Greetings from an internet cafe in Zhanghua, Taiwan! I feel like I'm lying to you everytime I say I'm in Taiwan... but no, really guys, I am here. Last week was great! We conquered 3 mountains, ate weird stuff, biked through floods, got attacked by dogs, and invited hundreds of people to come unto Christ and it was all SO good. We'll start off with my experiences lately with dogs. We exercise 6 times a week. 3 are running outside around a track, and 3 are done inside at home. 2 weeks ago I met a friendly little stray dog. Have I mentioned that I see about 14583957 stray dogs everyday? They are all over the place. This one was nice-ish and stayed by my side as I finished my last lap. However, once I stopped, Hank (I sometimes give stray dogs names) started biting my leg. I kicked him off, and started running away. He followed me for a bit but then gave up. 2 days later I saw Hank again, but he was wise enough to leave me alone. Last Tuesday I had finished running so I started doing sit ups and push ups as normal. As I was getting abdominal muscles of steel (HA or just trying to work off all the chocolate I eat here) I went down to start another sit-up and immediately felt paws pounce on my stomach. Hank was back with a vengeance. I rolled over and started to get up as he started snarling and attacking my ankles again. I started running... and he followed. I turned and delivered a nice kick to the face (but not too hard because I felt bad hurting a dog) and kept going. However, he was undeterred and followed closely behind. I started running up and down bleachers to try and confuse him, but he just followed and kept trying to eat my legs. The best part about this is that a little crowed of who walk around the track each morning gathered to watch and laugh, but not a single one of them did anything haha. I continued to kick when I could, run when I couldn't, and pray this dog would leave me alone the whole time. One blow was hard enough to stop him for a second and I quickly ran and hid behind a tree. He was confused, and eventually Hank left the premises. The cliche stories are true. Dogs hate missionaries. My legs are just fine, no visible wounds other than a few little scratches, but oh how much more cautious of dogs I now am.
Alright, now for some other random stuff. I ate pigskin. It's clearish, thick, looks like pure fat, and is disgusting, but I ate it. Oh, and ginger looks a lot like potatoe, but it's not. I learned that the hard way. It rained so much the last 2 days! Last night was the hardest rain my companion says she has ever seen in Taiwan. It was so fun! We are expecting another Typhoon this week so I'm looking forward to that. Sister Wainright and I enjoy singing the awkward song nobody really likes in the Sound of Music while it's storming. "Climmbbbb everyyy mountainnnnnn, forrrrge everrrry streeeeammm" One, because we bike up mountains, two, because we forge streams in the rain. We use our really high operatic voices and it is just pure joy. It's really great because nobody can hear us since the rain is so loud haha. After English class on wednesday, we saw Sandy again! Remember her from one of my first emails? She had pulled over and was willing to meet, did for a few weeks and then the week before her baptism she dropped off the earth. Wouldn't answer our calls, meet with us, come to English or church and it was so sad. However, she came back! She apologized for ignoring us for so long, and wants to discuss baptism again. We are meeting with her again this week and I'm so excited. She was one of the first people that I personally contacted and was willing to pull over and set up a time to meet ("add" with us). I shall keep you updated!
Thursday we had a Trainer/Trainee meeting for all the missionaries that came to the island when I did. I saw my two MTC companions and they are both doing good, so that was great! President Bishop gave us some really great advice and wanted to see how we were all doing now that we've been on island a while. We read in 3rd Nephi 11 in the Book of Mormon which is when Jesus Christ comes to visit the Americas after He is resurrected. The chapter starts out with the people hearing a voice but not being able to understand it. The voice was small, but pierced their souls. After 3 times, they knew where to look, they opened their ears and were able to understand the voice of God introducing His Son Jesus Christ. I feel like that is our role as missionaries. We help them know where to look, and then help them understand the message of the Gospel through giving them opportunities to feel the Spirit and God's love for them. Then we help them come closer to Christ. In the chapter, Christ comes down and presents Himself as a living testimony. My favorite verses are 14 and 15 because He invites everyone to come up to Him, one by one, and feel the nailprints in His hands and feet. There were thousands of people there, but He let them all come up one by one. Christ loves each of us individually. He sacrificed for each of us individually. He invites each of us to gain a testimony of Him individually. Our relationship with the Savior is very personal, and as we remember that, we know that we can turn to Him for all our needs. He has felt each of our pains, knows each of our griefs, and is waiting with arms stretched out open to come unto Him again. I know the Book of Mormon is true and am so grateful I get to testify of it everyday here. I love my mission and I love all of you! More next week
Love, Sister Smart
p.s. I got letters from Mom, Dad, Shari, and my friends Liz and Shelly, thank you so much!!! You are all too great :)
No comments:
Post a Comment