I really like the MTC but I am excited to get out of here

This last week was a good/confusing/spiritual week. I really like the MTC but I am excited to get out of here. We were able to host the new missionaries on Wednesday.  it was really fun to see the difference from when we first got here and how we are now. I don't know exactly how to explain it... but the MTC ages you are core. Not physically but spiritually....? I guess. there is just a difference. I don't know exactly what it is. I was able to host some girls straight from Japan that were super nice. Everyone is so nervous when they first get here. It is fun to get them to relax and start talking. we just get to reassure them that if they make it through Sunday everything gets easier. And the teachers at the MTC are pretty much the best people ever. Sometimes I don't actually believe they are human.

Our teacher Foohng Jimuih is sooooo in tune with the spirit that she always knows exactly what to tell us, when we need to hear it. I swear every week everything is coordinated with each other to have a theme. but it really isn't. this last week for TRC we were supposed to teach a 40min lesson on receiving revelation through prayer. So sister pearl and I both studied during our personal study and came up with some really great things. If you ever have time you should try reading in the bible dictionary about Prayer. It is really awesome. it talks about how we need to align our will with Gods, even for our prayers. We both learned so much about aligning our will with His. then we didn't even use what we learned in our lesson. we were talking with Lu jimuih (the girl we taught in TRC) who is working on her mission papers. so we really just talked about those and not worrying about our weaknesses, because God will always make up for what we lack. So sister pearl and i decided that those studies on prayer and revelation were really for us. then the next day, Foohng Jimuih (our teacher) taught us about righteous desires and how God always wants to help us accomplish our righteous desires. Then last night we were able to watch a devotional by Elder Bednar "The Character of Christ" that was so freakin good. He talked about to have faith in Christ we need to understand his character. Everything that Christ did was turned outward. Instead of focusing on himself, even right after he suffered for the pains and sins of everyone else, he healed is accusers ear. He took care of his mother while he was on the cross, "Behold thy mother". He was even doing missionary work while on the cross, "You will dwell with me in spirit paradise at the end of this day". So if Christ in his darkest moments could turn outward and focus on others... so can I. Bednar said this is the only way we can truly convert ourselves. By turning outward and focusing on others our faith will grow. We will see the light of others growing from our touch.

So this week I am going out 100%. this week I am 100% focused on my purpose to bring others to Christ. Whether it is through studying the language to be able to communicate with them or even brushing my teach so that people don't run away from my awful breath. Everything I do is focused on bring people unto Christ.

I love Christ and his gospel.

Love you all!

Shea 

Chinese doesn't sound to much like Chinese...

Hey family!

So I am still alive and doing fantastic! Cantonese is coming along slowly but surely. This last week my brain has been clearer than ever and I have been able to remember so many more words and grammar principles. We have been working on teaching the law of chastity and the Word of Wisdom to our investigators. Every time we move into a new lesson there is a whole new entire set of vocabulary that we have to learn. So we know words like abortion, drugs, beer but not phrases like "Good night!" "What is your favorite color?" or any other things you might normally say in a day. But all that is important is that we can teach the lessons. We can learn the rest later.

Sometimes I forget we are learning freakin Chinese. It is weird. After learning some words and hearing it everyday it no longer sounds so abnormal. We got these two new sisters in our room who are going to Australia. We were talking about one of the Sih Fahn's (Role Play's) we did, but we kept using the word Sih Fahn, cause that is just what it is. Then the new sisters were like "What is Sih Fahn?" They we just looked at them like.... you don’t know what a sihn fahn is.... then it hit us that that was Chinese not English..... Our bad. Then we explained what we meant. Our prayers in Chinese seem much more normal now as well. I had to say a prayer in English when we taught a lesson in English and it was really hard. I got through it but it was rough.

Our teaching skills are improving everyday here. We have gotten so much better than our first week. We have also come to know that we teach much much better in Cantonese. Sounds weird. But it is true. God knows when to send you speaking another language or not. Our teacher said that her boss said that we are supposed to practice teaching in English to build up our confidence..... haha not. I am pretty sure that our lesson with Bob in English was our worst lesson to date. I was really upset with myself for not doing as well as I could have, but soon realized that we have to have bad lessons to learn from and to see how much we improve. So.... yeah. I much prefer teaching in Cantonese. We are forced to speak simply and clearly. No grand analogies. Just Gods love and his simple doctrine.

