Conference Weekend

Conference was soooo good. I've never really paid that much attention to it ever, but being a missionary, you seem to pay more attention. I was able to watch all 5 sessions. We watched 4 of them with the members that we live with, and then one of our ward mission leaders had us over for lunch, and to watch the last session. Learned a lot from all of them. Priesthood session was really great. President Uchtdorf talked a lot about how we all will fall, but we have to get back up. And then another person talked about the urgency of getting back up now, and not to wait. That was probably the thing I liked the most, and got me thinking about what i can do right now to help myself. One of our investigators Brother V. loooves President Uchtdorf. Uchtdorf's first talk was all about how no matter where we are, everyone can come to the Gospel. I think that talk had a big impact on him. Brother V. also came to Priesthood session, where the entire stake gathered together to watch. So I think we're making good progress with him. Yesterday we also met with another investigator named Brother S. He really knows the bible but struggles to beileve that there is one true church. Previous missionaries also helped him to stop smoking but he just started smoking again in the last few weeks. He works in North Dakota for like 5 weeks at a time and then comes backl for one week, so he doesnt get to see his family that often and we dont get to teach him very often. Hopefully we will be teaching more people this week. We teach a lot of members the lessons because thats what the mission president has asked us to do, and it helps us practice. I dont know if i ever told you but we now teach from pamphlets. Which is kind of a cool way to teach. Not how they taught us in the MTC though. We use a lot of pictures and try to teach through the different pictures.

This week we went through the Boise Temple which was pretty cool. A lot smaller than I pictured it to be, but it was still good.

Also a member took us to a resturant called Mongos. Its probably the best resturant that could every exist. Its an all you can eat, make your own stir fry mongolian noodle place. Words cant describe it. I have also located a Taco Bell in our area which is good news.

On Tuesday we are going on exchanges, which means our senior companion will leave and we will get another elder who has been out just as long as us. Thatll be interesting. Three people who have no clue what they are doing.

I also went tracting for the first time this week which i hated so much. The mission president doesn't reccomend it and would rather us meet with members to get referrals but we were on splits with the ward, and i somehow got paired up with a  guy who just wanted to tract and chase down people that were walking their dogs.

Also yesterday started suit coat season, which means we always have to be wearing our suits. Good thing i have more than one.

I dont have like any emails today so thats why im making this one so long. Im trying to think of what else happened.

Anyway i could go opn about conference forever. Apparently a womens group tried to get into priesthood session and they got really mad and made them broadcast the priesthood session live on tv so everyone could watch. A lot of the talks were about women and their roles. Anyway watch all of it. Its real good. I learned a lot from it.

 

Love,

Elder Hall

Trip to BYU Health Center

Sounds like your having fun. Provo was fun though. I went with my ZL and the President gave him permission to meet his sister there. S0 she drove us around all morning with him and his two nephews and niece. Went to Krispy Kreme and Jasons Deli which were good. Went to my appointment very unprepared. I was told that i only needed to bring a passport and i was supposed to bring four passport pictures...very stressful. They said they think they will be able to do it if i send the passport pictures down via mail, which i did today. Hopefully it will work. They said it would take a while for it to get sent back and have it reprocessed. Everyone else in my district at the mtc all got there visas though...very frustrating. Back today though and we went shopping and i got permission to email today which is nice.

Its really hard out here though. We arent finding like any new invesigators and we are running out of people to teach. I know its because we arent working hard enough.  Hopefully this week will be better though.

My talk went alright i think. It was like 10 minutes long. Getting excited for general conference though, it should be good. I think we will just watch it from the stake center.

I get to meet so many awesome members here. We had dinner with a guy that drives apache helicopters for the army. Such a nice guy with a nice family. Lots of cool stories. One of our investigators, Michael V. is also a veteran. He's like 30 but he lost an eye in an explosion in Afganistan. He is married to a member and he loves us and the other missionaries.

 

Hope you have a great time in Bali!!

elder hall

Back to Provo!

SO here's a fun story. Guess whos going back to Provo? This guy!!!!

