Seventeen More Months...

That's the mom counting down the time... not the missionary. She's survived the first month and is doing very well. Here's part of her e-mail from today:

* i accidently burned my ear with my hair straightener last week..yeah clamped the straightener right on my ear - it didnt hurt and i didnt know that it had actually burned my ear..its better now but i had a blister - and then today i was curling my hair and burned my fingers. haha i have problems!

* i see spencer halverson almost everyday - he looks like hes doing well.

* today was SOO beautiful outside! i wanted to go out an play soccer so bad! but we dont have gym on p-days and i dunno if they'll let us play outside yet.

* tell meg that i've written her and that she should look for it in the mail next week!
tell everyone thanks a bunch for their prayers and support! i wish i had time to write everyone back but know that i'm praying for everyone!

* so this week we started teaching in german - ahh!! haha i was SO nervous on tuesday and was really feeling bad about myself. but before we left to go teach my teacher had us read in chapter 1 of preach my gospel, the section how to become a successful missionary (or something like that) anyway it said - don't compare yourself to other missionaries....don't get discouraged. when you get discouraged then you lose faith. anyway i SO needed to read that - i prayed so hard to Heavenly Father that He would help me feel better about myself and that i wouldnt be discouraged. i felt so much better after reading that and i felt that i would do ok.

* so we got to the teaching thing and the people we taught knew about as much german as we did! it was awesome!! when we started teaching they had tons of questions about the holy ghost and baptism - we didnt even get to teach the lesson because they had so many questions and we kept answering them. the spirit was so strong and was helping us to answer their questions. we hadnt even practiced talking about any of that stuff in german but we were able to answer all their questions and resolve their concerns! I was even able to say stuff!! it was SO cool! i felt SO blessed - i know that Heavenly Father will help me when I get to Germany.

* last night sister stewart had a practice teaching appointment with a german teacher. again he had questions and such that we answered and hardly taught our lesson - again the spirit was there helping us. sister stewart did most of the talking which i felt was fine because i didnt know how to say anything. when we finished the teacher looked right at me and said "sister doty, you know so much more german than you think you do. if you ever feel like something should be said..just jump in there and try and say it. just open your mouth." as i thought about it there were times when i felt that someone should have been said but since i didnt know how to say it in german i just let sister stewart keep talking. but when that happens i really need to just try and say it. i know that if i do, that i'll show Heavenly Father that i have faith in Him and that i trust Him that if i just open my mouth, that whatever i thought should be said, will get said somehow. so i'm really glad that he pointed that out to me. so the next time i teach i'm going to pay more attention to what the spirit tells me to say and then i'll just open my mouth and try to say it! i'll let you know how it goes!

This makes me smile because never in her life has Rachel been afraid to "open her mouth"! I think she was born talking!

Miscellaneous Blurbs

Rachel's e-mail came later than usual today. I have to admit I was a little anxious... not sure I could wait until Tuesday for a slow mail letter. Much to my relief an e-mail with lots of misc. info arrived. Here are some of her blurbs:

* today's weather was just like washington! it was overcast - i loved it!
* i saw the richardsons yesterday it was great!
* i can't wait for your tapes!!

* i got my haircut today! its as short as it was when i graduated. i think it looks cute - no worries i took pictures. i had some developed but they arent done yet for some reason. so as soon as i get those i'll mail them.

* k so on saturdays the mailroom closes really early and then on monday it was a holiday so on tuesday i had over 10 letters! it was fantastic!!! thanks to everyone who wrote me!
i got a letter from maddie. so sweet!!

* oh i saw jeff's wife - i was in the building where she works and she came looking for me! i was on the phone with someone but i stopped by the room she was in. she's so sweet. thanks to kari for her dearelder letter!!

* k so everyone's translations..yeah websites dont translate correctly. haha but dad your little german phrases were correct.

