11/23/2015
Nǐ hǎo
ma?!
So the phrase you sent in Chinese literally translates to
"Hello, how are you in Mandarin?" An easier way to say that would be: 你好吗? Nǐ hǎo ma? Haha but I think I
can guess what you meant ;) I'm doing good! My brain feels like mush right now,
but I think that will be normal for these next few weeks! I've got Chinese,
English, and Spanish all swirling around in my head! Haha oh well. Now to answer
your "5" questions!
1. My companion is Elder Zeng! He is from Chengdu, China. He has
been out for about 9 months, and he does speak English! It's pretty good! I'm
trying to help him with his English while he helps me with my Chinese! We get
along really well! He's a pretty funny person. He's very orderly? I'm not sure
of the right word to use.. Haha he just likes everything to be done a specific
way (not necessarily a bad thing) but I really like him! His Chinese is
good! Sometimes too good and he gets talking really fast and I don't understand
what he's saying! Haha
2. We are technically serving in an English ward, but we have a
group of Chinese members here. Not enough for a branch so we meet with the
Eastvale 1st ward. For sacrament and other meetings, Elder Zeng or another
Chinese member will translate and the rest of us wear headsets and listen
to the Chinese. It's quite interesting. There are about 6-ish active Chinese
families in the ward. Then probably like 10 that are less-active. We cover a huge area! We cover all of
the Riverside mission, except the campus of UCR (the other Chinese elders cover
that), and then we also cover the Redlands and Rancho Cucamonga missions! So,
yes we have a car!
3. There are two ward in Eastvale and both of them take turns
feeding us. Last week we had dinners with the Eastvale 2nd ward, and this week
we will eat with the Eastvale 1st/Chinese ward! I've only had one Chinese dinner
so far, with the Jiang family, and that was good! We have dinner with the Miao
family tonight and Elder Zeng says they are really good cooks! When we got to the
Jiang's the other night, they asked me if I wanted a spoon instead of
chopsticks and I told them that I can use chopsticks and they were shocked!
Haha apparently most white people don't know how to use chopsticks!
4. Yes, I'm still a zone leader but there are only 4 Chinese
missionaries (and they are in Riverside) so I'm a zone leader over a zone with
Chinese, English, and Spanish missionaries! I'm back in the same zone that I
started my mission in, Jurupa. (Hurupa, not Jurupa :) ) We have
quite a few investigators we are working with right now! It's exciting! We're
kind of cheating because we cover such a big area, but most of the people we
teach come from referrals.
5. I got the Thanksgiving package today! 谢谢 xièxiè! (Do you remember what that means??) Elder Zeng and I will
rock those Thanksgiving ties on Thursday! Haha and thanks for the gift card! That will be
helpful! I ended up spending most of my money today on groceries, so this will
help!
6. I think I'll be fine without new shoes! But thanks for
remembering! Haha I mentioned that a long time ago! Yes, the black Nike ones
are the tall ones. Christmas music on a USB would be great! We have a USB port
in the car, so that is easy to use!
7. We have a Chinese potluck for Thanksgiving dinner! Everyone
is supposed to bring two dishes and it sounds like it will all be Chinese food
:P Hopefully we can find an English family to feed us on Thanksgiving also!!
Haha we are bringing mashed potatoes and a pumpkin pie to the potluck so I can
introduce them to some American Thanksgiving traditions! And no, no weird food
yet! We'll see after tonight! Haha
8. The language is coming along pretty well. Some of it is
coming back to me. I need to keep reminding myself to be patient because it's
only been a week since I started learning Chinese. It's a lot harder than
Spanish because I can't guess what the words mean based on their sound. But I
know that if I keep studying and relying on the Lord it will all work out! I
can't wait to talk more about it at Christmas! And yes, I am getting a new tag
in Chinese! This is my new name: 吴 长老 (Elder Wu)
Hopefully that answers all your questions! You had a lot of
them! Haha :) I don't have the Tatum's address yet, but I will try and get it
for you soon!
Love and miss you! Have a happy Thanksgiving! I'll be thinking
about you guys!
I love you!
Elder Warren
吴 长老
No comments:
Post a Comment