So one more P-day until I'm out of here... been here 10 weeks tomorrow and it's been good but i'm ready to go go go. Oh and by the way mom the 62$ was an ATM withdrawal I needed for my dry cleaning... sorry. I hope you all got my letters. It's been an interesting week to say the least... besides the normal stuff everything has just been winding down and everyone can definitely feel that we are just about done here... 9 more classes to go total and that's it. 15 days for me and 14 and 13 for the rest of them until we're done. I've really gotten to know the 'new generation' a lot this week and they are some really nice people, we have so many sisters it's almost more than Elders. Everyone really likes talking to me because I'm known as the outgoing and 'able to talk to anyone about anything' Elder so i've made friends with people that I barely have crossed paths with before just from the fact that I say hello and how are you to just about everyone here. I think people appreciate that I'm pretty upbeat and positive, because a lot of people here just don't understand or just don't know how to be that way so that's how I'm known here at the MTC.
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| The "Senior" Elders |
So we did have President Bednar speak this past Tuesday night, it was pretty good and it was just about effectively watching Conference and what we can do to really understand the principles and apply them to our lives when we watch conference, the good thing about this talk is that not only did it apply to me... it applies to my investigators as well, and to just about everyone. The way us missionaries work is We Invite... They commit... We follow up, and this talk was about how from every talk we should gain three things from the talks. 1. Doctrine 2. Invitation and 3. Promised blessings if you follow up to the invite and this really hit me this week that that's all we do, we teach the basic and simple truths of the Doctrine of Jesus Christ in a way so that they understand, and then based on their needs, we invite them to do something that will help them come closer to Christ and then we promise blessings to them that they will receive not CAN, but WILL (hui, not keyi sorry I always think in Chinese on these letters) and that I have stewardship and the ability to promise blessings to those I teach if they do do the things we invite them to do.
So my mind is pretty Chinese centered now... i'm starting to thinking in the grammar pattern STPVO in my mind and I even 'accidently' say prayers in Chinese in my head before I eat. So that's good, I'm just excited for the time when I think in Chinese and not just English--->Chinese and translate it that way. I hope that makes sense? Anyway, so I get my travel plans this Thursday or Friday so I get to know when and where I am travelling to get to San Jose (there's a good chance i'll have a layover is somewhere random just to save the church money) so we'll see. I think i'm leaving from here at the MTC at 5:30 AM on Wednesday Oct 31, so I'm hoping I can call all of you before you go to work and what not. I think i'll have around 40 minutes? or so so that will be good.
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| Elders Gooch, Sanchez and Schleede |
So how has everyone been doing this week? Haven't received barely any mail this week besides two letters. Stop sending letters through Dear Elder on Oct 29... Sound good? Marina has been in Canada all week and she gets back Thursday so i'll be looking forward to getting a letter from her. She sent one right before she left to drive up there last Wednesday or something so that was nice.
I'd like a picture of my car if you could find it on Google... if you can send me all the ones on the VWVortex site "flat blue jti" just google that. I know dad was/is planning on sending me something soon so if you could get those out that would be great.
Other than that i've been doing ok here, the days are going just as fast as always and just as tiring but getting through them. I'm losing weight little by little, i've been working out on occasion but since our time has been running quickly here we have all gone and done 'fun' gym activities like basketball and foursquare. Oh and by the way mom there's an elder named Elder Tiu that goes to the same ward building that the Seven Springs Branch is located in there in Cupertino and he told me all about the Chinese missionaries in that mission, there's 6 elders 2 sisters. Most of them serve in the Greater San Jose area and in Cupertino in general. The Seven Springs Branch is no longer a branch as of a week before he came on a mission and is now on "ward" status. So that's exciting. He says that the Chinese Elders don't bike all too much that they mainly use their car so not sure what to think of that yet. San Jose Mission is a non-door to door proselyting mission and he explained what he meant by that. I guess we never knock on doors, we only do street approaches, and that all the investigators that we get are from service projects and street approaches. He told me that they do at least one 1-2 hour service project a day like Tai Chi class or going to old folks homes and playing bingo or just helping local charities and what not with sorting boxes or whatever, there are Chinese people everywhere you go and that's where 80% of the investigators come from. I'm really exciting to go out and do that, at first I was like wait why can't we go door to door? But I understand totally now that this is a more effective method to help others. He said that I'll more than likely be living across the street from DeAnza College and Safeway there in Cupertino, since that elder is just about done with his mission( oh and by the way DeAnza college is like 40% Chinese from Mainland so street approaches there will be pretty interesting.
Anyway so I'll wrap up my email here, I hope everyone is doing well, if you want to talk again like last time I could be on here at 4 PM sharp my time... 6 pm your time. Let me know by like 3 so I can hop on.
Love you all, talk to you soon.
Elder Sanchez
单长老
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