Late Week 6

šeima! That means family in Lithuanian. But, getting that keyboard to work took way too long, so, I don't know how much more of my letter I can write with it :)

So, hi.

MANDY! HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Yay yay yay yay yay yay yay. I wrote you a 23 page letter (well..i tried to, it's not that long), and I don't know how oft you check your mail in Orem, but you should check it today or tomorrow. I threw the letter in the air and just prayed it would get to you. I hope that it's such a fun day! What are y'all doing for it? Cake? Hey, did you ever go to Beauty and Beast? I just remembered that, if so, was it good? Anywho, I hope that it's the funnest day for you. Hopefully Kev is finished with finals so you can celebrate. And I hope the fam sings how they know how to sing. I love ya sis.

I loved the Madsonian! Lace, sending it to my email worked perfectly, I could download it and print it out, pics and all, and I loved what everyone wrote! I loved reading about everyone's Thanksgiving together, and seeing pics of Hank on his blessing day! He was the cutest thing! And Mands, I didn't realize you ate at McDonalds on Thanksgiving, that's funny. Hopefully you splurged on a parfait. Mom, I can't believe that you compared my MTC experience to our cousin's prison experience, that's so funny. I hope he's doing okay, I'm glad he thought it was funny too. But I mean, I can totally see how it's true, so structured and we're totally enclosed. But he probably doesn't get to put up 36 flags outside every Friday, which is what me and the sisters get to do, and we always put up our country's, and love it.

Mom, that's totally fine about the package! Bummer Grant got caught sneakin in goods. That's so nice of the ward. And Sis. Curtis sent me a Christmas card of their family, so kind too. I keep getting surprised by our ward's niceness. So, I've been getting my typhoid pills orally, and I'm just double checking that our insurance doesn't cover them, is that right? It's not that much, but they gave me a reimbursement form, so I'm double checking. Also, do I have any more garments that I left at home? Because, I need like, a pair or two more, that I can TOTALLY buy here, no problem, but i just wanted to double check. Ookay, and, I told you that Sis. Beal might like gray tights? Well, her mom totally sent her some. LAME, I know. She should have known we were in cahoots (that's not how you spell that) So, maybe you don't need to send those anymore. But she'd love some pretty earrings or a headband. I think. Okay, and, have I already gotten Callie a Christmas present?! Can you check the presents I left, because if so...I can't remember in the slightest what I got her! And want to! And I need to get TayMan something too, so, just know that'll be coming.

So, this week! Sis. Dalton spoke at the devotional last night, and it was fantastic. Seriously, best devotional yet. And that's not just because she's a woman, although I loved that. She talked all about spiritual gifts, and that topic has come up in my personal study, and at various times, almost every day this week! So, it's been really cool. She talked about Christmas, and how this year we'll be seeking for gifts so different than we ever have before, gifts of the Spirit, of teaching, of loving, or patience. And it's so true. I would love if the Savior just wrapped me a giant box of understanding how to teach the Restoration effectively and put it under a tree for me. But the thing is, He will! If I work hard and study and have patience, I think He will. I'm realizing that you have to seek and ask, and I don't know, it's been a big learning week for me.

The BYU men's chorus gave our devo on Tuesday, and it was fantastic too. I loved their Christmas music, and they told cool missionary experiences, and it just made me excited! And then yesterday, my teacher was sick, so I had a substitute; he was brilliant. Some gospel phenomenen, I swear ("by the sun and the moon in the sky...") and I learned so much about baptism! Because i said I don't want to offend people by saying their baptism didn't have the proper authority, and he took me to D&C 22, and the Lord answers that exact question, and does so without ever using the word authority, and anyway, so cool.

I'm learning about adverbs and adjectives in Lithuanian, they all change, according to whatever you're describing; it is seriously so crazy to me that one word can have like, 8 endings, and that's if it's masculine. I'm like, yeesh. Pick an ending already! Haha, not really. I love class time.

An elder stopped me this week and said he knew me from somewhere. I had no idea where from. Then he remembered. He worked at Cafe Rio in AF and saw me a lot. Hahah, I felt no shame in admitting that I ate there a lot. Another big learning experience this week, I taught in English for the first time! And with a companion! Sis. Clark (Latvian) and I taught one of the Greek teachers the first lesson. It was such a new experience for me, and I felt bad afterwards, that I hadn't done better, when it was in my native language, and it was still so hard. The teacher totally acted his part! I thought he WAS Greek. He wasn't. But he is really good at forgetting English words and using an accent. He pretended to be Atheist, and it was so hard to teach him! But, good practice I s'pose. But Atheists are so hard, because they listen to you, but just say, uh huh, that's a nice idea. Anyway, it was fun with a comp, and I love Sis. Clark so much. I really love my district, and me and Sis. Beal had a good week too. We are both trying to do more push ups, and she reads the scripts to me as we're trying to work out in our room. It's hilarious, listening to her doing sit ups and reading. We got 4 new roommates, all got here after us, and will leave before us. But they are a lot of fun, and I like the fresh stories in our room! Mel Fitz left this week! I said bye to her, she was so excited to go! And so ready. She'll do sooo well. Danielle Tamang leaves next week...I think.

