Leih hou! Ngoh ngoi leihdeih!! (Hello! I love you all!)
First things first, Mommy! I hope you had a great Mother's Day! I really wish I could have called. But I hope you got my card and know how much I was thinking about you yesterday. I was thinking about the stripling warriors and how they were taught by their mothers. They did not doubt their mothers knew it. And neither do I :) I love you more than I could say!
Dad, I hope you are not too overwhelmed with everything you're doing! You sound so busy all the time. But I am so glad you're my dad. Thanks for supporting me and loving me and being such a great teacher. I love you! Whit, thanks for your dear elder I ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT SO MUCH! I'll write ya back today :) Park, 7 days! How do you feel?!! I wish I could be there for your birthday. Jaren Kincade, I haven't heard from you in a while! I love you so much and hope you're doing great! School's almost out! Hooray!!
This week was a really, really great one. I love the MTC so very much. I'm going to be SO sad when we leave to Hong Kong. But I'm also excited... excited to be able to teach real people. Excited to be very, very sweaty all the time. Excited to serve the Lord with all of my heart, might, mind and strength for the next 17 months! Missionary life is a wonderful life. I am so thankful to be a missionary!
(FYI my mind is so scattered right now, so this email will be all over the place. Oops.)
Best Moments of this week:
- We got a new "teacher". He's training to be a teacher so he sits in on our classes with Jeung Jimuih. His name is Yeung Hing Daih. He's SO GREAT!! Love him. He has a kangaroo scripture case (he served his mission in Australia, Cantonese speaking) and he calls it his dog. Haha. He gave us some advice this week that I absolutely loved: SMILE! This is a happy thing we're sharing! We've got to be happy about it! :)
- Jeung Jimuih showed us her wedding dress and her engagement pics!!! Did I tell you she's getting married in June? She is THE BEST. We love her so much.
- We committed Zoe to baptism! YAY!!! We were so happy! Now we just have to figure out how to teach her the word of wisdom and the law of chastity. We don't know those words yet. Ha... that should be interesting.
- Elder Barker and Elder Nestman have been quoting Brian Regan a lot this week. Their favorite: "K-A-T I'm outta here.... I knew there were two T's." hahahahaha we die every time.
- Sand volleyball is still the best thing EVERRRRR. It's so funny because none of us are very good. So I don't even feel that stupid. :)
- All the Cantos ask me to say Nacho Libre's "Ramses! How are you??" all the time. They say I do it the best. I tell them they should hear how Park says it. And Dad of course, with his "It's the BEST" quote that doesn't even sound like Nacho haha :) anyway, I say that all the time. So during sand volleyball we made a rule that you had to say a Cantonese word every time you hit the ball. We had a lot of hits and you couldn't say the same word as someone else. One of the jimuihs went for a hit, paused, and yelled, "RAMSES!" We all laughed so hard. I almost peed my pants. Ramses? That's not Cantonese! Hahahaha time to cut back on Nachooooo.
- We got our first names in Cantonese! My name is Gwok Sam Hiu. So "Gwok" is my last name. It means "the outer part of anything." OKay, random. My first name is Sam Hiu. "Sam" means "to affect others deeply" and "Hiu" means "daybreak; dawn; to know; to understand." Cool huh? When I write you I'll write it in characters! I learned how :)
- Sister Morgan's mom sent her a CHEESECAKE. Not even kidding. An entire cheesecake. I'll send pics later!!
I had a lot of neat experiences with music this week! We were singing "I Believe in Christ" to open our district meeting on Tuesday night. Of course we sing everything in Gwong Dung Wa (Cantonese). Every hymn starts off with "I Believe in Christ..." right. Well in Cantonese it's "Ngoh seunlaaih Gei Duk." Which actually directly translates to I TRUST CHRIST. How cool is that? After we were done singing I pointed it out to my district. We all sat there, letting that sink in. I believe in Christ. I TRUST Christ. It was a really neat moment. The direct translations of Cantonse to English are beautiful. I love that about this language! Another cool moment with music was that yesterday our speaker in Relief Society was Janice Kapp Perry. Remember when she came and spoke at Youth Conference and it was amazing? Yeah. It was probably 500x more amazing in the MTC. I didn't even make it 5 minutes into her talk without bawling. We sang a medley of all the different Primary songs she has written - A Child's Prayer, Love is Spoken Here, Armies of Helaman, I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus, I Belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It was so powerful. I wish I could have actually sang them, though. I was trying! But I was crying too hard. Haha. (Yes, Parker, I know. I cry ALL THE TIME. Don't make fun. ;) I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus reminded me SO MUCH of Dad and how he always used to sing that to us when we were little going to sleep. Those are fond, fond memories. I love you Dad. At the end of Sister Perry's comments, she told us that she had written new words to "As Sisters in Zion" for missionaries. She called it "The Sisters of Zion". WE ARE THE FIRST ONES EVER TO SING IT! And let me tell you, it was the most powerful thing in the world. One verse goes:
We go forth, enlisted with Helaman's Army
In numbers much greater than ever before!
We'll preach to all nations, to all who will listen
The heavens have spoken and truth is restored!!
(sing that to the tune of As Sisters in Zion)
Pretty sure there wasn't a dry eye in the room. Sister Morgan doesn't usually cry and she lost it. And me, the crybaby, I was a mess. The MTC presidency's wives up on the stand were all blowing their noses at the same time and wiping their eyes. Can you picture it? The huge auditorium - FULL of sisters - singing that we are enlisted as the army of God! We are in numbers much greater than EVER before! We are going to nations ALL OVER THE EARTH to preach this gospel! To preach THE WORD OF GOD! It was incredible! I wish I could put that into words better. Oh man, missionary work is so amazing. This is God's work. I feel so blessed to be a part of it at 20 years old!
I feel like I always just tell you about Sundays in my emails. Mostly because Sundays are THE best days at the MTC. Hands down. It's like the biggest spiritual feast ever. Sacrament meeting yesterday was phenomenal. So, I don't know if I told you this or not, but we have to prepare a talk for Sunday every week. Then after the sacrament President Capik (our branch pres) just chooses an elder and a sister to give their talk. Yesterday, a Canto elder spoke. Elder Dorman from Rexburg, ID. He did an incredible job. The topic was repentance, and he spoke about 1 Nephi 8 - Lehi's vision of the tree of life. He said that the fruit of the tree is the Atonement, and that all of us need to partake of this sweet, wonderful fruit through repentance. He said that he has been at all stages of repentance during his life - in the mists of darkness, unsure of where to start and unable to see the end goal; letting go of the iron rod before he had partaken of the fruit; and then ultimately, the one that caught hold of the end of the iron rod, not skipping any steps of repentance, and falling down (1 Nephi 8:30) at the Savior's feet to beg for forgiveness. But the really neat thing is, Jesus Christ has already paid the price for our sins. When we repent honestly and fully and fall down at the Savior's feet and beg for His forgiveness, we can feel assured that our brother and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, will scoop us up into His arms and tell us, "Thy sins are forgiven thee. Go thy way, and sin no more." Elder Dorman just sobbed when he was speaking. It was so humbling. I felt at that moment SO much gratitude for my Savior. I studied 1 Nephi 8 in my personal study this morning and cried. Elder Nestman sitting next to me asked if I was okay. I just told him I was having a GREAT personal study. Jesus Christ is MY Savior. He has paid the price for MY sins. Everything I do wrong, every sorrow I feel, every disappointment. He loves me so much that He died for me, and He loves me so much that He now lives for me. Go read D&C 6:33-on. It's my favorite. The Savior loves us. He wants us to repent. I think sometimes we think of repentance in a negative light, but it is not so. Repentance is beautiful and wonderful and magnificent. It is such a great gift. I am so thankful to my Savior for what He did and does for me. I want to be more like Him.
I can't imagine not being here on a mission. I already feel like I have grown in leaps and bounds! I LOVE everyone here. I LOVE the Lord. EVERYONE WHO MIGHT BE CONSIDERING A MISSION -- do it! You won't regret it. It is the greatest, most rewarding, wonderful, joyful thing I have experienced. Ever. Ever. EVER. I love being a servant of the Lord. I love putting my nametag on in the morning, knowing that I represent Jesus Christ Himself. I have to do everything I can to prepare to be the best missionary I can be for Hong Kong.
I love you all so much!! The Lord has given me SO MUCH! I have the greatest family on the face of the earth. I have the best, most wonderfully loyal friends. I have a strong healthy body. I have the most amazing opportunity to be serving a mission and going to HONG KONG!!! I have the best companion and the BEST district in the MTC and the BEST teachers. I was born into this glorious gospel and have the sacred privilege to share it with others! I have a miraculous life! Since He has given me so much, I am trying to give back everything that I have for Him. I know I can do it. Through Christ, I can do all things.
