Hai! Merry Christmas one and all!
So yeah. Last week was pretty tough. But this week was wayyyyy better. We ran into loads of pretty golden investigators. And of course, golden investigators is really just anyone who is actually willing to meet with us haha. But pretty good. We had 4 whole investigators come to church on Sunday! Which is basically a record for this area.
No idea what was different about this week from last week but we kept running into interested people. On Tuesday we ran into this super golden investigator (actually golden not just willing to listen to us haha) from a place near Shenyang (didn't really catch the name). Anyways, he said that he didn't know much about religion but when I shared the first vision with him on the street he recognized it since he had just moved from near richmond, VA where he had a mormon friend who had helped him and his family a lot when he had first moved there and had shared a little bit about the church with them. Anyways, so we went to the nearby park and taught a lesson which went really well. When he said the closing prayer he was like "and I hope this will be something I can pursue my whole life." Elder Luo and I were like "Yay!" and then found out he actually lives in the Daley City area haha so we just referred him over to the new sister missionaries who are serving there. But still cool.
Actually we had like 6 referrals that we sent over to Daley City this week. Helped improve our guanxi with the new sisters though so it's cool. We also met a guy who we started teaching and were like "Yeah this could work" and then it came out that his career basically consists of going to the casino every day. Elder Luo and I were like "wat?!" So we don't really know what we're gonna do with him. Plus we invited him to church and he was like, "Nope, sorry, the casinos give out even more money on Sundays..." I don't really know how he makes money but he must have some kind of system since he says he's never lost before. Pretty hilarious though.
We also met a woman (Sister Yu) who we started teaching and looked pretty promising. She was really interested in getting us to teach her son who's 26 years old, dropped out of college, and basically stays at home playing computer games all day (pretty much what i'm planning on doing after the mission). So pretty much super pathetic. We arranged to meet with her and her son and it pretty much turned into the most awkward lesson ever. We started teaching by watching "our search for happiness" which went ok and then we started talking about the plan of salvation and like what the purpose of life is and stuff. In the middle of the lesson he stood up and was like "Wo bu dong zhege" [I don't understand this.] and went back to his room. We were like... "ummm...." So we started to continue teaching Sister Yu but she like shook her head and pointed to the door. I was like "oh... I guess we'll leave then" haha. She came down with us though and we finished our lesson with her down by the entrance of the apartment. Ended up that her husband opposed her continuing to meet with us and so we had to drop her as an investigator, but yeah... pretty awkward lesson. And a pretty pathetic situation overall to be honest. I can't believe their son man. Such a waste of a life, honestly.
Anyways, we also added two investigators from Vietnam and are continuing to meet with the OuYang family which is cool. However, one our investigators from Vietnam (Brother Liu) has had like one of the roughest lives ever. First, he's got all these like wounds and scars and stuff since he served as a soldier in the Vietnam War that he goes to the doctor for 3 days a week. Also, he was telling us about his life in Vietnam after the war where I guess he got sent to some kind of re-education camp once the Americans left and he was caught trying to escape Vietnam which was pretty dismal from his description. He's now living with his nephew and his nephew's family and kind of looks after their kids in return for them allowing him to stay with them, but for some reason neither Elder Luo nor I are entirely clear on, he can only live with them through the 23rd of December, after which he'll have to move out. Basically, he has no idea where he's going to go and at the moment looks like he might end up without anywhere to live. Elder Luo and I are fasting for him today and we have faith that the Lord will prepare a way for him to avoid being homeless. At least we hope so since at the moment we really can't tell what will happen.
On a bit of a lighter note, the other guy from Vietnam (Tony Liu) is pretty funny. He speaks like 7 languages and just joined another Christian church. As we were on the train back from the church into downtown, Elder Luo was chatting with him and was like "So do you think what we talked about in our lesson is true? (we taught the restoration). And he was like "yeah I guess I do" And then Elder Luo basically committed him to be baptized right there for Jan. 23rd haha. Don't know how solid that is but I guess we'll find out. He was also telling us about everyone who comes into association with him either dies or stops associating with him. So I guess we'd better be extra careful from now on... haha.
Wow, 96 is pretty old! [Our former neighbor just passed away.] That's neat you guys got to attend his memorial service but yeah I guess a bit of a bummer you didn't get around to seeing him before he passed away. That is way older than what I would've thought. If I ever get that old i'd definitely be telling everyone. Pretty big accomplishment.
I'm in the library today sending emails and I only have 11 minutes left to go email Joel and Michelle so I'd better wrap this up. Sounds like your holiday season's going pretty well. I hope you get lots and lots of super interesting emails on your blackberry dad! And don't worry I won't tell Elder Luo about the submarines. I'm kind of interested as to why Taiwan even bothers. Wouldn't they just get wiped out if China actually every decided to attack them anyway?
Anyways, Merry Christmas mom and dad! I love you! Thanks so much for your love and support! I will call grandma and grandpa's phone probably around noon your time if that's ok. And if it's not then... well... too bad!
Love you!
-Ian
P.S. Don't have too many xmas plans to be honest. Our district is getting treated to lunch by a member though... which I just remembered is at 12... so maybe I'll be calling a little earlier... but either way, pretty good! K Love you bai!
Monday, December 20, 2010
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
On the Streets
Oh Hai!
So yeah. That was pretty random. Felt a little panjiao [apostate] though to be honest. ALMOST talking to you guys. Pretty panjiao. Whatever the case, pretty fun. I wouldn't worry about the scarf since it's really not that cold here and I'm thinking of dropping by the subway lost and found which I haven't checked yet to see if they have my scarf. And then while we're there we can ask them if they have our umbrellas... and then see if my camera's there too on the off chance it got left on BART accidently... whatever happens, I'm sure those BART (the name of the subway) employees have been spending the past couple weeks following me around and picking up all the stuff that has left my person and taking it to the lost and found until I decide to go and pick it all up so I really should be fine.
Anyways, yeah we had transfer calls the day before yesterday which was pretty exciting. Well not really since Elder Luo and I are staying in this area as companions haha. Elder Luo is being made district leader though and our current district leader is headed to Oakland where he will be taking the bus and training someone. No more car for him! And no more rides for us unfortunately since the two missionaries coming to take the place of our district leader and his companion (they're both moving away) are sisters and therefore are not able to give us rides anywhere. Pretty zaogao I have to say. Especially since sister missionaries always strike me as super hardcore and it's kind of awkward talking to them since they're girls and stuff. And have cooties.
On the other hand, Elder Luo being district leader means I'll have the opportunity sometime this transfer to go on exchanges with Elder Lee which should be pretty much awesomely hilarious... I just hope we can still keep working hard since every time we're together we just joke around. Like how at church we were like joking about how we need to sabotage the new sister missionaries so they don't make us look bad hahaha. Our proposed pranks kind of got a little out of hand though with the bucket of nails above the door to the bathroom and the venomous snakes in their beds. However we're still planning on seran wrap on the toilet seat and itching powder on the chairs. I am, of course, kidding. But I have heard that sister missionaries are pretty awesome. So we're pretty much expecting a huge upsurge of baptisms in the branch which should be good. Meanwhile, Elder Luo and my district suffered some setbacks earlier in the week which forced us to spend most of the time street contacting. On Tuesday we had 4 appointments set up, 3 with investigators, and 1 with a potential we had contacted on Monday night. 3 of them cancelled, and the prospective then fanged our gezi (stood us up)... Which was pretty lame. But we did have a stroke of luck as we first ran into a member who had served a mission in Gaoxiong 3 years earlier and so treated us to dinner which was nice of him. And then we ran into Roger Andelin, which of course you know about already. Then we had a couple more appts cancel so we basically spent most of the week street contacting around Chinatown which is where we spend most of our time. Although, for some reason, there seemed to be trouble in Chinatown this week since not only did people seem rather uninterested in listening to us (rather a lot), but we kept running into the rudest people ever haha. First there was this random white guy who just started swearing at us for some reason which was rather uncool of him, and then we contacted these people on the bus yesterday who were saying the most ridiculously rude things ever to us haha. It was funny cause one of them was from Shenyang and usually when people say that Elder Luo goes "ME TOO!" except this time he was like "oh yeah I'm from like somewhere near there......" Looks like Shenyang isn't the zionistic paradise Elder Luo would have me believe it is haha.
However, this week had a lot of really good stuff too. On Saturday night we went to visit a family that's been inactive for years (Tan family). Everything has basically already been taught to them so every time we go over there we're like "what should we teach?!" At the end of the lesson, we asked who they knew who we could teach the restored gospel and they actually had a referral for us! And what was even more amazing is that the referral walked in like 5 minutes later! We set up an appointment for last night and it went really well. Basically pretty golden since it's a family (one of the first we've been able to teach) and both the husband and wife seem really receptive. AND we have an automatic friendshipper since they're a referral. Member referrals really are the best way to do missionary work. The only problem we see now is how we're gonna get them to come to church if their member friends, the Tan family, don't even come. But I guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it which we hope won't be an unbreachable gap since church is really important... seeing as how they can't get baptized or anything without going. But we still have hope that the Tan family will be able to come back to church since they clearly still have super strong testimonies which they bore pretty freely last night as we taught our lesson. We hope that they'll just get super excited about missionary work and then just naturally want to come back to church. We have hope!
Whatever the case though, teaching them really made me realize how important the gospel is in our lives since there really is very little to go by without it. Like I can't imagine what values I'd teach my kids if I didn't have some kind of golden standard to go by. Definitely hopeful for this family... who's surname is O'Yang which makes me think of like O'Reilly or O'Malley or something. Pretty sure they're not Irish though...
And Dad, you of ALL people should know that tithing is really more of a SUGGESTION than a real PRINCIPLE... haha. Yeah that's definitely really lame of those missionaries. And there's no way they'd even be able to pass the baptismal interview if they weren't prepared to pay tithing. Which seems to kind of be a pretty big problem for most Chinese converts. Which is a shame since I'm a pretty big fan of those bigger commandments that are generally harder to keep since the blessings really are so much greater. Tithing really is such a blessing.
Glad to hear you're keeping my legend alive in the Arlington Ward. Make sure to tell them about the thousands of people who are being baptized here in San Francisco as a result of my efforts and how I can shoot laser beams out of my eyes. (That last one is pretty new though.)
Pretty cool you're in the news dad [Wikileaks]. Although I can't imagine you've said anything really ridiculous in any of your cables or whatnot. If so though, I'd be excited to see your name in the headlines of the papers I occasionally get glimpses of. And if you lose your job in the government, there's always reality television.
Glad to hear things are going well as the Relief Society Czar mom. I'm sure you're top notch! Tip top! Recent converts are the best. Oh except for that one that we baptized a month or so ago since this week we think he's been avoiding us. Ok we know he has. But yesterday we finally found out why since his friend Sister Liu said that he said we shouldn't get him to accompany our lessons anymore like we had been doing before since he doesn't really feel like he's up to that. Just wish he'd just have said that in the first place haha so we wouldn't have to get avoided which is a bummer. Still, it's always a fun time to go by his apartment on Broadway haha.
Elder Luo and I basically spent most of our P-day restoring our apartment to the Celestial Glory we assume it at some point had possessed. It does look a lot better now since we spent quite a while cleaning it. At the very least Top Degree Terrestrial.
I need to go write michelle and joel back but thanks a lot for your emails! And for your presents! I love opening one every day before companionship study haha. So fun. And all the stuff you've sent so far has been so awesome and useful... except maybe the clay.. but i'll find a way to use it! I love you guys! Stay strong in the gospel and whatnot!
Love,
-Ian
So yeah. That was pretty random. Felt a little panjiao [apostate] though to be honest. ALMOST talking to you guys. Pretty panjiao. Whatever the case, pretty fun. I wouldn't worry about the scarf since it's really not that cold here and I'm thinking of dropping by the subway lost and found which I haven't checked yet to see if they have my scarf. And then while we're there we can ask them if they have our umbrellas... and then see if my camera's there too on the off chance it got left on BART accidently... whatever happens, I'm sure those BART (the name of the subway) employees have been spending the past couple weeks following me around and picking up all the stuff that has left my person and taking it to the lost and found until I decide to go and pick it all up so I really should be fine.
Anyways, yeah we had transfer calls the day before yesterday which was pretty exciting. Well not really since Elder Luo and I are staying in this area as companions haha. Elder Luo is being made district leader though and our current district leader is headed to Oakland where he will be taking the bus and training someone. No more car for him! And no more rides for us unfortunately since the two missionaries coming to take the place of our district leader and his companion (they're both moving away) are sisters and therefore are not able to give us rides anywhere. Pretty zaogao I have to say. Especially since sister missionaries always strike me as super hardcore and it's kind of awkward talking to them since they're girls and stuff. And have cooties.
