11/13/2012 The Hastening of the Work

Hello Family!!

I love you all so much! I miss you guys like crazy but am so happy being here at the MTC. I am grateful for this opportunity I have to study and learn Chinese.

The first day was a whirlwind. You walk into class and your teacher just starts telling you what to do all in Chinese! Then we went and did some online orientation then returned and had class for three hours!

The second day they have you teaching your first investigator in Chinese! That was super hard because we only knew how to pray. We prayed and prayed and prayed. We have taught 3 lessons total. It is amazing at how real these investigators feel. You really do come to have a love for them and want to help them out.

The gift of tongues is real! I believe that now more than I ever have in my whole life. I have witnessed it with me and the other elders in my zone and district! God has blessed my mind to expand more than I expected. I am grateful that I have had his strength. I am so happy to be here! 

My district is AMAZING!  We are the only Mandarin speaking district where all of us are going to Taipei. The elders are so sharp. I am amazed that some of them only just graduated from high school! I don't feel that much older than them.  There is an elder from Latvia (Baltic State). His dad translated the BOM into Latvian. We asked him if he was surprised to be going Chinese speaking and he said no I have always had a feeling I would go Chinese speaking. 

Sunday was amazing! The sisters go to Music and the Spoken Word while the elders are in priesthood. Then we have Relief Society which is just a talk. Sister Esplin talked who is the Primary general president. One thing she said that really stuck out to me was the hastening of the work. She said a couple of weeks after this conference she was in a meeting somewhere with Elder Holland.

Elder Holland was talking about the Lowering of the age to the youth and said, “The HASTENING of the work is NOT for the convenience of the elders and sisters who want to serve. This is because the Lord said He would HASTEN his work in the last days!!”
I feel that here so much. There is an urgency for this work to be spread.

Sister Esplin quoted someone else who said, “It's not that the church needs more members. BUT the people need the church!”
What an interesting concept that is. I know that it is true.

The MTC is not easy by any stretch of the mind. I have come to realize that the highs are so much better and stronger than the lows that it makes it all worth it. I have noticed my relationship with Christ is changing and growing. I have never prayed so hard and much in my life, I told someone. I will sometimes go to the bathroom just to say a prayer to give me the strength I need. I am amazed at how much I have been stretched in this short amount of time. God is making me a stronger person. More than I thought I could be.

On Sunday for the fireside in the evening Sister Anderson and I decided to go watch a recorded talk Elder Holland had previously given at the MTC. In it he talked about how we are apostolic with this calling. He stressed though with a little a. He told us that we keep the closest to apostles’ schedules than anyone else. He stressed to not spend these 18 months thinking about what will happen when we get back but focus on the now. He said that people who spend the whole time wondering about what they will do after the mission miss the big picture. I felt that was totally directed towards me.

I want you to know that I know this Church is True!! I have never felt it so strongly in my life. Even when I bear truth of it in another language. I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God and did in fact see God and Jesus Christ. I know that the BOM is true. I love this church and this amazing opportunity I have to be a missionary.

My time is up but I love you all!
Love,
Sister Latimer