It has started. Holy moly. I AM IN PERSON AHHHHHHH. So much has happened this week. I think at this point we need to ditch the idea that any of my weekly emails will be short hahaha. Also sorry this email is going out late, today has been SO BUSY!!!
Wednesday:
I hate goodbyes!!! If you get the Dumb and Dumber reference go ahead and give yourself a high five (daj mi pet - the equivalent of high five in Slovene) haha. After driving all the way up to Provo, I ate lunch at Kneaders with the rest of my family. Oh I forgot, we also stopped at Iceberg (one of the best shake places EVER) for a shake on the way.
Lunch with fam
After eating lunch we headed to the temple to say goodbye and hug. I actually genuinely don't like goodbyes. They can be so awkward haha. I said goodbye to my family which was very sad.
Goodbye fam :(
My parents and I headed over to the mtc where they dropped me off.
Goodbye parents :(
I went through the whole process of checking in, getting my rental phone (an android which has definitely been an adjustment from an iPhone - I am very sad about the android picture quality), getting my key, etc. I saw Rachel in line, but couldn't stay long to catch up. A kind missionary helped me bring my stuff to my room where SESTRA VOIGT WAS WAITING!!!! WOOOOOO!!!! It was so nice to finally meet her in person.
Sestra Voigt and I :) (even our district says we look alike)
I also saw all of the Croatian sisters and that was such a fun reunion. I got to meet the sisters that Sestra Voigt had stayed with while I was online. They are all so kind and amazing. They are all going to Germany and leave on Monday :( So it's sad that they are leaving so soon but I am excited for them. We spent a couple hours unpacking and then ate dinner. GUESS WHO I SAW AT DINNEEERRR!!!! My slimes!!! Natalie, Rachel, Hannah, and I had a glorious reunion. I am pretty sure we scared everyone in the room because of how loud we were being haha. 
REUNIONNNNNNN
After dinner we had our Welcome to the MTC devotional. So I think I need to explain the concept of districts better because I can say district three separate times and mean three different groups of people. So the 1st form of district is just Sestra Voigt and I because we are going to the same mission speaking the same language. This means we will have classes together. If anyone else was going to the Adriatic North mission speaking Slovene, they would be in our district.
Sestra Voigt and I :)
The 2nd form of district is Sestra Voigt, the Croatian missionaries, and I. This is more in the terms of we are all going to the same mission even if we aren't speaking the same language. This was my district online. I would meet with them after devotionals to share thoughts and impressions.
District!!!!
Now that I am in person, my district gets bigger from six people to thirteen people. This version of district will probably be the one I refer to the most. It is the group of people that I know meet with for all of my meals, sit with at devotionals, do activities with, and other group stuff. Usually this form of district has multiple different missions in it so we have people going to Slovenia, Croatia, and all around RuSsia. At some point we had dutch Elders but they were moved to a different district. Anyways, this Welcome to the MTC devotional was where we met our district.
District pic #2
The devotional itself was very moving. It was all about the true characteristics of Jesus Christ. He is someone that turns outwards when others turn inwards. The speaker who was the President of the MTC shared a really beautiful story of a woman who showed characteristics of Christ. I won't share the whole story but here is the link to the story and then the video if you would rather watch and listen to it:
https://www2.byui.edu/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
If you have any questions on certain terms used in this feel free to shoot me an email or check our church website https://www.
Either way it was such a beautiful fireside and I definitely cried a couple times. I want to become more like Jesus Christ by thinking less of myself and more of others. I know that when I do that, I will be able to feel more love for the people around me.
Thursday:
I forgot to write down what I did today so that's sad. We had our first class in person which was super fun and exciting. Sestra Kralj AND Brat Kunzler taught the morning class. It went very well. We had to pick up a bunch of materials all throughout the day so we were running around everywhere. Oh and after our morning class, out of nowhere my brother Keldon shows up. He works at the mtc so we can see each other basically every day if we wanted to. We planned to eat together at least once every week. So fun!!
Hello Keldon haha
Friday:
Today was an absolute rollercoaster. It was Sestra Voigt's birthday so that was super fun! The German sisters had a cute little celebration for her where they came to our dorm and sang happy birthday in German while I sang in French. Thank you Madame Snow for ingraining that into our brains in High School. During the first half of the morning class with Brat Kunzler I almost cried at least 2 or three times but I resisted. I knew none of the vocab and felt SO DUMB. Then we went on our break and it got better. When we got back we started doing conjugation which it turns out I am very good at. Confidence boosteeeeeddddddd!!!!! My district and I had to go get covid tested. We were all negative. After getting tested we went to lunch where MY BROTHER SHOWED UPPPP. It is so weird to see him around the MTC haha.
Lunch with Keldon
After lunch Sestra Voigt and I absolutely dominated in volleyball. I kept it a secret that I had played volleyball for around 7 years so the other team had no clue what they were up against. Unfortunately we had to leave early to go to language tutoring so I don't know if my team won or not. Sestra Voigt and I simultaneously got a nosebleed. Gotta love dry dry Utah.
Twin nose bleeds
For our night class with Sestra Tuckett we learned how to speak in past tense so more conjugation!! Confidence, once again, boosted. There was a really cool moment where Sestra Tuckett did a mock lesson in Slovene where she was teaching us about Jesus Christ and how to find joy BUT IN SLOVENE. She would ask us questions and we would have to answer. The coolest part was I understood nearly everything she said and was able to answer back. Wow. After our class I had a one-on-one with Sestra Tuckett to do a check in on how I am doing. Did I cry? Yes. When we got back to our dorm, Sestra Voigt and I once again got nosebleeds at the same time.
