This week Sister Liu shared this...
Change, change and some more change...
HELLO EVERYONE
So it is Saturday again, but I don't have a P-day on Monday because.... I GOT MY VISA TO TAIWAN. I will explain more about it later. This week I left the MTC, came to Pittsburgh, and will now be leaving Pittsburgh on Monday/Tuesday to head to Taiwan. Insane.
March 8. Sunday. Day 61- Last full day at the MTC :( I had to give a talk during sacrament meeting on Jesus Christ's atonement. In Mandarin. 9 weeks teaches you a lot :) It was sad to say bye to the branch presidency.. We sang Savior, Redeemer during sacrament meeting, and yes. I cried. Our district watched the church movie Testaments at night. It's about Christ's crucification and resurrection. It was so incredibly touching.
March 9. Monday. Day 62- ESCAPED THE MTC. We woke up at 2:30 am... Had to say bye to Sister Graham and two other elders in my district (the rest of the district were on the same flight as me) Let me tell you, saying goodbye to part of my district was so hard. We spent every single day, for the past 9 weeks, 15 hours a day together. As for my companion it was literally 24/7 for the past 9 weeks. Yeah, more crying. BUT we will all be reunited someday :) We had a layover in Atlanta and then arrived in Pittsburgh! The mission president and his wife were at the airport to greet us and take us to the mission home. We spent one night at the mission home, and the next day we left for our newly assigned areas. Home cooked food has never tasted so good in my life. I'm pretty sure I just stood in the shower for 15 minutes because I haven't been in a normal home for over 60 days...
March 10. Tuesday Day 63- We had meetings all morning and finally figured out our assigned areas and trainers. My companions are Sister Schenk and Sister Peterson. Sister Schenk was in the MTC the same time as me and we both came here together, it was nice to have another mandarin speaking missionary with me. Sister Peterson is our trainer. She is from orem, utah and I couldn't of asked for a better trainer :) We got assigned to the State College area! We teach and meet others literally on Penn State campus. It is so cool! and also weird because everyone here is like my age. There are a lot of opportunities for us to use Mandarin here, who would of thought?? Then again, Heavenly Father always has a plan in mind.
March 11. Wednesday Day 64- Had a district meeting in the morning. Later Sister Peterson just took us around the area ( Penn State Campus) and then we just went street contacting. Lots of people just give us weird looks, but some people are nice and stop to listen to our message. At night we had a lesson with a girl named Sarah. We taught her about the restoration, and I pretty much forgot all my english... I even started to pray in Chinese :/ Gotta work on getting my first language back.. how embarrassing is that.
March 12. Thursday Day 65- On thursday we had service at the community cafe. It's where they provide dinner for the whole community for free. It's on tuesdays and thursdays. I met a chinese family and talked to them for a bit, it is really exciting to practice out in the real world! We had a dinner appointment at the Quinn's. And we ate LASAGNA. If any of you know me, you know that is my absolute favorite food. AHH prayers answered. hahaha. Later, we taught a girl named Mikelle. We also taught her about the Restoration, my english is slowly coming back.
March 13. Friday Day 66- We taught a man named Jock in the morning. He has been having lots of trouble with the word of wisdom. The three of us tried to help him, and I think we were able to give him some good advice. He really wants to become better. We then went to Penn State campus and handed out mormon.org cards to the students. I was able to use chinese with over half the people I talked to! After Dinner we taught Yang Chao and Xu Liu, both from China. We taught the whole lesson in Chinese! It was so cool to listen and understand them as well. I never thought I would even speak chinese here, and turns out I got to teach my first real chinese lesson! After the lesson, we got a call from President Johnson who said Sister Schenk and I got our Visas! We had just finished unpacking... and now we will pack it all up again and leave for Taiwan on Tuesday! After President called, I realized I would be leaving Sister Peterson :( She has been such a good trainer and example to me, so I was rally sad. BUT I am excited to go to Taiwan!
March 14. Saturday Day 67- Today we just had correlation meeting in the morning and spent the rest of the day packing, sending things back home, and figuring out plans for the trip to Taiwan. We don't have a p-day on monday (because we will be driving all the way back to the mission home in Pittsburgh- which is pretty far from state college)
SOO that's pretty much what's been happening. From the MTC, to Pennsylvania, and now to Taiwan. I don't think I have been in so many different places in a week. Here's to the 20 hour flight to Taiwan! Love and Miss you all! The next time I email I will be on the other side of the world!
