Thanks for the email fam! I absolutely LOVE hearing about your life. :)
Kami I am soooooooooooooo proud of you!! It does take a lot of nerve to go up and speak Chinese. Chinese is hard! Really no regrets girl. The only way to succeed in life is to jump from one failure to the next without getting too embarrassed. Well you didn't fail ... but you shouldn't be afraid of failing. That's kinda what I was goin at there :)) But isn't Mei Lao Shi awesome! She really know show to push ya huh??
And running?? Girl you a sprinter now? Bleh ;) jk that is AWESOME! Isn't running just great? Are you loving it? Don't lie to me. If you really don't like it don't do it but if you do like it then I won't disown you.
Sorry mom you are feeling sick. That is no fun. There has been a bug going around here too. Well not with us missionaries but mainly with our investigators. Which is terrible because we are fine, but they all call us and are like - hey I'm sick cant meet. eh.....
Monday:
We had a 5K today! Oh my goodness it was so much fun :) I ran the whole time. K I am actually really proud of myself because I have gotten really out of shape. It was a pretty chill race. Elder Janice was determined to win. He was up at the front with another Elder for most of the race. I was in the second pack, which was huge. But then I kinda creeped up from that position. So for the last half of the race I was right behind Elder Janice and I passed the other Elder. 2 place. But about 1/2 mile from the finish line Elder Janice saw me and booked it. And then all of a sudden a white shirted cheetah leaped past me and Elder Janice, and won the race. Elder Fuhrman is...really fast!!!
3rd place and first girl...not bad. No idea what my time was. Doesn't matter, it was fun :))
Sister Morris sent you the picture of us at PF Changs?? Good! I love Sister Morris. She is the Bishops wife. They had us over for dinner and any investigators were welcome. Emma came and she had a blast! Emma is a girl from China trying to find God. Golden investigator!
Sister Lin had a good talk today. She just said out of the blue, "Sister I need to tell you something." and just poured out her feelings to me. I am so grateful that she is comfortable to talk to me about anything. And it was nothing bad, but something was troubling her and she was reaching out for help. She also showed me pictures that her sister sent her from home. Guess who was in one of the pictures! Elder Nolan Dixon!!!! So cool seeing his face again ahaha
Tuesday:
So this random guy came up to us and asked us if we were the Chinese speaking sisters. Yup. He told us about his Chinese tutor who wants to know more about the Gospel. His name is Ran and he is another golden investigator. We actually met up with him today. He has a Christian background. His church was bashing on mormons and he didnt agree with anything that they said. He wanted to scope things out for himself and find the truth. Boom! And the guy who referred him to us wants to be at every lesson. Instant fellowshipper! :))
Wed:
We went on exchanges today! I was in my area with sister Harkness. It was scary. Two greenies going out on their own. We couldnt drive a car either so we were on bikes. Guys...I was TERRIFIED! We had three lessons with Chinese people and our plan was to put two of them on date. Man I was freaking out! But honestly it was THE BEST DAY I HAVE HAD HERE IN THE FIELD! WE worked so hard. It was weird being with sister Harkness but things were ok. Emma and Ran are both on date! And they are so ready to be baptized. I am SO sad that I can't be there. But hey they will always be a part of me. Their determination to know the truth is so inspiring.
I attended the last English class with Ethan (He's the teacher). Subject: FOOTBALL. Ok, I was never really the football type. Like yeah it was ok to watch. I mainly liked the social aspect of it. Just being with friends, music and cheering. Oh and winning. But Ethan opened my eyes. He explained everything. The rules and names and how football is played. And he showed his favorite clips of plays. I still dont know a whole lot about football. But if you ask me to go to a game or watch it on TV, I will not oppose:)
Thurs:
We got to go to the MESA temple Today! I really needed that. I had the most amazing experience. I know I always say that when I go to the temple but really, I always learn something new. This time I was really drawn to Love. I really felt the Love that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have for me. That true, unwavering, unconditional love. It was an amazing feeling and I did not want it to go away.
