Justin letter - week of 11/02/08
Dear family,
Let’s go through your letters…
The leaves are turning here as well, but they all drop instead of looking pretty for weeks. We just got some more snow. Timpanogos is beautiful.
So, here’s the story: I’m allergic to something in both the mattress and the floor, probably the cleaner, and it was bad enough that I wouldn’t actually be able to sleep. Now, I can’t just stay up all night or just tough it through (waking up because you can’t breathe due to infected phlegm blocking your bronchioles just isn’t worth it): so I slept on the only thing big enough that had neither mattress or carpet: on top of the wardrobe. Now, it wasn’t very comfy. The blankets tended to fall off, it made my back hurt, and there was always the chance that I’d roll over, fall off and snap my neck, but at least I could sleep. Still I wasn’t happy about not having a mattress. So I talked to a doctor – told him that I was probably allergic to the cleaner and might have a sinus infection. He says: be quiet, I’m the doctor. Then says, you’re probably allergic to the cleaner, so he gives me some allergy meds and a mattress cover. They work great. For a week. Then the cover, which is designed to keep in mites, not chemicals, gets saturated in whatever I was allergic to anyway, and it starts over again. So I go to the med clinic again. Talk to the doctor. He tells me that I’m probably allergic to the cleaner and might have a sinus infection… (*sigh*) So he gives me some antibiotics and tells me to change my sheets. I had the day before. I tell him that the meds aren’t solving my problem… I still need to sleep.
So I get a pass and get to go to Shopko. It was exciting! Not really, though. Bunches of mothers kept waving to us. Some Marine recruits ran past and said “ ‘sup Elders?” and I got a $10 mattress and a $14 CD player. And we ALMOST went to Café Rio. So close, so close… But we ran out of time. I was gravely disappointed. Oh well. Now I least I can listen to some MoTab.
We’ve had Richard G. Scott and L. Tom Perry come by. I quite liked Elder Scott… He started playing with a Wacom tablet on the pulpit. And I got to shake his hand… He shook each of our hands. I was surprised…but then again this IS the MTC, and he did have security guards with guns.
A typical day? Up at 6:15am. Go to personal study in the class. Try not to fall asleep. Eat breakfast (for me that is granola and fruit…not much else to eat that’s healthy). Go to gym right afterwards where I play 4-square, volleyball, run or lift. Soccer on Saturdays. Then we have MDT (Missionary Directed Time) where we go off and do whatever studying we need to – the language, going through the lessons, companion study, going to the TRC or TEC and teaching. Then lunch (which for me means salad and soup, maybe a wrap). Then class, where we go over the language, over gospel principles, the lessons, etc.. all in Spanish now, until dinner (which for me means salad, soup, maybe a wrap and some fries or rice) then class until 9pm, planning, then some guys on our floor run (I go with them), get back and write in your journal, ,read scriptures, chat if you have time… yeah… They’re busy. And P-day means three things: Temple, letters and laundry. Sundays are good. We don’t ever have much time. Ever.
Right now, my favorite scripture is John 14:26-27.
In answer to your question, what I think is that the Lord cares about our Agency more than our salvation… no, that’s not right – he allows us to make full use of our agency *so* we can attain salvation. It couldn’t work any other way. He allows people to fail, always gives you another chance, but will give us the option to chose and will not force us. Agency is ‘more important’ than salvation. In regards to child raising… for me, there came an age, (about 16) when I generally wanted to do the right thing – not all the time, but more of the time than less – but I was always forced to do the absolutely correct thing more often than not, which meant that not only did I never learn for myself, I just became bitter about being told what to do. It was really counter-productive for me. People are stupid, and we don’t learn by being told what to do. We learn by making mistakes, being hurt and changing our behavior or nature. We always say that no matter how badly we sin, not only can we come back, but it is ultimately for our good. Why should growing up be much different? The Atonement covers that as well.
Of course I like going to the temple. I think sealings are my favorite.
Anyway, I have laundry.
Mucho amor,
Elder J.H. Chang
Justin's last pre-mission painting -
-or Ode to Seattle.
