Week 1....Success

So I have completed my first week at the MTC and it has gone by so fast. I feel like I got here yesterday. We are learning away in our itty bitty classroom. Most of the time we don't have a teacher which is quite the bummer. We can hear all the classes having their lessons but the other night we had 2 teachers in one class session! SOMEONE CARES about us czechs! One of the teachers quit because she is majoring in neuroscience and the other one is gone because he got married last week... lame excuses right? We've been getting along fine by ourselves. We've already finished teaching Andrea who we love to death. She is the cutest little czech and weve given her lessons everyday since yesterday. we were sad to part. she has seen us at our worst. Crazy to think its we've been here for a week and we've already given 5 lessons in czech. they really just throw you in here. It's like being sprayed with a fire hose.. we get some water but it mostly just hurts our face. Sometimes we get tough on ourselves because of the language and then we realize, hey, we've only been here for 5 days! 

Was happy to discover it takes zero talent to be in the choir. Usually I really dislike singing but choir is fun. We sing at devotionals.

Our zone consists of missionaries going to Turkey, Bulgaria, Czechs, Slovaks, (which ive discovered is kind of like 2 missions.. czech republic and slovakia), poland, slovania, and a few more. It is fun because all of these languages besides turkish and bulgarian are really similar and so everyone can sort of understand each other. Except for us because we just got here. My companion still rocks. we are really similar so we get along just fine. In our residence we have 4 girls and the other companionship is also going to czech so we've all gotten really close. (birkland and clark) The elders in our district are like our little brothers (the 18 year olds seem so little!) One of the elders, starsi needham does this little dance he calls the "Jesus Jigg" and i am going to try and send you a video. It is too funny. 

We work so hard that we are going crazy. The one teacher we have ROCKS. He rides harley davidsons and is so so funny. Anyways the other day he was on the computer and had the most high pitched hiccup sister clark and i had ever heard and we were laughing so hard I almost got sick. We were crying and everything. It's weird what makes you laugh in the MTC. Sleep deprivation and sitting all day will do that. Although the sleep hasn't really been a problem for me. I thought it would because I was AWFUL at seminary but its not. Sitting all day is hard for me so when we go run for our 45 minutes my companion and I sprint the whole time and the combination of altitude, sitting all day, and heat give me the fattest kankles. It only lasts for an hour or so. Eating only 3 meals a day is also very difficult for sestra holland so i wouldn't be opposed to some food mail. wouldnt be opposed at all 

Yesterday my friend Elli Kenney (now sister kennedy) came to the MTC and we had a lasting embrace. so good to see a familiar face. 

Sundays and Pdays are the best becuase they give you a T.O. All the missionaries say Sunday is good for the Spirit, Pday is good for the soul. Gym time is a good break too. 4-square is super competitive here its kind of scary. AND GIRLS CANT PLAY SOCCER!! technically the rule is girls and boys cant play soccer together and there are no girls here who want to play so sorry alex I cannot defend the soccer championship legacy. 

Just so you know, when I get a dear elder or letter or package it makes my day so thank you thank you everyone who sent me love. 

All my love

Sestra Holland

I'm Alive

AHOY FAMILY.

I have entered the beast. We only have about 5 minutes to let you know we are alive and well. My p-day is next Thursday so I will get to write you then, but for now just now I am doing well! Everything is new and exciting and I am learning so much. My companion is Sister Frederickson and she is awesome possum. We are like the dream team. There are 4 sisters and 3 elders learning czech and they've already got us started. Tomorrow we give our first lesson in czech! :-0 Wish me luck. We have done group lessons where our whole multiple zones ask questions and try to teach on microphones... it was horrendous.. I was embarrassed for us. We made one girl cry her name was Lowanda and she was a sassy black girl. not sure if they are real investigator or not so we may have just ruined someones life. In one of them some elder stood up to make a tearful speech about eternal families and the investigator (asian foo man choo i call him) walked right up to me and said "what about divorce?" I said.. "its eternal if you want it to be!" hahaha ive got a lot of work to do.  We all have a lot to learn before they ship us off but luckily I've got quite a bit of time to study up. Im sure it will fly by. This morning we woke up and did yoga at 5:45.. Utah time. they are not telling us to stop typing so im going to keep going. Anyhoo got to go - Connor good luck with your first day of High School on Monday. Don't break too many girls hearts this year. Love you all so much and miss you lots. 

Sestra Holland