Hey family and friends! Wow what a week! This week went by soooo fast it is crazy! Thanks for all of the e-mails and support from y'all. I really do love hearing about everyone's lives and what's going on at home. Congrats to my XC boys and girls! Aubsen I am so proud of you! You kicked trash at state!!! Hey how did the rest of my freshies do? ALLy, Miah, Sam?
Mon:
Ok definitely a highlight of the day was skyping with my family! Oh my goodness it was so great to see everyone! Well ... Sarah wasn't there :( She's in China. Right when I got on Skype, I hear Beau yelling "SISI SISI SISI!!!!!!!!!!" haha I loved seeing your beautiful faces! Thanks for telling me I look good :) Been gaining weight, have bigger bags under my eyes, my hair is constantly up in a braid or bun and I am always drenched in sweat. Yup, that's missionary life. It was such a blessing to see my family :)) Love you all! Oh and can you do me a favor? You know how you video taped me bearing my testimony in Chinese last week? Can you maybe send that to me? I wanna hear myself speak Chinese.
Mon:
Ok definitely a highlight of the day was skyping with my family! Oh my goodness it was so great to see everyone! Well ... Sarah wasn't there :( She's in China. Right when I got on Skype, I hear Beau yelling "SISI SISI SISI!!!!!!!!!!" haha I loved seeing your beautiful faces! Thanks for telling me I look good :) Been gaining weight, have bigger bags under my eyes, my hair is constantly up in a braid or bun and I am always drenched in sweat. Yup, that's missionary life. It was such a blessing to see my family :)) Love you all! Oh and can you do me a favor? You know how you video taped me bearing my testimony in Chinese last week? Can you maybe send that to me? I wanna hear myself speak Chinese.
FROM RHODELLE: It was so much fun to see Sierra's cute face and really talk to her! What a great Mother's Day present!!!! Kraig and Beau both say that her Chinese is AMAZING for how long she's been out! Super cool!
So...What else happened monday?
Well, we went to Shark Bites Toast which is a really cool restaurant with REALLY GOOD FOOD! Beau, you know how you were telling me to try Papaya milk? Well, tried it and it is sooo good! I also had french toast with ice cream and mangos. I have never had anything so delicious. MANGO SEASON! I love mangos! :)))
Well, we went to Shark Bites Toast which is a really cool restaurant with REALLY GOOD FOOD! Beau, you know how you were telling me to try Papaya milk? Well, tried it and it is sooo good! I also had french toast with ice cream and mangos. I have never had anything so delicious. MANGO SEASON! I love mangos! :)))
So there is this old man who walks around the courtyard of our apartment and sings to himself. Every morning we see him and he says, " 早早早" a million times. And when we come home at night he is still out there and he always says, "YOU HAVE RETURNED!" he is so funny :) Well, tonight on our way home we decided to stop and actually have a conversation with him. He is almost 90 and he loves to sing and just "walk, see and listen." He told us all about his life in the war. He is from China, so he had an accent which was kind of hard to understand. And I don't know any of the vocab for history so I was lost with the whole conversation but that's ok I guess. Sister Voss asked me what time it was. As I looked at my watch the old man said, "It's almost 9! You have to go home!" He gets up really fast. We asked, "Where are you going?"
"HOME!" he said and he hobbles off.
Tues:
We had Zone Conference today. It was really really long! But we got Costco pizza :)) I don't miss American food yet but I know that I will get there. The older missionaries were freaking out about the pizza. Sister Voss and SIster Hughes are on a diet but when American food is involved that diet is thrown in the trash and decomposed.
I had a hard night tonight. Satan was really nagging at me. I felt so alone and so weak. It was just a wave of I don't know how to describe it. This happened when I was kneeling down to pray after my companion went to bed. I prayed so hard to have this burden lift from my shoulders. I cried so hard and didn't really know what to do. So I just kept on praying. I am so grateful to have the Lord in my life and that I can rely on Him. Because of the knowledge that I have of a loving Heavenly Father and Savior I know that everything is going to be ok.
Wed:
I told my companion about last night. She is sweet and trying to help me. Thing is, there isn't much other people can do for me. I just need to talk things out sometimes. Sister Voss is really good at letting people vent to her and she loves to talk.
So I lost my companion tonight. We were stopped at a stoplight and I was talking to someone on a motorbike who was right next to me. He was writing his information down for me and the light turned green. I didn't see but Sister Voss left. oops. But we found each other :) Scared the poop out of her! Oh speaking of poop, a bird pooped on me today. It was a rough day. I was so exhausted by the end. Went to bed at 10 and it was the best decision I have made.
"HOME!" he said and he hobbles off.
