The First Letter!

Hello, everyone!

It's my first P-day (preparation day) and I'm sitting in the laundry room, waxing nostalgic about freshman year.  It's weird to be in a place with so many people doing laundry at the same time. . . . I miss my apartment's washer and dryer.  This week at the MTC has been CRAZY.  I love my tongban (companion), Sister Stevens.  She is pretty much the coolest.  Her Chinese name is Shen Jiemei.  (Mine is Bi Jiemei -  "Jiemei" means "Sister.")  She is going to Sydney, Australia and is one of the first sisters to ever go there.  She also is the best at matching clothing.  I do not have her color coordinating skills, I am sad to say.

So far since being here I have learned how to pray, bear my testimony, and ask, or commit, people to do things like read the Book of Mormon or pray.  It has been intense - I don't think I have ever worked this hard before.  Luckily, there is plenty of structure around our sleeping schedule, so I have actually been getting a full eight hours of sleep every night.  That's kind of new for me, which probably isn't the best thing. 

Funny Chinese story: I was talking to Shen Jiemei, trying to say "Hello, we are representatives of Jesus Christ," but rather than saying "daibiao," which means representative, I said "danbian," which I'm pretty sure means cake.  (That may be "dangao," now that I think about it. . . . I probably should have brought my dictionary.)  Anyways, I would like to state for the record that I am not a cake, but indeed a representative of Christ.

I hope that you are all doing well.  Feel free to write me, we love getting letters in our district.  I would encourage everyone to use DearElder.com so you can send letters for free!  Make sure your address is on it so I can write you a letter back, too.

I'll close with this: In Relief Society on Sunday we heard a quote that said something to the effect of "The soul is like a violin string, it makes music only when it is stretched.  God allows us to be stretched because He loves us." Neal A. Maxwell is right--God wants us to succeed, but he also wants us to learn.  That means things won't always be easy, but He still loves us.

That's all for today.  我愛你們! (I love you!)

Sister Beer

 

P.S. The picture you see is from before I entered the MTC, when my dad and I went to visit the Provo Temple with my cousin, Jacob.  We couldn't actually go inside since the temple was closed, so we got some pictures in front of the building instead.