Funny things that happened this week at the MTC:
1. Our Mongolian Elder is just becoming the life of the party as he’s trying to learn English. This week he tried quoting Matthew 14:31. He slipped up a little and now convincingly says, while raising his eyebrows on every syllable, “Oh yeah!! of little faith, wherefore dids’t thou doubt”. But there is a very thick accent and it’s just too good! I’ll have to try and get a video to send home
2. This same Mongolian Elder, Elder Bataa, ate a Chick Fil’a sandwich at dinner. BUT, before getting started, he pulled out latex gloves and put them on extremely dramatically and then proceeded to dip his sandwich in the Polynesian sauce before eating it with pinkies up…it was an interesting sight (site? – my English is deteriorating)
3. We played in the rain during numerous downpours
4. Some of the elders and sisters in our zone saw snow for the very first time up on the mountain peaks and had a freak out about it haha that was adorable
5. We took “awkward family photos” as a district and I don’t think I have ever laughed that hard
6. One of the elders that I’m sitting by while I’m emailing just leans over and goes, “I never capitalize Satan’s name when I write it.” And me and his companion at the same time go, “Ohhh got him” hahah
7. We learned how to say the following very interesting phrases in Mandarin that have been incorporated into every day life about every 10 minutes….
“pohuai wo de shenghuo” (wreck my life)
“bihnm dou” (*to flip the table in exasperation*)
“wo shou bu liao” (I literally can’t even)
“xie xie ni de fuwu” (thanks for your service)
“wan dan le” (literally means “cooked egg” but as an idiom in Taiwan means “We’re doomed)
“wo de xin!!” (My heart!!)
I’m sure our teacher regrets teaching us some of these hahaha
Okay, now that I’ve gotten most of the giggles out, I can write about some of the amazing things that happened this week!
First, we as the Sisters of our district made it a goal to serve the elders in our district once a week. This week, since we had made it half way, we went big! And we bought them all matching ties that look super good! It made me so happy to see all their faces light up as they read my corny pun of, “you TIE our district together”. I love my district so much! They have become my family away from home!
Second, I got sick this week. I told my mom last week that I was the only one in our zone who hadn’t gotten sick yet, and then the next day I got drop-kicked into sickville. (apparently I didn’t knock on wood fast enough) SO I lost my voice. While I was supposed to be practicing for choir, I couldn’t sing. While I was supposed to be teaching lessons in Mandarin, my voice would crack and break on every word so you could only understand me if I whispered (and whispering a tonal language is actually really hard). Now before you say, that’s not amazing that’s terrible, let me explain. I prayed really really really hard to be able to sing in conference. When I went to bed Friday night, I still had no voice, Saturday morning, I woke up and had a really manly voice, and I didn’t think I was gonna be able to do it. But I kept saying my prayers as we were getting ready to perform in conference, and can I just say that Heavenly Father works miracles. I sang my entire heart out with the right notes and not sounding like I had been sick at all. However, on the last note my voice cracked again and died. But I had prayed to make it through conference, and my prayer was answered! I made it. Now after another day of not having a voice again, I’m on the road to recovery and having my normal voice back!
Third, I got to sing in General Conference as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints! I get to be a representative of Christ with his name right above my heart for the next 17 months of my life!! In one of the songs that we sang, lyrics included… “Chosen by God to serve him below, to every land and people we’ll go, standing for truth with fervent accord, teaching his holy word.” I have been CHOSEN by God to go serve the people of Taiwan. I love the Taiwanese people already, it is insane!! In another song we sang, “I will be His servant…The Lord can depend on me”. That has been my motto for the week. I hope the Lord can depend on my always.
Fourth, wow I had an amazing time teaching a lesson this week (even though I could only whisper). My companion and I had prepared to teach our interested person a lesson about the Restoration. As we first got into the lesson, we were checking up on the guy’s family because that was something he feels really strongly about, [and] we wanted to show that we cared. My companion asked him the question, “What do you learn from your family?” As he was telling us what he learned, he mentioned how his 11-year-old son asked him what the purpose of life was, and he didn’t have the answer to tell his son. I immediately felt the Holy Ghost tell me that I needed to share with him the Pl
an of Salvation. So when he finished talking, I brought that part of the story back up, told him we had the answer, and asked if we could share it. When he whole-heartedly said yes, I looked at my companion, nodded, and gave that look of, “let’s send it, we got the Holy Ghost on our side!” That was easily one of the best lessons [we] have ever taught! We challenged him to share it with his son, and he felt like we had truly listened to his concerns and shared what he needed to hear in order to feel God’s love! Wow it was such an incredible experience! I can’t even begin to put all of how it made me feel into words, I loved it!!!
Fifth, it was General conference!! General conference is always my favorite, and I already can’t wait for the talks to come out so that I can read them again! I encourage you all to go read them again and have even more questions that you may have answered. I absolutely loved all the talks and physically can’t pick a favorite, but I will just share a quick thought from one of them that I was able to hear. I really loved Elder [Neil L.] Andersen’s (of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles) talk from the Sunday Morning session. He talked all about how challenges aren’t fair, but this is mortality, so we will have them. BUT we are meant to survive spiritually and let our faith and trust blossom in Christ. We have to allow God to wipe away the tears from our eyes. If we rely on God and Christ through our challenges, we will make it through, we will be okay. We might not always know why, but we will be okay. Again I loved all the talks, and if you could see the notes I took and all of my questions that were answered, you wouldn’t even question that conference is literally one of my favorite times of the year.
I hope you all had as great of a week as I did, and loved conference as much as I did!
Sister Kara Andersen 