Hello my dear family!
Life is good here! Albeit a little overwhelming and stressful at
times, but I definitely feel the strength of the Lord helping me along.
I'm going to try to email in categories to stay organized :)
Language:
Our teachers hardly ever speak English. I find that I can
understand a lot of what they're saying, but I have a really difficult time
speaking the language. It was super overwhelming when they only spoke Slovene
at first, but it's better now. Being a Solo Missionary je zelo tezko! It's
tough! It's just Staresina Jensen and I in the classroom with our teacher,
which isn't so bad. But during our four hours of study time a day, it's
difficult for Sestra Orchard and I to figure out how to use our time most effectively
AND follow the rules in the white handbook because we can't study language
together, but we can't really study in the same room either because one room is
noisy with Croatian and the other is quiet with Slovene haha. It's tough. And
Sestra Orchard and I don't get to teach together, so that's another part of our
study time (lesson planning) that's difficult to figure out. Ah well! To je v
rado. I'm slowly figuring out the language. Sestra Burton was telling me last
night that she and Brat Brown were very impressed with Staresina Jensen and I
so far, so that made me feel good because I've definitely felt behind. I've
taught four lessons in Slovene so far and I have my fifth tonight. It's SO
frustrating to be in there and not be able to say the things I want to say. And
it's the most ridiculous thing because when I can't think of how to say
something, I say it in French instead, not English. I have no idea why French
is hanging out in my head haha :) So pray for me. I know the Lord is helping
me. There's no way I can learn Slovene in nine weeks. I'll try to send a
recording of me speaking.
District:
Sestra Orchard is awesome! we have a great time together and she's
really sweet. Our entire district are babies. Seriously, I feel old. Starjesina
Trussel, our district leader, turned 18 less than a month ago. He graduated
HIGH SCHOOL a semester early. Crazy. But they're all great. The Elders have a
hard time focusing and we sisters have a hard time having fun, so we balance
each other out. Kind of :)
Bathrooms in the MTC:
The bathroom situation here is pretty bad haha. The female
bathroom in the building where we have class is one stall. The bathrooms in the
main building of the MTC are two stalls and there are only three of them
scattered around that I've found so far. Between choir and the Sunday
devotional the other day, Sestra Orchard and I had to sprint back to our
residence hall in order to find available bathrooms (everywhere else had a
twenty person line). We were impressively fast though. We have to swipe our
cards at two doors to get into our hall, and our timing was popolno!
Speaking of choir, Brother Eggett is phenomenal. We sang Precious Savior, Dear
Redeemer and the Spirit was so strong. His teaching is amazing.
I ran into an Elder Rindlisbacher at the Tuesday devotional who is
cousins to the Rindlisbachers that we know.
At dinner yesterday, Sestra Orchard and I were grabbing our coats
and I looked up and saw the nametags of two Elders and in my head, I was like
"Hey look! It's the missionaries!" And then I felt really dumb
afterward haha because we're all missionaries.
Spirit:
The Spirit here is pretty amazing. I recognize that I am feeling
the Holy Ghost all the time. It's almost overwhelming at times. I can feel how
much God loves me and I can feel how much He loves the people who I am learning
to serve. We watched an old devotional called The Character of Christ given by
Elder Bednar in the MTC some years ago. Brothers, you will remember watching it
if it was happened before you were in the MTC. It was amazing. I'm just sitting
here thinking about it and I feel the spirit so strong again testifying to me
that the things Elder Bednar taught were good and true. He spoke about
understanding the character of our Savior and receiving that character in ourselves.
My biggest take away right now is that the Savior turned outward always. And in
times when the natural man in me wants to turn inward and think about myself
and focus on me, the Savior would turn outward. I wish you could all hear it,
but I guess it's for MTC only. Jesus Christ loves us and through His Atonement,
we can have our hearts changed to become more like Him. Our hearts can be
purified and perfected through His Atonement. If I don't learn anything else
here on this mission, I want to learn to be continually converted by relying on
the power of Jesus Christ and His Atonement to make me more like Him and
Heavenly Father. He can help us change our natural desires to be one with Him.
I'm so grateful for the beautiful gift that is the Atonement. 
I love you all so much and I hope that life is so good wherever
each of you are! Romans 1:16 is one of my favorite scriptures from this week.
What we have is such an amazing and joyful thing! the gospel is true and it the
power unto salvation to them that believeth. Najlepse!
I love you all!
Sestra Brown
Forgot a few things :)
Food:
The food here is the worst haha. And there's not really any time
for snacking nor any way to snack which is a little bit of a problem for me :)
but I'm surviving. I'm just trying not to clog all my arteries with all the
fried food.
Exercise:
Yes, Trainer Lindsey has made an appearance in the MTC! Well, at
least some of her workouts have. And I was sore after the first leg workout.
I'm trying to use my exercise time well. There are a bunch of records that
people have set, so I'm thinking I may try to break one of them...70 pushups?
Maybe :) a 5:56 mile...maybe not :)
