Sister Ashley Wawro 魏姐妹 | Taiwan Taichung Mission

Making the MTC Interesting

So- about a month has gone by of this mission. That’s crazy! On the other hand, I feel like I’ve spent my whole summer here.

School is about to start at BYU and that's a little weird for me. I kept getting distracted because they’ve lit up the "Y" at night for Education Week. I finally told myself if I turned and looked at Y Mount then I would turn into a pillar of salt. That seemed to help.

Someone said this week that "we need to share our faith-building experiences so that they can serve more than just us, and help build other's faith." So, I'm going to tell you about some of they funny things that happened here and then some of the spiritual experinces from this week.

But first,

THE ELDER SHINANNIGANS:

So we’ve been here too long-- just long enough to think of ways to try to make the MTC fun.

For example, when the sisters get back to the dorms we have a different accent we have to speak in each day of the week. Wednesday is Southern, Saturday is Russian, Thursday is Indian, Friday is Brittish etc etc.

But the Elders have had some fun of their own this week. HERE ARE MY FIVE FAVORITE:

One Elder got a plate of cookies from his mom. So he decided to play a joke on the Elders next door. He walked over with a plate of cookies and said, “Hey anybody want one?" Then, when they reached for a cookie he went, "Oh, not that one." “Oh wait, not that one either." "Oh that one is my favorite." And finally he just said, "You know what? Nevermind." and left.

One Elder lost a dare, so he took a fruit-by-the-foot and unrolled it. Then, while he was taking a shower, he flung the fruit-by-the-foot over the stall wall and said, “Hey man, want a bite?" I'm still not sure the reaction the other guy had.

Another Elder lost a dare so he had to go up to ask a random Sister for her powerade. That she was drinking. Mid sip. We watched from across the room as she explained that there was a powerade machine and he still insisted. She looked at him like he was insane and sent him away.

One Elder's mom sent him a spatula (we dont know why). So, he hid the spatuala in someone else's room. Then he went around the floor yelling that someone had stolen his spatuala and searching through people's rooms. He "found" the spatual in an Elder's room in the other Chinese zone and they were all like, "We didnt know man! We didnt take it Elder we promise!" Now everytime they see him in the cafeteria they just hang thier heads and aplogize.

An Elder lost a dare and had to throw a temper tantrum in the middle of a four-square game when he got out. He had to beat his fists on the ground and everything. They didn’t know what to do, so they just let him stay in. I have never laughed so hard. I mean they're still 18.. But they're so much fun.

A couple other things happened with the Elders on accident too. We went an auditioned another musical piece for Sister Nally (I wasn’t singing this time but I went) and one Elder looked down... He had gotten dressed in the dark. Literally. And had bright blue pants on and a black blazer. Sister Nally (President's Wife) had to tell him.

SPEAKING OF FOUR SQUARE:

Four Square- you know they children’s game- Four Square is not a joke here. It is not for children. Honor is eternally lost in that court. I've starting waking up early and going to the Sister's workout classes so that I can just play Four Square the whole time. We're supposed to not be competitive so there's no score, but I've never seen anything so competitive in my life. The elders in our district make us practice and we have district plays.

I left kinda bad though because I picked on Elder Eyring (not the apostle, the missionary) (his grandson though) and said, "Hey look, if Eyring is King, we can all definately make it to King's Square." I was kidding but right after I said it, he lost. I went to apologize and he just laughed and said, "ya ya ya I have five older Sisters; Throw at me whatever you want."

CHINESE AND THE MTC:

And now I will tell you of the wrestle I've had with Zhong Wen (Chinese)

So there are no cases, no past tense, no future tense, and no plural words in Chinese. And then you add emphasis by repeating words or rearranging them one or two places over in the sentence. So, I often get what all the words mean, but I still don't know what they mean in the context of the sentence. But other than that it's going about as well as it could. Here's a couple language moments I've had this week:

So I listened to all the Korean missionaries talking, and I thought I figured out how to say hi. So one morning I said hello in Korean! And the Elder just looked at me and said, "Ya... you just said 'Hello peasant." whoops.