Got an email from the Australian Visa place saying that they need for me to go through some additional physical exams because I've lived outside of the country...and luckily for me, the closest Australian approved doctor to us is at the BYU health clinic. So on monday, the 29th? im flying back down to SLC with my zone leader to go to my doctors appointment. Looks like I'm not leaving Idaho anyyytime soon. Pretty frustrating...especially because my chinese is getting bu hao.

Meridian is good though. Still in a three-some which is nice. They are planning on building a temple. If you look at the plans for the temple it looks like they are making a mosque. Really weird looking temple. My companion is the District Leader so he has permission to be anywhere in the zone at all times. So we go over to Costa Vida a lot because we haven't had to pay for our meal there yet. Super awesome.

So funny story about my bike. I was riding this little purple girls bike. And we were riding to an appointment and a bunch of teenagers were in the road and as we passed by they were making fun of my bike. So once we got out of view from them, me in my prideful state, started trying to do tricks on my bike. And right when I was coming down, my front wheel fell off and completely bent, which then led me to flying over the handlebars and crashing pretty hard. Im fine though. Just cut my elbow. Probably a sign that i shouldnt be doing that kind of stuff. But i dont think ill ever learn. My companions both crashed their bikes as well this week. One of them totally ripped his pants when he crashed. But luckily for me, one of the ward mission leaders has been offering me his bike anyway because he was embarrased for me. So im riding that one now, and its a lot nicer.

There are SO MANY HALLS here. Its ridiculous. This last week, due to a mixup with the wards we didnt have any dinner with families. So that's why weve been going to Fuddruckers and Costa Vida so much.

Theres a lot of weird stuff with the people that we teach. Its not like we teach any normal people that have never heard of the Gospel. A lot of them and less active members or people that have withdrawn their names from church records. Also a lot of divorced families that have gotten remarried. Its so weird. We always show up to houses knowing that its a less active family, but we have no clue who's active and who's not active. People here are so nice though, so I dont mind staying here. People from the MTC are starting to get their visas already. Hopefully after my doctors appointment it wont take much longer.

Oh and were speaking in church next week. All the speakers fell through so they went straight to us! Greeeattt.

 

Have fun in Bali!

 

Love,

Elder Hall

Meridian, Idaho

Elder Hall and Boise Idaho Mission President & Sister Winders

Greetings.

So Im in Merdian. I cover three different wards (sundance, hunter, and meridian 2nd) which means three sacrament meetings to go to on Sundays. There are 2 Chinese missionaries here, one of them i stayed with on my first day here, and the other i just met at walmart a few hours ago. Not very many chinese people here though. so its not the best for practicing my chinese. i have two companions. Elder McAdoo, from Sacramento and Elder Mower (pronounced like Power) from Flordia, right outside of Gainesville. We live in a members basement, its pretty nice, we have a fridge, microwave, and bathroom down there so i like it. We get fed by members everynight, and when we go out to eat members will also pay for us. This one sister, her name was Sister B., paid for 20 missionaries meals at Costa Vida. Pretty nice of her. We ride bikes. I ride a small purple girls bike that nobody else wanted. not giving me much street credit but it barely works well enough to get me from place to place. When we ride around town everyone honks and waves at us. Kids run across the streets to give us high fives, were like celebs here. members drive us to walmart, or to do other errands like coming to the library right now to email. 

We have a few investigators. Most of them are single sisters though, and the mission wants us to hand over all of our single sister investigators to the new sister missionaries that just got put in our stake. So we have 7 investigators total, and if we hand over all of our single sisters we will be left with 2 investigators. So we're working a lot with the ward mission president and the ward to find people to teach. we do a lot with less active families and part member families. there are a lot of Halls here--which is really weird because i never really meet other Halls. One of the wards bishop is Bishop Hall. We go on splits with ward missionaries and priests 3 times a week.

The first day we got here was pretty nuts...we got off the plane, and they gave us a bunch of Book of Mormons and dropped us off in downtown Boise and told us to go contact people. you meet some pretty interesting people. we ran into some angry ex mormon vietnam war vets, and very rude french family and a lot of people that avoid you in anyway possible.this one guy did run all the way across the road to talk to us though which was way cool. We were just walking down the street and he ran across traffic to get our attention. He had just moved into Boise from New Hampshire and had never seen missionaries before. He was really cuirous and wanted to talk to us. I think he's a student at boise state. We got his information and put him into the system as a referral.