I went to go show Natalie my nosebleed (it is an inside joke because of how frequent I get nosebleeds) and then we ended up doing a check in. Did we cry? Yes.
Nose bleed #3 (sadly I don't have a pic of number 2)
It was so nice to talk to her and give each other advice. We are both struggling with nearly the exact same things. It was great to have her there as "a comfort from home" kind of a thing. I love how close we are (5 doors away). After our talk I went and talked to my companion too. Did I cry? I got really really close but I didn't. So go me.
Saturday:
Another busy and long day. I was very tired and the language is very hard. We did learn to count in our morning class with Brat Kunzler. He had us go up and down the stairs by counting. At one point we had to race while counting in Slovene. I didn't win because I had to go allll the way down when I was one step away. I did feel less stupid in this class though which was really good.
Sestra Voigt's ideal napping position
It was one of the German sister's birthdays today so we celebrated that. We went to the gym and played volleyball again. I dove and got a nasty floor burn but still won the point so I'll take it. Our Saturday night class was with Sestra Kralj and Sestra Voigt and I were so confused that we ended up confusing her which then confused us more and we had to spend at least 30 minutes trying to figure everything out haha. I almost cried in this class. There was a point where I was trying to say "I asked...." but somehow ended up saying "I'm pooping myself" so there's that :| Haha.
View from our classroom
Sunday:
Today was a wonderful day. It was fast Sunday (on the first Sunday of every month we fast for two meals) which means that during church, instead of assigned people speaking, anyone is welcome to come up and share their thoughts or their testimony. Very last minute I was asked to lead the music which was very stressful because I tripped almost every time I had to get up to lead. But I did it and didn't fail so woo! I went up and bore my testimony on Matthew 28:20. It says, "Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen." This scripture has been especially helpful this week because of how hard it has been. I know that God is always with me, especially in my darkest and hardest moments. I had another nose bleed today. It happened while I was praying hahaha. SO fun.
Sestra King (Croatian) and I's attempt at a picture where we are jumping but every single picture our feet have not left the ground
We had a lot of devotionals and scripture studies today. I truly felt closer to Jesus Christ. I also learned and gained a new perspective on my Father in Heaven. I feel like my relationship with Him has improved and I truly see how much He loves me individually. I truly felt God's comforting presence today. Tomorrow morning the German sisters leave so we said our goodbyes. It was sad to see them go but I know they will all be fantastic. They did accidentally lock themselves out of the room so I attempted to use bobby pins to pick the lock. Sadly, it didn't work and we had to wait for security.
Lock picking at its finest
Monday:
Another roller coaster day. The morning class with Brat Kunzler was pretty good or at least very fun. We had to walk around the mtc and find random people to share a scripture and message with. The first one could be in English but the other ones had to be in Slovene. We would talk in Slovene and he would translate it into English. We only had time to do three but it went way better than I expected. I had to cheat and look at my notes a couple of times but it went pretty well! Night class :( Not fun. I had absolutely no clue what was going on. The first part of class was okay but then a supervisor came in and started watching our class and I SWEAR. I SWEAR. He could not have picked a WORSE time to come in. It was one of those moments where you are asked to write something on the board but you have no clue what to write. So you stand there just staring at the board with your marker in hand hoping that someone will write it for you. So bad. My teacher, Sestra Kralj was trying to give me hints but I had no clue what she was saying. My eyes started welling up so thankfully she changed the subject but yikes. So bad. I cried at the end of class. Then I cried in the one-on-one session with Sestra Kralj. Then I cried again while talking to one of the Croatian sisters in my district. Then I cried again when talking to Natalie. I cried so much. I just felt very dumb and overall having a hard time. BUT I was reminded of a very important principle about missionary work and just life in general from my teacher. She asked a very simple and powerful question. Was it easy for Jesus? Ooooooo I have the chills haha. No it was not. Missionary work and life itself is not easy. It is not supposed to be. Because if it were easy how would we know the joy that comes after suffering? How would we know the peace and comfort that comes after sorrow. We wouldn't. Even though today was very hard and I cried multiple multiple multiple times, I know that these struggles will only make my future successes more sweet.
Another district pic minus 5 people
Tuesday:Today wasn't that bad actually. It was kind of an off day where you just feel weird haha. Today we gave our very first lesson in Slovene to a complete stranger. His name is Kaden and we met with him online. When I tell you it went bad, it went bad. Not in an "he was rude and terrible to us" way but in an "I have no clue what you are saying and I have no clue what to say back to you" way. It was terrifying. The lesson was only 15 minutes but I had absolutely no clue what was going on the entire time. At one point we asked him if he believed in God and Jesus Christ and he just started talking for three minutes straight. Literally the only thing I could understand from it was "I don't know" and "yeah". Go me. I didn't cry afterwards though! I just feel more determined to improve for next time. We had a devotional today where one of the leaders of our church came and spoke to us. So cool!!!!!!!! His name is Elder (different meaning than that of a missionary Elder) D. Todd Christofferson. When he entered the room you could just feel the spirit pouring off of him. It was amazing. Him and his wife gave beautiful messages on repentance and Jesus Christ's atonement.
My wall of name tags (and yet I still somehow forget to put one on sometimes - don't worry I make sure to have extras on me just in case)
Wednesday:
I think I will just leave Wednesdays to be talked about in the next week's letter so I don't have to split the day in half.
Have a wonderful week everyone! If you have any questions you can always just shoot me an email! I love you all!
I just realized how massive my emails are. I am so sorry haha. They will be shorter next week I promise (maybe).
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