Friday, November 1, 2013
Picture #3
Picture #2
A district picture with our teacher Bro. Mickelson and the former mission president and his wife.Picture #1
A sister whose husband was one of the mission presidents in Cambodia who served with our teacher Bro Mickelson. She is from Cambodia but served in Tacoma!
Sara's 7th week in the MTC
Remember how I said we only get called to speak only once for Sacrament Meeting? Yeah, I got called on again this Sunday. Ironically my first topic was on Recognizing the Spirit, so when they called on me to talk about the Holy Ghost I was completely surprised. I had the thought I might be called again, but because the chances of being called again are extremely low, I kept pushing the thought away. Still, I decided I better study a little and I found a really good quote from the Teachings of the Living Prophets manual on Lorenzo Snow I had mom send me. It's not on the list of "approved books" which is why I didn't bring it initially (though it is a church manual), but I've learned so much from it that I had to request it. And, since we sustained a new counselor to our Branch Presidency, the 1st counselor to the MTC Presidency and his wife was there and didn't say anything about it except that I did a good job, so I guess I get to keep the manual. :) (Not that I was really that worried anyway.)
The weather lately has been super nice, so every day for gym we'll all go to the field to play kickball, Frisbee, Trackball (my new favorite sport), soccer or volleyball. I feel like a duck out of water when exercising by playing sports instead of dancing, but the bright side is I'm learning how to play. It took 4 outs while playing kickball before I finally got 2 home runs, but at least now I can sufficiently say I know how to play. To others that might seem really naive to not even know how to play kickball, but some people don't know the difference between clogging and tap dance, so I just don't worry about it too much. And in spite of incompetent players, we all manage to have fun anyway. :)
This past Sunday was really weird for me since Sister Walker was sick and had to stay at the residence hall with Sister Litchfield who was also sick, so I went to all the leadership meetings by myself and tagged along with Sister Choi; a solo sister going to Hong Kong speaking Cantonese and who is the sister to the Elder Choi in my district. It was a good day, but it wasn't the same without Sister Walker. Thankfully she's feeling better and although we missed a day of classes we're back to normal again.
I don't know how I missed adding this in my email last week, but I saw Aunt Arlene at the Provo temple!! I don't know what temple members from Manti go to, but I was completely surprised to see her there, though it was so nice to see family! Today I also saw an Elder Shelby Glenn from second ward back home as we left the temple. He's going to [something] California, English speaking so he'll be leaving next week.
Well, my times up, but I hope you have a great week!
- Sister Saralee Dunster
Sara's 6th Week in MTC
This week was definitely a week of change! First of all the Thais left on Monday so our zone has shrunk a third. On Sunday they all sang "God Be With You 'Till We Meet Again" in Thai as a musical number. I was doing so well until Elder Duffy from my district started crying, which made Elder Osborne who was singing start to cry, which made most everybody else start crying. And then Elder Sugihara went to wipe a tear from his eye and accidentally knocked the hymnbook out of his own hand with a whack so we ended in tearful smiles. I loved it.
Then Monday our zone moved our classrooms to a completely different building. You would think the change would lessen the absence of the Thais, but there are still empty rooms in the hallway which will be filled by the new Thais coming in today! Sister Walker and I were made the new Sister Training Leaders for the zone so we will greet the five new sisters and one elder into our zone tonight which I'm so excited for!
Yesterday Elder Dallin H. Oaks spoke at the devotional which was broadcast to all the MTCs around the world. It was really good, and I got the chills when all the missionaries rose as he entered while we were singing "Come come ye saints". He spoke about some doctrinal difference between religions and why all churches couldn't be true which was really insightful. As good as it was, I would have to say the highlight of the day for me was when all the sisters of our zone got together with the only two Sister teachers. They teach the Vietnamese class, but they thought it would be good for all the sisters to get together to answer any questions about serving as a sister missionary. Somehow, they said exactly what I needed to hear I and left on a spiritual high for the rest of the day!
