Email Home October 25th 2009

We had our primary program too :) I love primary :) It was interesting though, all the parts were in mandarin or Cantonese, all spoken by abc's (American born Chinese) who speak more English than Chinese, and all the songs were in English. And our primary's pretty small; each kid probably had to go up 2 or three times. But it went great, the kids were heard in the back of the chapel and that's what's important right?
I also really love the primary songs... I wish I could just use them to teach people. They present doctrine so simply and you really could feasibly teach the doctrines of the lessons with a couple primary songs :)
Well, transfers are tomorrow, and I'm step-popping (being his second companion) elder Chen. So my mandarin will SKYROCKET next transfer, I hope for his sake I can help him improve his English. He's a good guy... but we'll probably be using dictionaries to talk to each other.
Umm... Raymond Lin is moving to Connecticut for 2 weeks (yes Chinese people do that here) but when he comes back we can start teaching him again. Urrggghhhh... I just feel bad for Chinese people. Their whole lives are about work - that is their first priority. I've really learned to love the middle class - because i've seen how ideal it is. In china there is none, just rich and poor.
Honestly not much has happened this week, hopefully I'll have some more to report on next week :)
Thanks for the letters, I love all you!
- Elder Eddy

Email Home October 19th 2009

Well, works going good. Raymond invited some friends of his to church on sunday, and that's always good. You know at that point they don't think we're crazy :)
Yeah I'm getting other peoples letters, but I haven't got any from the wheelers yet. The address is:
85-69 60th drive
elmhurst, ny 11373

I even got a reply from my mtc companion in taiwan, so letters are getting to me.
Well, the greenwood cemetary was pretty cool, and I think we're going to some cool places today, so I should have some pictures for you next week :)
Yes I do get more dinner appointments here... but honestly chinese food is gross. It's very boring or really gross. It's stuff you eat to survive or because you're sick - not to enjoy eating.

I don't think we realize as regular members just how important members are in missionary work. In places with lots of mormons the missionaries CAN'T tract or find people on the street, that would be a waste. All investigators have to come from members in utah/idaho. In New York, sure you can find people on the street, but once they're baptized they're supposed to be in the members hands... not the case here though. Because the church is so weak here president wants us to continue to meet with recent converst once a week for 6 months.

I've also realized some important things lately.

3rd Nephi 12: 48 Therefore I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father who is in heaven is perfect.What is our ultimate goal? to become like God. but is that what we're working towards? Or have we reached plateaus of complacency? We need to be continually throughout our lives to try and become more like God and the Savior. In Preach My Gospel at the end of the christlike attributes chapter they've got this: http://broadcast.lds.org/Missionary/PreachMyGospel___13_06_ChristlikeAttributes__36617_eng_013.pdf
and it's really helped me to see measurable ways I can improve. also the missionary handbook sections on companions, I think has great advice on how we can improve relationships with anyone.

I love you all, have a good week, byebye!
- 狄长老

EmailS Home October 12th 2009

I really enjoy Brooklyn. It's got a different vibe about it. And I really feel the Lord is watching over this part of the vineyard. The Branch president is really dedicated to his calling - he's so awesome. and the branch, though pretty much all first generation members, functions pretty well. Kind of a rare thing for new york.
The mission president is gonna work with stake leaders in getting missionaries more involved in the wards. and training leaders here. Because except for the west-coast Mormons who are here for school, there's not too many people who... know how the church works.
But our little branch is great :)
Mercury and Raymond are progressing well and hopefully we can set baptismal dates this week.
I love you all!
- Elder Eddy

What is up with us? Why do we like Halloween so much? And why are we amused by the macabre? It doesn't make any sense! I'm a little sad that I'll miss two Halloweens, but what I'm doing right now is a lot more important than dressing up and going to haunted houses.
That's good that James loves dogs, it always made me sad that Zac was scared of them growing up - Of course he had a good reason to be, but it still made me sad because dogs are usually so happy and playful :)
I don't know how things are going with Danny. He's only available on Sunday so he just comes to church and then Elder Lam talks to him in Cantonese, and I either talked with Mercury or Raymond, our mandarin investigators.
Raymond is really cool, he really enjoys learning about the gospel and reading the book of Mormon. and he stayed for all 3 hours of church, and was gonna stay for the baptism afterward but had to head to flushing to go to some religious freedom in china rally or something.
Oh, another thing about Yun Yun (Mercury), she's already investigated before! She investigated with her brother, who was baptized, but is now inactive, and this time it was three friends who were just baptized who invited her to investigate. So we've basically just gotta review and help her build a testimony again.
So, I guess that's all for this week, thanks for the letters, love ya!
- Elder Eddy

Emails Home October 5th 2009

你好！
Thanks for the emails! It sounds crazy that James is able to move around in that walker of his... sounds crazy that he's able to do anything but poo/eat/cry etc. Can't wait to see him/you/Matt again :)
Y'know, you had him at a convenient time, you know how far I am in my mission, and I know how old he is.
Oh, I have to correct something from my last email. See I thought Me + in Brooklyn + seeing big bridge = Brooklyn Bridge... Right? Nope, it's the Verazzano bridge or something... connecting to Staten island - not quite as exciting as Manhattan.
So, this transfer has been full of finding. We've hardly had any teaching opportunities. It was getting a little frustrating. But conference weekend brought us three new investigators :) So we'll be able to teach this week :)
Yang Yang and Ching Ching came from flushing yesterday and brought a classmate of theirs, Mercury, whos lives in Brooklyn and told her i could teach her the gospel and baptize her. those two are really good fellowshippers. they've already given elder gabrielsen back in flushing two referrals and me, in Brooklyn one. and they haven't even been members for a month. They just really love the church.
The next is Raymond. he's been here since 2003. He already has some christian background because when he was in high school in china, he had a math teacher who would also squeeze a little Christianity into his classes - totally against the law in most places - but especially china. The teacher was fired but something stuck with Raymond. He really enjoyed conference, and he was invited by a member who's his friend, so he's already got a contact at church. Another thing, he only speaks mandarin and English, convenient for our companionship.
Like you said in your email, having a friend in the gospel is soooo important.
Then there's Danny. He only speaks Cantonese and English. (I really think we're being blessed with investigators we can actually teach together.) He's lived in Brooklyn all his life and has come to church for the last three weeks. He seems really interested.
Then there's another one that I haven't actually talked to yet. I was on exchanges when elder Lam met him.
These investigators have really taught me patience. We spent hours upon hours for three weeks just being rejected on the streets. But in retrospect, I think the Lord lets us have those trials, to see if we're ready for the investigators (/insert blessing of choice here).
The Book of Mormon is so great. I've really had it come alive for me on my mission. Especially Alma the Younger. I'm in first Nephi right now, and can't wait to get back to Alma. he and Amulek teach things so plainly and powerfully. :)

