One Month

Hey everyone!!!

Wow, what a week. It's been so infinitely long, and yet so short. Super weird. And it's crazy to think that it's already been a month! Only 17 to go! As we say here, only 17 fast Sundays left!

I haven't seen the General Women's conference yet. I'll see it on Saturday! I heard it was amazing!!

Yeah, Grandma Griffiths and Aunt Kathleen sent me a Dear Elder and it made my day! Kathleen also sent me a Dear Elder Package with Cookies in them!!! I shared (a little) and everyone loved them!! It was so awesome! Thanks so much Aunt Kathleen and Grandma! You are my angels!!!

I did get quite a few Dear Elders and they were amazing! Thank you all!  Also, for the Anderson's, I was so grateful to get your Dear Elder as well! It was so good to hear from you and I hope the preparations for Chase's mission are going well! 

That pack of papers and pens and everything that grandma gave me as well has been one of the greatest things I brought!!! Grandma was exactly right when she said that all of my companions would use it because they definitely have! The tape and markers and scissors have come in handy so much!

Last week was pretty rough, but this week has actually been quite a bit better! The language is still incredibly hard, but it's going alright. My companions and I had a blast and we are bonding so much! I love them so incredibly and will miss them so much when we go to Hong Kong! It's pretty funny because during comp. inventory I'm pretty sure that everyone worries about us because all they hear from the other room is yelling. Yup, we're yelling compliments at each other and telling each other how much we love them and our voices get kind of loud as we talk over each other. We come out of there feeling so amazing and so full of love for each other!!! It's fantastic! Also, I am so extremely grateful for our district. We are so incredibly close and have way too much fun. The other zones and districts seem to be ok, but they don't seem to be bonding near as much. Can I just say that I am so blessed to be with this group? They make the MTC way more fun!

Ok, so I'll try to get all of this out in a somewhat understandable way.

So on Tuesday was Lexi Walker's devotional thing with Elder and Sister Zwick from the 70 speaking. It was so incredible. I don't know if they ever release the recordings of the MTC devotionals, but mom, if you ever see it posted somewhere, you should watch it. It was so fantastic and so spiritual. 

Before that, on Monday after I wrote, I had a super cool moment where I was in our 6:30 class and I could literally feel everyone's prayers for me. Coolest feeling ever. It would have been about dinnertime I would guess. Wow I felt so blessed. That day, the language came a lot easier and our lesson went amazing. So cool.

Our lessons with Nikki and Lam Jimuih are amazing! Nikki has no Christian background, but she agreed to read the BOM and pray about it, and she said the closing prayer for our lesson! Huge improvement!!! And Lam Jimuih is less active but has such a strong testimony!! She's going back to church and we're re-teaching her the lessons. I love them both so much!

Yesterday's devotional was the BYU Men's Choir and it was soooo amazing. And so spiritually uplifting. Super cool.

So, some highlights this week and also some explanations of the pictures this week:Sister Keery gave me a thimble from Northern Ireland! I took a picture of it. 

The Elders wore koala clips on their ties and they were fantastic. Well, before they had to take them off. Elder Vowels brought them from Australia (of course).

 And I think it was the Elders that stole our desks. Just ours. So I took a picture. 

Then we left and came back and they'd put a table there instead. It was hilarious. 

So that's how we had class for that afternoon. Then we moved our desks back in. 

Sorry for all the flower and tree pictures! There are a lot. But I feel like since I've been here long enough to see them bloom, they make me so happy!!! So you get lots of pictures of those, and not a lot of me. 

Or, maybe none of me. Whoops. Oh and the Tarzan picture made me laugh so hard. Sister Burtenshaw drew it. Goibin means change. Junyi means like and ngoi moyimunging is love the Book of Mormon.

Elder Vowels did a ton of movie quotes Saturday night and we were dying laughing. Lots and lots of Finding Nemo quotes since he is, after all, Australian and can do them perfectly. It was totally fantastic. I should check that off my bucket list. Plus he's always doing puns, and now he's doing jokes in Cantonese too. We're talking like dad's puns. So funny. On our way to gym in the rain, Sister Rees was yelling Par Core!! or however that's spelled and right then, she slipped on the floor and totally sprawled out in front of everyone. We couldn't stop laughing and neither could she. And Sister Burtenshaw dropped her tray in the cafeteria and her plate broke. One of the workers helped her clean it up and I looked over, wondering who it was and oh that poor sister, I wonder where her companion is. Oh. Wait a sec. That's my companion. So we went to the bathroom to clean off her hand which she'd gotten covered in beans, laughing the whole way. Oh my district cracks me up. We get in trouble a lot for laughing. Oh well, you can't please everyone I guess.

