The Missionary Presidents building take over

Dear Mom and Everyone else!

The sisters of Unit 152

Nimen hao!  The MTC is good.  Though, everyone seems to be getting sick.  And it's not even just a cold... There seems to be an intestinal flu that has been going around.  It lasts for about a day or two, and people tend to throw up all night.  Don't worry, I haven't gotten it yet.  And none of the other sisters in my district have gotten it either.  But so far, I think the majority of the Elders have had it... No bueno... or as I should say, bu hao!  We've just been washing our hands a lot.  And we've been trying to stay away from sketchy food.

Happy Birthday Mom!! I love you so much!  You are the best mom in the world!  I hope that you had a good birthday, and that you had a good time in California.  I wish for nothing more than to be with you... but I guess that will have to wait for another 18 months. :(  But ah well, when I get back, we can spend a lot of time together! Love you!

Anyways, I'll go by days of the week like I did last time, since it makes it a bit more organized.

Tuesday:  Well, I was eating my breakfast in the cafeteria when guess who tapped me on the shoulder!  Sister Chelsea Newman!  She just came in the last week apparently.  And I think she is doing all right so far.  I've only seen her once here or there.  But it was nice seeing her.  I keep seeing people from USU as well.  It's like being back at school! Hahaha! Especially with being in classes all day long... Seriously, like all day long...  Anyways, I do like Tuesdays though, since we get to have devotionals.  This week, it was Robert C Gay, who did an amazing job!  I forgot my note book, otherwise I would write more on him.  But I love Tuesday Devotionals!  We still get to go to the Marriott center, which is fun.  And It's been fun singing in the choir for the Devotionals.  Though, we often have to eat dinner early in order to get to practice on time.  The other sisters are considering not doing choir anymore, which makes me sad... because I like choir...

Wed-thurs:  Well... These are a  couple of my not so favorite days, since they always end up being long.  It feels like we are in class all day.  And we also have classes back to back, with only a meal in between....  But, what can you do?  We learn a lot... Though, I still need to work on my SYL- speak your language.  The problem is, if I SYL then no one can understand me except for the teachers... which gets really boring... So most of the time, I forget, or I just speak first in Chinese and then in English.

Friday:  This is the day that the Mission Presidents took over building 1M.  It's cool to have the mission presidents, but it's not fun eating sack meals or eating in the gym.  The food is often cold by time we eat it, and there are not as many choices as normal.  But that's okay.  One thing that makes me sad is that they don't have any skim or 1% milk.  They only have 2%, chocolate milk 2% or juice or pop or water... So, I've been drinking a lot of water.  Which is a good habit to start. :) 

Oh, we also extended our first baptismal invitation to an "investigator".  We were challenged to do so by another teacher, but we only had like 5 minutes to prepare... I did my best.  Our investigator said that she would think about it.  She's not a continuing investigator (an investigator you teach over a period of a couple of weeks) but it was nice to get the practice in.  I feel like we could have done a better job, but we didn't have time to learn how to properly extend a baptismal invite in Mandarin...

Saturday:  This Saturday was pretty good.  Our teacher overslept, so we didn't get to teach our investigator... Which was okay, since our syllabus didn't say that we were teaching on Saturday.  We also couldn't go and teach TRC because the schedule has been messed up with the Mission Presidents being around.  But I was fine with that, since we weren't really prepared... We just keep teaching lessons after lessons, that we don't have time to get ready for them anymore... Which is okay for me, but Sister Eliason needs a bit more time to prepare...  I just tend to wing the lessons... But we need to work on a bit more companionship teaching unity... which is hard, since Sister Eliason still feels that it's heard to express herself in Mandarin.

Singing in the missionary Choir

Sunday:  Well, this was the big day of the World Wide Missionary training broadcast.  It was a very cool experience to sing in it.  We saw 11 of the 12 Apostles, which was way awesome! They are all so sweet!  They all gave us thumbs up and waved at us.  Of course we waved back!  It was amazing to feel the spirit that just radiated from them!  And I was happy to have been a part of the broadcast.  They stressed the importance of members in missionary work.  I agree, without members, it would be very hard for us missionaries to do our job.  Did you know that one of the responsibilities of all members of the church is to bring others unto Christ so they can feel his love and partake of his blessings?  But most importantly, it is important to show your love for everyone you meet, members and non members alike.