Justin' letter - week of 10/28/08
Dear family,
I’ll try and write down a few of the things that happened… they aren’t so much single events as a series of things which culminated at a certain point of time. That’ll be later, though.
Sleep is better… I’m actually sleeping on a mattress. Gym isn’t so much a good workout… just fun. I usually run a bit and then play volleyball and some 4-square.
So, I’m going to tell you a little about my companions:
Elder La Corsen: Tall, German Elder, lived in Germany, California and a few other places, including Spain. Good guy, but very much stubborn and almost anti-social. He was expedited into the field for chronic back pain… apparently he was fine walking but had trouble sitting all day. He’s engaged… and really nearly obsessed about his fiancé. But, if they love each other, all the more power to him.
Elder Sifuentes: Latino kid, lived in Redmond and went to the Bothell Stake, which means that we probably saw each other at dances, though neither of us remember that. He’s also going to SLCS-SS. Great guy… Pretty much ideal missionary. I am privileged to be his companion.
Elder Tracey: Computer nerd from California. Very prominent ears, dirty blond, semi-curly hair. We get along… he always has stories of all these weird things he’s done, since he lived in Cali.. and wasn’t always a good Mormon. His heart is in the right place, though.
Elder Larsen: taller Elder with red-blonde straight hair. Has some Nordish blood in his veins and looks like a leprechaun with a beard. Likes to sing. Listens to a lot of weird music. Kind of awkward, but really funny guy. Lived in Finland, Portugal, Malta and here in the US.
Elder Goodman: Large Elder with cropped hair. Drama nerd and singer. Done a whole bunch of musical theater in school. Very sarcastic, very smart and good at Spanish. Oh, and he can rave-dance (pop). It’s pretty sweet. From Cali, Orange County.
Elder Spradlin: Red blooded American boy from Oregon. The most “normal” of the lot. Likes sports, girls, and such things. About my height. Blond curly hair.
Elder Goodwin: Larger Elder with short cropped hair and glasses. Had shoulder length hair before he came… Listens to metal, especially power metal. He’s the district leader… Does the job well. Takes things WAY too seriously.
Elder Cloud: Dark haired Utah boy. Lived up and down the valley and indisputably the weirdo of the district. Doesn’t take *anything* seriously (he’s Goodwin’s companion). Spins crazy stories on the fly, writes them in his journal. Calls me a half Asian Robot ninja, and is also pretty obsessed with his girl. They’ve been together for 4 years, in a typical over-the-top Utah relationship. At one point he’d commute 2 hours each Saturday to see her, and 45 minutes to his school. Did the whole pre-made-packages –to-be-delivered-at-regular-intervals, which include pictures, letters, DVDs, clothes,…yeah… Oh, and he’s a wanna-be hacker. We get along well.
As for spiritual experiences, I’d say the most powerful thing has been teaching by the Spirit. It is such a wonderful feeling, having your mouth just be filled with what you say and the Holy Ghost *bam*! Right there to testify of what you say. When I’m there teaching, there’s nothing I’d rather do. It’s just the other 97% of the day that I need to stay focused.
All of the devotionals are great. I love singing in the choir. I got to shake Richard A. Scott’s hand (that was cool )… there really has been a lot. But it’s more of just the general environment than anything else… here where I’m free of distraction and can have the Spirit always there.
One example: “The realization came to me one day that, because everyone I will teach is a spirit child of God, and I knew them each personally, by name, in heaven. And I will again in the next, and how could I say to one of them that I could have shared the Gospel with them, but was tired, or frightened or any other excuse.
Also, Agency is more important than our salvation.
Almost out of page. Much love. Send letters.
Elder J.H. Chang
Justin's general letter 10/17/08
(Here is a general letter Justin wrote to his friend Jakub addressing a number of his friends. I'm posting it in lieu of the letter I got today which mostly answered a few specific questions regarding 'home administrative details'. And was kind of crabby).
