MTC, week 3

Hola familia!

This week in the MTC has been great. I feel like I am starting to understand what people are saying to me when they speak in Spanish. I usually catch about every 3rd or 4th word. Sometimes its enough to be able to get what their talking about, sometimes the key words I don't understand. I'm getting really good at the dictionary though.

We taught the 2nd lesson (the POS) this week . It went really well. Pretty soon we'll have to teach in Spanish and I'm a little concerned about that. I don't feel like I know enough vocab to be able to teach the gospel in Spanish.

I'm excited to head to Guatemala today, and am excited to be able to see Hermana Atkisson, We sent her off last night. She was scheduled to fly out with 9 elders. Hna Newren told the elders to look after her. We aren't sure if we'll be comps in Guatemala.

Thanks for the socks Dani! My district was like, socks? Your sister sent you socks? They don't know that socks are a great gift. They work well in my shoes that mom sent me. My sketchers they slide off my heel. My other socks have a rubber grippy thingy on the heel that helps them stay on. And thanks for the notebook. Hno Pepper told us to write down words we don't know in a notebook. I have one, but I'm sure it will be full by the time we get through the Guatemala MTC.

I snail mailed a letter home last p-day I hope it got there. It has my Guatemala address.

JIC the package address is
Hermana Memorie Allen
Bulevar Vista Hermosa 23-71
Vista Hermosa I, Zona 15
01015 Guatemala City
Guatemala C.A.

and pouch is
Hermana Memorie Allen
Guatemala MTC
POB 30150 Salt Lake City UT
84130-0150

The letter had some specifics about how to use pouch.

I love you all and I miss you.
Got to go, Love you all so much.

Love Mem


Note from Dani:
The specifiecs about how to use pouch are outlined here:
Pouch mail

Basically, write on one sheet of paper, on one side only, fold it into thirds, "Use two pieces of tape or two sticker tabs on the top to secure it, not more than one inch from each side, but do not seal the ends."
And address it as if it were an envelope. Like this:

See the return label in the upper left and the address in the center? The stamp goes in the upper right corner.
:)

MTC, week 2

Hola mi familia!
Greetings from the MTC!

My departure date from the MTC is officially Feb 1. I leave at 4:30 pm and catch a flight to LAX and then a red eye to Guatemala, and get to Guatemala at about 5 am. :)
So... expect a box from me. I'm going to mail home my coat and other winter things, as well as my temple clothes (I can rent).

So now that I have that part done, My routine here at the MTC is getting more regular (just in time to go to a new MTC). We wake up, go to an early AM exercise class, come back and get in our pros (proselyting clothes) and go to the class to study for personal study. Then we go to breakfast and MWFS we go to the gymn, then shower and go back to class (some days we have Hermano Osuna, some days we have Hermano Pepper, and some days we do companion study), then idioma (language) study. Lunch is at 1230 and then class again, dinner is at 6, then class again. Then we plan for the next day and go to bed.
P-day is a lot different. We go to the am exercise class, go get a sack breakfast (b/c we don't have to be in pros) and go and eat it in the room, shower, study and then come and write you. Then we get to go to the temple, then lunch, then comp study, then laundry, then idioma, and then Tues devotional. Then district meeting, then plan and go to bed. :)
I'm learning a lot, though I am not learning as fast as I'd like to. My comps and I get along well. And we have a lot in common.
I'm enjoying this experience, and I'm starting to understand what I'm being told when the maestros talk in Spanish. I hope I get it even better by the end of the week so that I can understand what they say in Guatemala.

Love ya all, and I'll let you know as soon as I do how to reach me in Guatemala. My comps say that Dear Elder works in all the MTCs they think. So if nothing else that will work until I can let you know on my P-day.
My comp says she thinks we can call and tell you that we arrived safely so I may be calling next week(and maybe not maybe someone else will call you).

Love you all
Mem

First week in the MTC

Hola!
The MTC is nothing like I'd expected, but it is very fun I've learned so much and I’ve only been here for almost a week. I have a strange request for you computer savvy people. I want you to write to me using www.dearelder.com It is like e-mailing, but I get a hard copy and since I can get a dear elder any day of the week whereas I can only get on a computer for 30 min on p-day it would make my time more effective if you could. I understand though if you can't make it work.

The MTC has been a very fun experience. Yesterday we had a "scenario" where we made conversation and bore testimony in Spanish. I was able to do it, & I was able to understand most of what they said (I think partly because they spoke slowly). I am part of a trio. My Companions, Hermana Newren and Hermana Atkisson, are both from Utah. Hermana Atkisson is going to Nicaragua and Hermana Newren is going to El Salvador east. We have some great elders in our district and some fun teachers. It was a little bit odd for me to be older and the same age as my teacher. One of the teachers, Hermano Osuna is from Mexico and in Mexico you can go on a mission when you are 18, so he's just recently back and he's only 20. Hermano Pepper has been teaching here for 1.5 years and he's 23 same as me. Today is Tuesday and it is our zone's p-day. We get to go to the temple today and I'm so excited. Hermana Atkisson has some medical stuff that wasn't right on her papers so we have to go to the medical center and we may not make it to the session this week, but we can still do initiatories.

