cher-dow le... pie-say...) "late, i'm sorry."
i'm sorry that this is getting to you so late. i'm just grateful it is getting
to you. the last two days have been dramatic. not really dramatic, but by
missionary standards, yes.
on sunday we heard over and over about the typhoon that was coming. courtny (i
LOVE her!!!) said it was bigger than the whole island of taiwan! every door we
tracted to said, "what are you doing outside? you need to get inside. a typhoon
is coming!" sadly, the tracting in the rain card did not work and no one let us
in to get dry. ha. then at about 6:45 in the evening we got a call from one of
the assistants telling sister blackham to be packed and ready because she might
have to go to kaohsiung that night (she was scheduled to go in monday morning,
for her final interview). we finished the night outside and went in to plan.
between 9 and 10:30 it seems like we got a million phone calls. first it was
that we may have to go to kaohsiung in the night then not then other things. in
the end the mission was on typhoon watch and we weren't to leave our homes. this
left sister blackham uncertain about whether or not she'd actually leave taiwan
this morning as planned. typically this wouldn't be a problem but because it was
move days things got messy. in the morning we got a call that said that sister
blackham would go to kaohsiung and i would have to find a member to be with me
all day. then another that said i'd be going to chaozhou to be in a threesome
with those sisters. so, we immediately headed to the train station. s. blackham
quickly noticed that her bags would be almost impossible to wrangle on her own,
so i (begrudgingly) offered to go to kaohsiung with her. (my mission has made me
notice that i am a jerk and need more charity.) the real reason i was hesitant
to go was that i was scared to death of navigating the train stations on my own,
and going to kaohsiung first meant i'd have to spend two hours alone waiting in
the train station. a quick prayer changed my attitude by the time we were on our
way to kaohsiung and i was grateful to have some extra time with sister
blackham. (i love her. i am blessed to have loved all of my companions.) i made
it to chaozhou without any problems and had a wonderful day with sister lin (the
one i mentioned last email) and sister o'rourke (in the mtc with me). president
hsu decided it would be a regular proselyting day, but spent indoors. so, i
updated our ward lists, wrote letters to investigators and called old referrals.
it was wonderful and cozy. this morning sister lin and i came to pingdong to
pick up my new companion. we'll be in a threesome because sister lin is training
and will pick up her companion on thursday.
that's the story of how i got to where i am now. the internet cafe on fengnian
lu, sitting between my two favorite taiwanese sisters... sister lin and sister
jiang. sister jiang is my new companion! i am so excited!!!! remember how last
week i told you i wanted to serve with her?! she's so cute and wonderful. i love
her already. i think we'll have a good move. i'm going to speak as little
english as possible this move, in hopes that my chinese will miraculously
skyrocket. we'll see.
last p-day was wonderful! i loved every second of it. yes, dad, i found some
treasures. on our way to sandimen we stopped at a cemetary that we pass every
time we go to tian jiemei's house. it's so different than our cemetaries in the
us. i was able to take some good pictures i think. from there we went to some
shops in a small town in sandimen. xie jiemei knew all the places to go! it was
really cool. dad, you would have LOVED it. after some shopping we went to a
cultural park and watched amazing traditional aborigine dancing. i think i have
problems. when i see things that are beautiful or inspiring i cry. therefore,
during the first number, a cool drum piece, i was choking back tears of joy. i'm
like a mom already. pathetic. if we come back to taiwan i will definitely take
you there. you would LOVE it.
other highlights from this week...
we had a really great lesson with a less-active member named ding jiemei. she
has been inactive for years and missionaries have tried to help but seem to get
nowhere. my understanding of her situation, based on what i had heard from other
missionaries was that she was baptized young with her father. as she grew up she
became skeptical and now questions everything. so, sister blackham and i were
really unsure of what to do. this week was our third time meeting with her. as
we talked to her i felt compelled to ask her whether or not she believed got
existed. heavenly father led me to ask the right question at the right time. she
immediately opened up. her husband (that we thought left her) was killed in a
car accident. ever since she has struggled to know whether god lives or loves
her. i was able to share with her the similar feelings i had after ryan died.
when we left she seemed lighter than she had every before, and much more willing
to put effort into gaining a testimony! i hope this move we will be able to see
her grow.
tiffany and jean are still so great. on sunday we weren't sure where jean was,
she was late for church. we weren't worried about tiffany because she told us
she wouldn't come. then the coolest thing happened... they walked in together! i
cannot explain how good it feels to see people you care about choosing the right
on their own! i was so happy to see them! i really think they both could get
baptized this move. and maybe circle too. (ps- please please please send her
something. she's having a hard time in seattle. the school she is at is really
intense. she isn't allowed to use an electronic dictionary or write any chinese
in her notes. while she was there she found out that she got into the best high
school in southern taiwan, but the stress was too much so she told her mom to
register her for the third best instead. her mom said that when she called home
she couldn't talk because she was crying so hard. i imagine she feels kind of
like i did when i first got to iceland.)
i hope this move goes well. i know that i can choose to make it go one way or
another. our district is going to be really interesting, really young. the
oldest missionaries are only two moves older than me. elder swenson (who hates
me) is still our district leader. he'll be serving with elder britt (from the
mtc). i am going to work to make that good. elder britt needs a lot of love. i
was unwilling to be charitable in the mtc. elder chen left and so elder anderson
(also in the mtc with me)'s new companion is elder heder. sister blackham says
that elder heder is great. then there will be me and sister jiang, she's just
one move older than me. maybe young blood will be good for pingdong.
well, we're off to carrefour and the post office then inside to get dry and
write letters. i hope that you are all well and happy! i miss you and love you
all! thank you thank you thank you for every thing!!!
love,
sister jade l. ozawa
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