Week 15 Christmas: He sent His Son 12/25/2019

Pictures:

-grocery shopping and we got bought only vegetables and it was the best thing ever

-every picture with us in red shirts is us when we went caroling on Christmas eve at nursing homes! The best!!!

-Me and my STL Sis. Blakely went to go eat froyo after our exchange. She is the best.

-me and Sis. Shay planned a zone pday for today. Let me just say, it was so fun.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! 🎄🎄🎄

I am in the Palos Verdes area and I am in the Peninsula branch which is the Chinese branch in our mission (actually, it is THE Chinese branch in our mission because it's the ONLY Chinese branch in our mission) and then me and my companion also cover the English ward in this area with another set of sisters. Members here are awesome!!!! My new companion is Sis. Shay from Vancouver Canada and she is the best. I have never met someone with as much capacity to love as she does. Every day it just feels like I'm going out on an errand for the Lord with my best friend. And we make up a different dance every day and whenever we get excited about something that day we do that dance. It is a BLAST. 

Thought time:

On the mission, I feel like every day is Christmas because every day we give, every day we celebrate Christ, and every day, we are trying to follow Christ's example. One of my favorite primary songs is "He Sent His Son." The lyrics goes like this: 

How could the Father tell the world of love and tenderness?

He sent his Son, a newborn babe, with peace and holiness.

How could the Father show the world the pathway we should go?

He sent his Son to walk with men on earth, that we may know.

How could the Father tell the world of sacrifice, of death?

He sent his Son to die for us and rise with living breath.

What does the Father ask of us? What do the scriptures say?

Have faith, have hope, live like his Son, help others on their way.

What does he ask? Live like His Son.

So let us do as God asks. Let us live like His Son.

Story time:

This week we went and had dinner with a part member family. They are all members except for the nephew. We also got to teach them in Chinese! We shared a thought with all of them though, and we talked about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I talked about prayer and how when we pray, we can ask Heavenly Father to apply the Atonement of Jesus Christ in our lives. And then we asked the nephew to pray. He doesn't believe in God or anything, but we asked him to try. He agreed to pray, and we all felt the spirit so strong. His aunt was crying and I just couldn't stop smiling. It was the best thing ever.

Remember Christ always!! 

Week 14 With Much Love, Culver City - Getting Transferred to Chinese branch 12/16/2019

I'm getting transferred to the Chinese branch! 
Not staying with Sis. Lee either ): but my new companion is Sis. Shay! I love her and am excited to serve with her! 

We forgot transfer calls were last night.

We got a call last night.

We're getting transferred. 

Ah.

After white washing an area (basically it means you are brand new missionaries in that area) for a transfer, me and Sis. Lee are both getting transferred to new areas. We for sure thought we were going to stay, but alas, the Lord has a plan. 

Before serving a mission, I knew what being transferred meant (you move to a different part of your mission and into a new area). But now that I'm actually experiencing what "getting transferred" is actually like, let me just tell you. It is wild. Me and Sis. Lee forgot that transfer calls (basically you find out if you are getting transferred or not) until we got a text from our zone leaders like an hour before, so I guess this concludes my first transfer. I'm sad to leave Sis. Lee, but I'll be with a Sister named Sis. Shay and I love her!!! And Sis. Lee served in this last area for 5 transfers, so she's excited for me too. Seriously still can't believe we're both getting transferred because when you're in the Chinese Zone, you tend to stay in the same place for a while.

A thought in closing: 

Thanksgiving was a couple weeks ago, people on the college campus finished finals (加油), Christmas is actually pretty soon now that I think about it, and it's almost 2020, the year we all have waited for. But on the mission, the days seem to just fly by and you tend to forget these things because every single day, you are just working and hoping for the Salvation of the people. The Savior taught (3 Nephi 13:25): "For behold, ye are they whom I have chosen to minister unto this people. Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on." That is why I love being on a mission. There is nothing more important than helping each other return to our Father. 