* ok mom so if when you send me another package..i actually dont want the protein bars i'd rather have kashi ones - and NO CANDY from anyone!:) and maybe some banana chips.

* can you believe i've been here 4 weeks already! tomorrow is my half-way mark! scary huh! pretty soon i'll actually be in germany - poor things they wont be able to understand a word i say. hahaha

* anyway things are going great - sorry this email is SO random but i write down things during the week that i want to email, so i just type from the list. haha most of my stories i've saved for the tape so that you can HEAR me say things! it makes it funnier.

* so on tuesday i have to teach the 1st lesson all in german! oh my goodness - i'm scared. haha no i dont think it'll be too bad. i've already got the first couple typics all written out in german so i just need to finish the lesson and then practice. everytime that sister stewart and i teach, the spirit has been there. its so great! my absolute WORST fear is to teach without the spirit. so i get way nervous before i teach and pray SO much and then everything works out ok.

* last tuesday our german task was to talk about family, teach about prayer and ask them to pray. i did my whole part like almost perfectly!! everything flowed it was fantastic! i'm starting to like german more..its fun.

* i'll try really hard to get the tape finished soon. and i promise to send pictures as soon as i get them!

Once Upon a Time...

I know this blog is supposed to be about Rachel's mission.

But... I've been missing her and her college brother lately.

So... I thought I'd show you one of my favorite pictures of "once upon a time when they were little". They are playing "Nutcracker" with Allen in his jammies. They grew up too fast!

Ich Liebe Everyone!!!

Lucky for me - Valentine's Day is on a Thursday and Thursday is when I get e-mails from Rachel! Rachel writes:

i have a new calling! i'm the branch music coordinator! so i pick the songs we sing in sacrament meeting and pick musical numbers and such. this sunday the topic is charity and love. so i asked Elder Teare (he's in my district) if he'd be willing to sing I'm Trying to be like Jesus with me. so he and i are singing a duet and sister stewart says that it sounds amazing! elder teare has a great voice. i'll bring the tape recorder and record us during one of our practices so you can hear it!

so my knee has been acting up and i had an elder give me a blessing last sunday. i asked elder surerus if he would do the first part and then asked all my elders to help with the blessing. elder frampton gave the blessing part but i had all my elders standing around me. it was very sweet. i love those elders! i'm going to cry SO hard when we have to leave eachother. 5 of them are going to berlin and elder eaton and elder johnson are coming with me and sister stewart to frankfurt.

i can understand sister stewart when she is talking to me so then i respond with german, spanish and english. hahaha when i say my personal prayers i try and say as much as i can in german, and then if i dont know it i usually know it in spanish so then i throw in spanish words and then whatever i dont know in german or spanish i throw in some english. i bet heavenly father just sits there and laughs at me because i'm using german and spanish words with english grammer which is totally different!

well post to all my friends that i love them all and pray for them everyday - and send me emails through dearelder! i feel so left out!! and i promise to try and write back on p-days! ok well i better get off otherwise it'll kick me off without sending the email and that would be horrible!!!! ICH LIEBE EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

("Ich liebe everyone" is german/english for "I love everyone!")
Happy Valentine's Day!

The Fire Alarm

Here's a cute story from Rachel's e-mail...

"oh my goodness i have to tell you about the firealarm. k so one night it was like almost 11pm and i had just fallen asleep. and this alarm goes off. i'm thinking that it was one of the sisters in my room who's alarm was going off. i was SO ticked i was like k whoever this is i'm going to kill them! but then i realized that it was firealarm! so i grab my sweatershirt and slippers and head out of my room and then i realized that i didnt have a key to get back into the building. so i run back into my room and grab my key and my name tag. we head to the gym and wait to see what's up. turns out some girls had burnt a bag of popcorn on the floor above us. yes..burnt popcorn set off the alarm and woke me up. and in an 'emergancy' i grab a key and my nametag. because if the building had burnt down, those things would have been really important. hahaha! we took pictures when we got back into our room so i'll try and get those developed this week and mail them to you. the floor above us still smells like burnt popcorn. i hope those girls feel stupid."

