Monday, March 20, 2017

You want me to speak what language?!

Hello everyone! 

Steve got baptized on Saturday and everything went great! His testimony is growing so much so quick! He had a bunch of friends come to his baptism as well and that was super cool!

We found out about transfers today. I'm being transferred to North St Paul with a new companion, Sister Fine! Annnnnd I have been called to learn a new language... it's called Karen, and I know absolutely nothing about it except the people are from somewhere in Asia. I'm super scared and super excited! I know this is going to be super hard, but I know that the Lord will help me! 

That's all for this week... I'll let you know how the language is coming next week! For now, enjoy some pictures! 

Sister Wilcox (her MTC Companion) and I at Zone Conference last week!

Sister Ching and I with Steve!

The guy next to Steve got baptized on Saturday too. 
This is all of the missionaries involved in teaching them!

Us and the Elders at a cool restaurant a member took us to! Above us is Bob Dylan's old apartment!

Mom notes: Brooklyn didn't explain a lot about this new adventure in her general email. We were able to discuss it and she answered a lot of questions I had while emailing this morning. Her whole new zone is different language speaking missionaries. No English! Her new companion, Sister Fine has been in that area for over a year. Brooklyn will stay with her until she leaves, then Brooklyn will get a new companion, but stay there until she finishes her mission. I guess it's been good that Brooklyn's gotten a new companion every transfer so far, just to get to know other missionaries and their styles of teaching. Now she will be set and won't get to experience anything new. (Except learning Karen!) 

Brooklyn sent me this example of the Karen language

Brooklyn will have an extra hour each morning for language study. Her new companion will help her with that. I asked her what the other missionaries thought about this and they told her that she will smell like fish oil the rest of her mission and to say goodbye to chairs! (Brooklyn can't stand fish!) Apparently they eat a lot of fish and sit on the floor. The Karen refugees living in Minnesota are from Burma (Myanmar) in South East Asia. Around 400,000 Karen people are without housing and 128,000 are living in camps on the Thailand-Burma border. Their lives are restricted in the camps because they usually cannot go out, risking arrest if they do. About 2,500 of them have been able to immigrate to Minnesota. Karen refugees live in 41 other states in the US and others have immigrated to other areas in the world. This will be an interesting change for her while on her mission. She will be teaching English, helping them pay bills, adjust to American culture, etc. We have been told they are very humble people, grateful for the little they have and are eager to learn more about the Gospel. I'm looking forward to her next letter!

1 comment:

  1. Wow, what a change for her. I wish her well. She will be blessed in this new endeavor. Perhaps she might get to like fish a little? Or not. She will be a great help and a great example. We love you Sister Hermansen.

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