Written Feb 23
first- happy birthday dad and grandpa reid!! two wonderful men, another year
older.
i'm still in jiayi! hooray. i was really excited to get the call that said i'd
stay here. i'm really excited about the district we have this transfer... elder
welling stayed and his new companion is elder cornelius from our mtc district!
president hsu took two elders out of an area next to us, so the two left are now
part of our district... elder cleaver, american, nice i guess and elder tang, a
sarcastic taiwanese elder. you don't understand the commodity that a sarcastic
taiwanese is! they are hard to come by, so i look forward to our weekly
meetings.
my companion is sister hornberger from orem, utah. i don't know her very well.
but this move is going to be good. it's going to be good.
last night we visited a less active member. she has an amazing testimony and her
husband and children come every week, but since they moved down from taipei she
hasn't been able to find a place in the ward and feels really uncomfortable with
how clique-y everyone is. she has told everyone that she's sick and that's what
we thought too but when i said that i was a psychology major she said, "i'm so
happy! i can talk to you. other people wouldn't understand," and then told us
the real reason's she's not coming to church. she told us some of the things
that have happened since she came, as extreme as they were, sister chen and i
were not surprised. like i mentioned in last week's email, we've faced weird
challenges in dealing with third ward. (i thought that after meeting with the
relief society president last week things would get at least a little better.
nope. we visited a less-active member that hadn't been to church in a long time
on saturday. she came on sunday. i tried to talk to the rs president about it
after church but she walked away from me mid-sentence. i was stunned, but not at
the same time.) as we rode home i realized how much work needs to be done in
these wards. it's kind of stressful, but i also really look forward to having to
fight and work hard for these people. does that make sense?
as i pondered all that is ahead for the next six weeks, i also realized how not
right my mindset since move calls came has been. my past experiences with sis h
haven't been super positive and i worried that this move would be tough. all i
could see between potential companion issues, ward problems and investigators
that we may have to drop were challenges and trials. i started trying to be
positive by thinking, "after the trial comes the blessing. great things must be
in store for jiayi." as we rode, sister chen said to me, "i think you're in
jiayi for a reason. i know you'll help them." i realized then that sister
hornberger was coming to jiayi for a reason as well. why was i choosing to look
at everything as a challenge with a blessing waiting afterwards. sometimes
heavenly father just gives blessings. sister hornberger could very well be
exactly what this area needs. our companionship (involving both of us together!)
might be able to find the key to bring unity to third ward! so, things are going
to be good this move. i'm going to work unceasingly for companionship unity and
to have the spirit to help me know what is best for those around us.
it has only been a few days since i last wrote, so i don't have a whole lot to
report. i do, though, want to tell you about the grossest thing i have
experienced since i got to taiwan. all of the disgusting things i've
seen/felt/heard seem to involve the fauna of taiwan. my swollen lip was pretty
sick, my bite covered legs were nasty and my elephantitis wrist was hard to look
at (fear not, it has gone down to near normal size. my watch is again latched on
the 2nd notch rather than the 4th as it was on wednesday. i worried over the
weekend that i may permanently have one chubby wrist and one normal one.
luckily, i'm almost completely healed.) on friday morning i went into the
kitchen to make some oatmeal. as i put my cup into the microwave i noticed a
whitish thing moving on the floor, at first i wasn't sure what it was. i got a
closer look and concluded it was some type of larvae. as i stepped back i
noticed a handful more and decided they were probably maggots. i started to
become nauseated and called for sister chen in the most pathetic voice ever,
pathetic enough that she RAN to the kitchen. we started inspecting and found
tons of them. we sprayed them with the only bug spray we had, but they didn't
die, so we swept the up and flushed them. a few hours later, before heading out
for the day, i went back into the kitchen to find more all over the floor. we
had no idea where they were coming from. i was totally freaked out, so i called
sister hsu. she laughed a bit and then said, "if they don't die, don't worry.
they'll turn into flies and then die eventually." real comforting! telling this
story makes me sick! our apartment is super clean, yet has somehow turned into a
maggot farm!! gross gross gross. sister chen and i did all we could think to do,
and it seems to have taken care of the problem. but since then i can't enter the
kitchen without inspecting the corners, prepared to find a little wriggling guy.
sick sick sick. (dad- not good sick, gross sick.)
friday we spent the day in minxiong, about an hour away. it felt so good to
spend a day visiting less-active members. my heart goes out to them. i want so
badly to help them come back. we are making headway with a few. we'll see how
the next while goes. it's going to be good! (i'm saying that over and over and
over again, if you haven't noticed.)
so, things are good here. i miss you all. i love you all! i'll have wonderful
stories next week, i'm sure.
love,
sister jlo
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