Sorry mom, there was no up close shots of me.  But there is a far away one.  I took a picture of the recording of the broadcast on the computer screen... Not the best quality but, it was the best I could do.

Today has been pretty good.  We went to the temple, which is always a great experience.  I'll be sad when they close it for cleaning.  Other than that, we haven't done much... I'll just go and do laundry later, and then prepare my lesson that I have tonight....  I really want to take a nap though... I'm tired! Hahaha!

Thanks everyone who sent letters and Dear Elders.  I love getting mail! *hint hint*  I'll respond when I have time, but apparently, we are only supposed to send mail on Mondays... I've been bad at that so far... Whoops! 

We like to pretend we are witches when we clean  ;)

Oh! And Ev, Thanks for the Package! It was FANTASTIC! I love the peach!  And the apple made everyone laugh!  And I loved the lychee!  I tried to share some, but people seemed kind of afraid of them.  Just wait until we get to Taiwan!!!! :D 

Anyways, Love you all!  Talk to you all next week!!  Hope you all have a great day!

Love,

Sister Peng

Week #3 The MTC experience continued....

 Week #3:  Nicholle is still doing well!  She would love letters if you have the time to write!

This is my quail friend, Cornelius.  He comes and visits my study area at around 3pm every day... He's a bit annoying, but I love him all the same. :)

Dear Mom and Everyone else,

Ni hao!  How is everyone?  This week has been good, though I still can't believe we still have about 6-7 weeks left... that feels like an eternity!  We haven't even gotten 1/3 of the way through yet.  But it's all good.  We are learning a lot, and it's fun being here.  Though sometimes, all I want to do is sleep!  We go to bed pretty much on time, and wake up and we are still exhasted.  Ah well. There isn't much you can do.  Except we are thinking of scheduling a nap time. ;P

My companion has been sick this week, so that hasn't been fun.  We've missed a lot of class time because of that.  I feel okay with missing language class times, since most of it is pretty easy considering that I've learned it all before.  I don't like missing time when they are explaining missionary stuff though... I keep feeling like we are missing out on things.  I hope she feels better soon.  I don't think I'll catch what she has, but I've been washing my hands like crazy to make sure I don't. 

So, I think in order to get things organized, I'll write the highlights of each day.

Tuesday:  Well, I love Tuesday evenings, since we get the devotionals.  But this past Tuesday was special.  We got to go to the Marriot center, which is HUGE!  But since my companion and I were getting interviewed by the media, we got a ride in a car.  On our ride, we had to stop by Wyview, the west campus MTC, to pick up the Elders that were also getting interviewed.  It was so weird to be out in the "normal" world.  :)  I'm a bit jealous of the people in Wyview, they get TVs and eat at local resturants on p days... Ah well. :)  It's nice being at main campus, even though it's getting a bit cramped...  The speaker at the devotional was way good, to top it all off.  All of the devotionals are a big spiritual boost.  Love them!  (http://www.ksl.com/?sid=25561483&nid=148&title=sea-of-missionaries-spreads-from-mtc-to-byu-in-evening-march&fm=home_page&s_cid=featured-3)  (http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865581535/MTC-overflows-with-LDS-missionaries-moves-devotionals-to-Marriott-Center.html?pg=all)

Sister Peng & Sister Eliason had reserved seating for the devotional (okay, I couldn't get the picture to turn around).

Wed:  Well... On Wednesday, we didn't go to classes, because Sis Eliason slept all day... It was nice and relaxing for me, but I wanted to be in classes...  We also saw the new missionaries come in.  It's funny, because the first couple of days, you can tell who is new, even without the orange sticker.  They just look lost, shocked, and some of the Sisters don't dress properly.

Thurs:  Well... Nothing exciting happens on Thursday, to be honest... It's just another day of class... Ah well, we learn a lot!

Friday:  Nothing really on Fridays either... Being a missionary is the only time where Fridays and Saturdays don't really matter...  There is no excitment for the weekend.  Enjoy your weekends!

