How to say "ugly" in Chinese!

Ni hao!

Well, it is week six. We've been focusing on Chinese a lot, because we're teaching the lessons this Saturday in the trc. My Chinese has come a long way. I finally feel like I have the grammar down, which is huge, and now I just have to continue feeling that grammar with vocabulary.

Chinese is so much better then English and it’s so AWESOME. Mostly, every word has two syllables, and each syllable has kind of its own meaning. The word UGLY for example. Ugly is made up of two syllables, "nan" with a second tone, and "kan" with a 4th tone. Nan, meaning difficult, and Kan, meaning to see or to read, or to look at. Therefore, when you put the two syllables together, you have "nankan" which translates to “difficult to look at or ugly”. Hahaha.

Each syllable has one full character to go with it, so each word will have two characters, but lucky for me I don't have to memorize all of the characters just yet.

I've got a lot of the grammar down, which was difficult because it is a lot different in English. Right now I am focusing on vocab, choosing words that I will use while I'm in the field. It’s difficult to memorize, sometimes, because it seems like every word starts with x or sh or ch or q. Anyway, they all have similar sounds, so the best way to memorize them is by actually using them in a sentence.

On top of memorizing the word, you need to memorize the tone. That isn't quite as difficult as I thought. I feel like I've got kind of a gift with the tones. I try to overemphasize them as I speak so that I can have better/clearer tones when I speak more fluently. So yeah, Chinese is awesome. It’s a lot of fun to throw in some American slang when speaking Chinese, hahaha, mostly because they have different meanings, kinda, so our teachers find it really funny.

Mom and Dad, do you remember when the Larkins were telling us about two red headed missionaries that they teamed together while they were serving in Taichung? Well, one of those red headed companions is probably my teacher, Brother Dean, or di laoshi. He is SO AWESOME. I thought it was cool when I put that connection together, that he had the Larkins as mission president. And he was a great missionary like they had been talking about. He was thrilled to know that I know the Larkins

To answer your question about devotionals and firesides. I love them. My district tries to get there early so we can get great seats. Usually, I sit right next to the sound guy in front of the speaker. I also am in the MTC choir, though I only go on Tuesdays. That’s the performance day. I use the Sunday practices to study the scriptures. I did go to a Sunday practice however, and I ran into Brother EGGET, my old seminary teacher, the 1st one I had at Mountain View HS. He was thrilled to see me and I was thrilled to see him. It turns out that he is the leader of the MTC choir during the Sunday practices. He was so thrilled to see me that he had me say the opening prayer for the practice. I asked him, Chinese or English? And he said, please....... English. hahaha.

I see TJ all the time which is AWESOME. (TJ is one of Jonathan’s best friends who entered the MTC last Wednesday, Feb. 6th, he is going to Boston) I see him at each meal. I think that he is going to adopt my scripture marking system just like everyone else has, hahaha. Joel was the main influence for the system I've constructed and it’s been very helpful to me.

The older district leaves for Taiwan today, which means that the younger districts will be coming in and we will take the place of the older district. That is so CRAZY! Time has flown by. The days are long but the weeks fly by.

I'm bummed to hear about the economy and I will pray for Joe and Greg and their families. (Silver State Helicopter school declared bankruptcy, leaving the students with huge debts, no classes and laying off the instructor pilots. Joe recently completed his contract, but had just one more flight to pass off, which he will have to do with another school, so he is luckier than most. His brother, Greg, was an instructor in Atlanta and is now looking for a new job).

I miss the kids. Send pictures, and I will send some in return. I've lost 10 pounds and since I never see the sun, I've turned ghostly, but that’s alright, hahaha. I'll get plenty of heat in Taiwan. I love working with these elders. I love being a missionary. I love Jesus. I love and miss you...



Your (favorite?) child,

Elder Daniels