Christmas Eve 2009

Man, this has been such a crazy day. It's a P-day on Christmas Eve, which is legit. Minus not being able to go to the temple, it's pretty low key. I've got my laundry done and I'm just writing emails, now. I wish I had more time than half an hour cause there's so much that I want to say and I feel like I'm always being pressed for time. Such is life here at the MTC. I always feel like there aren't enough hours in the day to get all my reading and PMG stuff done. Oh, P.S. did I mention that I'm attempting to read the Spanish Book of Mormon in 30 days? Another Elder in my district and I are doing it together, so it really helps that there's moral support for each of us.

This has been a super rough week for me. I've had to deal with so much crap, I don't even know where to begin. Last Friday I just had a terrible day. So I'm really good friends with Elder Huff right? Yeah, so we've had both of our teachers talk to us about how we need to keep our relationship appropriate. No big deal. Besides, he has a girlfriend and we're just friends. So our DL thinks he needs to get in on it and he talks to Huff and he's just like you both are going to get sent home because what you're doing is inappropriate and I'm over here going "What the heck are we doing that's so bad?" Yeah, so needless to say, E. Nilsson has got it out for me. Every time I talk to him I feel like a piece of crap and like I'm a bad missionary. Like I'm not worthy to be here. So it's a little stressful. So anyways, Nilsson thinks he needs to go talk to our Branch President about it and President Estes was talked to both Huff and I about how he knows we're here for the right reasons and so we're all good. But then my coordinating sister comes and talks to me more about it yesterday. Personally, I'm just done hearing about this. And how inappropriate the things we do are. I don't know how people can figure these things out when I ALWAYS have my companions with me and he always has his companion with him. UGH.

Anyways, the Lord blesses and he makes it all better. I'm glad to hear that everyone is feeling better.

And I'm just glad that I'm not there to get it. I've been blessed and haven't been sick since I've been here, so that's great. A cough here or there, but nothing that'll land me in quarantine. I'm glad Erin made it home okay. Sounds like she had quite the adventure home.

And that sucks about Lori. I would hate knowing that I'd for sure have breast cancer. Eeks. Man, it's pretty stressful. I can't even imagine.

Aww, poor Amy. She's so sweet. I hope that she's doing better now that she's been able to vent. I know how that is. I'm so glad that I have Hna. Pechin here for me. There's some days where she just keeps me from exploding. I can't even imagine the MTC without her. Even though she loves Obama and is totally a liberal, it's okay, because we have the gospel in common and that's what matters.

So I went to the bookstore and bought a tape recorder so I can send tapes home and then you can listen to my pretty voice. Haha. Even though they'll all probably be old stories and stuff you've already heard, it's just fun hearing it from a voice and not reading it over an email. So I'm halfway done with my first one and I'll be sending it along shortly.BAH!

Roland and Christi getting engaged. Yikes. That's all I have to say. I just...yikes. And that pageant. Wow. Ahh...wow.

You'll have to let me know what the balance in my account is because I lost my receipt from the other day when I used my debit card and so I'm not quite sure what the balance in it is...but it's okay because I'm not using it anyways. I've used it once since I've been here. I'm just not starting to get low on cash. And I've been here for over a month.

Man, so I got a letter from Aaron Allsop last week. It was awesome! I just about fell out of my chair when my DL handed me this huge envelope. Haha. It was great. And funny story. So Mike Stoehr told me to look for this guy from Hawaii that was going to my mission and speaking Spanish. So Elder Kakazu comes up to me the other day with a pass along card that says 'Sister Sammi Pleshek' and it's in Mike's handwriting. I just start laughing and he's like Do you know an Elder Stoehr? It was so funny. And Kakazu is like this 5 foot nothing little Hawaiian dude. He's just so funny. He was kind of shocked when I freaked out a little bit.

I did get your package and Clint's and I LOVED THEM BOTH!!! Made my day with all that MINT CANDY!!!! I did open up a few of the presents, but I saved some. Man, I'm definitely loving Grandma Kay's pajamas. They're nuts! :-D So Grandma Kay though. I love it.

