No subject

my keyboard is sticking so i apologize now for TERRIBLE grammar, spelling, puntuation. blech.

 

This week went by quickly-- as does every other week. I'd say one of the most exciting parts about my week was finding out that my recent convert just finished reading the Book of mormon for the first time. That is so great. She's so great. I've noticed that about missionary work-- the people who are willing to read the Book of mormon are the people who ultimately are better off and progress more. It's a great book.

 

This week we also found out that they are changing the boundaries of our area. So in all other parts of the world missionaries have an area and there is only one companionship (whether male or female) that cover that area. Out here it has been different though-- we usually have two sets of missionaries covering a larger area-- so we only teach females and the elders teach males. Well for a multitude of reasons they are changing it here so that we have smaller areas and there is only one companionship per area. So they have to split Nankan between us and the elders. It seems exciting right?? Until you find out that the new boundary means that you have to give 18 investigators to the other companionship including 3 families that you absolutely adore leaving you with only a handful of people that you have taught in the past but haven't been in touch with recently. Yep-- that's what we found out this week. It's not official yet-- but pretty likely. My heart hurts. Teaching someone the gospel and watching them change and discover God in their life is a beautiful/rewarding experience-- especially when your prayers and faith went into finding them. It's gonna be a painful transition for sure. I've been here in Nankan (opening the area) for just over a transfer-- and now we have to basically restart. I'll be real-- the thought of not teaching the G family is devastating. My companion and I cried a big cry. We'll find out everything for sure the end of this week.

 

There is also a sweet lady out here that I've learned a lot from recently. Her name is L M. We met her our first week out here just wandering. We taught her a lesson and then never saw her again. She wouldn't give us her address or phone number. Then we ran into her last week again and gave her a Book of Mormon. She told us she had been praying. She was willing to meet with us again the next day-- but still didn't give us her address or phone number. She didn't show up the next day. So then just the other day we made plans to go to a park to find-- just jokingly I said "heck-- let's find LM!" When we got to the park... SHE WAS SITTING ON A BENCH. We taught her the Plan of Salvation. She said the book we gave her was really good and she reads it every night. She accepted the baptismal invite and said we could meet with her the next day-- but still no phone number or address. We met with her the next day and taught her the gospel of Jesus Christ. We arranged for her to come to church the next day with a member. She didn't show up. We don't have a phone number or address still-- but we took a picture of her that we'll attach to her record so people can always be on the look out for LM. I just love that little old woman. I know that God loves her too. After the boundary change she won't live in our area anymore.

 

That's really all there is about this week. We've just been working hard and talking to everyone. Maybe I don't tell you all about my experiences out here. Just know that we are busy all the time and spend most of our time finding because we don't have many scheduled lessons each day. It's tough but we get by. Sister Bang is a great companion.

We'll see what the future holds!

xo 

ps. Braeden and Garrett-- go read mosiah 2:41.. and be obedient (:

A little out of order!

Today is the official start of my NINTH transfer. Crazy crazy. You'll be excited to hear that I'm still in the peach garden (Tao Yuan). This is my 4th transfer in this area and I'm officially grandma Tao Yuan (according to my companion) because I have been in this zone the longest. I love it hear though and I'd be happy to be here for the rest of my mission. It's a happy place. And it would have broken my heart to leave.

I'm still companions with Sister Bang (such a blessing-- i'm obsessed with her). We work hard together. We see a lot of miracles together and we are growing together.

I want to tell you about this family that we are teaching. I think I've mentioned them before. Our first week in this area, we were pretty much lost the whole time so we picked a place on the map and decided to knock some doors. Well the area we went to only had 6 doors. NOOOOO! So we knocked them and met this beautiful family. We've been over 4 times now and last night we finally really started with the teaching of the lessons. They are great-- a lot of questions, but they would like to come to church and they are really sincere about learning anything that they feel can bless their two daughters. I absolutely adore them. We took a member and her 8 year old son over with us last night. The lesson was interesting and didn't go as planned. Our lessons with them never have gone according to plan. They are very religious people and sincere about the Chinese cultural tradition of anscestor worship. Honestly-- I'm not qualified to teach them at all. But God is. He works through me and my companion (two pretty typical young American college students who struggle to articulate ourselves in Chinese) to bless this family. He knows them. And He loves them. I love them too.

