Thoughts During Home MTC

Week 1:

This first week has been pretty good. Days seem long, but at the same time, I'm wishing they were longer so I could get more studying in. We've been learning about the Restoration and the principles of the gospel that go along with it. It's been fun to teach and learn more about. I'm rather excited about learning Chinese, and I enjoy my personal study as well. My companion, Elder Baak, is outstanding and always happy. I love getting to know him during our companionship study sessions.

I love all the personal, language, and companion study time but don't enjoy the 7 hours of zoom classes very much, they're quite exhausting. I appreciate a lot of the invitations they give me to help me grow, but I'm struggling with the one to post on facebook often. I find teaching people I've never met in person or via zoom far less intimidating than sharing messages where the world can see them; nothing comes to mind when I try to think of posts.

Week 2:

This week went way faster. I have to give my first lesson in Chinese next Friday, which is crazy because we don't even start learning Chinese in my MTC classes until Monday. I have been doing an hour of language study on my own each day, but that doesn't quite put me in a comfortable position to give a 30 min lesson in Mandarin this week... It's gonna be a little rough.

The MTC has you teach lessons that are recorded, so you can evaluate how well you did. However, they've only been able to find one of the recordings from Elder Baak and I teaching. They also have those you teach take a survey to give you feedback, and Elder Baak and I haven't gotten feedback on any of our lessons, for some reason. Essentially, we're going into our Mandarin lesson a little blind in terms of feedback as well as language ability.

Despite not being ready for a 30 min lesson, I have been enjoying my language study and do feel like I am learning. I am beginning to find myself more capable of expressing more personal thoughts in my Chinese prayers than I was in the beginning (I still say them pretty slow though). God has definitely helped me in learning, especially when I pray before my language study for assistance in studying and remembering the language.

I've found sticking to the missionary schedule really helps you feel accomplished and energetic, if you plan it correctly and throw in a little extra time to move around. I do need to focus on sticking to my plan even if something takes a little longer than expected. I keep trying to push everything back and sometimes that just doesn't work, and I waste more time trying to rearrange my schedule.

Overall, it's been a good week and I'm excited to start classes in Chinese on Monday. Hopefully, God will help me pick it up quick.

Week 3:

This week was good. I had my first Chinese lesson and didn't understand pretty much any of it. But she was kind and it was fun. I would ask her questions but not understand her responses, and my companion, Elder Baak, would just say "Elder Wardle...." while I sat in silence with a dumb look on my face. I think it stressed him out, but I expected this much.

I actually did understand some of what she said, but didn't have sufficient vocabulary to respond. So, I have some things to work on for next week.

Week 5:

This week was pretty awesome. During week 4 we had a schedule change which has taken some time getting used to. I now have morning and evening classes instead of morning and afternoon. Plus, my p-day is on Monday and only until 6, instead of Saturday all day.

Due to the schedule change, we had to cancel one of our teaching lessons last week, so we doubled up this week. Two Chinese lessons back to back was honestly quite hard in terms of learning all the phrases and words to use for the next lesson, but was nice because it made following up a lot easier since the invitation we had given was just the day before.

Another thing about the schedule change is that I tend to be less productive in the evening, so having class during that time allows me to make more of my study time in the afternoon which has been awesome.

The reassignment (to Fresno) was not what I was hoping for, but I don't mind it. Because of the reassignment, I am getting a mission phone now, instead of when I arrive in Singapore. That's kinda nice, since I'll be able to set it up with all of my language learning apps and progress, so I won't have to restart when I get to the mission.

Another thing, Singapore required no suits, but it says for a reassignment in the States "Two required (one minimum)" I'm not sure I understand the difference in required and minimum, but I hadn't bought any for the mission in Singapore, so I plan to just take one suit and if I stay long enough in California, buy another.

Week 6:

Last week was pretty awesome. I was able to meet up with 5 other Elders in my MTC district. We played pickleball, basketball, and got some food together. It was really nice to finally meet some of the people I've been doing online classes with for the past month.

I got a lot better at writing in my journal this week, which is good, but consequently I was going to sleep a little later. This week I'm shooting to sleep on time and write every day.

Our lessons have been getting better (in terms of Chinese and fluidity), but sometimes I feel like I'm teaching less content and doing more of a Q&A because Yomi, the lady we teach, has additional questions about every scripture we read or answer we give.

Overall it's been a good week, but I've got tons to improve on.

Week 7:

Another good week with some ups and downs. I've found I really need to dedicate myself to a task to get the most out of it. When I'm doing multiple things at a time, I get very little out of each activity. But, if I dedicate myself to doing one thing for a small amount of time, and then the other, I progress much quicker.

Overall, it's been a good week, but there is plenty more to work on.

Week 8:

This week was pretty good. Everyday I went to wrestling to help coach, I was so much happier and loved sharing the progress of the kids I worked with. I learned I have a lot more motivation when I'm able to get out and help others. However, when I'm focused on me and my studies, my motivation starts to dwindle a little bit. My growth is a lot more fun and gratifying when I'm able to use it to bless/help others.

Two big principles I learned this week during my personal study were the power of faith, and the need of humility and daily repentance.

I read the story of the brother of Jared and read a talk from President Nelson about how Faith in Christ will Move Mountains. Both really showed me the power that faith can have. The brother of Jared was able to move a mountain, and saw Christ because of his great faith in Him. President Nelson taught that we can develop the faith to move our own mountains in life through study, a desire to believe, acting in faith, partaking of sacred ordinances, and asking our Father in Heaven for help.

The second principle including the need of humility and repentance stems more from a broad overview of the Book of Mormon. Throughout the Book of Mormon there is a pattern we often call the pride cycle. The Nephites turn to Christ and are blessed exceedingly. They begin to forget God and believe in their own strength and wealth, which truly came from God. This leads to contentions and wickedness bringing about wars that devastate the Nephites. In this lowly state they finally turn to God again and begin to receive blessings until they turn away from Him, and thus they continue the cycle. In the end of the Book of Mormon, the Nephites remain in their wickedness and deny the power of God. Their pride and wickedness keeps them from turning to Him for protection and forgiveness. Eventually they are completely wiped out, and I believe this destruction only occurred because this time, they did not turn to God in their afflictions.

This cycle does not only occur on a large scale among the Nephites, but is a constant cycle within our lives. Our mortality guarantees we will make mistakes. We will not be perfect, and we will fall many times like the Nephites. But as the Lord blessed and prospered the Nephites everytime they remembered and turned to Him, He too will bless us as we turn to Him. We may fail a million times over, but so long as we turn to God again, He will help set us back on an upward course.

The end of the MTC is almost here and I can't wait to go out and serve the people in the California Fresno Mission!