Visa News

My dear family and friends!!!!! I hope everyone is doing great. This week has been a great week for me! I can't wait to tell you all about my week.

Family: It seems like you are all doing great and having fun. Although I am a little jealous you were able to go to the BYU football game on Saturday, I am loving my time here in the MTC. The picture you took across the street from the MTC almost shows the building that I am in everyday, 24/7. You all look so happy. I can't wait to talk to you all in a couple weeks. 

Idaho has SO much snow! That is crazy. There is like no snow on the grounds here. The mountains are beautiful though!  

Bryan: Sounds like you are doing great. I love reading your weekly emails. FHE sounds like it is a blast there with all the cute kids. Keep having fun. The Philippines are so lucky to have you as a missionary right now. 

As for the AMAZING news!!! I am so happy to say that we will be the first group of missionaries going straight to TAIPEI, TAIWAN in many many months!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So, here is the story. When I came in on October 1st, there was a total of 3 districts (including mine) that came in on that day. There are two in my zone and one in the other Mandarin speaking zone. Elder Dorius is in the other district in my zone that came in on October 1st. He went in to the Travel Office on Thursday and asked them about our visa's. We hadn't heard anything up until that point. They told them that they would look into it and come back Friday morning at 7 and they would tell him. So Friday morning, he, Elder Bates (from my zone), and Elder Anderson (from my zone, different district) all went in and talked to them. They told them that our visa's have a three step process. They were currently on step 2 which is when they are in Taiwan and they were pretty confident that they were about done in Taiwan and they would be sending them back to San Francisco for step 3. They told them that they decided that they would keep us here at the MTC until they got our visas. The crazy thing too is that we had reassignments and they cancelled our reassignments on Friday morning. (The reason why I asked you if you got an email was that some missionaries' families got emails on Friday/Saturday as to where their missionary was going for their reassignment. So I was curious where my reassignment would have been. 

Every morning at 7:30, our zone has gym time so we were all told this during gym. I was playing four square when Elder Dorius came over to tell me and I freaked out! I was so happy. I dropped the ball and said, "I'm out!" and ran over to Sis. Lindsay to tell her the news! We were so so happy! People probably thought that we were crazy...but that's alright. :) As soon as we get more information, we will be able to let you know. 

As for right now, this is the plan that we will go straight to Taiwan. We are still not 100% positive but we will for sure keep our fingers crossed. 

So, here is my week. 

Monday: Every Monday night, we get to TRC with individuals from Taiwan. Last Monday, Sis. Lindsay and I were able to talk to Charles Wyatt. He is from Gao Sheng and is 20 years old. Charles was baptized a year ago and is the only member in his family. He was so funny. We would speak Chinese to him and he would respond in English. His testimony was so strong and he loves the gospel. It was so cool to hear how much he wants his family to join the church. 

Tuesday: Tuesday night's devotional was by Linda K Burton (Relief Society General President) and her husband, Craig P. Burton. They talked about John 3:16 and Sis. Burton shared the Prodigal Son's Story in Luke 15. (Side Note: What is crazy is that Tuesday morning during Personal Study, I read Luke 15.)  I have learned so much more about the Atonement while I have been here at the MTC. My testimony of the power of the Atonement has grown so much. After devotional, we have district review. Brother and Sister Davis from the branch Presidency was in our review with us. Brother Davis served his mission in Peru. He shared about this Sister named Sister Alvarez and how she gave the missionaries so many referrals. He said most likely if you would ask a new convert who introduced them to the gospel, it would be Sister Alvarez. He talked about the imporatance of creating friendships with the members of the wards you are serving in. Bro. Davis also asked us to do some family temple names for him a couple weeks ago. One of them was named Martha Burnett. (She has a sister named Eliza Burnett) I did her temple work for her and the whole time I was thinking, "We could so be related!" I asked him about her and told her that my mom's maiden name is Burnett. We both did some family history research and as far as we know, we are not related but it was cool to talk about Family History with him. I hope someday I will be able to start doing some more family history. 