After the lesson, the member gave us the world's greatest compliment. She said that Sister Bang and I teach in really good unity. I thought I could cry-- that was the sweetest compliment and I feel like if a member told us (especially because she went on a mission before) then it must be true. I LOVE THESE PEOPLE.

Also speaking Chinese is a super big miracle. I still feel like I'm learning new Chinese daily and improving and my speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills. It's such a blessing.

We saw some really great tender mercies this week, but since I didn't write down what they were earlier-- I can only think of a coupld off the top of my head. Actually only one...

So most of you know that I love dogs--- but in Taiwan I do NOT love dogs... and they do NOT love me. Well there is only one path that I know to get to church (it's about a 20ish minute bike ride) and there is a big dog that we have to bike by everytime. He often is no where to be found, but when he is there he likes to bark at us and sometimes looks like he'll charge. Well yesterday on our way to church we got to that part of our trip and I watched this dog with another dog (they were obviously in cahoots) chase after a slow moving scooter. I stopped and called to Sister Bang that there was no way I was going over there. I even turned around and told her that we'd find a new way to church. Sister Bang just told me if we went really fast then it'd be fine. No. I refuse. But in reality we didn't have a choice-- we needed to go to church. Just before we headed into the death trap I said a little prayer in my heart that I would be okay-- then just as I did that a 13 year old recent convert biked up, and with out even thinking twice kept going. We biked with him through the death trap. So I guess to ya'll it may not seem that amazing-- but I know God listened to my prayer and he sent me a worthy Aaronic priesthood holder to ease my fears. We biked through and the dogs barked, but the one who usually chases people didn't come out. To me it just reminds me that God listens to EVERY prayer and that he will-- through small and simple things, work miracles in the lives of His children. 

The new year was exciting too. We were on exchanges so I was with Sister George. She's a really good missionary and friend.

Two last things because my keyboard sticks and is super annoying.

1 Kings 19:11-12

God doesn't work by shaking us or sending big miracles all the time-- He is found in stillness. Pay attention to the still moments. Cherish them. Learn from them.

Baby, it's cold!

This week was good. I still love my companion. I guess mom was saying that ya'll still don't know much about Sister Bang. We've been together for about 2 months now. She's great. She's 19 and her family lives in Texas. Her dad's family is Korean and they joined the church and then moved to America. Her mom and dad met at BYU. And thus we now have a family almost identical to ours with 2 sisters and 2 brothers and 1 dog. They've moved a lot because of her dad's work. Sister Bang loves to eat spicy food and red bean soup. I do too-- so we make a good combination. I'll make you all red bean soup when I get home-- it's sweet. And delicious. She wants to be a doctor and she's super accomplished. Other than that we're super similar. She's just 189350928x cooler than I am.

Recently we haven't had electricity in our apartment so I had to call our land lord, our real estate agent, and an electrician to get things worked out. Needless to say-- talking on the phone to someone about Jesus and about electricity are two very different things. Eventually we got it fixed though.

However-- we got it fixed just to open the door to a new problem-- our hot water heater is broken. And so I've had to make a bunch of phone calls again-- and there are a lot of "fixer" people in the world who do not like talking to me on the phone. Not because I'm mean-- but because I speak Chinese like a 5 year old. I can only imagine how frustrating that would be. And you guessed it-- we haven't had warm water to shower in for 4 days. Add that to the fact that heaters don't exist here-- we've been very cold. We have someone coming this afternoon to fix our water. And Sister Bang and I finally got cold enough that last night we called President Day and asked if we could sleepover at the other sisters apartment in order to take warm showers this morning. It was a much appreciated sleepover. Our apartment is just 64 degrees everyday-- but it sounds like ya'll are a lot colder than me in Virginia. So I'm just gonna count my blessings. Blessing one: a blanket (:

Also this week I got a letter that we commonly refer to as "death papers." Yes-- that's the letter that asks about me going home. May 10th. Eek. JUST IN TIME FOR MOM'S BIRTHDAY! That'll be a fun time. 

