November 12, 2012
Dearest Family,
I first and foremost am happy to say that I have kept a pretty effective journal this week! Progress progress. For preparation day last week I went to a place that blew my mind. I have known that I am on an island for quite some time, however, I never actually believed it until... I went to the BEACH! What?! Palm trees, sand, water, the whole bit! We took some pictures, but I'll be honest, my camera takes really lousy pictures haha. I still sent a few ones that turned out though. We went there with May (Wu JM) one of our investigators. We took the MRT to Xiziwan and then took a ferry to a little island called Qijin. It was so beautiful! We played in the sand in a very dignified appropriate missionary-like manner for a while, checked out a few souvenier shops and then headed back home. I'm now back in the busy city of course, but it was fun to get to see the ocean for a little bit. The next day I woke up with a nasty cold... I am still getting over it, but its much better now. On Tuesday we had a really cool lesson with Zhang JM. She has been meeting with us a few weeks but wasn't really progressing (or so we thought) Turns out she had already read to Jacob and had some really wonderful questions about the Tree of Life in second Nephi. My lovely companion thought it'd be good for me to take a whack at explaining the meaning behind it with my language skills... Ohhhh the humbling language of chinese. However with some stick art and help from Heavenly Father, I think she got the main idea haha. We were also able to share the Joseph Smith experience with her and why our church is different. She is willing to pray about it and keep reading so we're really excited about her. Random tidbit: We printed off 800 english flyers for group english contacting. We went to an intersection to hand them out and gave them ALL away in an hour. Maybe that gives you a little idea of how populated it is here haha.
Wednesday was the best ever! Elder and Sister Wilson came here to visit Gaoxiong. They are the part of the Asia area presidency which means they live in Hong Kong and have dozens of countries they visit all the time to oversee the church and missionary work here in Southern asia. I took pages and pages of notes and learned so much from them. One of my favorite parts of the day was at lunch. All the missionaries clumped together and what not, but Sister King and I decided to sit by Elder and Sister Wilson with the grown-ups haha. Probably not too often does the chance come up to sit and have lunch with a general authority, so we took advantage of it. Turns out Sister Wilson is a convert to the church. Her grandma was a member, but her mother fell away before she was born. She went to several churches growing up but she didn't really feel like any of them were right. Her parents discouraged her, but she always had a feeling there was something more. One summer they went to stay with their grandparents and her grandma told her about our church. She loved it, read the Book of Mormon, and was baptized. She has stayed strong ever since. Several years later her sister joined the church as well. So cool! She is a scriptorian and a half. I really want to become a better student of the scriptures, and now is the perfect time to make wonderful habits to do so for the rest of my life. All in all, a wonderful day. Afterwards Elder Wilson pulled a few missionaries aside and interviewed us. His advice to me was to use these experiences as a spring-board for the rest of my life. I never want to forget the wonderful principles behind the work we are doing here in Taiwan. Everything relates to the future!!! So mind blowing how absolutely wonderful this all is.
Anyways! That night we had english class as we normally do. I'm enjoying teaching Begining class. This week we talked about the letter G and then about friends and how to improve our relationships with others. Afterwards we sat with Wu JM (husband fandui investigator) and had a lesson with her. We started off talking about the importance of the Book of Mormon. She shared a beautiful testimony on how the Book of Mormon had truly become a source of power and inspiration to her. Her son recently left for the military for 3 years. She cried and cried that day, but then took out her new favorite Book. She read for hours and felt an inner peace and comfort she had never felt before. There are many other things that are too personal to share over email, but her life is all but desirable. She has it extremely rough, but still has hope because of the Book of Mormon. It seems so strange that a book could really mean that much, but myself having read it, can also testify to the truthfulness and power of the Book of Mormon. I love that Book, and so does Wu JM. It is such a wonderful experience to see others gain a testimony! I love this work. I don't know if I've said that before.... hahaha.
