hello beloved family! thank you for the emails. i'm always so so so happy to
hear from you. really. everyone sounds really good, which makes me glad.
taiwan is still taiwan and wonderful. chinese new year is right around the
corner. there are paper lanterns hanging on the streets and decorations all over
the place. scheduling lessons is getting tough because everyone will spend next
week partying and with family, but i'm sure we'll find plenty of contacting
activities to fill our time. most taiwanese people clean their homes once a
year, at chinese new year. it's really interesting to me. at carrefour, a
supermarket from france where we do a lot of shopping, the areas that house the
"seasonal wares" used to be full of christmas decorations. now they are full of
bleach, rubber gloves, mops, windex and other cleaning supplies. other areas of
the store are covered in red and well-stocked with traditional candy. the
members are excited to help the missionaries celebrate. we have meal
appointments for lunch AND dinner for a week. i look forward to it, and am also
scared to death. sister chen and i have determined to start fasting now in
preparation.
speaking of sister chen, things are good and will continue to improve. i've
discovered, again, that i'm a wretched communicator. i'm sure none of you are
surprised. i'm learning that it's much healthier, more righteous and happier to
talk rather than harbor ill feelings. like i said last week, just because i
learn something doesn't mean i can quickly put it into practice. man man lai
(slowly come). another thing that i learned, this morning actually, is that when
i'm frustrated or harboring less than christlike feelings i can remember the
things i know and expel any anger or contention. how did i learn this? this
morning after personal study at the start of companion study i was feeling
overwhelmed by all that i have to get done today before english class and
frustrated by the fact that sister chen doesn't have to prepare a lesson or
proofread papers or make sure we call all of our referrals or... a number of
things. stupid, i know. i'm blessed to be able to teach jiayi's wonderful
advanced english class, blessed to be trusted by my cute students to proofread
work and school documents, blessed to have resposibilities that will shape my
character if i chose to let them, blessed to have a cute taiwanese companion who
is eager to learn english and eager to serve the lord. i'm blessed, really
blessed, but this morning i temporarily forget my blessings and pouted in my
head as we sang "guide us, o thou great jehovah" in chinese. then for half of
comp study we practiced teaching the first lesson (heavenly father, prophets,
christ, the restoration) in ten minutes to prepare for zone conference tomorrow
(elder anthony perkins will be here and asked us to prepare these things).
testifying of god's love for us, the power of the priesthood and the divine
mission of the first prophet of this dispensation (even though it was to a
bookcase) filled me with love! so, i've decided that this week when i get
frustrated and forget how stinking blessed i am, i will bear more fervent
testimony on the streets and in my heart until i'm happy again.
this week has had some exciting things. let me tell you.
-i guess this isn't really exciting, but interesting... monday i attended my
fifth (i think) funeral in taiwan and on saturday i'll attend my sixth (maybe
seventh). the missionaries here have started joking that i'm a curse and that
those around me die. sad, huh?
-i'm teaching advanced english. i found an english dictionary in chaozhou that
hasn't left my side since. (i read it for at least ten minutes a day during
mealtimes, because i'm so cool.) i am really really excited that tonight i can
take my dictionary to class and enrich my own english as i try my hardest to
help a handful of taiwanese men and women improve theirs.
-this week THREE less-active members came to church. 1. guo kaixin. i LOVE her!
she's my favorite. i've been meeting with her about once a week since i got
here. last week we talked about the holy ghost and his voice. we read from the
talk that kyle gave me back in the day that drove me to read and pray (candle of
the lord by boyd k packer). when we mentioned the things that we can do to
prepare ourselves to hear the still, small voice she said she had been thinking
about how badly she wants to come to church. so she did! it was so great. 2. gao
lingya. she loves to help with our lessons, but usually doesn't come to church.
she has depression that shortened her mission and has been angry with god every
since. twice the last two weeks she was scheduled to help with our lessons and
we had time to talk with her because either our investigator was late or didn't
show up. we did our best to strengthen her, and i had a really cool experience
where i found myself saying things that i KNOW didn't come from my little mortal
mind. then, this sunday she came to church! for the first time since i got
here!! 3. wang huiqi. i still don't know her, but we set up for friday. saturday
night we left a note at her house, so sunday she came. i feel like we were led
to her home by the spirit.
-luo li yiling, a 3+ year investigator that originally had a baptismal date for
september of this year has committed to be baptized in february. her husband is
against it at this point. so we're praying for a miracle. we need your prayers!
i'm so grateful that heavenly father is a god of miracles. i really think her
baptism can go through.
-i met a really cool less-active this week. she fed us arctic shrimp. delicious.
time is up! i love you all. i have so much more to say. it will have to wait
until next week. thank you for being wonderful!!
love love love,
sister o
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