(e-mail Friday, Nov. 16th, 2012)

 

Hola Familia!

Sorry it has taken so long for me to e-mail you! My p-days are on Fridays while I am here. They let me send you a letter, but I didn't have a chance to stick it in the mail until Monday or Tuesday, so you probably just recently got it.

My first few days were pretty rough. There are just so many rules here, I find it hard to keep track of all of them!  Also, as I mentioned in my letter, I am what they call a "solo sister", which means that I am the only sister in my district (our district is the people we have class with). I do have two companions though, they just are in different districts. And the elders in my district are awesome. One of the members of our Branch Presidency gave them a talk about how they need to respect me since I am the only sister, so every time I enter the classroom they all stand up until I sit down... So, as you can imagine, I pretty much run across the room to my chair when I get to class.  Oh goodness. It is so great though, they are all so diligent and thoughtful. I can't ever walk anywhere by myself, so if my companions aren't around, they walk me home or to the cafeteria or wherever I need to go.  And they all act so happy about being able to walk me somewhere. How sweet! My companions are Hermana Bradshaw and Hermana Bartschi, who are both solo sisters as well.  Hermana Bartschi has been here for 7 weeks, but Hermana Bradshaw came in the week before me. They are both going to SoCal on their missions, Spanish Speaking.  Hermana Bartschi is also the coordinating sister in our zone. They are both so nice. The first night I got here, when I was super tired, Hermana Bradshaw made my bed for me while I unpacked. Which wasn't so easy, since I have a top bunk.  And both of my companions have been super patient with helping me figure things out here.

Some informational things:

My MTC departure date has officially been changed to Dec. 5th, and I am supposed to get back on April 23, 2014.

My sweater arrived in the mail from Grandma, muchas gracias Abuela!

I have seen lots of people that I know here. Not so many that you would know, though. Mostly from school-- Amelia Bruneel, who was my visiting teacher, Michelle Crosby, David Durfee, and Elder Nelson (I don't remember his first name) have been in my wards up at BYUI, Matt Yen (He worked with me in the Math Lab), and a few others.  This girl that I met while I was working in Utah lives on my floor of the residence hall, so we run into each other a lot.  She is learning Hungarian, yikes!

For every meal, I just go to the back of the kitchen and get a plate of food with my name on it out of a heater thing, it's super efficient. Although I did get sick last Sunday :( It was probably my fault though, I brushed some crumbs off of my chair before I ate, and they probably had gluten in them. But my companions took care of me! I went and laid down in a random classroom, and a friend of ours --Sister Aldridge--stayed with me while my companions went and tracked down some ibuprofen for me. We almost missed the fireside, thank goodness we had some sisters saving seats for us! But besides that I have been fine. During lunch on Sunday I just grabbed a bit of gluten free bread for Sacrament.

Only one elder in my district isn't a native speaker, so talking in class is a little intimidating sometimes. But my Spanish is getting so much better! The other day we were at the TRC (this place where we go to teach a random volunteer acting as an investigator), and I was teaching with Elders Munoz and Garcia about the Book of Mormon. The man wanted to know about Joseph Smith, and I was able to recite for him the first vision, as well as bare testimony that I know that if Christ could appear to His Apostles three days after His death, then surely He also appeared to Joseph Smith-- He lives, He loves us, and He wants us to come unto Him.  It was so great, and the spirit was so strong.

I have been marking my Spanish scriptures according to topic, and I feel like I am getting to know the scripures all over again. There is just something so neat about reading them in another language. And talk about a tender mercy, I haven't had a hard time reading them in Spanish at all! I think I have studied the scriptures so much more intensely than I ever have. I love it!

Anyways, I've got to run! Time's out.

I love you all-- Hermana Burner

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".