chronicle of Vasha #2

 I LIVE IN TAIWAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What the....I live in Taiwan?!?

Halllo! Nimen de jintian guode zenme yang?!?!  How is everyone doing today? RC = recent convert, LA = less active

Thank you for all the support and love! If you've written me and I haven't written back yet, please be patient! I WILL WRITE BACK!!!...eventually! hahaha :) i only have a little bit of time each week for letters and i must be 100% Obedient!

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: "When what you know in your head moves to your heart by the Power of the Holy Ghost....That is understanding." -Elder Bednar

I really like this quote, especially for this week because we are struggling with helping our investigators to really understand. They all know that it is true, they know the stories in the Book of Mormon really well. They all believe in God, but they just don't seem to understand why it's important and why it's necessary for them to be baptized. We are praying and fasting for them really hard and hope that as they continue to pray and read and attend church (CPR) then they will receive that answer and confirmation that they are looking for. And then they will have true understanding.

Okay....let's see what has happened in this last week since Wednesday and I emailed last.....

Last Wednesday night was English Class, WHICH WAS SOOO MUCH FUN!! :) We had conversations with them to practice their Yingwen (english) and answer any questions they had. They had some really funny questions like "What do people mean when they say that was 'so out there?'" or "What does carried away mean?" We also chose a theme (San Fransico Giants!) and then discussed it, and it turned into a discussion about San Fransico just in general and then we told them about the weather and different things like that. They also wanted to know what kids in America do for fun, What do they Study, What do they wear, What do they....., etc. It was really fun! They ask me more questions because I am so fresh from America I think and because I am more Amerian looking. We told them that in America kids move out of the house when they are 18 and leaving for school and they were just SHOCKED!!! Here people have three or four generations living in one house, and they usually don't move out until they are married....and then they usually move into the guy's house with his parents hahahahahaha.

I still have weird and funny dreams, just like in the MTC! They are always in Chinese and usually with people I'm friends with back home, or the missionaries from the MTC. They're always super random and filled with adventures in the Jungle or Mountains or such. My companion is very entertained when I tell her what my dreams are about, and she usually asks once a day "did you have any fun dreams last night?!" hahahahaha

Hmmmmm....Well I am tired absolutely all the time! They say that you are never not tired on your mission, but I really hope that it isn't THIS tired all the time, because if so, I might just die. hahahaha My companion is really diligent though about going to bed on time and waking up on time, so I get a full 8 hours of sleep every night!! oh and I absolutely LOVE MY BIKE!!! I decided that by the end of my mission I'm going to be sad to see it go and become an avid cyclist when I get home, or I'm going to grow to hate it and never get on a bike again....I think that it'll be the first one! I was excited when i got my call that I'm in a biking mission, and I still am excited! It's tiring much of the time, but being able to bike, exercise, and move is AMAZING! especially after the MTC of sitting inside all day everyday!

Okay last Thursday we woke up, ran, studied, had an awesome Weekly Planning session, then had fun planning for our Yingwen Ban (english class). We are going to play Jeopardy this week!! We thought up some good topics and vocab words, and then had to figure out how to describe them so that our students could answer and understand since it's all in English and we want them to be able to learn at the same time. Then we taught Chen Jie Mei #1 (one of our RCs) at her little school and her daughter Stephanie (age 7) was there. Stephanie already says that she's going to go on a mission when she grows up! She's super cute hahaha. I participated way more in this lesson which is awesome, then she fed us curry which reminded me of mum :D and we then played a little "monkey-in-the-middle"/dodgeball with Stephanie. Chen Jie Mei #1 asked me if I would teach Stephanie English, so I told her to bring her to Yingwen Ban since we have a kiddie class! We also taught ChenJie Mei #2 (RC) at the church. Her 12 yr old son has been in the Hospital for the last 3 weeks or so because he got into a really bad scooter accident and wasnt wearing his helmet. So he has some major road rash across his face, and arms and legs, and a broken arm. We taught her the Plan of Salvation, it was great and both Chen Jie Mei's want to prepare to go to the temple!!!

OHH!! and President and Sister Bishop also showed up at our English Meeting (right before Yingwen Ban) to check up on me! When i first saw them, and Sis Bishop asked if she could talk with me i was just like "Oh no.....what have I already done wrong?!" hahahaha but then she just gave me a hug, asked how i was doing, and told me if i needed anything to let her know! It was sweet of them to come all the way up to Feng Yuan (45 minute-ish drive) just to say "Hi" for a minute. I did great on Wednesday and could definitely feel McKay's love for me and his help. I just hoped that my family back home was doing all right with the anniversary of his death.