On the other hand, Elder Luo being district leader means I'll have the opportunity sometime this transfer to go on exchanges with Elder Lee which should be pretty much awesomely hilarious... I just hope we can still keep working hard since every time we're together we just joke around. Like how at church we were like joking about how we need to sabotage the new sister missionaries so they don't make us look bad hahaha. Our proposed pranks kind of got a little out of hand though with the bucket of nails above the door to the bathroom and the venomous snakes in their beds. However we're still planning on seran wrap on the toilet seat and itching powder on the chairs. I am, of course, kidding. But I have heard that sister missionaries are pretty awesome. So we're pretty much expecting a huge upsurge of baptisms in the branch which should be good. Meanwhile, Elder Luo and my district suffered some setbacks earlier in the week which forced us to spend most of the time street contacting. On Tuesday we had 4 appointments set up, 3 with investigators, and 1 with a potential we had contacted on Monday night. 3 of them cancelled, and the prospective then fanged our gezi (stood us up)... Which was pretty lame. But we did have a stroke of luck as we first ran into a member who had served a mission in Gaoxiong 3 years earlier and so treated us to dinner which was nice of him. And then we ran into Roger Andelin, which of course you know about already. Then we had a couple more appts cancel so we basically spent most of the week street contacting around Chinatown which is where we spend most of our time. Although, for some reason, there seemed to be trouble in Chinatown this week since not only did people seem rather uninterested in listening to us (rather a lot), but we kept running into the rudest people ever haha. First there was this random white guy who just started swearing at us for some reason which was rather uncool of him, and then we contacted these people on the bus yesterday who were saying the most ridiculously rude things ever to us haha. It was funny cause one of them was from Shenyang and usually when people say that Elder Luo goes "ME TOO!" except this time he was like "oh yeah I'm from like somewhere near there......" Looks like Shenyang isn't the zionistic paradise Elder Luo would have me believe it is haha.
However, this week had a lot of really good stuff too. On Saturday night we went to visit a family that's been inactive for years (Tan family). Everything has basically already been taught to them so every time we go over there we're like "what should we teach?!" At the end of the lesson, we asked who they knew who we could teach the restored gospel and they actually had a referral for us! And what was even more amazing is that the referral walked in like 5 minutes later! We set up an appointment for last night and it went really well. Basically pretty golden since it's a family (one of the first we've been able to teach) and both the husband and wife seem really receptive. AND we have an automatic friendshipper since they're a referral. Member referrals really are the best way to do missionary work. The only problem we see now is how we're gonna get them to come to church if their member friends, the Tan family, don't even come. But I guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it which we hope won't be an unbreachable gap since church is really important... seeing as how they can't get baptized or anything without going. But we still have hope that the Tan family will be able to come back to church since they clearly still have super strong testimonies which they bore pretty freely last night as we taught our lesson. We hope that they'll just get super excited about missionary work and then just naturally want to come back to church. We have hope!
Whatever the case though, teaching them really made me realize how important the gospel is in our lives since there really is very little to go by without it. Like I can't imagine what values I'd teach my kids if I didn't have some kind of golden standard to go by. Definitely hopeful for this family... who's surname is O'Yang which makes me think of like O'Reilly or O'Malley or something. Pretty sure they're not Irish though...
And Dad, you of ALL people should know that tithing is really more of a SUGGESTION than a real PRINCIPLE... haha. Yeah that's definitely really lame of those missionaries. And there's no way they'd even be able to pass the baptismal interview if they weren't prepared to pay tithing. Which seems to kind of be a pretty big problem for most Chinese converts. Which is a shame since I'm a pretty big fan of those bigger commandments that are generally harder to keep since the blessings really are so much greater. Tithing really is such a blessing.
Glad to hear you're keeping my legend alive in the Arlington Ward. Make sure to tell them about the thousands of people who are being baptized here in San Francisco as a result of my efforts and how I can shoot laser beams out of my eyes. (That last one is pretty new though.)
Pretty cool you're in the news dad [Wikileaks]. Although I can't imagine you've said anything really ridiculous in any of your cables or whatnot. If so though, I'd be excited to see your name in the headlines of the papers I occasionally get glimpses of. And if you lose your job in the government, there's always reality television.
Glad to hear things are going well as the Relief Society Czar mom. I'm sure you're top notch! Tip top! Recent converts are the best. Oh except for that one that we baptized a month or so ago since this week we think he's been avoiding us. Ok we know he has. But yesterday we finally found out why since his friend Sister Liu said that he said we shouldn't get him to accompany our lessons anymore like we had been doing before since he doesn't really feel like he's up to that. Just wish he'd just have said that in the first place haha so we wouldn't have to get avoided which is a bummer. Still, it's always a fun time to go by his apartment on Broadway haha.
Elder Luo and I basically spent most of our P-day restoring our apartment to the Celestial Glory we assume it at some point had possessed. It does look a lot better now since we spent quite a while cleaning it. At the very least Top Degree Terrestrial.
I need to go write michelle and joel back but thanks a lot for your emails! And for your presents! I love opening one every day before companionship study haha. So fun. And all the stuff you've sent so far has been so awesome and useful... except maybe the clay.. but i'll find a way to use it! I love you guys! Stay strong in the gospel and whatnot!
Love,
-Ian
Monday, December 6, 2010
Setting Goals...
NI HAOYA DOIN?!
I GOT IT! And you guys really DO love me!!! The zone leaders dropped it off on saturday night and I was like "Whahttt?!?!?! SO BIG!" And then I opened it and was like "WHATththth?!!? SO MANY!" And then I was like "I should take a picture of this!" and so went to my backpack and reached into the pocket where I kept my camera and was like "Whaththt?!?! SO NOT IN HERE!"
So basically it was all at once, the happiest night ever and the most depressing. I really have no idea where it went though. The only think I can think of is that someone reached into my bag and appropriated it as a kind of early christmas present. Such a bummer though... I feel like I keep losing stuff since I lost my scarf the other day on the stupid subway. Which basically keeps taking Elder Luo and my stuff since another time we left a couple of umbrellas at a stop and got on the subway and realized our umbrellas were outside right as the doors closed and we watched them disappear into oblivion.
On the bright side though, it had like 2 pictures on it... however there really aren't many bright sides to losing stuff like that. Sorry!
Sounds like your xmas activity went well. That's pretty cool you got to have it with those heathens, err I mean, fellow christians across the street :D We had the chance to go see the devotional too which was fun. And there was even a music program beforehand put on by various people in the stake. Had a really good performance by 4 missionaries who sang silent night and had basically really good harmony. I think theirs was probably the best performance of the night.
Music definitely is very powerful in conveying the spirit. I've never heard that experience before either mom! But then I guess I've never really been all that clear on what was going on in your 6th grade year dad haha. Thanks for sharing it though. Elder Luo and I have committed to sing even more than we do to our investigators... which will be an even better goal once I get a new companion who can stay on key! :D Don't tell him I said that... not that you would be able to... but... anyways!
We had a really good zone conference this week on asking refrerrals and setting goals/making plans. Definitely inspired since those were two places I've been struggling with lately, particularly goal-setting. But I have definitely already felt the benefits of following the advice of Pres. Wade and our goal setting is definitely way better now...
Unfortunately that's not really reflected too much in our success lately it seems... since Brother Chen didn't make it to church (and is now sick which is a bummer since we don't know when we'll be able to next meet with him), Brother Zhang said the answer to his prayer was that he was already saved and didn't need to get rebaptized (asdl;kfj;lkjaslk!!!), Sister Loi is "sick" and not very interested in continuing to meet with us (we think possibly cancer since she showed me some letters with medical information saying she might possibly have it and then she went to the doctor's right before cutting it off with us)...
So basically this week didn't go exceptionally well... but we do have high hopes that this next week will be better. We have a new investigator named Sister Zhao who's like 30! So about 50 years younger than the average! And she seems to be doing fairly well. I was on companion exchanges with Elder Mak from hong kong on saturday and we taught her in mandarin/cantonese (he used the cantonese) which was pretty interesting. Cantonese is pretty hilarious. I think i might have to learn some though before I leave since there are so many canto-speakers in this mission. Can actually understand it marginally well or at least guess at the meanings. Anyways, that lesson went pretty well. Although it seems like a lot of our investigators seem to have problems with prayer and knowing that what we're telling them is the truth. Anyways, have a couple other new investigators too which is cool but getting them to church could be a problem since our district is the furthest away from church and none of the people living downtown have cars basically.
Anyways, i'm almost out of time since it's like 1 minute before six but I just want to say that I love you and thank you so much for the big box of christmas presents. It basically feels like home in our apartment with all the xmas music and lights and stuff haha.
Anyways, gtg. Love you!
-Elder Christensen
P.S. At least the govt. is doing SOMETHING right. Probably cause there are so many mormons in the state dept. haha
I GOT IT! And you guys really DO love me!!! The zone leaders dropped it off on saturday night and I was like "Whahttt?!?!?! SO BIG!" And then I opened it and was like "WHATththth?!!? SO MANY!" And then I was like "I should take a picture of this!" and so went to my backpack and reached into the pocket where I kept my camera and was like "Whaththt?!?! SO NOT IN HERE!"
So basically it was all at once, the happiest night ever and the most depressing. I really have no idea where it went though. The only think I can think of is that someone reached into my bag and appropriated it as a kind of early christmas present. Such a bummer though... I feel like I keep losing stuff since I lost my scarf the other day on the stupid subway. Which basically keeps taking Elder Luo and my stuff since another time we left a couple of umbrellas at a stop and got on the subway and realized our umbrellas were outside right as the doors closed and we watched them disappear into oblivion.
On the bright side though, it had like 2 pictures on it... however there really aren't many bright sides to losing stuff like that. Sorry!
Sounds like your xmas activity went well. That's pretty cool you got to have it with those heathens, err I mean, fellow christians across the street :D We had the chance to go see the devotional too which was fun. And there was even a music program beforehand put on by various people in the stake. Had a really good performance by 4 missionaries who sang silent night and had basically really good harmony. I think theirs was probably the best performance of the night.
Music definitely is very powerful in conveying the spirit. I've never heard that experience before either mom! But then I guess I've never really been all that clear on what was going on in your 6th grade year dad haha. Thanks for sharing it though. Elder Luo and I have committed to sing even more than we do to our investigators... which will be an even better goal once I get a new companion who can stay on key! :D Don't tell him I said that... not that you would be able to... but... anyways!
We had a really good zone conference this week on asking refrerrals and setting goals/making plans. Definitely inspired since those were two places I've been struggling with lately, particularly goal-setting. But I have definitely already felt the benefits of following the advice of Pres. Wade and our goal setting is definitely way better now...
Unfortunately that's not really reflected too much in our success lately it seems... since Brother Chen didn't make it to church (and is now sick which is a bummer since we don't know when we'll be able to next meet with him), Brother Zhang said the answer to his prayer was that he was already saved and didn't need to get rebaptized (asdl;kfj;lkjaslk!!!), Sister Loi is "sick" and not very interested in continuing to meet with us (we think possibly cancer since she showed me some letters with medical information saying she might possibly have it and then she went to the doctor's right before cutting it off with us)...
So basically this week didn't go exceptionally well... but we do have high hopes that this next week will be better. We have a new investigator named Sister Zhao who's like 30! So about 50 years younger than the average! And she seems to be doing fairly well. I was on companion exchanges with Elder Mak from hong kong on saturday and we taught her in mandarin/cantonese (he used the cantonese) which was pretty interesting. Cantonese is pretty hilarious. I think i might have to learn some though before I leave since there are so many canto-speakers in this mission. Can actually understand it marginally well or at least guess at the meanings. Anyways, that lesson went pretty well. Although it seems like a lot of our investigators seem to have problems with prayer and knowing that what we're telling them is the truth. Anyways, have a couple other new investigators too which is cool but getting them to church could be a problem since our district is the furthest away from church and none of the people living downtown have cars basically.
Anyways, i'm almost out of time since it's like 1 minute before six but I just want to say that I love you and thank you so much for the big box of christmas presents. It basically feels like home in our apartment with all the xmas music and lights and stuff haha.
Anyways, gtg. Love you!
-Elder Christensen
P.S. At least the govt. is doing SOMETHING right. Probably cause there are so many mormons in the state dept. haha
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Octogenarians & the Gospel
Man not fair at all. Good thing i'm sure i'll be getting a fair share of blessings myself. I mean. Cause that's the only reason I’m doing this. Cause like... no blessings, no payoff or whatever. Haha that actually reminds me of this guy we contacted a while back who we ran into yesterday again who I was like, "What do you think brings the most happiness?" and he was like "Money!" and I was like, "don't you think there's some happiness money can't buy?" And he was like "NO MONEY NO HONEY!!! HUA HUA HUA!" And all his friends started laughing. I guess it was pretty funny. I hope he really was joking though... haha.
Beautiful day here across the country too btw. Although it's getting a little cold. Starting to wear this large coat which at least covers up my hair in the back. Tell Eric I didn't really expect him to break anything... but I mean, you never know. I've just heard people with red hair are like that. And that they also are big on eating red stuff like tomatoes.
