My farewell is 3 weeks from today, and I leave 3 weeks from this coming Wednesday!! I am so excited and the closer it gets, the more the anticipation is killing me! I want it to come now! But there is still a lot of things I need to do before I leave, so I guess it's okay that I have three weeks to finish up the preparations.
This past week, I had the opportunity to spend 8 days with my Aunt Diane in Maryland! She gave me flights to and from Maryland as a birthday/Christmas/mission present and it was so much fun! We went to D.C., Fort McHenry, New York, the Dutch Market, and a few other fun places. I'm so grateful that I could spend so much time with her before I leave on my mission, and it was a nice distraction from the waiting ;).
The preparation continues. One of my good friends had her farewell today and she did a great job. Afterwards, I asked her for all sorts of tips and advice on pretty much everything that has to do with my farewell. I'm so grateful for all of my friends that have already gone on missions and for the examples they are to me.
So the next thing on my to do list is write my talk. The bishop told me that I can speak on whatever I want, as long as it relates to the atonement (which, when you think about it, you can relate almost anything to the atonement, try it). But he hasn't told me how long my talk should be, so I guess that I'll just plan on speaking for around 15 minutes to be safe. I've already had a lot of thoughts running through my head of what I should talk about, so I think that it shouldn't be too hard to put them all together somehow.
I've also been considering starting a new blog. I was thinking it would be a good idea to make a new one before I leave, so that I can dedicate it solely to the emails that I send home. I'm still thinking about it, but I will let you know!
Have a great week everyone! I'll post again when I get around to it! ;)
Sunday, January 25, 2015
Sunday, January 11, 2015
Getting Closer!!
If you can't tell, I'm not very good at this whole consistency thing... sorry!
I've been doing a lot lately to prepare for my mission though! I got quite a few things for Christmas that I'll take on my mission, and my mom and I have also been shopping for things like luggage and clothes.
First of all, I HIGHLY recommend the Sister Missionary Mall. I've found so many great things there! The prices are a little on the high side, but if you consider the kinds of fabrics they use and how long they'll last, it's understandable that they would be more expensive.
We got skirts, shirts, biking shorts, and even a pair of shoes at the Sister Missionary Mall, and it's great because all of the girls that work there are returned missionaries and they can answer a lot of questions about different climates and areas. I've been to the Sister Missionary Mall multiple times for different things and I've always found great stuff!
We also got luggage recently. We went to Sear's and they happened to be having a HUGE clearance on luggage! So we got two large suitcases and one carry-on. And we got them for a really good deal.
Another thing we got recently was glasses. I've had glasses or contacts since the 4th grade, but I've only had contacts since about my sophomore year of high school. So of course, I needed some glasses for the mission field. We bought them on Wednesday last week and it takes a week or two for them to be finished with the prescription stuff, so they should be done this week or next.
And finally, I'm going to Maryland next week! My aunt Diane bought me a flight to go see her in Maryland for my combined birthday and Christmas presents, so I leave this Saturday and I'll come back next Saturday. I'm really excited, but I think the last time I flew on a plane was when I was 5 or 6, and I've definitely never flown by myself. So this is going to be an adventure! But it will be a good prep for my mission and the 24 hours of travel it will take to get to the Czech Republic haha!
Anyway, that's all I've got for now. I'll try to stay more consistent with the blog posting, but no promises haha! Cya next time! :)
I've been doing a lot lately to prepare for my mission though! I got quite a few things for Christmas that I'll take on my mission, and my mom and I have also been shopping for things like luggage and clothes.
First of all, I HIGHLY recommend the Sister Missionary Mall. I've found so many great things there! The prices are a little on the high side, but if you consider the kinds of fabrics they use and how long they'll last, it's understandable that they would be more expensive.
We got skirts, shirts, biking shorts, and even a pair of shoes at the Sister Missionary Mall, and it's great because all of the girls that work there are returned missionaries and they can answer a lot of questions about different climates and areas. I've been to the Sister Missionary Mall multiple times for different things and I've always found great stuff!
We also got luggage recently. We went to Sear's and they happened to be having a HUGE clearance on luggage! So we got two large suitcases and one carry-on. And we got them for a really good deal.
Another thing we got recently was glasses. I've had glasses or contacts since the 4th grade, but I've only had contacts since about my sophomore year of high school. So of course, I needed some glasses for the mission field. We bought them on Wednesday last week and it takes a week or two for them to be finished with the prescription stuff, so they should be done this week or next.
And finally, I'm going to Maryland next week! My aunt Diane bought me a flight to go see her in Maryland for my combined birthday and Christmas presents, so I leave this Saturday and I'll come back next Saturday. I'm really excited, but I think the last time I flew on a plane was when I was 5 or 6, and I've definitely never flown by myself. So this is going to be an adventure! But it will be a good prep for my mission and the 24 hours of travel it will take to get to the Czech Republic haha!
Anyway, that's all I've got for now. I'll try to stay more consistent with the blog posting, but no promises haha! Cya next time! :)
Thursday, October 9, 2014
Fun Facts & Phrases
This week has been pretty crazy! Between school, work, homework, and tests, I haven't had as much time to prepare for my mission as I would have liked.
