it happens to everyone here, exhaustion wins...
Wed. March 19, 2014
Last email from the MTC, now is when mom and dad will get worried right? their daughter isn't safe in Provo :) Well, I'll be safe with the Lord by my side so put those worries aside right now :) We fly out on Tuesday morning. Ok, keep telling me how life is and Matt I want to know all about the new mission calls!! I love it. I just have really ... I don't know how to explain it. Everything that happens here is amazing. I'm so, so glad I decided to serve. and Serve is the only word really that encompasses this work. Well, you could say, "Loving Service". I wish that I had a powerful experience to share, or some amazing feat I did, but this week had many spiritually great moments that I guess just overall add up to this: This gospel is true. This work is amazing, and the work IS hastening. So many prophecies are being fulfilled right before our eyes, and so many lives are changing. I hope you all know, this is the restored gospel of Christ. I wouldn't be going to a foreign country, where I don't know the language and can't call my family, but twice a year, and studying scriptures day and night to spread something I didn't truly believe in. I know that God lives. I know that Christ, while on the Earth, established His church, and after His apostles were killed, the keys to that priesthood authority were taken. God knew that would happen, so he prepared another record, another testament of the divinity and reality of Christ. God and Christ appeared to Joseph Smith, and through revelation he translated the Book of Mormon. I know it contains the gospel truths of where we are going after we die, that we will see our family again. It also tells us HOW to return home, faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end, which, we don't know when the end is. We don't know, but we can trust that God knows, and have patience. Patience is "the capacity to endure dely, trouble, opposition, or suffering without becoming angry, frustrated, or anxious." I feel much less fear and frustration in my life when I rely on the Lord and follow what I know I am supposed to do, and follow the commandments. Those commandments, when we follow them, allow God to give us soooo many blessings! I've learned here the importance of love, and charity. Truly loving everybody, and I know I can't do it be myself, but Christ is helping me feel more love than I ever have. Also, what my teacher said our first week is so true, "English speaking missionaries become fluent in the gospel, Spanish speaking missionaries become fluent in the language, and Chinese speaking missionaries become fluent in humility." I've become acutely aware of my ability and that I can't do this on my own. There is no way I would be able to last, even just one week, or a DAY without the constant support I get from the Lord. It's amazing, just when we thing we can'y go on or do anything more, we just pray and somehow we finish the day.
We are so excited and ready to just get out to Taiwan, start trying to learn the language, but more importantly, to serve. we don't have to be fluent in Chinese in order to serve.
I love you all lots and I love hearing about your days, thought I truly wish I could reply to each person, I just cant, so I'll just have to say, I love you all so much and pray for all of you.
I'll message ya'll from Taiwan!
Sima Jiemei
Last email from the MTC, now is when mom and dad will get worried right? their daughter isn't safe in Provo :) Well, I'll be safe with the Lord by my side so put those worries aside right now :) We fly out on Tuesday morning. Ok, keep telling me how life is and Matt I want to know all about the new mission calls!! I love it. I just have really ... I don't know how to explain it. Everything that happens here is amazing. I'm so, so glad I decided to serve. and Serve is the only word really that encompasses this work. Well, you could say, "Loving Service". I wish that I had a powerful experience to share, or some amazing feat I did, but this week had many spiritually great moments that I guess just overall add up to this: This gospel is true. This work is amazing, and the work IS hastening. So many prophecies are being fulfilled right before our eyes, and so many lives are changing. I hope you all know, this is the restored gospel of Christ. I wouldn't be going to a foreign country, where I don't know the language and can't call my family, but twice a year, and studying scriptures day and night to spread something I didn't truly believe in. I know that God lives. I know that Christ, while on the Earth, established His church, and after His apostles were killed, the keys to that priesthood authority were taken. God knew that would happen, so he prepared another record, another testament of the divinity and reality of Christ. God and Christ appeared to Joseph Smith, and through revelation he translated the Book of Mormon. I know it contains the gospel truths of where we are going after we die, that we will see our family again. It also tells us HOW to return home, faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end, which, we don't know when the end is. We don't know, but we can trust that God knows, and have patience. Patience is "the capacity to endure dely, trouble, opposition, or suffering without becoming angry, frustrated, or anxious." I feel much less fear and frustration in my life when I rely on the Lord and follow what I know I am supposed to do, and follow the commandments. Those commandments, when we follow them, allow God to give us soooo many blessings! I've learned here the importance of love, and charity. Truly loving everybody, and I know I can't do it be myself, but Christ is helping me feel more love than I ever have. Also, what my teacher said our first week is so true, "English speaking missionaries become fluent in the gospel, Spanish speaking missionaries become fluent in the language, and Chinese speaking missionaries become fluent in humility." I've become acutely aware of my ability and that I can't do this on my own. There is no way I would be able to last, even just one week, or a DAY without the constant support I get from the Lord. It's amazing, just when we thing we can'y go on or do anything more, we just pray and somehow we finish the day.
We are so excited and ready to just get out to Taiwan, start trying to learn the language, but more importantly, to serve. we don't have to be fluent in Chinese in order to serve.
I love you all lots and I love hearing about your days, thought I truly wish I could reply to each person, I just cant, so I'll just have to say, I love you all so much and pray for all of you.
I'll message ya'll from Taiwan!
Sima Jiemei