Weekly Whipplets of Wonder

January 28, 2013

Like that subject title? I've been working on it all week. Today I'm feeling slightly nostalgic as it was pointed out to me that I have just recently hit my half-way mark. WAHHHH! I had no idea. I still can't believe it. I will be really honest with you... my first few days here I thought I'd never make it to this point. It was literally 100+ degrees with humidity up the wazoo. I kept getting yelled at in a language I did not understand, and that sounds like you're angry even if you're not. I was riding up and down and all around mountains and rice fields, getting 50+ mosquito bites just on my legs alone. I felt utterly inadequate to give the most precious truth to the most precious people. Here I was, a foreigner trying to teach others how to have eternal life with their families when all they wanted was to pull off or slam the door. I was exhausted both spiritually and physically and didn't think time could go much slower. Of course, I was still happy and loving my time as a missionary, but it was hard. Well... I'm here. I'm at the half-way point and have 9 months left on my mission. How did I make it? When I wanted to die I was so hot, He gave me extra strength, sent a cool breeze or a red light. When I got yelled at, He gave me the charity to keep smiling and lovingly inviting them to church or english class, which sometimes they would even accept. When people say words I have never before studied and technically should not know, He helps me understand what they are saying. It's a miracle I still get to experience every single day. I still get tons of mosquito bites... there's really just no way around that one I suppose hahaha. When I mess up words or disrupt the flow in a lesson on accident, He still helps the people feel the spirit and eventually progress towards baptism. I am still inadequate, but that is what keeps us humble and receptive to the Lord's help. That's why we see miracles every day. We try our best, push through the hard times, and trust the Lord. He lets us meet these wonderful people in spite of our weaknesses. He loves us THAT much! I've worked hard every single day of my mission, and know that the Lord is happy with my efforts. Even when it was hard and I thought I couldn't do it anymore, He broadened my perspective and reminded me how eternal this work is. I will never ever ever EVER regret the decision to serve a mission. I am so happy here and love these people with my whole heart. I will work harder than ever these last 9 months right up until the moment I take off my tag and probably cry a whole bunch haha. But the work will never stop. I will always share the gospel with those I love and help them partake of the blessings that come from living the gospel.

Well... that was a bit longer than I expected... haha. Last week was great! We had some cool miracles on Tuesday. Every Tuesday we have district meeting, and the topic last week was on asking inspired questions. We had a really great discussion on how to really get to know people and their needs through asking inspired questions. We practiced and then went about work as normal. One of our lessons afterwards was with Wen JM. She was baptized last year, but has a harder time coming to church each week. She is divorced and feels really lonely. She usually doesn't open up with us very much, but last week was different. My companion and I prayed before the lesson that we would be able to really get to know what her needs were and how we could help her become happier. The lesson came and we really tried to ask simple but inspired questions, and it worked! She truly opened up and shared with us some of the trials that happened after baptism and how they affected her faith. We were able to think of some ways she could find the happiness she once felt again. When we left that day, we saw a new light in her that comes from the hope of the atonement and the desire to improve. We were so happy and have seen many similar miracles as we've tried to ask more inspired questions.

We made some new friends last week that I am also really excited about. One, Chen JM is in her 20's. We met her as we were pulling out of a 7. She seemed really interested, so we asked if she would pull over and sit with us for a few minutes. She was really willing and we ended up teaching her about prayer and how it can bless her life. Geez, I love prayer. Anyways, she was super excited to learn, and we will continue meeting with her! Another, Li JM, is also in her 20's. I called to set up a time with her and she seemed really excited. We set up for Saturday at 3 at the church. 3 rolls around and she's not there. We try to call, but she doesn't answer. 15 minutes pass and we realize that we are getting stood up... Drats. There was a baptism at 4 that we wanted to go to, so we started calling phones while waiting. Miracleeeee, she calls us! She originally had a ride from her lame boyfriend (later she told us about him, and he sounds lame and treats her real lousy) but he didn't show up, so she had to work out a different way to come, then she got super lost and called a few times for directions. At 3:55 she came, and we quickly introduced ourselves and then asked if she wanted to watch a baptism. She was really curious, and stayed for the whole thing. Zhong DX (the man getting baptized) had a really rough past. Through the gospel, he was able to quit smoking, drinking, drugs, and overcome feelings of same-gender attraction. He is absolutely incredible and shared a really powerful testimony of the atonement. Li JM was touched by the baptismal service and afterwards said that she too wants to be baptized. She told us of her family and boyfriend troubles, and we were able to share with her how the simple teachings of the gospel could influence her life and help her find the direction she needs. I love meeting these wonderful new people and am excited to continue to share the gospel with them. 

