The "Crybaby Sister"

Leih hou ngoh ge gatihng! Ngoh ngoi leihdeih!!! (Hello my family! I love you guys!)

How is everyone?! I miss you so much! Grandma and Grandpa Wilcox - thank you SO MUCH for your care package!! I was so happy to see those O'Henry's! And the elders in my district loved them too :) I shared. They were like, "Oh my gosh! These are like the best thing I've had since I've been here! Tell your grandma I love her!!!" haha. So thank you so so so much! Misti, thanks for the dearelder! I love getting mail! And everyone else - thank you so much for your love and support. It means the WORLD to me. I love you all!

Some bad news we received this week: two of our teachers are leaving. :( I started crying when Daai Ji Muih told us she was leaving this week. And Haa Hing Dai is leaving too! They both leave Saturday. It's going to be horrible. It's funny how emotionally attached we are to our amazing teachers. They are just SO strong and help me so much. But I guess that's what your mission is: a lot of goodbyes. Just when you get used to the MTC, you have to leave. Get used to a companion, time for a transfer. Love the people you teach, transfer out of that area. It's going to be hard, but it's a huge blessing in the first place that I get to meet and associate with all of these wonderful people. I constantly try to imagine what my life would have been like had I not decided to serve a mission. I can't even imagine it. This is the BEST decision I have ever made in my entire life, hands down. I love being a missionary SO MUCH!

Soo... I'm known as the crybaby sister. Not crying as in sad or discouraged or homesick, but crying as in every time I feel the Spirit, I cry. My eyes just leak. I don't know what's gotten into me! haha. Every single time we have a devotional or something, Sister Morgan, Sister Johnson, Sister Palmer look over at me and they say, "Every time." Because I'm always crying! I just feel the Spirit here SO MUCH. It's so amazing!

On Tuesday, ELDER RICHARD G. SCOTT came and did our devotional. Yeah! How awesome!!! It was the most sacred, special experience I've ever had. He spoke about prayer and receiving revelation through prayer. I've been feeling like I wanted to make my prayers more meaningful, so it spoke right to me. It was so neat being in the same room as an apostle. Haley, I sing in the choir so I get a seat in 18M every single time! It's great! :) Anyway, Elder Scott spoke so eloquently on prayer and then.... he stopped his prepared remarks. He told us that he felt very prompted to give those of us speaking a foreign language an apostolic blessing that we would be able to do it. The Spirit in the room was almost tangible right then. It was honestly the most sacred feeling I've ever had. I don't think anyone was daring to breathe, it was so neat. My face was soaking wet with tears. I KNOW that was God speaking through His servant. He said things that I know were meant for me, and for our district. It was so special!

Sundays are the BEST day of the week, by far. I feel like I'm feasting on the Spirit all day long and I love it. Half of our branch is Philippines bound, and 3 districts left early this morning for the Philippines! So yesterday during sacrament meeting they sang "God Be With You Till We Meet Again." Boom. Me crying. Who's surprised? Nobody here. Then we went to Relief Society. Sister Cheryl Esplin spoke (general primary presidency) and it was amazing. She spoke about filling ourselves with the right things so that Satan can't crush us. D&C 88:67. Such a good scripture. I remember Heather Murdock speaking at YW a few years ago and sharing that scripture and I've absolutely loved it ever since. Anyway, at the end of that meeting? Boom. Me crying. Bawling, in fact. It was so good. THEN we went back to our room and watched some conference talks. To answer your questions, yes in every classroom there is a computer that's hooked to a huge TV screen. So we can log on to the computer and access our mail accounts, lds.org, some other missionary resources whenever. Except we're only supposed to email on P days. Obviously. So we decided to watch Elder Callister's talk from this conference's priesthood session! We chose that one because Jaren, you wrote me and told me that talk really got to you. So I wanted to hear it too! :) You're right, it was really good. He is a great speaker. Isn't it cool that we met him? One of the other elders going to Hong Kong is obsessed with him. He LOVES his books and all his talks and we were talking one time and he said, "If I could meet him, that would make my life." So I said, "I've met him." He almost DIED. It was great. :) I told him Elder Callister told me he'd be coming to the MTC sometime in May, and he almost DIED again. Haha! Anyway, then we watched President Monson's talk from priesthood session, which was also AMAZING. You should watch it again. It's phenomenal! All about missionary work :) I loved when he said, "A mission is a family affair." After that, we had district meeting. Our district is incredible. I love all our elders. We talked about revelation and how to recognize the Spirit. Boom. Me crying. AGAIN! None of the elders were surprised. They all say, "Oh, there goes Sister Wilcox..." haha. So THEN Sunday night, our devotional was done by BYU Men's Chorus. SO AMAZING. I love music. One of them said, "Music is the language of heaven." I totally believe that. Music speaks to me! I love that Mom made us practice piano :) haha. THEN on Sunday night, we watched The Testaments. And I was sobbing. I absolutely love that movie. I heard someone behind us after it was over say, "That was so cheesy." And I kind of wanted to hit them. Why would they say that?