Love, Sister Liu
So it is Saturday again, but I don't have a P-day on Monday because.... I GOT MY VISA TO TAIWAN. I will explain more about it later. This week I left the MTC, came to Pittsburgh, and will now be leaving Pittsburgh on Monday/Tuesday to head to Taiwan. Insane.
March 8. Sunday. Day 61- Last full day at the MTC :( I had to give a talk during sacrament meeting on Jesus Christ's atonement. In Mandarin. 9 weeks teaches you a lot :) It was sad to say bye to the branch presidency.. We sang Savior, Redeemer during sacrament meeting, and yes. I cried. Our district watched the church movie Testaments at night. It's about Christ's crucification and resurrection. It was so incredibly touching.
March 9. Monday. Day 62- ESCAPED THE MTC. We woke up at 2:30 am... Had to say bye to Sister Graham and two other elders in my district (the rest of the district were on the same flight as me) Let me tell you, saying goodbye to part of my district was so hard. We spent every single day, for the past 9 weeks, 15 hours a day together. As for my companion it was literally 24/7 for the past 9 weeks. Yeah, more crying. BUT we will all be reunited someday :) We had a layover in Atlanta and then arrived in Pittsburgh! The mission president and his wife were at the airport to greet us and take us to the mission home. We spent one night at the mission home, and the next day we left for our newly assigned areas. Home cooked food has never tasted so good in my life. I'm pretty sure I just stood in the shower for 15 minutes because I haven't been in a normal home for over 60 days...
March 10. Tuesday Day 63- We had meetings all morning and finally figured out our assigned areas and trainers. My companions are Sister Schenk and Sister Peterson. Sister Schenk was in the MTC the same time as me and we both came here together, it was nice to have another mandarin speaking missionary with me. Sister Peterson is our trainer. She is from orem, utah and I couldn't of asked for a better trainer :) We got assigned to the State College area! We teach and meet others literally on Penn State campus. It is so cool! and also weird because everyone here is like my age. There are a lot of opportunities for us to use Mandarin here, who would of thought?? Then again, Heavenly Father always has a plan in mind.
March 11. Wednesday Day 64- Had a district meeting in the morning. Later Sister Peterson just took us around the area ( Penn State Campus) and then we just went street contacting. Lots of people just give us weird looks, but some people are nice and stop to listen to our message. At night we had a lesson with a girl named Sarah. We taught her about the restoration, and I pretty much forgot all my english... I even started to pray in Chinese :/ Gotta work on getting my first language back.. how embarrassing is that.
March 12. Thursday Day 65- On thursday we had service at the community cafe. It's where they provide dinner for the whole community for free. It's on tuesdays and thursdays. I met a chinese family and talked to them for a bit, it is really exciting to practice out in the real world! We had a dinner appointment at the Quinn's. And we ate LASAGNA. If any of you know me, you know that is my absolute favorite food. AHH prayers answered. hahaha. Later, we taught a girl named Mikelle. We also taught her about the Restoration, my english is slowly coming back.
March 13. Friday Day 66- We taught a man named Jock in the morning. He has been having lots of trouble with the word of wisdom. The three of us tried to help him, and I think we were able to give him some good advice. He really wants to become better. We then went to Penn State campus and handed out mormon.org cards to the students. I was able to use chinese with over half the people I talked to! After Dinner we taught Yang Chao and Xu Liu, both from China. We taught the whole lesson in Chinese! It was so cool to listen and understand them as well. I never thought I would even speak chinese here, and turns out I got to teach my first real chinese lesson! After the lesson, we got a call from President Johnson who said Sister Schenk and I got our Visas! We had just finished unpacking... and now we will pack it all up again and leave for Taiwan on Tuesday! After President called, I realized I would be leaving Sister Peterson :( She has been such a good trainer and example to me, so I was rally sad. BUT I am excited to go to Taiwan!
March 14. Saturday Day 67- Today we just had correlation meeting in the morning and spent the rest of the day packing, sending things back home, and figuring out plans for the trip to Taiwan. We don't have a p-day on monday (because we will be driving all the way back to the mission home in Pittsburgh- which is pretty far from state college)
SOO that's pretty much what's been happening. From the MTC, to Pennsylvania, and now to Taiwan. I don't think I have been in so many different places in a week. Here's to the 20 hour flight to Taiwan! Love and Miss you all! The next time I email I will be on the other side of the world!
Love, Sister Liu