bready my MTC companion so that has been fun. Her Chinese is so great and she has been so helpful with mine. We work really well during lessons together each of us taking turns to teach. When Sister Howell teaches she gives such a strong testimony and I know she really loves the people. This is her 7th transfer. I love her to pieces!!

Jilong is wet, hillly, and amazing! I love that you sent me all that information about Jilong. It truly is Taiwan's Seattle!! It has not stopped raining since I have gotten here. It makes riding bikes lots of fun. Jilong has a bus system so we take that a lot more than we have biked actually. Its really nice. The church is in an office building on the 5 and 6th floors and has a great view of the harbor. I haven't seen the ocean yet but there are a lot of boats here including a few sailboats. (Dad don't get any bright ideas about sailing here.) The traffic is busy with lots of buses and cars a little more than Xinzhu but the neighborhoods are tucked into the hill sides. Its a workout getting to houses but its so beautiful. It is so peaceful and quiet up on the hills with all of the windy staircases and little tin roof houses. Its amazing!

The ward here is great! The ward members truly are our angels. They are so willing to help us with anything. One Sister, Chen jiemei is amazing! She has helped us teach lessons a few times. She served a mission here in Taiwan and now has an adorable 4 year old daughter. She currently is the Primary President in the ward. She has such a powerful testimony of the Gospel and has brought the Spirit into the lessons. She has helped us see so many miracles this week. Chen jiemei introduced us to a family that is in desperate need of the Gospel. The Elders are currently teaching the dad but they have run into some huge problems. Basically there was an accident at work and the dad is being charged with the death of a coworker. So he is in jail and they have 3 children. The mom is doing ok but they dont' know what to do. My heart was breaking for this sister as she told us her situation. I am so grateful that Chen jiemei went with us to visit her. We are going to keep visiting this sister and helping her. They need to get baptized pronto so that they can receive the blessings and peace that the Gospel brings. We also visited so many other families that are prepared to hear the Gospel. We found 8 new investigators this week!! Heavenly Father truly hears and answers our prayers!! I forgot to tell you, Sister Howell and her companion last transfer whitewashed this area. There haven't been sisters in Jilong for months because there simply weren't enough sisters to send here. So the area is still very new to us. There are a lot of areas we haven't been to yet. Heavenly Father has so many people here who are prepared to hear the Gospel. It has been amazing to see His hand in preparing these people. I am so excited to be here in Jilong and to help these people come unto Christ. Being a missionary is AMAZING!! Another miracle we saw this week is that we met with an investigator named Macy. She took us out to eat at this Korean resturant. We had a feast! We ate hot pot with seafood, lamb and all sorts of yummy stuff in it. I was so stuffed afterward. We taught her the Plan of Salvation and about eternal families. We found out that her husband who passed away in October was BAPTIZED! He is a member of the church!! She was baptized in another church. She had tears in her eyes as we talked about eternal families and how her and her husband can be sealed together. Next month she will go to Boston, Mass to visit her daugther for 3-6 months. The crazy thing is that Sister Howell's uncle is the mission president in Boston! So we will definately be giving her name to him. She is amazing. I will send you pictures next week of her and the members here.

Well I hope that you all are doing well. I'm sad that I wasn't there to visit with you and Chris. Tell her I say hello and that I love her. Also tell Chelbo I got her package. Thank you!! I love the headband and letter. I will write you soon. I am so grateful to be here in Jilong, Taiwan serving the Lord. There is no other place I would rather be. I know that this is the Lord's work and I am so grateful to be a part of it. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is true and was restored on this earth again. I know that this Gospel is a gospel of miracles. I have already seen so many. I know that Heavenly Father really is mindful of each of us and He is on our right hand and left hand and he goes before our face and sends angels to bear us up as it says in Doctrine and Covenants 84:88. I love you all!! I hope that you have a fantastic week. I hope that you will this week share the Gospel with someone. I know this Gospel will change lives. Jia you!!

