New pics...

"Sisters of room 323--We do the 'Ching Chang Chong' nightly. All headed to Taiwan."

"Best Surprise Evers! And cutest BYU co-ed"

"All the Chinese speaking sisters in our zone."

"She is adorable and I'm so Asian. Loves."

"Poop in a bag (required stool sample)--thanks Taiwan Visa Service--it provided a real companion bonding experience in the bathroom."

Seriously So Blessed

HEY fam!

Real quick... did I mention how much I love you! Ok I am slightly jealous of your current vacation status, but don't worry Mere and I will hold down the fort here in Provo.

And another real quick- umm hello Mack Drzayich works at the MTC and I JUST saw him. Hmmm it seems a few of my friendly people did NOT mention that he was working here. thanks. He looked great though, he is tutoring Senior Couples in Russian. Awesome!

So instead of doing the run through I am just going to share some neat things that I have learned this week/weekend. In other words this might be a bit all over the place.

First off, think about this. First think of the time when we all lived in heaven and 2/3 rds of us decided to follow Christ and come to earth. We chose to come here to have trials and hardships but also joy and happiness. then think of all the people that have lived on this earth trillions I am sure, more even. Since Adam and Eve came, all different times of this earth's history. And then think about how we were all born into this, the last dispensation when the restored gospel is on the earth. Think about how many other different periods of time YOU could have come to this earth and then think about this one. the last days. We know that this dispensation will end with our Savior returning to the earth in all his power and glory. Then think about the country you were born in. The freedoms we enjoy here, particularly religious freedom. then think about the family you were born into, for some it was a family with the gospel already and for many others it was not. then think about the importance of the gospel in your life. Think of how the plan of salvation changes your life and the choices you make. How the ability to repent changes your life. How the knowledge that you have a Savior changes who you are and what you know about your self. think about the knowledge that you have that YOU have a loving Heavenly Father who loves you and knows you.

then think about all the people who have ever lived on the earth or who now live on the earth that don't have that knowledge, that has literally changed your life.

think of the responsibility that gives ALL of us to live what we believe, to share what we believe through our example or through or simple ways of teaching or simply loving as the Savior loves. Every person we come in contact to is a child of our heavenly father and he desperately wants them to return to him. How can we not share what we have? I mean really, how can we not. AND then we are promised that if we bring but one soul back to the kingdom of our father how great will be our joy? Our joy? Really! He just continues to bless us.

Ok another thing- a living prophet. With conference this weekend and after teaching the first lesson a few (so under exagerating) times the fact that we have a living prophet on the earth today is amazing. It really is another sign of God's love for us. He wants us to return so badly that he calls men and women to dedicate their lives to helping us and others return to him. they help us find joy and make our way through the difficulties of life but it doesn't stop there they help us reach eternal life (with our families) in the life to come.

Did I mention that this life is good? Oh wait because it is. It is suppose to be hard be those hard times make the sweet times that much sweeter.

On Tuesday for devotional L. Whitney Clayton (Emily S. yes you dated his son, weird oh wait and so did Berit Greene, bizarre) anywho, he spoke about the stone that was cut out of the mountain which will roll to fill the earth. here are a few quotes that I especially liked

"No cause under the heavens can stop the work of God."

"People will ridicule us, people will call us names- don't worry about it. The day WILL come when this miracle will fill the earth."

"What we are apart of (missionary work) is the greatest miracle since the atonemnet." AND the work going on right now is ONLY the beginning. amazing.

D&C 138. I was prepared for this calling before I came to this earth. We were all prepared and taught for the work (not just missionary work- all work, like raising a family, gaining knowledge, supporting friends, being examples to co-workers) we are doing and will do here on this earth. All of us! So get to it :)

So in other news:

The cupcakes were delicious! Mom really, you spoil me! They were such a treat so thank you. We had an apartment cupcake feast :) also, one of the sisters in my apt is majoring in dance education at BYU so she and I have started doing a 45 min ballet class with grand battemas and all. It makes my day! Gramma Lynne would be proud.

Meliss! I got your package and I am wearing the earrings right now! I love them, such a treat. thank you! I'm still trying to get over that Ash saw BROOKE Larson in Prague. What are the chances? (if you don't know what I am talking about read ashley dean's latest blog post).

