Friday, June 24, 2011

"OOOLAAA"

OOOLAA!!!

Minha Familia (my family)... My wonderful family! How are you? Thank you so much the package you sent me yesterday. Drew also sent me one last week, and i literally yelled and jumped up and down in the mail room. ha ha everyone thinks i am crazy already, so i have no shame. I LOVE the shade shirts. THAAAANKS! Love love love the treats too, most importantly thank you for the letters. I get so eager to read your letters. They make me so happy.

I can't even begin to tell you the love i have received being here in the MTC. I have met eternal friends here and i have received many letters from all my wonderful friends and family back home. I love you all!! Thank you!

Also, Thank you for sending me Bo's obituary and the comments people have said about him. It breaks me heart for his family. I hope they are doing okay.

My schedule changed here at the MTC. Hence, i am emailing you on a Tuesday. On Sunday my branch was dissolved because there was only 7 of us in our branch. It was really sad. I'll be getting my third Branch President while being here for only 6 weeks. Weird huh? On Sunday i spoke in sacrament in PORTUGUESE! It was awesome. and i gave the closing prayer in Portuguese. The language is starting to pick up and i am feeling better about the progress.
Pdays are wonderful but i feel like i never have enough time to get things done. I can never write everyone back so it takes weeks to catch up! I'm sorry if i haven't written any of you back. Desculp (sorry).

This week is mission president week at the MTC. It's insane here. General Authorities are in the main building so everything is blocked off. I can't wait to see who is speaking tonight at our fireside, and on Sunday at the devotional. I have been blessed with incredible speakers while being here. It is so uplifting and rejuvenating to hear servants of the Lord give us advice for the mission field.

Have i told you enough how much i love my companions? ha ha Well, my little Irma Young has this incredible talent she has been hiding. She is a writer. An incredible writer. She writes me poems of things she has been observing. ahh she makes me so happy! How did i get so lucky with 2 companions. I am so blessed.

Loved the emails today! Thanks :) I love the quotes dad. They lift my spirits. Mom, you are so wonderful in sending me all the letters! I am grateful to have you in my life. This week i have realized how blunt people think i am. I never considered myself as a blunt person ha ha but i am surrounded by sheltered people. ha ha However, I wouldn't change a thing about myself. ha ha i would rather be the way i am than sheltered. You are all so wonderful and i am glad you had a good time on Trek. Boomer and Hannah, I will forever remember trek. It changed my perspective of the pioneers and showed me how blessed i am to be living in this dispensation today.

Keep praying everyday, read your scriptures! Counsel with the Lord in ALL thy doings. He loves us! He wants to hear from us. He is our loving Heavenly Father who knows you! Boom, start now preparing for you mission. There is so much to prepare for. Be knowledgeable in the Book of Mormon. It makes me sad to get on a mission and realize how truly important the Scriptures are. I know this is the Lords work. I am one of his many messengers to bring souls unto Christ. It is the best calling in the church.

Mom dad, thank you for supporting me while i am on this mission. I know you will be blessed and i hope all is well right now. I am grateful to be your daughter! I will be here for only less than a month!!! I leave sometime around July 19th. Time is flying! It flies because i am so focused on the work and the week is gone before i know it.

I LOVE YOU ALL XOXO

You are incredible!

Love always,

Irma Boshard


*Posted By The Boshard Family

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

"Ahhhh Missionary work is incredible!!"

Family!!

Hello,

I always look forward to my pdays so i can write you. It's been a crazy week for me. I feel like so much is going on here at the MTC and so much going on in my life. Currently there is an intestinal virus going around and we are not able to make ANY contact with anyone here at the MTC. We can't shake hands, not hugs (with the same sex of course) and we have to make sure we are constantly washing our hands. I've heard this virus is pretty bad NO ONE wants it.

This week i had an experience teaching my instructor about committing to baptism. We started the lesson by committing the investigator to baptism and he was supposed to say no so i could ask why and then try to figure out how to commit him. This was clearly done in portuguese but it was all broken portuguese. Irma Walker and me were trying our hardest to get all the broken portuguese we could out. Our investigator kept saying no. Not yet. I am not ready. We were bearing our testimonies and he couldn't understand a word Irma Walker was saying. I was praying so hard in my heart that the spirit would help us. Let me know what to say!! I was struggling and getting so frustrated. All of a sudden our investigator says, " Quando." I was thinking... What, Quando? What is that.. Bah ha ha Quando means When and he couldn't stand it any longer and committed to baptism. He said the spirit testified to him SO strongly he couldn't say no anymore. His eyes welled up with tears and i know he felt the holy ghost. I felt it too. Ahhhh Missionary work is incredible!! It makes me so happy to know i can be saying nothing in portuguese but someone can feel exactly what i am feeling. I can never deny the holy ghost. It is too powerful!

Irmão (brother) Sorensen, my instructor said my companionship has, "jeito." That means skill. He said the Irmãs and me compliment eachother and work well together. We are able to bounce off of eachothers testimonies and teach from our hearts. What a compliment. I love our instructors! We've started reading from O Livro de Mormon in portuguese. It's been fun to see the potential of understanding what the scrpitures say. I love it.

