Dear Mom, Dad, and Eric,
I bet at some
point in the last couple of days, you questioned whether or not you
were ever going to hear from me or not. Well here I am. I'm alive, I
am well, and the church is true. There have been so many things that
have happened over the course of the last week that it's difficult to
explain them all in one email. I would like to preface this email with a
couple of key notes: first is that I only have thirty minutes to
write, so I apologize for any lack of description there may appear to
be. I'll do my best. Also, I may mention very personal, spiritual
experiences that I have had, but I feel that I cannot go into great
detail over email for the format would be inappropriate.
So...I suppose that I'll start at the beginning (as dad has
told me before). After you guys dropped me off, I was met with a
whirlwind of events. People were handing me things, taking things,
taking pictures of me, calling me "Elder." It was all very surreal.
Following the initial rush, I was placed in a classroom with four other
young men (one of which was my companion, Elder Neil), and two young
ladies. I later found out that this is my district. Anyway....I sat
down and the teacher, Brother Liu, looked at me and, from what I could
ascertain, said something to the effect of ahj sdlkjf dlkfjalsdkjf
zxsdkfjl asdkj adslfkjal;sdkfjlakkd weoiruokmck somciek iockslkdj
opskciekkcd dkls dlkcidkikdc dkdkdkpd civjklajkl asdfjkl;jkl; sdklc
nalksjdtf. I think that's about right. Needless to say, he was
speaking Mandarin Chinese, and I hadn't a clue what was going on. It
turns out that about half the class has had Chinese before in High
School or some derivative of High School (I say derivative because one
sister is from Australia (Sister Mitchell), the other is from Mexico
(Sister Ochoa, who speaks English and Spanish impeccably), one Elder
from the U.K. (Elder Chan...don't be deceived by the name, he is very
British although his parents are Cantonese), and two Elders from Canada
(one is French and the other is from Canada proper, both are fluent in
French and English and are going to a Mandarin speaking French
mission). Pretty cool so far. Anyway....as you may be wondering, I see
Elder Taylor EVERYWHERE. He is not my companion, but we are in the
same branch and he lives two rooms over from me. We talk all the time.
It's great. The food is AWFUL. Occasionally there will be a
half-decent meal, but they are few and far between. The second day, my
cold made a viscious comeback. I was very very sick, but I didn't tell
anyone and I powered through it. That aside, my companion....didn't
seem to like me very much. He tended to walk off (when, as you know, we
are supposed to stay together), and doesn't talk much, although it has
nothing to do with being socially incapable. At the end of the day, I
was sort of hating it all. It was so hard. I knew that there would be
days like that in the MTC, but I hadn't a clue that they would come so
early. In many ways, I wanted to come home. I had to ask myself why I
was here, and once I remembered, I didn't want to leave at all. Now, I
realize that I'm not making it sound very appealing, but I honestly love
it here. I wouldn't go home if the prophet told me today that I had a
choice to, and that if I did, I would be honorably discharged. I have
had some of the most profound spiritual experiences ever. I finally
understand better how to recognize the spirit (I listened to the
GREATEST devotional ever on it by Elder Bednar), and how to get answers
to my prayers. Elder Bednar essentially said to stop worrying about
seeking out the "feeling" of the spirit. If you are good, you are being
guided already. The Holy Ghost is guiding you every day to make
decisions that you don't even realize are promptings from the Holy
Ghost. Not because you are incapable of recognizing them, but rather
because there's not really much to recognize. He gave very intense
examples of this and it was glorious. "All that is good comes from
God."
On the third day, they had us teaching in Mandarin, and we
teach an "investigator" nearly every day. I can now bear a simple
testimony in Mandarin, pray a simple prayer in Mandarin, discuss
scriptures and other things as well. "With the Lord, nothing is
impossible." And boy, ain't it true!? The hand of the Lord is
definitely playing a massive role in my learning of the language. The
grammar of Mandarin is simple, but all of the words look and sound the
same, and the tones are killer. My companion has taken a couple years
of Chinese, and went to a Chinese summer camp where they only spoke
Mandarin. He is very talented and my crutch for the time being. If you
would like, I can write out some Mandarin in the next letter, but it's
difficult to do on the computer.
The greatest thing that anyone had told me prior to coming
out came from Eric. That last night, as we went around the room, he
told me to question myself as I faced situations where disobedience may
occur, even if it be minor. Because of Eric, I resolved early on to be
strictly obedient and I have felt the blessings of the Lord pour out
upon me for it. I don't need to shave every night, but I do it anyway.
I don't need to read my white handbook for five minutes every day
(because I've already read the entire thing), but I do it anyway. I can
go to bed early, but I choose not to, even when we finish class early,
because that's not exactly what was asked of me. I will obey. I must
obey. The Lord has been answering my prayers nightly and I can honestly
say that I feel the prayers of you guys as I learn and study. Thank
you. I keep pushing myself, but it is hard. Being on a mission is
easily the most difficult thing that I have ever done in my entire
life. Harder than college. Harder than High School A.P. classes. You
name it. Those were childsplay. It's easy to slack off here, but I may
never have this opportunity again or at least for a very long time, so I
will utilize it fully. My time is almost up. Shocking! I know! I've
included much, but not even close to everything. I want my plaque
scripture to be 1 Nephi 13:37. This scripture has touched me profoundly
and I will go into greater detail later. "More Holiness Give Me" is
now one of my favorite Hymns. I will explain that later too. I also
have a testimony that my companion was given to me by God for a purpose
and I love him.
Love, Elder Woolsey
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