Week 5? Already?
Its an eternity. And I'm still not even to halfway yet (for the MTC I mean)! But I've already been here a few days shy of a month. October is creeping up on us here. I miss the fall changing the colors on the trees. I can see them from the gates of the MTC on the mountainside. But as is life, and its only two falls I will be away...or is it three?
It was a really hard week for me emotionally again. It was a rollercoaster week of ups, downs, and corkscrews. I don't like being so emotionally wrung out, but I guess I had better get used to it though, that is a mission for you. Yesterday was really hard. I have been battling discouragement and doubt and feeling unworthy to be here all week but they pequed yesterday. I ended up having a small break down with my companion about it. Once again she proved to be invaluable as a support. She has such a huge testimony its really inspiring. One of the things she said to me stuck with me particularly. She said that santan is here just as much as the holy ghost is. He knows what we are doing, and he knows who we are going to teach and who we are going to touch. She said that I must have some work cut out for me ahead, and that I must have someone important to teach because he is really hammering on me. He knows exactly where my weaknesses lie and he is really pounding on them trying to get me to give up and go home. Well I don't quit. And he isn't going to make me.
Within the next week and a half, all of the older mandarin districts will be leaving for Taiwan. It is an off feeling. Our branch will go from 70+ down to 20. We will have gone from 10 sisters to 4. We will be so lonely. But only for a week, then the new missionaries will come in. They tell us there will only be around 20 more however, still quite small. We will then be the older, more experianced, verterin MTC districts. That is an intimidating thought, I do not know enough chinese to have that happen to me. All the sisters recieved callings because of the change over.
The one bright spot of this week was the TRC. When we taught the 2nd lesson (the plan of salvation) for the first time, Sister Petersen and I were spot on. We had companionship unity and the spirit on our side. Of course there is still so far to improve on our teaching skills, but we have also made great strides. The 'investigator' was a wonderful man and he was very active in our discussion. We had even prepared little cut out peices of the plan of Salvation which we had him assemble and put in order. He seemed highly amused by that fact. I was glad, it had taken us several hours the day before to cut them out and draw them up! At the end of the lesson we commited him to baptizm. Our first. He was hesitant at the first commital. But we explained to him the importance of baptizm in his life and how the atonement applied directly to him and he readily agreed the second time. After the lesson was over the man came up and thanked us for doing such a good job. He told us that he really loved sister missionaries and he appreciated the great spirit that we brought to teaching. It was a heartening experiance.
Well that little red timer is blinking at me. I hope you all are well.
Sister Melissa Thiessen
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Exercise AFTER a meal?!
This is the beginning of my fourth week here at the MTC. Its weird that I have been in here that long, and still it will be ages before I can leave. But its even more strange to see people that came in the same day as me pack up and leave already. I will see several transfers of new missionaries come and go before I do. We are the old timers here, us twelve weekers. Life is starting to get routine now, and the days are beginning to peel by in a quick-like fashion.
I just realized I haven't outlined what my days are like to all you folks yet. Would you like to hear? I bet you would.
I get up bright and early at 6:00 to get ready for the day, yes a full 30 minutes before anyone else does (all of you that are laughing at me right now. Just stop. Rude.). This week however I will be starting a new routine where I crawl out of bed at 5:30 to squeeze in some extra excersise time. Crazy? I think so. We leave for the building we have class in every day at 6:55 and have personal study from 7 until 8:15. I'm really starting to like personal study in the mornings, and surprisingly enough I don't fall asleep. I do often wake up Sister Petersen (companion) though.
At 8:15 we join the throngs of elders (tastefully sprinkled with sisters) on the walkways to the cafeteria. We wait in very long lines for food, then head back to class. Now our schedule begins to varry a little more. Sometimes we have companionship study for an hour, then some Missionary directed study time (or mdt) or we have class. Usually the classes are pretty long, and they vary day to day because our teachers are students and we must work around their schedule.
1:00 brings lunch, and then sometimes Gym is right after. I really hate that, gym being after a meal. Its very much by the way of annoying. How are you expected to go running after you have just eaten? really? inconsiderate. Or sometimes we have gym right after dinner! There are two days a week where we don't have it right after a meal, once a week its at 6:30 am, and one other time it is before dinner. *sigh* Oh well. I really think those of us here the longest should get the best times...someday when I'm in charge...
