One month left! . . . Again?

I guess the biggest news this week is that I have been extended at the MTC an extra week!  Instead of leaving on the 18th of September, with the rest of my zone, I will be leaving the 25th with the rest of the New York North bound missionaries.  The NY North mission transfers are one week off of the other Mandarin speaking missions, so Elder Murray (the other missionary in my district going to NY North) and I get to chill at the MTC for another week.

I found out because a voice came over the intercom calling me down to 1M to meet with my district president.  It's a little weird when they talk over the intercom, because this voice comes from the heavens and expects you to respond. (There are microphones somewhere so they can hear you talking back.)  I went over, completely confused as to why I was there, and he sat me down and told me the news.  He then asked if I wanted to call home to tell my family.  At first I assured him I could write a letter home (sorry, parents) but he encouraged me to call.  So here I was, sitting in a little room in 1M, waiting for someone to pick up the phone.  When Mom heard my voice, I could tell that her missionary daughter was not who she was expecting to be calling.  They had just arrived home from some event with my oldest brother Chris, who was visiting, and the phone had started ringing.  Nathan told her "It's BYU calling, you probably don't want to pick that up."  Oh Nathan.  In any case, I'm glad she did pick up and I told her the news.  I also got to say hi to Chris and Mary, which was great, and to speak some Chinese that they probably didn't understand.  I loved hearing from them, and even though I want to go to the field, being in the MTC an extra week never killed anyone.

In other news, I am no longer coordinating sister!  It's a little sad because it means I don't spend quite as much time with the other sisters, but ling yi fangmian (on the other hand) it means that I get a little more time in the evenings to prepare for the next day, write in my journal (I do that now, by the way), and other miscellaneous stuff.

I got to host my cousin Sister Caroline Ure as she entered the MTC this week!  She is going to New Orleans, Spanish speaking and is pretty much awesome.  I love how much family I have seen here in the time I have spent at the MTC.  It's pretty great.

After much anticipation, our new teacher arrived this week!  His name is Mu Laoshi, and he served his mission in Taipei.  Also, he is a hipster.  Okay, so that may be a bit of an exaggeration, but not much.  He has the glasses, the wavy-on-top hair, the old style kicks, the random interests, the special obscure drink... the list goes on.  We all really enjoyed his teaching - he's pretty great.

Oh yeah, and Tuesday Devotional this week was pretty much the best.  Neil A Anderson from the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles* came and spoke to us.  It was SO COOL to have an Apostle there to speak to us!  At the beginning of the meeting Sister Stevens and I sang "Behold the Wounds in Jesus Hands" with the choir.  The words invite everyone to recognize what Jesus Christ has done for us and to recognize Him as our Savior.  It was pretty powerful.  When Elder Anderson started speaking, he had us sing "Happy Birthday" to President Monson (he turned 85 a week ago) and he then told us what he throught the prophet would want us to hear.  My favorite point he covered was when he told us to let the Lord shape our back to the burden we are given.  He gave us three quotes from President Monson to illustrate this idea: "Whom the Lord calls, the Lord qualifies," "The Lord will shape the back to carry the burden," and "When you are on the Lord's errand you are entitled to His help."  I especially like that last one - as long as we do what the Lord asks of us, He will help us.  On the flip side, if we are not doing what He asks, He has no obligation to do so.  It brings to mind the scripture in Doctrine and Covenants 82:10: "For I the Lord am bound when ye do what I say, but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise." 

I am grateful for the support I am getting from home and from my friends.  Thank you all so much for everything you do to support missionary work, and those you know who are missionaries!

I love you all!  Have a wonderful week!

Sister Beer

*Apostle: For those who are not familiar with LDS terminology - we have a President at the head of our Church who runs the affairs of the Church along with his two counselors.  The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles are the next group under them and they have specific responsibilities pertaining to running the Church as well.  All of these men, however, are special witnesses of God and of Jesus Christ and testify that He Lives.

Things keep happening.

That's kind of how it is at the MTC.  Things happen, you learn lots, feel the Spirit, and then do it all over again.  Luckily it's not quite as boring as it sounds, even though I'm pretty sure my posts are all starting to sound the same.  I promise that we are all progressing here.

