Well, it's only been a few days since I last emailed everybody but A LOT has happened in those last few days. To start, here are some funny things to report:
1. On Saturday we visited a recent convert at her house. She made us this really yummy soup and I was freezing cold (it's starting to get colder here in Taiwan--and by cold I mean like 65 degrees hehehe) anyway, this soup was super good! Lots of veggies and bits of fish and stuff. Anyway as we were leaving the house after the lesson my companion Sister Barden said, "Wow you really liked that soup huh? Did you know there were whole guppies in that soup?" "Uhhhhhh no...." I ate GUPPY soup. Like, the whole fish! scales, eyes and all! I can officially say I have eaten fish eyes. HOW IS MY STOMACH NOT DYING ALREADY? I do not know.
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| Cooler days!
2. The Elders in our area have started a new craze called, "Balloon Animal Contacting." They carry around balloons and ask people if they want a free present. They ask them what their favorite animal is and then they make a really cool balloon animal and give it to them! Then they will relate it to Gifts from God or the Creation or something and its actually a huge success. We sisters need to get more creative...
3. After English Class there is this investigator who loves to play piano and have me dance. Its so funny. She'll be like, "Zhong jie mei!!!! Zhong jie mei!!! Tiao wu shi jian ma?" (Sister Tracy! Can we do dancing time?") I'll just basically interpretative dance to any song she plays on the piano. It really brightens her mood; not to mention it counts towards my exercise time, and I make a complete fool out of myself. But she's had a hard time lately so besides teaching the gospel, it's the best I can do for her ha-ha. Okay sonme other thoughts and things from the past few days: 1. Friday was a really insane day--Shen de an pai kind of day. Shen de an pai means "God's errand" like, God sets up timing. Well we were sitting in a 7/11 eating dinner and I looked out the window and saw two of our progressing investigators walking towards me (the ones who went to church last week). They got so excited as did we! We bought them chocolate and gave them encouragement right before they took their tests. Immediately after that, another investigator who we have not been able to contact in what seems like forever walked in. We had a quick lesson with her and encouraged her to keep working on the word of wisdom and then we finally set up another appointment with her for today. Lastly, as we were getting on the bus to go teach a new investigator we ran into an old investigator who previously committed to baptism but her mom was SUPER against the church so we had to stop meeting with her. Her mom told us we were not allowed to talk to her anymore but she said nothing about hugs so right when I saw her I ran up to her and gave her a hug and she started crying. It broke my heart. I know one day she will be able to meet with the missionaries again. 2. Saturday was nuts but super great. We had stake conference on Saturday at Shi Lin. We were at lessons literally all day so the zone leaders called us and said, "You won't be able to be home until midnight if you go back to Jilong and you need to stay the whole meeting so can you sleep over at the Nei Hu sisters' apartment?" Sister Chamberlain (my bestest MTC buddy) is a Nei Hu sister so I was super excited!!!!!! But we had been at lessons all day so meiyou banfa (no way) did we have time to run back and grab our dongxi (stuff). So we basically had to borrow everything from them ha-ha. It was so much fun! |
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| A clock store!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!--for you mom |
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| One of our elder's bikes. super funny |
3. Saturday was also amazing because we taught the most amazing lesson so far. We taught our progressing investigator (one of the girls we saw at 7/11) about the plan of salvation. We asked her how she thought a knowledge of the plan of salvation could change her life. I felt super impressed to tell her about Ryan and how I know he'll be resurrected one day and receive a perfect body and how that faith has changed my family for the better. Also, I showed her a picture of our family and told her about Michelle. I started telling her how a knowledge of eternal families has literally saved my family from falling apart. It was a really simple testimony but the spirit was so so so strong. She started to cry and said, "What is this feeling that I am feeling?" We told her it was the Holy Ghost which bares testimony to follow Christ. We then asked her if she was willing to follow Christ and be baptized. She said "If I can always have this feeling, then absolutely." Miracle. You know it's interesting - I have never been so open about my family before the mission. Whenever we talk about the plan of salvation I usually always bare testimony about how this plan has saved my family because its given us eternal perspective and goals to push towards. Its always invited the Spirit so I keep sharing.
4. Lastly, I just wanted to share some thoughts on charity. At Stake Conference on Sunday we gathered at the chapel in Jin Hua right by the temple. We sat with a bunch of the ward members and young adults. I love these people. They are so faithful. They greeted me this morning and my heart just lit up because I dunno, I just love them. They are my Taiwanese brothers and sisters. I will never ever forget them. I've learned a powerful lesson here in JiLong. Charity heals everything. Honestly, if I ever catch myself in a sour mood, I've learned the key to get out of it is at the very moment I just catch myself from falling any deeper and just show love for somebody. This is how I am learning to be more like the Savior. I found myself in a bit of a bad mood yesterday and a small small small subtle feeling said, "Hug somebody." I turned to my companion and immediately gave her a hug. Both of our faces lit up as did our hearts. I felt 100X better. If we ever have a happy thought or impulse of charity we need to act on it immediately--don't miss out! The key is to act without hesitation; otherwise, you miss out, become hesitant, awkward, and then you still find yourself falling. They don't call it the "still, small voice" of the Holy Ghost for nothing. You gotta act fast, quick on your feet. Allow the Holy Ghost to teach you about charity, to teach you about Christ. Acting on impulses of charity is something that has saved me my whole mission thus far. Without it I wouldn't have met many of our new investigators or invited people to follow Christ or have the relationship with my companion that I have now. Don't doubt these feelings. I testify that all good is from God. Don't doubt, only believe. Have faith, then act. Just do it.
K that's my invite to you all this week. If you catch yourself in a sour mood immediately do an act of charity. Trust me it works!
K love you all :) Till next week
Sister Tracy
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