After lunch when we do not have gym, or MDT its more class. Then dinner is at 6. Tuesdays and sundays after dinner we have a fireside or a devotional. And every one I have been to so far have been very much amazing. We have had many a speaker from the 70 come. (once in reliefe society we had Sister Elaine S Dalton, the gerneral president for the yong women speak to us. It was great). On every other day we either have more class or some MDT. From 9-9:30 we have planning, 9:30-10:30 we do whatever, mostly it is filled with showering, getting ready for the next day, then lights out.
Now it may seem like we have a lot of MDT time and that since its not class time, it is free-ish time. This is a fallacy. We are so busy all the time that there is simply not _enough_ time! I need more time to study! Honestly! How else am I supposed to learn chinese and all I need about the gosple to bring hundreds of conversions to the church in only 9 more weeks!! (ok, I really am Not expecting hundreds...but why shoot low eh?) MDT is a precious time we take to research and apply what we have been learning.
Sundays our schedule actually does include free time. It is my favorite day of the week now (besides monday when I get to write you all of course. And Wear PANTS!). It is very restful most of the time, and I take a break from chinese and just give all my time to the gosple. Or sleeping, I actually got to take a real nap yesterday! For an hour! it was amazing, let me tell you.
My district is getting very close, and I am enjoying all my elders. they try so hard to be mature around us (the sisters). Its comical really. But they are young men with such amazing depth in the gosple that sometimes I forget they are so young. And they really are so young. But the Lord really knows what he is doing after all. They, every single one of them, will be amazing missionaries. And I learn a lot from them.
Well my time has once again ended. But I love you all! Write me people! Bring me some sunshine!
-Sister Melissa Thiessen
This is the beginning of my fourth week here at the MTC. Its weird that I have been in here that long, and still it will be ages before I can leave. But its even more strange to see people that came in the same day as me pack up and leave already. I will see several transfers of new missionaries come and go before I do. We are the old timers here, us twelve weekers. Life is starting to get routine now, and the days are beginning to peel by in a quick-like fashion.
I just realized I haven't outlined what my days are like to all you folks yet. Would you like to hear? I bet you would.
I get up bright and early at 6:00 to get ready for the day, yes a full 30 minutes before anyone else does (all of you that are laughing at me right now. Just stop. Rude.). This week however I will be starting a new routine where I crawl out of bed at 5:30 to squeeze in some extra excersise time. Crazy? I think so. We leave for the building we have class in every day at 6:55 and have personal study from 7 until 8:15. I'm really starting to like personal study in the mornings, and surprisingly enough I don't fall asleep. I do often wake up Sister Petersen (companion) though.
At 8:15 we join the throngs of elders (tastefully sprinkled with sisters) on the walkways to the cafeteria. We wait in very long lines for food, then head back to class. Now our schedule begins to varry a little more. Sometimes we have companionship study for an hour, then some Missionary directed study time (or mdt) or we have class. Usually the classes are pretty long, and they vary day to day because our teachers are students and we must work around their schedule.
1:00 brings lunch, and then sometimes Gym is right after. I really hate that, gym being after a meal. Its very much by the way of annoying. How are you expected to go running after you have just eaten? really? inconsiderate. Or sometimes we have gym right after dinner! There are two days a week where we don't have it right after a meal, once a week its at 6:30 am, and one other time it is before dinner. *sigh* Oh well. I really think those of us here the longest should get the best times...someday when I'm in charge...
After lunch when we do not have gym, or MDT its more class. Then dinner is at 6. Tuesdays and sundays after dinner we have a fireside or a devotional. And every one I have been to so far have been very much amazing. We have had many a speaker from the 70 come. (once in reliefe society we had Sister Elaine S Dalton, the gerneral president for the yong women speak to us. It was great). On every other day we either have more class or some MDT. From 9-9:30 we have planning, 9:30-10:30 we do whatever, mostly it is filled with showering, getting ready for the next day, then lights out.
Now it may seem like we have a lot of MDT time and that since its not class time, it is free-ish time. This is a fallacy. We are so busy all the time that there is simply not _enough_ time! I need more time to study! Honestly! How else am I supposed to learn chinese and all I need about the gosple to bring hundreds of conversions to the church in only 9 more weeks!! (ok, I really am Not expecting hundreds...but why shoot low eh?) MDT is a precious time we take to research and apply what we have been learning.
Sundays our schedule actually does include free time. It is my favorite day of the week now (besides monday when I get to write you all of course. And Wear PANTS!). It is very restful most of the time, and I take a break from chinese and just give all my time to the gosple. Or sleeping, I actually got to take a real nap yesterday! For an hour! it was amazing, let me tell you.