That being said, this week has been pretty uneventful.  Actually, that's a lie.  The new generation of Mandarin speaking missionaries arrived that week! (I realized after I typed the first sentence that things had actually happened this week, and I was too lazy to go back and fix it.  Oops.)  We have 34 new missionaries, 31 elders and 3 sisters, and they are pretty awesome.  The sisters are especially cool, and I have loved getting to know them this week.  There are no new New York North missionaries, but there are a couple (including one from Hong Kong) who are going to New York South.

Sister Stevens and I were talking this week and we realized that we really only have four weeks left at the MTC.  That is so crazy to think about... four weeks suddenly doesn't seem that long, and I realize now that I am going to be in New York City in less than a month.  I am so excited to go, bu there is this terrible feeling of "Am I going to be ready in time??" that lurks in the back of my mind.  I think that we will all be ready for what we need to do, though, and that we will continue to learn as long as we are applying ourselves diligently.  I'm glad that they don't expect us to be perfect when we enter the mission field.  On the other hand, though (I learned how to say that this week in Chinese, by the way) I can understand so much more than I did when I entered the MTC.  I attribute that to the Lord and to the fantastic teachers I have.

Speaking of new teachers... I mentioned last week that both of our teachers were transferred to new districts.  Our new teacher's name is Brother Vernon, or Wen Laoshi, and he served his mission in Taichung, Taiwan.  Well, Wen Laoshi looked pretty familiar, so one day after class he was chatting with the district and I found out that he is studying violin at BYU.  Naturally, I asked if he knew my freshman roommate, Caitie.  As it turns out, he doesn't just know her, but he actually spent time at our apartment freshman year!  He was there the night that one of my friends brought over "Singing in the Rain" and a large group of people crowded into our tiny Heritage Halls kitchen/living space.  So yeah... that's why he looked familiar.  Small world.

Also this week - Wen Laoshi told us that the teachers hear some pretty funny things in lessons taught by missionaries at the MTC (for example, one missionary told a story about how he had "zhuiluo"ed, or fell as Adam and Eve, off a trampoline), so naturally the district wanted to know if any of us had slipped up at all.  He replied "Well, they haven't been too bad.  The only really funny one is Sister Beer."  He then refused to tell me what I had done for TWO DAYS.  I was a little worried as to what I had said - it turned out that instead of saying Jesus Christ is our Savior (Jiuzhu) I had called Him a ring (jiezhe).  It had made our teacher think of Lord of the Rings, which is why he thought it was so funny.  Good stuff.  Chinese is hard.

Last Tuesday Elder David F. Evans from the Quorum of the Seventy came to speak to us about missionary work.  He has some administrative power over missionary work, but I can't remember what.  In any case, he gave a wonderful talk discussing the painting President Thomas S. Monson spoke about a couple of years ago in conference titled "The Rescue."  President Monson has told us that it is just as important to rescue those who have gone inactive and help them remember why they made the choices they did to join the church as it is to find new people to bring into the Church.  The way I see it, what is the point of having someone make binding covenants with the Lord if they are not going to keep them?  Also, if they do not understand the importance of these covenants, then we are not doing our job as missionaries and teachers.  I feel like this is something that I can use for my entire life.  I want to be able to reach out to people for my entire life with this message, not just while I am serving a mission.  His talk was supported by what we heard on Sunday in Relief Society from Mary Cook, the second counselor in the Young Women's Presidency.  She detailed an experience she has had with a friend of hers in her ward who is coming back into activity.  According to her, it is wonderful to see someone who once had that light regain it and understand it again.

We also saw another Bednar talk this weekend.  It was titled "Recognizing the Spirit" and, surprise, was wonderful.  The biggest point he made was that if we are keeping the commandments, keeping our covenants, and being good boys and girls we do not have to worry about having the Spirit with us.  He will be there.  Don't freak out because you have not received a specific, recognizable impression from the Spirit - it doesn't always happen that way.  This was a great lesson for me and I am growing to trust myself and the decisions I am making because of it.  He told us a story (which I am not going to outline here because I don't have enough time) about when he was a missionary in Germany and met President Boyd K. Packer called "The 20 Mark Note."  I would try to find it somewhere, if you can.  Super good. 

I'm out of time, but I love you all and I hope you have an amazing week!

Love,

Sister Beer

P.S. Uncle David, Aunt Joyce, and the rest of the Chicago Beers:  I was talking to President Brown, the MTC mission president, this week.  He saw my nametag and asked if I knew you, to which I responded that we are family.  We had a nice chat about Chicago and about how awesome you are.  President and Sister Brown say hi and that you are all wonderful people.  I agree. :)

We're halfway there . . .