Yesterday was an adventure. Irma Young has had an ingrown toenail and we finally had it looked at and they said she needed to go to the doctor right away. So we hopped on a shuttle and went the foot doctor. It was quite the adventure. I watched the whole procedure and man it was gross. They way they kill the root of the toenail is gross. yuck. but i am really happy for her because she is out of pain. It was weird leaving the MTC yesterday. I was thinking.. oh yeah, there is life outside the MTC. ha ha it's like i've forgetten what it is like.

On Sunday i watched music and the spoken word. The first hymn they sang was how firm a foundation and i instantly thought of you dad! I know that is your favorite hymn. I got a little emotional. I miss you all but i am not home sick. I am so happy here! I know this is what i need to be doing.

I received the letter on Monday about Bo. I was shocked. I didn't know how to feel and then all of a sudden i was overwhelemed with emotion. My heart aches for the Pennington family. My heart is broken to know he was so miserable and sad that he made the decision to take his life. The last two days i have been thinking of all the fun memories i have of him from high school. He is a good kid and a good friend. He is a very loved boy and will be surely missed. Man- i don't even know how to express my feelings about it. I'm just so sad for him and his family.

Thank you for the quotes mom. They are so uplifting. You are so wonderful to always email me. Thank you! I can't believe Jack will be a puppy daddy. cuuute! And dad, Happy Birthday on the 19th! I hope you all do something fun! and i hope you got my fathers day card. I have a card for Tanner, i just need his address. Did you get my letter and pictures? I sure hope so! Let me know how Trek was! I want to hear all about it! It was one of the best experiences for me. I wish i could go again.

You are the best family and i love you so much! It's weird i will only be here for another 4 weeks and then i am off to Portugal. Time flies here at the MTC. I am truly doing the lords work and being prepared to spread this gospel. I happy to be a servant of our Lord and i know this work is true! Thank you for raising me in the gospel adn letting me have the opportunity to leave home for 18 months so i can help other families be together for eternity. You're all so special to me!! I LOVE YOU!!!
Have a great week :)

XOXO

Irma Boshard

*Posted By The Boshard Family

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Crazy Week

HELLO!!!

It has been a crazy week. I feel like i have so much to say but i only have 23 minutes and counting. Thank you for the emails and letter. I love them like no ones business. This Sunday we had Susan Tanner and her husband speak in Relief Society on Sunday and then a managing director from the missionary department came to speak to us too. On Tuesday for our fireside Elder Packer of the seventy and his wife came to speak to us. They gave us lots of insight. It is an incredible feeling to always have the spirit with you, except for when i start singing songs that are not from the hymn book. ha ha i always catch myself singing when i shouldn't.

This last week has been really hard. My roommate Sister Ratigan is not doing well. It has been an overwhleming task to take care of her. I am drained and i will spare you the details. I have spent many hours in President Bertasso's office. He is in the MTC district Presidency. He is helping Sister Ratigan get through this hard time but he is also teaching me and my companions how to help her too. This has been a challenging experience for me on top of trying to learn a language and principles of this gospel. However, the Lord is humbling me. I am learning patience and as you know i have a hard time with that. I am learning to rely on the Lord more than i ever have in my entire life. But i am still being so blessed. I am so lucky to be where i am. He never said it would be easy... but it will be worth it!

Isla can say Jack!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT!!!!! Oh my gosh. I can't wait for the day when i can hear her talk. I miss you all so much.

My District is great. There are 5 of us. 2 Elders and 3 sisters. We get along so well. I am growing to love my companions more and more everyday. They are wonderful and we were meant to be together through this expereince.

I have not received your package, but hopefully it will be here soon! Thank you!!!!

Did you tell gma jake thank you for me? Gma boshard sent me a package with her home made toffee. My district loved it! She sent me so much! Will you tell her thank you for me too. I have been so blessed with packages and letters. It is wonderful being a missionary.

Yesterday I was sitting with my district eating lunch and guess who came to sit with us?!! President Brown. He is the President of the MTC. Ahhhh.. he is a wonderful man. He told us about when he was a mission president in Chigao and he talked about his family, and we each got to talk about ours. We all talked about why we were on a mission too. It was so neat to get to sit with him for 20 minutes.

So, Portuguese. It is hard! I know i have only been here two weeks, but the language is coming slowly. I can read better than i can speak Portuguese. It is a mix of spanish and italian, so when i hear other missionaries speak i can pick up on words that they are saying. It is really cool. Brasilian Portuguese is just about the same as Portugal Portuguese, but the pronunciation is different. We speak more formally than Brasil.

What's new with the family? Has Boomer wrecked a car yet? ha ha just kidding. Dad, what new at the church head quarters? Mom- eat all my food that i left for you! It's yours :) Hannah, how's school!! Drew- what have you been doing? Tanner- how's swift pro?! Isla- oh i cry when i think about her. I miss you all so much, but it's amazing how strong i am and not even homesick. I love it here. I am truly doing the Lords work.

I'll have to write you a letter later this week and tell you more about what has been going on here at the MTC and in my lessons. The spirit is always there and it always testifies. Even if it is Portuguese. I love missionary work. I have pictures to send you too! You can finally meet my district and zone! We have the greatest branch in the MTC.

Oh, on sunday in Sacrament meeting i had to give the closing prayer in PORTUGUESE! I had to write down my prayer so i didn't mess up. ha ha I have the greates teachers who are so patient. They both served in Portugal. They tell us crazy stories all the time about gypsies. ha ha I need to watch out for them.

My time is up! I love you i love you i love you!

XOXO

Irmã Boshard


*Posted By The Boshard Family