The Opening...

This was a long time coming, I know. But Laura's computer is AWESOME, so i decided to upload the video of me opening my mission call on her computer - and I had it on my digi, so it was WAY easy! So, for all of those who want to see it, check it out, for all of those who don't want to see it, never mind, for all of those who have seen it and want to see it again, go ahead.... just make sure you ENJOY :)

So, the day came when I recieved my call in the mail. I had just gotten home from seeing Elizabth Ross off on her mission, and we were talking at the airport and wondering when Marianna and I were going to get ours. Little did I know, mine was literally on it's way. I got home, and was running late for a basketball game, as I ran outside the postman came, I grabbed the mail and saw 'Sister Ellen J Carmichael' on an express post envelope, I ran it inside, and yelled 'I just got my mission call' - laura was the only one home, and couldn't believe it, so i threw it at her, and ran to basketball... it was the loooooongest game EVER. I came home and waited for mum, dad and hannah to come home, nan and pop happened to just 'show up' so that was nice that they could be there - although pop was SO over waiting for me to open it.. anyway the time finally came, and here it is.....

Something you only think you will ever see in Cartoon movies is this:

You think it only happens in cartoons - when they have massive icicles coming down from the tops of buildings or off the trees... but I can asure you it really does happen. This was something that would always blow me away. Especially when it was hanging of rocks/cliffs that would usually have water running down them - Even though I saw it, i still can't believe that it can get SO cold that running water can freeze... whats with that??

A day in Finland

As most everyone knows the weather is extremely cold in Finland at times. As long as you are well prepared - as in you have enough clothes, you have your little heat packs and you have some food then you should be ok to last a few hours without dying.

Here are a couple of pictures from one of our days in Finland. As you can see from the pictures it was no doubt FREEZING!! My companion, however, tried to stay as warm as possible having only parts of her body outside of her clothing that was really neccessary - in other words her eyes!

Here is Sister Kieffer - trying to keep warm! as you can see it's snowing and there is absolutly no sign of civilisation outside, except for us - as yourself this... would you be outside in this weather or would you be inside in the sauna....?? yeah, just what I thought!!

A close up... but, below, a little closer... this is what happens when your eye lashes freeze and then you get onto a warm bus and your eye lashes UNFREEZE - you really should wear waterproof mascara whenever possible!!

Umm..yes, so this is Sister Welling - i guess you could say that she had a hard day at the office... or outside.. she said she has never known Finland to be so cold except for when she was a missionary - i think the problem was that as a normal person you don't have to be outside for so long - you can avoid the weather outside by staying inside if you want to!! But as a missionary - you have to be outside doing the Lords work - no matter what!!!

You'll be right wells!!

Sister Kieffer and I  - braving the snow!! I miss that jacket I have on.. it was really cool (well it was warm, but it was just a really awesome jacket!! - but SO huge!!)

a set of keys, a car and a missionary district....

this is REALLY long, but I promise, it's well worth the read!

It's was a p.day and as a zone we decided to take a little trip TO SUOMENLINNA! We were going to play 'capture the flag' - so we got permission from the mission president and off we went.

It was a pretty cold day and there was snow everywhere (and ice). We headed off to Suomenlinna (Finnish Castle). Suomenlinna is this little island about 15 mins from Helsinki. You need to catch a little ferry over. It was awesome. So we all met up, and boared the ferry for a p.day day trip. HOW FUN!

We went over, we visited the museum there (well the sisters did, the elders didn't come til a little bt later)... then we played flags. This little island is actually quite big, and it's awesome. People actually live there, and there are quite a few tourist things to do over there. On the Island were little hide out holes and things like tha

t, and massive tunnels through to the other side, and they used this in a war (I can't remember exactly, but I think it was the war when the russians won some of the the finnish land - but don't quote me on that, I'm not a historian and this isn't the point to the story. So this Island is awesome - and if you ever go to Finland make sure you go there!!!