And I think I can accurately say that I am living on a prayer.  I don't think that song has ever applied so directly to my life, now that I think about it.  And yes, I am over halfway through my MTC stay!  Sunday was the beginning of week 7 out of 12, so we're all pretty excited/anxious about that.  Part of me really wants to be out in the mission field now, but I know that there is so much more I need to learn here before I can go teach.

This week has been a little strange, since we have been the only generation of Mandarin speakers at the MTC, but that will change tomorrow with the new group coming in.  We have 33 new missionaries coming, which is significantly smaller than the 50 others that came with me, and 3 of them are sisters.  Since I'm Coordinating Sister, I got sheets with their names and mission assignments on them, and it has been fun to see where everyone is going.  No one from this next generation will be going to NYC!  I was a little surprised to see that, but I guess they have who they need for the time being.  They are, however, going to Taiwan, Scotland/Ireland, several missions in Canada, and Australia.  Pretty cool stuff.  I'm super excited to meet the new missionaries, especially the new sisters.

This week was also a little sad.  Both our teachers were replaced, and one of the members of our branch presidency was released.  We are sad to see everyone go, especially our teachers.  Brother Liu and Sister Han are wonderful teachers and have helped all of us so much with our Chinese and our teaching.  Luckily they will still be around, teaching other classes and whatnot.  Also, even though we are going to miss Brother Johnson in our branch presidency, I was surprised and pleased to find out that his replacement is none other than Brother Grimley!  Brother Grimley and his wife returned six weeks ago from their call as mission president in Taipei, Taiwan.  I just so happen to know their son and his family, since they were in our ward while I was in Taiwan.  Actually, Sister Grimley (the younger one) was my Young Women's president for a year.  When I met Brother Grimley (the older one) after District meeting he saw my tag and asked "Are you who I think you are?"  We had just barely missed each other, but he met my dad during the month before my family moved back to the States.  It was cool to make that connection, and I am super excited to have them be a part of our zone.

It has been great to see Elder Safsten around the MTC!  I love that we are here at the same time.  He's pretty fantastic, and is going to be a great missionary!

This week our elders decided to assign us superpowers.  Apparently, I would make things spark.  Think Jubilee from X-Men.  Sister Stevens would have laser vision (because of her piercing stare) and would be able to fly uncoordinatedly.  I have this image in my head of her wobbling in the air, bumping into things.  A lot of things.  They also decided that if we were a part of Avatar, the Last Airbender, that I would be a water-bender and Sister Stevens would be a earth-bender.  Yeah... sometimes focus is hard.  Don't worry, we're still learning things.

For example, yesterday Sister Stevens and I did our first door approach.  It was rather nerve-wracking, since we had NO IDEA what we were doing.  The lesson went well, though, and he is "coming to church" with us on Sunday. (He can't actually come to church with us since we are in the MTC.)

Sunday's Relief Society was AWESOME.  For those who have never experienced/heard about MTC Relief Society, all the sisters meet together at 9:30, watch Music and the Spoken Word (there was a wonderful performance of "Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho" this week), then have Relief Society immediately afterwards.  There is a speaker who addresses us, rather than the discussions that usually take place.  Usually one of the branch or mission presidents' wives will speak to us, but this week we had the privilege of hearing from Rosemary Wixom, the General Primary President!  She was wonderful, and shared some stories about missionaries she had met and the importance of our work.  I also found out that she served a mission when she was younger, which was cool.  One of her main messages is that Christ is love.  His message is centered around love for others and around serving our fellow men.  As we grow closer to Him and become more like Him, we become more charitable people.  Moroni 7 talks about charity and its importance.  Without charity, which is the pure love of Christ, we are nothing.  She also asked us to love the children, wherever we go, and to help them know that they are children of God.  Something that I have come to know more fully while at the MTC is that we are all children of God, and that He loves each of us and knows us individually.  I am so happy to have this knowledge, and the peace that comes with it.  He loves you, He wants you to be happy, and He has provided a plan through which we can have eternal happiness.

I have to go, but I love you all and I hope you are having a wonderful week!

我愛你們!

Sister Beer

畢姐妹

One month!

Shiqing shi zheyang de (and it came to pass), I have been here at the MTC for over a month!  Sunday was the one month mark, and we all were amazed that it had been that long!  The MTC is a strange place - it feels like we have been here forever, but at the same time it feels like we just got here.  It was good to hear from my parents about the Safsten Family Reunion this week.  It sounds like it was lots of fun!