Mom, I had a cool experience yesterday. Sister Stafford was totally an answer to my prayer. On the 23rd I was feeling a little sad, first month anniversary away from home and all. (Maddy's 12 yr old brother passed away 8 months ago). I prayed to be able to talk to someone and just get it off my chest and yesterday she asked about Brendan and I was able to talk to her about it. She was so positive and supportive and I felt so much better after talking to her. She even shared one of her own stories with me and i just wanted to tell you because it was such a tender mercy. You're letter was also a tender mercy. I just love hearing from you all sooooo much!!

Leihdeih Hou! Ngoh sik gong yingman tuhng siu siu gwongdungwa! Leih dou hoyih gong gwongdungwa yuhgwo leih linjahp!! :D

No idea where you got the Cantonese, but it's so awesome!!! I don't think I spelled most of that right, and I don't know how to add tones, so I'll provide a translation. You're welcome.

Hi(plural)! I know how to speak English and a little Cantonese! You can also speak Cantonese if you practice!*

I wish I could see pandas toooooo!!! Role plays are a little tiring, I'll admit. But they're good I guess. 

Our threesome actually gets along alarmingly well. There are some inconveniences for sure, but we love having a threesome. There are some perks believe it or not. The triangle of power for example. Sight and sound, sight and sound. That means one can stay in the classroom while one goes to the corner to watch the other one get a drink. It's like a chain of awesomeness.

I love you all so much. I'm learning and growing so much and I really do love this gospel! It's been such a humbling experience this week as I've struggled with the language, but I really do feel all of your prayers and I see the hand of the Lord in every single thing I do. The gift of tongues is so real!! I hope you all have an amazing week this week! You're all in my prayers and I know the Lord is blessing you and taking care of you, which makes me a lot less worried! All my love!!!

Sister Peck

Paak Jimuih

​

There is Sunshine in My Soul Today!

Dearest Family,

Leih deih hou!! How is everyone? This week has been so full of ups and downs, and there's so much to tell, so I'll do my best to get everything in here. 

Ok, so bad news first. So, Tuesday was super rough, I had a really hard time feeling motivated and didn't feel like I wanted to be here anymore. Still haven't had my first crying breakdown though. Apparently everyone should have at least one in the MTC. Still waiting for mine I guess. Anyway, this week has been the hardest I think. I've had such a hard time feeling like I'm progressing in Cantonese and on the lessons. It's hard! Especially when I compare myself to other people in my district, (which I'm not supposed to do, so I don't do it *cough) No, I try really hard not to, but sometimes it's hard. TRC's are so hard too. No idea what anyone said. So, sum up of this week, an awful lot of feeling inadequate. I thought I was already doing fine on the humble department last week, I didn't even know that I could get lower than I am now. Hm...

Anyway, on to the good news: It's so sunny!!!! And warm! I love the weather, it brightens my soul, hence the title of the email. I feel like it gets into my soul and I carry little rays of sunshine with me. So we've been doing a lot of personal and language study outside in the beautiful sunshine! There are these little birds that come right up to us, so I took some pictures. They make me so happy!!!

 Also, on the animal department, we saw a duck on Saturday, and a bat on Sunday. And.... The bat was inside the gym. It would fly around every few minutes and distract everyone during devotional. I wish I could have gotten a picture! It was awesome. No idea how they're going to get him out of there...

So, some of the pictures are of this book that we have. It's hilarious. So I had to take some pictures of the sample discussions. Maybe you guys will have as much fun reading them as I did.  So now it's something of an inside joke in our district. You'll have to read the really good examples on how to treat your companion. I died laughing.

Another thing I wanted to mention was how grateful I'm trying to be for the MTC food. Everyone complains about it, but honestly, the fact that they make several options of pretty balanced meals for a good thousand missionaries is amazing, plus dessert, three times a day. So I'm pretty grateful. It may not be the best quality ever, but I can't complain. Except the fact that it's making me gain so much weight because it's so much food, plus the dessert that I just can't pass up... It's bad.