Well, I'll write you letter, thanks for setting up the blog for me :)
我爱你！
-狄长老

Email Home October 6th 2009

你好！
Thanks for the emails! It sounds crazy that James is able to move around in that walker of his... sounds crazy that he's able to do anything but poo/eat/cry etc. Can't wait to see him/you/matt again :)
Y'know, you had him at a convinient time, you know how far I am in my mission, and I know how old he is.
Oh, I have to correct something from my last email. See I thought Me + in Brooklyn + seeing big bridge = Brooklyn Bridge... Right? Nope, it's the Verazano bridge or something... connecting to staten island - not quite as exciting as manhattan.
So, this transfer has been full of finding. We've hardly had any teaching oppurtunities. It was getting a little frustrating. But conference weekend brought us three new investigators :) So we'll be able to teach this week :)
Yang Yang and Ching Ching came from flushing yesturday and brought a classmate of thiers, Mercury, whos lives in brooklyn and told her i could teach her the gospel and baptize her. those two are really good fellowshippers. they've already given elder gabrielsen back in flushing two referals and me, in brooklyn one. and they haven't even been members for a month. They just really love the church.
The next is Raymond. he's been here since 2003. He already has some christian background because when he was in highschool in china, he had a math teacher who would also squeeze a little christianity into his classes - totally against the law in most places - but especially china. The teacher was fired but something stuck with raymond. He really enjoyed conference, and he was invited by a member who's his friend, so he's already got a contact at church. Another thing, he only speaks mandarin and english, convinient for our companionship.
Like you said in your email, having a friend in the gospel is soooo important.
Then there's Danny. He only speaks cantonese and english. (I really think we're being blessed with investigators we can actually teach together.) He's lived in brooklyn all his life and has come to church for the last three weeks. He seems really interested.
Then there's another one that I haven't actually talked to yet. I was on exchanges when elder Lam met him.
These investigators have really taught me patience. We spent hours upon hours for three weeks just being rejected on the streets. But in retrospect, I think the Lord lets us have those trials, to see if we're ready for the investigaros (insert blessing of choice here).
The Book of Mormon is so great. I've really had it come alive for me on my mission. Especially Alma the Younger. I'm in first Nephi right now, and can't wait to get back to Alma. he and Amulek teach things so plainly and powerfully. :)

Well, I'll write you letter, thanks for setting up the blog for me :)
我爱你！
-狄长老

September 29th 2009

Q: How is Brooklyn different from Flushing?
A: There's lots of tall apartments and businesses in flushing, then beat up old houses that serve as ... quadplexes? what do you call a single building that has 4 different adresses? Where's I'm in brooklyn there aren't any houses, just lots of matching buildings, that are only 4 stories tall... but they seriously all look the same. and 8th avenue is covered in chinese signs. Let me just add in a quick note about chinese - Chinese is all written the same, but pronounced differently. Mandarin, Cantonese, Fujianese, Beijingese etc. All look the same, but are pronounced differently. It's just a matter of switching sounds and tones. So it's kind of like having extremely different dialects of the same language. And sometimes the grammer's a little different. Anyways, back to the letter.
Q: Tell us about your companion and other missionaries in your apartment.
A: My companion is Elder Lam (mandarin=Lin), in some ways he's a lot like me, pretty passive and intraverted, but he's a good guy. Y'know those miyazaki movies zac, caroline, and I like, he likes em to. He likes to play soccer, video games, read comics, etc. Elder Baker is from california. Umm... he likes weird indi music, the kind of stuff I would listen to. Elder Lee is an ABC (American Born Chinese), who was in the spanish program, but then the president asked him if he could speak chinese, elder lee said 'a little', so president put him in the chinese program. Elder Lee is loud, and funny. He said last week that me and elder lam combined are louder than him... yeah Umm... We don't have much investigators right now and are spending a lot of time finding... 90% of our time. but it's ok, we've got a baptismal commit :) Other than that not too much is going on. I tried bleaching my shirts and nothing happened. I don't really have time to send a package... I can see about next monday though. Ummm... I guess that's it, bye! Elder Eddy

September 21st 2009

OK, 2 weeks ago was labor day so the library was closed, last week, i was there i got on and read elizabeth's email, but the computers were super slow and when i tried to write you one it kicked me off. Last sunday was transfers and I'm now in Brooklyn with Elder Lam... I never expected to be with him. I like him just fine - but, he doesn't speak mandarin. His dad was in the police force in Hong Kong but when England lost control of Hong Kong they offered him a job in Coventry, so, elder Lam speaks Cantonese. When President Nelson talked to me he kinda said the point of me being with elder Lam is too improve my mandarin and learn a little cantonese. I feel a little bit like I've been thrown out of the frying pan and into the fire :) But it's kind of an exciting prospect.Most people that speak cantonese can also speak/understand mandarin, so I thought I'll be ok there. But, I didn't take into consideration, that while teaching people I'm not able to understand anything my companion or the investigators say... because it's in cantonese. I can understand some words in cantonese... but that's kind of like how i can understand some words in spanish. For instance, we were talking about prophets nd the only words I could understand in the conversation were Prophet, Adam, Moses, and power/strength... So I'll need to get some cantonese in fast.Also, we're pretty much starting a new pool - which means we spend all our time finding - street contacting, tracting, etc.But it'll be exciting. Elder Lam and I are both pretty passive people so we're learning how to get over that. Well, we better be. Oh, I did try to send you a letter this week, I wrote it on monday, but then I moved to brooklyn. I was gonna unpack the letter and send it off, but I couldn't unpack for the 1st 2 days here because elder law and elder chen, who were supposed to move into a new pad, couldn't move yet because the pad hadn't been inspected by the senoir missionaries yet. I could have probably sent it on friday, but I figured you wouldn't get it until about today, so it wouldn't have made much of a difference. Let's not worry about the belts and shirts, it's not a big deal, it's getting cool and i'm wearing sweaters now, and will start wearing suits in october. Well, besides finding people there's not too much going on. You said you wanted to know about the people here? in brooklyn? Depends what street you're on. everybody's got they're own ethnic clusters here and even the chinese people will ask where you ancestors are from. the white people here don't speak english. The spanish are the really strong mormons here who run wards somewhat normally... umm... yeah. Time's almost up, I gotta go. Love ya, bye!-Elder Eddy