Peggy! Ok so thank you again for getting that address. It turns out that Elder Randall got a package from Andrew (and wife) before he even got to write him on p-day. a sister in his district described him getting the package and opening it as being "a holy moment for him." he comes from a totally inactive family who aren't every supportive of him being here.

Mom- I was just walking to class the other day and I thought about Janae Neyman and how much I love her. Please text her as soon as you get this and tell her. She is an amazing women, wow.

SARAH GGGG Stinking abrielson! UM I got your dear elder and there was no address SO send it STAT because I have a letter here waiting for you. Quick quick. p.s. you are practically living in Step UP 3. i'm obsessed. i love it.

Boom!

Hello lovely fam!!

I miss you all!! And let me just say a big stinking I LOVE YOU!! Oh and go let Tuffy out for me:)

Ok... so this last weeks run down:

Monday: p-day- you received an email from me. Also, mere please confirm that you got my letter sometime this week. I got you mid-week pick me up which was brilliant and delish so thanks to you and your roomie however you said you hadn't recieved my letter.. mmm what? Also, I wrote other lovely people out there and really if I come home with premature arthiritis in my hands- thats why. Because I love you and I write you on Monday. boom. That night we had a lesson on humility in class- the focus of it was accepting God's will in our lives and putting our trust in him. As a missionary this seems to be a major lesson I am here to learn. I am working on it, I suppose that is all I can say for now.

Tuesday: OK I love Tuesdays because on tuesday night we have a fireside and they are always super great. This weeks was Bryan H. Richards who has had a variety of different callings, including mission pres in England. Anywho a few favorite quotes:

"never before and perhaps never again will we(the missionaries in the room- 2,600 ish or so) stand in a group that has all be endowed with a power from on high."

"never before and perhaps never again will we stand in a group that has all recieved a call from a living prophet."

He mostly spoke on knowing who you are and who you represent and becoming the message.

Oh and Tuesday morning (sorry back-up) we had what's called a Large Group Meeting where several different zones of missionaries have a big meeting with one teacher. This week's was on the restoration: a foundation of faith. The teacher shared a really neat quote with us from Elder Bednar on becoming a disciple of Christ "Its not just in the doing and the knowing that leads us back to God it is in the becoming and who we become."

And shout out to Meliss and Kirsten Shelley (whom I LOVE seeing every week- bah! mom she makes me cry every week- I know I have said this before but really.) thank you SO much for the package. The cookies and gourmet carmel apple was delish especially at 10:25 after a long day about on my way into bed. I love it! Meliss- can't wait to see you! Also on Tuesday I decided I am obsesed with the Book of Mormon, folks it is possible. I read it for a full hour during personal study and I swear to you it is not enough. I just love it. Someone should make a real movie about the whole thing, ok not really but I do love it. Read it, seriously. Boom.

Wednesday: I got a bit discouraged about chinese. The language is straight up hard. Don't get me wrong, it is coming, but slowly. And at the MTC they have this theory about first not comparing yourself (which is difficult to get used to because hello we compare our selves everyday in this day and age) and second that they have no real plan as to what you should learn while you are here. It is all about self-application. I want to say- give me a syllabus and I will be on my way. But no, they don't do that. So that I am gettiing used to but it will come. I can teach someone how to pray in chinese so that is good. And I am getting more comfortable with my tones and reading the pinyin. Also I discovered another fantastic quote by Elder Holland:

"Don't you quit. You keep walking. You keep trying. There is help and happiness ahead...for those who belive in the gospel of Jesus christ, [blessings] will come. It will be alright in the end. Trust God and believe good thins will come."

It's a good pick-me-up. Also I discovered (i'm sure most people reading this already knew this but...) some people say that 1 nephi 1:20 is the theme of the Book of Mormon. chunk it.

Thursday: Not too exciting. We just practiced extending the baptismal commitment in preparation for our teaching on SAturday. It is so neat to be direct about asking people to accept baptism. I mean- it changes their life and we ask them to chagne their life in one simple question "will you be baptized?" such legit missionary work.

