MTC - Week Seven

We hung up a hammock. It's a two person hammock so me and
Sister Apsley tried to get in at the same time and the bed
almost fell on top of us. Probably wasn't the best idea lol 

7 Is my lucky number

I AM ALMOST OUT OF THE MTC yesss (but also like wait noooo what. But mostly yessss)

Missions are hard for multiple reasons, but one is that since you leave your family, you create your own little family here. Then they leave, or you have to leave them. When will the heartbreaking goodbyes end? NEVER. My favorite cantos left this week to Hong Kong. It feels empty without my friends. I love them and their great influences on me. (Yes this includes my sweet friend Elder Caloobanan. Who is going to motivate me to be Queen B now?) 

The weather was super nice some days, than other days it was snowing. But while it was warm we took advantage of it and read The Book of Mormon outside. It was fun!

So we are skyping members from Taiwan for trc. it is so fun!!! We taught someone named Willy. We are going to be life long friends. When we were telling him about ourselves I told him I play soccer. He got so excited and said he he always wanted to play, so I am going to teach him when I get to Taiwan, he's pretty pumped. I also said I was from Lehi, awesome in chinese is lihai. So he just kept telling me I was awesome. He quickly became our friend. Our lesson was on how to receive personal revelation through prayer. So we were giving him some suggestions I said "pray to have help to stay away from temptations so you can have the Holy Ghost with you." I said the wrong tones on "temptations" so he just broke out laughing and said "I thought you were said 'on fire'!!" I've had many mistakes like this lol, for example one time I said The Book of Mormon was gods child. and when saying Joseph Smith's first vision if you say beloved with the wrong tone it can mean midget. So I've accidently said "this is my midget son, hear him." This is pretty much my life. Anyway I told Willy God loved him, he then made a heart with his hands then pointed up to heaven hahaha. There are so many things he did and said that were hilarious. When we asked if we could end the lesson with a prayer he said no, because he wanted us to keep teaching him. He took a picture of us, which is funny cause it's not the first time that has happened to me and Sister Menzie. There was this elder that would always try to speak chinese to me and he would slaughter it. But the day before he left he asked if he could take a picture of me and Sister Menzie to remember us. I thought he was going to get a picture with us, but no. He literally just took a picture of us. hahaha 

On Tuesday we had Rosemary M. Wixom speak. She's the primary president. So for choir we had all of the mtc presidents grandchildren join us in singing A Child's Prayer. I love that song, and the spirit was so strong. Every song we sang was from the primary children's book. Like, I hope they call me on a mission, search ponder and pray, and I belong to the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints. Love love love primary songs.  I miss teaching primary and I hope I can work with little kids in the future. I also got a package from some primary children in my ward and I was so happy :-) :')

WE GOT OUR CHINESE NAME TAGS WHAT 

Sister Money got her flight plans on Friday! We get ours in TWO DAYS 

I only have 13 days left in the mtc soooo if you want to send me some packages, letters, or dear elders before it gets more expensive and takes forever feel free ;)

This week I've been thinking a lot about why Heavenly Father gives us weaknesses. The reason for weaknesses is so that we can come closer to Christ and his Atonement. We should all accept Christ's Invitation to come to him. Then we can see the Atonement's influence on our weaknesses. I know that the Lord wants to help us overcome sin. He wants to provide comfort and peace when we face trials, struggles, or challenges. He wants to be a part of our lives by helping us become strong through our weaknesses.

Either 12:27 "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then I will make weak things become strong unto them." 

I know He lives, and that it is through faith, following His example, and through His Atonement we can return to our Heavenly Father.

Have a good week! 

Love, Sister Scharman

Our outdoor reading session. We tried to read in the most 

"asian voice" we could hahaha. Love these girls.

Me and Sister Menzie walked into a classroom
and this was someone's investigator lol

You know I referenced a One Direction song
in my Book of Mormon. 

MTC - Week Six

This week I just want to tell everyone how grateful I am for my companion Sister Menzie. She is one of the most amazing people I have ever met. And she has helped me in so many different ways. I know that we are companions for a reason, and it makes me sad that we have less than three weeks left together.

