Wahhhhh! This week was a good one. I LOVE SISTER BURROWS. She's crazy and hilarious and we have so much fun together! Here's a bunch of random things from this week with some pictures too!
Tuesday we went to visit a woman in the hospital. She had a stroke and then brain surgery to keep her alive. She's doing much better now! Her patient husband was in there helping her move her legs and arms so she'll be able to walk again one day. The first time we went, they were sleeping, so we just left a little love note, but the next time they were both awake. We went in and sang hymns, chatted about life, shared a scripture on how the Lord will never leave us in our trials and then sang some more. She loves to sing hymns and so do we. Her husband has not joined the church yet, but we were able to talk to them about the plan of salvation and how it gives us comfort and strength. It was just one of those times that made me feel extremely lucky to represent Jesus Christ and do as He would do. I feel like I have those moments more and more each day and I love that feeling! We also visited Long JM, a woman who joined the church 8 years ago but has been going through some stuff lately. We went over and shared Mosiah 24:11-15. It's when the wicked king says the people can't pray anymore. Instead of forsaking their God, they pray continually in their hearts and never lose faith. The Lord sees their faith and in due time releases them from bondage. The Lord knows the trials we need to help us develop our faith. We just need to continually trust in Him and have faith and we too will be free from all sorrows and pain one day. We also visited Hong JM who has 2 children who refuse to come to church. She really wants us to help them come back, so we got to know them and then played the Holy Ghost game which they thought was so fun. We then invited them to start praying about their lives each day, and then to pay attention to how God influences it for good. Hopefully we can keep seeing them and help them come to church. We had dinner with Zoey that night! She is doing SO GREAT!!! Came to church again this sunday and loves reading the Book of Mormon. She also wants to learn the ukulele, so we're going to play a little bit this week along with some other friends from english class. It will be fun!
Vicky and Tina are doing pretty well. They opened up to us about some concerns with prophets and continued revelation. We shared some scriptures with them and then talked about the importance of faith in receiving an answer. It's so cool how ANYONE anywhere can get an answer about whether this is all true or not. I think it is one of the biggest evidences that God loves us and will never abandon us. We had a lesson about that in Relief society yesterday too. I am so grateful for trials that have let me turn to the Lord and develop my own faith and testimony so I could come share it with these people that I love. Teaching English was really fun on wednesday! We talked about body parts and then prayer. My students are so funny and ask some of the most random questions. Zoey came too... wearing roller skates haha. It was pretty funny. We also visited Hong JM, a sister with schizophrenia. She is having a really hard time lately, but we made her scripture cards and lamenated them so anytime she feels scared or worried, she can pull out a card and it can comfort her. We hope it helps! We also spent a lot of time organizing a TON of records/contact cards/stuff/ward lists etc that is helping us feel much more equipped to do the work now. We also had a ward activity Saturday which turned out great! I love meeting with these people and getting to know them. I LOVE MY MISSION!!!
For reals. Its hard to describe. I wish words could do it justice but they just don't. I'll write mroe next week. I love and pray for you all!!!!
LOVE, Sister Song
Monday, March 25, 2013
Monday, March 18, 2013
Song "How Can I Get Feedback" sung by Sisters Smart and Burrows. Original music and lyrics by Sister Smart, Ukulele played by Sister Smart.
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
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
Monday, March 11, 2013
Accidentally rode through a funeral... It was super awkward
March 11, 2013
Hellooooo! Geezzz I'm sorry that I'm writing so late today. IT"S BEEN SO CRAZY LATELY!!! Today we spent our whole preparation day in Taizhong preparing for an english training that I'm going to give the whole mission on Thursday..... AHHH! We've recently started a new english program that we're trying to get started, and I'm doing training on getting effective feedback from your students and helping them feel our LOVE for them. I'm nervous but excited at the same time. I'm terrible at presentations and stuff, so I decided to write a song instead haha. I'm going to play my uke and sing a silly but information packed song, then do some demonstrations, then some other stuff that I haven't quite thought of yet, but I'll work it out in the next few days. It'll be fun! We'll do it with the northern half of the mission in the morning, then drive down to Gaoxiong and do it again with the South. We haven't even bought groceries or anything yet today, and we're still in Taizhong, so I really don't have a ton of time to write this week. I'm SO SORRY!!!!! Next week should be a lot more relaxed, so I can write a long long longggg email. Let me stop telling you how much time I don't have and instead use the time I do have to tell you about my week! Haha
ok... So Monday night, I met some of our newer members. Chen JM is so sweet and her 2 daughters also come to church every week. She was baptized on Christmas and loves the gospel so much! I love hearing people's stories of how they met missionaries, why they wanted to learn more, and how it has changed and blessed their life. During personal study this week, I read that hearing the testimony of others can kindle your own faith. My mission just makes me so happy!!! well, the gospel in general just makes me so happy!!!
