Email Received November 17, 2009

I am surprised about what you told me about the knife. I know sharp objects are not allowed in carry on, but I thought that as long as you declare what you are carrying (a gun, for example) then they could take care of it? if it's true that I'm not allowed more than a small pair of scissors, I may have to send my sewing kit home... or mail it to the mission office. I also brought my paper scissors with me, so those will have to go ahead as well...

(what does this mean for my companion, who has diabetes? will she have to ship her sharps ahead?)

I brought the knife because I use it. It's a useful thing to have, and with a blade barely four inches long, (and really dull. I've never had it sharpened.) I was surprised at all the hullabaloo it caused. My scissors are sharper, longer, and made of stronger metal. But scissors lack a hilt, which is half the reason to have a knife, and are unwieldy to carry.

It snowed here. It didn't stick, though.

I am beginning to wonder if my winter clothes are heavy enough. I've been hearing that Chicago is a lot colder than I expected. I think, if I have opportunity, that I may purchase a wool jacket, or something similar, that I can wear both by itself and under my big black coat. I hope that I will also be able to purchase good boots quickly when I get there.

Someone brought up an interesting point: we are going to be flying into O'Hare in the middle of winter. There is a strong chance that we'll get delayed... possibly for days. I dislike the notion of such a hassle.

Our classroom is quite small, and there is barely enough room for all of us in there. One day, we were kneeling for prayer, and Elder Nielson, trying to get a place in the circle, commanded his companion: "Escuchalo!" which, roughly translated, means 'Listen to him/it.' we all found this quite funny, as it proves that we've learned enough Spanish to get ourselves in trouble, which is the first step.

I have also thought that the RAM might be going on my computer, but every once in a while, the BIOS won't run, which makes me wonder if it's not the motherboard instead (north bridge). Unfortunately we have no ram laying about the house to test it with, and I'm dual channel anyway...

I'm almost out of time. please give my regards to the family at large. please post this and other correspondence to the blog, and have Myr post this to BMoG. And have him write or DearElder me. I miss talking to him.

All my love, striving for exact obedience, Hna. Maren Jones

PS - Elder Hollaand is coming for Thanksgiving!!!

Email Received November 11, 2009

Despite my best efforts, I have not seen hide nor hair of Jared, although I know he is here because I've heard him called to the front desk a few times.

I received the package that was sent me. The pumpkin seeds are very delicious, and it is good to be able to have good paper. (I do limit myself to Tuesdays and Sundays for drawing. this past Sunday I drew little lemmings over my notes... in a spare moment, of course. I'm particularly good at the ones with umbrellas.) I am thankful and remember you in my prayers. (Although I still want some of those Halloween pictures! ^_^)

Language is going. I know most of the tenses (except the subjunctives, which I keep coming across in my reading, but which no-one will explain to me, and since I'm still struggling with irregulars, I have no time to explore, myself...) but frequently get the preterit mixed with the imperfect (if anyone knows what that means) especially in the irregular verbs.

I'm doing well enough, although I miss the boys from D&D, and sometimes when I am frustrated wish I could pick up a controller and kill a few pixels. Hna is driving me to new levels of diligence, constantly reminding me not to waste a single second of time (we spend all our time in line for meals memorizing verbs.) and for some unknown reason, my handwriting has improved drastically. (In my eyes, at least)

I would again (how many times is this?) ask you to tell EVERYONE about DearElder, especially Grandpa and Grandma. I would also like to have the e-mail addresses for some of the other family members (Jemile, Carmen, Larson, and Myrddun especially. They'll write back. I think.)

I do not know If I have mentioned this, but every Sunday, while the men are in priesthood meeting, the sisters go to listen to motab's "Music and the Spoken Word," which is beautiful and uplifting. this week, for veterans day, they did entirely patriotic songs, which included a medley of the fight songs of the US armed forces, and John Williams' Hymn for the Fallen. I was again reminded of how much I love orchestral stuff (small orchestra, preferably) and wondered if the orchestra at Temple Square ever released their own music... sans motab. (It’s just not my thing...)

Which brings me to my Christmas list (I can't believe I'm starting this already...):

Scarves (long AND wide, made of soft, gentle fabrics, preferably not wool) black, gray, and white preferred (although red would be nice...)
Orchestra at temple square CD (If it exists)
John Williams CD.
Warm hats (I wouldn't say no to a black beret)

I love you all and you are in my prayers.

Sincerely,

Hna. Maren Jones

P.S. Happy holidays. I never know when they happen.

Email November 3, 2009

Thank you all for your support. I love you all very much and miss you dearly.

!!!Please do not send me any pictures via e-mail!!!

I have nothing to store them on, and I'm not even sure this client would allow them, as it is a pre-groupwise vintage of Novell e-mail. The browser client is no better as it is, as I said before, a hacked version of IE 4. If you could, I'd rather get prints of the pictures.

I want to again tell you how awesome DearElder is. As long as I'm in the MTC, I can receive letters from anyone, free of charge, on any day of the week except Sunday. I would love to receive more letters.

I am doing quite well, and will elaborate on the details thereof more in my snail mail, which I promise will be sent off on time this week, as opposed to last week's which is sitting on my desk stamped and postmarked.

To answer the letters sent to me:

I HAVE stopped eating dessert. I never ate much dessert in the beginning. Most days I get an entree and either fruit or spinach salad. (They have spinach salad almost every other day!!!) However, those entrées are so rich. I've been pining after simple foods like sandwiches, good bread, lunchmeat, ramen, and cheddar cheese. (They only use American most of the time.) However, they had some fantastic pastrami and Swiss sandwiched the other day, and I was thrilled, even though the bread was cut far too thick. Not all of us are starving 19 year olds, you know. Oh, wait....

In addition to being rich and heavy, I have never been so gassy in my life, which is embarrassing at best and physically uncomfortable at worst. I'm thinking it's because of all the fat and sugar that’s in EVERYTHING. I'm serious. I had clam chowder the other day and it tasted like they had added a spoonful of cinnamon and sugar to it. And they put sweet corn in everything. The corn is like eating Carmen's sweet potatoes... you know, the ones that are 50% marshmallow?

To answer father's note about tracking Spanish league soccer, I'm not sure that will be feasible. I certainly can't now, and while in the mission field, I'm pretty sure I won't be allowed to use a radio (not that I have one) or purchase periodicals (not that I will have the allowance for them.) I will talk to my mission president about it... when I get to the field. right now tracking anything besides the BYU home games (you can hear the booing all the way over here) is nigh impossible.

Please Do:

Tell myr to put my lamp back or I will NOT try to procure a souvenir from Uematsu's Distant Worlds concert (Not that I think that will be likely, but that doesn’t mean I won't try. One must hold on to good composers like they are going out of style... oh wait...)

Please post this and all other correspondence to the Forum.

Please ask Myr very nicely to post this letter and all others to BMoG, and ask him to put in a plug for DearElder as well. I would love to hear from the D&D gang while they are still in one place. I imagine they're going to scatter fairly soon...

Please make sure that the Aoyamas know about both my e-mail address and DearElder.

Please tell those of the CBC administration (Mainly Alice and Tim Still) of DearElder and my e-mail address.

I love, love, love you all. I miss you and hope all is well with you.

Happy Halloween and all other such things.

PS - I have ALL of my immunization records. As time provides, I will return them.