BEST WEEK EVERRRR!!!

March 18, 2013

BEST WEEK EVERRRR!!! Okay but really. Let's start from last weeks miracle that I didn't get to tell you. Liu Jm was someone I mentioned back in my first area. She had the husband fandui but really really really wanted to be baptized, had 2 sons, cutest person ever, and then dropped off the face of the planet! I love her SOOO much so it was really hard on me. We met my second week on island and met 2 or 3 times a week, calling everyday for about 4 months. Then out of the blue she disappeared... I moved a week later so I figured I'd never hear from her again... Fast forward till 2 weeks ago on Friday. Sister Burrows and I decided to go chat with folks at the trainstation. We didn't really know why, but went there anyways. We had just prayed when I opened my eyes and thought I was dreaming... LIU JM and her TWO SONS!!!!!!!!!!!! I DIED OF EXCITEMENT!!!!! We talked for a long time and were able to find out what happened and set some goals for moving forward. Turns out, she comes to Fengyuan every week a few times for a class. She said she'd start going to church again in Zhanghua and will also meet with us occassionally here. Ah, words cannot describe how much I love this woman and her family. I always knew she'd find the gospel again, but didn't know I would be lucky and blessed enough to get to see her again. I'll keep you updated on how that goes :) ahhhh!!!!!

Okay, so now about last week! Sunday was my first time going to church in Fengyuan and it was wonderful! We hit it off well with the Relief Society president and are excited to work with her. She has a lot of really great ideas for us missionaries, so we're excited to try it out. The Huang family also came to church! I met Huang JM on the street a few weeks ago. She pulled over and told me she was a member who hadn't gone in a long time, but now she is married and her husband wants religion, so they were trying to decide what to do until they saw me! We chatted for a while and told them where our church was and when etc.They've been coming ever since and meeting with us and the elders to get back on track. They are so wonderful!!!!! Monday was spent at the mission office doing english stuff... so agian I'm sorry about the lack of a letter, hopefully I can try to make it up today. Tuesday was a really fun day!!! We started off with a great district training meeting. Our new district leader is Elder James, and it was his first  one, but he did great! We talked about the importance of having faith in missionary work. It's important to work effectively and smartly, but in order to really bring results, we need faith! After DTM we biked up to DONGSHI. Dongshi is a fun little city on top of a mountain. I thought I was going to die going up the mountain, but I didn't, so don't worry. I thought I biked fast... Sister Burrows is a machine! haha We were able to meet with Wu JM who hasn't been to church in a long time. We talked about CPR- aka going to Church, Praying, and Reading: the things that will save your life. It went over well and she decided she needed some help on the reading part. We now call her daily so we can share scriptures with each other for a few minutes. These things are as essential as food, so we gotta do it! We were on our way to the next appointment when I heard a "clkkkkkkiiiiiiii" and my bike stopped moving. Chain problem. We fixed it ourselves, but not more than a minute later it "clajkehflieeeee"ed again. We fixed it once more, but after it "dlaweifjleeeeee"ed again, we just walked it to the nearest bike place. Oh well! Later we met with a new family, the Liu family!!! They are so great! There is an ama, a daughter, and her 2 year old son that meet with us now. The husbands are not too interested, but we try to serve them everytime we are there to help them soften their hearts. I mopped the floor, and they gave us lots of fruit, that's gotta be a good sign right? haha Wednesda was SO MUCH FUNNNN. We went up to Dongshi again and spent all day trying to find our less active friends! Now, I told you that dongshi was up in the mountains, but once you're there, there are MORE mountains that you can go up and into. We went THERE. We went up UP the mountain, through fields and jungles, through swarms of mosquitos, through rivers and CRANES (the pretty bird crane) and ahhhhh. It was the most beautiful thing ever. We sweat like nobody's business, but it was so worth it. Coming back down was a blast and then we ate icecream for dinner. Don't worry, I normally eat better than that, but it was well-deserved ice cream. haha That night at english I taught about body parts and then about CHURCH and how fun it is! It was at english that night where we met Zoey! Zoey is a cute 15 year old that is really curious about religion. She has a friend who is LDS so she wanted to come check it out. She is so wonderful and we have met with her a few times, including her coming to church yesterday! She was so funny during it. Every few minutes she'd ask what they were doing, I'd explain, and then she'd be like "woahh.... coool!" Made me stop and realize, yeah, church is really cool!

Thursday was ENGLISH training. It turned out well I think! We got up at 5 to head down to Taizhong and get ready for it. I was in a classroom down in the basement. You know me, I was so nervous I wanted to DIEEEEEE, but I didn't die, so don't worry. My first one was a little rough, and my voice shook a bit, but over the next 6 times it got progressively better and less nervous! haha It was weird teaching without a companion like normal, but it turned out okay. We chatted about different ways we can get effective feedback from our students. I started off the class inhumanly boring. I didn't smile, comment, care, or really do anythying. I kept looking at my watch, rolling my eyes, and muttering... After about 2 minutes of this torcher, I told the class that I was sorry that I'm not the best teacher, but that I want to be better. I then started to ask some effective "feedback" questions to help them help ME become better. For example, they say, uhh you could SMILE, and I'd SMILE! You could have more enthusiasm, and I'd get super excited and be enthusiastic the whole time! They'd always see my uke sitting on the table beside me, and without fail, every class was like "you could play that uke and sing a song" and (as luck would have it) I had my song planned out and then SANGGGG. It was so funny. We then evaluated the whole process and talked about ways we can make it effective for english class and answered some questions and concerns they had. Overall I think it turned out well! After the Taizhong session, we went down to GAOXIONG!!! I love the gaoxiong. It made me miss Sanmin, but I still love fengyuan. We did the whole thing over again and then drove back home that night. It was such a fun day!!! Friday we headed back to Dongshi (yep, my muscles are getting HUGEEE) and visited some more people, including the Liu family again. We read the Book of Mormon together and it was so great. Saturday was spent back in our poor neglected Fengyuan that hadn't seen us all week! We met with lots of folks and had some wonderful lessons. Sister Burrows was awesome Saturday night when both a crazy person and a member we were going to meet with showed up at the same time. I had to take care of the crazy girl, and my companion led a review on the Gospel of Jesus Christ with Chen JM all on her own!!!! It went really well and Chen JM came to church for all 3 hours yesteday! I was so happy for her!!! Church was wonderful again yesterday. It was on the importance of reading scriptures daily! We might not always remember every single thing we read, but it gives us nourishment and power to become better and more like the Savior. I'm so grateful we can do His work andbe His missionaries! I LOVE MY LIFE. I LOVE MY LIFE. I LOVE MY LIFE. I can't imagine not having gone on a mission. I love you all so much and hope all is well!!!!!!!!!

Love, Sister Smart