First week at the MTC - July 1st

Ni hao wo de jia ting he pengyou! (Hello family and friends!)

WOW where to even begin...I have 30 mins aiurgbaeuiprgb

THE MTC IN GENERAL
The MTC is crazy. It is literally the most exhausting, enlightening, draining, insane, beautiful environment that I have ever experienced. Day 1 was extremely overwhelming with all of the new info thrown at me and such. And this place is a maze. Why do they not color code the buildings?? My emotions are on a roller coaster. This life style is a huge adjustment. You are always busy. Almost every moment is planned out. It's different. There are times when I say to myself, "What have I gotten myself into..." And I get down...But then there are always times when something MIRACULOUS will happen and I will immediately be uplifted and be reminded that I am here for a reason. 

MY COMPANION
Is sooooooo adorable! Her name is Sister Beazer (Bi Jie Mei) and she is this sweet girl from West Valley UT. She is into a lot of the same things as me. We get along so well and we are great at communicating. Love her! And I loveeee my other roomies too!

MY DISTRICT
Is the best district I could ask for. The district is basically your classmates. There are 10 of us. 4 sisters (Yao and Ni Jie Mei from UT and TX, we are all 19) and 6 elders ( 5 of them are 18 and 1 is 23). We are all so different yet we all clicked from day one. We are all about unity. We have a compliment/pengyou circle at the end of each lesson and compliment each other and share stories. It is cheesy but VERY uplifting. We communicate very well and always meet our goals. Love them all!

MY ZONE
My zone is awesome. Most of us are going to Taiwan. A few to England, Austrailia, Cali, and Scotland. Some people have been here for 9 weeks already and leave tomorrow. They are amazing at Chinese! (to us noobs anyways). My branch Prez is Prez Baker. HE IS A BOSS. His philosophy is to take one day at a time and chill out. He tells us all the time, "It's a joke," you're not all perfect but everything WILL be okay. He served in Taiwan. His winks make you feel like you can climb Mt Everest. He is the perfect Branch Prez for a Mandarin speaking nervous bunch of kids. He always says that Madarin missionaries hold themselves to a higher standard. Its awesome.  

THE LANGUAGE
The gift of tongues is real. Not going to lie, I always was very skeptical when missionaries and RMs talked about the gift of tongues. Its real. If you're skeptical too, stop it. I was really intimidated with language study at first. EVERYTHING is Chinese. you are completely immersed. The lessons are taught in Chinese--completely. You talk to everyone in the best Chinese you can all day ere day. BUT it is SOOOOO HELPFUL. I have already taught 2 lessons in Chinese!

LOVE YOUR INVESTIGATOR
The investigators here are members acting as volunteers, BUT they are all converts and their stories are very really. So teaching them feels very very real. We are teaching a girl right now named Dong Jie Mei. She had a son when she was 15 and she wants the gospel to help her family. The first lesson I was soooo nervous. I was so afraid that my Chinese would suck and that I wouldn't be able to communicate well. It went okay. I was able to communicate somewhat but I was not satisfied. I realized later that it was because I had not focused on her, all I cared about was how well I could speak Chinese. Also, because I was frustrated the spirit was not there. I made a goal that next time we met with her I would study some Chinese vocab words but then completely focus on the spirit and focus on listening to her the best I could. All i did before the lesson was read scriptures and pray. We went in to meet her and the first thing we did was pray that the spirit would be there. And it was. It was incredible. That's when the gift of tongues works. I asked her questions about her life and focused on listening. I could understand her. I can't explain it but I could. And when I talked words that I had previously studied in high school or in class flooded my head. I'm happy to say that we committed her to come to church with us. The spirit is real, the church is true. This was the most miraculous moment of my life and Ill never forget it. Focus on others. Rely on Heavenly Father. Miracles can happen.

I love you all and there is so much more to say but I really dont have the time. 

PLEASE WRITE ME! 
I dont ask for too much except for when it comes to letters. Emails are wonderful too, but I can only see them and respond on Mondays (P Day). I can recieve letters and Dear Elder letters anytime of the week. It would be nice to recieve those during the week and reflect upon them because the weeks are very difficult. Also my address is wrong, it is:

Sister McKenna Dawn Tracy
AUG27 TAIW-TAI
2007 N 900 E UNIT 84
PROVO, UT 84602

Just the AUG 27 is new, before it was AUG 28. 

Please write me :) I miss you all. The work is good, there is still much to learn! Wo ai nimen! ( I LOVE YOU ALL)

Zaijian!
Sister Tracy