Sister Chou and Sister Lee teaching in the park

Sister Chou gets package from Asian ward and Chou family

Week 13 The Presence of God & Temple last week 12/9/2019

Culver City park? Why not. Another day of rain, another day of finding. Guess what we find? Not one, person this time, but 3! 3 that left before we got out of the car and got a chance to talk to them. . . . . . And then we see it, a car. And I leaned to my Sis. Lee and said, "that's her. She's here again. " Lo and behold, it is the same lady we saw 2 weeks ago at the park. The one we gave the Book of Mormon to. Remember that little spark of hope that we left a good impression? Well now imagine that spark being a full on 🔥🔥🔥 (yes, 3 fires to make up to the 3 people we didn't talk to) as we are walking to her car. Well, 3 sentences. 

1. She read the first chapter of 1 Nephi 

2. She wants to meet up again to discuss

3. She said she wants to read until  1 Nephi 5 by the time we meet!

Now why do I pick this story to tell out of all the ones that have happened this week? Because I know that the presence of God is real. He was there that day, I know we were meant to be there that day! And He is here today in every single one of our lives. He works miracles in our lives, don't be too stubborn to say that they're not from God. He sacrificed His only Son for us because He loves you! And He can be in your life if you let Him. 

Also side note, Culver City is making progress! I asked my mom to pray for this area and she emailed me and told me she prays for Culver City. Often, and hard. I am not just convinced, but I know that it's because of those prayers and because of faith that me and Sis. Lee are able to witness people being more receptive to the gospel! Thanks mom. 

I love you all! And I hope you are able to see the presence of God in your life! 

This week we went to the temple this week! I am halfway through my first transfer!

Week 12 pictures & The Presence of God

Culver City. Oh what a good place. But pouring rain. Pouring rain I was not a fan of. But pouring rain also will not stop us from the Salvation of the People. We (and by we I mean me and Sis. Lee) drove up to Culver City park. One person. Well 2 if you count the dog. 2 words: Perfect opportunity. Well, by the time we ended that conversation, I had 2 new words words: super awkward. We continued to walk around the park, and then we see another lady sitting on a bench. Reading. Well, you know us missionaries, if you're reading, that won't stop us from trying to share the happiest message on planet earth. And guess what she was reading? It was called "The Presence of God." We talked about God, and she told us, "Ladies, keep doing what you're doing. Keep being bold, and follow the Spirit!" And we left her with a Book of Mormon. We were so excited about it and texted her, but when text responses stopped coming, that excitement gradually became just a little hope, a little  希望, that we left a good impression and we left it at that.

Week 11 Lift each other up-week 8, 9, 10, 11 11/25/2019

And now I have been in the field for 2 weeks. I think. I never sent this email out, but here it is with a continuation of the past 2 weeks:

Sis. Lee is my trainer!! We're in Culver City and we're "white washing" which I'm not entirely sure what that means still, but I think it means that all the missionaries in that area are new. It's a little hard, but definitely spirit led because you know nothing about everything. We're in an English area but it's so funny because this is the most Mandarin I've spoken since I've been on a mission. Sis. Lee is from Taiwan and so all we speak is Mandarin!

Here's what they do tell you about a mission: You'll meet people that are prepared to hear the word.

Here's what I believed: there is no way that's possible that you can have so many experiences like that.

Here's how it is: out of the 20 or so people you talk to that day, there is 1 of those experiences. Sometimes not even one. But it is so worth it.

To my MTC teachers who made me practice finding at parks. That was SO AWKWARD the first time we practiced that. Guess what? I still have sooo many awkward experiences, but so what? You'll never know until you try. And for my MTC district and the ones who rejected me during our "finding activities" thank you. Better to practice being rejected before you are. And then lastly, to all the people who have told me that it's worth it. You're right. It is. Sometimes you can be bored, stressed, awkward (or in my case, SUPER AWKWARD), while you talk to people, but oh man it is so fun and definitely worth all your efforts when you find that one person searching for truth. 

Here is just one of many park stories. Okay maybe 2 if I have time.

(Bro. Sy and Sis. Hickman, I thank you. I wouldn't be able to have these experiences without the 2 of you teaching me how to start conversations about the gospel)

1. We met a guy at a park and talked about life and all the good stuff. THEN we start talking about the Plan of Salvation. It was golden. He was so interested and had some things going on in his life that lined up with the Plan of Salvation. We ended up giving him a pamphlet and gah it was so awesome.

