Hello family!
The only sign of Valentines Day here was a little balloon on the senior missionaries desk back at the mission office. We don't celebrate Valentines Day here, and well thats probably for the best. Don't want too many elders sitting at home eating chocolate reading dear John's. In fact we don't want any elders like that! (of course...)
It's been raining pretty consistantly here as well, and surprisingly enough, it's cold. It's probably like 50 degrees, which is nothing compared to the 0 back in Utah, but it's so humid here you're slightly cold no matter where you are. It's getting a lot better tho, weather wise :)
Have I told you that everything here in Taiwan in amazing? Because seriously it is. The food is to die for, and we normally get all you can eat rice meals, for 50 kuai. (i don't know how much that is in American, I'll leave you to figure that out :) Traffic here is really quite amusing. Everyone thinks that Asian drivers are really bad, when really they are quite impressive, I haven't seen things back at home that these people can pull off. They are super defensive, and they seem to know everything that's going on. I don't think I've seen any accidents, and everyone is just super friendly. They like to let you know that your behind them (just a little honk) and they always give a little honk just before running a red light. It's great :)
Today is "Power Cleaning Day" (much better than Valentines day if you ask me) and our appartment (sp?) looks amazing! (as expected of course) We also went over and helped out another couple of elders clean theirs (they helped with ours as well)
As for our investigators, they're all going swimmingly. I met a super prepared individual yesterday, and I'm excited to teach him more tonight.
Well the book is blue, the book is true. Lately I've been really thinking about the power of music, and how it really does have a dramatic effect. While in the MTC my companions and I sang in the choir, and that was really such a great experience, to be able to invite the spirit, and enjoy the gift of music. I really believe that music has a dramatic effect on our lives, and it wasn't until recently I've noticed how much of an impact is has on me specifivally. When we sing hymns, or listen to church music it really makes me uplifted and helps me think about the good things I'm currently doing, and things I'll do better. At other times I look back on my life and think about some of the other music I used to listen, and how that may have effected the rest of my day. I'm so greatful for my great access to uplifting music, and I encourage you all back to listen to the kind of music that invites the Spirit, and get rid of the music that invites pride and unrighteous doing. I love you all, and it's amazing to hear how amzing you all are, and I look forward to hearing more!
Wan an :)
-Elder Tate
-Tang zhanglao
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Jared's first letter from Taiwan
Well quite a bit has happened since I hung up the phone on tuesday, so I'll probably just go in chronological order hao bu hao? (natalie can translate)
So right after I hung up the phone I started talking with the lady that offered for me to use her cell phone ( when I couldn't get the other phone to work) and that was pretty exciting. It was a lot in Chinese, but she also had good english so it wasm't too hard. She agreed to let the missionaries to contact her (she lives in Taichung so who knows maybe I'll see her again!) and I got her info so that they can :)
Then I had a 14 hour plan ride to Taiwan, not super exciting, I st next to Missionaries, read through 3 Nephi (which is amazing, I highly recommend it.) and slept. When we got to Taiwan we met our Mission president, President Bishop, he was very nice, and we rode the bus back to some zone leaders house (conviently my zone leaders now.) The next morning we discovered that as part of the mission culture we all wake up at 6 (the norm is 6:30) and go running. It was way cool because we got to see more of the city :)
then we did a bunch of orientation stuff, for awhile, had some really good taiwanese food. So far I have eaten pork blood (jello style and rice soaked in pork blood style) and a duck head (in it's entirety) So far no problems with shrimp/crab, and seeing it has been pretty rare as well :)
Then after that things got pretty exciting, we did an activity called the "Dan Jones." We went to a super crowded night market (like super crowded, most place it is difficult to move) and stood in the middle and started by singing love at home(chinese of course). After that we took turns getting on soap boxes and bearing our testimonies, Dan Jones style. That we quite the trill, and afterwards we went contacting in the same market :)
The next day I met my Trainer, Elder Johnson, he's really amazing, he's been zone leader like 6 times, and he really knows what he's doing, it's quite nice, and after that we got straight to work.
I'm serving in the Taiping region of Taizhong, so it's still very crowded, huge city, but we also have some more suburbs areas. The thing about this area is that we're doing a thing called "white washing" which means we're the first missionaries assigned to this area. (it's a little more difficult to explain, but pretty much an area split in half, and we're the missionaries in the new region.)