Oh, when you give Erin her present tonight tell her I love her and I'm sorry I didn't get her card out before Christmas. But, I'm sure she'll love what I got her. Haha. It's interesting to read yours and Clare's and Erin's emails all in one day. I wish I had more time to write them, but I don't. I'll just write them letters tomorrow. Besides, they'll read this anyways.

Well, I love you all. The gospel is so correct and true and I love being a missionary! It's the best occupation I could ask for! I love learning new things and getting to know my Savior through his Atonement and all the other things that I'm studying. He's the reason for the season and I'm so lucky that I have this opportunity to be here in the MTC for this once in a lifetime opportunity. I miss you all and I miss being with you right now, but I owe this much to my Savior and Redeemer. After all He's done for me, this is the least I can do for him.Merry CHRISTmas!!!!

Love,

Hermana Pleshek

P.S. Dad, all the elders in my zone live in Addison Pratt! WOOT WOOT!

Hand written letter 12-17-09

Dear Home,

Happy P-Day!! I love P-days because I get to write letters and wear sweatpants and do my laundry. Here are some more names from the temple. I won't send some for a couple weeks because the temple is closed for the next few weeks. BOO!! And I'm not sure when this'll be in the mail, but alas, I'm writing.

The temple was great tonight, as always. I love the temple. :)

But, send me the Christmas letter. And P.S. besides the fact that the fire alarm went off Saturday morning at 12:00 a.m., it's all good. Okay so story with that.

So we go to bed at 10:30 like normal and I had a super hard time going to sleep and so I finally get to sleep and AHH!! The fire alarm starts going off. And not just like the little baby alarm, but the one that someone pulls when there's a real fire. So, we all freak out and I like pop out of bed. And I smelled smoke. EWW!! So we're all just like what the heck? So we evacuate to the gym and we sit there for a 1/2 hour, waiting to see what happens. Apparently there wasn't a real fire, just some problems that were in the basement make it go off. And so he tells us that there's bad news. The sprinklers ....big pause ...... didn't go off so there'll be people coming in and out of our building all night long. It was sort of funny since we were all out of it. and it was funny cause it took at least another 1-2 hours to get to sleep. But, we're all okay. Then that same day, I'm cleaning the athrooms as part of my service project. So, I'm cleaning the mirrors and SMACK!! I hit my head super hard on the sprinkler! (I was on the counter standing since the mirrors are far away.) anywho, that bruise is just starting to go away.

But, P-Day is over and once again, I'll probably write on Christmas Eve, since that's my next P-day. And again on Christmas. I love you all. I love this work! It's so great! The Lord has blessed me and I know His hand is in everything.

Hermana Pleshek

P.S. Feliz Navidad!!!

New Pictures!

All the Sisters in the zone.

Breakfast on our preparation day.

Elder Bradley Duncan and me in a super awkward pose.

My companions and me at the temple sign.

Just a random picture. I stole Elder's Ballard's Christmas chain.

December 17, 2009

HOLA FAMILIA!!!!

Your email made me really happy this morning! I love it when it's super long! It just makes my little girl heart flutter. I've also been here for just over 4 weeks and that's great. Only 6 more to go. I'm here for 10 weeks, on the dot. I leave the 26th. And also, I don't get to call home on Christmas, which is lame, but anyways.

Yeah! I love going to the temple because it's so great! I'm going to get a bunch more done today and send them out once again. P.S., did you get my memory stick with the temple names? OH MY GOSH!!!! That's nuts about Gramma Kay and George. Oh my goodness, I can't believe that. What a nutso! I can't believe that people do that. It is just ridiculous. Oh man, I can't even imagine that, especially since he never really says anything and then...yeah.

Oh, do you have any other t-shirts you want to send? well, nevermind. I guess I don't really need them. Yeah...don't worry about it. But those trouser socks sound LEGIT!!!! I want some! Any color will do. I'm just digging that cause it's super. And I hope that it works good in Washington. Oh, any update on the boots? Because it'll be better if I have at least some closed toed top shoes. Does that make sense? Entonces...

