This
is Sister Peng's final email from the MTC! She departs for Taiwan
tomorrow. If you wish to write her, her address in Taiwan is:
Sister Nicholle Peng
#498 -11 Wu Chuan Rd
Taichung
404-46
Taiwan ROC |
| Glow stick greeting |
Dear Mom and All the Wonderful
People Who Read These:
Oh my! Has the last week of my MTC
stay already passed? Where has time gone? I leave tomorrow to
Taiwan! I can hardly believe it! In less than 48 hours I'll be in another
country! It hasn't quite sunken in yet. I'm pretty much all packed and
ready to go, but I don't feel like I'm really going to Taiwan. Not sure
when it'll actually hit me. I'll get back to ya'll on that. :)
Anyways, this week has been pretty good, all things considered. We did a
few things that changed up our schedules just a bit; enough to make it
seem less monotonous. Though, there were still a few days where I
couldn't wait to be able to leave our classroom. It gets pretty tiresome
just spending hours on end sitting in the same room. We try to spend as
much time outside as possible, no matter how hot it is. We have our own
favorite spot by the back fence, where they have a few tables and it's shaded
by trees. I'm so thankful for the nice cool weather we've been
having. It's been perfect! I'll really miss it when I get to
Taiwan. It's supposed to be in the 90s when we get there or something.
Anyways, on last Monday (Wow, it
feels like it was just Monday and that I was emailing yesterday... Then again,
Monday seems so far away that it's hard to remember all that happened.)
we did TRC over Skype. That was a good experience, though I still like
talking to people in person. I miss our TRC visits with people in person.
You could get a better feel of their personality, as well as have more control
on the amount of spirit in the room. You know, it's so easy just to
assume that you are just practicing teaching. It's easy to just think
that it's just the members who are doing you a service by being patient with
you. I never really thought about if we were actually making a difference
for them. I just felt like my Chinese wasn't good enough to teach about
the gospel. And then I got a short Dear Elder from someone we met at
TRC. It was the father from the visit that we taught him and his two
daughters how to pray in Chinese. It said something to the fact that,
even though they were already members, we as missionaries still have the power
to make a difference for them, and to help them strengthen their spirit.
It totally made my day to read that I actually did do something! I'll
need to send him a card today, to thank him. :)
On Tuesday, we had a
devotional. Yup, I bet you would have never guessed! I've been forgetting
to mention choir, which we have been going to on and off. On Tuesday we
sang Praise to the Man for the devotional. It was such a cool rendition!
It was hard, but I loved it! Anyways, the Choir conductor is
AWESOME. Brother Egget, that's his name, always has a lot of patience and
tells a lot of funny and spiritual stories. On Tuesday, he shared a
thought that, for me, had more power than the whole devotional. It was to
the fact that, out of 10,000 or so souls, Heavenly Father only picked 1 to be
sent to the latter days and to have the gospel in their lives. It was
inspiring to think that he chose me to go and serve him. I keep thinking
that I'm not good enough, that I won't be a good missionary because I'm too
shy, and because I can’t teach well enough. But then I realize, that's
not the truth at all. Through Heavenly Father, and having faith in him I
know that I can be a good missionary. He gives me courage, because I know
I'm not alone. He is always with me. And I don't have to be a good
teacher. I just have to try my best. Because, in fact, I'm not the
real teacher. The spirit is. I just have to open my mouth, and the
spirit will testify through me. He knows me; just as he knows
everyone else. He just needs us to recognize the fact that he is there
for us. And that he will always love us, no matter how many mistakes we
make.