As of right now we have one progressing investigator, he's pretty much amazing. Wen og doogk is his name, and he's actually Vietnemese. His English is poor at best, and he doesn't speak a lick of Chinese, but he still puts up with us. We merely give him passages from book of Mormon (we have a vietnemese one luckily) to read and we try and discuss it with him. He comes to church every week (Even though he understands nothing about what's going on) and loves it. We managed to teach him how to pray, and he reads and prays daily (or at least we hope so... it's a little difficult to be able to tell)
Umm besides that we contact people like crazy, and we met the ward yesterday. The Ward is ridiculously amazing. One brother came up to me and gave me a big hug, even though I've never met him. And another has a limit put on him for the number of times he can take missionaries out to dinner because he spends too much of his money treating missionaries out.
Today is Monday, most of the time will be spent trying to get more Vietnemese books, and buying stuff, and tonight we have quite a few appointments, and some of them seem really good so I'm excited :)
Right now I am typing this from a ghetto little internet cafe, and all around me are people playing games like Warcraft and such. It's quite lawls :)
Well I love it here! The people are amazing. It started raining last night, and riding around in the rain was actually really fun. I'm going to enjoy it here :)
The church is true, Joseph Smith was a prophet, and he really translated the Book of Mormon for us, and this is such a blessing to the world.
Yesterday I contacted a funny elderly man who asked me why none of the missionaries are French, and their all Americans.
Love you! :D
So right after I hung up the phone I started talking with the lady that offered for me to use her cell phone ( when I couldn't get the other phone to work) and that was pretty exciting. It was a lot in Chinese, but she also had good english so it wasm't too hard. She agreed to let the missionaries to contact her (she lives in Taichung so who knows maybe I'll see her again!) and I got her info so that they can :)
Then I had a 14 hour plan ride to Taiwan, not super exciting, I st next to Missionaries, read through 3 Nephi (which is amazing, I highly recommend it.) and slept. When we got to Taiwan we met our Mission president, President Bishop, he was very nice, and we rode the bus back to some zone leaders house (conviently my zone leaders now.) The next morning we discovered that as part of the mission culture we all wake up at 6 (the norm is 6:30) and go running. It was way cool because we got to see more of the city :)
then we did a bunch of orientation stuff, for awhile, had some really good taiwanese food. So far I have eaten pork blood (jello style and rice soaked in pork blood style) and a duck head (in it's entirety) So far no problems with shrimp/crab, and seeing it has been pretty rare as well :)
Then after that things got pretty exciting, we did an activity called the "Dan Jones." We went to a super crowded night market (like super crowded, most place it is difficult to move) and stood in the middle and started by singing love at home(chinese of course). After that we took turns getting on soap boxes and bearing our testimonies, Dan Jones style. That we quite the trill, and afterwards we went contacting in the same market :)
The next day I met my Trainer, Elder Johnson, he's really amazing, he's been zone leader like 6 times, and he really knows what he's doing, it's quite nice, and after that we got straight to work.
I'm serving in the Taiping region of Taizhong, so it's still very crowded, huge city, but we also have some more suburbs areas. The thing about this area is that we're doing a thing called "white washing" which means we're the first missionaries assigned to this area. (it's a little more difficult to explain, but pretty much an area split in half, and we're the missionaries in the new region.)
As of right now we have one progressing investigator, he's pretty much amazing. Wen og doogk is his name, and he's actually Vietnemese. His English is poor at best, and he doesn't speak a lick of Chinese, but he still puts up with us. We merely give him passages from book of Mormon (we have a vietnemese one luckily) to read and we try and discuss it with him. He comes to church every week (Even though he understands nothing about what's going on) and loves it. We managed to teach him how to pray, and he reads and prays daily (or at least we hope so... it's a little difficult to be able to tell)
Umm besides that we contact people like crazy, and we met the ward yesterday. The Ward is ridiculously amazing. One brother came up to me and gave me a big hug, even though I've never met him. And another has a limit put on him for the number of times he can take missionaries out to dinner because he spends too much of his money treating missionaries out.
Today is Monday, most of the time will be spent trying to get more Vietnemese books, and buying stuff, and tonight we have quite a few appointments, and some of them seem really good so I'm excited :)
Right now I am typing this from a ghetto little internet cafe, and all around me are people playing games like Warcraft and such. It's quite lawls :)
Well I love it here! The people are amazing. It started raining last night, and riding around in the rain was actually really fun. I'm going to enjoy it here :)
The church is true, Joseph Smith was a prophet, and he really translated the Book of Mormon for us, and this is such a blessing to the world.
