Chinatown!

Hey Family and Friends!

 

Wow, this has been a long week.  And probably the most frustrating one in my mission so far.  It is surreal thinking that I live in Chinatown.  Weird!  I am like the only Caucasian person.  I stick out for sure.  I live on the sixth floor of a building and our apartment is tiny, but perfect (I think.)  I like the wood floors and tile in the bathroom.  I am not yet used to having cold showers.  We are still waiting for dressers or hangers.  We have been living out of our suitcases.  We just got our desks/tables a couple of days ago. 

 

I can't believe how expensive everything is here.  It is hard for me to get used to new faces and a new environment.  I miss familiarity.  I am grateful that Elder Vatcher is here, because at least he is a familiar face. 

 

Sister Chen and I are "white-washing" (we are both new to our area) and so we have no investigators.  We had a few appointments with potential investigators this week, but they all fell through.  Man man lai.  We spend a lot of time contacting.  I can easily contact over a 100 people a day.  That is what the Chinatown missionaries do most. Apparently the best way to do it here is to invite people to come to our free English classes.  We will see the same faces over and over again and they learn to trust us because we teach them English, and then we invite them to listen to our messages.  After we have established a relationship with them, they will be more likely to receive our message well.  We teach English 5 days of the week, and the turn out is usually pretty good.  Yesterday we had close to 30 people come to learn English. 

 

Yesterday when we were contacting, we I got my first phone number from a street contact.  I really hope that we can set up an appointment with her. 

 

Ah!!!!!!!!!!  I can't wait until I can speak Chinese!  I am trying to be patient with myself.  My companion, Sister Chen, has a thick Chinese accent, and it is hard for me to understand, sometimes.  I am slowly getting used to the way she speaks Chinese.  I am also still waiting for my Chinese study materials. It I sent them from the MTC because they weighed too much.   Someone told me that usually it takes about 3 months for the missionaries to feel comfortable and be able to communicate well in Chinese.  It definitely is the Lord's blessing.

 

My roommates had a baptism on Sunday and it was so special.  I can't wait to have a progressive investigators.  If we work hard, the Lord will bless us. 

 

I learned a lesson a couple of days ago about heeding to the promptings of the Spirit.  Sister Chen and I were talking to a man on the street, and I didn't really know what they were talking about.  But out of nowhere, I started to tear up, and I felt like I should tell him that we have a Father in Heaven who loves him, and that he has a plan for him that can help him feel more happy.  But I didn't say anything, because I am insecure in my Chinese.  I have regret.  I won't do that again.  My goal is to never ignore the promptings of the Spirit.  Most Chinese are impressed that I am even trying to speak their language. 

 

Anyway, I am so glad that I can be on this mission.  It is super hard, but I know that this is where i am supposed to be. 

 

I love you all!

 

Yan Jiemei

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