Nimen hao ma? (I figure you
guys should know that one). :P
Dear, Mom, Dad, and Eric,
Thank you for the emails and letter this week! They
were wonderful! I'm kinda getting bogged down
with letters to the point that I can't write everyone back with exact
promptness. :/ I feel terrible about that. I'm only today sending a reply to
Eric's letter and I have four I still need to write that I haven't gotten
around to. That aside, I STILL HAVEN'T WRITTEN JORDAN!! I'm a terrible
cousin. :/ So the computer is freaking out today and my time is even more
limited than normal because of it, so I'm going to rush through this, but
hopefully I'll be able to cram a lot in. I'll start with what I have to say,
then I'll respond to your email and questions.
So I want you guys to go rent "Waiting for
Superman." Apparently it's a really interesting documentary on the
American public schooling system. Supposed to be...insightful. Ok, so every
time a new Zone Leader is called, the previous Zone Leaders will give them some
mysterious thing and no one else knows about it but them. The current zone
leaders locked "it" away in a suitcase. Anyway, the Zone Leaders
live in my room, right? I wasn't going to put up with this blasphemy. So....at
lunch, I rallied the ENTIRE ZONE and told them all about it. Then we
discovered the many talents of our rather eclectic Zone. Half of them can pick locks. We raided our own
room and discovered the mysteries that lay inside the suitcase.....it turns out
that it was only a seat cushion signed by all of the previous Zone Leaders and
an old clock. Kinda anticlimactic, but a
lot of fun. I'm happy that mom received her letter and that dad received his
letter. Eric has one coming as I said before. I received Dad's letter as well
as the package of rolls. They are highly appreciated! I'll try to send an
individual letter to Dad sometime in the not-too-distant future, but there
wasn't a TON to reply to. I'm really happy that everything is going so well
and that you guys went out for Valentine's Day. On Valentine's Day, all I
could think about was you guys. It was cool actually. And Dad, the roses,
nice touch. ;) The Bakers (Preston's family -- Preston comes in tomorrow) sent
me a nice Valentine's Day card. :) Speaking of packages, Hunter's mom owns
this company called "Missionary Munchies" and I seriously got the
MOTHER OF ALL PACKAGES. Like...I had to take a picture of this package because
it was so nuts. It had Cracker Jacks, Gatorade's, Beef Jerky, Candy, Cotton Candy,
a giant Pixie Stick, you name it, it was in there. Seriously nuts. I feel
like I'm set for life. So awesome though! My companion made me walk all across
the entire MTC campus with it and like forty people told me how loved I was...awkward! Not to
mention I had the Cinnamon Rolls under the other arm. Embarrassing to say the
least. Matt got one too.
So I heard that the MTC president hasn't set a specific
rule for how long we can call during layovers on the way to Taiwan so get
excited! I may be able to talk to you guys for a while. I'll just have to pay
a lot of money for it....also, it may be while you're at work, so I don't know
what you'll wanna do about that...
I'll also found out that Taichung is renowned for GIANT spiders....like the
size of your foot and larger that end up in your shower. They're so big that
they catch birds in their webs and eat them. Also, they eat monkeys....just
saying. Lastly, there are massive flying cockroaches...doesn't that sound
nice?
Now to answer your guys' questions and email. I'm
sorry that Extremely Close, and Incredibly Loud stunk. I wanted to see that
one too. :/ That's exciting about the Hunger Games! I wish I was there to go
with you! It's nice to here that Grandpa Wilkes is doing better. I can't
believe that Grandpa Woolsey fell again. That's so demoralizing. I feel that
they don't have long for this world. I hope Denise gets better as well. I'll
be praying for them all. There is no one who is more blessed than missionaries
than maybe the prophet...so my prayers are worth quite a bit! I'm glad that
American Idol is going well. I honestly don't miss it too much right now, but
maybe once you guys start talking about individual singers more I'll long for
it more. Glee being terrible doesn't surprise me. It's an awesome concept
that they just didn't know where to run with. It turned too drama-y. That's
awesome about biking Dad! I'm so excited for you! I know you'll destroy. :)
Also...650 POUNDS!! That's incredible! I'm happy that you guys like the
pictures. Those were some of my favorites that you posted on the blog. Elder Houggard is 6' 5" so not
too far off. He played basketball in High School and he and I play together
sometimes. He's a cool fella. That's kinda strange what the guy from work said about the
"e" sound. I would say it more like "UH"...kinda like someone punched
you in the gut. He is a native however, and we are learning the typical
mainland version of Chinese. I liked the few things you learned. Just make
sure you use them correctly! Zhe ge is this BUT only for
specific objects. Meaning, you can't go around and use zhe ge for a
situation...like zhe ge doesn't sound like a
good idea. That's not Ok. Also, "ge" is a measure word that can only be used with
certain objects. So while you can get away with using zhe ge A LOT of the time for
objects....it doesn't always work. Like pages, songs, flat things, animals,
and other things it wouldn't work with. Same with na ge (that object not that
situation).
Am I starving for regular food? YES! Does that mean
sweets? No. I'm overwhelmed with nasty food and sweets. Home cooking sounds
incredible (there are ways to sneak it in by the way, as long as it's concealed
in a box). ;) As far as I can tell from looking around and asking other
missionaries, you can't find language DVDs or study materials in the book
store. It's mostly the bare essentials. I don't really know for certain if
Cantonese is harder, but from what I understand they're about the exact same.
Mandarin has five tones and Cantonese has either seven or nine, but the extra
tones are between the others. I know that probably didn't make any sense, but
from what I've witnessed (the Cantonese Elders and Sisters are on the same
floor as us), it seems equally as difficult. Mandarin is harder to to speak
pronunciation-wise, but more tones is still more difficult (two elders in my
district were transferred from Mandarin). It's apples and oranges. I don't
think I need anything really. I'm reasonably set. :) I'll be able to dry
clean my suits before I go. I was going to do one today, but my companion
didn't particularly want to go with me...so...I didn't. Maybe next week I can
convince him. My teaching has gotten much better by the way. My companion is
working hard, and as long as he doesn't disagree or not understand why we do
something and shut down we can work together reasonably well. We're pressing
on! I'm not terribly tired of the MTC. Only a little... The older generation
left today and I could feel their energy and excitement. I took pictures with
all of them so I'll send those soon. It was sad to see them go. We're who
people look up to now. Elder Winters is an inspiration to me...remind me to
write about him next week (I have a lot to say and I'm already seven minutes over). Uhh...over doing it?
Maybe a little. I wouldn't worry about sweets. I don't need any more. The
Branch President doesn't like it either. Also, the language is progressing
well. I can understand what people say most of the time now, I just can't say
what I want to say very easily. I have to think about it pretty hard first.
Also, I'm a little discouraged with my work ethic, but I'm earnestly trying to
improve. If they say it twice, I know it for sure. Anyway, I really need to
go. I love you guys! Zaijian.
Elder Bry
No comments:
Post a Comment