Yesterday during companion study, we were discussing the atonement. Throughout my life I have always had a testimony about it. But this past week my love for the Savior's atoning sacrifice has grown more than I could have ever imagined. Christ atoned for our sins. He bled from every pore, he suffered all the pains, afflictions, and emotions that we feel each day. When we feel alone and afraid, wracked with guilt and torment, when we experience sorrows beyond belief, the Savior, our loving brother, is ALWAYS there. He is constantly watching us, weeping for us and with us. It's hard to face these all too familiar feelings, but it is our job and our blessing to be able to reach out, call out, and cry out for our Savior to help us through them. He will never make us feel weak and inadequate. He helps lift us up to heights we've never imagined. In our darkest, most terrifying moments where we just feel utterly alone, Christ is the light that guides us back. There is always hope when we have faith in Christ and when we have faith that his atonement wasn't just some nice gesture of love. The atonement was literally the hardest thing the Savior had to go through. It was so hard that he cried out to God, asking him to take the cup from him. Yet, being the perfect example of who we should strive to be like, he said "not my will, but thine be done." In order to access the atonement in the fullest way possible, we must recognize that our will is not the same as God's. We are faced with these tormenting emotions and we make these bad decisions because we have agency and because God knows he can make us better people through them. We develop our testimony and we grow closer to our Savior and his loving example as we truly utilize the atonement and trust in the Lord. Trust that he has a perfect plan for us to do great things in his kingdom. I love the atonement. I love the comfort, peace, and gratitude I feel towards God for allowing me to know that someone else knows my exact feelings. I know that it is through my Savior that I can return to Heavenly Father again. I love my Savior and his perfect example. I've let him down so many times in my life, but no matter what, I know he will never let me down. 

This is all I'm going to write this week. I love you all, and I'm grateful for all the support, and kind words that have been sent my way. 

Love, Sister Scharman

Sister Scharman got to see her friend Sister Turner on PDay!
They are having fun as usual when they are together :D

MTC - Week Five

Hey friends!

If you haven't heard there was an earthquake in Taiwan this past week. Please pray for them.

Learning Mandarin is the hardest thing for me here. I'm constantly having to remind myself to not compare myself to others. It's hard. I'm a little stressed because I have less time left here in the mtc then I have been here for and I still have lots to learn. I shared my testimony in sacrament meeting in all Chinese and I know I made sense because cute Sister Dung was nodding at everything I said hahaha. Everyone is saying that I will learn most of my Chinese when I get to Taiwan so that gives me some hope. During language study the scene from Pink Panther popped into my head when Steve Martin is trying to say hamburger. That's me with basically every Chinese word lol.

 (Steve Martin - Pink Panther "I want to buy a Hamburger)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6oeAdemFZw

My teacher Gwo Laoshi shared her conversion story with us. It was amazing and even after we left the classroom to go to our residence for the little 8 hour nap we get each night, I couldn't stop crying. Maybe it was a little pathetic how much I cried lol but she is AMAZING.  

Fast Sunday was great! fei chang zhufu (very blessed) except choir was cancelled :( but we did get to sing on Tuesday and the camera zoomed in on mine and Sister Menzies faces. We are considered MTC famous now so that's cool. Oh and we found out we are getting 7 more elders and 3 more sisters. Fun!! 

Me and Sister Menzie got addicted to Two Brothers Two this week. It's a LDS video series that is amazing. We would watch it every spare moment we could. It is so relatable and it's so cool to watch the different experiences they had. I would suggest watching it. 

There is an Australian Polynesian Sister here that we have become friends with. She calls us her "white family" and pretends to speak chinese to us by making little noises hahaha its hilarious. One night we were helping a sister pack in the hall and she came and sat by us. She was so fascinated by the puff cheetos.

Saying of the week: #beizhufu 

I love the gospel!! Have a good week!!
Love, Sister Scharman

MTC - 1 MONTH!

The Zone grew by 8 Elders and 11 Sisters

It's already February? Where is the time going? I've been here for exactly a month! This week was probably one of the best that I've had so far. Don't get me wrong it wasn't easy at all. Its' definitely hard, but I'm good!! I've had so many spiritual experiences it's insane. I wish I could describe them all to you!! I don't really feel like I know a whole lot but I have to remember where I started.

Last Wednesday we met all of the new elders and sisters in our zone, and gave them a tour of the MTC. One elder is 6'7" and it makes me feel like a midget. Me and Sister Menzie got to interview all of the girls and it was a little overwhelming,  but they are all amazing!!! They all tell me they can't wait to be at the point I am, which is weird to me because I feel like I still know nothing, but I really do know a lot and I have learned more than I think. Chinese grammar is so different than English grammar so it's hard to create sentences off of the top of my head. But I'm getting better each day!

On Sunday my district preformed a musical number. We sang Nearer My God to Thee. The first verse we did in English then the next two were in Chinese. We sounded so good! I've never sang so much in my life. That's all me and my friends do. From Disney music to My Girl by Temptations and everything in between.  We sing church music too don't worry. Also choir saves my life. The choir director is amazing. Last week he showed us clips of The Other Side of Heaven. And now I just want to watch that movie, and the best two years. We got to watch the movie Legacy. Probably the closest thing I will get to a chick flick for a year and a half. Everyone clapped and screamed every time at the kissing scenes. lol. I even cried at the part he had to leave and go on a mission. The feels. 