We had an awesome TRC lesson this week. I was really nervous before since we were teaching our first 40 min lesson. But it turns out 40 mins is SOOOOO much better than 20 min. We actually get to get down to the meat, take our time and savior each moment. We were teaching the first lesson about Gods love, blessing families, prophets and the restoration. Then we were going to focus on the Atonement and Jesus Christ because he is central in everything we do. The first half of the lesson went really well... everything was flowing. We were teaching two returned missionaries who were really nice to us and would talk about their expirences. When we started talking about the restoration I had them reach the first vision. The spirit was so strong as they read it. Then sister pearl asked them how they came to know that Joseph Smith was a prophet. So we went around and everyone told how they came to know. When it was my turn I felt the spirit so strong. All I could really say was, Every time I read these words, I feel the spirit and I know it is true. I might have said some other simple phrases, but honestly all I can remember was feeling the spirit very strongly. After the lesson, the people we teach write feedback for us and we get to read it and this is what one of them said, "One of the strongest feelings of the spirit I have had since I have been home. Thank you so much for your love of the Gospel and sharing your testimony with me. I am so grateful for the spirit and all it taught me. I feel close to the spirit, to God and what to do better. Your sharing of Joseph smith's experience really hit me. I feel the prophet Joseph Smith is even closer to me now than before. He seemed so real, like he was with us when you testified." Anyway it was really good feedback. Allot of the times when we teach we never really know if we are helping someone. Allot of the time we just think of it as practice and just move on, but some people actually learn from what we say. It is kinda awesome!

I love being here, but am excited to head out to test out what I have learned! I love this gospel and I love all of you! Thanks for your support!

Keep on keeping on! Know God loves you!

Shea 

Family!

6 weeks down... 3 weeks to go! Thank goodness we don't have to be here 12 weeks. As much as I love it here.... I might have gone insane if I had to be here 12 weeks.

This week nothing to exciting happened... it was the hump week for us, so it went really really slow. But it is all down hill from here! Next week I believe that we will get our full Chinese name tags. Right now they have our names in English and the rest in Characters, but after next week we will get to see our new name tags! I am excited to have a name tag that says Dung Jimuih! Then the next week we will get our travel plans! BAH! I am so excited! I will get to call you from the airport as well! The older district had a 3 hour layover in LAX where they got to call their families and talk for quite a while. I will let you know more information when we actually get our plans.

Our lessons this week have gone alright.... we taught Kim about the resurrection. When we explained that we get perfect bodies and will live forever she responded with.... Vampires? We have no idea what she said though, since she is speaking in Cantonese. We were like what is that? Then she says Twilight. And we are even more confused....... then it hit us. So we put our fingers up to our mouths to look like fangs and say Vampires? And she says Yeah! I just started laughing. I guess the resurrection is kinda sorta like that.... but No. Defienetly not. We live forever and have perfect bodies, but we don’t eat flesh and blood. So that was a great lesson. Really funny. I love Kim so much. The next lesson we taught her was about the 3 Kingdoms and how we could live with our families forever. We then explained the temple and how we can be sealed. This was a huge road block for Kim. She said that she doesn’t want to accept the gospel without her family. Which I can understand, which makes it so hard. Right after that lesson I went straight to Elder Woodburn in our district who is a convert to the church and asked him how he overcame something like that. We said that it was really really hard for him. For the longest time he didn’t want to be with his family. The only thing that got him through that is focusing on his future family. He said it even scares him now that he is not sealed to anyone. It is kinda crazy. I have never really thought of families being together forever has a stumbling block for some people. But we teach Kim again on Wednesday so I will let you know next week how we recover from this road block.

TRC was really really good for us this week. We have been focusing alot on companionship unity in class. So we have been working hard on me talking more and Sister Pearl talking a bit less. Alot of the time I am cool with her just talking and then me jumping in with a few questions for our investigator and a quick testimony. But we have been evening out the talking, and it actually makes things so much easier. We are able to build off of each other’s thoughts and keep the investigators engaged. It also brings the spirit into the lessons more fully. Our feedback from our investigators on Saturday was that we had awesome Comp unity. It was so satisfying to see the fruits of all the labor we had put in.

