Hello Y'all. - 5/15/2017

Nimen hao!

One month down, 23 to go! We're over halfway through our time at the MTC, and every day we're learning a little bit more, and getting a little bit closer to the 16 plane ride! I'm so excited to share my testimony of this gospel, and share the truth that I have learned for myself.

So not much has happened this week, no major holidays or anything to worry about...... OH WAIT. MOTHER'S DAY. Our Mother's Day was so great at the MTC, we got to call our families and share our love and testimonies with them! We also had some amazing talks in our sacrament meetings, and I am so grateful for my mother. She is such an example to me of Christ-like love, and constantly is more concerned for others before herself. I know that mothers are one of God's greatest blessings, that He couldn't be here personally on Earth with us, so He sent His very best to help us remember what was right. To love us, and listen to us, and to help us find our way back home. One elder pointed out last week that almost all creation stories end with their most prized creations being created last. God's final creation for our world was the Mother of All, Eve. Mothers are absolutely one of God's greatest gifts, and I'm so blessed Heavenly Father saved the best mother for my family.

(Mom, don't read this next part.) In sacrament meeting yesterday, one of the Branch Presidency's wives shared a story about a missionary who passed away in Taiwan. He, Elder Hampton, had been in the field about 6 weeks, and was hit by a car. (Mom, I'm going to be fine, I promise). About a year later, his mother received an email on Mother's day. It was from the Elder's companion at the time. He told the mom about how they had been teaching English lessons, and the companion decided to do a little exercise. He told all the children if they had 3 minutes left to live, to write down everything they would want to say. He started the clock, and the children began to write. But the Elder said he noticed his companion, Elder Hampton, also began to furiously scribble down his thoughts. He wrote the whole time, and when the clock was up, the Elder collected the papers from the children and began to clean up after the class was over. Elder Hampton proceeded to tear his piece of paper in half, and throw the halves into the trash. Elder Hampton's companion said he received a strong spiritual prompting to take Elder Hampton's letter out of the trash. Then he said he received a strong spiritual prompting to take the two halves, put them back together, and take a picture. There was no way he could have known what would happen, but he followed the promptings of the Spirit, and over a year later, Elder Hampton's mother got to read her son's last words. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the picture, but I remember the main message of what Elder Hampton shared with his family: I'm sorry for all the mistakes I've made, I love you all so much, and I know that I will see you all again. I want to second that testimony. Bad things happen to good people, even the best people, but our Father in Heaven loves us, and we will see our families again. I'm sure reading that letter was sad for his mother, but it also was so assuring. This life isn't the end. I know we will be reunited with our families again after death, and that we have the opportunity to never be separated from them again. I know this church is true, I know the Gospel has been restored in its fullness. I invite everyone to take the opportunity to know it for themselves. If you read the Book of Mormon with a desire to know if it is true, your Father in Heaven will assure you, in your heart, that it is. That is my testimony, in the name of my Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, Amen.

Love,

Elder Shope

The Comforter - 5/8/2017

Nimen hao! Wo ai nimen!

So we're still in the MTC, but we've almost hit the halfway point. We're starting to get the hang of things, and hopefully we can continue to learn so that I feel at least slightly prepared for the mission field. Every day I think about how much my testimony has grown, and then I remember how much Chinese I know... Almost none. But I'm not worried, the Lord loves His missionaries, and He will provide a way for me to teach the people of Taiwan. Even if it's in 3 word sentences!

This week has been pretty action-packed! We had the opportunity to hear Elder Rasband come speak to us, and we actually got to participate and answer his questions! I answered one of his questions, and I even made him laugh!! How cool is that??? I made an APOSTLE laugh! But, I mean, it's whatever, it was only broadcast to ALL the MTC's... No big deal. Also we got our new district to replace the sisters that left, and they're all awesome!! They're pretty quiet, but I'm sure once the massive stress attacks subside, they'll be great. They made it to P-Day, so that's good! Elder Raty and I were also just called as Zone Leaders for our MTC branch, which means we'll be "in charge" of about 3 districts. I feel honored and a little overwhelmed to be given such a position, but the Lord will help us.

As we've been learning more about the Gospel this week, I've noticed that everything we've done this week has revolved around a specific topic: the Holy Ghost. As the 3rd member of the Godhead, and the only one without a physical body, we sometimes forget why the Holy Ghost is important. But as we've learned more, I've begun to understand how amazing the Holy Spirit is. He can testify of truth, and he can warn us of danger. We have the opportunity to very literally have a MEMBER of the Godhead with us at all times. If he had a body of flesh and bone, he could not be with us. But God, in his love for us, provided us a way to know right and wrong, to feel comfort in hard times, and to feel His hand in our life. I don't know the doctrine around the Holy Ghost, and I don't know the specific blessings he has been promised, but I do know this. He is very literally a personage of spirit, and I personally believe he sacrificed his opportunity to come to Earth and have a body so that he could make sure we were not left comfortless in this dark and vicious world. He loves us, and just like our Father in Heaven, he wants to comfort us. But his voice is quiet, it is still, and small. He comes as a feeling, a thought, a whisper. We have to seek it out, find it in the massive tumult and clatter of our modern minds. In the chaos, the loud noise, the sadness and sorrow of this world, the Holy Ghost speaks softly, offering peace we cannot possibly find anywhere else. He gives clarity, he gives impressions, he bears witness of truth. He gives rest to the tired of spirit, and uplifts the weary of mind. But we have to seek him out. And we have to be worthy of his counsel. I am so grateful for his whisperings, and for the love of my Father in Heaven I feel through him. He wants to be with you, all you have to do is allow him in. He will warm your heart, and give you hope. I testify of it. Just live worthy of him, and follow the promptings he gives. I love all of you, and much more importantly, your Father in Heaven loves you.