In Chinese, to ask how someone is, you say, "Chi boa le?" which literally means, "Have you eaten?" I think thats one thing the Chinese definitely got right.

We have to write a talk every Sunday and then they call us up at Random to talk about it. Well I wrote lovely talk on the Book of Mormon and its promises.... too bad everyone else had gotten the memo that we were speaking on repentance... lovely talk though.

We had to watch a video in Spanish in a lesson, and then our teach translated it into Chinese. I understood everything in Spanish, every word, and none of it in Chinese. -__-. The Spanish missionaries here have a goal of learning at least 1,000 words a month. What a fluffy language. We're supposed to learn 1,000 before we leave to be in the "excellent" category hahaha.

We had to say goodbye to the districts here who went to Taichung this week. That was a little sad. But! We get five new sisters this week all going to Taipei! Two are international and ONE SISTER IS FROM BEJING CHINA! Its so crazy exciting.

SPIRITUAL MATTERS- JENNY OAKS BAKER & CHOIR:

So Jenny Oaks Baker came and performed for us last night. She’s one of America's most accomplished violinists and Elder Oaks daughter. Who knew right? I never put two and two together. She played I Know That My Redeemer Lives as a duet BY HERSELF on her violin. By herself. She was not just playing in thirds below, playing the alto part with accidentals- holding out bottom notes- while playing scales up with the soprano notes. I've never heard anything like it. It was incredible.

I was most struck by (1) That beautiful song

(2) Her talking about how her mom would quote scriptures to her to comfort her before she went on stage. One time, Jenny got a blessing right before she stepped on stage, but she performed her worst. She told her mom she wasn’t blessed. Just then she got a phone call saying she had won the competition. Her mom told her to get on her knees in the living room and repent (haha.) But I love how her mom quotes scriptures to her.

(3) She said that God, "by allowing me to experince somethings that were so terrifying, allowed me to be able to tell when I was being blessed"

(4) She said that what we remember most from primary is the music. Think about it though, can you remember the primary lessons? No! You can just remember the music. And the lessons that go with that music. Like, "I am a Child of God. I'm trying to be like Jesus. etc" We can remember those truths better because they are tied to music.

Anyway, my time is up but I did want to mention a couple other things. Our Choir teacher was talking about how when Christ entered the city on Palms Sunday the Pharisees wanted him to call the people off cheering for him. And Christ said, if they stop the very rocks will begin to testify (Now you wish they had stopped, huh). Because he's all powerful. He stopped the wind and the skies with one breath. The whole earth shook when he died. His power we do not comprehend. I know that we are weak, but he is strong. That we can do anything, or be anything, or accomplish anything that is a worthy goal with his help . He is not only all powerful, he is the ultimate of compassion. He can send blessings for us through the veil. He will send angels to be on your either side; He will safeguard and protect you. Through priesthood blessings, and other’s support, and the Book of Mormon, and sincere prayer, he can soothe deep questions of our souls.

Christ said, when others come unto him, "I will not send them away hungry."

Ether 12:27: “And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then I will make weak things become strong unto them.”

I don't even think this was that funny.. but he wanted a picture so bad.

So we were hosts this week! That means we got to help the new missionaries arrviing! My sisters were going to Russia, and St.Lewis, and Argentina and Seoul, South Kroea! And thney were all so awesome! One even got special permission to bring her guitar to Korea!

My district had a moment where they all shot rubber bands around... they actually have really good aim. Sister Ashby has the best aim.. right into the AC. ;) (Ya, they're still 18)

It wasnt until after that I saw it said dont put fingers in...

Remeber when I mentionioned Elder Tattons mom and the Chexmix? Did I tell you about that? Well.. I GOT CHEX MIX! She sent it to me :) To make matters even better, Elder Tatton picks up the mail :) Elder Shi wasnt happy about having to be the pciture but we dont mind bc we have homemade CHEXMIX!