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| Host for Elder Preston Anderson |
Hello everybody,
How's everything going for ya’ll wherever you are? Hope all is well! Dad, thanks for the letter. I'll touch up on it later. Mom, I don't know what you did this week but keep up with the exercising. Spencer, have fun working at Subway. Have a fun summer and don't hurt the van. Julia, I hope girl’s camp was fun for you. Tell me about it if you can. Landon, keep on working on scouts and keep reading those Narnia books of yours. Thanks everyone for your letters. Grandma and Grandpa, thanks for the package of items. I was almost out of stuff right when I received it so that's good. Almost forgot, hope Harry Potter was good. When I was getting my haircut today, some girl was talking about it. I tried not to listen. That'll be the first movie I see when I get back.
Well this past week has been pretty awesome, but looking back it seems like not much happened. Last Tuesday I started reading "Drawing on the Powers of Heaven". I know it’s not in the missionary library but I had to read it. It made me set some goals for now as a missionary, as well as in the future. On Wednesday I hosted again. I waited and waited for Elder Anderson to come in, and started to get worried I had missed him. I then saw a car that looked like it could be theirs so I got way excited and anticipated where they would be dropped off. Luckily it was him. I see you got the pictures of us together! It was way sweet and we had some nice conversations about everything. (Also, one of the missionaries' friends' threw Beto's burritos over the fence and so I got one :) haha) Thursday, was the day I had been looking forward to for a while. I GOT MY TRAVEL PLANS!! I sent a copy home, and yeah it is weird that I am traveling through Detroit. I don't know why. . . Ever since I have got them, it has been really hard to focus. Friday was our last normal Friday in the MTC because this coming Friday we have orientation. We had the normal studies and classes. However, during district study, we watched Johnny Lingo. They put it up on lds.org so we watched it. Saturday, we taught our TRC person, who is actually a native from Taiwan. He brought he's friend or relative from Taiwan and she had a Tawainese accent. It was hard to understand because she had the accent, plus she talked super super fast. We taught him about the law of the fast and he asked us why we fast. I have never ever thought about why we do—I've done it just because we are commanded to do it. I found an article entitled "Struggle for the Soul" which is really good and talks about it. I now know why we fast and the effect it has on us, not just on Fast Sundays. Sunday, without going into too much detail, I realized the effects of the Atonement and the reason why we partake of the sacrament. The sacrament really does help us to become clean again, and that is because of the Atonement. This morning, Tuesday, my district and another mandarin district had the opportunity to clean the Provo Temple. It is kind of weird being in the Lord's house without wearing the actual temple clothing. We wore scrubs which are so nice and comfy. By the way, I look good in scrubs :) We cleaned the floor that had the celestial room. We vaccuumed, cleaned windows, and the ordinance rooms. It was pretty amazing to think that we were cleaning God's home. Not very many people get that opportunity. Anyway, I'm just enduring to the end here at the MTC, and next Tuesday I'll be on a plan to Taiwan!
So here are a few random things. I found out Kim Hintze is going to Hong Kong, Cantonese speaking. That is way awesome. I also found out that her older sister, the one that just returned from Taipei, was my current MTC teacher's companion. Hope that makes sense. Her name is Sister Weinhiemer? ( I don't know how to spell it) I bought new scriptures, hope that is fine with you. I'm still waiting for something to come in for Julia. Hope it comes in one of these days. If not I'm sorry, but I'll still send something for her. So I'll need a few items for my carry on case on the plane. I'll need a few 3 oz bottles for my contact solution. When we get to Taiwan, we won't have access to our main luggage for 2 days, and so I'll need enough for my contacts. I'll need a few of the smallest things of toothpaste, for the same reason. I would buy a travel kit here but I don't wanna waste like 10 bucks for like 2 things I would use. If you can send some of that whitening gel and some more contact solution, in the bigger bottles for later. Also some dryer sheets for Taiwan.
Dad, all those albums, talks, sound amazing. I cannot wait to listen to all of them. Thanks for all the hard work you put into that. Also thanks for the chinese books you'll be sending. Those will help out so much I can already tell. Thanks so much!
If you want to send some calling cards that would be awesome. I'll call before I leave SLC and in Detroit.
Anthony, if you didn't hear, I will be traveling from SLC to Detroit, Michigan, and I have (I think) a 3 hour layover. Then from there I fly straight to Taipei, Taiwan, which is about 17 hours. Then it is a 3 hour bus/train ride to Taichung. So there ya go. Keep working hard in Costa Rica. Love you all and next time I'll be writing from the Orient!!!!! Elder Smith
