Autumn MTC March 30, 2011

Oh hello again.....

Some of you may have had your hopes up and thought my email was coming from some exotic place in Hungary this week. Well SURPRISE!!!! It's coming from PROVO UTAH! Yes that is right. I'm STILL in the MTC. You see, my kicsi labfej...my little foot... just LOVES to cause me trouble. So even though this week we hit the infection hard with Augmentin and other fluries of remedies.. the infection went NO WHERE!!....my incision is still huge and red and nasty. So I have been assigned 2 MORE WEEKS!!!! yes.... i will officially have been in the MTC forever!!! I will have been here for 16 weeks by the time I leave...my brother was only here for 8 weeks... I have DOUBLED the time he was here. But luckily, this place is growing on me and I am still loving my experience here. It is great to get more language practice (even though I know that immersion in Hungary with REAL hungarians may be a tad bit better) I am working hard on Hungarian lesson plans and grammar...and the review is just awesome. So i really feel like my time is being used well here.

But I will say this... I am sooooo good at people watching. I've always loved it, but now I feel like I'm one of those old people who have lived in the same city their ENTIRE life, where everyday of their retired life is the same and they sit on the porch and watch people all day. Well, everyday here is the same...and I have been here a VERY longtime. so to entertain myself, I just watch people. I just create my own soap opera. For instance once sister was walking with one crutch after knee surgery the other day and taking the stairs...and today she was walking with TWO CRUTCHES?! and limping!....oh man... that extra crutch, I was TOTALLY not expecting that today. It was like the twist at the end of a good episode of lost. Also there is a sister here that is going to Taiwain and she wears the CRAZIEST clothes..so I often hang back in breakfast just to see what she wears today. It makes my day when it's the CRAZY skirt with the ruffles and the sailor shirt with a huge bow in her hair. crazy i tell you. I have also been enjoying the company of my little bird friend named Charles... he is a little bird that lives in the building across from my classroom. He lives in this tiny hole in the wall, and somedays he's not there.... but when Charles shows up..It just makes my day. Also I have made friends with two japanese sisters, we don't even speak the same language but I love talking to them...and smiling and giving them peace signs. I have also been living vicariously through one of the return missionaries from Hungary that got back just 5 weeks ago..and is ALREADY ENGAGED...so that brought a lot of excitement into my little soap opera of life when I found out she was engaged. wasn't expecting that one either!

So, maybe this all sounds to you like I'm staring out a window with a straight jacket on talking to the birds...being here this long COULD make a person crazy. But I really am learning so much and finding so much joy in my studies and just being a missionary. I know I'm here for a reason and have felt my purpose expanding as the Lord has placed me in people's path that have needed me that day. I have had many instances of service here that let me know that I have been kept here for a reason. So it has been a hard experience not goign to hungary. But I know it's worth it and I'll get there eventually and KISS THE GROUND out of pure joy to finally get there! I'm hanging in there ya'll.

So if you write me a dearelder.com letter make sure that you put my mailbox number as #160 and departure date as 04/11. The mail will get to me if it's the other way, they just have to sort through it and it takes an extra day.

I love you all! Your faithful missionary.

-Papritz Nover

Autumn MTC week 13

Szervusz mindinki!

 

Well let's cut to the chase. Here's the update on the foot: IT'S INFECTED!....yup ya'll read that right. Add it to the list of all possible things that could go wrong... huge hematoma, major pain, unable to walk......now infected!!! haha...life is just such one big funny comedy. So I'm on antibiotics right now and it should clear up. I'm leaving the MTC on Monday... March 28th. I'm going to be on that 6pm flight to Paris --> Budapest even if they have to amputate my foot!!! On sunday the incesion was super red/swollen/painful/warm/bad...and I just knew it was infection and sure enough the doctor was right. It's just crazy cause it's almost 5 weeks out from surgery. I just am amazed by all of these funny things that just keep happening. But i will get to Hungary, the Lord just has a really funny sense of humor and good timing. So it's all wroth it. I'd way rather not have it be infected in Hungary. So it's all good.

