FAMILY!!!
So I was a little sad on Monday when I found out that I had not gotten a letter from the family...but then that night Jon sent me a letter!! So you are all redeemed. Also, you sneaky little ninjas! I got my violin yesterday during class! It was so surprising! Suddenly a man was at the door and he was like "Sister Bitter" "Yes?" I responded still looking at my french notes. Suddenly I look up and immediately my eyes went to my violin! I'm so happy to have it! That night, during additional study, Soeur Carter and I went to our 'Chapel' and practiced for this Sunday's meeting. I feel at peace to be reunited with my violin. Thanks for sneaking that in. Also, MY SWEATSHIRT IS AWESOME!! I literally felt like the coolest kid on the block. You didn't need to buy a new one though! But I did feel pretty slick. Also, the cashews have been a life saver. I feel I have much more energy with that extra bit of protein. The scary thing about sending food is that the MTC might throw it out! Soeur Carter's sister tried to send her Curry for lunch on Friday and Soeur Carter got a note in the mail saying that MTC services threw it out because you can't accept food...so it's a risky buisness. The only thing that I could ever want is just a normal diet haha. It's not that bad anymore with the cashews. Cuties would be a nice treat but I'm actually pretty content now. Funny story about that. I wrote this story in a couple of the letters but I guess you will all get to read it now. So my teacher the other day told us "I believe that a missionaries trajectory is directly related to how they feel about MTC food. If they hate the MTC food, they will be a terrible missionary." well. IN YOUR FACE FRERE BROSIL! I'm going to be an awesome missionary and I have dreams about escaping this place to have a nice normal meal.
So this week, one of our 'investigators' was a 9 year old child named Morgan. And when I say a 9 year old child I mean our teacher pretended to be a 9 year old child that he had taught in the mission field. Oh that's another thing. Apparently they don't just make up these stories. They base them off of real people that they taught in the mission field. Anyway, so everyone was complaining about how hard it was to teach him. That he would get distracted and he would play with the chair or play with cars or something. Anyway, so Soeur Carter and I decided instead of teaching him a lesson, we were going to teach him "I am a Child of God" or "Je suis ses enfants de Dieu". So we learned it in French and taught it to him and it went AWESOME!! He is supposed to critique us after and he said that he loved our lesson. That it was catered to the investigator and it was spiritual but entertaining. He said we were very enthusiastic and that we would make great moms one day. Our teacher is way nice...evne though he semi implied I would be a terrible missionary because I hate the MTC food. We also taught Danielle this week. When I was lying in bed the night before we were supposed to teach her, I turned to my comp and said "I think we need to teach Danielle about the atonement and scrap our lesson on the plan of salvation." My companion was like "I feel really good about that". So we start teaching her and we find out that she has been carrying a huge burden with her. In her words "someone is dead because of me" (in french of course). She didn't kill this person but she has been carrying around this guilt. When I found this out, I almost cried on the spot just becuase I knew that Soeur Larsen (who was pretending to be Danielle) was reenacting a very real situation that they had on the mission field and my heart went out to that woman.
Also, everyone in my district is sick except for me and one elder. We are holding strong. It might also be because I went to the bookstore and bought a 1-a-day vitamin that I have been taking regularly and on top of that I have been taking emergen-c pretty regularly as well. Haha. I WILL NOT GET SICK!! One of my roommates sounds like a dying old man. The funny thing is, she doesn't cough hardly at all druing the day but as soon as night hits and we are all in bed, the cough attack begins. It's actually pretty funny. She's really sweet so I feel bad that she is so sick.
So to make things interesting and to learn the language more, Soeur Carter and I will either pick a word in English or a word in French that we have to use 4 times in the day. If we pick an English word, we have to slip that word in French conversation. If we pick a French word, the opposite is true. So the word the other day was Tub. You would not believe how strangely people respond to the word tub...especially if they don't speak french and all they hear is TUB in the middle of the sentance.
