November 5, 2012
Greetings from Gaoxiong! I have officially been transferred and have a new companion here in the South of Taiwan. Her name is Sister King and she is from Utah. I think we will get along really great. My old companion Sister Sumko is freaking out that I'm leaving, but I'm sure she'll do a great job with Zhanghua. I will miss that place so much... but I guess I've got to move on sometime. I am now living in a little city called Sanmin... little is the wrong way to describe it. Small but HUGELY POPULATED. If we traveled quickly from one side to the other in my last area it would probably take about 5 hours to bike... if not more. Apparently it takes about 25 minutes here... AHH!!! So its a tiny area but with a TON of people. It's also the hottest place on island, so it looks like no winter for me. I was really looking forward to wearing lovely sweaters and tights, but oh well. I am super excited to get to know this area and will spend at least 2 movecalls here! This is Sister King's (Wang JM) last movecall so I'll at least be here one more after she leaves. Gives me some good time to really get to know the ward so I'm really excited about that.
My last week in Zhanghua was a good one. Monday started out with a really neat miracle. We are working with a Chen Jiemei right now but she is not really progressing very much. She is a busy mom of 3 children and has yet to feel how the gospel really relates to her life. We were on our way to Anna's house when I saw Chen JM outside doing dishes. We quickly pulled over and I started doing the dishes while Sister Sumko got to know her a little bit better. Once I finished the dishes, she broke down and told us how stressed she was and how her and her husband keep fighting. She is unlike most Taiwanese moms and takes care of her own children (in almost every family the grandparents raise the grandchildren and the parents work) so its really hard on her. We were able to fully relate the gospel to her and show her how certain principles will help the very situations that cause her so much stress. For the first time it seemed like she was actually listening. We then sang Count your Many Blessings with her. I love that song because when life gets tough, which it certainly will from time to time, we can always turn to the Lord and remember all the blessings that He has given to us. I was so happy we were able to follow the Lord's prompting and visit her that night.
Tuesday we spent a lot of time getting ready for our English Halloween Carnival on Wednesday. We made signs, set up the games, helped set up the haunted house, and printed 400 fliers to hand out to everyone. We group proselyted and invited tons of people to come as well. We also had a really great lesson with one of our investigators. She wants to be baptized next month so I'm excited they will get to continue working with her! Wednesday was filled with a ton of miracles and great lessons. We visited my favorite Taiwanese person Liang Mama (the 78 year old we baptized last month) and also had a lesson with Pan JM who is getting baptized in 3 weeks. Zhanghua is really growing, and while I'm sad I won't be able to be there to see it, I feel really blessed I was able to be a small part of it for 4 months. Wednesday night was the CARNIVAL!!! Twas a smashing success with 120 people in attendance! (Pretty crazy since sacrament attendance is only like 50, but it was all 3 wards)The greatest part was that tons of people invited their friends who had never been to church before, so we were able to meet a ton of new friends. The games turned out great, the food was great, the people were great, and the haunted house was great! People dressed up (including myself as a student... I borrowed a friend's school uniform haha) and it was a grand old time. Yahhhh!!!!!!
Ahh, my time always goes way too fast. We were able to visit a lot of people and see many miracles. The Lord truly watches over each and every one of us. I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to serve in Zhanghua and will never forget those people. I also look forward to this new opportunity to serve in Sanmin. I love you all so much!!! Enjoy the pictures :)
Love, Sister Smart
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