 It's such a neat movie with such a good message. I always put myself in the position of the Nephites. When Christ comes again, it is going to be a glorious day!

I made a list of Do's and Don'ts for the MTC. Thought you guys might like it:

DO love your companion to death.

DO absolutely adore all your teachers.

DO write notes in every meeting you go to!

DO eat at the salad bar

DO try to SYL all the time

DO bond with and love all your roommates

DO sit with your district at meals, and hang out with them as much as possible.

DO LAUGH! A lot! :)

DO study your brains out

DO pray. More than you EVER have.

DO write lots of letters on P day!

DO go to 2M for gym time - you can watch conference talks and mormon messages while you do the bike or eliptical! (however you spell that...) they have headphones you can get in the bookstore. LOVE THIS SO MUCH!

DO be positive, not negative!

DO study your scriptures and love it!

DON'T judge others before you get to know them

DON'T try the cafeteria's "better than anything" cake... because it's delicious and you'll want 10 pieces.

DON'T get discouraged -- that is Satan.

DON'T be frustrated by know-it-all elders..... aghh. Working on this one :)

DON'T be afraid to make mistakes!

DON'T forget your shower shoes. Because the shower floors are disgusting. Lots of gross hair. I think you'd throw up, Dad. I almost do.

DON'T rip your nylons. Yup, did that. It's lame.

DON'T give up!! :)

Oh my gosh, did I tell you guys about the BAT in our residence hall the other week? A live bat. I'm not even joking. It was flying around -- get this. It HIT ONE SISTER IN THE FACE! Is that the most disgusting thing you've ever heard??!!! I was FREAKING out. The sisters in my room were making fun of me. But honestly, bats are the grossest thing in the world. If someone in Hong Kong offers me fruit bat soup, I'm going to refuse. I'm sorry. I just can't do that.

I hope i haven't been too negative about the language. It's difficult, yes, but I don't feel like it's impossible or that I can't do it! I feel pretty good about it, actually. You're right, Mom and Dad, memorizing comes pretty easy to me! I think that's been a spiritual gift I've been give to prepare me for this mission. It's cool to see how the Lord prepares us for these experiences.

I feel the Spirit so much here, I could just BURST. I am so thankful to be here. This mission will truly affect me forever - and my family, and my future family, and on and on. It feels so right to be here! I love it so much! Please keep writing me - I thrive off mail and news from home! I love you all more than I could even express. Whit, I hope you and Jare Bear have a fun prom! Please email me pictures!!!!! :) I want to seeeeee! Pakrer, less than a month till you date and drive. SAY WHAT?! ahhh! that's nuts! Oh man, I miss you guys. Jaren, I miss talking about books with you. The other day I did this weird thing with my tongue, and Sister Johnson said, "You look like Barty Crouch.... Junior." And I almost DIED laughing. Then we quoted Harry Potter for like 10 minutes :) It made me miss my brothers!! Sister Morgan has a laugh attack every time I say, "Ramses! How are you?" she says I sound just like Nacho. Guess I've got that accent perfected :) anyway, i gotta go. I wanna see if I can send pictures!

I LOVE YOU ALL! I pray for you every morning and night. And lots of times in between :) You keep me going! Love you!

Love,
Shay

xoxoXXOOxoXO :)