Hello Hello dear friends and family! Taiwan is still awesome! Things are great here. First off I did not get to watch Conference this week. We get to watch it this coming weekend! They have to translate it to Chinese first. I am soooo stoked!!! Elder Stevenson's son is in this mission! My English leader right now was baptized because of him and his family. How cool is that? What a small world. |
Monday:
There was a Typhoon today. The winds were crazy strong. Sister Carlson and I were outside when it hit and it kept on knocking us over off our bikes. It took a long time to walk home from getting groceries and then we spent the rest of the day inside. We weren't allowed to go out and proselyte for the rest of the day. At dinner time we realized that we didn't have any food so we went to the 7-11 across the street. Well, they were closed. 7-11’s ARE NEVER CLOSED! And there is no other place open by our house. We walked down a lonely dark path (all the power was out) and then...boom! There was a glorious market open with the lights still on! It was the best sight in the world. We couldn't get anything that was microwavable though ... can you say cereal??
Tuesday:
DTM was the best. We talked about our purpose as missionaries. I love this topic! Everyone has different views of what a "successful" missionary is. We had a deep conversation about Jesus Christ and His work. Our DTM's are more like FHE with the district rather than training. It is really fun.
I lost my helmet in the Typhoon so I had to use an old one that stinks sooo bad! We went to get me a new one and the place that we went didn't have any... so we just got ice cream instead :)
There was a Typhoon today. The winds were crazy strong. Sister Carlson and I were outside when it hit and it kept on knocking us over off our bikes. It took a long time to walk home from getting groceries and then we spent the rest of the day inside. We weren't allowed to go out and proselyte for the rest of the day. At dinner time we realized that we didn't have any food so we went to the 7-11 across the street. Well, they were closed. 7-11’s ARE NEVER CLOSED! And there is no other place open by our house. We walked down a lonely dark path (all the power was out) and then...boom! There was a glorious market open with the lights still on! It was the best sight in the world. We couldn't get anything that was microwavable though ... can you say cereal??
Tuesday:
DTM was the best. We talked about our purpose as missionaries. I love this topic! Everyone has different views of what a "successful" missionary is. We had a deep conversation about Jesus Christ and His work. Our DTM's are more like FHE with the district rather than training. It is really fun.
I lost my helmet in the Typhoon so I had to use an old one that stinks sooo bad! We went to get me a new one and the place that we went didn't have any... so we just got ice cream instead :)
Wednesday:
We went to go visit an LA and we had to take the train to get there. Ji Jie Mei (LA) is awesome! The only reason why she hasn't come back to church is because she doesn't know where the church building is!
We called Tiffany and she was over at the church in an hour for a tour. It was cool! We taught her the Plan of Salvation. She was very concerned about the afterlife. The Atonement answers every "what if" question.
We had great English class tonight. We actually got a picture with all of our kids. I love the little girl in the pink next to me -- her name is Kami. I named her after my sister. She reminds me of her when she was little. It is a very suitable name for that little stinker. Her English is really good too. And she likes purple grapes. After English we wanted to have a lesson with a girl named Sandra but we didn't take the opportunity. I felt really sad that we didn't go talk to her afterwards. I actually got super down about it. But after praying I realized that wasn't our only chance to talk with her. She is coming next week to English class. God is so merciful and gives everyone second chances.
We went to go visit an LA and we had to take the train to get there. Ji Jie Mei (LA) is awesome! The only reason why she hasn't come back to church is because she doesn't know where the church building is!
We called Tiffany and she was over at the church in an hour for a tour. It was cool! We taught her the Plan of Salvation. She was very concerned about the afterlife. The Atonement answers every "what if" question.
We had great English class tonight. We actually got a picture with all of our kids. I love the little girl in the pink next to me -- her name is Kami. I named her after my sister. She reminds me of her when she was little. It is a very suitable name for that little stinker. Her English is really good too. And she likes purple grapes. After English we wanted to have a lesson with a girl named Sandra but we didn't take the opportunity. I felt really sad that we didn't go talk to her afterwards. I actually got super down about it. But after praying I realized that wasn't our only chance to talk with her. She is coming next week to English class. God is so merciful and gives everyone second chances.
Thursday:
It feels so weird that it is Oct. We visited our grandma investigator. She really likes to talk. Her life is very complicated right now. She has a lot on her hands. I wish that we could do more to help her. After the lesson our fellow-shipper took us out to lunch for some beef noodles, which is probably the most famous dish here in Taiwan.
Tonight we had curry at our other investigator's house, Chen Jie Mei. She makes the best food! And this was the first time that we could find someone to come and help fellowship. She helped us out a lot with finding scriptures and such. My reading characters is very poor. She really wants to understand the gospel. She is awesome! I dream about her getting baptized everytime we visit her. (is that weird?)
Friday:
We met with an investigator in the morning. Why don't we proselyte in the morning? The weather is soooo nice. It’s still super hot in Taiwan!