I LOVE YOU! Group hug with me right in the middle! xoxo
Love always,
Sister Shay
5.13.2013
5.06.2013
4 weeks to go!
FAM!
How is everyone this week?! I hope you're doing great.... I missed hearing from you all this week. But Mom, thank you for the package!! I absolutely LOVED getting it! It was so fun to hear that you'd seen some of the Canto elders too!! haha! How was Brian Regan??!!!!! I'M SO JEALOUS. I told my district that you went to Brian Regan and they all agree that it's completely unfair. So Elder Nestman quoted some Brian Regan and I allllllllmost felt like I was there with ya :) Was it so warm in St Geezy? Ahhh. I wish I could have come. Michelle Bowman - it made my entire WEEK to get your letter and your pictures! Your boys are the cutest! I loved hearing about what you're doing, and I'm writing you back today. Thanks so much!! Matt and Misti - I cried when I read your dearelder and so did one of my roommates. I told my roommates a few weeks ago to keep you in their prayers and we've all been praying that you'll get this baby!! Prayers are continuing to be sent your way from the MTC! I'll write you guys back today too! Grandma and Grandpa, thank you for your dearelder! I love reading about what outside life is like. haha. Any news from someone outside the MTC is like gold. Thank you so much everyone! I have so much love and support and feel so blessed.
Basically, time is FLYING. I cannot believe we've only got a month left. Some districts in our branch left this morning and it was so sad! :( but at the same time so happy. They're off to the Philippines to start sharing this awesome gospel message! How lucky! :) Anyway, that means we're now the oldest districts in our branch (all the Cantos). Wow. I can't believe it. It seems like just yesterday I was timidly walking around the MTC feeling like everyone else knew what they were doing and I had no clue. Now we'll be out in a month. It's pretty crazy. By the way, Arlynn Robinson is in my branch. Small world!
Teaching our "investigators" is becoming my favorite hours of the day. We usually teach every day and it is so amazing. I love preparing lessons for these two girls to hear. We have two investigators, Zoe and Vina. This week was an emotional week for me with both of them! When we taught Zoe on Tuesday, I started to cry. I felt SO MUCH COMPASSION for her and I wanted her to know SO BADLY how this gospel can bless her life! I was bearing testimony about how desire can grow into faith. I asked her, "Do youwant to believe in Christ?" She said yes. So I bore testimony of Alma 32:27 and how I KNEW that the Lord works with our desires. If we desire to believe, we need only take action and give ourselves unto the Lord. I KNOW that He makes up the rest. I feel that with a conviction I have never felt before in my life. I started talking about that in our lesson and all of a sudden the Spirit hit me like a wall and I KNEW - with ALL of my heart - that what I was saying was true. I started crying and couldn't even go on. Sister Morgan had to take over. It was the most intense feeling I have ever experienced. Later, in calss, when we were doing companion practicing, Sister Morgan was acting as an investigator that didn't know if she was ready for baptism yet. I bore testimony of the same thing and again, the tears, the choked-up intensity was back. I know the Lord works with our desires. I know it with my whole self. I desire to be like Him. I know that with Him, I can do all things. I just have to take action.
We "street contacted" Vina earlier this week and invited her to come to the "church" with us to hear our message about Jesus Christ. In our first real lesson with her on Friday, we were teaching her about God's love for her. We were really trying to teach her to pray and she wasn't understanding it and didn't want to pray. I was trying to make her understand how important prayer is. I asked her, "You love your dad, don't you?" thinking that I would say, well, you talk to him because you love him, right? Heavenly Father is our father. He wants us to talk with him because He loves us. We can show our love to our Heavenly Father by praying to Him and talking with Him. Anyway, I said, "You love your dad, don't you?" and she looked at me with big eyes and shook her head and started bawling. It was soo sad. I was just in shock. I hadn't meant to pry and I hadn't known she didn't love her dad. We all just sat there for a minute, letting her cry it out. I said softly, "Mh hoyisi" (I'm sorry). Then I started crying. I looked over at Sister Morgan and she was crying. I was thinking, oh my goodness I want to help her SO BAD. I want her to be happy! I want her to know that God loves her and knows her and wants to help her! So, after letting her cry for a few minutes, Sister Morgan started testifying that she knew God knows us. Life is difficult, but God is there for us. He loves us so much and wants us to reach out to Him for help. I testified that I knew God knows HER. I know that Jesus Christ knows her trials and that he loves HER. I told her that we wanted to help her, and the reason we were meeting with her is because we want to serve her. I said, "Ngohdeih ngoi leih" (we love you). We then taught her to pray. When our 30-min-turned-hour-long lesson was over, Sister Morgan and I left both feeling so inadequate and so humbled. "Vina" is our teacher, Leih Jimuih. But those tears and those feelings that she didn't love her father were real. I don't know if Leih Jimuih is just a really good actor and really felt the feelings of someone that does not love their father, or if she herself doesn't love her dad. I don't know. But all of a sudden this mission experience became so much more real to me. We are not going to Hong Kong to teach a bunmch of robots that are going to jump up and want to be baptized. We are going to Hong Kong to teach REAL people with REAL heartaches, REAL problems, and REAL lives. I have to be so in tune with the Spirit and so receptive to what our Father in Heaven has in mind for His children. Sitting there watching Vina cry because she does not love her dad.... I couldn't relate. I love my dad more than I could ever even say. But I felt an overwhelming sense of love and compassion for Vina. I can't even imagine how our Heavenly Father feels, watching the grief and sorrow that goes on here on earth. I can't imagine the pains and the sadness that other people feel. But I so badly want to share with them that Christ is our Savior. He can make the pain go away. He can come to us and hold us and help us along every difficult part of life. He will be there for us when no one else will be. His Atonement can heal our hearts and show us how to be truly happy. I want Vina to know this SO BADLY. I hope I will be able to teach her of the things I KNOW to be true.
GOSH, being a missionary is SO AWESOME!! I wish I could express it better!! Yesterday, I felt so STOKED to be a missionary. I don't know what other word to use haha! Being here is so exciting! Fast Sunday yesterday was incredible. I feel the Spirit so much more when I'm fasting. I can tell a difference - I am much more close to the Spirit. It's really cool. Anyway, on Fast Sundays here they have a mission conference in the morning for 2 hours. SPECTACULAR. Oh my goodness. The MTC presidency and their wives spoke to us. It was so amazing. They spoke about Jesus Christ and the Atonement and I'm not kidding when I say I was bawling THE ENTIRE TIME. My sweater needed to be washed so bad afterward... there was snot and tears all over it. Gross. haha. Btu it was so good. The spirit was so strong. I am so thankful to have a firm testimony of my Savior. He is the center of my testimony, and I'm working to make Him the center of my life. I hope I can show Him how much I love Him and want to be like Him! Last night the devo was by Chad Lewis. He used to play football at BYU and then he played for the Philadelphia Eagles! Now he's the NFL Ambassador for China because he went on his mission to Taiwan. He gave us a pep talk. It was SO awesome. Seriously after the devotional I was grinning from ear to ear. I felt like flying. We are missionaries! This IS possible. Not only is it possible, this misison is the greatest time of my life! The Lord is with his missionaries. Now it is time to work hard and be my best! I am part of the greatest army of warriors in history! It's so empowering and sooo exciting!
We watched Legacy last night for our Sunday movie night - it almost felt like being home! - and watching it with a bunch of missionaries is hilarious. Everyone laughs and oohs when they kiss, and everyone has been quoting it today. "I'll have none of that!!" "Johnnnyyyy..." "No, finish it for Mama" (with that face you know she does... whit and park, i know you know what i'm talking bout :) hahahaha) And everyone thought Jacob was going to hit David with the hammer when he tells him that Eliza will have to choose between them. So many of the elders had never seen it before!!! Insane! I've seen it so many times, I couldn't even count! Some missionaries say that is the cheesiest show they've ever seen, but I still love it. And yes, I cried.
Dad, Elder Barker (our district leader) reminds me SO MUCH of you. It's weird. He played football and ran track in high school. He is super dedicated and focused and diligent. He has a super strong testimony and he's a great leader. He's super funny and calls everyone stud (like you did in your letters home from the MTC hahahaha). He was so excited to have a football player come speak last night. He's like your twin. Just a fun little fact :)
Hmm.. what else is going on here... I floss my teeth every single night. I haven't missed a night yet! Tell Dr Flick :) I love cinnamon altoids. Since we can't chew gum here, I am all about mints!!!! I hate bad breath. I am sick of eating salads. So, so, so sick of salads. So i've been having rice sometimes. It's a nice change. I hope I'm not gaining weight. Sand volleyball is still so much fun. We're hoping that we get another general authority for devo sometime soon! Keeping our fingers crossed! That's like the most exciting thing that happens around here. I still LOVE my district. They are so amazing. I love how close we've become. It is going to be soooooo sad to leave the MTC and all of these awesome people!!
