Well, this will be my last blog post from the USA. Woop!
So I have my flight plans, as of last Friday. I will be leaving the SLC airport in the evening, headed to LAX. I will be there for a 3.5ish hour layover and then head to Hong Kong. I will be there for another layover that's about 3 hours and then go to Jakarta! I'm not sure how I'm feeling. At moments I feel nervous, at others I'm super excited, and at others I'm not feeling anything whatsoever. I have faith that everything will go well and that the Lord won't let me fail. I'm so nervous about understanding and teaching in the language, and if I'm a good teacher. I teach 2 lessons to pretend investigators every day and feeling like the practice is helping me be more confident in myself, but I still am not sure if I'm good at teaching people. Plus, it's hard not having a companion to teach with as well, it's just me. But, I know that if I try my best, I don't have to worry about how I sound or how well I understand the language. As long as I'm trying, there's nothing else I can do. Nothing has really happened this week out of the ordinary. We said goodbye to the Finnish sisters, who were learning on our same floor. They left on Monday and were super nervous, but they're going to be great; it's crazy, that's going to be me in just a few days. Everyone is saying how much they're going to miss me. Except for me and Elder Meachum, everyone who entered the MTC on the same day are here for another 3 weeks (that are in my zone). I guess we got lucky. I love my zone. For those who don't know what that is, (like I was in the beginning), it is a group of missionaries going to the same place. Since there are no more than 5 of us speaking each language, there are 7 languages all in one zone. For all of our missions, the Church is pretty much nonexistent. We have Armenian, Georgian (the country), Lithuanian, Latvian, Malagasy (Madagascar), Malay, and Indonesian. We are pretty much the coolest zone in the MTC. We've all got each other's backs and are really close. I'm going to miss these missionaries. There are 4 Elders and 2 Sisters coming to the MTC learning Indonesian on Wednesday. I'll just miss them. And there was a sister from Indonesia, coming to learn English, who came yesterday. I haven't found her yet, BUT I WILL!!! I'm so excited to meet her! It's crazy how fast these last 5 weeks have gone. It doesn't even feel like I've been gone for a week. It's weird. 'Aneh', as the Indos would say. But, my time here has come to a close, goodbye, ice cream Wednesdays, you have given me hope in life, goodbye 17M and 10M (my residence hall and building where my classroom is), you have been all that I have seen for the last 5 weeks, goodbye Elders and Sisters, who have become like family and will forever be part of me, and goodbye guru-guru (teachers), you 3 have been the best support here, and I don't know what I'm going to do without you. Come to Indonesia with me, please! I'll talk to ya'll in INDO, don't know when, though. My adventure is officially starting 4 days from now, and I'm praying everyday for the courage to do this. Never stop believing in yourselves, never give up, never lose hope, don't do drugs, don't drink a whole water bottle before going to sleep, and always hide plastic spiders for people to find! This is my best Sister Stringham-isms that you could hope for. Go on a mission. If you don't feel like going on one, just get out there anyway. -Elder Bagley quote of the day. Sampai nanti! Sister Stringham, the coolest missionary you know
1 Comment
Prathusha Boppana
11/15/2015 04:34:23 pm
Have a safe flight Holley!! Try to get some sleep on the plane so that you can be ready for Indonesia's time zones! Let me know if you watch any movies on the plane and what kind of food plan you got! I'm sure you'll love it there.
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AuthorHOLLEY STRINGHAM: Salt Lake City, born and raised; returned missionary from the Indonesia Jakarta Mission.; a simple folk aimed on changing the world Archives
October 2017
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