Dearest family, friends and perusers of all kinds,

I have a stalker. I mean sometimes coincidence is an OK excuse, but seriously--it's been three weeks. She's ALWAYS AROUND--every time I look over my shoulder, she's there... without fail.... I gotta figure out how to shake her...) She even sleeps in the same room...

Her name is Sister Farr and she's the bomb--together, we think we're the bomb! It's bad, we're funny... others think we're not. At times our teachers offer mercy laughs, but mostly just roll their eyes. :D Our favorite new phrase comes from the movie "The Testaments" which is a really good film-- but the romance in it is HILARIOUS.

[They let us watch church movies on Sunday nights--the ones with any kind of love story are especially hilarious--picture 1,000 girl-deprived 19-year old young men cat-calling when anyone holds hands on the screen. The scene where Emma sees Joseph for the first time in the JS movie--totally got out of control bwahahaaaa.]

We quote, "You are a specter from the gods!" (which the bad guy says in a creepy harsh murmur) every time someone does something expecially awesome. I'm beginning to see why the 12-week missionaries get a little bit wacky by the time they leave this place...

I had my very first up close and personal contact with a urinal this week. YAH! Don't ask. Every Tuesday morning we get janitorial jobs as a service activity--and you all know how much I love cleaning. Truly, it is my next favorite activity after scripture reading. (NO JOKE, NO SARCASM!) Cleaning bathrooms is actually a great break from the class-gym-eat-class-eat-class-sleep daily grind (I know, GLAD to clean toilets even URINALS? Class must be pretty bad :).

Often we forget which meal is which and have to check watches to see if we're eating lunch or dinner. Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays are our favorite because Sundays and Tuesdays we have devotionals/firesides from wonderful speakers with wonderful music and Wednesdays are P-day. Friday is the hardest day--a LONG day, with no breaks, and usually with no mail (Dear Elders don't come over the weekend, so we get about 100 on Monday night and 0 Tuesday-Sunday) (If anyone wants to send me a little note on DearElder on Fridays especially, it would be so appreciated).

Sometimes we also receive a rude awakening as to how old the Elders are. They seem about our same age until we realize they graduated in 2010... or when they make some genius comment like, "Wouldn't it be cool to be able to fart on demand?!" Yeah. Then I feel about 80 years old and start looking around for my arthritis medication.

We sing Called to Serve quite a bit. I'm beginning to think it's one of the only songs the organist knows or something...

I should stop since Cantonese doesn't have a tone for sarcasm. Bwahahaaa.

ANYWAY!

I really do love it here. I love gym time (when I feel like a real person, as opposed to an accessory to a desk), I love singing in and learning Cantonese, I love studying the scriptures, I love God's love that I feel here for others, I love the spirit of msisionary work that helps me be more humble and teachable.

The only time I've felt homesick so far was when I thought about Grandma Bezzant--please let her know I miss visiting with her and love her so much and I need her address. At times I do feel a little dumb being here dealing with 19-year old boys instead of hanging out with a 24-year old man at home, but it IS worth it and usually is just FUN :)

Speaking of Brian, seriously use his resources for Aidan's Mandarin training!! He's not busy at all now since he's only a part-time student (just KIDDING, Brian). Being at the MTC has helped me realize what a GREAT Chinese teacher he is--he used lots of the same techniques as my teachers use now (all chinese all the time, using gestures and other chinese words to help us guess meaning). Get him to Skype and explain some of the enigmas of Chinese-- like no plurals, no conjugation, STPVO etc (all the same as Cantonese). Oh, and invite him to the St. Patrick's Day party!!

I'll miss you family so much and I wish I were visiting the slot canyons next week.

The best part about being here is becoming more aware of the every day MIRACLES! I experienced the most beautiful miracle yesterday--feeling the Spirit while speaking Cantonese. Our teacher challenged us to speak ONLY Chinese AS FAST AS WE COULD for 10 minutes straight. The point was to realize how many sentences we could make with what we thought was pretty limited vocabulary. Surprise, we COULD say much more than we thought we could--and I experienced a beautiful tender mercy. As I was working to put together a sentence I realized how much I believed what I was saying--how fervently I believed it, how desperately I wanted to share my testimony of God's love and the fullness of His gospel with others. I said, "When I pray, I know God loves me and my family, and that we can be together forever even after we die."

I was practicing with Sister Farr--and at "even after we die" we both started bawling. Our teacher thought we were crazy, I'm sure, but it truly was a miracle, a tender mercy that gave me a strong feeling of affirmation. God loves us and is helping me learn!

"The cavity carved out by your sorrow will become the receptacle for your joy."

2 Sam 22 And he said, The Lord is my rock and my fortress, and my deliverer.