The Lord has blessed me beyond belief. I feel so humbled by everything I am given every day. I still can't believe I'm on a mission. This feels like routine now to me, but sometimes I'll be sitting here thinking, wow. I'm a MISSIONARY. I'm going to China. CHINA? what??! I have the privilege of teaching His children about this glorious gospel message. I am doing the right thing! I love it SO much.
I love you all sooooo much. I can't believe the Lord blessed me with such an amazing family. I think about and pray for you all every day! I love you so much! I'll get on a little later and send some pics! :)
With allll the love in the world,
Shay Bay
Gwok Jimuih
xoxo :)
How is everyone this week?! I hope you're doing great.... I missed hearing from you all this week. But Mom, thank you for the package!! I absolutely LOVED getting it! It was so fun to hear that you'd seen some of the Canto elders too!! haha! How was Brian Regan??!!!!! I'M SO JEALOUS. I told my district that you went to Brian Regan and they all agree that it's completely unfair. So Elder Nestman quoted some Brian Regan and I allllllllmost felt like I was there with ya :) Was it so warm in St Geezy? Ahhh. I wish I could have come. Michelle Bowman - it made my entire WEEK to get your letter and your pictures! Your boys are the cutest! I loved hearing about what you're doing, and I'm writing you back today. Thanks so much!! Matt and Misti - I cried when I read your dearelder and so did one of my roommates. I told my roommates a few weeks ago to keep you in their prayers and we've all been praying that you'll get this baby!! Prayers are continuing to be sent your way from the MTC! I'll write you guys back today too! Grandma and Grandpa, thank you for your dearelder! I love reading about what outside life is like. haha. Any news from someone outside the MTC is like gold. Thank you so much everyone! I have so much love and support and feel so blessed.
Basically, time is FLYING. I cannot believe we've only got a month left. Some districts in our branch left this morning and it was so sad! :( but at the same time so happy. They're off to the Philippines to start sharing this awesome gospel message! How lucky! :) Anyway, that means we're now the oldest districts in our branch (all the Cantos). Wow. I can't believe it. It seems like just yesterday I was timidly walking around the MTC feeling like everyone else knew what they were doing and I had no clue. Now we'll be out in a month. It's pretty crazy. By the way, Arlynn Robinson is in my branch. Small world!
Teaching our "investigators" is becoming my favorite hours of the day. We usually teach every day and it is so amazing. I love preparing lessons for these two girls to hear. We have two investigators, Zoe and Vina. This week was an emotional week for me with both of them! When we taught Zoe on Tuesday, I started to cry. I felt SO MUCH COMPASSION for her and I wanted her to know SO BADLY how this gospel can bless her life! I was bearing testimony about how desire can grow into faith. I asked her, "Do youwant to believe in Christ?" She said yes. So I bore testimony of Alma 32:27 and how I KNEW that the Lord works with our desires. If we desire to believe, we need only take action and give ourselves unto the Lord. I KNOW that He makes up the rest. I feel that with a conviction I have never felt before in my life. I started talking about that in our lesson and all of a sudden the Spirit hit me like a wall and I KNEW - with ALL of my heart - that what I was saying was true. I started crying and couldn't even go on. Sister Morgan had to take over. It was the most intense feeling I have ever experienced. Later, in calss, when we were doing companion practicing, Sister Morgan was acting as an investigator that didn't know if she was ready for baptism yet. I bore testimony of the same thing and again, the tears, the choked-up intensity was back. I know the Lord works with our desires. I know it with my whole self. I desire to be like Him. I know that with Him, I can do all things. I just have to take action.
We "street contacted" Vina earlier this week and invited her to come to the "church" with us to hear our message about Jesus Christ. In our first real lesson with her on Friday, we were teaching her about God's love for her. We were really trying to teach her to pray and she wasn't understanding it and didn't want to pray. I was trying to make her understand how important prayer is. I asked her, "You love your dad, don't you?" thinking that I would say, well, you talk to him because you love him, right? Heavenly Father is our father. He wants us to talk with him because He loves us. We can show our love to our Heavenly Father by praying to Him and talking with Him. Anyway, I said, "You love your dad, don't you?" and she looked at me with big eyes and shook her head and started bawling. It was soo sad. I was just in shock. I hadn't meant to pry and I hadn't known she didn't love her dad. We all just sat there for a minute, letting her cry it out. I said softly, "Mh hoyisi" (I'm sorry). Then I started crying. I looked over at Sister Morgan and she was crying. I was thinking, oh my goodness I want to help her SO BAD. I want her to be happy! I want her to know that God loves her and knows her and wants to help her! So, after letting her cry for a few minutes, Sister Morgan started testifying that she knew God knows us. Life is difficult, but God is there for us. He loves us so much and wants us to reach out to Him for help. I testified that I knew God knows HER. I know that Jesus Christ knows her trials and that he loves HER. I told her that we wanted to help her, and the reason we were meeting with her is because we want to serve her. I said, "Ngohdeih ngoi leih" (we love you). We then taught her to pray. When our 30-min-turned-hour-long lesson was over, Sister Morgan and I left both feeling so inadequate and so humbled. "Vina" is our teacher, Leih Jimuih. But those tears and those feelings that she didn't love her father were real. I don't know if Leih Jimuih is just a really good actor and really felt the feelings of someone that does not love their father, or if she herself doesn't love her dad. I don't know. But all of a sudden this mission experience became so much more real to me. We are not going to Hong Kong to teach a bunmch of robots that are going to jump up and want to be baptized. We are going to Hong Kong to teach REAL people with REAL heartaches, REAL problems, and REAL lives. I have to be so in tune with the Spirit and so receptive to what our Father in Heaven has in mind for His children. Sitting there watching Vina cry because she does not love her dad.... I couldn't relate. I love my dad more than I could ever even say. But I felt an overwhelming sense of love and compassion for Vina. I can't even imagine how our Heavenly Father feels, watching the grief and sorrow that goes on here on earth. I can't imagine the pains and the sadness that other people feel. But I so badly want to share with them that Christ is our Savior. He can make the pain go away. He can come to us and hold us and help us along every difficult part of life. He will be there for us when no one else will be. His Atonement can heal our hearts and show us how to be truly happy. I want Vina to know this SO BADLY. I hope I will be able to teach her of the things I KNOW to be true.
GOSH, being a missionary is SO AWESOME!! I wish I could express it better!! Yesterday, I felt so STOKED to be a missionary. I don't know what other word to use haha! Being here is so exciting! Fast Sunday yesterday was incredible. I feel the Spirit so much more when I'm fasting. I can tell a difference - I am much more close to the Spirit. It's really cool. Anyway, on Fast Sundays here they have a mission conference in the morning for 2 hours. SPECTACULAR. Oh my goodness. The MTC presidency and their wives spoke to us. It was so amazing. They spoke about Jesus Christ and the Atonement and I'm not kidding when I say I was bawling THE ENTIRE TIME. My sweater needed to be washed so bad afterward... there was snot and tears all over it. Gross. haha. Btu it was so good. The spirit was so strong. I am so thankful to have a firm testimony of my Savior. He is the center of my testimony, and I'm working to make Him the center of my life. I hope I can show Him how much I love Him and want to be like Him! Last night the devo was by Chad Lewis. He used to play football at BYU and then he played for the Philadelphia Eagles! Now he's the NFL Ambassador for China because he went on his mission to Taiwan. He gave us a pep talk. It was SO awesome. Seriously after the devotional I was grinning from ear to ear. I felt like flying. We are missionaries! This IS possible. Not only is it possible, this misison is the greatest time of my life! The Lord is with his missionaries. Now it is time to work hard and be my best! I am part of the greatest army of warriors in history! It's so empowering and sooo exciting!
We watched Legacy last night for our Sunday movie night - it almost felt like being home! - and watching it with a bunch of missionaries is hilarious. Everyone laughs and oohs when they kiss, and everyone has been quoting it today. "I'll have none of that!!" "Johnnnyyyy..." "No, finish it for Mama" (with that face you know she does... whit and park, i know you know what i'm talking bout :) hahahaha) And everyone thought Jacob was going to hit David with the hammer when he tells him that Eliza will have to choose between them. So many of the elders had never seen it before!!! Insane! I've seen it so many times, I couldn't even count! Some missionaries say that is the cheesiest show they've ever seen, but I still love it. And yes, I cried.