Whatever the case, this week went pretty well. Ok, not that well. It seems like all of our progressing investigators aren't really progressing anymore which is kind of annoying. That 72-yr-old guy Brother Chen is kind of slowing up since he keeps not coming to church since A) it's too far, B) it's too early and, I guess, C) he thinks he'll just come up with too many unanswerable questions about the church or something like that. Basically kind of annoying. However, we're still working on it and are hopeful for this next week. For some reason, Brother Chen always goes to sleep at like 2 in the morning since he stays up reading books and stuff like that. “Professor's habit,” he says. And then we have this 70-yr-old woman from Vietnam, Sister Loi. Although she was looking really good earlier this week when we managed to set a baptismal date with her for the 12th (requiring her not to miss a day of church till that date) and got a pretty solid commitment to come to church. She then went to San Jose for a Thanksgiving celebration with her family and when she got back, she missed an appointment with us on Saturday night since she was still there. Then she couldn't make it to church on Sunday for some reason. It was really weird since we called her the night before and told her we were gonna come pick her up the next morning which she said was ok but then we got there and she wasn't home... which is weird since one of her concerns was that going out at 9:30 was too early. Anyways, then we kept calling back all day since we have later and later sacrament meetings with other wards and she never got back home which was really weird and rather frustrating. Then we called at like 9:30 pm and the phone was busy. Anyways, mysterious, so we're gonna have to check and see what was going on that day. I still have no idea. The bad news with that is that now we have to automatically shift her baptismal date a week or probably two back to the 26th since she still has to get to church 3 times before she can get baptized. A bummer.
We have another investigator who lives here in chinatown named Brother Zhang who's like 80+ yrs old. He's already been baptized into another church and so doesn't feel like he needs to be baptized again. However, the last lesson we taught him was super spiritual and we basically told him if the Book of Mormon is true, then we really are the only church with the proper priesthood authority to perform those kinds of ordinances. He said he believes the Book of Mormon is true and so we asked him to pray to know whether or not God wanted him to get re-baptized into our church which for some reason he was really reluctant to do. Elder Luo and I think he already knows he needs to be baptized again and just doesn't want to go through all the hassle of doing it since our church is pretty far away and he says he doesn't want to pao lai pao qu all the time since he's already like 80 something years old. We were very close to a commitment I feel and so we're going back tonight to teach another lesson with recent convert, Brother Zheng, who we baptized last month and who's situation was pretty much the same since he had already been baptized and didn't want to have to be rebaptized but finally changed his mind. Basically, really awesome since he's also like almost 80 years old so we're thinking it'll come off pretty well. At least we hope so. I guess I'll let you guys know next week.
In other news, we got a couple new investigators this week which is cool. Things are looking up in our area apparently since I heard that before, downtown was like the hardest area with no investigators or baptisms and nothing really going for it but I can't really imagine that since things seem to be going pretty well and we have enough investigators to keep our hands full (despite the fact that they all seem to be octogenarians).
Thanksgiving went pretty well. Actually, we had a lot a lot of members inviting us to eat this week. On Wednesday, had the stake president and his family take us out to dinner (which was kind of pan jiao [apostasy] since we stayed kind of too long... but it was kind of bu hao yisi to leave... and our district leader was there too... so yeah... I blame him)... and then on Thursday night we went over to Brother Yang's house which was really good and actually pretty American despite the fact that Elder Lee and I were the only 2 white people there since our whole district was there (all 6 of us!). Then on Saturday had another ward party thing with loads and loads of jiaozi which were really good. Then today had a member take us out to a buffet BBQ restaurant which was pretty darn good. Basically just blessed all over this week.... in the food dept. at least...
Haven't gotten a package from Katherine yet but I am waiting in joyous anticipation. I am almost done with a letter to her which I will send off as soon as I can but there always seems to be precious little time to write letters on p-day since most of the time is spent doing random stuff that takes a lot of time. Especially travelling...
Anyways, I am pretty impressed with your relief society acheivements mom. In office like a month only and already guanxi-ing it up with your subordinates. And by subordinates I mean fellow relief society members. But now that you're in a position of power or whatnot, I don't think it'd be too out of place to exercise some unrighteous dominion. Since I'm pretty sure that's what leadership positions are for right? Anyways, once I become assistant to the president I'm thinking I'll probably just have some more lowly missionaries make me meals and stuff. I mean... you know.. cause like... power.. and stuff...
I hope your blood drive is successful dad. I don't think giving that many pints of blood is really very healthy. I mean I'm no doctor... and I'm not that familiar with the imperial system of measurement but that sounds like too many pints for one person to give. Fortunately, I have AB negative or positive blood which is basically the most useless blood-type ever. Whatever the case, that's cool that William Xu is so active. And yeah I mean waking up so early would probably affect his studies at that incredibly academic institution. You know how ridiculously difficult American public schools are and everything...
Sounds like that Wikileak deal is kind of a mess. But I'm sure everything'll turn out ok in the end. Either that or we'll plunge into a state of anarchy and everyone will start eating each other and whatnot. Speaking of which, Brother Zhang was telling us a bit about the Cultural Revolution as he experienced it back in the day before he escaped to Taiwan which was pretty interesting (despite the fact that it kind of sidetracked our lesson... a lot...). Turns out Elder Luo's Chinese-censored education form of events is rather drastically different. He told me that the famine during the Cultural Revolution was due to natural causes which kind of made me laugh in an ironic bitter kind of way. I guess it was pretty natural that they had no food since no one was really growing any. Pretty interesting to learn about Elder Luo's Chinese take of the world. Like how in school he was taught that America will be a lot better when they finally learn to accept communism hahaha. Aiya. Kind of scary how Elder Luo seems so rational and yet is incredibly nationalistic. Although, seeing the plight of all the Chinese immigrants here in San Francisco I really can't fathom why any Chinese people would immigrate to the states these days which seems only to mean working really long hours, not being able to find work, or just struggling with the language. Hardly seems to be the land of opportunity anymore.
I need to wrap this up and go write Joel and Michelle a bit. Thanks for your emails mom and dad! Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Christensen
Beautiful day here across the country too btw. Although it's getting a little cold. Starting to wear this large coat which at least covers up my hair in the back. Tell Eric I didn't really expect him to break anything... but I mean, you never know. I've just heard people with red hair are like that. And that they also are big on eating red stuff like tomatoes.
Whatever the case, this week went pretty well. Ok, not that well. It seems like all of our progressing investigators aren't really progressing anymore which is kind of annoying. That 72-yr-old guy Brother Chen is kind of slowing up since he keeps not coming to church since A) it's too far, B) it's too early and, I guess, C) he thinks he'll just come up with too many unanswerable questions about the church or something like that. Basically kind of annoying. However, we're still working on it and are hopeful for this next week. For some reason, Brother Chen always goes to sleep at like 2 in the morning since he stays up reading books and stuff like that. “Professor's habit,” he says. And then we have this 70-yr-old woman from Vietnam, Sister Loi. Although she was looking really good earlier this week when we managed to set a baptismal date with her for the 12th (requiring her not to miss a day of church till that date) and got a pretty solid commitment to come to church. She then went to San Jose for a Thanksgiving celebration with her family and when she got back, she missed an appointment with us on Saturday night since she was still there. Then she couldn't make it to church on Sunday for some reason. It was really weird since we called her the night before and told her we were gonna come pick her up the next morning which she said was ok but then we got there and she wasn't home... which is weird since one of her concerns was that going out at 9:30 was too early. Anyways, then we kept calling back all day since we have later and later sacrament meetings with other wards and she never got back home which was really weird and rather frustrating. Then we called at like 9:30 pm and the phone was busy. Anyways, mysterious, so we're gonna have to check and see what was going on that day. I still have no idea. The bad news with that is that now we have to automatically shift her baptismal date a week or probably two back to the 26th since she still has to get to church 3 times before she can get baptized. A bummer.
We have another investigator who lives here in chinatown named Brother Zhang who's like 80+ yrs old. He's already been baptized into another church and so doesn't feel like he needs to be baptized again. However, the last lesson we taught him was super spiritual and we basically told him if the Book of Mormon is true, then we really are the only church with the proper priesthood authority to perform those kinds of ordinances. He said he believes the Book of Mormon is true and so we asked him to pray to know whether or not God wanted him to get re-baptized into our church which for some reason he was really reluctant to do. Elder Luo and I think he already knows he needs to be baptized again and just doesn't want to go through all the hassle of doing it since our church is pretty far away and he says he doesn't want to pao lai pao qu all the time since he's already like 80 something years old. We were very close to a commitment I feel and so we're going back tonight to teach another lesson with recent convert, Brother Zheng, who we baptized last month and who's situation was pretty much the same since he had already been baptized and didn't want to have to be rebaptized but finally changed his mind. Basically, really awesome since he's also like almost 80 years old so we're thinking it'll come off pretty well. At least we hope so. I guess I'll let you guys know next week.
In other news, we got a couple new investigators this week which is cool. Things are looking up in our area apparently since I heard that before, downtown was like the hardest area with no investigators or baptisms and nothing really going for it but I can't really imagine that since things seem to be going pretty well and we have enough investigators to keep our hands full (despite the fact that they all seem to be octogenarians).
Thanksgiving went pretty well. Actually, we had a lot a lot of members inviting us to eat this week. On Wednesday, had the stake president and his family take us out to dinner (which was kind of pan jiao [apostasy] since we stayed kind of too long... but it was kind of bu hao yisi to leave... and our district leader was there too... so yeah... I blame him)... and then on Thursday night we went over to Brother Yang's house which was really good and actually pretty American despite the fact that Elder Lee and I were the only 2 white people there since our whole district was there (all 6 of us!). Then on Saturday had another ward party thing with loads and loads of jiaozi which were really good. Then today had a member take us out to a buffet BBQ restaurant which was pretty darn good. Basically just blessed all over this week.... in the food dept. at least...
Haven't gotten a package from Katherine yet but I am waiting in joyous anticipation. I am almost done with a letter to her which I will send off as soon as I can but there always seems to be precious little time to write letters on p-day since most of the time is spent doing random stuff that takes a lot of time. Especially travelling...
Anyways, I am pretty impressed with your relief society acheivements mom. In office like a month only and already guanxi-ing it up with your subordinates. And by subordinates I mean fellow relief society members. But now that you're in a position of power or whatnot, I don't think it'd be too out of place to exercise some unrighteous dominion. Since I'm pretty sure that's what leadership positions are for right? Anyways, once I become assistant to the president I'm thinking I'll probably just have some more lowly missionaries make me meals and stuff. I mean... you know.. cause like... power.. and stuff...
I hope your blood drive is successful dad. I don't think giving that many pints of blood is really very healthy. I mean I'm no doctor... and I'm not that familiar with the imperial system of measurement but that sounds like too many pints for one person to give. Fortunately, I have AB negative or positive blood which is basically the most useless blood-type ever. Whatever the case, that's cool that William Xu is so active. And yeah I mean waking up so early would probably affect his studies at that incredibly academic institution. You know how ridiculously difficult American public schools are and everything...
Sounds like that Wikileak deal is kind of a mess. But I'm sure everything'll turn out ok in the end. Either that or we'll plunge into a state of anarchy and everyone will start eating each other and whatnot. Speaking of which, Brother Zhang was telling us a bit about the Cultural Revolution as he experienced it back in the day before he escaped to Taiwan which was pretty interesting (despite the fact that it kind of sidetracked our lesson... a lot...). Turns out Elder Luo's Chinese-censored education form of events is rather drastically different. He told me that the famine during the Cultural Revolution was due to natural causes which kind of made me laugh in an ironic bitter kind of way. I guess it was pretty natural that they had no food since no one was really growing any. Pretty interesting to learn about Elder Luo's Chinese take of the world. Like how in school he was taught that America will be a lot better when they finally learn to accept communism hahaha. Aiya. Kind of scary how Elder Luo seems so rational and yet is incredibly nationalistic. Although, seeing the plight of all the Chinese immigrants here in San Francisco I really can't fathom why any Chinese people would immigrate to the states these days which seems only to mean working really long hours, not being able to find work, or just struggling with the language. Hardly seems to be the land of opportunity anymore.
I need to wrap this up and go write Joel and Michelle a bit. Thanks for your emails mom and dad! Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Christensen
Monday, November 22, 2010
Photos - At last!
Hai!
So all the Chinese elders in the district (6) got invited over to a member's home in our branch for Thanksgiving dinner which is pretty cool. By a member who also happens to be the ward mission leader Xiao Yang Di Xiong. He's the man. Unfortunately, he recently got laid off at work but has a lot of faith in Christ and so isn't worried about finding another job. The 2nd dinner appt. since getting here! And from the same guy! Haha! Although it's not too bad since dinner appts. take kind of a lot of time sometimes and aren't exactly the most effective use of time.
That's cool that Brother Bothwell's son is in the area. Do the mongolian speakers have their own branch? Or do they just meet with you guys? Cause it would seem weird for you to be helping them out and inviting them to dinner appts if they were serving in a different branch... I can't believe the bothwells have 20 kids.... pretty wild.... I can't even imagine that. How could you keep track of them? I'd feel like mom as the relief society president and have like a reference card in my pocket to take out and look out so I could remember my own kids' names haha.
"Heyyyyyyy...... (check card).... Jake!?!?!!!!!....."
"Scott"
"....Oh... that wasn't your middle name?"
I feel like there'd be at least a couple bad eggs in the lot too. I mean just a statistical probability. Hopefully, they managed ok though.
