Monday, March 18, 2013

chronicle of Vasha #8


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!
Love Bao Jiemei!

sister Burrows and Smart after riding up the mountain

after fixing Sister Smart Bike

No comments:

Post a Comment