Here are some quick random funny things:
Hellooooo! Geezzz I'm sorry that I'm writing so late today. IT"S BEEN SO CRAZY LATELY!!! Today we spent our whole preparation day in Taizhong preparing for an english training that I'm going to give the whole mission on Thursday..... AHHH! We've recently started a new english program that we're trying to get started, and I'm doing training on getting effective feedback from your students and helping them feel our LOVE for them. I'm nervous but excited at the same time. I'm terrible at presentations and stuff, so I decided to write a song instead haha. I'm going to play my uke and sing a silly but information packed song, then do some demonstrations, then some other stuff that I haven't quite thought of yet, but I'll work it out in the next few days. It'll be fun! We'll do it with the northern half of the mission in the morning, then drive down to Gaoxiong and do it again with the South. We haven't even bought groceries or anything yet today, and we're still in Taizhong, so I really don't have a ton of time to write this week. I'm SO SORRY!!!!! Next week should be a lot more relaxed, so I can write a long long longggg email. Let me stop telling you how much time I don't have and instead use the time I do have to tell you about my week! Haha
ok... So Monday night, I met some of our newer members. Chen JM is so sweet and her 2 daughters also come to church every week. She was baptized on Christmas and loves the gospel so much! I love hearing people's stories of how they met missionaries, why they wanted to learn more, and how it has changed and blessed their life. During personal study this week, I read that hearing the testimony of others can kindle your own faith. My mission just makes me so happy!!! well, the gospel in general just makes me so happy!!!
Here are some quick random funny things:
We had an earthquake that shook our apartment on Tuesday. It wasn't severe, just really fun. We were all studying when our rolly chair started to roll. Some things moved a bit, but other than that there were no big effects.
Sister Burrows and I were stopped at a red light, when a man called out from the side of the road to us. He was sitting next to a fruit stand, with about 8 sons next to him in a row (the oldest not more than 20) He said that we could have a pick of any of his sons to marry, we told him politely that we were not really interested, but thanks for the offer, and rode away laughing.
We accidentally rode through a funeral... It was super awkward... The Taiwanese have a ton of deep traditions when someone passes away. They usualy rent out a rainbow tent, fill it with flowers, burn paper money to their gods, wear black capes over their body and read their fojiao scripture with a metronome block. The last day, they will wear bright pink capes with yellow stripes on it and crawl through the streets to another destination while wailing and mourning. We were going through a tiny ally when all the sudden we passed some of the people crawling on the street. By the time we realized what was going on, we couldn't turn back and had to quickly go through it, pass the fire bin, and get out as fast as we could! We felt SO bad. The only good part of the story is that they hopefully didn't notice we went through because they were all crawling on their hands and knees with their faces facing the ground. Note to self: beware of funerals.
There is a cute little girl that comes to english every week. Her name is Octapus.
One night we went to one of the cities we cover up one of the mountains to meet with a family. The bus to come back home was supposed to get there at 8:40, so we could be home by 9:30... however it was an HOUR LATE! We waited and waited there but no bus. Finally it came, and we had to call President Bishop because we were going to be late getting home. The ride home is like a rollercoaster, it is so fun! The road back home is really curvy and bumpy, and the bus has really bad shocks, so we are always bumping up and down like crazy, it is SOOO fun. We laugh the whole way :)
AHHHH my time is up but I have so many more stories to share with you all. I'm sorry, but I truly love and miss you all!!!!!!
Love, Sister Smart
Sister Burrows and I were stopped at a red light, when a man called out from the side of the road to us. He was sitting next to a fruit stand, with about 8 sons next to him in a row (the oldest not more than 20) He said that we could have a pick of any of his sons to marry, we told him politely that we were not really interested, but thanks for the offer, and rode away laughing.
We accidentally rode through a funeral... It was super awkward... The Taiwanese have a ton of deep traditions when someone passes away. They usualy rent out a rainbow tent, fill it with flowers, burn paper money to their gods, wear black capes over their body and read their fojiao scripture with a metronome block. The last day, they will wear bright pink capes with yellow stripes on it and crawl through the streets to another destination while wailing and mourning. We were going through a tiny ally when all the sudden we passed some of the people crawling on the street. By the time we realized what was going on, we couldn't turn back and had to quickly go through it, pass the fire bin, and get out as fast as we could! We felt SO bad. The only good part of the story is that they hopefully didn't notice we went through because they were all crawling on their hands and knees with their faces facing the ground. Note to self: beware of funerals.
There is a cute little girl that comes to english every week. Her name is Octapus.