So, we played flags and had fun, then it was time to head back to the ferry - there were only 2 more for the rest of the night - so we had to hurry. We deci

ded we were not going to make it for the first ferry, but 2 elders decided they were going to run and 'make it' - yeah they missed it. As for the rest of us, 

we quickly walked to the ferry station and waited for the ferrry. Then, all of a sudden one of the Elders realised he had put the car keys down and didn't pick them up - so they went back to where they thought they put them and they weren't there. They were trying to work out what to do and trace back their steps. The ferry then arrived and we all decided they had better get on the ferry and worry about the keys the next day. The elder

s that 'owned' the car had 2 sets of keys (the elder that lost the key didn't even drive the car, and why he had the keys I don't know). The only problem... one key was lost and the other key was in one of the Elders bags... and the bag was in the car... hmm... problem - YEP! We tried to get a spare key from the mission office, but found they didn't actually have one.... so we wondered what we should do....

Ideas were flying out there like:

We could just break the window...

We could just leave the car here and come back for it...

We could smash the windscreen -it's cheaper

We could break into the car

All these many wonderful ideas.. but the idea that everyone liked was:

We could break into the car.... so it was settled, when the ferry landed we would break into the car, get the keys out and everything would be fine.

When the ferry arrived half the zone 'took off' and couldn't care less - the Espoo District stayed behind to make sure everything was ok. There was about 7 of us 2 sets of Elders and us - 3 sisters.... 

After quite a few attempts at breaking in, it couldn't be done.... 'damn it' - I said 'Sister Carmichael!!!!!! - The Americans said...  'What NOW' we all thought... 

Then, like a miracle, someone remember the back window 

was slightly broken and would always 'fall down' - 'we could try and pull the window down' - The elder said!

YES... lets give that a go.. So the elders pulled and pulled and they could NOT get the window down far enough... the lock was also one of thoese little locks that couldn't be undone, and they only realised about half way that it wasn't really going

 to work because even if we could reach our arm through we couldn't unlock the lock - the lock was one that didn't have a pull thing on it, it just went down into the door and that was it....

Then another idea - which, we all thought sounded impossible, but there was nothing more we could do but try it...This was the idea:

The Elder had the spare key in his back pack which was in the car. The backpack was in the back, on the floor, behind the passenger seat - the 'broken' window that would fall down was behind the drivers seat.... Someone mentioned: Why don't w

e try and get the backpack and then get the key? - No way, someone said, how they heck are we going to reach the backpack - the window comes down and inch - no one has an arm that small AND that long Elder...

The more we thought about it, the more we realised it could probably be done, so the Elders pulled the window down as far as they could, and my companion (sister welling) reached her arm in towards the back pack.... she couldn't reach it... OBVIOUSLY - she isn't inspectergadget, although he would have come in Handy right at this point.. but then again, so would have McGuiver!

So, then we managed to find a coat hanger, or something, and we stretched it out to make a small 'hooking' thing... the window was a tight squeeze and m

y comps arm was sure to fall off because it was so cold outside - there was no one I was letting my bare skin feel the coldness!! 

We tried and we tried to reach the back pack - it was getting there, slowly and every time we could either reach the bag and the hook wasn't strong enough and it wouldnt lift it, or the window was sliding up, or something that just didn't help the situation....

