Wednesday, March 30, 2016
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
He's off to Taiwan!!!
After 9 weeks behind bars in the MTC, Bo Zhang Lao is finally off to Taiwan. He was super excited to finally get out of the MTC and get to his mission. He was a little nervous, too. He was able to call from the Salt Lake Airport for a few minutes before his flight to San Francisco. He said there were 20 missionaries in their travel group going to Taiwan. They left the MTC at 4:00 am. Silas called again and talked to his mom during his layover in San Francisco. He said the first flight went quick, but he was starting to get tired. They didn't get much sleep the night before. He said a guy came up to the group in the airport in San Francisco and told them that he was a mission president in Hawaii. He gave them $100 and told them that lunch was on him. They flew out of San Francisco at 1;54 pm PDT and are scheduled to arrive just under 13 hours later. When they arrive in Taiwan it will be 6 pm on Wednesday, March 30th. Here are some final MTC pictures:
Wednesday, March 23, 2016
Last P-Day in the MTC!!!
Hey hey hey!
Everything here at the MTC is doing great! Lot's of last minute studying before we can get out of here. We got our flight plans on Friday and we're all really excited! We haven't been able to focus at all this week. So as supreme ultimate district leader I laid down my iron fist......of telling everybody how good of a job they're doing and to hang in there.... So here is our flight plan:
8:59a to 10:11a (2h 12m) Salt Lake City (SLC) to San Francisco (SFO)
Layover (3h 29m) stop San Francisco (SFO)
1:40p to 6:30p (13h 50m) Overnight · Arrives Wed, Mar 30 San Francisco (SFO) to Taipei (TPE)
It's pretty simple and straightforward. We leave the MTC on Tuesday at 4:30 (am) and arrive in Taiwan 6:30 (pm) the next day. So I will be losing a day of my life. I will have the opportunity to call home. I'm going to buy a prepaid card and call the house I guess.... I don't know how much free-time I'll have in the airport. But I imagine I'll have a lot. So I will call home. And the best part is, is there's no restrictions on how often I can call home in the airport. So I can call home at every stop pretty much. I can't promise I'll sound the same when I talk. My sentences might be kind of jacked up... Just a warning. I haven't gotten the cash out for the bike yet. Being a missionary and all I haven't really had time to do....anything. We heard about the terrorist attack in France. We figured it out pretty quick and had a Zone prayer. Sounds pretty terrible. This week for our TRC Skype session we talked with Sister Zheng who is in Taiwan, Kaioshung. She was really cool and we laughed pretty hard. Mostly at the fact that we couldn't understand like anything and then there were these awkward pauses and she would slowly start to smile, then I would slowly start to smile and then we would laugh. For some reason during the TRC skype sessions all of the members we teach have this fascination with me. It's kind of weirding me out. For example, we were talking to her about something and my companion would ask a question. She would reply then I would ask a question. But after I would ask a question she/he would be like, "So Bo Zhang Lao(Bwoa Zhung Lao), (insert something slightly off topic and totally directed at me.)" It wouldn't be weird but my companion is right there and doesn't get asked questions at all and he's just as talkative as me.. They seem to find everything I say funny, probably because my Chinese is so bad. Sounds like everything is going alright back home. Sounds like Kayleigh's wisdom teeth thing is kind of crazy. Poor Ben. I can't believe how much the adjustment of status fee is. How much as he spent on this whole immigration deal, $150,000? $600,000? haha I hope Easter goes well. For Easter we're having an Apostle come. Rumor say it's going to be Uchtdorf. Anyway, I'm excited to get out of this place and leave. I'm sick of all of the extra stuff they think they need to lay on us. It's been a pretty uneventful week. We were able to watch the temple dedication and do the Hosanna shout. It was alright. We were sitting next to this goober though. So when we were singing the Spirit of God he was really getting into it. I mean REALLY getting into it. So much, that he was shaking his fists and shouting, not singing, shouting. He was shaking our entire bench. All of the Elders in my District were freaking dying. Some people here at the MTC are pretty entertaining... Anyway, that's basically it.