Yesterday I contacted a funny elderly man who asked me why none of the missionaries are French, and their all Americans.
Love you! :D
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Jared 1/31
Hi family! Okay so I leave next Tuesday! Crazy Right?! I'm so excited! How long has it been? 3 months? I stopped keeping track, and now I just count down till I actually leave :D
We keep on hearing cool things from Taiwan. The latest thing is apparently they have spiders that a foot in diameter! Cool right? Freaks my companions out to no end, but I like the idea of hanging out with those, and eat "1000 year old eggs" supposedly way strange, but that's okay :)
So i've officially been here too long. I think I'm getting to the point that I feel like this is my mission, and I'll just never leave. And we speak so much Chinese sometimes it weirds me out when other people speak english. We were watching the Joseph Smith movie last night and I had 2 moments that made me realize I've been here way too long. The first was about half way through I thought to myself "Wow, why are they still speaking english." The second was there was a girl running (in her twenties or something) and I thought to my self "Oh know! she won't be able to see her companion!" Lawls right?
I should be sending a package home soon. It's not very exciting for you. It's merely a collection of all the letters I've gotten here, because I don't want to throw them away, and I don't want to carry them around. So if you could just put that with my box or something that'd be great :) There should also be a few more pictures for you to oggle at. :)
Hmmm.... I don't know what else you would have interest in. Everything is pretty much the same here... Oh yeah! brb
okay. SO I'll be leaving on February 8th 2011 :)
From 12:25 PM to 3:50PM I will be on layover in LAX. You may not come and visit me, however I will be giving you a call sometime during that time block. I am aware that the girls will most likely be in school, and you're all pretty busy, but I am permitted to give a small call so I'll do that :) Unless you have a time that you particularly want me to call during, I will try and call around 1:30? How does that sound? Well let me know.
Love you very much :) Thank you parents for reading the scriptures everyday. At the time I never really realized the blessings that came from it, but now I can see the effect of being able to gather every night and just read a page. I love the scriptures, I love this church, but most of all I love you <3
-Tang zhanglao
-Elder Tate :)
We keep on hearing cool things from Taiwan. The latest thing is apparently they have spiders that a foot in diameter! Cool right? Freaks my companions out to no end, but I like the idea of hanging out with those, and eat "1000 year old eggs" supposedly way strange, but that's okay :)
So i've officially been here too long. I think I'm getting to the point that I feel like this is my mission, and I'll just never leave. And we speak so much Chinese sometimes it weirds me out when other people speak english. We were watching the Joseph Smith movie last night and I had 2 moments that made me realize I've been here way too long. The first was about half way through I thought to myself "Wow, why are they still speaking english." The second was there was a girl running (in her twenties or something) and I thought to my self "Oh know! she won't be able to see her companion!" Lawls right?
I should be sending a package home soon. It's not very exciting for you. It's merely a collection of all the letters I've gotten here, because I don't want to throw them away, and I don't want to carry them around. So if you could just put that with my box or something that'd be great :) There should also be a few more pictures for you to oggle at. :)
Hmmm.... I don't know what else you would have interest in. Everything is pretty much the same here... Oh yeah! brb
okay. SO I'll be leaving on February 8th 2011 :)
From 12:25 PM to 3:50PM I will be on layover in LAX. You may not come and visit me, however I will be giving you a call sometime during that time block. I am aware that the girls will most likely be in school, and you're all pretty busy, but I am permitted to give a small call so I'll do that :) Unless you have a time that you particularly want me to call during, I will try and call around 1:30? How does that sound? Well let me know.
Love you very much :) Thank you parents for reading the scriptures everyday. At the time I never really realized the blessings that came from it, but now I can see the effect of being able to gather every night and just read a page. I love the scriptures, I love this church, but most of all I love you <3
-Tang zhanglao
-Elder Tate :)
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Jared 1-24
ni hao!
