The Best Day Yet

Hello!  

Thanks for all of your letters this week!  I love getting them and reading whats going on!  Thanks for the easter package as well to share.  We put them together the other night (mainly so we didn't eat all the candy first) but, haven't passed them out yet.  We thought we'd wait until it was a little closer to Easter.  I'll keep you updated.  I also loved the paper with scriptures of Christ's week leading up to his death.  We always try to share a spiritual thought in our room before bed, and it has brought up some great discussion, especially because Sister Cheney took an institute class when she was at school in New York all about the Savior's last week.  Pretty amazing!  We're all excited for Easter here.  The entire MTC is having sacrament meeting together and rumor has it, it is a general authority speaking.  We have no idea who though.  My district is going to try to line up super early so that we can get seats in the actual room instead of overflow.  Our Elders are blessing the sacrament which will be neat! 

Sunday was probably the best day I have had yet!  It started off like a normal day going to Music and the Spoken Word, and then Relief Society.  We then went to sacrament meeting, which is just with our Korean branch.  There were about 25 sisters and elders from Korea here last week (if you have time go get the Korean Liahona at Deseret Book-all of their pictures are in it and President Shin wrote the article!!) and it was fun to get to know them, especially the ones going to Busan.  For the special musical number, they all sang the EFY "As Sisters in Zion/Bring the World his Truth" medley in Korean!  It was definitely the most amazing I had ever heard it.  I only caught a few words here and there in Korean, but it brought the spirit so strongly.  I know I already have such an immense love for the Korean people and can't wait to get there and begin serving them!  We then went to our district meeting, and Elder Lee, who was our District Leader but is now our Zone Leader, taught on the Gift of the Holy Ghost.  It slowly transfered into how we need to have Christlike attributes, and work on them each week while we are here.  I love getting to have time to share with our district, and we grow so close together as we feel the spirit together.  It really is amazing the power of missionaries here and the testimonies people have!  Later at the devotional, Stephen Allen, the director of missionary services or something spoke about tips to being a successful missionary.  At the end he mentioned how each one of us have guardian angels who are our ancestors in heaven who are assigned to watch over us while we are on our missions.  This immediately made me think of how President Hinckley promised Dad that Beverly would be his guardian angel.  I know this is true for me as well.  When I am stuck in a rut, I just need to remember all the people here on earth praying for me, as well as the power in heaven and all of the people there who are guiding my success, and helping me through failures.  

I have tried to read my patriarchal blessing each day this week, and I am amazed how much it focuses on missionary work.  I don't know how I ever thought I wouldn't serve a mission! Even though I have hard days (just like I would at home), this work is so rewarding--and I haven't even started teaching actual people yet!!  I really do love being here serving the Lord!

The Korean is coming along.  We taught a lesson to one of our "Progressing Investigators" (aka teachers pretending to be an investigator) last night and I barely had any Korean on my paper--just English written down in the Korean sentence structure.  It felt great! 

Last Tuesday at the devotional, Elder Scott D. Whiting talked about how the MTC is an incubator-a controlled environment built for our growth and development.  He then spoke about the Comforter.  We are asked to leave behind all of the forms of comfort we have been used to our entire lives, and learn to find comfort with the true Comforter-the Holy Ghost.  I have tried to work on that this last week.  

As for other things here, another week has gone by!  It seems like the days are long, but the weeks are short.  It was fun to have the native Koreans here.  There were a couple that are so funny!  They would tell us funny Korean phrases and jokes that we didn't really understand...but laughed anyway!  We learned about Korean Fan Death.  Apparently, if you stay in a room with all the doors and windows closed, and a fan on, it is deadly.  I guess in Korean newspapers, if they don't know why someone died, they will blame it on that!  So the other day, we turned the fan on in our classroom, and when our teacher walked in, pretended we were dead.  It didn't last long because everyone started laughing.  The things that get us through the day...  

Our teacher Brother Tanner compared our marked copies of the scriptures to the Pensive from Harry Potter and how it helps us see into our own minds and personal revelation.  I thought it was a great analogy.  Haha 

There was SNOW HERE!  I don't know if you got any in SLC but, it kind of stunk.  Our district took a "Christmas Card" picture that I will send.  So presh!  

I don't know what else to send--We have so much candy!  Then again, it doesn't hurt to have more!  The chips and salsa were good.  Maybe that.  And more Diet Coke of course.  I saved my last one to drink today.  The caffeine free crap that they have in the soda machines just doesn't taste right!  

