Last Week in the MTC

Hey Everyone!
 
So I leave tomorrow! Taiwan, here I come! I'm so totally thrilled. I think one of the things I'm looking forward to most is the food. It should be wonderful to start eating a wide variety of things again. It's gonna be a really long flight, but there are tons of missionaries going to Taiwan tomorrow, so at least the airports shouldn't be too bad.
 
My companion left last Tuesday, so I got put with Elders Wolfley and Vance. Elder Wolfley is half Hong Kongnese, so he looks the part, but he never really learned Chinese as a kid. His Chinese is pretty good though, so he should do fine. He's going to Taipei. Elder Vance is a full Korean but was adopted by white people, so he's American. His Chinese is not bad either. He's leaving for Singapore tonight, so then it'll just be me and Elder Wolfley. They were the Zone Leaders until yesterday, and I'm the District Leader for our district. Basically, every elder in our district had a calling. They're both very cool, and I love them, and will be sad to see them go.
 
The elders in my new branch are all really cool. The other night, after dinner, we had some time until class, and we sat in a classroom with a piano. One of the Elders in the branch started to play the theme from Avatar on the piano, and Elder Abegg started to act it out. So dang funny. At the beginning, the music was really epic, so he went over to another Elder and was telling him stuff like, "They're coming," and "We've got to stand." He finished "cheering" up the elder, and then sat down on a chair just as the music started to get melancholy. He pretended to cry, and all of us were laughing hysterically. The light was off in the room, so the sunset was coming through the window so it fell perfectly upon him. When the music reached the obligatory "things are going to be alright" stage, he stood up and walked towards the window, reaching out to the light. It was so freaking funny. This is just so you know that we're not holy all the time.
 
Hey, just so you all know, I'm still super nerdy. In the MTC, we're given padlocks that we're supposed to know. I memorized my combination by writing the following code in my head:
 
int num = 22;
for (int i = 0; i < 3; i++) {
    useNumber(num);
    num -= 10;
}
 
Yup, I will never be cured.
 
For you Chinese literate people out there, my teachers are really funny with Chinglish. They constantly switch English phrases to meaningless Chinese phrases like "wo you ni de bei [I have your back]" or "zhe shi wo de jia! (this is my house!". You can ask my parents if you want to know how this all sounds. The other night, Qian laoshi, the REALLY funny teacher told us all that he lived in Si (first) ban (first) ya (third) cha (first). This literally translates to "Spanish Fork." I laughed so hard. It took the other missionaries a while to get it, but I thought it was so funny. I'll miss the Chinglish when I get to Taiwan.
 
On Tuesday, we had an amazing devotional from Elder Pace. The main idea of his talk was that God loves us. I think as missionaries, we promise people that God loves them so often that it almost becomes cliche. I know for me, it had almost become rote. However, throughout this talk, I felt the Spirit testifying strongly of the love of God, and I know that God loves each of us, despite our imperfections. He knows each of us personally, and he will love us no matter what. We are truly blessed to have this knowledge, as it brings a lot of comfort to our lives. Elder Pace also shared some very sacred experiences about the Spirit World, which I will not divulge here. For me, his words really cemented my belief in the Plan of Salvation. I know that it is true. I know that God's plan for us can bring happiness to our lives now and forever.
 
The other night, Qian laoshi had us write the music to A Poor Wayfaring Man Of Grief from memory. Needless to say, we all failed miserably, and we knew it. He made us give him our music, and informed us that he would play each of our music. We all groaned and protested, but he would not be dissuaded. He sat down at the piano and each of us cringed inwardly. Qian laoshi then proceeded to improvise the most beautiful arrangement of the song I have ever heard. When he finished, we were all silent, and he read Jacob 4:7 (I think that's the right reference) to us. He informed us that no matter how well we did on our missions, we would never do as well as if God hadn't helped us, just as he had helped us with our music. This message touched me powerfully. I have never experienced a more powerful object lesson in my life. I realized that I often try to do things on my own. I pray, and I ask God for help, but deep down, I trust too much in myself. I seek to be perfect in all that I say and teach. However, without God, I will never be able to reach perfection. This principle is universally true. We must all rely on God to turn the misplaced notes of our lives into a symphony of salvation. I urge you all to look for God's hand in your lives this week. Rely on Him, and you will not fall. God loves us all. He is our Heavenly Father, and he looks out for us.
 
I love you all. Love,
Elder Siebert