Lace, I'm glad Matthew is engaged! That's exciting. And I hope your show went well! DID IT?! Your outfit sounded totes cute :) You could slip me a pic or whatevs. Have things slowed down at all, or are you still busy?

Mom, I definitely want a copy of the Christmas card! Never know what dad puts in there. Dad, thanks for writing back too, and helping me with some of my concerns. You're so great. Miss, I sent you a letter today, so, don't be sad that I didn't write to you here :) Ahh! I have so much I want to ask everyone, and say, but there's never the time! I love you all so so so so much. I'm teaching about the Plan of Salvation, so I get to think about families a lot, and I love that I get to think about you all so much during the day. It makes me happy, not usually sad, and I get to teach about how the Gospel blesses families. And it really does! I know we've been so blessed by it.

Mands, I want to hear more about your work, you might have responded and I haven't gotten your letter yet. Just so you know, I write letters on Wednesdays, but Dear Elders written on Wed don't get to me until that night, so if you write, try to do it by Monday! So I can write back. Or else.

LOVE YOU ALL!!! Hip hip hooray.

Jess

Late Week 5

This week I've offically been out for a month! Now, it's a month plus. And soon I'll have less than a month left! So many big days to celebrate.

Oh, and Christmas, must celebrate that day too :)

I'm so excited for it. Sometimes, a lot, I forget that it's even coming up. The Latvians had their classroom decorated, with a tree, presents, and lights, and then their teacher made them take it all down. Bummer. There went the holiday cheer. But, all our speakers keep reminding us about it, so, I remember that Christmas is coming :) And I'm excited! I can't wait to hear about everyone's days. I still can't believe that this year I would have the ultimate legit outfit for our Jeru dinner, and I won't even be there to show it off! I also can't believe that last year at this time I was prepping for Jeru, and now I'm doing something completely different.

I want to hear all about the cruise, Lace and Drew, and the girls' reactions to their presents. And mom and dad, was there a Hawkins party this year? If so, I want deets. And Miss, I want to hear how you handled two kids.

 

Yesterday Elder Clayton and his wife spoke to us. They were great. Sis. Clayton talked about receiving gifts, and she mentioned that sometimes we seek for gifts and need to have a good motive. And I realized that sometimes my motive for Lithuanian or spiritual gifts can be selfish, instead of wanting to learn to help others. Okay, Music and the Spoken Word this week was amazing! Parents, did you like the MoTab concert you went to? Was it anything like M&SW? Please tell Connie that everyone was raving about it! It totally brought the Christmas spirit, and there were dancers! Hahaha, loved it. And during RS on Sunday all the presidency members' daughters talked about Christmas' on their missions, and it made me excited. One of the sisters talked about how her comp at Christmas was like, 87 years old! Um, that would be crazy.

 

My teachers were all semi-sick this week, or just MIA, so I had a ton of substitutes, so I had a lot of English, which was good, but when Sis. Zippro got back she was like, um..uh oh, and now only speaks to me in Lithuanian. I have never said the word "repeat" more in my life, but, I'm excited that I can semi- pick out phrases and hear things. I know a lot more than when I started, but have so much more to go! When I try to talk about anything besides the Atonement or baptism, my vocab ends.

 

Caroline made me Christmas candy, sorry dad, no cashew brittle. But..I hope this isn't awful..I didn't share it with anyone! I was with my teacher when I got it, so yes, I shared some with him, but besides that...people just don't appreciate it! But, this week I had to go with my teacher to a different building, and then we walked around and learned new words outside, and he wasn't wearing his nametag, and we got hilarious looks, because it was like a sister mish with some random guy. and he was wearing gloves, so you couldn't see that he was married. it was funny.

 

Sis. Beal is auditioning tomorrow to sing a musical number here. I'm accompanying her, but could never do a solo. In front of 2000 people? She's great, I'm excited for her to do it.

 

So Mands, you had your piano recital? Elder Baxter and I always talk about how I taught him. And how he never, ever practiced. He regrets it now, yeah, they always do. Remember that Tay :) I'm glad you got to talk to his mom, mom. It is definitely really fun having a friend from home here. Danielle Tamang left this week! I'm so excited for her! She'll do so great, she was always so happy and hilarious.