Dad, Elder Barker (our district leader) reminds me SO MUCH of you. It's weird. He played football and ran track in high school. He is super dedicated and focused and diligent. He has a super strong testimony and he's a great leader. He's super funny and calls everyone stud (like you did in your letters home from the MTC hahahaha). He was so excited to have a football player come speak last night. He's like your twin. Just a fun little fact :)
Hmm.. what else is going on here... I floss my teeth every single night. I haven't missed a night yet! Tell Dr Flick :) I love cinnamon altoids. Since we can't chew gum here, I am all about mints!!!! I hate bad breath. I am sick of eating salads. So, so, so sick of salads. So i've been having rice sometimes. It's a nice change. I hope I'm not gaining weight. Sand volleyball is still so much fun. We're hoping that we get another general authority for devo sometime soon! Keeping our fingers crossed! That's like the most exciting thing that happens around here. I still LOVE my district. They are so amazing. I love how close we've become. It is going to be soooooo sad to leave the MTC and all of these awesome people!!
The Lord has blessed me beyond belief. I feel so humbled by everything I am given every day. I still can't believe I'm on a mission. This feels like routine now to me, but sometimes I'll be sitting here thinking, wow. I'm a MISSIONARY. I'm going to China. CHINA? what??! I have the privilege of teaching His children about this glorious gospel message. I am doing the right thing! I love it SO much.
I love you all sooooo much. I can't believe the Lord blessed me with such an amazing family. I think about and pray for you all every day! I love you so much! I'll get on a little later and send some pics! :)
With allll the love in the world,
Shay Bay
Gwok Jimuih
xoxo :)
5.04.2013
The Cantos!
Leih hou to all my favorite people in the world!!
How is everyone this week?! I want you to know how much I love you and how much I pray for each of you - by name, in detail, every morning and every night. I wish I could better express how much I love you all and how much I care about you. Dad, I hope all is well with stake presidenting and traveling. Indianapolis this week, huh? Crazy. I'm keeping you in my prayers. I know you've got a lot on your plate. Mom, I miss you like crazy! I think about you every single day. I hope you're doing wonderfully! I hope RS and subsituting and mommying is all going perfectly. Whit Twit -- WHERE ARE YOUR PROM PICTURES YOU DWEEB?!! But for real. I want to see them! I hope you had such a good time! I pray for you and what you're going through all the time. I love ya :) Park, how is track? Are you about done? I heard about your 5:34 mile - uh HOLY COW! nice job!! Jaren, what's new with you dude? I haven't heard from you in forever!! Write me please!! :)
This week absolutely FLEW. I honestly can't believe it's already Monday again. It feels like I was just here, emailing you all in the zoo of a laundry room. Seriously. It's a zoo. Even though our schedule got changed, we still got up at 5 to do our laundry because otherwise I'm pretty sure we wouldn't have been able to do it. It's crazy around here. Also, I'm sick. A cold is going through the Cantos (that's what we call ourselves haha, the 3 districts that are going to HK together) and it's been a beast. I feel like I'm sleeping in a hospital. Everyone's snuffly and gross. It's super fun. But I am the only one that completely lost my voice. I'm not even kidding! I wish I could give you a call just so you could hear how I sound. I sound like a grandpa smoker. Everyone makes fun of me haha. It's been like this for 2 days now, and it's not getting any better, sooooo... we'll see. I have never ever lost my voice like this in my life, it's the weirdest thing. Last night I was just mouthing things and the elders were laughing so hard. Gotta love it! I went and bought some EmergenC at the bookstore and have been taking that at breakfast every day. And I've been getting plenty of sleep. Hopefully I'll get better soon!
One thing that has been so much fun this week has been volleyball. Yep. I, Shaylee Wilcox, have been playing volleyball with everyone during gym time. Who's shocked?! :) It's been SO FUN! Our elders wanted us to play with them so bad, so on Wednesday night for gym we all played together - a bunch of Cantos. It was sooooooo fun! I'm horrible, but they just laugh and help me and we cheer in Cantonese and it's the bomb. And then on Thursday it was warm enough to go out to the sand volleyball pit outside! BEST THING OF MY LIFE!!! We get to take our shoes off! I've never been so excited. Being cooped up inside all day is hard, so we all look forward to gym now that it's warm enough to play outside. We have been sprinting straight to the volleyball courts every time. It's been awesome! I absolutely LOVE all the Cantos. We have so much fun together! All of our elders are like my brothers. I love them so much. I'm going to be so sad to leave the MTC and not see all of them 24/7!
Friday was Haa Hin Dai's last day :( super sad. I'm really going to miss him and his great teaching! It seems like so much of our vocab and grammer knowledge came from him. (I think it's because he was our only American teacher and he knows how it feels to learn a crazy language, so he could explain things really clearly to us). But he didn't even give us his email address, so I'm pretty sure we're not getting married. Bummer. ;) And Saturday was Daai Ji Muih's last day. I BAWLED. Oh my goodness, I'm going to miss her so much! I'm going to send pictures in a minute so you can see her. She's the cutest. She graduated from BYU so her mom was here to help her fly back to HK and so her mom came to our class and we had a testimony meeting (all in Cantonese). It was so powerful. It's amazing that with the few things we know how to say, we can still bear testimony of the things we know to be true. I felt the Spirit so strongly. It was so neat. Daai Ji Muih's mom went second to last, and she bore such a sweet testimony. I was sitting there crying at my desk, looking at this little lady from Hong Kong, and it hit me like a ton of bricks. I love the people of Hong Kong so much already. SO much. I'm so excited to be able to travel there and learn from them. I am so excited to serve them! They have such big hearts. I can't wait :) Anyway, Daai Ji Muih went last and Sis Morgan and I were bawling. It made it worse that we were both sick, so we were blowing our noses and being all gross and sobbing. Haha. But we're going to miss her so much! I can't think of someone who has had a bigger impact on me and my testimony than Daai Ji Muih. She is so amazing. THEN we found out that her parents are in the temple presidency in Hong Kong! She hadn't told us before. So hopefully we'll get to see her in HK!!
This week I have been humbled more than ever before. We read Mosiah 3&4 during one of our class periods, and discussed it. I felt the strong need in my life to put off the natural man. I need to be better. I need to be more diligent. I need to be strong. I need to remember Christ and what He did for me. "It was not easy fro Him; why should it be easy for me?" It shouldn't. I need to work to be better. It is only when I am giving my ALL to the Lord that I am qualified. The Lord called me to this mission, and I know He will help me, but that does not mean He does not expect me to work as hard as I can. I am a Wilcox! We are HARD workers. I have such a legacy of hard work to live up to. I feel the weight of that, and it motivates me to work harder and be better. I don't want to disappoint the Lord. I want to get this job done RIGHT, the first time. I want to do my mission RIGHT. And "right" means doing everything the Lord's way. I must have dedication and determination! It hit me this week that I don't ever want the Lord to think that I haven't done my best. I want to BE my best at all times and it all things and in all places on my mission! I heard a quote, "If you think you can't, you're right. But in the strength of the Lord, YOU CAN." I love that, and I know it's true. If the Lord hadn't been helping me, I would have quit already. I would have given up. This mission is hard, and it's only going to get harder. But the Lord is here with me. No companionship is a companionship of two. It is always one of three -- me, Sister Morgan, and the Lord. I know that is true. I love this quote from Jeffrey R. Holland, "Whn you struggle, when you are rejected, when you are spit upon and cast out, YOU ARE STANDING WITH THE BEST LIFE THIS WORLD HAS EVER KNOWN; THE ONLY PURE AND PERFECT LIFE EVER LIVED. You have reason to stand tall and be grateful that the Living Son of the Living God knows all about your sorrows and afflictions. The only way to salvation is through Gethsemane and on to Calvary. The only way to eternity is through Him - the Way, the Truth, and the Life." I know I quote that a lot, but it has immensely changed my life. It forever will be a part of who I am. I am so incredibly thankful for my Savior and His sacrifice. He died for me. The Atonment is infinite, yes, but it is also very intimate. Jesus Christ knows me. And he knows you. He knows exactly how to help you in whatever you're going through... if you will let Him. I know that is true with everything that I am.
