Sister Rachel Caroline Edwards: Monday September 16, 2013

Monday September 16, 2013

Dear family,

This week was good. We met some investigators and Less Actives that I haven't met before, and I loved them!! I didn't realize it until Sister Taylor pointed it out, but after a lot of these lessons, I came out saying "I LOVE her/them." I don't know why, but so many of these people, after just one meeting, I LOVE. It's been cool. We met with a XXX JM for the first time this week. A member had told us we should drop her, because the member didn't think she had any potential. I thought she was awesome! When we invited her to read and pray about the truthfulness of the BOM again, she said she had already asked God that question! When we invited her to read every day, she said she would!

We also met with a XXX JM this week. Because she's a nurse it makes it hard for her to get to church, but she said she's coming this next week, and she seemed pretty good! Definitely has potential. It's exciting.

XXX is doing great! When we met with her this week, she walked in with lattes for us. We had to explain that we don't drink coffee. To which, of course, she replied "Why??" So instead of finishing the Plan of Salvation, we taught the Word of Wisdom! It went great. When we asked if she would follow it, she said, "Of course" (In English too). Yeah!! This woman has already decided she wants to be baptized. It's pretty cool. And even though we can only squeeze a few words in every time we teach-she talks a LOT . . . she still gets things and is willing to commit! She ALWAYS does reading assignments and marks her scriptures when she does too. She is awesome!!

We had a really cool miracle on the beach this past week! We decided to go contacting in a place Sister Taylor had never contacted before. Turned out it was the beach! Which sounds like it would have a lot of people, but it was surprisingly empty. We weren't having much success, and I was feeling guilty for spending most of our time just walking around looking for people, but we decided to go talk to one last girl, who was sitting next to the water on a rock eating a sandwich. She set up with us and even asked if she could bring her sister!! It was our only new investigator last week, but it was a very promising new investigator! We don't meet with her until Saturday, so hopefully I'll be back with good news next week. It was just so cool, because our seemingly wasted efforts turned out to have a very important purpose that we only knew in hindsight.

We decided to eat at Carrefour for lunch one day this week. It's kind of like a Walmart. They have a whole floor that is basically a grocery store. I was really undecided on what to eat. I wandered over to the bread section, and after looking around for a while I finally picked something. While I was looking, the bread lady came over and was really friendly and offered me a sample of moon cake. Then when I went to get the little price sticker to put on the bread, she started talking to me. After a minute I finally realized "Ah what am I doing? This lady was going out of her way to talk to ME and all I was thinking about was eating yummy bread!” I got her phone number, and when we called her she wanted to set up! Because of her schedule it's been a little up in the air, but she even calls us back when she misses our calls, so I think she is really interested! YYEEESSSSSS!!!!! Heavenly Father has REALLY been putting people in our path, and it is amazing."

We met with a less active Wang2 family. Sister Taylor has been meeting with them and trying to get them active since she first came to Dan Shui, almost a year ago. They have been improving slowly, but still haven't come to church. We dropped by this past week and ended up meeting with them for a few minutes while they ate dinner. It was a cool experience for me, because I loved them so much. I walked out of that lesson a little blown away. I don't know that I have ever loved someone and really wanted them to have happiness/the gospel that much that quickly. I just instantly cared about them. The mom and kids came to Sacrament meeting this Sunday!! They have quite a few problems, but they see what they need to do and they want it, and so I think they will make it.

As for your questions! Temple Tours are tours in the chapel that is right next to the temple. These tours are based on what is done on Temple Square. We go on tours with investigators that missionaries bring, or with people we get off the street. We walk around the building, stop at 2 or 3 pictures we pick out, watch a video, give them referral cards, etc. So, no new temple in Taiwan :) I think they're pretty successful , who knows? How is the new temple in Provo coming?

Peike, it means 1) a lesson with an investigator where a member is present, or 2) the member who is at a lesson with an investigator. So it has two meanings, either the lesson or the member at the lesson. RC = Recent Convert and LA = Less Active. Typhoons . . . Well, 2. But the only bad one was that first one in June or July (I can't remember).

Language! It's very slow, I'm improving but it's still hard. I'm understand more conversations. Sometimes I'll understand almost everything someone is saying, and sometimes I can't even pick up the main topic! But it's better. Learning a language is so hard! But I really do love Chinese, so it's OK. Sister Sutton always spoke in Chinese, and I think that helped. When I first got to Danshui I felt like I could see the improvement I'd made. There are 3 language phases, the first is gospel language, the second is everyday stuff, and the third is characters. The hardest part is just making things stick. I guess that's obvious, but it's discouraging when I spend a lot of effort memorizing a word, and then a couple weeks later I cannot for the life of me remember it. Grr! Then it's awesome when I learn a word thinking, “I’ll never use this word.” Then someone uses it the very same day :) It definitely helps that they have language phases and pre-made flashcards for us!!

I love you!

Sister Rachel Edwards

Sister Taylor and Sister Edwards
Special effects with make-up

I ate a guava with my lunch that day, and a little guava seed got stuck in my teeth. I couldn't get it out! As we were walking to the bus stop, I remembered having used my hair as floss before, and it worked. So I got a piece of my hair, twisted it up, stuck it in my mouth began sawing, and then I was holding a detached strand of hair and had guava AND hair stuck in my teeth. I was a little in shock, but mostly just laughing really hard.

September 13, 2013 Outdoor Zone Conference
It's fun being with so many missionaries, especially doing something fun together.