Zhongwen Dianying (Chinese Movies)‏

So in case you haven't figured it out yet, for the subject of my email every week I like to say something in Chinese that I am grateful for, or that is making my life good right now. This last Sunday we watched "Legacy", the really sappy pioneer film, in Mandarin. It was basically our whole zone of Mandarin-speaking missionaries crammed into a dark room with a small TV, and it was the most I've laughed in a long time. The movie in English is already kind of hilarious, in my opinion, and just imagine it being dubbed with over-enthusiastic Chinese voices.

 

I leave for Taiwan in three weeks from today! Time is going by so quickly, but at the same time I feel like I've been here forever.

 

This was a fairly exciting week for us.

On Saturday at the TRC, (that is when volunteers from outside the MTC will come to let us teach them in Chinese), we got a non-member volunteer to teach. She was from China, but is doing some biology research here in Utah. As soon as we started talking and she told us she wasn't a member, I had a quick mini panic attack at the sudden real-lifeness, but we got over it and I think had an okay lesson. We taught her about prayer. She was very accepting of everything and asked good questions--it was obvious she wanted to learn about our beliefs, but definitely seemed to want to learn out of curiosity and academic interest rather than wanting to find out the truth of what we are saying. She compared  what we taught her about God, and how he helps us through prayer, to Chinese people's beliefs about gaining power from nature gods. In retrospect, I wish we had handled the situation differently and taught her the first vision or something that challenged her a little bit more, but that's okay. We did the best we could. On our little evaluation form, under the question about what she learned from meeting with us, she said, 'I leanred importance of prey and through prey we become perfect as God." Haha, starting off my mission potentially preaching false doctrine (depending on how you interpret it). I thoughtt that was pretty cute.

 

After the lesson, she asked me how long I had been studying Chinese, and said she was really surprised it was only eight weeks. She said, "Wo tingdong", which means she heard and understood me. That made me feel pretty good. I definitlely don't feel very confident about my Chinese, but I think I am doing about as well as I can with the training and resources I've had.

 

On Sunday, they called me to be the coordinating sister for our zone. That is kind of like the female equivalent of zone leader--I am supposed to visit all the sisters in the zone every night, help them with whatever they need, check up on how they are doing, help them resolve any problems, and report about things to the Branch president if necessary. Also attend a bunch of meetings, which I don't enjoy so much. I have mixed feelings about the calling. Sister Briggs had been chatting all week about how much she would love to be coordinating sister. I genuinely didn't really want it because I didn't want to have to go to extra meetings and I knew it woudl be one more thing that would make Sister Briggs feel bad about herself. She really, really struggles with her self-esteem. I could have told you that the first day I met her, but I understand it on a much deeper level, now. And it's true, the branch president called us into a room on Sunday and said, to her, "We are going to ask your companion to be coordinating sister", and next to me I felt her whole body sink into a tense, pitiful sigh. She was quiet for the next couple hours and so was I. I told her since we were companions I wanted to do it as a team, and she was quick to reassure me that she supported me and didn't feel bad about it. But I know it hurt her, maybe a lot more than I even know. And then throughout the day people kept shaking my hand saying, "congratulations" and I felt like saying, 'Really, is this something to be congratulated for?" Of course it isn't. Once I actually started attending meetings, I started being appreciative of the opportunity.  We talked about Christ's example and teachings that leadership is about love, service, ministering to other people, and using the spirit to solve problems. I really liked that, But sometimes the attitudes about callings among missionaries totally misunderstands that.

 

Sister Briggs has taught me so much. I genuinely love her, and am glad that she is my companion. We are so different, and the fact of that smacks us in the face nearly every day when we try to plan lessons or our schedules. I love reading scriptures with investigators, she thinks our investigators get confused if we share too many scriptures. I tend to ask probing questions that get our investigators to open up, she wants to always be sure to respect their privacy. I get really excited about really abstract ideas and she connects with the gospel through stories and specific examples. And I could go on and on about how different our personalities are, and how these differences manifest themselves in painful ways, every day, sometimes as a pinprick of irritation here and there, and sometimes to the extent that we walk side by side back to our dorm room in a tense, stony silence. But there are other days when we walk home with our arms around each other, or when we can't stop laughing during class at some inside joke we shared, Or like last night, when we read scriptures together and start talking about our problems and our thoughts and the vastness and vulnerability of the person we are speaking to comes alive within us. Last night I made my rounds visiting the other sisters, and finally made it back to my room to start getting ready for bed. Sister Briggs was already in bed, but her body was stiff under her blanket and I could tell she wasn't sleeping. I asked her how she was doing, how her day was, obviously meaning it in a deeper way than usual, considering I had spent nearly every minute of the day with her. She said her day was good, then paused for a few seconds and blurted out, "I love you." Then we had a heart to heart about how even though we sometimes have disagreements, we are so grateful to have each other, and to connect over the things we do have in common, and how much we are going to miss each other when we get new companions in Taiwan.

