Excerpts from Garrett's Sixth Letter from the MTC

Well, the MTC has been good the last week.  I’ve gotten a little more nervous in my studies and such because I realize that we are leaving in about a month and a week.  I’m super excited though; I will definitely be excited when that day comes.  The language is coming along.  We just taught our first full lesson in Khmae last Saturday in TRC (a place where missionaries teach volunteers who are fluent in the languages they are learning).  Other languages teach full lessons from the beginning, but Khmae and other languages like it started full lessons last week.  We taught lesson one, and it went pretty well.  We got across the major points and read a few simple scriptures in Khmae.  We have a lot of work to do, but it was good to finally teach a full 30 minute lesson in the language.  We have done other lessons to fake investigators in Khmae, but this was the longest and most formal.  Reading the language is probably the hardest.  There are so many vowels and countless exceptions.  I guess it is just like English in many ways...you just have to know the word to know how to say it correctly.  Reading is getting better though and we are all definitely improving.  

                                      Garrett right outside of the MTC as he is about to go inside.

  In regards to Chelsey's questions:  Have any apostles come to speak at the weekly devotionals? I have not seen any apostles yet.  We have had some really good firesides though.  My favorite speaker is Brother Allen.  He works for the church in the missionary department.  He was the one who had the Jimmer comment a while back.  He came again last week and showed us a lot of clips that the church has produced for TV.  We all have seen them before.  They are the little clips that advertise for the church and such.  They were really funny, and he showed us some of the oldest original ones, which were pretty hilarious.  They all contained a saying or thought that was pretty cliché, but I like them.  One of them was, "When everybody says you can't, believe in the part of you that says you can."  It was a nice fireside and he brought a nice spirit.  How’s the Papa John’s pizza on Fridays? Yes we have Papa John’s pizza every Friday.  Honestly I am a little tired of it, and Papa John’s isn't my favorite, but it is a nice change of pace.  Do you service every week inside the MTC? We do service in our own building.  We clean toilets, vacuum, wash windows, change the toilet paper, etc.  It's not too bad, and it provides a nice break from class and studying. How is your district doing? Any problems? Our district is still getting along really well.  No major arguments of any kind.

Excerpts from McKenzie's Sixth Letter in the MTC

Taken the day before our missionaries left for the MTC.

Chelsey, I will answer some of your many questions that I feel the whole family may like to know the answers to.  Does each missionary still have to prepare a talk for sacrament meeting in their mission language not knowing if they will be called on to share it during the meeting? Yes, we do have to prepare talks for sacrament meeting (the first and most important of the weekly three-part church service during which the bread and water are taken) every week in mandarin and we get called to talk in the middle of the meeting.  Now that the older generation is gone we could get called on, and it makes it significantly more nerve wracking to go to sacrament meeting.  What do you think of the peanut butter bars? I have had the peanut butter bars and I have to say that I don’t think they are that good.  I am more a fan of the brownie with peanut butter frosting.  Hermana Allsop and my companions agree. Do they still have pizza or Teriyaki Stix as a special treat for Friday night dinners? They do have pizza or Teriyaki Stix on Friday.  They don’t have Teriyaki Stix very often though, which is sad because I love it.  What is the most exciting part of the day? In the morning, I am most excited and also the most scared about our lessons (practice lessons to volunteers).  I love teaching our lessons because the spirit is so strong in them if we are open to it.  They are also the most nerve wracking part of the day because we need to be prepared and really receptive in order to help our others come to Christ.   

This morning we had a lovely surprise.  At 2 o’clock the fire alarm goes off, which includes flashing lights and very loud noises.  It was very startling to be awoken from a deep sleep by that noise.  We all went outside and sat outside wondering where the adults were, or so we joked.  Some people alerted the front desk and a security guard told us we could go back in.  I am not totally sure what happened but I have heard rumors of something involving an electrical wire. There was no fire, but it is good to know we will wake up to the fire alarm if there ever is a fire.  Sadly it cut about an hour out of our sleeping time which is cut short anyway on Tuesdays now that the temple is open and our district (group of missionaries) is scheduled for the 6:40 session in the temple.  It is worth it though.  The temple is so wonderful and so peaceful.  We have missed it because it has been closed for cleaning for the last 3-4 weeks.  It was so wonderful to go today and feel the spirit that is there.  What a wonderful blessing the temple is.   (Note: If you have questions about Mormon temples, feel free to visit http://mormon.org/faq/#Temples|question=/faq/use-of-temples/)

Family, this past week has been pretty good.  Besides the fact that our building still continues to have the WORST showers in the entire MTC, life is going good.  The water heater has been messed up. For example, I tried to take a shower one morning and it wouldn’t even attempt to shoot hot water at me.  So, I took an ice cold shower.  Equally as bad was yesterday when the water would be nothing but scorching.  My companion calls it the "Gollum".  It requires you to get as low as possible to avoid the hottest part of the water and splash water on yourself as fast as you can.  Due to the hot water, sometimes you let out shouts or noises that sound like Gollum too.  

