Jave Katër Është Ndaluar (The fourth week has ended)
Well hello everybody!
Greetings once again from the West Campus of the Provo MTC! We actually hit our half-way point in the MTC on Saturday of this week...which is kind of exciting and kind of freakishly terrifying me out of my mind! Haha, I mean, I know I don't have to be fluent or anything before I hit it off in the field, but that wouldn't be too awful either! It is pretty cool to see the progression in our learning though! We have at least 5 progressing investigator lessons a week as well as the TRC, so seeing how much we improve in conversation and being able to relate Gospel topics is way cool! I am getting better about trying not to get hung up on saying something a certain way but to search for a way to say it with the words I know.
I was thinking about why we are here for 9 weeks and the Spanish Elders are only here for 6 and I think I have it -- noun declensions. I did not know what this was during my years of Spanish or English. In just about every language that I know of you have to conjugate verbs which is definitely something to get used to (Whether it is in past, present future -- or in Shqip if it is in wishing tense, etc. -- and who is doing the action). While we do this in Shqip, we must also look at every noun and alter it according to whether it is the subject, indirect object, direct object, plural, singular, indefinite, or definite. In all, there are 20 different forms of each noun, though only about 12 of these are distinct.
We also learned a while ago that we do not need visas! That was pretty exciting. I guess not very many people go to Albania and they want whoever will come. Albania is the Mexico of Europe I guess, so Alex and I might have a bit more in common in our missions than we thought!
The daily schedule here does change depending on the day of the week, but usually not too drastically. I get up at about 6 (we have to put 4 Elders through the shower by about 6:35) and then we go get some breakfast. After breakfast we have class for 3 hours where we will learn Albanian, do some Gospel Study, and teach our progressing investigators. Then we have about an hour of study time where we can study whatever we think will help us most to become better teachers, and then we have lunch. -- Quick note about the food: We just got the new cafeteria opened up this morning here in the parking lot of Raintree and it is way nice! We will be having the same sort of cafeteria as Main Campus except smaller, but it is way bigger than the temporary one we have been using. With this new cafteria, they are going to be able to multiply the number of missionaries here on West Campus because there are still a ton of buildings in Wyview and Raintree that are vacant and are being prepared for missionaries. -- After lunch we have another 3-hour session of class, and hour of Gym (there is basketball, sand volleyball, Katër Katror-- 4-Square, and trashketball -- where a bunch of people juggle a soccer ball into a trash can), TALL (Technology Assissted Language Learning), dinner, some more anything study time, and personal study time where we just focus on Gospel topics rather than the language.
Some more about Elder Acheson: he is a former Timpview T-Bird and a politician through and through. I guess that I had always thought that maybe deep down I could have maybe been a politician, nope, I have realized that I do not have what it takes! In the picture a couple weeks ago I think it looked like he was taller than he really is. Elder Acheson isn't a short guy, but I am probably at least 3 or 4 inches taller.
Well, it sounds like everything is going on just splendidly back at home! That reunion sounded like a blast and I am excited to get the shirt!
Ju dua shumë dhe uroj për të qenë misionarë më i miri që unë mund të jem!
Elder Ostergaard
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