1. Week 1 MTC: "Krok Po Kroku" (Step by Step)

Czesc!!!

For starters, I'm in a Tri-panionship with Siostra Rawson and Siostra Larsen! Siostra Rawson is from North Carolina (but has seriously lived everywhere). She has such a gentle, but mighty spirit to her! She's a gem! Siostra Larsen has the cutest little giggle and part-time Australian accent (she lived in australia for a bit last year). She adds a sweet spirit to our trio. I just love them! 

We have 7 Starszy's (Elders) in our district! I don't even know where to start with them. Starszy Barlow is our District Leader and is a gentle giant. He is normally pretty quiet, but he is seriously so funny. Starszy Hansen won the "most unique thing about them" title. He can crush an empty soda can in between his shoulder blades. So that's pretty cool. And obviously we tested it (with a Book of Mormon--photo attached). Starszy Stokes has the best smile. Seriously. He is always smiling! He is also the smartest person I have ever met and is super into robotics. Starszy Rasmussen is from Utah and is such a hard worker. I always go to him when I need help pronouncing something--he's a natural when it comes to Polish! He is also the best person just to talk to when your brain is fried from studying. Starszy Theriault (pronounced Terio) has the most soothing voice. Like seriously, this Elder could narrate a children's story book. But sometimes I forget his last name so I just call him Elder Cheerio because it's kinda close to Theriault. Starszy Dickson and I sit next to each other in class...and when the Polish gets hard (which is literally all of the time) we just make funny faces at each other. Also, he's the only one that laughs at my jokes. Starszy Adriano...where to begin. He's from Portugal and knows like a million languages...but no Polish (yet!). He seriously talks all. of. the. time.. He always has something to say! Half the time it's not on topic, but we appreciate his imagination and humor. He also has the voice of an angel. He's still getting used to American culture (he has only visited the USA once in his whole life). Last night at dinner, they had those pudding cups with the smashed oreos and gummy worms on top...you know what I'm talking about? Anyways, Starszy Adriano was so confused by it and was like, "why would you want to eat something that looks like dirt?" Oh, Americans. We are all soooooo different. But we all have so much fun together. I love teaching, learning, and studying alongside them all :)

My zone consists of the: Bulgarian, Polish, Czech, Croatian, Slovak, and Slovenian missionaries. Our roommates are going to the Adriatic North mission. Sister Hall is going to Croatia (speaking croatian) and Sister Knall is going to Slovenia (speaking slovenian and serbian). It's nice to be around a solid group of missionaries who can understand the trials of learning a difficult language! 

Our first night at the MTC, we sang "We'll bring the World His Truth" and sang the last line as "we are now (instead of "will be") the Lord's missionaries, and bring the world His truth". Ah. It was so touching and powerful. ​​​​​​​​​​ 

Also, we had our first lesson this week! With an "investigator" named Ania. And it was all in Polish. We taught her about God's love and prayer. I think I understood about 40% of her basic, basic, basic Polish. But I honestly felt pretty good about that. WE HAVE THE BEST TEACHERS. Brat (polish for "brother" ahhaah) Smalley and Siostra Cheney are so great. They are so patient with my million questions a day. Brat Smalley said (after I read 2 verses in the Book of Mormon in Polish), "I promise I'm not laughing at you or how you're saying things. I would never do that. I'm just laughing at the painful memories of learning and hard language" Hahhaha. 

Some things I liked this week:

1.obedience=blessings and strict obedience=miracles. I loved that!

2. Mourn with those who mourn, THEN comfort those who stand in need of comfort. 

I love you all! I'd love to hear from you!

Have an amazing week!

Siostra Beem <3

P.S. Sorry if there are spelling mistakes...my brain is jello!

Write me or "dearelder" me! :)

Sister Talia Murphy Beem

OCT25  POL-WAR
2005 N 900 E Unit  45
Provo UT 84602

The Tripanionship 

Sisters Rawson, Larsen & Beem

Starszy Hansen and his famous shoulder blades.

Siostra Beem & Sister Kelly (from the same ward back home)

Recreation time

Roomies

 (Sister Hall & Sister Knall--going to the Adriatic North Mission)

Tal being Tal...

...with Siostra Larsen at the Provo Temple

MTC drop off day and first email (day 1 & 2)

Written 8/25 (day 2 in the MTC)

HEY! HOW ARE MY FAVORITE PEOPLE?

I only have like 10 minutes, but things are good and life is great!

My P-Day is Saturday, so be waiting for that!

I'm in a Tripanionship! Siostra Larsen and Siostra Rawson are THE BEST. We are having so much fun learning, teaching, and studying together. There are 7 Starszy's and they're the best. One of them is from Portugal! Our zone consists of: Bulgaria, Czeck, Slovak, Poland, Slovania, and the Adriatic North Mission. I'm not kidding when I say this, 32 minutes into my MTC stay, we were speaking Polish. It's nuts. We have our first lesson tomorrow and I'm praying for the gift of tongues big time! We can kinda pray, too, so that's cool. And when I say pray, I mean read off of a piece of paper because we don't know anything that's happening. Something cool that might happen: Siostra Larsen is really big into family history and is speaking at a General Authority Luncheon in a few weeks, and because we are her companions,we get to go hopefully! So cross your fingers. How are you guys? I can feel my brain literally growing (headaches) and the salad bar is my best friend. So much Polish, so little time! My teachers are great and I couldn't ask for a better zone. I know this is where I need to be and who I need to be with...it doesn't mean it's easy...but I know it's all worth it.

LOVE YOU SO MUCH,

Siostra Beem <3

Little Brothers helping her with her luggage

Saying goodbye to Noah

Saying goodbye to Logie Bear

Saying goodbye to G-pa

Saying goodbye to Dad

Tal with the boys...

(G-ma and Mom flew with her to Utah...)

Last Dad/daughter pic for 18 months

Tal with 2 of her UVU roomies, Missy (who is off to Tacoma on her

mission in 3 weeks) and Madalyn.  She was so lucky to have such

awesome roommates!!!

Mother/daughter hugs before the big drop-off

3 generations...  G-ma loved this day and called it

a "highlight" of her life--how cute is that?

One last selfie...

And we only had ugly tears for about 5 minutes...  it was seriously

one of THE BEST DAYS!!!

And she's off...

Later that night Siostra Rawson's Mom posted the above photo--a rare first-day pic inside the MTC (an MTC teacher took it and sent it to her).  They all look SO HAPPY!