So yeah, Boise isnt too bad. We got caught in a huge rainstorm on our bikes the other day which sucked, but i like it here. hopefully we will have more success this week!

 

love

elder hall

Greetings from Boise

So I just got in yesterday, and today is the first day in my area. I'm in Meridian Idaho. Our area is supposed to be like 1.5 square miles. So small. But apparently Boise is the smallest mission the church has. My trainers name is Elder McAdoo (not really sure how to spell it). And im also with another new missionary named Elder Mowler. Yesteray we met the mission president and went street contacting in downtown Boise, and last night I stayed with the one Chinese elder the mission has, He was from singapore so i was able to practice chinese.so any way thats about it. I have to get a bick stuff because im using a purple broken down girls bike for now, so i have to buy stuff to fix it. We have an appointement tonight with an investigator as well. All is well here.

zaijian,

elder hall

Leaving the MTC!!

Pretty excited to get out of here! I got the Book of Mormon, Jellybeans, and other fun Chinese stuff. I have a really good friend from BYU who is getting reassigned to Boise and is leaving tomorrow as well! I havent been able to talk to him directly but one of my friends just told me. Other than that I don't know anyone else going there. 

We could hear the BYU game from the MTC. Definitely a little depressing. We could see the stadium, the lights and could hear the crowd roar and the cannon that goes off after every touchdown.  Elder Quass is headed to the SLC mission, and the two other people who were left of my original district left for Pittsburgh this morning. So the only people left are me and my companion. So excited to go anywhere. Im sure I'll get fed well in Boise which will be nice, really starting to get tired of the MTC food. I don't think I've ever actually been to Boise either, so it should be a nice change. I hear its a pretty small mission landwise. I'll look out for people on the Boise State football team to convert.  I really have no clue what to expect. I dont know whether its like Twin Falls or what its like. We are all so excited to go. I am also very excited for the Cafe Rio that i get to eat in Boise (there better be one in Boise). I leave at 2:30 in the morning! I'm buying an extra alarm clock today to make sure because the alarm clock to sent me rings soooo quiet. I think we get 1 hour of language study while we are in our reassignment. Im also concerned about my Chinese. Maybe when i get there I'll ask the mission presient if i can buy some chinese language books at a book store or something. I've pretty much gone through everything they've given me here at the MTC. Packing up right now is the best feeling. I MADE IT. I really can;t even imagine my mission not in the MTC. It's all I know right now. Its really been my home. Can't wait to talk to you guys tomorrow! Hope the phone works! If not I have that phone card and I could call you from the pay phone. Havent checked to see if the cell phone works yet but im sure it does. Man, 11 weeks at the MTC. Its funny because there is not anybody still here thats been here as long as me and Elder Quass. 

Love,

Elder Hall

Go Broncos.....Go Boise State!

Got my reassignment to Boise, Idaho! Serves me right for making fun of people that get sent there. But I'm so fine with it. SO EXCITED TO LEAVE THE MTC!!!! So i'm leaving for the airport at 2:30 am on Tuesday morning.

I fly from SLC to Oakland on Southwest Airlines, leaving at 6:50 am, get to Oakland at 7:45am. 

Then I fly from Oakland to Boise on Southwest. leaving at 9:05 am and arriving in Boise at 11:30. 

I'll try to call you guys maybe when i get to Salt Lake City Airport, because I don't think Ashley and Justin or David and Hailey will be up that early. I'll be able to call when I go to Australia as well. Hope that you got back to China safely!

Love,

Elder Hall

The Waiting Game

Elder Sheffield and I are way close. He slept above me and sat next to me in class for 9 weeks. How was the Cabin? Its so fun up there. 

So im still here! Havent heard anything about my visa for a long time. Pretty frustrating still being here while everyone else that i came in with is gone. I just want to get out of here and really have an impact on peoples lives. This week has been really hard. We got put into a younger district with new teachers and our classroom is PACKED. But everything happens for a reason. I still get to study Chinese all day everyday here which is a blessing because I need all the preparation that I can get before I go into the field. I should at least be getting reassigned this week. They're are just so many missionaries getting reassigned that they ran out of spots to reassign people to. 

