Instagram: One Week down!

MTC - Provo, UT - First Week in the MTC!

My companion Lexi Kemp!
She is so good for me!

The Poland Warsaw District!
Siostra Christie Yochim (Los Angeles, CA), Siostra Gretchen
Dekker (Anaheim, CA), Siostra Lauryn Lerch (Gilbert, AZ),
Elder Josef Ashworth (Manchester, England) ,
Siostra Whitney Barney (Herriman, UT),
Siostra Lexi Kemp (Taylorsville, UT), & yours truly (Boise, ID)!

A little bored on the first full day
of learning the ropes of the MTC!

Our classroom!  LOVE THIS DISTRICT!

My books!

Our district's starszy!

These girls were meant to be together!

For Halloween we dressed up like the polish flag!
Aren't we clever?!

Sister Trainers!

Meal time!

Bathroom "service!"

Dear Family and Friends!

I can not believe I have been in the MTC for a week now!! It seems so unreal to me! Time moves differently here, the days seem long but the week goes by so fast! My first day in the MTC was a little overwhelming but absolutely amazing! 

I met my companion or kolejanka, Siostra (Sister) Kamp and we were instant friends! We have so much fun together and work incredibly well together! She is absolutely fantastic and has taught me so much! We have like a crazy telepathy thing going on where we think and say the exact same thing! I feel so blessed to be her companion! 

When you get to the MTC you go immediately to your classroom and your teacher talks to you in Polish the entire time and that has continued since the first hour here, talk about getting thrown into the language! On the third day here we taught our first investigator in Polish! We were absolutely terrified and hardly understood what she was saying! We still were frustrated the next time we taught her because it didn't seem like we could connect with her or get her to feel the Spirit! However, we finally just had to turn it over to the Lord and the third time we taught it went so much better with her!! We understood what she was saying and we were able to connect with her! We came out of the lesson and just grabbed each other, hugged, and cried happy tears!!

My daily routine in the MTC includes waking up at 6:30, eating breakfast at 7:15, classroom time, where we usually plan our lessons to teach to our investigator, from 7:45- 11:45, lunch, more class room time till 3:20, gym, dinner, even more classroom time, and finally bed! Besides the first morning classroom time we are being spoken to and have to respond in Polish every other classroom time! It is crazy how much I love this language already! 

Quick language lesson on Polish:

Every letter is pronounced in a word which can become super difficult when you throw in a word that has prz in the beginning of it! There are also 32 letters in the polish alphabet! There are two a's, two e's, two l's (one looks normal and the other one has a line through it that looks like a t and is pronounced like a w), and three z's! It is a little difficult to figure it out but we just have fun learning it and laugh when we mess up, which is all the time! I have learned a lot though and can now pray in Polish, introduce myself, my companion and the church, ask some basic questions, and speak back to our investigator in very, VERY broken Polish! 

We have a program here called Speak Your Language or (SYL) which makes us speak our language all the time even when we are not in the classroom and let me tell you that helps a lot! I am so excited to learn this language and I can't wait to see how my progress comes!

I want to tell you all now about my incredible district! There are six of us Sister missionaries: Siostra Kamp from Taylorsville, UT, Siostra Barney from Herriman, UT, Siostra Lerch from Gilbert, AZ, Siostra Dekker from Anaheim, CA, and Siostra Yochim from L.A., CA and 1 Elder or Starszy Ashworth from Manchester, England!! 

We seriously have the best district ever! We have so much fun together and have grown so close already! All six of us Sisters are in a room together with bunk beds! We were all so excited when we arrived here the first day that we were all in the same room! 

I want to write a brief summary of all of them:

Siostra Lexi Kamp: Where do I even begin! One of nicest people I have ever met and seriously has a way with words! She knows exactly what to say at the right time!

Siostra Whitney Barney: She is so much fun and super positive! If we are ever down she just picks us all right back up and tells us to keep going!

Siostra Lauryn Lerch: One of the funniest people I have ever met! She has made me laugh until I cry so many times already since I have been here! 

Siostra Gretchen Dekker: She is so incredibly sweet! She isalso so incredibly driven and works hard at everything that is given to her! 

Siostra Christie Yochim: She is so incredibly strong! She just faces challenges head on and never complains!

Starszy Jozef Ashworth: You would think one boy would be over powered by all of us girls but he isn't.... at all! He is so incredibly funny and sassy and so patient and loving with all of us girls and our zillion questions about England! We all love our Starszy so much!