Friday: We practiced teaching seriously like abillion times in prep for Saturday. And we had an intense discussion on obedience in class. There is a learning curve that comes with becoming a missionary and some in our district have struggled more than others so we are trying to work on that. It is nothing intense, just singing "worldly" songs and such. Learning curve for sure.

Saturday and Sunday= the best days of my life in the MTC. Saturday we taught AND we taught the same Chinese lady from last week who is amazing. Seriously so beyond good to us. She teaches us, its out of control ANNDDDD WHAT THE she lived in Japan when we lived there (yes she is from taiwan but then she moved to Japan) she was in the Yokohama 3rd ward. Same years and everything, how bizarre is that? Our teaching went well- we really judge it on whether or not the investigator felt the spirit and not whether or not we felt like we did a good job and both sister VS and I walked away feeling like she had felt the spirit. It was good stuff. this week on sat we have to talk to someone in chinese for 15 min about whether or not they kept their commitments. phew- it is going to be a doozy.

SUNDAY- ok I lied, sunday is the best day in the MTC. Highlight= Brittney Barney absolutely surprised me at the temple. (again let me remind you all that I did not arrange for it so no rules were broken in the process). I just LOVE her. Oh it was so good to see her, eek! She was/is so encouraging. I don't know- someone tell her to write a book about how to encourage Sister missionaries because she has it down pat. Everything she says is good stuff. (BRITT there is a letter coming to you TODAY!) Also our zone leader (one of them) sang this song (my shepard will supply my need) look it up. It is beautiful. And I memorized the first two lines of the first vision in Chinese.

Ok odds and ends/shout-outs!

slace gabe (sarah gabrielson) I need your new address lady! and i hope work is going just fantastic.

Sestra DEAN! save those souls. October 16 is going to be a good day and I love and miss you. check yor mail box in a month because apparently that is how long it will take for my letter to get to you.

OHH all those that live in BOISE listen up: ok there is an elder from new zealand in my zone (elder randall) coolest ever and he is learning chinese and then off to canada, toronto to teach and he has such a thick accent its great BUT he was baptized/his missionary who converted him is from Boise and elder randall wants to find him to tell him he is on a mission: this elder's name Andrew R. Yorgason he lives (or lived) at 5000 fifeshire Place Boise, Idaho. If anyone knows this family please send some contact details for them. This elder randall would love to get in contact with him.

I will look for elder Ryan turner on wed.

Caitlin Davis's homecoming sounded awesome! I want to hear more- tell her to write me or something.

Candice Wood Steele- send me pics. I heard it was beautiful. I love you and I am so glad things are good. I love you!! you married lady (finally).

Weenie- write me and BEN I am writing you back today. Matt I am not asian, i promise, not yet at least. Nana- them's is a good idea and i love you.

And real quick can we talk about how I will be the older district here in two weeks. what? time. gone? crazy!

I love you. all.

Saying Farewell...

Cousins & Friends say "Good Bye"...

Milkshake moment with the gals...

Massive HOOP game at Farewell lunch...

Uncles, Aunts and Grandparents...say "good bye"...

Tuffy says..."let me out...!!"

"Valet Parking Attendant" at the MTC says "Hurry along, she's in good hands..."

First Pics...yeah!

"The comp and me."


"Our district...we are all going to Taiwan, Taichong."


"First day in the MTC with comp...'dork dots' on our tags"

"The sleeping quarters."

"Obviously hard at work!"

Booyah!

Seriously the most intense 30 minutes of my life is beginning now! Go! Ok so week two ish. Well techinically today is the beginning of our 3 week of time in the MTC. Everything in the MTC is weird, good weird.

So

Tuesday: I got double the packages- one from Court BS and one fromt he front desk which came via Dad. Sorry about the demerit on your church record, eek. She told me about BSU winning, excellent- so i wore my bsu shirt to gym and then about Mack's homecoming. Said it was outstanding and then of course the rest of you (mom and dad) told me more deets about it. Shout out to Mack- excellent talk from what I heard. And crazy that his mission president was Dad's teacher in Jeru, that is a stellar man for sure. That night we had a devotional by a member of the 2nd quorum of the 70 Lowell Snow. He spoke on choice and how we in every choice should ultimately choose God or something that moves us closer to him. Afterwards he asked us to all meet in our individual districts where we each shared why we chose to serve a mission. It was a very cool experience because we all have such different "conversion" stories that bring together different pieces of truth about the gospel to create a powerful force of truth- God's Royal Army, if you will.