Do you all gather around and read my emails like we used to do? That was good fun. Sorry but you can't skype with me, especially not every Sunday :P But in about 2 weeks I'll be heading over to Taiwan! And I get to call you from the airport :) hmm... What else would you be interested to know... Our zone leaders are leaving next week, which is weird. Have I told you about them? They're brothers, from France, going back to France Chinese speaking. Weird right? Ummm we took a zone picture yesterday which was fun :)
It's kind of odd getting letters from back home from my friends. I love it like crazy, it's just weird to think that there is life outside the MTC. Mtc is way cool. We had a new sister join our district, and that's way cool because she speaks like perfect Chinese. (She lived in Taiwan for a couple years) and so it's cool that we can talk with her and practice with her and what not. It feels like just yesterday when I last emailed you. Kind of crazy. I often forget what I've already told you, and what I wrote to other people, so I apologize if I leave big things out (like you'd be able to tell) or keep telling you the same thing. Hey! speaking of saying the same thing, I'd really like to have my Chinese Chess board. It's magnectic and folded in half in my box of stuff. You're welcome to use my money to send it over :)
Thanks for all the letters this week. I don't really have time to respond to every single one, but I'll do my best to at least aknowledge everyone. I'm slightly confused by Nathan's letter. He said that he made it very clear that they aren't missionaries. And I just had some imagination of them breaking like every mission rule :P aha it sounds amazing down there tho :) I'm not quite sure why I'm emailing this to you, but i just assume that it will eventually get to him.
I get plenty of sleep here actually. from 10:30 sharp to 6:25 I sleep, and it's great amount. I am however, continually tired. I think it's because I've become incredibly lazy. So that'll be fun to go from never moving around to riding my bike everywhere I go, but it'll be exciting. When we first get to Taiwan we have an orientation for three days, I wonder what that's like. We stay at the Mission home, and supposedly don't have our stuff so that's exciting :)
Hey Natalie thank you so much for my Christmas card in chinese! All i got was a bunch of numbers and number signs (like 1284#1782, 129e#7129) but I still very much enjoyed it :P How is wu loashi anyways? I keep looking back at how aweful I was at chinese and laughing :P But she really did help me learn Characters, and I'm just more associated with the complexity and sbeauty of the language. I really do love it :)
Oh yeah it's a new year! What were your goals for this year?? I'm really curious to know :) I love goals. They are seriously amazing. I've become so goal oreinted it's amazing. Really helps you stay focused and keep your head on straight when you have a destination your working for :)
And thanks for the 6300 character letter. I didn't know there was a limit, and now not only do I know, but I know what it looks like! Thanks Miranda that was really great <3 I'm not sure if I got "your present" Miranda. Did they have names on them? Because I never really aknowledged what was from who, I just assumed they were all from Santa.
I've accepted that China most likely won't open up on my mission, and that's okay. I'm crazy excited to go to Taiwan and serve the people there :) and I think I'll just serve there when I'm older. Like a senior missionary, and my asian wife :P haha jk. That's not the important stuff.
So I had about 4 minutes left over of free time, so I thought you would enjoy the story of my first mentor:
This last week he was out tracking with his senuior companion in the boonies, and a pleasant seeming man let them in. As time went on, they had a feeling that they should leave, but unfortunately did not. One thing after another, my mentor broke his ankle jumping over a fence in flight from a man with a machette. I'm excited to go to Taiwan :D
So in closing I hope you know that I love you all very much. And I hope that you are all making the necessary steps to build your faith in Christ and in this beatuiful gospel. I love you, keep being amazing member missionaries :)
-Elder Tate
Do you all gather around and read my emails like we used to do? That was good fun. Sorry but you can't skype with me, especially not every Sunday :P But in about 2 weeks I'll be heading over to Taiwan! And I get to call you from the airport :) hmm... What else would you be interested to know... Our zone leaders are leaving next week, which is weird. Have I told you about them? They're brothers, from France, going back to France Chinese speaking. Weird right? Ummm we took a zone picture yesterday which was fun :)
It's kind of odd getting letters from back home from my friends. I love it like crazy, it's just weird to think that there is life outside the MTC. Mtc is way cool. We had a new sister join our district, and that's way cool because she speaks like perfect Chinese. (She lived in Taiwan for a couple years) and so it's cool that we can talk with her and practice with her and what not. It feels like just yesterday when I last emailed you. Kind of crazy. I often forget what I've already told you, and what I wrote to other people, so I apologize if I leave big things out (like you'd be able to tell) or keep telling you the same thing. Hey! speaking of saying the same thing, I'd really like to have my Chinese Chess board. It's magnectic and folded in half in my box of stuff. You're welcome to use my money to send it over :)
Thanks for all the letters this week. I don't really have time to respond to every single one, but I'll do my best to at least aknowledge everyone. I'm slightly confused by Nathan's letter. He said that he made it very clear that they aren't missionaries. And I just had some imagination of them breaking like every mission rule :P aha it sounds amazing down there tho :) I'm not quite sure why I'm emailing this to you, but i just assume that it will eventually get to him.