 

That made me feel so good. This morning at the temple, I kept thinking of what a good, pure example of love she is to me. She has so many things she could resent me for. I am actually really insecure about my ability to love and sacrifice for people. I have always been a really private, mistrusting person, in a lot of ways. But I already feel that my mission has started to help my soul invert on itself, that the fundamental questions I live by are starting to change, to ask about and seek for the happiness and beauty and security of those outside me rather than inside me. This is obviously a daily struggle, but I catch glimpses of it here and there that sometimes last for a few minutes, and sometimes for a few days. The light stops shining when my questions reflect it inwards again and they got lost and distorted in a cavern of selfishness. I know this will be something I struggle with my whole life. But I really believe, now, stronger than I did before, in the power of Jesus Christ's love to change our hearts. In real, sustaining ways. That's what has been doing it for me.

 

School has started! How did everyone's first day go? Mary, did you get a good schedule thrown together last minute? Jeffrey and Jon and Emily, all of you who are at new schools, what do you think? Is Tanner in junior high now? I can't remember... Doug, how is the masters program? John-Mark, Natalie, and me, isn't it weird to be  approaching September but NOT to be going to school? Chris and Stephen, how does it feel to be the oldest at your school? Scott and Abby, how was your west coast trip? Garrett and Aya, how do you like your new apartment? How is fat Akane and drooly Chai? Rachel, how are you and the little one? I miss you all so much! If it's not too much trouble, I would LOVE to have about a million pictures of everyone before I leave for Taiwan, especially fun memory pictures. I hardly have any pictures of the family.

 

I know there are a lot of hard things going on for each of you right now. I really love you and pray for all of you. And I really hope that you all can find things to be happy about, that give you peace. Please let me know if there is anything I can do for any of you! Tanner, happy birthday this week! Love you!

 

 

Diana

Zao Shang de Pao Bu (Morning Run)

Hello everybody! 

 

I hope you are all enjoying this beautiful sunny day! I have been, so far. Our district went to do initiatories at the temple this morning, then ate breakfast at the temple cafeteria, then walked back together, talking. I've noticed the last couple times we've been at the temple how bad the air is--we can barely see Utah lake. Have there been a lot of fires in the area? What is going on in the world? 

 

Chinese is going better than I want to admit, I think. This week we got letters from our mission president that said that when we go to Taiwan he expects us to be able to teach the first lesson in our own words. We were all like, "What? We've already taught all four lessons, multiple times." So that was cool.

My elders met Donny Osmond at the temple this morning. He patted one of them on the back and said, "The Church is true."

 

This week was really powerful for me. I don't know where I've been my whole life but I feel like every day I am learning a little more about what it means to really be here--not just on a mission, but to be here, right now, as someone who can take in and accept the situation around me and use the spirit to solve problems. I wonder how much of my life I spend living in a world that doesn't exist.

 

I can't believe I almost didn't come on a mission. I have been humbled so much in really deep, necessary ways. Not everyone needs to come on a mission to have that experience, and maybe I didn't either. I still don't feel like God "commanded" me to go--I feel like I decided it would be a good idea for me and felt his approval. But maybe we are more guided in those leap-of-faith decisions than we think we are. I just know that I already feel like such a better person than I was before I came.

 

I have a lot of pride. I think I'm smart and that I understand things a lot better than other people do. My default is to assume that my ideas and interpretations and plans are more correct than other people's. Having a companion has really smashed a lot of that out of me, although it's still something I relearn every day. Last week Sister Briggs got really excited to tell some story during our TRC visit that she had heard from a mysterious source--it was about a religion professor, a football player, and donuts, and was supposed to be a metaphor for the atonement. When she told me the story, I thought it was really cheesy and sounded like it was from a chain letter, probably with a postscript about how you had to send it on to 20 people or your crush would never return your affections. I was nice about it, and tried to tell her we should only tell it if we had time or if it seemed appropriate for where the lesson was going, but that really hurt her feelings. I was in that classic situation of wanting to do what I felt was right, but having to hurt someone else in the process.

