Tuesday, July 16, 2013

7/15/13 Sister Peng's testimony continues to grow



Hello Mom and everyone else!

How is life?  It's just been the same old at the MTC.  I honestly can't believe it's been a week since I last emailed.  And I can’t believe I only have 2 weeks left! We are supposed to get our travel plans this week! And our Chinese name tags (with character names)!  It's so exciting!  It feels like forever ago since I last saw everyone.  I miss everyone and I hope you are all doing well!!!

Anyways, I fear that this email might be short since I'm short on time. These computers are the WORST!.... anyways.... Last Monday was good; I hardly remember it well though.  After I did laundry and ate dinner we went back to class where we had  to teach a lesson.  We didn't have that long to prepare our lesson, since it's hard to motivate ourselves to work on p days..., so we decided that we were going to teach the Joseph Smith story to our investigator who is having a hard time having enough faith to be baptized.  Poor Sister E…. doesn't really have a lot of vocab to teach with, so I normally end up teaching most of the lesson.  Anyways, I started quoting the Joseph Smith story and I started tearing up.  The Holy Ghost was so strong! It was testified to me that what I was saying was true.  That Joseph Smith did see God and Christ in the grove.  He is a prophet!  It's amazing the spirit you can have when teaching a lesson.  I can't tell you how many times before I had recited the Joseph Smith story before (probably hundreds!) and never before had I cried.  But then again, I was just practicing it before.  I didn't really need the witness of the Holy Ghost when memorizing Joseph Smith's words.  But I needed it's witness when bearing testimony of it to my investigator.  I pray to have similar experiences in Taiwan.  Because, ultimately, I am not the teacher, and neither is my companion.  The Holy Ghost is!

So on Tuesday we had devotional once again.  I've kind of forgotten who the speaker was, but I still remember the message that he brought.  He really shared with us the importance of prayer.  Every morning and every evening you should kneel in prayer.  Tell God about your day, and ask him for help.  He is our Heavenly Father and he wants to hear from us! He wants to help us! But we have to ask for that help.  He has given us our agency, and so he will not help us if we decided we don't need it.  I've really grown in testimony of how important prayer is.  As a missionary, I feel like I am always saying prayers.  I pray that God will help me in learning Chinese, and for helping me more understand his Gospel.  I pray to be guided in everything I do.  I pray for the people that I will be teaching in the future.  I pray that he will watch over my family and friends.  And I pray for his strength.  You know, I don't think I could have made it this far in the MTC without his help.  I don't think I could go through this work without knowing that I am doing what he wants me to do.  And I don't think I can go throughout the rest of my life without maintaining a strong relationship with him.  He is my Heavenly Father. He knows me. He loves me. And he will guide me.

Sister Ninjas
Anyways, I can't remember anything that really stood out during Wednesday through Friday.  I was just getting really antsy to leave!  I really miss Chinese food! I really think that I'll learn more Chinese in Taiwan than I can here.  And I just really want to go out to work!  But don't worry; I have maintained the perspective of knowing that every moment counts at the MTC.  I'm here to learn how to teach and how to be a missionary.  I'm so grateful to be here.  I just want to leave soon! Haha!  I still am having a good time here.  We've found ways of making everyday fun.  On Thursday I ran about 2 miles with Sister Anderson, which was fun but hard!  I don't know how I could keep up with her! She's fast!  And then on Friday, I taught the other Sisters to make ninja masks with t-shirts.  We then proceeded in scaring some other sisters who are learning Mandarin as well.  It was super funny!  :)  We did it on a day where we all felt like collapsing, so it really raised our spirits.

On Saturday we taught TRC again.  We taught Sister C..  who is the mother of a Mandarin teacher at TRC (also named Sister C... She is awesome!).  Sister C.., the mother, has 5 kids, four of which all served Mandarin speaking missions.  She has a daughter in our mission, who has only been out for 3 months.  We'll probably see her in the field! We had a very good lesson and the spirit was really felt.  I also was able to see the progress in my teaching ability.  I've been learning so much!  However, I really need to do better at speaking Chinese all the time.  It's really hard... And I sometimes find myself wishing that my companion knew more Chinese so I could practice with her. 

Sunday was good.  It's the last Sunday before the "older generation" leave.  So that was a bit sad.  The topic of this Sunday was Faith in the Atonement, which is very important.  Heavenly Father sent us to earth to be tested.  He wanted us to learn. And with learning comes mistakes; however, we must be perfect to be able to return back to our Heavenly Father's presence.  So he sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to perform the Atonement.  Christ paid for all of our sins, but he didn't take away our personal responsibility.  We must decide for ourselves if we want to repent so we can benefit from his Atonement.  He paid for our sins so we wouldn't have to. We just need to have faith in him.  And having faith in the Atonement means that you have faith that he will forgive you.  And you have faith that you can change and be better.   And you must have faith that he will help you.
Relief Society was good.  We had Sister Mikita- Idk how to spell her name...(She spelled it just fine) But she is the Religion reporter for KSL- speak to us.  She gave the story of her family’s conversion.  She also said something that reminded me of what Mom said to me before I left.  She said "You will plant seeds (of faith) and they will remember."  That is so true.  We may not baptize everyone we teach.  But hopefully we have brought them closer to their Savior.
The speaker for this Sunday night's devotional was Brother Heaton, who we've already heard from.  His talk was pretty much the same as the other time, but I did write a bit more insights.  He said that we must have faith to recognize the Lord's hand in our life.  And the more we learn to recognize his hand, the more faith we will be able to develop.

Anyways, today has also been good.  Since the temple is closed for cleaning, we got a temple cleaning assignment!  We sisters got to take apart a chandelier in a sealing room! It took all 3 1/2 hours to do it, but it was really cool to do! The chandeliers are always so ornate and beautiful!  And they are made out of real crystal!  It was so scary trying to take them apart without breaking anything.  But we did it! And it was definitely a great experience to do!

Sister Sallstrom & Sister Peng
Oh! And today I also was able to see Sister Mindy Sallstrom (I spelled her last name wrong....nope, she didn't) before she leaves tomorrow! She's going to Arizona I believe.  I am a bit envious since she only got here last week and she is already leaving before I am... But I was so happy to see her, and I wish her luck on her mission!

Anyways, only 3 more hours left of our p-day.  Time moves by so fast!!!   I should probably stop typing since I am almost out of time.  I said this would be short... but it's not... Ah well!  Have a great week! And feel free to write me – another indirect request for mail-!  I love hearing from everyone! Haha! :)

Sister Peng

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