going on week 5

Leih Hou! Leih hou dim a?! Pretty sure I saw what a week every email, but it really has been quite the week! I try to write down little bulletpoints throughout it so I remember to add everything I need to in the email so hopefully I can remember everything I want to! I'll start from last Tuesday. Sis. Bishop and I made our way to the temple and when we were in the waiting room this man next to me asked if we spoke any other languages. we told him we were learning cantonese and he asked if we knew spanish hahahah but sis. bishop has actually studied spanish and I, of course from taking it in 8th and 9th grade, am practically fluent myself. So he asked us if we knew where this certain scripture was in revelations. I finally help him find it and then we chatted un poco. He's peruvian, probably in his late 30's. Anyway, Sis. Bishop was trying to tell him that we live at the MTC because we are missionaries and she kept busting out Spantonese! I was dying! Anyway we enjoyed the session and we were just in the celestial room and all of the sudden there is our little friend (literally...he was prob 5'2") and he starts talking to sis bishop. he was whispering really quietly and he had a thick accent so I didn't know what he was saying really. So I just sat and pondered. But after about 30 min I was like...ok what is going on?! Finally she told him that we needed to leave. Once we were out she was dying laughing because apparently he started telling her his life story and all about his dreams and whatnot...oh man there are some funny people!! haha too bad we prob won't run into that in Hong Kong hahaha

Elder Kakuchi came and spoke to us at the devotional and it was amazing. He talked about the importance of Joseph Smith and his sacred experience in the sacred grove. He challenged us to find our own sacred grove and be consistant with our morning prayers so that we will be guided throughout the day. I'm still not perfect at it, but I've definitely improved and I'm so grateful for everything he taught. He shared his conversion story too which was incredible. If i had time i'd tell you but pretty much the missionaries were completely inspired to knock on his door when he was about 14. Their testimony of Joseph Smith touched his heart. I learned so much just from his talk and I know he was inspired to say the things he did. So i'm officially a SOLO sister! I have no companion! yes, the older district left yesterday and the new doesn't come until NEXT wednesday. So I just float around from Sister to sister or with my district. I get left some places and all that fun jazz haha it's not too bad but I do miss my tuhngbuhn (companion). She helped me so much and now I have the responsibility to help the younger when they come. it's going to be tough but hopefully this week i can really focus and getting the language down even that much more and building that confidence in myself and in God. I have seen my faith grow but i know it can grow so much more.

We taught in the TRC in Cantonese for the first time this Saturday and I studied really hard and learned new words to use and when we got there I felt like I forgot everything haha I was really nervous and it didn't help that our old investigators got switched and we had three new ones (including Tyler Sharp from Mesa...Krystal is good friends with him too!) So that was even more nerve wracking because I had a friend there listening to my try to speak Cantonese. Our task to teach how to pray went pretty good and the lesson wasn't bad either...I felt like there was a lot more i could've said, but it's ok because it was simple but we still taught what we needed to. The only hard thing is we don't know what they say back to us hahah so it's hard to teach to their needs. During our lesson I was trying to think of things to say but then when Elder Farnsworth started talking about Joseph Smith I just thought of how grateful I really am for him and how special his experience was. I started freaking out because I could feel the emotions coming and I was going to quote the first vision in his own words. yep, you guessed it, totally started crying. And it's SOO much harder to speak Cantonese when crying than English because you still have to hit the tones haha but I got through it and it was really cool that even when speaking another language that you hardly know, the spirit is still so strong.

So I filled out this application for being in some special choir deal and I got accepted haha but it is a special MTC choir and we have about 5 pieces that we're singing for the New Mission President Seminar. They said it is very important that we are capable of singing well so they made us sing a hymn and went around listening to us. We have 5 practices and they are manditory. if we don't come we get kicked out and they take precidence over all other MTC activities. I didn't even know what this was all for but it sounds really cool and I'm really excited for the opportunity to sing in it. I'll be missing breakfast and class but I know I'll be blessed for the sacrifice. So one last thing before I end, Sis. Ann Dibb, President Monson's daughter, came and spoke to us in Relief Society and it was really neat! She wanted us to get to know Pres. Monson on a more personal level so she told about his life and showed all these pictures! it's just really neat to see how they are people like everyone else but also how their faith increased over the years and continues to increase. I know without a doubt that President Monson his the living prophet we have today. It is SO important that we continue to follow his council because he KNOWS what is best for us. I know that obedience is one of the most important things we need to do to help our faith increase, and then we need to ACT. I know that I am imperfect. I know that I have weaknesses, and I know that there is opposition in all things. I'm grateful for opposition, even when times are hard. I'm grateful that I have this experience to learn how to strengthen my weaknesses and then eventually help others strengthen theirs too. I love being a missionary. I have so much to learn still but the more I learn, the more my love grows for the Savior and his atonement, and the more I want to give that to everyone. Every single person deserves to know the truth and to have the gospel in their lives! And I can be a part in sharing that! I love you all and keep you in my prayers. Thanks for everything!

Love,
Sister Kiene (Kahm Ji Muih)