"So many questions, so much to explain. I will make my best attempt to satisfy them. Yet you must realize that I am under a rather strict time restraint, only being able to enscribe these letters on Tuesdays, and the impossibility of fully imparting my experiences here to you on paper. Nevertheless, I will do the best I can, and will do so in ENglish to avoid any possible misunderstandings.
Concerning companions, you have heard truthful, as well as with physical fitness, and "spiritual rocking." As you may have heard, it is necessary to always be within eyesight + earshot of your companions, 24/7, with the exception of the restroom. Currently I have two companions, due to an odd number of missionaries in my district. Actually, it's rather frustrating betimes...I have always been more of a solitary person + would greatly appreciate some amount of alone time, but alas, it is not so. Oh well, I'll get over it. We have gym time every day, with the exception of Sundays and "P-day," which is preparation day where such things as laundry, letter writing and checking emails and visiting the temple takes place.
This "spiritual rocking" is quite an accurate description; since my arrival, I have been awash in an environment of song, scripture, sacrament + testimony, where nigh everything everything is related to, explained by + done for the Gospel of Christ. There is no way I could dictate to you how it feels, but suffice it to say that I walk on consecrated + holy ground.
As for the Spanish, it is much, much better. Better than it ever was in school. We have young men who come here barely knowing how to count to ten in Spanish, who after 9 weeks can carry on a conversation. If you don't believe me, see the CIA report on our language study program. They tried to diplicate it. They failed. As for me, I can now talk more or less fluently, though slowly.
Our schedule is set, though it includes copious chunks of times for personal study, several hours a day in which we may choose what we will do. We have two teachers, who teach us whatever we need to know.
Music...classical + Church music. I miss my music. You have NO IDEA how badly I've been craving Pink Floyd...Elton John...Enigma. Yeah.
Y español...ahora, puedo hablar ¡ escribir en español bien, o por lo menos suficiente a comunicar que quiero decir. Pero, lamentablamente, no tengo en dominión de la idioma, entonces no puedo a usarlo con la "fluifity" (no tengo mi diccionario conmigo) que quería. Pues, está bien.
Mucho Amen,
Elder J.H. Chang
Justin's MTC Address -
Just a reminder:
Elder Justin Hyun-Ho Chang,
MTC Mailbox #92
UT-SLCS 1201
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604-1793
And remember that www.DearElder.com is a terrific service for delivering mail to the MTC almost as easily and quickly as email. It just takes a minute to sign up, *free* to the MTC, and delivers in under 24 hours of sending.
This is my mission email:
(hyunhochang@myldsmail.net) which I can check once a week on p-day for half an hour (so Dear Elder is still the best option).
Just so you know. It's pretty hot an stuffy down here, but at least it isn't dry. The lack of water has done WONDERS for my voice, let me tell you. And speaking of which, there was an elder at a musical fireside with a BEAUTIFUL voice... I was quite jealous.
Anyways, Lindsay and Amanda, I'm not really supposed to be talking to you, but I need you to tell people to give me their adresses, so I can mail them. Actually, tell them (george and tom and who ever else would like letters) to mail ME, then I'll mail them back. And could you find Laura's address for me, Lindsay? Amanda, why are you driving my car? :p
And Mom, stop crying. I know you are. Stop it. This is a happy thing, remember? Just go walk Jack or throw his ball when you're missing me. And get someone besides dad to help you with your laptop.
Write me (the more the better), and send me pictures.
Love,Elder J.H. Chang
Day 4 - General Conference
Spanish is getting better... My brain tends to check out by day's end, but I'm actually speaking without too much difficulty. I'm good at rules, just not conjugation. And my companion lived in Spain for a year. *And* there are bunches of native speakers, so my Spanish pretty much fails.
The food is bad. It's not good for my digestion.
And I don't want to be here for the whole 9 weeks... Don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying myself here, but I want to go out and *teach*. Not sit around in classes.
And sleep is a little difficult. I'll get over it.