We tried for what seemed forever, then eventually, she hooked the bag, slowly brought it up - she was in pain from this, her arm was squeezed through a window remember, stretching as far as she could... the bag was hooked and it was slowly coming 

up towards the window.. now she had to slide her arm out, hold onto the hook and bring the bag toward the window without it falling.. slowly slowly... we're

 almost there..... and... it fell! But only onto the seat....  so we could hook it again with less difficulty this time.... then we hooked the bag again and eventually brought it to the window... one of the elders reached his hand in and grabbed the bagged... it was hanging there and the keys seemed SO CLOSE.. my comp had a rest and the elder held the bag in mid air for about 5 mins, then, it was time to start again. This time, my companion had to reach her arm through the window, unzip the bag and find the car keys - all while the elder struggled to hold the bag up with only his hand through the window - stopping at his wrist... my camp put her arm through... unzip the pocket, searched for the key... couldn't find it - it was now when the elder REALLY needed to remember exactly where it was.... 'it's in the front pocket, to the left and then there is anothe pocket - it's in there'... so, to the front pocket, to the left and search for the key.... FOUND IT! She FOUND IT... SHE FOUND THE KEY.. ok, hold onto the key, slowly bring your arm out and then drop the bag.....

This took about 2 hours to complete and is recommend that you DO NOT try this at home - especially on Mt Wellington where weather conditions could 

possibly be 'almost' as cold.... ok so add like -20 to the weat

her there and you have the temperture in Finland!!!

Travelling back to Helsinki from Suomenlinna - you can tell we all look pretty excited!! - Can you work out who the Missionaries are that can't get into their car when they get back??

Looking in the back to see the positioning of the backpack!

The Elders trying to pry the window down as my companion in the back ground begins to prepare!

I have another photo to put here, but blogger won't let me download it at the moment - but it's a good one - my companion arm is in the window!

And, finally - my Companions arms the day after!

Lost photos...

I don't have very many photos from when I forst arrived in Finland because they were on a computer at the Chapel and one of the Elders deleted them - i was really mad!! I had asked one of the elders to copy them onto a disc for me because it was going to take him 2 seconds and me like 3 hours because I couldn't understand finnish. So he did my comps and then he didn't do mine and then he deleted them a little while later - so all that GONE.. but I do have lots of videos.. so I guess that is ok. But I don't have many of just me and my first companions time together as they were all deleted. This is the best photo I could find (so far) of me and my trainer.

We are on a train, probably heading to Helsinki or something - I can't remember. But anyway. This is me and Sister Kieffer.

A little about her:

She was from France. She had about 4 months of her mission left when she started training me. We Served in Espoo - which is where the Temple is built. Our second or third change together we were given a Finnish companion. We were a lot a like and got along really well. We had our differences of course - and one being language. She spoke French. I spoke Australian. She learned English AND Finnish in the MTC - yes I know AMAZING - I couldn't even learn finnish! She didn't understand me alot of the times when we were first togther, and she didn't tell me this until a little while later - we often mis understood each other, and this is probably why. But Sister Kieffer was awesome - she made the BEST crepes EVER - and she was always watching out for me! 

This is Sister Kieffer, Sister Welling and myself - Sister welling was my second companion, she was from North Finland, she was awesome - we were in a threesome for about 6 weeks and then Sister Kieffer went home :( 

This photo was taken late January, in Espoo, it was FREEZING this night and we were stuck at a bus stop for about an hour, it was dark, cold and there was NO ONE around - actually one person walked past I think. Anyway, it was so cold that we could see our breath (well, that was like an every  day occurance in Finland) I guess we took these photos to entertain ourselves while waiting..... and waiting for the bus!

South Zone

This is a picture of the South Zone in Helsinki. I think this was actually about my 3rd or 4th Zone conference, but it was the only one they sent home - even though they took one every Zone conference and told us it was being sent to our parents... hmm... :)

Arriving in Finland

I arrived in Finland October 10th 2006. I met my mission president and his wife at the airport and then the Elders that I arrived with went with the assistants to have a look at the Temple, do a little paper work and then head to the Estes home for a meal and then to sleep. 

Here is me and the Estes - The morning after I arrived in Finland - yes I look like I am about to die because I am SO tired!

Sister Estes, Sister Carmichael, President Estes

Change of plans

ok, so I have decided to change my mission blog a little. All my mission photos' are all over the show and it's really hard to get them and find some kind of order. So I am have decided that as I find photos I am going to stick them on, no matter what. i will still keep it within area's that I served, but the arrangement might be a little... date stuffed! Anyway, you'll get over it, and this way I will post more exciting things now!!