Last night we were able to watch a talk by Elder Bednar called the Character of Christ. Morg and Haley talked about how much this changed them and I was so excited to watch it. It was AMAZING. Elder Bednar said, "The character of Christ turns OUT when the natural man wants to turn IN." In the midst of Christ's sufferings, he turns outward in love and service and compassion. Elder Bednar told us to GET OVER OURSELVES. It was pretty powerful. I felt such a huge desire to change my life and turn outward. I feel like I have been such an inward-turning person in my life up to this point. I feel so bad about it. I'm trying to repent. I'm so sorry for my selfishness before coming out here! I wish I could better express how I feel. I need to, as Elder Bednar so bluntly put it, get over myself! This work is NOT about me. I need to be more like Christ. I need to turn out and focus on others. I am trying, and I will keep trying. Mom, I think you are such a wonderful example of this. You are SO friendly and always, always, always thinking about and caring for other people before yourself. I have watched you put others first my whole life! And now it is my turn. I will try to live up to your example, and the example of our Savior. This is a mighty work, and there are many souls to save. I want to be converted unto the Lord.
I am learning so much here! I can really feel the Master shaping me into who He wants me to be, little by little. It hurts a little bit, to humble myself and really turn unto Him. He is taking me in His hands and making me the kind of woman that will do His work forever. I only hope I can give myself to Him adequately! I know He has great things in store for me.
I have never been so happy in my entire life - despite hairy showers, bats in our residence, stinky feet, smoker voice, not-so-good food, no family/friends... I am discovering the true and lasting joy that this gospel has to offer. I am so thankful that I am on a mission!! It's the BEST decision I've ever made. I love the Lord SO much. I want to make Him proud. I want to make you guys proud! I am working hard to do that :) I love you all so, so, so much. I wish I could see you!! But June 3, I get to talk to you. Yayyyy! :) I hope I have my voice back by then :) You are the best family in the world. Thank you so much for teaching me how to be devoted to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I am so thankful that I have this gospel in my life.
I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you!!!!!!!!!! More than life! :) xoxoxoxoxo
With all my love,
Shay
Gwok Ji Muih
How is everyone this week?! I want you to know how much I love you and how much I pray for each of you - by name, in detail, every morning and every night. I wish I could better express how much I love you all and how much I care about you. Dad, I hope all is well with stake presidenting and traveling. Indianapolis this week, huh? Crazy. I'm keeping you in my prayers. I know you've got a lot on your plate. Mom, I miss you like crazy! I think about you every single day. I hope you're doing wonderfully! I hope RS and subsituting and mommying is all going perfectly. Whit Twit -- WHERE ARE YOUR PROM PICTURES YOU DWEEB?!! But for real. I want to see them! I hope you had such a good time! I pray for you and what you're going through all the time. I love ya :) Park, how is track? Are you about done? I heard about your 5:34 mile - uh HOLY COW! nice job!! Jaren, what's new with you dude? I haven't heard from you in forever!! Write me please!! :)
This week absolutely FLEW. I honestly can't believe it's already Monday again. It feels like I was just here, emailing you all in the zoo of a laundry room. Seriously. It's a zoo. Even though our schedule got changed, we still got up at 5 to do our laundry because otherwise I'm pretty sure we wouldn't have been able to do it. It's crazy around here. Also, I'm sick. A cold is going through the Cantos (that's what we call ourselves haha, the 3 districts that are going to HK together) and it's been a beast. I feel like I'm sleeping in a hospital. Everyone's snuffly and gross. It's super fun. But I am the only one that completely lost my voice. I'm not even kidding! I wish I could give you a call just so you could hear how I sound. I sound like a grandpa smoker. Everyone makes fun of me haha. It's been like this for 2 days now, and it's not getting any better, sooooo... we'll see. I have never ever lost my voice like this in my life, it's the weirdest thing. Last night I was just mouthing things and the elders were laughing so hard. Gotta love it! I went and bought some EmergenC at the bookstore and have been taking that at breakfast every day. And I've been getting plenty of sleep. Hopefully I'll get better soon!
One thing that has been so much fun this week has been volleyball. Yep. I, Shaylee Wilcox, have been playing volleyball with everyone during gym time. Who's shocked?! :) It's been SO FUN! Our elders wanted us to play with them so bad, so on Wednesday night for gym we all played together - a bunch of Cantos. It was sooooooo fun! I'm horrible, but they just laugh and help me and we cheer in Cantonese and it's the bomb. And then on Thursday it was warm enough to go out to the sand volleyball pit outside! BEST THING OF MY LIFE!!! We get to take our shoes off! I've never been so excited. Being cooped up inside all day is hard, so we all look forward to gym now that it's warm enough to play outside. We have been sprinting straight to the volleyball courts every time. It's been awesome! I absolutely LOVE all the Cantos. We have so much fun together! All of our elders are like my brothers. I love them so much. I'm going to be so sad to leave the MTC and not see all of them 24/7!
Friday was Haa Hin Dai's last day :( super sad. I'm really going to miss him and his great teaching! It seems like so much of our vocab and grammer knowledge came from him. (I think it's because he was our only American teacher and he knows how it feels to learn a crazy language, so he could explain things really clearly to us). But he didn't even give us his email address, so I'm pretty sure we're not getting married. Bummer. ;) And Saturday was Daai Ji Muih's last day. I BAWLED. Oh my goodness, I'm going to miss her so much! I'm going to send pictures in a minute so you can see her. She's the cutest. She graduated from BYU so her mom was here to help her fly back to HK and so her mom came to our class and we had a testimony meeting (all in Cantonese). It was so powerful. It's amazing that with the few things we know how to say, we can still bear testimony of the things we know to be true. I felt the Spirit so strongly. It was so neat. Daai Ji Muih's mom went second to last, and she bore such a sweet testimony. I was sitting there crying at my desk, looking at this little lady from Hong Kong, and it hit me like a ton of bricks. I love the people of Hong Kong so much already. SO much. I'm so excited to be able to travel there and learn from them. I am so excited to serve them! They have such big hearts. I can't wait :) Anyway, Daai Ji Muih went last and Sis Morgan and I were bawling. It made it worse that we were both sick, so we were blowing our noses and being all gross and sobbing. Haha. But we're going to miss her so much! I can't think of someone who has had a bigger impact on me and my testimony than Daai Ji Muih. She is so amazing. THEN we found out that her parents are in the temple presidency in Hong Kong! She hadn't told us before. So hopefully we'll get to see her in HK!!
This week I have been humbled more than ever before. We read Mosiah 3&4 during one of our class periods, and discussed it. I felt the strong need in my life to put off the natural man. I need to be better. I need to be more diligent. I need to be strong. I need to remember Christ and what He did for me. "It was not easy fro Him; why should it be easy for me?" It shouldn't. I need to work to be better. It is only when I am giving my ALL to the Lord that I am qualified. The Lord called me to this mission, and I know He will help me, but that does not mean He does not expect me to work as hard as I can. I am a Wilcox! We are HARD workers. I have such a legacy of hard work to live up to. I feel the weight of that, and it motivates me to work harder and be better. I don't want to disappoint the Lord. I want to get this job done RIGHT, the first time. I want to do my mission RIGHT. And "right" means doing everything the Lord's way. I must have dedication and determination! It hit me this week that I don't ever want the Lord to think that I haven't done my best. I want to BE my best at all times and it all things and in all places on my mission! I heard a quote, "If you think you can't, you're right. But in the strength of the Lord, YOU CAN." I love that, and I know it's true. If the Lord hadn't been helping me, I would have quit already. I would have given up. This mission is hard, and it's only going to get harder. But the Lord is here with me. No companionship is a companionship of two. It is always one of three -- me, Sister Morgan, and the Lord. I know that is true. I love this quote from Jeffrey R. Holland, "Whn you struggle, when you are rejected, when you are spit upon and cast out, YOU ARE STANDING WITH THE BEST LIFE THIS WORLD HAS EVER KNOWN; THE ONLY PURE AND PERFECT LIFE EVER LIVED. You have reason to stand tall and be grateful that the Living Son of the Living God knows all about your sorrows and afflictions. The only way to salvation is through Gethsemane and on to Calvary. The only way to eternity is through Him - the Way, the Truth, and the Life." I know I quote that a lot, but it has immensely changed my life. It forever will be a part of who I am. I am so incredibly thankful for my Savior and His sacrifice. He died for me. The Atonment is infinite, yes, but it is also very intimate. Jesus Christ knows me. And he knows you. He knows exactly how to help you in whatever you're going through... if you will let Him. I know that is true with everything that I am.
Last night we were able to watch a talk by Elder Bednar called the Character of Christ. Morg and Haley talked about how much this changed them and I was so excited to watch it. It was AMAZING. Elder Bednar said, "The character of Christ turns OUT when the natural man wants to turn IN." In the midst of Christ's sufferings, he turns outward in love and service and compassion. Elder Bednar told us to GET OVER OURSELVES. It was pretty powerful. I felt such a huge desire to change my life and turn outward. I feel like I have been such an inward-turning person in my life up to this point. I feel so bad about it. I'm trying to repent. I'm so sorry for my selfishness before coming out here! I wish I could better express how I feel. I need to, as Elder Bednar so bluntly put it, get over myself! This work is NOT about me. I need to be more like Christ. I need to turn out and focus on others. I am trying, and I will keep trying. Mom, I think you are such a wonderful example of this. You are SO friendly and always, always, always thinking about and caring for other people before yourself. I have watched you put others first my whole life! And now it is my turn. I will try to live up to your example, and the example of our Savior. This is a mighty work, and there are many souls to save. I want to be converted unto the Lord.