Fun facts of the week: We are learning the Champs-Elysess song. I love it. I don't know if we are allowed to sing it in the MTC since it is not a church song...but our teacher is teaching it to us so I will just blame him. Also, Soeur Carter and I pretty much get in trouble all the time. They need a white handbook for the MTC because we feel like we get in trouble every single day. For example, the other day, we walked by (wednesday) and the new missionaries were coming. "Oh fun!" we thought "we should great them! Maybe practice our french". It was such a beautiful day and we were excited to be outside of the classroom. Anyway, so we are standing there in the sun, feeling happy and the woman in charge of welcome comes up and scolds us. We quickly appologize and run away. We then stand in front of our classroom, still being happy in the happy sun. She comes over to us again "You can't be out here! I just told you that". So apprently on wednesdays, you can't be outside because of the mass inflex of missionaires into the MTC. Speaking of which, so they used to have 2000 missionaries in the MTC. Now there are over 1000 sister missionaries alone and by the time we leave, there will be 2500 sister missionaries. I don't know how many there are total but I know that we are all filled to capacity...and more. Haha the rooms are really only made for 4 but everyone is having 6 in their apartment. IT WILL BE AN ADVENTURE! It's so awesome though! This outflex of missionaries. Everyone who comes and speaks always comments on how many sisters there are. They always say "You are such a more attractive sight than the missionaries I spoke to last year...Mainly because the amount of sisters here". It is way fun though.
Anyway, I don't have much more to say because this week was not quite as eventful as the first week or San Francisco. It is really cool though that we are finally in a real routine and that the French learning is more structured. I feel I'm picking up on it pretty quickly but at the same time, I'm pretty sure I have moments of speaking hard core cave man French. "Read Book Now" bahaha. Oh well. The thing is, I noticed this the other day, learning a language has really stripped my testimony down to the nuts and bolts of the Gospel. I'm not worried about the wording of English or how to sound intelligent or well versed. Instead all I can do is testify of the Doctrinal Truths...and it takes me like 5 minutes to do so haha. In that time, and in the gaps while I think of what to say, the spirit is really strong. That has been a huge testimony to me of how The Gospel is about the simple things. It is about the simple truths and the power that they carry.
Meg--I'm thinking about you mucho. I wanted to write you a personal letter today but I ran out of time!! SO LAME!! Anyway, I want to hear how you are doing and how things are going with preparing etc. You are in my prayers OFTEN! Like all the time. Know that the weeks leading up to the mission are seriously the hardest. I'm not saying the MTC is easy (but you know how to work so it'll be easier for you than some) but a lot of your worries are just left at the doors of the MTC. It's really great. So people talk about how exhausting a mission is and that's true...but I've seen you work at violin and I know you know how to work so it will be no unusual shock to you. It's really interesting to see the missionaries who have learned how to work before the mission and the ones who are like "WOAH!! THIS IS HARD AND AWESOME!!" haha
Rachel--I know that your concerto performance is coming up and I am SO EXCITED FOR YOU!! You play with so much soul and beauty. I know you will rock it. I really wish I could be there but you will just have to give an encore in august of 2014. hehehe
Jon and Sarah--You two are so awesome. Jon: Thank you for representing the family and sending me a letter. That is why you are awesome. Sarah, I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!! You are such a good mama to Zoe. I'm excited to see how she grows!
Shelly-You were so right about the MTC. The devotionals are literally what keep me going. THEY ARE SO GOOD! All the spiritual stuff about the MTC is amazing. How are things going? When are you due again?? I can't wait to get to paris and I'll find the most obnoxious touristy baby shirt ever and send it to you and send a matching one to Zoe.
Steven--Or should I say Elder Bitter. You are so awesome!! I tell stories about your mission all the time in our district. There are a couple of Elders going to the Congo speaking French and they love hearing about Uganda. I know they are different but they are more similar than Paris and the Congo haha. Also, I am going to steal as many nutella packages while I'm in France, collect them and try to send them to Uganda...if it's not too expensive. Haha. We'll see if they get there.
Mom & Dad--You guys are awesome! Thanks for sending me all the stuff I have forgotten/needed. I miss you two mucho...especially when we go to the temple...I kind of look around for you guys haha I always think I'm going to see you...but I know you don't even go to the Provo temple and you don't go as late in the day as I go. But still, it's strange to be so close yet so far.
Renae- I don't know why but you have been on my mind! I love you so much! You have always been such a light to me! You have such a love of life and I LOVE THAT!! I bet all the people of rexburg just want to be in your presence 24/7. If not, they are fools and will surely not go to heaven...just kidding...kind of.
Avec tout mon amour,
Soeur Kari Ann Bitter
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