Hello family and friends! Wow a lot happened this week and it was just crazy! I am going to do my best to explain everything :))
Monday: I got my package from mommy! Thanks for the American candy and everything! And thank you Sister Clark for the homemade bag :))
We went ice skating with the DaKeng sisters and the DongYing sisters. It was so much fun!!! That might be a new P-day hobby :))
OK - you know when you don't agree with someone but you don't say anything? Well in PMG it says that the first step that you take is to understand the other person and their point of view before judging or anything. Anyway, there was something about sister Voss that I didn't get, and I was being judgmental. While we were ice skating she brought up her thought process of exactly the thing that I was thinking about. I didn't even say anything - but I guess the Spirit told her that I needed to hear it. Now I have a better understanding of why she does what she does and it really helps me to have more of an appreciation for her and a broader point of view. I am really learning that my ways are not always right. It is a very humbling experience. I do need to learn to voice my concerns. We've talked a lot about true friendships. I am definitely going to keep in touch with Sister Voss when we get home :) she is definitely a true friend.
I told Li'l Hippo that it was my birthday today as a joke but she took it seriously. oops. I did that with Liu Jie Mei too :) Haha! Everyday can be my birthday!! I'm ok with that.
Monday: I got my package from mommy! Thanks for the American candy and everything! And thank you Sister Clark for the homemade bag :))
We went ice skating with the DaKeng sisters and the DongYing sisters. It was so much fun!!! That might be a new P-day hobby :))
OK - you know when you don't agree with someone but you don't say anything? Well in PMG it says that the first step that you take is to understand the other person and their point of view before judging or anything. Anyway, there was something about sister Voss that I didn't get, and I was being judgmental. While we were ice skating she brought up her thought process of exactly the thing that I was thinking about. I didn't even say anything - but I guess the Spirit told her that I needed to hear it. Now I have a better understanding of why she does what she does and it really helps me to have more of an appreciation for her and a broader point of view. I am really learning that my ways are not always right. It is a very humbling experience. I do need to learn to voice my concerns. We've talked a lot about true friendships. I am definitely going to keep in touch with Sister Voss when we get home :) she is definitely a true friend.
I told Li'l Hippo that it was my birthday today as a joke but she took it seriously. oops. I did that with Liu Jie Mei too :) Haha! Everyday can be my birthday!! I'm ok with that.
Tuesday:
NEW INVESTIGATOR! So this lady was a referral from the DaKeng sisters. From what we heard she was a palm reader and very interested in the Gospel of Christ. Cool! She was not what we expected! She took us out to get some fruit drinks and just asked a bunch of questions. She wanted to get to know us before we shared a message. She totally read us. Not our palms but she was spot on with personality! At least I'll take it. She told me that I am very courageous and overall a very happy person. That I like to go out and taste, see and use my senses to learn. Love to learn and explore. cool! And we shared a message about God and prayer. She said that she is very lonely. She likes to help other people and see them happy but something is missing. Well honey we can help you with that!! :)) She was very receptive to our message. Yay!! We also got to give her an english name: Evangelynn. A very angelic name don't you think? It suits her well.
Wednesday:
So you know the crazy lady who keeps on coming into the chapel and bugging us about her money that Obama owes her? Well...she still comes. She is now getting mad at other Taiwanese people coming into the building. "You can't just come in here and do whatever you want. This is an American church!" she says. You don't know what you are talking about lady! They have every right to be in here! Sister Voss lost it with her and now she is terrified of Sister Voss. It was quite a sight to see. Hopefully she won't come back asking for money.
We got two new investigators from English class! Sisters Grace and Emily. Elder Taylor gave them a Book of Mormon and now we are going to be meeting with them every Wednesday after English class. Yay! They are so cute :)) They are my age which makes things even more fun. I can better relate to them.
Thursday:
We had a great lesson with Xie Jie Mei - she is awesome!! We talked about the Mercy of God. It was a great conversation and I could really feel the influence of the Spirit in expressing my testimony and giving me the gift of tongues. OK ... Chinese is hard. Tones, and everything sounds the same. But I feel like I really had the gift of tongues during this lesson. She had a question about the Spirit world and I was able to answer it. My mind was thinking in English but the translation was very smooth in my mind. And I was able to simply answer her question and she understood. After that she just expressed gratitude for a Loving Heavenly Father. She told us that since we have started giving her Book of Mormon reading homework her relationship with God has increased. Well, The book of mormon will bring you closer to God than any other book! It is so rewarding seeing others grow in the gospel :) It strengthens my testimony.
