Amie's 1st email home

We received our first email from Amie on Monday, which is going to be her P-day (preparation day, where they get free time to email, do laundry, etc.)!  We were so excited at how happy she sounded!

 

 

 

August 12, 2013                                                      

 Hi Mom and Dad!

 I'm so tired! But I love it here, granted getting up at 6am everyday is a bit of a challenge, and all the skirts and having to be with your companion 24/7 is a bit hard for me, but I do love it. So basically the first day they just thru us in the class with our teacher and our district. I love my district though, all the Elders are super nice and they've started making a point of standing up whenever the Sisters enter the room, which is kind of funny but awesome at the same time.

 So for the advanced program, a teacher came in on Thursday to talk to me about it and basically he said that I could go, but it would be really hard since I don't know many gospel terms and since I don't know any traditional characters. (she learned the ‘simplified’ characters that are used in China, but what he didn't know is that her Dad has been showing her the equivalent traditional characters ever since she started learning Chinese in 9th grade) He pretty much said my Chinese was good enough, but he'd be worried that I would be super stressed, so I just opted out. So I'm going to be in the MTC the full 9 weeks, but I think it will be good. Some of the other kids in my class were the same way, and 2 switched up but 1 stayed down, so I'm not the only one with lots of Chinese experience. We visited the Sister that switched up and she basically said that her companions were way too serious for her and she liked it better in our District, so I think I made the right choice. Granted I might be regretting this in 3 weeks, I still think it will be good. I have to learn a ton about the gospel doctrines and stuff, so I'm ok with it.

 I started off with Sister Robertson as my only companion, and we get along great! We're both just super open and funny and by the end of the night were both just like, "I'm so glad I got a good companion!" Then a Sister transferred to the advanced program, so we're now in a Trio with Sister White. She's hilarious though too, so it's good. I seriously lucked out. And I loved the letters from the family! Tell them all thank you! And that I love them, and maybe forward this email to them haha.

 I'm doing good though! It's crazy how much my Chinese is getting better, you guys would be impressed haha. I've officially learned how to pray on my own, and bear my testimony, and teach almost all of the first lesson. I love my Chinese teacher too, he's super fun. It's kinda cool because Sis. Robertson doesn't have much Chinese experience, so I get to help her with some of the words, and she helps me with the doctrine stuff, so I think it works out well. So now my district has 8 people in it, kinda small but we're all getting really close which is nice. Thursday we actually had to teach an investigator all in Chinese, (granted it was role-playing, but still.) It ended up being about a 20 minute lesson, so for the first time teaching ever I think it went quite well. We're going to continue to teach and practice on him thru the time in the MTC. Friday and Saturday were basically just classes and working, we had gym/field time though on Saturday and that was way fun! I played sand volleyball with my companions and some other Elders. It's so fun to be here because you hear so many different languages. An Elder will hold the door for us and we'll say xiexie and he'll end up saying danke or da nada, so it's super fun. The food is way good, but Dad was right about the pancakes, not nearly as good as his.

 Let’s see what else, Sunday was way good too! It was just a good break from the classroom, which is where we HAVE to do all the studying. We had Relief Society where the Primary General President spoke, then church, a temple walk (which I took a nap on the grass during, so that was much needed) and then devotional and just lots of personal study time. Today is P-day so I'm loving it! Unfortunately I can't sleep in at all, which sucks, but I'm slowly getting used to it. Slowly though. Friday my companions and I literally woke up at 7, which is when we needed to be to class, so that was interesting. We just got back from the Temple, which also really nice, just relaxing and calming so I liked it.

 As for my name, they didn't put it on my nametag yet, so I changed it. They had us fill out a form if we had a previous Chinese surname, so I did that. And then I told my teacher so as for the next 18 months I am Qiao Jie Mei! I really like all the Chinese, I forgot how nice it was and how fun it was just to speak Chinese all the time. I can't wait to go to Taiwan, but I think being in the MTC till October will be ok. I know I could've made it in the advanced program, and that's satisfaction enough for me.

 I'm exhausted by the end of every night, but that's alright, and starting tomorrow we have gym/field time everyday, so I'm excited about that. And the skirt you sent fits perfectly, I wore it yesterday. I took some pictures that I wanted to send you but then I realized I completely forgot my camera cord! So if you could send that, it would be great.

It still hasn't hit me I'm going to be here for 9 weeks, but I'm sure in a couple weeks it will, haha it also hasn't hit me that I'm not going to see anyone for 18 months, but that will too at some point.

 I miss you a lot! And thanks for those scriptures, they helped. Also, those Dear Elders were awesome, so spread that around haha. It was nice to have mail by the end of the night. I love you! I'll be sure to get you some pictures soon, most likely next Monday. OH and my room is way nice, I brought about as much stuff as everyone else, so it's good, haha. And there's 3 desks, with 3 of us girls in there, so we're good. I like it. It's not as if I spend much time in there, but I still like it. I'll write you a real letter later today in personal time and send you it, but I love you!

Tell everyone I say hi and I'm doing great.

Wo ai ni! (I love you) Ni de chuan jiao (your missionary),

Qiao JieMei (Sister George)