Week 5 done!

 Hello again to everyone from 丁姊妹!

I can't believe this week is already over! MTC has been speeding by so fast. Only four weeks to go until I leave!

This week we focused on what they call "intermediate core". This is essentially learning how to teach the Preach My Gospel (PMG) lessons in Cantonese (whereas basic core was just learning how to share a scripture, extend an invitation, etc). We were able to get all the way through lesson 1 and just started lesson 2 on Friday. It can be really exhausting learning the principles in these lessons. We usually learn four a day, two in morning class and two in afternoon. We have to learn how to say the phrases and how to expand on them with our own, as well as being able to apply those phrases in a mock lesson. On Thursday as we finished up Lesson 1, we were asked to teach it comprehensively in 5 minutes in Cantonese. Let me tell you it wasn't easy. There are a lot of vocab words that we went over once or twice that just completely slipped my brain in the moment I needed to apply them. I think I did alright considering it was a first attempt, but improvement can definitely be made. During that class, our teachers also did a demonstration for us on how to teach a person according to their needs, and it was done all in Cantonese. Honestly my brain kind of hurt afterwards. When you aren't super used to listening to a language yet, you have to work really hard to focus enough to be able to understand what's being said. After that day of classes was over and Sister Richardson and I met for comp study we were both like, "Yeah I think we're all Cantonesed out for the day". We could barely even speak in English we were so tired. At the end of our study I was like, "I think it'd be okay to pray in English this time". The overview is, learning a language is hard and takes a lot of work. But, there have been some fun moments as well.

Sister Yau is one of the MTC teachers (not assigned to our district) who has been sitting in on our morning classes with Sister Ko these past few weeks (if you can recall). Since our afternoon teacher, Brother Ng, was out on vacation Mon-Thurs this week, Sister Yau was our substitute. It was hard in some ways (she makes us speak Cantonese a lot), but it was fun in others. She would have us take stretch breaks once or twice and we basically just stood against a wall and stretched our arms as far out above and then to the sides of us as we could. I always laugh when doing it because it feels so silly. On Thursday at the beginning of class, she also made a kahoot for us to review the terms of lesson one. I got third place! Not too shabby if I say so myself. In the mornings, Sister Ko sometimes likes to have us practice saying the different phrases with different impressions and it can be soooo funny. The other day she had us do these wild ones. One of them was "when you're turning into the incredible hulk". Sister Johnson did it in my group and for the whole class and it was hilarious she was like, "Okay so this would be if you're like in the middle of the transformation: Mō yíh muhn GING..." we all laughed a lot. Then Sister Yamane did the same impression. She turned her camera off for a second and we were all really confused but then she turned it back on and she had put GREEN STICKY NOTES on her face. She then said the phrase in a really deep voice. I was laughing so hard. But then Sister Whitney asked Elder Ng to try it. He doesn't really have a very deep voice so when he started it off with this SUPER DEEP VOICE, we all lost it. He laughed too in the middle. Sister Richardson actually got in on video so I will put it below. Sister Korth and I always like to joke around with each other in class and make faces and whatnot. And when we were in afternoon class with Sister Yau one time, I did the thing where you put a pen between your nose and lips like a mustache and purse your lips to keep it there, and Sister Korth saw and did it back. Sister Yau saw too so she did it and everyone else did it and she was like "wait why are we all doing this all of a sudden". Then she said "ooo let's take a picture, someone take a screenshot." So we all did it and I got a picture of it. I will also put it below. Basically my district is just super fun and I love them.

Sister Yau broadcasted from the MTC on Wednesday and Thursday so she actually gave us a little tour! It was a bit bizarre to see it and think that we could be there having classes. I think it would've been very different. Oh and we have a new MTC teacher in training who's joined us on Thursday and Friday! His name is Brother Cheuk. He also grew up in Hong Kong and he served his mission in Australia, which is how he learned the majority of his English (yes he speaks with an Australian accent). He's probably the sweetest person alive! My companion even said, "I think I might be in love with him. If he got down on one knee right now, I'd say yes." It was really funny, haha. He's just always so upbeat and encouraging of us. He thinks it's interesting to see us learning Cantonese because he never had to, he just spoke it since he was a kid. Everytime he asks us to say something or practice something, he'll say, "alright awesome! That was so good! The only thing I'd say is ___" or "That was perfect! You guys are doing so good!" He really just energizes all of us and I think we all appreciate it and love it. I had the opportunity to try teaching two principles of lesson 2 in Cantonese one on one with him and afterwards he said, "That was amazing wow! You applied all the principles we just learned perfectly and were able to make it flow and add your own thoughts." He asked me what I would say about my performance and I said that I feel like I still need to learn more vocab so I don't have as many gaps that I have to fill in with english. He said "Right, right. Honestly though you didn't even use that much english though, like it was really good!" He even asked me if I had learned any Cantonese before MTC, which surprised me. I told him no, but that I had learned some mandarin and he said "Oh well that's cool, you can compare some things to Cantonese then, yeah?" He just said how the first day he came into our class, he was especially impressed by Sister Korth and I's ability to speak and understand Cantonese and told me to make sure I recognize how good I am already because it's really impressive from just learning for 5 weeks. I honestly took everything he said as such a huge compliment because he's a native who grew up speaking Cantonese. To have him tell me he thinks my Cantonese is quite good and is impressed with my tones and stuff just made my whole week. I think a lot of times, it's easy to put myself down because I mess up and have things that I wish I knew how to say and can't, but it's nice to have a reminder that I'm doing well and I've made a lot of progress. I know Heavenly Father is looking out for me and encouraging me. 

Other than that, Sister Richardson and I had two TRC lessons this week, one in English and the other our first one in Cantonese! In our English lesson, we taught the plan of Salvation but it was a bit difficult. She basically said things like "well where is the proof of this, is it written down somewhere?" and "How will the people who were murderers and criminals be punished if everyone goes to these 'wonderful kingdoms'". They definitely threw us for a loop a little bit but I think it was good practice that I can use to increase my knowledge and preparation for the future. Our Cantonese lesson went pretty well. I think the hardest part was understanding what she was saying and what each other was saying. A few times, Sister Richardson had to text me asking what we were talking about. We got through it though and I think we were able to help the person we taught at least a little bit. I will be sure to continue practicing, however, so I can do better in the future.

That's pretty much it for this week! Sorry if the email was a little long haha. I'm super excited to make more fun memories, increase my understanding of the gospel and Cantonese, and see what else Heavenly Father has in store for me!

Love you all!

Sister DelHoyo (丁姊妹)

Pen mustaches! From Left to Right: Sister Yau, me, Sister Decker, Elder Ng, -second row- Sister Richardson (my comp), Sister Johnson, Sister Whitney, Sister Korth, -third row- Sister Peterson, and Sister Yamane.

 Since we learned about the Plan of Salvation on Friday, I drew up my own diagram of it in Cantonese! I hope it will help me continue to learn the terms. I'd like to add characters to it in the future!