I am learning so much here! I can really feel the Master shaping me into who He wants me to be, little by little. It hurts a little bit, to humble myself and really turn unto Him. He is taking me in His hands and making me the kind of woman that will do His work forever. I only hope I can give myself to Him adequately! I know He has great things in store for me.
I have never been so happy in my entire life - despite hairy showers, bats in our residence, stinky feet, smoker voice, not-so-good food, no family/friends... I am discovering the true and lasting joy that this gospel has to offer. I am so thankful that I am on a mission!! It's the BEST decision I've ever made. I love the Lord SO much. I want to make Him proud. I want to make you guys proud! I am working hard to do that :) I love you all so, so, so much. I wish I could see you!! But June 3, I get to talk to you. Yayyyy! :) I hope I have my voice back by then :) You are the best family in the world. Thank you so much for teaching me how to be devoted to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I am so thankful that I have this gospel in my life.
I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you!!!!!!!!!! More than life! :) xoxoxoxoxo
With all my love,
Shay
Gwok Ji Muih
4.22.2013
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!
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!
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! Shay
xoxoXXOOxoXO :)
Papa's Green Silky PJs...
My lovely family!!!
Oh my goodness emailing
you is the HIGHLIGHT of my week. But i can definitely see why they have a
rule for only emailing/writing once a week. Because when I email it
makes me miss you! Not too much, but I absolutely love you so so so so
much. I can't even begin to express how much you mean to me.
Also, THANK YOU for all the letters!! I feel like I am
being showered with love when I get a letter or dearelder or package. I
have the best family and friends in the entire world. Thank you so much
Emma, Josiah, Max, and Gideon - I LOVED your cards! Megan Greenhalgh
Probst sent me a package of mini cupcakes and a dearelder! Taylor
Psalto, Mina May, Marcene, Marianne, Matt Rogers, Haley, Grandma Wilcox,
Spencer Waddoups, and ESPECIALLY Whit Twit, Dad, Momma, Jaren.... hmm
who's missing... uh Parker!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WRITE ME YOU GOOFUS! :) I want
to hear about your life! But seriously, if I forgot anyone (and I
probably did).. Thank you times a million. Letters lift and encourage me
so much! Keep em coming! Mom, I especially liked your list of things
you had to tell me. That was awesome. I do that too, in my journal. I
love hearing from you. I tell my companion and my roomies every day how
much I miss eating green smoothies and going to Zumba together. I miss
you!
BUT... the MTC is amazing as ever. I can't believe how
blessed I am to be here. It's the most incredible place in the world.
Every single day is such a spiritual high - by the end of the day it's
exhausting :) But I wouldn't trade it! I LOVE being a missionary! Being
able to help others come unto Christ is the greatest feeling in the
world. Let me tell you about my week! Sorry it's so long (and hopefully
not boring...) but I just want to tell you EVERYTHING. I wish you could
be here so I could just tell you all in person!
This week we continued teaching Pauline. Wednesday was
ROUGH. During our lesson, we didn't do very well at all. We had a lesson
completely prepared on Christ and then Pauline said, "I know God
doesn't love me because my sister died." Uh.. yeah.. okay.. not prepared
for that. I felt so bad because I wanted to convey Heavenly Father's
love for her SO BADLY but I don't know enough Cantonese yet. So our
lesson wasn't very good at all. Sister Morgan and I felt absolutely
awful. We prayed but couldn't really focus the rest of our language
study time. We went to dinner and it was the most incredible tender
mercy to see familiar faces. Cale Strong and Jake Segura came up to see
me and I told them all about my day. Jake was really helpful and told me
about his first week. He said, "How long have you been here? Calm
down." He said if I focus on Pauline and her needs and the doctrine,
then the language will come. It was exactly what I needed to hear. Then I
went and said hi to Ben, and he helped me out too. It was such a boost!
It so nice to have some familiar faces at the MTC with me (except Ben
left today... sad!!). It's also comforting to hear that others have the
exact same experiences. When we got back from dinner, I had 5 dearelders
and 3 cards sitting on my desk. BEST THING EVER! Hearing from people in
the "outside world" is soooo motivating and helpful! I got teary
reading your letter, Mom. I also had a note from two sisters in our room
that I've been struggling to love. They wrote some scriptures down
(Mosiah 4:27, D&C 84:88, D&C 11:21) and wrote, "Remember God
loves you and will not try you beyond your means. We love you!!!" I was
seriously so humbled by that. It was a huge reality check to be like,
okay. They love me. They're supporting me. I felt bad for not loving
them as much. (But ever since then, things have been WONDERFUL. I
absolutely adore them!) So, then Sis Morgan and I asked Elder Barker
(our DL) to give us a blessing. It was a wonderful experience. He told
me so many times in my blessing, "Our Father loves you, and He is proud
of you." It was so special. Elder Barker has really stepped up to the
plate as our district leader. It is so neat to see how the gospel
changes people. I hope I can change myself. I really want to be an
effective missionary for the Lord. I want to do this work to the best of
my ability!
Anyway, Thursday was sooooooo much better! In our
lesson with Pauline, the Spirit was there in abundance. I said the
opening prayer and prayed that she would be able to feel God's love for
her and feel the Spirit. I could tell she was touched. Then throughout
the lesson, we just kept getting promptings by the Spirit. Things that I
didn't even know how to say kept coming out of my mouth. I testified of
our Father in Heaven's love for His children, and for Pauline. We told
her we KNEW she'd see her sister again. There was an especially powerful
moment when Sister Morgan said, "I KNOW God loves you, Pauline." and I
said, "WE love you." Sis Morgan and I were almost in tears by the end of
the lesson. It was so powerful.
On Friday, Pauline became our other teacher haha.
Sister Tai! She's AWESOME. So our teachers are Sister Chang (Jeung Ji
Muih), Sister Tai (Daai Ji Muih), and Brother Harper (Haa Hing Dai). I
LOVE THEM ALL. Ps... all of us might possibly have teacher crushes on
Brother Harper... hahaha. Especially me. He's pretty cute. And super
patient. And very nice. And he has a great smile. But we're
missionaries.. soooooooo. Yeah. Can't help but think of your parents
Morg! ;) your dad was your mom's teacher in the MTC.. oh man.. hahaha.
KIDDING EVERYONE. I'm totally focused. Okay. Anyway. So Daai Ji Muih's
testimony was POWERFUL on Friday night. When she finished with class for
the day, she said, "So how you feeling?" and until that moment, I
hadn't realized that I actually wasn't "houh houh" (good good - you say
it "ho ho"). I was pretty overwhelmed. So I said that out loud. Daai Ji
Muih nodded and shared Alma 7:11-12 with us and bore the most
incredible, heartfelt testimony I've ever heard. She told us that she
knew Christ suffered for us so that he would KNOW how to succor us. She
told us we could do it and that God called us to this mission and God
does not make mistakes. She told us how glad she was that we were going
to serve in her home, Hong Kong and how much that meant to her. I was
crying the entire time. She is so sweet. It was a powerful testimony to
me that, yes, Christ loves me! He is there for me! He knows EXACTLY how I
feel and he will hold my hand every step of this crazy journey. How
thankful I am for that. I am so thankful for Him. He is the center of my
testimony. I know He lives. I know He descended below all things so
that He could help me in my greatest times of need. I am going to repay
him the littlest bit I know how by serving him with my whole heart these
next 18 months.
Sundays are the greatest day at the MTC (besides P-day
;) ). They are SUCH a spiritual high! We went to sacrament meeting, then
went to Relief Society where Mary Edmunds was the speaker. She was
incredible. Her testimony of missionary work was wonderful. Then for the
closing hymn, we sang "Dear to the Heart of the Shepherd." PLEASE GO
LOOK UP THE LYRICS. They are amazing. I cried my eyes out during the
hymn, I could barely even sing. I felt so strongly what I am doing is
RIGHT.
"Out in the desert they wander
Hungry and helpless and cold
So to the rescue we'll hasten
Bringing them back to the fold."