 

Well not much of an exciting week.. I have a weird schedule now that I'm the only sister Hungarian here.. It's kind of like i'm in independent study Hungarian. I just do my own thing. It's actually been pretty productive. I've been able to prepare a lot of lesson plans and translate a lot of stuff that will come in handy once I finally get there! Oh man I can JUST taste the csirke paprikas most, nagyon finomsag! (I can taste the chicken paprica now, very deliciousness!).....

 

Well I found this amazing quote that I read a while ago that I wanted to pass on:

"Many young women are serving missions Many are preparing to serve; not because they are not married or have nothing else to do, but because they have a desire to serve and therefore are being called to the work. The reason so many are being called to the work. The reason so many are going is because in the next generation, Heavenly Father will be sending his priesthood army to the earth. He wants to send them to mothers who have been properly trained and taught in the gospel, and what better training can a young woman have, than that of serving a mission." - President Gordon B. Hinckley

 

I might be a little biased...since, well...I'm one of those ladies that is serving a mission. But I loooove that quote. I know that I am being prepared right now for the rest of my life to come. I know that when I get home I will be able to trace back every good thing, everygood decision I will make back to my mission and the things I have learned right now. This work is so important and I'm grateful I get to do it combining the two things I love. Nursing and the gospel. I will be able to serve the people of Hungary and the missionaries with my whole heart, might, mind and strength. I'm off to Hungary! i can feel it... I know I'm going to be out of here Monday..(fingers crossed..and all my toes) So next email you will all get will be FROM HUNGARY!!!!! hallelujah!!!

 

szep az elet! (beautiful is life)

 

Thank you all for your support. Sorry for not responding super fast with letters, I've got a list to write and only have one day a week, and only a few hours to do it. If you don't get a letter back from me this week, I will FOR SURE catch up on all my letters on the plane ride over.

 

Love you all!!!

 

-papritz nover

Autumn MTC March 16, 2011

Well family and friends,

This week has been a weird week. My entire district left for Hungary on monday without me! It was bitter sweet. I'm sad they're gone and I'm not in the countrysides of Hungary right now, but I also know this week will be super important for my foot to heal and also get extra language practice in. So i'm thinking the week is going to be super productive!

But my heart was crushed when I found out about the Earthquake/Tsunami/Nuclear disaster in Sendai, Japan. For those that don't know, that mission is where my best friend served and I have heard countless stories or the wonderful people of japan, skyped with her friends there, I know all about the companions that she served with that are still there...so I felt like I served in Sendai...and so I was just devestated to hear about it all. I just kept thinking about all of the people she knew, her entire mission! .... it's just crazy. Then i realized that oh man....tsunamis travel across the ocean! and my Little sister is serving her mission on the Northern Coast of Taiwan... right next to the Ocean! So i was worried not knowing whether or not a Tsunami hit the coast of Taiwan. It's just so hard being in a place so cut off from the world, not having news at my finger tips...I had to wait all the way until monday to get official word on what happened to find out my sister was ok..and hear from Katelyn about all of the missionaries in Japan. So my heart just hurt all weekend for Japan for Katelyn, and not knowing about Amy all weekend. My mind is still blown as the the utter desaster and catastrophe....you kind of just feel so helpless in this place, I wish I could be there to help. But even though I don't understand why these things happen, why good people die and why cities are destroyed I know I'm here for a purpose. I know I'm here to teach and serve the people and missionaries in Hungary..and that the Lord is mindful of all of his children. everysingle one. I know that his Children in Japan are calling out for Him right now, and he's is not leaving them alone. Although such a disaster as this seems hard to think why it even had to happen, and I don't know why it happened, but I know that it will all be ok. That those people are being comforted through this devistation. It may continue to get worse before it gets better, but I am grateful for the perspective I have that my Family can be together forever...no matter what happens. I know that there is life beyond this life, so in the end... it is all ok. We are being watched over more than we realize.

