NIhǎo! Zěnme yàng?
This week has felt like an eternity. I will try to recount all the happenings but my brain is so cloudy with a bunch of Zhōngwén mixing with my English and the occasional Spanish word! I am confused haha ANYWAYS! Last P-day was pretty exciting. We had gotten back to the room and I was brushing my teeth and walking around with Sister Clark (the Sister from Sweden). She was telling me a story when all of a sudden the fire alarm goes off!! I, in all my wisdom, bolted into the bathroom because I wanted to spit the toothpaste out and rinse my mouth really quick and then I started smelling a super horrible burning smell. I know you are thinking I am the dumbest person you know and you are 100% right. HAHAHA Mom and Dad I truly am sorry for being so dumb, I promise it won't happen again. Anywayyys so I turn around and sprint out of the bathroom and find my tóngbànmen (companions) and all the sisters evacuating looked and sounded like flustered chickens. Everyone was screaming and pushing and the whole time I was just thinking how annoying it was that I didn't get to spit out my toothpaste.
So how did the fire start? Well turns out that someone on the 3rd floor (I live on the 4th) had put their ramen in the microwave for SEVEN MINUTES and it caught on fire. Don't ask me how or why. Wǒ bù zhīdào. But all that was lost was the ramen (#rip), the microwave didn't blow up, nobody died, and I got to spit my toothpaste out in the tulip garden.
Note: Mom and Dad I realize that this story wasn't comforting in any way. I was only in the bathroom for a split second but I ended up being in the front of the line of people evacuated if that helps hahaha I love you.
Next highlight was Elder Jensen going vegetarian for a whole entire day. I challenged him and, surprisingly, he agreed because he thought it would "detox him from the 3 feet of Subway sandwiches (from a recent challenge)." Best part is that he actually liked what I eat (he ordered the same food as me) BETTER than the food he has been getting! However, he didn't admit that he loved it until dinner when he had to explain why he was going back for another wrap. (Peyton- It was just like in spongebob when squidward finally admits he likes krabby patties) So yes. WINNING! #goveg
On another note, learning Mandarin has been simultaneously the most challenging & most rewarding thing I have probably ever done. We spend soo many hours studying everyday and sometimes it feels like I am getting nowhere. But then my Lǎoshī will ask me a question and I can respond/have a conversation IN CHINESE and it blows my mind. It's only been 5 weeks and I am understanding and speaking Zhōngwén?! I don't have an impressive vocabulary at all but this is some crazy stuff. I really, really love the language. It is SO much fun to speak and it is very logical. For example: their number system literally involves math. So to say 31 you would do 3 x 10 + 1 making it sān shí yī. It all makes sense! & ooo that reminds me:
Mandarin Word of the Day: Fàng gēzi
Say it: faaaang geezah
Meaning: To stand someone up
Literal Translation: To let your pigeons go
Last point in this novel of an email is something that has been on my mind constantly these past weeks: gratitude. Sister Andrew gave me a copy of a talk by Dieter F. Uchtdorf called "Grateful in any Circumstances" and I highly recommend searching "The Google" (Laura and Teresa that one was for you ;) ) for it. He starts by saying,
"Perhaps focusing on what we are grateful for is the wrong approach. It is difficult to develop a spirit of gratitude if our thankfulness is only proportional to the number of blessings we can count."
This made me wonder how I think of gratitude in a way that is conditional on how much I can find to be thankful for. I'm not saying this is wrong because counting blessings is something we can all benefit from. But what about the hard times when it is hard to feel grateful? I think that's what Elder Uchtdorf is saying here. I'm not quite sure what a "spirit of gratitude" is exactly but I think it looks a lot like Philippians 4:4,
"Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice."
Obviously life is gonna get hard. But it is also going to be GREAT. It is easy to be grateful when life is going well but I easily get caught up in the bad when life doesn't seem to be going my way. My favorite line of the entire talk says, "Could I suggest that we see gratitude as a disposition, a way of life that stands independent of our current situation? So instead of being thankful for things, we focus on being thankful in our circumstances." No matter how much I complain about the food here or sitting for 9 hours a day. I can be grateful. And I have noticed when I stop complaining, life is much easier and much happier
So everyone- REJOICE ALWAYS!
& REJOICE that you made it to the end of this email!!!
Hahaha I love you all. I miss you. Write me whenever. Keep me updated on life out there :)
all my love,
sista mo
PICS:
1. HALFWAY PIC! These are ma people (sorry about the blurriness).
2. My favorite picture from the mish thus far. Please appreciate each face individually.
3. Middle part Monday....
4. Some new sisters in our zone! Sister Woodruff & Sister Martin and some very successful photobombing.
