Week 3: July 29, 2019

你们好!

A sort of eventful week! Last P-day (after I sent out the email), my district had the opportunity to clean the temple! The Provo temple is closed until around August 13th, so we won't be able to go through it until then, but at least we still got to go inside! We ended up cleaning lockers for like 4 hours (super boring). But afterwards we got to see the Celestial room, so it was well worth it! 

We also had our first TRC last saturday! I wasn't too worried about it because I felt like we planned a pretty good lesson, and we knew we were just teaching members. The first person we taught was Brother West. We got to know him a little, and found out he was praying for his son who was struggling to be motivated to get a job/go to school. So I got a little excited because the lesson we planned was on prayer and the Holy Ghost, so I felt like it lined up pretty well. But when we started giving the lesson, he cut us off, and instead asked if we had any personal experiences with prayer. I was super unprepared and kinda terrified, and I think he could tell, so he asked me to share first (he knew Elder Beam spoke a lot more Chinese than me too, so he wanted me to practice). I had no idea where or how to begin, and knowing that,  he told me that now was the time to make mistakes, so go ahead. So that being said, I did my best to share an experience where my prayers were answered through the words of the prophets (general conference). And even though it was really rough and it took me a long time to express what I wanted to say, I was using words that I didn't even know I knew! Words I had maybe looked at once or twice without even speaking them just came to my mind as I needed to use them. Super spiritual experience! The second TRC lesson was normal, we just used the lesson we prepared. We taught Brother Cordon, apparently Michael (my older brother) worked with him at the MTC! He said he remembered seeing me on Facebook when I got my mission call! So cool!

2 districts of Chinese elders are leaving tomorrow, which I'm sad for, but it's also super exciting for them! So yesterday, the whole leadership in our branch was also changed (zone leaders, district leaders, everything), and guess what I am now??? The zone's technology specialist haha. I have pretty much 2 responsibilities: make sure the mic is on for sacrament meeting, and to teach everyone about the Safeguards for Using Technology/how to use their devices correctly and safely. So pretty exciting haha.

Also, in episode 2 of Sister Low... We were in a workshop and apparently she fell asleep. Her companion started asking her questions about the workshop thinking she was awake. She turned to her companion (sister berglund) and said “suffer it be so now...” in her sleep! She woke up a couple minutes later and said “SISTER BERGLUND, I just had the craziest dream! I was telling you about a scripture in my dream!” She actually has so many funny stories, apparently a couple years ago she had a dance-off in Amsterdam with a drunk guy. AND WON. 

Now for a more spiritual note. For one of our district's Book of Mormon reading, we were reading in 1 Nephi 7. For context, the chapter is talking about how Laman and Lemuel rebelled against Nephi and then bound him with cords. In verse 17, it says "But it came to pass that I prayed unto the Lord, saying: O Lord, according to my faith which is in thee, wilt thou deliver me from the hands of my brethren; yea, even give me strength that I may burst these bands with which I am bound." The phrase that stuck out the most to us is "give me strength that I may burst these bands". So that leads to a question we should ask ourselves: When am I asking for deliverance when I should be asking for strength? God wants to help us, but he also wants us to act on our own behalf. So instead of asking for deliverance from our trials, sometimes we should be asking for the strength to make it through our afflictions. 

I feel like I've been progressing so much here! I'm starting to get the language-I was able to write my two talks for yesterday - which was the first time I could've been chosen - almost all in Chinese! I didn't get called on, but if I did, I would've been ready! And I'm learning so much about this gospel! I never realized I'd enjoy reading from the Book of Mormon for so long every day, or feel the Spirit so strongly every day, but I have been! Only 6 weeks to go until I fly out to England, I can't wait! Love you all!

-Elder Ensign

Heres my address again *hint hint*

Elder Mark Anthony Ensign

SEP10  ENG-MAN

2005 N 900 E Unit 254

Provo UT 84602-1793

Me in front of the best flag

Me and Elder Beam studying in the rain by ourselves

The best study spot

Check out our perfect room score

Week 2: July 22, 2019

你们好!

     The MTC is great! I feel like I'm learning so much every day. Learning Chinese has definitely been super hard though. We have to memorize the first vision in Chinese by tonight though and I'm not done yet, so that's what I'll be spending the rest of my pday doing haha. But yesterday during sacrament meeting, I could actually understand one of the sister's whole talk! Which was super crazy because last week I was only able to pick out a couple words from the talks. It's amazing how fast they teach you here! Ive definitely learned so much, but I still have so much more to go! We have two sisters and two elders from Taiwan in our zone that speak Chinese fluently, and Elder Beam talks to them all the time. It's super humbling to hear them talk because I usually have no idea what they're saying haha. Our zone also has a district full of Cantonese speakers all going to Hong Kong, and they're all super cool. But it always throws me off when they speak, because I never realize they're speaking Cantonese, and their pronunciations are way different from Mandarin.
     My district is awesome! We spend pretty much all day together-classes, meals, etc. We play volleyball together too. They're pretty much my family away from home. We all have different personalities and interests, but it works in a way that we all get along together really well. One of the sisters in my district (Sister Low) has soooo many funny stories. Apparently one night she left her room to go to the bathroom and she got locked out of her room. So she ended up spending the night sleeping in the hall haha. She got woken up at like 4 in the morning by a security guard. 