Thursday: Our district and the other district in our zone that came in on October 1st joined together and we split up into companionships and taught each other the first lesson. Sis Lindsay and I taught and were taught by Elder Whitney and Blanscett. Elder Whitney's family has lived in Beijing I think for most of his life so he is really good at Chinese. I learned so much from listening to him. 

Friday: Other than finding out about our visas, It was a normal day of class and study. In language we played Charades to review grammar and it was hilarious. Bro. Chia and Bro. Johnson (Resource Teacher) were in there with us and they were laughing so hard at all of us. 

Saturday: Sis. Lindsay and I taught Su Di Xiong for the last time. We get a new investigator tonight to practice the first couple lessons again. He finally accepted baptism. We were so happy. It makes me so excited to teach people in Taiwan. I can't wait. We played Jeopardy with Sis. Ochoa to review the lessons in PMG and our vocab, grammar, and tones. It was really fun but super hard!

Sunday:  My favorite day of the week (as always). Music and the Spoken Word was fabulous. It makes me so excited for this season of Thanksgiving and Christmas! Our Relief Society speaker was Neill F. Marriott (2nd Counselor, Young Women's General Presidency) and her husband, David. She talked about Using the Spirit in every situation. Listening and acting on the promptings you receive are VITAL as a missionary. She also talked about the importance of giving your whole heart and soul to the Savior. 

My district and I sang our own arrangement of 'I Believe in Christ' in Sacrament Meeting. Tomorrow morning at 3 AM, Sis. Moe leaves for New York so yesterday was her last Sunday. I loved singing that song. It truly invites the Spirit. Sadly, yesterday Sister Lindsay and I got released as Sister Training Leaders. They switch out Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders every 3 weeks. I loved serving and getting to know the Sister's in my branch. I will miss it! Last night, our devotional speaker was Stephen B. Allen (Managing Director-Missionary Department) and his wife, Nancy. He talked about how missionaries are the messengers and the feelings of the Spirit is what bears witness of truth. The movie we went to watch after the devotional was The Testaments in Mandarin, Chinese. Almost our whole zone was there. There was English subtitles but we were all surprised by how much we could pick out words and understand. I love this movie. It is amazing!

All in all, I had a great week. I am learning so much and I can't wait to use it in the field. 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! I am so grateful for you all and all that you do for me! Thanks for all of the love and support I am getting from home. It means so much! Have a great week! Eat some amazing Thanksgiving food for me!! 

I love you all and am so grateful to call you my family. 

Love, 

Sister Haacke 

 Temple Walk (above and below).

Sis. Moe and I. She leaves tomorrow at 3 AM for New York!

Dental Visit

Like brother, like sister.  Just like her brother Elder Haacke, Sister Haacke had to make a quick stop at her uncle's dental office.   She needed to get a chipped tooth repaired before heading off to Taiwan.  This time--after a long list of rules--Grandpa Haacke got to be her escort.

Good News!

This week has been great! I love the MTC. My time here has gone by so fast! Sometimes it feels like I got here yesterday! GOOD NEWS!! So the Sisters that left two times ago, GOT THEIR VISAS! They are all leaving for Taipei on the 2nd of December! SO, we are next on the list to get into Taipei! We are all so excited! If we do get reassignments, we will find out on Tuesday or Thursday of this week and then find out where we are going the following week. We all had a little freak out when we got emails from the Sisters. We are so excited for them.

Bryan: AAWW I am so glad you know about the Creme Soda tree! Haha Sister Lindsay and I go smell it all the time. We didn't show the new missionaries it yet, but we will tonight! It seems like you had a great week! Tons of lessons! I am glad that everything is going well and speaking the language is getting better! I know the Lord is truly blessing you.

Family: It has been SO cold in Idaho. I can't believe they didn't cancel school for you! It looks like you have some snow too! That's fun. The mountains down here are gorgeous with all the snow on the peaks. 

Here is my week: 

It's been great! I love it here. I have learned so much and have grown so much! I can't wait to get out to the field. 

On Tuesday night, Bishop Dean M. Davies and his wife came to speak to us. He is the 2nd counselor in the Presiding Bishopric. They changed the closing song to "As I Have Loved You". They sang the first verse as a duet and it was so cute! All the missionaries were in awe. They brought so much Spirit with them. 

