Hey everybody, it's been a great week at the MTC studying Chinese and hopefully becoming a better person. I think today I'll focus a litttle bit more on Chinese than I have in the past.
First things first. Favorite words. Our district's favorite response has to be yinggai keneng ba (pronunciation: eeng guy kuh nuhng bah). It means "Probably possible maybe." Chinese people add a "ba" at the end of a sentence when they're uncertain about something. It's great. I love it. And I probably use it a little too often. But our teachers just laugh at us, so all is well.
More fun with Chinese. The word "Aizi" when you say it like you say "hey!" to somebody means "Beloved Son." The word "Aizi" when said in the lower pitch of your voice means "midget." Got to be careful about that when reciting the First Vision. I think the Chinese did this on purpose because they enjoy having a good laugh. Another example. "Zhujiao" when said like at the bottom of your voice then say "jiao" like you say "hey!" means "bishop." When said incorrectly, though, "zhujiao" means "pig's feet." How did those zhujiao taste, Becca? Those clever Chinese.
Allow me to slowly transition into other cultures. I found some Japanese shampoo in the free box the other day, probably left by a Japanese elder some while ago. Japanese shampoos are weird (what does that sound like? Sorry, only people like Jacob will probably get that). The Japanese use some Chinese characters in their language, so I could actually pick out a few meanings. For example, I found the character meaning "to wash." I'm hoping that means that I am using the shampoo correctly, and I am desperately hoping the rest of the sentence does not say "Do not use to wash white people's hair" or "Only use to wash blue hair." Because, if you're Japanese, you gotta have blue hair (again, sorry, probably only Jacob will get this reference).
More culture. In this case, culture shock. I once again saw the Samoan elder go at it. One lunch time, he literally put away about 8 hamburger patties. The best part was when one of these patties was in between two chocolate-frosting-almond-covered donuts. Incredible.
Now allow me to conclude with a spiritual thought. In Preach My Gospel, it talks about renewing Moroni's promise in the Book of Mormon to pray about it to know whether it is true regularly. I feel that as we do this God will give us more of those small testimony-building experiences when we read the Book of Mormon. The kind that we look at and say, "This is great. This book is true. I'm going to do something differently because this is true." I'd invite you all to look at Moroni's promise again in the last chapter of the Book of Mormon and do what he asks again. I know that your testimony will be strengthened as mine has been, little by little.
You all are great. Strike that, you all are wonderful. Have an excellent week.
Elder Winters
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