2. This girl at the same park was sitting down with 2 dogs. We started a conversation and she said she was waiting for a friend, so we just asked if we could sit and talk with her while she waited. We started talking about the gospel and she said her mom had actually met with missionaries 10 years back. Then life goes on, she went through some really rough times, and she was looking to get her life on track. She said that she had a Book of Mormon before but now she doesn't have it anymore and she's found it in Spanish, but not English. Me and Sis. Lee were like, we have it in English, would you like a copy? And she was so excited and said she would start reading it again!!

I have so many "park stories" or I should really call them "park miracles" that I wish I had time to tell, but last couple of things.

-went in exchanges with our STLs and it was awesome

-me and Sis. Lee have cooked a meal

Last thing, pray for people. And when you say you will, actually do it. And then actual last thing. There are many people in this world that have burdens that you can help lift. I know so many times we are so busy with everything that we need because it's busy! The holidays, with family, school, work, one rarely has time to balance them all. But as I've seen these "park miracles," I realize that some people just need someone, even if just for a second. So talk to everyone. And if you can be that person for someone else, I know that you both you and that person will be lifted up.

Week 10 ... 11/18/2019

Week 9 ...leave MTC & arrive at California LA Mission 11/11/2019

-Elder Uchtdorf came and spoke!!

-we got our Mandarin name tags!! No joke, Sis. Hoe had a dream the night before that we would get them that day and then I prayed for them at lunch and then we got them after lunch!!

-on Saturday my district and the other Mandarin district that left/are leaving this week decided to sing A Child's Prayer in sacrament before we left. That was really special. 

-packed and packed

-and goodbye to our sisters in our district (':

-and last but not least, goodbye to district joy. I love you all so much. 

In closing, I am at the airport right now and about to start a new chapter of the mission. For everyone who wrote me and telling me and I didn't get to responding you, I will try to next week! Don't forget that Jesus loves you!!

Sister Jesse Hsiao Qing Chou arrived safely to this mission 11 Nov 2019.  After prayerful consideration, Sister Shih Chieh Lee was selected to be her companion.  We make every effort to assign only the very best missionaries to be trainers, as these first few months are critical in the life of a new missionary.  Enclosed are pictures of Sister Chou with her companion, as well as with Sister Cordón and myself.

During the course of her mission she will be transferred from place to place, therefore, we ask that all her mail be sent to:

Sister Jesse Hsiao Qing Chou
1591 East Temple Way
California Los Angeles Mission
Los Angeles, CA 90024-5801

Week 8 What a beautiful name it is, the name of Jesus 11/4/2019

There's a Christian song that goes, "what a beautiful name it is, the name of Jesus."

Yesterday was fast and testimony meeting (for those who don't know what that is, basically the first Sunday of every month, during the church service, anyone can come up and bear testimony about the gospel) and I was like, I need to go up. And then our branch president went all, don't forget to say it in your mission language and then translate to english. Welp, I decided then that it was a lost cause and that I was going to not bear my testimony. But then of course the spirit decided that I had to so before I knew it, I was standing in front of everyone and bearing my testimony. I would like to share a few thoughts of that testimony I bore and I know to be true.

In Alma 29:9 & 14 it says:

9. I know that which the Lord hath commanded me, and I glory in it. I do not glory of myself, but I glory in that which the Lord hath commanded me; yea, and this is my glory, that perhaps I may be an instrument in the hands of God to bring some soul to repentance; and this is my joy.

14. But I do not joy in my own success alone, but my joy is more full because of the success of my brethren, who have been up to the land of Nephi.

In all your days, praise God. Give your glory to Him. Going back to that Christian song, just the mention of Jesus's name makes me want to shout praises because of everything He's done for me personally! Everything we do, everything we are, it is because of Him. We are able to do what God asks us to do because of Christ and because of God's miracles. So praise Jesus. Glory in God. 

About this week!

Good times. We got 12 new sisters! And one district is only sisters (how cool?!) And they're all going to the Philippines! 

Also we had a little Crumbl party because one of the Elders in our district bought 3 boxes of Crumbl. 