My district is getting very close, and I am enjoying all my elders. they try so hard to be mature around us (the sisters). Its comical really. But they are young men with such amazing depth in the gosple that sometimes I forget they are so young. And they really are so young. But the Lord really knows what he is doing after all. They, every single one of them, will be amazing missionaries. And I learn a lot from them.
Well my time has once again ended. But I love you all! Write me people! Bring me some sunshine!
-Sister Melissa Thiessen
Monday, September 13, 2010
Week Three Begins
The MTC is treating me much better now, (though unfortunately it restrains my time to update this blog horribly.) I am told that in 12 weeks when we get to the field it will be better and I will have an hour. Until then you all will just have to suffer through unbearably short and vague posts. I apologize. I am learning sooooo very much. I love my teachers. They are simply amazing. I really wish I could just write down every word that falls our of their mouths, it’s all so completely inspiring. I don’t know how they do it consistently, day after day. They juggle the gospel and teaching us all this incredibly hard language.
Oh the language. Chinese is incredibly intense. But I love it. I am VERY excited to learn it some day and I know that someday I will though, right now I am barely keeping my head above water. I’m definitely improving, and it really is an amazing pace. I’ve been here 13 days and I’ve already probably doubled the knowledge that I obtained during a whole semester at school. Though, to me, day in and day out my complete awkwardness and lack of skill in the language is infuriating. They encourage us to SYL, or Speak Your Language, all the time. Trade the words and sentences you know in English for those in your mission language. Let’s just say I’m really, really being humbled here, hahaha. I’m pretty bad at it. I can hear and understand quite a bit though. Just don’t expect me to be able to repeat it! Everyone says not to stress too badly, no matter how good we speak it here, we will fall flat on our faces when we reach the field anyway. Hahaha
I love my district. We have amazing elders and they teach me more and more every day. It’s really something how the Lord calls 19 yr old boys to fulfill this work, which is of paramount importance, but they rise to the occasions completely. It’s astounding. Of course sometimes they do something and you remember, yes, they are still teenagers, but most of the time, I’m entirely impressed with the level of spiritual maturity exhibited here. We also have a lot of fun. They say they like us, (their sisters) because we don’t make them feel like children. (I guess some of the sisters do that….) I appreciate their spirits so much.
We had our first temple trip today and it was amazing. I really think I love the Provo temple. It was closed last Monday, because of Labor Day. I went in for the first time with some questions and the Lord made the answers clear to me. It was such a spiritual experience.
I love you all and I wish I had more time to write out my experiences! But this evil red timer is blinking at me! And I only have 30 minutes to answer all of my email. I can only write on P-days. Such a shame really. I REALLY appreciate mail everyone, so write to me! dearelder.com is amazing and inspired of god, I swear. I love receiving mail.
Thank you all so much for your support and your prayers. I can feel them and they help to pull me along when I can hardly bear the weight of the responsibility of this amazing calling.
Sister M. Thiessen
(Sounds so official right? I know! Hahaha)
The MTC is treating me much better now, (though unfortunately it restrains my time to update this blog horribly.) I am told that in 12 weeks when we get to the field it will be better and I will have an hour. Until then you all will just have to suffer through unbearably short and vague posts. I apologize. I am learning sooooo very much. I love my teachers. They are simply amazing. I really wish I could just write down every word that falls our of their mouths, it’s all so completely inspiring. I don’t know how they do it consistently, day after day. They juggle the gospel and teaching us all this incredibly hard language.
Oh the language. Chinese is incredibly intense. But I love it. I am VERY excited to learn it some day and I know that someday I will though, right now I am barely keeping my head above water. I’m definitely improving, and it really is an amazing pace. I’ve been here 13 days and I’ve already probably doubled the knowledge that I obtained during a whole semester at school. Though, to me, day in and day out my complete awkwardness and lack of skill in the language is infuriating. They encourage us to SYL, or Speak Your Language, all the time. Trade the words and sentences you know in English for those in your mission language. Let’s just say I’m really, really being humbled here, hahaha. I’m pretty bad at it. I can hear and understand quite a bit though. Just don’t expect me to be able to repeat it! Everyone says not to stress too badly, no matter how good we speak it here, we will fall flat on our faces when we reach the field anyway. Hahaha
I love my district. We have amazing elders and they teach me more and more every day. It’s really something how the Lord calls 19 yr old boys to fulfill this work, which is of paramount importance, but they rise to the occasions completely. It’s astounding. Of course sometimes they do something and you remember, yes, they are still teenagers, but most of the time, I’m entirely impressed with the level of spiritual maturity exhibited here. We also have a lot of fun. They say they like us, (their sisters) because we don’t make them feel like children. (I guess some of the sisters do that….) I appreciate their spirits so much.