I got my hair cut! My chinese vocab for hair cutting is really poor... and a lot more hair got chopped off than was expected, but oh well. It's just hair and it grows back really fast. I will try to send a picture, but my camera is being weird today. 

Wednesday we had our english party! It was so much fun. The topic was families! We had an angry bird pinata made by the elders,  made these cool chinese door decorations, hung up our new year wishes japanese style, and had a few members share how the gospel has affected their families.  It was so much fun and I want to send pictures! but I think it will have to wait till next week. Silly camera. Oh well. 

Well, I really love you all. I'm sorry today's is a little bit shorter, I reminisced too much about the past haha. I hope you're all doing well! You're in my prayers!!!

Love, Sister Smart

Week 30

January 21, 2013

Wahhh! 30 weeks guys. I've been here for 30 weeks! I feel like I've been here way longer, and also can't believe it has been that long. But I guess no matter how you look at it, it's been 30 weeks. Let me tell you all about it.

Tuesday morning we went to see Bao ama, a dear elderly woman who belongs to another Christian church. We met her through her grandson, Elder Bao, a missionary in my mission who asked us to start visiting her a few months ago. Normally her husband is always there too, but this week he wasn't sitting where he normally does. We sat down and as we started to chat, she broke down and told us that her husband passed away a few days ago. We were sad, but were able to help her feel comfort through prayer and explaining God's love for her and her family. We were asked to go to the funeral on Saturday and sang 2 hymns as a district. How grateful I am for the knowledge that we can see our loved ones again as we live righteous lives. It helped reaffirm how truly important the work of helping others come to a knowledge of the truth is. We love Bao ama and her family and will continue to help her build her faith so she too can see her dear husband again.

We had a neat miracle with Huang JM! She was baptized 30+ years ago, but her husband has not joined the church. He does not support her efforts in the slightest, and is really rough on her. When we visited her a few weeks ago, we talked about our goals for this year. Her biggest one was to be able to go to the temple. Her husband never lets her go, refusing to give her the money and always making her work. We decided to make some plans to help her goal become a reality. My companion is wonderful at chatting with those who don't really want to chat (aka angry husbands who want nothing to do with the gospel) and helping them slowly soften their heart. Her husband has been SLOWLY slowly warming up to us, and even joined us in prayer the last 2 times! Miracle of miracles, the ward is having a temple day February second, and he said she could go!!!!!!!!! She was thrilled and so are we! We know these sacrifices will continue to bless their family and help them have an eternal marriage. So happy!!!

Funny story: We went to Carrefour to eat lunch one day. It's kind of like a mall food court, but WAY better. I stood up to go get some red bean soup and noticed a man sneaking from table to table, eating people who had left's leftovers. I about died of laughter! As we continued to eat, we noticed him prance around, eating this and that. Please try to imagine a tiny asian man, wearing a tight red shirt, hair down to his shoulders, going around eating leftovers in a mall. hehehe

Thursday we had Zone conference! The southern half of the mission got together and had training for several hours. It was so good!!! Every month we have a Christlike attribute that we are working on as a mission. This months is knowledge. Every Zone conference we are all asked to prepare a 5 minute share on what we've learned, and president will randomly pick 2 missionaries to share. As luck would have it, he picked the girl with the last name SMART to talk about knowledge. The gang got a pretty good laugh out of that, and I gave a little talk. I was ultra nervous, and ended up not reading anything I had written down. I just shared the difference between learning and knowing. For example, I have learned that Jesus Christ is my Savior, but it was not until I truly knelt down in prayer asking for help through trials I alone could not face that I could testify that I KNOW Jesus Christ is my Savior. That knowledge is more precious than anything I could ever read or study. I shared a few others truths I have learned and then personally come to know. As we learn truths, we need to personally apply them to our lives and let them influence us for good. Once we gain testimonies of these truths, we can then go and share them with everyone!

Well my time is coming to a close, so I just want to share a few quick funny things. Sister Xiao tried her first twizzler this week. She hated it and I got a really funny picture I'll send next week of her trying it. I also help her with english from time to time and one morning we had decided that she could only speak english! I lost my rulebook and was looking for it, when she said (in a really cute broken accent) "Maybe Lucifer stole your rulebook because he doesn't want you to obey" hahahaha now that is not an exact quote, because that is far too advanced sentence structure, but it was still really cute. I love you all! I love this work! I love the Lord and hope you all know how much He loves each and every one of us.

Love, 宋雨蓉  Sister Smart

Sister exchanges in Zuoying for the day!!!

