email # 1 from MTC

I love you all and I am alive! I will also write you a nice long letter later so that will be good :) I love all the updates and notes that you send me :) Let's see I'll tell you about my week and then answer questions. The first part you can copy to my blog :)

 

Day 1:

You guys dropped me off and they took me to get my new ID, my name tags, and then a bag of books that weighed about a gazillion pounds hahaha. Then they took me to my Residence Hall (not a dorm because we just reside there at night). I sleep in the top bunk of a bed that is six feet in the air with no ladder....so once i'm up there, i stay up there for the night before i leap down each morning :) Then i went to class where they did not speak a word of English. At first Elder Crowell and I were the only ones there with this teacher who kept asking us questions in Chinese and expecting answers while like ten other teachers sat in the back and watched and laughed. Then one by one Elder Gish, Elder Lotulelei, Elder Thompson, Elder Sandstrom, Sister Ganowsky (MY COMPANION!), and then Elder Green showed up. After three hours of that class they took us to drop our stuff off, and went to a new missionary meeting, then dinner, then we went to teach  our first three investigators! Luckily it was in English with a bunch of us teaching one person. I was the first person to start talking and teaching. Then after a long and confusing half day, we went to our residence and unpack-ish and went to bed!

 

Day 2:

Breakfast, Intense 3 hour class purely in Chinese, Personal Study for an hour, Additional study, Lunch, Companion Study, Lanuage Study, PMG Workshops, dinner, more district study, and then bed!

 

Day 3:

Same as above, but that night we also taught our first investigator named Mao Xiao Jie (Ms. Mao) COMPLETELY in Chinese! It went HORRIBLE! hahahahahah we left and we were all confused (me, my comp, and Mao) and i kept mixing up bu ker qi (you're welcome) and dui bu qi (sorry!) and kept saying you're welcome to her hahahahaha NO BUENO!

 

Day 4:

After breakfast we went to our classroom and were all ready to learn some Chinese when some Tagolag teacher came down and told us that there was some girl upstair named Mao and was speaking in Chinese waiting for someone. SURPRISE! our teacher forgot to tell us that we were teaching her first thing in the morning so Sister Ganowsky and I went up and taught her again without any preparation except and desperate and hurried prayer outside of the room in which we were going to meet with her. WE KILLED IT! we did awesome! it was still a bit of a struggle, but we got her to accept the Book of Mormon, understand that we are all children of God, and commit to read the BOM. (i also gave her my Chinese BOM which apparently i wasn't supposed to do.....so now i don't have one....) The day continued with the same as day 2 schedule, but also filled with district bonding. We Love our district! Especially Elder Gish (whom i've met before...he's the cousin of my jr high friend zach gish) who is from New Hampshire, Elder Green, his comp, who is from Orem, Elder Crowell who is from North Ogden, and Elder Lotulelei who is from Reno, NV. I get along super well with Sis Ganowsky. She is from St. George and is shy and not super outgoing, but she does great with me and we get along wonderfully :) Elder Holland is also her Uncle!

 

Day 5: (sunday)

We went to the Spoken Word while the elders when to Priesthood. and Then RS where Sister Esplin (the General Primary President) spoke. She did an amazing job! We also had lunch then Sacrament with our zone which took place in about 80% Chinese. Then we had our district meeting, and branch presidency interviews, etc. We also had our Sunday Night Fireside, and then film night :) We went and saw a video of Elder Holland "Always a Missionary" I've heard parts of it before, but everytime i hear it, it is just as incredible as i remember!

 

Day 6:

Started out with Service aka. cleaning the whole residence hall (hallways, bathrooms, doorknobs, sinks, vacuuming, mopping, sweeping, etc.) Then we had classes and the usual. Then we taught Mao that night.....and SLAYED IT! We went in with the goal of me speaking less, and letting Sister G do a little more. She has a hard time reading the language outloud and speaking. I as usual babble when I'm nervous....and apparently this is still true for me in Chinese! but she read the BOM and we had her commit to pray, and taught her how. We also assigned her certain chapters to read and accidentally assigned her the chapter where Nephi cuts of Laban's head....but oh well! hahahahaha

 

Ok random things that have happened. Ppl keep asing me how long i've spoken Chinese....and i DON'T SPEAK CHINESE! hahahahaha Ppl i've seen: SISTER BOWEN! Mikey Welch, Bryce Telaroli, Dan Liufau's Bro, Brady Webb, and some others. always strange to see them!

 

Ok THis is for the Fam bam....I LOVE YOU ALL! i miss you guys and think about you everyday! i pray for you all the time and hope you are having a good time. I LOVE THE MTC!!!! oh and Lloyd took a pic of my and my comp and is going to text it to Ash hahahahahha I want you to know how much i Know that i'm supposed to be here and i don't regret anything! Don't worry about me and know that i'm very happy!

 

I LOVE YOU ALL!

Love, Bu Jie Mei!

 

PS, Mum could you send me some detergent and fabric softener? oh and THANKS for the package! Can we have some cookies or something? like oatmeal raisin? or kitkat bars!? I LOVE YOU....my time is up! BYE!

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Peace be with you, keep the Faith, and Godspeed. 

Sister Naivasha Hani Burrows

MTC Mailbox #212
TAIW-TCG 0124
2005 N. 900 E.
Provo, UT 84604-1793