I'm Aliiiive!!!

Hello my wonderful family!


They told me I could write home the first night, but we didn't have more than a few minutes and I'm horrible about writing short letters. Any way, I'll be sending that letter today, and you'll probably get it in a while... and Amy, I'm really sorry, my handwriting isn't the best, even though I tried to do otherwise.


So yes, I am able to write emails at the MTC, I have a half hour, (24 minutes now since I had to register) And there are some computers at the laundry room, so while I'm waiting for things to wash, I'm writing you all! how exciting.


Any way, so far it's been awesome :D. My district is a bunch of guinea pigs, because our first day in the MTC (full day, not Wednesday) we went to the TRC (where people from the outside world come in and pretend to be investigators so we can practice teaching them) and taught 5 ten minute lessons, without planning. We just went in, got to know the people, then tried our best to teach them something that applied to them. The first one was really crazy, but it got better, and our (sister Shurtliff, my companion and mine) best contact was our last one, who was an older man.After the TRC, we went to the TEC which is where we teach teachers, or teach with teachers, etc. Sister shurtliff and I took turns teaching with a teacher, then the two of us taught that teacher. It was a lot of great practice, and our experience a few hours before let us appreciate and pay attention to it more, because she helped us pick out what questions we should ask that would be better to get to know people better, etc.

From the TEC, we went almost immediately to the TC, which is where we called people (actual real living people who aren't members... scary) to make sure whether or not they received their book of Mormon, etc. Two people answered for me, one person just told me the person who asked for the thing wasn't home then hung up soon after, the other was polite, she had received her BOM but hadn't read it, so I fumbled until I asked her if she wanted a movie, she said that'd be great but she wasn't home often so could we just send it, I couldn't find the button that allowed for something like that so I asked her if the representatives could contact her before they went over to her house and she agreed with that. My companion on the other hand got in contact with an older lady that is clearly very lonely, and the lady talked to sis. Shurtliff for about a half hour (we were there for a little under an hour, so it felt like it was longer)Of the three things, I must say that the teaching was MUCH more enjoyable than the calling. I'll have to work on the calling thing, but... oh well.


Anyway. Friday was kind of a let down after Thursday, because instead of teaching and going out and doing things, etc, we were in a classroom the whole day and some of it wasn't nearly as interactive and so on as the other. In other, we could have really excellent classroom discussions, and so on, but the teacher we had seemed to want to rush things, or something like that.
Saturday was better. We had our real teachers for the first time since we got there (they'd been there the whole time, but they weren't the ones teaching, other people were because they were experimenting on us.) They're so cool. Sister Harlen (something like that... I'll get it right one of these days) and Brother Manasco. They teach us at different times, but they're both excellent in their own ways. They're both return missionaries, Sister H. was on a temple square so she'll be able to help us, and Bro. Manasco went to Hawaii where our elders are going.Speaking of our elders, they are a hoot. Currently they're chatting and singing together while we all write letters. Sometimes it's hard to pay attention when we're doing companion study because we're all having such a good time, so sister Shurtliff and I tend to leave the classroom so we can focus on what we're doing. They're really good about studying when it's personal study time, or at least being quiet.


On Saturday, we found that we really liked the elders in our district. We did a Zone activity where we had to teach and be taught by people who weren't in our district but were in our zone, and... yeah... The elders that I and another sister (one of my roommates, sister Allred) were interesting. I liked my 'companion' for the teaching thing, elder Loar, but her companion was the type of personality that liked to somewhat antagonize her type of personality, so it drove away the spirit at first, but after a while it got better. He bore a wonderful testimony at the end, but the whole experience really helped us sisters appreciate our elders in our district.

And I'm running out of time, so I'm going to have to wrap it up.

Sunday was wonderful! I loved everything, and bawled when we watched the Joseph Smith movie.

Today we went to the temple and that was wonderful, as usual.

It's Official!

Sarah....I mean...Sister Durtschi, entered the MTC yesterday. Becky tells me that everyone was brave and no tears where shed (at least none that were seen). I will admit it's a little odd for me to realize that the last time someone from my immediate family when on a mission it was me and I also have to confess that I never once thought about how hard/frustrating it must have been for my family not to be able to call me up and ask me how my first day in the MTC went (I wanted to call Sister Durtschi, believe me!) I am beyond excited for my baby sister. She's going to be an amazing missionary.

Here is Sister Durtschi's official MTC address, good until March 11th.

Sister Sarah Durtschi
MTC Mailbox # 241
UT-TMSQ 0311
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604-1793

*Please note that it's slightly different then the one she posted earlier in this blog. This address should be the one you use.

Having been a missionary, I know how important it is to receive letters and packages from 'home.' Please take a second to drop Sister Durtschi a note to let her know you're thinking about her (you obviously are, if you are reading her mission blog :))

Please stay tune for some pictures from Sister Durtschi's 'entering the MTC' experience.

Pre-Mission Missionary Reunion

Well? What would you call 4 sisters meeting up at the Sister Missionary Mall, all going to the same mission, and entering the MTC at the same time?

I went to return some shoes that looked good but killed my feet whenever I wore them for more than a few minutes, and chatted a bit with the girl who helped me buy them in the first place, then she exclaimed that two of the other girls in the store were going to the same mission, with a third next door.  How exciting was that?  With that information I asked one of them, Sister Harris, when she was going, and she said this wednesday, as was the other two.  Can we say insane?  It was so weird.  I'll be seeing them this wednesday, which,  by the way, is when I'll be dropping from the face of the internet world.

Some Extra Info Before I Go

So, I have about 5 days to go before I am no longer the one writing the blog posts, and last night my newest sister in law, Melissa requested that I clarify some things , like favorite foods, etc, that can be sent in lovely things called Care Packages.  I'm more than willing to oblige her.

Food:

Cookies of basically any kind are good.  I love Mint and Peanut butter (though separately.  Combined I think would make most anyone sick...)  Chocolate chip is always a good one (I Love David's recipe.  Though I like Pecans MUCH better than walnuts in any situation.)

Canned things like Cream of Mushroom or chicken are always useful, corn,  black beans (not horribly fond of kidney beans for some reason... too big I guess) Olives, of course.

Rice A Roni/ Pasta Roni are good too, fast, but tasty.  Not so much Ramen, but it has it's perks.

Hmm... I like fruit and veggies, but that's kind of hard to mail without it rotting along the way.... unless you mail it in a cooler or something... Same with chicken and beef, but that's a bit more dangerous.

Clothes(hey, why not?):

Shirts I'm usually a 16 or so, large or extra large depending on things

Skirts/Pants, etc: approximately  20, give or take depending on the brand.

Shoes:  10  or 10.5 wide (it's what I get for wearing only flipflops for the better part of a year or two...)

And on my mission, in my specific area, I can't wear patterned shirts.  They have to be solid colored, and preferably button up with a collar.  If they're not, then they can't be tee-shirt material (if you know exactly what that is, you have one up on me)

I think that's basically it!  If I think of anything more I'll either post it as an edit in a different color, or I'll mail it to Elisabeth or Amy or whatever.  I'm sure we'll figure something out.