This week Elder Anderson came and spoke to us at the Marriott Center. I really loved the talk he gave. One of the things that he said really stuck out to me. He said "Take the word 'I' and put it away for a while". And it was at that moment that i realized how selfish i was being. I'd been complaining about my visa and still being stuck here, when this whole experience isnt for me. Im doing this to help other people, and I'm probably still here because I need some extra preparation to effectively teach. Afterwards we were all thinking about what would happen if we were to be reassigned, and the thought was brought up that 'what if someone somewhere else needs to here this message from me and me only'. I've just been thinking a lot this week, and I know that this trial will help me in the long run, not matter the outcome. Anyway, I'm doing alright here. Just taking whatever's thrown at me. Hopefully we will receive some more news as to my situation is this week. 

When are you leaving back to China? Just wondering for which number I should call when I reach you. Ill email you when I get more information. 

Love, 

Elder Hall

Still at the MTC!

Elder Hall and his friend Nick

Elder Hall and his friend Emily

Congrats on the Marathon! I bet it was really tough. So where are you staying right now? Only two Chinese missionaries going to Australia got their visas in time. There's 7 of us that are visa-less and stuck at the MTC for a little while longer. I should be going to the airport right now! Sad but its alright. I was really looking forward to the Panda Express at LAX though. My visa could come anyday. And when it does come, I should be leaving the next day. But if it doesn't come this week, my name will be put in for reassignment. So if i do get reassigned I would leave 2 weeks from tomorrow. REALLY hoping that it doesn't come down to that. Its just sad because like half of my friends here have left. Its so different being at the MTC without having the people I've spent the last 9 weeks with. Didnt realize how close we would all become. 

So three people in my district are on their way to Hong Kong Chinese speaking. They left at 3:30 this morning, so they are taking the same flight we always take back to Hong Kong through LAX with that long layover. You'll have to look out for them in Hong Kong. I told them I wanted them to send me a picture of them and you. There names are Elder Sheffield, Elder Beavens, and Sister Garlitz. Literally spent all day for the last 9 weeks with them. I also had to friends leave this morning to New Zeland chinese speaking, we were supposed to be on their flight. Not sure what we do for class the next few days, because all of our teachers are on vacation now because we're supposed to be gone. Two sisters in my district got reassigned to Georgia and Indiana. So when they do reassignments they clearly dont pay attention to the language you speak. All the Brazilian missionaries are getting reassigned as well. So many visa issues everywhere! 

Love the shoulder bag! Its so nice. Also really like the sweater. It'll be nice for when its cold. Its not too bad here though. I still have a lot of friends in my district who didnt get their visa yet. A couple of them are going to Brisbane and a couple to Melbourne. Hopefully I'll be able to really improve my Chinese this week. If i get my visa I'll get on my email and send to a quick email with my flight plans so that way youll know when i call. 

Love,

Elder Hall

Counting down the MTC Time

Hey! So one week form today i leave. Pretty excited but also pretty nervous. Trying to make these last few days with a real Chinese teacher count. These last week went by so quickly. We got our new Chinese name tags and travel plans. My name is officially He Zhanglao. Last night we had a devotional by Vai Sikahema, played for the BYU national championship team, two time pro bowler in the NFL. It was a super awesome devotional. He just talked about his mission and the impact that it had on his life, really great devotional. Then last Tuesday, we got to hear Elder Scott talk to us at the Marriott center. It was so awesome to listen to him and feel the Spirit that he brought into the room. Also been making a lot of progress on my Chinese this week. Got to spend some one on one time with a teacher so I could get a lot of things that confused my down. I always carry my planner with me and when I hear a word that I don't know, I write it down and look it up. My speaking is getting better and better. Still havent learned any characters but luckily they gave us some triple column Book of Mormons (pinyin, character, english) so that way we can at least read the Book of Mormon. The other day I got to leave the MTC for the first time because my companions glasses broke. We were at Lunds Optical (RIGHT in downtown Provo). It was so weird. It wasn't until I left the MTC until i could realize how strong I can feel the Spirit here. Today I went to the Temple as well. Really awesome. We were at the 9 oclock session so it looks like i just missed you. I had some friends that went to an earlier session though, so you might have seen some of then. THis last week is so weird. Getting ready to leave the MTC is a weird thing to think about. Ive been with my district and zone all day everyday for the last 2 months. We've all become super close. But I'm really excited to get out there in Sydney. Anyway, thats all I got for now!