But in mission life, you've got to pick up and keep working. I can't dwell on this stuff too long, or I would just sit there and think about Japan all day and wish I could watch the news, and wish I could go there. "But life keeps on lifeing" as katelyn told me a couple weeks ago. and So this week I started physical therapy! It is a hoot. I go to this physical therapy place where I am surrouned by old ladies with hip problems, and then Me... They have me move a towel around with my toes, then they have me srunch my toes and my foot... then my favorite part: I get to pick up a bunch of marbles with my toes and put them in a bucket! now that is a fun time, if i've ever had one. I race my self and see how many times I can put the marbles back in, I'm up to 30 marbles, 3 times in 5 minutes! .... oh yeah... I'm basically at the top of my class with marble picking up.. I saw some old man struggling next to me, he probably only had 10 marbles in after 5 minutes! i totally smoked him! The doctors gave me the go-ahead that when I feel strong enough I can go to Hungary. I'm going to work extra hard to my walking and then I think by next wednesday I'll be READY TO GO!!!! Finally!!!! I could be here as long as March 28th...but I'm hoping to skip out of here sooner than that. This week has been good, my teachers are super helful and have still come in to teach me for an hour here and there even though all the rest of my district is gone. They really are so awesome. I have the best teachers.

So I feel Like although the week started off rough, it's going to end strong! I'm going to get my foot going and get on that one way flight to BUDAPEST!!!

i love you all!!! the Lord loves us... I'm so grateful for my family and most importantly to be on my mission right now. I know I'm here for a reason, and I'm loving the journey.

Love,

Sister Papritz

--

Austin - Madison Wisconsin - March 14 , 2011

Friends and family,

Transfers are coming up this Wednesday and I am finally kicking the curb here in Milwaukee after a seven and a half month run. I'll be moving to a city to the south called Kenosha. I forgot to get the address but I'll get that to you soon.

This week was pretty decently normal. We added a new investigator named Hermilo. We met him one day when our district went to eat at Olive Garden. He was bussing our table and I started talking to him and I got his information. He is an interesting guy, it's always a interesting to meet a Mexican that isn't Catholic. He had a pretty hard time accepting the Book of Mormon but he reassured us that he would read it and test it out. Also unlike most of the people we meet, he new the Bible very well. He is a really sweet guy that is just trying his best to follow Jesus.

Fabio (the guy we ran in to while he was Barbecuing outside one day) is doing pretty fantastic. After he had to cancel one of our appointments we met up with him and found out that he had read seven chapters in the Book of Mormon. He still has to get married but with a new law that was passed here in Wisconsin which makes it very difficult for illegals to get married he is running in to a lot of problems. But he is going on a long 8 month work trip and he won't be able to get baptized before. He'll be gone until November sooo he's definitely going to have to go on hold for a while.

Other than that I've just tried to get ready to transfer to Kenosha -- running around getting addresses for places that I previous had just memorized where it was at, writing in the area book and meeting with members.

My new companion is going to be Elder Kelly -- my trainer. It's pretty weird but we are both way excited to be companions again. It is going to be his last transfer before he goes home. My MTC companion, Elder Cook, will be training this coming transfer. It's so weird to think about how fast time has gone, when Elder Kelly trained me he had 14 months on the mission but it seems like it has just be no time and he is already going home after next transfer. I remember us talking about how much time he had left and we both agreed it seemed forever away but it sure snuck up on us.

I still have not gained back 8 pounds from when I was sick. My stomach is definitely way shrunk, I for sure cannot eat as much as I could before. I'm working on that. I have an infusion this Wednesday.

Sorry I don't have any crazy city stories. It was a pretty normal week.

Hope everything is going well,

Elder Papritz

Amy - Jilong, Taiwan March 14, 2011

Qinai de jiating,

This week has been amazing!!! I am safe and well. Sister Howell and I were out tracking on Zhong he lu when we saw we had 5 missed calls from members. They were telling us about the earthquake and tsumnami and that we needed to get to higher ground. Zhong he lu is at the top of a huge hill so we were ok. Our members are so amazing. I feel like they are my second family. The constantly pray for the missionaries and worry about us. The mission nurse called us and said that we needed to get to higher ground and stay away from the harbor. So the rest of the night was spent on Zhong he lu. There wasn't any damage to the harbor or really anywhere around where I am so we are really blessed. Members have been telling us all week about the earthquake in Japan and the damage caused. All of us are praying for the dear members and people of Japan. That makes me worried now knowing that it was based in Sendai. I hope that everyone there is safe.