That's awesome Eric and Brooke are coming out to stay with you for a couple days. Hopefully spice up your lives a bit eh? Say hi to them for me. And try to keep Eric from breaking stuff...
Yeah, I know I have loads of money on my USAA card haha but I'm doing my best not to use any of it that I don't have to. I'm sure I could afford a haircut, but I'm pretty sure no one would be able to do it as well as me. I mean cause my hair is pretty avant-garde now... and I even got made fun of in elder's quorum for it which is pretty good. The first counselor Elder Zhong was like (in Chinese) "Well the missionaries don't have any new investigators here in elder's quorum today... but Elder Li did bring a new hairstyle..." haha. Ahhhh well.... couple weeks and it'll be ok I'm sure... haha.
So true about that Chinese-thinking-they-can-sing-but-really-can’t comment haha. Although my companion's pretty down-to-earth on the whole which is something to be grateful for. Probably won't sing on the bus TOO often... since it's not really that effective... but if there aren't any Chinese people on the bus then maybe haha. Pres. Wade just responded to my last letter to him and was like "welcome to the "sang on a San Francisco public bus" club. Fairly exclusive and very prestigious" haha. President Wade is pretty good. Wouldn't say he's AS hardcore as President Hoer probably was but he is a baptizing mission president. Since he's “come into office" baptisms have gone up 35% which is a pretty big difference. That's not to say the old mission president wasn't good or anything... but I heard his focus wasn't really on baptizing which really should be the focus of any mission.
Talked to this lady last night for like an hour just street contacting and at first were like "Yes! Someone searching for the truth!" Since she said she thinks about the questions we were asking her a lot... but then when we were talking about her and sharing stuff she'd like look like she was listening and then like not really address what we were telling her... kind of annoying but we left her a pamphlet and our number so I guess we'll see...
That investigator with a word of wisdom problem is going along pretty well since the word of wisdom isn't really a problem for him anymore although he's not gonna be able to get baptized on schedule since he didn't make it to church yesterday since although he says he liked going last week he feels like going just raises more questions and whatnot. He's the 72-yr-old guy from Vietnam who used to be a math teacher and basically has really really deep thoughts. We're hoping to still be able to get him to be baptized but will be a little longer process than just this weekend being done. Unfortunately for us, our district is pretty far away from the church so getting investigators to come is kind of a mafan.
All our investigators are old people these days haha. Have a 72-yr-old man from Vietnam, 70-yr-old woman from Vietnam, 60+ woman from Shenyang, 80+ yr-old-guy from Shandong originally but moved to Taiwan... and then have a 20-yr-old student... who isn't looking all that promising to be honest...Old people are the best in that they usually have time to meet with us unlike everyone else in this busy busy city but on the other hand have a lot of old habits that are a little tough to change. Hopeful though.
I have to wrap this up since we still need to get back to our apt and buy groceries and eat dinner all before 6 and it takes like 30 minutes to get back to the appt from here and it's already 4:30... so basically... gtg! Thanks for your emails though. I love you guys!
-Ian
P.S. Yeah loads of homeless people in San Francisco... particularly around the civic center govt. buildings for some reason... probably cause they're public property and you can always hang around...
Hair Cuts and Hymns (sung on public buses)
HAI!
Howsit!? Thanks for your emairs guys! Had a pretty good week this week. Although it kind of seemed rather long... anyways... glad to hear your weeks went fairly well. Happy Birthday yesterday mom! I'm glad to hear my birthday "card" made it in time haha. Did you also pick up the memory card I had slipped in with it with a bunch of pictures on it and whatnot? I hope so... since you didn't really mention it...
Anyways...
So... lessons learned this week...
1. (Today) Don't try to cut your own hair. And especially don't try to get at the back yourself.
2. Singing hymns on the public bus is exceptionally awesome
3. Find out if your investigator has a word of wisdom problem BEFORE you commit them to baptism 2 weeks later.
4. The Book of Mormon is the foundation of this church and my testimony. And is true.
So I already included this list in my email to Michelle but I thought it could use repeating. The list is, of course, in order of... uh importance I guess... But seriously. Cutting my own hair... Not the BEST idea I've ever had.
However, I've decided to make it more of an object lesson in agency since... We can choose our own actions but we obviously can't choose the consequences. I chose to save money and time and hassle by cutting my own hair using a hair cutting kit I picked up in the MTC from some missionaries who left it the transfer before... and now I get to live with the consequences.... haha. Ok to be fair the front actually looks pretty good... however the back... well let's just say I wish I didn't have the ability to take a picture and see what it actually looks like... Ignorance being bliss and everything... oh well hopefully it'll get really cold all of a sudden so I can wear a big coat that covers up the back of my head without attracting too much attention.
So we sang The Spirit of God on the bus this Thursday which was pretty much awesome. No big deal... ok fine, probably one of the scariest things I've ever done... Pretty funny though. Pres. Wade told a story at the New Missionary follow-up training of how he sang on the public bus and so my companion and I decided that we wanted to do the same. Ok well mostly my companion. Even though singing... well let’s just say it's not one of his strengths... But it went pretty well. And I think my heart-rate has gone down a little bit over the weekend.
The word of wisdom problem actually turns out wasn't such a big deal. We taught the word of wisdom to Brother Chen on Thursday and it turns out he's a fan of drinking coffee and tea... however, once we explained the commandment, he committed to stop drinking both and on Saturday we gave him some barley tea we had in our apartment and he gave us his green tea. Pretty well executed tea-swap if you ask me. However, his baptism is set for next Sunday and people are supposed to have been living the word of wisdom for at least 3 weeks before they're baptized, but we actually called the president today and he said it was ok to go ahead with the planned date which is good since moving it back wouldn't be the best thing in the world... and is generally not a very good idea. We went to church with Brother Chen yesterday and he had a really good experience despite the fact it was the English ward downtown since he didn't have time to go all the way out to sunset where the Chinese branch meets. Said he had a really warm and peaceful feeling in sacrament meeting and everyone was really friendly which is always kind of what you want to have happen.
Oh and the Book of Mormon is true. Seemed to be talking to a lot of English speakers yesterday and the Book of Mormon is definitely the most powerful resource we have in the church to convert. The Book of Mormon is the evidence that the first vision happened and that Jesus Christ restored the fullness of his gospel through Joseph Smith. The only thing I don't really understand is how not everyone knows about it and believes it. Too busy I guess. Especially people in Chinatown. Elder Luo and I were talking this morning about how people who speak Cantonese seem to be way less receptive than Mandarin speakers... which is good since I don't know any Cantonese despite the fact every Chinese person in this city seems to speak it. Kind of annoying sometimes actually... but maybe I'll end up picking up some Cantonese. Lei hai bindo lai!? Means Where are you from!? Haha basically just say that to everyone since I don't know how to say anything else. Although, Elder Luo's Cantonese is improving pretty fast...
We lost our phone on Saturday since we got a ride from some members we just happened to run into downtown and were kind of pressed for time to get to an appointment and so they were kind enough to take us to the civic center where our next appt was. Then our phone slipped out of Elder Luo's pocket onto the seat and we left without noticing. Not having a phone is pretty debilitating I have to say. I can't imagine how missionaries did anything back in the old days without a cell phone. i guess they just used soap boxes... we did finally get our phone back after having loads of our money get eaten by stupid public phones... like... come on! If it doesn't connect don't steal our money!!! But we ended up meeting up with the members and their car yesterday at church and fortunately enough, it was there on the seat. With like 50 missed calls from us and the other elders in our district. This is of course after we had prayed and fasted all day (for our phone and for Brother Chen....) but it's nice that we have it back so we don't have to communicate via the pony express or carrier pigeon.
We've been kind of making some friends with the random homeless people around San Francisco which is kind of fun. Lately we've been seeing this guy Dwight everrryywheerreee haha. Ok not everywhere, but twice in the last like 3 days which is pretty funny. And he always like talks at us for like 10-20 minutes about random stuff. He's pretty funny though and it's fun to see him around and say hi.
Thanks for sending the quotes and scriptures. I definitely can feel the unity that's present in every ward that I go to and it's definitely a huge blessing of the Gospel.
I'd better go write my email to the president since otherwise I'll probably forget... and I’m also getting pretty tired of standing and writing this letter since I'm here at the apple store again haha. Also, standing here kind of exposes the back of my head a little too much to the public which looks really really cool. Maybe they'll just think I’m super avant-garde and INTENDED to have my hair look this way... oh well. It'll grow out... at some point...
Anyways, thanks a lot for your emails. I love you guys and hope your next week goes fantastically. Have fun with unpacking! (And I guess I kind of am serious about the having fun part ... for mom at least haha).
Love you!
-Ian
Howsit!? Thanks for your emairs guys! Had a pretty good week this week. Although it kind of seemed rather long... anyways... glad to hear your weeks went fairly well. Happy Birthday yesterday mom! I'm glad to hear my birthday "card" made it in time haha. Did you also pick up the memory card I had slipped in with it with a bunch of pictures on it and whatnot? I hope so... since you didn't really mention it...
Anyways...
So... lessons learned this week...
1. (Today) Don't try to cut your own hair. And especially don't try to get at the back yourself.
2. Singing hymns on the public bus is exceptionally awesome
3. Find out if your investigator has a word of wisdom problem BEFORE you commit them to baptism 2 weeks later.
4. The Book of Mormon is the foundation of this church and my testimony. And is true.
So I already included this list in my email to Michelle but I thought it could use repeating. The list is, of course, in order of... uh importance I guess... But seriously. Cutting my own hair... Not the BEST idea I've ever had.
However, I've decided to make it more of an object lesson in agency since... We can choose our own actions but we obviously can't choose the consequences. I chose to save money and time and hassle by cutting my own hair using a hair cutting kit I picked up in the MTC from some missionaries who left it the transfer before... and now I get to live with the consequences.... haha. Ok to be fair the front actually looks pretty good... however the back... well let's just say I wish I didn't have the ability to take a picture and see what it actually looks like... Ignorance being bliss and everything... oh well hopefully it'll get really cold all of a sudden so I can wear a big coat that covers up the back of my head without attracting too much attention.
So we sang The Spirit of God on the bus this Thursday which was pretty much awesome. No big deal... ok fine, probably one of the scariest things I've ever done... Pretty funny though. Pres. Wade told a story at the New Missionary follow-up training of how he sang on the public bus and so my companion and I decided that we wanted to do the same. Ok well mostly my companion. Even though singing... well let’s just say it's not one of his strengths... But it went pretty well. And I think my heart-rate has gone down a little bit over the weekend.
The word of wisdom problem actually turns out wasn't such a big deal. We taught the word of wisdom to Brother Chen on Thursday and it turns out he's a fan of drinking coffee and tea... however, once we explained the commandment, he committed to stop drinking both and on Saturday we gave him some barley tea we had in our apartment and he gave us his green tea. Pretty well executed tea-swap if you ask me. However, his baptism is set for next Sunday and people are supposed to have been living the word of wisdom for at least 3 weeks before they're baptized, but we actually called the president today and he said it was ok to go ahead with the planned date which is good since moving it back wouldn't be the best thing in the world... and is generally not a very good idea. We went to church with Brother Chen yesterday and he had a really good experience despite the fact it was the English ward downtown since he didn't have time to go all the way out to sunset where the Chinese branch meets. Said he had a really warm and peaceful feeling in sacrament meeting and everyone was really friendly which is always kind of what you want to have happen.
Oh and the Book of Mormon is true. Seemed to be talking to a lot of English speakers yesterday and the Book of Mormon is definitely the most powerful resource we have in the church to convert. The Book of Mormon is the evidence that the first vision happened and that Jesus Christ restored the fullness of his gospel through Joseph Smith. The only thing I don't really understand is how not everyone knows about it and believes it. Too busy I guess. Especially people in Chinatown. Elder Luo and I were talking this morning about how people who speak Cantonese seem to be way less receptive than Mandarin speakers... which is good since I don't know any Cantonese despite the fact every Chinese person in this city seems to speak it. Kind of annoying sometimes actually... but maybe I'll end up picking up some Cantonese. Lei hai bindo lai!? Means Where are you from!? Haha basically just say that to everyone since I don't know how to say anything else. Although, Elder Luo's Cantonese is improving pretty fast...
We lost our phone on Saturday since we got a ride from some members we just happened to run into downtown and were kind of pressed for time to get to an appointment and so they were kind enough to take us to the civic center where our next appt was. Then our phone slipped out of Elder Luo's pocket onto the seat and we left without noticing. Not having a phone is pretty debilitating I have to say. I can't imagine how missionaries did anything back in the old days without a cell phone. i guess they just used soap boxes... we did finally get our phone back after having loads of our money get eaten by stupid public phones... like... come on! If it doesn't connect don't steal our money!!! But we ended up meeting up with the members and their car yesterday at church and fortunately enough, it was there on the seat. With like 50 missed calls from us and the other elders in our district. This is of course after we had prayed and fasted all day (for our phone and for Brother Chen....) but it's nice that we have it back so we don't have to communicate via the pony express or carrier pigeon.
