MTC Week 5! :)

Aloha!

This past week has been amazing. I wish I knew how to write better emails or something because I almost always never say what I REALLY want to say haha!

I just got back from a session at the Provo Temple . . . I've really missed going since it's been closed for cleaning in the past two weeks! It's so wonderful to go with my district. The elders definitely look different there. They all have this glow about them. I love praying in the temple because it really strengthens my testimony of why I'm here on earth and why I'm on a mission. I am so grateful for your prayers because I can feel the blessings that come into my life because of them. Now I know what President Hinckley meant when he said that he was able to feel the prayers of the people.

The older Canto district left for Hong Kong last Monday! Our teachers and everyone says that this week is the week where we see miracles while they're gone. This is the week where everyone really starts to realize that there is SO MUCH to learn, so many areas in need of growth, and the need to rely on the Lord! My district is now the only Canto district in the MTC. Brother Burby says that at one point, there used to be three with three teachers for each district. Amazing! We now have new zone leaders: Elder Jackson and Elder Crowder. Our new district leader is Elder Dahl. My companion Sister Bostwick is the new coordinating sister . . . over me haha! She's wonderful and I'm so glad. The next Canto district is coming in next week. This district will consist of one sister and one elder. Can you imagine?! That's pretty much one-on-one tutoring with the teacher. The elder is an ABC like me and Elder Ling so depending on his Canto, he might join our district. Wahoo!

Before the older district left, we held a testimony meeting on Saturday. Each one bore testimony of the Savior and told of their spiritual experiences while here in the MTC. I still can't believe that they're now in Hong Kong at this moment. Sister Kaufusi from Tonga danced for the sisters on Sunday night and it reminded me of Hawaii. I miss it! The dance was beautiful and everyone oohhed and ahhhed and tried to do it LOL!

Every Friday night, we go to the Referral Center (RC) to make outbound and answer inbound calls from people who call in for free videos and BOMs. I dunno if I've told you all this before but this is so happy that I'm sure you won't mind hearing it again heee! I was making a zillion calls as usually and no one really picked up because it was a Friday night after all and most normal people are out doing other things. Well, I made a call and this man picked up (I can't remember his name right now but I'm sure it'll come after I send this haha!). He called in for a free Bible and I asked him why he called. He already has a BOM and wanted to have the Bible to read along with it. It's so amazing to testify to him of the reality of God, the love of our Savior, and the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. Best of all, he knew it too! I committed him to pray to see if the BOM is true again and to go to church. I pray that he kept his committment. He last went to church last December and he and his mother are debating whether or not to be Roman Catholics or LDS. I wish I could know what happened to him but I know I'll know someday.

Bio of the week:
Elder Hyde (Loh Jeung Louh) is from Idaho! He's one of the youngest in the bunch and is Elder Ling's comp. During the first couple of weeks, we wondered about him because he can say some interesting things sometimes, probably because he's 19 and has never been to college. And is really shy around other sisters LOL! I really love him because he has so much enthusiasm for the work! He's NEVER learned another language before, but has so much focus, much more than some of the other elders. He is very down-to-earth and we've become better friends.

Our district still has the goal to bear testimony in our mission language three times a day! I can't imagine not bearing testimony wherever I go anymore! It really strengthens my faith and others can really tell. I challenged a group of missionaries to do the same thing. Last night, I could tell that my friends were tired and discouraged since they've been in the MTC for almost 6 weeks now and it'll be 3 more till they can go to the Phillippines. They said yes. Commitments are so easy in the MTC LOL! We just bore testimony to each other around the table and the light of the Spirit was so amazing. I know this work is the Lord's work, and I love it!

Have a wonderful week!

Love,

Sister Chu :)

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Hi from the MTC! :)

Hi again!

Another week has gone by and I have now officially been in the MTC for
one month!  Wow!  Whenever I sit down to write, I never know what to
say but I'll just keep on going.  I am still busy learning the Canto and
learning how to teach.  We still haven't seen the prophet yet.  Every
Tuesday, people keep telling us that President Monson is going to come
speak at the devotional, but he never does.  I wonder why they keep
saying that LOL!

The older Cantonese district is leaving for Hong Kong on the 21!  They
got their flight plans last Friday and have been in high spirits ever
since.  Everyday that passes is the last day of something.  I am so
excited for them and some can't understand why, seeing as I'm here till
September.  I was like, "Well you're going to teach the gospel!" and they
were like oh.  Good grief.  I guess it gets harder to remember why
we're here sometimes after being here for a while.

