LETTER FROM HYRUM: MAY 27, 2013
I have the feeling that almost every one of these letters is going
to start with something along the lines of "Wow, what a week!"
Wow, what a week!
Every
single day here is chock full of things to do. Almost every minute from
6:30 to 10:30 is scheduled. It's exhausting, but also incredible! I've
never felt so productive in one day than I do now. We are truly living
the law of consecration, and giving every minute and part of our lives
to the Lord. It's an amazing feeling, and I'm glad I get to do that for
the next two years.
My Chinese is coming. It feels like it's coming really
slowly, but then I remember that I've only been here like 11 days. At
that point, my brain explodes. It feels like so much longer. It's cool
because some expressions are becoming habits in Chinese. My favorite
things to say are "dui bu qi" which translates roughly to "excuse me",
"nimen hao" which translates roughly to "Hey, y'all", and "wo de tong
ban zai nali?" which means "Where is my companion??"
Chinese is awesome, because it has NO TENSE. That means
that if you want to say something happened yesterday, you just put the
word yesterday in the sentence and say the same verb. Everybody who has
learned a conjugating language, eat your heart out. The grammar is
fairly simple. There aren't any articles to deal with, you just stick
all the important words right next to each other. THAT SAID, Chinese is
really difficult. The difficulty comes from the fact that nothing in
Chinese corresponds even remotely to it's English equivalent, and
because there isn't any similar language to compare them (think Latin or
Germanic), words often don't translate directly, or there are three
different ways to say "can" that all mean different things even though
English only has one. On top of that, there are tones. If you don't say
the word with the right inflection, then you're saying the wrong word!
It'll come though. I'm still frequently amazed at how far we have
come in the incredibly short time we've been here. I've been told that 1
week in the MTC is equivalent to 1 month in the field which is
equivalent to 4 months in any other place. That, my friends, is the gift
of tongues at work.
I absolutely LOVE my district. I was admittedly a
little skeptical, as I usual am, when we met. I wasn't sure if it would
be a fun group of people. Boy was I wrong. The MTC is hard and all, but
the MTC is also incredibly FUN. This group of people is a large part of
what makes it fun. It's a little like band camp. Or choir camp or church
camp or anything like that. You find that group of new people you
didn't know before, and by the end of the camp, you are best friends and
you never want to leave them. That's what the past week and a half has
been for our district. And we've still got 8 weeks to go! I think I've
laughed more in the past week and a half than I did the whole last
semester! These people are great!
I think the MTC is just everything at once, because as
well as being really difficult and really fun, it's also really
spiritual. I remember on Saturday when I walked back through those gates
after being out on the field. There is a tangible difference in feeling
between outside the MTC, and inside the MTC. It's so real. The Spirit
lives here, constantly, and it's so powerful. Even sitting in a somewhat
noisy room in the computer lab here with 20 clicking keyboards, I can
still feel that same Spirit. It's incredibly uplifting, and I know I
want to cherish the next 8 weeks that I can continue to have that
feeling here constantly.
Some other fun things:
-There was
a Sister in the Cafeteria whose nametag said "Sister Richardson", and I
didn't know why (then), but I stopped her and commented on how I hadn't
seen any other Richardsons. Well, it turned out that she was from Mesa,
AZ and that we were second cousins! Her grandpa is Grandpa Jay's twin
brother. I thought that was pretty cool!
-All of the people going to Taiwan had to give a stool sample last week. I'm trying to forget that.
-I
think it was Thursday when my companion and I came in from studying
outside, and there was this old guy without a nametag talking the some
of the people in my district classroom. Well, I'm glad we were nice to
him, because it turned out he was the General Sunday School President,
who had somehow picked our class to come observe for a little while. We
were all glad we were on task and studying while he was there!
-I also saw my Mission Prep teacher from Winter semester in the health clinic last week. That was really neat!
-A big Thank You to Sami for giving me my nice journal. I write in it every night, like we're supposed to. Xie Xie Ni!
Thank you so much to everyone who has sent
me letters! So here's the thing: we are only allowed to write letters on
P-Day, which for us is Monday. And the mail room is closed on Saturday
and Sunday and they don't print the dearelders until 5 o clock each day.
So last week, right after my letter writing time was up (P-Day ends at
6) I got a huge stack of letters, and I've had to wait all week to reply
to them! But since it's memorial day, and sadly, the temple is closed,
I'll have more time to write today, and I should be able to reply to all
of you. So if you want me to reply to you on a Monday, try to send
dearelders in before 4 o'clock (MDT) the Friday before! I wish it was a
better system, but it's not and that's okay.
Thank you so much for sending me letters! It's so exciting every
day after dinner to see if I got anything, and I read your letter at
least three times during the week. It's such a strength to me.
Please continue to pray for me. I know that I need it!
Until next week,
Tian Zhanglao
Elder Richardson