Opening the Mission Call

So, if you want to see something you have never seen before, watch this video. If you live outside Australia it has course language (thanks Laura.. who lives IN America..).

This is the video of when I opened my mission call.

This is NOT a re-inactment - it's the real deal.

So.. I guess.... enjoy!

Weird things we did in MTC..

So anybody thats even a little normal will think this is weird.. but it's something we used to do ALL the time and I guess it shoes just how bored you get in MTC and what things you find entertaining after being in the same building for 3 months straight!

Here is a picture of me and my MTC companions... Sister Prusse, Me & Sister Hynynen.. Behind us is another picture - of President Heber J Grant - this building was dedicated to him - it was called: Heber J. Grant (I'm pretty sure thats what it was called - must have been hard thinking up all the names)...

so anyway, everyday we would walk past this picture of him, and everyday we used to say hello to him, and then one day my campanions and I wrote a song about him. They really like the 'Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree' - although they grew up learning different words - I am not sure which one is correct.. but this is what they sang:

Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree, eating all the gum nuts that do fall.. 

laugh kookaburra laugh kookaburra, 

gay your life must be.

we sing:

Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree, 

merry merry king of the bush is he, 

laugh kookaburra, laugh kookaburra,

gay your life must be..

Maybe there is two verses.. I don't know. 

So anyway, this is the song we (they) wrote about Heber J. Grant - to the tune of the previous song... 

Heber baby sits on the old brick wall, 

reading all the letters that do fall. 

read heber baby, read heber baby,

(and I can't remember the last line)

If you are wondering why they wrote 'reading all the letters' - Sister Hynynen had a joke with Sister prusse that she had no one to write to except for Heber!! - so there you have it folks..... 

What happens after seeing the SAME picture about 20 times a day for THREE months!!

Getting out of the MTC

So, as I said before, being in the MTC for 3 months straight - you want to get the hell out of there whenever you can - well for me - was blessed!! - I got to leave that place TWICE - YES, TWICE - my Elders were SO mad - it was GREAT. So the first time I got to leave was to visit Temple Square - all foreign Missionaries got to do this - as this is totally a once in a life-time opportunity for most of us. Here are some pics of my first time out in the real world after about 6 weeks in the MTC - doing the same thing, every single day - this was BLISS...

This was the first sister i met in MTC - Sister Pierson - we were lucky enough to go to Temple Square the same day -it was awesome! - 

So we are on the bus in this photo, and something really.... funny happened on the bus, i guess it happens all the time as the same MTC couple take the missionaries to Temple Square. Anyway, so they had a microphone on the bus, and because everyone was 'foreign' they asked where everyone was from, their tongans, canadians, a FINNISH kid, mexicans, and, I don't remember where else, but anyway, so someone thought it would be a great idea to sing the national anthems from our countries - well, the tongans did like this cool duet thing - seriously, it was AWESOME, the canadians shouted theirs from the roof top, the mexicans didn't really understand that much english, so they didn't do it, the finnish guy even sang on his own (which is really rare for a finn to do ANYTHING in public - even speak), and then it was my turn... umm.. YEAH.. I had to sing the Australian national anthem ALL ON MY OWN into a MICROPHONE so that everyone on the bus could hear it... YIKESIES - I won't mention I couldn't remember the very last line.. but i just ended it and no one even knew I was singing the theme from Home & Away!! (just kidding)

As missionaries, we got heaps of 'special' privledges (i cant's spell that word and I tried about four times, that will have to do!) - we got special tours - they were all so fast though because we only had a day there - but something really really special that we got to do was go to the very top of the church offices there -as in the offices that all the church Presidency have their meetings, offices etc in - HOW COOL is THAT! From the very top - I can't remember how many floors it was, but it was a looooon way up in the elevator, anyway, so when we got to the top - we got to go outside and check out the view - INCREDIABLE - this is what we saw!

