Wow, so many things have happened in the last week. I'll have to pick and choose... Sister Nelson, Sister Son and I are figuring out this threesome thing. Sister Son is great; I love her, and I think I love Sister Nelson even more now that we've got Sister Son. It's still complicated to coordinate everything together, but definitely worth it. One of my favorite memories of the MTC will forever be the day I had to explain to Sister Son what the phrase "Who's your daddy?" means. Our elders have delighted in their Chinese translation of the phrase. After being asked the question several times (in Chinese), Sister Son asked me why they kept asking her--after all, explaining the identity of one's father is a bit difficult. With some help from an elder, I tried to convey the idea of a triumphant sports moment or something along those lines. She has since found several useful applications for the phrase (e.g. "I don't want Satan to be my daddy"). However, her most significant contribution to my life is definitely the feeling and spirit that brings with her. She is very patient and helpful with us, and also willing to express her gratitude. I think going out of our way to thank each other for things has been the best thing yet for our companionship.
In another amusing adventure this week, one of our elders accidentally thanked God for giving us death. He was praying in Chinese, and with just a little bit of confusion over tones and consonant pronunciation, he said "death" instead of "hope." I was actually quite impressed that no one laughed mid-prayer; we managed to contain ourselves until after. Fortunately, he was equally amused by his mistake.
I reread this really great talk by Elder Dallin H. Oaks (Elder Oaks is one of the apostles, a very important part of the general leadership of the LDS church. It's the same calling as that held by the apostles in Jesus' time). The talk is called "Why Do We Serve?", and it's all about our motives for giving service. He lists a few possibilities, from least to most desirable. The most desirable is charity. I've been thinking about the whole idea of being motivated by charity (defined to be the pure love of Christ). I've been thinking about it actively for about 24 hours now, and it's pretty interesting what things I do and don't say or do when I'm trying to keep that principle in mind. I think the exercise has helped me understand better why patience is so relevant to love, because really trying to be motivated by love all the time requires a lot of patience. In some ways it's easier to do one-time dramatic acts of service than it is to let sincere concern for others and God seep into every little action and thought. I think that's probably one of the more significant things I've been learning about, which is why I thought I would pass it on. If I only wrote about physical experiences or events, that wouldn't do much to reflect the most important part of my life experiences.
Well, I must be off again. Take care!
Love,
Sister Andersen
P.S. I leave the MTC July 28--exactly four weeks from today.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
MTC Day 40
It has been nothing short of a very eventful week. Within the last week, the older districts of Mandarin-speaking missionaries left, I got a third companion added to my companionship (yes, gasp of surprise and, fortunately, joy), and the MTC became the site of intense mission president training.
The older missionaries leaving was sad, because I won't see most of them again. A lot are going to my mission in Taiwan, but plenty were not. Their leaving is also a clue that this week we will get new missionaries. Our zone will get two new districts of missionaries added to the two we currently have (a zone is the next organizational unit up from a district). We will get a new companionship of sisters, who will almost certainly room with us. We're pretty much all really excited to have new missionaries, and trying to think of ways to help them have a good transition to MTC life.
My new companion is Sister Son, from South Korea. Her Mandarin is already very good, as is her English. She is only going to be with us until July 16th, when she will leave for her mission at the Oakland, CA temple visitors' center. She has a really amazing story, which involves actually being baptized in China, where she was studying Chinese (so rare, because there are no missionaries there; the only people who can be baptized in China are foreigners living there). That was three years ago. She subsequently moved back to Korea, where she lived with her mother and brother. After having her visa application turned down three times, she is finally here. She is absolutely amazing, but insecure in her English and in her Gospel knowledge (familiarity with the scriptures, teaching abilities, etc.). Honestly when she teaches and shares her experiences, the feeling of the Holy Ghost is almost tangible. God teaches us truth through the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost can speak to our mind and heart in a variety of ways, including distinct thoughts, feelings of peace and joy, etc. [For anyone unfamiliar with the term "Holy Ghost", you can ask Emily's mom or look it up on lds.org if you want to understand better.] When we teach, our primary goal is to invite the Holy Ghost through our sincerity, preparation, and prayers. The idea is that we present information, but the Holy Ghost is what can actually help people recognize and understand spiritual truth, so if the Holy Ghost is not with us, the teaching will be ineffective. I love Sister Son. Learning to teach with three people, helping her catch up on lesson preparation and teaching skills, and trying to cultivate a triangular (maybe a pyramid, if you include God) companionship relationship is a bit tricky, but it teaches me a lot. I think something I've learned more recently than ever before is that when the Lord asks us to do something, he gives us extra blessings so that we'll be strong enough to do whatever it is. That's why commandments from God are blessings, because as we do our part in following them, the Lord makes us better than we could have been otherwise. That's what I think, anyway.