January 14, 2013

Dear Family,

WEIRD! I sent a family email last week... but it seems as if you all didn't get it. I have checked my outbox and such though and can't find it... SORRY!!! I really did write you all last week though. Bummer... I wrote a REALLY great detailed email last week and the miracles we saw :/ zaogao (oh drat) I'll try to make this week's good.

Monday was a nice little preparation day, and ended with us visiting a few families that night. Tuesday was SISTER EXCHANGES! Be excited... I'll start from the very beginning. Once upon a time I lived in the MTC. Chinese has a few different districts, each with its set of sisters. While there, I became lovely friends with Sister Goldade and Sister Mack, a companionship from another district who are one movecall younger than me. We hung out whenever we could and I love them SOOOO much! I have yet to serve close to either of them, but we will occasionally write letters to each other. Sister Exchanges came and I was supposed to go to Daliao with Sister Thomas. Sister Goldade was supposed to go to Zuoying with Sister Cole... (Sister Thomas and Sister Cole are companions) So everyone's new companions have come and go, and Sister Goldade and I were left waiting at the train station for a half hour. We called them, and turns out their zone leaders forgot to tell them we were having exchanges!!! We called up the assistants to see what we should do, and they said WE could be companions in Zuoying for the day!!! I was beyond excited! We had SUCH a blast together, caught up on everything (we both have Taiwanese companions so we can't always talk about everything we want to on a daily basis) and worked hard. When we went to their zone training meeting I was able to see one of the reasons I was supposed to go to Zuoying. I had been praying about some things and received those answers at that meeting. One lesson I felt was especially wonderful was with Chen Mama. She has been a member for about 15 years, but her husband passed away last month and she is extremely lonely. We went over and sang with her, shared scriptures that were special to us, and got to know each other better. It was a really neat experience and I hope I can go back to Zuoying one day. Best mission friend reunion, prayers answered, and a chance to see a new area and meet new people! BEST DAY EVER!!!

I came back Wednesday to a package waiting for me! The Cobb's sent me a package, please tell them THANK-YOU THANK-YOU THANK-YOU!!! It really meant a lot to me. I'm excited to eat the food and am grateful to have the pictures!!! It was all perfect. That night I taught English as normal and we pretended we were in a restaurant. I was Waitress Smart and we learned how to order food in english. It was really funny and afterwards we were able to share about prophets and how cool they are! I love teaching english. I think it is a wonderful opportunity to serve and makes me really grateful I grew up learning it... English is so hard haha. Thursday was spent meeting people that joined the church, but then stopped coming. We miss them! So we biked around Sanmin all day going to many of their houses. It was really fun, and really tiring haha, but well worth it. Sometimes people just forget how much God loves them, and we do our best to remind them. That night we went to visit Chen JM, one of our investigators. We were about to start when my companion started feeling really sick. She asked to use their bathroom and didn't come out for an hour. She was really sick, and had the flu... I took her home and sent her to bed right away. The next morning I just let her sleep and sleep. Sleep some more, sleep sleep sleep and she slept ALL DAY! Haha I was bored out of my mind calling phones all day, but she was able to give her body the rest it needed. She woke up around 8 that night, showered, chatted about my day for a bit, and then went back to bed till the next day again. That morning she was a completely new person! She felt completely better and we went out and did the Lord's work with full energy. It was a huge miracle that can only be explained by prayer and sleep :) It was my first time not leaving the apartment at all on my mission, but I was able to call many many MANY people. I'm so glad my little companion is feeling so much better now! 

Saturday was wonderful! We started off with lunch at a family's house. They haven't been to church in a long time but brought their friend to meet us. We were able to talk about the gospel and how it blesses families over eating some nice fish, tofu, and wax apples. FUNNY STORY: I was wearing a white skirt. My drink was brown. I picked up my cup to drink, the bottom of the cup completely fell out... yeah... the cup didn't shatter or anything, just the bottom FELL OFF! haha it was really cold, and made my white skirt pretty brown. They all felt SOOO bad, but I just kept laughing and telling them it was no problem. I went and washed out my skirt and it all came out. The only negative was a wet skirt half the day, but I think it was all worth it considering the fact that it is now a story that gets sent home in my weekly letter. Gotta love it! 

Well I am off to buy some eggs and fruit. Maybe some green and red beans to drink in brown sugar soup. Sounds good, doesn't it? Haha I love you all dearly! Can't wait to meet Shari's new baby girl! Excited Rachelle is having a baby girl! Have a wonderful week!

Love, Sister Smart

No general email for January 7, 2013

No general email received for January 7, 2013