Week # 7

Elder Bosco and Elder Johnson 

Ni Hao!!! Time is flying by at the MTC and I can't believe that I will be in Taiwan in 2 weeks. I'm crazy nervous about the language and everything, but I have also never been more excited about anything. And I know that the Lord is by my side every step of the way.

 Thursday we had an awesome Christmas! We woke up to some presents (for our zone secret santa) under a tree (which an elder made out of cardboard). And the same Elder that made the tree had a Santa Clause costume on and we walked to breakfast singing Christmas carols. Then later in the day we walked around (this time with someone playing the violin) caroling. Then later that night we did our secret santa. I am seriously in the best zone at the MTC we all just love to have fun so its always a good time.

August 25th -Christmas in the MTC

 I was doing one of my interviews as zone leader in a room where they organize and set up all of the translating/interpretation at the MTC. Then during an interview an elder from Taiwan came in and started talking to us. Its funny to talk to them because our Chinese and their English are basically on the same level. He told us that he loved the American flag (as he pointed the the Samoa flag) and then he taught us the word for homie in Chinese (ma ji). It was super funny. Then on Sunday he gave us some pass along cards in Chinese so hopefully I will be able to use it on the plane or something.

 The topic for Sunday was recognizing and understanding the Spirit. There was a really great quote by Gordon B. Hinckley in Preach My Gospel and it said something like "When we are where we are supposed to be, and doing what we are supposed to be doing, then we will know which promptings are from the Spirit." That just gave me so much comfort knowing that if I am doing what I am supposed to, then the Spirit will prompt me, but only if the Lord knows that I am going to act on those promptings.

 We had our second skype TRC on Monday. They are definitely speaking slower than they will in Taiwan, but I can actually understand a little bit of what they are saying. We talked about receiving revelation through prayer. And as I was sharing an experience I had, I could feel the spirit reaffirm that I had acted on a prompting that I had received.

 Yesterday we got our swag tags (name tags with our character names on them) but I'm going to change to a different character for my name tag in Taiwan. I will still be bo zhang lao, but it will just be a different character for bo (柏 ------> 博) But anyway not only is it awesome to have a nametag with just characters on it, but it is also a sign that my time at the MTC is almost over! I love the MTC and my testimony has grown so much, but its time for a change of scenery.

 For the devotional, Richard J. Maynes, spoke to us. He had 2 really good quotes that I liked. "The worth of one soul, and the impact of one missionary." followed by "that one might be the one that you have the courage to talk to." He talked to us about the importance of talking to everybody, because either they will except our message, or if they don't, at least we will be practicing our communicating skills. I love all of you, and thank you for the great examples that you have been in my life! -
Elder Bosco

P.S.   Happy 22nd Birthday Dallin!   The weeks go by crazy fast, especially since our P-day is in the middle of the week. so Sunday to Pday goes by fast, and then Pday to Sunday goes by fast.  I got the cinnamon rolls from the Thomas'(YUM-we had them for Christmas breakfast) and I got a package from Kay and Ruel with a bunch of good treats in it. And I got treats from the Davis' (I've seen Andrew about 3 times so its been good.) Please tell them thanks! I miss you all so much every day, but I know that there is no place that I would rather be. Soa lives in the same building as me so we see each other all of the time, and it has been really good to talk to him.  I am definitely enjoying not having to go back to school. Sometimes on the way to exercise time I see kids driving up to go to Timpview, and I can't help but laugh.  Everything is going great, and I can't wait to see Chad this week! I love you all so much!

Week #6

 Hi Family,

The group that came in with me is now officially the veterans of the MTC. Its crazy that when I leave the MTC I will already be 1/12 of the way done with my mission. I'm starting to love it more and more everyday here, and I love the people that I get to be with everyday.

   Today is what we call ultra P-day, because their are new elders and sisters coming into our zone. Thats basically the only difference, and we also do initiatories instead of a session. But other than that its basically the same as every other P-day.

   

Tomorrow is Christmas, so we are doing a secret santa in our zone. And a bunch of parents sent us decorations, so our room is decorated with little trees and lights. Also one of the elders in our zone is making a Christmas tree out of cardboard boxes. So you could say its a pretty legit Christmas.

   

One of the Elders in our zone (Elder Griffin) has a brother that just got back from Taipei (yes he knows elder Casper) and he just became our new teacher. He is really funny and he always tells us stories from his mission, and it just gets me so excited to go to Taiwan.

   

I got my first MTC haircut (its crazy but is one of the most exciting things that happened this week) One of our subs, because our teacher is on vacation, was Elder Eyring's grandson so that was pretty cool.

   

On Sunday I got called as a zone leader. Pretty much all an MTC zone leader does is new missionary orientation, interview district leaders, and assign priesthood teachers, but I am still really excited to serve, and be able to hopefully help others. Nashville Tribute band came again, and it was really fun and awesome. By the time we get to see David Archuleta concert in Taiwan, we will have seen 3 concerts on our mission, which I am pretty sure breaks the previous record of 0.