There is so much to do and the longer I'm here the more things I realized I forgot. I forgot to give my address to so many people and I forgot to get so many addresses.
I don't have much time left so I'll say I love you all so much and thank you for your loving support.
Love Mem

PS: I have another 5 min and I imagine my compañeras will use all their minutes so I'll say a little more about the MTC.

The schedule is pretty hectic and there is so much to do all the time. The first three days I felt like I was back in the nursing program with how overwhelmed I felt and how much information I was receiving. But The lord helped me and while I am still receiving so much information every day I am coping a little better, although when the others in my district started getting mail I was a little bit jealous, I’ll admit.

The language I'm doing OK at but I'm struggling a bit on the grammar but it'll come with time. My goal is to be able to understand most of what people say to me by the time I leave the MTC and to be able to communicate what I want to others as well by using my own words and not memorized phrases.
GTG



Note from Dani: Mem said in an aside note to me that she could email family from the MTC, but she has to "snail mail" anyone who's not family. I'm waiting to hear back weather I can post her ldsmail address on here or not. :)
But in the meantime, ya'll can send her letters through dearelder, and you won't have to spend a stamp. :)

About "dearelder.com"... Memorie can receive your letters almost immediately through dearelder, while in the Provo MTC and it is free (no stamps)! Once she goes to South America, her letters should go out pouch mail, once a week. And it's still free through dearelder. :) ---I believe I got that all correct... I tried to learn it all from the website. If anyone knows differently let me know and I can change this...

Additional Note: For those of you like me who read blogs with a reader, Mem created a side bar on her blog that has her mailing addresses listed on it. The current one is this:
Sister Memorie Sue Allen
MTC Mailbox #259
ELS-SANW 0317
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604-1793

MAJOR UPDATE!

Wow, so I just realized that I haven't updated what I'm doing since May.
Well I decided to serve an LDS mission, and I report to the Provo MTC on January 12th of 2011. I will be serving in the El Salvador San Salvador West/Belize Mission Spanish speaking. I will be in the MTC in Provo for 3 weeks then I go to the MTC in Guatamala for 6 weeks. I plan on posting my addresses on here as well as on Facebook. I also hope to get my mom or sister to maybe post e-mails I send them (probably mass e-mails) on here, but we'll see. I know I would love to recieve mail from all.
I'm so excited to go and spread the Good News!
IN a more family related news update, Ben has decided to get married, and will be getting married this Saturday, they will be having their reception in January so that those of their friends who are in school can come. He's marrying Monique Langford, who is a native of San Antonio Texas. We are so excited to welcome her to the family.

Merry Christmas, yesterday LOL

So yesterday we got about three inches of snow at home. Wonderful, as long as I forgot it is supposed to be spring. I really do like snow, but I'm ready to plant a garden, weed, water harvest and all that stuff. And Dad would really like to be in the fields, but we get snow/rain, then it melts and is almost dry enough to get into the fields when it rains/snows again. Don't get me wrong, I am very grateful for the moisture, but it'd be nice to have to crops into the ground before June. So yesterday I felt like I should be singing 'walkin' in a winter wonderland' and other not really christmas/but winter songs.
But today it is bright and sunny, and I could almost pretend that it is warm. The grass is green, and the trees are starting to bud out. Today it feels a little like early spring. : ) Yeay for spring!

Pick my self back up...

So my last update is already out of date. On Friday my position with TVH was eliminated, and as of Friday I am no longer employed, which means I get the joy of starting the job application process all over again. I'm doing alright, I guess mostly I'm just frustrated. Just when things were going well, I have to start over again. So onward and forward I go... :)

Workin'

Hey y'all I'm a bit lax on my blogging, but that's mostly 'cause I have a job, and other than that I think my life is pretty dull. But here is a real quick update on me.
I'm living at home, helping mom out, and savings money on rent, while I am working at TVH in the PACU(post anesthesia care unit). I am loving it. For me it is kind of like working in the ER 'cause you see the patient, take care of them, then send them home or send them to the floor. Total time with one patient is less than 6 hours. I think I like it so much because it changes so much, and I, oddly enough, like variety when I work. I keep telling myself that maybe I really do like change in general, but I still haven't convinced me. (strange side note). Hmm, what else, Oh yeah, I cut my hair. Chopped it of to the chin. its great, a little anoying 'cause it doesn't pin back real well, but the amount of shampoo I use has dramatically decreased, and it is great to have a change. I think I might need another change in a little while, I'll have to think up what I can do to change up my life a little (like rearrange my room, or redo the walls or something.)
My mom has been doing spring cleaning, and she has this kick that she'd like her house to loose some weight, but all we've really done is talk about it. We started with the upstairs closet, but I don't think anything has left yet. I need to go through the books and thin out the ones that no one reads, but before that I need to clean my room and make my closet loose some weight. I have stuff in there that doesn't fit, or I never wear that I really do just need to get rid of. I heard a great idea the other day how to figure out which clothes you never wear. Turn all your hangers around so they are the "wrong" way (bear with me you OCD nut), then as you wear the items of clothing from the closet, turn the hanger the "right" way and by the end of a pre-determined amount of time you will know what clothes you never wear (think ok when I get out my spring/summer wardrobe I'll do this, and when fall comes I'll know which clothes are just taking up space.) genius.
Alright, so that's enough rambling. That foray into my mind was probably more than you really wanted, but there it is.
I think that was rather therapeutic. I may have to ramble on here again soon.