On Thursday we at a special meeting with Elder Perkins of the Seventy. It was one of the most spiritual experiences of my mission! I learned so much from him and his wife. We talked a lot about the Spirit and how that is the most important thing we can have as missionaries. He quoted Elder Bednar who asked that the word meeting be replaced with "revelatory experience" He said that all of our meetings can be revelator experiences if we go with a question and are humble. It has made me re-think a lot about the many meetings we go to. Elder Perkins also talked about the Atonement. It was incredible. I learned so much about the Atonement that I didn't think of. I wish I could tell you everything that we talked about but it would take forever and I don't have time. Sister Perkins talked about gratitude and how we should jump out of bed every morning and thank our Heavenly Father for one more day in Taiwan sharing the Gospel.

My birthday was so wonderful!! Thank you all for your birthday wishes and for the package. I love the skirt and the purfume. We had a bunch of great lessons with our investigators. One in particular Feng jiemei is really progressing. Since the first time we met with her she has made so many changes. She is a former investigator that has had a lot of problems in her life. We invited her to live the Word of Wisdom which means she needs to give up smoking. She says so smokes a pack a day. We invited her this week to only smoke half a back. She was so willing to quit. I know that the Gospel changes lives because I have seen it change her life so much. Also GREEN GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!!!! It was a great baptismal service. And to top it all of ice cream on the cake his wife Joy came!! When Sister Howell called her to see if she was coming she said there was no way she could come. But she came!!! She did miss him getting baptized but got to hear him bear his testimony. His testimony was so powerful. He was just beaming as he shared his testimony and when he saw that his wife was there. I know that soon she will get baptized too! I am so excited!! He is such an amazing member of the church. I know that he will be a great example for his family and that soon they will all be members and can enjoy the blessings of the Gospel.

I hope that you all have a great week. I know that now the world is in a lot of chaos. Many people are suffering and need the Gospel in their lives. I know that the Gospel can change lives. I love a quote from President Benson in the first chapter of Preach My Gospel. He says that only the Gospel can heal nations and families. Only the Gospel will save the world from its path of self destruction. Thats the basic jyst of it. I know that that is true. I know that as we trust in our Heavenly Father and do the small and simple things, daily individual and family scripture study and prayer, and going to church that we can will be blessed. Heavenly Father will pour his blessings upon us and protect us. He does keep his promises. I love you all so much.

All my love,

Yang Jiemei

Autumn MTC March 9, 2011

Szervusz!!!

Well it's week 11, wow I've been here FOR-EV-ER!!! ..and guess what...I'M GOING TO BE PARTYING HERE A LITTLE BIT LONGER!!! That's right, my cute little deformed mutated-nerveless-foot just bought me another 1-2 weeks in the MTC!!!!..they officially requested 2 weeks extra, but said "if needs be it can be shortened".... uh yeah "IT NEEDS BE!"... i'm only giving this thing 1 extra week to heal, and then I'm dragging it to Hungary and it will heal along the cobblestoned - vine covered houses of the hungarian country side! So my new tentative departure date is March 21.

I went to the doctor on monday and he said it is still supper swollen, my hematoma friend is still there, but getting better. My scar is knarly and it looks like frankenstine. It is feeling better each day, but it is deifnitely not strong enough, nor small enough to be 100% ready to go. It is so swollen it only fits into One pair of shoes, I can't even get my tennis shoes on! so I'm on some steroids to get my foot shrunken and then I can wear my entire wardrobe of shoes and then GET THE HECK OUT OF DODGE!!!!!!! I have to be a walking machine between here and Go-time because I need to build up to 6 miles a day, so me and my kicsi labfaj (little foot) have pep talks everymorning "listen foot, you feeling good today? ok..well great, you have exactly 1 week to get over yourself!!"....yeah, me and my companions all talk to my foot in hungarian, so that nobody actually knows we're talking to a foot. Hungarian is the BEST secret language ever. Only like 0.1% of the world speak it.