We are also are put into a zone which is a group of missionaries. I have the best Zone ever! We have all different languages and missions in our zone, such as Croatian, Bulgarian, Czech, Slovak, and Slovanian. Everyone was so nice and welcoming to us! The Elders in our zone are absolutely hilarious and have so much to offer and the Sisters are always there to give us moral support and help us with any questions we have! They are all going to be incredible missionaries!! 

Finally I want to share some funny stories of the week, because trust me there have been so many! The first thing is our teach Brat (Brother) Jensen always says three phrases: It's ok (in a polish accent), Nie (no) stress, and stress dobre (good) in that order! These have become the catch phrases for our district and we literally say them all the time! 

Another funny thing that happened was while Siostra Kamp and I were teaching our investigator she was speaking in Polish and all of the sudden she says in a Polish accent, "Mak sense?" or "make sense" in other words. We got out of the lesson and we busted up laughing, it was just too good! 

The final story I have to share is something I did! Someone held the door open for me and instead of saying thank you, or dzie kuje, I said kolejanka or companion! Everyone just started laughing! Oops! 

I want to say thank you again so much for all your love and support! I know that I am suppose to be on this mission and even though it is sometimes hard I just can't wait to get to Poland and teach people about how much I love this incredible Gospel! 

I love you all!

Kocham Cie!!

Siostra DeMordaunt  

MTC - Provo, Utah - I survived the first day and I love it here!

Hi Family!
I have survived the first day! I absolutely love the MTC! Siostra Kamp is my companion and the other siostras are absolutely amazing and we are already so close! 

The spirit is absolutely insane here! I have already had random little tender mercies like this guy behind me right when I went in was going to Omaha Nebraska on his mission, my mission scripture was brought up immediately and they talked about line about line (mom)! 

I love you guys so much! 

Can't wait to see you in 18! 

My PDay is on Thursday so I will talk to you next week!

Love,

Siostra DeMordaunt

OH!  Make sure you tell people about Dear Elder!  I love you guys so so much!

Reporting to the MTC - Provo, Utah

The ride down!  Love these people!

It wouldn't be normal for us not to have
at least one photo bomb wherever we go?

Are they jumping for joy because I'm leaving?!

Pulling up with a racing heart!  

One last picture together!

I wanted to only look back once!  

I woke up after a restless sleep!  Today was the day!  

Here I come MTC!  

I was ready to turn my attention to the Lord's work!

Natalia's flight was on time!  She boarded the plane at 6 a.m.!  So glad she made it!  She flew right back to Boise after saying good bye at the MTC at 1:45 p.m.  Thanks Tal for coming!

My dad had asked me where I wanted to eat for my "last supper" - I chose Waffle Love and Mountain West Burritos!  I ate every last bite of that Belgium waffle and burrito!!  It was sooooo good.  The MTC cafeteria's food I heard was just like the dorm's Cannon Center.  Not awful but definitely isn't what I call a culinary delight!

We drove up to the Provo Temple where most families say their goodbyes before the curbside drop off at the MTC.  My drop off time was at 12:30 p.m.  We kinda stood around not really knowing how to kill the last remaining few minutes.  The thought of saying good bye for 18 months was looming in the air everywhere!  Our hearts were heavy.  Finally we started laughing and took some "jump pictures!"  

I LOVE MY FAMILY!  
I LOVE THAT THEY ARE LOVING, CRAZY AND FUN!
I'm taking this to Poland with me!

The time came for drop off.  I cried and hugged everyone in my family.  My heart was aching but something was pushing me to keep going.  I knew I was doing the right thing.  I miss you all so very, very, very much.  Let's stay strong.  I LOVE YOU!

We pulled up to the MTC and our spot was #18.  A sister missionary greeted us.  She asked if we wanted one last picture.  

Short good-byes were said.  It moved quickly.  I looked back once and was gone.  My mom said the drive home was the quietest our family had ever been in the car.  My heart was pounding all day long.

Night before the MTC - Salt Lake City, Utah

Sampson!

Uncle Craig and Aunt Chris' family!

Maddy Hendricks!  Gabby Roper!

FaceTime with:
Uncle Kyle, Lucas, Roman
My "godmother" Juls
Aunt Melissa and a few more!

Family talk time!
Grandma Jackie!  

We were packing until midnight on Monday!  Everyone was involved.  Finally everything was done.  

Leaving my home was a sentimental moment.  I love it here and I love my family.  I know things will be different when I return.  My mom keeps telling me that things will be the same here but that I will change the most.  I know I'll change but missing out on anything kills me!

