Saturday, August 10, 2013

Planning for the next phase

Hello Everyone! How's it going, I've been hearing from everyone how their particular stuff is going and how they feel and think about it haha. Congratulations to Richard on passing his State Department test (it was probably the suit) and as well as getting the shop, it's funny how those things work out like that sometimes, right when you've thought you've made a decision something else comes up, Either way congratulations on both, that's super exciting that you could be going abroad yet you still have to come back sometimes to Denver haha. I wouldn't say that your letters are boring, no matter how boring you think they are, I think they're fantastic because it's the only interaction still letting me know that there's an outside world out there so thank you for that. Jackie told me all about the adventures when Mom and Dad were there and how each of them took a grandparent, John Wayne got Grandma and Ritchie got Grandpa, which I thought was kind of funny, but I can see why they chose who they did haha. The story about the desk was sosososo funny I about died and I wrote more about that in a letter that I sent to you, so you should get that like Monday maybe, maybe not because the mail from here seems to take forever. But thank you for the laughs and also the letter it was really funny. It's really great to hear from everyone before I go, thank you so much for all the letter it makes the evenings less boring because they new kids don't go to evening class yet so I'm often by myself when it comes to something like that, so most of the time I'm in the other classes working on my Slovak book, or I'm just in my room, also working on my Slovak book haha, it was my teachers birthday yesterday so I gave him some of the mounds and gobs of candy and food that I have that Dad keeps sending me more and more of, when I haven't even nearly half of the previous week's haha, but I love it, makes the new Elders jealous.

I got my foot checked out yesterday by the Doctor and he had me walk and he looked at it and felt the joint line looking for any pain, which wasn't there, and the was pretty much the appointment. He talked to me about being very careful about and not going crazy with it, I told him that I had a little pain and theres some pain when you push on it and that the ankle is just a little tight when I move it around. So he gave me some exercises that I can do that will allow me to restrengthen the ankle because he told me that the doesn't want it to become my weak ankle and then have problems with it in the future so he gave me a band to use and then all these stretches that I need to do, some are everyday, some are every other day, but I'm supposed to be doing them for at least 2 months, so at least 1 transfer. He told me that I would be able to leave and asked if I had my travel plans, which I said I did, and he just said, okay well we'll call them down to make sure that everything is sorted out and to make sure everyone knows that you WILL be leaving, which I am extremely grateful for. Which means that I only have 3 days left and 2 of those days are mostly chill out days, and also that I need to pack! Which I'm pumped for but I'm unsure of what I'm going to do for Gym tomorrow because I'm supposed to have a companion at all times but everyone will probably be going to Gym, so not exactly sure what I'll be doing there but I'll figure it out. Everyone had been really cool about the whole thing and they all feel bad for me so I get the support from everyone a lot and I'm always talking to someone else because they feel bad for me or something. There's actually a Russian Elder who is supposed to leave the same day as me, but yesterday he broke his foot playing basketball and it's unknown how long he'll be delayed which is crazy and I feel really sorry for how he feels because I know the situation. Everyone in our zone has pretty much stopped playing basketball all-together because of the amount of injuries that has been occurring, so maybe this was meant to be an example of what you should not do because you don't want this to happen because the MTC isn't bad but you know that it's going to be absolutely amazing out in the Field.