August 31st 2009

A Typical Breakfast
Q: how is the language coming.
A: slower now than at the MTC. I've only got a 1/2 an hour to study each day. My gospel vocab is pretty decent. It's small talk that I suffer in. But, my comprehension has improved a lot. I've learned regular idiosynchrasies of chinese, like adding "isha" to the end of a verb, which means absolutley nothing. And learning to understand accents, people here are from all sorts of different places in china and all have different accent, it's especially hard to understand some people from hong kong; they grow up speaking cantonese and so all thier mandarin is pronounced wrong.It's really just learning everyday chinese that I need to focus on now. And just opening my mouth and practising.
Q: What do you do on your Pdays.
A: well, pday doesn't start until 10 o clock, before that we still have to do our regular studying. today we mopped our bedroom and the kitchen. we decided we HAVE to do it on a weekly basis. right now we're emailing, after this we'll go grocery shopping. and I think we'll have a game afternoon and play clue or something with everyone in our pad. some pdays we play basketball, some we sit around and do nothing. Iv'e been to the Queens Zoo and the flushing meadows corna park science museum... I polish my shoes. Oh, as a side note I make my bed everyday here. Ummm.. I guess we just do whatever.
Q: Why do you only send one [picture] with each letter....can you send more?
A: myldsmail only lets me send a couple megabites in each email, and the library computers are slow. Maybe you could send me another mini SD card and I could mail you that one? Yeah I still get the dear elder stuff. Well, Yang Yang has a baptismal date now. oh, her and her sister are a day younger than me, they found this pretty amazing. We've got 13 progressing investigators now so things are going good. My english lessons are pretty fun... But sometimes I have no idea what to teach. Maybe you could help me. My lesson is much more a westerization/americanization class that english, like one lesson we taught the english names of the planets. Maybe if you could send me oh, my visual chinese/english dictionary, that would help so much in my english class :) The weather's getting a little cooler, which is nice.Mady said you're cleaning dollar tree? what else ot happening with the business? ok, I've gotta go, love ya, thanks for the letters/email, bye! -ELder Eddy

August 24th 2009 Email Home

Well, this week was another good one. We got some new investigators, and currently have 10 "Progressing Investigators". Yang Yang and her sister Qing Qing, we met them this week, and they went to church for the first time, then after Yang Yang asked us if she could be baptized, so, we may have her and Jiang Ping baptized within the next couple weeks.We've also been teaching Clair Pan, a really intelligent woman, who... kind of like Stephen from Nacho Libre, believes in science. But she's started praying, and feels God is there. She's really sincere in her search for truth, she asks lots of deep questions, so, we read Alma 32 with her and talked about how we're just inviting her to "experiment on the word". One thing she asked is why God just doesn't give us a sign or evidence. We had just explained the plan of salvation, and how life is a test, so, not from my own mind, i said If life is a test of faith, and we're just given a sign, it's like cheating in a test. we wouldn't learn anything and it wouldn't be fair.... (so, i guess the unfairness in life is one of the few fair things in it)... or something. So, hopefully all goes well.There's not really too much to report here. It's been hot and humid, but we've been inside most of the time teaching, so that's good.Oh, this is something i've delayed reporting on, but my shirts all have black lines on them from the waist of my pants... So I don't know if I can clean them, or if we can get a refund on the shirts, but I'll send a picture so you can see what im' talking about. Oh, the black stuff didn't appear until i got to new york, and it's on all my short sleeve shirts. Ok, well, talk to you later! -Elder Eddy

August 10th and 17th 2009

Well, this week was pretty good. We (me and elder gabrielsen) got 5 new investigators, we had 9 investigators at church, 6 of them were first timers, 3, the Huang family, have been coming since may or something, they'll be baptized this week. And even though both elder chang and I haven't seen him for a few weeks, and none of the other missionaries have got a hold of him, David Tsang came to church, and brought a friend, and says he'll be coming more :)Yesturday, while tracting, we found a lady, Nancy, who has been to the cumorah pageant with her mormon friends, and loves it, her sister was mormon (died about 20 years ago), wants to visit temple square, and was praying before we came for a sign. She speaks english/spanish, so, she won't be our investigator, but, I think we really were guided to her.We also found on that same street a less active member. and got 4 other people's phone numbers. 2 seemed actually pretty interested in going to church... mainly because their girlfriends were christian and they wanted something more in common, but, that's still something.On ... thursday, we had about a 1/2 an hour before english class started, which I would before had used to prepare for class better, and elder gabrielsen's super dilligent and wanted to go street contacting until we had 15 minutes before, so we went out and talked to this girl, when we said "你好" (nihao), she was so suprised and let our a huge gasp, and said in english "you speak chinese!". we talked to her, Ping Jiang (ok, from now on, when i give you thier names, if they're chinese, it'll be their sirname first, it just makes more sense) - Jiang Ping, for a couple minutes, she had just come from china, and was christian there, and had been going to a spanish church here, so we invited her to learn more and come to ours, she was so excited, she came to english class that night and elder gabrielsen and yau taught her while elder law and i were editing a movie for a fireside we are putting on for the ward. But I guess the lesson went really well, and they're really solid. they came to church and we'll teach them again tonight.There's also Xu Lynn and her friends Peggy, Poppy, and Mira (Chinese people always give themselves interesting, or really common english names). We teach them all together. they're very interesting... Mira especially. she has asked us if Jesus had to poo/pee, and if he was an alien. So, lessons are always interesting with them. haha. Lynn's really interested and I feel she's doing this because she really wants to figure this out for herself.OK, I'll try and send some pictures now, so this is the end of this letter. have a great day :)


August 17th-
Well, another week's gone by. We've taught lots of lessons, and we'll probably have Ping, Lynn, Peggy, Poppy, and Yuki baptized within the next month or two. They're all really solid investigators.I guess there's not much to report on here. But I'd love to hear from you. Oh, let me know more about that disaster in taiwan, we don't read the paper here. Well, I don't have anything to reply to and I'm trying to figure out what kind of family history redources, if any, the church has in chinese.

