Elder Tanner Bennett was a guest on a previous episode of LDS MissionCast. He agreed to share his mission letters with the readers of our blog. So each week we will bring a letter from his mission. We will interview him at the conclusion of his mission as well. So stay tuned and stay connected to Tanner’s story each week on the LDS MissionCast Blog!
OH MY GOODNESS Y’ALL IT IS WEEK 5!
Alright, so per typical I will begin with a new segment called “Mandarin Fails.” This will include fails of my own and my district as we attempt to learn this near impossible language.
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1.) “I believe Jesus Christ is a Ninja.”
Handsome Elder got the pinyin wrong for zhenshi, meaning true… instead he said renja… which is ninja.
2.) “Wow… that sunset is repentant”
I meant to say meili, however my brain couldn’t switch gears from religious speak… so yeah… repentant sunset.
3.) “Our lesson was SPICY!”
I exclaimed this in excitement after a lesson my companion and I taught went EXTREMELY well… only to find out that, while it works in English, In mandarin I called our middle-aged man, living at home investigator hot… so yeah. That happened.
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Alright y’all now it’s time for the juicy part!
Monday: Monday was good, it was P-day and you all received and brushed over my lack-luster typical missionary email. I apologize for the rushed email, but it was a quick kinda day. Monday was also nice because I was able to go to the temple with my district and have a blast. That’s basically all I do on Mondays… so yeah. Woo.
Tuesday: WE HAD A DEVOTIONAL WITH ELDER CHRISTOPHERSON! Oh man it was so cool. When we sat down in the hall, you could just feel his spiritual presence without seeing him. It was electrifying. He gave an amazing talk about how we are to continually try to receive revelation. It is important that we are all trying our hardest to read the Book of Mormon and pray daily to our Father in Heaven. He warned us of the times soon coming and told us that OUR GENERATION would see Jesus Christ in our lifetimes… like woah. Ah. REALLY amazing though, I loved his talk and getting to see him. I WAS LIKE 25FT Away from him the whole time! HE WAVED AT ME AHHHH… sorry, fan girling for a moment. I just encourage you all to review President Nelson’s first address after the solemn assembly this conference, it is SO amazing.
Wednesday: Wednesday was GREAT! Elder Lang and I gave our first PERFECT lesson IN MANDARIN. The gift of tongues is real, and I have really felt it’s effects here in the MTC. Our investigator, whom I later called hot, (read above) accepted the Word of Wisdom and agreed to pray! We are trying to convince him to accept baptism this week! AHH so exciting! We also got a new district in our zone! I’m now a “dad” here at the MTC!
Thursday: Thursday was rough, I got a slice of humble pie from another investigator who is an atheist. She kinda picked apart our Chinese and flat out rejected our message… so that was ouchie. Other than that, it was a good day!
Friday: Pretty much felt like Thursday with less atheism. The language is coming well to Lang and I and we studied even harder to prepare for Saturdays lesson with the atheist!
Saturday: We had an amazing TRC today with a VERY nice man from China, and a woman from Malaysia. They were both very nice and my companion and I got some very nice comments afterwards. After that, we tried to prepare for the atheist, but man there is really nothing we could do… We are trying and hoping that this week we can get her to come to church! We shall see though!
Sunday: Probably my favorite day of the week. We had an amazing Sacrament Meeting and got to meet our new district better. We had some amazing discussions about the sacrifice of Joseph Smith and the early saints (review Doctrine and Covenants 121, 122, 135 and read Alma 5 with it) It is a powerful lesson, and I am so grateful I am here in service of our God.
So that has been my week! I hope everyone at home is doing well! Let me know what’s been happening that is news to you! I love you all so much!
Sincerely yours,
Elder Tanner S Bennett
莨匠熊长老