We had a really good fireside from a brother and sister who served a mission in Bolivia.  They told a story of an elder who was interviewed by Sports Illustrated while on his mission because he had left the BYU football team to serve, and it was the year that BYU did really.  SI wanted to know why he gave up being a part of that really good team to go on a mission.  They told us that he told the reporter, "I love Jesus Christ more than I love Football".  I really liked that story and thought it was a great reminder on what is really important in life.  No matter how great the worldly reward is of not teaching about Jesus Christ, teaching about Christ is more important.

 Garrett and Emma on the day he was set apart as a full-time missionary.

Another great talk we heard was by Elder Bednar from a few years back.  He gave it on "becoming a missionary", not just being a missionary.  I really liked it, and the best part was when he said that we don't want to have any regrets when we look back on our mission.  That really hit me and made me focus more.  I have been working really hard and studying a ton, but when I heard that, I knew that I could study harder and focus more so that I truly won’t have any regrets.  I've made it my goal to work even harder and be focused as much as I can.

Excerpts from McKenzie's Fifth Letter in the MTC

I had yet another awesome embarrassing moment this week, and this one was a big one.  When I told Elder Gibson about this incident at gym, his response was, "What is wrong with you?"  I often wonder that myself.  Again, the receiver of this embarrassing moment was my male teacher.  Why can't I do these things in front of my female teacher? It would be so much less embarrassing.  So my companions and I were in another room with our teacher practicing teaching during coaching study, which is when teachers give companionships individual attention and help them with what they need most.  I was holding my pencil in my hand, and I reached under my chair to pick up my notebook.  As I pulled my notebook up, the edge of my skirt got caught in the edge of my pencil whipping my skirt over my leg.  Yes, I indecently exposed myself at the MTC.  I really don't know why these things always happen to me.  I quickly pushed down my skirt and with a very red face apologized.  He started laughing as did my companions and I which made it less awkward than if he had just sat there looking uncomfortable like he did during the "crotch" incident.  I had a slip on so he really only saw my slip, but still.  Anyway, I continue to provide endless entertaining stories to the girls in my room.  I should write a book Ways to Embarrass Yourself at the MTC.
  

Taken the day McKenzie and Garrett were set apart as full time missionaries.

The MTC continues to be a wonderful place and the spirit is so strong here.  It is amazing how much as missionaries you learn that it is not about what you do and your abilities.  I was reading in the Doctrine and Covenants the other day where it says that all these Christ like attributes qualify you for the work, and then it says that you must knock to receive.  Only after we are obedient and only after we do everything we can do to be like Christ are we qualified for the work and worthy to knock and ask the Lord for his help.  We are taught that without the Spirit we WILL not teach.  We will not; we are commanded not to because if we teach by some other way then the Spirit, we are not teaching as representatives of Jesus Christ.  It is a huge and wonderful responsibility, and it makes me realize how much I need my Savior and my God in this process.  We listened to a talk by Elder Holland the other day in which he said that this is the Lord's work, so we will do it the Lord's way.  And in Elder Holland’s awesome, very excited way I felt the weight of that command.  This is the Lord's work and I MUST do it the Lord's way. That means exact obedience.    

Excerpts from Garrett's Fourth Letter from the MTC

I went to the doctor yesterday and today.  Don’t worry too much. Nothing is wrong.  I have been seeing little black dots/line in the corner of my left eye for about a month now, but I didn’t pay any attention to it until I started to get some nasty headaches 4-5 days ago. Long story short, the one doctor told me they are just tension headaches. I haven’t been sleeping great lately. I blame the very uncomfortable beds.  She gave me some info on going to sleep easier, and they should go away once I get more sleep and my eyes/head de-stress.  Then they sent me to the Optometrist for the eye thing.  He did all these checks and said my eyes are great. He told me the black line/dot thing is one or two small dead blood vessels that camp out around me eye.  He said there is really nothing anyone can do.  I’m not too worried because, like I said, it is not a constant nuisance, and it actually has been bugging me less and less.  So, I am happy, and once I get a little more sleep everything should be great.  

Going to the eye doctor was pretty fun.  Because my eyes were dilated, I had to wear these black sunglasses that they give you – you know the rolled ones.  I have drawn a lot of stares at the MTC because, as you know, it is against the rules to wear sunglasses. It has been fun. A couple of the Tongan Elders call me the Terminator – awesome!
 
Learning Khmae is the same old thing everyday.  Our teachers recently just switched us over to only writing on the board in Khmae characters - no more Romanized.  We also have to speak much more in Khmae and sing our songs out of a Khmae hymnbook.  Let’s just say there is a lot of humming and not much singing going on when we sing a hymn.  

Excerpts from McKenzie's Fourth Letter from the MTC

 This is a photo of McKenzie and her two companions who she tells us are lovely. On a mission you are assigned a companion - or in McKenzie's case two. Companions are together all the time. They live together, study together, eat together, and teach together. The two ladies on the right are their other roommates.

It has been another busy and awesome week at the MTC.   I continue to learn and to teach as best as I can.  It is amazing that even though we can only understand portions of what people say the Holy Spirit does the rest of the teaching.  It is so humbling!
 
Love you all,

Sun jiemei

P.S. This is how you phonetically pronounce Sister Gibson (which is what she is called during her mission) in Mandarin:  Soon (as in the word), G (as in G" is a letter), (a as in the sound in analogy) and may (as in the month)