Prepare for Takeoff!

So! On Tuesday, guess what...Another Apostle! Its unheard of, and everyone is astounded. That's 4 in a row (and there is talk of one tomorrow night too, though we wont be here to see it). So Elder Bednar gave a most excellent talk about Doctrine, Principles, and Applications. It was amazing. I have had questions about these subjects for the last couple of weeks and was unable to find a satisfactory answer. Bednar settled everything simply and clearly in that clever way that he has. Oh, and his wife? An amazing woman. So spunky. She gave a great talk then as he started speaking with a joke she stood up, stole the microphone from her husband an Apostle, and corrected him. The whole room erupted. I learned a lot.

Lio Jiemei (Sister Fleming) our 3rd companion (whom we love) had to get reassigned briefly for a lack of visa. Sometimes when you are accelerated into higher transfers you don't make the Visa cut. But! She got reassigned to the Houston TX mission, English speaking. I'm thinking she may be in some areas of some people we know just maybe! Its pretty cool. I'm almost kind of jealous, she gets to share the gospel in her own tongue and then gets the experience of Chinese and Taiwan too! So blessed I think.

We experienced so many lasts this week. Our last lessons with our teachers, our last zone meetings, our last time seeing our branch president...our last night suffering through pizza night in the cafeteria...One of our lasts was our last TRC. I must say, we did go out with a bang. We taught an amazing lesson, our best here. We taught a single investigator, a man. He was a quiet spoken type person but very willing to learn and engage in the conversation. I taught a lot, afterwords both of my companions commented that I had taught an great deal and seemed more confident in my Chinese. Its true, I did, for the first time I almost felt comfortable with the language! Which was a good thing to experience before I jump off to the far east.

I'm so excited it seems unreal. I can't believe that I'm finally leaving the MTC! I am also nervous as I grasp the concept that I will probably not be understanding much of anything that is going on around me for the next 6 months or so. But know I have learned so much here. I have grown so much. Its hard for me to tell sometimes from where I am sitting, I have to live with me every day. However the past week I have taken a step back and looked at my life and the progression I've made, mentally, and spiritually (physically it is a digression haha) and it is a long road. I've taken a few very large steps. The road still stretches before me farther than I can see, but I have a greater desire to tackle it with the best of attitudes. Hopefully I can super glue that desire in my soul long enough to last me :p

The plane leaves tomorrow. I start phase two. I don't know what awaits me, but I know that I can take it. (At least I know that now. I'll get back to you on that next week.)
So from now on, all mail gets fired off to Taiwan. I love you all! My time is up. I swear at some point you will get better blogs, as soon as I don't have a glaring red devil in the corner of my screen blinking death...

Sister Melissa Thiessen