MTC Week 2

Thank you all for your letters and thoughts. I love to read anything from you, and would love to get some pictures. Pictures are like gold here in the MTC. Everyone wants to see everyone else's pictures and stuff.

A lot has happened this week. I've changed companions twice. I guess I scare them all away. On Sunday, we got a new Elder from the Philipines, so he was made Elder Peralta's new companion. I was put with Elder Zanudo and Elder Ziga. They're hilarious. Then, on Wednesday, we got some more Elders, and I was put with Elder Kwok. He's from Hong Kong, going to New York South. He's speaking Mandarin and English, so I get to practice my Chinese on him. It's a great blessing to have him. Maybe we'll stay companions for a week. It'd be a new record for me.

Last week, we watched a cheesy movie that was a gym orientation. At the end, the guy says, "And remember, Elders, have fun at the MTC!" Now, Elder Zanudo and Elder Ziga say that everytime anyone says anything over the intercom. It's hilarious, because they're great at impressions and mimicking others. One night, Elder Zanudo passed gas loudly just before we went to bed, and a second later, Elder Ziga goes, "And remember, Elders, have gas at the MTC."

A Miracle:
yesterday, in class, we were practicing our teaching. I was teaching our teacher, Brother Kimball, and I was doing it in Chinese and then translating to English for him. We were working on the "getting to know you" phase, when suddenly I felt an impression to tell him that God wanted him to pray and to have a better relationship. It was kind of strange and awkward, but I said it. There was no obvious reaction, so I continued with my lesson. About a second later, Brother Kimball, playing the part of Kyle Peterson, asked a question about prayer. It was exactly the concern that Brother Kimball had decided "Kyle" had. Even in role play, the Spirit can prompt us and aid us in saying the right things.

The gift of tongues:
I've really felt the gift of tongues while I've been here. I feel like my Chinese is progressing well. I still want to be better, but I think it's gotten much better. The real amazing thing came when I was working with Elder Ding the other day. I would read a paragraph from Preach My Gospel in Chinese, and he'd correct my pronunciation, and then he'd read in English and I'd correct his pronunciation. I literally watched his pronunciation get better with each paragraph he read. The difference was marked and amazing. It was a testament of the power the Spirit has to teach us new languages.

Last week, in Priesthood, President Price told us that sisters are a temptation, and David's problem was that he said, "Oh... oh!" when he saw Bathsheba, and he should have said, "Oh no!" Well, later on, we went for a walk around the temple. As we crossed the street, and silver car drove up and stopped. Inside, there was a pretty blond. Elder Ding took one look at her and goes, "Oh no!" It was probably the funniest thing that's ever happened to me. I laughed SO hard. We taught Elder Zanudo and Ziga youhuo (temptation) in Chinese. Now, everytime sisters walk by, they go "youhuo!" So funny. I think the islanders have something like that too. I'm pretty sure they go "aaah" everytime there's a sister around. I think that's what it is, but I can't get them to tell me, so I'm just going off of corelation.

One night, I was taking a picture of Elders Zanudo and Ziga and Ding on Elder Ziga's camera. No matter how many times I took the picture, the camera thought Elder Ding had blinked. I think Elder Ziga's camera is racist. What a jerk.

Well, it's been a great week. I'll talk to you all later. Love,
Elder Siebert.