I get plenty of sleep here actually. from 10:30 sharp to 6:25 I sleep, and it's great amount. I am however, continually tired. I think it's because I've become incredibly lazy. So that'll be fun to go from never moving around to riding my bike everywhere I go, but it'll be exciting. When we first get to Taiwan we have an orientation for three days, I wonder what that's like. We stay at the Mission home, and supposedly don't have our stuff so that's exciting :)
Hey Natalie thank you so much for my Christmas card in chinese! All i got was a bunch of numbers and number signs (like 1284#1782, 129e#7129) but I still very much enjoyed it :P How is wu loashi anyways? I keep looking back at how aweful I was at chinese and laughing :P But she really did help me learn Characters, and I'm just more associated with the complexity and sbeauty of the language. I really do love it :)
Oh yeah it's a new year! What were your goals for this year?? I'm really curious to know :) I love goals. They are seriously amazing. I've become so goal oreinted it's amazing. Really helps you stay focused and keep your head on straight when you have a destination your working for :)
And thanks for the 6300 character letter. I didn't know there was a limit, and now not only do I know, but I know what it looks like! Thanks Miranda that was really great <3 I'm not sure if I got "your present" Miranda. Did they have names on them? Because I never really aknowledged what was from who, I just assumed they were all from Santa.
I've accepted that China most likely won't open up on my mission, and that's okay. I'm crazy excited to go to Taiwan and serve the people there :) and I think I'll just serve there when I'm older. Like a senior missionary, and my asian wife :P haha jk. That's not the important stuff.
So I had about 4 minutes left over of free time, so I thought you would enjoy the story of my first mentor:
This last week he was out tracking with his senuior companion in the boonies, and a pleasant seeming man let them in. As time went on, they had a feeling that they should leave, but unfortunately did not. One thing after another, my mentor broke his ankle jumping over a fence in flight from a man with a machette. I'm excited to go to Taiwan :D
So in closing I hope you know that I love you all very much. And I hope that you are all making the necessary steps to build your faith in Christ and in this beatuiful gospel. I love you, keep being amazing member missionaries :)
-Elder Tate
Monday, January 17, 2011
Jared 1-17
Happy Birthday Mom!
I'm sorry I can't really send you anything cool. MTC doesn't really have cool stuff, but do you want a CTR ring? one of the 50 cent ones? I guess I could get you something nicer, I have like 10 dollars on my little blue card (the debit card for the MTC) it's pretty awesome, I'm like the richest guy here. I have about 10 more dollars than both of my companions combined :P
This week was way cool. It feels luike yesterday when I last wrote you though. Every week goes faster than the one previous. It's pretty crazy how time works here. I have a feeling that when I get to Taiwan the timing will start over and be crazy slow the first couple days then start speeding up. I want to go to Taiwan soooo badly it's not even funny! I keep hearing all the cool stuff about it and it's amazing! They have the most amazing accent there, it's so cool sounding. (In Chinese they have a Taiwanese accent) Occasionally I practice it, when my teachers aren't around because I should be learning "proper" Chinese here. But I find it so fun to speak like they do.
So on Saturday we had our first baptism! Still the fake pilot program, but it was still way cool. It's so real here, even if it's just my teacher we still did everything, except the actual ordinance. And all our other fake investigators came, it was cool! It made me want to be in Taiwan even more though because then I'd be helping really people. I gave a little talk during the baptism (all in Chinese of course) and another yesterday during Church (again in Chinese). Fun fact ever since the older group of elders left I've done something every week during Sacrament meeting (Sacrament prayer, regular prayer, talk) it's really good practice, and I have a ton of talks written out now :)
Hmmm what else happened this week.... Oh yeah Elder Holland came for the devotional on Tuesday! And there were like 4 other general authorities as well (The MTC Mission presidency changed so we had tons of important people). It was such a great devotional. I don't think any of the other ones could compare to that devotional, it was so uplifting and encouraging. He talked about the difference between the old scripted elders and the new preach my gospel elders. We are to first convert ourselves, then convert others. He said a couple things that have really stuck with me. "Your investigators deserve a practiced missionary." So if I don't work my hardest, not only am I letting God, my mission president and my companion down, I'll also let my investigators down, and I have a feeling I am going to love the people more than anything else. He also taught about how this generation of missionaries has to be better than his generation and him. It's just kind of weird to think of anybody being better than president Holland so that's hard to imagine, but I guess it makes sense. They had memorized scripts in their days, and now we have to actually know more than just memorizing. It's a pretty exciting responsibility actually :)
Ummmmm I don't know exactly else you all want to hear from me. So you should really ask more questions. Chinese is really progressing. English is now the abnormal for talking, I'm really trying to use Chinese as much as possible, and it really makes a huge impact. It's amazing how much you can accomplish with God on your side :)
Thank you for all that you do for me family :) I love you soooooo much!
