HELLO BEAUTIFUL WORLD!!! How is everyone? Well, do I even need to ask? WE ARE ALIVE! And oh my goodness this weeks incoming emails were....fantastic! I got a ton of emails from fam and friends. I absolutely love hearing what is going on with everybody! Thanks for the dropbox video of Kami dancing. I miss you so much Kami! And dang girl - you know how to dance! I miss going to your competitions. Thanks for those in the ward who email me :) It means a lot! And thanks Grandma and Grandpa for keeping me updated. So thank you thank you thank you for all the emails! I love you all!!
Proud of you Kami for getting your first real job! That is big! ... And to answer your questions:
No - I haven't eaten anything that is like ewwww! I have had a lot of mushrooms. I ate a weird fruit that tasted like a banana Popsicle but it looked like a melon.
I havent bought any chinese clothes. I dont really have time for that. But there is a member who might take us to a night market on a P-day in the future and I will get stuff there :)) My clothese are sufficient enough. When it gets closer to the end of my mission I will probably buy a lot more stuff and send things home that I will want to keep.
A lot of people aren't interested to hear our message, they are just being nice. Which stinks. But hey they are being exposed to the Gospel.
I have gone tracting a lot. We have gone into like two houses already. A lot of people say that they are busy. From 2-4 its like Taiwanese nap time. So everyone we talk to at that time are grumpy because we woke them up from their nap :(
No - I haven't eaten anything that is like ewwww! I have had a lot of mushrooms. I ate a weird fruit that tasted like a banana Popsicle but it looked like a melon.
I havent bought any chinese clothes. I dont really have time for that. But there is a member who might take us to a night market on a P-day in the future and I will get stuff there :)) My clothese are sufficient enough. When it gets closer to the end of my mission I will probably buy a lot more stuff and send things home that I will want to keep.
A lot of people aren't interested to hear our message, they are just being nice. Which stinks. But hey they are being exposed to the Gospel.
I have gone tracting a lot. We have gone into like two houses already. A lot of people say that they are busy. From 2-4 its like Taiwanese nap time. So everyone we talk to at that time are grumpy because we woke them up from their nap :(
So I am serving in 北屯. Kind of the northern part of Taizhong. And I love it! I got to know the ward a little bit yesterday and everyone is so awesome! The first counselor had us over for dinner the other night. It was sooooo good and SO much food! They always tell you to eat more. And they told me that I had to eat even more because I was only here for like a week. So I have to fatten up and try everything before I can say 我吃飽. Their family reminded me of any american family. They have four kids running all over the place. The house is messy and smells like a mixture of foods ... moms cooking. Experiencing a night with a Taiwanese family really opened my eyes. We really aren't that different. And especially from God's point of view, we are all the same.
I bore my testimony in sacrament meeting yesterday. I was really nervous. Ok, that has been a problem for me. When I roll play I can speak Chinese just fine but then I go out and try to talk and I am just like....uh uh ummm...你好. But I can speak better than I thought I could. Well, at least people tell me that they can understand me. Which to me that is awesome and a huge success! It's really the vocab that I am having trouble with. But that will come :)
So we are teaching a lady named Xu Jie Mei. She is awesome! She married a Japanese guy and her kids speak Japanese. So it is really hard for them to come to church because she is the only one that understands what everyone is talking about. And when she does come it is usually just for the first hour and then she has to go home to open her shop. She owns a cute little kid, toy shop.
We just met someone the other day who was interested. Her name is Karen and she owns a little smoothie shop. She was so nice. She gave us each a big bowl of shaved ice filled with toppings ... I don't actually know what was on top of that thing - but it was so good! Especially on a hot day! We taught her the first lesson and invited her to come to church. She said that she would only be able to come to church in the winter because summer is her busiest time at work. But she said that she WILL come to church that is all that matters right now. baby steps. baby steps.
I bore my testimony in sacrament meeting yesterday. I was really nervous. Ok, that has been a problem for me. When I roll play I can speak Chinese just fine but then I go out and try to talk and I am just like....uh uh ummm...你好. But I can speak better than I thought I could. Well, at least people tell me that they can understand me. Which to me that is awesome and a huge success! It's really the vocab that I am having trouble with. But that will come :)
So we are teaching a lady named Xu Jie Mei. She is awesome! She married a Japanese guy and her kids speak Japanese. So it is really hard for them to come to church because she is the only one that understands what everyone is talking about. And when she does come it is usually just for the first hour and then she has to go home to open her shop. She owns a cute little kid, toy shop.
We just met someone the other day who was interested. Her name is Karen and she owns a little smoothie shop. She was so nice. She gave us each a big bowl of shaved ice filled with toppings ... I don't actually know what was on top of that thing - but it was so good! Especially on a hot day! We taught her the first lesson and invited her to come to church. She said that she would only be able to come to church in the winter because summer is her busiest time at work. But she said that she WILL come to church that is all that matters right now. baby steps. baby steps.
I had a really cool experience the other day. We didn't have a whole lot of appointments and so we went to visit some less active members and tracted around the area. We weren't having much success at all. And I was really discouraged about the work and about myself. I thought that there must be something wrong with what I am saying or doing and I was getting flustered about my Chinese and such. While I was riding my bike I prayed so hard to God. Please help me see a tiny miracle. Something that could give me a little motivation. Then I made the goal that at every stop light I would give out at least one tract. And once I made that goal, at every stop light I met the nicest people that were willing to take a tract and commented on my Chinese. It was definitely a Tender Mercy! And actually reminded me of what I studied during personal study that morning.
I was studying about Hope. And I learned that hope is expecting something to occur (a promise to be fulfilled) because of your efforts. It is also an action word. You have to diligently work at whatever you are hoping for. It's kind of like faith. We all have faith and hope in the Lord's Second Coming. What we do now will affect our happiness when that day comes. I read in Romans, "But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it." I really need to work on patience. There was a whole lot more to that study but I didn't bring my study journal with me. But that was a small portion of it.
And then the next day I studied about Diligence. I really liked that diligence is being anxiously engaged in a good cause. To use your time wisely. To enjoy the journey. It reminded me of a book I read before my mission - "Tell me what you think about when you don't have to think and I will know who you are."
I was studying about Hope. And I learned that hope is expecting something to occur (a promise to be fulfilled) because of your efforts. It is also an action word. You have to diligently work at whatever you are hoping for. It's kind of like faith. We all have faith and hope in the Lord's Second Coming. What we do now will affect our happiness when that day comes. I read in Romans, "But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it." I really need to work on patience. There was a whole lot more to that study but I didn't bring my study journal with me. But that was a small portion of it.
And then the next day I studied about Diligence. I really liked that diligence is being anxiously engaged in a good cause. To use your time wisely. To enjoy the journey. It reminded me of a book I read before my mission - "Tell me what you think about when you don't have to think and I will know who you are."
My trainer is still awesome! This is a picture of my desk and if you look closely you can see little heart shaped paper on it. My trainer, Sister Voss, wrote a bunch of notes on those papers and scattered them all over my desk. She is so sweet!
You know how in Arizona I was talking about that lack of "sparkle?" yup...it's gone. Officially gone.
K- the computer is going to shut down any minute. So gotta go!
LOVE YOU ALL!!
-Sister Graham
桂姐妹
You know how in Arizona I was talking about that lack of "sparkle?" yup...it's gone. Officially gone.
K- the computer is going to shut down any minute. So gotta go!
LOVE YOU ALL!!
-Sister Graham
桂姐妹