the week after transfers always feels so long! but this week was special and not as long because we already had zone conference! crazy huh? i guess probably not in your eyes. but in mine it is. yesterday was zone conference. i'm excited to tell you all about it. this move is going to be kind of nuts because there are christmas performances the next two weeks and my comp in the choir. so i'm going to have to go on exchanges all the time and spend time in other areas.
jiayi is great. it's cold but not to bad. actually i really like the weather. i feel like i get to dress more like jade would. yes, chloe, cardigans! pretty much every day i wear a skirt, a button up shirt, a cardigan and a scarf (i've discovered some cool ways to tie them!). when it's cold i year the black coat we got before i enter the mtc. i'd like to think i look pretty stylish, for a sister missionary. i'm the english unit leader again. fourth time. i like it better here than in chaozhou because there are more people, so i feel like i'm actually doing something. i think this move i want to do a big fireside based on the savior, maybe the nativity scene or something. the zone leaders, who make up the other half of my district, are really supportive so that's cool.
my district is awesome. there are just four of us. sister chen, me, elder gong and elder chen. elder chen is beloved elder chen. you all would love him!! you will meet him in july. he's my favorite 19 year old by far. he's the district leader. last week our district meeting was amazing! it was not a lecture, like some can be, but a discussion. we talked about why christlike attributes are important (that's our focus this transfer as a mission). towards the end elder chen made a point that i had never considered. he said, "the people out there want this message. this is what they signed up for when they came to earth. they've just forgotten." doesn't thinking about missionary work that way make you want to do more?!?
zone conference was the highlight of my time in jiayi so far. i'll tell you about my favorite parts.
-seeing sister stratford. you do not know how much i've missed her! she's so wonderful. and this move and companionship is really different than ours. she's doing well and shared much exciting news with me... her brother, lee, directed a short film that will be in the sundance film festival! how cool is that?!
she named her dictionary after me. she still teaches the advanced english class. so in class when they want to define a word she grabs her huge encyclopedic dictionary and says, "let's see what sister ozawa has to say about this." funny.
one of our english students has a baptismal date. we were helping the elders get through to him. now he's getting baptized.
i also got to see sister jiang, sister juang and sister fan. pretty much all of my companions who aren't already in the us, with the exception of my mtc comp. sister jiang is still in ping dong. she told me that the cao/zou jiating that sister blackham and i found and started teaching are progressing and coming to church every week. the older brother, who used to be pretty aloof, bore his testimony in sacrament meeting last week!
i was asked to do a 15 minute share for the conference. i was terrified. then i found out it was just with a small group, which is better than 80+ missionaries. i was asked to share on hope, which happens to be the attribute i'm working on this transfer. i learned so much while preparing. the share ended up good but awkward. it was me and the four elders in the zone conference working on hope in a room together. president hsu came in at one point and told a story about del parsons then left. it was awkward. one of my favorite things i learned about hope while preparing is how much it can and should affect our actions. i know that if i carried out each day and each task with my hope (i.e. faith and desire in one) for the celestial kingdom in mind i'm sure my actions, thoughts and words would be much more pure. i know that hope purifies us and makes our life meaningful. it brings us to the savior and without it we cannot be found in the presence of god! go practice faith guys!!
after zone conference we had a choir practice. while the mission choir is performing in kaohsiung, we'll have a jiayi choir performing at some big events here. i think it will be a really great opportunity to testify of christ. we only had 2 hours to practice all together and we won't have any other time. it amazed me how unified we were as we worked towards a common goal with urgency. there was so much love and spirit in the room. i think that's how it's supposed to be in our families. as we work together with diligence towards exaltation our hearts and minds will be one. i think we sounded pretty good by the end. i'm pretty proud of myself. i learned in that 2 hour period how to sing alto. i kind of like singing these days. weird, huh?
