Shanghai Part 2

First, I want to start by asking everyone that is reading this blog to leave a comment so I know who is reading.  I am doing this for two reasons, first to make sure my parents are reading this blog and second to know which experiences experiences I should focus on to be the most interesting to my readers.  If you could do that it would be much appreciated.

 

So Sunday I got up at 8:30 AM to make sure that I would have time prepare for our 10:00 AM meeting.  Well as I was in the shower I hear Trevor call out, don’t we have a priesthood meeting at 8:30 AM?  As soon as he said this I realized that he was right, but by the time I was done getting ready we had already missed the meeting.  It was really annoying because I wanted to go, and I only missed because I forgot it.  It made me sad.

After the main session of conference there was a YSA lunch and fireside.  The lunch was completely uneventful, but I really liked the fireside.  It was Elder Pratt and his wife talk about how their courtship progressed.  Let me tell you it was certainly not an easy process and it gave me hope that the crazy story of my life would also have a happy ending

Surprisingly when I got back to Nanjing that night I was super excited to be home.  Being in Shanghai was wonderful, but being at my home was even more wonderful.  If anything being in China will make it so that I cherish home back in Utah even more when I return.  In other good news I heard back from my old manager at Microsoft who is currently working in China.  He was able to put me directly into the interview queue for MS interns in China.  Hopefully this should help me get a job even easier.

 

On Monday we had a real spirited discussion about 新疆.  It could have been really good but unfortunately half the class were stereotypical Americans.  What this means is that they think that the only valid way to think of issues is the ways that people in the US think of issues.  They cannot accept that other people could have different opinions and values in relation to an issue.  I fear that talking about more sensitive topics in my classes will not be good.

In the afternoon I continued talking my computer science classes.  They are still going really well.  The class is pretty slow, but that is the case in America too, so nothing really new.  I guess there is less talking overall, but that is nice so that the class doesn’t have to hear the know-it-all's that like to attend CS classes.

 

On Tuesday I tried to go another CS class just to get there and see that everyone had books for learning Russian.  I guess I could learn Russian here if I wanted, but that isn't really my goal at the moment.  I called up the department just to find out that they had changed the class time and location.  Ah, Chinese college, changing every time your not looking.  Instead of going to that class I headed to the abstract algebra class I was considering taking.  Bad, bad idea.  The class blew my mind.  I had already missed 5-9 class periods so I was jumping in the middle of the class.  That would be crazy hard in the US, and it certainly didn’t help that I didn’t know so much of the vocabulary.  I do think that it is true that with the book I could take the class and get a good grade, but I just don’t feel like it would be the best option for me at the moment.

For dinner that night I went with 6 other people to a good Chinese restaurant.  We ended up getting 8 different family style dishes.  It was heavenly, all the food tasted so wonderful and I was stuffed by the end.  It was also great that it came out to be only about 2.25 USD for each of us.  You can get amazing food for dirt cheap if you know where to look.

 

Wednesday was the first part of my 5 day weekend thanks to 中秋节 (Mid-Autumn Festival).  I actually didn’t like having so much time off.  I don’t know how to use that much free time so I end up wasting too much of it.  In the afternoon I did get to go with several friends and enjoy an afternoon of karaoke.  I have to admit, I have fallen in love with karaoke, I am so happy whenever I am singing, and the songs have such beautiful messages.

At night we went to one of the married couple’s houses to celebrate their son’s first birthday.  Like always it was good to spend time with my other flagship shipmates.

 

Thursday was a day of mostly wasted time.  I did go get steak with Trevor and Jonathan.  At night I watched the movie 《南京！南京！》.  It is about the massacres and rapes that happened when Japan took Nanjing during WW2.  I am not going to lie, the movie did a number on me.  It was just horrible to see the things that people were doing to one another.  It was just like what Moroni described the Nephites doing at the end of their civilization.  It was just disgusting.

 

I don’t know if it was because of this movie or something else, but I did not sleep well at all.  I woke up exhausted, but I needed to get up and do things.  In the morning I watched a second film about Nanjing.  After watching both films in such short time, I have to admit that I was emotionally and spiritually drained.  I had to have an hour and half of gospel study to even function that day.  It was just so sad.

In the afternoon I tried to go and return my cell phone.  It hasn’t been working very well.  Well to make a very long story they were completely unhelpful.  I ended up speaking with one of the managers at the Wal-Mart and they were also also unhelpful.  In China if you want to get something returned you have to pretty harsh in how you talk pretty harsh to get any results, and since I hate criticizing or acting angry it was a very stressful process for me.

I ended up going to a Lenovo repair shop where they basically replaced the phone for free.  It wasn’t the solution I was looking for,b but it was better than nothing.  The day had some other stressful things that happened which made me completely lose my apatite, which wasn’t very good because I hadn’t eaten much the preceding day and half.  I almost collapsed in my home that night, but luckily I had bought some bananas and I was able to eat those.  I really hope that it was just stress and that I am not getting sick.

 

When I woke up today I was feeling a lot better, but the rest of today will have to wait for next week.  As for the spiritual portion of my blog, my thoughts this week have mainly revolved around one poem that I read in one of President Monson’s talks.

 

And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year:

“Give me a light, that I may tread safely into the unknown!”

And he replied:

“Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God.

That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way”

(In Masterpieces of Religious Verse, ed. James Dalton Morrison, New York: Harper and Brothers, 1948, p. 92.)

 

Reading the poem made me realize that up to this point I have been willing to walk on the dark road because I hoped that at some point I would be able to see the path.  I love to walk by sight.  What this poem made me realize that walking by sight is still not as sure as walking with the Lord in the dark.  I realize that in my life I should not just endure the dark roads in life, but rather that I should learn to love them.  When we walk the dark roads of life we know that the Savior is our guide.  What more could we ever want.

I was also listening to the song “Bless the Broken Road”.  One of the longs in this song says “… God blessed the broken road, that lead me straight to you.”  I would like to say that this applies to more than being lead to any one person.  In fact this describes many moments in our lives.  Often as we walk on the roads of life we feel that we are walking on a broken road, but when we reach our destination we turn around and see that the Lord has lead us on the road that lead us directly to where we were going.  This is but another one of the paradoxes of a gospel full of them, and isn’t it wonderful

I bear my testimony that I know that Christ lives.  That through the power of the atonement all of our wounds, both emotional and spiritual, can be healed.  I testify that the power of the atonement is great enough to make any ones life successful.  If we will but turn to the Lord he will lead us down the road that he has prepared for us to return to the Father.