I've decided that you can make my email
address public on my blog, facebook, etc. Anyone can email me and I love
hearing from people. Just make sure that it is well known that I don't have
much email time in the morning, so I can't promise long detailed responses to
everyone. I will try to answer any questions people ask, and I love you all. micaela.anderson@myldsmail.net
This week was interesting. On Monday night we
had a dinner with a member family and a part member, less active family. We are
starting to teach them and bring them into the fold. Dinner was so delicious...
Except for the pig foot soup... Right when I saw it I knew I was done for. I've
been there done that and I don't want to do it again! My poor companion. I was
able to choke down the foot, but she had a harder time. Everytime they weren't
looking I always told her to put it in my bowl and I'd eat it for her. She
never did (thank goodness.. lol), but that was tough for her and now she's
having a hard time with a lot of the food out here. It's a texture thing.
Seriously-- pig foot is the PITS. You don't even understand how much I do not
want to eat it ever again.
This week we had a zone training meeting in
Taoyuan. It was good. Also far away. Also we got lost. But people forgave us
for showing up five minutes late and we had a great time. I learned something
that I really like. This is a metaphor that one of the sisters shared. It's in
response to the fact that sometimes life is hard and our trials seem so
painful. She said: We are a cottage. Christ is the builder/remodeler. He starts
out when we are young adding pictures to the walls and other furnishings to
make better. Then things get a little tougher. He starts pushing the furniture
around and changing the carpets. Not super comfortable, but we're still happy
and comfortable being a little cottage. Then all of the sudden He takes out a
sledge hammer and starts taking some serious hits at the walls. These changes
are painful, they are big, and the process is hard. But as we take a step back
we can see that Christ will take us, a small little cottage and making a
temple. Sometimes our trials are really hard. Sometimes they seem unbearable,
but as long as we faithfully endure and submit our will to the Lord, we will
most definitely come out better. Beautiful.
I also found out that on September 27th we are
having an outdoor zone conference that we can wear our service clothes to. HOORAY!
THAT'S GONNA BE THE GREATEST BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION!
Also-- I'm thinking about getting a new camera
for my birthday... Or maybe the end of my mission. Moral of the story is that I
want to be better at taking pictures. Looking at my pictures though I see that
if I mess around with my camera I have I might be fine with this for the rest
of my mission, but really I want to get a good camera eventually and be better
at the whole photog thing. I mentioned to mom that I want to follow the swim
team around next year and take all the pictures for the end of year slideshow.
It'd be good practice.
Speaking of pictures-- I was asked to be a
model the other day. So hilarious. This woman saw us talking to another lady
about English class then stopped us and asked if we could be her models. She
does hair and make-up and would dress us up in a wedding dress (modest of
course) and have a photo shoot with us. I asked president. He said no. It
seemed like it's be super fun though. Also hilarious because little does she know--
I am NOT the model type and don't actually fix up too well. Hilarious.
Yesterday we had a member bring two of her work
friends to church. I was super excited for this teaching opportunity... but
after we met the girls I heard them walking away and say "that was super
awkward." SO EMBARRASSING. Moral of the story is that I don't do well with
first impressions. I have a feeling that this is a foreshadowing of the type of
person you are welcoming back home next year. I apologize for how uncomfortable
I am. Lol.
Also at church there was a misunderstanding
with a member because of the language barrier and I think I really hurt her
feelings. We wrote her an apology letter and heart attacked her door last
night. I really hope there are no hard feelings. It was literally just a
language thing and I felt terrible about it. Moral of the story is that chinese
is still hard.
Yesterday for lunch we went to a members home
for lunch. It was so tropical. She's from Vietnam (and also one of my mtc
teachers recent converts). She fed us these awesome burrito type things that we
wrap ourselves. I can't even describe it. They were so delicious.
Also this past week we hit 39 degrees C. That's
102F. SO SO SO SO HOT! It's the hottest day of record for a while. Sick.
We also had a miracle during English class. We
have one student in our English class. He's pretty much a progressing
investigator. Last week we invited him to be baptized and he accepted the
invitation. Then this week we taught the word of wisdom. He was nervous
about it, but the spirit was so strong when we taught him and he said he's
willing to try it out. He's technically the elders investigator, but we're
pretty much tag teaming. I can't explain how great it was.
Also we had a lesson with a member on her floor
leaning our backs on her couches because she was sitting there with her kids
and then the member who accompanied the lesson sat down there so we moved too.
It was so interesting and also one of the greatest lessons. Despite the three
children running around like crazy, we had a great lesson and the spirit was
really strong. This lady is awesome!
Eek I'm running out of time. This week has
mostly been a seed planting week. We haven't had a ton of lessons and the
outward success is minimal, but we have talked to a lot of people and opened
our mouth. I admit, there are areas I want to improve, but we're trying
hard. We're planting a lot of seeds and no effort is wasted. We had a really
cool lesson with a girl and taught her how to pray. She wasn't interested in
meeting with us, but she tried saying a prayer that and said that she's really
glad she knows how to pray now because now she really wants to do it all the
time. It was cool, but just not the right time for her to be taught
(considering that she said no).
Moral of the story is that I've worked hard so
far on my mission. I haven't seen the crazy miracle stories of success that
other missionaries talk about all the time, but I'm doing my part and I know
that it's good.
I am out of time, but I hope you all know how
much I love you and how much I love this gospel. I know this is true and I know
it changes lives. I really hope that anyone who reads my blog and doesn't know
much about the church will look to the missionaries to learn more. They can answer
your questions and help you receive all the blessing God has in store. I know
this is true and I'm so glad to be a missionary. I need to keep being diligent.
I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!
Love love double love,
Cae
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