I have already bought a 1000 minute calling card that last 180 days after
activation so i can use it for mothers day too. I have almost finished
packing and I have tons of room left so that good. I think i have everything
i need so im good. If not i bet anything I can buy here is cheaper there
anyways.
I am very excited to meet my first in the field comp and know where
my first area is going to be. I hope he is cool and I hope I live in a
jungle with no plumbing or electricity or anything. That would be so
awesome! I will pry end up in Suva though, but thats ok im just stoked to
get to do some real work now.
My fijian is pretty good (probably only cause I never get to talk to native speakers) But I understand most things and can say most things I want to say so thats good. Two more days.
I cant wait.
Well I will talk to y'all in a couple days see ya then. Much love
Elder Wall
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Familiar Faces
Elder Wall ran into a familiar face in the MTC. Here is a dashing picture of him with Elder Patrick Merrill himself. Some of you locals may recognize this Elder. For those of you who do not, Patrick is from our neighborhood and joined Jake in the mischievous happenings of the ward Young Men :)
***3 days and counting until he leaves for Fiji!!!***
Thursday, January 22, 2009
January 22, 2009 Email
Bula Vinaka! Au lomani kemami. Au se tiko. Keitou lake kei viti ena ciwasiga!!!!
Hey so i wrote you a huge email and the computer killed it. I am mad so this might be short.
I got an awesome surprise yesterday: they moved up our departure date and got our flight plans. I leave in 9 Days!!! I am so excited. I leave SLC at 5:00 on Jan 31st. Arrive in LAX 6:00 Jan 31st.We leave LAX at 10:30 PM on Jan 31st. So saturday night be ready for aphone call. I will buy a phone card here.
Oh yeah, today is laundry day so I had to buy a laundry bag in the bookstore. Thanks though.
We arrive in Nadi at5:15 AM on Feb 02. So Feb 1, 2009 is a day I will never live. Wierd huh? I skip right over it. It is a twelve hour flight, so its gonna suck. But I am so excited to go. I can't wait to find out my first area. I hope it is some tiny village in the jungle. I cant wait. It is gonna be awesome!
Well I am doing great and the language is coming good. I love you all. Thanks for the support, love, and letters. I doubt we will be able to write much in Fiji. I don't think I have too much room for stuff, plus if you go to a small island, the little planes you go on have a 40 pound lugage limit. But i dont have too much stuff. I will see what goes on for sending some stuff home and let you know. I hear UPS has some deal for 5 bucks i will look into it.
Love y'all!
Love,
Elder Wall
Hey so i wrote you a huge email and the computer killed it. I am mad so this might be short.
I got an awesome surprise yesterday: they moved up our departure date and got our flight plans. I leave in 9 Days!!! I am so excited. I leave SLC at 5:00 on Jan 31st. Arrive in LAX 6:00 Jan 31st.We leave LAX at 10:30 PM on Jan 31st. So saturday night be ready for aphone call. I will buy a phone card here.
Oh yeah, today is laundry day so I had to buy a laundry bag in the bookstore. Thanks though.
We arrive in Nadi at5:15 AM on Feb 02. So Feb 1, 2009 is a day I will never live. Wierd huh? I skip right over it. It is a twelve hour flight, so its gonna suck. But I am so excited to go. I can't wait to find out my first area. I hope it is some tiny village in the jungle. I cant wait. It is gonna be awesome!
Well I am doing great and the language is coming good. I love you all. Thanks for the support, love, and letters. I doubt we will be able to write much in Fiji. I don't think I have too much room for stuff, plus if you go to a small island, the little planes you go on have a 40 pound lugage limit. But i dont have too much stuff. I will see what goes on for sending some stuff home and let you know. I hear UPS has some deal for 5 bucks i will look into it.
Love y'all!
Love,
Elder Wall
Thursday, January 15, 2009
January 15, 2009 Email
Hey Yall,
I have been here in the MTC seven weeks yesterday. It is crazy that it has gone by so fast and so slow all at the same time. It is a wierd feeling.
Iget my flight plans one week from tommorrow. I am so excited for that it is going to be crazy. I have a huge lay over in LAX so i will have plenty of time to make some calls so be ready.
