Portuguese immersion--the parable of the swimming pool
Hi family!
This week has yet again been really awesome! So much has happened, I don't quite know where to start, so here goes...
I guess the big thing that happened this week was that I was called this week to give a talk in Sacrament Meeting! Yeah, pretty much. It ended up not working out that I was going to sing (We were going to sing a primary song in Portuguese) and I was going to sing with a couple of other sisters, but our pianist didn't work out and scheduling issues. So, I thought that I was safe not giving a talk but, I guess not. Since there are only 12 sisters in our branch of about 80 or 90 missionaries, you could pretty much bet that all of us are going to give a talk. Anyway, so I was called to give a talk on hope. I had it all written out. I wasn't that nervous because I had prepared. But, there was an elder who gave a talk in Portuguese right before me on the same topic and as he was giving his talk it was basically the same talk I was going to give. (same quotes, same scriptures--I am not even lying!) So, I turn to my companion and start freaking out so she hands me her talk and I read through her talk and decide to use some of mine and some of hers, but I don't quite know Portuguese well enough to do that yet, but by the time I start trying to figure it all out, it is my turn to speak. Yeah...
But, it totally turned out amazingly well! I am not saying this because I am so good at speaking Portuguese, but when I started speaking, I felt so confident and I just opened my mouth and the words flowed out in Portuguese. It was completely crazy. Everyone was so impressed with my Portuguese because I had only been here for three and a half weeks, but I can tell you now that it was definitely not all me! It was amazing. I know that missionary work is awesome and that we receive amazing blessings for being obedient and working hard. I had prepared all I could and it wasn't enough, but the Lord did the rest. (Honestly, I haven't been able to speak that well since.)
1. Where is Ian Zollinger going on his mission?
He is going to Washington state--don't know what mission, but he gave me his address to write him. We'll see if I have time...
2. Have you had any of those MTC conferences where a general authority comes to visit?
I have only had one mission conference on the first fast Sunday that I was here. But, for Tuesday devotionals we have general authorities come and so far Elder Tom Perry has come and the rest have been seventies. But, this past week, the President of the MTC came into our gym class looking for a particular missionary and guess who was with him? President Uchtdorf! It was CRAZY! We were all just standing there stupidly star-struck waving to him and my first thought was, "Wow, President Uchtdorf is right there and I am standing here in my gym clothes..." Anyway, it was funny.
3. How did your song go in Sacrament Meeting? What did you sing? Did someone play for you or did you have to accompany yourself?
Yeah, I didn't sing, but everyone here thinks that I have an awesome voice for some reason because I can carry a tune, so everyone wants me to sing in sacrament meeting.
4. Do any of the other sisters or elders play the piano well? (You know, the Sean Peterson type.)
Yeah, the MTC is kind of like BYU in that there are a lot of talented people who can play the piano. I haven't played yet for sacrament meeting, but the sister who is in charge of music is in my district and I am strictly the back-up pianist in case anyone bails.
5. What about your visa? Have you heard anything about it being granted yet?
I have heard absolutely nothing on my visa, so I hope that is getting worked out :)
6. Did your MTC teachers serve in Portugal or some other place? Do they divide you up into classes that are taught by those who went where you are going?
Irmao Okazaki served in Mozambique and Irmao Cotterell served in Brazil, so we are all learning Portugal Portuguese together. Pretty much, Irmao Okazaki teaches in the morning and Irmao Cotterell teaches us at night. There are no culture classes, but that would be awesome if there were! I guess they just expect us to be smart and pick up on everything. (Bad assumption when you are talking about elders, and some sisters).
Speaking of Harry Potter, my district leader likes calling me Hermione because he thinks that I am smart. I am not really smart, I just ask a lot of questions. But, the other day he made a parable of the swimming pool. Basically, his theory to learning anything new is to "throw the kid in the pool and see if he will swim"--basically learn by immersion. So, this week in the MTC we did a day of only Portuguese speaking and in our classes our teachers only speak to us in Portuguese. By the end of the week, Elder Dalton (the district leader) turns to me and says, "You know how I said that you should just throw a kid into the pool and see if he swims? Yeah, well, I think I am drowning." He says that I am swimming just fine in the water and that one other missionary in our district (Elder Noda from Italy) is walking on water because he basically knows the language--he never studies and he never takes notes. He basically knows it all already.
OH! In other news, I heard from Ian Zollinger that Sarah Betts and Eric Beckstead are engaged! That is crazy! I have no other knowledge besides that, but that is just what I heard. I find it odd, but that is just me--I hope they are happy.
So, I only have half an hour to write email, so basically I am flying through my week really quickly and trying to tell you everything as fast as I can, so sorry it is only one email this week. But, I ordered pictures this week (real ones) so I want to be able to send you some soon. Oh yeah, and I can't see pictures that you send over email. I tried it and they have restrictions, so it doesn't work out.
One last story...there is this ugly brown dress that one of the sisters has in my district and we made an "ugly" outfit out of all of our clothes with this brown dress, so we are making a kind of sisterhood of the traveling ugly dress. It is really funny. One of us wears it each week and we take a bunch of awesome pictures. I haven't worn it yet--it's not my turn for another two weeks, but I will keep you posted!
All my love to everyone--I am having a great time--life is good. If you want to hear from me more, write me letters and I will try to write back!
Com amor a lua,
Irma Perez
This week has yet again been really awesome! So much has happened, I don't quite know where to start, so here goes...