So the rest of the day was P-day:)) Our district really likes to play soccer on P-day and go to the art gallery. We play soccer on a tiny field right outside of the institute. It's a great attraction too! People usually don't play there - and people always ask who we are and what we are doing. We might make it a weekly thing to have people come and play soccer with the missionaries. :))
Have ya'll ever had Acai?? It is like the best thing ever! Healthy fruit. Put it with granola and fruit and your set. The owner of the Acai store by where we live is a member of the church and gives missionaries 1/2 off. It's so nice!
We also saw Meet the Mormons with Emma tonight. She is a doll. I have seen that movie like a million times. But because it was Emma's first time she was so into it. And afterwards we talked about God. And from hearing stories from the member who was with us and a concern that Sister Harkness and I were able to resolve yesterday she was so happy and really seeking more. I LOVE EMMA!
Friday:
We did a lot of tracting and finding today. On our way to a less active members house we stopped by this guy Anthony's house. We met him a while ago but just havent been able to get a hold of him on his phone. We sat down with him and talked for a long time. He had a lot of questions. Some of the things he said hurt me a little bit. Shouldn't have bothered me but it did.
Sat:
Still feeling Anthony's words. I think I was more mad because of the fact that I was frustrated. Girls...you know what I mean.
Elder Neil L Anderson came to speak to us tonight! And guess what! Anthony came! It was a wonderful talk. He is a really funny guy. And we were able to shake his hand after the meeting. Sister Lin was So excited! She was like a child on Christmas no joke. Anthony shook his hand as well. I hope he had a good experience. I know I did.
Sun:
Welp...Last Sunday. Had two great ward meetings. Said goodbye to lot of people. Ok, this totally made my day! Toni and Alison gave me little goodbye cards. They are really the sweetest girls. Young Women I should say. We clicked pretty well. I could say that they were my favorite in the ward. Oh besides Katie of course ;) I loved seeing their beautiful bright smiling faces every Sunday. They will be fantastic missionaries. :)
Kami I am soooooooooooooo proud of you!! It does take a lot of nerve to go up and speak Chinese. Chinese is hard! Really no regrets girl. The only way to succeed in life is to jump from one failure to the next without getting too embarrassed. Well you didn't fail ... but you shouldn't be afraid of failing. That's kinda what I was goin at there :)) But isn't Mei Lao Shi awesome! She really know show to push ya huh??
And running?? Girl you a sprinter now? Bleh ;) jk that is AWESOME! Isn't running just great? Are you loving it? Don't lie to me. If you really don't like it don't do it but if you do like it then I won't disown you.
Sorry mom you are feeling sick. That is no fun. There has been a bug going around here too. Well not with us missionaries but mainly with our investigators. Which is terrible because we are fine, but they all call us and are like - hey I'm sick cant meet. eh.....
Monday:
We had a 5K today! Oh my goodness it was so much fun :) I ran the whole time. K I am actually really proud of myself because I have gotten really out of shape. It was a pretty chill race. Elder Janice was determined to win. He was up at the front with another Elder for most of the race. I was in the second pack, which was huge. But then I kinda creeped up from that position. So for the last half of the race I was right behind Elder Janice and I passed the other Elder. 2 place. But about 1/2 mile from the finish line Elder Janice saw me and booked it. And then all of a sudden a white shirted cheetah leaped past me and Elder Janice, and won the race. Elder Fuhrman is...really fast!!!
3rd place and first girl...not bad. No idea what my time was. Doesn't matter, it was fun :))
Sister Morris sent you the picture of us at PF Changs?? Good! I love Sister Morris. She is the Bishops wife. They had us over for dinner and any investigators were welcome. Emma came and she had a blast! Emma is a girl from China trying to find God. Golden investigator!
