Today I gave a talk in my branch. I was more worried to
speak than normal. I was nervous about not seeing who I was speaking to and
stressed about how I would connect with them. I don’t know how many times I have
to be reminded that the Lord always provides a way. In our little church
branch, we have a group chat over an app called WeChat, which is what everyone
uses in China to communicate. In sacrament meeting today we had a baby blessing
performed. The blessing was announced and while this new born babe was being
blessed through the power of the priesthood in her own home somewhere in China,
not only did I get to listen in, but through the group chat, I received a
picture of the sweet girl as If I was really there. Everyone commented how
beautiful she was and sent love and hearts. I started to see that the
connection was just as if I had been with them. This put me at ease enough to
be able to deliver my talk with the help of the spirt. Just like the baby
blessing and the talk before me, I received warm, welcoming messages from
members by way of social media. I am
astounded by the power of human connection and the ability to feel compassion
and love for God’s children despite the varying circumstances.
In the Book of Mormon, the prophet Mosiah teaches in Mosiah
18:25 “And there was one day in every week that was set apart that they should
gather themselves together to teach the people, and to worship the Lord their God,
and also, as often as it was in their power, to assemble themselves together”. Even
if that power to meet is through technology. One of my favorite scriptures is
in 1 Nephi 3:7 in the Book of Mormon when the Lord explains to Nephi
that when a commandment is given, the Lord always provides a way. I testify
that is true because of the worship experience I have had while living in a
land where Christ is seldom known and talking about him to natives is not permitted.
I feel so close to him an I see and feel his light all around me daily. Especially
on the Sabbath.
On more of a low key note, here are some highlights of the
week:
1.
Visiting Martyrs park again. First highlight
there was that there was an old man who set up a karaoke station and was
signing these Asian country songs. He was really good! It was also really
funny. Especially when we asked if we could try and he said no.
Also, we really wanted to rent a paddle
boat to see more of the island. This turned out to be much more difficult than
anticipated. Usually we can pay for things just fine because we know numbers in
mandarin. But in this case we heard a number not only for the price, but for
how may boats we wanted, how many of us were riding, and how long we were allowed
to have the boats. None of which we understood. After about 10-15 min of
confusing and horrible communication and throwing up lots of numbers on our
hands, we successfully got two boats and were out on the beautiful lake. About 45
min later, a very angry boat owner caught up to us in his speed boat and
started yelling at us in Mandarin. We paddled over to him and he very irritably
attached both of our boats to his and toed us back to the docking station. We
are assuming we went over our allotted time. Language barrier. Or ignorant
American barrier. Oops.
2.
We went out to the city square where me and 3
other girls finally tried a dish that Changsha is famous for: Stinky Tofu. Plot
twist, it’s actually delicious. It is also insanely spicy. All 4 of us that
tried it LOVE spicy food, but this is one of the spiciest things I’ve ever
tasted! We were all sweating and crying and enjoying every second. I would
definitely eat it again. Two enthusiastic thumbs up. Next time I’m just going
to make sure that I have some banana milk to wash it down. Which, side note, is
my favorite beverage her in China. Haochi!
3.
At our school we have a chef named Wendy. For
our culture class this week Wendy taught us how to make Chinese dumplings! They
are more commonly known as pot stickers in the US. Quick shout out to my real
fans: whoever is actually reading this, I’ll make you the best dumplings you’ve
ever had when I get home.
4.
I’m realizing that this last highlight will make
3 out of 4 of my highlights about food, but I’m not sorry. Wendy made the most delicious
thing this week, EGG CAKE. I’ve realized how American it is to love bready
treats because we honestly flock to bakeries whenever we see them. I think we’ve
been to 4 or 5 different bakeries by now, but Wendy’s Egg cake was by far
better than all the treats we have tried. It’s kind of like yellow cake but
spongier, and fluffier, and 10X better than any representation you are forming
in your head right now.
So basically I’m in love with China and I might live her forever. I love you all, and I hope you have a beautiful week!
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