She must be doing great because the word of the day in her email was "Amazing" of which she used at least 3 times describing different things. One of those things was the "Amazing" time she had celebrating her 40 days and 40 might at the MTC with a party in her room. Can you guys believe it?! 40 days already?! WOW!
I have added a ticker on the right hand side of the screen that counts down to her estimated departure to Latvia. She said she will be leaving April 13th or 14th.
She had a great week this week which started off with the dedication of the Draper Temple. For those of us who also attended we can echo her enthusiasm when she said it was "Amazing"! She mentioned that she had been to a temple dedication before but it didn't mean as much because she hadn't been through yet. She also got to attend an "Amazing" devotional by Elder Johnson of the Quorum of the Seventy, which was just what she needed.
A missionary from Latvia who is serving in Russia was at the MTC this last week and they were all so excited to talk to him in Latvian but were totally bummed to find out he spoke Russian. From what I know the predominate languages in Latvia are Latvian, Russian and German. Speaking of the language, she's starting to get it better. Her instructors only speak Latvian in class and she seems to understand it although she bombed once again in an "all Latvian" discussion they had to practice on!
Okay time for a guilt trip of all the family...this last week the only 2 people she heard from were me and Debbie! (Please add yourself to the list if you have sent her a letter snail mail and she just hasn't received it yet!) Come on what's up with these big tough Hermann boys that are so protective of their little sis?! Let's kick it in gear guys and show Rachel our support! Even if it's just a short little email, she misses us and wants to know that we're okay too.
Alright guilt trip over. :) I know she's in all our prayers though so Thank you for that! Just so you all know her p-day is Thursday of which 30 minutes is email time. If you don't get an email to her by Wednesday night she probably wont get it until the following week.
Ok family, that's about all the update I have! Let me know if you have anything else you would like to add and I will get it posted. Have a great week!!
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Friday, March 20, 2009
Letter from Rachel!!
Hey everyone! Here is a letter word for word from our favorite Masa! Enjoy!
Family!
Week 4 crazy how that is already! We went to the temple today and it was amazing as always. Funny thing was that I thought we all agreed on doing 5 names for the inititiory and thats what i did...my other companions did 10 so i had been waiting for some time for them to finish. I sat next to this temple worker in the locker room and she tells me that she had just served there as a senior couple in Lie Paia and they had opened that area. That is one of the 3 areas that I will serve. She also gave me a name of a woman and say hi to her...crazy how things happen...and that if I had done all 10 names and didn't get out early I would of never met that woman so I can't wait to find this lady. Church is true.
Through out the weeks our teachers had wanted us to get a "Progressing Investigator" from what we know is that they are "non-members" and it's a reinactment of meeting someone for the first time and teaching them the lessons...They have I believe 6-7 of these people and they are alwasy in character. So my companions and I wanted to sign up for a pretty easy person for we wanted to try out the waters for our first time. We signed up for a spanish/english speaker named Daniel. His background story is he is catholic, is from mexico and has 4 brothers. Masa Gomez and I went in for the first time and it was so crazy! He was hard core!At first he wasn't going to let us in and actually closed the door on us twice! I kinda freaked but my companion kept at it and was making deals, and it was funny looking back but at the time I'm like "what the heck!" When we started teaching the spirit was not there at all and there was so many distractions that it was so hard to teach and it was more of an argument than a lesson, but he asked us to come back...he makes things so akward...Daniel calls himself the "missionary killer!" Yeah so intimidating. And I would always hate Tuesdays b/c that is when we had to teach Daniel and I always fell unprepaired and he throws in hard questions. At one time my companion and I were going to drop him b/c we didn't think we would get anywhere and that we could take more lessions to get better but this last week we had found out that Daniel was not a memeber and that he just workd at the MTC listening to the lessions every day...that got me nervous...but last week he really opened up to us and told us of his concerns. It was such an awesome experiance! To have that feeling of doubt and fear turn into commpassion and love for him. I just hope and pray that we are able to help him out. I'll keep ya'll updated. We teach him tomorrow...gosh I hope he's in a good mood :)
Language is coming slow...boo! It's somewhat difficult and it's not at the same time, but my companions are so willing to help and I just love them for it. I'm starting to adjust here a little more...Those 6:30 mornings somewhat kill still but i'm not as tired at the end of the day which is awesome. It also helps having gym! Oh I love the gym...I fun most of the time to get all the frustration our and it's awesome!
Alright family...I think it's time that ya'll start telling me whats going on in all your lives, the only peeps I've heard from is...you know who you are and I loved the letters...Ashley is winning by the way :) She has written me every week...so family GET MOVING ON THOSE LETTERS! I just want one from everyone once a month and i'll be happy! I love ya'll and want to know whats going on. Welp time to study, and then laundry, and then more study time! So much fun loves it!