Wednesday morning, Sis. Lindsay and I got to skip gym to prepare for the new Sisters coming in. We were able to go to Hot breakfast! Because we have gym first in the morning, we go to what is called a sack breakfast line at 6:30 AM. and then eat breakfast in our Residence Hall. During hot breakfast, I saw Elder and Sister Anderson eating so we got to say our final goodbyes. They left Wednesday for Mexico City. I sure do miss seeing them everyday and being able to talk to them but I know they are doing great things in Mexico City. Wednesday night, the Zone Leaders, Sister Lindsay, and I were able to do New Missionary Orientation with the New District. They are all so cute! All the 4 Sisters are going to Taipei, Taiwan and the Elders are going to Canada (2), Australia (2), and 1 to New York. There was suppose to be another Elder from the Philippines come with this district but his visa never came so his report date has been pushed back. I love the Sisters that came in. One of them, Sister Gabbitas out of no where was like, "Oh my goodness!! You are Sister Haacke! Brynn Clarke told me to find you!" (Brynn was in my apartment my first semester at BYU-I). Sis. Gabbitas and Brynn taught English in China together. 

Thursday we also heard we were getting 3 new Sisters this coming week. 2 from Mainland China and 1 from Taiwan all going to Australia. We were so excited for them to come. Sadly, yesterday during branch council we were told that their report dates got pushed back. 

Thursday was the first day that snow stuck to the ground here at the MTC. it was so fun to watch all the missionaries who have never seen snow before. I just had to laugh and be like, 'this is nothing.' I hope some of them are going to Idaho--then they will really know what snow is. 

Saturday, we learned our last grammar principle from our grammar book! So, we graduated! Well, that's what Bro. Chia kept saying. I definitely don't have all the grammar principles down but they are slowing coming. 

Kind of a funny story, Saturday during lunch, I was sitting next to Elder Diepeveen. (He is 6'6" and has like awesome posture). Anyways, we were talking about how all of our eyes are like bloodshot. And out of no where, Elder Diepeveen just said, "Mine are always like this. I'm on a thinner oxygen level than you." It took Sis. Lindsay and I forever to get it. And then we started laughing so hard. (it's because he is so tall). Elder Diepeveen is a huge example to me. He is so obedient and everyday striving so hard to come unto Christ. But, his funny side finally opened up! 

Saturday night Sister Lindsay also scared me SO bad. I walked into our room from getting ready for bed and Sister Lindsay wasn't in there. So I just figured she was showering or something. Sis. Allen was using Sis Lindsay's scissors and was cutting some cardboard. she asked me if I knew where Sis. Lindsay's scissors went and I was like, "Yeah, they go in her carry-on underneath our bed. She asked me to put them away for her. As I went to pull out her carry-on and all of a sudden this head pops out and yells at me. I screamed SO loud. They all started laughing so hard. It reminded me of the time when we were at girls camp, and mom, you were up there with us and you walked back from brushing your teeth or something and Ashlee Steele scared you so bad you like fell on the ground. (Do you remember that?)  Do you also remember Lindsay Pearce? (I'll attach a picture) On Sunday, I was walking up the bleachers from the New Sister Dress and Grooming Meeting (Sister Training Leaders get to go if they have new Sisters going from their Zone). Lindsay Pearce comes running out of the media room and said, "SAM!!" It was so good to see her! I haven't seen her forever! She is such a sweetheart. I guess she has been working at the MTC for the last 4 months. We were surprised we hadn't seen each other till then. 

This week has also been full of Spiritual Experiences. 