I
feel so much compassion and love for the people of Hong Kong, and I
haven't even met them yet. I want to bring them back to the fold! They
are wandering, hungry and helpless and cold, missing the most important
thing in their lives: the gospel of Jesus Christ. I want to go share
this beautiful message of happiness and peace with them! I can't wait to
be able to do that. I can feel my thoughts, my actions, my heart
changing already. I will never be the same again. And how awesome that
is! I also thought, during that song, of Stacy and Sheldon. Maybe you
should give me their addresses. I'd like to write them a letter.
So, after RS, the elders were at priesthood so we went
back to our classroom (when I say "we" I almost always mean me, Sis
Morgan, Sis Johnson, and Sis Palmer- my besties here at the MTC!) and
watched mormon messages and just had a cry fest for a while. The one
that made me cry the most was called "Power of God" I think. You guys
should definitely go watch it. It made me think of you, Parker and
Jaren, and how you hold the priesthood, and the many wonderful things
that you are able to do with it. Honor it! Remember what a blessing it
is that you have it! I am so proud of you broskis. I love you to pieces.
PARKER YOU BETTER WRITE ME OR I'M GONNA BE UPSET. :) anyway, after the
mormon message cry fest, and after lunch, we went on our temple walk!
Greatest thing ever. I'm gonna try and send pictures but this card
reader I'm using won't read my SD card. It's weird. I'll try and figure
it out! On our temple walk I saw Becca! I've seen her every day. She's
in the same building as me! Anyway, I talked to her for a little while
and she was crying to me for a sec. She said, "Are you homesick?" and i
said, "No! Not at all!" and she is. She's kind of having a hard time. I
hope I helped her out a little bit. I just was encouraging her and
telling her how much I loved her! Whit, you should write her.
I sing in choir here! It's fun! The choir director is
incredible. He is a great guy. He always shares a spiritual thought and
it's always so inspiring. I love that everything here is so
uplifting!!!! :)
The elders in my district are good missionaries, Dad.
Especially Elder Barker. He's awesome. But they're all great. I love
them so much! There are 3 districts here going to Hong Kong (did I tell
you that already?) it's like 24 people. It's the most people they've
EVER sent to Hong Kong from the MTC. EVER. How cool is that!?! So the 6
of us girls in our room are the only ones going to Hong Kong in the
whole MTC. We feel pretty special :) It's so fun! We get along SO WELL.
We laugh all day, and do everything together. I feel like I've known
these sisters longer than just a week and a half! We are so bonded and
so close. It's great :) Everyone here is so nice, though.
Funny story. Hilarious, actually. I hope you appreciate
it. So I got a package on Friday, but I didn't know who it was from.
They just give you a slip that says "you have a package" and you're
supposed to go pick it up. Friday we didn't have time, and then Saturday
when we went the place was already closed. I was bummed! But I was
like, oh well I'll just get it Monday. Well at 10:00 on Saturday night, I
hear my name over the loudspeaker that goes to the ENTIRE MTC. "Sister
Shaylee Wilcox, please come to the front office." That's
embarrassing. And let me give you a little vision: I had wet hair from
the shower at this point. I was wearing Papa's green silk pajamas.
(thanks for sewing up the fly for me, by the way Mom. haha!). The front
office is in 1M. I live in 17M. Long walk with wet hair in silky green
old man pajamas. I was like, "if it's just my package I want to wait
till Monday!" But my coordinating sister said, "uh.. they wouldn't call
you to the front office for just your package... you'd better go." So at
this point I'm kinda freaking out. What did I do? Eat too much salad at
every meal? ahhh!! So sister Morgan and I throw on hoodies and our
nametags over our PJs (yep, I wore the green silkies!) and walk
cleeeeeeear over to 1M. We get up to the front and they hand me my
package. Haha. It was cupckaes from Megan! So I was totally happy about
that, but Sister Morgan and I were dying that we looked so ridiculous so
late at night in our pajamas clear across MTC campus. I'm proud of
those silky pajamas from Papa :) I love em! I bet he had a good laugh
watching that :)
Oh, my time is about up. I have to go. I love you all
so much more than I could say! I miss you! But I am SO HAPPY here. I
love it more than I ever thought I would. I know my Father in Heaven
lives and loves me. I KNOW He is guiding my life. I know Jesus Christ is
my Savior. I am doing the most important, sacred work in the world! I
am so thrilled with this opportunity. I'm working hard. I'll continue to
do so. I hope I can show the Lord that I love Him and that I will do my
best during this mission.
I love you all! Keep writing me! xoxo
All my love,
Shay
Gwok Ji Muih
4.08.2013
First Letter!
My dearest family!
Leih hou! (Lay ho!) This is hello in Cantonese. (so we were wrong, mom...oh well! ) and plus, i can't write the tones on here. the tones are crazy! i feel like i'm singing :) haha it's great. anyway...
I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!! I am sitting here in the laundry room at the mtc still not believing that i am actually here doing missionary work. this is the happiest place on earth, i'm convinced. happier even than disneyland ;) I LOVE IT HERE!!! i wish i could put into words how incredible it is here. and i wish that i could tell you everything about what i'm learning and doing. i'll try my best...! and by the way i'm not going to caps anything anymore because this shift key is jammed. boo.
the first day was great! they got my RIGHT into class, where my teacher (sister chang - i love her) was only speaking cantonese. intimidating!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! but i met my companion there, sister morgan. LOVE LOVE LOVE HER. so much! she is so great. we get along like 2 peas in a pod. she is from highland utah. oh, and melina her first name is mandy so you can facebook stalk ;) our roommates are all going to hong kong with us! we are becoming best friends with two of our roommates, sister johnson (i'm facebook friends with her, remember?!) and sister palmer, SUCH cute and wonderfully spiritual people. sister palmer (loren so you can facebook stalk, mina may hahaha) is a convert of only 2 years! she is the only member in her family and she is one of the strongest people i've ever met. i love rooming with these sisters and feeling of their spirits and their testimonies. we have so much fun together. we laugh all day long :) i love it! our other two roommates, sister probst and sister tidwell, are always off on their own. i have found myself becoming closer and closer to everyone else and not as close to these two, so i know i need to make a better effort to be friendlier and warmer to them. they are great, though. and OH MY GOODNESS our district! there are 3 districts here at the mtc going to hong kong and learning cantonese. only 3. and there is only one companionship of sisters in every district! so our district is pretty small, sister morgan and i and then 3 sets of elders: elder barker, elder nestman, elder black, elder howell, elder martinez, and elder smith. i love them all so much already. i feel like we are a family :) elder barker is our district leader and he has STEPPED IT UP since being called as DL. he is very good to keep us on track and lead us in prayer and giving our testimonies. it's wonderful! i'll try to send pictures so you can see all of these amazing people that i already love so much.
SO... thursday we had our full day of learning the language. sister chang is our main teacher, but there's also a brother that comes in to teach us sometimes too. sister morgan and i can never remember his name so we call him "brotha teacha" haha. anyway, they talk to us ONLY in cantonese. thursday it was hard to try to figure out what they were saying. they would say something and then look at us as if we knew what it meant. HA yeah right! but we played "charades" so to speak, and figured out some words. with a lot of study, at the end of the day i felt pretty good about cantonese! i was very positive about it and have enjoyed studying it a lot. but then they told us that friday we'd be teaching our first "investigator" (mom, they're all actors so you know) on FRIDAY in CANTONESE. okay, terrifying much?! brotha teacha kept saying "daam sam" which is "don't worry". he told us the Lord would be with us. i have never prayed so hard in my life that i would know what to say to pauline (our investigator) and be able to touch her heart.
well, friday rolled around. sister morgan and i were so nervous for our lesson, but both felt that it would be okay. we went into the room where pauline was waiting for us, said "leih hou!" and asked her how she was, and then she went off. and i had NO IDEA WHAT SHE WAS SAYING. honestly, it was terrifying and embarrassing. but i had a prayer in my heart, and we went forward with our lesson. basically sis morgan and i just read from our notes what we were going to say. and i don't think we did a very good job, because pauline kept looking at us and saying, "huh?!!!" she literally did that 5 times. finally, i gave up on my notes. i felt the spirit very strongly and looked pauline in the eyes and said, "ngoh jidou YeSou GeiDuk haih weutjeuhk." which is "i know Jesus Christ lives." she looked at me and nodded, "ohhh." it was very spiritual. then i said, "ngoh jidou leih ho yih jidou." which is "I know you can know." she smiled a little bit, and nodded. but then i didn't know what to say. we asked her to pray, and she said No, so sis morgan said the closing prayer and then we left. when we got out, we both felt extremely discouraged. i had felt the spirit and felt good that i'd testified of what i DID know, but sister morgan and i agreed that we'd let fear overtake our faith and not strayed enough from our written notes. we were both extremely down. i finally felt the weight of this calling and of the language. up to that point, i'd felt great about it! but after our lesson i felt awful. our district had a district meeting after that, and we agreed to fast on Sunday to be able to learn the language and be positive about the great work that we're doing.
