Ok so i only have 15 minutes left!!!! The computers here are so slow and sorry if I have typos because the backspace button is slightly broken. anyways this week was definitely ten times better than last week. It was still very difficult but lots better. Im getting used the hang of things here. Food is just as horrible but dont worry, im definitely eating enough, just not the best food. Im really sick of it but i just have to remind myself that i only have about 7.5 weeks left. eeeek. then i get all the chinese food i want and my stomach will feel lots better. How is every one doing? I know baby Amelia went home. I miss her so much. She was like my own baby! haha. I think about her a lot. How is life without her? Are you sleeping a lot more dad? How is yeye?
This morning our district decided to wake up 30 minutes earlier and go to the temple this morning. We did initiatories and it was amazing!! i loved it! then we all had breakfast at the temple. SO delicious. i think anything tastes good that is slightly better than MTC food. I got a real waffle with tons of strawberries on top. best food yet. The temple is really the house of the Lord and i know that angels truly do walk the halls. Also, Elder Holland dedicated the MTC a few months ago and i think our teacher said that the MTC is like a temple for the living. So cool. The spirit is so strong here all the time. Emotions are definitely running and with all these sisters here, you know how that will go. It's weird that my friends are literally just down the street. I had to go get a chest x-ray this week for my visa. We got to walk to the BYU health clinic and it felt like i was escaping or something. It felt really good to be in the sun. we need more vitamin D! I love walking to the temple too. what a stress reliever. Also, I've been trying to do my p-90x ab ripper every other day and the other gym days, i go to the indoor track above the gym and i run 3.2 miles. 10 laps = 1 mile. it gets kinda boring, but what can you do. then i stretch like crazy so i will never lose my splits. :) Gym time keeps me sane during the day. it's great. even though it's short. Rachel, can you send me some good workouts? sleep is running a little low. there are just sisters that are really loud and get up at 5:30 AM to get ready in the morning. mostly english sisters. i dont think they realize that they wont care in a few days. our room is right next to the bathrooms so i usually get woken up at 5:30and i try to go back to sleep. anyways, reminds me of baby mia. :) but baby mia was so much more worth it. im so grateful i got to be a little mommy to her for a few months. it made me realize how much HF really loves his children when i had so much love for her. She is so cute!!!!
Okay, so on sunday we had a few devotionals and my favorite one was the last one that was a prerecored one by Elder Bednar. I think he gave it a year ago. its an MTC devotional so i dont know if you can watch it online but if you can, PLEASE WATCH IT PRONTO! it is the best devotional i've ever heard. it's called the "character of Christ" by Elder Bednar. Look it up onlds.org or youtube or where ever you can find it. i hope you can watch it. everyone needs to watch it. so do it! i'll give you a little summary of it. He talked about the character of christ and how we must obtain that. The character of christ is when Christ turns out and in love, service, compassion when the natural man would turn in and be self centered, self absorbed, and selfish. We all need to be more charitable. (Alma, his talk reminded me a lot of what you told me. i wrote you a letter about it.) anyways he was talking about how the mission is not about you and that if you turn outward, you become a very different missionary. It's about Christ and serving Him. Your testimony alone is not enough, you ahve to be truly converted to the lord. conversion is being consistently true to what you know. if you are converted, you will never fall away. (Alma 23: 5-6). the greatest convert on my mission will be myself. I have made that a goal. conversion is turning away from the natural man through the atonement. i know it wont be a quick thing, but it will come little by little.
I love you all. time just flies when im emailing home. I hope all of you are enjoying life and the good food. definitely missing some home cooked meals. If you can send something home made that will stay good for a little (kale chips) or anything, that would be great. maybe my friends will send me bread? ;) thanks for all the letters. the dear elders are great. i love reading them. OH and tell Tracy that i got her letter and tell her thanks!! It was so good to hear from here. ill probably send a letter home to the cousins and mail it to clinton's house since i have his address. Tell the cousins on FB i miss them and hope they are doing well. Mom, i sent you a card in the mail for your bday. Kaitlin, lucas, alex, and mo should be getting a letter soon. also, tell them thanks for all the dear elders. they make me laugh so hard. i know i have so much more to say and share but there is just no time! A mission is not easy at all, but elder holland once said that missionary work is not easy because salvation came with a high price. We are diciples of Christ and we will walk and experience some of what Christ went through. But we must remember that He is always there to help us get through these hard times and carry us. I truly believe that. The work here is hastening and we get 2 new districts in our zone tomorrow! Amanda burr and verina chen are coming in! yay! So many sisters here. R.S. is combined with all the sisters and it is full! love sundays and i love pdays the best. Chinese is slowly coming along, but i decided not to really worry about it, even though it can be a little stressful. Teaching is really hard because i want to say so much but i cant. I know it i will come. We get two new progressing investigators this week and for the rest of our stay. They are actually our teachers but they have different profiles. Hopefully we can commit them to baptism. Our goal is to bring others unto Christ. I memorized the missionary purpose in chinese and now im working on memorizing the baptismal invite in chinese. gift of tongues is real. it makes me so happy to see them be able to bear testimony in chinese. Love you all! Time is moving a little faster for me. i pray for all of you every night! ok write me on dear elder!!
Love,
Zhao jie mei
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