On Wednesday, guess what! We
got to host! We didn't get invited to host, we just decided that we would go
attend the meeting, and if they said that we couldn't host, we would
leave. When we went to the meeting, there were a ton of people
there. And a lot of them were missionaries who had been there for a
shorter amount of time than we were. And then, there were also some
missionaries who had already hosted before! We don't know how they decide
who will be invited to host, but whatever they do, it's not quite as organized
as it should be. Anyways, when we were there, they said that it was okay
for us to host. It would just be us doing voluntary service, which we
were fine with. Anyways, long story short, I got to host one Sister,
there was a shortage of new Sisters coming in this week. She was from
Florida, and she is serving in the Provo mission. She has a lot of family
here in Utah, which she's lucky for, because if she ever needs
anything she can just ask them to send her things. I'm a little bit
jealous, considering the fact that it takes about $50 to send things to
Taiwan. But that's okay, I'll be able to buy most things there, if I need
it. I doubt I'll need a lot of things. I pretty much packed
everything. :P
 |
| Sisters Peng, & Eliason with their Chinese Teacher |
On Thursday we had In-Field
orientation. It's kind of funny, because it reminds me a bit of like
EFY. They do a lot of object lessons to try and get principles to stick
in our minds. I really learned a lot, well, I already knew a lot of the
stuff but review never hurts anyone. Here are a few points that really
stood out to me:
- Never let anyone, including yourself, tell you that you aren't able to do something. Always believe that you can. And with that belief, you can do anything.
- Always rely on the Lord's guidance. Pray before doing anything and listen to his council. (This one is great. At the MTC we take it to heart. We even pray before gym! Hahaha!)
- Set goals first and then plan. If you set goals first, you can then plan around them. That way, you know that you will have opportunities to make those goals. Also, remember, goals are there to make you stretch. If your goals are making you feel guilty, then you need to take a step back and re evaluate.
- Never lower your expectations. Keep your standards high! But remember, sometimes you have to do things one step at a time. You might have to build yourself up before you can truly reach your goal.
- Talk to EVERYONE. You never know whose life you can change.
- (This one is more for Missionaries) Members are your friends! Use them in your teaching! In fact, let them teach investigators! Their testimonies can sometimes touch the lives of peoples that yours can't.
- As to the members, pray for missionary experiences!
Anyways, Friday and Saturday are
pretty much a blur. I spent a lot of time evaluating myself and
reflecting. I also made some goals for my mission:
- Become fluent enough in Chinese that people think that I am a native of Taiwan.
- Become fluent enough in Chinese, and forget English enough to pass as an international student when I go back to school. (Okay, yeah, this one is a bit silly. :P)
- Read the Book of Mormon all the way through every month.
I'm still working on my goals.
But the last one, about the Book of Mormon, I think is very important for
everyone. I believe that it would benefit everyone in the world to read
from the Book of Mormon every day. I know that the Book of Mormon is the
word of God. How do I know? I've read it. I've felt his love
for me through it's words. My relationship with him as been strengthened,
and I know that he is my Heavenly Father. If you are a member, I
encourage you to read from the Book of Mormon every day. No, don't just read
it. Study it! Apply it to your lives. Pray to gain
knowledge. It doesn't matter if you read for 10 minutes a day or an
hour. The Book of Mormon will bless you in your everyday lives.
If you aren't LDS you don't have to
take my advice, I know. But I invite you to get a Book of Mormon (Through
the Missionaries, or members, or yeah... You can ask me even!) and read it for
yourself. Read and Pray. The Book of Mormon can help anyone and
everyone. But it can't help you if you don't give it a chance. I
testify that through it, you will gain a stronger testimony of Jesus
Christ. You will feel more happiness and peace in your life. You
will feel God's love.
Sunday was very good, as
always. For sacrament meeting, I gave a talk! They do this thing
where they just call you from the pulpit. No warning beforehand.
They do give everyone the topic a few days before, so people can write
talks. But it's not guaranteed of whether or not you will be chosen to
speak. Well, I pretty much guessed that I would be chosen (They choose
one sister and one elder) since I always get chosen. I wasn't as nervous
as I thought I would be. And the topic was easy. IT was about the
Book of Mormon. And I love the Book of Mormon, so It was not hard to
write a talk. We had several good speakers for the devotionals. And
we also went to two departure meetings/devotionals (one was for the branch, one
was for the MTC) which gave advice and talked about protocol. Yup...
Today has been pretty good.
Busy! I've been packing and writing letters and packing and doing laundry
and packing. Haha! Yup that's about it!
Well, I'm about out of time!
This will be my last email from the MTC! I'll be going to Taiwan
tomorrow! I hope that everyone has a good week. Wish me luck!
Love,
Sister Nicholle Peng
 |
| Glow stick writing - Pioneer Day |
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