Sister Peyton Grace Calder

Today, we got up early to do laundry before we head to the temple to do sealings (which will be my first time!). I, as some of you know, am not a morning person.So, when we got up at 5:40 (almost an hour before we are supposed to as missionaries), I was already irritated. I was trying to be kind and not kill anyone, but once we got to the laundry room and every machine was taken I was fuming. I was still angry when I started writing this email to you all complaining about the horror we call the MTC laundry room. However, that is not the spirit I want to come from this email and it's not the kind of spirit I would like to feel right now. A lot of good things happened this week, and I would love to share some of those good experiences (and explain the subject of my email). On Thursday, Sister Woodford and I had our first Helping Others appointment in Turkish! For those who don't know what Helping Others is, it is an appointment missionaries can make to practice their teaching ski...

  One of the things that I hear most often at the MTC while talking to other missionaries is "Don't worry, the language will come" and "Wow! You're here for five more weeks?" It seems to me sometimes that people are leaving left and right as I learn Turkish at an incredibly slow pace. Everytime that I think that I've got the hang of it, there is always more to learn and more that I am missing. The interesting thing about learning a language here is that you think that you are learning the language so slowly and a lot of times you don't think you are getting it at all! However, if I look back at when I first got here, it is literally amazing to see how much I have learned in such a short amount of time. I took three years of high school Spanish and learned basically nothing, but here, I have already learned the colors, months, weeks, future tense, past tense, present progressive tense, abilitative case, Aorist tense, and a ton of vocab! The Lord defin...

It is very hard to write these emails! I am quickly realizing that I am not much of a writer. And, not much has happened since I have last written. When starting this email, the first draft was, "Yup, I am still at the MTC". I don't hate being at the MTC, in fact, it has been really great to learn the language and focus on the gospel. The MTC has also been a humbling experience as I butcher Turkish words and try to put together a coherent sentence.  The weird thing about turkish is that their sentences are basically backwards. For example, if I want to say "I want to buy ice cream for my family" in turkish, I would say: Ailem için dondurma almak istiyorum. If I translate that directly, I would be saying: My family for icecream to buy I want. Isn't that super weird! Still, I am loving the language. It is weird and sometimes sounds like absolute gibberish, but I am liking it all the same. Anyway, there have definitely been some things that have happened since ...

  Ever since I was a young and in primary, I wanted to serve a mission. I had always known that I was going to serve a mission like my brothers will and like my parents had. Being at the MTC this past week has had some highs and lows, but it has only reaffirmed to me that I am supposed to be here. I am so excited to serve and to wear Christ's name above my heart and to learn the Turkish language. Speaking of the Turkish language, it is incredible to see how much I have learned in the past couple of days. I can say a prayer, ask basic questions, and even testify a little bit. Although it is difficult and even a little frustrating, I know that I could not be learning as fast as I am without the help of my Heavenly Father. My companions are Sister Woodford and Sister Haun, who are both incredibly smart and awesome missionaries. They push me to be a better missionary and are the nicest people you will meet. Sister Woodford and I are both learning Turkish, but Sister Haun is learning Ma...