There is an article on Deseret News about an outdoor baptism they did here. It was in my ward! I was before I moved to this ward-- but still cool because I know the people in the article. It's called "Weldon Kitchen and the Baptismal waters of Taiwan's WuLai Canyon." You can go look it up.

By way of work here in Nankan-- things are still going. Because of Chinese new year coming up-- it's been hard to find new investigators. We find people who are willing to me after the new year. So even though they aren't new investigators yet-- we've found a lot of people who have good potential to accept the gospel. Also a lot of the people we're teaching the gospel to right now have said we need to wait until after the new year to meet with them. It's tough because we aren't seeing them often-- but things will work out.

One cool coincidence (or rather something aligned by God) happened this week though. We were heading to visit an investigator with the Young Women's president and we ran into the mother of the family we are teaching. She was in her car and saw us and called us over. We introduced the two of them and explained that when her family comes to church, her daughter will meet this lady and spend time with the other young women. She seemed really excited about that. We have a goal for them to come to church next Sunday.

Another really cool thing. I was calling members one evening on our home phone. After I called everyone I needed to call I called a couple numbers of people who had met with missionaries a long time ago. No one answered but after we planned that evening (and thus after I had forgotten everyone I called) a lady called us. I answered. She seemed really confused-- and I was too because she called me. At first she was really reluctant to tell me her name or talk to me. I explained that I was a missionary. She said she's seen missionaries biking before but has never actually talked to them (which added to my confusion because I hadn't called anyone who doesn't know who missionaries are). We got to talking and she explained that she's prayed before and had Christian friends, but she has her own religion. She also explained that she really likes hymns and being around Christians or in Christian churches because they make you feel warm inside. After some more talking I asked if she wanted to come to our chapel and meet us to do a chapel tour. She was really interested in meeting. She was a really nice lady and we're meeting with her next Tuesday evening. I'm really excited for that because I know she'll be able to feel the spirit at the church. Also-- I don't believe it's coincidence that I talked to her on the phone that evening. It's cool to see how God's hand is in His work. Well that night when I was saying my prayers I had the thought to look in the pile of previous investigators that I had called. It turns out that this number belonged to a woman that had met with missionaries in 2004-- and the lady I talked to was probably her sister. Cool, huh?

Anyway-- we keep praying for these people. I know that the Lord loves them. He loves all of his Children.

Lastly I want to share with you a talk I read this morning. I remember hearing this talk when I was a Junior in high school and really liking it. So reading it again today really touched me. http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2008/04/at-all-times-in-all-things-and-in-all-places?lang=eng&query=dalton

What she says is true-- sometimes when we live our values or stand up for what we believe-- we stand alone in a crowd. But we really are never alone.

For JJ: http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2008/04/at-all-times-in-all-things-and-in-all-places?lang=eng&clang=zho

ONE MORE THING I FORGOT TO MENTION! I've been asked to translate at our Zone Training Meeting tomorrow. Eek! I'm a little nervous because I haven't done much translating-- but I think it'll be good practice and Heavenly Father will help me.

The end. Thank you all for all of your prayers for me, my companion, and my investigators. I know that they really are heard. And I can tell you that knowing you all pray for me-- really bouys me up when I'm really really really ridiculously tired because we bike really really far (speaking from experience-- because we biked for a solid 2+ hours last Friday).