 

But we prayed before going in to teach, and I realized how cruel that was what I was doing. Obviously there was something our investigator could learn from her story, because it really connected with Sister Briggs. So we went in and the story was the first thing that we shared. To be honest, I think the lady we met with was maybe a bit confused because the translation into Chinese was awkward. But Sister Briggs lit up when she told the story. I felt so bad that I had almost denied her and even shamed that opportunity for her to express her understanding of the atonement in her own way, even if it was different from how I would have done it. The next day in Sunday School, we taught about the atonement again and decided to share the story. This time the message was communicated so well, and as I listened I gained some insights that I hadn't thought of before, that I incorporated into my part of the lesson. The elders made several references to it when they taught. It was a very effective story.

 

That was a really humbling lesson for me to learn. I feel like I used to be a tower, and I thought I knew a lot and that I could do things on my own, and I looked down on the way other people do things. But every day at the MTC a floor of my tower is torn down, and I'm starting to experience the quiet honesty of having nowhere to look but up. I don't even care about admitting this to all of you and anyone who reads my blog because it is just so true. And I'm so thankful for the atonement which allows me to feel such abasing humility and overflowing joy simultaneously.  

 

Last Tuesday night I had a really cool experience that I want to share with you. We have various general authorities come speak to the whole MTC on Tuesday nights, and afterwards we meet up with our districts to discuss what we learned from the devotional. We usually go around in a circle and share our favorite parts of what the speaker said. Last Tuesday, the circle started on the other side of the room. By the time it was my turn to talk, most of the topics that really impressed me had already been covered. I decided I would just agree and recap what everyone else had said in my own words. But I stood up and started talking, and all of a sudden it was like there was electricity running through my whole body, and I started talking really passionately about something I hadn't planned to say at all. The speaker had talked about prayer--and I started testifying of how much power there is when we pray and have our desires in the right place. That we may not feel that what we are being asked to do is possible or that there is any way God can literally answer our prayer, but that when our hearts are oriented towards him, when we have a sincere desire to fulfill what life is requiring of us, that he will sanctify that to us and find a way for our prayer to be answered. I thought I knew what teaching by the spirit was like, before that experience. But this really was something different. There was a literal power in me, that faded once I was done speaking and I thought, "Was that real, did that really happen?" But I know it did. I wrote about it in my journal because I don't ever want to forget what that was like. And I prayed to ask if I should write in my next email what happened and felt a little happy leap of an answer "Yes, you should."

 

I don't know why I had that experience, or if it will happen again. I don't think I am special or more worthy because it happened to me. I think it happened because I, or people in my district, or maybe some of you, really needed to hear those words, or hear about this experience. I just feel grateful that I was there when God needed me to be there, open and willing to help those around me the way he needed me to. That's where I want to be my whole life.

 

I love you all so much. I have been praying for all of you individually and really want to know what I can do to help.  Stephen, I hope you're adjusting to life in Utah again, Bill, I hope you are excited to move down to Provo this week, and everyone who starts school next week, good luck! Don't forget to have great grandview days.

 

Love,

 

Diana

 

P.S. Does anyone know what to do about a perpetually bothersome IT Band?

Youhao de Xinxi (Friendly Notes)‏

This week was really great, but not as eventful as the past couple weeks. So I want to tell you more about what a normal day is like for me.

 

We are supposed to wake up at six thirty, but I have been waking up at six to go running or working out with Sister McKay. I really enjoy that time, to be outside and think and watch the sun rise as we silently jog side by side. I try to really soak in the moment and focus my thoughts on what is going on right now--at the MTC, with my friends here, and especially with the family. I really like to pray for and think about everyone individually as we run, what they might be doing today and what they might be worrying about. It helps me to stay connected to you all, even though I am so distant in a lot of ways.

 

Then we go to breakfast at the cafeteria. I used to think their oatmeal was okay, but I was wrong. For breakfast, I pretty much exclusively eat cereal now. I have discovered the joy of mixing cereals, for a more exciting breakfast. So far my favorite mixes are granola with raisen bran (If you´re feeling healthy), and Life with Fruit Loops (If you´re not). Not to brag, but Life and Fruit Loops is seriously a brilliant combination. The Life is sweet enough to complement the Fruit Loops but provides just enough substance to give the illusion of eating something as filing as Chex. I encourage you all to try it as soon as possible.

