Hello wonderful family and friends!!
This week has been, overall, really great. I've really got the hang of things at the MTC, and I learn so much everyday! I'm so lucky to have wonderful companions and an awesome district. We do lots of fun things together. And also we learn Chinese and how to teach more effectively, haha. One of the Elders in our district took a rubber glove from a doctor's office he was in a week or so ago, and he blew it up like a balloon. He then proceeded to draw a chicken on it, with feet and a beak and a badge that said "Ji Zhanglao" which means "Chicken Elder" or Elder Chicken. We added him to our district roster and everything. Well, the Elders were wayyy too obsessed with him, so naturally my companions and I took him and hid him during lunch one day. They were so distraught, it was hilarious. We then put Ji Zhanglao right outside the window to our classroom, so it looked like he was staring in. Elder Johnson in our district was particularly overjoyed to have been reunited with Ji Zhanglao. It took the Elders forever to figure out it was us that did it. I guess they didn't think we were smart or devious enough...
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| Me with Ji Zhanglao. He has a little missionary badge and everything. |
Anyways, chicken gloves aside, this week has been pretty ordinary. The one drawback about the MTC is that every day feels the same, and so I lose track of time really quickly. I never remember what day it is, what time it is, and the only way I can mark the passing of time is by when I go to meals and then go to my dorm to sleep. I love the MTC and everything about it, but I'm eager to get out in the field. One thing I learned this week about my mission is that there are only 4 Chinese speaking Sister missionaries in my entire mission right now. So the fact that I'm the only one in the MTC right now going there speaking Mandarin isn't as surprising anymore. On Thursdays, we do what we call TRC, which stands for Teaching Resource Center. I think. Anyways, it's where we teach members who speak Chinese a little lesson. One of the Sister RMs that we taught had actually served in my mission speaking Chinese! It was so cool to get to talk to her, she knows all the names of the Sisters serving there right now, and she took a picture of us to send to the mission president. It was awesome.
This week brought many embarrassing moments, as I am still myself and still do weird things all the time. This time, I was in the cafeteria, in line for some food, and we talked to some Elders for a little while before we turned away and just talked to each other. Then my companions started "fighting". We have an inside joke where I tell them "You're both cute, stop fighting!" so I said, maybe a bit too loudly, "You're both cute!" and the Elders whirled around with incredulous looks on their faces, like "Who, me?" and I just kinda stared at them and was like "No, not you, I didn't mean you," and it was really bad. Then of course I kept seeing both of them like all the time that day. Lovely.
I was excited this week to be able to see one of my friends from college! He eats at the same time as me, so we get to say hi everyday, which is always nice. Anything or anyone you know from the world outside the MTC is always wonderful to see. It reminds you that there really is a world outside of this place and that life does go on, haha.
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| My companions and I at the temple on Sunday. It was a beautiful day! |
On Sunday, my companions and I went to see a talk called The Character of Christ by David A. Bednar. It was life changing. It was given at an MTC devotional a few years ago, so if you ever have the chance to find it or a transcript of it somewhere, WATCH IT. He gives the most amazing talks, especially at the MTC. What I loved about it was that he mainly talked about how selfless Christ was, and how he always looked outward instead of inward. He shared so many amazing stories of these truly selfless people that just blew my mind. When it was over, I just wanted to keep watching it forever. I also wanted to immediately become that selfless and that loving, but I know that it will take a while for me to ever get to that point. I've tried over the past few days to be more selfless. Looking to help others instead of looking to help yourself is really hard. It's unnatural in fact (Mosiah 3:19). But it is a Christlike attribute that we should strive to emulate and make a part of ourselves, if that makes any sense. My English speaking skills are continuing to decline. :)
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| A picture of the temple that actually looks beautiful. |
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| My attempt at beautiful photography. It failed hardcore. My nametag looks like a creepy photobombing name tag. |
My companions and I are teaching two "progressing investigators". They're our classroom teachers, but they put on a totally different persona. One of them is really talkative and keeps all of his commitments, so I love teaching him. Sometimes he asks weird questions and we don't know how to answer them. Like the other day, at our third lesson with him, he asked us what our names were. (We'd completely forgotten to ever mention that. I guess with the Spirit, you don't even need to know anyone's name teehee). So we told him our Chinese names, and he was like "Oh, you're all sisters?" And we were like "Yeah," and he just looked at us funny and then I realized he asked us if we were like biological sisters, so we hurriedly said "No, no, it's just a... You know, Sister just means..." and we didn't know how to explain it in Chinese. Eventually I think I managed to say it was a title, and he got it, but he totally had to try to not laugh at us and keep in character. Our other investigator is shy and quiet and I also think he is intimidated more by talking to young women than young men. Which makes sense, but he doesn't always ask a lot of questions. He still keeps his commitments, and we committed both of them to baptism! Which would be even cooler if they were, you know, real investigators. Still, it's good practice, and I found that I'm not scared anymore to invite someone to be baptized. One of my teachers said that we shouldn't be shy about extending invitations and commitments, that we should be upfront and honest, because it shouldn't seem like we have anything to hide. I found that to be wonderful advice that I'll keep in mind for when I have real investigators.
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Our "Pocket" Chinese dictionary. Lies. It doesn't
fit in my pocket.
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So to help us learn the language, we go on this computer program about everyday. It's called TALL, which supposedly stands for Technology Assisted Language Learning, but I have my own acronym for it: Totally a Lame Loser. It's weak, I know, but I just hate it so much. It's dumb. It makes me learn grammar that's hard. And sometimes, the people that pronounce it sound weird. Basically, I need to get over my pride and just accept the fact that I'm not going to be perfect at everything and that I'm not going to know all the Chinese grammar just yet. But I still hate TALL. I enter the computer lab thinking "Yeah, TALL, I'm gonna punch this grammar in the face!" and then I leave thinking "Aaagh, curse you TALL, I hate you, I'm gonna punch you in the face!" And that's all I have to say about that.
Yesterday I got cupcakes from my wonderful roommate! I was really excited, and so was my district, because of course I shared with them. I had a chocolate cupcake that basically changed my life. It was almost a spiritual experience.
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| Cupcakes! They were amazing. |
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| Me and my companions wearing our sweet mission shirts!! Mine says God Save the Queen and it's basically amazing. |
Well, I hope you have all been having wonderful weeks and that life is going well for all of you! Remember to look outward instead of inward, because that is what Christ would do and this life is all about striving to be like Him. I know that through Him all things are possible. Through Him, I can learn Chinese, I can be patient with my companions, I can teach by the Spirit, and I can serve with love. I know that I'm on my mission for a reason, and that I will be able to help lots of God's children come to a knowledge of the gospel. I love you all!!
Love,
Sister Larson
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