May 29th, 2012
Letter from Sister Coco Mack
MTC, Provo, Utah
Nimen hao!!!!
Wow....has it really only been one week since I was set
apart as a missionary? I am constantly amazed at how much work we get done here
every single day. Every day is so full and so wonderful. To start things off
I'd just like to say that Chinese is really very hard, but I find it's even
harder to stay discouraged for very long. There is a really sweet Elder in my district.
Every day he goes into this little speech about how amazing we are all doing
with Chinese and how incredible our progress is. We go at such a fast pace that
it can often feel pretty overwhelming but on the other hand, my companion and I
have taught 3 lessons in CHINESE!!! Doesn't that seem wild? Doesn't it seem
impossible? But as we are constantly reminded, all things are possible with
God. I am trying so hard to have more faith every day. It's so great because
every time I sort of start to feel down about the language, we have a workshop
or a lecture or a devotional and someone talks about how all we need to do is
trust God. Last night, for example, we had a workshop about how to organize our
language study. The teacher reminded us that our calls came from God. He called
us to learn the Mandarin language because he knows that we can do it and that
we can succeed. There are people I am meant to teach in Taiwan and people I am
supposed to meet that will change my life as we both strive to draw nearer to
God and to Christ. It's such an empowering feeling to know that if I give all
that I have, I will be blessed for my efforts. That is something my Branch
President talked to us about last week too: as long as we take care of the
input, God takes care of the output. If we are doing everything we can to study
and understand the gospel and Chinese, God will give us the ability to remember
it and to speak it. Isn't that incredible? I see miracles in my life every day.
One of the greatest miracles so far is the blessing of my
companion, Jin JieMei. Oh and my Chinese name is Ke JieMei...I love it :)
Anyway my companion is incredible. I am so grateful to have her because we both
came here for the same reason, we both knew it was the right thing and we both
wanted to do God's work and to spread the joy of the gospel wherever he called
us to go. Even though we have only been together for a few days, Jin JieMei and
I have been able to see the Spirit working in our companionship. We often have
the same goals in mind for what we want to work on or we have the same ideas
for what we want to teach in our lessons to Cai Pei Fen. Also I am sorry if
this email is disorganized but there is so much to say and only 20 more minutes
to write it!! We have been so blessed in our study of Chinese and of the gospel.
I have to tell you that studying the scriptures and Preach My Gospel has never
been so powerful for me as it has in the past few days. Every single time I
read I understand the scriptures in a new way, and it is often in a way that
will help me teach my investigator more powerfully or will help me to have a
better perspective on what I am doing and what I should work on. I love
understanding the scriptures and being taught by the spirit every day.
Yesterday Jin JieMei and I were doing companion study reading in Preach My
Gospel and all of the sudden we started talking about our spiritual experiences
that led us to the decision to serve a mission. It was really powerful and
beautiful. I really believe that Jin JieMei and I were meant to be companions.
We become better friends every day. Something I really appreciate about her and
our companionship is that we have the ability to invite the spirit to help us
plan, learn, and grow and at the same time we know how to have fun together and
we laugh all the time. She is so easy for me to be around. She is so loving and
thoughtful and spiritual and kind. I absolutely adore her and I can't believe
how blessed I am to have such a magnificent companion to help me ease into this
new phase of life.
The Elders in our district are really fun and very sweet.
They keep us laughing and smiling. We are all trying harder to be more focused
in the classroom but the good news is that we all get along so well. Jin Jiemei
and I try really hard to set a good example especially since other missionaries
and ecclesiastical leaders are always mentioning how amazing the sisters are
and how lucky the Elders are to have us. We really strive to live up to those
expectations but I also think it's important for us to be friends. If we can
love each other, we can better minister and uplift each other and be stronger
and more unified in purpose.
Family and friends...I really want you to know that I am so
happy here in the MTC. I am so grateful to be here and I am so thankful for
your letters and prayers..your love and support strengthens me every day. I
want to make you proud and to make my Father in Heaven proud by doing all that
I can to be a diligent servant. That's something I strive for everyday:
exactness in obedience. On Sunday we had an incredible Fireside and the
managing director of...the MTC I think is the one who spoke. He gave a really
powerful analogy about a pilot of an F16 and how he has to rely on his
instruments and performing with exactness to land safely and successfully. It kind
of feels like there isn't much I can control in my life in the sense that I
can't automatically be good at the language or know everything I need to know
about the gospel in a week, but I can be obedient. I have such faith in that
principle and I have already seen how the Lord blesses me for doing what I am
supposed to do. For giving everything I have in my studies and having faith
that God honors that sacrifice. I LOVE MISSIONARY WORK!!!!!
I don't know how to structure this but I just remembered that
I wanted to tell you more about the lessons in Chinese. I am always nervous
going in. Our investigator is actually a volunteer and I'm pretty sure she is a
member of the Church but it's great because she is from Taiwan and so it's
really good language practice. We still have to use our notes a lot but I can
pray and bear my testimony in Chinese and I understand more every day. I always
feel quite jubilant afterwards. I know that even though my language skills are
weak, if I can bring the Spirit into the lessons then I am accomplishing my
purpose. Yesterday in our lesson we taught our investigator to pray and then
got her to say the closing prayer as well as to commit to read The Book of
Mormon daily and to pray about it. It felt so good.
I don't even know what else to tell you all except that I
think about you and pray for you daily. I pray that you are happy and well and
please know that I am thriving like never before.
Now I'm going to bear my testimony in Chinese so you can see
how much I've learned :D
Wo zhidao Yesu Jidu shi Shen de erzi. Wo zhidao yinwei Shen
ai women, suoyi ta cigei women ta de erzi. Wo zhidao dang women zuo qidao, de
shihou women hui ganjue Shen de ai. Women shi Shen de haizi. Meiyiguoren shi
Shen de haizi he ta ai women. Wo ganxie wo de TianFu cigei women Moermenjing.
Wo zhidao Moermenjing shi Shen de hua. Dan women kan Moermenjing, de shihou
women hui ganjue Shen de Shenling.
Feng Yesu
Jidu de ming, Amen.
I love you all with all my heart. Keep smiling and loving
life.
Wo hen ai nimen :)
Sister Mack
No comments:
Post a Comment