Love Always,
Masa Hermann
Family!
Week 4 crazy how that is already! We went to the temple today and it was amazing as always. Funny thing was that I thought we all agreed on doing 5 names for the inititiory and thats what i did...my other companions did 10 so i had been waiting for some time for them to finish. I sat next to this temple worker in the locker room and she tells me that she had just served there as a senior couple in Lie Paia and they had opened that area. That is one of the 3 areas that I will serve. She also gave me a name of a woman and say hi to her...crazy how things happen...and that if I had done all 10 names and didn't get out early I would of never met that woman so I can't wait to find this lady. Church is true.
Through out the weeks our teachers had wanted us to get a "Progressing Investigator" from what we know is that they are "non-members" and it's a reinactment of meeting someone for the first time and teaching them the lessons...They have I believe 6-7 of these people and they are alwasy in character. So my companions and I wanted to sign up for a pretty easy person for we wanted to try out the waters for our first time. We signed up for a spanish/english speaker named Daniel. His background story is he is catholic, is from mexico and has 4 brothers. Masa Gomez and I went in for the first time and it was so crazy! He was hard core!At first he wasn't going to let us in and actually closed the door on us twice! I kinda freaked but my companion kept at it and was making deals, and it was funny looking back but at the time I'm like "what the heck!" When we started teaching the spirit was not there at all and there was so many distractions that it was so hard to teach and it was more of an argument than a lesson, but he asked us to come back...he makes things so akward...Daniel calls himself the "missionary killer!" Yeah so intimidating. And I would always hate Tuesdays b/c that is when we had to teach Daniel and I always fell unprepaired and he throws in hard questions. At one time my companion and I were going to drop him b/c we didn't think we would get anywhere and that we could take more lessions to get better but this last week we had found out that Daniel was not a memeber and that he just workd at the MTC listening to the lessions every day...that got me nervous...but last week he really opened up to us and told us of his concerns. It was such an awesome experiance! To have that feeling of doubt and fear turn into commpassion and love for him. I just hope and pray that we are able to help him out. I'll keep ya'll updated. We teach him tomorrow...gosh I hope he's in a good mood :)
Language is coming slow...boo! It's somewhat difficult and it's not at the same time, but my companions are so willing to help and I just love them for it. I'm starting to adjust here a little more...Those 6:30 mornings somewhat kill still but i'm not as tired at the end of the day which is awesome. It also helps having gym! Oh I love the gym...I fun most of the time to get all the frustration our and it's awesome!
Alright family...I think it's time that ya'll start telling me whats going on in all your lives, the only peeps I've heard from is...you know who you are and I loved the letters...Ashley is winning by the way :) She has written me every week...so family GET MOVING ON THOSE LETTERS! I just want one from everyone once a month and i'll be happy! I love ya'll and want to know whats going on. Welp time to study, and then laundry, and then more study time! So much fun loves it!
Love Always,
Masa Hermann
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Double Check Your Email...
Hey everyone, Just an FYI Rachel's email address was wrong on the side bar. It has now been fixed so make sure that you update your records.
Rachel is now halfway through her time at the MTC! She says there's a saying there that you either love it or you don't...Rachel's still on the fence about it! She is super excited to get out in the field though.
They have been learning about some of the customs and traditions of their area and they have some pretty crazy ones, like...
Rachel is now halfway through her time at the MTC! She says there's a saying there that you either love it or you don't...Rachel's still on the fence about it! She is super excited to get out in the field though.
They have been learning about some of the customs and traditions of their area and they have some pretty crazy ones, like...
- If women sit on the ground they can't have kids so they have this funny sit that they do.
- They believe it is unlucky if you shake hands in a door way!
And the craziest of them all...
- If you whistle cockroaches will come and steal all your money!
Sounds like some exciting things to look forward too! There is also economic trouble in the Baltic States right now. Their government is collapsing and their economy is crashing. She's not sure what that means for them but they haven't heard any word about not going out as planned so she'll keep us posted. Prayers on her behalf as well as the people of Latvia, Estonia and Lithowania will surely help.
If anyone has any other updates please send them to me and I will post them. ashleyhermann711@yahoo.com As soon as we hear when Rachel will be flying out I will put a countdown ticker on the right so we all know.
When we have her Latvian mailing address I will update it on the right. But just as an FYI if you want to send her a letter first class in a normal envelope it will cost you anywhere from $.94 cents to $1.14 depending on if there is anything rigid in the envelope or not. If you want to save your pennies you can always email her though! :)
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