All my love,

Yang Jiemei

Autumn MTC week 1 January 05, 2011

Csaladot and Baratainkat! (family and friends!)

wowie wowzers!!! A WHOLE WEEK IS GONE!!! I can't believe it, even though it was only a week if felt like a month. My brain felt like it was going to explode all week, HUNGARIAN IS INSANE!!!!! Words that are only like 3 letters long in english are like 15 letters long in hungarian. oh man, but luckily this week I can pray, testify, read the book of mormon and form decent sentences in hungarian all from memory! miracles!!!

So when I showed up on wednesday I was sicker than a dog! my voice was COMPLETELY lost and i felt like i had been hit by a dump truck. So for the first five days i had no voice, couldn't really show my personality, couldn't talk in english or hungarian and just couldn't be myself basically. So it as really challenging, but one of the cute little elders gave me a blessing, and I went and saw a doctor and got started on new antibiotics and VOILA.. i'm feeling nagyon better (very). I am still coughing up lungs, and haven't really slept a full night sleep... but i have a husky women's voice, instead of a husky man voice.. or a squeeky painful voice 5 days ago.

The language is crazy as I mentioned before, but luckily all of our classes are awesome. My teachers are of course incredible and it's so fun trying to learn a language, because I previously never even knew english.. haha. now i'm a pro at conjugations, pronouns, verbs and adjectives!! who would have thunk! All of the devotionals and classes with our Branch presidents and stuff are filled with MEGA doses of the spirit.... I have taken SOO MANY NOTES.. and am actually keeping a journal, cause there is so much awesomeness going on here.. i don't want to miss recording any of it!

I am in a companionship trio, and they are from Utah and Kentucky... we are working stupendously! The Elders in my district feel like little brothers...and act like little brothers. Don't worry, I don't treat them like a mom.. i let them do their goofy thing and just shake my head, when I think of my working with 19 year olds! We have an older group of missionaries that are 6 weeks ahead of us, and they are awesome! They seem so smart and fluent!! haha..eventhough they're only 6 weeks ahead. It seems like they are LIGHT YEARS ahead of our baby hungarian. in time it will come, that's what I keep telling myself. I'm not getting overwhelmed by it because it will come with time, but I definitely think the language is BEAUTIFUL!! singing in hungarian is so awesome cause it just rolls of the tongue. I'm going to sound so fancy when I come back fluent.

I saw Zack Lounsbury a bunch and Elder Wynn....Zack is doing awesome and we swapped testimonies near the temple. It was cool.

Time is flying and I've got to go do laundry!!! LOVE YOU ALL!!!! write me dear elders!!! God be with you till we meet again in 2012!

SZERETLEK!

-Papritz Nover (sister papritz)

Austin - Madison Wisconsin - January 03, 2011

Well I'll just jump right in to it.

I had a way fun split with my district leader, Elder Privett. He's in the "northside." So I was way excited to go up there. Every district meeting I heard from him about how good his investigators are but just knowing Elder Privett he isn't the boldest missionary and so I really wanted to go with him to help him set some baptismal dates. But we haven't been able to do it because he was training and now I am training but we just went ahead with it on Tuesday. It was unlucky that we got dogged on just about every appointment he had but we did get in the door on one of his investigators and it was hilarious. I didn't realize the the person he was looking for wasn't actually in the house and it was the ladies friends and siblings just sitting around. We were just kind of mingling and I came up to this one guy (this is a black family if you didn't figure that out) and I called him out and asked if he could freestyle rap. I threw down the beat and he started spittin' flames. Then one of the sisters came in and started freestylin' and then I even took a verse, it was sick. They were loving it. Also, I always see the black people around here do this secret gangsta handshake and so I asked them afterwards what it was and they showed me! Elder Privett and I had been looking for someone to show us for like 6 months but we finally got it. It's so tight! We are so hood. But then one of the guys started rolling a doobie so we decided to go haha. But really....

My boy is way tight. He is so good at singing. He is going to major in vocal performance so we almost always sing for our investigators. It sounds way tight. This week too I got a random call from one of our members and he told me he wanted a blessing. I figured he was sick but he told me that his daughter in Guatemala had killed herself and he wanted a blessing of comfort. I couldn't believe it. I got to his house as soon as I could. You have to imagine too that he is already a really quiet, soft spoken guy and he was just ballling his eyes out. I could have gone my whole life without seeing him like that. Also, he is illegal so he can't even go visit and support his family and other two daughters he has there. She was only 19 years old when she died. And right on New Years Eve. Coincidentally we had a lunch appointment planned with his family the next day and we had Pasole de Pollo which is what they eat every year for good luck. It definitely had a bitter feel to it.