Love,

He Zhanglao

Sixth Week in MTC!

Good to hear that Arizona was good. I went to the Provo Temple today for the first time! They played the new movie. I thought it was really good, very different though. Also very jealous that you went to Buffalo Wild Wings. Definitely one of my favorite places.

Nothing much new has happened this week. Only two more weeks until we are out of here though (maybe). Haven't heard much about our visas, nobody really knows what will happen with them, this week we recieve our travel plans, so if I'm reassigned I will find out this week. The Provo Temple is really beautiful though, it was nice to take a break and be able to go relax there. This week I hosted new missionaries as well. I hosted two going to Japan, one to Florida, and one straight out of Korea. Also saw Brigham Tenney yesterday, crazy seeing him. Right now were teaching 3 investigators, Chinese is getting better and better, I can give any lesson in Chinese, but my listening isnt to great. We think a general authority is coming to speak to us on tuesday. Its being broadcasted to all MTC's, so if you watch, Ill be in the choir and sometimes you can see me. Should also get my Chinese name tag this week which will be cool. But the MTC is great, definitely ready to go though, if I dont have my visa I may be in here an extra week. We also got to watch the Testaments in Chinese.

 

 Don't really have any specific treats that I want, but boxes are nice. Ive been checking the weather in Sydney (through my missionary portal) and it looks cold. Anyway i hear at Mr Mac they sell sweaters and cardigans for missionaries and stuff. Anyway if you ever go past and find something nice i give you permission to purchase.

 

Love,

Elder Hall

 

Fifth Week in the MTC!

Crazy that Dave and Hailey are in Arizona now! It must be so hot down there. Mac looks so cute. I think golden retriever puppies are always the best. Dad sent me picture of the house. so crazy! looks completely different. Not sure how i feel about it but it definitely looks different. Thats crazy that Thomas Monson was at Fiddler on the Roof. Why wasnt he at the MTC?! We havent had any apostles come yet. People are saying one might come tomorrow though.

This week has been really good. I flew by so fast. Nothing really changes here though. We now where our name tags on the right side, so thats been the craziest thing thats happened. Just learning a lot of Chinese. I made it my goal to memorize every word in our Chinese textbook, theres a couple thousand words. I've already memorized from A to E. We teach a lesson everyday, and I'm also a pretend investigator for other Chinese missionaries. We have big group of new missionaries coming in on Wednesday. A few of them will be coming to Sydney Chinese speaking and they'll be living next door to us, so it'll be fun to get to know them. We are hosting new missionaries this Wednesday as well, so I'm sure that'll be fun, and a nice change. All of my good friends from BYU are here now, so it's nice to be able to talk to them. Really nothing new is happening. Not much to tell about. We're getting close to the end though. 3 weeks left, get travel plans next week. Some people arent getting visas though, you dont find out until the week before you leave. A girl who was suppossed to go to Melbourne Chinese speaking got reassigned to Pittsburgh. So you never know. For Book of Mormon class we did a project on Book of Mormon geography in Saudi Arabia. SO cool. They found the exact site where Bountiful would probably be. Not a doubt in my mind that its true. Yesterday was fast Sunday, so I was able to stand up and share my testimony in Chinese. SO grateful to be on a mission, where I can prepare to bring blessings into peoples lives. Wo zhidao Yesu Jidu de fuyin keyi bangzhu mei yi ge ren. And Im so excited to get to Australia and share it.

Love,
Elder Hall 

Fourth Week in the MTC!

Still doing fine. Sounds like you guys are having a good time. I saw my old roommate Tanner. He just got in on Wednesday. Thats cool that Ashley and Justin are getting a dog!  Looks like Davids happy to be graduated and move off. Not sure what the visa situation is. But most of the people in my district are going to Australia so everyones freaking out a little bit. Most of the people going to Sydney (english, spanish, korean speaking) that we've heard of have gotten out on time. So we're just hoping that we get ours in time! If not, hopefully I'll get reassigned to somewhere Chinese speaking.