Sister Lin had a good talk today. She just said out of the blue, "Sister I need to tell you something." and just poured out her feelings to me. I am so grateful that she is comfortable to talk to me about anything. And it was nothing bad, but something was troubling her and she was reaching out for help. She also showed me pictures that her sister sent her from home. Guess who was in one of the pictures! Elder Nolan Dixon!!!! So cool seeing his face again ahaha
Tuesday:
So this random guy came up to us and asked us if we were the Chinese speaking sisters. Yup. He told us about his Chinese tutor who wants to know more about the Gospel. His name is Ran and he is another golden investigator. We actually met up with him today. He has a Christian background. His church was bashing on mormons and he didnt agree with anything that they said. He wanted to scope things out for himself and find the truth. Boom! And the guy who referred him to us wants to be at every lesson. Instant fellowshipper! :))
Wed:
We went on exchanges today! I was in my area with sister Harkness. It was scary. Two greenies going out on their own. We couldnt drive a car either so we were on bikes. Guys...I was TERRIFIED! We had three lessons with Chinese people and our plan was to put two of them on date. Man I was freaking out! But honestly it was THE BEST DAY I HAVE HAD HERE IN THE FIELD! WE worked so hard. It was weird being with sister Harkness but things were ok. Emma and Ran are both on date! And they are so ready to be baptized. I am SO sad that I can't be there. But hey they will always be a part of me. Their determination to know the truth is so inspiring.
I attended the last English class with Ethan (He's the teacher). Subject: FOOTBALL. Ok, I was never really the football type. Like yeah it was ok to watch. I mainly liked the social aspect of it. Just being with friends, music and cheering. Oh and winning. But Ethan opened my eyes. He explained everything. The rules and names and how football is played. And he showed his favorite clips of plays. I still dont know a whole lot about football. But if you ask me to go to a game or watch it on TV, I will not oppose:)
Thurs:
We got to go to the MESA temple Today! I really needed that. I had the most amazing experience. I know I always say that when I go to the temple but really, I always learn something new. This time I was really drawn to Love. I really felt the Love that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have for me. That true, unwavering, unconditional love. It was an amazing feeling and I did not want it to go away.
So the rest of the day was P-day:)) Our district really likes to play soccer on P-day and go to the art gallery. We play soccer on a tiny field right outside of the institute. It's a great attraction too! People usually don't play there - and people always ask who we are and what we are doing. We might make it a weekly thing to have people come and play soccer with the missionaries. :))
Have ya'll ever had Acai?? It is like the best thing ever! Healthy fruit. Put it with granola and fruit and your set. The owner of the Acai store by where we live is a member of the church and gives missionaries 1/2 off. It's so nice!
We also saw Meet the Mormons with Emma tonight. She is a doll. I have seen that movie like a million times. But because it was Emma's first time she was so into it. And afterwards we talked about God. And from hearing stories from the member who was with us and a concern that Sister Harkness and I were able to resolve yesterday she was so happy and really seeking more. I LOVE EMMA!
Friday:
We did a lot of tracting and finding today. On our way to a less active members house we stopped by this guy Anthony's house. We met him a while ago but just havent been able to get a hold of him on his phone. We sat down with him and talked for a long time. He had a lot of questions. Some of the things he said hurt me a little bit. Shouldn't have bothered me but it did.
Sat:
Still feeling Anthony's words. I think I was more mad because of the fact that I was frustrated. Girls...you know what I mean.
Elder Neil L Anderson came to speak to us tonight! And guess what! Anthony came! It was a wonderful talk. He is a really funny guy. And we were able to shake his hand after the meeting. Sister Lin was So excited! She was like a child on Christmas no joke. Anthony shook his hand as well. I hope he had a good experience. I know I did.
Sun:
Welp...Last Sunday. Had two great ward meetings. Said goodbye to lot of people. Ok, this totally made my day! Toni and Alison gave me little goodbye cards. They are really the sweetest girls. Young Women I should say. We clicked pretty well. I could say that they were my favorite in the ward. Oh besides Katie of course ;) I loved seeing their beautiful bright smiling faces every Sunday. They will be fantastic missionaries. :)
My time is here. I will be flying to Taiwan tomorrow morning! Family you will receive a call from me later tonight. I am so excited and so scared. But mostly excited.
quote of the week:
"Patience is not passive resignation, nor is it failing to act because of our fears.
Patience means active waiting and enduring. It means staying with something even when the desires of our hearts are delayed.
Patience is not simply enduring; it is enduring well."
-President Dieter F. Uchtdorf
Love you all! next update I will be in Taiwan!!!
-Sister Graham