So I leave on Monday which is absurd because I can't speak Romanian but I'm very excited. I fly out at 8:00 a.m. Monday to Chicago and I'm in Chicago from 12:03 to 3:40 (I'm not sure if that's our time or if it's already given to me in Chicago Time but I think that it's just in Utah time so I'll call around then). Then we fly to Frankfurt through the night and get to Bucharest sometime someday. Pretty crazy. We'll spend our first night at the mission home and then the next day we're shipped off all over the country with an experienced companion and begin teaching and preaching and doing as the missionaries do.
This week has been very interesting. Every monday we do a TRC where volunteers come and we teach them in Romanian and there is a native girl, Luiză, who has come several times but Elder Peterson and I were able to teach her this last time and she spoke so fast I couldn't believe it. But it was so beautiful, a language I hadn't even heard before. She was the only one from her family who converted to Mormonism from Romanian Orthodox and her family still lives there in Romania. It was very intimidating but also a great help. It forced me to listen and to really try to speak fast and correctly while enunciating and pronouncing my best.
Sunday was great, I was able to play piano for like an hour and I also played a number in Sacrament meeting. I can't wait to play a little in Romania and hopefully on an organ. That would be fantastic.
The exciting things that happened:
I got a little athlete's foot... Gross I know but on the plus side it means I'm an athlete. And it's pretty much taken care of already.
I hit my head so hard on a coat rack I was bleeding but don't worry that's all healed up too...
I ate an entire loaf of banana bread today.
Sister Sellers of the ASL district came up with a bunch of signs for people's name. She dubbed me Elder Smiley because she said she always sees me smiling which really caught me off guard. I don't ever remember smiling that much. But I suppose that's a good thing. I have such a great respect for those who have gone through live with huge physical burdens and obstacles like these deaf and hard-of-hearing missionaries. In their case, they are greatly limited in who they can connect with and really how close they can become. There is one Elder who is 100% deaf and we just can't connect. I can say hi and thank you and simple things like that and we can like each other and be "friends" but think about what we have with our voices and ears. Think about being deaf in high school. Many of them were home-schooled and there are some deaf high schools but there not at everybody's use.
Monday night I had asked an Elder and his companion to report to me on something and we made our way into an empty room. Then one Elder expressed the desire for a blessing so my companion and I stood in while that was administered and then my companion out of the blue asked me for just a blessing of comfort. I was terrified but it was interesting to see how the Lord works through others, and to feel that. I didn't have to worry about saying anything.
One funny characteristic of Romanian I'll share is they borrow a lot of english words and just throw on a certain verb ending or noun pluralization rule to make in Romanian. Even more funny is they love to show off that they know and can use these words. For example Fratele Jepsen told me about one time when he was waiting in line at a bank and the Romanian man in front of him was on his cell phone. Who ever was on the end of the line had asked him for a favor and the man replied, "Nu pot acum pentru că sunt managez foarte mult tascuri....." which just means I can't right now because I'm managing very many tasks. I don't know maybe that's more funny to me because I understand a little of the language.
The MTC is great and all but I'm excited to leave. I'm ready in the sense that I have that desire to teach and preach. It'll be a while before I can understand what people are saying to me and I'll be refining and learning the whole two years but It'll be fantastic. I can't think of anything else I'd rather be doing right now. I'm not sure how writing will work. If you want, just e-mail me. I've heard rumors that dearelders are free if you just send them to the pouch downtown but I don't know. There is an address I'll have posted for the mission home in romania. But they don't really tell us anything about that. Mom, maybe you know???? And I know a lot of the info is in my call packet I'm just not sure if that's with you or me... Maybe I should look.
For more interesting videos go watch the profile videos on Mormon.org. They do a fantastic job of showing the world, all sorts of lives and perspectives, and that you can be yourself, do what you like, be happy, love life, etc. A kid that went to my high school who is now a pro skateboarder has an awesome video on there. Or I really like the blind french guy. Anyways...