Nothing new is happening lately. Just going through the same routine week by week. Chinese is definitely getting better. I try to memorize around a 100 new vocab a day. I go through so many flashcards. I also try to get down a couple grammar principles each day. The more you study the more you learn, and I'm studying Chinese maybe 10 hours a day. So eventually hopefully I'll get it. I think listening to the Chinese is the hardest for me. Natives speak so fast and its so hard to keep up with whats being said. Needless to say we are all counting down the days until we leave. Just want to get into the field and teach real people. This week week at TRC we taught a father and son, they were in a Chinese immersion program somewhere in Utah. The son was like 6 years old and could speak Chinese really well, so crazy. My companion and I got called as the Online Coordinators for our branch. Still not exactly sure what it means, but I know im just supposed to talk to new missionaries and talk to them about how to get to the missionary online resources. One month in and one month to go. We're starting the downhill. We should get our travel plans and new name tags in the next two weeks. The time really is flying by here. If you really work hard the time goes by really fast, and when youre slacking off it goes by slow. So you just gotta work hard!

Love,

He Zhang Lao

Third Week in the MTC!

Hey,

The MTC is still going well. I think that we host new missionaries our last two weeks. Glad to hear that dad was able to make it. Sounds like you guys are having a lot of fun with each other. I heard Grandma Hall is having a big Pioneer Day party. Maybe we'll have a big Pioneer Day devotional but I haven't heard anything. In the next package if you could send one or two more t-shirts that'd be great. We have gym like 5 times a week and i have 3 shirts. But before i leave i need you to send me some sweaters and a shoulder bag. Backpacks arent allowed in the field anymore. With all the new changes you can wear so much more stuff, its crazy how much is changing. I have some pictures that I'll send a little later today.

This week was pretty crazy. One of the Elders in my district went to the doctor and found out that he had a problem in his back, and that it would require surgery to fix. So he had to go home, but he'll be back in 12 weeks and he will still be going to Sydney, so I'll see him again. Another Elder in our zone had to go home as well, so now we have a new Elder in our district, Elder Lecates. So there's been a lot of change in our district. Right now we're teaching 3 investigators. Our Chinese is getting better and better so we dont even need a script or plan to go off of. We try to make all of our lessons more of a conversation. I feel like the first 2 weeks I learned so much and now i feel like im hitting a plateau, so Ive been working a lot on grammar. We've committed 1 of our investigators to baptism and are working on the other two. We have so many learning resources. Anytime you want 1 on 1 help theres a RM from Taiwan that'll come and meet with you. The days go by slowly but the weeks just fly by. Crazy that as of this week I'll have been here a month. Its really great that I have such a good district and zone. We've all become really good friends. Elder Sheffield just got put in as our new district leader yesterday. Im so happy to be out here, its so great to be surrounded by so many other missionaries and have tons of great speakers speak to us twice a week. The MTC is a great place to be, but Sydney will be a better place to be. I see so many friends from BYU around and i recognize so many people. At the pace that I'm going at right now the rest of the MTC will just fly by and I'll be in Australia (If i ever get my visa)

A lot of people in my zone are going to Hong Kong Chinese speaking, so I'll have you look out for some of them once you get back to China.

Love,
Elder Hall

Fourth of July Fireworks and Learning Chinese

Im pretty sure im going to the south mission. Or at least thats what it sounds like. My district loved the cookies and soccer ball! Its crazy how much fun a tiny little soccer ball can bring to our dorms! The MTC is great, learning a LOT. SO much is thrown at you at such a small amount of time. We've taught 5 lessons to an investigator (the other chinese classes teacher) but they get really into their part! Its frustrating sometimes when your teaching a lesson and you dont have the right words to be able to properly teach stuff, or answer their questions. Im learning so much Chinese though. I ALWAYS have a set of flashcards on me so that i can go through some words any time. We are teaching a new investigator tonight, hoping that it goes well. I know a lot more Chinese than when i taught our first investigator. I always thought the MTC was more people teaching me Chinese, but its really up to you to teach yourself. We have such good books to learn from, like three grammer books, and a bunch of books that have vocab and phrases. The devotionals are so great here. They have such good speakers come and talk to us, i learn so much from each one. 