My lessons went super well for me this week with my two investigators. Amin is committed to get baptized in March!! When we left the room I jumped and screamed. I was excited. We are now just working her towards that, and trying to get her husband and 7 year old daughter to come to our lessons. Chen is a different story, so we've been teaching him for about two weeks now. And we are still trying to get him to have a desire to know God. We had such a good lesson where we read the Book of Mormon with him. We read Alma 22 where King Lamoni's father is taught by Ammon and prays to know if God is there. Chen said he could read the Book of Mormon and understand it, but that it doesn't do anything for him cause he doesn't have a desire to know God like Lamoni's father did. I love the story of King Lamoni's father and I'm kicking myself that I didn't just flip to Alma 20 and show him that the king didn't have a desire at first. It's so hard to express myself in Chinese. He also said "my life would be good with the gospel, and my life would also be good without it." I was talking to one of the teachers Liao Laoshi  (Liao is his name - Laoshi means Teacher) about Chen (probably the funniest Asian teacher here, and there are a lot). He said "He's so close! He's on the edge of the baptismal font and you just have to PUSH HIM!" hahaha I wish it was that easy.

Also another thing about Liao Laoshi, we were asking him what we could do for Chinese New Year and he said "I partied in the mtc all the time, you should be obedient missionaries" and that's it. He says a ton of funny things but I'll only share one more. We were asking him about his mission, (he went to France) he said he loved it but he would not want to go back. He then said, "do you think if you asked Jesus to do the atonement again, he would say yes? No! he would say "heck naaaaw!!" hahaha just imagine this in a Asian accent. He is the greatest.  

I seriously have the BEST teachers. Li Laoshi is the most in tune with the spirit guy I've ever met. He is helping me so much not just with Chinese, but with life in general. Dodge Laoshi asked me and Sister Menzie to help teach his class, super fun. I wish I could hug all  my teachers. Maybe I will right before I leave the MTC. Just don't tell on me. 

Temple Walk Selfie Time

Update on Sister A's sleeping episodes. In Sister M's words.. "I woke up to Sister A going down the ladder, then going to her closet and start pulling out all her clothes. I just watched her cause I was so tired, confused, and it was three in the morning. Then she just layed down on her clothes and fell asleep" Sister C then woke up and turned on the light to see what was going on. That's what woke me up. Sister A then told us that in her dream she was late to her train and had to pack. We laughed then went back to bed. In the morning Sister A saw her clothes that were still on the ground and said "Are those my clothes?" SHE DIDN'T REMEMBER AGAIN HAHAHAHA 

This is what you get when two selfie sticks are being used at the same time!

More about Elder Coloobanan, the one who gives us candy. During gym time he motivates me by saying "DO YOU WANNA BE QUEEN B" he is currently sitting next to me emailing as well. 

Elder Coloobanan

I am so sick of the food here, I just have a soup for lunch and dinner pretty much. They did have steak on Sunday and that was awesome. The food here makes me want to eat the food in Taiwan. I can't wait to be there!! I got to watch my sister training leaders arriving in the video on the Taiwan Taipei blog. Wish it was me, but I'm not ready yet cause I need to learn more.

I want to share a little bit of my testimony. If you're familiar with the story of the Brother of Jared you know that he got some stones and God touched them and made them give light. That's obviously the simple version. But as hard as the brother of Jared worked to get those stones, nothing came from of them until he brought them to the lord. Relating this to me, I could work as hard as I can at learning this language. But I will never be able to learn it like I need too unless I work with the Lord by praying and inviting the Holy Ghost. "Two people can do anything, as long as one of them is the Lord."

Ether 6:6-7 

6 And it came to pass that they were many times buried in the depths of the sea, because of the mountain waves which broke upon them, and also the great and terrible tempests which were caused by the fierceness of the wind.

7 And it came to pass that when they were buried in the deep there was no water that could hurt them, their vessels being tight like unto a dish, and also they were tight like unto the ark of Noah; therefore when they were encompassed about by the many waters they did cry unto the Lord, and he did bring them for again upon the top of the waters. 

We all have struggles, trials, and challenges that we need to overcome. When you are buried by the waters take your problems to the lord. Humble yourselves. We can't do anything without the Lord. He will bring you again upon the top of the waters.

Love you guys, have a great week! The church is TRUE!

Sister Nicole Scharman