The conference centre - so this was the SECOND reason I got to leave the MTC. While in the MTC the MTC choir was chosen or it was their annual turn or something, to sing at General Conference... and YES, I got to go. It was awesome. I was sitting in a REAL LIVE general conference - and I was SINGING IN THE CHOIR - in front of the WHOLE CHURCH! - It was AWESOME - very very awesome, and I think you should all be envious (although a person really shouldn't wish that upon another, but this was SO great, that you should all wish you had the chance). so lets move on to what else we saw on Temple square..

Salt Lake Temple - basically a birds eye view - this is something you only see in photos... and I guess this IS a photo, but... well.. I was REALLY there!

Everyone knows what this is :) Again - awesome!

AND - of course, certainly the most exciting, and best thing ever... was this building.. why?? because this is where President Hinckley lives!!! - or lived, i should say - awesome huh? I guess President Monson lives there now..?? Anyway so the MTC guy told us that Pesident Hinckley lives on the top floor of this building, to the left of it - I can't remember if he said the whole floor or what, maybe his room was just in the left corner or something, i don't know.. but anyway, so it's made of bullet proof glass and is very well watched over!!

And, of course we got to see the Temple... in the square!! 

I PROMISE in the MTC i DID NOT...

 

And we certainly DID NOT.....

My First Birthday

My First Birthday As A Missionary I Was In The MTC - 

On The Same Day As My Birthday, The NEW Finns Arrived - So, I Guess You Could Say For My Birthday I Got A New Companion - Sister Beckwith!

Sister Hynynen Made Me a Birthday Cake - There Are Limited Supplies In the MTC, So She Made It From Stuff From The Vending Machines - I Was Made Of Donuts, M&M's,  Lifesavers, And Lollie Snake Things! - It Was Pretty Cool!!

Here We Are Holding The Wonderful Creation - THE CAKE

THE CAKE

facebook..

For those of you who have face book and want to check it out - I have just uploaded the video of me opening my call - it's not the WHOLE vid, just the actual opening.... I am still trying to upload it to blogger, but it still isn't uploading - not sure why. Anyway.. so if you go to facebook you should be able to see "the call" on video

SeRviCe & RooM inSpecTIons...

Service:

Every Thursday morning at 630am we had Service. Because my companions and I were 'solo' we were never actually assigned anywhere to clean - so we could have technically not done it, slept in, or just went to breakfast earlier - BUT, we didn't. We would always get up at 620am, pray and then go to our service - we always headed down stairs and asked what could be done in our building - we always had the SAME job - cleaning the BATHROOMS!! We got a litte trolly with loo papers and paper towels on it, we had to make sure everything was stocked up, and clean out all the bins - had to do every bathroom on every floor of our building, we had 5 floors and there were two bathrooms on every floor - in every bathroom there were maybe 5-6 dunnies! Once we cleaned out the bins, we took the garbage down stairs and put it in one of those massive wheelie bins - you know the ones with FOUR wheels - yep, one of those. Then we had to roll that wheelie bin out to another HUGER steel bin- then empty all of our rubbish into that!

Sister Hynynen with the trolly - I think we named it, Rosy or something - I don't remember, it was always so early we probably even changed it every week...

This is me - I am the 'key' holder - and I found a very helpful 'Key holder' on my pants!! This key opened up the toilet and paper towel dispenser - no wonder I got to be the 'key holder'.

(and you can tell from this photo that it was 630 in the morning as I look like I just rolled out of bed - and literally, I did!)

Room inspection:

Every Tuesday someone came around and check our rooms to make sure they were spick and span - we got marked on it, and then our mark went to our branch president at the MTC. Every Monday night we vacuumed, made sure our towels were folded perfectly, that EVERYTHING was put away - seriously, if you had your eye glasses sitting next to the mirror then you got marked down!! 

