ZL in the MTC

SO. Elder Fisher and I have been called as the new Zone Leaders. What a responsibility!! I am so excited for the opportunity to love and get to know our zone, and to welcome in the new missionaries next week, but leadership is hard! It's hard when you care about people, and you know what's good for them, but they're not committed to being obedient. We're counseling and planning to help lift our zone and take them to a higher level. I know that the Lord wants that, so I have faith he'll help us out! Teaching in Chinese is going much better. As long as I do my part on preparing FOR people, not for myself, the Lord is at my side. That is one skill that I'd suggest the young men develop. Learning the doctrine of Christ with others in mind, not just yourself. I feel like my studies were for my own understanding. Which is good! But for missionary work, you need to learn how to look outwards, and learn how to seek out the needs of others, and find how the doctrine of Christ meets those needs. As you do so, the Lord can make more out of you than a natural human. That's why Joseph Smith was super human! His work wasn't his own, it was his Father's.

Halfway through the MTC

Things over here are pounding through! We are approaching the halfway week, and it feels like I just got here! Sometimes it feels as though I've been here forever, then I realize it's been a month this week! I feel the 24 months burning away already! There is not enough time to prepare myself to teach these people in this very different language! But I have really grown to trust and depend on the Lord to help me in that aspect. This last saturday at the TRC, where we teach people real lessons, I met a man from my mission! He invited me over for dinner on Christmas! I wish I asked him more about the branch there and about the progress of the work and the area, but I could hardly understand anything! They speak so fast! My teachers are amazing though. I struggled at first here, because there is so much to learn to know how to prepare well for all the tasks that need to be done as a missionary, but practice has helped me really to get them down. My district is doing very well though. Elder Everett is now district leader and doing a great job! We're learning together and keeping our time and living spaces in order. Other Elders struggle with that a lot! I am so excited to get out into the field!

Visit from Elder Bednar

This week has been so special. Tuesday night, our fireside was graced by the presence of David A Bednar! He is such an amazing servant of the Lord! He taught how we can implement the powerful words of the apostles into our lives. Tomorrow begins week 4! I cannot believe it! So much is happening and my learning is being enhanced by the Lord. I know that my whole life has been blessed, my mind and body, to qualify me for what he needs me to do. I feel him sharpening my mind where it lacks. I am so reliant on him! I need him by my side to learn this language, because it's so different! But Elder Fisher and I are thoroughly enjoying the journey. Miracles are happening in our learning everyday! There are times when it's difficult to work out teaching plans, but through the spirit, we become unified. I didn't realized what an emphasis there would be on learning to teach. I am so grateful for all the practice and preparation I got before my mission. I can't imagine having to completely learn that and Chinese! The Lord needs a full bucket to draw from. It's so essential for young men to qualify to be the missionaries that Elder Nelson speaks of. The ones that can answer any question of life. It is such an honor to be part of this work! The Lord is truly hastening it. More than ever in the history of the world, and I feel so much confidence on his side!

A Landmark Announcement

     The spirit tells the same message faithfully, even through us imperfect beings. I got to watch the christmas devotional talk here from Elder Bednar on the character of Christ. It was so inspiring! The natural man thinks inwardly, while Christ always acted and thought outwardly, I am focusing on adopting that into my every action. This week was amazing. I never understood the gift of tongues until now. I realized early that I myself can't learn this language sufficient to communicate. I'll be studying so hard and it just doesn't stick! Everything fades out of my memory so fast. But most of our preparation and study is actually focused on preparing to teach investigators lessons. As I focus on their needs, even though they aren't really investigating the church, the spirit still speaks to my heart, because they are playing the roles of real people they know. When teaching, Chinese just comes to me. Principles and vocabulary just flood into my mind. I thought I'd only realize this gift out in the field! It's helping my learning so much. It was so frustrating at first because I had all these impressions that I wanted to share, but there were no words for them. Diligent study and obedience is binding the Lord to my work. He is so merciful to me, I just cannot believe it most of the time! It's still really hard to learn, but the Lord is doing wonders and miracles, and it's giving me hope. It's crazy how busy I am! Every second of these three months cannot be wasted! There are too many souls at stake that I am accountable for that I cannot bear to lose because I didn't do my best. I feel the adrenaline of getting up onto the highbar at a meet before a lesson, and then the spirit guides me, and I feel like I stuck the landing! I reaaaally miss doing gymnastics, and there's a bunch of missionaries that do handstands all the time and it makes me laugh! Some even do standing backs :O but I don't want to risk hurting myself AT ALL. There are tons of missionaries in crutchs!

     I'm sure you can imagine the reaction to Pres Monson's announcement on Saturday. At first I was like, Why now?? I could've left sooner! But then the spirit bore witness to my heart that things worked out for the very best for me, because I was willing to submit to the will of the Father. What a blessing, what an exciting time! I feel so excited to be a missionary!

First Week of My Mission!

     The missionary TRAINING center is literally that. All I could think of is how Scott Self had already gone through all this, but when I got to my district, all anyone would speak is Mandarin! It was so frustrating, and I wished that I could've taken more classes! But I started to catch on to everything I could. It's an immersion program, and I guess that's the only way possible to learn in 3 months! I thought it would be forever, until we tried to teach our first lesson. Me and my companion only had a day and a half of study, and we had to teach a guy who only spoke Chinese! We weren't actually able to teach him anything... or barely carry out a conversation. It was really motivating to increase my efforts. But my district is very unified. We are all focused on the purpose of being missionaries, and are doing all we can to prepare to teach. Everyone tells us that the language will come though, which is comforting. They said we should focus on our teaching ability, and the Lord would help us with the rest. I have complete faith in that. I cannot learn chinese in these months, but the Lord can, and it's his will, so I will do it. I got to go to the Provo temple for the first time! It was HUGE, and so busy! It's hard to get used to all these new things at the MTC, but I'm bearing through it, and looking forward to taking full advantage of every minute of these two years.