what in the world? how is my third move already over? i'm starting to realize
that time is something i doubt i will ever understand. it seems like every day i
get older and time seems to go faster. i'm sure this will continue through the
last days of my mission, into real life until i'm old and nearing the end.
sister blackham is going home. weird. so, i'm definitely staying in the
wonderful, sunny, amazing pingdong. yeah!! i'm excited. i love it here. i love
the people and i'm excited about some of the things we have happening. some of
our investigators seem really good. i just hope i (with my next companion) can
keep them going. sister blackham is amazing and i'm worried the area will fall
apart without her. i have no idea who my new companion will be. i told president
hsu that i want to serve with a taiwanese sister. there is one in chaozhou named
sister lin that i would LOVE to serve with. she's probably the nicest person i
have ever met and i would be delighted if some of her charity could rub off on
me. there's also a sister jiang that is really cute and an english major. she'd
be fun too. i guess we'll see. when i told president about wanting a taiwanese
comp he said, "oh good! we have 3 coming out of the mtc next move." HA! yeah
right. i am so incapable of going senior or training. i'm sure i won't, and i'm
comforted by that.
what can i tell you about this week?
naomi mentioned her funny bum tanline. naomi puppy, let me tell you about my
tanlines. they are so weird! my feet have a lot of different stripes on the top.
one kind of close to the toes from my black leather shoes, one close to the
ankle from my brown clarks and a criss-cross in the middle from my crocs. from
there the tan fades from a light brown on the tops of my feet to a bright white
at my knees. my fingers are white, but the backs on my hands are brown. on my
right ring finger there is a distinct white line from my ctr ring and on my left
wrist, the most amazing watch line ever. my neck and face are tan and when i
wear certain shirts you can see the v-line on my neck/collarbones/chest from
button-up shirts. it's wonderful. the past few days have been really sunny and i
can see the difference in my tan. i'm going to be black by the end of summer.
(that's what they say here. "wear longsleeves! you're turning black.")
the end of last week was crazy, crazy whether. my first typhoon! it was exciting
but inconvenient. it was so windy that we had to cancel our plans and stay
inside the apartment. the nice thing is that the rain cools everything down for
a couple of days. but, the storm has passed and it's hot hot hot right now. i
don't notice how hot it is until we stop at a stoplight or at a home, then i
realize that every part of me is perspiring. (chloe- the other day, working in
tian jiemei's field/greenhouse i noticed sweat running into my eyes. "they've
never felt the sweet stink of sweat in their eyes." "whoa, whoa, whoa! where did
all of that come from?" "you say it about once a year when aunt lindsay and
uncle tobias come into town."... on a related note, "have you seen the tail on
that thing? KEY-UTE!")
this week we had some really cool lessons that i learned a lot from. monday
especially. it seemed like in every lesson my companion and i were bearing
testimony more than usual. it made such a difference! oh my word. the power of a
testimony is incredible, it invites the spirit. i think that that is something i
can definitely improve on, and i will. i love when you can feel the holy ghost's
presence as we teach, but in brings it's own difficulties. agency is the
greatest/worst gift! it's so hard to testify, feel the spirit and know that what
we are teaching is true, then watch the investigator or member we're meeting
with choose not to listen. we have a few investigators that really really need
the comfort of the gospel, but somehow they have convinced themselves that our
experiences and words don't apply to them. it breaks my heart. the gospel of
jesus christ applies to everyone! in different ways at different times, but no
matter what it applies.
jean is still good. this week we taught her the word of wisdom. she said there
won't be a problem with tea, drugs, coffee, or tobacco, but once a week her
entire family has a small glass of special alcohol. i guess that by her
diligence in trying to follow the commandments we'll see where her testimony is
right now. it's hard to balance respecting our young investigators' families and
teaching them gospel principles. what do we say when they can't come to church
because of a family project when we know that sacrament meeting is what they
really need? it's tough. but the work is still great!
time is almost up. we're going to sandimen in a couple of hours! i'm really
excited. dad-this time i will spend money. and, i want to translate for your
company! this morning i read the fourth article of faith in characters. looking
forward to translation work will help me be more motivated to push myself. ask
mike to find names for me to check on! mom- mckensie smith is engaged?!?!?! who
did anna marry? what happened to chuy? ashtyn creel? grammy and grandpa- have a
fun trip! little girls- thank you for always writing me!
i love you all! thank you thank you thank you for your support!
love,
sister jade o
ps. i think i'm going to change my chinese last name from zeng to "ou"
pronounced "oh". what do you think?!?!
pps remember to write me on saturday because p-day next week is on monday, so
you'll get an email sunday night.
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