This is Hayley's e-mail for this week. She asked me to post it! it is FULL of mechanical errors but keep in mind, she is in a mad rush to get this typed, as they have limited time and she probably isn't proofreading. Its more of a stream of consciousness via e-mail! Enjoy!

"I actually just drank a cactus cooler! I actually just drank one! we have had those at home before too haha. but ya I love them! I like the MTC. I mean I don't want to spend my mission here but I'm having alot of fun! my companions and I have alot of fun together. which helps alot!! I bore my testimony in sacrament yesterday in all mandarin. it was pretty cool! what is a wii u ? i have never heard of it ? sounds fun though!! this week wasn't terribly eventful . we did get new sisters into our zone which was cool and we got to host which was way fun! and we get to host again the 24! but ya like I said this week was kinda just a normal MTC week. I'm going to attempt to send a couple pictures in this email so I hope it works. so you know how sundays the byu creamery gives the missionaries ice cream? so i had 3 bowls of ice cream some cake and some cookies as well as my dinner! but it was Sunday and Sunday is funday. what was i supposed to do not eat the FREE ICECREAM! thats just preposterous. and it was totally worth how sick I felt later! I wish i had some cooler story to tell you rather than the ice cream story but I dont. :*[ oh what is kinda cool though is that i am almost halfway through the MTC ! I am officially on my fifth week !! cool and scary at the same time. soo its like scool. or scarool. thats how i feel . mandarin is finally starting to click .but i first had to have mini break down for it to get better. i dont know if you guys ever cried in the mtc . steven probably didnt. but i have. not a ton only like twice. but i cried the other day because i was working on asking questions because the grammar was confusing me and i started to get it and the teacher came over and was trying to help but instead he confused me soo bad ! and i was soo confused and frustrated and i started crying and my companions took me for a walk and i was just like im am sooo frustrated and  im not getting it and i just drag you two down because im so inadequate. of course they were nice and supportive and i felt better then that night i was saying my prayers and i just felt this feeling like why am i comparing myself still? this isnt about me . its not about me being the best at speaking or even teaching its about me getting my message to the people of taiwan. and that i was being selfish and only thinking of myself when its about this gospel and teachign it to the people and Heavenly Father will help me and he has because when we do trc i alwasy get compliments abbout my testimony but i was to busy focusing on what i cant do rather than being grateful for the things i am able to do. and after that my chinese has improved like 90% im more confident and its coming easier. but like the scriptures say we have to struggle first and then weak things will be made strong. so that was pretty cool. i mean dont get me wrong it is soo hard. like soo hard. but i just have to stay positive. this might be something you would like to know its kinda funny. so to say right in mandarin is dui . dui with the fourth tone. and it means like right or correct basically. so if you ask a question like is this right? you say dui bu dui? which is literally just saying right, not right? and to answer you just say dui(correct) its kinda funny and i dont know if spanish does this but like when you ask a question like can we go to the bathroom. you just answer with the verb. like you would just say can. or are you willing to read ? you just answer willing. its kind of funny. mandarin is sooo hard but its also really easy if that makes sense? like the vocab is hard and the grammar but once it clicks its like set up really simple. its hard to explain so im not sure if that made sense.this older guy today asked us where we would be serving and we told him taiwan and he was like oh my son served in Thailand so thats kinda close. and we were like yaa. and when he left we all started laughing because no guy its actually not close at all. and he asked if we would could talk to the missionaries going to hong kong cause they spoke Cantonese and mandarin is similar to it . like ya they are similar but still different languages so know we cant talk too each other in two different languages. it was really funny !! one of my favorite things about the MTC is going to choir. its just alot of fun the conductor is really funny and energetic and its a time to just relax kind of and just have fun. plus we sing cool songs. Im still waiting for the package that you guys keep taunting me with! i think you guys just like telling me about it and with holding !! i have seriously been waiting for it everyday! oh and robyn speaking of crimping hair ! i braided my hair when it was wet into a bunch of small breads and slept on it and in the morning my hair was soo crimpy i put it in a sweet side ponytail and it was awesome i took pictures of it ! im finding some fun ways to style my hair with out any heat its pretty cool. the only thing is i wont be able to do the braids in taiwan . they tell sisters not to braid wet hair because mold can grow in it. i dont know if thats true or not but im not super willing to take my chances. i have mostly been just letting me hair air dry everyday because i have no time . its has been drying really curly which is fun . so i cant wait to see what taiwan has in store for my hair! the shopping is supposedly really good super cute clothes and everythign for cheap! so somethign to look forward to mom. ;] also my branch presidents wife sister teng had a prada bag the other day i asked where she got it and she said she got it in park city and she also gets them in taiwan and china and i told her how much you loved doing that! she loves it too! and i felt pretty awesome becasue another wife of the branch presidency was talking about how she wanted chickens and i was told her all about it and how easy they are and what kind to get and she took notes and everything it was awesome! and robyn if you are ever on pintrest and find hairstyles that are easy that dont require heat feel free to send them to me and as i experiment we can swap back and forth. did you try the curls thing ? with the headband? if you dont understand what im talking about just you tube it and you will find something!:] also my companion contoured my face for me today it was cool! she like made my face look thinner . not somethign i would do everyday but its p day!! sooo YOPDO! you only p day once ! well once a week. but you get the idea. hah well i have to wrap up this email but i miss you and love you and i love hearing from you guys! and cant wait to talk to you at christmas! and i hope the end of the year isnt soo crazy hopefully it ends smoothly. so you guys can have a nice break!:] love you guys!!!!!! 

