The First Missionary letter

(mailed Nov. 13, 2012)

Mi Familia,

I won't have a p-day until next Friday, so don't stress when you don't hear from me for a while!

MTC was tiring today. They say to just hang on until Sunday though, and then it gets better.

I have two companions, Sisters Bradshaw and Bartschi.  There are five of us in the same room, and everyone seems super nice.  My companions and I are what they call "solo sisters" because we are in different districts, so we meet up at gym, meals, church, etc., but we are in different classes.  So I have elders escort me sometimes.

I am the only girl in my district, and only one other guy in my class isn't a native speaker.

I will be so glad once I am used to all this!

I love you all-- Hermana Burner

The procedure for entering the MTC changed a few years ago to pretty much a "stop, drop, and roll".  When you turn into the driveway of the MTC, you drive past many missionaries standing next to posts that have numbers on them.  We arrived a little early before Janelle's 12:30 check-in time, and drove most of the way down towards the exit.  We pulled over by 2 Elders who opened our doors, took Janelle's luggage out of the car, asked her a couple of questions, and helped her take her luggage to the MTC. That was it! Because it is so quick, we decided to take pictures at the temple across the street. 



 



Catherine, Grandma, and Janelle in front of the Provo Temple

 

We have a tradition in our family that when you go on a mission, you take a little lamb with you.  We got some pictures of Janelle with the original "Lambsi", who has been on missions to France (in the 70s'), Michigan (in 1985-86), France/Switzerland (1987-89), and the Family History Center Mission in Salt Lake City (2002-03). The grandkids take a "Lambsi Jr." on their missions, and they have been all over the world.

 

 

MTC Day

Janelle and cousin Catherine spent some time together!

 



While we were taking pictures in front of the Provo Temple (across the street from the MTC), a group of international missionaries came out--- a bunch of Elders and one Sister. The wife of the couple that was with the missionaries came over to Janelle, with the Sister missionary by her side, and asked Janelle what mission she was going to.  It turns out that the lone sister missionary had arrived from France and came to the MTC on Monday, and will also be serving in the St. George mission! The woman explained that Sister Pajoul had been lonely being with a bunch of elders. It was a "tender mercy" to her and to us to meet there, prior to taking Janelle to the MTC. The Lord timed it just right, as we had rearranged the order of our plans for this to happen.

 

 



The day before entering the MTC, Janelle (Hermana Burner) went to Temple Square in Salt Lake City. There were many sister missionaries there and she talked to one from the Philipines and one from Brazil. They look forward to seeing each other in 4 weeks when Janelle goes for a day of "tour training" on Temple Square.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Monday was Janelle's day to say good-bye to Dad and her younger brothers', and fly to Utah.

On Sunday, November 4th, Janelle was set-apart as a full-time missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. For the next 18 months she will be known as "Hermana Burner".





Language Test

Today, on my lunch break, I returned a phone call from the MTC to do a language evaluation. In other words, they needed to see how well I speak Spanish so that they know where to place me when I get to the MTC. Depending on how people do on this evaluation, they are either placed in beginning, intermediate, or advanced levels of learning Spanish. I was super nervous, so it took me a few days to gather the courage to return their phone call!

They started off with easy questions ("Como estas?" "Que te gusta hacer?"), and then moved on to harder questions that required different tenses. I felt like I did okay on most of them--the only one I kind of stumbled on was "Why did you decide to serve a mission?" because I really need to learn my gospel vocabulary! It's hard to think of all the right words when you feel so on the spot.

BUT, I think I must have done rather well in spite of that because they told me that they were going to be putting me in the Advanced level. That means that I will only be in the MTC for three weeks! Plus a week for tours, since I will be working in the St. George Visitors' Center. It is just such a neat feeling to know that I am fluent enough in a foreign language that I don't even need to be taught it in the MTC!