January 31, 2012

I definitely am starting to get used to things in the MTC, the schedule is the same every week so my days go pretty much routine. The two days that are a little different are P-day and Sunday (for obvious reasons). Sundays are really awesome, I have a couple meetings because I'm district leaders. In the meetings we spend time discussing our districts and problems in them. It's a little weird for me because it makes me feel like I'm spying on people almost. But the evenings are my favorite part because we first have some great devotional and then we get to watch a MOVIE! Church movies of course but honestly, after a week being in a windowless classroom any movie is a good one. Chinese is coming! Finally, I swear after the first 3 days I honestly was thinking "Oh my gosh I wonder how I'm going to be able to speak to people in three months". But, I'm definitely working my hardest and doing my best to enjoy the language. I have a vocab of about 100 words and so I can make relatively repetative and simple conversation, pray, and ask questions about the gospel haha. Hmm...thinking about highlights of the past week. Oh yes, on tuesday of last week I was priviledge to take a "white bag test" which is essentially a visa requirement in which we had to take a stool sample.....seriously gross. Elder Ripley is pretty awesome and super easy going and easy to get along with. Sometimes it wears on me to HAVE to be stuck with another guy all the time, being in a companionship is a little bit of an adjustment. It's funny the days seem to go by quickly but super slowly all at the same time. So I told you in my last email how me and my companion had been teaching the chinese "investigator"? Well, our investigator turned out to be one of our teachers who introduced himself to the class after the practice discussions were over. We have two teachers for chinese. One of them is Fan Laoshir, a fresh off the mission Utah native who is engaged a whole 1 MONTH after coming home. He's a good guy but definitely keeps it very professional in class and isn't one for casual conversations. Mu laoshir is our other teacher, he was the investigator. He got off his mission about a year and a 1/2 ago and is kind of awkward, goofy, and lovable and I definitely think that I enjoy his teaching style a lot more. The food at the MTC isn't bad, I mean it's no home cooked meals but I don't really know why people complain about it. Being District Leader isn't too bad, I just get everyones mail everyday and then at the end of the week I hold little interviews with the senior companions in my District. My district is good and I enjoy them for the most part. The district is getting to know each other pretty well after being together all day every day and some elders definitely beginning act a little more immature than I feel I would personally conduct myself. I think I'm getting a reputation for being a little on the boring side and honestly that's just fine with me. Oh, and I gave my first blessing this week. One of the Sisters in my district has been having kind of a hard time because she found out her grandma had been diagnosed with cancer and hadn't been getting a lot of mail from home. So, we got paged one night and we went and talked to her for a little bit and she asked me to give the blessing. It was a neat experience and I wasn't really too nervous. Anyways so that's all the highlights I can think of this week! I'm sure they're more but I'm pressed for time.

Hope to hear from you all and know that I get all your EMAILS and LETTERS and Love them,

Love you all!!!

Elder Nathan Logan James (Wang Zhanglao)

January 24, 2012

Hello from your favorite Taiwanese Missionary!!

Wow, what an incredible week. So much has been packed into such a short time I hope I can fill in everyone on what this past week has been like. I'm SO incredibly busy all the time that I haven't had anytime to write any letters. But, I have been having a very positive experience here at the MTC and it's been pretty great. Everyday is so scheduled out that I have little time to write letters and Day 1- After arriving in SLC I was running a little late and was picked up by sweet Miriam who was thoughtful enough to bring me Cafe Rio. We drove to Provo where Brandon and Miriam dropped me off and I was shown around the complex by a friendly escort elder. I got all my stuff and was taken to class where my teacher spoke only in Mandarin for a straight hour and 1/2 of which I understood maybe 1%. I was introduced to my companion Elder Ripley a missionary from Gilbert, AZ. He's a super easy going guy and quite easy to get along with which I'm very grateful for. My district consists of six elders and 2 sisters. Day 2- Woke up bright and early (like everyday here in the MTC) had prayer, personal study (scriptures, language), class, lunch, more study time and later that evening a meeting with the Branch Presidency where all the new missionaries stood up bore our testimonies and told just a basic introduction about where were from, why we chose to go on a missionary etc. We had short interviews with the Branch Presidency and at the end of the meeting I was chosen to be District leader which was a suprise and somewhat ironic given the fact I'd just whispered to my companion "Man, that would be kind of stressful to be district leader" and then corrected myself and half-jokingly said "But it'd be a great opportunity to grow". Anyways well the days have all been fairly routine with lots and lots of studying and spending time doing some more studying but I'm working my hardest to learn the language. Well, all I have to say is Chinese is kind of a beast and the amount we learn in such a short time is fairly overwhelming and was quite stressful the first few days. But, I know the lord's been blessing me and I can feel all your prayers for me. It's coming slowly but I'm coming more and more proficient in Chinese which is good. Oh and did I mention, we had to TEACH our first lesson in Mandarin the SECOND day we got to the MTC???? Crazy huh? Well, luckily my companion is fairly good in Chinese and took it for 2 1/2 years before coming so luckily he was able to do some talking while I sat there with a blank look on my face for most of the lesson. It was pretty rough. But, after that our lessons started to get a lot better and I'm understanding more and can speak a little bit. We're allowed to receive mail everyday so PLEASE write me it's the highlight of my day. I can email once a week on P-days (which is Tuesday for me) for about 30 minutes which is not much time. I most likely won't be able to answer you back in person because I have so little time but I love hearing about what your doing. Being district leader it's my responsibility to pick up the missionaries mail, keep the district in line, and hold interviews once a week with the senior companions of each district. The spirit seriously leaks out of everything here in the MTC and you really feel it everywhere you go. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to serve a mission and I know it's where the Lord wants me to be and I've felt him answer my prayers. Thank you for your many prayers for me. I'm so grateful to have such an awesome family behind me who support me. I'm know the gospel is true and I know that he loves each and every one of us.

Love you all,

Elder James (Wang Zhanglao)