One Week Down!

So. Let's start when we last left off. So you dropped me off and I was super bummed when I first didn't see Jill (Sestra Richardson) so it surely was a tender mercy when I heard a familiar voice yell "MO" followed by a highlight worthy tackle/hug. One hundred percent what I needed in that moment. The Lord is so aware of me. And it didn't end there. Within my first 10 minutes of being there I saw Maddie (roommate from USU), Scott Wilcox (in my ward at USU) and Elder Archibald (an ambassador a year younger than me at USU). SUCH a tender mercy.

With USU Roommate Maddie Holt (going to Korea)

So I waltz into class where I was greeted by Houh Zi Muih who only speaks Cantonese to us. Class is basically a giant game of charades, guess what I'm thinking and 20 questions. It can be really fun and it's super great when you finally figure out what she's trying to say! 

With Sister Killpack

I got my companion right away - her name is Sister Killpack and she's great! At first I was a little hesitant because the first thing she said to me was, "Hi. I'm a total introvert, so if I don't talk to you I don't hate you." So... Anyone who knows me knows that I don't ever really stop talking, so I wasn't quite sure how to take this. But I had her talking non stop by lunch the next day and now we're super tight! We're definitely very different, but it works really well because we're able to use our different strengths to succeed. She has more love for everyone than any person I've ever met. She has such a quiet, rock solid testimony that is incredible. She also took two years of Japanese which helps a ton when it comes to learning the language! We're able to compare Cantonese to Japanese and somehow it helps.

Thursday we were still on kind of a weird schedule. We had class all morning and we learned all kinds of stuff! Like I said, our teacher doesn't speak any English to us at all, so we just kind of all try and guess what she's trying to say. It's pretty funny in class as well because often she will say a word or phrase and then we repeat it back to her and because Canto is so tonal, we sound like we're singing all day long. Super great. It wasn't until the second day that we started to really bond as a district, and I guess zone too. Our district is way tight! There are 4 companionship of sisters and 1 companionship of Elders. There's another district about the same size of Cantos who came in the same day we did and we do a ton with them as well. They have one more companionship of Elders than we do. Our zone has about 60 in it, which I'm told is pretty big for a zone here at the MTC. It's composed of the Cambodian (Cambo), Thai (shout out to Nic Heslop), Laotian, Vietnamese and Mongolian missionaries. All way awesome! I'll talk about them more later.

With Two Canto Districts

Thursday night we met with our branch presidency with the other Canto district. They had us all introduce ourselves and share why we decided to come on a mission and share a brief testimony. It was super amazing to listen to the different paths that led us all to the same place. It was interesting how even though those paths were all so different, the reason that we're all here basically all came down to the fact that we all love our Heavenly Father and feel so blessed to be a member of His church, and we all want to help to build his kingdom by inviting others to come unto Him.

Friday was our first day with some sort of a regular schedule. And how do we start our day? GYM TIME! It's the best to have gym time first because it's hard to get up at 6:30 every morning, but being able to go exercise to get going in the morning makes the hours on hours of studying after so much better! 

I wasn't sure I totally believed what everyone said about foursquare in the MTC, but it's true!! There's this huge rivalry between our zone, mostly the Cantos and the Cambos, and the Mandarin speakers. It's nuts. You get these huge rivalries going and people team up to get each other out and it gets insane. It's almost more fun to watch than to play. Sister Hadley (another sister in my district) and I got in on it and showed up some Elders. I'm not going to lie to you and tell you it wasn't super great, because it was. Now we're way tight with our zone and that's way fun!

Friday we taught our first investigator! Her name is Stellar (don't ask me why because I don't know) and she's so great! Sister Killpack and I went in with a game plan to just try to use all the words we had learned so far and then invite her to pray about it when we were done. It went awful. So bad. I literally can't even describe to you how awful it was. She opened the door and we said "Hi how are you? We're missionaries." And she just looked at us like "Cool. So?" And then we didn't know what else to say so we stood there super awkwardly and finally I remembered how to say teach. So I just said "Teach." And pointed inside and she finally let us in. Then we stumbled through a lesson that was all over the place. We would just read from our notes and she probably had no clue what we were saying and we had no clue what she said whenever she talked, so she would ask question and we would just look at each other and keep going. And then when we were done we tried to teach her how to pray, using way more sign language than words, and then after praying we didn't know how to ask her to do anything or say anything else so we just walked out. SO BAD.

