Sister Hendrick's Missionary Blog: WEEK 10!

District 39-A Jiemeimen Black-Out protest!

Yes, we have been here for 10 (and a half) weeks. You know you've been at the MTC too long when you start speaking Chinese in your sleep. Sister Good woke up in the middle of the night a few nights ago to the sound of me mumbling "wufa xingrong" ("impossible to describe" - a line in Joseph Smith's first vision). You also know you've been at the MTC too long when you've learned how to say "Hello" in 9 different languages: Ni Hao (Chinese), Neih Ho (Cantonese), Kon'nichiwa (Japanese), Bonjour (French), Hola (Spanish), Annyeonghaseyo (Korean), Swasdicap (Thai), Chomreabsuor (Cambodian), and Xin Chao (Vietnamese). Or when everyone refers to you as the district that's "STILL HERE?", or when you become closely acquainted with several of the initiatory temple workers, or when you have to start sharing your mailbox with another district because we're not supposed to be here. But, alas - we still have no word on our visas, and no idea when we are leaving. We could leave tomorrow, or we could leave on the 17th. Basically, they told us that whenever we get our visas, we are leaving the next day. We'll see!

As you can all probably guess, it's been another long week as we've waited for news on our departure. So, we all decided to protest and wear all black until we got our visas. It was pretty funny, but then it was just depressing so it didn't last longer than two days. But our pictures made it worth it. But yeah, there's really not much to report about this week. Just lots of anxiously waiting, and going over the same grammar principles over and over. It's good that we have so much extra time to practice Chinese, but at the same time it's hard to focus when we were mentally prepared to leave the MTC a week ago. But I do feel like there were some things I learned this week that I wouldn't have learned if I had left on Monday.

For example, we watched the Character of Christ again. It was awesome focusing on the things that I didn't catch the first time I watched it. This time around, Sister Good and I noticed he talked about Ether 3, which is about the brother of Jared praying to the Lord that he would illuminate the 16 stones to give them light in the darkness as they crossed the sea. He talked about verse 6 where it says the Lord touches the stones one by one, and he asked why He would do that one by one when he has all the power to illuminate the stones all at once? It stuck out to us this time because when we met with Bednar last week, that was the theme he told us to look for in the scriptures. If you haven't studied that scripture, I encourage you to. Ponder on why the Lord would touch each stone one by one..

Another thing I learned this week was how to have more love towards my companion. I think that Sister Good and I have always got along very well, but I also think we've been eager to get to new companions. But I think the Lord wanted us to be together for a few more weeks, and now I know why. I learned an important lesson about charity and having an understand for others by focusing on the needs of my companion and thinking of her when she's feeling down. I feel lucky to have learned this lesson so early in my mission to prepare me for companions in the future that I may not get along with as well. I truly believe the Lord has perfect timing for us.

Anyways, the MTC is a great place and all but hopefully we're leaving this week! If not... well just pray that we do! Have a good week everyone!

Sister Hendricks