Hey family! It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood. (except for the fact its 20 degrees outside) but i wouldn't know what outside feels like because i haven't left the MTC in 6 weeks. What's going on in the world? anything exciting?

 

Anyway, this week was pretty humbling. As I stated in my last email we started a English fast last monday, meaning we were only allowed to speak cantonese all week long. Needless to say, that's pretty hard, especially if you don't know enough normal vocabulary to get something as simple as a drink of water. It was pretty hilarious when we started getting creative and saying "may we receive the blessings of water?" and "i need to go accept baptism (take a shower)" but we did learn a ton. It was pretty great. There were points in the week where we just completely gave up on trying to speak Cantonese and our teachers were pretty upset with us. Xie ji muih said that we needed to repent for speaking English (she's intense). But the most humbling part of the week was when we watched Elder Hollands talk "Miracle of being a missionary". He basically chastised everyone in earshot for wasting any time on the mission because it is the most important thing that we have done thus far in our lives. It meant everything to him and it should mean everything to us. He's right, because though we are a bunch of 19-21 year old kids, we are participating in the eternal salvation of human souls, and we need to take that seriously. It was a great talk, after which we all felt pretty guilty for not taking our English fast seriously.

 

Since that night we have been SYLing as often as possible and I can tell you, we are getting so much better! And not only that, we're happy! It is frustrating when you are trying to say something important and you can't get it out, or someone doesn't understand because you have the tones wrong, but it also feels like a huge victory coming out of lessons where we completely covered everything we wanted to, and understood our investigators needs.

 

Speaking of huge victories, one of our investigators, A-fai, has accepted baptism this week! We will be holding the service on the 21st. Even though A-fai isn't actually getting baptized, because he is actually jang hing daai, our teacher, it is still really great when your investigator can feel the spirit. A-fai is someone that Jang hing daai taught on his mission and as our teachers portray these people, they only act on and accept invitation when they really feel the spirit. When we started meeting with Afai he seemed nonchalant and really bored with everything we said, and we have seen his faith and testimony grow so much, it's been awesome! I can't wait to do it for real.

 

Another big success this week was TRC, when we get to teach lessons from cantonese people from the outside world. We didn't get to go last saturday because it was thanksgiving weekend, but this Saturday we got to meet again with Mr. Wai. He's an elderly man from Hong Kong and he lives here in Utah by himself, we taught him 3 or 4 weeks ago for the first time and haven't seen him since but we love him SOOOO much. He's awesome and really funny. After we taught him on revelation through church attendance he said "You cantonese so good! you will do good in hong kong!" haha. I pretty much want to adopt him for my grandpa. If nana ever wants to get remarried, tell her i have an eligible suitor for her. :)

 

On Tuesday night Brother and sister Yamashita (from the 70) from Japan came and spoke at the MTC. It was great because sister yamashita only spoke a little English, she has only been here for 4 months. Can I just say I love asians? anyway, she gave about a 15 minute talk in broken english, and she kept messing up, so she kept laughing at herself, but the she bore her testimony and the spirit was undeniable! I love that the holy ghost can break the language barrier, and I know that i'm going to mess up but I just gotta open my mouth, and say what i need to say with as much confidence as I can muster! Heavenly Father has got my back in learning this language, and just like dear sister Yamashita, I will be able to fufill my calling and say what the lord needs me to say when I get to Hong Kong.

 

I want to bear a quick testimony that I know life is hard. Missionary work is hard. But the reason it is and always will be hard is because the Atonement isn't cheap. What Jesus Christ went through was far from an easy experience. But I know that the more I forget my own wants and desires, and focus my work  in the Lord, the happier I am. Every time we keep the commandments, we are only giving back what heavenly father has already given us. When we pay tithing we are giving back only 1 tenth of what he has blessed us with. When we dedicate a year and a half to serve a mission, we are only doing it on the life and energy he has granted us. But the one thing we can give him, that he didn't give us, is our will. And I know that by being a good missionary because I love god, and I love people, is a lot more satisfying than doing it for any other reason.

 

The church is true! I love you all. If you could this week, please pray for my companion sister taylor, her knee has been hurting her so she has to do some PT exercises too. Oh and mom- For Christmas I would love a new dress. I am SOOOO tired of my clothes already that it makes me sick. haha. I have worn some very interesting combinations in order to switch it up a little. Who needs to match anyway, right?

 

:)

 

Joigeen!

 

Gou Ji Muih