Everything here at the MTC is doing great! Lot's of last minute studying before we can get out of here. We got our flight plans on Friday and we're all really excited! We haven't been able to focus at all this week. So as supreme ultimate district leader I laid down my iron fist......of telling everybody how good of a job they're doing and to hang in there.... So here is our flight plan:
8:59a to 10:11a (2h 12m) Salt Lake City (SLC) to San Francisco (SFO)
Layover (3h 29m) stop San Francisco (SFO)
1:40p to 6:30p (13h 50m) Overnight · Arrives Wed, Mar 30 San Francisco (SFO) to Taipei (TPE)
It's pretty simple and straightforward. We leave the MTC on Tuesday at 4:30 (am) and arrive in Taiwan 6:30 (pm) the next day. So I will be losing a day of my life. I will have the opportunity to call home. I'm going to buy a prepaid card and call the house I guess.... I don't know how much free-time I'll have in the airport. But I imagine I'll have a lot. So I will call home. And the best part is, is there's no restrictions on how often I can call home in the airport. So I can call home at every stop pretty much. I can't promise I'll sound the same when I talk. My sentences might be kind of jacked up... Just a warning. I haven't gotten the cash out for the bike yet. Being a missionary and all I haven't really had time to do....anything. We heard about the terrorist attack in France. We figured it out pretty quick and had a Zone prayer. Sounds pretty terrible. This week for our TRC Skype session we talked with Sister Zheng who is in Taiwan, Kaioshung. She was really cool and we laughed pretty hard. Mostly at the fact that we couldn't understand like anything and then there were these awkward pauses and she would slowly start to smile, then I would slowly start to smile and then we would laugh. For some reason during the TRC skype sessions all of the members we teach have this fascination with me. It's kind of weirding me out. For example, we were talking to her about something and my companion would ask a question. She would reply then I would ask a question. But after I would ask a question she/he would be like, "So Bo Zhang Lao(Bwoa Zhung Lao), (insert something slightly off topic and totally directed at me.)" It wouldn't be weird but my companion is right there and doesn't get asked questions at all and he's just as talkative as me.. They seem to find everything I say funny, probably because my Chinese is so bad. Sounds like everything is going alright back home. Sounds like Kayleigh's wisdom teeth thing is kind of crazy. Poor Ben. I can't believe how much the adjustment of status fee is. How much as he spent on this whole immigration deal, $150,000? $600,000? haha I hope Easter goes well. For Easter we're having an Apostle come. Rumor say it's going to be Uchtdorf. Anyway, I'm excited to get out of this place and leave. I'm sick of all of the extra stuff they think they need to lay on us. It's been a pretty uneventful week. We were able to watch the temple dedication and do the Hosanna shout. It was alright. We were sitting next to this goober though. So when we were singing the Spirit of God he was really getting into it. I mean REALLY getting into it. So much, that he was shaking his fists and shouting, not singing, shouting. He was shaking our entire bench. All of the Elders in my District were freaking dying. Some people here at the MTC are pretty entertaining... Anyway, that's basically it.
I love you all so much!
Wednesday, March 16, 2016
Just really freakin' done with the MTC, but it's going to be sad to leave my MTC brothers behind
Hello family!
Things here at the MTC are just the same old same old. Every week is pretty much the same thing.
This week we got to know our knew Mandarin district pretty well. They're all really nice. I really bonded with this new Elder, Elder Horton. He's super awesome. He was like a surgical assistant so he has a lot of gross stories. He's always telling us about gross surgical procedures. Some are pretty gnarly. We're all very excited to leave the MTC soon. We all leave on different days. So Elder Bringhurst will be the first to go on Monday. Then me and Elder Giles will go on Tuesday. Then Elder Hill will go on Wednesday. So Elder Hill's dad was a Korean speaking missionary and his mom is Korean. When he got his call, it was Vancouver Korean speaking. A week before he showed up at the MTC, his mission president called and asked him if he'd learn Mandarin instead. He said OK, but no one told him about the entry date change, so he got to the MTC a week early!!! He was the first to get here and the last to go (10 weeks).