Hope everyone is doing well. I'm very tired (I don't always sleep too great(that's what happens when the bed is regular size and I'm not regular size)) but I'm happy. I love you all! Thanks for the letters, packages, and support.
Love, Elder Taylor
Elder Dan
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Week 6: instead of purses or briefcases or even backpacks, they just use grocery bags.
So time is flying. It's unreal how soon I will be leaving for Romania. I'm excited!
Romania is full of dogs. In București alone there are 50,000 street dogs. My teachers advice was do not run and just act like you are picking up a rock and they'll run away. Another interesting colloquialism is instead of purses or briefcases or even backpacks, they just use grocery bags. So in an attempt to attain native maturity my companion and I have been carrying around our books in some Macey's bags (Thank you Matthew and Audrey). They really advise to not use backpacks in the larger, busier areas due to thieves and the like.
It's been very interesting to learn of how Romania was "prepared" to be opened up to missionary work. Normally the Church has to approach a country's department of religion or whatever it may be called. Under communism (the official religion being atheism) they had no department or council. So the Church approached I believe the Medical Department of Romania and the head of the department just said sure come right in. The country was then open to missionaries and proselyting. It's a longer more interesting story but I'm afraid I can't retell it too well.
The language is still a struggle. In German there are only like four cases and you don't really have to conjugate like we do. Romanian has too many cases for me to remember. And there is a slavic case. There are often two words for one english word -- one being slavic and the other being a latin word. It's somewhat fascinating to learn grammar, my commendations to whoever sat down and established all these obnoxious rules.
Elder Swarts, a great friend from Draper, has been recovering from a foot injury here at the MTC and now has to stay here a total of fifteen or so weeks.... Pray for him. One because his foot needs to heal, two because fifteen weeks is too long.
Last night we had a great devotional. We heard from Cecil Samuelson, the president of BYU. He shared some of the following quotes and thoughts that I really enjoyed:
"You won't be judged by what positions you held but by how many people you served." -I believe that is from President Monson or one of the prophets...
"We won't be perfect in everything, but we can be perfect in some things." -President Samuelson
"Often those who need the most love are those that are the least loveable." -President Samuelson
He spoke a lot out of Paul's discourse to Timothy and how we need to be examples in everything. Not just now but in our lives. I related these quotes to the Atonement. Something I have been studying every day now. I have been reading some talks from Hugh Nibley (a genius to say the least) who wrote a four part message on the atonement. This is fascinating. Hugh Nibley knew and studied greek, egyptian, aramaic, arabic, german, latin, and other languages and cultures. Reading his talks is actually easier than it sounds because of how clear he presents things. I think most anyone would love his message on the Atonement.
Basketball continues to be fruitful. My feet hurt pretty bad from wearing my destroyed asics and then wearing church shoes the rest of the day. We have been playing so hard lately, but nobody's been seriously inujured.... yet.
Mom thank you for the Banana Bread. I sat down today and ate the entire loaf by myself........... I shared like two pieces but I missed good banana bread. Thank you :)
Crystal that card blew my mind, especially since the guitar moved. I think i'll leave that for the next residents to find when I leave. It's something that should be passed on. I'll put your address in it so they can write you.
I'm still working on the combover. Every since I got a haircut here the back just stands straight up. It's not really a haircut anyways. They ask you what you want, pretend their going to do that for you, and then shave your head. One interesting thing is that in Romanian you don't say, "I got a haircut" you say, "I mowed my hair today." There are all sorts of funny things like that. Another one is if you're talking with your pals or whatever and are referring to the cool person or the ripped jock who has it all (me) you call him the man who carries the sledge-hammer. And if you want to say you slept really well, you say, "I slept like a lumberjack"
I continually thank you for your letters and support. I'm having a great time and learning so much about myself, about the ecclectisism (is that a word?) of the world, and the importance of self-progression. I hope you are all doing fantastic, I miss you all. Even Marcellus.