Oh, President Barrett is so cute! It just make my heart happy to see him every day in the MTC. They have a huge thing with all the mission presidents all over the world, so I get to see him every day when I go to lunch and any other meal!!! YAY!!! It's great! But I love him and Sister Barrett. They're just the sweetest people! And I know that he cares about me. Haha, no I'm not concerned with marrying any young man right now or anything about any young man right now.

Thanks for keeping me updated on the social aspects of the stake. But it's great. Oh man, what's up with all these people getting married? Haha. It's all good, I'm so glad I'm not married. I wouldn't rather be doing anything else besides serving the Lord in the MTC right now. YES!!!!

That's cool about Erin getting that driver from West Bend. OH GOOD!!! When is she coming home then? I haven't heard from her and I was going to write her, but I didn't know if she was home, because I'm writing Jodi to her home address. Speaking of which, I wrote her and told her that she needs to get her life in order and stop worrying about getting married. Every letter I've gotten from her has had something in it about getting married or engaged and I just don't want to hear about that. It just seems like she's spending too much time and energy worrying about something she's not remotely ready for.

Anyways. SEND ME PICTURES!!! I dont' have a lot and I want more. Especially of Adam and Cami. I have ones from Halloween, but that's about it. And I'm just yeah. As far as the pictures for my plaque go, just go with the one that I submitted for my mission papers or whatever. Just one where I look good. That'll do.

Oh man, Mom. I just love being a missionary! It's the greatest calling in the world and I wish that everyone could be a missionary! The Lord blesses us so much and He's so mindful of what we do. This work is so great and I can't wait to finish up here in the MTC and get out to the field so I can share the message of this restored gospel to the world! It's a message everyone should want to hear because it's of complete joy and greatness!!!! I love it here and I couldn't think of a place I'd rather be! :-D Anyways, I love it here. The church is true, the book is blue. And when we know what we do, what on earth could matter more?

I LOVE YOU. I can't wait to hear from you once again.

Love,

Hermana Pleshek

December 10, 2009

Alright, this is going to be a quick email as I have dinner in about 8 minutes. But we'll see how it goes. Alright, to answer your two questions: I put all my stuff in the closet and if she doesn't find it, well, I don't know what to tell her. It's all in there and I made sure of it well before I left. I didn't have a manual or anything, I just had a black binder. Retta never gave me a manual, so yeah. As far as my tithing goes I found some here but I just voided out the checks and stuff, so it was about 150.00 so if you want to just take that and give it to the Bishop out of my savings, or whatever, please do so. I just forgot. Which isn't unusual for me.

How did the dinner with Gramma Kay go? Did she like Kansas? Oh Thomas. Well, he has his own card coming in the mail. I'm sending it out tomorrow, so he can look forward to that. And I'll be sending the 8 names we did today. The elders in my district didn't come with us last week, so it was just us girls. But, we're meeting from now on to go to the temple, so they'll get done a lot faster. WOOHOO!! Speaking of the temple, I just got back and it's freezing. I can now start to feel my legs again. But it was such a great experience for me. I felt the Spirit so strongly while sitting in the Celestial room and I just loved it!!! I can't wait to go back next week!!!

Oh, P.S. I'm just going to be sending my memory card home to you soon, so don't worry about scanning the pictures in. I want to make a movie so that you can have it on Christmas and then watch it when you get my stick. I have my old one, so it's no problem. Although I don't want you to delete any of the pictures off. Just look at them, save them, post them, whatever and just send my thing back.

That's cool about all the Vengenderen kids. I'll bet that was fun!!! Yeah, that's kind of a bummer that they don't have any clothes to wear or won't wear. Sad.

Haha, of course Dad talked to President Belnap. And I'm glad I don't need a bike! Just more money I get to save!!! WOOHOO! Oh man, the blog. How's that going by the way? And if you have Dawna's address, could you get that to me? That would be fantastic.