   

Our violin mondays are getting even better. At first it was just one elder playing the violin, but now we have a piano player, and a cello players, so it's a pretty great time. We also taught our first Skype TRC, which is where we skype a member from Taiwan and we teach them. It was kind of hard to hear because the speakers weren't great, and she was speaking Chinese, but it went pretty good. Except about 5 minutes before we were going to finish, her phone died, so we just left a little message with our testimonies. During the Skype me and my companion were introducing ourselves, and we told her that we both had 8 people in our families, and she said weishenme?!?! which means why? I was just laughing cause she thought it was so crazy that we had so many people in our families. 

   

Another 2 districts in our zone left on Tuesday (Elder Kelemen's) I had become such good friends with all of them so it was kind of sad, but I will see them again in October. 

  

 I don't really have any personal stories of me messing up in Chinese but I have a couple funny stories from my zone. One of the Elders was telling his investigator that God loves everyone (everyone = mei yi ge ren) but instead he actually told her that God loves americans (americans = mei guo ren) and she wasn't american so that was pretty funny. 

   

During another lesson my companion was talking about the Atonement, and he was trying to tell our investigator about when we commit sin, which is "fan zui". But instead he said "cheng nuo zui" which is saying when we commit to sin :) 

Love you all. Thank you for everything!

          Elder Bosco

 

Week #5

Ni hao family,
It felt like just a couple of days ago that I was sending my last email, the weeks fly by so fast! 

Thursday was one of my teachers last day, so we have had 4 teachers when most people only have 2. She is getting married on Friday. On her last day she did that thing with us that dad always does where he puts the pens down the holds a certain amount of fingers up. It was really funny to watch everyone else try to figure it out.

​this is my district with my teacher who is getting married

 On Saturday we did TRC again, where we had planned to teach a member. About 5 minutes before we taught they told Elder Johnson and I that we were going to be teaching actual non members. It was a father and a daughter from China, and they were here because the daughter is going to Meridian High School. We only taught for about 15 minutes, but it was a really good experience, and they were really nice and helped us with our Chinese so it was way fun!

 The topic on Sunday was Enduring to the end. I love that topic because it just brings me such hope that in the end, if we are doing what the Lord asks us to do, we will receive so many blessings. I would invite you all to read in 2 Nephi 6:7 especially the last line "they will not be ashamed who wait for me"
I know that the Savior Jesus Christ will come again, and when he does, we will not be ashamed of our testimonies of this Gospel.

 For the Tuesday night devotional, Sister Bonnie L. Oscarson spoke to us. She talked about how the Lord know us personally and he has a specific mission experience planned for each and every one of us, if we allow him to guide us, and even cut us down sometimes in order to build us up stronger.

 By this time next week the group that came in with me will be basically the veterans of the MTC. Time has gone by so fast! When I think about going to Taiwan I get super excited but also super nervous. The MTC has been pretty hard and I know that the field is going to get even harder, but I get so excited when I think about teaching the Taiwanese people the Gospel. And even though they probably won't be able to understand me, and I for sure won't be able to understand them, I know that the Spirit is fluent in every language.
 Sorry this letter is a lot shorter than usual, but sometimes it just feels like every week here at the MTC is the same haha. But I'm so thankful for the opportunity I have to be here and to prepare myself to teach the people of Taiwan.
I love you all! Thank you for your love and support!
 Elder Bosco

Today Deseret Lazarte (Andres' mother) was volunteering in the MTC with her sister and after they were done they started asking Elders if they knew Elder Bosco and he walked by! They were able to chat for a few minutes. Collin said it was great to talk to someone he knew!