The language is coming really well. I feel like i am doing good. I kind of feel like i have hit a wall with it though so i am just gonna get some good vocabulary in untill i leave cause the rest is just seeing how the natives do and say things. I am so excited I cant even wait. I dont even care if i get there as the retarded companion who cant say anything I just want to start doing the real work. I have been teaching at least one lesson a day in fijian and talking the majority of the
time in fijian so it is coming good. The spirit when I teach is so cool to feel even though it is not a lesson to a real investigator I cant wait to experiance the real deal.
Elder Holland came and talked to us again on tuesday. He is an incredible speaker who speaks with so much power I love it. It is definitly a spiritual high everytime he talks. He talked about
missionary work and how we are litteraly disciples of christ. He talked about the reason why missionary work is so hard is because in order to preach about the atonement we need to feel a very very very small portion of pain and suffering to be able to fully convey its meaning. He gets all worked up and starts yelling and spitting when he talks about missionary
work. I love it he is so passionate about it. It makes me laugh to see a apostle get all worked up like that its awesome.
Well things are going good. I'm glad to hear your all doing good stay strong and I love yall.
Love elder Wall
I have been here in the MTC seven weeks yesterday. It is crazy that it has gone by so fast and so slow all at the same time. It is a wierd feeling.
Iget my flight plans one week from tommorrow. I am so excited for that it is going to be crazy. I have a huge lay over in LAX so i will have plenty of time to make some calls so be ready.
The language is coming really well. I feel like i am doing good. I kind of feel like i have hit a wall with it though so i am just gonna get some good vocabulary in untill i leave cause the rest is just seeing how the natives do and say things. I am so excited I cant even wait. I dont even care if i get there as the retarded companion who cant say anything I just want to start doing the real work. I have been teaching at least one lesson a day in fijian and talking the majority of the
time in fijian so it is coming good. The spirit when I teach is so cool to feel even though it is not a lesson to a real investigator I cant wait to experiance the real deal.
Elder Holland came and talked to us again on tuesday. He is an incredible speaker who speaks with so much power I love it. It is definitly a spiritual high everytime he talks. He talked about
missionary work and how we are litteraly disciples of christ. He talked about the reason why missionary work is so hard is because in order to preach about the atonement we need to feel a very very very small portion of pain and suffering to be able to fully convey its meaning. He gets all worked up and starts yelling and spitting when he talks about missionary
work. I love it he is so passionate about it. It makes me laugh to see a apostle get all worked up like that its awesome.
Well things are going good. I'm glad to hear your all doing good stay strong and I love yall.
Love elder Wall
Thursday, January 8, 2009
January 8, 2009 E-mail
Hey everyone,
It is great to hear from you all. Keep the letters and stuff coming. They are very motivational.
That was cool preston is doing so good. I'm glad to hear it. He asked when my departure date is. It keeps getting switched between feb. 2 and feb 9. But as of right now it is the 2nd.
Things are going good. The language seems to be coming good. That is until I speak to a real fijian. Ha ha! They talk really fast and quiet. But there are two elders here who i try to talk to everyday. I can usually only catch about every third word. So i do my best to decide what he is saying and then struggle to compile my own mess of a response. ha ha! I am going to keep talking to him every day to try to improve.
We have been doing alot of SYL, which is 'speak your language' within our district. We have been doing 8 hours a day where we speak only fijian. It's really tough, but alot of fun talking about people when they have no clue what we're saying. There is a whole 8 people in the whole mtc who speak it. Its fun. The more i learn and talk to people about fiji, the more excited i am to go.
Talking to the elders from fiji is great. They love telling stories especially when the stories are
about bragging about fiji. So i have heard all kinds of cool things. My teacher said we have to watch out though, because embelshing a story to make it funnier or more interesting is a common practice in fiji and not considered negative at all. He said hearing the same fish get bigger and bigger is hilarious and happens all the time. But ya things are going good.
I am definitely ready to be out of the MTC. I have cabin feaver for sure. I just want to get out. We're going to the temple today for the first time in three weeks since it has been closed for cleaning and renovation. I am way excited. It is going to be awesome.