Love,
Elder Taylor.
Romania is full of dogs. In București alone there are 50,000 street dogs. My teachers advice was do not run and just act like you are picking up a rock and they'll run away. Another interesting colloquialism is instead of purses or briefcases or even backpacks, they just use grocery bags. So in an attempt to attain native maturity my companion and I have been carrying around our books in some Macey's bags (Thank you Matthew and Audrey). They really advise to not use backpacks in the larger, busier areas due to thieves and the like.
It's been very interesting to learn of how Romania was "prepared" to be opened up to missionary work. Normally the Church has to approach a country's department of religion or whatever it may be called. Under communism (the official religion being atheism) they had no department or council. So the Church approached I believe the Medical Department of Romania and the head of the department just said sure come right in. The country was then open to missionaries and proselyting. It's a longer more interesting story but I'm afraid I can't retell it too well.
The language is still a struggle. In German there are only like four cases and you don't really have to conjugate like we do. Romanian has too many cases for me to remember. And there is a slavic case. There are often two words for one english word -- one being slavic and the other being a latin word. It's somewhat fascinating to learn grammar, my commendations to whoever sat down and established all these obnoxious rules.
Elder Swarts, a great friend from Draper, has been recovering from a foot injury here at the MTC and now has to stay here a total of fifteen or so weeks.... Pray for him. One because his foot needs to heal, two because fifteen weeks is too long.
Last night we had a great devotional. We heard from Cecil Samuelson, the president of BYU. He shared some of the following quotes and thoughts that I really enjoyed:
"You won't be judged by what positions you held but by how many people you served." -I believe that is from President Monson or one of the prophets...
"We won't be perfect in everything, but we can be perfect in some things." -President Samuelson
"Often those who need the most love are those that are the least loveable." -President Samuelson
He spoke a lot out of Paul's discourse to Timothy and how we need to be examples in everything. Not just now but in our lives. I related these quotes to the Atonement. Something I have been studying every day now. I have been reading some talks from Hugh Nibley (a genius to say the least) who wrote a four part message on the atonement. This is fascinating. Hugh Nibley knew and studied greek, egyptian, aramaic, arabic, german, latin, and other languages and cultures. Reading his talks is actually easier than it sounds because of how clear he presents things. I think most anyone would love his message on the Atonement.
Basketball continues to be fruitful. My feet hurt pretty bad from wearing my destroyed asics and then wearing church shoes the rest of the day. We have been playing so hard lately, but nobody's been seriously inujured.... yet.
Mom thank you for the Banana Bread. I sat down today and ate the entire loaf by myself........... I shared like two pieces but I missed good banana bread. Thank you :)
Crystal that card blew my mind, especially since the guitar moved. I think i'll leave that for the next residents to find when I leave. It's something that should be passed on. I'll put your address in it so they can write you.
I'm still working on the combover. Every since I got a haircut here the back just stands straight up. It's not really a haircut anyways. They ask you what you want, pretend their going to do that for you, and then shave your head. One interesting thing is that in Romanian you don't say, "I got a haircut" you say, "I mowed my hair today." There are all sorts of funny things like that. Another one is if you're talking with your pals or whatever and are referring to the cool person or the ripped jock who has it all (me) you call him the man who carries the sledge-hammer. And if you want to say you slept really well, you say, "I slept like a lumberjack"
I continually thank you for your letters and support. I'm having a great time and learning so much about myself, about the ecclectisism (is that a word?) of the world, and the importance of self-progression. I hope you are all doing fantastic, I miss you all. Even Marcellus.
Love,
Elder Taylor.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Letter 5. " For man looketh on the outer appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart."
So I think I'm on week five and It's still going great! I forgot to say that I was somewhat ill two weeks ago as was my whole district. Just head colds. But it went away after a couple days so I forgot to tell you and evoke pity. Evoke? I can't tell if that's the right word...