I guess the big thing that happened this week was that I was called this week to give a talk in Sacrament Meeting! Yeah, pretty much. It ended up not working out that I was going to sing (We were going to sing a primary song in Portuguese) and I was going to sing with a couple of other sisters, but our pianist didn't work out and scheduling issues. So, I thought that I was safe not giving a talk but, I guess not. Since there are only 12 sisters in our branch of about 80 or 90 missionaries, you could pretty much bet that all of us are going to give a talk. Anyway, so I was called to give a talk on hope. I had it all written out. I wasn't that nervous because I had prepared. But, there was an elder who gave a talk in Portuguese right before me on the same topic and as he was giving his talk it was basically the same talk I was going to give. (same quotes, same scriptures--I am not even lying!) So, I turn to my companion and start freaking out so she hands me her talk and I read through her talk and decide to use some of mine and some of hers, but I don't quite know Portuguese well enough to do that yet, but by the time I start trying to figure it all out, it is my turn to speak. Yeah...
But, it totally turned out amazingly well! I am not saying this because I am so good at speaking Portuguese, but when I started speaking, I felt so confident and I just opened my mouth and the words flowed out in Portuguese. It was completely crazy. Everyone was so impressed with my Portuguese because I had only been here for three and a half weeks, but I can tell you now that it was definitely not all me! It was amazing. I know that missionary work is awesome and that we receive amazing blessings for being obedient and working hard. I had prepared all I could and it wasn't enough, but the Lord did the rest. (Honestly, I haven't been able to speak that well since.)
1. Where is Ian Zollinger going on his mission?
He is going to Washington state--don't know what mission, but he gave me his address to write him. We'll see if I have time...
2. Have you had any of those MTC conferences where a general authority comes to visit?
I have only had one mission conference on the first fast Sunday that I was here. But, for Tuesday devotionals we have general authorities come and so far Elder Tom Perry has come and the rest have been seventies. But, this past week, the President of the MTC came into our gym class looking for a particular missionary and guess who was with him? President Uchtdorf! It was CRAZY! We were all just standing there stupidly star-struck waving to him and my first thought was, "Wow, President Uchtdorf is right there and I am standing here in my gym clothes..." Anyway, it was funny.
3. How did your song go in Sacrament Meeting? What did you sing? Did someone play for you or did you have to accompany yourself?
Yeah, I didn't sing, but everyone here thinks that I have an awesome voice for some reason because I can carry a tune, so everyone wants me to sing in sacrament meeting.
4. Do any of the other sisters or elders play the piano well? (You know, the Sean Peterson type.)
Yeah, the MTC is kind of like BYU in that there are a lot of talented people who can play the piano. I haven't played yet for sacrament meeting, but the sister who is in charge of music is in my district and I am strictly the back-up pianist in case anyone bails.
5. What about your visa? Have you heard anything about it being granted yet?
I have heard absolutely nothing on my visa, so I hope that is getting worked out :)
6. Did your MTC teachers serve in Portugal or some other place? Do they divide you up into classes that are taught by those who went where you are going?
Irmao Okazaki served in Mozambique and Irmao Cotterell served in Brazil, so we are all learning Portugal Portuguese together. Pretty much, Irmao Okazaki teaches in the morning and Irmao Cotterell teaches us at night. There are no culture classes, but that would be awesome if there were! I guess they just expect us to be smart and pick up on everything. (Bad assumption when you are talking about elders, and some sisters).
Speaking of Harry Potter, my district leader likes calling me Hermione because he thinks that I am smart. I am not really smart, I just ask a lot of questions. But, the other day he made a parable of the swimming pool. Basically, his theory to learning anything new is to "throw the kid in the pool and see if he will swim"--basically learn by immersion. So, this week in the MTC we did a day of only Portuguese speaking and in our classes our teachers only speak to us in Portuguese. By the end of the week, Elder Dalton (the district leader) turns to me and says, "You know how I said that you should just throw a kid into the pool and see if he swims? Yeah, well, I think I am drowning." He says that I am swimming just fine in the water and that one other missionary in our district (Elder Noda from Italy) is walking on water because he basically knows the language--he never studies and he never takes notes. He basically knows it all already.
OH! In other news, I heard from Ian Zollinger that Sarah Betts and Eric Beckstead are engaged! That is crazy! I have no other knowledge besides that, but that is just what I heard. I find it odd, but that is just me--I hope they are happy.
So, I only have half an hour to write email, so basically I am flying through my week really quickly and trying to tell you everything as fast as I can, so sorry it is only one email this week. But, I ordered pictures this week (real ones) so I want to be able to send you some soon. Oh yeah, and I can't see pictures that you send over email. I tried it and they have restrictions, so it doesn't work out.
One last story...there is this ugly brown dress that one of the sisters has in my district and we made an "ugly" outfit out of all of our clothes with this brown dress, so we are making a kind of sisterhood of the traveling ugly dress. It is really funny. One of us wears it each week and we take a bunch of awesome pictures. I haven't worn it yet--it's not my turn for another two weeks, but I will keep you posted!
All my love to everyone--I am having a great time--life is good. If you want to hear from me more, write me letters and I will try to write back!
Com amor a lua,
Irma Perez
Irma Perez (Sabbie!!),
ReplyDeleteI don't know if this comment will be passed along to you or not, but I wanted to let you know that I enjoy reading the letters that are posted on your blog. It sounds like you are doing great in the MTC! What wonderful blessings come from dedicating yourself to serving the Lord. Keep working hard!
Sending love from VA--
Jennifer (Kim's big sis!) :)