Oh, right, mission presidents' seminar. Basically, every mission in the world has a mission president. This man and his family live in the mission. He interviews missionaries, coordinates their training and placement, etc. This calling lasts for three years, so every year a third of the mission presidents in the world get replaced. When new mission presidents get called, they are trained for about a week by church leaders (the Twelve Apostles and First Presidency). That is this week. As you might imagine, security measures go way up, our space gets cut down a bit to make room, and staff are running around madly organizing. This afternoon, a mission president and his wife came to observe our district teaching, and to give us feedback. My companions and I taught a companionship of elders in my district as the mission president's wife observed. It was a little nerve-wracking, but over all a really great experience. We taught the elders as themselves (meaning they didn't pretend to be non-LDS church members investigating the church). We really only taught two out of the seven or so principles in the first lesson, but the Holy Ghost was very much present. The sister told us that she had felt the Spirit (another name for the Holy Ghost) more strongly then than she had since they arrived. We're not having spirituality contests, but I felt very grateful for her comment, because it indicated that we had achieved our main objective.
Well, I think that's the main news. I hope you're all well and happy!
Love,
Sister Andersen
The older missionaries leaving was sad, because I won't see most of them again. A lot are going to my mission in Taiwan, but plenty were not. Their leaving is also a clue that this week we will get new missionaries. Our zone will get two new districts of missionaries added to the two we currently have (a zone is the next organizational unit up from a district). We will get a new companionship of sisters, who will almost certainly room with us. We're pretty much all really excited to have new missionaries, and trying to think of ways to help them have a good transition to MTC life.
My new companion is Sister Son, from South Korea. Her Mandarin is already very good, as is her English. She is only going to be with us until July 16th, when she will leave for her mission at the Oakland, CA temple visitors' center. She has a really amazing story, which involves actually being baptized in China, where she was studying Chinese (so rare, because there are no missionaries there; the only people who can be baptized in China are foreigners living there). That was three years ago. She subsequently moved back to Korea, where she lived with her mother and brother. After having her visa application turned down three times, she is finally here. She is absolutely amazing, but insecure in her English and in her Gospel knowledge (familiarity with the scriptures, teaching abilities, etc.). Honestly when she teaches and shares her experiences, the feeling of the Holy Ghost is almost tangible. God teaches us truth through the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost can speak to our mind and heart in a variety of ways, including distinct thoughts, feelings of peace and joy, etc. [For anyone unfamiliar with the term "Holy Ghost", you can ask Emily's mom or look it up on lds.org if you want to understand better.] When we teach, our primary goal is to invite the Holy Ghost through our sincerity, preparation, and prayers. The idea is that we present information, but the Holy Ghost is what can actually help people recognize and understand spiritual truth, so if the Holy Ghost is not with us, the teaching will be ineffective. I love Sister Son. Learning to teach with three people, helping her catch up on lesson preparation and teaching skills, and trying to cultivate a triangular (maybe a pyramid, if you include God) companionship relationship is a bit tricky, but it teaches me a lot. I think something I've learned more recently than ever before is that when the Lord asks us to do something, he gives us extra blessings so that we'll be strong enough to do whatever it is. That's why commandments from God are blessings, because as we do our part in following them, the Lord makes us better than we could have been otherwise. That's what I think, anyway.
