MTC Week 1 - August

Ni hao! 

That is all I know how to say in Chinese. Just kidding, just kidding!! I have actually learned a few more words than that, such as: words used in prayer, words used in bearing testimony of Jesus Christ, baptism, The Book of Mormon, etc...I've also learned how to say "I can learn to speak Chinese!!" And everyone is obsessed with my name in Mandarin, which is "Ai Jie Mei." "Ai" is the actual word for "Love" and people get a kick out of the fact that my last name is Love. So that's fun! Chinese is difficult, though. Everyone in my district is on this same learning journey, and it can be hilarious. For example, two Elders taught our investigator for the second time, and during the lesson, one of them testified that "The Prophet is Jesus's father." Hahaha, not quite. But it's getting a little easier every day. We're all remembering more of our vocabulary and beginning to understand the grammar a bit more.

So, did you catch that? We've already taught two lessons to someone who is investigating the Church! (It's really a member who is pretending to be an investigator, but the lesson setting feels almost as authentic as it's going to be with a real investigator.) His name is Liu Ji Ping, and he probably thinks it's hilarious how I can hardly say anything in the language! Like, I had no idea what he was saying one time, so I put on a winning smile and just said "Baptism is good!" And he laughed and said some more things I couldn't understand. During the first lesson, I had the WORST mindset. I was so stressed out so I kept telling myself that this is fake, he's just someone pretending to be an investigator. That led to a lesson entirely led by my own thoughts and stress. I don't think I was open to allowing the Holy Spirit to guide me, and I was definitely not communicating with my companion.

The second lesson, however, I changed the way I looked at it. I thought: I know that I have prepared well. I focused on the principles we were planning to teach, and I realized, all I can do now is trust in the Lord. The Spirit will bring to my remembrance what I studied and the words will come off my tongue. At one point, he said that he was willing to come to church. And all of a sudden, I had this overwhelming feeling of love for him. I almost started crying and laughing at once. It reminded me why I'm here. I truly want to show people how they can Come Unto Christ.

That's all for now! I LOVE YOU ALL.

Zai Jian!! (Goodbye)

Sister Love

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Pictures of Sister Love, her companion, her district... (commentary by Aaron Love Sr)

Picture with Elder Josh Vance. Becki and Josh's mom Keri (Slade) Vance were in the MTC together 20+ years ago and they had a similar picture taken of them at the map. :-)

Sister Love with one of her teachers, Sister McKenna Wright. Sister Wright's father danced with Becki on the BYU International Folk Dance Ensemble along time ago!