Week #4

 Ni hao,
Time is flying here at the MTC. I have been here for a month which is about half of my time at the MTC. I know there is so much more preparation that I need to do, but I just want to go to Taiwan so bad!!
The language is coming more and more each day, the other day we actually talked to some Elders from Taiwan that are here to learn English so that was really fun. This week we did our first teaching of the Plan of salvation, which is not easy at all in Chinese.
But as I have gotten to study the Plan more, it just amazes me how much our Heavenly Father loves us, and that he has made it possible for us to return to live with him.
 My zone decided to have Christmas on August 25 because we won't be here for actual Christmas, and who knows what they do for Christmas in Taiwan.
 We taught our second TRCs this week. The first sister we taught was from Beijing, and the second brother we taught was from Taiwan. We taught about the Book of Mormon and how we can receive answers through reading it. I love TRC because we don't have to worthy about teaching them things that they don't know, we can just focus on bearing testimony and helping them come closer to Christ.
The closer we are to Christ the happier we will be, and we can do that by just doing the primary answers: Reading the Book of Mormon, Praying, Going to the temple, Going to church.
 Sunday was my first fast Sunday at the MTC. The testimony meeting that we had in sacrament meeting was so good. I wanted to bear my testimony, but every time I went to stand up about 3 other people did. 2 people that were going to go up there didn't even get the chance because we ran out of time.
During choir they told us that the Nashville tribute band is coming back in a couple of weeks, so thats cool.
 Matthew Holland spoke at the devotional. He started out by talking about how Jake was in the Mexico City MTC and this was their first Sunday without him. In his talk he talked about Joseph Smith, and the stuff that happened in his life that usually doesn't get talked about, like his families struggles before he became prophet. He invited us all to study more about the lives of Joseph Smith and to gain a sure testimony that he is a living prophet of God, and that he translated the Book of Mormon. After the devotional we watched Ephraim's Rescue. Missions are super super hard, but I'm thankful that I wasn't a pioneer. The Pioneers are definitely some of the strongest most faithful people to walk the earth.
 There is an Elder in our zone whose name is Elder Van Slooten (from Arkansas). He is super good at the violin, and he can play any song if you just hum the first part of it. So every Monday we go listen to him play the violin for a little bit, and we call it violin Monday.
 The Tuesday devotional was so awesome because Elder Andersen spoke. Me and my companion got to meet him before the devotional, but he was running late and there were a couple of other Elders there whose dads served in his mission, so we only got to shake his hand and take a picture with him. He talked about how missions are not complex, but they are still hard.
This has been one of the hardest things that I have ever had to do, but I know what my purpose is, and its so simple. Invite others to come unto Christ. The Gospel makes me so happy and I love that I get to spend 2 years helping other people become that happy.
 I love you all so much and I am so grateful for your constant prayers!
 Elder Bosco

Elder Bosco with Elder Anderson

Provo High Taiwan Missionaries
Elder Bosco, Elder Jorgensen, Elder Kelemen, Elder Heaton

p-day pic with Christian (Wesley's friend from High school that is teaching at the MTC)

Week #3

 Hey Family,
 I can't believe that I am already 1/3 of the way done at the MTC! I'm really starting to love this place. It's crazy cause you're comfortable at home then you go to the MTC and it is completely different, then they send you out to the mission field and its basically like you restart. 

   Michael Maio's classroom is in the same building as mine so I see him pretty often, and Paden is in the other zone but we basically have the same schedule as him so I will get to see him a lot. 

   Sorry for the lack of pictures, and my emails are probably shorter because everyday kind of feels like its the exact same. I sometimes feel like I have been here for 4 months, but I also feel like I have only been here for 1 week.

   CONGRATS TO KARISSA! I can't wait to come home to all of these new nieces and nephews.

   On Saturday we did our first TRC which is where you talk to somebody that is already a member and you just get to know them and share a message with them. The first sister we taught was from Hong Kong, and she served a mission in Australia, but her English was really good. The second sister we taught was from Boise and she served a mission in Taipei. TRC are super fun and kind of relaxing.

   On Sunday I gave the sacrament prayer in Chinese (but of course I had something to read off of) but I did it the first time so that was really cool. For the Sunday devotional, Spencer B. Allen spoke to us. He talked about how we are each called to our missions for a certain reason so it is important that we be ourselves. That made me think of when Wes told me that "the mission doesn't change you, it just magnifies your good qualities". I know that the Lord gives us certain talents and abilities, and that we need to use all of them in order to spread the gospel and help build up the kingdom of God. 

   For the Tuesday night devotional Bishop W. Christopher Waddell spoke to us. He was talking about the Savior and the Atonement and he said "We can't do what he did, but we can do as he did". Even Jesus Christ asked Heavenly Father if there was any other way that it could be done, but he was willing to do whatever it took to fulfill his father's will. We have a lot of things in our lives where we would much rather have an easier way to do things, but if we are always striving to do Heavenly Father's will, then the Lord will bless us tremendously through the hard times.

   We said goodbye to the district that was the oldest in the zone when I got there, but luckily they are all going to Taichung so hopefully I will be able to see them. 

   My Chinese is getting a lot better, but sometimes it can be super frustrating cause during a lesson I will want to say something, or answer a question, but I just don't have the words to do it. That just strengthens my testimony that the Gift of Tongues is real. If the Gift of Tongues didn't exist, then the Lord Would definitely not trust 18 and 19 years olds to preach his gospel in a language like Chinese. That's why it is so important for missionaries to be themselves, because if we are being ourselves and working our hardest then the Lord will provide the rest. 

   Today we are getting 18 new missionaries in our zone (14 Elders 4 Sisters) and like 5 of them are going to Scotland Chinese speaking so thats pretty cool.

   Its hard cause I want to prepare the best that I can, but I also just want to go to Taiwan. I love the people already, and I know that the Gospel will make them so happy!l

 I Love you all so much!! Thank your for your constant prayers!

                                                                                                     - Elder Bosco