This week we have zone conference and then I go on exchanges with the zone leaders to help teach some of their Hispanic families and stuff so that'll be cool but I'll have to leave my boy to take care of the area for two days. Hope I don't come back with Milwaukee in flames.

Welp, that's all from me. Nothing crazy happened on New Years except all the busses were absolutely packed because Miller Light beer had bought out all the busses and made all busses free for the night (probably to encourage people to drink and not drive home). Investigators are going very well, I'm slowing but surely solving all their concerns and doubts. I just need to get 6 of them married for heaven's sakes.

Love ya all,

Elder Papritz

ps. The family that I rapped with has a recording studio where they do "clean, non-degrading rap" and when the Mom had heard that I was a baller she told Elder Privett to invite me back so that she could check me out and see how hood I am and perhaps I'll even get to be featured in one of their songs. Tiiight. "Missionaries in the Hood" - Random Black Family in Milwaukee ft. Elder P-rizzle. Look out for it in the itunes store.

pss Mom: Didn't you tell me you were sending white shirts? I was thinking about it and I've never gotten any. Sooo, I hope you sent it to the right apartment or maybe I missed the UPS truck when it came. Not sure.

Amy - Jilong, Taiwan January 02, 2011

Qin ai de jiating,

Happy New Year!!!! Can you believe that 2010 is over?! Crazy how fast time flies. This last week has been good. Both Sister Zhang and I have been very anxious to get the move call on Friday and see if I would stay in Xinzhu and where Sister Zhang would end her mission. So friday came and we recieved the move call that night. I found out.........that I will be moving to Jilong! I also found out that my companion is Sister Howell and she is from Utah!! I was so excited to have an American companion. Sister Zhang will end her mission in Xinzhu. It was sad this morning leaving her and heading up to Jilong. She was a great companion and I have learned so much from her. My new area Ji long is in the northern part of Taiwan above Taipei. When I told the members that I was moving in our wards they all said the same thing "It has a lot of hills, it rains all the time, and it has really good food." haha reassured them that back at home it rains all the time so no problem.

On Sunday it was crazy because I attended all three ward's sacrament meetings and bore my testimony in all three. I will miss the ward members in Xinzhu. All of them have been such great examples to me and have been so willing to help me. On Sunday too it was crazy taking pictures will all the ward members and having members write in my byebye book. We also met with Lu family. We have met with the wife and one of the daughters a few times but never the whole family. On Sunday night we finally met with all of them including the Philippino maid that they have. We taught them about how the Gospel blesses families and shared the Proclamation on the Family. It was a great lesson. When we asked the husband how he felt after we shared about the temple and how we can have an eternal family he said that he felt great. When we asked if an eternal family was something that they wanted, brother and sister Lu looked at each other and said that they did. It was great!!! They are a great family. We invited them to come to church and to continue to have family prayer. We tried to set a baptismal goal but they didn't give us a forsure answer. Sister Zhang will have to re-invite them next week. They are pretty golden though! When we told them that I was moving one of their daughters, Angel, asked if I was going to come back. It broke my heart to tell her no. She is adorable. I hope that they continue to meet with Sister Zhang and Sister Pederson. We also met with Ou Yang ama, our 83 year old. We haven't met with her for a while. During our lesson on repentance and forgiveness she kept saying its too late for her. She has been saying that for a while. But she commited to start praying again. Since I am leaving I got a picture with her so you guys can finally see our cute 83 year old no teeth Ou Yang ama. We also reset a baptismal goal for February 12. She insisted that it had to be after Chinese New year which is the first week of February from the 2-7.

So more about Ji long, it is like I said the northern part of Taiwan. I have only been here for about an hour so I don't know much about it. haha It is right by the ocean. I can see the ocean from the church. There is only 1 ward here so Sundays wont' be quite as busy when it comes to ward meetings. Our apartment is at the top of a huge hill, or so Sister Howell tells me. She said that there are a lot of hills here so I will get my work out. It is raining right now but not too bad. I will tell you more about it next week when I know more about the area. Oh, there is two sets of Elders here in Ji long all of them are natives. I haven't met them yet.