Foot Surgery

HELLO BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE!!!!   12.20.13

Okay before you freak out.. I didn't actually get foot surgery. I just thought that'd be a fun subject :). Lol. But really I did have to go to the doctor because of the nastiest thing of my life. For everyone who knows me, you know that I take super good care of my feet because nasty feet are the pits. BUT that being said, missionary lifestyle and rain doesn't really make for beautiful feet and I had to go to the doctor for an infected ingrown toenail. SICK. Literally the nastiest thing in the world and I am not proud of it. But I'll have beautiful feet again in no time. So no. I didn't have foot surgery... but the doctor did have to give me about 5 shots in my toe and then cut it open. It was not the most comfortable thing in the world that's for sure!!! But I'm alive (:

So I was thinking about the new year for this year my companion and I have decided that we are going to write some sort of "thank you" card for every single day of 2014. So 2014 is officially the year of gratitude. I'm really excited (:

Speaking of the new year though... Shans and Mom, are ya'll still not eating fries until I get home? You better not have broken because I haven't eaten fries my whole time here!!!

Also I should let you all know-- I can't remember the last time I was warm. Well actually today isn't terribly cold... but our apartment is freezing. IT IS SO HARD GETTING OUT OF BED BECAUSE AS SOON AS YOU MOVE ALL OF THE COLD THAT EVER EXISTED IN THE WORLD COMES OVER YOUR BODY AND THEN YOU DIE. It really is the pits!!! See 1 Kings 1:1

Oh did I mention that for Christmas we got a new present. WE CAN TEXT! It's really excited. I look forward to using this to help our investigators come closer to Christ daily. It's a really good resource... not facebook but hey, I'll take what I can get!

So on Wednesday we find out about transfers. I can't believe it's already time for transfers. MY NINTH TRANSFER OF ELEVEN. That is madness! I have no idea what will happen next transfer. I could stay here with Sister Bang (which would be super super super super awesome because she is super fun to be around and we are the same person.. it's ridiculous how similar we are)... or I could move to who knows where for probably my last 3 transfers. I have no idea what to expect. But I'll let ya'll know what happens next Monday. Whatever happens, this transfer in Nankan has been my fasted transfer thus far. My mission is just getting faster and faster. It is absolute madness!

Speaking of new things. DEAR FRIENDS AND FAMILY... I HAVE A CHALLENGE FOR YOU. If you haven't accepted the challenge to read the Book of Mormon cover to cover before I get home.. start now (: The end. I'm still working on reading in Chinese. I'm reading about Abinadi. It's cool. READ THE BOOK OF MORMON. It is the best (:

Okay lastly (since I just talked to you all so recently) I just want to share something cool that I learned during my study time today. Go read the story in the Gospel of Mark 9:22-25. So heres what happens. Christ and His apostles are on the road to Bethaisda when they come across a blind man, who of course knowing the fame of this Jesus man earnestly seeks after the chance to be healed of his plague. Christ, being the Savior and Redeemer of the world is glad to help the faithful seeker of help. So he puts some saliva on the man's eyes then asks how it worked. The man replies that things are better but it's blurry to which Christ responds to by healing him the rest of the way. This, I believe is the only recorded incidence of a two part healing by the Savior with no explanation as to why. I thought this was very profound. How often in our lives do we desire that the Savior can completely solve a problem and then see him solve it just to the point where we can recognize His hand in our lives but not enough for us to think it a miracle. I firmly believe that Jesus Christ could solve all of the problems we as humans face-- however He doesn't always do that. Sometimes He shows His influence just enough that we can see a little light at the end of the tunnel-- then all we must do is be patient and faithful until either He fixes the rest of the problem, or we learn on our own what is to be done. I feel like my explanation of this scripture is lame. But you all get the point and hopefully this gives you something to think about and come up with your own conclusions. The moral of the story is that we must do all we can, have faith, recognize the Savior's hand in our lives even if it looks small-- because it's not small-- I promise.

Okay that's pretty much it.