Oh, right, mission presidents' seminar. Basically, every mission in the world has a mission president. This man and his family live in the mission. He interviews missionaries, coordinates their training and placement, etc. This calling lasts for three years, so every year a third of the mission presidents in the world get replaced. When new mission presidents get called, they are trained for about a week by church leaders (the Twelve Apostles and First Presidency). That is this week. As you might imagine, security measures go way up, our space gets cut down a bit to make room, and staff are running around madly organizing. This afternoon, a mission president and his wife came to observe our district teaching, and to give us feedback. My companions and I taught a companionship of elders in my district as the mission president's wife observed. It was a little nerve-wracking, but over all a really great experience. We taught the elders as themselves (meaning they didn't pretend to be non-LDS church members investigating the church). We really only taught two out of the seven or so principles in the first lesson, but the Holy Ghost was very much present. The sister told us that she had felt the Spirit (another name for the Holy Ghost) more strongly then than she had since they arrived. We're not having spirituality contests, but I felt very grateful for her comment, because it indicated that we had achieved our main objective.
Well, I think that's the main news. I hope you're all well and happy!
Love,
Sister Andersen
Monday, June 16, 2008
MTC Day 33
It was a basically normal week. I'd say it was one of the more
stressful weeks in terms of my companionship. Nothing went wrong in particular, but as I've said before Sister Nelson and I are very different, and we're still figuring out how to enjoy being together 24/7. However, I'd say the worst of that is over and I think we're both getting better at being encouraging and helpful to each other. She is a great blessing to me, and probably even more so because of how much we learn together about how to be thoughtful and aware of someone else's needs.
I thought maybe I would share with you a typical day's schedule, especially for anyone who has no idea what I do with my time. Every week we basically have the same schedule. Almost every day has some unique meeting or something that only happens on that day, but you don't need to know about every one of those. I'll give you Thursday as an example:
6:30am
We need to be up by this time, every day, but on Thursdays a little earlier because we report for service at 6:30. All missionaries in the MTC spend about an hour every week cleaning, which saves a lot of money over the course of a year.
7:45
Breakfast! On Thursdays we get sack breakfast so we can take it back to our room and get ready.
8:45
We have an hour of personal Gospel study time very day. I usually split it between studying out of the Book of Mormon, and preparing for our upcoming teaching.
9:45
We also have an hour of companionship study. This is supposed to help us build companionship unity and prepare for the lessons we'll teach. We are allowed to speak English during this time if we want to (or Chinglish).
10:30
Sister Kuang teaches us for several hours most mornings. We usually get to practice teaching with another district at some point, do language study stuff, study from our missionary manual thing (Preach My Gospel).
1:00
Lunch time! This time we do eat at the cafeteria, where we may or may not be getting fat on MTC food. (I don't think my weight has changed significantly since I got here, but some people do gain quite a bit.)
1:45
MDLS--Missionary Directed Language Study (I think it's pretty self-explanatory. We do whatever we want to study Chinese.)
2:45
Weekly Planning Meeting. My district has an hour planning session every week, where we set goals and plan together. More goals. More planning.
3:45
Brother Hodges, our other teacher, teaches us most afternoons. Basically the same sort of stuff as Sister Kuang.
6:00
Dinner
6:45
Gym time (I know, having it right after dinner is a bit unfortunate). I run, go on an elliptical, play volleyball.
8:00
Missionary Directed Time (Almost like MDLS, but we don't have to study Chinese.)
9:00
Daily Planning Session, done in companionships, for the next day. Goal setting, scheduling when to get stuff done, etc.
9:30
We're back at the dorm for the night.
10:15
Quiet time. Be in the room. Quietly.
10:30
In bed.
So that's a typical day for me. They fly by, believe me.
One of my favorite things about the MTC is the "your best is enough feeling" that I get pretty much all the time. I guess there is comparing of self that goes on, but in my experience teachers don't expect all their students to excel: they just expect them to do their best. I know all the missionaries in my district have been blessed a lot as far as the language goes, but for some it definitely comes easier than for others. It's just really great that how smart you are isn't the point. If a missionary works hard, and cares about the people he teaches, and loves what he's teaching, and tries to be obedient, that's good enough. It's like the antithesis of a highly competitive academic program, because everyone's success is enhanced by everyone else's success.
