2/5/14
P-day! Time is flying! Here, weeks feel like days---and days feel like weeks! I totally love my roommates. We work well together! They are all a little crazy but get us together and it's always uplifting, funny, spiritual conversation.
I have come to know the value of the Book of Mormon more than I used to. It truly contains answers, doctrine, and examples. I know the gospel is true, I know God loves me, wants me to pray and wants to help me. I know I will be able to communicate with others in order to bring should to Christ. I love it here!
2/6/14
I love the MTC, however, the food is killing me. All of us! I stay away from dairy and fried foods, but all of us are feeling weight gain, yes a little but mostly just the icky feeling we get. Just remember, Sister Smith, it'll just make anything in Taiwan seem delicious! I love my companion. I feel like I need to step it up though. That's something I'm working on. Sometimes the Elders are so immature. They are all varying degrees of maturity but they're great when you catch them in a moment of seriousness. I know, they are still young boys.
I have such a strong desire to serve the Lord. Why has it taken me so long? I don't know but I want so badly to help bring souls to Christ. I want to emulate Christ in word, thought and action. This entry may NOT be the best portrayal of Christ-like attributes...oops.
LEARNINGS:
~ It's not about me. It's about others. It's not my language capacity. It's about where they are and how i can help them come closer to Christ. Everything we do, we say, we study, is not for us, but it's so that we may bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of all men.
~ Analogies are great teaching tools, but make sure they have relevance to the person you are teaching. Like President Figuerres taught me; know the culture, and background and use things they are familiar with.
~ When we are at a devotional singing "Called To Serve", I love hearing the Japanese missionaries sing the chorus (Susumei...), it reminds me of my dad singing!
Satan puts fear into our hearts about offending people by inviting them to church, but if you invite or ask if they're interested in why you're always happy, (first you have to be happy!) then the invite is out of love and they will feel that. Everyday ask, "How can I build the kingdom of God?"
2/7/14
We met our 2nd investigator today. He is in the Army and like to read but does not believe in God. [This conversation is translated from Mikell's English/Chinese] At first when we asked him what he liked to do he said, "I don't know". We asked about his background and his job and he'd say a bit then say ,"I don't know." So I said, "You know what?", He looked at me weird and I looked at him straight on and said, "I don't know." OKAY, PROBABLY NOT THE BEST STRATEGY TO USE SARCASM WITH AN INVESTIGATOR, but he realized what I meant and and he laughed. That's when he told us he liked to read. Well I JUMPED on that opportunity telling him all about the Book of Mormon! Anyway, we will teach him again on Monday.
2/8/14
Today is just starting but I know Tianfu ai wo! Besides studying Chinese, I've been trying to focus on how I can help others-the Elders and Sisters. I have found so many things when I reach outside myself. My day goes better, I'm more in tune with spiritual promptings, I can deal with stress and I notice others' needs. I think less about my appearance and I never thought I could be this way. If there is one piece of advice I could give it would be focus on others around you.
Last night I had a dream-something about a pioneer-esque guy and girl and he goes to leave and (my dreams are like movies) on the "screen" appears the words: Some relationships are only found at good-bye. Deep huh?
I love reading the Book of Mormon! I used to think 10-15 minutes a day was so long, but now I have an hour a day and that's not enough!
P-day! Time is flying! Here, weeks feel like days---and days feel like weeks! I totally love my roommates. We work well together! They are all a little crazy but get us together and it's always uplifting, funny, spiritual conversation.
I have come to know the value of the Book of Mormon more than I used to. It truly contains answers, doctrine, and examples. I know the gospel is true, I know God loves me, wants me to pray and wants to help me. I know I will be able to communicate with others in order to bring should to Christ. I love it here!
2/6/14
I love the MTC, however, the food is killing me. All of us! I stay away from dairy and fried foods, but all of us are feeling weight gain, yes a little but mostly just the icky feeling we get. Just remember, Sister Smith, it'll just make anything in Taiwan seem delicious! I love my companion. I feel like I need to step it up though. That's something I'm working on. Sometimes the Elders are so immature. They are all varying degrees of maturity but they're great when you catch them in a moment of seriousness. I know, they are still young boys.
I have such a strong desire to serve the Lord. Why has it taken me so long? I don't know but I want so badly to help bring souls to Christ. I want to emulate Christ in word, thought and action. This entry may NOT be the best portrayal of Christ-like attributes...oops.
LEARNINGS:
~ It's not about me. It's about others. It's not my language capacity. It's about where they are and how i can help them come closer to Christ. Everything we do, we say, we study, is not for us, but it's so that we may bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of all men.
~ Analogies are great teaching tools, but make sure they have relevance to the person you are teaching. Like President Figuerres taught me; know the culture, and background and use things they are familiar with.
~ When we are at a devotional singing "Called To Serve", I love hearing the Japanese missionaries sing the chorus (Susumei...), it reminds me of my dad singing!
Satan puts fear into our hearts about offending people by inviting them to church, but if you invite or ask if they're interested in why you're always happy, (first you have to be happy!) then the invite is out of love and they will feel that. Everyday ask, "How can I build the kingdom of God?"
2/7/14
We met our 2nd investigator today. He is in the Army and like to read but does not believe in God. [This conversation is translated from Mikell's English/Chinese] At first when we asked him what he liked to do he said, "I don't know". We asked about his background and his job and he'd say a bit then say ,"I don't know." So I said, "You know what?", He looked at me weird and I looked at him straight on and said, "I don't know." OKAY, PROBABLY NOT THE BEST STRATEGY TO USE SARCASM WITH AN INVESTIGATOR, but he realized what I meant and and he laughed. That's when he told us he liked to read. Well I JUMPED on that opportunity telling him all about the Book of Mormon! Anyway, we will teach him again on Monday.
2/8/14
Today is just starting but I know Tianfu ai wo! Besides studying Chinese, I've been trying to focus on how I can help others-the Elders and Sisters. I have found so many things when I reach outside myself. My day goes better, I'm more in tune with spiritual promptings, I can deal with stress and I notice others' needs. I think less about my appearance and I never thought I could be this way. If there is one piece of advice I could give it would be focus on others around you.
Last night I had a dream-something about a pioneer-esque guy and girl and he goes to leave and (my dreams are like movies) on the "screen" appears the words: Some relationships are only found at good-bye. Deep huh?
I love reading the Book of Mormon! I used to think 10-15 minutes a day was so long, but now I have an hour a day and that's not enough!