Definitely NOT Starving

August 20, 2018

Ni Hao!!! Ok so week two down which is pretty crazy to say. It was a really good week, again a lot of ups and downs but it is so worth it! I am so blessed. I got to go to the temple this morning and that was great! I love it there. Can always find answers and peace, which are both definitely needed. Its weird walking there because it’s the only time that we are out of the MTC. It's nice.

The days here are long. We wake up and have to race for the shower because it gets crowded fast, so my room started to wake up a little early. The rest of our morning consists of studying and eating food. I’m definitely not starving. One day this week for breakfast I had eggs, ham, hash browns, a bowl of fruit, a bowl of cereal, some yogurt and oatmeal. I know most of you wont believe that but its true! My companion can confirm it. Haha it’s so bad we eat so much at every meal. For some reason I’m still not gaining weight. We do work out but not enough. It’s safe to say that Elder Chen and I are the champs at spike ball. We do that a lot for part of our exercise time everyday.

Getting to study so much is really nice! I have seen myself change already so much. I’ve been trying to focus a lot on Charity. It’s going to be a life long journey to be where I want to be. I love love love my district and my zone! I really can’t say it enough. Its weird too, I have tons of famous people who I’m with for like 8 hours everyday. One of my roommates Elder Card is related to the Prophet. Elder Card is like the Canadian version of me! Or at least I like to think so. I love him! He saves me everyday, we think the same and get along very well. In my district I also have Elder Ballard who is Elder Ballard's grandson and Sister Holland who is Elder Holland’s granddaughter. I’m surrounded by all of these giants! It’s pretty weird. They are all very good people. My companion is also great! He is very patient and helpful. We definitely lucked out as a companionship!

The rest of my zone has been here 8 weeks now so they all leave soon. It makes me sad. They are all so funny and seem way older even though they aren't. Makes me wonder how we will be in a few weeks.

The Chinese is interesting to say the least. I have already learned way more than I learned in all of school and yet I still feel like I know nothing. It’s kind of hard. Luckily I have great teachers. They balance each other out very well. My first one is more chill and my night teacher is a little bit more strict I guess you could say. They both are really good at inviting the spirit still, which I’m extremely thankful for. I’m working on memorizing the first vision in Chinese. Its fun because in English when you translate it, it makes no sense. That’s how most of Chinese is. The grammar is way different. On our tags we have SYL stickers now which means that we get to speak our mission language all the time! It's great;) On a real note as hard as it is I am actually grateful for it. It is making me very very humble.

This week I have realized how much having faith and being obedient to the Lord is key. When you truly give your all to the Lord he will bless you more than you know. I’m so blessed.

We were able to start teaching this week. That was a great experience! It was only to our teachers but in Chinese so still a bit of pressure. When you testify of the truthfulness of this gospel the spirit can always be felt! That is another important lesson that I learned this week.

I would like to extend another invitation to all of you, find a way to make other people smile:)!! Smiling makes everything better. Even when things get rough all you have to do is decided to look at the situation in another way. And smile! I’m so thankful for all of you! Keep you in my prayers daily! This is the Lords work! And I’m so thankful to have the opportunity to come and try to contribute to it! I love you all:) have a great week!

Elder McRoberts