To celebrate one month of being on my mission, I was asked to accept the assignment of Relief Society Coordinating Sister within our zone.  For those who may not be so familiar with mission hierarchy, here's how it goes: each missionary has a companion that they stay with at all times.  Companionships are put into small groups (usually around 5 companionships) called districts.  While at the MTC, your district is who you study with, who you spend time with, who you teach with, all that fun stuff.  Each district has an Elder called the District Leader that reports to the next higher authority, the Zone Leaders.  ZLs are a companionship (two) Elders that report to the Branch President, the head of our congregation, about the welfare of the Zone.  However, because of the rules that surround the interactions between Elders and Sisters, the Sisters do not directly report to the District leaders.  Instead, they talk to the Coordinating Sister (that's me) and then she reports to the Branch President.  What this means is that I get to visit the sisters in my zone each night and talk with them about how they are doing, see what they need, all that sort of thing and then I talk to the Branch President about what is going on within the female portion of the zone.  I go to a couple extra meetings, but it's not too much time.  This assignment (it's not a calling since we are missionaries) will last three weeks.  Because of the timing, however, this also means that I get to be one of the first people to meet the new generation of missionaries coming in next week, and I will be one of the first missionaries they talk to!  It's a little intimidating, but super exciting at the same time.  I'm looking forward to getting to know this new group.

The older generation of Mandarin speakers all left this week.  They have gone off to places like New York, California, Taiwan, Australia, and England.  It is inspiring and kind of heart-wrenching to see them go.  We have become good friends with many of the Elders and Sisters in that generation, and it will be strange to be at the MTC without them.  Also, it will be strange when the new generation comes in next week and suddenly WE will be the older generation.  Elder Wade also left this morning to go to the Brazil training center, and Elder Barfuss leaves pretty quickly here, too, to go to Thailand.  It was awesome to see the two of them here and to be able to represent the Plymouth Ward so strongly in the MTC.  I am sad to see them go, but excited for what they get to do!  I am SUPER excited for my cousin Micah to come in tomorrow!  Even though he won't be here long, it will be nice to see another face I know in the MTC.

The elders in my district were super nice to me this week - I had a pretty bad cold and was feeling gross and yesterday I walked into class and there was an Emergen-C, pack of tissues, and bag of pretzel M&Ms sitting on my desk.  It was so thoughtful of them, and I greatly enjoyed the M&Ms.  I am feeling much better now, don't worry, and am grateful for it!

Last week when Sister Stevens and I were going to the temple we invited the Elders to sit with us afterwards and ponder the session, maybe write a couple letters or in their journals or something.  The quick response from an Elder: "No, we're going to go do manly things, like burping, picking things up and setting them back down again."  That, of course, invited some amount of laughter from the district and we set off toward the temple.  As it turns out, Sister Stevens and I didn't have much time for writing anyways.  We hurried back right after the session to go sing in the MTC choir, something that we have been doing every week.  It is a wonderful experience, and we enjoy it.  Today we went to the temple in the morning, and it was so nice to sit in the quiet and feel the Spirit that is there.  If you haven't been to the temple recently, go!  There is nothing better than going and feeling what is there.  If you don't know what a temple is, then go find a Mormon friend to explain it to you.  I wish I had the time here, but my computer time is limited.  You can also go and feel the Spirit that is there, even if you don't go inside.  I love the temple and the experiences I have there.

One of my favorite experiences I have had on the mission is while listening to a musical number that one of my district members accompanied.  The piece was called "The Prodigal" and one of the lines said, "Make of me a miracle for someone’s wand'ring child."  This line reminded me of one of my goals here at the MTC, to turn out to others when I want to turn in.  As I wasn't feeling well this week it was really easy to just think about my needs, what I wanted, and how I could get better.  However, the work did not stop just because I did.  I found that as I turned out, I was happier and better able to cope with what I had.  It was pretty cool, actually.  I would encourage all of you to turn out when you want to turn in.  As we serve others we can lead more fulfilling and happy lives.  Service is the quickest way to loving others and developing charity, which is crucial to our progression and improvement.  Moroni 7:46 states that "if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth."  This is so true.  As we turn out we can be happy, and we can help the people around us be happy, too.

I love you all and I hope you have a wonderful week!

Much love,

Sister Beer