Pictures from the MTC

Anna, Sister Azure, Sister Smith and Sister Stenquist

Anna and her companion, Sis. Azure.

May 28 Letter...Visit Mormon.org

Wow! Lots of good things in e-mails. It is so exciting to be able to check email
especially since today is Memorial Day and there will be no maiL! BU HAO!

Life is good in the MTC. I can hardly believe I have been here for a month it is
crazy! So I am pretty sure we will get to hear Pres Hinckley speak. The two
weeks before we leave the MTC there will be like 25 newly called mission
presidents in the MTC receiving training. It is a pretty big deal and the MTC
President says they pull out all the stops for it. Sweet, eh?

So has everyone been on to Mormon.org? Has everyone shared it with friends and
neighbors? You should. We have had some amazing chats from it. People really
seem to like to be able to find information on their own and then ask questions.

Let's see... well, this week has been pretty good. They go by so fast. Days are
like weeks and weeks are like days is definitely the truth of the MTC. It is
pretty awesome though. I am learning so much. Dad told me he hopes I am like a
sponge and soaking in everything. I am trying my hardest to do just that.

Naps...!?!? I haven't had one since I have been in the MTC. I wish there was
time for one. There actually might be some today- it depends on which friends I
don't write back.

I love you all! My time is expiring! Mom and dad forward this on!

I know the Restored Gospel is true. I know Joseph Smith is a prophet of God. I
know this church was established by humble prayer and the power of God. I know
that we can gain and strengthen this testimony through sincere prayer.

Wo ai ni!
Shao Jiemei.
Sis Shaver 

Thoughts on email from the MTC

Anna's seems so happy and fully engaged. The call center, temple work, Mandarin classes, Devotionals...so much doing and learning. Leaves me at a loss when I consider my day to day cares and activities. I do try harder these days to have missionary or church related conversations, maybe that is the missionary spirit working. I will be glad to hear all the news and see Anna when she returns, what an education.

May 21--Sundays in the MTC

Hello! I love you!

Well, it's Monday which means Preparation day and temple day!  Sis Azure and I
went to the temple today. And were asked to do sealings. It was neat to be able
to do those for a first time- Sisters and Elders can only be children. But it
still was awesome!

Funny, mom asked me about my Sundays because I was going to tell everyone about
Sunday's anyways! So here's her answer.

We wake up at 6:30- the only day we actually get to sleep till 6:30. And then
have a little bit of time to get ready and do companionship study. We get cereal
for breakfast. They don't have the cafeteria workers come in.

Then at 9:30 am, all the sisters in the MTC go to Relief Society. It starts out
with us being able to watch Music and the Spoken word. I don't think I'd ever
watched it before, but I really like it. It is fun to hear music. Then we have
someone teach us a lesson. Last week, it was Sister Barbara Thompson who is the
1st or 2nd counselor in the general relief society presidency. It is pretty
impressive to have such teachers. Did I tell everyone Sis Dew came and spoke to
us? I wrote Belinda since she is her favorite. Hearing her speak in real life I
understand why- she was awesome! Probably even better than Kory Kunz.

After Relief Society, we go back to our classroom and have sunday school which
is a district meeting. We each take a 3-5 minutes and teach a principle from
Preach My Gospel- it is pretty awesome! I LOVE PREACH MY GOSPEL. Everyone should
read it! And love it!

After that we have lunch. Every other Sunday, we have chicken cordon bleu. Which
is my favorite meal in the MTC. It is so good. I love Sunday lunch on those
days- bummer, next week is something else.

After lunch, we have about three hours to walk to the temple. We try to go and
just sit and meditate outside by the fountain. A lot of people want to take
pictures though. Sis Azure and I did find a quiet little hideaway behind the
temple on a little "nature" path. So we usually head back there.

This Sunday we only went to the temple for a little while and then went to the
RC. Has everyone checked out the new mormon.org? Well, it is pretty awesome. And
everyone should invite one friend to look at it. So we went to the call center
and took all the calls and the chats from mormon.org. The call center is
awesome! I love it. I have had so many Wendy Strong's call for their free
bibles. Most of them have committed to going to church once and I am sure they
would be just like Wendy. It gets me so pumped. I had a kinda sad chat this week
though. It lasted 45 minutes and went nowhere. I finally just had to end the
chat. I bore my testimony to him and he said that he felt good about it and
everything, but that it didn't mean it was real. He, also, said when he prayed
he felt good, but that didn't mean it was real. I didn't really know what else
to tell him. I shared a lot of scriptures with him. In the end, he said he would
pray and then chat again with someone else. I've been praying for him all day!