PINEAPPLE MADNESS! My companion and I had much fun last week as we delivered pineapples to our Bishop, Relief society President, Young Woman president, and Primary President. Pineapples are a sign of prosperity, king-ness, and a bunch of really good stuff that make people feel REALLY special. It felt nice to secretly deliver them (muah ha ha haaa evil laughter... ) This weeks project is cookies to our recent converts. I am curious how we will make cookies, for we have no oven, but it'll be a fun experience. I really miss cookies, but to buy good ones they are really expensive, so I guess that can just wait a year. Ahhh I only have a year left! Crazy. I'm almost to the 7 month mark of being missionary. Friday night we had a primary activity where we made little clay dog things. We had an investigator come, Xie JM with her 3 kids. They had a really great time and the ward was really nice to them. Afterwards, the primary kids went to go practice for their Sacrament Christmas Program so we sat with Xie JM in the back. She said there was a different feeling in that room than others. I explained about the Holy Ghost and what happens at church on Sundays. We are meeting with her again tonight and I hope she will continue to progress. Her kids are SO cute.
Sunday was really fun! Church was uplifting as usual and I got to go to Young Womans with one of our investigators. She had a great time and loves church, so that was nice. Afterwards I got to go to Ukulele class... hahah yeah you read right! Our ward has a uke class after church and they are preparing for our christmas activity. One of our recent converts goes and I wanted to get to know her better, so to Uke class I went. Funniest ever. They can't' play the chords, they decided to sing in English which they can't speak, and none of the ukes were tuned together, but it was still so much fun. I got to help them with pronunciation and such. Uke class. Oh, the best is that they are singing Amazing Grace (not a Christmas song...) and Santa Clase is coming to Town. I love it and I love Asia.
Well folks, I'm hoping that was more detailed all thanks to a journal and notes took this week haha. I love you all so much!!!! I sent a few random pictures that I hope you enjoy! (Mom, if you think any are too unprofessional like the orange one, you don't have to send it to anyone) Oh and Saturday it poured and poured, hence the raincoat picture. LOVE YOUUUU!!!
LOVE, SISTER SMART
Dearest Family,
I first and foremost am happy to say that I have kept a pretty effective journal this week! Progress progress. For preparation day last week I went to a place that blew my mind. I have known that I am on an island for quite some time, however, I never actually believed it until... I went to the BEACH! What?! Palm trees, sand, water, the whole bit! We took some pictures, but I'll be honest, my camera takes really lousy pictures haha. I still sent a few ones that turned out though. We went there with May (Wu JM) one of our investigators. We took the MRT to Xiziwan and then took a ferry to a little island called Qijin. It was so beautiful! We played in the sand in a very dignified appropriate missionary-like manner for a while, checked out a few souvenier shops and then headed back home. I'm now back in the busy city of course, but it was fun to get to see the ocean for a little bit. The next day I woke up with a nasty cold... I am still getting over it, but its much better now. On Tuesday we had a really cool lesson with Zhang JM. She has been meeting with us a few weeks but wasn't really progressing (or so we thought) Turns out she had already read to Jacob and had some really wonderful questions about the Tree of Life in second Nephi. My lovely companion thought it'd be good for me to take a whack at explaining the meaning behind it with my language skills... Ohhhh the humbling language of chinese. However with some stick art and help from Heavenly Father, I think she got the main idea haha. We were also able to share the Joseph Smith experience with her and why our church is different. She is willing to pray about it and keep reading so we're really excited about her. Random tidbit: We printed off 800 english flyers for group english contacting. We went to an intersection to hand them out and gave them ALL away in an hour. Maybe that gives you a little idea of how populated it is here haha.