Next week I'm out of the MTC and continuing to Los Angeles. It's so crazy that I've been here for the last 2 months of my life. But as I get ready to leave, there are 2 things on my mind. The first is about my district. District joy. (More about this name next week) We've had very fond memories with each other, and for the past 2 months, we have spent every day of almost every hour together. Me saying I'll miss them is an understatement. But we came to the MTC to learn, not to stay. The second is that there is still a lot to learn in my last week here. Our branch president told us to not get too eager to go, there is still a lot to learn. 

If you read nothing else in this email, just know that I put a lot of effort with the colors so it could be more exciting but also, most importantly, that God loves you. 

Week 7 Okay. I really can't think of a title, but this was such a cool week. 10/28/2019

One word. 4 letters. WILD. This week was wild. 

1. Explanation of pictures

2. The wild events of this week 

3. Spiritual thought

But first, for kicks and giggles:

But first, a cute quote from my dear cousin, Ella (I love you Ella, be good). My aunt told me that she asked her, "Mom, what does companion mean on a mission?" And my aunt replied, "it's someone you have to be with all the time." And my cousin went all "it's like your BFF." 😂😂 Sis. Hoe, I know you're reading this, so in answer to that, yes. Yes it is. Sis. Hoe, you rock, you stone, you pebble (phrase as a courtousy of Sis. Hoe and Sis. Cummings).

1. Pictures

-Elder Williams' birthday so the sisters in the district piled our snacks together for him

-Elder Williams (the one in the middle holding the pumpkin) wanted us to dress as pumpkins for his birthday so we all wore orange and green

-Sis. Leng in the middle

-we blame Elder Marion and his what he calls "seminary candy" for our blue tongues

-for the ni haos that never end (hope you all are having fun in Taiwan!) 

-it snowed. We found a snowman. Sis. Johnson whoever you are, if you're looking for your nametag, frosty the snowman took it. 

-Me and Sis. Leng at the temple!

2. The wild events of this week

This week me and Sis. Hoe welcomed a new Sister into our companionship!!! Sis. Leng!! Sis. Leng is from Taiwan and she is going to be serving in Taipei. She's a solo sister (basically she is the only sister in her district) and is in a different branch than me and Sis. Hoe. We're not with her 100% of the time because we have different schedules, but we love her so much and me and Sis. Hoe really feel like God sent her just for us.

This week me and Sis. Hoe also hosted all the early arrival international sisters. That was way fun but crazy! They came in on Tuesday and we took them to dinner (we met Sis. Leng Tuesday too!) Then we took their luggage to their temporary rooms and also devotional and devotional review. It was so fun to have so many sisters at our devotional review! In the morning we took them all with their luggage to breakfast. But then we found a sister's luggage, but we couldn't find her, BUT NO WORRIES turns out she was just at the front desk and there was just some miscommunication. We found her and took her to breakfast with the rest of us and not going to lie, a little stressful, but good times. She is this cute sister from Thailand! She's been serving in Thailand for 3 months and has been visa waiting, but she finally made it to the MTC! She was really tired from her travels, and she pulled up Google translate to communicate with us, but it turned out good and we got her where she needed to go! 

Also this week we did video call TRCs. So me and Sis. Hoe called this cute lady and guess what?? She lives in Los Angeles and can pretty much walk to the temple!! She helps out with family history and she said when I get to LA we'll have to met in person!

3. Spiritual

Spiritual thought time. Let's go.

This week I want to talk about the power of praying for your companion when they're speaking. A friend shared with me that when you pray for your companion in your heart while they're speaking, you can both feel the Spirit burning in both of your hearts. I thought this was pretty cool (so shout out to you cool friend, you know who you are), and so what did I do? I tried it out. Word of advice, if you want to know something works, try it out. During a "teaching visit" this week (we just teach our teacher and she pretends to be an interested person) we were teaching about the Plan of Salvation, and I started praying for Sis. Hoe in my heart at the end when she was bearing her testimony. Our teacher started tearing up and so did I because Sis. Hoe's testimony was so strong. So if you're on a mission, pray for your companion while they're speaking. It's pretty awesome. 

Love you all! God loves you, go fight win.

Week 6 When an apostle comes to the MTC, do what they say 10/21/2019

What's good!! Hello hello hello. Exciting times.

