in the afternoon my brain doesn't seem to work as well as it does in the morning. my thoughts are more scattered. it doesn't help that my english is not up to par these days. elder mickelsen said it perfectly, "my mandarin isn't improving that quickly, and my english is getting worse and worse." i feel the same way. by the time i come home my grammar is going to be out the window, i may have to look for esl classes whereever i end up.
this week has been eventful! i have so much to write about. a lot of good things...zone conference was on thursday! i didn't realize how much i have missed sister ipson and sister mcintosh until i saw them. did i tell you that they are serving together in my last area? weird. they updated me on everyone. SO HAPPY! Monica is getting baptized on saturday! the same day as aki! she told her mom that she was getting baptized whether she had her support or not and that was it. i'm so excited for her. she's going to be the type of member that our church needs more of. now if only there were more worthy brethren in taiwan. qiu jiemei, the less active i became really close to hasn't missed church in the last month. she's moving out of her boyfriend's apartment and he's meeting with the elders. if he doesn't accept the gospel she's leaving him, because she has set a goal to have a temple marriage! when i met her she had no interest in the church and had no testimony of god's love for her. now she wants nothing but an lds family! i don't think anyone could have given me happier news! if i am unable to touch anyone else in taiwan, i will go home knowing that my experiences related to qiu jiemei's and that i somehow helped heavenly father remind her of things she had forgotten.
at zone conference i got to see robbie again. i really want to serve in the same district as him before he goes home in september. he always calls me jade and it makes me a. laugh, b. feel like a real girl for a split second.
at zone conference i got some mail, including a letter that had me livid. i mean, i was furious. i wanted to scream, and i'm not the screaming type. apparently, a friend of mine was bashing on sister missionaries to another friend of mine. " Sister missionaries are so overrated. the don't do anything. they just sit at the president's house all day. and they seem to be sick five times more than elders..." this person continued in their negativity. i was and am still so so so mad. in our defense (for anyone that agrees that sister missionaries are worthless)-- last move my companion and i had half of our district's baptisms. my companion now and i had the only baptismal date in the district until last week, we still have half of the baptisms for this transfer. elder lancaster, my district leader, was in the office for six moves. he knows president and sister hsu and the ins and outs of the kaohsiung mission more than anyone. he told me that president always requested more sisters. the area president laughed and said, "everyone wants more sisters! you should expect more anytime soon." i'm sure the mission presidents of the world aren't requesting us for our laziness. when elder scott was here at our mission conference, he had all of the sisters stand and face the elders. he then told them that they should respect us and look for women like us when they get home and prepare to wed. i think sisters sacrifice more than elders when they leave their schooling and social lives for missions. they come back older than elders do, and face the types of stereotypes that this individual is perpetuating. as our district discussed this matter on our train ride home from kaohsiung, elder swenson made a great point, it was something so much more than i would expect from him which makes it that much more strong. he asked, "if that's what he's saying about sister missionaries, what do you think his opinion is of women in general?" what is disappointing, this person was supportive and praised sister missionaries as i worked on my papers. a lot of people rag on sister missionaries all the time. i can testify that we work hard and do our best. there are a lot of doors we can't get into than elders can, but by the same token we can touch many that they cannot. look up what president hinckley said about sister missionaries.
the rest of the week only got better after that lame news...aki is still getting ready to be baptized. this saturday! i'm so excited. she's so wonderfully strong. she has so much faith. her testimony of the commandments has come through living them and her testimony of the restoration is unshakable.we have a new investigator that i'm really excited about. she has the same surname as me, zeng! she's 22 and so cute. a member referred her to us. she does acrylic nails and was talking to one of her customers, a member about how she feels that most churches teach their own thoughts rather than god's will. when we met with her she had a million questions about mormonism. we went over just about every commandment. she told us about her church. she described how they speak in tongues and hug each other as they pronounce blessings and revelations for each other (sounds like an apostate priesthood blessing). i think she's going to become a really good investigator. she was really excited to get a book of mormon, but said if anyone from her church saw it they would take it from her and burn it. i hope that next week i'll have good news about her.
we met another great potential investigator this week with the surname lin. she's a cute mom. they whole time we met she talked about change and becoming better. she sounds ready for the power of the atonement. at the end of the lesson she said something to me no one has ever said before, "sister zeng, you can open up. you can share your feelings. when you talk you furrow your brow which means you are self-correcting before you speak. just say what you feel and want to say." what? i am like the most open person on the planet. did i furrow my brow when i would talk back home? i know that i've gotten more awkward and much more easily embarassed since i left the us, but i don't think i've become closed off. weird.
what else from this week?-a sister from one of the branches got vitamins for me at costco in kaohsiung. they were kind of expensive, but i figure my health is worth it. i had her get b-complex, fish oil and a women's multivitamin. the b-complex is supposed to help keep bugs away. so far it has worked wonders! the only bites i've had are a spider bite that caused my elbow to swell and turn purple and some type of bite on my eye that had a reaction similar to my lip. my eye looked truly asian for the first time ever!
-at dinner on monday night aki told off a 50 something old man that wouldn't stop staring at my body. he initially approached our table then sat down and started hollering from across the restaurant. aki yelled at him until he left.
-i didn't get hit by a car, but ran into one. i was so embarassed as i stopped my bike from colliding with the motionless vehicle full of passengers by slamming my hand of the hood. i don't really know what happened, just that i spazzed out big time.
-in my president's interview this week president hsu asked if you, mom and dad, work at the temple. weird question. i told the truth, that dad's a veil worker. sorry, the "less active" plan is foiled.
-my options for the future are as open as the pingdong horizon... who knows where i'll end up. president hsu mentioned harvard in our interview. i'm not sure if it was an inspired comment or not, just that a semester at harvard is on my list of 100 life goals. that aside, lately denver has been on my mind. what if i move to denver and go to school there?
i love love love you all!
ping an (peace),
jade, zeng yu xin
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