So... I'm dying to know how Beauty and the Beast was! You have seen it, right? Our teacher, Li Jimuih went and saw it and I was so jealous!! Oh well. When I get back I guess. But, I guess something that makes up for it juuuuuust slightly is the fact that, guess what, Lexie Walker (I think that's her name) that girl that's in that frozen video, the one with the amazing voice that's super young? She's singing with the MTC choir at our devotional on Tuesday!!! Yup. Y'all should be jealous. No idea whether the camera will ever show me, or whether they'll even record the devotional, but if it ever gets out onto social media, I am in that beautiful amazing choir backing her up as she performs. So there.

So, the other Cantonese district has left us! They left for Hong Kong this morning at like two. It was soooo depressing to see them go! We'll miss them. They were so fun to be around and so hilarious. There was another Sister from Northern Ireland that Sister Keery was friends with before they came to the MTC, and they also had one from England that was hilarious. I don't know if President and Sister Lam will post a picture of them on their facebook page like they usually do with the new missionaries that come in. Anyway, we'll miss them. The next missionaries from our zone to go out will be US! Weird thought.

Oh, I almost forgot! We got two new sisters in our room! We used to only have the three of us in our room and it was amazing. But we got two new ones and they are sooooo awesome! Sister Pressley and Sister Wardle. Sis. Pressley's going to The Hawaii visitors Center I think, mandarin speaking, and Sis. Wardle is going to California mandarin speaking. But Sis. Wardle already speaks mandarin because she's lived in China her whole life. Crazy! She's blonde and doesn't look Asian whatsoever. She's fastracked, so she's leaving in like two weeks, so Sis. Pressley will be her own district! How sad is that! She'll be a solo missionary. It makes me so grateful for our district. Especially since we won't really say goodbye when we leave the MTC since we're all going to the same country. All the mandarins go to all over the world, so they all had to part. I'm so grateful for what I've got!

We hosted Wednesday, and it looks like you got the picture of me that I had no idea was on Facebook. I went up to a car, ready to help the new sister with her bags, and suddenly I freeze because it's Chantel! I'm not 100% sure whether that's how you spell her name, but we were in Cross Country together! She went to Mountain Crest with me! It was such a wonderful moment for me!!!! We were never super close friends, but just to see a friendly face was so amazing. Just what I needed. 

Bright spot today! On our way back to the MTC from the Temple, we passed a woman and she stopped us and said that she was so grateful for us. She's been in the church for two years and said she never thought she would have a life like this. She said that there are people preparing for us in Hong Kong and that we would touch people and change their lives, like the sister missionaries changed hers. She teared up and said that she loved us and was so grateful for us. I almost cried!!! It was just what I needed to hear! She was my angel today. I thought, Oh yeah. This is why I'm here. It was awesome.

Mom, I'm soooo glad you told me to just bring my jeans. I'm wearing them right now and I'm soooo happy. I'm already so sick of my outfits. Great. Also, how many pictures can there be of me on Facebook?! I keep hearing people say they loved my pictures. Hm. Also, I know everyone is super busy, but... I really do love getting Dear Elders... My days are always so much better. Man I feel so selfish saying that, but even just once every other week or so would be super awesome to get a letter from someone. 

I am doing SYL, but not as much as I should probably... Cantonese is so rough. Bleh. Yup, still love my companions! They're really supportive.

You all are so amazing. I love you all more than I can say. Even though it was a rough week, I do know that this is where I'm supposed to be. It's really not easy. At all. But I know that it will be worth it if I can stick it out. Thanks for all the support that you all provide. It makes things so much easier. I pray for you all daily and think about you often. I know this church is true. I've been rereading the Book of Mormon, and it's a whole new book. I've never caught how amazing the whole book is! It's been so cool to see how the Gift of Tongues has helped me and how close I've come to my Savior. 

I've been here three weeks. Six to go. Hopefully I can make it till then. Love you! I miss you all. Have such an amazing week!

Love,

Sister Peck

Paak Jimuih

Seeing the Bright Side!

Hey Family!

This week has been really good! It's flown by faster than any week in my life I think. It's pretty weird. Everyone says that the weeks feel like days and the days feel like hours. It's just like that. And sometimes the hours feel like days. Especially in class when I don't understand a word anyone is saying. I think that's the hardest part of the day. The three-hour long classes that are all in Cantonese. By the end I feel like my brain is going to explode. Sometimes it gives me a bit of a headache, but it's alright. 