August 3rd 2009 Pictures

Email Home August 3rd 2009

你们好！Well transfers are tomorrow, and elder chang will be going Zone Leader, I'll be going with elder gabrielson, and elder cui will be with someone else. For a while I was concerned about results, I was frustrated because both elder chang and I were doing our best to be obidient/work hard, but there were no results - meaning baptisms. But I thought about it, and, if God really wanted to he could send down all the angels in heaven to convert everybody, so, I shouldn't worry too much about numbers. All I can do is try my hardest, come what may. If nothing I will grow from it and become better. But, as a side note, Elder Gabrielson's already got 3 baptisms schedualed for next month, so I will be getting some soon.I'm so happy you're gardening - it sounds like it's growing great. and, I've been reading a lot of ensigns latley, and there's so much on being self sufficient, and gardening is just one of those things.I've also learned more about obidience. There's always more commandments to follow, more ways to improve. So, I've been trying to find one new one a day, and keep track of how well I keep it.Wow, school's starting again, already? Time feels like it's flying. Everybody here says your first transfer is the longest... I dunno, it felt like it flew by for me, wonder how fast the rest will be? I dunno if dad's mission used any of the following lingo, but i'll have to explain some that prevails in the nynys.
Born: arrive in the mission
Dad(pop(s))/Mom: Trainer
Son/Dauther: Trainee
Die: Go home
Step Pop: Sr. Comp after your trainer
Now I'll continue Ok, so Elder gabrielson's my steppop, and, not to toot my own horn, but he's killed his last two companions (been companions with someone going home), and they've kinda worn him down. Good people, yeah... but the the best missionaries. Elder Chang said if he picked anyone to steppop me it would have been elder gabrielson, he's here to work and he wants to be obidient, so, i'm happy too.I'd really like a chicken cresent roll recipe... but that's kind of expensive/time consuming right? but thanks for the recipes.Well, I guess that's all I've got to report. Oh, let my siblings know they can email me please.Oh, I asked the mission president about meeting with uncle Steve and he said no. and I don't know if he would get offended or assume anything, but all I said was my uncle wants to have lunch with me, i didn't mention anything else, so this is a meeting with any family/friends thing, not just him.ok, love you all! - Elder Eddy

Email Home July 27th 2009

We don't have dinner appointments very often... I've had one. but people have brought food to the church for some things like... the night before jenny went to hong kong. or other things like that. Usually it's asian food and american. The weirdest thing about asian meat is not what it's from, but what you eat. like, I know when it's chicken or pork or whatever, but you're expected to eat everything that isn't bone - tendons, fat, etc. so, that's a new experience. I like the octopus and squid just fine, the sushi's ok,rice, noodles, and dumplings are good. I loved the rolls stuffed with... i really don't know, but they're good.Elder Cui, are new companion, asks me a lot about what typical american food is like, he's from china, and says he and everybody else there thinks americans only eat what you can get at McDonalds, KFC, and Pizza Hut. So, I'd like to show him some better american food, do you mind sending me some recipes? I guess they've gotta be pretty cheap, but i'm pretty thrifty and usually don't spend too much of my weekly budget ($40), I usually spend about $10 on fruit, and another $10 on other groceries - except for last week, I spent a bit more. But, yes, If reeses puffs are on sale I'd LOVE some. cereal is so expensive. I've only ever bought the Mal-O-Meal kind, but today we'll be going to a mall because elder chang has to find some new pants, and there's a Target over there, so I can find some more reasonable prices :)Our investigators... Are always busy, and it's hard to find new ones. And it's hard to keep track of ward members, lots of people come here to work for a bit, then go back home to china or something. And apparently lots of them are illegal, so we're gonna ask President Nelson about baptizing illegals. I mean, we do have to commit people to obey the Law of the Land before they're baptized, so...I think we're just struggling with our investigators schedules. We may meet with them and have an awesome lesson, but then they can't see us for two weeks.I don't know if you've ever read preach my gospel, but I would recommend you do it as a family. I don't know if members realize how vital they are in missionary work, if nothing else read read... chapter 13 of preach my gospel (working with stake/ward/members), I feel like I could have helped the missionaries so much more now :(And we don't have ward council, or home teaching,....I guess what i'm trying to do is find out what my responsibilities are and do my best.Well, i gotta go, love, bye!

July 20th 2009 Email Home

你们好！Well, Mady's informed me that Mom doesn't tell everybody what I'm doing... so maybe you could start? 好不好？Let's see, we managed to get a hold of David again, and even though we hadn't seen him for two weeks, he's still been reading the book of Mormon and praying daily, so that's AWESOME. He's 14, so, still a teenager, but he's really sincere in his search for truth. He feels the reading and praying has made his days go better and feels God is watching out for him. So hopefully we'll get a baptismal commit soon :)Elder Cui is being moved into our companionship today. His companion, Elder Law, is getting a missionary that's coming early from the MTC, so, we'll have a 3-some for at least 2 weeks (til transfers).Let's see... oh, we did exchanges this week, and I was with Elder Peterson, but was still in charge of the Chinese pool. So, basically, I did all the talking when we went tracting :) but it was good. I set up an appointment to do some English tutoring - at the price of also teaching a little about our church (when people want one-on-one we try and do that), so, the day went ok. It helped build my confidence and made me realize that I use elder Chang as a crutch way too much.I tried jizhao (chicken foot) - it was ok... kind of like eating a... i dunno corn dog. not the flavor, but method... except for the stick is part of the thing you're eating :)A weird lady in our ward said I should be Ai zhanglao, and that 狄 (Di) is weird... she also told me elder Chang has bad chinese and I should have got a different trainer. Elder Chang said he's never talked to her before.How's Will and Caroline's Book of Mormon reading going?Are the dogs staying outside - if not, our house must really smell :(Last night, when we were walking home, a man behind us honked the horn on his bike... I was kind of deep in thought so... I got scared and jumped to the side (I wish I could have seen myself hahha) - he felt bad and started apologizing, so I told him it wasn't a problem, and my companion said something and then the man asked if I spoke chinese, which lead into a little gospel discussion. I guess the point of the story is that some of are weaknesses can become strengths haha. Sure we only got him a pamphlet and english class flier, but that's something.This weeks gonna be a little crazy, we've basically got 1/2 of our days (one half of each day) already scheduled - so hopefully we can focus on lessons more that finding this week :)Umm... Guess that's all for now. Make sure this gets around; facebook, blog, chainmail, whatever :)我爱你们！-Elder Eddy