It's going to be sad to have to leave my MTC brothers behind. I really do consider them some of my closest friends. I talk to Elder Pothier all the time. He's like 7'8 though. He's super tall. We did receive our Cup O' Noodles shipment and they've already been enjoyed. We've begun to ration them. I can't really think of anything that you need to send... I'll let you know though. What's up with the crazy people in Tooele? That's freaking hilarious though that womans at the restaurant was saying stuff to herself. Although I say the same things probably the same way in my Chinese class to my Chinese teacher. We get our travel plans on Friday.. At least we should be. We play Chinese Chess every now and then. My companion and Elder Bringhurst really like it. They play all the time. I suck. We get a hot breakfast every Monday, but it really sucks and taste like....doo doo.... and smells like FanPay (cantonese for fart). Glad to hear my room is being used. I miss my room. And my bed. Your Confucius quote (Man who say he does not fart is full of hot air) reminded me of an experience. One night we were sleeping and we had just crawled into bed. It was quiet and then all the sudden one of the Elders let out this earth shattering fart. I kid you not, it shook the whole residence building. It was like a magnitude of like 6.3. Pretty freaking scary. We all died laughing though. We were all in tears both from the laughter and the smell. Oh MTC food. How you curse us.
Anyway, everything here is pretty good. Just really freaking done with the MTC. Just another week in the MTC. I guess one of the Elders got into a scuffle with another Elder in our Residence... It was pretty mild but still entertaining none the less.
Elder Turner sent some pictures from his first week in Taiwan:
Things here at the MTC are just the same old same old. Every week is pretty much the same thing.
Wednesday, March 9, 2016
We got to Skype with Sister Lu...she was very understanding of our awful, awful, awful Chinese
Hello family!
Glad to hear everything back home is going alright for the most part! This week was pretty much the same as the rest. I guess it was a little different.
On Saturday night we got the opportunity to Skype with some Taiwanese people for our TRC. Me and my companion got Sister Lu from Taipei (oh yeah, it's not Tai-pay. It's Tai-Bei.) So that was really fun. She was very nice and understanding of our awful, awful, awful Chinese. It was kind of hard to understand her because for some reason the TRC instructors decided it would be a good idea to do two zones of mandarin at once in the same room. So it was freaking loud and we had to like press our faces to the monitor to hear what she was saying. It was awesome to be able to understand some of what she was saying. She told us that she and her husband are converts to the church and they are trying to share the gospel with the rest of her family. She reads scriptures every morning through Skype to her sister. She said that her son is reading the Book of Mormon right now and trying to gain a testimony. It was really fun to hear her story and how the gospel has blessed her family. Despite some awkward moments in the call and the language barrier it was really fun to do that. This Saturday we get to do that again.
This week the Mandarin group ahead of us left for Taiwan and other various areas around the world. Which makes us officially the oldest Mandarin group in the MTC. We are so ready to get out of here. This week we were talking to our teacher and he told us that he's very impressed with our ability to speak/understand Chinese. He told us how awesome it is that we can understand him at a normal talking pace. We were all very confused because it doesn't/didn't sound like he was talking fast. Then he explained that when we first got here he talked really slow. He demonstrated and it was like this, "Hello.....Welcome.....to the MTC....I'm....Brother Dodge.." It was kind of interesting because now that I think about it, all of the "investigators" seem to talk at a normal pace for Chinese conversation. The language is still really hard and from what most teachers tell us it will be from 7 months to 1 year to be able to understand and speak the language. Then to read and write it will be about another year. Most teachers say they're still learning and their Chinese is nowhere near perfect.
Other than that there not much else. Me and the Elders are doing great. I was made District Leader. It's not too fun. I don't like being the mailman. Some of the sisters have issues with me already. Mostly because I don't take my role as district leader serious enough apparently. They don't like that I make jokes. The Elders on the other hand are usually in tears of laughter. Oh well, I'm just trying to do my best! Anyway, just another week in the MTC. Today we get new Mando's which is awesome. They're going to be right next door to our residence. We'll be sure to give them a surprise visit from Laoshi Long. We got the Cantonese speakers pretty good. They're all super weirded out but they caught on to the joke and they think it's hilarious. We're definitely going to leave behind the dragon for the next group. I also learned that one of the Canto's was in the Navy for about a year as a computer something. (IT?) So I like to talk to him. He's 24. All of the Cantonese speakers are super awesome (and normal.) The Navy Canto told me that the MTC is basically a glorified version of boot camp.
Something we love to do when we have some free time is watch these "I'm a Mormon Videos." We love this one called Mao Kai Ping. He's a tour guide in Taichung on Sun Moon Lake and we love to watch that video. We watch it like 6 times everyday. There's also a Surfer Girl Taiwan one. That one is possibly my favorite. Whenever we get down about being in the MTC we watch those videos to remind us where we're going to be in a couple weeks. You should watch them. We love "Mao Kai Ping." We think it's pretty funny. Plus the music is nice. For real though go watch it.