So the language is coming together still and sometimes I spit out certain sentences so fast I blow myself away. Of course most of those are either gospel related or commonly used day-to-day sentences. When I try to speak it all the time it takes forever, especially if I want to use the correct grammar. But I love the Language. And I love learning about the culture. The more I learn of their past the more i feel for the Romanians. Sorry if any of you reading this are communist but I really dislike what communism has done to that country. Luckily, through stories from my teachers, it sounds like there is still plenty of culture to be experienced. Most of it remains in the people but there are still villages, castles, cathedrals, and other monuments of the culture. One thing our teacher's spoke about was English Classes. When we're in Romania we'll have opportunities to teach english. There are beginner, intermediate, and advanced classes. The advanced classes you just have conversations in english. But they use it as a means of getting to know the people and building a bond with them and then of course if anyone is interested we would teach them. We don't really worry about grammar when teaching, mainly because the average American (myself) uses little or no grammar in their speech. We try to explain the reason for saying things like "I've got to catch a plane" or when we use "it" for everything.
I will get to play piano in about an hour by the way. I'm pretty excited!
On sunday we had another fantastic fireside from Robert P. Swensen. He spoke on Jesus Christ and Love. One thing that he emphasized was giving our lives for something or someone. That is real love. Marriage, raising a family, teaching, etc. are all ways of giving your life to something/someone. And since Sunday I have been studying love which led to my constant study about Jesus Christ. He is a very complex man once you get past the basic ministry in the four gospels. I spoke with one of our teachers, Fratele Miles, and after thirty minutes of discussing I had another week or two or ideeas for studying. I know I didn't spell ideas right. sorry.
I was able to get on LDS.org the other day and watch some videos, read some talks, etc. but I was watching some of the Christmas devotional that I believe was from last year and I was blown away by that performance of What Shall We Give?. It's my new favorite song. And audrey and her mom are in one of the videos. They're famous.
We have watched in class two incredible talks that just blew my mind. The first is "the miracle of missionary work" which is an MTC address from Elder Holland and is directed towards missionaries but the other is an MTC address from Elder Bednar about the Holy Ghost and I would highly recommend it to members. For nonmembers I would recommend going and seeing the Joseph Smith movie. Not necessarily to investigate the church but just to better understand. I promise you it will help. I was able to watch it Sunday night (once again with Elder Swarts and Elder Eve) and even though the version here is a little shorter it's a great portrayal of the beginnings of the church and the life and trials of the prophet. And no we do not worship Joseph Smith, we worship Jesus Christ. Sorry this may seem blunt and forward but I just don't have time to be eloquent.
Speaking of church history, I would absolutely love if Brother Al Jensen would send me some stories of Porter Rockwell and/or the Prophet Joseph Smith. I love church history.
Speaking of church history some more, Elder Gerald N. Lund spoke to us last night on Faith. It was a great presentation on how to exercise faith, learn by faith, and grow your faith. Faith is hard, that's a fact for me, but very rewarding. One thing he said that many of you may have heard that doesn't necessarily have to do with faith is "Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from poor judgement" My advice in regards to that one-liner is learn from your mistakes and poor judgement so that you can gain experience. Don't continue in the same poor judgement.
Dad Helaman's camp was a tremendous help. There's all the feedback you need.
Me and my companion are getting along. One thing I really appreciate about him is that even though he is more in shape and ten times better at basketball then me, he never puts me down. He always compliments me on what I can do. I still hit a three yesterday with him in my face.
I've been told that I speak too much of Marcellus so I won't mention him in this e-mail.
Mom, thank you for all you helped me with (clothes, luggage, etc.) it's all serving me very well and making the experience better. Dad, thank you for you advice, I love every word of it.
A good scripture for anyone to study and apply is 1 Samuel 16:7. It's something I have to work with every day.
Thank you so much for all of the mail and goodies, I couldn't ask for more. Thank you for the support and encouragement. I miss you all and love you but I am enjoying it here and can't wait for Romania.