P.S here are a couple pictures :]

P.P.S tell noel to tell kelly i met Sister hannah dudley! we are on the same floor in the residence she is going to hong kong ! it was so funny to meet her becasue it thought she looked familiar and wouldnt you know she is from carson and good friends with kelly :] and we are serving really close missions! small small world! I have only met like 3 missionaries from nevada and so its super exciting when someone is from nevada ! us nevadans gotta stick together! and when i meet people who are serving in vegas or reno im like im from there!!!! its awesome!!" 

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

 

Contact info for DearElder.com

 

Go to Write a Missionary

In the Select Mission box, select Provo MTC

 

Type following in the appropriate fields:

 

Sister Hayley Voss

Provo MTC

Mission code:TAIW-TCG

Unit: 3

Depatrure Date: July 1

 

Mailing Address:

Sister Hayley Voss

Jul. 01 TAIW-TCG

2007 N. 900 E. Unit #3

Provo, UT 84602

 

today is the day.

so this is the day! I will be leaving tonight for utah to begin my mission! I'm soo nervous but also very excited! I hope to be uploading pictures and things for you all to enjoy. thank you for all the love and support !
                                                  - Sister Voss

demo

I am just figuring this out

only one more week

          This is my first attempt at my mission blog, so we will see how this goes. As hopefully most of you know I will be serving a full time mission for the Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I have been called to labor in the Taiwan, Taichung mission. I am super duper excited to leave but also sad. There are a few people I will miss tremendously , and that doesn't even begin to come close to how much I will miss my family!! I cannot wait to begin this amazing adventure teaching the amazing people of Taiwan, especially since I get the chance to teach about something I love very much; the gospel. I would love to hear from each and every one of you , even if it is just to ask questions please feel free to ask ! I hope to keep this updated as I am away and hopefully will be able to post pictures . we will see how that works out for me , especially since I am so far from being tech savvy. I do not have my mission email address yet , and I"m not sure what the address for the MTC is but as soon as I have it my mom ,or brother ,or someone in my family will post it on Facebook .  Thank you all for the words of encouragement and love ! It has meant a lot to me as I prepare for this journey.

                                                           Sincerely ,
                                                               
                                                                   Sister Voss