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)
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