Okay so I've decided that I am not clever at all when it comes to creating titles for these things.
Hola Familia!
Let's be honest-- my Spanish is the pits. My Chinese is okay though. I pretty much understand everything I listen to and a lot of things that I just hear and am not paying attention too. It's the greatest! I don't know how it works though. I still remember the first time when I felt like I understood everything that was being said. I thought for sure I was dreaming-- there is literally no way to explain it. Suddenly you just understand. I still am not so good at speaking-- well I can say what is necessary and hold a conversation but I wouldn't exactly fit in going to school here because I'm awkward at making friends in English and even worse in Chinese. It's coming though.
So I made a list again of things to share with ya'll-- hope you enjoy it!
Bade is doing well. It's a happy place here-- my area is also huge! I though Xin Zhuang was a big area-- yeah not even. There's a place in our area called Yingge. We go there once or twice a week (or at least that's in the plans). It takes 45 minutes to get there. NOT EVEN KIDDING. Well more like 40 to get there and almost an hour back. The way back is uphill for a good chunk of time. It's the pits! And literally between Bade and Yingge there is nothing but some random farmy-like places and some Binlang shops. Not much for scenery-- but really it's beautiful. I love this place. And I love Yingge. There's an old road there that is famous for tourism. It's really awesome! We're gonna go there on a p-day sometime. You all would love it.
Last week we went to Yingge to go Book of Mormon boarding. Basically we loaded the box on the back of my bike with copies of the Book of Mormon with the plan to give them all out and invite people to learn more. Knowing the big hill we'd have to go up on the way back, I was double determined to give out these books. We ended up giving out 7 copies of the Book of Mormon that day. It was awesome. We saw some good miracles there too. We set up a temple tour with a man who actually live in Taibei. He said he'd be interested in doing one so we told him the days that we'd be up there giving tours and he set up. He's a retired professional baseball player for Taiwan-- aka awesome! My ward is having a softball game against my old ward in like a week-- I think I might invite the baseball player. Is that cheating? I think not!
Basically my companion and I are huge fans of giving out copies of the Book of Mormon. We've given out 10 this week. It's such a cool thing to do and share with people. Not even kidding-- if you haven't read it already, START NOW! It's a great book!
Things are getting started around here so everyday is exciting. We look for miracles and I can point out one everyday. Some seem bigger than others, but miracles are miracles. God is a God of miracles and we are so lucky to be on the receiving end. We have 6 investigators right now. Four of them have set baptismal dates. It's such a happy thing. I love these people. They are all so important to me and I know they are even more important to God. I'm glad to be a missionary!
I can't believe it. I've been a missionary for nine months. I was thinking about that this morning. It's so weird because I don't really feel like I'm experienced at all. I still feel like a new missionary and like I have no idea what I'm doing. I wondered why and then I remembered something that I heard one of the missionaries going home say. He said "It's not until the end of your mission that you feel like you might have an idea on how to do this." It's so true. I really don't know why it works that way. All I know is that we are all young people who really don't mean a whole lot in the big scheme of things. It's so weird to be part of such a great and miraculous work. The Lord can take a bunch of nobodies, stick a nametag on them, teach them a language, and create a marvelous work and a wonder. It really is marvelous. I love it!
This past Friday we had a special training meeting. We had to go to Zhubei for it. It was kind of a trek. We had to take a bus and then a train and then walk quite a while to get to the chapel there. It was cool to get to know a lot of other missionaries. However I discovered something-- I don't make very good first impressions. I'm pretty sure the missionaries in my zone just think of me as Sister Anderson-- that crazy girl who makes all the weird faces and speaks with an accent about 80% of the time. Yep-- I haven't changed a bit out here. Now I can just do all the crazy things I did before, on a bike, wearing a skirt, and in Chinese. Yep. Not a big change at all.
So something I forgot to mention last week is about our neighbor. She's such a hoot. When the movers were bringing our fridge to us she walked into our apartment and just said "Give me that box." The movers told her that she'd have to wait a week because we have to keep it for a week. I told her we'd give it to her in a week. Then when we went downstairs later all the ladies that sit around our complex all day gambling stopped us and made us promise not to give her anymore boxes. They said any other boxes we have need to go to the community. Honestly I didn't really follow it all. Moral of the story-- Badeins like boxes? Yeah I still don't know.
