Léih hóu!
This week has gone by SO FAST but SO MUCH has happened! This is going to be a long and disorganized letter, so BUCKLE UP folks, HERE WE GO.
So first off, this week was a little rough because I got hit with a lovely cold Monday night and I'm just now barely getting over it. It's definitely been making its rounds through the district and Lóuh Jímuih is now in the worst of it (I feel so bad. Sharing is caring?), but hopefully she's better soon too. Oops.
This past week we finished teaching our first investigator/teacher (we all knew that big reveal was coming). Léih Jímuih (our teacher) was acting as Nikki, who is actually a real person that Douh Hingdaih (our other teacher) and Léih Jímuih both taught, and her story is actually really cool. She's back in HK now but we'll maybe get to Skype her for training later. :) ANYWAYS, so Lóuh Jímuih and I were in our last lesson with Fake Nikki/Léih Jímuih, and Fake Nikki usually asks a LOT of questions ("How does that work? Why is it like that? Etc, etc. She legit once asked us where heaven is), which take a lot of time and brainpower to answer. So Lóuh Jímuih and I are teaching Nikki about the Atonement (which was BEGGING for clarification questions), and as SOON as Nikki asked us the first question that we had no idea how to answer in Cantonese, I GOT A NOSEBLEED. I was totally fine because I get them all the time and therefore know how to handle them, but I think Nikki thought I was dying, so she just STOPPED asking questions (I think to get the lesson over faster?). We'd go over kind of a complicated sentence and then ask if Nikki understood or if she had any questions and she'd just give us a thumbs up and we'd continue on our merry way. Lóuh Jímuih has started referring to it as a "spiritual nosebleed" and it was a little miraculous and pretty hilarious.
This week has been kind of a tough week so naturally I've thought a lot about struggling and the purpose behind it. I've been struggling with a few things lately, mostly feelings of inadequacy. I've found myself being a little jealous of the English speaking missionaries because SURPRISE, turns out that Chinese is HARD (especially when you have a cold and lost your voice and therefore CAN'T do sounds and tones like you're supposed to) and I'm not quite perfect at it yet (chill out Sister Wasden, you've only been here two weeks). I've been feeling like I could be a much more effective missionary in English because that way I could say exactly what I want to say and be able to fully address the investigator's worries and concerns instead of only understanding a few words of what they're saying and using my elementary Canto vocabulary to answer them and so on and so forth. Anyways, we've had a lot of really good devotionals this week and I'm pretty sure they were all just for me. On Tuesday, Elder deFeo of the 70 spoke to us, and his main point was that "You are the right missionary at the right time in the right mission," which was oh so good to hear. If you're where the Lord needs you to be, you're always in the right place, and I know that the Lord needs me here (because it says so right on my call), even if it's not easy all the time. Later the MTC president was talking to us, and he showed us a clip from Elder Oaks, in which he was talking about why we need to come to earth and have hard times. The video was talking from Heavenly Father's perspective and it said "That which I HAVE I can easily give you, but that which I AM you must obtain for yourself," which hit me really hard. God LETS us struggle a little bit so that we can grow and become something greater, which is actually really cool. We just have to take advantage of the struggle so we can improve ourselves. And then on top of that, in case I wasn't getting the message enough, in church Sister Newell (the branch president's wife and an actual saint) was talking about how stress is a catalyst for growth and how struggling is an opportunity to develop and strengthen ourselves, AND in class Douh Hingdaih went over stress management strategies. Needless to say, I got the hint. ;) Stress and struggling can be tough in the moment, but if they push us to learn and grow and come closer to Christ, then they're 100% worth every second. :)
In other news, this week our district FINALLY got to do our service project, which is setting up chairs in the gym for Sunday devotionals (the gym has been closed while they were redoing the floors, but it's open again). Guys, it's been TWO DAYS and I'm STILL amazed. The MTC has it down to a SCIENCE and it went SO FAST and was SO MUCH FUN. Honestly, they're doing it all wrong everywhere else in the world. If this whole biology thing doesn't work out for me, I've decided that maybe I'll be a chair setter for the rest of my days instead.
Also today my zone got to go to the temple, and it was SO GREAT. The temple is WONDERFUL. We didn't get to go last week (it was closed for cleaning) and we all missed it SO MUCH. It was so good to be back and as usual, it was exactly what I needed. :)
Other miscellaneous news/nuggets of wisdom I've learned this week:
1. ERIN SMITH (oops, Sister Smith now) IS HERE AT THE MTC AND IT'S GREAT. I love seeing her around. :)
2. We move into the new MTC buildings today and we are all so STOKED. Some lucky missionaries (not me) have gotten to tour them and I've heard so many good things! My new classroom will be on the top floor and I'm really really really excited to see it, although I am a little sad to say goodbye to our old classroom.
3. This week I get to host incoming missionaries and I'm real excited for that. :)
4. And last but definitely not least, if you ever feel like you need some extra blessings, sneeze in the MTC showers. If you REALLY need extra blessings, sneeze three times in a row. At least 4 sisters will bless you every time, guaranteed. Tried, true, and Sister Wasden approved.
Okay, I think that's all for this week! Thanks for all the love, I really appreciate all of you!
Gayaùh! Much love,
Gwok Jímuih (Sister Wasden)