 

 

Mom, I think it was hilarious that the Fitzgerald's bought a plane ticket to see Mels. She told me that she thought they might. I...wouldn't love that, so please don't do it :) I'm excited to see you in the airport in 17 months...but it would be hard for me to see you before. I know you wouldn't though, but it just made me laugh. I love when people get around little rules. i haven't gotten your christmas package yet, but i'm so excited for it! and already am thankful for it! I loved loved loved the fudge you sent, and the newspaper clipping. I loved reading about the Big Cats article and the missionary one. And I'm sorry that I was so weird on the vid Bob Monson gave you. I didn't know he was recording. I should have said some Lith. or something cool.

 

I love you so much! Merry Christmas! Please, drink some nog and eat some cheeseball for me. Please :)

Love, Jess

Week 7

Hey hey!

 

Mom, I found the card that you sent in my food package yesterday, the one that said you were sending my stocking and goods with the Monson's. Haha, I guess I got so excited about the popcorn and rocky road I didn't even look to see about a note :) You were probably so confused when I said that the presents in my room were a surprise, when you had told me beforehand you were sending them. Anyway, sorry if it was confusing. Also momma, could you send me Grandma blanche's address please? I want to send her a thank ye note for the bday moola. Also...one more annoying thing, I'm sorry, but have I been getting any emails from my mission friends? Do you think you could log onto my email and forward me some of their emails? I can print them off and read them, but if you could forward some to me, from Kates, Hills, Ames, that would be so great. Thank you!

 

I obviously loved the food that was sent, so thank you so much. I have singlehandedly finished the carmel popcorn, all me. I just..I offered it to Queer Beal (by the way, that's how you say 'sister' in Armenian) and she doesn't like it, and my roommates left on Monday, and they seemed so busy, they had no time for popcorn either, so it's like, I will eat the entire bag. The thing is, it hasn't even felt like that much. I probably eat entire ziploc bags full of it whenever you make it, it's just not so clear to me because I'm eating it out of a bowl. But I shared the rocky road and everyone who ate it loved it. I bragged about you.

 

Dad, I was so happy for you when you said you beat Sis. Bradshaw!!! Seriously!!! And the fact that you told me twice, I'll never forget it. But don't beat her too much. I still want to have access to the court when I get home, and if you offend them, they won't let us come back. I'm so happy that you still wore your Mozart tee. I tried to explain the significance to Q. Beal, but she didn't understand! Just how hilarious and old the sweatshirt it. Must be something that must be seen for years before people truly understand how funny it is. I laughed out loud when you said that you were working on the little metal table "the one you guys all made fun of" because I knew exactly which one it was. And I'm sorry for making fun of it! I seriously love how handy you are, and I want to be able to make tables, or seriously anything. Mom, I'm sorry that you were worried about me on Christmas Eve. But they really treated us well here. Your Christmas sounds like it was so great. I'm sorry that my notes made you all sad. They were supposed to be funny. Oops. Did you take any pics of the Jerusalem dinner?! If yes, I want them. I'm sure you looked hilarious. I thought of you that night, because I still wrote my own gift for Jesus, and I really missed y'all. But at the same time, I'm so glad I'm here.

 

It didn't feel like Christmas per se, but it was great. Except boo, we watched Mr. Kruger's Christmas. I was like...I'd rather have 25 extra minutes of sleep. But, that's all I'll say. Lunch with Elder Bednar, and having a Q&A was so great.

Lace, I want to hear about the cruise! And Miss, I want to hear about your day too! You guys, thank you all soooooooooooo much for everything you sent!!! Lace, I saved your package for Christmas, and loved it. And Mands, Hannakkuah was the best. Miss, Queer Beal loved your chapstick, that was so nice of you, but the best thing EVER were the pics. Hank is darling. He looked like such a cutie on his blessing day. I'm in love! I'm so happy that you have such an adorable son! TayMan, good job on bball, I feel like all I hear about you is winning this tournament, or that one. work it. And calsters, i loved your letter. so much. All of you, I am SO grateful for how thoughtful you all were. Tay and Cals, I loved the jewelry (thanks mom) and mom and dad, I just, loved everything. Especially the HP socks, and belts and just, everything. It was so generous, I felt so loved. Especially with everyone's letters. Ah! My family is the GREATEST. But seriously.

 

Ah! My time is ticking and I don't have enough time to say everything! But, I'm so grateful, again, for all of you.

Haha, dad, i loved how the priests all signed a letter for me. i was like, what the? thank you. do any of them know who i am?

