Aloha from the MTC!

Aloha!

Sorry I haven't emailed you or anything till now! The first day I arrived, it was p-day so we had to wait a whole week to set up email. How are you all doing?! I absolutely LOVE the MTC! The very first day, I just bounced in and had so much fun. Elder (or Brother now!) and Sister Lloyd, Son Ngoc Bui, and Dar came with me to the MTC. I was just so happy to finally arrive and couldn't stop smiling! Dar got to clip on my missionary tag and that was special. When it was time to go, I was like, "Ok bye! Wahoo!" and began becoming a missionary. This place is amazing. I feel the Spirit all the time. My companion is Sister Bostwick (or Bui Ji Muih) from Cali. She is pretty nice, and we're still getting to know each other. She is super cute and I pretty much have to guard her from all the elders. We have nine other elders in our district. One of the elders is Elder Lindsay from Hawaii. I had heard so much about him since his girlfriend was in my ward! He is soo nice and 6 feet 5. Yesterday, he was like, "Sister Chu, my TIE is taller than you!" LOL! We're going to take a picture so you all can see. The other elders are from Idaho, Cali, and mostly Utah. Big surprise there. There is one other elder who is ABC like me. His name is Elder Lihng and he's 24. One of these days, I want to get his story on why he decided to serve a mission.

This past week, our heads have been crammed with Cantonese and Preach My Gospel (PMG). I can't begin to express my gratitude for the preparation I'd had in Hawaii. Learning Canto from my friends and studying PMG with Sammy has really helped a lot. My companion stresses about EVERYTHING it seems so I try to remind her to have fun. After all, we are only in the MTC and not even in Hong Kong yet! I have never had any experience with the gift of tongues before, but now I know it is so real. All of a sudden, all this Canto I didn't realize I know is coming from no where and I'm finding myself saying all this stuff in Chinese. I can't even speak English very well anymore cause half of it is in Canto and half is English. What is even more amazing is that I think in Cantonese. So thank you God! It's made this whole MTC a much funner experience. I try to help my district learn, but I find it's a little difficult. I only correct them when they ask for help. The older district never asks, but I guess they will learn when they get out to the field. I really love my district. Even though my companion sighs because sometimes they really act like they're 19, I really like the light-hearted, silly side more than the serious. They make up their own rhymes like "go go jeung louh" and say "saisaugan" in their most angry voice just because they don't know any insults. LOL!

This past week has been amazing because 150 new mission presidents and their wives are here at the MTC to be trained by the First Presidency, the Twelve, and the presidents of the seven quorums. For our first devotional last night, Elder Hales spoke to us about the Atonement. Elder Holland, Elder Perry, Elder Scott, and Elder D. Todd Christofferson along with other MTC presidencies were there. It was so special. We sang several hymns in the beginning including Called to Serve. Everyone sang with such gusto that the new mission presidents and wives all turned in their seats to look at us. I just started crying because I felt the Spirit so much and I want so much to be in Hong Kong! My eyes are so puffy now just because I cry so much during meetings here so I have to learn how to stop. It's so touching when the mish presidents all turn and wave at us like parents would to children. LOVE IT!!!

I'm so happy to be here. It's the right place and the right time. I'm gonna go to CHINA HONG KONG!!! I love being a sister and being called sister. There are a LOT of elders here by the way. It's either really dark in the room because they all have their suit coats on or really bright because they all have white shirts on LOL! The only spots of color are from sisters here and there. :) I love the gospel.

Love,

Sister Chu