Thursday, August 18, 2016

Cello Solo

Adam had a musical week.  He played cello at Sacrament Meeting on Sunday (A Poor Wayfaring Man) and he had been rehearsing to play at an upcoming devotional.  His companion, Elder Barlow sent us a video of a recent rehearsal (with Sister Cook, who is going to the Cambodia Mission in a week).  The piece is "Consider the Lilies".  The video file is too big to post on this blog but you can click on the link below and watch it on-line.

 https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzVv_t-SwP2RYmVwRHhhZ25sU2c

Thursday, August 11, 2016

4 Weeks in the MTC

Adam has been in the MTC for 4 weeks and he is very pleased with the progress he has made.  He has had numerous spiritual experiences and his Mandarin is getting more fluent.  He spends most of his day speaking nothing but Mandarin.  Even on Sundays, the church services he attends are all in Mandarin.  He is able to teach short lessons in Mandarin to native speakers and he can pray in Chinese.
He has been asked to play cello at church services this Sunday so he is looking for an appropriate piece and an accompanist.  He will also find out when he will be playing for the entire MTC later this week.
He and his zone (6 districts, all Mandarin speaking) go to the Provo Temple every Wednesday.  So he just went for the 4th time this week.  They also do "temple walks" on Sundays and the photos taken during the walk last Sunday are found below.
The four District F elders in front of the Provo Temple
With Elder Barlow
District F

Thursday, August 4, 2016

New District and New Companion

To balance out the districts, Adam was transferred from District C to District F.  With the transfer, he gets a new companion, Elder Barlow from Salt Lake City who will be heading to Singapore Mission's Mandarin Program.  His mailing address now has a new Unit number - 170.  While all 7 missionaries in District C are going to the Taiwan Taichung Mission, the missionaries in District F will be heading to various missions with Mandarin Programs.  Together, there are about 80 missionaries going to Mandarin speaking missions at the MTC.  One group of Mandarin speaking missionaries arrive every 3 weeks to replace the group that has completed the 9-week training.
Adam is getting a lot of experience teaching real Mandarin speakers so he thinks that he is getting quite a bit better in Mandarin.
Bishop Waddell of the Presiding Bishopric was the devotional speaker last night.  He served his mission in Spain and he talked about the difficulties serving in an area where not too many people were receptive to the restored gospel.  He learned there that it's not about himself but about Him, Jesus Christ.  He told the missionaries to not get discouraged and give up, but to keep trying to serve and reach out.
New Companion
District C at Provo Temple
District C
With original companions