Thanks so much for everything!  I am so happy to be here and feel like I am really starting to understand a small portion of missionary work.  I know I still have so much more to learn!  The districts above us just left for Korea yesterday.  Only 6 more weeks here! I know it will go by fast!  (Even if I have to get creative with what I eat because everything is starting to taste the same...)

Love you and miss you all!!!  Write me letters this week so I can get them again before next P-Day!!!  

Love, 

Sister Emily Maridell Burgoyne

Q&A

March 19, 2013

Thanks for all of the letters!  I love hearing from everyone.  Any news in here is exciting, and it really makes the day and week go by faster!  I'm glad to hear Grandma Layton is doing well.  I got a great letter from her last week.  Send her my love!  I'm doing well this morning!!  The end of this week was much better than the beginning-I've tried to stay positive and just enjoy being here.  It has really helped, even though I still miss everyone! 

Lets see...now for Q&A...

Normal schedule:  Wake up at 6:30, get ready, breakfast at 7:30, personal study for an hour, companion study for half hour or so, gym, lunch at 12, language study, class (3hrs), dinner at 5, class (another 3 hours) and then planning and bed--lights out by 10:30!  The different things may move around a bit depending on the day but thats basically it. Doesn't it sound exciting?! We decided we have to come up with things that differentiate one day from another.  I've been showering after gym, whenever that is whether in the morning or at night.  I haven't straightened my hair once--its too much effort knowing I will just have to do it again the next day! I'll probably send both my straightener and blow dryer home before we leave here.  The bathrooms aren't awful.  We will usually leave gym 5 minutes early or so so we don't have to wait for the showers, which helps.  There are tons of people everywhere though!

P-Day schedule...wake up at 5:15 to do laundry so we don't have to deal with the rush later in the day, and have time to email.  Then I took a nap last week... Personal study from 11-12, lunch at 12, temple at 12:45, then have the afternoon to do what we want until dinner at 5, then a devotional that evening!  Its nice to have a little time to ourselves, but it goes by so fast then its back to work!  This week went by a lot faster than last though.  I think we've gotten into a good routine. 

I don't know if I have a favorite meal so far.  Does the BYU ice cream count?  There's always some sort of burger with delicious curly fries which is pretty good.  The things they try to make fancyish--like wild rice--usually end up being gross.  There is a wrap/salad bar that I have a lot.  I'm not really ever hungry though which is good!  The diet coke was definitely delicious.  Thanks for that! Feel free to send more:)  I still have 2 bottles left. 

My companion Sis Scott has 4 sisters-she's in the middle.  She went to esthetics school, and wants to go to nursing school at BYU when we get back.  Or do something with Korean.  Who knows.  I think we all want to do something with it so we don't forget any of it.  We're working to hard for that!  She's from Temekula (yeah don't know how to spell that).  We have had a great time together, along with the other sisters in our district/room!  Even though its crowded with 6, its definitely really fun!

There are a lot of Korean sisters around us.  There are 30 native Koreans who got here last week, and fly out next week with the older group who are going to various missions in Korea.  They are so funny!  They are loud, and we hear them all night haha.  They are excited to be here though.  I can already tell I'll love the Korean people. 

Our Branch President, President Shin, got released on Sunday because he is going to be the new mission president in Daejeon in July.  Tell everyone at the pharmacy to take good care of him:).  He and his wife are great and we will miss them!  The new branch president, who was a counselor before, is Pres. Yost.  He doesn't speak Korean, he was actually a mission president in the Czech Republic, but is great.  It will be fun to get to know him better.  The first counselor is Brother Perrington, who is from New Zealand, and worked for General Motors in Korea, so has lived there and I think was a mission president there at one point.  I really like him and his wife.  The new counselor is Brother Snow.  He was also a mission president in Korea a while ago.  That's all I really know about him. 

The chips and salsa were great the other night!  Between the 6 of us, we polished them off pretty quick.  I can't think of any specific treats now.  Anything is really great! Its always fun to get packages:)

Scary that Josh is driving!  Tell him not to crash, and that you are probably right when telling him how to drive even if he doesn't want to listen like I didn't.  Obviously something got through because I would say I'm a pretty good driver. Haha we'll see if thats still true after I don't drive for 18 months.  I loved getting the pictures from the temple.  Send more from stuff going on at home--the office especially!  Can't wait to see it! 