Rachel has always loved her sleep! She also loves popcorn... just not burnt or in the middle of the night!

An E-Mail Message!!

Surprise! There in my in-box this afternoon was an e-mail from Rachel. She's figured out that she can use the computer for a few minutes on her P-Day. She wrote a few messages for her friends and wanted me to post them. So here goes...

"Tell Kari Cullimore thanks a TON for the letters she's sent me. i've seen jacob gremmet and his brother. i see mitchell brienholt all the time too. and tell her thanks for daren's email as well. i'm sorry i dont have time to write her back but tell her i love her!"

"i saw spencer halverson today! i was praying that i would see him before i emailed you so that i could have you tell vikki how he is. hes doing great and looks really happy to be here. he says to tell his mom that he's fine."

"write for meg, aubs, and jess that i'm sending letters today and tell jenna that i got hers today and i'll try to write back."

"tell aunt katie thanks for their xmas card and gramma and gramper thanks for all their letters! i LOVE it! and i got gramma's package. she is going to make me fat. haha no its great i love it."

"write on my blog that i'm sorry i dont have time to write everyone back! there is not enough time to do everything i want to do!"

Thank you to everyone for all the love and letters you send to Rachel!!

A Letter AND A Tape!!

Double bonus today... a letter and a tape from Rachel! It was so amazingly wonderful to hear her voice! I love to hear that girl talk. I'll probably listen to the tape over and over again.

Some things from the letter:

"I wish there was more to tell, but I don't do much here except eat, sleep, study and the gym. German is still really hard but I think that it will get better when we start learning how to conjucate verbs and learn sentence structure. I'm actually looking forward to learning that stuff.

Gramper sends me a "language lesson" almost every day. I think he looks up sentences online and sends them to me. (He does!!) They make my teacher laugh!"

On her tape she says that she's seen several people from home: Nate Farnsworth, Bryant Hodson, Mitchell Breinholt, Travis Needham and Marci Krumperman. She ran into Marci at the temple. (I'm jealous!)

On the tape she also says that she's been playing volleyball during their gym time. She feels like she "has a purpose" because she's short and she can squat really low. (So funny!) She also sang in the MTC Choir.

All in all it sounds like she's doing well! She did burn a hole through one of her skirts while ironing it... I guess we should have practiced that more before she left. And she really appreciates the letters you are all sending her! At the end of the tape she bore a very short testimony in German. That's my girl!

What?! No Gum?!!

Grandma got a letter from Rachel today. Here's a part of it:

"So what makes me sad is that we're not suppose to chew gum when we leave our dorms as a missionary so that we can look more professional. I love gum!! - I chew it all the time. But I want to be 100% obedient. I had a pack of mentos and passed it around my district (10 missionaries going to Germany) during a fireside and told them about our tradition :) . I love my district! The Elders are fantastic and so much fun. Sister Stewart and I are the only sisters in district - so we get a lot of attention. haha I've seen some of my friends here - some girls from BYU-I that I danced with and others. It's great to see a friendly face."

No gum?! I know that is going to be a major disappointment for Rachel. That girl can chew gum like no other! (It makes my jaw hurt just thinking about it!) But I'm so pleased that she wants to follow the rules.

For those of you who don't know about the Mentos tradition... it started years ago with Grandma. We sit with her and Gramper each Sunday during church. Well, eventually during the meeting, the teenagers get a little restless. At this point, Grandma pulls out a roll of Mentos and passes them down the row. Everyone takes a few and it helps us get through the meeting. When Grandma and Gramper went on their mission to Nauvoo, they left us with a 6-month supply of Mentos so that we wouldn't get kicked out of church for disruptive behavior. It worked! Mentos are magic! Not one of us has been kicked out of church yet! It helps to know the bishop though...