Anyway, I love you all so much! Thanks for feeding us. Thanks for the Dear Elders. They make my day. See you next week!
Glad to hear everything back home is going alright for the most part! This week was pretty much the same as the rest. I guess it was a little different.
On Saturday night we got the opportunity to Skype with some Taiwanese people for our TRC. Me and my companion got Sister Lu from Taipei (oh yeah, it's not Tai-pay. It's Tai-Bei.) So that was really fun. She was very nice and understanding of our awful, awful, awful Chinese. It was kind of hard to understand her because for some reason the TRC instructors decided it would be a good idea to do two zones of mandarin at once in the same room. So it was freaking loud and we had to like press our faces to the monitor to hear what she was saying. It was awesome to be able to understand some of what she was saying. She told us that she and her husband are converts to the church and they are trying to share the gospel with the rest of her family. She reads scriptures every morning through Skype to her sister. She said that her son is reading the Book of Mormon right now and trying to gain a testimony. It was really fun to hear her story and how the gospel has blessed her family. Despite some awkward moments in the call and the language barrier it was really fun to do that. This Saturday we get to do that again.
This week the Mandarin group ahead of us left for Taiwan and other various areas around the world. Which makes us officially the oldest Mandarin group in the MTC. We are so ready to get out of here. This week we were talking to our teacher and he told us that he's very impressed with our ability to speak/understand Chinese. He told us how awesome it is that we can understand him at a normal talking pace. We were all very confused because it doesn't/didn't sound like he was talking fast. Then he explained that when we first got here he talked really slow. He demonstrated and it was like this, "Hello.....Welcome.....to the MTC....I'm....Brother Dodge.." It was kind of interesting because now that I think about it, all of the "investigators" seem to talk at a normal pace for Chinese conversation. The language is still really hard and from what most teachers tell us it will be from 7 months to 1 year to be able to understand and speak the language. Then to read and write it will be about another year. Most teachers say they're still learning and their Chinese is nowhere near perfect.
Other than that there not much else. Me and the Elders are doing great. I was made District Leader. It's not too fun. I don't like being the mailman. Some of the sisters have issues with me already. Mostly because I don't take my role as district leader serious enough apparently. They don't like that I make jokes. The Elders on the other hand are usually in tears of laughter. Oh well, I'm just trying to do my best! Anyway, just another week in the MTC. Today we get new Mando's which is awesome. They're going to be right next door to our residence. We'll be sure to give them a surprise visit from Laoshi Long. We got the Cantonese speakers pretty good. They're all super weirded out but they caught on to the joke and they think it's hilarious. We're definitely going to leave behind the dragon for the next group. I also learned that one of the Canto's was in the Navy for about a year as a computer something. (IT?) So I like to talk to him. He's 24. All of the Cantonese speakers are super awesome (and normal.) The Navy Canto told me that the MTC is basically a glorified version of boot camp.
Something we love to do when we have some free time is watch these "I'm a Mormon Videos." We love this one called Mao Kai Ping. He's a tour guide in Taichung on Sun Moon Lake and we love to watch that video. We watch it like 6 times everyday. There's also a Surfer Girl Taiwan one. That one is possibly my favorite. Whenever we get down about being in the MTC we watch those videos to remind us where we're going to be in a couple weeks. You should watch them. We love "Mao Kai Ping." We think it's pretty funny. Plus the music is nice. For real though go watch it.
Anyway, I love you all so much! Thanks for feeding us. Thanks for the Dear Elders. They make my day. See you next week!
Wednesday, March 2, 2016
Kan Dao Bo Zhang Lao
Hello, Family!
Glad to hear everything is going well at home.....for the most part. Dad's haircut looks really good! Kayleigh did a good job cutting his hair. I'm so excited for Sam and Krista to get married. Super cool!