1. Spiritual 

2. About this week

Spiritual

An apostle came to the MTC for devotional!! This week Elder Quentin L. Cook came to speak at the MTC. HOW COOL?! As soon as him and his wife walked in, I could just feel the spirit so strongly. An apostle of the Lord! Someone who preaches the word of God! And he came to the MTC. I have no words except for wow. He brought some of the original manuscript from the Book or Mormon and talked sooo much about the history of the Book of Mormon. Here are some other insights from that devotional.

-(from his wife) enduring leads to endowment

-missionaries are in that unique position that apostles are, they get to testify of Jesus Christ. This is one of the most sacred things. Missionaries testify of the one who atoned for our sins

-Christ's Atonement also covers everything that we feel is not fair in life

-missions calls are from God. He told us that when assigning mission calls, if they do it wrong, the Spirit stops them almost immediately

Read the Book of Mormon. Learn of its history. And use the words to help other people understand Christ's Atonement in their life. 

About This Week

This week me and Sis. Hoe got called as STLs (sister training leaders). Basically we just have the opportunity to serve all the other sisters in our zone! Woot woot! But I mean we are all called to serve everyone on missions, so basically we're just one big happy family and nothing's really different from before. Go team. 

We're also about to say goodbye to a lot of the older districts these next couple of days. Sad tears. We're almost the "oldest" in terms of how long we've been at the MTC. 

Week 5 Read this email like you would watch a TV show 10/14/2019

It's that time of week. Presenting, Weekly Adventures with Sis. Chou!! This week featuring, still at the MTC yipeeee *cue TV show intro music*

So this week on Life with Sis. Chou was crazy. So crazy that she has completely forgotten all the crazy things that have happened. Okay truth, *holds hands up in surrender* this week was a pretty standard week and maybe this might be a boring email to read, BUT every week, standard or not, at the MTC is still packed with lovely experience. And we'll be back right after this commercial break.

Potato Chip Trail

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/video/homefronts/2009-04-040-potato-chip-trail

(I'm not kidding if you have time please watch this it was so cute)

Now, back to Life with Sis. Chou. This week my district hosted again. This was our 3rd time and we've been here for 5 weeks. It's pretty great. The fire alarm went off this week so we had class outside which was pretty great, and then I went out of the MTC twice, once for when my companion needed to go to the health clinic and another time was with splits when another sister had to go to the hospital. Fun times.

Just wanted to share a quick thought. During one of the devotionals this week, we were watching several videos of President Nelson traveling around the world and visiting the Saints. He has devoted his whole entire life to the Lord. The prophet, the apostles, and their wives have dedicated their whole entire life to the Lord! And that's because they love the Lord SO MUCH! They are joyful because of their trust in the Lord, and they're happy about their service because of they have been converted to the Lord. I hope each one of us will find the joy they do in serving the Lord.

Also, I had a friend this week write me "...you're on a quest to change the world for the better...don't forget to be happy." Each one of you has your own talents, your own abilities, your own strengths, and each one of you will change the world for the better, I know it. 加油!!!

Week 4 I watched Conference AND The Lion King at the MTC 10/7/2019

Now now now, I know what you're thinking, "Sis. Chou??? You watched The Lion King???? Isn't that against the rules???" For those who don't know  during a mission, it depends on your mission president, but most of the time you aren't allowed to watch any media unless your mission president approves it, and most mission presidents only approve church related media. Soooooooo if you want to hear this story, here's how this email is going to go.

1. Church terms

2. General Conference

3. About this week (the Lion King story will be here) 

4. A closing spiritual thought

CHURCH TERMS

This week introduces 3 terms. Sister training leaders, devotionals, and general conference.

Sister training leaders: also known as STLs. You can think of them as your "older sisters on the mission. 

Devotional: usually in church settings, you start with a song, and prayer, have a speaker, end with song and prayer.

General conference: twice a year, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints all get an opportunity to hear from a living prophet of God and His apostles.