Sister Lindsay and I had a pretty stressful week with interviewing Sisters and realizing that we only have 2 more weeks left at the MTC. Friday I got a Priesthood Blessing. Sister Lindsay and the three Elders in our district went into a separate room. We all said our individual prayers before I got a blessing. Elder Smith said the prayer and  it was so simple but so profound. I was so comforted. There are not words to explain the feelings we all felt. When the prayer was over, I looked up and Sister Lindsay was just crying. (She never cries. She holds it in SO well). She stood up and just said, 'Thank you so much for being worth priesthood holders. The Spirit was so strong during that blessing. It was like you were all glowing.' One of the Elders said, 'You looked at us?' Sis. Lindsay said, "yes I had to peak! It seriously looked like you were all angels. You were all glowing." It was one of the coolest experiences that we I have had while being here. I absolutely love my District. They are all amazing. We found out this week that Sis. Moe is going to be leaving a week early, on November 25, and it makes us all really sad. We have come so close but know that we will all meet up again after our missions.

Sunday night's devotional was also amazing. We sang Sis. Nally's arrangement of Called to Serve again for prelude and it was amazing. The power that 1600 missionaries have when we all sing is phenomenal. Brother Richard I. Heaton, the Administrative Director here at the Provo MTC spoke. He talked about the power of the scriptures and how important it his to create a firm anchor in Christ. His cute son, Russell, got to walk around and choose missionaries to read assigned scriptures. Russell has down syndrome and was the cutest little boy! When he went up to get the microphone from his dad, they were wearing matching ties. Brother Heaton turned to him and said, "Russell, did you get this tie for me for Christmas?" and Russell said, "No dad! I got it for you for Father's Day!" Brother Heaton said, "Oh that's right, it sure felt like Christmas!" He just smiled all big! It was the cutest thing ever! 

Last night at devotional, there was a special musical number from an Elder and a Sister going to the Philippines. The Elder sang and the Sister played the piano. It was an arrangement of A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief and I Know my Redeemer Lives. It was their own arrangement that they did together while they have been here at the MTC. It was so powerful. The speaker had them come up before he started talking and bear their testimonies about Christ. It was so neat.

Thank you all so much for writing to be and keeping me updated on everything! Dad, thanks for the quote and message you shared at the end of the family letter. It strengthened me! love you all and I miss you all like crazy! It seems like you are doing amazing!! I hope it warms up for you a little bit at least! 

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!

Love, 

Sister Haacke

 Snow!

 Lindsay Pearce and I.

 Some of the Sisters from my Zone at the temple yesterday.

Elder Butler's birthday is this coming week so we 'had a party for him.' Took a picture, and then sent all of the party supplies to him in a box with some gifts. :)

Sis. Moe told me to smile big. So I did. :)

 Some of our Zone yesterday at the Temple.

 

Sister Training Leaders and the Zone Leaders.  Sister Lindsay and I, Elder Liston and Elder Matua. (All of us are going to Taipei.)

Sundays Are The Best!

Hello my amazing family! I think it is week 6...I'm not exactly sure :)

I loved reading all the family emails today! It seems like you are all doing amazing! I loved hearing all about your experiences at home! 

Mom & Dad: Thanks so much for your letters! It seems like everything is going great at home. Mom, your dear elder on Thursday was heaven sent! I definitely needed it on Thursday! Dad, thanks so much for your weekly emails. I love reading them all! They are so uplifting and full of information. 

Bryan: You are already done with one transfer in the field?! That is crazy! Time truly does fly by! Don't get frustrated or anything about the language. Last night, the movie that I went to after devotional was a talk given by Elder Holland titled, "Missions are Forever" towards the end of it, he said something along the lines of, 'you have the authority of God, you are sent into the field with that full authority. Your power (spiritual power) comes from your obedience.' Don't worry about the language barrier, just trust in the Lord, focus on the Spirit in the lessons, and everything else will come! One of my teachers always says that...I'm sure yours did too :) I love you! The people there in the Philippines love you.  Thanks for being such an amazing example to me!

Marissa: HOLY COW GIRL! YOU ARE AMAZING! You got selected by Seattle Talent?! That just shows how amazing you are at singing. I know you truly have so much talent and I know you will go far with it. Even though it may be hard that you, mom, and dad didn't accept going with them, I also feel really good about that decision. I know it may be SO hard, the Lord will truly bless you. Pray to Him, and He will tell you how you should use your talent. Look for a letter in the mail, I am sending you one today. I sure do love you! I know you are making great choices in your life right now. :)

Lachlan: I loved hearing about your experiences at the Jazz game! You got to sit right next to the team?!? I'm sure that was SO fun! AND you got a wristband from one of the coaches? That is so cool! I sure love you!

