Week 5

Dear Family,

 

Hi family, sorry I didn't get this sent to you earlier today. We switched up our schedule because we haven't been able to get any mail till today since saturday.  Labor day stopped the mail :) haha.  Ok How have you all been? I tried to write things down before because I keep forgetting to tell you some things!  haha, don't worry cuz it's not very urgent.  Maybe I'll start writing you hand-written letters so I don't forget anything.  the little timer telling me how much time I have is very stressful O.o.

 

Also, don't worry, I have been eating healthy here.  Just salads and wraps and stuff! They're getting pretty old though, so we'll see how much longer I can stay within my weight range haha.  It's good :) I'm not building too much muscle mass because of it though. Also running is killing me.  Elder Staples (the mitton's cousin) makes me run a lot.  That's the elder that Jonjon met yesterday.  He's super cool and is definitely a wonderful missionary.  He is an example to all of us.  :) He keeps reminding me about how I need to help him marry Verina at some point.  hahaha.  Evidently if you're seventeen, you're perfect for missionaries, so watch out verina...

 

Ok, so I sent the email last week before the fireside.  Guess who spake at the fireside.  ELDER JEFFREY R> HOLLAND! and I was in the fourth row from the podium! it was AMAZING! he is my favorite apostle.  He's famous for chastizing the missionaries and then building us up better than we were! My favorite line was "You do NOT have the right to detract from the glory of this Church!" So Powerful! try to imagine Elder Holland saying it! His talk was so amazing.  I took eight pages of notes on his talk, which, unfortunately, I don't have enough time to talk about.  Vicky, you are going to love it SO much here! Pennsylvania sounds like a lot of fun, but this was something else.  I have never been on such a spiritual high for so long!

 

In his talk, Elder Holland said that Missionaries are truly blessed! We are the most prayed-for people in the world after President Monson.  But because of that people know that we can be AMAZING! So we cannot damage that image.  We can't compromise that beauty, grandeur and glory.  He said that his three most important life-changing moments were his mission, his marriage, and his education!  He also said that the Prophets in prior dispensations knew that their dispensations would all end in apostasy and that their work was ineffective and little in comparison to our dispensation.  They saw our day, they saw that there were as many missionaries today as people who accepted baptism in their day.  "Our dispensation is where the majority of missionary work will be done both on Earth and in heaven".  It is so true! The prophets kept working because they knew that we would come.  That is what kept them going!  Isn't that so powerful? The Nephi, Moroni, Mormon, and all those prophets saw the work that we were doing!  We are the last dispensation.  The fulness of times.  We have EVERYTHING! I feel so blessed!

 

That's one of the things I've been working on too! Counting my blessings! During one of my studies (oh ps! I finished the book of mormon because we have so much time here to study) I came across D&C 78:17 "Verily, Verily, I say unto you, ye are little children, and ye have not as yet understood how great blessings the Father hath in His own hands and prepared for you."  After reading that I felt childish! I am a little child because I don't understand how much the Father has and wants to bless me

 

Well, other than that, not much has happened. The older generations left, Sister Fitzpatrick is now in my district (same mailbox if you want to write her) because she has an extra bone in her foot that started to hurt so she's in surgery today.  we inherited a lot of office supplies and stuff from the Older elders.  Heads up, you can have 2 luggage cases that weigh 50 pounds each, and maybe 2 carry-on that weigh 15 pounds.  Just a heads-up for vicky when she comes.  We got new district leaders! I was released as district leader, but now my companion is the new district leader.  This is so weird because they rarely ever call the companion of a prior district leader to be the new district leader.  I guess our companionship is cursed :) haha, just kidding.  It's a blessing.  I have been helping him lead the district.  Leadership isn't evertythign it's said to be.  It's basically a bunch of hard work, which has been good for me :D.

 

Anyway, the two goons/ Elder Macfarlane and Elder Wright? they are the two funniest people! I walked into their room and Elder Mcfarlane was drawing circles around all o fElder Wright's moles with a pen! Haha, after that, they taklked about popping the mole and getting cancer.  I just went back to my room to write in my journal, then I heard a really loud noise like somebody ran into a wall, and went out to see what the noise was all about.  They had built a slingshot out of our exercise bands (really big rubber bands).  They had made really dense balls out of duct tape and were launching them down the hall at people... hahaha.  They also made a bat out of duct tape.  It's really dense.  They'll frequently say: "Spank me twice and call me doodle" or "grab your ankles" after which they'll spank them.  They've also learned some of the funniest words in chinese.  I don't even know where they got them, but it keeps our district happy and destresses us after long days of chinese.

 

speaking of which we have to SYL (Speak Your Language) all the time, so we made a game out of it.  We have a really big rock that someone just picked up and we have it in our classroom for the beginning of class.  When someone hears a missionary speak english, they have to carry the rock until they hear someone else speak english.  I haven't had to carry the rock yet, but I'm afraid I might have to because you have to carry it EVERYWHERE! into the cafeteria, class, back in the residence halls, it'll be rough. haha.  One of the rules is that you have to always be touching the rock... haha, thanks mom and dad for giving me a chinese bakcground so it's not as hard for me to speak chinese.

 

Did I not tell you!? haha nobody fill up the pitcher! bahahahahaha, just kdiding.  Everybody knows I drink so much water here.

 

Mom: Our whole zone would LOVE to help with the family work.  We can do initiatories, endowments, sealings.  Just send them to us.  Our zone had 73 people before the old generation left, so if you send us a lot, we can just keep working on it for a while.  Everybody loves doing chinese names.  They all said that the names they're doing in the temple are great, but they're American so they can't help them in Taiwan haha.  I love our district!

 

Well, I love you all, I'm out of time and I'll write you soon!

 

Elder Chen

 

Jonjon, It was so cool seeing you yesterday! Love you! They all think you're a total stud! keep up the good work! Mom says you're working hard! haha.