Mabuti Brings all the Boys to the Yard

Kumusta po kayo!? That means how are you!

Life at the MTC is like the movie "The Island." You wake up at the same time every day, wear the same clothes, follow the same schedule, and you have to follow the rules. The residents are regularly monitored for misbehavior, and males and females are allowed only limited physical contact with one another. We are of diverse backgrounds with a common element (though instead of being the clones of rich people, we're all Mormon missionaries). We refer to each other by code names. We are in a state of (somewhat) innocence, being told repeatedly that if we are good (and lucky?) we may be able to leave this place and go to The Island (which in our case is our mission, I guess). We are completely unaware of the outside world, though we constantly come into contact with people from the outside world who have been told explicitly not to talk to us about the outside world. We forever feel the desire to get out of this place. :)

Things I Miss Most:

-Communication of a virtual nature (email once a week. That's all I get. I'm dying)

-Hugs

-Music Variety

-Sleeping In

-Freedom

-Wearing pants

-The ability to be all by myself

-My nieces and nephews

-Being able to know if anything is going on in the world

-My family and friends of course

Commendable Mail Sending Awards go to...

Brian (thanks for the pics of Wesley! I'm so happy for you all!)

Liesel (she's sent me 2 drawings by mail so far!)

And to my DearElder people

Kira &

Ben

Thanks so much! I sent you all replies via mail!

Highlights about this week:

I started going to choir. Choir is held on Sundays and Tuesdays. On Tuesdays the choir performs a song for the special Devotional speaker that night.

This Tuesday our special speaker was Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles, and his wife. They were great. We sang "Consider the Lilies."

At choir we were given "surveys" (basically brag-about-yourself applications) for the chance to get to sing in a "special choir." I made myself as impressive sounding as possible (not hard to do. I am pretty awesome, you know) and I got in!  I will be performing in a choir on the afternoon of Saturday March 31, and I miiiiiiiiiight be broadcasted internationally and on the internet.

(The LDS church will be holding its semi-annual General Conference in Salt Lake City on March 31-April 1. Kelli will be participating in the Saturday afternoon session which will be broadcast live 2:00-4:00pm MDT on KSL-TV and KSL radio in Utah. Check http://bonneville.info/ for broadcasts in your area. The session will also be streamed live on the internet at lds.org and archived for later viewing at lds.org.) -Mom

At church on Sunday song of my district and I sang a musical number. I guess I've identified myself as the musical person in the district so much that the District leader Elder Knowles asked Sister Arnold and I to be the official Music Coordinators for the district. Basically we get to pick the songs we sing in Tagalog at the beginning and end of each class period. Since my Tagalog is still so bad, I can't read the hymn titles, so I always have to sight read the first few lines until I figure out what hymns they are!

In other denominations of religion it may be normal for only one preacher/priest/pastor/minister/whatever to give a talk/sermon during church. Well in the LDS faith people from the congregation are asked by the church leaders to give a talk on a topic. In our branch the Branch President (leader of our congregation) gives all the missionaries a topic to write a talk about. At the beginning of the church meeting he tells us all who will be speaking. That is NOT typical! So you better have something prepared! You might get asked to give a talk like a minute before you have to give it! It's only a five-minute talk though, so you could make it up if you really needed to. This week’s topic is "Faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ" and I have some good material for it.

Yesterday I was planning to teach a lesson about the restoration of the gospel. I really, really wanted to memorize at least a few of the sentences I had prepared to say. Memorizing is hard for me, and I was getting really frustrated with how slowly the words would leave my mouth, and how bad it sounded. I started to cry, but not out of frustration. Right at that moment, I had a sudden realization that I knew that these sentences that I was memorizing were true. There was a reason I was memorizing these stupid sentences, and it was because I have faith in them, and in the gospel and love of my Heavenly Father, and that I wanted to be able to share it. I wanted to be able to share it in Tagalog. Sister Arnold, the only other person in the room thought I was crying out of frustration (which I wasn't. I was having a spiritual experience) so I had to explain to her that they were tears of happiness, not sadness. Those tears came back off and on for the rest of the evening.

So that investigator we've been teaching's name is Lester. Last night (after ALL THE MEMORIZING) "Lester" revealed himself to be our teacher! I assumed he was a teacher, but I didn't know he was going to be OURS! It was a big surprise, and I was a little upset (because I memorized those sentences for him!!!), but I told him that he missed out, and that made me feel better. I'm glad it all happened though. It was all a good experience.

I went to the doctor on Monday because I had a dry spot of discolored skin by the corner of my right eye. The doc said it's because moisture gets stuck in the skin when I cry or something. I guess my tender heart/fangirl tears were going to catch up with me someday. His cure? Vaseline when I go to bed. I'm trying it. I'm fine.

Tagalog Lesson:

Unlike French or Spanish, Tagalog has almost no gender differentiation for nouns, even nouns that should have gender identifiers. For example, there are no Tagalog words for "brother" or "sister." Instead you say "Kapatid na lalaki" or "kapatid na babai" which basically mean "sibling who's a boy" and "sibling who's a girl."

Fun Facts:

-My mission tag does not say "kapatid na babai King" on it. I think that's too much, so they just say "Sister" on them. My whole tag is in English actually. I don't know if I'll get new tags when I get to the Philippines or not.

-I sleep on a bunk bed. Top bunk.

-One of those Marshallese roommates of mine is actually American Samoan.

-Elder Partsch in the district is of Samoan ancestry, but he was born in New Zealand.

We use ID Cards to get everywhere; Into secure places like buildings, to get our food, to do laundry. There's also a $8 allowance each week for little expenses or if you forget your money.

Send me:

Girl Scout Cookies (Thin Mints?)

Mary Kay eye makeup remover (get a good price! Tell them it's for a missionary!)

Write to the Elders in my District!

Elder Taukei (Fiji)

Elder Partsch (New Zealand)

Elder Saaid (Australia)

They're all far away from home, and they never get mail! Elder Partsch's family is inactive in the church, and Elder Saaid's family aren't members, so they don't get a lot of support! Send their stuff to:

MTC Mailbox # 111
PHI-LAO 0425
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604-1793

Use DearElder.com to write to me! They deliver all week and it's free! Just know my mailbox number, and it'll find me!

I love you all! Keep the letters coming!!!!

Love,

Sister Kelli King