We had our first temple trip today and it was amazing. I really think I love the Provo temple. It was closed last Monday, because of Labor Day. I went in for the first time with some questions and the Lord made the answers clear to me. It was such a spiritual experience.
I love you all and I wish I had more time to write out my experiences! But this evil red timer is blinking at me! And I only have 30 minutes to answer all of my email. I can only write on P-days. Such a shame really. I REALLY appreciate mail everyone, so write to me! dearelder.com is amazing and inspired of god, I swear. I love receiving mail.
Thank you all so much for your support and your prayers. I can feel them and they help to pull me along when I can hardly bear the weight of the responsibility of this amazing calling.
Sister M. Thiessen
(Sounds so official right? I know! Hahaha)
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Beginning the Journey- The MTC
Wed Sept 1st 2010,
1:30pm, the Missionary Training Center. What an overwhelming thing. A curbside goodbye to two of my favorite people and then I was thrust into the peculiar routine of the MTC. Those first few days were very difficult and I honestly questioned my choice to come and not pursue a very different path with a certain boy. There was a lot of prayer, a lot of soul searching. The last few days however have been the Lord's way of answering my questionings. I'm beginning to remember my purpose and enjoy the experience.
The day before yesterday in one on my classes we watched a talk given by Jeffery R Holland, a talk given specifically to missionaries that can only be seen while we are here at the MTC. It was Amazing! With tears in his eyes he professed that his mission was the greatest thing that ever happened to him. He said he was inspired to digress from his planned talk and then begged any missionary toying with the idea of going home to stay. When I say begging I mean, really, he begged. He used such powerful language. He said he would rip the curtains off the walls and the cords from the TV s and tie us up if he could. He pleaded with us not to leave because of homesickness of feelings of inadequacy or any other reason, stating with all the power of his soul that this is the most important work we will ever do, and if we leave now we would regret it rot the rest of our lives. It was an AMAZING talk.
Then yesterday during devotional (which was honestly awesome) I began to feel that excited enthusiasm which drove me to come in the first place.
Yes, coming was a hard choice, but I am remembering my purpose. And honestly the MTC is a great place for learning. I have learned so much in so short a time. The fact that so many people volunteer their their time and so much of their lives to come and serve, and the teachers volunteering their time and lives to come and teach us, its astounding. Really it amazes me. Everyone is so cheerful and friendly here. It is quite a unique place in all the world.
My classes are great. I have two teachers, who are both wonderful people. Strangely enough one of them was in my ward here in Provo. It is so very odd to know him from a missionary perspective. I'm finding that time moves very oddly here in the MTC. Too slow but all together too fast. I have 12 weeks here, and that is forever long. 1/6th of my mission actually, and it seems like I've already been here an eternity rather than just six days. Six days!! Each morning I wake up, and each evening I clamber back into bed and wonder what had even been done in all the time between, the day went by so fast. And yet there is not enough time, not nearly enough time to learn what I need to learn.
Chinese is very difficult. Most of the people in my district (there are 8 of us) have had some background in the language, more than I have, and far surpass my meager skills. Oh how gloriously humbling that is. However, I am really really working to push the tones and words into my resistant brain. I am so excited to learn the language. I love Chinese!
My companion is a wonderful angel of a sister. Her name is Sister Emily Peterson, and she hails from Kaysville UT. Funny thing, after I first got my mission call I registered on the Taipei mission website. She registered when she got her call, saw my name and found me on FB. then we became companions. The lord works in strange ways. she is exactly what I needed here at the MTC. She has a missionary our right now and we both commiserate boy stories and longings. She is incredibly supportive and wise.
Because my time to email here is severely limited I am going to have to cut this short. I really really would love to regale you all with stories of my district mates, who are wonderful people, but there is sadly not the time! These stories of MTC life (which I know all of you are just dieing to hear) will have to wait until next week when hopefully I will not be so rushed to compose a better post.
Please please write me! I LOVE receiving letters, they brighten my entire week immeasurably. www.dearelder.com is absolutely AMAZING and I recommend it. My mission info is Taiwan, Taipei and my date of departure is 11/16. (you need those things to use www.dearelder.com.) My address is on fb, or contact my mother, Monica Bird Thiessen.
I love and miss you all!