One night we went to one of the cities we cover up one of the mountains to meet with a family. The bus to come back home was supposed to get there at 8:40, so we could be home by 9:30... however it was an HOUR LATE! We waited and waited there but no bus. Finally it came, and we had to call President Bishop because we were going to be late getting home. The ride home is like a rollercoaster, it is so fun! The road back home is really curvy and bumpy, and the bus has really bad shocks, so we are always bumping up and down like crazy, it is SOOO fun. We laugh the whole way :)
AHHHH my time is up but I have so many more stories to share with you all. I'm sorry, but I truly love and miss you all!!!!!!
Love, Sister Smart
Friday, March 8, 2013
Transfer to Fengyuan, New Companion Sister Burrows from Alpine, Utah
March 4, 2013
Okay so weirdest thing... I am writing from Fengyuan, up north by Taizhong. I don't have much time to email :/ but I'll quickly tell you whats up. So I was with Xiao and Wang JM in Sanmin until this morning. Last Wednesday I got a call from President Bishop saying that he needed a favor. I was like, sure, whats up? and he said all nonchelantly, well you're moving to Fengyuan on Monday and are going to train Sister Naivasha Burrows.... Several days later and actually here with Sister Burrows and I still don't really believe it. While training Sister Wang it was really relaxed because she knew chinese and Sister Xiao was still there. Now its just me and Sister Burrows from Alpine Utah. The trainer she has had for the last 3 weeks went home, so here I am! It'll be really fun relying on the Lord the next few months :) Sister Burrows seems so awesome. She is a rugby player, 2 brothers, cool hair, and way chill. She hardly knows the area because she just got here, but we're going to figure it all out together!!! I would be lying if I said I weren't a little nervous, but I know everything is going to be great. My life has had its ups and downs, and the Lord has never left me. He certainly won't leave me now! It'll be funny having an american. I keep trying to speak english and its coming out all weird... Oh well. It will come.
Okay so weirdest thing... I am writing from Fengyuan, up north by Taizhong. I don't have much time to email :/ but I'll quickly tell you whats up. So I was with Xiao and Wang JM in Sanmin until this morning. Last Wednesday I got a call from President Bishop saying that he needed a favor. I was like, sure, whats up? and he said all nonchelantly, well you're moving to Fengyuan on Monday and are going to train Sister Naivasha Burrows.... Several days later and actually here with Sister Burrows and I still don't really believe it. While training Sister Wang it was really relaxed because she knew chinese and Sister Xiao was still there. Now its just me and Sister Burrows from Alpine Utah. The trainer she has had for the last 3 weeks went home, so here I am! It'll be really fun relying on the Lord the next few months :) Sister Burrows seems so awesome. She is a rugby player, 2 brothers, cool hair, and way chill. She hardly knows the area because she just got here, but we're going to figure it all out together!!! I would be lying if I said I weren't a little nervous, but I know everything is going to be great. My life has had its ups and downs, and the Lord has never left me. He certainly won't leave me now! It'll be funny having an american. I keep trying to speak english and its coming out all weird... Oh well. It will come.
Last week was wonderful! Monday night we went to visit Huang baba and his wife. (Wife is a member who wants her husband to join the church) He really loves Taiyu songs, so we labored feverishly to learn a song and we sang it for him that night. Ridiculously hard language (wayyy harder than chinese) but so worth it because he was SO HAPPY! He was willing to pray with us again! I'm sad I can't see them anymore, but I know that Xiao JM will keep visiting them. Tuesday we had sister exchanges! Sister Tung from Pingdong came up and I took her around Sanmin. We started out visiting our friend Zhang JM,a sweet woman who hasn't been to church in a while. Tung JM was able to share her own conversion story and about her family, which really touched Zhang JM's heart. The spirit was really strong and I hope she will come back to church soon! We then went to lunch at Liu family's house. It was her husbands birthday and she wanted us to come and celebrate with them. Funny story about that night... We went out to eat with Yu Jie, a girl who hasn't been to church in almost 9 years. She doesn't want to come to church, but she reluctantly said she'd come to eat with us. To make a long story short, she locked her keys in her motorcycle seat and has no spare. We tried and tried to get them out, they would lift up the seat as far as it would go and I stuck my hand in to try and feel around for it. She gave up after a while and so we just went to eat.While eating, she talked about why she thinks prayer is worthless. AHHH so sad. BUT, Heavenly Father has a nice little sense of humor, and when I said the prayer, I asked that we would be able to get the keys out. Lo and behold, I stick my hand in there and pull out those keys right away! I had tried and tried earlier to get it, and couldn't find them because they were stuck under the helmet. She laughed and said she might be willing to try out prayer again. My arm is covered in bruises from it, but its worth it haha. Wednesday I got the news that I was moving, so we started visiting everyone! I really love Sanmin and got close to everyone there. I spent the next 4 days with all those wonderful people. I will miss them terribly, but this work is not in vain. I'll see them again someday.
I'm so sorry this is so random and quick!!! I promise I'll write more next week. Here's a picture of me and my companion. I LOVE YOU ALL AND I LOVE THIS WORK
Love, Sister Song
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