Week 4 in the MTC

NIMEN HAO!!

This week was again a pretty great week! Time seems to fly by here but at the same time drag on, its so weird. Can't believe I've only been gone for 4 weeks because it seems like so much longer than that!

This week was fairly average except for the weekend. We continued to teach our 'investigators' Deng Zhi Xian and Mu Zhi Hao which is always fun, and I can feel my Chinese slowly getting better. They are both progressing rather nicely, though Mu Zhi Hao gets caught up on the most random things then asks questions about them the entire time we meet. I hear everyone seems to feel like they hit a wall 4th week with the language, and I can kind of see why. There's only so much you can learn and do before the best way to really learn is just to be thrown out into it! 

In the middle of the week my teacher asked my companion and I to be SYL (speak your language) coordinators, which basically means that we are to encourage and report to him about how well our district does with using  what we know, practicing our language, and being more confident. We are trying to make Mandarin be everyone's first instinct to use in talking. It's interesting that he asked us to do it because we are far from the best speakers in the class but we will do our best to encourage everyone's growth with the language! 

Patriotic District

We were all sad to hear about President Packer's death. He was truly an inspired man, and I enjoyed the relative bluntness of his persona. I wish I knew more about him and his teaching's, what I do know makes me want to know more. We all have the opportunity to see his funeral this upcoming Friday here in the MTC.

The older district is preparing to leave this next weekend and it got me very excited for when I leave, though it is weeks away. They are all so fun and are great examples, and Ill miss them! The one sad thing about going to Hong Kong speaking Mandarin is that all the awesome friends I have here that are speaking Mandarin are all going to Taiwan. I know they'll all be killer missionaries though and I'll definitely keep in touch with those I got close to!

Some of the older district missionaries that will be leaving the MTC

This weekend was one of the best weekends here so far! Last pday my friend Elder Poon (I call him cousin Poon because we could look vaguely related and people believe that were cousins) in my zone planned on making this Saturday, the 4th of July, our zone 'Treat Yo'self Day' so we all emailed our moms on Monday to send us good snacks and food in packages.

The treat yo self box

Elders Woolley & Poon

Then on Saturday we put all the snacks in big boxes which we called the treat yo self box and carried it around all day, we basically pigged out all day and treated ourselves it was hilarious haha.

Elders Krischner & Stratford with the "box"

One of my roommates Elder Kirschner is just the funnest to snack with he is always down for a good snacking and he goes so hard it's hilarious. And then Saturday night we had a great patriotic devotional. During the devotional we got to see all the people from around the world in this MTC, and where around the world everyone is serving, it was so cool to see how global this church is! It's just another testimony of it's truth! After that we all got to go out and watch the fireworks at Lavell from the parking lots which was so fun! It was a great way to break up the monotony that the MTC is, and I got to be with all my college buddies and zone buddies mixed together which was great!

Elders Hammond, Olson & Woolley - BYU buddies

We continued to treat ourselves throughout the fireworks with our treat yo self boxes, and shared our food with everybody. On the walk back to the dorms that night all these kids from the Polynesian Islands started singing this awesome islandy sounding song which was so coo, I could've listened to it for hours. The island elders are so fun they just have so much energy and cultural pride I love it! I was definitely proud to be an American this 4th of July, and feel blessed to live in this amazing and beautiful country, I hope we never forget how lucky we are! It was a great way to have one last American celebration before I go live in Hong Kong for 2 years.

I had an amazing fast Sunday this week as well, it was definitely the most sincere and fulfilling fast I've ever done before. I was so focused on my questions and purpose of the fast that I didn't even notice the hunger! That's something I've never felt before. Our branch leader President Teng also pulled my companion and I aside on Sunday morning and asked us to serve as the new Zone Leaders, I was a little surprised but my companion and I were excited to accept the new responsibility!

Ready to go and serve around the world!

We are now in charge of a lot, and are to watch over and uplift all the missionaries in our zone. It's a humbling calling, and I'm glad that we were trusted to take care and serve all the Elder we have here. I'm excited to be able to get to know all of them a little better, and hopefully to be able to be a good example and be a leader to all the missionaries! I look forward to welcoming all the new missionaries that come every week as well, and to getting to know President Teng better, he is a cool and smart leader so it should be great to learn from him! This new responsibility will also help solidify my companionship and help us to be more in touch with the Spirit for how we can help all the members of our zone. During the testimony meeting we were asked bear testimonies in Chinese of course, and I felt that I should, so I just walked right up and was able to say a confident testimony that actually made sense (according to this one Taiwan native we have here) which was such a cool blessing! I love learning this language and I can't wait to serve the people! We also saw the movie Meet the Mormons, which I saw earlier this year. It's interesting to see it from my new perspective as a missionary. I remember when I first saw it I was a little critical of it because it strayed away from addressing some of the modern points of conflict with the church, but as I watched it this time I realized that they don't need to talk about all that stuff because none of it has to do with what the Church really is about, and what it's really like being a member of this wonderful church. It definitely made me miss my family and normal life a little bit with mountain and skiing scenes, and it was weird seeing the goodbye part for a missionary because I've been through that now, but it was pretty uplifting. I love seeing all the worldwide cultures that click with this religion because it truly is God's church and everybody in the world is his children. It's amazing seeing how people accept it into their lives, how it changes them for the better, and brings them to Christ. It made me SO excited to get to Hong Kong, to be part of the awesome culture, to meet and get to know the amazing members there, and to find those who are ready to receive Christ's Gospel.

A few more BYU buddies 

This week was a big testimony builder to me on the topic of sincere prayer. I know that if we sincerely pray and address our Father in Heaven that we can receive answers. I know that He listens and hears every one of our prayers. I have spent more time on my knees in sincere prayer to the Father in my weeks here than I ever have before and I feel the blessings come from it. I know I wouldn't be able to speak and understand as well as I do if I wasn't being blessed, and I know that He has guided and blessed me through the good and bad here so far. I know if we truly desire in our hearts, believing that He will answer is, He will. I know it because I have experienced it in my life and it has helped me in so many ways. Prayer is a blessing, we are able to have a two way communication with our Father in Heaven. I hope we never forget how special this is, and I hope that I can continue to pray always and pray sincerely.

I love you all so much! I love getting emails from you all, and getting letters and packages from you all throughout the week it always makes my day better!

Love,

Wu Zhang Lao