 

Throughout the day, we have two three-hour blocks of class, some of which is spent either as companion study or as teaching time. They are long hours in the classroom, but they are usually really fun. I adore my district! (My district consists of seven elders, me and my companion, and we basically spend all day together.) I don´t think there is a single elder that I would trade for someone else. I have made some great friends among them--it´´s hard not too when you share so many big experiences together. We see each other teach, study, bear our testimonies, run off to doctors appointments, auditions, meetings. We can talk all day sharing stories and teasing each other. We go through spiritually uplifting meetings and firesides, and we go through discouraging Chinese lessons together. I feel like they are my little brothers sometimes, because of the love I feel towards them and how much I want to take care fo them. Other days I feel like I´m their little sister--they like to tease Sister Briggs and I about everything from our love lives, to our greater susceptibility to cry when we feel the spirit, to our feminist streaks. (Well, I think that´s mainly me...) But I definitely feel like they respect us, try to learn from us, and listen to what we say. I will miss them all when we leave for the mission field. I really hope Jeffrey has a fun district when he comes here. It makes it so the MTC can be like the best parts of high school, with a strong bond of community that you get to take part in every day.

 

Sister Briggs and I have made a goal to do random nice things for people every day. We were inspired last week because some old man at the temple cafeteria paid for our meals. So far some of the things we have done are writing thank you notes on napkins and leaving them on our trays for the dish washers, buying our elders little boxes of candy and writing notes on them, making our roommates beds, etc. It is very bonding, planning and doing these things together, and it´s fun to see how contagious it is. We came into our classroom one day last week and found little sticky notes all over our desks with compliments written on them.

 

Every night we do little pranks with our roommates. It has become a tradition. Whichever companionship gets home the earliest gets to surprise the other companionship, so when they open the bedroom door they walk into a re-enacted murder scene, or a disney dancing party, or them pretending to be asleep in our beds, or something like that. Some of our favorites have been when we hid in their closets, and sat for ten minutes waiting for them to open the door and discover us. The best part, though, was two nights later. They told Sister Teng, a cute old Taiwanese lady who is the wife of a member of our bishopric, about it. She decided she wanted to do the same thing, so she came up to our dorm room and hid in my closet--I screamed and jumped when I saw her! She was crouching with her head down, so I couldn´t even see who she was.

 

The biggest prankster is definitely Elder Greer, though. He is going to the Taichung Taiwan mission, and is in another district, but he is good friends with my district so we see a lot of him. I think he used to be a big partyer and just in the last year or so decided to get ready to come on a mission. He is really homesick and immature, and is really, really innapropriate at times, but we love him. He does things like run through the hall during personal study shouting, ¨CTR!! Corrupt the Righteous!¨, black out lines he doesn´t like in the White handbook with a pen, come to class wearing Sandals, etc. He is a hilarious story teller, and can talk forever. I kind of love whenever he walks into our classroom, (as long as I dont have anything I have to urgently get done) because I never know what is going to happen. The other day, for instance, he walked in while Elder Cottle was handing me a large can of pringles, and he lunged for them and somehow tossed it up in the air so the can exploded all over our heads. We were laughing so hard--pringles were in our hair, all over our clothes,  all over the floor. Elder Greer gasped, took a couple of steps back, and then said in a panicked, fake-gay voice, ¨Oh my gosh, Oh my gosh, I will be back in like, THREE SECONDS with a vacuum!¨¨ He spent the next five minutes cleaning the floor, but mainly chasing after me with the vacuum hose so he could suck the pringles out of my hair. It was so funny.

 

The way people have dealt with Elder Greer has been really inspiring to me, and has made me have a lot of hope in people. At first he rubbed everyone the wrong way, and a lot of the sisters didn´t like him. (Sister Briggs and I have always been loyal to him, though.) The leaders have frequent interviews with him because he really does do a lot of innapropriate stuff that makes other people uncomfortable. But the message that some of our zone leaders gave hime was, ¨¨The Lord called you to be on a mission. He wants YOU to be a missionary, you don´t need to turn into someone you´re not. You just need to be the best YOU that you are capable of being.¨ I love that.