saturday was a very up and down day for me. in the morning before conference we did language study and both sister morgan and i were so discouraged! cantonese is difficult. then we went to general conference, where i was boosted so much. GENERAL CONFERENCE AS A MISSIONARY WAS THE BEST! i wish i could put into words how much it touched me and made me want to be better. anyway, the first session of conference was great, then language study was difficult again after that. the second session of conference was wonderful, but then language study was difficult again. at one point, i went into the bathroom stall (the only place i can really be alone) and prayed so hard to our Father in Heaven. i had been humbled on friday, and i could really see that there is absolutely NO way i can do this mission without the help of my Heavenly Father. there is no way! it can't be done. in that little bathroom stall, i prayed harder than i have in my life. i pleaded with my Father in Heaven to simply help me get through the rest of the day. i knew i wasn't going to make it without Him. well, a miracle ensued. the elders went to priesthood and the sisters went and watched a re-broadcast of the YW general meeting. WHIT, you have to watch it. it's the most amazing meeting! the spirit was so strong. i felt like that was my saving grace that day. Heavenly Father told me that He loved me and cared for me and was helping me and supporting me. the young women choir sang "more holiness give me" and i was so touched by some of the verses:
more faith in my Savior
more sense of his care
MORE JOY IN HIS SERVICE
more purpose in prayer
and then especially:
More, Savior, like Thee.
i just sat there and cried. oh, and they also sang "In that Holy Place" which i played on the piano back in the Heber 1st ward and i LOVE that song. i felt like that song alone was a tender mercy for me! oh, i wish i could describe these things to you all. these feelings that i have. this spirit that i feel. i love this place.
Moving on to sunday... the BEST day of the week. Sunday was amazing. Sister morgan and i started our fast on saturday night and fasted 24 hours. embarrassing to admit... but i'm not sure that i've ever done that before. and it was incredible. Sunday morning before conference we spent working on the language. we were able to memorize a lot of vocabulary and we felt great about it! i know that wasn't us, either. that was a direct blessing of fasting and diligently studying and praying to God for His help. it was wonderful. and general conference was so great! i'm not sure if it's because i'm a missionary or if it's because a lot of their messages related to missionary work, but i took SO MUCH from it about being a missionary, walking in faith, trusting in the Lord, carrying His word to every corner of the world. it was a magnificent conference, wasn't it?
my favorite tidbits from conference...
i don't remember who said it and don't have time to look it up in my notes, but one of them said that those who serve the Lord will find that the Lord watches over their families. i thought of our family, and how dad puts in so many hours as the stake president. mom, who spends many hours being the relief society president. me, serving a full time mission. our family is being watched over because of our service. that struck me. and also, matt and misti. when the general authority said those words, my mind immediately jumped to matt and misti. M&M, i know the Lord is watching over you because Ben and I are serving. His hand is guiding your lives. i pray for you guys every morning and night and put your names in the temple this morning. i love you and am thinking of you!
another favorite. elder bruce d. porter of the seventy said, "I DO NOT FEAR THE FUTURE." i am going to adopt that as my motto. i loved that! before my mission, i think i feared the future a little too much. i don't like change. but i am going to have to get over that because i am a missionary now. i KNOW with all my heart the Lord is guiding me. He is with me at all times, i feel that so strongly here in the mtc. it's an incredible feeling. i know he will lead me into a bright, bright future. all i need to do is put my trust in Him.
okay, so the rest of Sunday. aghhh i wish you could all be here so i could tell you everything. or better yet, that you could all have been here for Sunday night! our devotional was by BYU's Vocal Point. it was nothing short of spectacular. they sang beautiful music, and some of the members of vocal point bore their testimonies and it was POWERFUL. i felt filled to the brim with the Spirit, and love, and light. it was awesome. THEN (yes, it keeps getting better and better!!) we went to a talk by Jeffrey R. Holland. Sunday night movie night at the mtc is as everyone says -- THE BEST! anyway, i wish you guys could somehow access this talk. it's the most powerful, spiritual, magnificent, amazing talks i've ever heard. it changed my life. it's called "Missions Are Forever" and Elder Holland is just a powerhouse, as usual. he doesn't even use notes or anything, he just talks for an hour and fifteen minutes about missionary work. i wish you could listen to it! but it was given at the mtc, so ya can't. dang it :(
he talked about how great our potential is as missionaries. he talked about how we need to understand how BIG and great this work is! this is GOD'S work. He is in charge. He shared a poem:
"Come to the edge, He said
No, we said. We'll fall.
Come to the edge! He said
No! we said. We'll fall!
COME TO THE EDGE, He said
So, we came to the edge.
He pushed us...
... and we FLEW."
isn't that powerful!? i loved it. it gave me such an empowering feeling. i can do this. the Lord told me to go on a mission, i said no i don't want to, i'm scared. he ordered me, and so i came, and now he has pushed me, and i'm not flying yet, but with His help, i'll be able to. i KNOW this to be true.
something else that i loved from his talk was when he asked us, "why is this so hard? why don't we have people knocking on our doors, dressed in white, ready to be baptized?" i was thinking, "yeah! why don't we?!" haha. but he said something that i will never, ever forget. i took really good notes so that i could share it with you, because i loved it so much.
he said: "Why is this so hard? Because salvation is not a cheap experience. Why should it be easy for us when it was not easy for Him? The road to salvation goes through Gethsemane."
Read that in an Elder Holland-filled-with-power voice. I sat there and just wept. How true it is! Why should i think that my mission to Hong Kong, or even my mission in life, should be easy? It was not easy for Jesus Christ. It was not easy for Him to suffer in Gethsemane, to bleed at every pore, to be whipped and bruised and beaten for our sakes. IT WAS NOT EASY. and so, with that, i have given up my complaints. i have given up my longing for an easier mission. i have given up my grumblings when the alarm rings at 6:15 (or, in today's case, 5:00... i know right, who woulda thought). i have given up my life for my God. that touched me in such a way that i will never be the same person. That's another thing Elder Holland said, "You MUST not come home the same person. You BETTER come home having at least one convert, and that MUST BE YOU." ah, it gives me chills just to remember it. it was absolutely incredible.
aw, fam, my time is running out. i love you so, so much. i appreciated your letters and dearelders so much! and mom, Marcene sent me a care package!! how thoughtful is that! i'm writing her a thank you letter today. I've seen so many people i know. it's so awesome. I see Jessica Harmon every day! I see Ben all the time. I've seen Nellie Kacher, Jake Segura, Cale Strong, Kayden Hicken, a bunch of people from my freshman ward at BYU - Marisa Barth, Liz Hilton, Venice Jardine, gahh i forget who all i've seen. i've seen so many people i know! it's so fun to see everyone. and DID YOU GUYS SEE THE KATZENBACHS IN BETWEEN CONFERENCE???! that made me cry haha. we're sitting there, and i had totally forgotten that would be on! and all of a sudden i was like "sister morgan! that's my family!" and i started crying. haha. little nicholas! josh, and zach, and marci and ben and sam. ahhhhh seeing them was so great, even if it was just on TV ;) i cried. and i saw Deonn in the choir at conference! did you see her? that was fun. and i saw brother heywood at the temple this morning!! SO GREAT.
i love you guys with ALL my heart. i don't think anyone could love their family more. it's impossible. haley, melina, morgan, i'm sorry i don't have time to write you an individual email today! but know that i love you and i pray for you guys every night and morning! and i'm so glad i have the scarf!
miss you so much, but this is SO RIGHT. i love it so much here. i have never been happier.
with all the love i possess,
shay
aka...
Gwok Ji Muih (Sister Wilcox)xoxo
4.02.2013
Here I Go!
I'm so excited. Tonight I get set apart as a full-time representative of Jesus Christ and get to go preach His gospel in CHINA! Hong Kong, to be exact. I couldn't be more thrilled.
Please write me!
Sister Shaylee K Wilcox
MTC Mailbox # 122
CHN-HK 0604
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604 (until June 4th)
After June 4th:
Sister Shaylee K Wilcox
China Hong Kong Mission
18 Dorset Crescent
Kowloon
Kowloon City
Hong Kong
I know this gospel is true. I feel so blessed to be able to go and share it with the world. I know my Father in Heaven lives and loves me, and that His son, Jesus Christ, lives as well. I know He suffered for my sins so that I can repent and live with Him again. I love the Lord and want to do what He would have me do.
I love you all! Thank you for your continued love, support, and prayers in my behalf! (I'm gonna need 'em!)
永别了!
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