sigh of relief, ma transfer 3: Week 5

sister blackham is leaving in less than two weeks! i cannot believe how fast time is going. this move has sped by. weird. it hasn't been to hot. it seems like it rains about every other day and keeps things cooler, so september isn't looking so far away. in fact, i think i'm going to have a really hard time leaving pingdong in the hands of another. this is MY area.today has been interesting, to say the least. you can see from the time that i'm a lot later writing this email than usually. i was worried i wouldn't be able to email at all. that is the sigh of relief. here i am, in an internet cafe, surrounded by teenagers in the non-smoking section, tuning out video game sound effects, writing you all. and i am so happy to be doing so. last thursday during our nightly reporting elder swenson told us to cancel any preparation day plans we had for today because there would be an emergency obedience meeting in chaozhou, just south of us. sister blackham thought that it was a trip to the aquarium on the southern tip and that the assistants were trying to play a joke on us. we, of course, cancelled our plans to go to san di men, we'll go next week instead. when we asked for more details on the meeting, elder swenson said that he heard someone got sent home. we were convinced that this joke was going to far. it was, in fact, an emergency obedience meeting. we went over a lot of things and president hsu spoke very bluntly and boldly. after about an hour, the sisters and the elders were separated because the president needed to talk to the elders about more serious things. sister hsu divulged some. pornography has become a problem in the mission. i am devastated. one elder was sent home and excommunicated, another moved to another mission and one on probation. president hsu didn't speak in detail, and i don't know if he was using a theoretic story or in what he said really happened. but, an elder may have bought a dvd player and a blockbuster membership. it's really really bad. president had to remind us that we can't have laptops or video ipods. he reminded us to glance at our companion's computer screen during emails and told us to make sure we aren't using myspace and facebook in the field (a problem before i came). he also talked about missionary and member relations. it makes me really really sad. heartbroken. i don't know what to do to help the elders or the obedience situation here. the world is becoming such a sad place. i am terrified for my children's sake.other things from this week... more uplifting things...lately i'm really into clouds. that sounds so weird. the thing is, taiwan's clouds are different than america's. they are much much prettier. i love looking at them. as we ride around the city or to the outskirts, i like to stare at them and ponder on how i imagine the clouds will look at the second coming. sister blackham showed me a cool way to watch the clouds even when it's raining. i got to practice it just the other day. out of nowhere typhoon type rains started. we were at the church and had to run to the seven on the corner, so we grabbed some umbrellas and went. it started to rain harder and got windier during our little trip. we both bought small snacks for comfort and watched the rain as we ate. if you look at the asphalt where the drops are falling you can see the clouds move by the water pattern. way cool.so, lately i've been having weird dreams that wake me up in the night. some of the contents leave me impressed to write down what i learn. i've also been trying to journal thoughts that i have as i say my prayers. i had an interesting experience this week with both of this. reflecting on it now, it may not be that neat to anyone else, but i value it. one day while praying i thought, "i need to study chapter four of preach my gospel, recognizing the spirit." i had kind of forgotten about it. on sunday it rained a bit in the afternoon but not to bad. when we went to visit a less active after dinner, i took my rain clothes but no bag to protect my proselyting bag. while we were at the xu's it started raining really hard. like insanely. i put my bag on my shoulder and my rain clothes over it, which meant a large portion of my dress was exposed at the bottom. from their house we had to ride for about an hour to the wangs. the rain was miserable. i could barely see anything and it was cold and my dress was soaked and water was getting in my rain clothes. i was so excited to ride into the wang's neighborhood, more than ready for some rest and protection from the elements. then, they weren't home. so, my companion and i stood in the rain debating what to do. i was miserable and grumpy. i just wanted to be inside. i was kind of mean i think. not i think, but i know, at least mean enough to cause my companion to say, "i feel like you're kind of upset right now." (ha) in the end we decided to knock doors in the neighborhood. i knew that we would have no success until i got happier, so i said a prayer. an amazing thing happened. the moment we knocked the first door, my mood changed! the rest of the night was spectacular. the rain stopped and we met a great family. we laughed a lot and it was great. that night i had a dream about the scripture moroni 7:13. when i woke up i remembered that i needed to study chapter four. so on monday morning i studied it. i thought about how the spirit had influenced me on my mission and whether it had or not. sometimes i worry that he hadn't, then as i read scriptures on the influence he has and how it is manifested, i realized he had. during my study i came across moroni 7:13 and new i was reading what i needed to. i also read alma 19:6. i love how many times it says "light". it caused me to ponder that all from god is light. and the holy ghost can dispel all darkness (doubt, fear, anger, pessimism). i realized that the night prior i had very much experienced the influence of the holy ghost and i was grateful.i don't have a lot of time left and this is taking longer than usual becuase the o on the keyboard is messed up. so, i'll tell you about my favorites...jean! she came to english once then set up with us. she's so good! she's really progressing and came to church this week. yesterday we made cookies at the church with her and some members. i think she'll be really good. she has cousins in salt lake that are members. i'm trying to figure out how we can get they're help.circle is in the states. mom, if i send her address would you mind sending a little carepackage to seattle?the zhou's are still good and funny. i really like them.

that's it i think. i love you all. i hope everything continues to be happy in the states. i'm sure they will stay great in taiwan! love all around! <3

sister JADE