JULY 15, 2013: HYRUM'S LETTER #9 AND PICTURES

HYRUM'S LETTER #9 AND PICTURES

JULY 15, 2013

So this is it! My last day at the MTC. Good thing it's a P-Day!

I've had such an exciting time here. I've made some really great friends, learned a boatload of Chinese, and felt a part of a historic time to be a missionary. It's been incredible to see this place slowly fill more and more over the time that we've been here. There are SO many people at the MTC right now. It's so cool to see that there are so many people right now who want to serve the Lord as His missionaries!

I especially love that my sister has joined me on this journey! It's been so great to see her here. I'm so glad that she has chosen to serve the Lord as well!

I'm SOO excited to get to Taiwan. I think the next two weeks might be the hardest two weeks of my life, but I'm so pumped! Admittedly, I'm not looking forward to stepping off the plane in 90 degree weather with 90 percent humidity. But, I'm so excited to get to the field where all of the time and effort I'm putting in has an actual in the lives of ordinary people in Taiwan. I'm so happy for the opportunity I have to serve, and I'm so grateful for the help I've received from all places.

I think my Chinese is now at a point where I won't be completely lost when I get there, just mostly lost. But I think I'm ready to be immersed and I can learn the most at this point from listening to native speakers.

It was kinda cool; our first week here we watched the Testaments (an LDS movie about Christ in the Americas) in Mandarin, and then yesterday, they finally showed it again in Mandarin. It was cool to see how much my knowledge of Chinese has grown, even if they still talk too fast!

Today, we're going to spend a lot of time packing and getting ready to leave at 6 AM tomorrow.

Short letter today, but I'm sure my next one will be the longest yet! I don't actually have any idea when I'll be able to email again, but you will hopefully hear from me soon!

Elder Richardson

 

On Wednesday, when Melissa was supposed to come in, I spent about an hour waiting for her car to come, but apparently she just walked in! So I was sitting eating breakfast on Thursday, minding my own business, and I looked up and there she was! I was so excited! I got up and gave her a hug, which was received by surprise from all the other missionaries around us. (NOTE FROM MOM: When you are a set apart missionary for the church, you put a lot of things aside and one of them is girls, flirting, hugging girls, dating,  etc. So for Hyrum to jump up and start hugging a beautiful girl that no one in his district had seen before was a bit of a shocker!  This added info makes the story a bit funnier!  I am sure their excitement to see each other created a bit of a scene!)

Our meal times overlap by about 15 minutes, so I've been able to see her at almost every meal these past few days. It's been really fun! Attached are some pictures of us.

Melissa wanted me to tell you that her P-Day isn't until Wednesday, so she can't email you yet, but she will.

I'm still like half asleep because my district for some reason decided to wake up really early to come do laundry. So that's why I less eloquent today!