Another big moment of the week was when Elder Madsen (one of the Thais now in the mission field) and I got the envelopes in the mail assigning us to perform our musical number at the Sunday night devotional. We played an arrangement of "Our Savior's Love" for cello and piano at our Sacrament meeting musical number, and tried-out to perform for the campus but since it had been several weeks since we'd last heard from them, and he was leaving the following Monday we had decided they just didn't need us to perform. So when we got the letter we practiced a couple times and performed in front of about 600 people. It's fortunate for me that as the accompanist I don't have to face the hundreds of people before me, but I do have the projector screen within view, so I could tell when the camera switched its angle to me. I kept my nerves down pretty well though, as I'm learning it's not about how many people you're performing for, but how well they feel the Spirit and are uplifted because of your performance.
I can't believe I only have three weeks left here, and they will be different from any other week with the new missionaries and new calling. But I've learned so much since I've been here and I'm excited for what's coming. :)
Sister Saralee Dunster
Sunday, October 13, 2013
Sara's 5th Week in the MTC
After the first week, I don't know what happened to time. Next week half our zone - the Thais - will be leaving and it will never be the same without them! We'll get some more the Wednesday following, but no one can replace the Thais that welcomed us into the MTC and who keep things lively. :)
This past weekend, because of General Conference, felt the most like an actual weekend. Usually Saturday is a complete repeat of Friday's schedule, so to have Saturday and Sunday mostly free was really nice! And General Conference just made it that much better! But the highlight for me was Sunday night's devotional when they had the a capella group from BYU, Vocal Point, sing and give spiritual thoughts. The director had told the singers to prepare spiritual thoughts, and then he would announce who would be speaking and when at the performance. I loved every minute of that hour, and the music! They sang hymns, but after hearing nothing but the Mormon Tabernacle Choir or instrumental musical numbers, it was so refreshing to hear new voices, live, and in different arrangements. They also performed a song one of the singers arranged between an African song and "Come come ye saints" which was really cool.
Cambodian is coming along. Our teacher ruled out having notebooks when we're teaching our investigator which helps with forcing us to memorize more vocabulary better, though I miss being able to write down words I don't recognize and want to remember. I wish I could share something I've learned, but I don't know how to write in script yet, and I don't have a way of writing in romanized Khmae, because they still use different symbols. But as daunting as it sounds, Cambodian isn't as hard as it sounds. First of all, we don't have tones, and the hardest thing for me in learning it is reading script, and just getting a few grammar principles down. Otherwise their verbs don't conjugate, most of their words are merely little words put together like "want-hold" would mean "remember", or "shirt-pants-socks" would mean "clothes", and they don't have articles or plural vs. singular objects.
Next week we're going to have a General Authority speak at the Tuesday devotional which I'm so excited for, and they'll be broadcasting it to all the MTCs around the world. A couple Hmong Elders know which authority will be speaking since their teacher accidentally told them, but they won't share the secret with us. Still, it only makes me more excited to find out. :)
Have a great week!
Sister Dunster
This past weekend, because of General Conference, felt the most like an actual weekend. Usually Saturday is a complete repeat of Friday's schedule, so to have Saturday and Sunday mostly free was really nice! And General Conference just made it that much better! But the highlight for me was Sunday night's devotional when they had the a capella group from BYU, Vocal Point, sing and give spiritual thoughts. The director had told the singers to prepare spiritual thoughts, and then he would announce who would be speaking and when at the performance. I loved every minute of that hour, and the music! They sang hymns, but after hearing nothing but the Mormon Tabernacle Choir or instrumental musical numbers, it was so refreshing to hear new voices, live, and in different arrangements. They also performed a song one of the singers arranged between an African song and "Come come ye saints" which was really cool.
Cambodian is coming along. Our teacher ruled out having notebooks when we're teaching our investigator which helps with forcing us to memorize more vocabulary better, though I miss being able to write down words I don't recognize and want to remember. I wish I could share something I've learned, but I don't know how to write in script yet, and I don't have a way of writing in romanized Khmae, because they still use different symbols. But as daunting as it sounds, Cambodian isn't as hard as it sounds. First of all, we don't have tones, and the hardest thing for me in learning it is reading script, and just getting a few grammar principles down. Otherwise their verbs don't conjugate, most of their words are merely little words put together like "want-hold" would mean "remember", or "shirt-pants-socks" would mean "clothes", and they don't have articles or plural vs. singular objects.
Next week we're going to have a General Authority speak at the Tuesday devotional which I'm so excited for, and they'll be broadcasting it to all the MTCs around the world. A couple Hmong Elders know which authority will be speaking since their teacher accidentally told them, but they won't share the secret with us. Still, it only makes me more excited to find out. :)
Have a great week!