Love,
Elder J.H. Chang
First Day of MTC
First of all, I have some instructions. According to my teachers you should refer to me as "Dear Elder...." for mission reasons. Second, forward all letters, no EMAIL all letters to
www.DearElder.com. It's free and I should get it within 24 hours. So, that should be better. But you *must* send me pictures.
So, a few tings about day 1. First, I have two companions. It's weird. One of them is quite nice (Elder Larsen, actually). The other is a rocker-gamer nerd. He's...fine. Just one of those "sweet spirit" people. Second, I'm in intermediate Spanish, but I'm still estimated to be here for 9 weeks. I don't think I'll be here for all 9, but I could easily be wrong.
Classes have been good. I've already memorized where everything is. My companions things I'm crazy.
Ummmm... what else? The clock outside is off by about 2 hours and 13 minutes. It wasn't very cool before I realized it was off.
Day 2: I didn't have time to finish this during day 1. They keep us busy.
I have a singel companion now. We got a German kid who moved up from beginner Spanish, so we're not tripoding anymore.
Spanish is coming back a lot better than I thought it would. I wish I could have done this well when I was taking the classes... at Cascadia, that is.
I'll be fine. It looks like I'm doing very well, all things considered. Just pray for me and send me pictures.
Much love,
Elder J.H. Chang
Oh,
And here's
Bobby McFerrin .
Before I go
I shold probably post something, yes?
So, I'm just a month before I go now. It's starting to really freak me out. Don't get me wrong, I'm quite looking forward to my mission (even if it is in Salt Lake :P), but the whole serving-the-lord-with-all-thine-heart-life-chaning-experience thing is a little daunting. But it'll be good for me.
I did some 'landscaping' for my mother today, namely going to a little hill, taking on the grass, making the hill go away, putting the grass back on and putting four stone slabs down for a rainbarrel. I was really proud of myself... the slabs were level enough to be flush with each other, the grass fit back in nicely... and then my mom tells me I put them in the wrong place. Thanks mom!
Education week was quite good. I took a good amount of "hard doctrine" classes (like "The Docturnal Significance of Missouri for the Early Saints" and "The Law of Consceration: Past, Present and Future) and not quite as many "fun" classes ("Reaching the Gospel through Humor," "Discovering Classical Music," or "As much money as you will ever need: millionare descisions"), but I still managed to enjoy myself. To be honest, I'd rather be learning a lot than just be entertained... I can watch some youtube vidoes or read a book for that.
There was a lot of interesting thoughts about the last days in several of the classes I went to. Speculations as to what some of the imagery means, what the whole "1/3 part of everything being destroyed" really meant, who the four horsemen are... but they all agreed on one thing; that loser John should have done us all a favor and put the book in chronological order. As it is, we go from the first 6 angels, to the millenium, then back to more angels smiting things, then to the celestial Earth, then to Satan being bound, and we're still not sure if Christ comes before it or not. There was one thing he really delivered on, though; heaven. Gave us all the specs... according to him, it's going to be about 3.7 billion cubic miles big, or a little smaller than Mars. If nothing else, we probably won't have a crowding problem.
And, as usual, I'm stoking my music obsession. Speaking of which, my music is going to be a really hard thing to leave behind on my mission, I think. I'll be able to do it, I just might not be very happy about it. Anyways, some interesting finds:
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Mongolian throat singing. That high pitch whine is his voice. What they do is create different shapes in their mouth and the sound resonates, creating overtones over their voice. This guy is also "lung singing," where the neck relaxes and the vibrations travel down below the actual vocal chords, allowing him to sing with himself. Yeah.
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If anyone has yet to see it, there is always this gem. Ask Jeff about it.
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What else... I recently have taken quite a liking to a British band named Muse. Quite talented people, though a lot of their music is quite angry. Here's my favorite song of theirs.
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And if anyone likes jazz-blues, here's some Ray Charles and Count Basie.
