Monday December 9, 2013

Monday December 9, 2013

Dear Friends and family,

This week we met with a new investigator who we first talked to last week. She brought a friend with her and our lesson went well! So that was cool. We saw an investigator of the Elders’. We had given his name to the Elders a while ago. He came and watched the choir performance this week. Sister George and I really felt like running into this guy was a miracle, and then to see him in church was super cool.  We had met him at a restaurant and he helped us read the menu.  We talked to him in English which is so hard to do when trying to teach the gospel.

One of our investigators, Amy, is progressing well. It's exciting to see her accept our invites. She's been to church, has started reading the Book of Mormon, and came to the choir performance!  

Speaking of which, that choir performance was enjoyed here in Danshui. The Relief Society teacher brought it up yesterday. She described how much it touched her, and the relief society spent several minutes talking about how wonderful the spirit had been.  This teacher also explained that her YW-aged daughter was in tears during the violin-viola-cello piece--and that was the first time she had ever seen her daughter touched by music. Several other members shared how they were touched.  While closing the performance with his testimony of the Savior our bishop had to pause several times because he felt the spirit so strongly. Perhaps it wasn't the most polished performance, but it was still good for those who came. We had several investigators there between the Elders and us.  The ward warmly welcomed each one  and talked to them after. That choir performance was a great success.

Here we are with the Young Women making cookies for our choir performance.  We helped a little :), actually mostly just ate cookie dough.

 

A cool miracle was running into a member this week. We were outside her house writing cards to give her and her sisters! We'd planned on giving them notes that night before visiting a member that also lived in Bali, thinking that they lived close by. It turned out that they didn't live near each other at all. So when we finally arrived at their house we were not feeling good about spending so much time on the road just to drop off some notes. As we stood there Chu JM herself walked up and asked what we were doing! We talked to her for quite some time, and I felt like it was REALLY good that we got to spend that time with her. Things like that make me wonder just how much the Lord is guiding us without us even realizing it.

One thing I'm learning on my mission is to be happy. That has been a big issue for me. If I can't be happy now, I'm never going to be happy! Happiness, in most cases, is a choice. And it's one that I want to make now for the rest of my life. And I think making that choice makes us much more capable tools in the hands of the Lord. Our potential is so much greater. And I think I've done alright! Not that I've always done it perfectly, but I think that my capacity to choose happiness has grown on my mission."

Angel has been progressing, indicator wise, very nicely!  We are still waiting for spiritual experiences, the most important part.  She has been coming to all sorts of activities, is obeying all the commandments, including praying and reading every day, and keeping the Word of Wisdom, and has almost finished all the missionary lessons. Last week, for the first time, we ask a Brother in the ward to help us peike. Usually we ask sisters, because those are the people whom these someday members will most likely need as friends. As we sat down to start, I realized that our lesson that day was on the Law of Chastity. The one time we ask a Brother to peike . . . it's the Law of Chastity. I just laughed inside and we proceeded forward :) Angel JM had no problems with the commandment, so it was fine and really not awkward at all. 

We also taught Angel JM tithing. She was so cute! We brought these little stars to do an object lesson. I gave her ten stars, and asked her to give me one back. She did, and then took another one and gave it to Sister George, "Here, you can have one too." Our object lesson thwarted by her generosity, we just started laughing. You can guess from her giving nature, tithing wasn't a problem.

This week I finally took Sister George to eat stinky tofu! The stuff is growing on me. There are two kinds, one deep fried, and one boiled. We ate the boiled kind this time :) Our stinky tofu also had duck blood in it. Not runny, thank heavens, but an almost jello like consistency thing. It wasn't bad!  The dark thing I'm holding up is duck's blood.

We have a young investigator- Ivy. As we were waiting for her this week, she called and said she just had to go to the bathroom and then she would meet up with us. After waiting a while and she still hadn't come, we called her, and she informed us that it was taking longer because she was going "poo poo." (literally, she used the words poo poo). We laughed so hard! We were pretty late, but it was worth it for the laugh.

This past week I also had a particularly disgusting experience. In Taiwan, a lot of men chew Betel nut.  It's this nasty stuff that, when chewed, turns their saliva orangey reddish, and over time their teeth as well. It is absolutely disgusting. As I was riding my bike down the road something wet hit my face. I wipe it off, looked down at my hand, and saw the unmistakable red of binlang saliva smeared on the back of my hand. UGH! Thinking about it makes me wrinkle my nose. I spent several minutes on the side of the road getting that stuff off. I'm so grateful America doesn't have that nasty stuff!

Everyone loves Barbie. Taiwanese clothes with English on them are the best.  Especially after being accused of looking like a Barbie because I'm one of the 5 people in Taiwan with blond hair.

Yes!!!One of my biggest dreams is to get a picture of me riding my bike between two buses.  This might not be the best one ever taken, but now I have it!

It's Christmas with decorations and rejoicing!!!

These random chairs were out at a park that we went to this week-so funny!

I love being in Taiwan and I love this work. There is nothing better. With the Christmas season we have a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the birth of our Savior. I hope that everyone is taking every opportunity they have to sing praises to His name. I love you!!