 Thanks for trying to send some cookies! They ended up hard as rocks though.... kinda tough to eat. I am glad AZ is good and NO was good! I still need some pictures of Luna. I only have like 2 of her as a newborn, and honestly I would much rather have a picture of her cute face now than when she was fresh out of the womb. I am jealous of Grandma! What the heck! Swimming with dolphins! Who does that! .... she would. I agree with Michelle about God has a plan for all of us. God is one smart cookie. He knows what’s up. All we gotta do is trust him. And dad... I am proud of you for standing up for those who cannot stand up for themselves. Sometimes I cannot believe that people who live inside a bubble, inside a bubble, inside a bubble of mormoness could be so closed minded. Haven’t they learned to think what would Christ do? Honestly.... I know what he would do. It says in right in Matt 9:10-12. Maybe you should tell people to read it. Just kidding that probably wouldn’t go over well with them. But that really is what Christ did. We should all be opening our arms to those who are sick and sinners. We are to heal/help not critisize and rebuke.

This week I have kinda been on an Apostle/Christ's ministry kick. I have been reading about each one of Christ’s apostles in the bible. I have decided that Peter is now one of my new heroes. I want to love the Lord like he did. I want to help others as he did. I want to follow Christ to the end. I love the Lord! And I love this work!

Love you all!
Shea

Hey Family!

Hey family!

 

I am halfway done with my MTC experience! Crazy right?! The next 4 weeks are going to go by so fast! I am so excited to get out there but at the same time it makes me nervous. This last Saturday in TRC we taught two different people. One girl originally speaks Mandarin so some words were still in Mandarin, then the other person we taught spoke very old traditional Cantonese, which we don't learn here... so I was humbled quite allot. At first I was frustrated cause I was like how do they expect us to teach these people who don't speak what we are being taught! But then I was like Oh... wait a sec. everyone in Hong Kong is going to have different accents and dialects. I am never going to fully understand people there. Lets just say it is a good thing that it is the spirit that teaches them and not me!

 

But really. Whoever invented Cantonese had to have had a strange/mean sense of humor. Who the heck decided that they should have the same word have 7 different tones and 7 different meanings?! That is just rude. For example.... Sahn (low going down) means God. San (mid level) means mail. San (high level) means new. Saan (also high level) means mountain. Now that is just rude. But I know in time they will come. :) I kinda like the rudeness and singsongyness of it. Whenever we talk in Cantonese it sounds like we are singing. This week we have been memorizing the first vision. So everywhere we sound like we are singing.

 

The new CD player you sent works much much better. I will send the other one home in a package this week. I have been falling to sleep with the sounds and tones every night this week. I like to think that it is helping. Bik Jimuih (sister berry) said that she woke up Friday night and heard me talking in Cantonese in my sleep. I find it hard to believe since I have a hard enough time speaking when I am fully conscious.... but she said that I was praying in my sleep for Kim (one of our investigators). Awesome right.... I hope it was for real and that sister berry wasn't dreaming.

 

Brother Meek sent me some cookies the other week and I forgot to thank him. Thank you, Brother Meek! Keep sending Kelsie's and Carly's emails. I like to read them. It makes me even more excited to go out into the real world.

 

Our lessons with Simba and Kim went much much better this week. We committed Simba to baptism on Saturday! It was such a great moment filled with the spirit. I really cannot explain the joy that comes when I know our investigators are doing well.:) Sister Pearl and I are beginning to teach more in unison and our lessons are being more led by the spirit. Which in turn helps our investigators to know that we really do care for them and are only there to help them. 

 

Yesterday we had an awesome devotional from the President of the Provo Temple. He talked about the reason why missionaries are required to go through the temple before they are to start their missions. Everything in the temple is to prepare you to take upon the name of Christ. All the covenants we make there are to help us start to become the property of Christ. It was really neat then going and doing inititories this morning and getting to hear all the blessings we are promised if we keep those covenants we make. Next time you go.... think of yourself as being a missionary... it is awesome. So don't worry to much about me! I have all those blessings under my belt as long as I remain faithful to the covenants I promised to keep. 