Sister Melissa Thiessen
1:30pm, the Missionary Training Center. What an overwhelming thing. A curbside goodbye to two of my favorite people and then I was thrust into the peculiar routine of the MTC. Those first few days were very difficult and I honestly questioned my choice to come and not pursue a very different path with a certain boy. There was a lot of prayer, a lot of soul searching. The last few days however have been the Lord's way of answering my questionings. I'm beginning to remember my purpose and enjoy the experience.
The day before yesterday in one on my classes we watched a talk given by Jeffery R Holland, a talk given specifically to missionaries that can only be seen while we are here at the MTC. It was Amazing! With tears in his eyes he professed that his mission was the greatest thing that ever happened to him. He said he was inspired to digress from his planned talk and then begged any missionary toying with the idea of going home to stay. When I say begging I mean, really, he begged. He used such powerful language. He said he would rip the curtains off the walls and the cords from the TV s and tie us up if he could. He pleaded with us not to leave because of homesickness of feelings of inadequacy or any other reason, stating with all the power of his soul that this is the most important work we will ever do, and if we leave now we would regret it rot the rest of our lives. It was an AMAZING talk.
Then yesterday during devotional (which was honestly awesome) I began to feel that excited enthusiasm which drove me to come in the first place.
Yes, coming was a hard choice, but I am remembering my purpose. And honestly the MTC is a great place for learning. I have learned so much in so short a time. The fact that so many people volunteer their their time and so much of their lives to come and serve, and the teachers volunteering their time and lives to come and teach us, its astounding. Really it amazes me. Everyone is so cheerful and friendly here. It is quite a unique place in all the world.
My classes are great. I have two teachers, who are both wonderful people. Strangely enough one of them was in my ward here in Provo. It is so very odd to know him from a missionary perspective. I'm finding that time moves very oddly here in the MTC. Too slow but all together too fast. I have 12 weeks here, and that is forever long. 1/6th of my mission actually, and it seems like I've already been here an eternity rather than just six days. Six days!! Each morning I wake up, and each evening I clamber back into bed and wonder what had even been done in all the time between, the day went by so fast. And yet there is not enough time, not nearly enough time to learn what I need to learn.
Chinese is very difficult. Most of the people in my district (there are 8 of us) have had some background in the language, more than I have, and far surpass my meager skills. Oh how gloriously humbling that is. However, I am really really working to push the tones and words into my resistant brain. I am so excited to learn the language. I love Chinese!
My companion is a wonderful angel of a sister. Her name is Sister Emily Peterson, and she hails from Kaysville UT. Funny thing, after I first got my mission call I registered on the Taipei mission website. She registered when she got her call, saw my name and found me on FB. then we became companions. The lord works in strange ways. she is exactly what I needed here at the MTC. She has a missionary our right now and we both commiserate boy stories and longings. She is incredibly supportive and wise.
Because my time to email here is severely limited I am going to have to cut this short. I really really would love to regale you all with stories of my district mates, who are wonderful people, but there is sadly not the time! These stories of MTC life (which I know all of you are just dieing to hear) will have to wait until next week when hopefully I will not be so rushed to compose a better post.
Please please write me! I LOVE receiving letters, they brighten my entire week immeasurably. www.dearelder.com is absolutely AMAZING and I recommend it. My mission info is Taiwan, Taipei and my date of departure is 11/16. (you need those things to use www.dearelder.com.) My address is on fb, or contact my mother, Monica Bird Thiessen.
I love and miss you all!
Sister Melissa Thiessen
Saturday, September 4, 2010
She's at the MTC
Well, she's at the MTC. She went in on Wednesday at 1:30pm. She was a lot braver than her mother was. (That's me by the way, in the picture with Lissa.) I don't think she even looked back. Just went straight up the sidewalk, face up to the sun with excitement and determination, for this, her latest adventure.
I got an email on Thursday and she asked me to post that I will be posting on her blog, when she emails them to me on her Preparation Day. She gets one day a week to do laundry, write letters, etc. (Or part of a day, more likely.)
She is doing well. Misses everyone. Said the first couple of nights were a little rough. I am sure she is missing the communication tools that are part of our daily lives. Facebook, email, Deviant Art, and just web surfing. Missing all her family and friends.
Sorry I am not the writer that she is. My prose tends to be much simpler, less descriptive and more to the point.
On the up side, I am usually a better speller. :D
Look on Tuesday to see if I received an email on Monday to post.
Have a good Labor Day weekend everyone. Be safe.
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