Saturday:  We got to go to the TRC for the first time.  It's when you give lessons to volunteers who are members.... It was the worst time we had teaching yet, just because we couldn't figure out what to teach our investigator, Brother Tsai.  He was a return missionary, and I think he ended up teaching us more than we taught him.  It was a good experience though.

Sunday:  I love Sundays!  We watched Music and the Spoken word and then we sat through Relief society.  The speaker was Neill F Marriott, who is the 2nd Councilor of the General Young Womens.  She gave an excellent talk, which included her own conversion story.  She really emphasized serving the Lord with all of our hearts, might, mind and strength.  For our Sunday night devotional, it was broadcasted from the West Campus.  Stephan B Allen spoke, and he showed a lot of Old Mormon Ads.  They are all cheesy, but they all have good messeges. :)  Then, for our movie, we watched the Testaments.  That movie always makes me cry!

Sister Peng and her district

And today is Monday.  So far so great! We went to the temple eariler, and did a session.  I love going to the temple! We also finally got a picture of our whole district together!  I'll post that with this email.  We are now just writing letters and such... P.S. if anyone wants mail from me, they'll have to send things to me first.  Otherwise, I won't know your address... :P  Think of it as a trade. :)

Hmm.... Anyways... I would share a spiritual thought or scripture... but I forgot my scriptures...  Hmm...  Here's a mormon ad tag line that is great: "It's not who you aren't.  It's Who you are.  And being yourself is being great."  And here's another.  "It's often life's small moments that make the best memories.  Don't let their magic pass you by"

Just want all of you to know that I'm loving the MTC, and that I miss you all!  Be fantastic! 

Love,

Nicholle (Sister Peng)

Oh! P.S.  Happy Father's day Mom, you are both parents to me!  And happy father's day to Grandpa! And happy Father's day to everyone who is a dad... :) 

Pardon my typing... I don't like these computers....
Oh! On Sunday, we learned that our branch is getting divided into 2, to make room for the new incoming missionaries... So the branch I'm in is basically the old German branch...  We are just replacing them.  Our branch presidency speaks German.... So, they won't be able to understand any of the talks that us missionaries will give. :P

This is Nicholle's 2nd email.  If you want to write her she would love to receive letters.  The best way to contact her is through DearElder.com while she is in the MTC as she only gets 30 minutes on the computer at the MTC.  When you use DearElder.com they will print it and put it into an envelope and deliver it for free.

You need the following Info for DearElder.com

   Unit #: 152

   Mission Code:  TAIW-TCG

   Estimated MTC Departure Date:  AUG01

 

Hello Mom! Da Jia Hao!

 

Well, about 2 weeks down! And I'm still alive.  I've learned that the days go by slow and the weeks go by super fast!  That's primarily because most of the days mesh into one since it's all a jumble of classes for both language and missionary training, meals and sleeping.  This week wasn't as bad as the first week, but I didn't think the first week was too terrible.   I'm so grateful that I've had the chance to learn Chinese before coming here.  I'm still learning a ton, but it's a bit easier since I already know how to put the new vocab together and such. 

 

My favorite times at the MTC aren't when we are in class though.  I really love the devotionals that we get on Tues and Sunday.  They are really a spiritual boost that is much needed.  I really like the amount of hymns we sing here.  We sing a few song before every devotional to bring the spirit into the room.  On sunday, for relief society, we sang the New version of Sisters of Zion.  It made me cry!  Because, I am a Sister of Zion!  We also sang the Army of Heleman.  But here, we've changed a few of the words.  So instead of "We are as the Lord's missionaries"  It's "We are now the Lord's Missionaries"  Also, during the Relief society meeting, Sister Anne Clegg came to talk to us.  She is amazing!  She gave us "The Three Most important things to know to be a missionary."  1) Know your purpose  2) Be Bold   3) Expect Miracles  This talk was very good, and I'm glad she came to talk to us.  Sundays are always such a spiritual boost.  Also on Sunday, I watched the Joseph Smith movie.  It makes me cry every time.

 

I still find myself awed at the number of missionaries here. And there are more coming!  I've heard someone say that this is the crest of the wave.  And we are going to be riding on top.  It's an amazing time to be a missionary, and I am so thankful to have this opportunity.

