Week 4 in the MTC

How is everyone?? I'm honestly not sure what week number this is! By MTC standards, I'm starting week five, but in the real world (yes the MTC is its own world) I'm almost 4 weeks out! haha it's really easy to lose track of time in here! It feels like the first week was a month! But now it feels like the weeks are days! I just got back from the Temple, and on top of the incredible experience that the Temple is, the breakfast is celestial! Wow, after eating MTC food all week, going to the Temple cafeteria is just an added blessing to the Temple experience! Not that the food here isn't good, it's just incredibly heavy and it's definitely not mom's cooking! 

I'm so grateful for the MTC though, it's an incredible place. Everyone is here to serve the Lord and everyone has a mutual purpose! I've been seeing Sister Lancaster and Elder Johnson everywhere!! Sister Lancaster has Sacrament in the room right next to our zone, so I see her at least every Sunday. Yesterday I saw Brother Glazier, and it turns out that he worked with my laoshi (teacher) a little bit just a couple months ago! Small world huh?? 

Time is really flying by here! Our older generation of Chinese Elders leave next week, which means that my MTC stay is half over! It's exciting and scary all at the same time! My Chinese is really starting to improve though, so that's a comfort! I'm constantly reminded that the Spirit is absolutely essential to day to day activities! Without the Spirit, we are nothing! Without the Spirit we could never make it back to our Heavenly Father's presence, I'm so grateful for that Spirit of love and comfort every day!

So basically the MTC is very... I don't know the word for it! Redundant? Repetitive? I don't know how to describe it, it's amazing. I love everyday of it! But there aren't a lot of exciting moments to share haha! Wake up, do pull-ups, eat, read BofM, gym, eat, learn chinese, eat, learn chinese, and last... learn more chinese. And despite what you might think about my incredibly boring, but busy, schedule I love it!! I actually like learning this language! As frustrating as it might be, it's so interesting! It is actually a very simple language, which is why so many English speakers struggle with it! English is so complex that it makes it difficult to learn such a simple language! I've been working on a lot of Vocab and some characters lately, and I feel like I've been improving immensely! I just started a new Language Study Plan, so I'm really excited to see how much progress I can make with it!

So tell me about life! Macy, I just got your letter and I loved it! I'm glad your doing good! Don't let those meanies get you down, just keep being the best person you can be and love everyone that you meet! If you do that, people will look up to you so much! Guess who the greatest example of that is? Can you guess? Our Savior, Yesu Jidu! He was such a great example, the BEST example, of perfect love! No matter what people did to him or said about him, he always loved them. He always responded with love! If we could all strive to be like our Savior, can you imagine what the world would be like?? It would be so wonderful! So keep going, Jiayou! I love you Mace!

Jessi, how ya holding up? I want to hear all about your life! How's the hand healing? How's school? How's Jake doing without Tyler (oops, Elder Johnson)?? I want you to know I think about you, and I pray for you everyday! I want you to know how much I love and miss you! I hope your doing all you can to prepare for a mission xianzai!! right now!! Because if you come in here pre-prepared, then you will not only be a good missionary, you'll be the best missionary. One piece of advice I want to give you really quick that everyone has been giving me for the past 4 weeks, DON'T COMPARE YOURSELF TO OTHERS. Compare yourself, to your BEST self. Use the person that you want to become as a comparison and don't worry about anyone else! I love ya bro! Keep on being the best 16 year old I've ever known!

Alec, I love you little man! I miss you everyday! I even miss when you would be mad at me for teasing you! Is that weird?? I want to hear your voice so bad! I can't wait until I can talk to you on the phone about everything that's going on! Don't worry, only 7 more weeks! I'll write you a real letter today ok? I love you buddy!

Mom and Dad, I'm sorry but I've only got a minute to say what I want! I'm a slow typer! How is everything? I hear that things are going really well... I saw Bro Glazier yesterday. I hope that your all doing great! I miss you all, but I know that your safe because I ask God to keep you all safe every night! I love you all so much! Zaijian!

Luo Zhanglao