Email Home July 13th 2009

你们好! So, this week's been pretty good. The humidity hasn't been too bad, one of our investigators (Forest Xu) actually invited a friend to come to our ward barbecue, and she helped us explain the Book of Mormon :) So, that was pretty cool.David's been on vacation so it's probably been a week since we've contacted him, but we have to still have faith.We've got another investigator Joe Zhou, he's actually been going to church on and off for years and really likes it... I think his main concern is that he was baptized in another church in Alabama, and is friends with the preacher - so he doesn't wanna offend him :( So we decided to slow things down and challenge him to read the book of Mormon everyday... he didn't do to well so we've recommit ed him and asked if we could check up on him every couple days.Then there's Chen Xiao Yan, she's a member, a pretty strong one, but her husband's not. he's "Buddhist", but that like saying you're christian/catholic. aka your family's been it forever so you are. But most of the time it really doesn't mean anything. So we're just trying to work slowly with him, he seems like an awesome guy though. And their daughter, she's about 2, is so cute. Chen jiemei is having a son pretty soon to, and had us help her pick and English name. (I think the ward members like to turn to the missionaries for name suggestions.)We have a few other investigators... but most of them are just really busy :( But English class tends to bring in more :)Elder Chang's an awesome companion; he's always able to stay optimistic and look over small things that don't matter/aren't really worth getting frustrated about. and he's just a fun person to be around.Korean pancakes are awesome, I'd highly recommend them.Oh, something else I've come to realize about myself, is just how concerned about appearance I was before I came. I never thought I was, but I've realized so much now. I think I used to think somebody probably wouldn't make a good church member if, I dunno, they're smoking/they've got some piercing/their clothes are revealing - or whatever. But I think I've again realized that that isn't important. True doctrine understood; changes behavior faster that the study of behavior. So I guess what I mean is don't be too quick to judge people..- 狄zhanglao

Email Home July 6th 2009

About oriental people and the church: the new ambassador to china is mormon, and I have a feeling Zac may go mandarin speaking. In the MTC, 2 of the teachers were brothers and went to taiwan, and we had 2 sets of brothers in the mtc learning mandarin, Elder Babcock's older brothers didn't go mandarin - but, he has 2 adopted brothers who can speak it. I really think we're working our way towards china/asia :) And it seems like we're working with siblings. Maybe we'll all be called to china as bishops and they'll want us to have family with us there too?I have no idea, but that'd be awesome.Dad said yes to a new dog? awesome :) send me pictures please? I can put them onto my camera :)The 4th of July is a little different here, we watched some manhattan fireworks from our roof they looked awesome, but I still think I prefer Rigby lake. One of the members, Jenny, invited the chinese missionaries over for dinner that day, it was good, nothing too crazy yet. But I did have to pull the head/shell/legs off my shrimp. Oh, one thing that's a little weird is that chinese people leave the bones in the food, and you just chew around them and leave them on the table, and the corn.... core - whatever that's called.We got our new mission president on wednesday, so I never really had time to get used to our old one, he's essentially my 1st/only. President Eyering told them some interesting things though; he said that "every member a missionary"... is kind of failing - but not in our mission. So I guess it was encouragement for us... and chastisement for everyone else. I hope we don't get too comfortable though.The ward's a little different here. It doesn't seem as structured/what I was familiar with, and I think I was letting that frustrate me, but I realized that they were doing what they were supposed to do, and they have testimonies. Being a stereotypical mormon/utahn is not a baptismal reqirement.Another thing I realized is that I live in Hey Arnold. remember that show? That's where I live. I really wanna watch it now, maybe the family should, because that's my life. Arnold lived in New York and tried to help people overcome fears/problems, pretty much what missionaries do. So if you wanna see what I do, watch Hey Arnold :) (My companion also thinks this way... in a lot of ways like me)Well, I need to take some time to upload pictures, so I'll end my letter. - Wo ai nimen!- Di Zhanglao

Email Home June 29 2009

Sorry I didn't get to email you last P-Day, I was flying for a few hours, then at the mission home, so, no email.The Flight all went fine, the mission home and food there was GREAT. The next day we had a transfer meeting... I was so anxcious the entire time; I really just wanted to meet my new companion and get going :)So, after sitting through the enjoyable, but long new missionary meeting, we had our transfer meeting. Finally. My companion's Elder Chang (Zhang), he was born in Taiwan, but grew up in texas. So even though he looks native, he's american, and he couldn't speak mandarin before he came. Everboy at the transfer meeting was so excited to meet everyone and see all the people they already knew. So, it was a little weird for me, i don't like being the center of attention, but still fun. It kind of reminded me of the Sorting Ceremony in Harry Potter... Except a lot more predictable for everyone that isn't English or Spanish.After that we took the subway to Flushing and I got to see the Apartment (which willl be reffered to as 'pad' from now on), it like most everything around here, is dirty. Oh, I'll tell you a little about the city. The best way to describe it is dirty disneyland. It's all a sort of adventure... But it smells, and people honk all the time, but it's still really fun :) Speaking of the smells, they seem to change a lot, but you'll run into pee, cigarettes, BO, beer, good food, and all sorts of other smells.On tuesday we met David and have already taught him twice, and will teach him again tonight. He's 14 and is really sincere about finding truth, he even stayed for all 3 hours of church, so I've got hope for him.Oh, church is interesting. our ward is english/chinese, so some people have to translate all of sacrament meeting, it's tough and apparently has a negative effect on retention :(Oh, the church building is awesome! it's a converted Christian Science building, it's got an old fashioned chapel with a giant organ, and 2nd floor overflow, so, Ilike it a lot :)I've already eaten some squid. There's 8 people in our apartment and only 2 are white, otherwise chinese or koean... I don't have time left, so I gotta go :) Wo ai nimen! -Di Zhanglao