We visited a lady who's son is in our English class. She has no desire to get to know God or Jesus Christ but she does have the desire to have love in her family. She looked at our family photos and said that everyone looks so happy. That is because we are. I love my family!
It feels so weird that it is Oct. We visited our grandma investigator. She really likes to talk. Her life is very complicated right now. She has a lot on her hands. I wish that we could do more to help her. After the lesson our fellow-shipper took us out to lunch for some beef noodles, which is probably the most famous dish here in Taiwan.
Tonight we had curry at our other investigator's house, Chen Jie Mei. She makes the best food! And this was the first time that we could find someone to come and help fellowship. She helped us out a lot with finding scriptures and such. My reading characters is very poor. She really wants to understand the gospel. She is awesome! I dream about her getting baptized everytime we visit her. (is that weird?)
Friday:
We met with an investigator in the morning. Why don't we proselyte in the morning? The weather is soooo nice. It’s still super hot in Taiwan!
We visited a lady who's son is in our English class. She has no desire to get to know God or Jesus Christ but she does have the desire to have love in her family. She looked at our family photos and said that everyone looks so happy. That is because we are. I love my family!
Saturday:
We went to a big lunch with people from the ward. It was so much fun. There was lots of food! Sister Carlson and I made apple nachos. Everyone loved them. Especially this one boy. Eveyrone told me that we should get married. Uummm Hello … I’m a missionary!
We found out that Shelly’s older sister is not a member. She says that her time isn't up yet. hmmmm well...what is she waiting for? They joked that she has to have a French Elder teach her. Then she will get baptized. Hey mom remember the French tin man?? buahahahaha
We went to go visit a potential that Sister Olsen and I tracted into last week on exchanges. And guess what. She was outside with her family weeding the ward. We offered to help. And we wouldn’t take no for an answer. We got down in our dresses and picked weeds for like an hour. Service really is the best. Her first reaction to seeing us was, "Sorry I don't have time right now to talk." But you could see her trust in us grow in that we just helped her out rather than just trying to preach. I feel like this whole week was actually a week of serving. Just spending a little time here or there to talk to someone who needed someone or spending a little extra time cleaning up the church or helping someone out.
Sunday:
A family decided to come to church. The kids wanted to come because they thought that we had an organ and that it was a play place. Well...they got bored really fast. But I could tell that the mom was left with a good impression. Hopefully they will come to the BBQ that is on Friday. It is a little more...relaxed.
As we were putting chairs away from sacrament meeting guess who walked in! Zhou Jie Mei. She is a member who is never up here on the weekends. But she was because her work had an activity nearby. She decided to check out the church. We introduced her to a few people in the ward. The Bishop's wife invited her over for FHE tomorrow night. You could still see in her eyes that she still felt like a fish out of water. New environment. But then we went upstairs to show her around and she ran into another member that she knew from down south. After seeing her she was filled with a new light. Of hope and like God had answered her prayers.
Tonight for FHE we played charades and it is so much fun to play with a bunch of Asians. And surprisingly a lot of people came!
We went to a big lunch with people from the ward. It was so much fun. There was lots of food! Sister Carlson and I made apple nachos. Everyone loved them. Especially this one boy. Eveyrone told me that we should get married. Uummm Hello … I’m a missionary!
We found out that Shelly’s older sister is not a member. She says that her time isn't up yet. hmmmm well...what is she waiting for? They joked that she has to have a French Elder teach her. Then she will get baptized. Hey mom remember the French tin man?? buahahahaha
We went to go visit a potential that Sister Olsen and I tracted into last week on exchanges. And guess what. She was outside with her family weeding the ward. We offered to help. And we wouldn’t take no for an answer. We got down in our dresses and picked weeds for like an hour. Service really is the best. Her first reaction to seeing us was, "Sorry I don't have time right now to talk." But you could see her trust in us grow in that we just helped her out rather than just trying to preach. I feel like this whole week was actually a week of serving. Just spending a little time here or there to talk to someone who needed someone or spending a little extra time cleaning up the church or helping someone out.
Sunday:
A family decided to come to church. The kids wanted to come because they thought that we had an organ and that it was a play place. Well...they got bored really fast. But I could tell that the mom was left with a good impression. Hopefully they will come to the BBQ that is on Friday. It is a little more...relaxed.
As we were putting chairs away from sacrament meeting guess who walked in! Zhou Jie Mei. She is a member who is never up here on the weekends. But she was because her work had an activity nearby. She decided to check out the church. We introduced her to a few people in the ward. The Bishop's wife invited her over for FHE tomorrow night. You could still see in her eyes that she still felt like a fish out of water. New environment. But then we went upstairs to show her around and she ran into another member that she knew from down south. After seeing her she was filled with a new light. Of hope and like God had answered her prayers.
Tonight for FHE we played charades and it is so much fun to play with a bunch of Asians. And surprisingly a lot of people came!
Well this was my week. Hope y’all had a good one too. Love you all! :))
-Sister Graham
-Sister Graham