Wednesday was the best ever! Elder and Sister Wilson came here to visit Gaoxiong. They are the part of the Asia area presidency which means they live in Hong Kong and have dozens of countries they visit all the time to oversee the church and missionary work here in Southern asia. I took pages and pages of notes and learned so much from them. One of my favorite parts of the day was at lunch. All the missionaries clumped together and what not, but Sister King and I decided to sit by Elder and Sister Wilson with the grown-ups haha. Probably not too often does the chance come up to sit and have lunch with a general authority, so we took advantage of it. Turns out Sister Wilson is a convert to the church. Her grandma was a member, but her mother fell away before she was born. She went to several churches growing up but she didn't really feel like any of them were right. Her parents discouraged her, but she always had a feeling there was something more. One summer they went to stay with their grandparents and her grandma told her about our church. She loved it, read the Book of Mormon, and was baptized. She has stayed strong ever since. Several years later her sister joined the church as well. So cool! She is a scriptorian and a half. I really want to become a better student of the scriptures, and now is the perfect time to make wonderful habits to do so for the rest of my life. All in all, a wonderful day. Afterwards Elder Wilson pulled a few missionaries aside and interviewed us. His advice to me was to use these experiences as a spring-board for the rest of my life. I never want to forget the wonderful principles behind the work we are doing here in Taiwan. Everything relates to the future!!! So mind blowing how absolutely wonderful this all is.
Anyways! That night we had english class as we normally do. I'm enjoying teaching Begining class. This week we talked about the letter G and then about friends and how to improve our relationships with others. Afterwards we sat with Wu JM (husband fandui investigator) and had a lesson with her. We started off talking about the importance of the Book of Mormon. She shared a beautiful testimony on how the Book of Mormon had truly become a source of power and inspiration to her. Her son recently left for the military for 3 years. She cried and cried that day, but then took out her new favorite Book. She read for hours and felt an inner peace and comfort she had never felt before. There are many other things that are too personal to share over email, but her life is all but desirable. She has it extremely rough, but still has hope because of the Book of Mormon. It seems so strange that a book could really mean that much, but myself having read it, can also testify to the truthfulness and power of the Book of Mormon. I love that Book, and so does Wu JM. It is such a wonderful experience to see others gain a testimony! I love this work. I don't know if I've said that before.... hahaha.
PINEAPPLE MADNESS! My companion and I had much fun last week as we delivered pineapples to our Bishop, Relief society President, Young Woman president, and Primary President. Pineapples are a sign of prosperity, king-ness, and a bunch of really good stuff that make people feel REALLY special. It felt nice to secretly deliver them (muah ha ha haaa evil laughter... ) This weeks project is cookies to our recent converts. I am curious how we will make cookies, for we have no oven, but it'll be a fun experience. I really miss cookies, but to buy good ones they are really expensive, so I guess that can just wait a year. Ahhh I only have a year left! Crazy. I'm almost to the 7 month mark of being missionary. Friday night we had a primary activity where we made little clay dog things. We had an investigator come, Xie JM with her 3 kids. They had a really great time and the ward was really nice to them. Afterwards, the primary kids went to go practice for their Sacrament Christmas Program so we sat with Xie JM in the back. She said there was a different feeling in that room than others. I explained about the Holy Ghost and what happens at church on Sundays. We are meeting with her again tonight and I hope she will continue to progress. Her kids are SO cute.
Sunday was really fun! Church was uplifting as usual and I got to go to Young Womans with one of our investigators. She had a great time and loves church, so that was nice. Afterwards I got to go to Ukulele class... hahah yeah you read right! Our ward has a uke class after church and they are preparing for our christmas activity. One of our recent converts goes and I wanted to get to know her better, so to Uke class I went. Funniest ever. They can't' play the chords, they decided to sing in English which they can't speak, and none of the ukes were tuned together, but it was still so much fun. I got to help them with pronunciation and such. Uke class. Oh, the best is that they are singing Amazing Grace (not a Christmas song...) and Santa Clase is coming to Town. I love it and I love Asia.
Well folks, I'm hoping that was more detailed all thanks to a journal and notes took this week haha. I love you all so much!!!! I sent a few random pictures that I hope you enjoy! (Mom, if you think any are too unprofessional like the orange one, you don't have to send it to anyone) Oh and Saturday it poured and poured, hence the raincoat picture. LOVE YOUUUU!!!
LOVE, SISTER SMART
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