Wednesday, May 21, 2014

This letter is going to be kinda scatter brained so bear with me!  First of all it was Sunday and Sundays are always nice in the mtc. But during devotional we watched a talk that was given two years ago by Elder Bednar called Characters of Christ. very good talk. All of us were kinda of confuzzled because it was one of the movie options for after devotional and my district had already seen it. So we watched it and it was good lalala. BUT THE PLOT THICKENS! After the talk ended we were all like okayyyy what now? And lo and behold who walks up to the podium but the man himself, Elder Bednar!!! Then he did a question and answer thing. It was really cool! So far I have now seen Elder Bendar, Jefferey R. Holland, and L Tom Perry. pretty neat!!
     So a funny thing happened the other day. I had to have a meeting with my companions and my teacher because I was really struggling in classes and discussions. Mostly because I take forever sometimes to form sentences and during discussions I wouldn't talk because each time I did I would be trying to form a sentence and my companions would try to jump in and help but ended up just taking over for me. So I wasn't learning because I didn't get a chance to speak. I know they were only trying to help but when the teacher asked to talk to me before class I started to cry because I'm a wuss. I told him how I felt and said I needed more help because I was really struggling.and he told me something that I really appreciated. He was like, "From what I can see, you're a pretty resilient person. I can see you get frustrated then the next day your upbeat and ready to have another go." I was like ya I guess I am . I get down and dust myself off and cowgirl up and get back in the saddle. I told my companions that I know they were only trying to help and that I loved them but I needed them to just let me struggle through sentences or else I wasn't going to learn anything. They were cool about it so it wasn't drama or anything. We actually work extremely well together and get along great. So the next day, I left the class room to go to the bathroom and I came back and someone had left a note on my desk. It was like two pages long and it was really nice but a little weird at the same time just sayin how they had seen me crying and how it will get better and tips for studying mandarin. It was a very nice note but they signed anonymous so I don't know who wrote it. So we did the trc . which is where we teach and they film us. We didn't get to watch or listen after the lesson but we did get feed back from the investigators. I was soo nervous !! So much pressure to be filmed!! But when we went in there it just went away and the first lesson was pretty good. But the second lesson rocked! We all got choked up a little the spirit was sooo strong and I bore my testimony. I didn't plan it but it came out anyways and I could see the guy kinda get a little teary eyed. On his feed back he said, "fang jiemei, thank you for sharing that amazing testimony!" I don't even remember what I said but I know it was the spirit talking not me. It was really cool.
I am seriously obsessed with the bin for left over clothes from other sisters! I have gotten so much sweet stuff out of it !! Its awesome!  I have been rocking the side ponytails lately mainly because I have like no time to get ready after gym! I don't even wear foundation any more just mascara and blush. I continue to have random songs in my head. Right now its "don't stop believing" by Journey and the other day I woke up and "hey jude" was going through my head and then "there can be miracles" from prince of Egypt. hahaha so random! Robyn is going to send me some crossfit workouts that I can do without any equipment. I have been really motivated about working out and trying to get in shape not because of the weight gain in the mtc but more because my mission is a new chapter of my life and I want to start a new! Here is another pretty cool story, we were doing this activity in class and we had to talk to eachother like investigators but answer as ourselves if that makes sense. We were asking one of the elders what he worries about he said the answer I'm positive we all feel, that he worries about bieng a good missionary and teacher and being able to communicate with the investigators. I was like, "I feel the same way. I think we all do." Then I shared the story about Jesus on the boat during the storm and I said we all feel like "carest thou not," and we are reminded ye of little faith. We just need to trust in Tianfu ( Heavenly Father) and he will help us. We need to have that faith. The spirit got sooo strong and one of my companions turned to me and she was like, "Wow, I really needed to hear that." It's just amazing how Heavenly Father is the one teaching, not me. I'm just his mouth piece. If we just trust in the Lord we will be great missionaries.
So a change of subject, here is a fun fact jiemei means sister but here is the funny thing , jie jie means older sister and mei mei means younger sister so they just combined the two sisters. Hence getting jiemei. So those two dresses i got from walmart the red and the black one, I took those to the alterations place today because its only 50 cents per item. It cost me a dollar to get them shortened. they are just slightly too long and they are restricting for when I will be biking and I want to wear the dresses alot because they are cute and they will be perfect for taiwan . So im having them made calf length.  I gave a prayer in sacrament yesterday in mandarine and I got alot of compliments on it. They were probaly just those compliments you say just to be nice!So there is this one elder in my zone he is kinda odd .. no not kinda very odd. He gave a talk and I have never seen someone make so many strange faces during a talk and lick their lips so much. Best part was it that this elder is a self proclaimed zhongwen dictionary, like mandarin dictionary. For someone who calls them self that, quite a bit of his talk was in English. Just sayin'. So dearelder.con is awesome because you can type a letter like an e-mail and they print it our and deliver it and it's free. My contact info is below in case you want to write me! I can totally see what Arynn as talking about how girls are flirty in the mtc still. Totally true. Some girls, I see them and their makeup is all done, hair done, like everything and I barely had time to shower!! How did they have time? They probably get up super early to get dressed which me and my companions are not willing to do. Haha, we would rather go with no makeup and no shower if it meant more sleep haha. Besides, Im not trying to impress any one. Anyways, I am about out of time but I miss you guys and i miss my little cowboy (Linkin, my dog)! so much but the mtc is fun to! I cant believe that I am on my third week now, it feels like my third month but time is flying by hah. I love you guys ! wo ai nimen! i wish i could add tones on this email so i could say things in zhongwen.  I love this gospel and this amazing and crazy opportunity to serve my mission. I look forward to hearing from you !
love,
Fang jiemei
 
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Sister Hayley Voss
Provo MTC
Mission code:TAIW-TCG
Unit: 3
Depatrure Date: July 1
 
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Sister Hayley Voss
Jul. 01 TAIW-TCG
2007 N. 900 E. Unit #3
Provo, UT 84602