In my packet they gave me a link to this website called the "Missionary Portal" which basically just helps me prepare for my mission. It has videos to watch and articles to read that will help me, and it has links to other tools. On Tuesday I got a lot of the tasks on the site done (I was supposed to be doing homework, oops!). I also received my visa info. So right now I really need to apply for a passport and get my visa started.
On Wednesday, in my mission prep class we went "contacting." It was this really awesome experience where we went out in companionships around campus, and just talked to people. After we got to know the people a little bit, we would ask them if they had been able to watch conference and talk to them about their favorite parts. Then we would ask them if they could think of a person in their life that could benefit from them sharing that talk with them. We would let them think of someone, and then ask them to commit to sharing that thought/talk with them. Then, if that wasn't enough, we asked for their phone numbers or emails so that we could contact them in a few days to see if they had done it. It was a really cool experience, and it was awesome to be able to talk to random people about conference and get them to share a message with someone else.
Also to prepare for my mission, I have been trying to learn more about the Czech Republic and the Czech language. Today I was translating gospel related terms and trying to figure out how to say them. Here are a few:
1. 40% of the population declares themselves Atheist and 27% is Catholic.
2. The Czech Republic consists of 10.5 million people, and over 1 million live in the capital, Prague.
3. In addition to speaking Czech, people typically also speak German, Russian, or English, or sometimes all three. (Maybe I'll get to use some of my German!)
I'm still learning more about the culture and climate and everything. I also ordered a little Czech language book, nothing major since I'll learn everything in the MTC, but enough to get me started and a little more familiar with the language before I leave.
Anyway, I'm really really excited, and I can't wait to learn more about this awesome place I'll be living in for 18 months (well, minus 9 weeks)!
.
In my packet they gave me a link to this website called the "Missionary Portal" which basically just helps me prepare for my mission. It has videos to watch and articles to read that will help me, and it has links to other tools. On Tuesday I got a lot of the tasks on the site done (I was supposed to be doing homework, oops!). I also received my visa info. So right now I really need to apply for a passport and get my visa started.
On Wednesday, in my mission prep class we went "contacting." It was this really awesome experience where we went out in companionships around campus, and just talked to people. After we got to know the people a little bit, we would ask them if they had been able to watch conference and talk to them about their favorite parts. Then we would ask them if they could think of a person in their life that could benefit from them sharing that talk with them. We would let them think of someone, and then ask them to commit to sharing that thought/talk with them. Then, if that wasn't enough, we asked for their phone numbers or emails so that we could contact them in a few days to see if they had done it. It was a really cool experience, and it was awesome to be able to talk to random people about conference and get them to share a message with someone else.
Also to prepare for my mission, I have been trying to learn more about the Czech Republic and the Czech language. Today I was translating gospel related terms and trying to figure out how to say them. Here are a few:
Dobrý den - Hello
Jsem sestra Schaerrer - I am Sister Schaerrer
Patřím k Církvi Ježíše Krista Svatých posledních dnů. - I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
(Yes, I really do know how to pronounce all those) :)
Anyway, I have a few others but that's enough for now haha. I've also been researching about the culture of the Czech Republic. I found out a few interesting facts:
1. 40% of the population declares themselves Atheist and 27% is Catholic.
2. The Czech Republic consists of 10.5 million people, and over 1 million live in the capital, Prague.
3. In addition to speaking Czech, people typically also speak German, Russian, or English, or sometimes all three. (Maybe I'll get to use some of my German!)
I'm still learning more about the culture and climate and everything. I also ordered a little Czech language book, nothing major since I'll learn everything in the MTC, but enough to get me started and a little more familiar with the language before I leave.
Anyway, I'm really really excited, and I can't wait to learn more about this awesome place I'll be living in for 18 months (well, minus 9 weeks)!
.
Wednesday, October 1, 2014
Dear Sister Schaerrer...
Dear Sister Schaerrer,
You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the Czech/Slovak Mission.
I'll be speaking Czech and I report to the Provo MTC on February 18, 2015!!
(Don't mind the devil eyes, it's kind of a regular thing with me)
I really can't believe that this has actually happened! I'm going to the Czech Republic and Slovakia!! And I'll be speaking Czech! I know one word of Czech so far and it's "sestra" which is the word for sister. Soon I'll be Sestra Schaerrer. I have to admit Czech sounds pretty dang cool. After I opened my call and everyone had left, Adam, Shelby and I went on the computer to look up pictures of the Czech Republic and boy is it beautiful!
My call packet says I really need to prepare for winter there, but I'm really glad that I'll only have to go through one! The summer is so beautiful there though, I can't wait!
This is going to be an amazing experience! I never even considered going to the Czech/Slovak mission, I had heard of it, but never in my wildest dreams did I think I would get called there! Now a new count down begins!
You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the Czech/Slovak Mission.
I'll be speaking Czech and I report to the Provo MTC on February 18, 2015!!
