Week 3 - The Good, the Bad and the Ugly - MTC Edition

Hello family and friends!

Welcome to the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, MTC edition.

 

The Good: We had Graham Canyon ice cream on Sunday. That is my favorite ice cream ever. We also had green beans with bacon. They weren't near as good as Mom's, but still tasty.  

The Bad: ASL makes your eyebrows hurt. You have to raise them up or down depending on what kind of question you are asking. Elder Clair has a really hard time, but he is getting better at it. 

The Ugly: Having to ask the branch president to give the elders a modesty talk and they still don't get why they can't sit a certain way or wear gym shorts made for a 10 year old. Also, one of our ASL districts ate an entire tower of cereal one night for dinner. They had to eat like 7 bowls each and the tops of their mouths were bleeding. They also got in trouble because it's disruptive, so y'all remember that when you come to the MTC. 

The Scary: We sisters played volley ball with some elders from Samoa and Tonga. Sister Abeling almost got decapitated several times. 

The Spiritual: Guess what I did this week? Taught an investigator that has no language. Well, it was one of our teachers pretending to be him, but it is a real person he met on his mission. Apparently it is common for ASL missionaries to meet such people. He is deaf, doesn't know ASL, and doesn't read except for a tiny bit of Spanish. How do you teach him? A combination of charades and pictionary. I will be excellent at both when I get back. But the most important ingredient is the Spirit! There is no way we could teach without it. Not to be cliche, but the Spirit is the universal language. Our teacher Brother Peterson was also explaining to us that everyone can feel the Spirit, not just Mormons. And he was explaining to us times when other people can feel the Spirit. He says he feels the Spirit when Madea talks about church. He says as a deaf person he connects with her and those Baptist choirs because they are very expressive. So, Madea aside, we can all feel the Spirit. We can feel the Spirit when we listen to music. Think of when for band we play those really slow and powerful songs, like "Sleep." We all felt so good! That's one way to feel the Spirit. So I would like to challenge all of you to try to listen for the Spirit more. Listen to some good music or just turn off the TV and sit in quiet to think. Read something inspiring. I've haven't ever watched Madea, so I can't endorse that... but do what ever it is that will help you feel the Spirit and come closer to God.

 

Have a good week everyone! Love you! The Gospel is true! 

 

Sister Nielsen

 

P.S.  Bailey is here! And she is leaving Tuesday already. One morning at breakfast I got to talk to her and Katie. She is so cute, but I think she is having a hard time. She was crying when she saw me because quote "your cute little motherly voice." Ah man, I love my roomies! 

 

Elder McCarl, just a little ray of sunshine! 

An almost good picture of the ASL sisters



Sunday Temple Walk

An almost good picture of my district

 

 

Week 2

Alrighty everyone, buckle up for some fast typing!

This week has been great, being here is great. I can't wait until I am actually in the field. This week we have been teaching an investigator Hilary on the video phone. We knew she was an actor, but we were totally convinced she was deaf! She was an excellent actor. The most important thing we learned is that you have to testify. One of our lessons didn't go well, and we figured out that is was because we needed to testify, and the next lesson was much better.

 

     I hope that my grammar is ok, when I write in my journal, I have totally noticed that I write in ASL grammar.

 

     Here at the MTC we do service twice a week. We clean the buildings. It is EXACTLY like working at library, except I don't have to wake up quite so early. 

 

     Some funny stories: The other day Sister Backus was wearing a skirt and blazer her grandma made her. In the middle of class, she noticed that the jacket still had pins in the hem! They were sewn in, she had to tear them out! It was hilarious. Our teacher said, "Oh cute grandma cute." THEN the skirt (which was a wrap around skirt) totally came undone and everyone could see her slip. The teacher signed SO fast "You need leave fix that now?!?!?!" So funny. 

 

     So many of our funny stories have to do with Elder McCarl. I wish so bad I had a picture to show you! He is just a tiny little blonde kid with cochlear implants. He has the sweetest spirit and devotionals always make him cry and he is so concerned about everyone. Sister Backus always says she wants to put him in her pocket. One day he put her magnet from her badge on his implant at the dinner table. Then he told us how when he was in 8th grade science, he hooked up a light bulb and wires to his implant. It lit up for a second, and then it shocked him! He went to the audiologist, who said to NEVER do that again. And the other day, one of the elders told him,  "Your deacon is showing," meaning his tie was sticking out of his collar. Elder McCarl didn't get it. He's like "I've been trying to learn English for the past 14 years and that's not one of my vocab words." So sassy. And he knows everyone loves him. Sister Backus said he was her favorite. He looked at his companion and said, "See, I told you."

 

       Alright, something else spiritual. WWJF-what would Jesus feel? If we don't feel charity, we can't teach people. In 1 Corinthians 13, it says with out charity, we are like a tinkling cymbal. All you band nerds know what it sounds like when all you have is a cymbal! It is no bueno. We need charity to help people come closer to Christ!

