WEEK 1
I arrived at the Salt Lake City Airport Monday afternoon, 29 Jan 2007. I saw Elder Russel M. Neilson and his wife at the San Fransisco airport and we were on the same flight to Salt Lake! I was strangely EXTRA shy and missed my chance to meet an apostle of the Lord as a brand new missionary on my way to the MTC! I'll never forget that day...
Uncle Tony Sieow picked me up at the airport. We had lunch and dad called. I got to talk with dad one last time before I wouldn't get to in a long time. I was going to enter the MTC that Monday night, but the Sieows openned their home to me and I decided to enter the MTC on Wednesday instead. My assigned check-in at the MTC was 11.30am.
I spent Tuesday running errands. Sharn (Woo) Lin was my companion for the day. It was great! We met many people on BYU campus and i said some last goodbyes. We went to Munchy's for lunch and had yummy Chinese food. At night, we made chicken curry and after picking Eric up from school, Leroy and Julianna came over for dinner at 6pm. After my two cousins left, I was so tired (slightly jet-lagged) I slept for an hour at Sharn & Eric's place! After 9pm, Rachel Tan, Patrick, Rie, and Nat came. more curry was served and ice-cream went round. I got a phone call from Uncle Tony at about 10pm and realized that i was closed to curfew! I got back by 10:30pm and got ready for the BIG DAY first thing in the morning!
Wednesday was exciting! From the moment I step foot into the MTC, I was escorted everywhere! Uncle Tony sent me in the MTC on behalf of mom, dad, and the family. I received a real missionary name tag with "SISTER CHONG" on the top and the Church's name in Chinese on the bottom. I met President and Sister Boone, who served as mission President in Singapore 2000-2003, and are now the Provo MTC Presidents. They were pleasantly surprised to see me at the MTC with a missionary name tag on! They immediately made special arrangements for me and Uncle Tony to get front row seats at the welcome meeting where about 400 other new missionaries and their families attend before parting. It was a great feeling to be in a room full of missionaries. The openning hymn was "Called To Serve." It's really something special when you sing this hymn as a missionary...
After saying the goodbyes, i was on my own and had different Sister couple missionaries escort me to where I neded to go for the first half of the day. My very first (temporary) companion was Sister Feng from China. She'll be going to Hawaii Visitor's Centre! I miss that place! After dinner, I received my new companion, Sister Cutler, from Layton Utah. She is going to Taiwan, TaiChung! (To be continued...)
My 2nd day at the MTC happened to be Preperation-Day for my District. We got to go to the Provo temple and I was pleased with this opportunity. The last time I was at the temple it was with mom in Hong Kong early January. It has been a month.
On Saturday Sister Cutler and I taught our first lesson in Chinese at the Training Resource Center (TRC). We taught two volunteer "investigators." To my surprise, we got to teach my Chinese teacher from BYU Winter 2006! She was surprised to see me too! Wang lao shi is a non-member from Taiwan. She came to the TRC with my classmate from that Chinese class last year. Sister Cutler and I were excited to get to teach them both in Chinese. The lesson went well and the spirit helped us bear testimony in Mandarin of the truthfulness of this gospel. It was a fulfilling first week at the MTC!
Uncle Tony Sieow picked me up at the airport. We had lunch and dad called. I got to talk with dad one last time before I wouldn't get to in a long time. I was going to enter the MTC that Monday night, but the Sieows openned their home to me and I decided to enter the MTC on Wednesday instead. My assigned check-in at the MTC was 11.30am.
I spent Tuesday running errands. Sharn (Woo) Lin was my companion for the day. It was great! We met many people on BYU campus and i said some last goodbyes. We went to Munchy's for lunch and had yummy Chinese food. At night, we made chicken curry and after picking Eric up from school, Leroy and Julianna came over for dinner at 6pm. After my two cousins left, I was so tired (slightly jet-lagged) I slept for an hour at Sharn & Eric's place! After 9pm, Rachel Tan, Patrick, Rie, and Nat came. more curry was served and ice-cream went round. I got a phone call from Uncle Tony at about 10pm and realized that i was closed to curfew! I got back by 10:30pm and got ready for the BIG DAY first thing in the morning!
Wednesday was exciting! From the moment I step foot into the MTC, I was escorted everywhere! Uncle Tony sent me in the MTC on behalf of mom, dad, and the family. I received a real missionary name tag with "SISTER CHONG" on the top and the Church's name in Chinese on the bottom. I met President and Sister Boone, who served as mission President in Singapore 2000-2003, and are now the Provo MTC Presidents. They were pleasantly surprised to see me at the MTC with a missionary name tag on! They immediately made special arrangements for me and Uncle Tony to get front row seats at the welcome meeting where about 400 other new missionaries and their families attend before parting. It was a great feeling to be in a room full of missionaries. The openning hymn was "Called To Serve." It's really something special when you sing this hymn as a missionary...
After saying the goodbyes, i was on my own and had different Sister couple missionaries escort me to where I neded to go for the first half of the day. My very first (temporary) companion was Sister Feng from China. She'll be going to Hawaii Visitor's Centre! I miss that place! After dinner, I received my new companion, Sister Cutler, from Layton Utah. She is going to Taiwan, TaiChung! (To be continued...)
My 2nd day at the MTC happened to be Preperation-Day for my District. We got to go to the Provo temple and I was pleased with this opportunity. The last time I was at the temple it was with mom in Hong Kong early January. It has been a month.
On Saturday Sister Cutler and I taught our first lesson in Chinese at the Training Resource Center (TRC). We taught two volunteer "investigators." To my surprise, we got to teach my Chinese teacher from BYU Winter 2006! She was surprised to see me too! Wang lao shi is a non-member from Taiwan. She came to the TRC with my classmate from that Chinese class last year. Sister Cutler and I were excited to get to teach them both in Chinese. The lesson went well and the spirit helped us bear testimony in Mandarin of the truthfulness of this gospel. It was a fulfilling first week at the MTC!
Labels: mission
posted by Su Chong at 2/05/2007 08:54:00 AM
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