Enjoy
So... an update
Well, I graduated. It's nice... I pretty much hated High School. I mean, I just spent the past two years trying to not be in it. It was fun... some times, but not worth it, in my opinion. I don't know how it was for everyone else, but it seemed like a giant day care more than anything else to me. Everyone misbehaves because they can, all the teachers and staff try to keep them in line as much, if not more, than actually teaching, and half of the time they still insist on holding your hand, so to speak. That and the sex, drugs, HORRID social atmosphere, and everything else just didn't really do it for me. Oh, and bad music. Lots of bad music, especially at Prom. The cheerleaders got to pick the entire music list, and it was nearly all club and rap, with a little dance or hip-hip thrown in, but that was rare. It was to the point where I regretting buying the ticket... we should have just found a swing dance and gone there.
I also graduated from Cascadia, and will be getting my associates some time this summer (I never actually APPLIED for a degree... so I went to a councelor and had him do the paperwork. He seemed suprised that I had all the classes done). And that degree does in fact fulfill most general education requirements at a majority of the colleges in the country (take that Kirk!), so I'll be able to get my BA in two years after I come back from my mission.
I'm at two jobs right now. One with CutCo, who makes AMAZING knives. They really are the best knives I've ever used, and I play with knives a lot... so if any of you need some cutlery... :P
I'm also training at a dance studio right now to be an instructor. It's a traditional studio, so we're doing ballroom and latin dance, though our manager (a former U.S. Champ) knows just about anything besides Hip-Hop and break dance. It's been a blast so far.
And catching up on sleep isn't much fun, I've found. The adrenaline from school has ran out and... I'm tired. But it's a good kind of tired, I guess, as opposed to the "I want to lay down and die RIGHT now" kind. I got that a lot from Seminary.
Oh, and I'm going to be hiking a lot this summer! I'm excited.
One find: Robbin Williams and Bobby McFerrin singing the beatles... check it out
http://youtube.com/watch?v=agEc1kmDOf4
Has shown evidence that prozac and other antidepressants are often NO better than a placebo and only consistantly show better results in cases of severe depression. Alternative methods, like therapy or exercise, can yield better results and don't have the whole mind-altering factor. Here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23348068/wid/11915773?GT1=10914
Yeah...
Oh, on a side not, I took a self-esteem test a few days ago.... a questionare that rates various dimensions of self worth. I'll post mine (my average was 20%)
I'd just post the word doc I put it in, but I can't seem to find where to attach a file...
I'm posting again
So, I actually cleaned my room today. I was very proud of myself... I go though an odd cycle of room messy-ness. I HATE having a messy room, but I'm so scatterbrained and often busy that things tend to pile up, where they stay until my room reaches critical disorganization and I can't stand it any more. Then it gets cleaned... so the cycle continues. Unfortunately, it seems to be messy much more than it is clean, for some odd reason.
Still wrestling... it turns out that I don't have any cracked ribs, my I have some tissue damage in my sternum. Basically, I have a shin-splint on my chest, where the cartilage is being pulled off my ribs. And it might have gotten craked at one point. Fun fun. And Friday I got to wrestle someone two weight classes above me; I didn't last to long. On a side not, I'm not almost 140 pounds, which is the biggest I've EVER been. It's kind of strange.
So, I found some more dumb videos in cyberspace. Enjoy
To start things off, we have a stand up routine:
Some crazy robot dancing... wait for the kid in the orange shirt:
And some guy dancing to techno. This kind of dance is called Liquid:
And this is what liquid-dynamic engineers do in their spare time:
January Update
So... what has happened recently...
I'm doing college apps. I'm only applying to BYU right now; I don't want to go anywhere else for my undergrad, not sure where I want to go for my post-grad at this point.
Still doing wrestling... I've now been pinned three times. But then again, I'm going up against people who have been wrestling for 6+ years, gone to summer camp, etc, and I've onlt really wrestled for two. So I don't feel too bad about it. I might have a craked Sternum, though. I'm seing a doctor about it tomorrow.
This quarter I have Spanish 202, Macroeconomics, and Media in US society. They're all fun, and not very hard, so this should be a good quarter. Especially the Media class; it's ended up being a lot more interesting than I thought it would be.
Other than that... not too much has happened.