 So, I told you a little bit about Anna I think. She was our investigator. I love her so much and she kept every commitment we gave her, she decided to come to church, and she readily agreed to be baptized!!! Golden investigator right there. So... then Li Jimuih told us that we weren't teaching her anymore and we were all so heartbroken!!! She said we would be getting a new investigator. Yeah, we all about cried. So fast forward a few hours and we're waiting for class at 6:30, when we usually teach Anna, and she shows up at our classroom! We were all thrilled!!! And....she was speaking English. Plot twist, her name is Sister Hadley, (Ha Jimuih) and she's our new teacher... hm. Should have seen that coming. I had figured that she was a member, but I had no idea that she'd be our teacher! So she taught our class, and we saw a video of our new investigator, who, surprise! Is Li Jimuih. So now we have to teach her too. She's going by Nikki and we teach her on Wednesday. I'm a little nervous to be teaching our teacher, but it'll be great. I guess they don't have that many investigators who speak Cantonese... Anyway, Ha Jimuih is the cutest person ever!!!! She got back from her mission to Hong Kong last year and she loved it. 

In other news, we had Elder Costa from the 70 speak to us on Tuesday and it was the best!!! It was so spiritual. He shared his conversion story, his wife converted him.

So, I had really really dry lips at the start of this week and it was bugging me so bad, so I got some blistex chapstick that helped a lot. 

Also, my district is hosting this week!!!! Remember those too-happy-for-their-own-good missionaries that were helping at the front? (When the new missionaries come to the MTC.) I get to be one of those this Wednesday!! Oh the irony. I'm super super excited!

Mom and Linz, thanks soooo much for the package!!! It was everything I needed! 

So, some random things, Sister Lima Po totally knows the girl who plays Moana. She went to her high school and everything. So I kind of basically know her. Also, I shook the hand of the granddaughter of President Eyring. She's in the Mandarin speaking district. Yup. 

So, for the pictures this week, there are some pictures of my district, 

and some of Sister Hadley (the one with the byu lanyard), 

one of them is of some Arabic on the board. 

That was Sister Stafford writing my name in Arabic! She took it for 6 years. Can you read it Sarah? 

The picture of the random guy is one of the Elders from the other cantonese district. They're all pretty hilarious and leave for Hong Kong in about ten days or so. 

Also, the kangaroo pin. 

Elder Vowels gave us all a kangaroo pin since he brought a whole bunch from Australia. So now we're the Hong Kongaroos. Feel free to laugh. 

The picture of the writing in Cantonese says "Through Jesus Christ we can all have..." It originally had something else, like eternal life or something, but someone erased it and wrote sihkmaht instead, which is food. I laughed so hard when I read it. 

The broken jar is Sister Burtenshaw's body wash. The lid to the normal bottle broke, so she put it in a ziploc bag. The bag had holes, so she put it in the jar and well... you can see what happened to that. So... obviously that body wash really didn't want to be saved. When it broke, we all laughed so hard. Then we cleaned it up. We're still being careful to watch out for any glass that we missed. We have a lot of fun. 

Mom, my bag of goldfish was a hit! I have one bag left. Thanks again for those!!!  And I can't thank you enough for the copies of the blessing of when I was set apart! I loved reading through them again. I'd forgotten a lot of what was said, so thank you!!

Oh, I love you all so much!!!  I hope this week has been good! I think about you all often!

Also, random side note, I figured out that I probably won't see a single panda on my mission and was super sad about it. I'm going to China and won't see any pandas. Childhood dreams crushed. That's alright. Maybe some monkeys I guess.

I can't believe it's already been almost two weeks. We're on week three of our schedule, but I lose track of time so often. It's already flying by. Sometimes it's so hard with Cantonese and preparing and teaching lessons, but I really do enjoy being here for the most part. I still love my companions and my district, the Lord is obviously looking out for me. They're all so fantastic. Some days are rougher than others when I'm tired and frustrated, but I really am grateful for this experience. I've already seen the gift of tongues so much and am really surprised at how much Cantonese I've learned already. I can almost pray in Cantonese now, so huge improvement. I love the spirit here! It's amazing. We went to the temple this morning again and I love it.

 Also, I can check my email during the week, I just can't respond until Monday. So if anyone ever wants to email throughout the week, I'll see it. I just won't respond until P-day. 

I can't even express my love for all of you! You are all amazing!!!! I feel your prayers every day! Til next week!

All my love,

Sister Peck (Paak Jimuih)