Hello All!!
I am approaching my fourth week here at the MTC and it really doesn't seem like real life! Time flies here.
Chinese is starting to get more and more difficult and I find myself getting discouraged at times and feeling like i haven't made much progress. My Branch president gave me some words of comfort as he shared a story. He said that he was on a pretty hard hike up a mountain and he would feel as though he was getting closer to the top and then would see that there was another ridge he had to cross, and another, and so on and so fourth. He thought that he would never make it to the top. As he was getting discouraged he decided to take a break and he looked down. Below he said he saw what looked like a tiny little match box car, which really was his car. He then realized how far he had actually gotten. He related this to learning Chinese and how we may feel like we still have so much more that we need to learn and get discouraged but we have to take a moment and look at how much we have already progressed and learned. I think this is similar with life, we have to realize that perfection wont come in a day, or even a year, but that we can be progressing every single day as we try our hardest. Learning this language is a real test of my faith but i know that one day (out in the mission field) ill make it to the top of the mountain.
Elder Holland came and spoke to us at the Tuesday night devotional (I know, so cool!!) It was amazing to be so close to an Apostle of God (we sat 4 rows away AHH). He talked a lot about missionary work and how as a missionary we always at least convert one person, and that is ourselves. He went into depth about the creation of Preach My Gospel and wow is it amazing. I have grown to love that book and it is definitely one of out best friends as missionaries. He then went on about being an obedient missionary and the importance of obedience in our everyday lives. We must be obedient to God and all of his commandments. His last topic had to do with opening our mouths. He shared Ephesians 6: 11-19. The sword of the spirit is our one offensive weapon that we have, everything else is a protection- he said that as missionaries our number one offensive tool that we have, is our voices! We have to open our mouths, we cannot be afraid. "Missions are measured by words" He then shared the sweetest testimony about Joseph Smith as he knelt down to pray in the sacred grove. He said that the devil would have taken Joseph's life if he could, but he cant, so the next best thing he could do was "bind his tongue" which caused Joseph to not speak. But despite that Joseph cried out to the Lord. As missionaries Satan will do everything in his power to bind our tongues, but we cant let him. Even outside of the mission there are many a times where we could have been better missionaries and opened our mouths but they were bound. Moral of the story is to never be afraid to open your mouth, even if you feel as Enoch and are not good at speaking, the lord will never leave your side and help you.
Quick funny story! So we always go and play kick-ball in the morning as Chinese zones and on Thursday when we got out there all of the Cambodian speaking missionaries wanted to play as well. So they decided that we should do Chinese vs Cambodia. Oh gosh... it was honestly the funniest thing EVER! They got really into it and were incredibly serious about the game and we were just there to have fun. It was quite the sight to see as they would "trash talk" us and we would just walk on by. We would get so pumped up and cheer each other on as a team it was just the greatest time. Definitely a great MTC story to be shared. I really am sooo lucky to have such an amazing zone (and the other Chinese zone) here. We all work hard together but have a blast doing it and enjoy our time outside of class together as well. We are all really close and i am sad that a district of sisters that i adore leaves tomorrow, but they are going to Taichung so i cant wait to see them!
I can feel my Saviors love everyday here as i continue to grow and struggle. Its truly amazing to be a representative of Jesus Christ and wear his name on my badge everyday.
Sister Hardy!
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