Sister McKenna Tracy: Making Taiwan's Earth Quake- November 4

Nimen hao!

~That's right, you can probably already guess from the title that this last week Taiwan had an earth quake!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHH. It was actually super epic. It happened last Thursday when we were in the middle of this spiritually powerful lesson with an investigator. We were in the chapel (keep in mind that our chapel isn't actually a chapel, it's a 12 story business building) so we were 6 stories above the ground. We were talking about God's power and existence and then all of a sudden the whole room started to rock. We just kinda sat there in a daze (which is probably what you're not supposed to do in an earthquake) while the room continued to shift around until finally it stopped. My heart was racing for a second. It probably lasted 15 seconds. Our investigator was like, "Whoa! was that God trying to tell me something???" Hahaha yes. SO awesome.

Our investigator's sweet jacket!

~Oh and the Earthquake happened on Halloween--extra scary! People here don't celebrate Halloween very much. Like, they are aware of the holiday and still put out candy and themed things but no one dresses up and little kids don't trick or treat. This town and Taiwanese people in general are very superstitious so they don't really like the holiday too much. But my companion and I decided to dress up--kinda. We wore matching outfits ha-ha. And we bought this really yummy pumpkin bread from the bakery nearby. I will send some pics.

~Our apartment is super sketchy! Last week we had a gas leak and discovered we had no way to turn off anything and no CO monitor. So we frantically called the district leader, zone leader, assistant, and then the President (all after 11pm whoops) and eventually the solution was to go to bed with the windows open so we could circulate some air and not die in the middle of the night. Well, the next morning we woke up alive but I realized I was incredibly itchy and I found over 100 mosquito bites all over my body! Our windows have no screens so all of these bugs got in. Then yesterday the water shut off. So we bought ginormous water bottles and stood in the bathtub and dumped them on ourselves to shower. Oh my goodness--my life is an adventure...

They fixed our gas leak with this white goo.

-We went to a National Geographic History Museum last PDay with my district. SOOOO COOL. They had all of these beautiful photographs up. Its amazing how beautiful and unique different regions of our world are. I love our world.

A funny sign at the MRT (train station). this is basically my motto now.

--Went running in the morning and this man came running after me holding two pamphlets. "Wait wait!" He said. SO I stopped. He handed me these pamphlets about this asian martial arts and said, "I have seen you running every morning. You are very strong. I think you have what it takes. We invite you to join." He handed me these two pamphlets and bowed then ran off. SoI basically got invited to be a ninja. Well, my mission here is complete. I can come home now.

--Our investigator finally set a baptismal date! Her husband is still opposed but we told her if she keeps the word of wisdom and sets this date--she will get baptized. We are sending the elders and a member of the bishopbric over to her house to talk to her husband. Ahhhh I am praying my guts out for her! I have so much faith in her though!

--Our adorable 11 year old investigator was able to come to church for the first time in months! Her mom finally let her come! Oh my goodness it was a miracle to see her there. We prayed intensely for her too and hope that she will be baptized too!

--There is this mother in my English class named Vivian. At the end of English I always show a spiritual video and share a thought. She asked me (this was about 3 weeks ago) if she could bring her Christian friend. So the week after this mother brought her friend Olivia (also a mother). I asked if we could meet with them and they said yes! Last Monday we went to Olivia's house. Vivian came too! They brought their kids and it was wonderful teaching two families. We ended up having a long lesson with them: Shared L1 and L2 and talked about temples. Well, this last Wednesday they brought 3 co-workers to English class and guess what--THEY ARE ALL MEETING WITH US TONIGHT AT OLIVIA'S HOME. I am sooooo excited! We are basically teaching a seminar tonight. Ha-ha sweet.

--We had a lot of contacting time last week. We were at the harbor and we walked up to this one girl (probably 25 years old). We said "hi" and talked for a sec really casually. I asked "Hey, how is your day going?" Her smile started to shake and then turn into a frown. "Not so good actually..." She started to cry and tell us about her troubles with work and her boyfriend and family stuff. "This is so strange I am so sorry for crying. I just feel like I can tell you guys this stuff for some reason." We gave her a hug and shared a message about prayer. She said she felt like God had forgotten her. We invited her to church and she said, "Okay I will come." SHE CAME! And guess what--she LOVED IT. People were so nice to her and loved her and she felt it! And afterwards she said, "I know God hasn't forgotten me now because he sent me you two angels and to this place where I have never felt more love in my life." Needless to say we were thrilled by that response. We taught her about the Book of Mormon and she is thrilled to read it. And she has a lot of time to meet with us so we are just super thrilled to share this message with her and see what God has in store for her life!

A few of our investigators

I say this every week but I absolutely love these people and I know this is where I am supposed to be. It is still hard sometimes but that's just the way life is and it's how you learn anything so it's all good. These are my Taiwanese brothers and sisters and I will never forget any one of them. I've started this new tradition in my journal where each day I pick a person and write about something I will never forget about them in my journal. This mission is helping me learn to love people more. Love them as individuals. My companion and I were talking at dinner the other day about the people we serve and what we love about them. I felt a strong feeling within me say, "Never forget these people." I've made a commitment to never forget them. Look around yourself everyday and pay attention. Pay attention to the beauty around you and the people who absolutely love you and who you love. Don't forget that. They are an important part of life--your life. Cherish ever day. Time moves quickly. That is what I am learning.