So here is us, cleaning our room..

This is a typical picture actually - Sister Prusse cleans, Sister Hynynen stuffs her face, and I was taking photos (well usually i was just watching, but this was an exception)..

Mission Impossible.. escaping from MTC

Like I said before, you would do anything to get out of the MTC!

My two companions and I tried escaping, but we didn't get very far. We got busted, and because we took photo's of ourselves we even had evidence (yes, we were busted on our own evidence!)

Ok, so what is really funny about this p-day adventure in the MTC is that when we decided to do this 'photo shoot' there was another MTC class (who were NOT on p-day) in the court yard just over from us and saw us sneaking in to the bushes - the missionaried wondered what we were doing, but didn't really care either way. But, we heard along the grapevine (from a friend of one of my compies who was actually IN the MTC class) that the teacher from that MTC class thought we were getting 'secret packages' from over the fence - Yes, thats right, he though we were smuggling in some goods! - Now you should know that everything that comes into the MTC has to be passed by the office, or it has to be posted in (if you want to post something in Provo to the MTC no matter how BIG or small it is, it will only cost you TWO BUCKS) so.. there you go, the teacher from the class thought we were smuggling in 'secret packages'... of what?? Chocolate?? hmm... it was VERY funny when we found out (and we were a little mad that we didn't actually think of smuggling in packages while doing that.. darn it!)

My MTC companions

I had 3 companions in the MTC. My first 2 were Sister Prusse and Sister Hynynen. 

Sister Prusse entered the MTC 6 weeks before me, I was supposed to enter the same day as her but my Visa was delayed, so I left her as a solo sister with 5 Elders - she said she got to the MTC and was told that 'her companion wasn't coming anymore'... and she replied with 'what do you mean she's not coming? Who's my companion?'.

Little did I know that there was a long wait for me to come into the MTC - they had heard that an Australian was coming and they were all very excited, and then they heard that she wasn't coming anymore - so they all guessed that I had gotten engaged and changed my mind (this would be the reason why one of the first questions I was asked was: Have you ever been engaged Sister Carmichael? - of course my reply was 'yeah, twice, but then I decided to come on a mission' the elder looked really shocked and almost fell off his chair, so I thought I had better fix up my sarcasm with 'no, not really, I am just kidding'. Anyway, back to the companions.

I was in the MTC with Sister Prusse for 6 weeks - Sister Prusse was heading to Finland also. 

My second companion was Sister Hynynen (hoonoonen) she was from the states but had Finnish background, so could speak a little finnish - she was serving in Estonia - we were companions for 9 weeks.

Sister Erin Prusse, me, Sister Vilja Hynynen

Then, I had my MTC Elders. These were the two I spent my 'class time' with. I was only with the Sisters for breakfast, P.E, and sometimes lunch and dinner when we were all together anyway, and after 930pm when we would all head back to our dorm rooms - for the rest of the time, I was with these two blokes. They came into the MTC the same day as me, and left for Finland the same day. We studied together, fought and pretty much got on each others nerves - BUT we also had a hell of a lot of fun together!

Elder Michael Yacktman, me, Elder Landon Deru

(I'm not sure what was up with the pose - but I guess back in the day we thought we were cool)

Finally, when Sister Prusse left for Finland, we had another intake of missionaries heading to Finland - in the group - much to my relief was a Sister - Sister Bethany Beckwith. We were companions for 6 weeks, 3 of those were with Sister Hynynen. When sister beckwith came, sister hynynen and I thought we would make her welcome and make her a sign for our bedroom door - someone on our floor knew Sister Beckwith (well, they were in the same ward anyway). At this stage we weren't completel sure on her name, so we asked her friend 'is the new sisters name bethwick? 'yeah, she replied... 