Well, I must be off. My companion is a little stressed because she forgot some of her laundry at the dorm (I write during laundry), so we need to go get it. We start teaching in Chinese this week--pray for me, or at least think happy thoughts about me.
Love,
Sister Andersen
stressful weeks in terms of my companionship. Nothing went wrong in particular, but as I've said before Sister Nelson and I are very different, and we're still figuring out how to enjoy being together 24/7. However, I'd say the worst of that is over and I think we're both getting better at being encouraging and helpful to each other. She is a great blessing to me, and probably even more so because of how much we learn together about how to be thoughtful and aware of someone else's needs.
I thought maybe I would share with you a typical day's schedule, especially for anyone who has no idea what I do with my time. Every week we basically have the same schedule. Almost every day has some unique meeting or something that only happens on that day, but you don't need to know about every one of those. I'll give you Thursday as an example:
6:30am
We need to be up by this time, every day, but on Thursdays a little earlier because we report for service at 6:30. All missionaries in the MTC spend about an hour every week cleaning, which saves a lot of money over the course of a year.
7:45
Breakfast! On Thursdays we get sack breakfast so we can take it back to our room and get ready.
8:45
We have an hour of personal Gospel study time very day. I usually split it between studying out of the Book of Mormon, and preparing for our upcoming teaching.
9:45
We also have an hour of companionship study. This is supposed to help us build companionship unity and prepare for the lessons we'll teach. We are allowed to speak English during this time if we want to (or Chinglish).
10:30
Sister Kuang teaches us for several hours most mornings. We usually get to practice teaching with another district at some point, do language study stuff, study from our missionary manual thing (Preach My Gospel).
1:00
Lunch time! This time we do eat at the cafeteria, where we may or may not be getting fat on MTC food. (I don't think my weight has changed significantly since I got here, but some people do gain quite a bit.)
1:45
MDLS--Missionary Directed Language Study (I think it's pretty self-explanatory. We do whatever we want to study Chinese.)
2:45
Weekly Planning Meeting. My district has an hour planning session every week, where we set goals and plan together. More goals. More planning.
3:45
Brother Hodges, our other teacher, teaches us most afternoons. Basically the same sort of stuff as Sister Kuang.
6:00
Dinner
6:45
Gym time (I know, having it right after dinner is a bit unfortunate). I run, go on an elliptical, play volleyball.
8:00
Missionary Directed Time (Almost like MDLS, but we don't have to study Chinese.)
9:00
Daily Planning Session, done in companionships, for the next day. Goal setting, scheduling when to get stuff done, etc.
9:30
We're back at the dorm for the night.
10:15
Quiet time. Be in the room. Quietly.
10:30
In bed.
So that's a typical day for me. They fly by, believe me.
One of my favorite things about the MTC is the "your best is enough feeling" that I get pretty much all the time. I guess there is comparing of self that goes on, but in my experience teachers don't expect all their students to excel: they just expect them to do their best. I know all the missionaries in my district have been blessed a lot as far as the language goes, but for some it definitely comes easier than for others. It's just really great that how smart you are isn't the point. If a missionary works hard, and cares about the people he teaches, and loves what he's teaching, and tries to be obedient, that's good enough. It's like the antithesis of a highly competitive academic program, because everyone's success is enhanced by everyone else's success.
Well, I must be off. My companion is a little stressed because she forgot some of her laundry at the dorm (I write during laundry), so we need to go get it. We start teaching in Chinese this week--pray for me, or at least think happy thoughts about me.