Alexa: Thank you so much for the letter in the mail this week! I loved it! It totally made my day! I'm glad school is going well! I sure love you and miss you! Keep having so much fun! I'm sending you a letter in the mail today--make sure you look out for it :)

This week has been pretty much the same as last week, One of our 'investigators', Lu Jie Mei, committed to baptism. I was so happy. I couldn't stop smiling. We are still working on Su di Xiong but he is making progress. Class is great. I learn so much everyday. I absolutely LOVE my teachers, Xie Lao Shi (Bro. Chia) and Ou Yang Lao Shi (Sister. Ochoa). 

Sunday is by far my favorite day of the week. Relief Society, Sacrament Meeting, Temple Walk, and Devotional is all so uplifting. Earlier in the week (Either on Tuesday or Wednesday) I was getting a drink during lunch and this cute, little, Senior Elder came over to me and told me how much he loved my hair. We talked for a little bit. His wife and him and going to Mexico City. They are from St. George and have lived in Mexico for many years. Since this experience, I have seen them a couple times a day--normally at meal times. We have talked about life, family, everything! They are so cute and loving! Sunday night during dinner, when I was standing in line to get food, Elder Anderson came and found me and said that he and his wife are leaving for Mexico City on Wednesday morning. He wanted to say goodbye before he left. My heart dropped. I feel like I have gotten to know them so well. Whenever I see them, I always 'light-up'. It brings me so much happiness (for lack of a better word) My district and I sat kind of by the doors where you exit the cafeteria so I was looking for Elder and Sister Anderson because I wanted to take a picture with them. I guess they were looking for me too because I looked up and they were walking in my direction. It was funny though because I asked them, "Hey, I know this might be a little strange, but can we get a picture together?" and they said, "We came to ask the same thing!" They also gave me a business card with their information on it and we are planning to stay in touch through our missions and then hopefully sometime after I'll be in St. George and I'll be able to go say hi. They are like my 'mission grandparents' I love them to death! I also saw them Sunday night before devotional started so I went over and talked to them for a little bit then too.  There was this other Senior Elder standing behind him like the whole time we were talking and he looked so familiar. I couldn't figure out who he was. When I was done talking with Sister and Elder Anderson, he came up to me and said, "I don't know if you remember me" and I, of course embarrassed myself and said, "Oh you work with my dad!" and he said, "No, I'm your eye doctor!" I was like oh yeah! So Elder Birch and I talked a little bit. He remembers mom and so we talked a little bit about all of you. :) It is so fun to see people I know. It was crazy that he remembered me! We only see him like once a year! Sunday nights devotional was by Spencer J. Condie and his wife. He talked about the importance of teaching with the Spirit, having unity with your companion, and that we are called as FULL time missionaries not part-time missionaries. 

Tuesday was also a day full up Spiritual Uplifting. The entire MTC had the opportunity to walk over the the BYU Marriott Center and attend the BYU devotional in the morning. Elder David F. Evans (the person who in general conference said that we may have our strength faithened in the prayer at General Conference instead of Faith Strengthened--he made a comment about that...It was so funny) He is such a powerful speaker. What is funny is that we had a police escort over to the Marriott Center. The road and everything was blocked off for us. I looked for my friends that attend BYU. Sadly, I didn't see any of them. 

Tuesday morning at 3 AM, Sister Lindsay and I also got up to say goodbye to the 9 sisters who left our district. 7 of them are going to Arizona and California to wait for their visas to go to Taichong, Taiwan and the other 2 left for the England Mandarin Speaking Mission. Tuesday night, Elder Golden from the seventy spoke to us. He talked about Happiness and how happiness guides us to the people we need to teach the gospel to. 

I don't really have anything else to really add...Chinese is coming along. At times, it is very frustrating but then I am comforted, knowing that the Lord will and is helping me. With my interview on Sunday with Pres. Woodfield, he compared learning a language with climbing Mount Timpanogous. He said that is is normally a 12 hour hike. He said, some come to the MTC thinking they can climb it in 30 minutes to an hour but, much to their surprise, they get discourgaged figuring out that is not possible. He said, "Be patient with your learning. The Lord is proud of you for all your efforts--Keep it up." 