 

I had a really cool experience yesterday. We were in a workshop about personal revelation, and we were all told to write a question we currently have. I wrote, "how can I help Eduardas? (my investigator). He just needs something. he isn't progressing, he has all these issues. so, we talked about how nephi, and j.s. receieved their revelations, and then, we were told to go get some for ourselves. and Jacob 4 came into my head. And the thing is, that has come into my head recently, a lot. So I read it, and my teacher and i fit it into my next lesson with eduardas, and i feel sooooooo good about it! i'm excited to teach tomorrow! And this is like, the first time that I'm excited to teach! So i'm happy, because teaching with the Spirit is so much better! So, hope for the best! everything else here is just, the same :) Sorry, so boring. But, I'm having fun and learning a lot. This week in Lithuanina, (btw, I learned that Lietuva, which is how the natives say Lithuanina, means "land of rain" so my raincoat will be perfect!) anyway, I'm learning how to tell time. Boo, it is like, the most difficult thing. But my teachers have begun speaking to me all, or mostly, in Lithuanian, and it's helping. Okay, I have to go. I love you, so so so so much.

 

 

Christmas!!! Su šventom kalėdom

Merry Christmas! I get some time to write today! So great. Except all the computers in the MTC are also being used, so it's slow going, and I hope it sends :)

Today has been really good. Really different, as in, I haven't opened my gifts yet and it's 3:15, but really great. Mom, what the crazy?! Package in the classroom!? How did you do that?! I was so excited to get there on Christmas and it was like, Santa still had a gift for me :) Thank you so much! Everyone, thank you so much.

 

Elder Bednar spoke to us this morning, and it was really, really great. Like, I just loved it. And it was cool having a massive Sacrament meeting. And a few days ago Sis Beal and I got invited to lunch with Elder Bednar and some other missionaries, and that was really special. He talked a bit more, and it was just, a good Christmas. Last night we watched A Christmas Carol--and all peed out pants when the Ghost of Christmas present lifts up his robe and there are two children under it--so creepy. I missed the Jeru dinner, but it's cool knowing that I miss you all so much because you're so great. How sad if I didn't miss you!

 

I love you all so much! Merry Christmas! I can't wait to hear about everybody's!!!! And PS, Callie, did you get your braces off!? I thought of that earlier today :)

 

LOVE YOU! And thank you all, you're seriously the best. Love love love, J

Week 4

Yay! This is the start of my 4th week here. I'm so seasoned. Not really, at all actually, but, it's neat. We're getting 4 new roommates today, which should be really fun. It'll be fun to be able to hear new stories from other people, and just, spice up our residence. (I feel like I keep saying food words: seasoned, spice) anyway. When I was struggling to pay attention to myself during language study I started looking up food vocab, and the word for waffle is "vaflis" I love that. I can totally picture our family saying it on Sunday mornings. So, I challenge you to start using it, and that way, when I get home, I'll be able to be taken back to Lithuania every time you say that word. Heehee, anyway. This week was pretty similar to my last week here. And the one before that. And before that.

Except, I'm not allowed to use notes during my language teaching anymore. All 3 of my teachers pretend to be investigators, and I can't look at notes as I teach. I've started reading out of the BoM, whole sections with them, so the lesson is still long, but the vocab is all straight in front of me. Devotional this week was Elder Yamasiko (sp?) from the seventy, and his adorable wife. They came here 4 months ago from Japan, and she is just learning English, and was the cutest thing. She gave all of us such hope, because her Spirit was so great, and even though she couldn't speak the language, she loved us, and you could tell, and all of us afterwards were like, okay--that was so needed. I have to teach in the TRC tonight--when someone from the outside world comes in and you teach them. I did it last week for the first time, and..it was hard. They're RM's who volunteer, and you're supposed to teach them as themselves...so, what can I say in Lith that they don't already know? But! Oh well, I'll keep at it.

Lace, thank you so much for the package! And especially for E's little picture. I can imagine you two together, and I love it. Elder Baxter said, when he saw it, 'she seems like she's a really good mom' I was like, um yeah, she really is. And an even better sister! Heehee, cheese it up.

Tayman, I want to hear about the pillow concert, and tell you good job on the winning foul shot! mom said you're playing with 7th graders?! So cool, I'm so happy you're doing good. Calsmelly, I'm glad you're doing good too, and love when you and Tay attach notes with mom's stuff. I'm sure she doesn't make you do it :) And I really love your little notes. Cals, you told me to inform you on everything, so, I'm going to tell you that I always get Cookies n' Cream milk when I can. So, I'm probably getting chubby. But the milk is soooo delish. Something else funny, we sing hymns at the beginning and end of every class. But..it's always just me and my teacher. So one of my teachers, sometimes starts waaay too high. And I feel like a dork dropping out a lower octave, when it's just us two, so I try to hit the high notes, needless to say, I think the Spirit comes during our prayers, not singing.