We've been kind of making some friends with the random homeless people around San Francisco which is kind of fun. Lately we've been seeing this guy Dwight everrryywheerreee haha. Ok not everywhere, but twice in the last like 3 days which is pretty funny. And he always like talks at us for like 10-20 minutes about random stuff. He's pretty funny though and it's fun to see him around and say hi.
Thanks for sending the quotes and scriptures. I definitely can feel the unity that's present in every ward that I go to and it's definitely a huge blessing of the Gospel.
I'd better go write my email to the president since otherwise I'll probably forget... and I’m also getting pretty tired of standing and writing this letter since I'm here at the apple store again haha. Also, standing here kind of exposes the back of my head a little too much to the public which looks really really cool. Maybe they'll just think I’m super avant-garde and INTENDED to have my hair look this way... oh well. It'll grow out... at some point...
Anyways, thanks a lot for your emails. I love you guys and hope your next week goes fantastically. Have fun with unpacking! (And I guess I kind of am serious about the having fun part ... for mom at least haha).
Love you!
-Ian
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Current Events (in the life of a missionary)
HAI! Thanks for the emails guys! Had a good week this week. Lots of training actually. Had a zone training on Wednesday and then a new missionary follow-up training on Thursday. Then Elder Luo and I did weekly planning on Friday so basically the whole week was pretty qingsong. Except then I went back to work on Saturday and was on exchanges with Elder Tang (our district leader) who's a great missionary. But going back to all day street contacting was a little rough haha. Not used to it after so much training. Although we did have a lesson with a man that Elder Luo and I contacted on Tuesday. Brother Chen. He's a 70-year-old man from Vietnam but whose mandarin is his first language. Really cool guy. Has a lot of questions like who is God? Where did we come from? Where are we going? What’s our purpose in life? Etc. Basically, Elder Luo and I were like "Yes! We have answers!" He has a lot of promise.
We're gonna go visit a former investigator tonight who lives in this super ghetto area of downtown where drunk black people hang out on the street at night and yell obscenities at one another. Should be a blast. I'm excited anyway. Haha. We went there last time and couldn't find his address, but it turned out it was written wrong on the teaching record 441 instead of 411. Tonight should have better luck hopefully.
Had a really cool experience this week following the Spirit which I already told Michelle. Elder Tang and I walked past this girl waiting for the bus and as we turned the corner, I just kept feeling that we should go talk to her. So I told Elder Tang and it turned out he had the same impression. No way that was coincidence. Just nice to know God is prompting us and leading us whether we realize it or not. Just so I don't leave you hanging, we went back and talked with the girl... didn't set up an appointment or anything but left her our contact information. So I guess we'll see...
Went out to the Golden Gate Bridge and some museum that was closed on Mondays... (meaning we probably won't be visiting it very soon)... good fun. Met up with Elders Lee and Huang which was fun. Elder Lee is this hilarious guy from Arizona and we always laugh really hard. Which makes me feel not so much like a missionary... but I guess it IS p-day... and if you can't laugh on p-day when CAN you laugh? Not that I don't laugh throughout the week... but Elder Lee is, indeed, hilarious. I just hope we don't ever become companions cause I’m not sure how well we'd focus haha.
Our training on Wednesday was about listening and asking questions. Which was really good. I think that's a skill probably everyone can improve on. One thing I've been working on lately is developing my charity for others and I think by improving my ability to really listen and care about their worries and problems will help a lot. Although I think sometimes Elder Luo and I do that wayyy too well since a lot of our lessons are like a lot of our investigators just sharing about themselves... I guess that's the danger of having mostly old people as investigators haha.
Thanks for the update on life in the real world. Things are going fairly well here as I suppose I’ve already kind of demonstrated. Also, dad, I like how you assume that I hear about things like rallies in D.C. haha. Being a missionary makes you SO cut off from the rest of the world haha. Like srsly. Man. I don't hear about ANYTHING. Like I think the Giants are doing really well this season since everyone is always out honking their horns late at night and packed into bars and stuff but I have no idea where they are right now in the rankings and I certainly don't know who they’re playing. So I guess unless it's blatantly obvious, or church related, I'm fairly oblivious. Sounds like a fun rally though.
Sorry you have to be without mom for so long though. Perhaps this would be a good time to hone your skills at the accordion. Or perhaps fly fishing. Maybe taking a couple gourmet cooking classes would not be out of the question. Just a few suggestions. On the other hand you could also just spend your spare time reading the scriptures. Which is what I would do.
I need to go since I've already been emailing for awhile. Thanks for you all your love and support guys! Oh also, could you send me Aunt Jo's mailing address since I still need to write her back for the package she sent me but I don't know her address... Also yeah I got Aunt Katherine's package the night before Halloween haha. Packed full of all sorts of goodies. Haha thank her for me. I'll be sure to write her back as well. And, yes I will write you a letter and send pictures and stuff. As soon as I have time haha.
Gotta go. Love you mom and dad!
Ian
We're gonna go visit a former investigator tonight who lives in this super ghetto area of downtown where drunk black people hang out on the street at night and yell obscenities at one another. Should be a blast. I'm excited anyway. Haha. We went there last time and couldn't find his address, but it turned out it was written wrong on the teaching record 441 instead of 411. Tonight should have better luck hopefully.
Had a really cool experience this week following the Spirit which I already told Michelle. Elder Tang and I walked past this girl waiting for the bus and as we turned the corner, I just kept feeling that we should go talk to her. So I told Elder Tang and it turned out he had the same impression. No way that was coincidence. Just nice to know God is prompting us and leading us whether we realize it or not. Just so I don't leave you hanging, we went back and talked with the girl... didn't set up an appointment or anything but left her our contact information. So I guess we'll see...
Went out to the Golden Gate Bridge and some museum that was closed on Mondays... (meaning we probably won't be visiting it very soon)... good fun. Met up with Elders Lee and Huang which was fun. Elder Lee is this hilarious guy from Arizona and we always laugh really hard. Which makes me feel not so much like a missionary... but I guess it IS p-day... and if you can't laugh on p-day when CAN you laugh? Not that I don't laugh throughout the week... but Elder Lee is, indeed, hilarious. I just hope we don't ever become companions cause I’m not sure how well we'd focus haha.
Our training on Wednesday was about listening and asking questions. Which was really good. I think that's a skill probably everyone can improve on. One thing I've been working on lately is developing my charity for others and I think by improving my ability to really listen and care about their worries and problems will help a lot. Although I think sometimes Elder Luo and I do that wayyy too well since a lot of our lessons are like a lot of our investigators just sharing about themselves... I guess that's the danger of having mostly old people as investigators haha.
Thanks for the update on life in the real world. Things are going fairly well here as I suppose I’ve already kind of demonstrated. Also, dad, I like how you assume that I hear about things like rallies in D.C. haha. Being a missionary makes you SO cut off from the rest of the world haha. Like srsly. Man. I don't hear about ANYTHING. Like I think the Giants are doing really well this season since everyone is always out honking their horns late at night and packed into bars and stuff but I have no idea where they are right now in the rankings and I certainly don't know who they’re playing. So I guess unless it's blatantly obvious, or church related, I'm fairly oblivious. Sounds like a fun rally though.
Sorry you have to be without mom for so long though. Perhaps this would be a good time to hone your skills at the accordion. Or perhaps fly fishing. Maybe taking a couple gourmet cooking classes would not be out of the question. Just a few suggestions. On the other hand you could also just spend your spare time reading the scriptures. Which is what I would do.
I need to go since I've already been emailing for awhile. Thanks for you all your love and support guys! Oh also, could you send me Aunt Jo's mailing address since I still need to write her back for the package she sent me but I don't know her address... Also yeah I got Aunt Katherine's package the night before Halloween haha. Packed full of all sorts of goodies. Haha thank her for me. I'll be sure to write her back as well. And, yes I will write you a letter and send pictures and stuff. As soon as I have time haha.
Gotta go. Love you mom and dad!
Ian
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
A Little Light on Broadway St.
Oh hai!
Yeah Broadway [shady part of town in San Fran] is pretty funny. The investigator who lives on the street just got baptized yesterday which was really great. Such strong faith. First of all he's 79 years old which is pretty ridiculous that he's receptive to our message at all. Also, he's living on social security so his income is $400 a month, $350 of which goes to his rent so when Elder Luo and I found out you still have to pay tithing on social security last week we were like... uh oh.... But then when we taught it to him he was just like "ok, yeah i think I’ve heard about the commandment before. No problem." So crazy. And then maybe a 5 dollar fast offering. 5 dollars for the whole month! Except I do think he has family that sends him money every so often. Still. He's the man. I think we're gonna teach him a couple more times this week before his confirmation. So cool. Oh and the last time we visited him it was like 7 pm again and there was some proprietor of one of the strip clubs who watched us walk past and was like "hey guys come on in! Take a break!" We just laughed and were like "Yeah I guess 10 minutes wouldn't hurt..." jkjkjkjkjk lulululul.
This week I was on exchanges for a lot of the time since my companion Elder Luo was attending a training conference in Oakland for all the people in leadership positions like district and zone leaders, and trainers. So I was with Elder Zhang, this hilarious guy from Beijing. Glad to be back with Elder Luo though. I actually feel like a missionary when I'm with Elder Luo since with Elder Zhang it's just like super casual since all he does is joke around. He's a good missionary though. Just has a really unique way of doing things. He's only got 3 months left which I can't even begin to conceive of at this point and probably shouldn't try to think about since I've only been out like almost 3 weeks. Things are going pretty well though so no worries.
Yeah, Dad, I'm pretty much eating as well as you will be for the next 3 weeks (while Mom’s in Utah). Elder Luo's not such a bad cook and Elder Zhang is not bad at all although the food that he makes isn't really the healthiest in the world (he's like 250 pounds himself... so...). Oh man and the Daily City elders' apartment is so gross hahaha! I cleaned their sink when I was over there just cause it was beyond disgustingly dirty. Elder Luo and I were laughing about it last night. Our apartment is actually really nice. The downtown one. It's pretty big and we even have a dishwasher (xi wan ji) and a disposal (Di sa po sa ou le) (I actually don't think there's a word for that...). The Chinese program only has 2 missionaries to an apartment as far as I can tell. Don't know about the English program. We each get $140 a month to live on which isn't too much but seems to be doing pretty well actually. Although, Elder Luo said that in the English program it was a lot easier to live on since members invited them over to eat like every single night whereas in the Chinese program, once a year would be pretty good haha. Elder Tang, our district leader, said he's lost 12 pounds since being in the Chinese program hahaha.
My companion Elder Luo and I get along really well. He's a really good missionary and I'm learning a lot from his example. Despite the fact that some jokes don't really get through due to cultural differences, we still joke around quite a bit and he's good to only speak Chinese all the time so I can practice. Really hardworking and whatnot which is good.
Yeah I remember the Xu family (in Washington, D.C). I thought they all got baptized though... Guess not... that's awesome that William Xu is still active. Takes so much faith and commitment to be the only one in your family who's a member. Man, home teaching. I never realized how vital that is before I came out on my mission. I've only been out three weeks but it's already so evident that there are somany less actives in the Chinese branch which easily could've been avoided had people done their home teaching... As it is it's pretty darn lax in the branch... so the missionaries do a lot of the home teaching type visits. Not in my zone so much since we have like 2 member families that live downtown haha but in daily city there are loads of less active members. Things would just be so much easier if everyone did their home teaching! So good on ya dad!
Thanks so much for your letters mom and dad. Your support means a lot to me. I can't imagine being out on a mission and having your parents not being supportive so thanks so much. Thanks for your examples to me. I'm still trying to build my faith and develop reliance on the Lord and I think it's” man man lai-ing” [coming little by little].
Rained this last week for like 4 days which was annoying but it's super nice today. Going to go check out fisherman's wharf with the Chinese elders serving in the Sunset area today which should be fun. Although, Elder Luo says there's no way to have fun in San Francisco without loads of money... which i guess is partially true... anyways, things are going well. Love you guys! Have a great week!
Love,
Ian
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
News from the Field - at Last!
Note: We received a very short note from Ian last week so I didn't post it. We put it down to it being Columbus Day and the libraries being closed, but, evidently, it wasn't the problem. He has redeemed himself with this long, newsy letter ---
HERROWWW! So actually even though it was Colombus Day last week that's not the reason why we were here in the apple store emailing you. This place is actually the most convenient place for us to write emails haha. And it turns out the website for email isn't blocked on the laptops so I'm using a laptop this time to contact you which is way better since I can actually write more than a paragraph without shooting myself in the face. (With my imaginary gun.)
That's hilarious and awesome that that girl Tracie contacted you about me. I have absolutely no recollection of meeting her and I have no recollection of giving anyone your email address. But that's super cool she sent you an email and thanks for her number. I'll make sure to call the referral center tonight and get some English speaking missionaries to contact her. Thanks.
So anyways, that's so cool you got called as the relief society president! You're gonna be so great! Of course they called you to be the relief society president in the ward. You're like righteous as (Yay for Auzzie expressions!). Also, now that you hold the most powerful position in the women's heirarchy, you can exercise unrighteous dominion and make everyone in the relief society bake you things!!!! Mwuahhahaha!