Love,
Sister Andersen
Friday, June 13, 2008
Sunday Photos at Provo Temple
Sisters Andersen and Nelson
Elders Van Wagoner, Mackay, Eng, Forbush, Parker, KingMonday, June 9, 2008
MTC Day 26
It's been another amazing week here at the MTC. I'm really getting into this SYL (Speak Your Language) thing. Sundays and Mondays are the hardest because we have church meetings on Sunday and Preparation Day Monday, but other than that I've done a lot better. I can tell how much more my Chinese improves when I really commit to not speaking English except during the times when we're "allowed" to (quote marks because we obviously can all the time, but are asked not to sometimes). I'm getting pretty good at pantomiming. I've also gotten good at not giving up and switching to English when I don't communicate properly through my pantomimes (example: Today when I thought I saw a jeep with flames painted all over it. I tried to communicate this insignificant observation to my companion, resorting to acting out blowing out birthday cake candles to say "fire". I think she thought that I thought I saw a jeep that was actually on fire. I let it go at that, since I didn't have any good ideas to act out paint). It will be an exciting day when I can actually communicate every idea that I come up with in a given day, all in Chinese.
This week my district had a great experience at the Referral Center. The RC is a call center. People make requests over phone, on the church website, or on behalf of friends to receive church materials (Book of Mormon, Bible, church videos, etc). We call them and ask if they got it, if they would like something else, and if so, if the missionaries can deliver it and share a message with them. When they agree to have the missionaries deliver something, or when they suggest a friend or relative who we can contact because they think they would be interested, this is a referral. Missionaries are all about goals. Everything has a goal. The RC is no exception. For the last few weeks, our weekly goal as a district has been 16 referrals (2/person). We got 15 two weeks in a row, and then we decided to really put our hearts and prayers into it. This week we went in and got 24. I guess that might not sound that dramatic or exciting, but believe me, it was the cause of much rejoicing and thanksgiving.
As I mentioned, goals are one thing that have begun taking over my life. Another thing is meetings. We have meetings all the time. Fortunately, the meetings are usually pretty amazing, if you want them to be. I mean, anyone can get bored in a meeting, and some meetings may be impossible to be excited about, but I think that 99% of my MTC meetings so far have given me good reason to be excited. I hear all sorts of scriptures that I've read I don't know how many times before, but in a light that I probably would never have realized on my own. It's great.
Well, I wish that I had better stories, but it's a little difficult to come up with action-packed anything when you're living at the MTC. I love it, though, and I hope there's something to keep your attention in these messages so you'll still be reading when I get to Taiwan. That should provide some fodder for more engaging writing.
Much missionary love,
Sister Andersen
This week my district had a great experience at the Referral Center. The RC is a call center. People make requests over phone, on the church website, or on behalf of friends to receive church materials (Book of Mormon, Bible, church videos, etc). We call them and ask if they got it, if they would like something else, and if so, if the missionaries can deliver it and share a message with them. When they agree to have the missionaries deliver something, or when they suggest a friend or relative who we can contact because they think they would be interested, this is a referral. Missionaries are all about goals. Everything has a goal. The RC is no exception. For the last few weeks, our weekly goal as a district has been 16 referrals (2/person). We got 15 two weeks in a row, and then we decided to really put our hearts and prayers into it. This week we went in and got 24. I guess that might not sound that dramatic or exciting, but believe me, it was the cause of much rejoicing and thanksgiving.
As I mentioned, goals are one thing that have begun taking over my life. Another thing is meetings. We have meetings all the time. Fortunately, the meetings are usually pretty amazing, if you want them to be. I mean, anyone can get bored in a meeting, and some meetings may be impossible to be excited about, but I think that 99% of my MTC meetings so far have given me good reason to be excited. I hear all sorts of scriptures that I've read I don't know how many times before, but in a light that I probably would never have realized on my own. It's great.
Well, I wish that I had better stories, but it's a little difficult to come up with action-packed anything when you're living at the MTC. I love it, though, and I hope there's something to keep your attention in these messages so you'll still be reading when I get to Taiwan. That should provide some fodder for more engaging writing.
Much missionary love,
Sister Andersen
Friday, June 6, 2008
MTC District
(left to right) Elder Parker, Elder Van Wagoner, Sister Nelson, Elder King, Elder Mackay, me, Elder Eng, and Elder Forbush.Monday, June 2, 2008
MTC Day 19
It's back to preparation day already! I can't believe how fast the time goes. I guess I expected it to drag by at first, and pick up later. Maybe it will start dragging at some other time...