So the language is coming together still and sometimes I spit out certain sentences so fast I blow myself away. Of course most of those are either gospel related or commonly used day-to-day sentences. When I try to speak it all the time it takes forever, especially if I want to use the correct grammar. But I love the Language. And I love learning about the culture. The more I learn of their past the more i feel for the Romanians. Sorry if any of you reading this are communist but I really dislike what communism has done to that country. Luckily, through stories from my teachers, it sounds like there is still plenty of culture to be experienced. Most of it remains in the people but there are still villages, castles, cathedrals, and other monuments of the culture. One thing our teacher's spoke about was English Classes. When we're in Romania we'll have opportunities to teach english. There are beginner, intermediate, and advanced classes. The advanced classes you just have conversations in english. But they use it as a means of getting to know the people and building a bond with them and then of course if anyone is interested we would teach them. We don't really worry about grammar when teaching, mainly because the average American (myself) uses little or no grammar in their speech. We try to explain the reason for saying things like "I've got to catch a plane" or when we use "it" for everything.
I will get to play piano in about an hour by the way. I'm pretty excited!
On sunday we had another fantastic fireside from Robert P. Swensen. He spoke on Jesus Christ and Love. One thing that he emphasized was giving our lives for something or someone. That is real love. Marriage, raising a family, teaching, etc. are all ways of giving your life to something/someone. And since Sunday I have been studying love which led to my constant study about Jesus Christ. He is a very complex man once you get past the basic ministry in the four gospels. I spoke with one of our teachers, Fratele Miles, and after thirty minutes of discussing I had another week or two or ideeas for studying. I know I didn't spell ideas right. sorry.
I was able to get on LDS.org the other day and watch some videos, read some talks, etc. but I was watching some of the Christmas devotional that I believe was from last year and I was blown away by that performance of What Shall We Give?. It's my new favorite song. And audrey and her mom are in one of the videos. They're famous.
We have watched in class two incredible talks that just blew my mind. The first is "the miracle of missionary work" which is an MTC address from Elder Holland and is directed towards missionaries but the other is an MTC address from Elder Bednar about the Holy Ghost and I would highly recommend it to members. For nonmembers I would recommend going and seeing the Joseph Smith movie. Not necessarily to investigate the church but just to better understand. I promise you it will help. I was able to watch it Sunday night (once again with Elder Swarts and Elder Eve) and even though the version here is a little shorter it's a great portrayal of the beginnings of the church and the life and trials of the prophet. And no we do not worship Joseph Smith, we worship Jesus Christ. Sorry this may seem blunt and forward but I just don't have time to be eloquent.
Speaking of church history, I would absolutely love if Brother Al Jensen would send me some stories of Porter Rockwell and/or the Prophet Joseph Smith. I love church history.
Speaking of church history some more, Elder Gerald N. Lund spoke to us last night on Faith. It was a great presentation on how to exercise faith, learn by faith, and grow your faith. Faith is hard, that's a fact for me, but very rewarding. One thing he said that many of you may have heard that doesn't necessarily have to do with faith is "Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from poor judgement" My advice in regards to that one-liner is learn from your mistakes and poor judgement so that you can gain experience. Don't continue in the same poor judgement.
Dad Helaman's camp was a tremendous help. There's all the feedback you need.
Me and my companion are getting along. One thing I really appreciate about him is that even though he is more in shape and ten times better at basketball then me, he never puts me down. He always compliments me on what I can do. I still hit a three yesterday with him in my face.
I've been told that I speak too much of Marcellus so I won't mention him in this e-mail.
Mom, thank you for all you helped me with (clothes, luggage, etc.) it's all serving me very well and making the experience better. Dad, thank you for you advice, I love every word of it.
A good scripture for anyone to study and apply is 1 Samuel 16:7. It's something I have to work with every day.
Thank you so much for all of the mail and goodies, I couldn't ask for more. Thank you for the support and encouragement. I miss you all and love you but I am enjoying it here and can't wait for Romania.
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