 

Talking about the massive number of missionaries, we will be having devotionals at BYU's Merriott center for the rest of this summer.  We have had so many missionaries that we don't all fit in the auditorium that they used to use.  In fact, it's a historical event! And guess what, they chose 6 missionaries to talk to the Media about it! And guess what!!! THEY CHOSE ME TO BE ONE OF THEM!!!  They said that we were all recommended by good sources... I just don't know who this source is.  And I don't know why out of a few thousand missionaries, they chose ME!  It's super crazy!  So, I'll be talking with the media tomorrow... I'm not sure when they'll release it, and the Director person we talked to said that he would send a list of all the media reportors there to my home.  But Keep an eye out!

 

When they called for me to go down to the meeting for the Media things, I thought I was in trouble.  No one had talked to me or my companion about anything! The others, who were all Elders, knew what was going on though....

 

I am in choir, which is one of the best experiences ever!  We are going to be doing something amazing with choir as well.  The church is going to do a global broadcast with something dealing with missionary work and members.  So they are getting about 1400 missionaries to sing with 1400 church members and we are going to be singing for the First Presidency and the twelve Apostles!!!! I'm super excited! It's going to be awesome!  We have to memorize our songs though, which will be a bit hard, but not to difficult.  I just have to get used to the Alto parts... Also, one of the songs gets pretty high, so us altos are trying not to screech. :)

 

We got to go to the temple today! It was such a beatiful experience.  I didn't get to go through last time.  But this time, we got to do sealings.  I've never done sealings, but it was a cool experience.  As a missionary, we can only get sealed as a child and never as one of the parents.  That's because as a missionary, we give up all "coupley" things. Sealings don't take as long to do as endowment sessions, which is also another positive thing. :)

 

So, we've finished teaching our first "investigator" and we are preparing to teach our second.  Our first "investigator" is actually a teacher, who is now teaching us.  Which is a good thing, because we can now learn how to be better.  Our second "investigator" will be our teacher that we had previously... which is a bit silly...  I'm sure we will have a hard time trying to keep a straight face when we walk into the room.

 

In the beginning, I was afraid of teaching.  Now I kind of look forward to it.  It gives you a sort of spiritual rush.  Especially when the lessons don't end up too terribly.  Most people have funny stories to share about how they've messed up... But I don't think we've actually messed up too bad.  But that's mainly because of the fact that I have enough Chinese to get my point across.  Which is nice.  Sometime's I'm not sure what I want to say, but in the end, I figure something out.  I feel bad sometimes for Sister Eliason.  She looks lost a lot of the time.  I point out things for her to say though.  I'm trying to think of how I can better serve her in helping her with the language.

 

The food is still edible.  Thanks Mom for the Package.  However, I must say, the donuts didn't completely survive the trip.  The frosting melted, and they looked a bit smooshed.  I don't think any of my roommates dare to eat them. I've tried a few bites... they aren't bad... but I'm sorry, they are probably going to end up in the trash.  I have a picture of Sister Andrson pretending to eat them.  She is super funny! Love her!

 

Another funny story happened last night.  I was in the bathroom getting ready for bed, when a Sister started talking to me in Spanish.  I said Hola and then told her that I am actually Chinese and I speak Mandarin.... Do I look Mexican???? I think I look pretty Asian myself...

 

Another funny thing is that I have the hardest time calling people "Sisters" or "Elders"  I keep saying things like:  "Hey Guys!" but we aren't supposed to say "Guys".... We all keep messing up.  Also, I'm not used to being called Sister Peng... I always feel like they are calling my Mom or something.

 

Anyways, I should probably go! Love you all! Wo ai nimen!

Sister Peng

First P-Day

Sister Peng's P-Day at the MTC will be on Mondays.  She is very busy but is doing well.  

