Week #4: MTC August 4, 2016 - August 10, 2016

This past week has been awesome! My companion and I have been having much more success in our lessons to our investigators (teachers). We find that even though it may seem that our Mandarin isn't enough, with trust and faith in the Lord's help, He helps us remember the words to express; the words and love of the gospel that is in our hearts. 

Sister Vranes, Sister Nelson, and their roommates

Apparently, on a mission, math doesn't exist (or I can't count). I was wrong, there are officially 11 sisters in our zone right now. Anyway, Wednesday, we had new sisters come into our zone. Their first Friday, we played Zone Volleyball. This one is the best, because everyone has their little sayings (sorry Chinese isn't working on this computer): "Xisheng ni de shengti" (sacrifice your body), "Meiyou cibei" (no mercy), "The net, our common enemy", "Give that sister another serve", "Serrrr-vice", "You deserve a gold star" (if you get hit in the face), and "Sister Tiffany, Sister Vranes can't carry the whole team". We enjoy it very much and play it almost every day. On Monday, we hosted senior couples again. If we do service, you do not need to be with your companion, so we ended up getting split up. She was out in the parking lot while I was the single sister to be helping the couples take their bags to their rooms. As you can tell, I was all the muscle in the group :P, It's been such fun to get to know the couples and host, which we don't usually get to do because our p-day is Wednesday, when all of the new missionaries arrive. 

I've been told to send some information about the MTC so here is a bit of the weekly schedule:

Wake up at 6:30 and have breakfast (7:10-7:40)

Exercise (7:45-8:45)

Prepare and PCL--Personal, companion, and language study (9:15-11:55)

Lunch (11:55-12:35)

PCL (12:35-1:30)

Class (1:30-4:30)--Each hour, we teach the investigator, learn grammar, study doctorine

Dinner (4:30-5:15)

PCL (5:15-6:00)

Class (6:00-9:00)

Planning (9:00-9:30)

Quiet time--a time to reflect and journal (10:15), and lights out (10:30)

As you can see, we have a lot of time to study. On Tuesday nights we have choir and devotional. On Wednesdays, we have our p-days and visit the temple. On p-days, after 6 pm, everyone is back in class and at it again.

Her is a typical Sunday schedule:

Wake up at 6:30 and have breakfast (7:40-8:10)

Relief Society/ Preisthood (11:00-12:00)

Lunch (12:00-12:40)

Sacrament Meeting (1:00-2:00)

District Meeting--usually someone teaches a lesson like Sunday School (2:10-3:00)

Temple Walk--we sing at the Temple and take pictures (3:00-3:35)

Dinner (3:40-4:20)

Choir (5:15-6:30)

Devotional (7:00-9:20)

Quiet time (10:15) and lights out (10:30)

On Sunday, we had Mission Conference, where the MTC presidency gave their testimonies. I can really tell that these people are called of God. Their testimonies were very strong. It always gives me chills when I think of the work of the Lord that is strong and going forth. In the MTC, there are over 3,000 missionaries. Currently, there are over 100 million copies of the Book of Mormon in 110 languages, and 70,000 missionaries in the field. Expanding on the quote I noted a while back, President Bertasso said, "The missionaries going to Taiwan, are baptizing the missionaries of the Church. The missionaries going to places other than Taiwan, are baptizing the leaders of the Church for China. China will be the only place where the infrastructure of the Church will be already built." The Lord is truly preparing His work and I am so grateful and glad to be a part of it.

Provo, Utah Temple

Since it was fast Sunday, we had testimony meeting. Every Sunday, we usually have two talks by two missionaries in our zone (one sister and one elder chosen randomly in Sacrament Meeting), and one of the presidency and their wife speak. The talks by the missionaries are spoken in Chinese, so we all have to prepare one in case we are called, and the talks by the presidency are in English. On fast Sunday, four people are chosen at random to share their testimony in English, and anyone else who would like to share has the opportunity. This Sunday, 4 sisters were chosen, including my companion. That means President Deng is saving the other sisters for Mandarin talks, which includes me. We also had devotional with Matthew Holland, President of UVU and Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's son. He spoke of the life of Joseph Smith and that our testimony of him must be shared. This whole week, Joseph Smith has weighed on my mind. The more I think of him, the more I see similarities between him and the Savior. They both came from very humble backgrounds. They both had such amazing faith to trust the Lord enough to bend to His will. They both give up their lives early on to fulfill the Lord's work. I ponder the hymns about Joseph Smith, and I realize that each of them are also about Jesus Christ. I love the quote in the hymn "Praise to the Man", where it says, "Death cannot conquer the hero again". If that doesn't scream Jesus Christ, then I don't know what does. I invite you to pay more attention to the life of Joseph Smith and look for similarities between his and Jesus Christ's life. I promise that you will have a stronger testimony of Joseph Smith and that he was a prophet of God, called to restore His true gospel.

 On Tuesday, we had devotional with Elder Neil L. Andersen and his wife, Sister Kathy Andersen (plus it was his birthday). His message was, "learning to be a missionary is not complex, but it is not easy". This past week I've been learning more and more about my calling and about each of our callings on this earth, to become Disciples of Christ. Let me put it this way: Learning to be a Disciple of Christ is not complex, but it is not easy. If we're continually trying to be better, to become more Christ-like, and to follow God's commandments, then it shouldn't be too hard to figure out. It is, however, harder to remember to do these things continually. Life is challenging, but through God's grace and atonement, we can be made whole for what we lack. All that He asks for us is to have faith and trust in Him to accomplish our part. I invite you to look at the lyrics of "More Holiness Give Me", then pray to God for help in overcoming the things you need and lack, and have faith that He WILL bless you with more.