 

I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have to be here. There is no where else I would rather be. I have grown so much and been stretched to the limit. I have been hewn down, only to start to be regrown how God wants me to be. This is honestly the best thing that I could ever do to prepare myself for the rest of my life. As a mother, as a sister, as a daughter and as a friend. There is no way that I could possible reach my full potential without going through this. If any girl or boy reads this that is debating on going on a mission.... JUST GO! There is nothing that will effect the rest of your life like a mission does. It will effect where you will go to school, what you will study, who you will marry, how you will raise your family, and how you will live the rest of your life. The new sister missionaries here are told quite often that the next generation we will raise will be great missionaries. It is cool to me to think that I am effecting my own posterity by being here, not just those that I will teach. I know that this is where I am supposed to be and I know that God loves each and every one of us.

 

Love you all!

MTC pictures

Canto speakers

Shea's college roomates- all at the MTC

                                                              Shea & Chai Dee

                                     
                                                        Sister Aldana & Sister Pearl

                                                                      Shea's district

Wong Ching Chong x3

Yo Family!

Whats up? Guess what that (Wong Ching Chong) means. That's right. It is a real phrase, even though it sounds made up. It is from a hymn. It means "Carry on!". That's why is is Wong Ching Chong x3. :) Well...  I am still alive and doing well! Almost half of our time has passed by before we get to head out to Hong Gong! The older district leaves in a week from today. We are all going to be really sad cause they really are hilarious. Two of the girls are from the Philipeans. Itz Ji Muih is hillarious. She makes us laugh like every single day. During the first week or so here everyone was like "Itz Ji Muih, show them Twilight!" and she would get all embarrassed and hide away in a corner. After a while the girls in our district finally cornered her and said "What is Twilight?!" So she put her hand over her mouth and the next thing we know is her four front teeth are missing and only her extremely large fangs and hanging out! We all scream and then laughed really hard. She has four fake teeth that she calls her Bella. Hahaha... she is the best. We are going to miss everyone when they leave.

But our district is really great as well. Both new Zone Leaders and the Coordinating sister were just called yesterday in church and all of them are from our little district of 6. Apparently our group is unique cause we all get along really really well and have no problems unlike a bunch of the other districts in our zone. I had no idea we were unique I just thought all the districts were like ours. But after every leadership meeting, our leaders come back and tell us how grateful they are that our district has no problems. Everyone is so great!

Well.... nothing to exciting has happened. There are fantastic devotionals and talks every Sunday and I really love class. We have some of the best teachers in the entire world. One important thing I learned this week was, you don't call Mormons in Hong Kong Mormons. Apparently Mormon in Cantonese means Devil Door. Sooooooo we just call them members of our church. But because of that, alot of people in Hong Kong think that we are a cult. Which is false. That's why we are going to go there! To prove them wrong! I bought myself some new, mini scriptures cause once we get to Hong Kong we will have to carry around scriptures in English and Chinese so I figured smaller would be better. I will send my other ones home. Either Landon can have them or I will use them when I get home.

I guess I did have one of my roughest days here so far. Even then though... it was only a couple of hours. Sister Pearl and I had planned this lesson that we thought was going to be perfect for our investigator Simba. Simba is always talking about her mom, So we thought teaching her about the plan of salvation and how families can be together would be exactly what she needed to hear. We had asked her to commit to baptism the lesson before and she said she would think about it, so this time we thought we had it is the bag. But as soon as we went in there and started teaching her she shut off from us completely. She didn't really talk or give input on what we were talking about. But we kept going on with the lesson anyway. I think that she understood us, but it was just not a good lesson. Especially compared to the lesson we had had with Kim a couple days before, when Sister Pearl and I could feel the spirit so strong and it guided the entire lesson based on Kim's needs. Anyway.... I was really upset after that lesson with Simba cause I had felt like it was what she needed to hear, but I guess we didn't say it to her in a way that she would feel the spirit teaching her.

Everyday here I learn more about the people I am teaching. We are taught to teach people, not lessons. It is strange how much of a difference it makes when you the spirit guide the lesson rather than you completely teaching the entire lesson line for line. I am so grateful for the time that I have to be here. Even though it already feels as if I have been here for eternity. I have grown so much and have seen how much other people have grown. Now I know why it is so important for young men to go on a mission and how important it is for as many young women to go as can go. It really puts your priorities straight. I LOVE THE LORD AND HIS WORK!

