Week 5: Bats, Brits, and Becoming like Christ (September 7, 2016)

Time is flyin' people. I don't understand. I have now been here for five weeks and only have four left! This past week, I hit my halfway mark, and month mark and I just really don't get how I've already been out so long. Ok 5 weeks is really nothing, but I am 1/18th of the way done! hah Honestly though, I love it here. The MTC is the best. Obviously, I have some comments/complaints I would like to pass along to the MTC staff, aka... why is there one tiny mirror for every three sisters to use to get ready with, or who possibly makes the food here and says "yes, I think this will be great for our missionaries digestive systems" or, who puts literal fish food febreeze into every air vent in our building.... SO many questions, and zero answers. But other than that, it is the best place. It's this little spiritual bubble in the middle of happy valley full of so many friends. Seriously, it is Timpview High School and BYU, no joke. It takes Sis. B and I so long to get everywhere, because between the two of us, we know the whole MTC. hah Plus we make new friends everyday. Speaking of new friends, I have the funniest story from this week. hahah So, Sister Bernhardt and I were teaching in TRC's and pretty much became besties with the cutest sister we were teaching. In her closing prayer, Sis. B tried to say "we are grateful for our new friend." But she couldn't remember how to say new, so she threw in a bit of "chinglish" and said "Wǒmen gǎnxiè nǐ wèi wǒmen de 'new' péngyǒu." Now normally this would be fine, but in Chinese Nǚ péngyǒu means girlfriend. haha So, she literally said we are thankful for our girlfriend. haha I died, our investigator died, and Sister Bernhardt was so confused hahaha. 

So many crazy things happened this week, but overall it can be summarized into three words. Bats. Brits. and Becoming like Christ.

BATS- So most of the sisters in the MTC live in this one big building, and this week our MTC president informed us that it is being overrun by bats. SO, we all had to move out. Sister Bernhardt and I are similar in the fact that we both may have a problem packing lightly, so we recruited our Elders to help us move, and long story short... our Elders were each carrying two+ bags and stuff on their backs. hahah Sweet kids. So now we live in this Elders dorm that they cleared for all the Sisters, and are just chillin' with urinals, shower curtains for stall doors, and zero closet space. GO TEAM. But honestly, all of this was a blessing because.... da da da dunn I'M ROOMING WITH KATIE CARDULLO. Seriously no idea how that happened. What are the odds. Literally zero and somehow it happened and it is the best thing ever! She comes and writes in her journal on my bed every night and we share scriptures and bare our testimonies to each other in our languages every night before we go to bed, and it is so tender. Sister B and I are just the random Chinese sisters on the Europe floor and get serenaded by French hymns every night, and wake up to yelling Italians. hah It is the best. When we found out about our move, our new British Sister goes, "Well great. Now we are never getting to bed before 10:30." hahah Which leads me right into this...

BRITS- Our zone got a new district this past week all going to Hong Kong speaking Cantonese. This district has 13 people: 12 elders, and ONE SISTER and over half of them are from the UK. So you bet we all hang out by their door to hear them talk. hahah But ok this sister is Sister Percival and she is the cutest thing ever! She is a solo missionary, which means she is the only girl in her district, but she is Sister Bernhardt and my unofficial companion! To sum her up, she loves Harry Potter (our Elders love that), lucky charms, and "fancies" everything about America. Except for the fact that we don't have potatoes, gravy, and a roast for each Sunday dinner. hah She's the best. So when we aren't speaking Chinese, we are speaking in a British accent. hah 

BECOMING LIKE CHRIST- Everyday here is full of testimony building moment after testimony building moment, but here were a few big ones that stood out to me this week. In a lesson the other day, our teacher asked us to answer these two questions for him. 

1- What kind of missionary do we want to be? and 

2- How can we become that kind of missionary? 

As I thought about my answers to these questions, three words came to my mind. Faith. Diligence. Humility. I felt that these three words/attributes embodied all that I could do to try to become the best missionary I can be. 

Faith: We must have faith in Jesus Christ and His atonement. As a missionary, I need to have faith in my calling and authority, and to TRUST in the Lord's faith in me. This concept is one we've been talking a lot about this week. Why do we have fears? In mission life and in general. Why do we fear so much, when we know that the Lord is on our side? The Lord has set us apart with His authority, His power, and His faith. We need to trust in this, because He knows us better than we know ourselves. If he didn't think we could do it, He would not have called us. Called us on missions, called us to Taiwan, or called us to represent Him wherever we are. We, as members of the Church and as missionaries, all have the same calling and purpose. To bring others unto Christ. The Lord has chosen US to bare His witness and to take the truth that we know and share it with others.

Diligence: We have to work hard. We truly always have to struggle before we find success (thanks dad). We are promised God's help in this life, but we must first to all that we can do. He will make up for what we cannot do ourselves.

Humility: We must recognize that without the Lord we are nothing. We can do nothing without the help of our Father in Heaven and the saving powers and graces of the Atonement. As we humble ourselves before the Lord, He WILL help us, strengthen us, guide us, and love us

I think that each of these principles apply to each of us. We can all replace the word "missionary" and ask ourselves "What kind of person/member/sister/daughter/friend/etc. do we want to be?" Elder D. Todd Christofferson came and spoke to us last night, and reminded us that "we are bearing in our hands the kingdom of God." God has trusted us personally with His gospel, and now it is our job to share that message with others. He needs each of us. Our smiles, our personality, our humor, our intelligence, and our testimonies, to bring forth his work. I invite each of you to think how you can do this. How can you work to fulfill your purpose? How can you come closer to your Savior? How can you better use the Atonement in your life? How can you share what you know?- whether that is by better showing your love for others or even leading by example. I know that God recognizes our efforts and will help us as we strive to do what He has asked us to do. (1 Nephi 5:8)

I love you all dearly and hope you can all feel of my love for you and more importantly the Lord's love for you. Look for His hand in your life because I PROMISE it is there. Have a wonderful week and know that you are all in my prayers! Wǒ ài nǐmen! 我愛你們

xoxo

Sister Richards

李姐妹

Lǐ Jiéměi

1- Sweet Elders moving us

2/3- Sister Katie Cardullo (Rome, Italy mission) and I

4- Our new comp Sister Percival

5- Our zone