This week was pretty alright. It's kind of the same stuff everyday. We learn in class. We teach fake investigators. We sleep. Learning Chinese is hard. By the end of the day most of us have headaches. From what I hear at night, we're also already talking in Chinese in our sleep. It's pretty funny to hear snoring and then, "Wo kan dao Bo Zhang Lao." (I've seen Elder Burge) I think we have about 4 weeks left now? Anyway, time has really flown by here at the MTC. We're all really ready to go though. We met the new Cantonese guys and they're pretty cool. We are almost the longest staying group in the MTC. The Mandarins above us leave in about 2 weeks, which is weird. Because when we got here they only had been here 3 weeks or something. The group that's getting ready to leave started panicking because only 3 of the sisters got travel plans and then someone made up a rumor saying that they're going to change their missions and stuff...Really stupid..We're going to all eventually be made Zone Leaders/District Leaders soon, since we'll be the only Mandos for about a week. I don't know, doesn't sound too fun. Things here are going good though. The language is coming along but it's really hard to figure out what people are saying sometimes. Especially when they just start going off. As for the packages you sent this week, we ate all of the bacon this morning. We ate some macaroni and cheese last night.. So we already ate all of the cup of noodles you sent last time. The Elders loved them so much. We would eat like 3 every night. A big hit. I love to see their reactions when I get packages. It's funny what entertains us...you know Sam's mission harmonica that I found while packing? I thought what the heck and threw it in my bag. Now I can play Amazing Grace on it and the Elders really seem to enjoy it...I think.
I've gotten a couple of emails from the mission office in Taichung about ordering new missionary name tags (the name tags in Taiwan have no English writing on them) and a bike. I took care of it. Getting emails from the mission office makes going to Taiwan seem more real. It makes me excited! Everyone says that my mission president is super cool. But I'll be getting a new one. I know the lady that is training him, and she says he's super nice and really cool.
Yeah, we're doing sealings today. Please send lots of Cup of Noodles. The Elders really like them. I feel bad that you have to drive down to Provo just to drop the packages off with the delivery service! It's not super urgent that we need anything, so no rush. My classroom is the closest building/room to the front gate of the MTC. Come say Hi. hahaha!!!
Anyway, not a whole lot to write about. Same old same old. No interesting stories... Love you!
Glad to hear everything is going well at home.....for the most part. Dad's haircut looks really good! Kayleigh did a good job cutting his hair. I'm so excited for Sam and Krista to get married. Super cool!
This week was pretty alright. It's kind of the same stuff everyday. We learn in class. We teach fake investigators. We sleep. Learning Chinese is hard. By the end of the day most of us have headaches. From what I hear at night, we're also already talking in Chinese in our sleep. It's pretty funny to hear snoring and then, "Wo kan dao Bo Zhang Lao." (I've seen Elder Burge) I think we have about 4 weeks left now? Anyway, time has really flown by here at the MTC. We're all really ready to go though. We met the new Cantonese guys and they're pretty cool. We are almost the longest staying group in the MTC. The Mandarins above us leave in about 2 weeks, which is weird. Because when we got here they only had been here 3 weeks or something. The group that's getting ready to leave started panicking because only 3 of the sisters got travel plans and then someone made up a rumor saying that they're going to change their missions and stuff...Really stupid..We're going to all eventually be made Zone Leaders/District Leaders soon, since we'll be the only Mandos for about a week. I don't know, doesn't sound too fun. Things here are going good though. The language is coming along but it's really hard to figure out what people are saying sometimes. Especially when they just start going off. As for the packages you sent this week, we ate all of the bacon this morning. We ate some macaroni and cheese last night.. So we already ate all of the cup of noodles you sent last time. The Elders loved them so much. We would eat like 3 every night. A big hit. I love to see their reactions when I get packages. It's funny what entertains us...you know Sam's mission harmonica that I found while packing? I thought what the heck and threw it in my bag. Now I can play Amazing Grace on it and the Elders really seem to enjoy it...I think.
I've gotten a couple of emails from the mission office in Taichung about ordering new missionary name tags (the name tags in Taiwan have no English writing on them) and a bike. I took care of it. Getting emails from the mission office makes going to Taiwan seem more real. It makes me excited! Everyone says that my mission president is super cool. But I'll be getting a new one. I know the lady that is training him, and she says he's super nice and really cool.
Yeah, we're doing sealings today. Please send lots of Cup of Noodles. The Elders really like them. I feel bad that you have to drive down to Provo just to drop the packages off with the delivery service! It's not super urgent that we need anything, so no rush. My classroom is the closest building/room to the front gate of the MTC. Come say Hi. hahaha!!!
Anyway, not a whole lot to write about. Same old same old. No interesting stories... Love you!
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