The MTC is the Place to Be!

Hallo Family!
Zuster Gulliver here. Just had to write about the truly fabulous week I have had here at the MTC. It truly has been an awesome week. I have made some serious progress with my language as I have humbled myself and choosen to look at how much the Lord has already blessed me with in terms of language assistance (after all, I have only been learning Dutch for 6 weeks, and I am already basically conversant) instead of all of the phrases I can't say in Dutch that I would like to. My teachers have been telling me this all along, but I guess I just had to realize it myself so that I could truly be grateful instead of critical of myself. What can I say... I've always been a bit hard-headed I guess :)
Thank you Mom, Dad, and Jamie for your sweet letters. Hearing from you, even just a little note, makes my day and helps me remember that I'm not only here to learn and grow, but to work for everyone else outside the boundaries of the MTC. sometimes its easy to forget about the big world outside the MTC when you spend all day in a classroom, but your letters help a lot. Oh my goodness, the pictures you sent me from Thanksgiving were soo awesome! Not only was the photography work amazing, but you all looked so happy and beautiful :) It was good to see what a great holiday you all had. I must say, I do feel loved- I get more letters and photos from my family than anyone else in my district :) I guess that's good, because in about 2 1/2 weeks, I'll be oversees and letters will take forever to get back and forth.
As far as we know, our departure date for the Netherlands is still Jan 5. They have been moving some dates around because of the holidays, but we haven't heard that ours is adjusted, so we should be leaving about 2 weeks from Monday. YIKES! Its scary to think about, but I guess it will be a bit scary until I actually get there and begin teaching real people about the Gospel and my Dutch starts improving.
We got a new Zuster here in the MTC. She just arrived, so she's 6 weeks behind us in the language. She is a sweet girl from St. Kits in the Caribbean. She has very dark skin, which is interesting- the Dutch are notoriously racist against Africans in their country. She will have struggles, but she seems determined to succeed, and that energy is infectious. We are very glad to have her in our branch here at the MTC.
I had a very cool experience with the language the other day. I was asked to pray in a large group meeting with lots of different languages, so I was to pray in English rather than Dutch. That was the first English prayer I have said in a few weeks, and I realized half way through that I was using Dutch pronouns (u and uw) instead of the English pronouns (thee and thy). It was awesome! It was a little embarassing, because the dutch pronouns sound a lot like the informal English pronouns (you and your) so everyone else probably thought I was using improper prayer language, but for me it was cool to see that praying in English is becoming foreign to me. It felt unnatural to pray in English, which I know is a blessing as I am trying so hard to make Dutch a meaningful language to me. I know the Lord has blessed me with the ability to efficiently learn this language so that I can teach his children the truth about God and His son Jesus Christ (or "God en hij zoon Jesus Christus" as we say in Dutch :) ).
The Christmas season is in full bloom all around the MTC. We sing Christmas hymns all the time, and enjoy celebrating the true spirit of the season. The Christmas season is so rich and full when you focus on the Savior and what He has done for us. He truly was the son of God and died that each of us may live after this life. He was born a baby, but lived a perfect life to show us each the way that we can all be happy now and for eternity. I am so grateful that we can have an eternal family and the understanding that our relationships here are not over with death, but will live on forever. This is a peace and happiness that I cannot wait to share with the world!
I love you all so much and pray for you nightly. Keep writing me notes and letting me know whats going on- we've got to take advantage of our relative closeness :) Ik houd van jullie!!Love,Zuster Cherie Gulliver