I love serving the Sisters in our Zone. Interviewing and getting to know them better is such a privilege. This week, we are getting 10 new missionaries in our Zone and 4 sisters! The Sister Training Leaders and Zone Leaders get to do activities with them on Wednesday night. Explain the 'rules and guidelines' and make them feel welcome. I'm so excited! The zone leaders we work with are amazing (Elder Liston and Elder Matua).  They are so on top of the ball and really care for the success of our Zone. 

I'm not sure if the Tuesday night devotionals are broadcast to BYU TV. I know they are broadcast to other MTC's and I have heard BYU TV but I'm not sure...tune in if they are...I'm in the choir. Tomorrow night, we are singing Praise to the Man. It is going to be an amazing piece! I can't wait. 

I love you all so much! Whenever I get to read emails and I am so happy to know you are all doing great. You are all so amazing!! I know this church is true! 

Love, 

Sis. Haacke

 Our last group Qi Dao (prayer) with the Sisters that left us earlier this week.

 Sister Lindsay and I with the old Sister Training Leaders, Sister Chee and Sister Christensen-both going to England-Chinese Speaking.

 Sister Lindsay and I with Elder and Sister Anderson from St. George (My Mission Grandparents :) )

New MTC Assignment

First, I got the Relief Society Newsletter this week. Please tell Jordan Avery (even though she probably doesn't know me) congratulations on getting baptized! I am so happy for her and hope everything is going well with her and Braxton!

Cambria and Dale: Congratulations on your new baby boy, Rocky!!! I am so excited for you! Thank you so much for sending me pictures! Stella and Landon also looked adorable on Halloween! I hope everything is going well for you guys and your family! I sure love you all! 

Bryan: Your pictures you sent are beautiful! I am so glad you are doing great and loving it there! Are you getting transferred or are you staying in the same area? 

Marissa: Your awesome! I loved reading about singing, and how you organized that huge mutual activity! Way to go Sis!!

Lachlan: Keep being the star on the court! I love hearing how your basketball games are going. AND all your push-ups and sit-ups?!? Keep challenging dad!!

Alexa: I hope your week went well! It looks like you had a ton of fun on Halloween! Write me a Dear Elder and tell me all about it! :) 

Thanks for all the letters, emails, and prayers! This week has gone by so fast! It has started to get colder and colder. Winter is coming! Here is a run down of my past week: 

I'm going to start with Sunday and work backwards. 

Sunday: Sunday was such a great day. The older districts in our zone are leaving tonight and tomorrow so they called new Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders. Sister Lindsay and I were called to be the new Sister Training Leaders for our Zone. I am looking forward to being able to serve the Sisters in our Zone. They are all so amazing. It brings a lot more responsibility on me but I am so excited to serve. I know the Lord will truly bless Sister Lindsay and I as we serve His children. Since we were called yesterday, we had meetings all through out the day. Since it was also Fast Sunday yesterday, there is Mission Conference instead of Relief Society/Priesthood. At Mission Conference the whole MTC gets together and the Presidency talks to us. I believe it was President Hacking. He talked about Joesph Smith and the importance of the First Vision and how no one was there to witness it but Joseph and so we have to, through his testimony, have faith and believe to know of its truth. It was a very powerful meeting. The musical numbers are always so powerful as well. Sacrament Meeting was also great. (I played the piano and it went well!--We sang I Believe in Christ, Jesus Once of Humble Birth, and Count Your Many Blessings) The testimonies borne were also very powerful. I could understand most of them so that was nice. After Sacrament Meeting, Elder Crockett, an Elder in our Zone who has been called to the Taichong, Taiwan Mission leaving tonight to California to wait for his visa, went and played the organ so we all went with him and listened. He is phenomenal. It makes me want to try to learn the organ when I get home from my mission! Sis. Lindsay and I had another STL meeting and after we went to dinner with the other new STL from the other Chinese speaking zone. At dinner we sat next to the two interpreters that translate the devotionals for Chinese speakers. Their names are Brother Beck and Brother Xu. They both served in the Taipei, Taiwan mission so they told us all about the field! They were so hilarious! They told us about our mission president and they acted out President and Sister Day for us. I am so excited to meet them and be able to serve under their guidance. They are going to be the best mission presidents! and then when we get new ones in June, they will also be the best! Oh and I almost forgot! Since Sis. Lindsay and I are the STL's now of our zone, we get a cell phone!! We have to carry it around with us everywhere...but, everything is locked on it. So we don't really know what the purpose of it is. We also get to interview each Sister in our Zone every week. I look forward to being able to get to know the Sisters better. 