-Elder Tate
P.S. Would it be at all possible for me to get my Chinese chess board? I know it's a lot to ask for, find my box of stuff, locate the Chinese chess board, use my money to send it... It's a hassle I know. But I really want it for the plane ride to Taiwan. Please and thank you! :D (Hey Natalie and Miranda, it's quite possible that Mom and Dad space, so I'm really counting on you. If you do a good job I'll send you something cool from Taiwan :D) Haha Much love!
I'm sorry I can't really send you anything cool. MTC doesn't really have cool stuff, but do you want a CTR ring? one of the 50 cent ones? I guess I could get you something nicer, I have like 10 dollars on my little blue card (the debit card for the MTC) it's pretty awesome, I'm like the richest guy here. I have about 10 more dollars than both of my companions combined :P
This week was way cool. It feels luike yesterday when I last wrote you though. Every week goes faster than the one previous. It's pretty crazy how time works here. I have a feeling that when I get to Taiwan the timing will start over and be crazy slow the first couple days then start speeding up. I want to go to Taiwan soooo badly it's not even funny! I keep hearing all the cool stuff about it and it's amazing! They have the most amazing accent there, it's so cool sounding. (In Chinese they have a Taiwanese accent) Occasionally I practice it, when my teachers aren't around because I should be learning "proper" Chinese here. But I find it so fun to speak like they do.
So on Saturday we had our first baptism! Still the fake pilot program, but it was still way cool. It's so real here, even if it's just my teacher we still did everything, except the actual ordinance. And all our other fake investigators came, it was cool! It made me want to be in Taiwan even more though because then I'd be helping really people. I gave a little talk during the baptism (all in Chinese of course) and another yesterday during Church (again in Chinese). Fun fact ever since the older group of elders left I've done something every week during Sacrament meeting (Sacrament prayer, regular prayer, talk) it's really good practice, and I have a ton of talks written out now :)
Hmmm what else happened this week.... Oh yeah Elder Holland came for the devotional on Tuesday! And there were like 4 other general authorities as well (The MTC Mission presidency changed so we had tons of important people). It was such a great devotional. I don't think any of the other ones could compare to that devotional, it was so uplifting and encouraging. He talked about the difference between the old scripted elders and the new preach my gospel elders. We are to first convert ourselves, then convert others. He said a couple things that have really stuck with me. "Your investigators deserve a practiced missionary." So if I don't work my hardest, not only am I letting God, my mission president and my companion down, I'll also let my investigators down, and I have a feeling I am going to love the people more than anything else. He also taught about how this generation of missionaries has to be better than his generation and him. It's just kind of weird to think of anybody being better than president Holland so that's hard to imagine, but I guess it makes sense. They had memorized scripts in their days, and now we have to actually know more than just memorizing. It's a pretty exciting responsibility actually :)
Ummmmm I don't know exactly else you all want to hear from me. So you should really ask more questions. Chinese is really progressing. English is now the abnormal for talking, I'm really trying to use Chinese as much as possible, and it really makes a huge impact. It's amazing how much you can accomplish with God on your side :)
Thank you for all that you do for me family :) I love you soooooo much!
-Elder Tate
P.S. Would it be at all possible for me to get my Chinese chess board? I know it's a lot to ask for, find my box of stuff, locate the Chinese chess board, use my money to send it... It's a hassle I know. But I really want it for the plane ride to Taiwan. Please and thank you! :D (Hey Natalie and Miranda, it's quite possible that Mom and Dad space, so I'm really counting on you. If you do a good job I'll send you something cool from Taiwan :D) Haha Much love!
Monday, January 10, 2011
From Jared in the MTC
Hello family! I very much so enjoy the letters :)
This week has been especially cold. Like ridiculously cold. My thermals are miracle workers thought, because I could not even imagine trying survive without them. Our departure date keeps changing so it's pretty exciting :) I might end up going to taiwan on the 2nd!! that'd be crazy!