GENERAL CONFERENCE 

If you missed a session or didn't watch it, I HIGHLY encourage you to! It is such a blessing and special opportunity to listen to God's prophet and apostles. I'm sure all of you who watched it have your own thoughts and impressions, so I will just share one. If you want to hear more of my thoughts email me and I'd love to share! One thing that stuck out to me is covenants. I think the more you spend learning about God and the church, the more you realize how important these covenants are! Covenants are promises, but more than that, they help you develop your relationship with God. Basically God promises you blessings when you promise to do certain things. And these are guaranteed blessings!! This was definitely something I feel like God was trying to tell me during conference. Commit to your covenants, and commit 100%.

ABOUT THIS WEEK!

Ready for the Lion king story? Well you came to the right place.

So first of all, I got to play at a MTC presidency dinner and devotional this week! For the MTC presidency dinner, basically the MTC presidency and whoever will be speaking at the devotional that night (we have them every Tuesday and Sunday) have dinner together. Someone I met at a BYU music camp way back when found me and asked me to be her accompanist! That night, a member of the seventy came! Elder Choi!!! He gave the talk "Look up!" A couple years ago in conference. We got to met him and play If You Could Hie to Kolob for him!! Now here is the Lion King story:

During the devotional that night, he was talking about knowing that we are sons and daughters of God. And here's how it went.

 Elder Choi: I'm going to now show you a movie. If you don't like it, like it

*proceeds to show the Lion King movie*

Those were some of the best clips of movie I've seen. Another funny quote from his talk was

"PMG stands for Preach my Gospel now. After your mission, it means perfect marriage guide! First you have to "find". Then if you get rejected, you have to "ask for referrals". See??" Too good.

Then of course this week we got to watch conference. Good times. Sunday night we had a musical devotional where I was able to be the accompanist for If You Could Hie to Kolob again. If you have a chance, watch the church video "music of the gospel!"

FINAL THOUGHTS 

When you grow up your whole life in the church, and especially since I've been blessed with parents who have been truly converted to the Lord, you sometimes can think, there is no more I can possibly learn. You're content, you don't have any major trails, or if you do, you are turning to the Lord so your burdens are made light. And so you get comfortable. But oh, we all have so much to learn. We are missing out when we aren't constantly seeking from the Lord what more we can learn. So commit to the Lord. Ask Him what more you can do, because He will transform you into the most amazing human being you could ever be.

*I realize there's a lot of jargon in this email so if you have questions about terms please let me know!! 

I love you all dearly.

Week 3 "I know Chinese" and other lies I like to tell myself BUT JK BECAUSE GIFT OF TONGUES 9/30/2019

A meme for you about my Chinese:

Me|

|

------------------

A word I       |

Don't know   |

-------------------

|

Using Chinese words

I do know to explain

The word I'm trying to use

Hence the title of my email. But wait. There's more! Presenting *drumroll* the gift of tongues!!!!

We taught 4 lessons back to back to back to back. What a time to be alive. 2 were our teachers though (phew) and the other 2 were members (yay!) so it was all chill. All those lessons  turned a 180 and me and my companion taught about something that we completely weren't planning on, and I know the Lord definitely helped us get across the language barrier and it went smoothly! Cool story with one of the lessons.

I had found a scripture (D&C 6:23) about how the spirit will speak peace your mind. Because our lessons are in Chinese, we had to prepare the scriptures in Chinese. So I has found it and put a little tab on it. Usually me and companion just had phones, but when using Chinese, we have this version of scriptures that's English, Chinese, and Ping Ying (did I spell right? But basically English letters that help you read Chinese) to help us read the scriptures. Right before we left for the lesson, I took that version of the scriptures of the D&C and my companion was like, we're not using that in our lesson though, right? And I was like, yeah, but just for backup. One of the first questions asked in that lesson was "I feel peace when I pray, but I don't know if that's me or God giving me those thoughts." Bam. Scripture. The church is true. 

Also, Chinese is genius. You know how people are like, "You good?" and you answer with "We good." And all cool. Well how you say Hello in Chinese is "Ni hao" which literally translates to "You good?" and you answer with "wo hao" which literally translates to "We good." Just saying, Chinese people were cool way before their times.

Our district also got to host this week!! For all the mothers out there, yes, I am that dreadful missionary at the parking lot that has to take your missionary away into the dark dreary world of the MTC. Sorry . . . .  but it was so fun!! The spirit is just so strong when all the new missionaries come in though. Also, we get to host next week again! Which is pretty rare. Guess we did such a good job they want us around for round 2. Haha I am totally just kidding. 