And yes the mission home called me to tell me they had received the blanket you sent me so I'll get that at some point. Meanwhile Sister Wade is loaning me a blanket to use which is really nice of her. And also she gave me a pillow.... which is kind of awkward cause if I return the blanket i'm wondering if i'll have to return the pillow too... I guess just wont... since it's comfortable... and i'd know since it's so dang hard to get up in the morning haha. Like I seriously think that's the hardest thing in my mission right now. Getting out of bed. 6:30 is far too early to be awake ha. But running in the morning is good. Like actually kind of tolerable. My companion never did it before I got here but I decided if I'm gonna be anywhere near as pro as joel was on his mission, i'd better institute as pro an exercise program... although I'm not sure about the marathon since there are so many hills here and yeah... we run them...
I'm in downtown San Francisco right now. I think there are 12 Chinese elders total both in Oakland and San Fran. So there are 6 elders in my district covering the Daily City, Sunset, and San Francisco areas. It's pretty cool. I've already had my share of crazies come up and say stuff to us haha. Like this woman the other day who was speaking English but I had absolutely no idea what she was saying. I caught something like "devils in Salt Lake City who think they're representing me" and then other than that I was like... uhhhh... and then she was like "yeah i'll see you then!" And then we left. But aside from that not too bad. We do a lot of street contacting. Which involves walking around looking for people who look Asian and then saying "Ni hao! Ni hui shuo zhongwen ma!?" And if they stop and listen then we set up an appt and if they're ABCs then it's basically just kind of awkward and they get annoyed that a white person can speak Chinese and they can't.
Sorry if this email seems kind of disjointed but I'm thinking I'm typing faster than I'm really formulating coherent thoughts. It seems like time just flies by on p-day since we meant to get here like 20 minutes earlier but ended up arriving at like 5:15 so I don’t have a whole lot of time before I have to go.
We have a baptism this Sunday which is cool. We actually had 3, but 2 of the people scheduled to be baptised (in the Sunset and Daily City areas) decided they weren't prepared or they just didn't want to at all which is a shame. But the guy in OUR area is still on schedule! He's the man. His name is brother Zheng and he is like 78 haha. It's hilarious cause he just moved onto Broadway Street which is like the seediest part of downtown since it has loads of like strip clubs and topless bars and whatnot. So basically every time Elder Luo and I go and visit him we have to like walk super quick and keep our eyes down haha. People always like walk or drive by and shout, "You boys are in the wrong neighborhood!!!" And we should back, "We know!!!" Hahaha. It's cool though. Our biggest focus now is trying to get him to build faith in the Book of Mormon since he's already a big fan of the Bible. Last time we visited him we prayed right there to know if the Book of Mormon was true and the spirit was super super strong. I just hope he felt it. His friend in the church and person who referred him to the missionaries, Sister Luo, was out in LA last week but just got back today so she should be really helpful in getting him to follow through with the baptism which is good.
Oh btw, do you think you could send me out a cookbook or something? I mean Elder Luo and I are getting by... but having some recipes would be really really good so we don't have to starve that much. Speaking of which, I'm like down to 150 pounds again so I guess I've already lost quite a bit of weight from the MTC haha.
So I think I'm probably going to learn Chinese better here than I even would in Taiwan since I really am SLYing (Speak Your Language-ing) all the time and only speaking Chinese since Elder Luo is a REAL LIVE CHINESE speaker! But Joel told me that the elders in Taiwan don't really SYL that much with their companion which I think is super vital if you want to get a grip on the language and I really am speaking it all the time.
I'm still working on relying on the spirit for guidance in what to say and who to talk to. I think I have a pretty good recognition of when it's around but not like listening to it and following promptings. Anyways, yue lai yue hao I guess.
Haha a Jack Johnson song just came on! Yeah! Anyways, that sounds like a good plan dad to not unpack before mom gets back since she'd probably just make you rearrange everything anyway haha. Glad the weather is good. It's not bad here either although sometimes it gets a little cold at night. PRetty darn shufu if I do say so myself. Better than Toronto.
Ok well I'd better go write Joel and Michelle. I love you guys! Thanks for your support and for your examples to me! I think that's probably the biggest thing. We had a lesson in church on Sunday about the responsibility of teaching your kids and you definitely did a pretty good job I'd say. We're going to teach a less active family tonight and it's so annoying to see people who have the gospel but don't come to church and don't value it when their lives could be so much better if they just listened to the prophet and came to church.
Anyways, gtg!
Love,
Ian
HERROWWW! So actually even though it was Colombus Day last week that's not the reason why we were here in the apple store emailing you. This place is actually the most convenient place for us to write emails haha. And it turns out the website for email isn't blocked on the laptops so I'm using a laptop this time to contact you which is way better since I can actually write more than a paragraph without shooting myself in the face. (With my imaginary gun.)
That's hilarious and awesome that that girl Tracie contacted you about me. I have absolutely no recollection of meeting her and I have no recollection of giving anyone your email address. But that's super cool she sent you an email and thanks for her number. I'll make sure to call the referral center tonight and get some English speaking missionaries to contact her. Thanks.
So anyways, that's so cool you got called as the relief society president! You're gonna be so great! Of course they called you to be the relief society president in the ward. You're like righteous as (Yay for Auzzie expressions!). Also, now that you hold the most powerful position in the women's heirarchy, you can exercise unrighteous dominion and make everyone in the relief society bake you things!!!! Mwuahhahaha!
And yes the mission home called me to tell me they had received the blanket you sent me so I'll get that at some point. Meanwhile Sister Wade is loaning me a blanket to use which is really nice of her. And also she gave me a pillow.... which is kind of awkward cause if I return the blanket i'm wondering if i'll have to return the pillow too... I guess just wont... since it's comfortable... and i'd know since it's so dang hard to get up in the morning haha. Like I seriously think that's the hardest thing in my mission right now. Getting out of bed. 6:30 is far too early to be awake ha. But running in the morning is good. Like actually kind of tolerable. My companion never did it before I got here but I decided if I'm gonna be anywhere near as pro as joel was on his mission, i'd better institute as pro an exercise program... although I'm not sure about the marathon since there are so many hills here and yeah... we run them...
I'm in downtown San Francisco right now. I think there are 12 Chinese elders total both in Oakland and San Fran. So there are 6 elders in my district covering the Daily City, Sunset, and San Francisco areas. It's pretty cool. I've already had my share of crazies come up and say stuff to us haha. Like this woman the other day who was speaking English but I had absolutely no idea what she was saying. I caught something like "devils in Salt Lake City who think they're representing me" and then other than that I was like... uhhhh... and then she was like "yeah i'll see you then!" And then we left. But aside from that not too bad. We do a lot of street contacting. Which involves walking around looking for people who look Asian and then saying "Ni hao! Ni hui shuo zhongwen ma!?" And if they stop and listen then we set up an appt and if they're ABCs then it's basically just kind of awkward and they get annoyed that a white person can speak Chinese and they can't.
Sorry if this email seems kind of disjointed but I'm thinking I'm typing faster than I'm really formulating coherent thoughts. It seems like time just flies by on p-day since we meant to get here like 20 minutes earlier but ended up arriving at like 5:15 so I don’t have a whole lot of time before I have to go.
We have a baptism this Sunday which is cool. We actually had 3, but 2 of the people scheduled to be baptised (in the Sunset and Daily City areas) decided they weren't prepared or they just didn't want to at all which is a shame. But the guy in OUR area is still on schedule! He's the man. His name is brother Zheng and he is like 78 haha. It's hilarious cause he just moved onto Broadway Street which is like the seediest part of downtown since it has loads of like strip clubs and topless bars and whatnot. So basically every time Elder Luo and I go and visit him we have to like walk super quick and keep our eyes down haha. People always like walk or drive by and shout, "You boys are in the wrong neighborhood!!!" And we should back, "We know!!!" Hahaha. It's cool though. Our biggest focus now is trying to get him to build faith in the Book of Mormon since he's already a big fan of the Bible. Last time we visited him we prayed right there to know if the Book of Mormon was true and the spirit was super super strong. I just hope he felt it. His friend in the church and person who referred him to the missionaries, Sister Luo, was out in LA last week but just got back today so she should be really helpful in getting him to follow through with the baptism which is good.
Oh btw, do you think you could send me out a cookbook or something? I mean Elder Luo and I are getting by... but having some recipes would be really really good so we don't have to starve that much. Speaking of which, I'm like down to 150 pounds again so I guess I've already lost quite a bit of weight from the MTC haha.
So I think I'm probably going to learn Chinese better here than I even would in Taiwan since I really am SLYing (Speak Your Language-ing) all the time and only speaking Chinese since Elder Luo is a REAL LIVE CHINESE speaker! But Joel told me that the elders in Taiwan don't really SYL that much with their companion which I think is super vital if you want to get a grip on the language and I really am speaking it all the time.
I'm still working on relying on the spirit for guidance in what to say and who to talk to. I think I have a pretty good recognition of when it's around but not like listening to it and following promptings. Anyways, yue lai yue hao I guess.
Haha a Jack Johnson song just came on! Yeah! Anyways, that sounds like a good plan dad to not unpack before mom gets back since she'd probably just make you rearrange everything anyway haha. Glad the weather is good. It's not bad here either although sometimes it gets a little cold at night. PRetty darn shufu if I do say so myself. Better than Toronto.
Ok well I'd better go write Joel and Michelle. I love you guys! Thanks for your support and for your examples to me! I think that's probably the biggest thing. We had a lesson in church on Sunday about the responsibility of teaching your kids and you definitely did a pretty good job I'd say. We're going to teach a less active family tonight and it's so annoying to see people who have the gospel but don't come to church and don't value it when their lives could be so much better if they just listened to the prophet and came to church.
Anyways, gtg!
Love,
Ian
Sunday, October 10, 2010
In the Field
Ian left for San Francisco last Wednesday, Oct. 6. We got an early-morning call from the airport as he was waiting for his flight all by himself (most likely the last time for two years). He was excited to be on his way.
We have since talked to the Mission Office and also got a report from his Aunt Annette who was at a meeting where she asked the missionaries if they had met him, yet. According to both reports, he jumped right into the middle of the Mandarin-speaking missionaries without hestitation. He was picked up from the airport and taken directly to a zone conference for the day. His trainer is Elder Liu who is a native Mandarin speaker. The sister in the office told us Ian will be using public transportation (mostly buses) in his first area so he won't need a bike right away.
His first letter from the field will arrive tomorrow. Stay tuned!
We have since talked to the Mission Office and also got a report from his Aunt Annette who was at a meeting where she asked the missionaries if they had met him, yet. According to both reports, he jumped right into the middle of the Mandarin-speaking missionaries without hestitation. He was picked up from the airport and taken directly to a zone conference for the day. His trainer is Elder Liu who is a native Mandarin speaker. The sister in the office told us Ian will be using public transportation (mostly buses) in his first area so he won't need a bike right away.
His first letter from the field will arrive tomorrow. Stay tuned!
Monday, October 4, 2010
General Conference & Heading Out
Singing in the choir.HERROWW!!!
General Conference was AWESOME! I have NO idea how I ever could have slept through any of the sessions before. What was I thinking?!?! Counsel from the prophets and apostles just for us on how to be happier and live better?! That's like better than Harry Potter 6! Which was the best one yet! It was so amazing though. Singing in the priesthood session was super fun but yeah I didn't really get much time on the camera but it's ok since it was worth just the experience. I wouldn't have minded not being on it at all. Although some elders got like 5 hours of it like my friend Elder Hardy who was in my hall last year. Funny how many people seem to fit that description since the elder I was sitting next to in the choir was like 5 doors down the hall Ha.
I got your letter mom about that crazy Samaritan guy who returned your purse to the police station and didn't take anything. There are good people left on the earth! And it astounds me that they live so close to Washington DC! haha. My friend Elder Kirby is heading out to the DC mission tomorrow night.
Yeah I don’t know why they got a ridiculously early flight for me to get out to San Francisco. I can only assume that it's the cheapest option which I'm sure you can understand. I mean I suppose I ought to be used to it by now considering how many really early cheap flights you've booked over the years dad :D! But it's not too bad. The only problem I have with it is the fact that I’m never gonna get that hour of sleep back and no one will have any sympathy for me since I won't be able to cite jet lag or anything for my exhaustion.
So there was an elder here like last transfer who got called to Taiwan but ended up heading to SF since he had like a cyst on his back side or something so he couldn't ride a bike. So I don’t know what that's all about but I guess I can only believe what they said when they promised I'd be buying one... good to be safe though so thanks for the monies! Speaking of which, Elder Holland's talk! So good! I think my favorite were the three at the second half of priesthood session by the first presidency. They were all so good! Pride, Holy Ghost, and the 3 R's of choice. So good. Just too bad I couldn't take notes in the conference center. Oh well.
Just got back from the temple which was really good today despite the fact that I kept falling asleep during the session since I went to bed a little late and woke up early to see my companion Elder Buss off (off to Toulouse this morning). I sat next to Elder Kenison who is hilarious and always falls asleep during the sessions so we kept prodding each other when one of us would drift off. The only problem was when we both fell asleep.... Anyways, when we came out it was raining which is really pretty from the temple and as we were waiting for the rain to stop we ran into a girl named Annie Liu who's from Beijing! and served in Jarom's mission last year! So cool. So we talked a bit and then left when the rain settled down. It was muy bien.