Umm, so this week was cold, I don't remember much else... Right now we have 6 fake investigators, which makes scheduling super crazy. With one of my fake investigators we're having a fake baptism on Saturday which is pretty exciting, and next week we should be having another. I already feel successful! hahaha. One of them, whenever we try to extend a commitment (like word of wisdom or anything) he just says, "you don't have to ask me!" it's really funny, I love teaching him, even if he isn't really an investigator and just my teacher.
This week we had a couple really cool firesides. Yesterday was particularly cool because it was all about investigators. And apparently the pilot program (the reason why i have fake investigators) will be fully implemented in August, which is really cool because it's definitely an inspired program. It's funny because we're one of rthe first so they keep trying new activities with us and what not. Twice last week we did activities and had most of the board managers and what not for the MTC watching us. Exciting right?
On Wednesday all the new elders for Chinese speakers came in! that was pretty exciting because it only happens once while we're here :P there are 2 more districts with the pilot program so we get to help them manage investigators. I already feel like a trainer... The only problem with the new influx of c hinese missionaries is that they all want to be like me, so the line for four square is ridiculous!
Oh hey! thank you so much for my shoes, I love them! they are so comfortable, so thank you very much :)
I assume you all just read these for family home evening like good old times, good for you. So my companions remind me a ton of my little sisters. They both are super amazing, love them to death and I learn so much from them. But one of them takes forever to do anything, and the other is always thinks he's right, even if he doesn’ t neccessarily (I dont know how to spell it get over it :P) always voice it. Love them to death tho :)
Yes Miranda we do have fast sunday here. We wake up at 6:30 still, and don't eat till 5:20, so it's definitely harder than before when I'd wake up at one and eat at 3 :P But that's the only time that we do fast here, unless for other reasons you want to. Like some fasted for family back home and what not.
I enjoy reading your letters family :) even if they are silly things, it just reminds me of home and i love it :) (yes Natalie I have a feeling that I'm officially becoming 'spiritually legit') lawls.
Haha gongxi (congrats) on seeing Bryn at the dance. Yeah she was pretty proud of her costume for that dance (so poud she told me about it, hahaha) and of course she's a good dancer, she dances.
Alrighty It's great to hear from you family, and whoever else is writing me, I love getting letters, and I wish I could respond write when I get them (but that would be ridiculously distracting)
"Prayer is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the son come into correspondence." (Bible Dictionary definition of Prayer) It is not when the will of the two line up you start praying, nor the instance, but the continual act by which you are able to align your will with God's. So constantly be striving to align your will with God's and he will do what is best for you.
Feng Yesu Jidu de ming amen :)
This week has been especially cold. Like ridiculously cold. My thermals are miracle workers thought, because I could not even imagine trying survive without them. Our departure date keeps changing so it's pretty exciting :) I might end up going to taiwan on the 2nd!! that'd be crazy!
Umm, so this week was cold, I don't remember much else... Right now we have 6 fake investigators, which makes scheduling super crazy. With one of my fake investigators we're having a fake baptism on Saturday which is pretty exciting, and next week we should be having another. I already feel successful! hahaha. One of them, whenever we try to extend a commitment (like word of wisdom or anything) he just says, "you don't have to ask me!" it's really funny, I love teaching him, even if he isn't really an investigator and just my teacher.
This week we had a couple really cool firesides. Yesterday was particularly cool because it was all about investigators. And apparently the pilot program (the reason why i have fake investigators) will be fully implemented in August, which is really cool because it's definitely an inspired program. It's funny because we're one of rthe first so they keep trying new activities with us and what not. Twice last week we did activities and had most of the board managers and what not for the MTC watching us. Exciting right?
On Wednesday all the new elders for Chinese speakers came in! that was pretty exciting because it only happens once while we're here :P there are 2 more districts with the pilot program so we get to help them manage investigators. I already feel like a trainer... The only problem with the new influx of c hinese missionaries is that they all want to be like me, so the line for four square is ridiculous!
Oh hey! thank you so much for my shoes, I love them! they are so comfortable, so thank you very much :)
I assume you all just read these for family home evening like good old times, good for you. So my companions remind me a ton of my little sisters. They both are super amazing, love them to death and I learn so much from them. But one of them takes forever to do anything, and the other is always thinks he's right, even if he doesn’ t neccessarily (I dont know how to spell it get over it :P) always voice it. Love them to death tho :)
Yes Miranda we do have fast sunday here. We wake up at 6:30 still, and don't eat till 5:20, so it's definitely harder than before when I'd wake up at one and eat at 3 :P But that's the only time that we do fast here, unless for other reasons you want to. Like some fasted for family back home and what not.