It has snowed like crazy here, so i am sure that you have had even more than we have here. I bet you're having a blast.
I have seen patrick a bunch of times and finally got to see aaron once. They both seem to be doing very good. Glad to hear it.
Well I ran out of things to say like ten minutes ago so I will stop rambling. Love ya'll
thanks for the support. Keep the letters coming. I am praying for everyone.
Oh ya! Real quick: my teacher said letters to and from fiji take about a week, so thats not too bad.
Love Elder Wall
It is great to hear from you all. Keep the letters and stuff coming. They are very motivational.
That was cool preston is doing so good. I'm glad to hear it. He asked when my departure date is. It keeps getting switched between feb. 2 and feb 9. But as of right now it is the 2nd.
Things are going good. The language seems to be coming good. That is until I speak to a real fijian. Ha ha! They talk really fast and quiet. But there are two elders here who i try to talk to everyday. I can usually only catch about every third word. So i do my best to decide what he is saying and then struggle to compile my own mess of a response. ha ha! I am going to keep talking to him every day to try to improve.
We have been doing alot of SYL, which is 'speak your language' within our district. We have been doing 8 hours a day where we speak only fijian. It's really tough, but alot of fun talking about people when they have no clue what we're saying. There is a whole 8 people in the whole mtc who speak it. Its fun. The more i learn and talk to people about fiji, the more excited i am to go.
Talking to the elders from fiji is great. They love telling stories especially when the stories are
about bragging about fiji. So i have heard all kinds of cool things. My teacher said we have to watch out though, because embelshing a story to make it funnier or more interesting is a common practice in fiji and not considered negative at all. He said hearing the same fish get bigger and bigger is hilarious and happens all the time. But ya things are going good.
I am definitely ready to be out of the MTC. I have cabin feaver for sure. I just want to get out. We're going to the temple today for the first time in three weeks since it has been closed for cleaning and renovation. I am way excited. It is going to be awesome.
It has snowed like crazy here, so i am sure that you have had even more than we have here. I bet you're having a blast.
I have seen patrick a bunch of times and finally got to see aaron once. They both seem to be doing very good. Glad to hear it.
Well I ran out of things to say like ten minutes ago so I will stop rambling. Love ya'll
thanks for the support. Keep the letters coming. I am praying for everyone.
Oh ya! Real quick: my teacher said letters to and from fiji take about a week, so thats not too bad.
Love Elder Wall
Friday, January 2, 2009
January 1, 2009 Email
Hey Everyone!!! Happy New Year!!!!
New years eve here was as fun as can be expected in the mtc. We drank some sparkling cider and blew some horns and woke people up with shooting confetti in their face. It was pretty fun. We got some sweet pictures I will send home. But then i woke up in the night to pee, wearing only slippers and garments, I got locked out of my room. So at three in the morning, I pounded on the door for fifteen minutes, but my companion thought it was people trying to get us back for waking them up at midnight and blowing confetti on them, so he didn't even get out of bed to let me in. So i had to talk to the front desk (in nothing but garments and slippers), who said they would send security to let me in my room. So i went back to the room and waited. The security gaurd took an hour to get there. So i had to lay on the floor outside my room for an hour (in nothing but garments and slippers) while i waited to get let into my room. It sucked alot. So ya i guess i learned my lesson for breaking curfew for new years geez.
Culture update: New Years in fiji is a huge deal. They have water fights and splashing and stuff for usually about a week. They love fireworks and there is no such thing as firework laws. They have the biggest best fireworks my teacher has ever seen that anyone can buy for dirt cheap. I am so excited. My teacher said one of their shows was so big that they put stadium of fire to shame.
The language is coming good. It was nice to get that tape and hear everyone's voices. I hope your doing good. I am doing great, love my comp and my disrict and zone. We have alot of fun.
I am teaching lesson 2 in fijian Saturday. My goal is to use no notes and not have to memorize sentances, just wing it. I bet I slaughter the grammer, but thats ok. I did a practice session with my teacher and did really good, so hopefully i can do good saturday. I made some good friends with the tongans who live by us, they left Tuesday though. They were alot of fun. They were trying to convince me that Tonga is better than Fiji. They promised that after our missions if i come visit them, they will have a girl and a fat pig for me. ha ha! Hilarious, huh? They are so loving it is awesome. They are hilarious and love to joke. They said fijians are the same way, so it will be way fun.