Fast Sunday is soooo long here. Not in a bad way...I think they just schedule out your meals so exactly, when I missed two my body was like, what the?! what are you doing to me? But, I survived. We watched the Christmas devo on Sunday night, I loved it. Especially the Jeru scenes they showed, because the set really does look a lot like Jeru did! So, I was so happy. I want to go see it when I get home. I heard they're leaving it up for like, 20 years? Or is that a rumor?

Parents, I'm so jealous that you still get to run everyday. I can't believe it hasn't really snowed yet, you're so lucky, you've probably been able to run most every day! Except, it's freezing. Are you all still moving the little Santa down the chimney countdown in the piano room? Hope so. My other teacher, Bro. Vehawn, knows the Ericksen's, yes mom. This week he just randomly was like, I met your cousins. Hahha, I was like, what!? everyone is seeing my family but me! But I see Connie in the MoTab every week, and love that. But anyway, Bro Vehawn is friends with Stefan, and had dinner at Connie's. Then presented Boyd with an ROTC award for building their cabinets. It was like, okay, random. But cool.

Miss, when is dessert night? Has Hanky Panks smiled yet? Hope Chris is good, and I just remembered that you get Holland for the pre-Christmas time! I'm so jealous.

I was wondering if mom/mandy, you could send me that quote from the Asian lady, about Christ and the Atonement? I sent it in an email awhile ago, and I know Liz posted on her blog too. If you could attach it to an email or something, I'd love that. Thank you. I'm so happy that Liz is home, Mands! And not too weird! I want to hear about your sweater party too. Bet it twas the hit of the year.

Mom, thank you thank you thank you for the package! Please tell Bro. Stucki thank you. The girls said that he's always really embarrassed/nervous when he drops stuff off, like I'm going to get in trouble. But, he won't/I won't. And I wore my shoes and shirt today, and felt so happy. Also, I shared the food with my district as we read the BoM together, and we all talked about how great you are. I got a letter from Piper, so nice of her.

Also! People here love my clothes! That sounds really bratty, I'm sure. But, especially the blue skirt from sis. mish. mall? compliments galore. You should get one yourself :) And anyway, I'm always like, mmhmm, mom was right. she always is.

Okay, I'm writing you a handwritten letter too, so, don't be disappointed in this.

Everyone, Thank you so much for writing me, I love love love it! And I'm so excited to be learning here, about teaching the Gospel, because I think people really need it, and I get so excited when I picture someone accepting it, and learning Christ loves them so much.

LOVE, Sister J (heehee, not "Momma J"...not for a few more years, only people who went to Lone Peak would get this joke)

PS, talked to Sis Fitzgerald for a long time this week! She's leaving soon for Ukraine! And is doing good, I love her!

Week 2

Hey hey,

Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!

I hope everyone's Thanksgiving was the greatest thing. Mine was good here. Not the best food I've ever had in my life. Probably the opposite. But, it was still a good day. Elder Nelson spoke to us that morning, and we did a big service project, got some free time for a temple walk (crazy how that's such a treat now, walking to the temple used to be such a chore. Now it's bliss) and watched 17 Miracles that night, with, get this, popcorn. Such a treat. The movie was good, I remember you saying you liked it dad, so I was go glad I got to see it. Incredible stuff, but also, hilarious watching it with such a big group of people--all the romantic parts, which pretty much consisted of a couple looking at each other and once holding the same shawl, and every elder in the room was like "ooooooh." hahah, so funny. And at the devo last night a member of the Seventy, Elder Yamashita and his wife spoke to us. They came here 4 months ago from Japan, and so had heavy accents, but they were the CUTEST things. Especially his wife. She couldn't talk very well at all, and her message was brief and to the point, but she was just beaming. She was laughing at herself for misprouncing everything, and was just, so full of the spirit. Afterwards, at our review, we all talked about what I help she was, because it taught us that even though we're learning languages and no one can understand, you can be happy and people will be responsive to your attitude. We were all like, hallelujah!

But I hope all of you had such a good day! I'm so jealous of the Nashville bunch, and so glad that Hank got blessed too. And also jealous of the Utahns too, because you got to eat grandma's potatoes and, I can just picture the food you ate. It must have been better than the weird turkey and mashed potatoes and gravy we got. But the thing is, I didn't even care. I was so grateful for the people who were working that day, for us, and for the thoughtfulness of all the leaders here, it was so nice of them.