I am once again established as the one who knows all the weird words. I blame this mostly on my parents, and perhaps indirectly on Grandpa. I've discovered that saying things like "Mecca", and "circumlocution" invites blank stares. I wonder if this reputation will continue throughout my life, or if I'll be able to teach everyone in the world all the words that I have ever heard. The former is probably more likely.
One of my favorite things about the MTC is hearing all the different languages people are learning. Often during study time, missionaries will sit on benches outside. Sometimes we use each other to practice introducing ourselves, bearing testimony, asking for referrals, etc. This week, in addition to bearing my own testimony in Mandarin I don't know how many times, I heard testimony is Cambodian, Vietnamese, German, and Spanish. Pretty amazing.
I've started myself on a Spanish fast while I'm in the MTC. This is probably one of the hardest things I've done since I got here, but I think it's for the better. I hadn't been speaking Spanish too much, but on a regular basis because there are so many Spanish speakers and Spanish students around here. I decided that I would give it up temporarily as a way of putting all my efforts into my current calling from the Lord, which is fundamentally connected to my studying Mandarin. As I think I've said before, in my experience the Lord always blesses us for giving up things in his service, and I don't doubt that this will be the case as I try to consecrate all of my resources of time and mental ability to my mission call. I hope that there is room in my life for both Spanish and Mandarin, but for the next little while it's all Mandarin all the time.
My companion continues to endear herself to me. She's definitely the cute, feminine one of the two of us. She has her "cute MTC clothes" and her "ugly bike-riding clothes." Assuming those are the only two clothing categories, mine must all fall into the "ugly bike-riding" part. She also amused both of us by opening a lesson that we taught by asking the investigator what her favorite sport was. This may not have been my number one get-to-know-you question to a 35-year-old Chinese woman, but at least now we know that Sister Gong would rather swim than play football.
Well, this week's letter reaches its end. Missionary work is still awesome.
Love,
Sister Andersen
I am once again established as the one who knows all the weird words. I blame this mostly on my parents, and perhaps indirectly on Grandpa. I've discovered that saying things like "Mecca", and "circumlocution" invites blank stares. I wonder if this reputation will continue throughout my life, or if I'll be able to teach everyone in the world all the words that I have ever heard. The former is probably more likely.
One of my favorite things about the MTC is hearing all the different languages people are learning. Often during study time, missionaries will sit on benches outside. Sometimes we use each other to practice introducing ourselves, bearing testimony, asking for referrals, etc. This week, in addition to bearing my own testimony in Mandarin I don't know how many times, I heard testimony is Cambodian, Vietnamese, German, and Spanish. Pretty amazing.
I've started myself on a Spanish fast while I'm in the MTC. This is probably one of the hardest things I've done since I got here, but I think it's for the better. I hadn't been speaking Spanish too much, but on a regular basis because there are so many Spanish speakers and Spanish students around here. I decided that I would give it up temporarily as a way of putting all my efforts into my current calling from the Lord, which is fundamentally connected to my studying Mandarin. As I think I've said before, in my experience the Lord always blesses us for giving up things in his service, and I don't doubt that this will be the case as I try to consecrate all of my resources of time and mental ability to my mission call. I hope that there is room in my life for both Spanish and Mandarin, but for the next little while it's all Mandarin all the time.
My companion continues to endear herself to me. She's definitely the cute, feminine one of the two of us. She has her "cute MTC clothes" and her "ugly bike-riding clothes." Assuming those are the only two clothing categories, mine must all fall into the "ugly bike-riding" part. She also amused both of us by opening a lesson that we taught by asking the investigator what her favorite sport was. This may not have been my number one get-to-know-you question to a 35-year-old Chinese woman, but at least now we know that Sister Gong would rather swim than play football.
Well, this week's letter reaches its end. Missionary work is still awesome.
Love,
Sister Andersen
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