Feb 13th

Hiya family,

How are things out in the real world? For all I know, China taken over the world. Is the USA dominating in the Olympic medal count already? Is Ander already taller than Brandon and Jessie? Is Obama still President? Oh. I forgot, touchy subject! ;) I heard from the mail lady that Taylor Swift cut her hair. The most groundbreaking news of all, right? Right. 

I actually have some news to report from this week. I figured I might as well begin this letter at the climax! Every week we are asked to prepare a short, three to five minute, talk. In Korean. Then, come sacrament meeting, after we have sung hymns and partaken of the sacrament, they call up one Elder and one Sister from the congregation to come speak. I bet you can guess what happened this week. Yep. You got it. "We would now be pleased to hear from Sister McCloskey." So I ran. I ran out of the room, out of the building, out of the gates. Chase, I hope you don't mind me using your computer to write this email. 

Only kidding. I spoke! It was scary at first, but the looks of understanding and love from my fellow branch members made it easier. And I'm so glad I did it! Not only because I'm off the hook for the next few weeks (although that is a plus), but it gave me a boost of confidence with the language. The talk itself was on Enduring to the End and it was nothing excited. It consisted of a bunch of little sentences using the grammar forms I have learned like, 

     God gave us commandments in order to test our faith.

     Through these verses we can learn about the importance of enduring to the end. 

And I know that if we endure to the end, we can receive eternal life through the Atonement. 

Inspiring right? Yeah, no. But hey, it was in Korean! My teachers, who are incredible (both natives) have both pulled me aside and told me that they are amazed by my ability to understand the language already. Woo!

That only makes me want to work harder and learn faster. But I really am loving the language and love how understanding of my purpose increases everyday. It's crazy to think that as of Friday, I will have been in here a month!

As for the rest of the week, more singing in the shower, dancing in the rain, and study study studying. Oh. And in honor of this beautiful sunshiny day, and my wearing jeans, I did a cartwheel to celebrate!

I hope everything is going well for all you back home. I hear there is this thing called Valentine's Day tomorrow? It doesn't exist here in the MTC, so I wouldn't really know. But go celebrate, eat lots of candy, and give lots of hugs! 

Love,

Me