After that we have sacrament. EVERYTHING IS CHINESE. The sacrament prayers are
in Chinese. If they don't get the tones exactly right then they have to redo it
all. It is rather interesting. Everyone prepares a talk on an assigned subject
and then Pres Orton just calls to people from the congregation to come give
their talks in Chinese. It is rather intense... and there is usually a HUGE sigh
of relief from those not called on.

This week in church the three sisters and I in our zone sang a special musical
number. It was pretty awesome. We sang Joseph Smith's First Prayer to If you
Could Hie to Kolob. It was pretty and very powerful.

After church, we go to the MTC choir practice. It is fun. The song for this week
is awesome. It is called "Here am I." It is about the Lord calling on us and us
saying Here am I... take my hand... It is pretty and the alto part is so EASY to
sing- which is good for me!

After choir, we eat as fast as we can and run to the fireside. We try to always
sit on the floor and so far we have been successful. The firesides are awesome-
but not as good as Tuesday's devotionals.

After the firesides, there are four different movies playing like the
Testaments, the Joseph Smith movie, etc. We choose one to go to and watch it. It
is nice. I love being able to watch them. I watched the Testaments this week and
kept thinking about Carrie and how she wishes this is what they taught her in
Primary. Made me chuckle a few times. After the movie we literally sprint home-
so we make it in by 9:30 and don't break any rules!

Well, that is a rather lengthy explanation about Sunday's. And now my five
minute warning went off. Keep writing and e-mailing. I haven't gotten a package
yet, but I am so so excited to get one. I am the only one in my district to not
get one.

I LOVE YOU ALL! I KNOW THE CHURCH IS TRUE. I KNOW JOSEPH SMITH IS A PROPHET OF
GOD. I KNOW JESUS IS OUR SAVIOR AND REDEEMER!

Keep writing- much love.

Shao Jiemei.

p.s. I wrote letters today! So everyone will get a more specific letter too...
Lots of time today- just wish my thirty minutes wasn't up!

Letter from MTC 5/14

Ni hao! Wo de jia ting! Hello my family!

Don't worry, I am not breaking any rules. The MTC is going to let us try and see
if we can handle e-mail! Isn't that so exciting? It is! I, honestly, can say I
feel like a kid on Christmas right now. I get to e-mail! We only have half an
hour to e-mail though. So I am going to have to work on increasing my words per
minute I can type. Woot wo!

So let's see... I think the mail is slow so my letters are one behind
everyone's. I haven't heard from anyone since they heard from me. And I've
written everyone at least twice... so who knows? Oh yeah, I am supposed to tell
you that just because I have e-mail doesn't mean you get off of the hook of
writing. I really really love getting letters. And I have only got them from
family, so keep writing.

My time in the MTC has been awesome some far. The Spirit is so ridiculously
strong. It works in so many different ways- through bearing witness of truth,
comforting, giving a sense of peace, prompting what to say, and most importantly
to me the GIFT of TONGUES. I can really feel the gift of tongues working. I am
so glad that I had the little Chinese foundation I did because it seriously
helps! I did my door approach in Chinese for the first time yesterday  and did
it from memory. It was amazing. I bore my testimony in Chinese during it and
felt the Spirit so strong. I didn't feel like I was searching for words... I
just opened my mouth and out came the words. I know it was not me speaking and
that was awesome. I am Heavenly Father's mouthpiece. I just get to make funny
noises.


I love you all and look forward to hearing from you... both in e-mail (woot wo)
and letters! Be good. Remember who you are. I am praying and working hard for
each of you... I am serving like it says in Doctrine and Covenants so my family
can live- SO LIVE!

With much love and appreciation!

Shao Jiemei (Sister Shaver)!

p.s. It is really weird to get used to a new last name. I kinda miss Shaver. I
understand why it took Laura so long to change hers...

Well, my five minute warning went... Love!

More MTC Day

Here are some more pictures of Anna entering the MTC.

Anna's "companion" had to put her nametag on her.

MTC Day

Today we dropped Anna off at the MTC in Provo, UT. She will stay there for 2.5-3 months while she learns Mandarin.





















When she checked in, Anna got her Missionary nametag. All new missionaries get a "Celestial" dot on their nametags to indicate that they are new to the MTC. The Mission President promised they would get some extra attention if they kept it on.