Wed: Ok this was my first kind of difficult day in the MTC. Just feeling overwhelmed and bah! inadequate but that is ok because I know I have been called and the Lord already knows I can do this so I just need to believe in myself more and have faith in this plan for me. I can handle that, because ultimately he knows me oh so well. Don't worry too much mom it wasn't super bad just a meh sort of day. But that was quickly turned around by several of the other sisters who I live with, they are so awesome ans so encouraging. Especially when it comes to the Chinese. Again, mom, don't freak it was all good.

Thurs: Not much thursday just preparing for our lesson in the Teaching Expereince (where we teach a fake/real investigator). My comp and I planned our lesson which was an interesting experience for both of us because we appraoched it completely different but in the end we figured it out and we able to practice once our twice that night. Oh and shout out to Ryan... I played volleyball for gym. There was a lot of she-thinking going on :)

Friday: Much more practice for the TE. That night we were pretty nervous about the next morning when we would be teaching. We practiced a lot but it is still pretty scary to think about teaching. We had to contact in Chinese for the first 5 mintues and then teach a 30 minute lesson-lesson 1 from PMG. Well sort of- you see here we focus on teaching people rather than lessons. Because really it is all about the people and not shoving the gospel down their throat. And really really it is the spirit that is the teacher. WE have watched a few clips of this missionary show "the district" and there is this one segment where they interviewed converts and investigators and asked them about missionaries and they ALL said that it wasn't the lessons they were taught but the spirit that the missionaries brought to them that really converted them.

Satruday: WE TAUGHT!!! And it went OH SO WELL! Seriously Clark! Oh my! The spirit was absolutely there and we got to teach two ladies who were legitly (not a word) chinese. Luckily we were teaching in English but still it was cool. One was from mainland and one was from Taichong! So cool. They were members but they still had concerns that we (i think) were able to address. Very cool. Sister VS and I were comfortable teaching together and my comp- wow she rocked it by creating an analogy about the atonement and someone paying for us when we don't have enought money in line at the gorcery store. Ya know what I am talking about? Well it was perfect because one of the ladies we were teaching worked at Wal-mart so it was perfect for her. It was cool and inspired. And man to testify to someone that they are a child of God. IT's a very cool experience, one I hope to have more of. That night we watched a talk that Elder Bednar gave at the MTC a year or so ago about recogninzing the spirit. He said the question he gets most often is "how do I know what I am feeling is the spirit and not just my own feelings or me answering my question?" His answer- quit worrying about it, quit analyzing it, all good thoughts and feelings come from the holy ghost so just act. move forward with faith and confidence and act. Also- the gym is closed for some reason so we are having a horse shoe tournament as a district, ha!

And of course SUNDAY!!! The best day ever in the MTC. Highlights included Sister Elaine Dalton speaking to the relief society. the main point of her talk was that we, as sister missionaries, are fulfilling our young women theme. She had us all stand up and recite the theme, very powerful in a room of sister missionaries- who happen to be the bomb dot com. sorry! She also told us to do three things that apparently they are telling all youth to do 100% 1. pray every night and every morning, 2. read the scriptures every day and 3. smile, because the gospel is happy. it is a happy thing. I got to see Kristen Shelley again, she makes me cry. She feels like my mom when I hug her. ANDDD Mere, uh, surprised me at the temple. Let me set the record straight I did not plan it nor did she. She just showed up so I didn't break any rules but WHOA it was good to see her. And just to hug someone I love! eek it was nice. nice stuff.

Monday morn: this morning really. we got to go to the temple finally! Felt like a deep, much needed, breath of fresh air. I will definitely look forward to that every week. The Provo temple is so gorgeous inside, I just like it.

Ok so that's about it. I love you all and pray for you every night. AND I know that your prayers- well I can feel them, often. I love that. Sorry about the pictures, I still haven't gotten them back from being printed so I will send those via snail asap.

love bekah

Mission Launch Day