 

Love you all, I'll try to send pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Sister Nielsen

 

Ok, so I have had some more time because we are all sharing the card reader. So I will write a little more while I wait my turn. Trying to write everything is so stressful. I don't even know what to say. Did I tell you Sister Backus is going to Anaheim? There a ton of elders going to New York and a few sisters going to Washington. No one else is going to Arkansas. 

 

I love the sisters in my room. We all talk SO much at night because we can't talk all day. It's bad. 

Our teachers are awesome. The language is great. I LOVE praying in ASL. It is beautiful and I never even pray in English any more. ASL is much more spiritual. 

 

Oh another quick thing, everyone. Sister Backus got her name sign this week. Our teacher gave it to her (only a deaf person can give you a name sign). Her sign name is pretty much "Sister Watch," with "u" where the watch goes for BackUs. He couldn't do "BS" or "BA." Hahaha. She always is looking at her watch during class. 

 

The sisters in my room

District Selfie

The beautiful Katie McCloud

Sister Backus

Our welcome to the MTC sign actually says MNC

 

 

 

 

 

First email home - July 11, 2014

Dear family!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was so excited to email you that I couldn't sleep last night. It was kind of silly. So far, the MTC is FANtastic! 

 

My companion: Sister Backus is awesome, we are getting along very well. She is from Phoenix and has 7 siblings. She and I have the same sense of sassy. She loves Elvis, just like me. She quotes movies ALL THE TIME. Her family has over 4000 movies (and we thought the Smith's had a lot). I didn't even know there were that many movies! We always get the other's little jokes, and when this morning I said, "I am very upset," she said, " You don't look upset," and I said, "It's the Botox, I can't show emotion for another hour and a half!" We both like to quote Cinderella Story, it was very funny. And we call each other "sister friend" from that movie too. Sister Backus knows ASL because she learned it from a deaf friend in high school who ended up taking the discussions and getting baptized, which is amazing. She is very nice and has already helped me out so much. 

  

ASL:The language is going well. Our teachers are great. One is deaf, and the other is a CODA (Child of Deaf Adults). There are 22 ASL missionaries here right now, the biggest group they've had here. One of the missionaries is deaf, 2 are hard of hearing, and a few are CODAs. The rest just love to sign, and we have all had experience with it before. There are 6 sisters, and we all share a room. I like them a lot. 

 

It's really nice to be ASL because in meetings we get a special area to the side so the deaf missionary can see the interpreter and the rest of us can watch too. Extra practice! And it is nice to not have to worry about finding a seat :) When we sing hymns, we all try to sign along. Sometimes it doesn't go so well, but it is good to practice. 

 

Mail: I would love to get some mail! You can try to use dearelder.com. Today Sister Abeling, who is in my room, got a Dear Elder from her uncle that was addressed to Elder A Belong. It was so funny. And he wrote ONE sentence. Good grief. 

 

People I have seen: I saw my roommate Katie when I went to breakfast yesterday! She is just the best with her cute red hair. And I have seen Bailey's friend Sister Garry a few times. I saw Sister Ricks a few times too (Mom, that's the girl who was Mrs. Darling and my Econ buddy). I have also seen a ton of missionaries that I recognize slightly, but don't really know. And I saw Elder Loertscher, but he didn't see me. Most exciting of all,  I saw Elder Payton Davis just barely! I have been looking him since he leaves tomorrow for Samoa , so it was really fortunate that I ran into him!He seems to being doing very well, I am excited for him. 

 

Well, now I am off to do laundry. We remember where it is because it is by a statue of Joseph Smith with the golden plates, but Sister Backus thought someone said it was a laundry bag. It does kind of look like one!

 

And as for pictures, no one around here knows how that works, so maybe next time!

Love you all so much!

Sharly

 

P.S. - Please send this to everyone else Mom! 

MTC!

Sharly reported to the Provo MTC July 9th. We stopped on the way to see Grandma Nielsen, Grandma and Grandpa Schmidt, Stacie and LeAnn. We also stopped at two of our favorite places in Provo, Swig for drinks and Slab for pizza. We stopped at the Provo Temple grounds along with every other missionary that reported that day and their families.

Grandma Nielsen

Grandma and Grandpa Schmidt, Stacie and LeAnn

Enjoying Swig and Slab. Two of our favorite places to go when in Provo.

Mission Contact Info

Email: sharly.nielsen@myldsmail.net

MTC address:
Sister Sharly Nielsen
AUG19 AR-LTR
2007 N 900 E unit 78
Provo, UT 84602

Mission Office Address:
Sister Sharly Nielsen
Arkansas Little Rock Mission
905 Kierre Dr
North Little Rock, AR 72116-3709

I'd love to hear from you!