(Don't mind the devil eyes, it's kind of a regular thing with me)
I really can't believe that this has actually happened! I'm going to the Czech Republic and Slovakia!! And I'll be speaking Czech! I know one word of Czech so far and it's "sestra" which is the word for sister. Soon I'll be Sestra Schaerrer. I have to admit Czech sounds pretty dang cool. After I opened my call and everyone had left, Adam, Shelby and I went on the computer to look up pictures of the Czech Republic and boy is it beautiful!
My call packet says I really need to prepare for winter there, but I'm really glad that I'll only have to go through one! The summer is so beautiful there though, I can't wait!
This is going to be an amazing experience! I never even considered going to the Czech/Slovak mission, I had heard of it, but never in my wildest dreams did I think I would get called there! Now a new count down begins!
Anyway, it's late and I need to at least try to get some sleep, goodnight! :)
It's Here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here!
It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here!
Is Today The Day??
I'M DYING OF ANTICIPATION!!!
My call was assigned last Thursday which, according to my bishop, means that they should have mailed my call yesterday, which means it should get here today!! I can't wait to find out!
Unfortunately my call is being mailed to my house, and no one is going to be home until about 1:30pm to check the mail, so I won't know if it's here until then! I have 3 classes between now and 1:30 and I don't know if I can concentrate for that long! Gah!! Sorry if this post doesn't make sense or is scattered or something, I'm mostly only using this as a place for me to vent my excitement. BECAUSE I'M SO EXCITED!!
Gah!! Anyway, that's really all I have to say, so I'm going to stop now before I just keep saying the same things over and over.
Have a great day everyone, and I'll let you know when my call gets here!
My call was assigned last Thursday which, according to my bishop, means that they should have mailed my call yesterday, which means it should get here today!! I can't wait to find out!
Unfortunately my call is being mailed to my house, and no one is going to be home until about 1:30pm to check the mail, so I won't know if it's here until then! I have 3 classes between now and 1:30 and I don't know if I can concentrate for that long! Gah!! Sorry if this post doesn't make sense or is scattered or something, I'm mostly only using this as a place for me to vent my excitement. BECAUSE I'M SO EXCITED!!
Gah!! Anyway, that's really all I have to say, so I'm going to stop now before I just keep saying the same things over and over.
Have a great day everyone, and I'll let you know when my call gets here!
Thursday, September 25, 2014
I've Been Assigned!!
This is it!! My call has been assigned!!
I asked my bishop today if there was any update on my papers and he told me that the status still shows that they are "ready for assignment." But! I had heard that if you can log on to your missionary email, it means that you have been assigned, so just about every hour of the day today I tried to log on and then around 5 o'clock, I did it! I was able to log on!! So I checked with the bishop again and he told me that sometimes it can take up to 2 days for them to change the status of my papers.
I've been assigned!!
My bishop also told me that they usually mail out the calls on Tuesdays, so I'm really hoping that my call will be here on Wednesday or Thursday of next week!! Gah!!!
Really though I feel super relieved just to know that it's been assigned. It's one thing to wait for it to show up in the mail, and another for you to wait to be assigned. I don't even know how to explain the difference, I just know that I feel much better knowing that I have an assignment!
This is what my phone looks like right now. I keep checking it, thinking that a lot of time has gone by, and then I realize it's only been an hour or two. It's set for next Wednesday at 10am, even though I know it might take a little longer for my call to come. I'm just so excited!! I cannot wait to find out where I'm going!! (Even though Grace is convinced I'm going to Lubbock, Texas with her, haha)
I was hoping and praying to get assigned today, and now I'm going to spend the rest of this week hoping and praying that I'll be able to focus on school until my call comes! I don't know if I can do it!!
Anyway, I will DEFINITELY let you know when that magical, white envelope shows up at my door!!
Have a good weekend everyone! :)
I asked my bishop today if there was any update on my papers and he told me that the status still shows that they are "ready for assignment." But! I had heard that if you can log on to your missionary email, it means that you have been assigned, so just about every hour of the day today I tried to log on and then around 5 o'clock, I did it! I was able to log on!! So I checked with the bishop again and he told me that sometimes it can take up to 2 days for them to change the status of my papers.
I've been assigned!!
My bishop also told me that they usually mail out the calls on Tuesdays, so I'm really hoping that my call will be here on Wednesday or Thursday of next week!! Gah!!!
Really though I feel super relieved just to know that it's been assigned. It's one thing to wait for it to show up in the mail, and another for you to wait to be assigned. I don't even know how to explain the difference, I just know that I feel much better knowing that I have an assignment!
This is what my phone looks like right now. I keep checking it, thinking that a lot of time has gone by, and then I realize it's only been an hour or two. It's set for next Wednesday at 10am, even though I know it might take a little longer for my call to come. I'm just so excited!! I cannot wait to find out where I'm going!! (Even though Grace is convinced I'm going to Lubbock, Texas with her, haha)
I was hoping and praying to get assigned today, and now I'm going to spend the rest of this week hoping and praying that I'll be able to focus on school until my call comes! I don't know if I can do it!!
Anyway, I will DEFINITELY let you know when that magical, white envelope shows up at my door!!
Have a good weekend everyone! :)
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