Shemna Da

are you serious? the first opportunity i have to read an email from the family and nothing? shenma da (what the)? i hope you are all still alive. anyway...

time goes so fast in the mtc. it really is a wonderful and happy place. wo ai (i love it). it has become more apparent that my companion and i are really different. i just found out that she was homeschooled (that explains a few things). we still get along but i'm learning patience. i'm someone that likes to multitask, you know, watch tv, listen to music, do math homework and chew gum all at once. she can't listen and write at the same time, and she write painstakingly small and slow. this is cause for some abrasion, but not enough to complain about. our teaching together goes really well. yesterday we had an accountability interview with a member of our branch presidency. he asked us to teach a principle from the first lesson off the cuff. whoa! we were so nervous. but he said we teach as if we've been teaching for years. he could feel our warmth and our transitions from one to the other were seamless! so exciting.


An exciting thing this week was our first trc/lrc task. the trc/lrc is where we practice real missionary stuff. our first appointment was on saturday. we had to knock on doors, introduce ourselves and our purpose, testify and get a referral in chinese. that bit went okay. our first door though thought he could speak mandarin when in fact he couldn't. we asked for his name and he said "hao" (good). then we shared our testimonies and he stared blankly. funny. this guy was the same one we had to teach. (i hope you guys laugh at this story, if you were in the mtc you would think it was hilarious.) so we go back and knock again then ask if we can continue in english. he doesn't understand so we just start speaking yingwen (english). we sit down and get to know him (he seems almost flaming but not quite). then we ask our lead in question, "what do you believe about god?" he answers, "i know god loves me and i feel his love." pretty much a summary of the first part of the lesson. we respond with "you're right" and then go into more detail. then we say "one way god shows his love for us is by sending prophets. what do you know about prophets?" "i know they are called by god to receive revelation and lead the people" another summary! what the heck? he's supposed to be non-christian. so we again say "you're right" and go deeper. i asked if he ever disobeyed his parents (paralleling it to disobeying our heavenly father by not listening to prophets), he tells a 10 minute story about ditching school for ice cream. i'm so proud (but humble because the lord helped me) about my save. "i used to ditch school a lot too, and because of it my grades suffered. rules to go to school are there so we can excel, just like commandments are given so we can progress towards living with god again." oh my gosh! it gets crazier. he goes off on some tangent and then shares a scripture WITH US, not US WITH HIM. then we get to the book of mormon. "have you heard of the book of mormon?" "yes i've read pamphlets on it. i know it's true." WHAT?????? he continues, "prophets went to the americas ... other sheep not of this fold... the olive tree..." how do we recoup from that? i say, "so you've read it?" "no i've read pamphlets." "wow, you must have much more faith than i do, i had to read the whole thing and pray about it before i gained testimonry. (share moroni 10_3-5) i know that if you read it and pray about it you will have the truth RECONFIRMED, you will know for sure." oh my! it was hilarious. our teacher commended our efforts. hahahha

oh!! thank you thank you thank you for the package. the medicine and chocolate helped a ton. i'm still stuffy but a lot better than before. you are so great, i love you. so far i have about a letter a day average. let's keep that up, please. i want to hear what you guys are up to, and what you think about the stories i tell you. things here are so great, but the language is tough. our district made a goal to start speaking only mandarin a week early, that is starting next monday. i don't feel prepared. pray that i am able to learn about threee semesters worth this week. ha. what else? our dorm building has plumbing problems so we have to move to another this week. it will be okay though. um, some elders that came the same day as me but already speak mandarin are leaving already (one today, one next week, one the week after). um, i am happy to have little brothers. i know that i'll stay friends with at least two elders from my district.

the spirit here is amazing. as of yet, i don't want to leave. OH!! a few days ago i did my first full sit ups ever! hahahaha. we took pictures. i did about thirteen before i was shaking on my way up. the next day i aimed for 15 but did 18. today i'm doing two sets of 12, tomorrow two sets of 15 and hopefully the day after two sets of 20. dad, you thought i wouldn't work out. ha! elder welling and i made a goal to reach 100 by the time we go to taiwan (he's doing push ups though).

i love you guys and miss you. write me. send me pictures. i'll send some soon so you can see everyone i tell you about. muah!!!

zeng jie mei