One of the hardest things about deciding to serve was leaving my siblings.  I love them so much.  Like I wrote already, I don't want to miss out on anything in their lives.  The last few months at home gave me the opportunity to spend time with them.  I am so glad I had 2 1/2 months to do this. The timing was perfect.  I watched my beautiful sisters Sophia and Natalia play volleyball.  I watched my little stud of a brother enter junior high and play LaCrosse and football.  I was there for Natalia's homecoming!  I went to lunch with them.  I hung out with my mom and dad.  We had movie nights. We ate my favorite meals.  We tried to check off everything on my bucket lists!   Saying goodbye to our dog Sampson was also hard - I know this may sound silly but I love that dog!  He is a great member of our family! He is old.  I don't know if he'll be here when I get back. :(

We loaded the car and I looked around one last time at our house.  My parents had wet eyes. I was exhausted as I climbed into the car and was glad we had a five hour drive to Salt Lake from Boise.  Natalia had to stay home due to state volleyball practice but she would fly in on Wednesday to join us.

We first stopped at Aunt Chris and Uncle Craig's home for one last hug.  Thank you for being so good to me while I was at the Y!  I love your family!  I felt so welcome in your home!  Thank you Aunt Chris for all your special words and honesty!  Thank you Uncle Craig for tenderness when I told you I wanted to serve.  

We quickly drove to the Y's campus where I met up with Austin in the library for one last hug!  I am sad to not experience this year at school with you Austin!  You may be married by the time I return!  Austin kept telling me how excited he was for me and that "the language would come!"  Love you Austin!

We then met Gabby (our family's fifth child and a favorite!) at the Richard's building!  We hugged and walked.  Gabs you saved me a few times at the Y this past year.  I am so glad you are part of my life...forever!  As we were driving away Gabby motioned to roll down my window and yelled "knock 'em dead Queller!"  You are the best Gabby!

Maddy Hendricks met us in Salt Lake.  Maddy and I cried!  Such great times last year together!  I'm coming back for more Maddy!  You were such a big part of my life last year!  Thank you for everything!  I love you!  

We checked into our hotel and I talked on FaceTime, called or sent texts with a few of my friends. ( I had also done this on Sunday and Monday night hoping not to miss anyone. ) I love my friends!  They are a huge part of my life!  I have friends on missions that have written with love their advice and encouragement.  I have always been blessed with really good friends!

We weren't able to connect with Uncle Kyle and Aunt Melissa's family so we talked via FaceTime!  I love you all!  And I'm coming for another Sunday Favorites dinner in 18!  Be ready Melissa!  Kyle I think you have an understanding of what I'm headed for in Poland - thanks for your faith in me!

Then I spoke with Juls who has know me since a baby and was my mom's roommate.  She read me a few scriptures she found while thinking about me leaving.

Proverbs 31:25 Strength and honor are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come.

Psalms 34:19  The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and seventh such as be of a contrite spirit.

Juls - you'll always be a part of my life!  I love you!  I love your kids!

Afterwards I said goodbye to Grandma Jackie.  She kept calling me "brave granddaughter."  I love you Grandma Jackie!  You do so much for our family!  I will think of you and smile at your funny comments and love!  And...I will try to be brave!

We had family prayer and I tried to sleep.

Setting Apart - Boise, Idaho

My Stake President Andy Skoggins came over to our house on Monday night.  My immediate family was there.  I felt ready and wanted to keep moving forward.  I was both excited and dreading the MTC drop off. I also knew saying goodbye would be hard.

President Skoggins talked and laughed with us.  After about twenty minutes, he turned towards and asked me if I was ready to be set apart.  I nodded.  I was at peace.  

My dad and President Skoggins laid their hands upon my head.  I was blessed with many of the things I worried about: patience, language skills, knowledge, leadership, love for "MY" people.  It was so still in the room.  It answered so many concerns.

Afterwards I didn't have much to say, but the hugs and tears from my family and President Skoggins spoke loudly.

I was a missionary.  

Siostra Raquel Jaclyn DeMordaunt!

My Endowments - Twin Falls Temple - Twin Falls, Idaho

My endowments (promises with the Lord) were taken out in the Twin Falls Temple.

It was a beautiful fall day.  My parents and I drove an hour and a half from Boise that morning to Twin Falls.  

I had read and prayed trying to prepare as much as possible.     The matrons were so kind and I loved the intimacy of this temple.  It was sacred time for me and my parents.  I felt a little older as I left or maybe a little more responsible.  

I thought it was beautiful.  The Plan of Salvation is the center of everything we are.  The Lord loves us. 

When we were leaving a lady stopped us to tell me that she was in Poland for the building of the Warsaw Chapel in 1989 and how much she loved the Poles!