If you get a minute this week, you should watch the "Earthly Father, Heavenly Father" mormon message.  We found out we could watch them via LDS.org on the computers in the classroom, which was fun.  I thought it so cute and reminded me of when we were little! 

I'm doing a lot better than the beginning of the week--the other day one of my teachers said that even if we (Emily) can't do some of this, through the Lord's help, Sister Burgoyne can!  Even though the Korean can get frustrating and we still have a lot to learn, I have to remind myself it is not something that keeps us from teaching what we want when we don't know the words, but a tool to help us share the gospel with a whole new group of people!  The other night after our devotional, Brother Perrington mentioned that while we only have 18 months to serve, we have eternity to reflect on our service!  I really think that is so important!  Even though I may get frustrated now, I know that as I put all of my effort into this work, I will be blessed and be so happy to see the blessings for the rest of my life, and how it will positively effect everyone around me! 

Love you and miss you all so much!  I am getting a migraine so need to go back and sleep for a bit so hopefully it goes away!

Emily (Sister Burgoyne)

S.M.I.L.E.

Thank you so much for your email!! It is so great to hear from you.  We got up at 5:15 to do our laundry so we didn't have to wait in line, which is probably a great idea!  I love all of the letters from everyone!  The whole Dear Elder system is great!  We get our postage mail about 11 AM and Dear Elder mail after dinner so it is good to have both!  Even if things don't seem super exciting to you, it is still news here for me and it is great to get a touch of home!!  Grandma is beating you on the letter count so far, and I got the sweetest letter from Grandma Layton yesterday reminding me to S.M.I.L.E. (spiritually minded is life eternal)

I've kept a list of things all week so I don't forget to tell you anything!  Class is going well.  I have gotten pretty good at sounding out words, and know how to say hello, introduce myself, and have almost gotten prayer down in Korean!  The gift of tongues is a real thing!  We have also started singing hymns in class in Korean, which is a little rough at times (and some people are a little tone deaf) but still brings the spirit so strongly!  Our teacher's name is Brother Tanner and served in Busan under the Jennings, and then was there for a couple months to train my president.  He speaks a lot in Korean, but is very expressive and animated so we can usually get his point.  Fun fact--you say yes "nay" in Korean, and we try to SYL (speak your language) as much as possible, so sometimes its really confusing since its no in so many other languages!  And r and l have the same character, which makes "Emiry" make a little more sense. 

We have such a great district--which is our class--there are 10 people, 6 sisters and 4 elders.  Sister Scott is my companion, as I mentioned before.  She is so awesome!  She is from California, did esthetics school in SL last year, and now wants to go to nursing school.  We have bonded a lot over the last few days, and even though its kind of weird to be with the same person constantly, she still is so great and we haven't had any problems.  One of the sisters created "couple names" for all the companionships yesterday and we are "Scurgoyne"  How cute <3 haha.  The other sisters are Sister Hilton who is from Orem, Sister Cheney who is from Cottonwood Heights and went to Brighton, Sister Sloan who is from California, and Sister Stradling from Snowflake Arizona.  The elders are Elder Sorensen from Park City, Elder Wager from Pleasant Grove, Elder Lee from Washington (who is 3 seconds away from qualifying for the Olympic team in the 400 m dash--his current time is 47 seconds and he may go to Rio in 2016) and Elder Jorgensen who lived in Korea for 4 years and already speaks a lot of Korean, which is helpful.  Everyone is fairly different, but we all get along very well!

The food is okay, of course some things are better than others, but I haven't been hungry.  We bought MTC water bottles the first day which was brilliant and have been drinking lots of water.  Aunt Colleen would be so proud!  I haven't gone to see Dr. Brown yet, but hopefully will have time to today! 

I could buy an SD card reader at the bookstore, so don't worry about that!  If you want to send my Sperry's, flip flops,hangers, and more mints, and maybe some diet coke, I would love that!!!  (I'm doing just fine without diet coke, but of course I would love to have some:))

Gym time almost every day is a good break--Sister Sloan did crossfit and so we have been doing that with her and I have been so sore!  I have ran too, while singing hymns of course, which has been great! 

You're going to laugh but all of my favorite skirts are the long ones that are comfy!  If the other ones are long and flowy, I would love them.  I'm sure I will have a good amount of stuff to send home before I leave here--do you think I can just take stuff to Uncle David instead of paying for postage?  I don't know if there are guidelines about that...