Love,

Elder Shope

Fun Stuff at the MTC - 5/1/2017

[Among my] pictures, you'll see one of the Elders kissing what is now known as the A&W tree. Elder Ferrin and his companion actually figured it out one day, the tree between 7M (our classroom building) and 8M smells like cream soda, so that has been kinda a trend, to sniff the tree.







Also, rubber band balls have become a fad, all the Elders have been making them. Elder Marshall has one that's almost the size of a basketball, it's huge. But the one I have in the [picture] is actually a bunch of rubber bands I wrapped around an orange. I was trying to prank our Zone Leaders, Elder Carman and Elder Cram, by making it look like a real ball. Then they would throw it, and it would explode. It was a genius idea. But then Elder Paul squeezed it, and it broke, and started dripping juice everywhere. So, that didn't work out.

The District, Season 3 - NOT CLICKBAIT - 4/24/2017

Zao'an, Pungyoumen!

Week 3 of 9 almost completed, and I'm already craving the 14 hour plane ride to Taiwan. I mean... I'm learning so many amazing things here, and I'm feeling the spirit all the time, I really just need a change of scenery. But this week has definitely been awesome. So many stories for my diar- I mean JOURNAL. Haha, I'll start with the... less spiritual stories. So we've been teaching our teachers as "investigators", so that we can get better with our teaching, and on Friday my companion and I started teaching the 2nd lesson, about the Plan of Salvation. We only had about 10 minutes to teach, so we were trying to be quick, but I feel like the Spirit was there, and we did a pretty good job. Our teacher kept laughing, though, which I thought was kinda weird. I just assumed I had sworn at her in Chinese or something. When we got back to class, she was still laughing.... Which made me a little nervous. She proceeded to tell our whole district what had happened. While we were teaching, I said "We have had many prophets", and then I listed some off. Well, I listed one off: Adam. She thought that was hilarious, since I had JUST said we've had many prophets, and could only think of one... The rest of the district found that pretty funny, too. We all ended up laughing till our sides hurt. We've had a lot of slip ups like that, it's fun to laugh at our mistakes.

We also have some... INTERESTING Zone Leaders, who like to have a lot of run on jokes. The latest one is "Playing your Banjo to keep the Devil away", which they'll routinely tell us to do promptly at bedtime (10:30). So, to calm everyone's fears a little, I have put together a little banjo out of cardboard and rubber bands. I added pictures to my google drive of my masterpiece, for anyone who's interested. Crazy stuff happens when you don't sleep long enough every night for 3 weeks.

  Aside from that, we actually had an amazing testimony building experience on Saturday. We had to teach TRC, where you just teach members in Chinese. I was nervous, but I shouldn't have been, it was awesome. We taught a recently returned missionary named "Wu Di Xiong", who is from ARIZONA!!! He's from Sedona, so we instantly hit it off. We talked about families, sports, hobbies, what he's studying (he goes to UVU), all in Chinese. It was so refreshing to have such an uplifting conversation. Then we started teaching him about the Atonement, and I can honestly say that was the strongest I've ever felt the Spirit while teaching in Chinese. The Atonement is personal, and it was made for each of us specifically. God loves me, and he loves you, YOU SPECIFICALLY, He loves you so much He sent His ONLY begotten Son, His Beloved Son, to suffer pain you and I could not possibly comprehend. Could you even imagine? He had to watch His own Son suffer the pain of every single one of our sins, He had to watch as they cruelly mocked Christ, beat him, and finally, in the ultimate desecration of the Savior, hung him by his hands, naked and alone, before the eyes of his own mother, his own friends.God watched all of this happen, could you even imagine the sorrow, the anguish, the absolute helplessness, He, even as GOD, must have felt? Now consider why he allowed that to happen. He wanted ALL of us to come home, not just His only begotten Son. He wanted YOU to come home. He wants you home so badly He allowed his Son to suffer the pains of the World. He loves you that much. I couldn't even imagine allowing that to happen to my child. But God allowed it, because it was necessary. These are thoughts all three of us shared, Wu Di Xiong, Elder Raty and I, as Wu Di Xiong and I cried. Lol. We all stood up and hugged, and he told us he loves us, and I love him, too. He gave us some advice, IN ENGLISH. More important than anything, than learning the language or knowing the gospel backwards and forwards, is loving the people you teach, and helping them know God loves them.

Well, my friends, my brothers and sisters, God loves you. More than anything he loves you. He wants you to come home, He wants us all to come home. To His arms. Come to Him, seek Him earnestly, and He will find you. He gave His son for you, don't ever forget that. John 3:16 - "For God so loved the world, that He gave His ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, for whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Believe in Him, He is.

I hope to hear back from you all! I love you all, and so does God.

Love,

Elder Shope