Me, a RM? 真的嗎？

That's the strangest thing of itself. I'm a Return Missionary. If you had asked me if that could ever happen five or more years ago, I may have laughed kindly in your face. Just saying. And now I've been home for eleven days. That's even stranger. 好奇怪。

It's a little interesting to me how the whole mission experience worked out. There were plenty of tough times. I heard over and over again that a mission would be on of the hardest things that you do. I thought to myself that that was a no-brainer, but I still didn't completely grasp what that meant. And, boy, if I had known before who would have known what my decision would have been.

Don't get me wrong missions are hard, but they are so worth it. I learned a lot about myself and many more things. There are times when I think, Did I really learn that much? But then then Lord gives me opportunities like this blog post to remind me that I did. I pray that I can always remember these things.

我想念香港！I miss Hong Kong. It's, again, strange that I'm not there. I catch myself thinking and wondering if that time actually happened. Was I really there for that long? So strange and yet wonderfully amazing. The Lord was so merciful sending me there. He knew that I had to have that stupid surgery in the MTC in order for me to go there. I kind of wish there was another method, but that's what He wanted me to experience.

I met some amazing people there. I'm a little weirded out that missionary work is stilling going on there and I can't be part of it. That's something that I'll have to get my brain used to. It went on before I was there, so why not after? My brain, sometimes.

I miss being able to listen to Mandarin all of the time. I was blessed yesterday to hear some at the grocery store. Who would've known? I hope that I will be able to use it more in the future.

I'm going to figure out how I should share my experiences here on my blog. If you have suggestions, I will gladly take them.

For the Mandarin speakers out there. ;)
我要跟你們分享我的見證。我知道耶穌基督後期聖徒教會是天父在這個世上真實的教會。我現在不是傳教士，可是我可以見證天父和耶穌基督愛您。您是天父的孩子。天父要在您的生活中幫助您。如果您歸向耶穌基督您會必得救。我也知道我們都不完美。我們有罪。可是通過耶穌基督我們有希望。如果您要知道更多的話，請告訴我。我邀請您讀摩爾門經。它會幫助您很多。這是我的見證。奉耶穌基督的名，阿門。

Now the next step is moving onto life. Just need to let the Lord guide me in this part. ;)

Exciting News!

I'm going to Hong Kong! Yep, that's right! I just found out yesterday. It's so crazy how everything has worked out.

Since the last time I wrote, a lot has happened. I mentioned that Parker had an appendectomy and not two weeks later, my sister had one. What-the-what? And Amber's pregnant so that complicated things a bit. The doctors didn't want to believe that one of her younger brothers just had one, too. But they did tell her that appendicitis is hereditary. Something good to know for future reference.

Mom stayed behind to help out in Amber's house while Dad and I had to go back so I could go to the doctor. (This was all happening the beginning of September.) This was the doctor visit that determined I could go to Hong Kong. All I had to do was send in some things to my Stake President and the him to Salt Lake City.

A couple of weeks later Mom, Dad, Parker, and I went back to Amber and Greg's. Dad had gone early for work and so the rest of us decided to go down to watch the kids play Tee-Ball. On the way home, Dad and I were in his work car and Mom and Parker were in  her car. We were on a toll-way which allows you to go 85 mph. It was night time and all Dad saw were two shadows and WHAM! The airbags all went off and Dad was able to get to the side of the road. He thinks that we hit a javelina. It's a kind of warthog. Dad ended up with a bruised thumb and I got bruised knees. My face would have also been bruised if it weren't for my pillow in front of my face. I was moving it when the javelina hit the car. How do I know this? There's a burnt line on the pillow. Yikes and phew.

Then just a couple weeks ago, Greg strained his back. It was so bad that he couldn't move around. Amber thought that she would be fine on her own, but she called Mom to have me come down to help her. So I stayed down there for a week to help her out. While I was there we saw Beauty and the Beast on stage. Amber had been planning on going with Annabelle and Mom, and since I was still in town, why not me too? It was fun. Two songs were taken out and one added in. It was nice to see it again.

This is also when Mom told me what was going on with my letter back to Salt Lake City. Turns out they never got it. And then when it got to the right person it didn't have enough information. So we had to call the doctor to get a different letter. That took four days of calling and no return calls. That wasn't fun. But once we got it, we turned that baby in.

And waited.

We weren't sure how long it would take but we finally got word yesterday! The Stake President told us then that they thought I would leave on the 21st (Tuesday), but today we got other news. I'll be leaving early in the morning on the 20th! Woah! I'm going to be a missionary again! It's so surreal to me at the moment. I don't know if it'll really hit me until I'm set apart again. But I can't wait. I hope that my Mandarin hasn't digressed too much, but I'm sure the Lord will help. Gah, I can't wait. Hopefully I'll get someone to post e-mails and photos here on my blog. But if you want a hand written letter give me those addresses. ;)

So, Life is an Interesting Thing.

Well, if anyone actually reads this I guess you would all be surprised to hear from me so soon. And to be honest, I didn't think that I would be either. As the title of this post says, "Life is an interesting thing." It feels like it was forever ago, but so much happened at the MTC. I learned a lot about myself and other people. I saw kindness in them, and how people can really care for others. I saw the power of God and I was only starting my mission. It's crazy to me that I could understand my teachers. My Mandarin was five years ago. Five. The Lord really gives the gift of tongues to His missionaries.