So this week was my "Hungarian only week" and it started off rough. I just kept thinking, uh...i don't know what I'm saying or what anyone else is saying and I may have only been cycling through the only 10 words that I knew for the first 3 days "bathroom, please, corn, weird, foot, pain, i want to sleep, the gospel, come to church and will you please pray." Well today was the last day and I have been speaking english again for 1 whole hour and IT FEELS WEIRD!!!....i actually got really used to only speaking hungarian to the point where all of the sudden my first inclination is to respond in hungarian. I obviously branched out from my little circle of words and had intelligible conversation!!! It was a blessing to have such a boost in language before going to the country. I'm warning everyone right now, I will be one of those sisters that comes back and doesn't know english. I only spoke hungarian for one week and it already felt weird. I apologize 16 months in advance, but after my brain working this hard I totally deserve to have it deeply engrained in my brain.

There haven't been too many other exciting events this week, my whole district is preparing to leave on monday and I get to keep my clothes in my closet while they pack up for Hungary. But i'm so grateful for the timing of it all. I know that i'm supposed to be here another week, I know I will be blessed for being patient with the healing process. I know the Lord is looking out for me and my little foot and I will get some awesome extra language practice before I step of the plane into beautiful Hungary.

Oh yeah and I also had another nurse training this week and got a really cool NURSE KIT! it is like a full size field kit, with blood pressure cuff bandages, tons of medicine, high intensity bug spray! everything! So i'm SUPER SET!!! JUST GET ME ON THE PLANE!!!

anyways... enough of wanting to get on the plane. life is perfect, it is exactly what it's supposed to be.

I love you all!!!!

-Sister Papritz

--

Austin - Madison Wisconsin - March 10 , 2011

Get the stomach flu for 3 days!

That's right, to hit food frenzy week with a bang we decided to go to the Brazilian churrasco but we found out it was closed after we showed up and for some reason it doesn't even have the hours displayed on the door or anything. We had to actually go back to the library and look up the times and it even said it was open on Monday. We tried to call them but they don't even have an answering machine set up. So not a terribly good start to food frenzy week but we settled for Applebees and it was still good. Then on Tuesday we had the local Polish Deli. My my, it was Polska divine; we had smoked cheese, stuffed bacon and some kind of ridiculously good Polish ham. Way good. Wednesday however, we ate at this seafood Mexican restaurant and I got there and I decided that I'd probably be able to tell that the seafood wasn't going to be incredibly fresh there (being from Oregon, whereas my companion is in landlocked Utah). So I chickened out and orded the steak. The weird part is I ordered a porterhouse they gave me a t-bone and the charged me for the filet mignon (figures a little Mexican seafood shop wouldn't do steaks right). Well that night I was not feeling well at all. I commenced what would be a three day battle for my sanity. I spent the first 24 hours-straight throwing up...probably over 30 times. Couple that with a terrible fever, muscle aches, joint pain, worst runs of my life. It was miserable. I am still feeling the affects from it. I'm so low on energy and weak, it hurt to sort my laundry this morning because I had to have my arms up and moving for so long. But the whole time I was throwing up I just kept thinking, "I'm never having another steak ever. Heck, I'm never eating at another restaurant ever!" I thought for sure it was food poisening but I talked to the church doctor and he thinks it is probably what another missionary had just a day before, just like the stomach flu.

It was sooo beyond miserable. I seriously thought I was never going to see the end of it. Three days straight. I had thoughts that I was going to have to come home, I was going to need surgery on my insides from ripping them from heaving so hard. I thought I had e-coli and that I was going to die like that one kid that died in Oregon a few years ago from an e-coli breakout at a Wendy's a few years ago.

Tuesday and Wednesday went alright, I guess. I don't really remember much from the week to be honest but we literally just did nothing this week because I was just sick like a dog. I didn't even eat food until Sunday minus two packs of apple sauce and some jelly that I ended up throwing up.

Well, I thank God that it is over now. I remember thinking during the whole thing, "Man I'm really going to appreciate the feeling of being better again."

I sure do.

Much love,

Elder Papritz