MTC Week 2 - August

Where to begin?! This week has been so eventful that it's all blurring together like a large canvas painting. There's a couple splotches of planning lessons, a splotch on the left side of long lines for pizza in the cafeteria on Friday. There are colorful splashes of devotionals, Chinese words I keep forgetting, Chinese sentences I've mastered (what a miracle), Preach My Gospel pages, alarm clocks ringing at 6:00am, hunger pangs at 9:30 at night. Throughout the painting, though, there are strokes of the Spirit. And you can find our Missionary Purpose all over the canvas as that's what ties the piece together. 

Here are some highlights from the week:

From our classrooms on the 6th floor of building T4, we have a beautiful yet taunting view of Lavell Edward's stadium. As many of you know, this last Saturday was the BYU football game and we could practically taste the cougar tails! Floods of people were walking the streets below us. A smidgen of nostalgia and homesickness came upon some of our zone members, so we had a little heart to heart and then went back to class. 

We have two Chinese/gospel teaching teachers. We JUST got our second one, and guess who it is? It's the same guy who pretended to be our first investigator! What?! Okay, lemme tell you about THAT. One of my companions (I'm in a trio now), Sis. Zentz and I, invited him to be baptized last Monday night. To our great astonishment, he said yes. I was immediately seized by a powerful feeling of joy and I kid you not, I started laughing. So much. Then Sis. Zentz started laughing and there we were, trying to get a hold of ourselves, giggling with glee that this "investigator" agreed to be baptized. (Later, when he was teaching us he told us he felt the Spirit when we invited him to be baptized. How rad is that?) But imagine what's going to happen in the field when a real investigator commits to baptism. I'm going to be over the moon. Over alllllll the moons.

I've been practicing strict obedience. For example--and this is a ridiculous example, but still applies, haha--I bought a protein bar from the vending machine on Saturday night because I knew I'd be hungry between breakfast and lunch on Sunday. Totally forgot it had to be refrigerated for maximum freshness. But wait! I have a fridge in my room for my medications! But wait. There's a sign on my fridge that says "for medical purposes only." I debated with my roomies for like ten minutes. "I feel like I'll be following the spirit of the law if I use the fridge. It's not like I'm secretly stashing a bunch of food there just because." "Food is a medical purpose." "Oh, but I have to give a lesson on STRICT obedience tomorrow during District meeting!" "Sister Love, I think you're fine. Honestly." "But if you'll feel better about not refrigerating the bar, then you shouldn't." And after carefully reviewing the ingredient list to ensure that the bar would be okay on the desk overnight, I decided that I shouldn't refrigerate it. And I felt better. Bahahahahaha.

Music is a powerful thing. On Tuesday, Elder Weatherford T. Clayton of the Seventy spoke to all the missionaries this last Tuesday night, Aug 23. He had all of us stand up and sing the "Army of Helaman" song with as much fervor as we could. We sang "We are now the Lord's missionaries to bring the world His truth" and I felt tears in the base of my throat and warmth through my whole body. Incredible. I am a missionary! I am doing the Lord's work. The Spirit testifies of that truth to me daily. And just yesterday, our branch went together on a Provo temple walk. On a hill beside the temple, we stood in a large circle and sang "A Child's Prayer" together. As we sang those words,  I looked around at everyone in the circle. We are all God's children. He hears our prayers. He has a plan for us, and through Christ we can live with Him and our families forever. We will share that message with people in Taiwan, England, Germany, Los Angeles, New York, Australia...and those are just a handful of places my fellow missionaries are going. Gives me chills. 

Alright, that's all for now! Thank you for your emails, love, and support. It means more than you know.

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New companion Sister Westover in the middle. She was in the "fast-track" Chinese-speaking district (i.e. those with quite a bit of experience with the language) but decided to stay the full two months, so we now have a threesome with Sister Zentz, Sister Westover, and Sister Love!

Doing laundry....