We were also able to find out the needs of Wang Jie mei our investigator who wants to be baptized. Sister Voss had the impression that we needed to talk about CPR (church, prayer, reading) with her. And good thing we did! Found out that she prays everyday. good. But she doesn't know how to read the Book or Mormon and she has never been to sacrament meeting before. How were the Elders thinking she could be baptized last week? Well, now we know where we need to go to help her out and gain a testimony :))
Friday:
Today Sister Voss and I had a lot of great talks :) I am so grateful for her and her efforts to help me. What I like the most is that we are great friends and we have so much fun doing missionary work! It's not just ok. We laugh everyday and joke around. She is really good at making lessons fun! But we also work hard :))
Today we committed a Less active member to live the Word of Wisdom. Gao Jie Mei is awesome! She's really cool! She is trying her best to be close to God and follow His commandments :) She is very inspiring. And she is just funny! She says: "The two things I can't give up: smoking and losing weight. but I am doing my best."
NEW INVESTIGATOR! So this lady was a referral from the DaKeng sisters. From what we heard she was a palm reader and very interested in the Gospel of Christ. Cool! She was not what we expected! She took us out to get some fruit drinks and just asked a bunch of questions. She wanted to get to know us before we shared a message. She totally read us. Not our palms but she was spot on with personality! At least I'll take it. She told me that I am very courageous and overall a very happy person. That I like to go out and taste, see and use my senses to learn. Love to learn and explore. cool! And we shared a message about God and prayer. She said that she is very lonely. She likes to help other people and see them happy but something is missing. Well honey we can help you with that!! :)) She was very receptive to our message. Yay!! We also got to give her an english name: Evangelynn. A very angelic name don't you think? It suits her well.
Wednesday:
So you know the crazy lady who keeps on coming into the chapel and bugging us about her money that Obama owes her? Well...she still comes. She is now getting mad at other Taiwanese people coming into the building. "You can't just come in here and do whatever you want. This is an American church!" she says. You don't know what you are talking about lady! They have every right to be in here! Sister Voss lost it with her and now she is terrified of Sister Voss. It was quite a sight to see. Hopefully she won't come back asking for money.
We got two new investigators from English class! Sisters Grace and Emily. Elder Taylor gave them a Book of Mormon and now we are going to be meeting with them every Wednesday after English class. Yay! They are so cute :)) They are my age which makes things even more fun. I can better relate to them.
Thursday:
We had a great lesson with Xie Jie Mei - she is awesome!! We talked about the Mercy of God. It was a great conversation and I could really feel the influence of the Spirit in expressing my testimony and giving me the gift of tongues. OK ... Chinese is hard. Tones, and everything sounds the same. But I feel like I really had the gift of tongues during this lesson. She had a question about the Spirit world and I was able to answer it. My mind was thinking in English but the translation was very smooth in my mind. And I was able to simply answer her question and she understood. After that she just expressed gratitude for a Loving Heavenly Father. She told us that since we have started giving her Book of Mormon reading homework her relationship with God has increased. Well, The book of mormon will bring you closer to God than any other book! It is so rewarding seeing others grow in the gospel :) It strengthens my testimony.
We were also able to find out the needs of Wang Jie mei our investigator who wants to be baptized. Sister Voss had the impression that we needed to talk about CPR (church, prayer, reading) with her. And good thing we did! Found out that she prays everyday. good. But she doesn't know how to read the Book or Mormon and she has never been to sacrament meeting before. How were the Elders thinking she could be baptized last week? Well, now we know where we need to go to help her out and gain a testimony :))
Friday:
Today Sister Voss and I had a lot of great talks :) I am so grateful for her and her efforts to help me. What I like the most is that we are great friends and we have so much fun doing missionary work! It's not just ok. We laugh everyday and joke around. She is really good at making lessons fun! But we also work hard :))
Today we committed a Less active member to live the Word of Wisdom. Gao Jie Mei is awesome! She's really cool! She is trying her best to be close to God and follow His commandments :) She is very inspiring. And she is just funny! She says: "The two things I can't give up: smoking and losing weight. but I am doing my best."
