Insanely AMAZING WEEK!!! And a policy change! I LOVE THE
GAOXIONG!!!
First off we have just been informed
that we can email people back!
From my Mission President:
"The Missionary Department notified me recently of a change in mission
rules regarding use of email on preparation day. Beginning immediately,
missionaries have permission to email friends and recent converts."
So i can email friends now! so please
feel free to email me if writing letters is too much of a pain
hahaha
Well this has been the most AMAZING week thus
far! Full of adventure, travel, and marriage proposals!!
SCRIPTURE OF THE WEEK:
"19 Which hope we have as an
aanchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast,
and which entereth into that within the bveil;"
Hope in our Saviour Jesus Christ is
the infinite anchor that we all have to Him, and to our Eternal, Heavenly
families. It is so amazing to think that just for us, he went through so much!
We must always remember that we have Him, and we should NEVER give up HOPE! We
are ANCHORED ETERNALLY.
This week started off with a very long Pday
spent in the Mission Office preparing for Thursday's English Training
Conference! It was actually really relaxing, but we just took an hour for email,
and the rest we were in the office, so we did not get a lot done. We didn't even
buy groceries! Luckily we had enough to last for the rest of the week though :)
So never fear mum!
Tuesday we had an awesome DTM by our new
District Leader, and then we took off on our adventure up to Dongshi, about 1
1/2 hour bike ride up the mountain. (Except we do it in about an hour!) It was a
pretty humid day, so we were prepared with loose skirts, no cardigans, and LOTS
OF WATER!!! I thought my companion was going to die on the way up! But she's a
champ and she pounded it out! Then we went to go see one of our LAs and meet
with a FAMILY THAT WE FOUND!! They are amazing! The Liu Family. Right now we are
teaching the Amah, Mum, and the 2 yr old boy who likes me to play with him and
his toys. hahahah Last time we visited he walked up to me, grabbed my skirt and
looked up and me and said: "Aiyi, Wo ai ni! (Auntie, I love you!)" So stinking
cute! Then we decided that we would come back up on Wednesday, so we locked up
our bikes, left them at the bus stop, and took the hour long bus ride back to
Fengyuan.
Wednesday, we tried to take a bus up to the bus
station to catch a different bus up to Dongshi, but the bus driver decided it
was his lunch break, so he drove us to a bus garage on the end of town and left
us there to find a different way. So we WALKED ACROSS FENGYUAN! We could
definitely be walking missionaries, it just would take FOREVER and not be very
efficient! Then we took the 91 bus up to Dongshi where we decided to try finding
our part member inactive families. We found this road that led up the mountain
on which one of the families lived, so we started off. This is a real mountain
side, with jungle on either side of us! So INSANE!!! I AM IN TAIWAN RIGHT
NOW!!!!!!!!! Wow! so anyways, i'm pedalling as hard as i can with my gears on
the lowest level not really going anywhere when i hear a *Chinkchunk* and my
comp goes "oh no!" I'm just praying "No....this can't be happening, please no!"
and i stop, turn and look down the path at her, and her chain had fallen off and
gotten chinked in the gears! So I spent about 45 minutes fixing her bike, and
then we were on our way again!!! Then it started Raining!!! and we had to get
back down to Fengyuan because we still had English class that night, so we
headed back down. English was super fun and Butterfly was the only one in my
class. She decided to change her name to Happy because we were talking about
emotions and she said that she felt Happy....but then she changed it back to
Butterfly! hahahah so stinking cute!
Thursday was AMAZING and we taught English
Training! We also got to go down to Gaoxiong which was INCREDIBLE!!! I really
hope to serve down there oneday! We spent the day with the APs, and the other
office elders. We had a blast and were able to really excite people about
English! The mission training went REALLY well! My companion also taught a
different class! We were assigned this before we became companions though, so no
connection! It was for the WHOLE mission! Two different sessions, one for the
Taichung area, and one for the Gaoxiong area. So my comp, the one i presented
with, and i all rode down in the van with the Operations Manager, Recorder, and
APs. It was super super fun! I LOVE Gaoxiong! It was a really long day, but very
fun and we were able to get a lot of people excited about our English progam.
:)
Friday was back up to Dongshi where we were
attacked by a ton of dogs....good thing we are such quick bikers! hahaha One man
sic'd his EIGHT beagles on us! hahahah Super funny to see them chase us! Dongshi
is amazing though because EVERYONE (except that one man) is incredibly nice and
don't hate the missionaries! It's been ignored for a long time so my companion
and I have decided that WE ARE GOING TO ESTABLISH THE CHURCH IN THE MOUNTAIN
CITY OF DONGSHI!!!!!!! Woot WOot!