There is one fijian who is here. I try to talk to him a lot to practise the language. We do pretty good talking, so its cool. He is older i think, like 25 so he is more mature and not as much fun as the tongans were, but thats cool too. His name is Elder Ratalevu which means big chief so i always call him big chief and he gets really embarassed. It's way funny.
My sense of humor has become slightly retarded i think result of being cooped up in here for a month. But we say dumb stuff that is not funny at all, and then laugh our heads off cause we said it in fijian. Its kind of funny.
Well it's crazy to think my MTC experiance is half way done!! One more month and I am in Fiji!!! It will never come fast enough.
Well love ya'll and wish ya the best.
Crazy thought: I will be home next year!!!!!!!!!
New years eve here was as fun as can be expected in the mtc. We drank some sparkling cider and blew some horns and woke people up with shooting confetti in their face. It was pretty fun. We got some sweet pictures I will send home. But then i woke up in the night to pee, wearing only slippers and garments, I got locked out of my room. So at three in the morning, I pounded on the door for fifteen minutes, but my companion thought it was people trying to get us back for waking them up at midnight and blowing confetti on them, so he didn't even get out of bed to let me in. So i had to talk to the front desk (in nothing but garments and slippers), who said they would send security to let me in my room. So i went back to the room and waited. The security gaurd took an hour to get there. So i had to lay on the floor outside my room for an hour (in nothing but garments and slippers) while i waited to get let into my room. It sucked alot. So ya i guess i learned my lesson for breaking curfew for new years geez.
Culture update: New Years in fiji is a huge deal. They have water fights and splashing and stuff for usually about a week. They love fireworks and there is no such thing as firework laws. They have the biggest best fireworks my teacher has ever seen that anyone can buy for dirt cheap. I am so excited. My teacher said one of their shows was so big that they put stadium of fire to shame.
The language is coming good. It was nice to get that tape and hear everyone's voices. I hope your doing good. I am doing great, love my comp and my disrict and zone. We have alot of fun.
I am teaching lesson 2 in fijian Saturday. My goal is to use no notes and not have to memorize sentances, just wing it. I bet I slaughter the grammer, but thats ok. I did a practice session with my teacher and did really good, so hopefully i can do good saturday. I made some good friends with the tongans who live by us, they left Tuesday though. They were alot of fun. They were trying to convince me that Tonga is better than Fiji. They promised that after our missions if i come visit them, they will have a girl and a fat pig for me. ha ha! Hilarious, huh? They are so loving it is awesome. They are hilarious and love to joke. They said fijians are the same way, so it will be way fun.
There is one fijian who is here. I try to talk to him a lot to practise the language. We do pretty good talking, so its cool. He is older i think, like 25 so he is more mature and not as much fun as the tongans were, but thats cool too. His name is Elder Ratalevu which means big chief so i always call him big chief and he gets really embarassed. It's way funny.
My sense of humor has become slightly retarded i think result of being cooped up in here for a month. But we say dumb stuff that is not funny at all, and then laugh our heads off cause we said it in fijian. Its kind of funny.
Well it's crazy to think my MTC experiance is half way done!! One more month and I am in Fiji!!! It will never come fast enough.
Well love ya'll and wish ya the best.
Crazy thought: I will be home next year!!!!!!!!!
December 25, 2008 Email
Hey everyone!!
I hope you all had a very merry christmas. Christmas in the MTC was pretty cool. It was different and kinda hard being away from home but it was good.
I got your packages and thanks so much they were awesome!! The helicopter is the coolest thing ever. Everyone wants one so dad will let me know how much they are and I will send you money and orders cause everyone wants to buy one. I sent a letter today explaining some stuff so I will keep this brief.
My comp went home cause his butt cyst ha ha choir kids. My new companion is elder Tulane going to tonga. He is way way cooler then Becktel and he smells good. And I like him. So it was a huge relief. Things are going good. The language is good and things are fun. I still miss you, but I have fallen into a groove here. I'm kinda like a zombie. Ha ha, I cant wait to get to Fiji and start the real work. The more I hear about it the more I am excited. I have met a few of the people here and they are way cool. It is going to be awesome. Everyone wants to feed you and have you come to their house so hopefully the work will be good.