So.. we made a sign that said Tervetuloa Sisar Bethwick (Welcome Sister Bethwick).. now if you look closely at the name - we got it WRONG!! her name isn't beTHwiCK it's beCKwiTH - DOH! So, we had her name wrong, and we felt like IDIOOOTS - but she thought it was funny, so thats ok! - oh, and we KNEW her first name was Bethany - so when we found out her last name was bethwick, we wondered who the hell would call there kid Bethany Bethwick!!! (apparently they DID NOT)

Sister Vilja Hynynen, me, Sister Bethany Beckwith

My MTC Elders

In the MTC my intake took only 3 missionaries. Me, Elder Yacktman and Elder Deru (both from USA). So I spent 3 months, everyday from 730am until 930pm with these two Elders. I don't think I have to explain that being around someone for that long does kinda of get old after a while. Most of the time we got along fairly well, as for other times.... well.... we argued, we got on each others nerves and I just wanted to kill them basically. 

Being in the MTC with two Elders and only one sister meant that, they (the two elders) were my companion. I was a 'solo' sister, which mean I didn't need a companion as in a sister, but I had to have at least two Elders with me at all times. 

this made the times when having no teacher in the classroom very difficult..

If one of the Elders wanted to go to the bathroom, the other would have to go to because he wasn't allowed to stay in the classroom alone with a Sister, so he had to go, but so did I because I wasn't allowed to stay in the classroom by myself... so, off we went to the bathroom (i stood in the hall of course).. Then, if I wanted to go to the bathroom, i had to ask them to come with me, I wasn't allowed to go on my own, and just one of them couldn't come, so we ALL had to go. It was an experience and a half if I do say so myself!!

This photo couldn't sum all three of us more perfectly.

Theres me... I always got mad and threatened to throw stuff - especially on Thursdays (will get to the reason why later).

Elder Yacktman, he's the one studying his cards - he pretty much knew fluent finnish by the time we left MTC, he was the smart one, and loved to study (hard). He was VERY good to have around and helped me alot (but I will also admit that we did used to have quite a few arguments from time to time....).

Then theres Elder Deru - he's the one swinging from the door frame. He was always out to have a good time, make us laugh and keep us entertained. He didn't always stuff around though, he knew when to be 'normal'.

I guess you could say that our we gave our MTC teachers a fairly hard time... and also we were all at completel different learning levels we were probably near impossible to teach.

there was me who still couldn't figure out how to say 'I HAVE something'

Then there was Elder Yacktman who was onto all sorts of Crazy grammar before any of us could say.... what? We don't get it..

And then there was Elder Deru, he was smack bang in the middle, he could say "I HAVE something' but he wasn't quite up to where Elder Yacktman was on his grammar. 

I guess you could say we gave our teachers are fairly hard time. We made sure they earnt the 'small' amount of pay they recieved and we certainly made sure to tell them what we thought of them from time to time. 

We played a few tricks here and there, one included putting a banana on top of the door and then have it land on our teacher when he walked in, I think another time we didn't show up to class on time and I am sure there are many more memories I should probably not 'blog' about.

MTC - day one

Tuesday July 25th I entered the MTC. There was no turning back now. 

Because the all the foreigners arrive a day earlier than the Americans, there wasn't so many people standing around, most people 

don't come with Family 

members as they have already said good bye in their own countries. There were a few other Elders who arrived  around the same time as me. But pretty much, I was it. 

Mark, Laura and I said our goodbyes and then I was left to fend for myself - no more ski lifts, no more wearing shorts, no more caramel apples, no more driving or jumping off bridges, from here on out it was MTC time, which meant STUDY time all day, every day!