I enjoy reading your letters family :) even if they are silly things, it just reminds me of home and i love it :) (yes Natalie I have a feeling that I'm officially becoming 'spiritually legit') lawls.
Haha gongxi (congrats) on seeing Bryn at the dance. Yeah she was pretty proud of her costume for that dance (so poud she told me about it, hahaha) and of course she's a good dancer, she dances.
Alrighty It's great to hear from you family, and whoever else is writing me, I love getting letters, and I wish I could respond write when I get them (but that would be ridiculously distracting)
"Prayer is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the son come into correspondence." (Bible Dictionary definition of Prayer) It is not when the will of the two line up you start praying, nor the instance, but the continual act by which you are able to align your will with God's. So constantly be striving to align your will with God's and he will do what is best for you.
Feng Yesu Jidu de ming amen :)
Monday, January 3, 2011
Jared and Nathan Meet Up
You will not guess what happened today! Actually you know what you probably can because Nathan probably already told you. But I went to the Temple cause today is my P-day and what not, and Nathan was there! We went and did a session together, it was so crazy that that happened. And it's Jeremy's birthday so my companions and I all got to wish him happy birthday. I didn't even think to sing it to him in Chinese! we know it... Oh wells, that was fun :) The temple has been closed for Christmas the last couple of weeks, so it was nice to go back again today.
Ummm, New Years was not at all a big deal here. We all ate a bunch of food and played chess (stupid American Chess :P) from 9:30 to 10:15, then we all toasted with home made martinellis, and were in bed by 10:30. Cool right? Hahaha
Everything else is way cool here. I love it here. It's way home, but I'm super excited to go to Taiwan. It'll be legendary. I've been using my chopsticks, and people seem pretty impressed that I actually know what I'm doing with my 18 pairs hahaha. Thank you so much :)
Everything here is amazing. Thank you so much for all the letters I have received from everyone, I really enjoy reading them, but unfortunately I dont really have the time right now (perhaps I will later but very doubtful) to respond to all of them. But I do very much so enjoy reading them so keep it up :)
Well the spiritual thought I really wanted to share with you comes from the Mormon Messages Channel. (Which are absolutely amazing, and I strongly encourage you watch all of them, because almost every Sunday we spend at least a half our watching them and they are so cool. You can access them on YouTube, or Mormon.org.) The one I suggest you watch is called "How do I love you." It's based off a talk by brother Holland (I believe, it's been a day which by MTC time is literally forever ago, so I'm not quite sure) And it's way cool. And it's really made me work harder to make sure that the people I know and love, Know, without a shadow of doubt that I love them. Make a concious effort to love the people you meet, and you can truly represent Christ.
I love you family <3
-Elder Tate
-Tang Zhanglao
Ummm, New Years was not at all a big deal here. We all ate a bunch of food and played chess (stupid American Chess :P) from 9:30 to 10:15, then we all toasted with home made martinellis, and were in bed by 10:30. Cool right? Hahaha
Everything else is way cool here. I love it here. It's way home, but I'm super excited to go to Taiwan. It'll be legendary. I've been using my chopsticks, and people seem pretty impressed that I actually know what I'm doing with my 18 pairs hahaha. Thank you so much :)
Everything here is amazing. Thank you so much for all the letters I have received from everyone, I really enjoy reading them, but unfortunately I dont really have the time right now (perhaps I will later but very doubtful) to respond to all of them. But I do very much so enjoy reading them so keep it up :)
Well the spiritual thought I really wanted to share with you comes from the Mormon Messages Channel. (Which are absolutely amazing, and I strongly encourage you watch all of them, because almost every Sunday we spend at least a half our watching them and they are so cool. You can access them on YouTube, or Mormon.org.) The one I suggest you watch is called "How do I love you." It's based off a talk by brother Holland (I believe, it's been a day which by MTC time is literally forever ago, so I'm not quite sure) And it's way cool. And it's really made me work harder to make sure that the people I know and love, Know, without a shadow of doubt that I love them. Make a concious effort to love the people you meet, and you can truly represent Christ.
I love you family <3
-Elder Tate
-Tang Zhanglao
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