Week 7 - Ua Ua Whattt??

TAHITIAN IS SUPER HARD! 

(This week has been good, but that sentence is the overlying theme of it all.)

TAHITIAN IS WAY HARD! Our teacher, Soeur Thomas, jokes about how it's the celestial language, because Tahitian is such a plain and simple language. And while I think she might be right - it could very well be the language we speak with God - learning the language of Deity is not an easy thing. They never start their sentences with I or You or We - they start it with some random letter. E or O or A, or sometimes Ua (wah). And then the verb of the sentence, and THEN the subject. 

Ua here i te Atua ia oe. (God loves you.) (The literal translation is, "Achieved the state of loving the God to you".) (Do you understand what I mean now?)

Even though Tahitian is super mega hard, I know that I'm supposed to be learning it. There is no other way or time in my life that I would actually be able to learn or understand something this difficult, but somehow, I've learned so much already. I am able to give a rough testimony, and say an entire prayer, and introduce myself as "e misionare maua i te Ekalesia ia Iesu Mesia i te Fei Mo'a i te mau Mahana Hopea Nei."  Every time I learn anything, it's that much sweeter because it's so difficult to get a grip of this language.

This is what my studies look like right now.
If you think that looks fun, try it sometime and let me know what you think then.

  On Sunday, the BYU Men's Chorus came and performed some Christmas music for us. We wanted to sit in on their rehearsal and watch, but we got kicked out, so we waited outside the balcony doors and got the first spot in line so we could amazing seats. Why did we want super amazing seats, you ask? Well, it's because our teacher, Brother Brandon Smith, is a bass in the choir! We had the perfect seats to look right at him and give him big thumbs ups and cheesy grins the whole time he sang. But, for the record, they're an amazing choir, and I'm so grateful we got to hear them perform. They sang a beautiful African spiritual that made my heart miss my music at home, and then they sang NOEL. If you don't already know, Bentonville High School does a concert every year called Noel, and their traditional starting number is the same one we heard the Men's Chorus perform on Sunday. It made my heart so incredible happy, and I basically cried when they started singing. Much love to my Noel singers at home <3

Us camping out, trying to get the seats we wanted for the concert.

They moved everyone around so that our zone has class next to each other, but this meant we got moved from our lovely tahiti corner. So, we called Saturday Floral day and made everyone dress up and then take pictures over there. We now have a bigger classroom on the third floor that actually fits our entire class. It’s great :)

Our District is as close as ever. We all complain about Tahitian, but it's really exciting to yell IAORANA ("to have life") every time we see each other. We're probably gonna be friends for the rest of our lives.

And, Santa Lucia day was this week! For those of you who don't know it, Santa Lucia is a traditional Swedish figure who is known for bringing the light of Christmas into the home every year on the 13th. Our family always celebrates it with a special early breakfast before school and work, and singing the "Sankta Lucia" song. Well, I get up early everyday anyway, so that wasn't anything out of the ordinary... But thanks to my family, I did have cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate to share with all the Soeurs in our room. They made me sing the song about a thousand times, and at the end of the day sang their own (slightly off-key) rendition of "Sankta Lucia." It was the cutest. Also, because I had it, I carried a little fake tealight with me through the entire MTC, spreading the Christmas light. It was incredibly fun.

All of us looking dead tired on Santa Lucia day. I love my Sœurs!

I hope all of your Christmas seasons are only getting better and better! (Listen to some Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, and Andrews Sisters Christmas music for me!) Joyeuse Noel!

Na na!

Soeur (or in tahitian, Tuahine) Sperry