Monday, August 25, 2014

The first P-day

First of all, thank you to everyone for your letters/emails.  For the record, while I'm in the MTC it's easier if you send me a dear elder letter so I'm not using all my time reading emails. And I can get those every day too (: Alright let's see, so much to report on this week.  My Chinese is improving, just ever so slowly haha.  I'm getting there though.  It's just hard when the teacher only talks in zhongwen and you're supposed to know what to do but you have no idea what he's saying.  But I'm getting by! Luckily my comp speaks pretty good chinese.  The best though is when my teacher bears his testimony in zhongwen.  I have no idea what he's saying, but I can still just feel the spirit so strongly! I'm definitely learning the language of the spirit and I love it. 

So Sis Bowman, she's the one that speaks chinese, she's already graduated from MSU in IR, took a few years of chinese, and went to Shanghai this past year to conduct tours for rich Americans.  It's super helpful having her around haha! Then Sis Meyer, she's from Australia.  What a hoot! I'm getting super good at my Aussie accent, and I think by the time I'm almost outta here, everyone will think I'm an aussie. genius right? Hahah the other day, she and this elder from scotland, E Mclaughlin, they had an American conversation! it was the funniest thing! Sis Giles actually lives in the room right next to me, but I never see her other than at lunch and stuff.  I don't even think she's in our zone, which is wierd.  Oh and someone asked me this before I left, so I Iive in 7M, and we have class in 17M; that's like the Asian building.  I've already seen so many people I know! Sam Daly, Holly Belnap, Tyler Richardson, Brynn Erdmann, Kelly, Gonzalez, JT Lamoreaux, (Steven?) Chapman, Jon Rees, and my old roommate Nichelle! It's so fun seeing people I know. It's just a little piece of home (: 

Sis Jensen and Sis Peine are also in our district and they're so sweet! I would totally be roomies with Jensen in the future.   Sadly, Peine is going home tonight though.  So we'll split up our tripanionship and just have two doubles.  The rest of our district are elders, and they're all so awesome! so there's Gray/Wu, Anderson/Wimmer, and Tong/Sessions (DL)/Green.  Elder anderson and tong make me laugh my head off! They've got these perfect Asian voiceover voices, and I just can't help but think if Joseph was like that in the MTC.  Oh elders...



Our Tripanionship
Me, Sis Peine and Sis Jensen 

typical faces during class 

So the guy we met in the Manti temple,  Bro Averett, is in my branch presidency! So that was fun to see him and his wife again.  Also brother Seow, the other counselor is in the 6th ward? I found that out so that was cool. I met pres and sis Nally because sis meyer is an international so she came a day early, and i guess she just knew them from that.  I also prayed in the new sisters meeting, so I got to meet all their wives - sis hacking, sis roach, and.. dang it. one other one. 
Hmmm. Everyone says just make it until sunday and then you'll be fine. hahah soo true.  The first few days are like trying to drink out of a fire hose, and then sunday you just get exalted! Oh man sundays are the best!! We had district meeting, then sacrament meeting, pretty much only in zhongwen.  President Woodfield told our district to be prepared with a testimony because he'd call a few people from our district. Of course, I was called as brother averett and seow just smile at me as I walk up hahah. I actually did pretty good though. It was only like three sentences, but everyone said my tones were great so that's good! We also went to choir, and I forgot how much I miss choir! But wow, hearing a bunch of missionaries sing is AMAZING!! I can't wait to perform on tuesday for the devotional! I also want to do a piano solo or accompany someone later on but we'll see. SUNDAY DEVOTIONALS ARE THE BEST!! yesterday we went to elder bednar's christmas devotional a while back, the character of Christ.  SO GOOD. we need to turn outward when the natural man would turn inward.  but of course, right?
We went to the temple today and it was so good to be back! I remember seeing all the sis missionaries and thinking they were the coolest and I'll be one of them someday! now that's me (: strike! 
Haha random tidbit, the bathroom water here is weird.. the showers can do cold and hot, but the sinks only do hot.  So I'm getting used to brushing my teeth in hot water.... 
Every night with the sisters in our zone, we have qidao (prayer) and that's really cool. I gave it the other night in half chinese half english haha.. I'm getting there.  we had our second lesson on saturday, and sis bowman gave our investigator her BOM, and as we were leaving, she's like soo can I have it back? he said, but you gave it to me! haha then she just said never mind and we awkwardly walked away, hoping that he would break character and given us back her BOM.  We'll learn next time haha. 
I love talking to the english missionaries.  They get doctrine thrown at them, and we get language thrown at us.  It's just interesting to see the difference when they're only here for like a week.  
My favorite thing is to look down at my badge.  It reminds me of not only who I'm representing, but also that one day I'm going to understand the language and be able to actually know how to read my badge.  I love those reminders.  
Anyway, the MTC is a wonderful place! You feel the spirit wherever you go, and everyone is just so happy because we're all doing the right things.  I love you all so much! Keep the faith!


Our district! Top left to right: E wimmer, anderson, tong, sessions, green. sister meyer, bowman, me.
Bottom: E gray, wu. sister peine, jensen

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