Mom, you asked what I do here day to day. Pretty much, it's up at 6, my comp and I try to go to an early morning workout class that's just for the sisters. It's good! There's aerobic music, so, no lyrics..but it has a beat! So it's...so great. Then, we have breakfast at 7:20, personal study, class from 9-12, lunch, class for another 3 hours, language study, dinner, personal study, gym, and that kind of thing. We do that every day, in various order. Like, tonight i have class from 5:30-8:30, even though it's my pday. Actually! Tonight is my first day in the TRC, so I'm teaching someone, an RM, in Lithuanian. I've been teaching my teachers as investigators, but this person will be totally new. I'm so nervous. I can seriously say 5 sentences, and don't even understand the grammar behind them! But, it'll be okay, hopefully. So, yeah, that's what we do everyday. It stays super busy, and I can't believe that new missionaries are coming in today! I'm not the newest anymore, and "after today..I'm gonna sit on my butt" hahah, from Goofy Movie, but seriously, that's all we do here. But anyway, after today I'll be in my third week! Pretty much a veteran by now.

I'm having a lot more fun with my district now, plus, my companion, Sis Beal's, district is always with us too, so the 13 of us are always together, and it's a lot of fun. I'm semi-grateful that I'm alone in my class, being with other people is super loud and can be way more distracting. But, we have a lot of fun together, and it's crazy that it's only been 2 weeks and we're this close. Every second together, I guess.

Mom, thank you so much for the care package :) I'm so so so happy about it! I ate the rice crackers in like, 3 days, and so I was sooooooo happy about the other food you sent! Thank you so much! I hope you know I love you and pray for you all and miss you!!!

Les Barber wanted my quote. Mosiah 5:15, about being steadfast and immovable. If it's too long to fit, have him cut it off after "seal you his"

LOVE LOVE LOVE,
Sesuo J Madson

First Week

I can't believe I've made it one week. Well, it certainly feels like it's been much longer than a week. And then I realize that I know about 5 words in Lithuanian, and I realize that I'm grateful I have 9 more weeks to go. My first days here were pretty crazy. They seriously don't give you time to breathe! I was like... um...can I have two seconds to think about what in the heck I'm doing here?! Hahah, it's eased up, or I've just adjusted..so I'm happier. I'm not as homesick as I thought I would be. Not to say anything about you guys, but I think the Lord knew I would have too much to handle and I'd have a serious nervous breakdown if I was homesick on top of all the change and stress and language. Maybe once I grasp the language a little more I'll have more time to think about home. Lithuanian is pretty crazy sounding. I listen to it, and can hardly pick out anything familiar. I have so much more to learn! My teachers are all sweethearts though. The first day though, my teacher sat down with me and asked me stuff, I just started crying. I couldn't understand A WORD and he was expecting me to!? Hehee, my tears softened his heart and he helped me out. Lithuaninan is luckily a Latin alphabet, but there are 32 letters, so just a few more. So much better than a crazy time Armenian alphabet, which is what my comp is learning.

I have a companion, her name is Sister Beal. I'm adjusting to having a companion. I have a phobia of things like people listening to me going to the bathroom, so, it's an adjustment. Plus, I always want to be like, "i'll meet ya there!" or "let's just meet in 5 minutes, i'll be upstairs." so, yeah. But, it should hopefully become more natural. She's nice, and we're trying to work out our schedules, since we're learning different languages and have different things at different times. So, we're both considered "Solo" sisters, because we're the only girls learning our languages right now. Here's the catch--I'm actually the ONLY one learning Lithuaninan in the MTC right now. So, I'm totally alone. Like, studying, in class, all the time--I'm just by myself or with my teacher, one on one. When they told me I was like, what? Is that a joke?! Somebody had BETTER need me when I'm getting there! Because it's so lonely without anyone to speak with. They give us investigators that we prepare for, and everyone else talks with their classmates about preparing to teach their investigator, but I can't talk to anyone outside of my teacher, because they all have their own things to worry about. But, my goal this week is to work on my attitude, and stop feeling sorry for myself. Because, I seriously am fine. And have been SO blessed with teachers who are great, and that's so wonderful. Plus, now I'll appreciate actually getting to Lithuanina 938 times more! Because I'll finally have somebody to speak with me!

Not that I can speak now anyway...