This afternoon, we were suprised to find that two new sisters will be
moving into our room!  The room was a bit of a mess since today's p-day
and we all scrambled to make the place look better.  The new sister's
name is Sister Mace from Idaho, and she's gonna go to New Zealand!
Woohoo!  She's the kind of girl who has always wanted to go on a mission.
We have yet to meet her companion.  I am so excited that Sister
Bostwick and I won't be the only ones in the room after the older district
leaves!

I've still been coughing a lot and lost my voice yesterday, which was
interesting.  I've been croaking ever since but I'm getting better.
Good thing I like cough drops.  Halls vapor action sure beats that awful
cherry kind that I used to swear loyalty to LOL!  That sentence reminds
me that we learned noun clauses in Canto yesterday!  It's the first
grammar thing I will really need to work on since everything so far has
been pretty easy.  Good thing I have Elder Lindsey and Elder Ling to talk
to because we're more on the same language level.

I got my new scriptures a couple days ago.  They're the burgandy mini
quad with the snap on it.  I can't BELIEVE how much they cost, but
they're so worth it!  "Sister Chu" is even engraved in the cover hehe!
They've made my personal study much more effective now that I'm not blinded
by all the highlighting I've done in my old set.  Right now I'm
re-reading the Book of Mormon.  So good!  My testimony of the scriptures have
really been strengthened while I've been learning how I might teach
others.

Every Saturday morning, we go to the Teaching Appointment (TA . . . it
used to be called the TRC) to practice teaching volunteers.  There's
two parts: the task where we talk to the person in Canto for 15 minutes
and then the follow-up lesson in English.  This Saturday will be the
last time we'll do it in English!  Next time, it'll be completely in
Canto.  Woohoo!  We work the whole week for this moment, and it can get a
little stressful if you forget to trust in the Lord.  As long as we do
all we can to prepare in learning Canto and putting together all we can
with the lesson plans, the Lord really directs the lesson.  It's amazing
how it all works together even though it's practice!  Sister Bostwick
and I teach well together, and we never assign parts of the lesson to
each other.  She explains doctrines really well and I love analogies.

The Church is true!

I miss and love you all!

Sister Chu :)

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Happy 4th and everything else!

Hi!

The third week has flown by and I'm still alive! I've been coughing my head off all week and it's finally getting better. It's so hard to learn anything when you're feeling sick. I'm not the only one though. I think my companion spread her disease throughout the whole district LOL!

The fourth of July was so fun! All the missionaries were anxiously waiting for an announcement giving us permission to watch the fireworks. Around 8:40 p.m. during language study, it came! Well first we all piled into the gym to have a special fireside thing. We sang so many patriotic songs (to the dismay of Sister Mander, who is Australian hahaha!). Then, we did this really awesome thing where we played chimes to the tunes of all these songs. The MTC collected like 50 sets of chimes throughout the community so that the missionaries could play them. Each chime is a note and we clanked them with knives haha. They put up this screen so we could play them in a certain order wow I'm really bad at describing this so basically, it was like DDR with chimes. Ok? Oh well hahaha! It was lots of fun till we played Called to Serve three times and after about 40 minutes, we were all sick of it and wanted to see the fireworks. As soon as they freed us, we sprinted outside, yelled JEUNG LOUH (elders!) till we found our district, and had a merry time sweating in the dark and taking pictures of the Stadium of Fire fireworks.

So what else happened? I did my first companionship inventory with my Sister Bostwick and it was really good cause we really got to talk for the first time. Well I thought so anyway! She is really a private kind of person when it comes to feelings and stuff and likes to have a good time. It puzzles me sometimes cause she doesn't really express emotion like I do so it's harder for me to read her. Like I hug and bounce around etc. and she's very dignified. Well there's probably a better word but I can't think of one now. When I'm with her, I know that I can trust her. I love how there are so many Tongans around here! I get along with them really well and we yell and hug and have a good time. My camera didn't work till last week cause I was really dumb and didn't realize that my rechargeable batteries were dead. Good grief! And I've just read the manual and it says that my camera can only use 1 GB cards. So the ones Dad got me won't work! Sorry Dad (do you want me to send them back to you?).