So, I guess I accidentally stumbled upon where I will be serving out in the field and with whom I will be serving on one of the missionary websites that we can use. It's the site that I used for my Pre-MTC training and also for my in the MTC training as well as what I will be using for out there training. I don't know exactly why that I was looking at the particular website, I could have got the same information somewhere else or done the same activity somewhere else but I get on there and and see that I am able to start my In-Field training Internet thing so I click on that button and see all the things that I will be required to do out there which is whatever, interesting but doesn't really matter to me because they're just usually language assessments and things of the like. So I scroll down and start to read off this city in Slovakia and then I see my name and then 2 names after mine and then I see dome goals that are key-indicators for the week. So I assume that this will be the city and the Elders that I will be serving with out there, or maybe I'm just in the system and they had to out me somewhere because I'm supposed to be over there, either way it's pretty cool, but I imagine that this will be the city that I'm serving in, if not, hey cool experience. So the area that I will be serving in is the Kosice west area, it is on the far East side of the country and looks to be about 150 miles from the nearest city that has Elders in it. It says that I am in a trio over there which 2 other Elders, but I don't really remember their names so I'll tell you them next week, or I guess I'll be telling you about it on the 12th maybe, and we'll see if I'm actually in the area, but I suspect that I will be, which is really really cool. I think it will just be cool to be able to see if my hunch is correct or not, if it is that is really cool if not, then we had fun thinking about it. I don't know how I feel about being in a trio though, I guess that will help with the language and it'll probably be really really great, and I guess he has me with a trio because he thinks that the language will be harder for me since I will have not had the extra week in the country like every one else, which my teachers don't really think so. I hope I will be able to understand and I've told my teachers that and they tell me that don't worry, you'll be able to understand with as much as you understand me when I talk, I'm talking my fastest, and you understand everything, don't worry you'll be fine, so that's cool, I hope that he's right and I hope that I'll be fine in the country. Anyways that was cool to find out last night and speculate on!

I've been doing quite a bit with my teachers with the language as well as being able to teach the lessons. Every day this week I prepare to learn and teach about a lesson about the gospel and he wants me to be proficient in the language when it comes to saying stuff about those specific topics. French has actually been a really really great thing that has really helped me with learning the language because Mr. Gainey taught me that if I cant say the specific word or verb in French then I need to figure out another way to say it which has really made all the difference when I've been learning the language because I can teach anything, or say anything I want because even if I don't know the language I can maneuver around the language and then come out with something that I already know how to say. Whether what I say is grammatically correct on the other hand is a different story. There are just so many intricacies that go along with the language that you have to change to meet certain situations and right now because I'm not completely used to them they take a little bit of time before I can completely say them without hesitation, I can correct myself but I can't say it without having to think about it. I teach the lesson to my teacher everyday and then he either gives me some advice or shows me something specific that I can work on which is really nice because I then know how and what I'm going to study for the day while he teaches the new missionaries. He corrects my language sometimes while I just talk to them and they're usually just small and simple things that don't affect the message of the what I'm trying to say but they're just small and simple things that I can work on to make my language perfect as it can be so I think when it comes to the language I really will be fine, time will tell I suppose and we'll see once I get out there haha. I usually stay in the class while my teacher is teaching the newbies and he uses me a lot to explain somethings, in English, to the Elders because I think he wants it to come out of my mouth because it will be more powerful coming from one of their own rather than him himself. We went on a walk the other day and while we were walking he asked if everyone knew me and then told them that I might be one of their trainers, so I'm not exactly what he meant by that haha. I guess it's possible, i would think it's more unlikely but I suppose it could happen, I guess he thinks it will happen, if it did that would be really cool haha. Other than that I'm really just in class to help them, because my teacher told them they can always ask me, which I'm not sure is a great idea because somethings I can convey through the language but I probably couldn't give them a straight and exact answer. I never realized how fast that I was talking until my teacher told me to slow down to a very very slow pace, and to not freak out the new kids, I guess I'm used to talking fast with my teacher because we can understand each other when we're speaking our fastest, it's actually really cool now that I think about it haha.

That's pretty much how my week has been, it's been boring at times but I can see the benefits of being here still, I've learned a ton of stuff just being with my teachers 1-on-1 and I can see how there would be benefits for being here for 12 weeks because we can learn so much more from out teachers, but alas, the work must continues whether we are completely prepared or not. I'm preparing mentally and spiritually for going out there on Monday and then I guess flying by myself as well, even though that's not a big deal and I probably prefer it that way. I rechecked because they changed the time that I need to be at the travel office from 5:30 to 5 and then checked on y flight and I am indeed going straight from Salt Lake to Amsterdam and then Amsterdam to Prague, so Monday morning I will be calling, probably around 8 or so, so if you want to hear from be you'll need to tell me what numbers to call or if you'll be at the numbers that you've already given me. You can Email me I'll check it every day before Monday if not then I'll be calling Dad's work and then Mom's cell. Anyways I gotta go, love you all very much and I hope that you're staying safe, I'll try to stay safe myself and probably won't be playing much basketball or going as hard as I was (learned my lesson), I miss you all!


Love,
Elder Preston Ferrell


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