Saturday:
I woke up with practically no motivation to do anything. I knew that we were going to spend 2 hours tracting and I think with that thought in mind I just dreaded the day already. I knew that it was going to be hot ... and I will admit that my faith was low. But I talked to Sister Voss about it and I got my motivation back. I read in the "Adjusting to Missionary Life" book that we have - to first go out and do the work and then the motivation will follow. I love that book :) it helps a lot! ... And we had a singing session. We have the Prince of Egypt on CD and we listen to Mariah Carey singing "When you believe." We are very good singers and sound just like her - hahaha :) And Sister Voss gave me things that I should be excited for the day. Motivation in check! During tracting we were let into a house and they had a pet snake! It was super cool! I got to hold it while we talked :)) I want a pet snake now :)
We went to dinner with a less active member who is awesome! We went to a place where they serve everything in toilets and urinals. It's really funny ... and don't worry everything is clean :)) Had curry, s'more waffle. and chocolate bing. Yep ... in little miniature toilets!
I woke up with practically no motivation to do anything. I knew that we were going to spend 2 hours tracting and I think with that thought in mind I just dreaded the day already. I knew that it was going to be hot ... and I will admit that my faith was low. But I talked to Sister Voss about it and I got my motivation back. I read in the "Adjusting to Missionary Life" book that we have - to first go out and do the work and then the motivation will follow. I love that book :) it helps a lot! ... And we had a singing session. We have the Prince of Egypt on CD and we listen to Mariah Carey singing "When you believe." We are very good singers and sound just like her - hahaha :) And Sister Voss gave me things that I should be excited for the day. Motivation in check! During tracting we were let into a house and they had a pet snake! It was super cool! I got to hold it while we talked :)) I want a pet snake now :)
We went to dinner with a less active member who is awesome! We went to a place where they serve everything in toilets and urinals. It's really funny ... and don't worry everything is clean :)) Had curry, s'more waffle. and chocolate bing. Yep ... in little miniature toilets!
MIRACLE! Wang Jie Mei made the sacrifice to come to sacrament meeting!!! Taking the sacrament is very important and we were so glad to see her there! She also brought her little sister, Forest. Forest is awesome!! She is a stylin babe and super fun to talk to.
We went to a members house for dinner. We ate Zhong Zi's. These are very popular here around this time of year. You use bamboo leaves to wrap rice and meat together and then you steam it. It is sooo good! They make them for a festival and they are good! And she gave us like 20 to take home! Zhong Zi's for days! Going to get fat off of those! haha! Oh and the main fruit we get from people are Liqi's. Little white fruit with a hard shell. Really good!!! The member who we had dinner with, her son was so funny! He would run around in circles and he actually peed his pants in front of us. haha!
We went to a members house for dinner. We ate Zhong Zi's. These are very popular here around this time of year. You use bamboo leaves to wrap rice and meat together and then you steam it. It is sooo good! They make them for a festival and they are good! And she gave us like 20 to take home! Zhong Zi's for days! Going to get fat off of those! haha! Oh and the main fruit we get from people are Liqi's. Little white fruit with a hard shell. Really good!!! The member who we had dinner with, her son was so funny! He would run around in circles and he actually peed his pants in front of us. haha!
This morning in personal study I was studying in PMG about recognizing the Spirit. I did the little Praying with Faith activity. I suggest doing it. It really helps to evaluate how you pray and helps with feeling the Spirit :))
Well sorry I couldn't write more! love you all!
Till we meet again NEXT WEEK!
Quote: "There can be miracles when you believe. Who knows what miracles you can achieve when you believe!"
*imagine me singing at the top of my lungs on a bike*
-Sister Graham
Well sorry I couldn't write more! love you all!
Till we meet again NEXT WEEK!
Quote: "There can be miracles when you believe. Who knows what miracles you can achieve when you believe!"
*imagine me singing at the top of my lungs on a bike*
-Sister Graham