Last Post from the MTC

Mijn Dierbare familie,(My dear family,)

Happy NEW YEAR!!! Your new years eve will probably be a little more "exciting" than mine, but mine will definitely be filled with anticipation for our flight to the Netherlands!! We got our flight plans a few days ago, and we are all set to leave on Jan 5 at 5 in the morning! We're holding our breaths that none of us get a "visa call" from the travel office. As far as visas go, no news from the travel office is good news- so far we haven't heard any bad news, but keep praying!!I will be able to call you all from my layover in New York City on the 5th. Will you be in route to Idaho? Let me know through dear elder where you will be so I will know which phone to use. Our flight plans are as follows:

Departure- SLC 8:30 am
Arrive- JFK 2:59 pmDeparture- 7:30 pm
Arrive- Brussels, Belgium 9:10 am, Jan 6th

This week has been a fabulous one- we are all super excited, which makes studying a bit less effective, but a ton of fun! Our teachers are starting to share some of their stories and experiences from the Netherlands with us which are very inspiring and usually pretty funny. I am going to miss the MTC and all of the friends I've made here. Our district is sad to be split up- we're already planning our reunion at any mission conferences we may have!

As far as the language, I still feel woefully unprepared to speak the language, but I know enough to get by, and with the Lords help, I know I will be able to say all of the things He needs me to say to accomplish this work. I have already seen so many miracles since I have been here- grammar principles just seem to stick overnight even though I feel like I have no understanding of them really. When I call I will have to give you a sample- despite really hard, gutteral g's, dutch is actually a very beautiful language. There is a dutch missionary here learning mandarin, and we spoke to him the other day- his dutch is sooo smooth and very beautiful sounding. It will be awesome when some day I can speak fluently and really make the language sound like it should. The gospel is beautiful in any language, but even more so when it is spoken in the fluent dialect that people call their own- language is such a blessing from the Lord. He has promised that the earth will all hear the gospel in their native tongue- and I get to be a part of that amazing work. It truly is inspiring. I feel so blessed to have this opportunity!

Anyways, so we have had a ton of fun getting ready to go. The other week we went to an "enhancement class" that they offer as an option for the sisters. Basically, NuSkin donates like 10,000 dollars worth of free makeup to the MTC each month, and then they called two sisters to run a little class to help the sisters look a little more nice. So my companions and I went to this class and got makeovers and 200 dollars worth of free makeup- It was awesome! The elders were all jealous and think they deserve free pull-up bars or something to take with them on their missions. I tried to explain to them that a scary looking sister missionary is a very scary thing to behold, which they responded to by expressing that a scrawny elder was just as scary... ahh, 19 year old boys... I'm gonna miss them. We took before and after pictures that I will send with my box of things I'm not taking with me.

We also had the best devotional last night by Elder Pearson from the seventy. He is a former businessman and taught us about the gospel in a CEO-style fireside. It was actually very inspiring. He talked about deciding to be dedicated disciples of Christ and changing our weaknesses to become strengths so that we can become even stronger witnesses for the Lord. It was awesome! I was so inspired to think about myself and what I can change to better serve the Lord. I think I will decide to no longer be "tired", but "tire-less" in the service of God. Very inspired don't you think?

Well, I don't have much more time, but I Love you all and look forward to talking to you all in just a few days. Oh, before I forget, as far as I know, we will have access to e-mail for my whole mission, so there shouldn't be any problems keeping in touch- we get more time out in the field too, so e-mailing each other back and forth will be great! Then we can for sure hear from each other once a week.

I love you all so much!! Talk to you soon!

Love,Cherie Gulliver