Also, Elder Malm from Sweden? Relation to the Malm Grandpa B baptized? Or is that like Smith there?
Lately, I’ve been really enjoying reading the scriptures. There's so much there that you can only really access through learning by the spirit. I was happy to hear a lot of the general authorities talk about this subject this weekend. Learning by the spirit through that "direct line" that Elder Oaks talked about. So essential. I love just reading a passage of scripture and pondering it cause I get so much more out of it that way. For example it's taken me a week of personal study to get through the first 11 chapters of Matthew cause there's so much there. I know you're probably already pretty good at this but I encourage you to read and study and really ponder the scriptures. There's so much there if we take the time to really think and put effort into them. I can't imagine why I didn't study the scriptures before I left on my mission but can only assume it was due to the villainous influence of VIDEO GAMES!!!! Or something. Starcraft 2 was pretty fun though... point is, the scriptures are better. I love the New Testament. However I have 3 minutes left and still need to respond to Joel.
Love you guys! Thanks for your support and examples to me! Have a great week!
-Elder Ian Christensen!
General Conference was AWESOME! I have NO idea how I ever could have slept through any of the sessions before. What was I thinking?!?! Counsel from the prophets and apostles just for us on how to be happier and live better?! That's like better than Harry Potter 6! Which was the best one yet! It was so amazing though. Singing in the priesthood session was super fun but yeah I didn't really get much time on the camera but it's ok since it was worth just the experience. I wouldn't have minded not being on it at all. Although some elders got like 5 hours of it like my friend Elder Hardy who was in my hall last year. Funny how many people seem to fit that description since the elder I was sitting next to in the choir was like 5 doors down the hall Ha.
I got your letter mom about that crazy Samaritan guy who returned your purse to the police station and didn't take anything. There are good people left on the earth! And it astounds me that they live so close to Washington DC! haha. My friend Elder Kirby is heading out to the DC mission tomorrow night.
Yeah I don’t know why they got a ridiculously early flight for me to get out to San Francisco. I can only assume that it's the cheapest option which I'm sure you can understand. I mean I suppose I ought to be used to it by now considering how many really early cheap flights you've booked over the years dad :D! But it's not too bad. The only problem I have with it is the fact that I’m never gonna get that hour of sleep back and no one will have any sympathy for me since I won't be able to cite jet lag or anything for my exhaustion.
So there was an elder here like last transfer who got called to Taiwan but ended up heading to SF since he had like a cyst on his back side or something so he couldn't ride a bike. So I don’t know what that's all about but I guess I can only believe what they said when they promised I'd be buying one... good to be safe though so thanks for the monies! Speaking of which, Elder Holland's talk! So good! I think my favorite were the three at the second half of priesthood session by the first presidency. They were all so good! Pride, Holy Ghost, and the 3 R's of choice. So good. Just too bad I couldn't take notes in the conference center. Oh well.
Just got back from the temple which was really good today despite the fact that I kept falling asleep during the session since I went to bed a little late and woke up early to see my companion Elder Buss off (off to Toulouse this morning). I sat next to Elder Kenison who is hilarious and always falls asleep during the sessions so we kept prodding each other when one of us would drift off. The only problem was when we both fell asleep.... Anyways, when we came out it was raining which is really pretty from the temple and as we were waiting for the rain to stop we ran into a girl named Annie Liu who's from Beijing! and served in Jarom's mission last year! So cool. So we talked a bit and then left when the rain settled down. It was muy bien.
Also, Elder Malm from Sweden? Relation to the Malm Grandpa B baptized? Or is that like Smith there?
Lately, I’ve been really enjoying reading the scriptures. There's so much there that you can only really access through learning by the spirit. I was happy to hear a lot of the general authorities talk about this subject this weekend. Learning by the spirit through that "direct line" that Elder Oaks talked about. So essential. I love just reading a passage of scripture and pondering it cause I get so much more out of it that way. For example it's taken me a week of personal study to get through the first 11 chapters of Matthew cause there's so much there. I know you're probably already pretty good at this but I encourage you to read and study and really ponder the scriptures. There's so much there if we take the time to really think and put effort into them. I can't imagine why I didn't study the scriptures before I left on my mission but can only assume it was due to the villainous influence of VIDEO GAMES!!!! Or something. Starcraft 2 was pretty fun though... point is, the scriptures are better. I love the New Testament. However I have 3 minutes left and still need to respond to Joel.
Love you guys! Thanks for your support and examples to me! Have a great week!
-Elder Ian Christensen!
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
A few missionary practical jokes...
Hai Doods!
Yeah I got your letter mom! Unfortunately it's in the other room and I would have to mafan my companions if I wanted to go get it so I'll just have to respond from memory huahua. And yeah! Singing in Priesthood Session is gonna be awesome!!! We had practice this morning and every morning since last Wednesday. So hilarious when we found out about it though cause me, one of my companions Elder Buss, and my district leader Elder Hubrich all got selected and since Elder Hubrich is the district leader, he gets all the mail. So anyways, he came into our room when Elder Buss wasn't there and was like "hehehe let's play a joke on him" and so he stuck Elder Buss' acceptance letter into the next page of his journal where he'd be sure to see it that night. I, recognizing that this joke could be augmented 10-fold, suggested to Elder Hubrich that we pretend that only him and I had been selected even though Elder Buss has a great deal of singing experience as well and it wouldn't make any sense for him not to have been. So all through dinner Elder Hubrich was like dropping hints about how he'd "just gone to check the mail before dinner" and there was some great news he needed to tell me. So when we got to the classroom he gave me the letter and we were like celebrating. Elder Buss of course was looking rather shell-shocked and since the entire district was in on it we were trying not to laugh as Elder Buss tried to appear happy for us which he did quite admirably to be honest. Anyways, the joke went on for a little while and we all started to feel really really bad hahaha. So anyways, then I was like "Mannnnn... if only there was SOME WAYYyyy that all THREE of us could sing...." and then Elder Buss realized the joke and was like "WHAT?!?!?!" Laughs were had. But the moral is.... um... it was pretty hilarious. However, I think it was funnier at the time.
Point is, it probably wasn't as good as when my last roommates Elders Randell and Jacqueir saw some random room inspection form in our room and filled it out for our room, giving me and my then companion, Elder Chan, a horrible score and a comment that was ostensibly from President Baker (My branch president here who I think you might know dad since he's been involved with china for a long time and stuff and I think he said he met you one time... anyway he's the man) that said "Elder Christensen and Elder Chan, I am very disappointed with your beds, this is a warning, next time will be punishment - President Baker"... So we thought we were in like huge trouble and were like "oh no!!!"... turned out we weren't and it was pretty funny since president baker would never write anything like that anyway and our side of the room wasn't even messy ha.
Anyways, practical jokes aside, this week went pretty well. Sundays and Tuesdays are my favorite days of the week since we have awesome talks given by incredibly inspired leaders. Yesterday, since it was fast Sunday, we had a couple of really good talks by our MTC Presidency. President Smith is always really hardcore but still the man and gave a really cool talk preceded by a stern warning that "teenage pacifiers" (chewing gum) will not be tolerated and if anyone has any caffeinated drinks stored in their rooms they should throw them out and if they get a headache from caffeine withdrawal, then it "serves them right" hahahaha. But after that he gave a really great talk on receiving answers to our prayers which was an answer to prayer in and of itself since I fasted yesterday to strengthen my testimony on receiving answers to prayers. It was great to say the least. The other talks were also really good.
I met a sister at dinner last night from San Francisco which was neat. She was telling me about how Asians are like the majority there which is good I suppose haha.
Love you! Thanks for your letters and your support! I hope you find a place to live soon... that doesn't completely bankrupt you :) Just keep praying about it and I'm sure something will come up. Another thing I've been learning recently is how much the scriptures have in them. So multifaceted. Can't believe I thought they were boring before I came here haha. Oh and btw i report to the travel office at 5 am on Oct 6 for my flight into the Oakland Airport (which I didn't even know existed...). Yeah K bai!
Love,
Ian
Yeah I got your letter mom! Unfortunately it's in the other room and I would have to mafan my companions if I wanted to go get it so I'll just have to respond from memory huahua. And yeah! Singing in Priesthood Session is gonna be awesome!!! We had practice this morning and every morning since last Wednesday. So hilarious when we found out about it though cause me, one of my companions Elder Buss, and my district leader Elder Hubrich all got selected and since Elder Hubrich is the district leader, he gets all the mail. So anyways, he came into our room when Elder Buss wasn't there and was like "hehehe let's play a joke on him" and so he stuck Elder Buss' acceptance letter into the next page of his journal where he'd be sure to see it that night. I, recognizing that this joke could be augmented 10-fold, suggested to Elder Hubrich that we pretend that only him and I had been selected even though Elder Buss has a great deal of singing experience as well and it wouldn't make any sense for him not to have been. So all through dinner Elder Hubrich was like dropping hints about how he'd "just gone to check the mail before dinner" and there was some great news he needed to tell me. So when we got to the classroom he gave me the letter and we were like celebrating. Elder Buss of course was looking rather shell-shocked and since the entire district was in on it we were trying not to laugh as Elder Buss tried to appear happy for us which he did quite admirably to be honest. Anyways, the joke went on for a little while and we all started to feel really really bad hahaha. So anyways, then I was like "Mannnnn... if only there was SOME WAYYyyy that all THREE of us could sing...." and then Elder Buss realized the joke and was like "WHAT?!?!?!" Laughs were had. But the moral is.... um... it was pretty hilarious. However, I think it was funnier at the time.
Point is, it probably wasn't as good as when my last roommates Elders Randell and Jacqueir saw some random room inspection form in our room and filled it out for our room, giving me and my then companion, Elder Chan, a horrible score and a comment that was ostensibly from President Baker (My branch president here who I think you might know dad since he's been involved with china for a long time and stuff and I think he said he met you one time... anyway he's the man) that said "Elder Christensen and Elder Chan, I am very disappointed with your beds, this is a warning, next time will be punishment - President Baker"... So we thought we were in like huge trouble and were like "oh no!!!"... turned out we weren't and it was pretty funny since president baker would never write anything like that anyway and our side of the room wasn't even messy ha.
Anyways, practical jokes aside, this week went pretty well. Sundays and Tuesdays are my favorite days of the week since we have awesome talks given by incredibly inspired leaders. Yesterday, since it was fast Sunday, we had a couple of really good talks by our MTC Presidency. President Smith is always really hardcore but still the man and gave a really cool talk preceded by a stern warning that "teenage pacifiers" (chewing gum) will not be tolerated and if anyone has any caffeinated drinks stored in their rooms they should throw them out and if they get a headache from caffeine withdrawal, then it "serves them right" hahahaha. But after that he gave a really great talk on receiving answers to our prayers which was an answer to prayer in and of itself since I fasted yesterday to strengthen my testimony on receiving answers to prayers. It was great to say the least. The other talks were also really good.
I met a sister at dinner last night from San Francisco which was neat. She was telling me about how Asians are like the majority there which is good I suppose haha.
Love you! Thanks for your letters and your support! I hope you find a place to live soon... that doesn't completely bankrupt you :) Just keep praying about it and I'm sure something will come up. Another thing I've been learning recently is how much the scriptures have in them. So multifaceted. Can't believe I thought they were boring before I came here haha. Oh and btw i report to the travel office at 5 am on Oct 6 for my flight into the Oakland Airport (which I didn't even know existed...). Yeah K bai!
Love,
Ian
Monday, September 20, 2010
Still at the MTC
Oh Hai!
Yeah thanks for [calling the MTC] dad. I am not in the slightest bitter since I do agree with you that having an extra 2 weeks is a good thing. Not only cause I can learn way more and have much more time to study how to teach and how to speak Chinese like a pro, but also cause the MTC is gonna send out a choir to General Conference on the first weekend of Oct. which if I get selected for would be awesome! They haven't said anything about who's gonna be singing in it yet though so... fingers crossed! Also, the firesides and devotionals here are really cool since they're specifically for us and always have really inspired messages. They also show movies and recorded MTC talks every Sunday night and we always go to the MTC talks since you can't see those anywhere else and they are always by Apostles or members of the 70 and are really, really good. Went to one last night by Elder Oaks about cultivating righteous desires.
This week was pretty good. The days go by really fast and it seems like I only got here yesterday even though I've been here almost 3 weeks now. I'm still with my new companions Elders Buss and Harr which is good and they're leaving the same time as me since our whole district leaves at the same time. We went and talked to Jeremy Perkins on Saturday (he works as the language tutor guy here... it's funny how many people in the Chinese language program here know people I know like Joel or Cory... or me) and he gave us some really good advice on how to learn Chinese faster and more efficiently since he told me it'd be really easy for me to just coast on the level of Chinese I have right now and not learn much. It was really cool cause now I'm much more committed to learning faster and more independently. Jeremy said that cause he went out 6 weeks early like I will, no one taught him how to study Chinese so he had to figure it out for himself which he finally only really refined like 2/3 of the way through his mission. Good thing i'm getting the low-down now so I don't have to waste so much time haha! I just hope I can be half as pro as Joel was on his mission... can't believe how pro his Chinese is now. It's like he worked hard on it or something. Which I can totally tell the difference between him and missionaries who didn't apply themselves as much - like one of my teachers Chen Laoshi who is a cool guy but I can tell he didn't work as hard on his Chinese while in Taibei.