It's a special opportunity that i have to share the story of my family and my older brother McKay with our LAs, RCs, and Investigators because i am then able to testify to them of the amazing power of the Atonement, Plan of Salvation, and Doctrine of Christ. My testimony is still very simple, but it is true and strong, and I know without a doubt in my mind that McKay is ALWAYS with me and I WILL see him again. I HAVE A FOREVER FAMILY because of the blessings of the temples :) <3

On Friday we woke up at 6:00 to get ready so that we could travel to the Mission Home for a English Training. They are updating and improving the curriculum that we are teaching, so we needed to be trained on that, and we will have more training in the weeks and maybe months to follow i am sure. That was fun and i was able to see people from Alpine (Ryan Allen, Taylor Reynolds) and see the Assistants and Operations Director again! (All elders in my mission). Then on Saturday we had to wake up at 5:30 to get ready so that we could go with Chen Jie Mei #1 and Stephanie up into the mountains for breakfast for the New Year!! We NEVER leave the house early without permission from the DLs, ZLs, APs, or President. But since i'm brand new, and Chen Jie Mei was going to China for the New Year, he gave us SPECIAL PERMISSION to go with her! It was spectacular! up in the mountains and i tooks some awesome pictures which i'll send home next week :D They are aweomse people and such a great addition to the church.

SMALL MIRACLES OF THE WEEK:

#1. On Friday night, one of our appointments with an investigator fell through (and our backup plan to visit Zhang Jie Mei fell through too), and we were trying to decide whether to go visit a LA or RC or go contacting, when Xiong Jie Mei ( my companion) decided that we should visit a LA named Lin Jie Mei. We went over to her house, and it turns out she was having a rough day and really needed just a little bit of love from someone. She needed us that night, and because my Companion is amazing, we were able to be guided to go to her house and visit with her and share a short message. The Lord really watches over His sheep!!

#2. When we were gettin ready to leave the church on Saturday afternoon to go up and visit Vicky (1hr bus ride away) we came out of the church and saw Peggy who is one of Xiong Jie Mei's RCs from her old area. She was able to come with us and Peike (member accompanied visit) while we visited Vicky. She was able to share her conversion story and the sacrifices that she made, which helped to address some of Vicky's concerns about joining the Church. Peggy was home from University for the winter break and she rode her scooter 3 hours to where we were, and waited outside of the church for an hour hoping that she would be able to see Xiong Jie Mei and say "Hi" her patience and love was a tender mercy from the Lord.

SCRIPTURE OF THE WEEK (from my Personal Study):

Matthew 10:39

"He that findeht his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it."

Have i lost my life for my Saviour yet? Or am i holding onto the life that i think i want instead of the life that He would like to give and bless me with?

AWKWARD MOMENTS/FUNNY STORIES:

 ***That awkward moment when you think that you are teaching the Advanced Class for Yingwen Ban and you are talking and explaining about Alliteration and Onoematopeas (sp?) and then you find out that it was just the Intermediate Class....But your students are so awesome that they just soaked it all in!!!

 ***That awkward moment when you are at the night market with your kids and you keep losing your children without even noticing, and the sister missionaries keep finding them as they are doing their English Proselyting have to keep bringing them back to you....

 ***That awkward moment when you show up at English Training at the Mission Home and you see an Elder from back home and say hi and his responds is: "What the.....wait....what are you doing here?!?!" and you just say "Yeah....I'm on a Mission!!! 

 *** That awkward moment when everyday you manage to find some little old person who doesnt even speak Chinese but speaks Taiwanese and you try to contact them in your broken Chinese....and you don't even know that they arent speaking Chinese!!!

 ***That awkward moment when you are trying to share a story about your brother McKay and the women are all mostly disappointed that he passed away because they think that he is very Shuai...or good looking....

 ***That awkward moment when people can tell you are 100% american and they (kids especially) like to yell what little broken English they know as you ride your bike past them in the street....and you smile and yell "Hello!" back to them! Your day is made and so is theirs!

Well, the church is true, the work is great, and the days are long, but God will help us all! HE WATCHES OVER HIS SHEEP! :)

Next week I promise to have more adventures ready to relay, and pictures to share!! :) HAVE A GREAT, FANTASTIC, SPIRIT FILLED, MIRACLES WITNESSED, EXCITING, HEN HAO WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!
--

Peace be with you, keep the faith, and Godspeed. 

Sister Naivasha Hani Burrows

sister Burrows and sister Xiong

at the Taipei temple

 

Taiwan Taichung Mission