Sunday was an awesome spiritual day!  Relief society filled up the whole room-bleachers and all.  I guess in January it only covered the floor, and the amount of sisters has already seemed to double.  Sister Stephens from the general relief society presidency spoke about obedience and the blessings that come from it.  Obedience is very emphasized here.  When they announced her they said "We'd like to welcome Sister Stephens of the General Relief society presidency, and thank her for being here...and her husband Brother Stephens."  I laughed for Dad's sake. 

Then we had our Korean branch, which about half of which was in Korean and I totally didn't understand a lot of it, but caught a few words and phrases which is a good start!  I feel like I have to be really good at it already, but then have to remind myself I haven't even been learning for a week! 

We had a "new sisters meeting" where they talked about dress and hygiene and stuff, and the sister said, "People think that while on their mission, they do not have to take their prescriptions because the lord will bless them.  That is not true.  The Lord has helped you find a Rx that works for you. That is his part and you still need to take them!"  I thought that was funny! 

I read Moroni 8:26 last night--I don't have my scriptures with me but look it up!  I would love good ensign articles, or conference talks, or pictures of Jesus to hang in our classroom!  I love reading my scriptures, but extra modern day thoughts are great too!! 

I am about to try to attach pictures--I hope they work!  Notice my awesome name badge in Korean! 

If you want to print your email and send it to me on Dear Elder it would be great to have a hard copy! 

Thanks for all your love and support!  I miss you all so much, and have some hard times, but I know as I serve I will be blessed!  Last night, I was reminded of the phrase "nothing easy was ever worthwhile and nothing worthwhile was ever easy!"  I think this is so true of a mission and as I stick with it, my life will be changed eternally for the better! 

We get to go to the temple later today which I'm so excited about!!

Respond ASAP because I may have more time to respond later--and if I don't send it to me on Dear Elder and I will respond as soon as I can!

Love you all and miss you so much!  Hope everyone is doing well!  I expect frequent updates from everyone! 

Emily (Sister Burgoyne)

First Letter from the MTC

We were so excited to receive Emily's first letter from the MTC!  Here are some excerpts...

"My first day has been great!  As soon as you left I got my name badge and then went to my class and sounded out Korean vowels and consonants for two hours.  The instructor spoke nothing but Korean, so we picked up on the sounds actually pretty quick. I love my companion!  Her name is Sister Scott and she is from California!  I don't know too much about her yet, but I'm sure I will get too!  There are six girls in our room and its a little tight but not unmanageable.  We also heard from the MTC presidency and their wives. ONe of them said there was a conference quote: "The Lord loves all of his children equally.  He just loves his missionaries a little more equally."  then we had dinner and a teaching experience where a big group taught 3 different investigators. I raised my hand a few times and challenged someone to pray:) We met in our class for a bit later and had some time to talk. There are 6 sisters and 4 elders - 7 going to Daejon and only 3 to Busan.  There are more Busan in other classes though.  Needless to say its been quite a busy day.  I've had a great time.  The spirit is definitely very strong.  I don't think it has totally hit e that I will be gone for so long, but I'm very happy to be here!  I love the Lord and can't wait to share his gospel. My P-day is Tuesday so I will email more then.

Okay, so now its Thursday and since it takes me less than an hour to get ready I have a few minutes to write some more.  There are lots of sisters, which is amazing.  There are definitely more elders but there will be about 1,100 sisters in Relief Society on Sunday. I actually slept pretty well last night. It took awhile to fall asleep - probably mostly because it was 10:30 and I don't remember the last time I went to bed then! And I am just fine getting up.  Today we have lots of study time which is done in our classroom. We can leave most of our books and stuff there. There are lots of buildings here, which ae all numbered.  I'm sure I'll get used to it eventually.

Grandma was right - Wednesday was ice cream night!  I had some delicious graham cracker chocolatey flavor.  That was much welcomed after chicken fried steak and watery veggies for dinner. Lots of people who have been here longer said that was the worst meal they've had so far.  I ran into Kirsten, which was fun!  Yesterday was such a whirlwind, but that's good.  I'm so glad I can be here and can't wait to take the time to learn more and more in the scriptures today!

TOMORROW!!!!!!

Tomorrow is the day!  I am so so excited, scared, nervous, etc. (who knew you could feel so many emotions!) but can't wait to go!  The scripture I put on my missionary plaque is all I need to remember right now though...D&C 6:36-"Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not."  As long as I trust in the Lord, I know everything will work out just how it is supposed to!  I know this is short, but still have so so much to do tonight!  My mom will post my first letter next week!  Love you all and thanks for all of your support!

Em