i'm almost out of time. but i love you all. next letter i'll tell you about my legs. no, i'll tell you now. they are COVERED in some sort of bite. sister hsu said mosquitoes but no one else thinks so. the other day elder juang, an elder up here in jiayi, kept staring at them and saying "heinous" (a word one of his american companions taught him).yesterday at zone conference he stared again and said in english "your poor pretty legs are so ugly now." thank you. they are pretty gross. i'm trying to find a remedy. green oil seemed to do wonders last night. sister hsu said use tiger balm. do you have any suggestions?
oh! thanks for all of the updates. so many marriages. i hope kens sends me an announcement. i haven't heard from her since the beginning of my move with sister jiang. i've written but no response. if she doesn't send me one will you forward the one you get. and if you talk to her tell you i love her. who did laura deaver marry? how is shawna and baby sam oliver? i miss you all and love you!
love,
sister jade
-seeing sister stratford. you do not know how much i've missed her! she's so wonderful. and this move and companionship is really different than ours. she's doing well and shared much exciting news with me... her brother, lee, directed a short film that will be in the sundance film festival! how cool is that?!
she named her dictionary after me. she still teaches the advanced english class. so in class when they want to define a word she grabs her huge encyclopedic dictionary and says, "let's see what sister ozawa has to say about this." funny.
one of our english students has a baptismal date. we were helping the elders get through to him. now he's getting baptized.
i also got to see sister jiang, sister juang and sister fan. pretty much all of my companions who aren't already in the us, with the exception of my mtc comp. sister jiang is still in ping dong. she told me that the cao/zou jiating that sister blackham and i found and started teaching are progressing and coming to church every week. the older brother, who used to be pretty aloof, bore his testimony in sacrament meeting last week!
i was asked to do a 15 minute share for the conference. i was terrified. then i found out it was just with a small group, which is better than 80+ missionaries. i was asked to share on hope, which happens to be the attribute i'm working on this transfer. i learned so much while preparing. the share ended up good but awkward. it was me and the four elders in the zone conference working on hope in a room together. president hsu came in at one point and told a story about del parsons then left. it was awkward. one of my favorite things i learned about hope while preparing is how much it can and should affect our actions. i know that if i carried out each day and each task with my hope (i.e. faith and desire in one) for the celestial kingdom in mind i'm sure my actions, thoughts and words would be much more pure. i know that hope purifies us and makes our life meaningful. it brings us to the savior and without it we cannot be found in the presence of god! go practice faith guys!!
after zone conference we had a choir practice. while the mission choir is performing in kaohsiung, we'll have a jiayi choir performing at some big events here. i think it will be a really great opportunity to testify of christ. we only had 2 hours to practice all together and we won't have any other time. it amazed me how unified we were as we worked towards a common goal with urgency. there was so much love and spirit in the room. i think that's how it's supposed to be in our families. as we work together with diligence towards exaltation our hearts and minds will be one. i think we sounded pretty good by the end. i'm pretty proud of myself. i learned in that 2 hour period how to sing alto. i kind of like singing these days. weird, huh?
i'm almost out of time. but i love you all. next letter i'll tell you about my legs. no, i'll tell you now. they are COVERED in some sort of bite. sister hsu said mosquitoes but no one else thinks so. the other day elder juang, an elder up here in jiayi, kept staring at them and saying "heinous" (a word one of his american companions taught him).yesterday at zone conference he stared again and said in english "your poor pretty legs are so ugly now." thank you. they are pretty gross. i'm trying to find a remedy. green oil seemed to do wonders last night. sister hsu said use tiger balm. do you have any suggestions?
oh! thanks for all of the updates. so many marriages. i hope kens sends me an announcement. i haven't heard from her since the beginning of my move with sister jiang. i've written but no response. if she doesn't send me one will you forward the one you get. and if you talk to her tell you i love her. who did laura deaver marry? how is shawna and baby sam oliver? i miss you all and love you!
love,
sister jade
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