Saturday: A normal day of study. We had TRC in the morning which went well. And in the afternoon we were studying the Book of Mormon as a district in Mandarin. We decided to read King Benjamen's address in Mosiah. The Spirit was definitely present. While we were reading, I learned more about the importance of forgetting myself. It reminded me of an experience when right before I left for the MTC, Austin Johnson had just returned home from his mission. Mom and I were talking to him and his parents right outside the Primary room in the church building and he said something along the lines of, "I think I forgot myself a little too much." (Jokingly--because his accent was really strong? I can't really remember) It made me really want to be able to say that statement when I get home from my mission. Today we also played Simeon Says in Chinese and let's just say...I'm not very good at Simeon Says. :)

Friday: Happy Halloween! I loved reading all about your Halloween. It sounds like everything was so fun!! For us here at the MTC, it was just a normal day. My district, however, had a little fun. Elder Butler sent us a package earlier this week and in it contained some mustaches. So we all wore those for some pictures. We had some fun. After class at night we have what is called Additional Study Time--where you can study whatever you feel like you need to work on. We took a little time out of that and we all "chugged" a Creature in a Jar. We also got those from Elder Butler. They were they most disgusting things ever. We all challenged each other to put the entire thing in our mouth before swallowing any of it. It was so gross. I thought I was going to spit it all out. It was so thick! Everyone all had some good reactions to it-except Sis. Allen. She took it like a champ. We all swallowed them except Sis. Moe-she spit it all out before she swallowed any :). Everyone got tons of candy from home so we all went to bed that night on a sugar high! 

Thursday: Since we have been here for a month now, we started teaching each other. Each companionship are investigators and another companionship are the missionaries. We set up times to meet and everything. Sis. Lindsay and I are college roommates who have a lot of questions about life. Sis. Moe and Sis. Allen are our missionaries. I love that we do this. I have learned so much from being in the investigators shoes. Sis. Lindsay and I teach the Elders-there are three of them so it will be a great learning experience. On Thursday, we also had to take our first language assessment. It definitely was much harder than I thought it was going to be!

Wednesday: Wednesday was just a normal day of learning. Sis. Moe got to see her mom!! I was so jealous! She had a doctors appointment in Salt Lake and I guess now if your parent live in the area and the appointment is not in Orem or Provo, they ask that your parents pick you up and take you! So, mom and dad, if there are any doctor appointments I need to go to, let me know! ;). 

Tuesday: Tuesday was also just a normal day. A different teacher rather than our normal two came in a taught us about learning our language. It kind of stressed us all out because we are already a month in and she basically told us we have been studying wrong but it gave me some new 'tips and tricks' to include in my language study. Tuesday night, Sis. Lindsay, Moe, Allen, and I all sat on the floor right before we had to get ready for bed and ate double stuffed Oreo's and dipped them in milk. It totally made our day! Tuesday night's devotional was by Rosemary M. Wixom, the Primary General President. My favorite line from her talk was, "Learn to unlock the Redeeming power of Jesus Christ,"

I truly do love the MTC. I have learned so much. I have grown so much. I now just can't wait to leave and serve the people of Taiwan and serve the people where ever I will be getting my reassignment to while I wait for my visa. I know that the Lord truly does have a plan for each and everyone of his missionaries. I am so glad to be 1 of the 88,000 missionaries all over the world!

I LOVE YOU ALL. Have a great week!

Love, 

Sister Haacke