I've been pleasantly surprised by the kindness of the elders here. I thought they'd all be annoying, but they're mostly really nice to us sisters. But maybe I just feel like that because I don't have them in my class, so I'm not with them very much. Elder Baxter is in my district (there's just 5 of us in our district, all going to the Baltics, the 4 are learning Latvian, I'm learning Lith.) and I'm so grateful he is! He's so fun having a buddy from home, even if I was his piano teacher :) The cafeteria food...not a pleasant surprise, although I wish it was. It's not great. But I'll prob still get chubs anyway, what a waste :)

I've been able to see lots of friends here! Sarah Griggs, Nelle Tamang, Mels Fitzgerald. I see Mels a lot actually, and it's so fun seeing a familiar face! Esecpially in such a crazy place. We're on the same floor, and I'm always so happy to see her. Thank you so much for all the mail I got this week! IT MADE ME SO HAPPY!!! PLEASE mom, thank the Beehives for sending me a package! It was a Thanksgiving one,with a chocolate turkey, and I love it!!! Sister Flathers sent it. And then, Sis Evans sent me a MASSIVE box of cookies. I am just like, OKAY, wow, thank you! So please thank them for me!!! I appreciated it so much. Also, thank you for the rice crackers. I got them this morning. Good bye breakfast, hello rice crackers. Plus, jump rope = intense! I'll use it for sure.

Elder Christofferson spoke to us yesterday for devo. Mmhmm, be jealous. It was so good! He talked about how yeah, learning a language is hard, welcome to the club. I needed that. Plus, that we're like the Apostles companions in this work, and they really appreciate us. It was so sweet.

I'm trying to get the hang of everything, so I can focus more on the Spirit, and why I'm here. I feel like this week I was just running around, overwhelmed at the newness and getting used to my schedule and everything, and I didn't get a chance to even pray, for reals. But,this week should be much better. I can't believe Thanksgiving is tomorrow. Bum. I definitely will miss it. But, I have my chocolate turkey, so, I'm counting my blessings :)

I'm trying hard to be a good mish. Make y'all proud :) People are very adamant here about only singing church music (I always get Kesha songs in my head...ooops, of all non-church music, I shouldn't pick Kesha) and being exactly obedient and I'm trying hard to adopt that attitude. I'm not quite there yet. I still question some of the rules here, and some of the changes we're supposed to be making, but, then I remember that I'm supposed to be representing Jesus Christ, and I'm trying to be better about it.

Seriously, it's the best thing. It lets me not worry about anything at home, and just worry about things here. But, I'm doing fine! I'm hoping that it stops feeling like camp sometimes. What, with the group showers and strict schedules and all--sometimes I feel like I'm at Clear Creek, minus the pot gut traps. Except, in real life, it's much better than Clear Creek, or anything like that.

I LOVE YOU! I think about you and miss you and THANK YOU so much for everything. Plus, all your Dear Elders worked, despite the sketchiness of the website.

Loves, Sesuo Madson

(pronounced Sess-wa)

Lately

Me and my Jordan roommate, Britt. I had so much fun with her. We stayed in a huge hotel, and we had a suite, and loved it. Us with 'da Prez

Petra

And a fieldtrip pic, outside Jru's old temple walls

Things have been pretty crazy here. And...I forgot I had a blog. But, Jordan was absolutely amazing. I loved it there. The people there were so nice, it was so great! We saw Petra, Amman, and the old city of Jerash. Mosques, stadiums, and bagpipes with dancing Jordanian girls.

Since being back we've had a great field trip to Qumran, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found, and then floated in the Dead Sea. Loved that, because you really can just sit there and float!

And today we finished up finals! 3 finals in 2 days, and now we're down to less than a week here. Winter 2011, no regrets :)

Oh Galilee

Chels and I at Capernaum. This was one of my favorite days, it was so cool to see where Christ spent most of his time.

AJ+me+wildflowers=neat

Attempt at walking on the Sea of Galilee

An amazing hike, to a freezing waterfall

View from Mt. Arbel

Mmm mmm fish

Eating St. Peter's fish, at the fish restaurant, want me to say fish one more time? Fish.

Gamla, the "city upon a hill" and one of the prettiest places I've ever seen.

And, me and Neal on the Sea of Galilee, so cool. He's pretty cool too.
Galilee was so amazing! I loved it so much. Bonfires, pretty hikes, and walking where Christ walked. I love the people here, and loved learning from the New Testament. Galilee will be hard to beat, but Jordan can try.

En Kerem

6 of us took a bus to En Kerem, to explore some churches and a really pretty town that our teachers told us about. It was absolutely gorgeous, I loved it so much. Picture a perfect green countryside, warm weather, hills, and wildflowers.

Now, picture the spring where tradition says Mary met Elizabeth after finding out she was to become the mother of Jesus. We reenacted the event.

Sarah and I, loving life. She is seriously so much fun.

Russian Orthodox Church

We almost didn't get in the grounds, but this really, really sweet nun opened the door for us and we had the grounds to ourselves. It was a really huge complex, and we only got reprimanded by one nun, one time. And it was seriously one of the prettiest churches I've seen.

