 |
| Elder Tsai and Elder Hadden @ the Montreal Temple |
Bonjour Hi (that's how everyone greets each other here. It's kind of funny. You never know which language to speak)
Well the days of balmy 0 C temperatures are over. It's currently dumping snow outside, holding steady at about -11 C (12 F), 87% humidity, and -17 C (1 F) wind chill. It's exciting.I did get a coat, so you all can stop worrying about that. I spent a total of 100 USD on a down coat and jacket from a liquidation sale at Sears. They're plenty warm and should hopefully last 2 years. I'll keep you all posted.
Transfers were this week, so Elder Tsai and I are alone now. Elder Leung is now in the Mandarin West area, basically covering the west side of the island. The best part of all of this is that I actually got to unpack my bags this week and I have a real bed now. I'm moving up in the world.
Saturday morning, the branch had temple baptism trip, so we all got to go to help out (there're not enough priesthood holders in the branch to actually run temple baptisms). The temple is really, really small, but just as wonderful as Salt Lake. It was a nice way to spend a morning.
Saturday evening was the Mount Royal stake (the non-French-speaking stake) Christmas concert. I was in the missionary choir and the Mandarin choir. We met some new non-members, including a couple of girls from Korea who are friends with one of our investigators.
To answer some questions:
Elder Tsai is very nice. He's a pretty funny and very down-to-earth guy. We're getting along really well, even though I'm horrible at being a real missionary and don't speak Chinese.
The biggest issue I'm facing speaking the language is tones. I sound super white whenever I try to talk. The biggest issue with understanding is just vocabulary.
The main part of our diet is bread. One of our investigators, Alice, is studying cooking and baking, and she gives us all the bread she makes that she can't eat. We have a lot of bread.
Oh yeah! I have good news for you all. So, all mail needs to be sent to the mission office, but guess where I am right now and go at least once a week? The mission office! So feel free to send anything you want here, and I'll pick it up at least weekly for as long as I'm in Mandarin Central. Also, in the spring, the mission is becoming a smart phone mission so I'll be able to check my email everyday like the MTC. Probably.
Cool. That's pretty much it for me this week. More people, more Chinese, more bread, more snow. Adventures every day.
Love you all. Have a good week,
 |
| The doorway to the Montreal Temple |
 |
| Elder Hadden's apartment building at night. |
 |
| An example of Montreal architecture |
 |
| Chapel where the Mandarin Branch and Montreal ward meet (in summer, 2 years later) |
No comments:
Post a Comment