Dear Mom and Everyone else,

Well, So far so good!  Wednesday through Saturday was pretty hard.  My bottom has been so sore from sitting all day long!  We stay in one room for the majority of the day and the chairs are rather hard.  We are also cramped, since we have 12 people in our district.  Only 4 of those are sisters. Everyone gets along and it's pretty fun to be with all of them.  I love my companion, Sister Eliason.  She is super sweet and funny!  We get along great.  (Oh, and she's a friend of Johnny Jacobs).  I'm in the same room as Sister Anderson and her companion is Sister Mancilla.  They are both really funny, and they love to talk and make funny faces.  We keep teasing that Sister Anderson is flirting with all of the elders. ;)

Anyways, so I guess I'll answer my mom's questions:

1) Are you finding things that you enjoy eating?

 The food here is okay... Nothing really exciting.  On Sundays they have ice cream though, which is nice.  Yesterday I didn't get any though because we had really good chocolate and caramel cake. It was soo yummy!  My favorite part of each meal is the fruit.  Every meal I eat pineapple and cantaloupe and honey dew.  Once they had strawberries! That made my day! 

2) Are you guys gonna get more sisters in your room or does the room only accommodate 4?

Our room accommodates 6 girls (bed wise).  We got lucky.  I don't know if they will put more girls in our room.  I hope not, though they probably will... We are supposed to get about 150 new missionaries in our branch over the next few weeks!  It's going to be crazy!

3) Have you figure out how to find the time to shower and such?

So far, I haven't had problems showering.  There has always been at least one open.  Sister Mancilla has had to wait in a few lines, and Sister Anderson has had some cold showers, but so far I haven't had any difficulties. :) I just hate waking up earlier so I can shower and still have time to get ready.

4) What is your daily schedule like?

Hmm... Daily Schedule... Well since we are new our schedule isn't totally routine.  Every morning we wake up at around 6:30 and get ready until 7.  Then we go to our class to do personal study, which is then followed by breakfast.  After breakfast we go to class again and do some sort of language study, followed by additional study time.  We then go to dinner and then teach our investigator.

5) How in the heck do you have 30 pounds of material? Do you want me to send you your PMG now or closer to when you leave?

I don't know! We just have a lot of books! It's crazy!  And I don't even understand half of them! hahaha!  We have English copies, pin yin copies and character copies of everything.  So that probably adds to the bulk.  Our pocket dictionaries aren't really pocket sized either.... and we have 2 text books.

6) Are you getting mail from people yet?

So far, I've only gotten stuff from Mom and Gong Gong and PoPo.  It's nice though, since mail is apparently like gold around here.  Oh, and you haven't been sending too much.  I just take my time to read things.  I love my package too! Don't know when I'll have time to eat stuff though, because it feels like all we do is eat and study here.

7) Did you get my care package on the first day? Are you sharing?

Yes, I have been sharing. :)  Everyone loves the Hichew. :)

8) What do you do for your morning exercise?

We haven't had a morning exercise time yet.  All of ours have been after dinner, which is gross.  We run and do a lot of core and push up stuff...  We haven't had much exercise time since we are new... We are supposed to start getting regular exercise times though.

9) Are you learning a lot of Chinese? Have you had to teach a discussion in Chinese yet?

I'm learning a lot of gospel Chinese words.  It's fantastic! And yes, we've had to teach twice so far. and we have to teach again today.  So far, it's been okay, though they only teach us vocab and not very much about how to put things together.  They also haven't taught us enough to figure out how to teach the lessons... They've only taught us how to pray and bear our testimonies.

10) Where is the fourth sister in your room from?

Sister Mancilla is from... I forgot. Her family is from Mexico though.  Sister Eliason is a friend of Johnny's.

11) Are there many other Chinese people in your mission group?

I'm the only Chinese person in my district.  There are a couple of others in our branch as a whole.

12) What has been the best thing about the MTC thus far? What have you had to take some adjusting to?

My favorite thing has been.... Sunday...  Because it's more relaxed.  I also love temple walks, when we just get to walk around the temple

13) Have you join the choir? When do they practice?

We haven't had choir yet.  I think we practice Tuesday and Sunday

14) Why do the language advanced people get instructions in English? That's strange. 

IDK..... Really, IDK...

Okay, I have to go... We only get 30 mins on this computer. I'll try and send pictures quickly though.

Love you all! Zai Jian!

Ai, Sister Peng.

                                    Sister Peng says that her roommates are Awesome!

                                                         She loves her companion!