And Reality Has Sunk In...

Leih Hou!

     So you won't be receiving an email from me next week because I leave for HONG KONG next Monday morning! AHHHH! This is so insane! I am so excited! So in two weeks I will be reporting on Hong Kong and life in the mission field! I love the MTC so much and it has been such a blessing to be here for the past 8 weeks. I have learned so much about the Cantonese language, this gospel, the Savior, and myself. I'm kinda sad to leave, but I am so excited beyond words to be heading into the mission field next week! I feel totally unprepared but I am totally ready to be in Hong Kong teaching the people. I am ready for them to throw me into the deep end and see if I will sink or swim. Hopefully I swim, but I'll probably sink but that's okay because I have the Lord as my life jacket to keep me afloat! :) (Sorry for the cheesiness lol!). The reality started to sink in when we got our official name tags! We were all so excited! it's awesome because half of the name tag is in English and the other half is in Chinese characters. That was on Wednesday, and then on Friday we got our flight plans. That was definitely the highlight of the week! I don't think I've been that excited for a piece of paper except for my mission call haha! Now we are in the single digit countdown and a week from now, I will be heading to Hong Kong. I'm not going to lie, the days are long, but overall I feel like time has gone by so quickly! It's crazy! I know the next 16 months are going to fly by, and I'll be sad when they do. This mission has already been such a blessing in my life and I can't wait to see what blessings are in store for me in Hong Kong.

     So I forgot to mention the past couple of weeks that we Skype church members who are native speakers of Cantonese. Most people in our district have Skyped with people living in the US, but sister Leonard and I have been lucky enough to talk with people who are currently living in Hong Kong. It is so cool, and I love it! It's a little harder to teach because you can't hand them a pamphlet to read or anything, but it helps me kinda evaluate how much I can understand native speakers and how much they can understand me. We do it again for the final time tonight, so I'm excited :)

     We watched the First Presidency Christmas Devotional last night and the talks were all really good! For my spiritual thought for today, I wanted to share what Elder David A. Bednar said. Elder Bednar is my absolute favorite apostle and his talk was great! he said "Christ is the light of the world. He is the light that shines in the darkness. This light dispels fear and brings everlasting peace." His challenge to us this Christmas season was that when we look at all the Christmas lights that look so pretty and shine so brightly at night, remember Christ is the light. I really liked this challenge. it is so easy to get caught up in the worldliness of Christmas, but this is taking something worldly and turning it into something spiritual. I love it! 

     I know my email is lacking today, but trust me! The email you get in two weeks will definitely make up for it! I love and miss you all! I hope you have an amazing week!

Scripture of the Week: Doctrine and Covenants 78:17-19 You don't realize how many blessings the Lord has in store for you.

Quote of the Week: Through our experiences in life, we learn that joy in this world is not full, but in Jesus Christ our joy is full. 

Mormon Message of the Week: Come What May and Love it

Sister Maggie Shiffert

​My new name tag! :)

​So half of our zone left on Tuesday to go serve missions speaking Hmong, Cambodian, and Vietnamese. On Wednesday, we got a new district of Thai speaking missionaries. So here's the before and after pictures of our zone!

​We have a mini Christmas tree in our classroom! (Thanks Mom!)

​Another district photo just because they're awesome!