Sister Dunster
Sara in General Conference
Sara sang with the sister missionaries in Women’s Conference on 28 Sep 2013. I didn’t see her as our reception was poor in the chapel; but I saw her later that week when I accessed the conference on lds.org. - Elaine, Sara’s mom
Sara wrote:
“Sorry you probably didn’t even see me at all because you barely see my face at the bottom left corner of one frame before it switches angles,...In other frames, I was right behind the conductor and the only person obscured. If you saw a not-so-happy face behind the conductor during the congregational hymns, that’s my companion, Sister Walker. She admits she doesn’t know how to sing happily and is embarrassed that she looks completely unhappy. The girl to her left is our roommate Sister Litchfield. You’ll notice the last song (“I’ll Go Where You Want Me To Go”) for the congregation her mouth stops moving. It’s because she liked the descant the first sopranos were singing so she sang that instead. We all had a good laugh at the follies we pointed out....”
“I’ll tell you about my experience behind the scenes. We left around 12:30pm after a whole assembly line of sisters scrubbing more blush on our cheeks, checking our hair and our clothes. Once in the conference center, they lined us up according to height (which is hard since the floors are slanted for a better view of the front) and we practiced for an hour. Sister Emily Wadley was our director and what a character she is! She’s almost goofy, but still dignified. If you remember the movie, “17 Miracles,” she’s the mother from England who switched bonnets with the woman on the train to hide from her husband who searches the train to find her as she escapes to go to Zion. She’s also the woman who got the dried meat from the mysterious man. I didn’t realize it until they said she was in the movie and it clicked as to why she looked ever so vaguely familiar.
“After practice, the RS Presidency shared some spiritual thoughts with us; and, even just sitting in the Conference Center, I felt the presence of heaven was near. There was a special feeling deep in my heart that had nothing to do with being in the presence of prophets and apostles of God; but what they testify of--the love of Christ. It is their call to testify of Christ, and receive revelation for the people; but we have just as much right to gain a personal relationship with God as they have. As I said in my testimony today, the only thing holding us back is ourselves.”
An interesting note: Sara met The Maretts at the MTC. They are her brother’s in-laws. Bro. Marett is in a branch presidency there.
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| Sara is in red in the lower left corner. |
“Sorry you probably didn’t even see me at all because you barely see my face at the bottom left corner of one frame before it switches angles,...In other frames, I was right behind the conductor and the only person obscured. If you saw a not-so-happy face behind the conductor during the congregational hymns, that’s my companion, Sister Walker. She admits she doesn’t know how to sing happily and is embarrassed that she looks completely unhappy. The girl to her left is our roommate Sister Litchfield. You’ll notice the last song (“I’ll Go Where You Want Me To Go”) for the congregation her mouth stops moving. It’s because she liked the descant the first sopranos were singing so she sang that instead. We all had a good laugh at the follies we pointed out....”
“I’ll tell you about my experience behind the scenes. We left around 12:30pm after a whole assembly line of sisters scrubbing more blush on our cheeks, checking our hair and our clothes. Once in the conference center, they lined us up according to height (which is hard since the floors are slanted for a better view of the front) and we practiced for an hour. Sister Emily Wadley was our director and what a character she is! She’s almost goofy, but still dignified. If you remember the movie, “17 Miracles,” she’s the mother from England who switched bonnets with the woman on the train to hide from her husband who searches the train to find her as she escapes to go to Zion. She’s also the woman who got the dried meat from the mysterious man. I didn’t realize it until they said she was in the movie and it clicked as to why she looked ever so vaguely familiar.
“After practice, the RS Presidency shared some spiritual thoughts with us; and, even just sitting in the Conference Center, I felt the presence of heaven was near. There was a special feeling deep in my heart that had nothing to do with being in the presence of prophets and apostles of God; but what they testify of--the love of Christ. It is their call to testify of Christ, and receive revelation for the people; but we have just as much right to gain a personal relationship with God as they have. As I said in my testimony today, the only thing holding us back is ourselves.”
An interesting note: Sara met The Maretts at the MTC. They are her brother’s in-laws. Bro. Marett is in a branch presidency there.
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Sara and her companion at the Provo Temple.
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The Maretts and Sara
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And, her challenge is to read this!
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