So I have started to start almost all of my sentances as "hello my friend!" haha. Some people here will understand and they LOVE IT! I have had a recent convert that I love start saying to to me all the time. It is so funny! I love hearing people here speak english to me! Although I am sure it is the same way when I speak chinese to them haha. And the jokes in chinese are HILARIOUS...but only in chinese. For example. When I walk up to a group of younger people they will ALWAYS say..."oh ni hen shuai" which means you are so handsome (this is not me being prideful this is me showing you how nice people are here haha) and then I will respond and say "no wo jiu shi xishuai de shuai." Which means no, I am a cricket. Then they all crack up and say "ohhhhh nide zhongwen jiangde hen hao!" Which is your chinese is so good! So here it is...ready?
"hey"
"wow you are handsome"
"no im a cricket!"
"oh man you are so funny and your english is so good!"
hahah...yeah...sometimes translating doesn't work haha.
So this week I have started to focus a lot on reading characters. I figured that the WRITING of the language will always be the most accurate and if I can read perfectly then I will be able to speak even better. So....WATCH OUT CHARACTERS! HERE I COME!!!
Oh my Gosh so here is going to be the BIG update because last week was short! (This week will be fast and maybe short but PACKED with info okay?) It is because I got to skype my AMAZING family so time was shortened today!...it was so worth it! They all look so amazing! PLUS ITS MOTHERS DAY! HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!!!!!!!!!!
So this week Elder Baxter and I got stuck in an elevator for quite so time....why you might ask? Well I was thinking....how strong am I? So I slipped my fingers into the door and pulled it open...yes while it was moving! Dangerous...not really....dumb?...YES! haha I was so embarrassed having to call the RC we just visited and telling him what happened then asking him to help haha. Oh gosh... [Shannon here: I am guessing RC is “recent convert”…? And, um, as for the elevator thing – not sure what to do with that.]
OH (these might all start with OH since for me it is like I am remembering haha) so we have this RC and we FINALLY met his mom! She was really great EXCEPT....suppppperrrr creepy. She kept asking to see my abs and trying to flirt BIG TIME. Then as we left she grabbed my hand and tried rubbing it and saying "please come back anytime"....well obviously that was the GET OUT OF THERE cue haha so we took off! But then Elder Baxter made the mistake of turning around...yeah...SHE JUMPED HIM! She wrapped her arms around him and gave him a HUGE hug and just squuezed haha he was stuck in there like a stick. I could not stop laughing the WHOLE ride back :)
This week was actually fairly boring and rough. We got dropped (what else is new) and we did a LOT of finding. Everything seemed to be going on this down hill and I was so confused because I felt like we were doing everything so right. But we continued to have faith and work hard....well let me tell you....IT WAS ALL WORTH IT! The lord blesses you the most when you are at your lowest and you continue to have faith! As I was contacting I ran into 3 amazingly prepared people! Do you know how far I had to move to find all three of those? About 10 feet! They were all so close to each other and I contacted them one right after the other! the Lord picked our companionship up so much and helped us to keep moving forward in faith! It was an amazing blessing and we are so exited to move forward in the work!
I also didn't move this move call which means I will probably be here for another 12 weeks are more! I am excited to really establish the church here! I feel very blessed to be able to spend so much time in xiao gang with so many amazing people and amazing leaders!
For those of you that are wondering...I am getting more and more used to the food and the chinese is coming easier and easier. I heard that this usually happens around this time and then all the sudden it gets really hard again, so I am nervous but ready to hit the ground running! Oh and mom...I am loving vegetables more and more. So you don't have to be worried ;)
Todays Pday has nothing big planned but I will try to get some pics today and make it great so that NEXT week we can have an even better longer email! Sorry these last two weeks have not been AS good!
So I think I will leave a short testimony in Chinese. This should provide some good entertainment to wrap this all up!
我是耶穌基督的代表. 我愛他. 我真的知道這個事工都是真實的. 由於我們的救主我們都能夠在此與神永遠的住再一起. 我愛你們.你一直可以信賴天父. 加油.
發光吧!
[Shannon here: This is what Google Translate came up with: “I am the representative of Jesus Christ, I love him and I really know that this ministry is true because of our Savior, we are able to live with God forever together love you have been trustworthy all days. The Father is refueling. Light-emitting!]
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Ge ZhangLao
葛長老
