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