Laura says Goodbye my dear sister - Goodluck out there - don't do anything I wouldn't do (so that pretty much left me with the option to do whatever the hell I wanted to do)

When Mark and Laura departed, I shed a tear, ok not really. When they left this nice old lady took me and showed me where I needed to go. They usuall

y find some Elder running around somewhere an

d make them carry your suitcase for you. She took me into a little office and made sure I was who I said I was, and the two other Elder arrived (from Canada I think). they took us into a room, gave us our badges and these little green dots we had to wear and then showed us to our dorm rooms. The lady put me in a room - where there was NO ONE, and said, there you go.. and I said, so.... what do I do? and she said... just wait here. So I waited, and I only had to wait for a few minutes when the door opened and a Sister from Canada had arrived. Sister Pierson, she was heading to Salt Lake South and was learning S

panish. Sister Pierson was my first unofficial companion. We had an hour or so to wait until we were to be in meeting. So we took a wonder around MTC to see what was about and to see if we could find a few things. We then headed to

 the meeting where we meet about 15 other missionaries, from about 10 different countries - it was really awesome. Some of them couldn't speak english so they were given interpretors for the day. 

We all introduced ourselfs and said

 we were going 

on our missions. There were Elders from Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Canada and I don

't even remember where else. But we spent most of the day together and got to know each other well and would often see each other around the MTC during our time there - so that was nice.

Every Tuesday night in the MTC we have a devotional where someone for the Quorum of the 70 usually comes to speak, or sometimes even one of the 12. So it

 was exciting to see who was going to show up from week to week. I got to hear from President Hinckley's son, Elder Ballard and heaps heaps more. 

The next day we were to meet all the 'other' missionaries, meaning all the American missionaries. I don't know how many there were coming in, but I think it was about 200 or maybe even 

more.

Sister Pierson and I

Notice the massive orange and green d

ots on our badges..? 

The orange was to tell everyone that were 'new missionaries' and the green was to tell everyone we were 'foreign'...yeah good way to make poeple laugh at you!! - At least I used to laugh at the new missionaries and their orange dots every Wednesday!

So this is tha massive world map in the MTC. I had to stand on a chair to reach Finland, and there was NO WAY I was going to be able to touch Finland and Australia at the same time - check out how far away they are from each other. In fact, the furthest away you can get from Finland is New Zealand - YIKES! I was literally on the other side of the world!!

temple sqaure

I was blessed to be able to visit Temple Square twice while in Utah. The first time I went with Mark and Laura and the second was in the MTC - for those of you that don't know, in the MTC if you are a forgeiner i.e not American, then you enter the MTC a day earlier and then at some point throughout your stay there they take you to Temple Square with some other 'foreigners' it was great - All you want to do in the MTC is get out of there and you will do almost anything to leave - my MTC companions were VERY upset tha

t I got to leave... not once, but twice - but we'll get to that story soon enough!

When Mark, Laura and I visited Temple square I planned to meet up with Sister Reiljan- Dillon who took me on my own personal tour (of course her companion came too). 

We were also asked to have 'Quiet Dignity' in the MTC..... hmm....

Two Sister missionaries - and man, don't we look like it!!

It was awesome to see sister maz at work, and to also be able to see her at such a special place - temple square!

and then, there's Laura and me, looking so happy to be there - together!! LOL

Kicking it in Utah

Before entering the MTC I spent a week with Mark and Laura in 

Utah. We had a blast. Mark took me (Laura came too) to the mountains to see the awesome View.

This is Me.. with some other people in the background.. oh and some of the awesome Valley in Utah

We did heaps of cool stuff, but of course we were v

ery limited as I was a missionary and there were 'rules' we needed to obey - so of course I obeyed all the rules like:

Always wearing 'Missionary clothes' (i.e Skirt and Shirt etc) when in public

Not driving any cars unless having permission from your mission President..

Always having a companion and NEVER being alone..

Not climbing over and jumping off any bridges into the water.... I 

also didn't break the no swimming rule either!!

When doing some of these things you should never look back - Why? Because you find someone is ALWAYS watching.. 'Damn it - Busted!

I didn't visit the 'General Store' and buy myself a drink....

And..... I definetly DID NOT play with fireworks....