June 15th 2009 Email Home

I got my FLIGHT PLANS! I leave on the 22nd, a week from now, at five in the morning. I'll fly straight from Sale Lake to the JFK airport, and should arrive at 3:25 (eastern time... I think). The best part of this is that I had the latest estimated date of departure, and the Taipei missionaries - mainly Muo Zhanglao (Elder Mitchell) - were giving me a hard time about it, but we got our flight plans on the same day, but I'm leaving a day before them :) I'll write back later but here's some info to give out: Mission Office:85-69 60th Dr.Elmhurst, Queens, NY 11373 that's for anybody who wants to send me something after... wednesday? yeah, that's probably a good estimate. Well I'll write again later.

Hmm... I dunno if I'm gonna bring my shampoo/bodywash/mouthwash with me. I bought a travel sized pack from the book store, so, yes, I'll still have some, but it would be nice to have some to pick up. I dunno what else I'll need, if something comes up I'll probably put it in a letter. Oh, I opened up my umbrella for the first time and one of the ... bones... sure, was broken, so, maybe you could let me know in a dear elder what I should do with it. Well, today was the last time I'll go to the temple until the middle of my mission, so that's good that I got to go, but kinda sad I won't be able to for a while. We were doing work for indian people today; I did work for Parntap Singh Saranj or something. So, that was fun.Sister Infanger was quarrentined last tuesday, so Sister Roper was part of our companionship for 5 days, that was fun, though we don't exactly help eachother with our sarcasm :)Oh, my letter next week may be longer, I should be able to email for an hour.This keyboard is noisy.Well, this week was another MTC week. Our TA was great! Brother Hodges (who we all agreed will someday be Prophet) didn't have anything bad to say about anyone's teaching. So we didn't do anything wrong, we just could've done MORE right. and Improve our chinese :)I'm so excited and scared to get out there. I'm ready to eat something other than MTC food :) We watched Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration last night, I always get something new out of it. This time? Families are forever. When Alvin dies is probably my least favorite part. I just know God doesn't give us our families just to tear them apert after we die. Families are forever. I get so mad when a think things would be otherwise.Let's see, I've got some pictures to develope, maybe I'll send them off without a letter this weeked.I've still got 10 minutes left to write but have no Idea what to say.1. They really need spell check for this. Our English is getting steadily worse, our chinese slowly better, and when you combine those things you cannot spell correctly. I've turned the word "dilligently" into "Dilliliang" before. And I really don't know how to respond to "Hello", that word just sounds weird, along with goodbye. A lot of the time chinese just works better.Well, I miss you all, I love you all. The church is true, Ingwen shi Sadande yuyuan.I love Where Can I Turn for Peace, but it's not in the chinese hymnal! weishenme?! I'm thinking about buying myself a bigger chinese hymnal and sending it home with some other things, because it doesn't have pinyin, so I can't read it yet :( The chinese hymnal also doesn't have If You Could Hie to Kolob :( hai ok. Zhongwen bi Ingwen fechenghao. Oh Happy Father's Day!

June 8th 2009 Email Home

Jiating hao!
Yet another week has gone by at the MTC. I don't have Swine Flu (I've been tested) or any flu for that matter. So, that's good. I've gotten through Exodus and read that we don't really have to wash our hands before we eat (Matt 15:20... or 20:15). I've learned that my Mandarin's improved... But I've still got a LONG way to go. To help learn chractors/words, I've been adding the Pinyin (Romanization of Chinese) into the Children's Song Book (Ertong Geben), which has been, for me, fun. it's sad though; two weeks from tomorrow (the 23rd) is all the Taiwan missionaries estimated departure date, mines not until July 7th.... Which seems like a really long time. What are they gonna do with me? Well, I'll write again later today :) Di Zhanglao

I'm back. Where was I? Oh yeah: My companion has less time here that an English Elder. I still have more time here that one. I'm ready to see something other than brown brick buildings :) And I want real food.Hmmm... There really hasn't been much to tell about the last week. I'm really having a hard time at finding what to say... Really hard...I'll be sending some pictures in the Mail, that's exciting. I wasn't sure if I could use the word "what" a couple days ago.I'm really tired. Elder Mitchell's out of quarantine, Elder Juarez is in. I bought some stamps today.Sorry, I'm just tired right now.How's janitorial/Work going? How's the garden? How's Cali? How was Kira's wedding? How's the ward? How are you guys? How's the weather? How's JD Premium/Meleluka? Where are my vitamins? Shenme Shang? How's the Book of Mormon reading with Will and Caroline going? How's getting a Mac going? What's up with my External harddrive (I think I'd like it stored... in a closet though. How's Will and Caroline's LEGO movie? How many fingers am I holding up?Sorry, I was just out of Ideas. and this letter's really short. Don't worry, I'll be in New York with more exciting stories soon. Wo Ai Nimen- Di Bangyou Zhanglao