For the Fourth of July they let us all watch 17 Miracles. It was nice to watch a movie with a plot. Its such an amazing story. Afterwards we got to watch the Stadium of Fire fireworks and eat ice cream, They let us stay up to 11:30... crazy i know. Everything is so great here. One thing that ive really learned here is that everything is a learning experience. Its been hard sometimes to think of it that way, but someone spoke to us about it and it really stuck to me. You also cant let those around you get you down.  So many great people here that i can learn from.

Love,

He Zhanglao

First Week in the MTC!

The MTC is an emotional rollercoaster. So many ups and downs during your day. My district is so great! Theres 6 Zhanglao (Elders) and 3 Jiemeimen (sisters). 4 of us are going to Sydney, 3 to Hong Kong and 2 to Brisbane. I live in a four bedroom dorm that has SIX people in it. 4 people have to share closets and 2 have their own. Luckily we randomly picked sheets of paper, and the two who picked ones with black dots got their own closet, and i got my own closet! I also got a bottom bunk. I have a Chinese companion! He doesnt speak Chinese though. His name is Elder Quass and he is from Minnesota.  I see people that i know ALL the time which is so nice.

 

My good friend from school, Elder Bennion (going to Taiwan) is in my zone which means that he loves two doors down from me, its nice that hes so close because hes been here for 6 weeks and hes someone that i know really well. We got to go on a temple walk yesterday and i got to talk to a lot of my friends from school. We took a bunch of pictures together (i dont have my camera with me right now but I'll send you some pictures next week). Sunday was by far the best day that I've had here. We listened to a devotional by Brother Swenson who is such a great speaker, after that we got to all seperate and the MTC played a bunch of different talks in a bunch of different rooms and we listened to a talk by Elder Holland when he spoke at the MTC last year. The food here is SOOOOO good. Way better than the canon center. I never got to meet my branch president though. Elders going to Sydney that were here last week were able to meet them though.

 

The first day i got here was crazy. You guys dropped me off at 1:15 and before 2 oclock i was in a classroom with our teacher learning chinese. Our teacher STILL hasnt said anything in english yet. Definitely an immersion program. We had papa johns pizza the first day which was nice as well.

The second day was a lot of orientation kind of stuff which was really boring. The health clinic made me come in and take parasite medicine becasue they thought i could have some sort of disease from eating food in China. It got me out of orientation class though so i was happy. There are 900 missionaries that came in on the 26th! So many missionaries here.

 

The third day we taught our first lesson! None of us were prepared for it, so we did a lot of reading to our investigator. They give us SO many helpful learning materials. I probably got 10 pounds of books on the first day, all to help us with our chinese. We also have this online chinese program called "tall". It helps a lot with our pronunciation and learning vocab words. Its overwhelming to look at all the vocab you need to learn, but if you just take it one day at a time youll be fine.

 

The next day we taught another lesson to our investigator. We challenged him to read the book of mormon and he accepted. Ive been trying to start reading the Book of Mormon in characters, pinyin and english. You just take it verse by verse and try to recognize some words.

 

Its so nice here becasue everyone has the same goal of learning Chinese. We all made flashcards that we have on ourselves at all times and we like to quiz each other. Its nice that i know a lot of Chinese because im able to help everyone else in my district learn.

 

Theres an elder in my district that lived in Japan at the same time we did! His name in Elder Sheffield. He went to ASIJ and was a year younger than me. Just wondering if you knew his parents.

I've definitely learned that your attitude on everything depends on how your day is going to go. Having a bad attitude can bring everyone else around you down.

 

Today was my first Preperation day so we dont know what to do with ourselves! So much time. The temple is already closed so we werent able to go there today. Ive just done my laundry, some personal study and written some emails. Glad to hear Wes's wedding went well! Everything is great here. Having a good time and i can just hope that these next 8 weeks fly by so i can get to Australia!

Zai Jian!

He Zhanglao

(Elder Hall)