Oh I'm sure he'll find out a lot about me if he reads that. :-D

Oh, can you send my pomegranite lotion, too. It's so blasted dry out here and I didn't bring a lot of lotion, just a tiny bit, and I want some more. That would be AWESOME! I don't think I need anything else. My suitcase won't be too heavy. I still had room to spare and I'm using my shampoo and conditioner, so it'll be great. There's also some stuff I might want to send back home that I haven't been using. Oh, and did I leave my belt in your suitcase? Send that too. I need a belt! On p-days anyways. Well, my white skirt and red skirt had to have the slits sewn down a bit. Well, not HAD to, but I wanted them to because they were a little higher than I wanted and it was just not appropriate for the Elders to have to see that I have a slit higher than it should be.

OH yes! I'm excited for my blessing to come! I want it really bad.

That's cool that you've got the family history fever! I loved having it when I had my class. Oh, P.S. it's super cold here, so I'm glad that I have that scarf!

On Tuesday, Claudio R.M. Costa came and gave our devotional. IT WAS SO GREAT!!! He's such an amazing speaker and I loved it!!! It was just absolutely fantastic, I can't express to you how great it was. And once again, the Spirit is felt.

It's felt every day I'm hear and I absolutely love it. I've learned how to love so much from being here. Elder Nilsson in my district was just not being a very nice kid - not sure if I told you this or not - but I've just learned to love everyone and that people are different and we're all children of a loving Heavenly Father who doesn't make mistakes when it comes to people. So, it's a great step. My companions think I bring unity to the district and if I wasn't here, then we wouldn't be as unified and wouldn't help at all. So, it's great and I love it.

Oh man, I have so much to say but it's one of those things where you have the chance, and don't remember what you wanted. Anyways, I better finish up here. I've fallen so far behind, there aren't enough hours in the day to do everything I need to do. AHHH!!!! But, I love you all!!!!

I'm loving a mission and everyone needs to serve because it's the greatest! I'm so glad I chose this because it's beyond anything I could imagine. I love the Savior and am loving this Christmas season where it's all about HIM and serving HIM. Which, I'm more than willing to do! After all, He is my Savior and the Redeemer of the world.

Have a great night! I'll write again soon!

Love,

Hermana Pleshek

Pictures from the MTC

Here's my district!

My zone leaders. Elder Stevenson from Australia and Elder Hamilton from San Jose.

My companions. Hermana Christensen y Hermana Pechin.

Hermana Pechin, Oaken, Hymas, Christensen and I all "holding our own" with the Polys! :)

December 3, 2009

Dear Family,
This computer is not very good, so I'll probably send this one and then another one since it's got a lame keyboard. But anyways, I've just finished up my second week here and technically, it's my third week. WAHOO!!! This week has been crazy! It's gone by so fast and I can't believe it. WOW! So, things here are good. My Spanish is quickly getting better, and it's just a matter of practicing. Oh boy. But, it's good. I sent out letters today. Dad, HAPPY BIRTHDAY. I've got a great birthday card for you that you will like. Haha. Well, it's not great, but you know what? It's okay. Well, the end of this email. I'll email again in a minute or two. Love you.

Alright, sorry about that. Stupid computers here in the laundry room. Well, its' been a pretty productive day here in my FIRST official p-day. Last week didn't count because we didn't really get to do anything good since it was Thanksgiving. Well, we did good things, but it wasn't a real p-day.

So here's a few things that I need. I need a couple more pairs of socks. Yeah, that would be great. And some face wash and a washcloth/baby towel or something. Because I totally forgot that. And, I don't know if I need anything else. Maybe some nylons. Ones that run. Not knee highs or tights. Nylons. Haha. Yes, I've learned the distinction. But tights would be okay too. And I am in the process of buying more skirts because I need more and some of them are just nuts. Anyways, it's all good.

So, I've had some more rifts with my companions this week. It's been so crazy. Apparently my comp H. Christensen went through almost the same thing that I did with Brett, which she's having a really hard time with it whereas mine comes and goes. But, basically we're all here because we didn't want to get married at the time.