In other news, just got back from the temple which was good. The presiding altar guy's wife was like falling asleep halfway through which was kind of funny. But not really important. Point is...
Oh yeah! Btw let me tell you what happened when I got called to the district president's office to sort through this early departure business. We were all confused about why I was leaving early and called my mission president in SF to ask him what was going on. Turns out he hadn't even known I was coming out early and like rejoiced when he heard I was coming on the 5th of Oct. He was like, "THE LORD ANSWERS PRAYERS!" It was funny since he said he'd been having trouble with transfers and that my coming would fix everything. Also, he said the Mandarin missionaries have baptized 10 people this month already! Which is really cool and made me pretty excited to go.... in 2 weeks that is. It should be really great.
Sounds like an answer to prayer on the house there. I hope that works out for you guys since living in a hotel is really lame based on my experience when we lived in a hotel at the beginning of my 10th grade and it was really lame. And yes mom I know you love to be busy hahaha :). I hope you find something to keep you that way so that dad can get some peace and quiet sometimes Hua hua hua! Jk lolooollolo!.
Thanks for your emails and your prayers! I know this gospel is true and that it's really the only way to be happy in this life and the next. Thanks for everything! Have a great week!
-Ian
Yeah thanks for [calling the MTC] dad. I am not in the slightest bitter since I do agree with you that having an extra 2 weeks is a good thing. Not only cause I can learn way more and have much more time to study how to teach and how to speak Chinese like a pro, but also cause the MTC is gonna send out a choir to General Conference on the first weekend of Oct. which if I get selected for would be awesome! They haven't said anything about who's gonna be singing in it yet though so... fingers crossed! Also, the firesides and devotionals here are really cool since they're specifically for us and always have really inspired messages. They also show movies and recorded MTC talks every Sunday night and we always go to the MTC talks since you can't see those anywhere else and they are always by Apostles or members of the 70 and are really, really good. Went to one last night by Elder Oaks about cultivating righteous desires.
This week was pretty good. The days go by really fast and it seems like I only got here yesterday even though I've been here almost 3 weeks now. I'm still with my new companions Elders Buss and Harr which is good and they're leaving the same time as me since our whole district leaves at the same time. We went and talked to Jeremy Perkins on Saturday (he works as the language tutor guy here... it's funny how many people in the Chinese language program here know people I know like Joel or Cory... or me) and he gave us some really good advice on how to learn Chinese faster and more efficiently since he told me it'd be really easy for me to just coast on the level of Chinese I have right now and not learn much. It was really cool cause now I'm much more committed to learning faster and more independently. Jeremy said that cause he went out 6 weeks early like I will, no one taught him how to study Chinese so he had to figure it out for himself which he finally only really refined like 2/3 of the way through his mission. Good thing i'm getting the low-down now so I don't have to waste so much time haha! I just hope I can be half as pro as Joel was on his mission... can't believe how pro his Chinese is now. It's like he worked hard on it or something. Which I can totally tell the difference between him and missionaries who didn't apply themselves as much - like one of my teachers Chen Laoshi who is a cool guy but I can tell he didn't work as hard on his Chinese while in Taibei.
In other news, just got back from the temple which was good. The presiding altar guy's wife was like falling asleep halfway through which was kind of funny. But not really important. Point is...
Oh yeah! Btw let me tell you what happened when I got called to the district president's office to sort through this early departure business. We were all confused about why I was leaving early and called my mission president in SF to ask him what was going on. Turns out he hadn't even known I was coming out early and like rejoiced when he heard I was coming on the 5th of Oct. He was like, "THE LORD ANSWERS PRAYERS!" It was funny since he said he'd been having trouble with transfers and that my coming would fix everything. Also, he said the Mandarin missionaries have baptized 10 people this month already! Which is really cool and made me pretty excited to go.... in 2 weeks that is. It should be really great.
Sounds like an answer to prayer on the house there. I hope that works out for you guys since living in a hotel is really lame based on my experience when we lived in a hotel at the beginning of my 10th grade and it was really lame. And yes mom I know you love to be busy hahaha :). I hope you find something to keep you that way so that dad can get some peace and quiet sometimes Hua hua hua! Jk lolooollolo!.
Thanks for your emails and your prayers! I know this gospel is true and that it's really the only way to be happy in this life and the next. Thanks for everything! Have a great week!
-Ian
Friday, September 17, 2010
Oops! Change of plans --- again.
Turns out that there was a mistake (at the MTC???) and Ian's name got on a list to leave early with the English-speaking missionaries from his mission. Fortunately, after consulting with Grandpa Barrus, Brent called to talk to Ian's District President to see why he was leaving so early. The Pres. hadn't heard about it and was glad Brent called because otherwise... I hope Ian is feeling a little relieved himself. He will be leaving on Oct. 5 which is earlier than the normal 13 weeks for language missionaries, but gives him a little more spiritual prep time. We'll see what he has to say about it on Monday.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Leaving for San Francisco! (Already?!?)
Hey guys!
So guess what? I'm going to San Francisco one week from TODAY! So crazy. They told me on Thursday that I was for real going to get moved up a district and that because the Oakland/San Francisco mission's next transfer was on the 21st of September, that's when I’m gonna get sent out hahah. I was like... wait what?! But I guess it's all good... I mean I AM practically a native Chinese speaker already and they only get 3 weeks in the mtc too... haha except not really! I'm learning pretty fast though and I can only assume I’ll learn faster when I get out in the field... I suppose I’ll kind of have to since I’ll be out there doing it haha.
My new district is awesome. I have 2 companions who also happen to be the zone leaders and they are great. One is Elder Buss who is from Wyoming and went to BYU Hawaii last year but he's the man since he's going to Toulouse, France and already speaks French since he did a year study abroad there as an exchange student. His Chinese is also already quite good since he took a semester at BYU-H and seems to be naturally gifted at languages. He said that he's been doing that thing that apparently president monsoon did when he was younger which was memorize a scripture every day for a year which apparently helped him to develop a photographic memory. I hadn't ever heard of this before but I started doing it a couple days ago and today memorized Jacob 2: 18-19.
Anyways, my other companion is Elder Harr who's Chinese is... well... less good. But he is still the man as well and is like 6 foot 7 and wears size 18 shoes which is absolutely ridiculous since it's double my shoe size haha. So massive.
This week has been good. The transition has been pretty easy between districts and my new district is cool. They keep telling me all the tricks of like gaming the cafeteria system. Like for instance, there's a trick to always getting a good cup of hot chocolate in the morning by opening the machine and shaking the powder keg thing at the top so that more powder falls into the other tube thing. Pretty genius. And the other day the line for taking dirty dishes and trays back was really long so we stacked everything onto the two sister missionary's trays and they walked up to the line where some of the other elders in line proceeded to take the trays from them. It was super funny too cause one of the elders who took a tray from one of our sisters just grabbed it with one arm and when one of the elders from our district offered to take it in for him, he was like "no i got this"... anyways, then he walked into the little alcove thing and we heard a glass hit the floor and shatter and were like "and THAT'S why you don't carry two heavy trays for no reason. Hahaha.
Went to the temple today for the first time since being here which was good. We just got back in fact and I have about 12 and a half minutes left on the clock haha. Anyways, it sounds like you guys are doing well in VA, despite not having a home... maybe you should just stay in the hotel for the rest of the two years! :D. That's cool that you ran into Mark Friend. How random. And I can't believe Marcus joined the Navy. I guess I could see him in the military though and that does sound like a sweet deal where they basically chuck money and degrees at you haha. Maybe I should do that... man... nah... i'll just live off of your guys' income for the rest of my life!
We got to watch a couple recorded talks from previous devotionals done here at the MTC last night. One by Elder Bednar called "becoming a missionary" and another by Elder Lund called "being guided by the spirit". They were both really really good although I think I preferred Elder Lund's cause I think it was a more interesting topic and it was a really funny talk. Also Elder Bednar just scares me since he seems super hardcore and I feel like I wouldn't be able to say anything around him without fearing rebuke or something haha.
Thanks for starting a blog for me mom! I think it might be a good idea if you could get Michelle to go on my facebook a post a link to it on there cause that'd probably be the best way for my friends to be able to see it. Also, I would send you guys more pictures but I don't think I can really attach them to my emails until I get into the field but I do have some good ones so I'll send them to you when I can. So I've gotten a couple letters since being here, one from my friend Jenna Wylie and another from Alicia Lewis which was nice. I'll probably write them back today even though I’ve never really sent or mailed a letter before ever haha so we'll see how that goes...
Anyways, sounds like the ALI is really fun to work with dad haha. It seems like you do a lot of hand holding in every job in the foreign service.
Ok I only have 5 minutes left and still need to email Joel. Things are going well. I really like the MTC and time is going pretty fast too. Have a great week mom and dad! I love you!
-Ian
So guess what? I'm going to San Francisco one week from TODAY! So crazy. They told me on Thursday that I was for real going to get moved up a district and that because the Oakland/San Francisco mission's next transfer was on the 21st of September, that's when I’m gonna get sent out hahah. I was like... wait what?! But I guess it's all good... I mean I AM practically a native Chinese speaker already and they only get 3 weeks in the mtc too... haha except not really! I'm learning pretty fast though and I can only assume I’ll learn faster when I get out in the field... I suppose I’ll kind of have to since I’ll be out there doing it haha.
My new district is awesome. I have 2 companions who also happen to be the zone leaders and they are great. One is Elder Buss who is from Wyoming and went to BYU Hawaii last year but he's the man since he's going to Toulouse, France and already speaks French since he did a year study abroad there as an exchange student. His Chinese is also already quite good since he took a semester at BYU-H and seems to be naturally gifted at languages. He said that he's been doing that thing that apparently president monsoon did when he was younger which was memorize a scripture every day for a year which apparently helped him to develop a photographic memory. I hadn't ever heard of this before but I started doing it a couple days ago and today memorized Jacob 2: 18-19.
Anyways, my other companion is Elder Harr who's Chinese is... well... less good. But he is still the man as well and is like 6 foot 7 and wears size 18 shoes which is absolutely ridiculous since it's double my shoe size haha. So massive.
This week has been good. The transition has been pretty easy between districts and my new district is cool. They keep telling me all the tricks of like gaming the cafeteria system. Like for instance, there's a trick to always getting a good cup of hot chocolate in the morning by opening the machine and shaking the powder keg thing at the top so that more powder falls into the other tube thing. Pretty genius. And the other day the line for taking dirty dishes and trays back was really long so we stacked everything onto the two sister missionary's trays and they walked up to the line where some of the other elders in line proceeded to take the trays from them. It was super funny too cause one of the elders who took a tray from one of our sisters just grabbed it with one arm and when one of the elders from our district offered to take it in for him, he was like "no i got this"... anyways, then he walked into the little alcove thing and we heard a glass hit the floor and shatter and were like "and THAT'S why you don't carry two heavy trays for no reason. Hahaha.
Went to the temple today for the first time since being here which was good. We just got back in fact and I have about 12 and a half minutes left on the clock haha. Anyways, it sounds like you guys are doing well in VA, despite not having a home... maybe you should just stay in the hotel for the rest of the two years! :D. That's cool that you ran into Mark Friend. How random. And I can't believe Marcus joined the Navy. I guess I could see him in the military though and that does sound like a sweet deal where they basically chuck money and degrees at you haha. Maybe I should do that... man... nah... i'll just live off of your guys' income for the rest of my life!
We got to watch a couple recorded talks from previous devotionals done here at the MTC last night. One by Elder Bednar called "becoming a missionary" and another by Elder Lund called "being guided by the spirit". They were both really really good although I think I preferred Elder Lund's cause I think it was a more interesting topic and it was a really funny talk. Also Elder Bednar just scares me since he seems super hardcore and I feel like I wouldn't be able to say anything around him without fearing rebuke or something haha.
Thanks for starting a blog for me mom! I think it might be a good idea if you could get Michelle to go on my facebook a post a link to it on there cause that'd probably be the best way for my friends to be able to see it. Also, I would send you guys more pictures but I don't think I can really attach them to my emails until I get into the field but I do have some good ones so I'll send them to you when I can. So I've gotten a couple letters since being here, one from my friend Jenna Wylie and another from Alicia Lewis which was nice. I'll probably write them back today even though I’ve never really sent or mailed a letter before ever haha so we'll see how that goes...
Anyways, sounds like the ALI is really fun to work with dad haha. It seems like you do a lot of hand holding in every job in the foreign service.
Ok I only have 5 minutes left and still need to email Joel. Things are going well. I really like the MTC and time is going pretty fast too. Have a great week mom and dad! I love you!
-Ian
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