Hope all of you are doing well! See you all on the flipside.

Week 2 ... 9/23/2019

I can't send my weekly email from this week noo, but I will send it next week.

Week 1 What's it's like to really get along with your companion 9/16/2019

Ever wonder what your first couple of days is like at the MTC? Well, get ready. Buckle up *brothers and sisters because we're not allowed to say guys* you're about to get some good laughs, spiritual things, and lots of love in this wild email. 

For funny stories go to the middle, for spiritual go to the end, and if you're just here for pictures, go to the very end.

Terms for those who aren't familiar with missionary work!

Companion: Someone who has to be with you 24/7. I mean it. Except for the bathroom and when you meet with the branch president.

Branch/Zone: zone and district are the same thing. Branch is made up of districts. Districts are made up of companionships.

District: probably around 12 people, mad up of both of Brother and Sister missionaries

Sooo let's talk companions first. *this is where most of the laughs come in* my companion is Sis. Hoe. Chou and Hoe! We rhyme! Which is funny because no one can say my name correctly, so I just tell them we rhyme and they get it right! *victory dance* honesty, both me and Sis. Hoe love having a companion at all times. I got SUPER blessed to have her as my first companion. We even have the same chapstick! First a little about her, and then some funny stories. She's from Singapore, and she studied Chinese for 14 years (thank you Lord), but English is her native language. One time during language  study we were laughing about how the Lord knew to give us both background in Chinese because He knew we would be able to learn Chinese without it. She's been at byu for a year and a half, and we actually know some people together! 

Some funny stories for you!!! Take it or leave it, or pick a number. If you hate laughing, and just want spiritual, skip to the spiritual section at the end. 

1. One time me and Sis. Hoe were in line and I was talking about something really embarrassing  so I was saying it in chinese, and then all of a sudden I looked at the sisters in front of us and whispered to Sis. Hoe, "I hope they don't speak Chinese " I kid you not, 30 seconds later they turned around, STARTED SPEAKING CHINESE, and asking us how long we'd been there and stuff. SO EMBARRASSING 

2. Rock sounds like apostles. I said "when Jesus was on the earth, He taught the rocks." RIP 

3. Hamburger is "ham bao" full is "bao" we like to say we are "ham bao bao" lol

4. We get asked ALL the time if we need interpretation because we both look Asian (I mean I guess it makes sense, we are Asian, we look Asian, 2+2=4) and it probably doesn't help that we try to have all our conversations in Mandarin. We think it is hilarious though. Sometimes they just point to the interpretation headsets though when they see us. It is too funny. One time they handed us a flyer for international missionaries to sit in the front for devotional. But technically she is an international missionary so we can sit in the front. Benefits of having an international companion.

5. We got assigned to teach the lesson this coming Sunday, and we have a schedule for the topics. We were preparing and we wanted to make it fun, so we were trying to make up a game of the class trying to guess our topics. Lots of ideas, we spent like a whole our on this. Then all of a sudden I went all, Sis. Hoe, they literally have the schedule of the lesson topics. We couldn't stop laughing.

6. So Sis. Hoe reads Chinese, and I don't and I was trying to say "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints" and I kept trying and Sis. Hoe was like, "if you forget, just look at your name tag" and I just stared at her and went all "Sis Hoe, I don't read Chinese."

7. Me and Sis. Hoe are sometimes literally the same person. Sometimes we're thinking the EXACT same thing at the same time no joke.

SPIRITUAL!

As a district, we decided to work on patience. At the devotional on Sunday, something our district kept going back to was "Trust, and Faith in God." When we don't receive answers to prayers, are we still going to trust God and have faith in Him? What if it's been 4 months? 6 months? a year? 2 years? 10 years? Do you still trust God? Sometimes, you pray and pray and pray and you know God's there, but He doesn't answer. Sometimes it's so frustrating! But you have to trust Him. It will come to pass. I promise. Even if it's not until heaven.

I love all of you guys!

Week 0 Entering the Provo Missionary Training Center 9/11/2019

Sister Jesse Chou entered the MTC today.