This week has gone by really fast! Actually this whole move call has gone by SUPER fast. Like, I am just amazed...
Yesterday was my last Sunday in Bei Tun. Shi jie mei and I wore the same dress. She is so cute! I am going to miss the people in my ward. They are all amazing!
Monday:
So we planned to go to a night market at Feng Jia but it started POURING RAIN. So we just hung out at the mall instead. We went to a members house for FHE tonight. I have told you about Amanda right? She is awesome! Always helps us PeiKe and is so bubbily and funny … but not tonight. She was super stressed and way unhappy. It made me really sad. She is studying for this big English test that she has to pass in order to get into BYU. She has lots of mini self-evaluation tests to help her prepare. And she is just freaking out about it. So we have been praying for her.
We have a great new investigator! Kayla. She is so cool. She’s 20 years old and is really searching for truth. She goes to lots of churches and wants to get closer to God. This was our first lesson with her. I can't remember exactly what was said but I remember a silence and then Kayla started to cry. You could tell that she felt the Holy Ghost. We invited her to be baptized. She is on date. She is so ready to receive the Gospel.
We had another lesson with an investigator, Chen jie mei. She is a mom and just curious about our church. We gave her the first lesson. It was super quick though. Usually we ask lots of questions to help investigators think and to help us know where they are coming from. But that’s not what she needed. We could tell that she really felt the Spirit though. Especially when we talked about living with God again and when I recited the first vision. I LOVE TALKING ABOUT JOSEPH SMITH. I love telling about the first vision. The spirit just fills the room. I can tell that Chen jie mei felt it.
Lin Jie mei took us out to dinner and it was SOOO GOOD! Hotpot and grill. I took some pictures. Actually I think most of the pictures that I took this week are of FOOD :) Haha!
We had a great English lesson tonight. There were a lot of new comers. Sister Crowell and I bought some sweet bread to share with everyone. But in order for them to get the bread, Elder Cook had to do 10 pushups. If they said that they didn’t want it, Elder Cook still had to do 10 pushups. He did over 180 pushups. Elder Cook represented the Savior. We have a gift. And He suffered for us whether or not we want that gift. It is our choice to take it. And then we showed "Because He Lives." Oh man it was great! I love “Mormon messages”! :) I love my English students too. They are all amazing! This was my last time teaching them. Because next week we have a party and then I am moving on Friday.
Thursday:
We visited a less active member, Emily, at her restaurant. It is like a little breakfast and lunch place. Super yummy! And the restaurant is very homie and welcoming. I hope that my future home will have that feel. She has a 10 year old daughter and her English is really good. Well, it better be - her husband is American. We will get her coming back to church.
I had radish cakes for the first time tonight and they were sooo good! I love the markets here. So fresh and so yummy.
I learned a lot about self-mastery today. Sister Crowell has been studying about self-mastery for a long time and she taught me a lot. If you think about it our whole purpose in life is to have self-mastery and conquer the natural man.
We went to Rabbit Rabbit today and got oreo pancakes. yummy! Everything here in Taiwan is so fluffy. I miss the dense American food ... but I love Taiwanese food too~
We taught Kayla the first lesson. She has a lot of great questions! Mainly about God. I am so excited to keep on teaching her.
I realized this morning that I am feeling a bit stressed. It’s been harder for me to feel the Spirit and I feel like my language has gone down hill. I think I have gotten comfortable with teaching and have started to rely on my own strengths (I have none!) instead of listening to the Spirit. I have been going into lessons worrying about the structure of the lesson. How much I am going to talk. How good my Chinese is. I should be focusing on the investigator. I should be focusing on loving them and helping them feel the Spirit. So I made a few goals. Every night I write in my journal a miracle that has happened in the day. Miracles happen, I just sometimes don't SEE the Lord's hand in my life ... or I just forget. So I decided that whenever a "miracle" happens I write it down in my planner so that I don't forget. And with lessons, I will focus on loving the investigator and completely forget about myself.
We have a new investigator! Zhang jie mei. She is a mom and super cool! She is searching for truth. She has learned about Jesus before but didn’t have any feeling towards him -- but she is giving Jesus another chance!
We went to a wedding reception tonight. It was awesome! So first off I have to say that we had a lesson with Zhang jie mei at 2-2:30pm and then we had to make a 1 hour bike ride to Daya and be there by 3 because Sister Crowell was going to touch up the bride's make up. The ride was ALL uphill and it was blazing hot outside! We died. Literally. I actually got really light headed. But we got there 3:10! WOOHOO! Man, it was rough - and then the Bride said that she didn't need any touching up for anything. Killed ourselves for nothing ... but the reception was great!
Sister Crowell and I made really yummy food today! For lunch we made a pasta casserole thing. For dinner we put chicken, honey mustard, cheese and avocado on toast. So good!
I love you all and hope everyone is happy and healthy:))
"Give God an opportunity to give miracles." - Sister Crowell (she got it from somewhere but can’t remember)
"Every challenge we face happens for one purpose only: to give you opportunity to respond by applying in your life the teachings of Jesus Christ. As you do so you will be changed to become more like Him." Elder Corbridge
Love you
-Sister Graham