But I kind of expected it to be that way, so I wasn't too discouraged. I figured it could only go up from there so it was fine. We laughed about it after. That's what I love about Sister Killpack. She appreciates my ability to laugh at just about everything. Usually in class when everything just gets crazy and none of us know whats going on I just start laughing and then everybody starts laughing and it keeps us sane, so it's all good!

At the end of the day Sister Chan was told that she knew too much Cantonese so she got switched to a two week program in English and then she'll be on to Hong Kong. Since we shared a room with her and her companion, that put her companion with us. So Sister Crook became part of our companionship and we're now a threesome! It's definitely different and threw us back to square one in figuring everything out, but we're getting there! 

Saturday we taught our second lesson to Stellar and it went SO MUCH BETTER! I came out of it so pumped!! By that point we had learned how to pray and bear our testimonies, so it just went a whole lot better! We actually understood what she was saying!!! The gift of tongues is so real! She told us that she wanted to pray but she didn't know if she could pray if she didn't know that there was a God. So in my broken Canto I promised her that if she would pray she would know that there is a God and that God lover her very much and wants her to talk to him. I felt the spirit and everything and this girl isn't even a real investigator but I just felt so much love for her! So we basically got through most of the restoration and challenged her to read the Book of Mormon and pray and she accepted and it was the greatest thing in the whole world! So we teach her again tomorrow, so we'll see how it goes! 

Sunday was the best day ever. I guess it was a different schedule because all the new mission presidents are here so we had a giant combined sacrament meeting and relief society. We also got to watch Music and the Spoken Word, which was way cool. Our whole district decided to join the choir, which is super great! The director is way funny and it was fun to go sing with everybody! We're singing Praise to the Man on Tuesday at the devotional. Word on the street is that it's going to be someone big! They're broadcasting it to all the other MTC's and there's been all kind of crazy security and stuff, so stay tuned for next week because I think it's going to be good!

With Sister Holt…again

That night we had a devotional with Janice Kapp Perry. I've never laughed so hard or felt the spirit so strong at a devotional! So get this. She's telling us the story about how she met her husband and they met in a music class at BYU and they had to play a clarinet solo for their final, so she was getting ready to go up and play and he nudged her and said, "I think those lips were meant for better things than playing the clarinet." So we all start laughing, because that's hilarious, and her husband, who is this super old cute guy gets up and throws his fist up in the air, walks over to the podium and lays a big huge wet on on Sister Perry right in front of everyone! The room went NUTS! They're just the greatest old couple in the whole world. 

She also had us sing the EFY medley which was just amazing. Sister Perry rewrote the words to As Sisters in Zion, for sister missionaries. She wrote the original music (not words). Here are the verses:

The Sisters of Zion are called to God's labor

We willingly serve Him with spirit and might

We go to the nations with truth everlasting

We teach of the Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ.

We go forth enlisted with Helaman's army

In numbers much greater than ever before

With power and spirit we'll faithfully witness

The heavens have spoken the truth is restored.

Singing that with all the Elders singing Army of Helaman is something that I'll never forget. 

I have been born as Nephi of old, 

To goodly parents who love the Lord. 

I have been taught and I understand that 

I must do as the Lord commands. 

We are as the army of Helaman. 

I have been taught in my youth and 

I am now the Lord's missionary to bring the world His truth.

The MTC is the greatest! It's hard and challenging, but the growth and incredible spirit that is here makes up for all the hard stuff. I know that our Savior lives and loves us all. This is His church. Time is short. I love you all and I'll see you soon! 

With High School Friend Ashley Peterson (going to Hill Cumorah)

Love Sister Robinson