 

And he is really such a sincere kid. In his rare quiet moments, we´ve had really thoughtful, open discussions about life here at the MTC. He has told me about how it is hard to be reading the Book of Mormon for the first time amidst other people who seem to be years ahead of him, spiritually. But he gets excited about reading the book of mormon. He reads during class instead of paying attention to the lesson, which obviously is against rules, but I think it is so sweet whenever he makes announcements like, ¨I read all of Helaman today!¨¨ The other Mandarin missionaries recognize how good this is, too. It is a good reminder to all of us not to get arrogant and think that the gospel is about knowing the scriptures cover to cover instead of having a heart oriented towards Christ. Elder Greer is also a fellow liberal, and we really bonded one time when we started talking about homosexuality in the church and feminism. He now likes to tease me by occassionally making me take his tray to the dishroom after meals or commanding me to go get him drinks, (since I am a woman), but I just think its funny. 

 

Okay, I am so sorry that I always write such long emails! I hope they aren´t a burden to read. I love life here so much. I feel every day like I am learning straight from God, that my scriptures studies and the lessons and firesides we have answer directly the thoughts and questions on my mind. I feel so much love for and from my savior, every day. I am grateful for all the little sacrifices I am learning to make each day, that teach me how to become more like him.

 

I love you all so much! Love each other and listen to good music for me. Please keep writing! Take care.

 

Sister Brown

Wo shi Bu Jiemei (I am Sister Brown)‏

Diana is doing well. There are pictures at the end of her letter.

 

Ni Hao family!

 

So I hear Bro. Knowles wanted to know the Chinese name they gave me? It is Bu Jiemei. (Boo Jee-yeh May). Jiemei means sister. Isn't that pretty? But this is also potentially temporary, I could change it if I wanted to. I debating changing my name to Niu Jiemei (Sister Cow), but I don't really like how that sounds. I have also considered changing it to Kao JieMei. So it would so like "Cow" in English. But then my name would literally mean Sister test/trial, which isn't very nice. Any opinions?

 

Another learning-thick week at the MTC.  Let's get started.

 

On Sunday we played our musical number during Mission Conference. (That is a special two-hour long devotional they give to all the missionaries on fast sunday, since there is extra time due to the absence of meals.) We played Meditation. I was nervous, so I played it a tad shaky, but nothing too terrible happened. I was going through my usual post-imperfect-performance humiliation stage until sacrament meeting, when I thought of Dad and how annoyed he always was when I was unsatisfied with a sincere, good-effort performance. I decided to get over myself and started accepting compliments without second-guessing them. Ever since then I've felt like a minor MTC campus celebrity--random missionaries have been approaching me every time I'm in public telling me I did a good job. I'm not sure if I'd like to repeat it but it was a cool experience--I have never played and probably will never again play in front of an audience of 2-3,000 people. (Not sure how many people there are here, but it was the whole MTC.)

 

Since last week, my friend Sister McKay and I have been waking up an extra half hour early to go running/work out. The MTC holds early morning work out classes for the sisters. Every day they have things like kickboxing, yoga, pilates, etc. Yesterday we went to a jump roping class! So fun. Sister McKay is a triathlete and former marathon runner, so spending most of the day sitting down has been a difficult adjustment for her. (We also decided to stop eating all sweets except ice cream, which adds further rest to our insecure souls). But anyway, on our second day of running I somehow injured myself. The muscle on the side of my right knee really hurts whenever I walk or run. The pain  comes and goes, but I have basically been limping for the past week. Today I finally went to the health center and I have an appointment tomorrow for someone to check it out. I don't think there's anything seriously wrong, I probably just need to rest it. I also am coming down with a cold, I think. Please have dad read this when he gets back from Alaska and send me a sarcastic response to my medical problems. I wish he would write to me more! Not to mention Bill! Among others. You know who you are. (Just kidding, I know you're all busy... But I do love letters.)

 

So, this week has been really humbling in regards to how I have felt about mission rules. Last week when I was in the middle of my dramatic emotional episode, I was praying about how I should compromise my mixed values, and really felt prompted to practice what I preach: sincerely act according to what I feel the spirit directing me to do. (As opposed to thoughtlessly conforming to rules.) I have learned a lot of unfortunate lessons about myself since then that I think I should share. I realized that most often when I wanted to disobey rules it is because they require something inconvenient or somehow offensive to me. (Not singing Modest Mouse lyrics in the shower, studying scriptures instead of my mail during companion study, being more on time, etc.) And it never occurred to me before how hypocritical that is. I accuse the other side, the rule-conformers, of using rules as an escape from having to figure things out for themselves and be motivated by sincerity. But I use my own "I hate rules" philosophy to justify what is uncomfortable for me, as well. I really need to consider both sides and not think that I know everything.