So I have to say that I LOVE speaking Canto! I study really hard every day. It's usually easier to study on my own cause I'm sure my comp would kill me if I studied with her. Once I get started, I just don't wanna stop and she needs a break I think. I think it used to exasperate her that I would walk around with my head buried in the Canto dictionary but I learn so many new words that way! I think it's really starting to pay off. I wonder what would have happened if I had moved up with the older Canto-speaking district. They're leaving in TWO WEEKS for HONG KONG!!! I am soo soo excited for them! I think I would have been fine with the language if I'd moved up because I know my Cantonese is better. I'm glad I didn't because I know without a doubt that I am supposed to be with my district. I love these elders so much and think of them as my brothers. I've decided to give you a bio of at least one in each email since I have several more to write in the MTC. So here it is:

Elder Lindsey is from the big island of Hawaii! We ALMOST met because his girlfriend Leka was in my BYUH ward, but then it didn't happen cause she got sick. We are really good friends and speak pidgeon and say "da kine!" all the time LOL! He is 22 so is a bit older than the rest of the elders with the exception of Elder Ling, who is 24. He is in a threesome with Elder Dahl and Elder Nelson and sometimes pleads if he can join my companionship with Sister Bostwick instead hahaha! Sometimes these 19 year olds act very much like 19 year olds, but that's why I love them!

My teachers are Brother Burby (Bui Hing Daih) and Sister Slade (Sa Ji Muih). Love them so much! Brother Burby is a small guy but knows how to keep everyone in line. He served in HK and is obsessed with anything Chinese. His Cantonese is amazing and if I close my eyes, I would mistake him for a native speaker. He served three years ago and has taught about a billion districts in the MTC. His wife is from HK too. Sister Slade served in HK as well and is so sweet! I love sisters and they are RARE. At least we don't have to wait in line for the bathroom haha!

AHHH my time is running out AGAIN! I love you all so much! Don't forget to write!

Love,

Sister Chu :)

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In the laundry room again..

Aloha Everyone!

How are you all doing? This week has gone by so fast just like the first week. I can't believe I've already been in the MTC two weeks today! Every Wednesday, we see new elders and sisters with their orange dork dots/celestial dots or whatever. It's amazing to see how many missionaries come through this place! And everyone gets really shocked when we tell them that we'll be here till September.

I've seen several people I know here like Elder McDermott, Elder Snow, Elder Ken Mooso, Tyler Ackley (who is now a teacher here), and also some friends from BYU Hawaii. Lots of fun! It seems like I know lots of the sisters and my companion knows lots of the elders.

I went to the temple with my district and the older Canto district this afternoon. We also ate in the temple cafeteria which was a fun change. The Provo Temple is a lot bigger than it looks from the outside!

So what have I been doing? I've been working like crazy here. There are always classes, devotionals, firesides, meetings, personal study time, companion study time, language study time, gym, etc. I always have to stand up to read my scriptures during personal study time just because if I sit down, I'll fall asleep. Elder Nelson teases me all the time because I always stand on my toes, but it really helps me stay awake! He told me that I'm "peculiarly funny" and thinks I would make a good hippie. I think it's funny because he's the total opposite from me. He's from good ol' Tennessee, has a super thick accent, is HUGE next to me, has an interesting sense of humor (like he always tries to start an argument with the other elders--he's in a threesome--but I guess that's his way of saying hi or something LOL!), and doesn't smile very much. He reminds me of some sort of guy who would be roughing it in the 1800s. I just love talking to him because I can make him laugh and I try to make him smile more.

Last Sunday, my companion and I were supposed to teach about the restoration during our district meeting. Somehow, I got really sick and I felt like I was going to throw up as I stood there. Sister Bostwick thought I was going to faint but I was really trying to hold everything down LOL! Thank goodness for her and that she was able to teach the lesson.

Some of you will be happy to know that I'm running and doing push ups everyday. Sister Bostwick used to run track at Utah State so I attempt to follow her but it never works hehehe. One day! We were talking the other day how weird it is being here because it's like we're being born all over again. I feel like an entirely new person and I almost have forgotten what my life was like before I came here. Almost. I've grown so much. The first week, I think I cried every day several times a day just because I felt the Spirit so strongly here. It's wonderful.

Umm ahhhhhh I'm running out of time on this computer! Could you please forward this to Darilyn and then have her forward this to everyone! I think I've sadly neglected writing to a ton of people but I don't have anyone's address! I know I know . . . really dumb. So please tell everyone that if they want me to write them, please send me their addresses! Or tell them to use dearelder or email me at alohasister@myldsmail.net.

I love being here! I love and miss you all soo much!

Love,

Sister Chu :)

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