During my language study I made an interesting discovery. So there is a sound that many Taiwanese people make-- and so do I, consequently. If I want to say yes or agree with something I just grunt. It's kind of spelled like this: "ng." Well I was reading in my grammar book the other day and that sound actually has a character attached to it! So hilarious. Now I guess I know that if I'm writing a play in Chinese I can write that annoying little grunting noise into the script. Hilarious. I love Chinese.
Last Thursday my companion and I were heading to a member's home for dinner. I looked on the map and saw that she just lives south of us a bit. Well we got lost BIGTIME. We ended up in the middle of no where and had to turn around about a million times. We also ended up going up a huge hill. I felt terrible. We were an hour and a half late for our dinner appointment. It was kind of hilarious though. I guess you can't avoid getting lost in a new area. This was not the first time and it will not be the last. We will just keep laughing about it and singing songs while we ride our bikes-- which is a very frequent occurance.
This past week we've also been visiting the members a lot. We have asked a lot of them for referrals and sang with them and bore our testimonies to them. Every dinner apointment is filled with the spirit and we've received some really promising referrals that way. REFERRALS ARE THE WAY TO GO! So please family and friends, think of the person who is ready to be invited to hear the gospel-- then invite the missionaries over for dinner-- then feed them well because they are starving I promise-- then after they give you a spiritual thought-- or before, offer them a referral before they even ask. They will appreciate that so much. And if you aren't a member-- invite the missionaries over for dinner-- feed them, they are hungry. Then ask to hear the gospel. No one will force you to do anything you don't want to do-- but I promise that if you do this-- the Lord will open the windows of Heaven and pour out the blessings that there will not even be room enough to receive it.
The other day we had an appointment to meet a recent convert. When we got to her house (after getting lost-- typical), we realized that she wasn't home. So we did what we do best and knocked on all the doors on her street. We ended up setting up to meet with a girl who didn't have time to meet with us right then. Another woman couldn't open the door because she had a customer, but she told us she's Christian-- but not completely and said she might come to church. Then after all of that street we followed my companions spidey senses (however she's more of a superman fan). We just started walking. Then she pointed at a street and said "we need to go there." So we did. The first door we knocked on: a woman came and opened the door and said "come in come in!" She then called her grandkids downstairs (a boy and girl about college-aged). Then she left. We had a lesson with the grandkids who are actually pretty interested in the message and said we can meet again next week. When we left it was pouring rain so we did what we do second best and ran through the rain laughing about the miracle we saw and biked home. It was probably one of my happiest moments here in Bade so far.
Lastly I want to share some scriptures that I've found that have really helped me out this past week.
One of my first or second personal studies out here I was reading in Doctrine and Covenants. Section 58:3-6 popped out to me. It was the greatest and just what I needed at that point. I was so nervous about what I was going to do in Bade and felt completely unprepared. The Lord knew that and He spoke to me through this scripture to give me hope for the future. I know this is true. I love how God can speak to us through scriptures and words of our modern prophets. I know he knows us and I know that He speaks to His children. We are all entitled to revelation.
Next: Alma 12:9-10. I know that according to our desires and willingness, Heavenly Father will give us knowledge. We just have to show that we really want it and will use it wisely (Why would you give your child a large sum of money maybe $500 dollars without knowing what they intend for that money?) It's the same principle. God will give us all knowledge line upon line as long as we show him that we will use that knowledge wisely.
Next: Doctrine and Coventants 64:33. I know that this is what I am doing right now. I'm amazed that the Lord can use me to do something so great. He is using me to work miracles among his children. It's one of the greatest things to be part of.
So that's pretty much it for now.
I love it out here. I miss you all immensely, but don't worry because time is flying so you can have me back soon. For now, I know that this sacrifice will bring forth great blessings. Just keep doing what you do, and do it better and involve the Lord more.
Love love double love,
Cae
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