Awdward moments
During English Proselyting on Saturday, a guy
came up to me and asked if i had a boyfriend, my companion told him that I did,
so he asked if she had one. She said that she did as well. He asked if they were
American and we told him of course! So then he asked for our numbers...we gave
him an english flyer instead. He then asked if he came to English if he would
see us, we told him that we were both teachers so yeah he would......We'll see
if he comes this week! If he does, that's super awkward!!!
The Amah that we teach up in Dongshi also asked
me if I would marry her son who is in his mid 20s or so. I told her that right
now I'm a missionary, and that I will probably marry an American back home. She
asked if I had someone waiting....so i told her I had options hahahahahahahahah
Too funny! These people here love me!!!! They all think that I look like a
native Taiwanese...but not really chinese! hahahhaaha
So the update that some of you had
asked was that No Vicky has not YET been baptized. But she does have the desire,
she just has school for the next few weekends, and doesn't want to be baptized
until she can be perfectly obedient and attend church EVERY Sunday. Sweet girl!
We also have a new investigator named
Zoey! She is 15 yrs old and great and she found us through our English Class
Facebook page and came to English class! She thinks that our church is really
cool and wants to be baptized! She only has one problem...she drinks a special
tea for her eyes and skin, but says that if she can find a replacement one that
she IS allowed to drink, that she'll stop drinking her "very special tea" and
then she says she can get baptized. She is very sweet and she already
understands that if she wants to be baptized, she needs to be 100% obedient! So
if anyone knows any herbal or flower teas that "help your eyes and skin" please
let us know!!!
We also were supposed to meet with
one of our investigators Chen Jiemei #1 this last Saturday and while we were
waiting for her at the church, another one of our "investigators" came in. This
person is one that comes to church every Sunday, refuses to meet with us, and
refuses to read the Book of Mormon. She even gave it back to us. She also really
wants to be baptized and doesn't understand that you have to read the BOM and
know that it's true. You can't just be baptized without preparation. She also
heard about the upcoming temple trip and wants to go, and got really mad when
they told her that she could go and stay outside, but that she couldn't come in.
We think that she has some mental problems that she is dealing with. So when
Chen Jiemei showed up, i took her into a classroom and started teaching her
while Song Jiemei (sis smart) stayed with the other one. While I taught Chen
Jiemei the 3 lesson for her new member lessons, i was a little blunt with her.
We had just found out last time we met with her that she's kept her baptism a
complete secret from her whole family, because they would really really fandui
(it means against) , so she sneaks out on Sundays to go to one hour of church.
When we discussed the Doctrine of Christ and then specifically Enduring to the
End, i straight up asked her if she wanted eternal life. She said yes. I asked
her if she could have eternal life since she's been baptized. she said yes. so
then i asked her if she wanted to be with her family forever. she of course said
yes. Then i asked her if she thought that her family could have eternal life
then if they don't know about the gospel and haven't been baptized. She said no.
And then i straight up told her that's right. They can not be together as a
family forever if her family hasn't received the gospel. Especially if she's
keeping it from them. Then we discussed ways that she could help her family come
unto Christ, and slowly share with them the gospel. At first i was worried that
i had offended her, but then she came to all three hours of church the next day,
and even had invited her son if he wanted to come too! He didn't but i was glad
that i was following the Spirit, and not just being my blunt self. She really
needed to kick things into gear and have someone be straight up with her. When i
told my companion what had happened, she laughed and said, "I'm glad that you
were teaching her and i wasn't there then!" hahaha
Our Ward Correlation Leader loves me!
It's really great because he's thinks that I'm so funny and interesting. He
always asks me the most random questions ever and they are always totally
unrelated to anything we are discussing. He is also Butterfly's father!
hahahahaha He is also the only sarcastic Asian man i have ever met. His family
is great, and we've had FHE with them the past two Sunday evenings.
Okay, well that is some more things
that happened this past week!
Well my time is up, but it's been a great week
full of exciting adventures. I hope that you are all loving life back home and
getting ready for CONFERENCE!!!! Pray for our leaders, and then listen carefully
to their words and the feelings/revelation that you WILL receive from the Spirit
if you are prepared! The gospel is true, the work is good, and I LOVE THE
GAOXIONG!
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