Everything was going well until about a month in. I had to go into the MTC doctor about my allergies and I had this problem on my tailbone area. I decided to have him look at it. He gave me antibiotics and then to see what a surgeon thought. The surgeon took one look at it and knew that I needed surgery. They both said it's a pilonidal cyst. Knowing that I would have to be on a bike in Taiwan, they said that this was necessary. So two days after talking to him I had the surgery.

Everything was healing well and then something about three weeks later came up. This time it wasn't my health, but kind of my health. You'll get my meaning. One of the MTC District Presidents called me up and told me that they had a discussion about me. Okay. He said that with my kind of surgery and Taiwan being an all biking mission that I would injure my surgery area. So they talked to the Mission President and they all agreed that I should be reassigned. Definitely wasn't what I was expecting. He said it was all for my safety. Get the "wasn't my health, but kind of my health" thing now?

He told me there was something that I should know, though. Your mission language could change. Uh oh. My heart was broken because I had begun to get excited for Taiwan. And immediately my mind went to Japan. Crap. I really didn't want to hope for that again, especially if it wasn't the Lord's will.

For six days I had to wait to find out where I was going. The call had to go back to the Apostles and they had to reassign me. Waiting was hard; harder than some people thought. But when the MTC President called me to his office I knew that he knew where I was going. He asked me if I had any ideas, and like the first time around I didn't have a clue. He told me it was still Mandarin speaking, my nerves went down a bit. Then he said something along the lines of "the Brethren would like you to serve in the China Hong Kong Mission." Almost instantly my heart was leaping for joy. I didn't have to get myself excited to go. I was ready to go.

But my body wasn't.

I stayed in the MTC a month longer, moving into another district after my first one left and getting new companion. I saw districts that came after me go off to their missions. Even two elders going to Scotland and Ireland speaking Mandarin. (I'll write more about some areas that I remember that are Mandarin speaking in another post.) I kept going to the surgeon, and he even had to leave before me. The MTC and the new surgeon thought that it would be best for me to heal at home. So here I am. But it sure has been an interesting couple of weeks while being here.

It turns out that my parents were in town when I found out that I needed to heal at home. They were trying to help my Grandad with getting his home ready to sell. So they were able to come and pick me up right at the MTC. This was some sort of miracle. The District President told me before I left that my mission time is at a pause because of this. Once I'm am completely healed, I will go straight to Hong Kong and serve my 15 months. Now that's a miracle.

And now that I've been home for two weeks, things have been happening around me. I was able to be there for me to pick out something that Granni painted that I wanted to keep. Then my sister-in-law has her baby six weeks early, but their both in health condition. And today my younger brother had his appendix removed after having some pretty bad pain last night. So, yeah. Life is an interesting thing. It's a good thing that Heavenly Father is in charge of all of this.

China Hong Kong Temple

Hong Kong Flag

Macau Flag

Macau is part of the China Hong Kong mission. We'll see if I ever get to serve there. I also try to put up some photos and some of what I wrote back in the MTC. Maybe some people would like to see it.

Mission Call

I never wrote that I had decided to go on a mission. I had this impression while I was working at Walt Disney World (Aug. 15, 2012 - Jan. 3, 2013) that I should do this. One day sitting on the CP bus, I looked around and realized something sad. Not all of these people knew about the truth of the everlasting gospel of Jesus Christ. I knew then that I had to be part of spreading the whole truth around. They needed to know that there is a Heavenly Father that loves us and has put His church on the earth to guide us.

I don't know why it took me so long to get the paperwork done. We were moving in three months and it would seem that I attributed a lot of the procrastination to that. Why, oh why? I should have moved faster, even after getting here in Texas. I really don't have an excuse for that. My timidity takes a hold of me and I let it win, a lot. I know that going on this mission will combat that.

I got everything all done and the papers were in. I was told that they would come later last week but the papers came in on Monday. Unfortunately for me, and my parents, we were in watching my nephews and niece because their parents were on a Disney Cruise. Parker was still home and that's how we knew they were there. Dad actually drove back to our home (2 hr. drive) to get the papers and Parker (thankfully he had the next day off). My mom and I patiently waited for them to come home and by then the older kids were back from Kindergarten and Preschool. Krystal came over (Zak was at work) and contacted Grandad over the phone. I really didn't know what to expect.

I will be serving as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Later-day Saints in the Taiwan Taipei Mission. I will be speaking Mandarin Chinese and have to report into the Provo MTC on April 16th.

The part that caught us off guard was how quickly I would be leaving. That's right. Two months. Holy cow! I guess the Lord needs me out there as soon as possible.

Taiwan Taipei Temple

Taiwan Flag

I'm not scared about learning Mandarin. I had taken four semesters of Mandarin back when I was in BYU-I. I didn't find it that difficult during that time and I know the Lord will help me. I can still read some characters and say some sentences.

I'm excited for what's to come! It isn't Japan but this feels right. I'm supposed to know Mandarin for some reason or other. I'm eager to know more about the people, the culture, and the membership. It should be a lot of fun to serve the Lord half-way across the world.