     My zone does service twice a week where we set up and take down chairs for the devotionals on Sunday and Tuesday. It's pretty easy and kinda fun, just takes a long time. I'm just glad we don't have to do what other missionaries have to do, like clean toilets or mow the grass. I think they feel bad for us since we have to be at the MTC for 9 weeks, so they made our service project fun haha. But the MTC is still good! The food isn't great, but it's not horrible either. I've been taking advantage of the freezers full of ice cream at meal times. And I still don't mind all the class time. We do have like 3-4 hours of studying every day, and it can be hard to focus sometimes then. But other than that, things have been great! If you have any questions, feel free to ask. 

It's only been a week and a half, but I've learned so much already. I'll share one insight that has stuck out to me recently. During our district's Book of Mormon study, we were reading about Lehi and his family's struggles n the wilderness. It would have been very easy for the Lord to tell Lehi exactly how to get to the promised land, but instead they wandered in the wilderness for years. And during their years they faced so many trials. Elder Bickmore shared his thoughts-he said that the Lord had them suffer for so many years because he was preparing for the promised land. In the wilderness they learned how to live off the land-hunt, gather food, make tools, build things, etc. So when they finally got to the promised land, they were prepared. So I thought we can really relate this to our lives-we might feel like we're just wandering through life or facing trials for no reason, but the Lord could really be preparing us for things in the near future.

Also, if you want to send me packages or letters (which I know you all want to do), here's my address! Love you all!

Elder Mark Anthony Ensign

SEP10  ENG-MAN

2005 N 900 E Unit 254

Provo UT 84602-1793

-Elder Ensign

Here's some pics! 

My district is from left to right (on the sign picture): Sister Low (Taichung Taiwan), Sister Berglund (Taichung Taiwan), Sister Davis (Arcadia California), Sister Sheffield (Taichung Taiwan), Elder Beam (Scotland/Ireland), Me, Elder Bickmore (Singapore), Elder Lindsay (Arcadia California)

Plus a picture of me, the other Elder Ensign and his companion, Elder Fangilinin

My district:  Sister Low (Taichung Taiwan), Sister Berglund (Taichung Taiwan), Sister Davis (Arcadia California), Sister Sheffield (Taichung Taiwan), Elder Beam (Scotland/Ireland), me, Elder Bickmore (Singapore), Elder Lindsay (Arcadia California)

My district

Me with the other Elder Ensign and his companion Elder Fangilinin

First Week - July 15, 2019

First week of the MTC is over! It wasn't near as bad as I thought it would be, I guess I don't mind studying for 8+ hours every day. My first companion was Elder Bickmore, he's also speaking Mandarin, but going to Singapore! He's super nice (and smart). He got a 1550 on the SAT, took like 11 AP classes, and got a full tuition scholarship to BYU! He's pretty amazing, he taught me so much while he was my companion! But the reason I said "first" was because apparently they made a mistake and assigned me the wrong companion. So 2 days in, they had to switch us all around. It was sad, because Elder Bickmore was awesome, but my new companion is great too! My new companion is Elder Beam. He's actually half taiwanese-he lived in Taiwan (Kaohsiung) until he was 8, so he already knows a LOT of Chinese, which is super helpful when it comes to language study. He's also a convert, he got baptized last year! He's going to Scotland/Ireland on his mission, which borders my mission!

My district is super awesome too! The other Elder Ensign (Matthew) isn't in my district, but he's in my zone, so we still get to see each other a lot. My room (the elders in my district) started having "movie nights" every night before we go to bed, where we watch the Safety Zone and the District (Missionary Training videos), so we've been having a pretty good time! The sisters are super nice too! Our district spends like 6 hours in class together every day, so I feel like I've known them for months when in reality it hasn't even been a week. The other Elder in my district is Elder Lindsay, he's going to Arcadia California. We have 4 sisters, 3 are going to Taichung, Taiwan (Sister Low, Berglund, and Sheffield), and the other sister is going to Arcadia with Elder Lindsay (Sister Davis). All of us are speaking Mandarin.

The MTC isn't bad at all! You aren't ever bored, there's always something to do. The food isn't bad either. I'm constantly feeling the Spirit (it's like a spiritual powerhouse here!), and any fears I had about going on a mission vanished almost immediately when I walked in and saw the 2,000 other missionaries there (army of Helaman???). I've learned a lot of Chinese, but I still have a long way to go... Every week you're supposed to write a talk on a specific topic that changes every week, then on sundays during sacrament meeting, they call up like 3 missionaries without warning to give their talks... in chinese... so that's SUPER stressful! But they said they wouldn't call us up on our first two weeks, so I have 2 weeks to prepare to actually give a talk.

Overall my first week has been good! I have awesome teachers, and I'm surrounded by amazing people all the time! I'm so excited for these next 8 weeks, and even more excited to go to England on September 10!

Also, so you all know, I can read emails throughout the week, I just can't reply to them until P-day, which is monday. So send me emails! Also, if you know anyone that wants to be added to my email list, have them email me and I'll add them! And if you ever want me to take you off the list or change your email let me know!

我爱你们!

with my companion Elder Beam

-高长老 (Elder Ensign)

with my former companion Elder Bickmore

Here's some pics with my two companions. The elders in my district are from left to right me, Elder Beam, Elder Bickmore, Elder Lindsay. Also found Elder Benjamin and Elder Norris!

with Elder Norris

with Elder Benjamin

(left to right:  me, Elder Beam, Elder Bickmore, Elder Lindsay)