Love you all!

Shea

Hello dearest family

 

Another week as come and gone! It feels like just yesterday I just emailed you. This week has been the fastest week of my life. I don't know why... I thought towards the end of our time here that it would start going fast... but it is already going fast. Our older district leaves in two weeks! We were freaking out yesterday cause it is so soon and we will miss them so much when they leave.

 

When I first got here I was jealous of the English speakers who are only here for like 10 days... but now I am grateful for how long I get to be here. I get to work on spiritually creating myself for a full 9 weeks before I go out into the field. I am starting to really like it here as well. Everything is so in tune with the spirit here that everyday you hear exactly what you need to hear. It is really crazy! But I love it!

 

I have seen ChaiDee, Libby, Jessica and BreAnna! Libby leaves tomorrow! Crazy! I am going to visit her tonight... she just lives like 3 doors down from me. Jessica left last week and she lived on the same floor as us as well. ChaiDee lives a floor above us but we have the same meal time so I get to see her alot. I was worried I wouldn't even get to see BreAnna... but luckily I was scanning the crowd yesterday when the sisters got to watch Music of the Spoken Words. I found her there and she was telling me how she got moved up to the advanced level Spanish class so now she is only here for 10 days! Apparently she was really sick the first couple of days she got here but was feeling better by Sunday. I am excited for Keri to get here! How is she doing! You should give her a guilt trip for not writing me. That girl... 3 weeks now.... not one letter... ridiculous.

 

So Cantonese is coming along. Slowly but surely. Everyone is starting to level out in their speaking abilities, which is nice. Want to know a fantastic thing about Cantonese?! There are no tenses like English or Spanish! It is all in present tense, you just have to add words like yesterday or tomorrow or later! I think that makes up for the 7 tones that we have. :) Tones are super important. Dad I know you told me not to worry about the tones really until I got there... but there are some distinctions that need to be made. Like between pig and savior I was telling you about but also between small words like in and am. Hai = in and Haih= am So we are pounded with tones quite often. Thanks for sending that Walkman by the way. It is kinda hard to make it read the CD but it works. I just have to flip the walkman upside down. Thanks for getting me everything I ask for... you truly are the best. :)

 

Sundays here are so nice. They are the most relaxing day here. We just have sacrament meeting at 7:30am then breakfast, which is always cereal on Sundays. Which there are so many freaking missionaries here! It is getting kind of ridiculous. We got 1000 new missionaries this last Wednesday added to the already 3400ish missionaries that were already here. So meals are awful. Sooooooooooooooo many people. It is great how the army is growing... I just don't know how many more the MTC can hold. Normally I would really hate all of the people, cause I hate crowds. But I just look at it as getting me ready for Hong Kong. The Lord knew I hate crowds and wanted me to get used to them before I got there. Except when I get there I will be able to see over everyone's head, so it really wont even be that bad. Anyway.... sorry for that sidetrack... but after breakfast the sisters get to watch music of the spoken word and right after, relief society starts. During Relief Society there are always guest speakers so this week we got to listen to Linda Reeves ( I think that is how you spell it, not so sure... I forgot my notebook) but then after that we get to go hang out with our district in our classroom till lunch. Usually we just watch Mormon Messages cause we can. :) Then after lunch we have district meeting and temple walk. 

I LOVE TEMPLE WALK! We get to walk over to the temple and walk around the grounds. It is really the best. Getting out and seeing the sun is so refreshing. They cancelled it last week because there was ice. But this week we got our fill of Vitamin D for the week. Ahaaa so nice. But then we had choir practice, which you don't have to tell me I already know that I am a horrible singer... but you get a good seat for devotionals both Sunday and Tuesday so we joined. Then we had a devotional Sunday evening by Brother Littlefeild, I missed what his actual job is, but I know he helps the quorum of the 12 assign mission calls, but it was about how God can work miracles. He said how we as missionaries need to believe that we can do miracles and change peoples lives. Never doubting but trusting in the Lord with all our heart. I am so excited to convert all of Hong Kong! Hong Kong won't know what hit them. I am going to take it by STORM!

 

 

Well my time is up! I love you so much!

I am so happy!

Love, Shea