December 20, 2011-Sister Campbell's First Letter!!

Dear Family and Friends,

Okay, I think these are your right email addresses. Not having real communication is hard! If I didn't get it right, will whoever emails me back send me the REAL addresses? (Of my mom, dad, Thomas, Mimi, Bam, etc.)? Thankee.

Okay. Here I am in the MTC laundry room, doing my LAUNDRY. And all the sweaty little elders are all around me all confused about what soap is and how you use it, etc. I have never understood BYU as well as I do now, watching all these confused little guys eat 40 rolls for dinner, or sweat whenever a girl comes near them, or etc.

The point is, I am in the MTC somehow. PLEASE send me all of you addresses! So I can send you THINGS! And I can send you THINGS! Not to guilt or anything, but I have had the least mail of anyone in my district so far. Guess who's the only one who wrote me a letter so far? Chioma! Yeah, Chioma. ??? Love that girl. Grill.

Also, does everyone know about Dear Elder.com? Upon which you can dash off a quick typed note and have it delivered the same day to me with EASE? Do it. Do it, everyone.

So here are some Important Facts. My district is four people big. It's me, Sestra Farnsworth (my companion), Stareishna Evans and Stareishna Bryce, who are like the adorable odd couple of . . . Bulgaria. My companion is pretty awesome. She is from Vancouver, Washington (I've been there!) is good at every sport that ever existed, and likes barbecue sauce a lot. So that is good. I like her. We are a little team. We are also the only ones in our room, which is interesting. I also really love learning Bulgarski. We have taught three (3) lessons so far, in Bulgarian, somehow. Everyone was always telling me 'Oh, the MTC curriculum is so different now! Ha ha ha ha tell me about how it goes!' And now I want to tell them, SHUT UP. I don't speak BULGARIAN. This isn't FUNNY. But it is, really, because it's me and a girl from Vancouver who just got here a week ago struggling to read/pray our way along talking to a Bulgarian person whose interests incldue (according to his interview video) 'soccer and women.' And we just say things like, "Good! You pray now, please? Good. How is the works? Ah, good! Good works. Good morning! Excellent! Pray." Veeery funny.

Also, the MTC is the weirdest place in the world. It is kind of a nuthouse, and I mean that in the best, nuttiest, richest, peanutiest sense of the word. Like a big, sweaty box of delicious peanuts hidden from the sun and TV. If that makes sense. Everyone is nervous all the time, and excited all the time, and you have to slide your card five (5) different times to get into your bedroom. We went for our first temple walk on Sunday (at 2:45 ish...) and it was so bizarre. It was like I got all excited to be outside and in Provo, but I didn't feel like I was either of those things. I was like . . . enveloped in the Lord's robe, or something. The Lord's greenhouse. And in a different fourth dimension where the fake mashed potatoes are plentiful and a form of currency.

But also, importantly, since I fear that I am making no sense at all, I really like it here. It's really weird and nerve-racking to be not sure if I can communicate with people, and to not have a constant, easy form of communication or Facebook (I just now got the urge to open a new window to Facebook, as was my custom on the old Guhmail back in real life), but it's also really nice and liberating. Like my brain is actually freer and clearer than it has been since I was a young tot. Everybody read Job 37. There. That's my obligatory spirchal thought for the email.

How is everyone? Will you send me letters and tell me how things are? And go to DEARELDER.COM and send me things so that I know everyone is okay and that the real world still exists and that I am not on a freaky Twilight-Zone island and the rest of the world has been through a nuclear holocaust? That would be nice. :) :)

Also, guess how you say "The Holy Spirit" in Bulgarian? 'Svetiyadooh.' Which sounds like it has the word "sweaty" in it. hahahaha, the Holy Sweaty. Can you see that I am kind of starved for my brand of frightening, clown-like sarcastohumor? Yeah, there isn't a whole lot of that in here. Send me JOKES. From POPSICLE STICKS or your BRAINS.

Also, we got to watch the Music and the Choked Bird (Spoken World) the other day, and it was the Christmas broadcast and, oh man. It was the craziest. Like, cool, but also...just go watch it. It had ballet dancers and people prancing around in fake "medieval" clothes like leggings and shiny cloth. And then there was an organ solo, and it literally made me burst into tears in the middle of the gym/conference center, and I was embarrassed and didn't understand why, but then I realized that I had missed music so much (we're not really allowed to listen to it in here, by which I mean 'not at all'), and especially performed music, that it was overwhelming. So that was a "good" moment. In the sense that it was "enlightening."

I hate to be repetitive, but I don't really. PLEASE SEND ADDRESSES. And MAIL. I know I will eventually get used to not being able to send things due to the weird European postal whatever, but as for now, I'm pretty starved for attention from my loving family (and friend) circle. And really sad I don't get to have Christmas with you three minutes away, like we did last year. :( Send me pictures of how it went? Send me your hugs? Hugs are also scarce around here.

One last thing. Guess what I'm doing today at 10:30? Flying to Las Angeles, I think. We got summoned there last week, and what the teachers and previous groups told us is that we're flying out this morning to go sign some visa papers at the Bulgarian consulate in California, and then flying back the same day. So I guess I'll do . . . that. And the faster you send me that cord, Mom, the faster I can show you pictures of me! That show my new pin-holes from my tag and my Missionary Pimple (it's going away, but it's still meaningful)!

Okay. If there's anything I would have you take away from this letter, it's this: sweaty. And also, send me letters. You know my address! It's on my Facebook! Duh. But also, here it is just in case:

Sister Eliza Campbell
MTC Mailbox # 97
BUL-SOF 0215
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604

I think that's it. I just guessed that, so go check my Facecool too. But also Dearelder.com! Is a wonderful site for boys and girls. And also, email me back and tell me if any of you got this! And whoever gets it, forward to whoever else you know on the list, please!

Okay, I'm pretty much out of time. I love you guys!! Send me things and words! I miss you so much! THE CHORCH IS TRUUUHHHHH!

Cecpa Campbell