Elder Bednar came and talked to us yesterday and Elder Holland this morning. It was pretty awesome. Other then that not much happened. Our P day kind of got stolen, so I did not get much done. Barely got my laundry done after lunch. Oh well. Write me and tell me how everything is going I wanna hear about your christmas. Keep the letters and the packages coming. I love you all MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!
Love
Elder Wall
Love
Elder Wall
December 18, 2008 Email
Hey yall!!
It is going good here. The language is coming pretty awesome. I teach the first lesson in Fijian saturday. Im a little bit nervous for that. I can teach all the principles fine but when they ask me questions I have no idea what they are saying about fifty percent of the time.
Last saturday we had Fijian volunteers to come do like a contacting excercise where we meet people in the park and set up a teaching appointment. My guy started talking about sports and rugby and I just looked at him with a blank face and said io. Which means yes ha ha, so if they ask any questions I am just gonna be like so ya the book of mormon is great. Ha ha
I found out last night my companion has to go home and have a surgery so I am also teaching by myself so I am gonna study my butt off cause I got twice the load to pull now. I still dont know what is gonna happen tomorrow when he leaves. I think they are either gonna make me a solo elder, or team me up with the tongon kid who live in the same room as me. I dont know so I guess we will see.
Oh ya can you send me a cheap watch before I leave and I will send mine home with my warm clothes cause we found out about this cultural thing called 'kerei kerei' which means please. If you have something they like they say "kerei kerei," and you have to give it to them. So I am gonna have no clothes or anything by the time I come home.
Mom, you also asked about sunglasses. I got my nice pair, which I hope last a month. Then also a pair nick gave me. So I cant decide if I need more or not. Well things here are good. My ankle
is fine. I have been doing lots of physical therapy everyday during gym, which we get five times a week. And it is getting way strong way fast. So its all good.
It snowed alot here and my district has some intense "under ground" snow ball fights. It has been fun. I bet eventually we get caught though, cause your not supposed to have snowball fights.
Well hope all is well at home. Send me lots of mail. I am getting caught on the letter and package contest so keep sending them. Plus I love them and they keep me going. Thanks Love everyone and i will miss you.
Love Elder Wall
It is going good here. The language is coming pretty awesome. I teach the first lesson in Fijian saturday. Im a little bit nervous for that. I can teach all the principles fine but when they ask me questions I have no idea what they are saying about fifty percent of the time.
Last saturday we had Fijian volunteers to come do like a contacting excercise where we meet people in the park and set up a teaching appointment. My guy started talking about sports and rugby and I just looked at him with a blank face and said io. Which means yes ha ha, so if they ask any questions I am just gonna be like so ya the book of mormon is great. Ha ha
I found out last night my companion has to go home and have a surgery so I am also teaching by myself so I am gonna study my butt off cause I got twice the load to pull now. I still dont know what is gonna happen tomorrow when he leaves. I think they are either gonna make me a solo elder, or team me up with the tongon kid who live in the same room as me. I dont know so I guess we will see.
Oh ya can you send me a cheap watch before I leave and I will send mine home with my warm clothes cause we found out about this cultural thing called 'kerei kerei' which means please. If you have something they like they say "kerei kerei," and you have to give it to them. So I am gonna have no clothes or anything by the time I come home.
Mom, you also asked about sunglasses. I got my nice pair, which I hope last a month. Then also a pair nick gave me. So I cant decide if I need more or not. Well things here are good. My ankle
is fine. I have been doing lots of physical therapy everyday during gym, which we get five times a week. And it is getting way strong way fast. So its all good.
It snowed alot here and my district has some intense "under ground" snow ball fights. It has been fun. I bet eventually we get caught though, cause your not supposed to have snowball fights.
Well hope all is well at home. Send me lots of mail. I am getting caught on the letter and package contest so keep sending them. Plus I love them and they keep me going. Thanks Love everyone and i will miss you.
Love Elder Wall
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