Other events from the day included a long nature hike, picnic lunch with Phantom of the Opera music and dancing by Greg and Sarah, seeing 2 other beautiful churches-for John the Baptist and Mary and Elizabeth, and almost plummeting to my death when Nathanael leaned against my railing, which was only being supported by a piece of yarn or something even thinner. But anyway, we all made it back, exhausted but loving life.
Oh, and my gorgeous roommates, who I love very, very much.

We're off to Galilee for 10 days! Yay:)

City of David

Inside Hezekiah's tunnel

"Stepped stone structure"

Dear ol' Bro Judd

I LOVE Audryn. So so so so much.

I absolutely loved our field trip to the City of David.

This was the city that David built, and is the oldest neighborhood of Jru.

During the reign of Hezeiah, he wanted to stop paying tribute to the Assyrians, and so prior to doing that, he prepared his city by building a different tunnel to protect their water supply. So that's what we walked through. It was a rainy day, so the water level was higher, but it was so much fun. Singing our way through, I loved it.

The stepped stone structure (millo) was built to hold up David's temple and the building projects on top of the mountain. Another wall there dates back to Melchezidek's day. Neat, eh?

Windy City

We braved the wind last week and a little bit of bad weather, and had such a fun time! We explored West J, and Mishkenot Sheananim, the first Jewish neighborhood built outside the walls of the Old City in 1860. The windmill didn't spin...can't imagine what it takes to get that thing moving, because it was blowing hard, but that's besides the point.

We found some really fun parks, a really nice bathroom, and made a wish for Jru :)

Friends Can Be So Nice!

My cool cool cool friend and roomie and role model and everything I have yet to become...Kaitlin O' wrote the nicest blog post, dedicated to moi, and I honestly think it's the nicest thing ever. For reals, I was so excited when I found out. And I want to show my mom that I've made friends here, so,

Here's the link :)

http://kissmekaitlin.blogspot.com/2011/02/friend-focus-jessica-madson.html

Thank you Kate, from the bottom of my heart! I love that girl so much.

Also, if I ever get behind on my blogging, or you just want to see something that's actually cute, check hers out.

Valentine's Day

On Valentine's Day we celebrated love by going on a suhweeet field trip to a Biblical nature reserve called Neot Kedumim. One of my favorite field trips so far!

It was absolutely beautiful there. Once again, I feel so blessed to be here during the winter! When it's perfect weather here, and I'm missing the not-so-perfect weather of Utah. It was so cool because the people in the Bible are so connected to the land, and so it was interesting to see the agriculture of the area and how it all fits in with the Bible.

We ground hyssop into a spice for us to put on our homemade pitas, which we made later.
But in between the pita making and that, we herded some sheep.
Seriously, hilarious. We had so much fun trying to get them to listen to us, and just being surrounded by goats and sheep. But we also learned some really cool stuff about shepherding, and I loved it.

The pitas were sooooo good. We put our 'zatar' on them, plus date honey, and wow, so good.

I love these girls!

The day culminated in a dance to end all dances. Seriously, probably the best dance of my life. Something about a 90 degree gym with lots of really cool people that I like. And them playing Jessie's Girl. Mmhmm.

Night Out

CAT LADY
I know the picture is bad, but it's the best I could do under the rushed/secret circumstances.

I went with Martin, Brittnie, and Addie to West J last week.
We had homework to do, and sleep that was needed, but we just decided, why not?

So we had a hilarious taxi ride, where we asked the cab driver who the baby in the picture was that was hanging from his (massive) rearview mirror. He had no idea. We wandered around, bought ice cream, perused a used book store, listened to street performers, and happened upon a cat lady!
Seriously, she was in this alley/courtyard area, and was surrounded by cats! We were fascinated. Most especially by a massive gorilla-like cat in the middle. It had a collar, so we figured, somebody is feeding that thing besides her. Fun :)

CATS

Land of David and Goliath

Slingin' some stones

A few Monday's ago we went on a sweet field trip. We went to some of the valleys and sites around Jerusalem. Our first stop was Gath; Goliath's (of David fame) hometown. It was so pretty! So green, and it was such a beautiful day. Our teacher, Bro Chadwick, excavates there--so he told us so much about pottery sherds and walls and...other ancient stuff. But he knows so much! It's crazy.
We did other cool things throughout the day too.
We went to an ancient tomb, the Bell Caves, where we sang hymns and were silent after and they rang for a few seconds, it was so pretty.

We went to Elah, where the big battle of David and Goliath took place. Slung some stones, traipsed through the mud, it was great.

It is seriously so much fun going to all the places full of Biblical history!

Bell Caves

In the tomb...

Gath