Week 8!

I can't believe I have been here for 2 months! I feel like I just got here yesterday, but then also I feel like I've been here for an eternity!! Haha

This week some cool things happened:

1) Sister Smith and I both left our key cards at home and we borrowed someone else's so that we could go back to the residency and grab ours. Unfortunately, her card had been demagnitized and wasn't working. On the 5th time, I said a little prayer and said "It really would be easier if this would just work. We have a lesson in 10 minutes and we don't really have time to find another card." Time #6, no luck, and just as we were about to give up, try #7, the lock flashed green and the door clicked open. Sister Smith said "Oh! It worked! I was praying for that!"

Okay so I think I never explained the investigator thing fully. My investigators are characters. Our teachers act as investigators they had on their missions and we teach them. I treat them as real investigators, and I pray for them etc. but they aren't real people. We teach converts on Mondays for TRC "Teach Real Converts". The first 3 weeks we had live people from Provo, and now we Skype people in Taiwan. We have the option to teach Golden Tag investigators, and I think they are real investigators, but they only speak English, and we don't have any golden tags right now because we have too many other things to work on.

Our investigators are good, but their baptism date kind of snuck up on us and we haven't finished teaching all the necessary commandments etc. They are both willing and excited about their baptisms, but I don't think either one is really as ready as we would like them to be. Unfortunately, we don't have any more time, because we have one last lesson with them before we leave for Taiwan. I don't think we will get any of them through the baptismal interview in order to have the "service" on Saturday. We will have to let them know we are moving the baptism "goal" date a little later to help them prepare and tell them that we are leaving so new missionaries will help them.

Here's cool thing #2:

2) Sister Smith and I were standing outside the door before we went into teach our teacher as our "investigator." We were discussing how after each lesson, they write their thoughts and evaluations. Both of us said "I really wish we could see that so we know how to improve." We had a decent lesson, and when our teacher came back, he said, I think the Spirit is guiding me to change our lesson plan. He asked if we wanted teaching feedback and let us read his evaluation notes!

God knows us and He loves us! I love you all!

"It's a beautiful day to save souls."
-Sister Keogh/Qi Jiemei
齊姐妹

Pictures!

Week 7 at the MTC

Well, we've officially been here long enough that our little dorm feels like home!

We had a good, but rather uneventful week. I redid my entire language study plan because I've been feeling really stuck lately and need some new ideas. Preach My Gospel is such a great resource to help plan and organize everything we do as missionaries.

We had a great devotional last night about missionary work, and about how we come unto the Lord. It was chalk full of wonderful things, so I'll just leave you with this quote from the saints in the Martin Willy Handcart Company who walked thousands of miles and gave up everything they had, sometimes including family members or limbs to make it to Zion because the Lord had commanded them to go. "We came to know the Lord in our extremities and the price we paid to know Him was a privilege to pay."

My prayer is that we can all come to say this is true for ourselves, that we know the Lord, and His Son Jesus Christ, that will know that the place where faith lives is the extremity. How can we expect to know and understand the Savior if we never learn to sacrifice our will as He did in the Garden of Gethsemane?

I love you all, and you're in my prayers
Wo ai ni, Qi Jiemei

MTC schedule

I've had a couple questions about the MTC life, so I thought I would give you all a quick run down:

Wednesdays are P-days:
Laundry, Temple (when it's open), and lots of e-mailing. Because there isn't alot that needs done on P-days at the MTC, our Branch President allows us to email for longer than the one hour. After dinner, P-day is over and we have a 3 hour class block until 9pm when we plan and head back to the dorms for bed.

Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday:
7:00 Sack breakfast in our PJ's consisting usually of a bagel, orange juice and disappointment when the peanut butter is gone
7:20 Mini-nap time
7:45 Work-out/tear every muscle in your body time. I usually run about a mile each day, and then we do strength training with our personal trainer, Elder McCusker. We are all getting really strong! (and really sore...)
8:45 Shower and get ready for the day
9:15 PCL Time (Personal, Companion and Language Study)
11:55 Lunch
12:15 PCL
1:30 Class
This usually is an hour of teaching investigators, or more language study time, an hour of grammar lessons or Preach My Gospel lessons (all in Chinese) and then an hour of "coaching" when the teacher meets with you periodically and checks in with you on your goals. There's ALOT of self guided study time, even if the teacher is there.
4:30 Dinner
5:15 PCL
6:00 Another 3 hour class block, about the same as the one from the afternoon.
9:00 Planning for the next day, and district announcements and prayer
9:30 Head back home
10:30 lights out

Saturdays we have class in the morning and study at night, and Fridays we have service in the mornings, which means cleaning bathrooms etc.

Sundays are different, because we have church, so there's no class, but still alot of study time. We love it here!

Halfway point for the MTC!

Well, Sunday was the half way point! We officially have less time left in the MTC than we have been here! I honestly can't imagine leaving. The MTC just feels like normal life. The first week we were here, the "oldest" district said "We were born here, and we're going to die here." I finally understood what they meant. I'm not feeling stir-crazy, but our district as a whole is has cabin fever. Our tiny little classroom full of 9 people feels rather claustrophobic. I feel bad for the districts who have 12-14 people in the same space!

This week was nice though because we got a bit of variety in our schedule. Monday, we got to host Senior Missionary couples and help them move into their rooms at the MTC. It was so nice to get to know them, and to speak some English! There were 85 couples and 3 sisters that came in on Monday. I was assigned the job that gave me the most amount of time with the couples. I spent about 15 minutes getting to know them, welcoming them, and answering their questions. We have couples who are headed all over the world! One couple was from Washington and they were going to serve in their hometown  at the family history center, another headed to Congo, and another to Cambodia. All of them were so excited to be at the MTC and to talk with the young missionaries. I thought about how I love loving people and how wonderful it was I had the opportunity to help the senior couples.

I look forward to the day when I can get to know and love people in Chinese. I pray each day as I study I will blessed with the gift of tongues so I can serve in the way the Lord needs me to. I'm already starting to see this gift as I study and practice. I feel that I have an affinity for language comprehension in Chinese. I think this is interesting because it seems this is yet another way the Lord is humbling me. I struggle most of the time to speak more than very simple sentences, but I can usually divine some meaning from what people say to me, This seems to be a gift from the Lord that will allow me to love the people and not focus on myself. If I all I can do is listen, I will have to simplify and teach what the Spirit guides me to. I will be able to love the people and understand their questions and concerns.

We have a language study software called TALL, Technology Assisted Language Learning that helps us study flashcards, check our our speech, and has reading and listening practices. I love watch the videos of missionaries meeting with church members and investigators because it helps me come to understand the culture and the people of Taiwan. I'm so excited to be there and to get to know those who need more of Christ's light in their lives.
 
I also had the wonderful opportunity to sing at the MTC Mission Conference this Sunday. There were over 2,000 missionaries there. It was a great experience. I'm so grateful for the experiences the Lord is blessing me with here and the opportunities I am having to bear my testimony both through words and song.

Today our district had a picnic at lunch, and tonight our district gets to help orient the new missionaries to what teaching is really like. We are all slightly anxious because we have never really taught in English and it's surprisingly hard!

Thank you all for your love, prayers, letters and packages! Trust me, the encouragement, and sometimes the chocolate, is well needed ;)

Wo ai nimen,
Qi Jiemei