 

Another thing I really have been learning is that as I try to be closer to the spirit... I want to follow the rules. Because a lot of them are actually not that bad of rules. I was on my second verse of "Custom Concern" by Modest Mouse when I suddenly found what I was doing offensive. I decided to come on a mission, and really serve God for these 18 months. But it's like I expected to do that exactly how I was, without needing to sacrifice anything or make uncomfortable changes or give up things that mean a lot to me, like music. Am I really so special that I can only serve a mission if I get to play violin every day and can listen to whatever music I want, even if it takes my thoughts away from the gospel?  Well, I decided this week that's not the type of missionary I want to be. I want to devote my entire self to this, It's definitely not easy and the question of my commitment smacks me in the face every day, but I've decided I want to be a missionary who can sacrifice.

 

God is a very kind, patient teacher. This week all my scripture studies seemed to lovingly answer my question over the mission rules. Overall I learned that I have had good intentions, but perhaps need to see things differently.  Both Nephi and Jacob in the Book of Mormon express their knowledge that the Law of Moses was a temporary law and didn't contain the fullness of truth that Christ would bring. I rather arrogantly related to that in how I have felt about mission rules--that they are for missionaries who don't know how to govern their own behavior. But you know what? Both Nephi and Jacob said they would obey the Law of Moses anyway, because it "pointed their souls to Christ", because it would be sanctified as righteousness unto them, because it was the law that they had right then, and they accepted that. There is something so compelling and humbling to me about their simple obedience, even though they knew it was an imperfect law, and their willingness to embrace whatever was given to them. They weren't mindless about it--they knew that it would be done away with when Christ came. But they obeyed anyway.

 

So that's just something to think about. I know not everyone will agree with my still-forming conclusions, but I really do feel I have been taught by the spirit this week. I am trying to be wise and think for myself but not be too arrogant to think I know everything.

 

Chinese is still going all right. I'm trying to just focus on getting better every day... Error of the week: volleyball (paiqiu) and beer (pijiu) sound very similar to me. A few of the sisters came back from playing volleyball one afternoon and I asked them, "Pijiu hao, ma?" (How was the beer?)

 

Love you all so much! Thanks for all the letters and love! Take care!

 

Diana

 

Doujiang (Soy Milk)‏

This letter was long and full of a lot of personal things that Diana probably wouldn't want on the internet. I have taken a lot out but still included enough for you all to know how she's doing.

. . .

This week was really interesting. I think I need to start off with a confession. You all might think I'm a very proper and naturally rule-abiding person, but sometimes I don't think I am, at heart. I think for much of my life what I have wanted to do has just happened to parallel with what other people think I should be doing. But things haven't worked out as seamlessly at the MTC. I don't think I've had any trouble really from the MTC/mission institution itself, but most of the pressure comes from missionaries themselves. My companion seems to think that everything that most missionaries do must be a rule, and that if we do something different we are breaking the rule--whether it's sitting kitty-corner to each other during meals instead of across from each other, or not taking off our nametags and putting them in the little slots during gym time, or not being able to sit next to each other at computers, because sometimes the labs are too full. It is frustrating--I feel like I'm a good person. I am here for solid reasons, I have a testimony of the gospel, I am happy to be here. So is she, I think. So why do we need to spend every minute second guessing whether we're being acceptable missionaries or not?
. . .

Rachel told me in a letter a couple weeks ago that she remembers hymns being especially powerful to her, when she was on her mission. I am having the same experience.
. . .

This week I discovered the Gluten-Free/Organic/Hipster corner of the MTC cafeteria. Do any of you realize how superior in taste soymilk is to normal milk? I have gained a testimony of this for myself, and I will continue to seek out the normally-over-priced-but-temporarily-free substance each morning to complement my raisen bran until the end of my MTC days. Sometimes I feel a little guilty for taking of it because there is a sign on the fridge that says, "For missionaries with health needs." But I quickly remind myself that I was in a band called, "Searching for Celia", which was often mistaken as a support group for those suffering from Celiac disease. I figure that makes me at least a little more gluten-intolerant than the average missionary, and it serves to quell my shame.

 

Have a great week! Keep sending letters! All you people who have written me but I haven't been able to write back, I am really sorry, but don't think I don't appreciate you.

I love you all!

 

Sister Cow