June 1st 2009 Email Home

So today I started printing some pictures for you guys. Mainly because I took a pretty sweet one outside the temple. Trust me, It's awesome. Well, today has been a good P-Day so far, we're back from the temple, and a bought some stuff to make Ruan Jiemei a Tissue Box. It's her birthday on wednesday, but we're celebrating it today. The New Missionaries are here and that's fun. Our Branch only had 20ish people in it, now we're back up to 40/50ish. We've got a lot of international missionaries in the new districts, but barely any sisters. I think we've got 5 sisters and 20 elders. One of the new districts doesn't even have sisters.Last night's devotional was awesome, we got to here from... Brother Swenson. Yeah, probably somebody nobody knows about, but he basically makes missionary work work. His talk was awesome, it was on S.I.N. - Souls In Need. and again we got to here about stupid things missionaries have done to mess things up. But overall a great talk. Then we got to watch Yuese Simi: Fuxin de Xianzhi. Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration (No, it wasn't in chinese, sometimes chinese is just easier to say). That is one of the best movies the church has come out with, I love it. I've watched it twice at the MTC. Maybe when I come home we came go to NYC & some church history sights/sites?Oh, nobody in the new districts is going to NYNYS, there's one going to NYNYN, but I'm still the only one I know of :(One problem we've run into though, is it's hard to teach to people's needs using chinese. Yeah, we know the gospel terms, but we don't have the vocab to personalize it yet. It's rough. I know what I want to tell them, but I don't know how in chinese. Like when we've have Buddhist investigators, one of the first things we'll ask is how it's helped them, or why they believe, and it's almost always because of tradition/family, so we ask them about family, and family is really big for chinese people, but I don't have the vocab after that :(So that's one thing I'll be working on this week.Hmm... Well. Dunno What else I have to say. Oh, the gym opened up again, so we've taken our 4-square inside. But we've got to many people playing these days.What else has happened this week?Well, I got into the war chapters... and honestly I was kind of bitter that Alma died/was translated.../No longer in the book, because I loved his teaching. But right when I got into the war chapters in the Book of Mormon, I got into Joseph, in the Bible. and I realized, his life was really prophetic of that of his descendants. Joseph was persecuted by his Brethren. Lehi was Persecuted by the Jews. God through thier persecution lead Joseph to Egypt. God lead Lehi to the Americas. Joseph prepared food for a great famine that was gonna come. The Nephites wrote the book of Mormon. Jacobs family was starving in the famine. The World entered into apostacy. Jacobs family found food from Joseph in Egypt. The world found the book of mormon from Joseph in America.There ya go.
Yeah I think I'm out of things to Say... Wo AI Nimen.

June 1st 2009 Email Home- Chinese Name

Nimen hao!
Well, I gave myself a Chinese given name this week. There's certain rules to this sort of thing. You last name is gonna be one Character/one syllable, a as surnames, have no meaning. Some do, but not as a last name, Di doesn't mean anything. Given names are 2 chracter/2 syllable (I'm pretty sure I spell syllable wrong), and the meaning is usually the reasoning behind the name, not so much what it sounds like. But I wanted to go about this in the right way; so I wanted to have a name that was phonetically similar, and had a similar meaning, to keep in mind what my parents named me. Benjamin is the english form of the Hewbrew name Binyamin, which means, Son of the Right. It probably took me 45 minutes to find a name that worked, so here we go: Bangyou (Tones: 4th-4th, Pronunced: Bawngyo). It means Draw near to/Be close to Right. Is that ok? I'm not sure if our teachers were planning on giving us names, but I'm gonna check with them and make sure my name isn't crazy or something. I'll send another email later.- Di Bangyou Zhanglao

May 25 2009 Email Home

Well, I put a lot into the letter I sent home so, I'm not quite sure what to say in this one. Because it's memorial day the temple's closed (buhao), and honestly, this week hasn't been that eventful... Hmmm... sorry. I really don't know what to say. While we today were at the book store at that time we saw the new missionaries' books. More than half of them are simplified characters, which means we'll have a lot of missionaries going to non-asian contries, which means I may meet some future companions! I already know of one, this spanish Elder, Elder Metcalf was contancting Sun Zhanglao and I, and afterwards we were talking about our missions, and he's got a friend, Elder Duran, who's going to my mission, mandarin speaking, and coming in on wednesday. Sweet :)But we won't be speaking english to the new missionaries, unless we're translating, so hopefully We can still get to know them. I love my district. Last night Stephen B Allen gave the talk at the devotional, it's the second time we've heard him, but, man, he's awesome. He didn't plan on it but ended up speaking about Missionaries who had really messed things up out in the field, there were some pretty intnse stories of really stupid things missionaries had done. REALLY stupid. like stay with other missionaries after zone conference, make a bomb, blow it up in the street, then when the cops come into your house they see your mission maps with pins for your contacts... what are they gonna think? True story. That's why the missionary handbook is so specific. Because of Stupid people.I got a chinese handbook this week, I wanted to be able to do blessings and the like in chinese. I love the temple. We are such missionaries. It's horrible. Most of our combacks come from the scriptures. Half of what we say is probably spiritual... except on pday... We have a little too much babilun talk on pday. We got talking about the office. And I've had Princess Bride stuck in my head for a few days, all because, when we played 4-Square, Elder Schwabe said "To the Death", so I had to say "To the Pain". But anyway, no more babilun talk dui budui?Jiating, you really need to start saying "dui budui?". Just throw it at the end of a statement, it means "Correct (or) not-correct". Please start using this. Please? (Dway boodway) It's probably one of my favorite things to say, kind of because we were making fun of Elder Fabiano, who used to say it all the time, but it's quite an addictive phrase. dui budui? (that's 4th tone, 2nd tone-4th tone) Everybody really likes my glasses. Hmmm.... Jiating, I've got some questions for ya, here I go: no nevermind. The Old Testament is... different. Oh, do I have a missionary plaque? and does it have a scripture on it? I'm so confused. Umm. yeah zaijian