I've got 4 Elders form my zone leaving on Monday and I'm sad. But we also got a bunch of new missionaries yesterday. Not in our zone, but just in general. It was hilarious thinking that was me two weeks ago. I don't even remember that at all. If it wasn't written down in my journal, then I wouldn't remember it at all. Oh so anyways, my comp H. Christensen needs to be taken in small doses!!! But, we're comps and we have to be by each other all the time. I MISS MY OWN SPACE. I think that's going to be the hardest thing for me.

Alright, now I can finally finish up this email. It's been a crazy day.

Okay first off, I need you to call Casey in my phone and get her address. Make sure it's Casey Love and not just Casey. Umm, that would be great.

Well, I'm glad to hear that things are going super great at home. This week has been crazy, like I said. Elder Holland came and gave us a devotional on Thanksgiving and it was GREAT!!! Sister Cheryl Lant came and gave our devotional on Tuesday and that was awesome, too. She compared us to the Strippling Warriors and that's pretty accurate considering there are 2,200+ of us here at the MTC right now. But she's such a good speaker. Both of them are. Sister Holland is so genuine. She got up to speak with tears rolling down her face and left with them, too. She's so cute.

We did a service project on Thanksgiving, too and that was a lot of fun. We colored picture books and put together some form of 24 kit/emergency kit, thing.

But, things are going good. I'm moving along with the language which helps. And I got two new skirts today which probably weren't the best idea, but they're great and I love them and they'll last me my whole mission. I had to send two of my other skirts in to be altered. And something exciting! I FINALLY GOT PICTURES!!! I got pictures printed off, so I'll send a few home before I send my memory card and the finished temple names we did today.

Oh yeah, we just got back from the temple and it was amazing! It was so cute to see my elders all in white. It was great!

Speaking of Elders...so I'm kind of irritated with the Elders in my zone right now because most of them think that I'm out here to get married and I'm like REALLY?! You honestly think if I was going to look for a husband I'd be here?! Where all the boys are off limits? I don't think so. But it's just kind of saddening for me because they think I flirt with everyone, when in reality, it's just me being nice and myself. I wouldn't under any circumstances flirt with any of the elders here. Most of them are younger than me and I see them as you know, my little cute elders. It's like how I see Cami. I just love them all and want to take care of them and make sure that nothing bad happens and do anything I can. But apparently, that's flirting. So, beesh.

Anyways, I don't really know what else I can talk about. Not a whole lot goes on here besides learning and stuff. It was a crazy p-day and I have dinner in about 7 minutes. Which is about what I have left of my time on here.

Ahh, my room is great. My laundry is good. I have one more garment top than bottom. The Spirit is great. I'm in the MTC choir, which is AMAZING!!!! I'm sick of the food, but it's all I've got, so I deal. Well, I only get sick of it when there's nothing that looks or sounds good to eat. Umm, I just got a new coordinating sister and I'm meeting with her tonight to do a little interview. I'm amazed at how many interviews I have each week. It's nuts.I give all these Elders here credit. Now that I know what kind of thing the MTC is, especially with those who are learning a foreign language, I give them HUGE credit. It's not an easy task to be here. Satan works hard and he's working on me and my companions. And I can't even imagine what it would be like, being 19. I know that I wouldn't have been able to handle it. Well, I could have if I would have had to, but I didn't. And I came here by choice. So I give full credit and I have respect for all the missionaries. Especially the ones that had a hard time on the mission.

Oh, P.S. dearelder.com printer is down right now at the MTC, so if anyone has sent me anything, I haven't gotten it. Man, I can't believe how nuts my day has been. Tell Tom that I love him and tell Cami she's a socko! And B too. He's so stinking cute, I just miss his cute chubby little face.

Oh, I don't have my patriarchal blessing, so send it please! And lots of pictures! Lots and lots!!! Well, I'm done here. I'm going to eat some good food and such. I love you all so much and THANK YOU for everything you do!!!

Love,

Hermana Pleshek