It is so great to call home on Chirstmas and to hear all of your voices. Alden, I am still in shock about your mission call. When I went to the mission office today Sister Grimley talked to me about you getting your call. They just got all of your information. We are all really excited for you to come!! When do you report to the MTC again? I said May but I wasn't sure. I can't wait for you to get here and to serve here. You are going to love it!!!!! Autumn, I can't wait to hear about your first week in the MTC!!! Remeber to have mom dear elder my e-mails to you. It will save you time. Also, send me your MTC address!!!! I want to send you a letter or two while you are there!!!!!! I love you all!! I am so grateful to be serving here in Ji long, Taiwan. This Gospel is true. It is truely a Gospel of joy and miracles. I have seen so many miracles just in these first two transfers. I love you all. Have a great week!!!

All my love,

Yang Jiemei

P.S Mom, I can't think of anything that I want you to send me now. I am just going to buy warmer clothes here since it is cheaper. If you want to send me a package just send it to the mission office. The Zone leaders will pick up the mail every week when they go to zone leader meetings. If the package is too big they will send it to me here. Oh I remembered one thing. Burts bees orignial chapstick. My chapstick fell out of my bag and got ran over by a car. Just send it with whatever stuff you send. Dont' send it by itself. Thank you!!!!

Austin - Milwaukee - December 27, 2010

Hey.

Cool stuff talking to the family. Abby can spit out completely sentences which I did not know and even knows the days of the week which I'm pretty sure I didn't learn until Kindergarten. The Christmas gifts I got were way sweet, the scarves are totally fabulous and that was suuuuch a good idea to send all of those fancy chocolates for me to give to branch members. During the Branch Christmas party I took a picture with the Santa Claus (who was Mexican. Dark skinned Santa is funny) and I printed that out and chose a bunch of families/individuals and I wrote a note to the on the back of the picture and attached it to the fancy chocolates. Wow, I cannot tell you how surprised and grateful they were. It was way cool.

The other day the Branch President called and said, "When are you going to be on your apartment? I have something to give you two" I told him at about 1 o clock when he got there he had an entire box full of goods. Cereals, pancake mix, full size candy bars, beef jerky, chips and just all sorts of stuff. It was crazy, the thing literally weighed like 25 pounds. I don't even want to think about how much it cost. I thought he was going to give us like a nice Christmas card or their family Christmas photo but he really came with the goods.

Last week it was so funny, while my last companion and I were waiting for a bus we saw a couple black guys walking and we stopped them and asked them if they could freestyle rap. One of the guys was like, "Yeh ayeha, naw problem." So I threw down the beat and he didn't even follow the beat and he just spat off some memorized thing. So Elder Sharrah came back with our rebuttal pure freestyle, it was so funny. We got so much respect from them. We continued talking and they weren't interested at all in God but they appreciated the invite. Def got mad street cred.

So my boy is Elder Benjamin Partis he is from Orangeville Utah. He is majoring in Music - Vocal Performance. He's way cool and humble but definitely very new. It's way cool training. On Christmas day him and I received our new missionary training and he had breakfast at the mission home with President and Sister Jones she made the best blueberry muffins ever, I don't even understand how they could be that good. My Mom never made blueberry muffins that good, but then again she never really liked cooking with blueberries because they "get runny when you cook with them." Or something like that.

After talking to my family over skype at a members house. We went with family to visit the Mom's brother in the hospital. He was absolutely paralyzed when we first visited him like 4 months ago. When we went there today, we walked in he told us to stand around the wheelchair (I was already way impressed he didn't have a neck brace and he was even just sitting down and not stuck laying down). But he grabbed the handle of the wheel chair, kicked the foot holders and hoisted himself up and even took a couple shaky steps. Ridiculous. Just 4 months after we had given him a blessing he is walking after being paralyzed from the neck down.

I guess that's what you call a Christmas miracle.

Shweet. I think that's all.

Take care everyone,

Elder Papritz