May 18th 2009

Shenme Shang?Welll, I don't know if there's much to report on this week. Ottis didn't answer his phone :(Dominic wanted the missionaries over (he was praying about what church to join before I called)... but he's 17 and his parents don't really like the church. So, nothing new in the RC side of life. Umm... all the older districts are leaving tomorrow. Elder Nix is still gonna be here. He's been here since January, and his mission's been changed to London, English speaking, but he's still in our zone. He's going to the doctor today, so he may be cleared. I'm hoping for his sakes he will.Oh, I'm about 1/2 through the book of Mormon, I wanna say I started it my 2nd week here (I was in Moroni when I got here), and now I'm in Alma, so I should have it done before I go :) I wanna say that'll make it 4 times through... maybe. The Book of Mormon is my sanity here. It's a nice relief from chinese... Only now our teacher says we should try to start reading characters, so that'll be a challenge :) Oh, weird experience; today, in the temple, a was gonna start a prayer, and I thought for a second, then realized it would be really weird to say it in English. So I think my prayers may be permanently Chinese. Wode tonban shuo naga weird. (3'5-2'4-1-??)Oh, Song laoshi is leaving us when the new districts come in next week :( He'll be switching to the class next door :( All the district's really sad about it :( :( :(:( ... ? Alma's awesome by the way. umm.... Yeah... not much happens at the MTC. Oh yeah, there's no sarcasm in chinese. It's all about puns apparently, so I think this would be a perfect language for Mom. But anyway, our district's been trying to cut sarcasm out of our brains, it's working pretty well actually, and surprisingly, there's still things to laugh about. (I really hope you do spell check before you have everyone read this) Let's see... At the TA on Saturday, during the language scenario, we had to help 2 people move things around, the sister was from Taiwan, but the brother was from California, and spoke with a mainland accent. At the MTC they teach you to speak with a Taiwan accent, however, I'll be going to NYC, where they'll speak with a mainland one... which changes things a lot... grrrr. Example: ni cong nali lai? (you from where?) Taiwan: knee tsong gnaw lee lie, mainland: knee chong gnarly lie. I think. I know it's different, I'm not quite sure what the specifics are, but I'll be listening to quite a different accent. ughhh well, I've got 7 minutes, what do you wanna hear? Oh, I don't need the pocket dictionary, it's in the rules only to use the books the MTC gives you... so, it'll just have to stick with my giant "pocket" dictionary. What else can I say? 5 minutes... Oh, I guess I can tell you some great insight alma had... it was something along the lines of "Every man receiveth wages from the one he listeth to obey", basically that means if you work for God, God pays you. If you work for Satan, Satan pays you. Who's would you rather have? It's pretty simple at yet really profound. I think that's in Alma 2. 1 minute. wo ai nimen

May 11th 2009

Another week's gone by at the MTC. I'd have to say this one was pretty uneventful. In our TA on Saturday we were supposed to be able to have a 15 minute conversation in chinese, which worked out suprisingly well :)We, the Spanish and Chinese, beat the germans in the soccer game on tuesday... I don't think we're supposed to keep score though. Woops. Then my legs were sore, I fell when I tried to get the ball from somebody. Sounds lame, kinda was. Then I got sick. Buhao. My nose got runny, I lost my voice and I was coughing. I didn't think much of it and though it would go away, but I decided on Saturday to go to the health clinic. Too bad, it's closed on saturday, so if I wanted a doctor I would have to go to the emergency room or wait until monday. I knew I wasn't emergency room bad, so I decided to wait. Saturday and Sunday nights were rough. I swear I was up half the night coughing :( And now, today, we tried to go to the doctor this morning, but I guess you just make appointments, mine wasn't until 3:20. When Temple time came around, I still wanted to go, but not do any work - I didn't wanna get the workers sick - so Elder Bertelsen was just gonna do some work while I sat in the lobby and read. But the line was too big, so we ended up leaving.In a way today was great, but at the same time annoying. Oh well. I spent only 5-10 mins with the doctor, and a 1/2 hour waiting for him :( I probably sound really depressed, but that's not the case, in fact, it really has been a good day. I got lots of letters written, we cleaned our room, and good stuff like that. Tonight, we're gonna quit speaking english, wish me luck! It'll be tough, but we've gotta do it.
I'll let y'know about Ottis now. Yes there are 2 t's, and it's not Otis, it's aw-tis. He ordered a Lamb of God DVD, so I was calling to check and see if he got it, he happened to be on the way out the door, heading to a funeral. His sister's grandaughter had died. I don't take the credit for this, but I told him that famlies could be together forever, and that I knew this because of the Book of Mormon, and proceeded to explain the restoration, and especially the restoration of the doctrine of forever families. He seemed busy, but I could tell it was the right thing today. He was gonna be out of town for a few days, at the funeral, and so couldn't have the missionaries come right then, so I committed him to pray about my message, and tell his family. I'll be calling him later this week, so pray for me, pray for him.
I think everybody needs to hear the first vision like I hear it here. It is so powerful. Have the missionaries come over and teach you the restoration. I don't know how you can not feel the power in the words of Joseph Smith. The Spirit, if you're receptive to it, WILL tell you it's true. Do you realize what that means? It means that Joseph Smith was a prophet, and that we HAVE to be baptized to return to live with God, to be with, and be like Him. You HAVE to share that message. This isn't about making people happy, or making thier lives better, because there are some people who follow all of Gods commandments and will never find happiness in this life. This is about the life to come. God respects everyone's agency, and will not force anyone to do anything. We have to let them know that this is the way back to God. ... - Di Zhonglao

The Man Leaf- May 4th 2009

This was a good week, at least I think it was. I'm losing track of time, the only thing that moves here is how much chinese I know and teaching skills...which are moving slowly but improving. Hmmm.....I dont know what I have to say. I guess I could talk about the Man Leaf (which sounds a lot weirder than it is...maybe).
But one day the jiemei they came into class with a bottle of nail polish they couldn't open, and Feng Jiemei said whoever could open the bottle would get the Man Leaf (a leaf they found on the ground outside) So we basically wasted all personal study time trying to get the Man Leaf. Then, towards the end, Sun Zhanglao used Qian Zhanglao's leatherman to open it. Sure it wasn't the opening of the nail polish that makes this story worth telling; it was Feng Jiemei's presentation of it. She had Sun Zhanglao stand in the middle of class and as she made up fanfare soundeffects, placed it in his pocket next to his name tag. Yeah. Qian Zhanglao compared it to Starwars, when Princess Leia holds up the medals to Han, Luke and Chewie. I got the Man Leaf today for holding the door open....then I forgot it was in my pocket while I was at the temple. Whoops! Yes. We get that bored here. Not much goes on. If I had to describe Tuesdays-Saturdays it would be like this: The spirit is strong, the work is hard, and though we love him, Lin Zhanglao is annoying. :-)

Something I think I realized this week; Everything we believe is crazy. It's impossible, improbable, overwhelming etc. But I cannot deny it is true. I know it, I feel it several times a day at least. If you dont, you need to repent and pray about it.

Going to the MTC

Elder Benjamin Eddy reported to the MTC in Provo, April 15th 2009.

Looking at his missionary name tag

Elder Eddy

Grandpa Paul Eddy helping to put on Ben's name tag

The family making sure he's ready to go