Tues:
We had Zone Conference today. It was really really long! But we got Costco pizza :)) I don't miss American food yet but I know that I will get there. The older missionaries were freaking out about the pizza. Sister Voss and SIster Hughes are on a diet but when American food is involved that diet is thrown in the trash and decomposed.
I had a hard night tonight. Satan was really nagging at me. I felt so alone and so weak. It was just a wave of I don't know how to describe it. This happened when I was kneeling down to pray after my companion went to bed. I prayed so hard to have this burden lift from my shoulders. I cried so hard and didn't really know what to do. So I just kept on praying. I am so grateful to have the Lord in my life and that I can rely on Him. Because of the knowledge that I have of a loving Heavenly Father and Savior I know that everything is going to be ok.
Wed:
I told my companion about last night. She is sweet and trying to help me. Thing is, there isn't much other people can do for me. I just need to talk things out sometimes. Sister Voss is really good at letting people vent to her and she loves to talk.
So I lost my companion tonight. We were stopped at a stoplight and I was talking to someone on a motorbike who was right next to me. He was writing his information down for me and the light turned green. I didn't see but Sister Voss left. oops. But we found each other :) Scared the poop out of her! Oh speaking of poop, a bird pooped on me today. It was a rough day. I was so exhausted by the end. Went to bed at 10 and it was the best decision I have made.
Thurs:
So there is a miao right across the street from where we live. Sister Hughes and I took out the garbage and gazed at the lanterns on the miao. They are bright red and just gorgeous! Sister Hughes is obsessed with lanterns.
When sister Voss and I were tracting we saw this HUGE lantern. Made me think of Sister Hughes so we took a picture of it. :)
We met with the RS president to discuss how to help the ward. We met her at this bakery. It's my favorite place! It smells so good and the food is so good! I tried this yummy walnut, oatmeal break thing and it was fresh and so delicious. Oh and they play American music there which is definitely a plus!
Fri:
We had weekly planning today. We probably spent about 2 hours talking about boys. Really, sometimes you just need to better know your companion. I always thought that a companionship would go straight from thing to thing and that you'd automatically have a good bonding relationship. Well, that relationship doesn't really come if you don't know the person. Boys ... always an ice breaker and the BEST way to get to know another female :)
We met up with a less active member at the bakery. She is really cute - but it is really hard for her to come to church because her husband is in China and she has to take care of three little children. A lot of families are like that here. A lot of husbands are in China working and mom is home with the kids. It is rough for them.
We tried lots of new breads at the bakery. Never a disappointment.
Sister He took us out for dessert and we discussed how to help the ward. The dessert we had was like solid DouJiang in an ice soup with fruit. It was so good! She is in the Relief Society Presidency. She is super helpful! Always asking what she can do to help out. She PeiKe's for us a lot. We have literally 3 people that help us with PeiKe's. Our ward isn't very involved. We always have to ask the same people to help us out and they are getting really annoyed. So we are trying to figure out a way to get more people involved. It's been hard to meet with our Bishop. But we got an appointment with him this Thursday!!! YAY!
We met with another Less active member tonight, Lin Ya Ping. She is a cutie. She seems really lonely. Her husband works ALL day. Like doesn't come home until 12 or 1 am. And so she is with her kid all day. She is always so excited to have us missionaries over. It is like we are her only friends. We are trying to get her friends in the ward. She always feeds us fruit. Tonight we had bananas and mini peaches. I love going to visit her.
Sat:
Oh man today was just great!
We went POWER TRACTING with the other sisters. Power tracting is where your companionship along with another companionship tracts in one area and then in the other companionship's area. Does that make sense? So The DaKeng sisters and us tracted in our area first for like 2 hours. And then we tracted in their area. It's to cover more ground. And I had a couple of great experiences. There was this one lady that we met. When she opened the door she was on the phone. I was just going to give her a pamphlet and leave, but she got off the phone and she let us in. We taught her how to pray (The whole house was decorated in DaoJiao stuff with a huge statue of Buddha) - well, we prayed with her and we told her what we do. She seemed really interested. She asked us if other people feel like crying when they talk to us. Wow...you feel like crying? Ya we told her about the Holy Ghost. It was a really strong lesson! Sister Voss did most of it. I've gotten good with sharing my testimony but ... it's hard for me to explain anything else in Chinese. And she talked really really softly so it was super hard for me to hear. But we set up another appointment with her which is awesome!!! Had to thank God for that one :)
Well, when we tracted in the other sister's area I went with Sister Liu (Sister Hughes companion). She is Taiwanese and really really small. I learned a lot from her. She is very quiet and really awkward. When we go up to doors and talk to people she is very ... straightforward, which is a good thing - but when I was with her I felt like I had to step up my game. Sister Voss is always so excited to share about the Gospel and makes it really interesting to people who have never heard about it before :) So when I was with Sister Liu I felt like I really needed to step up the beat to this dance party! It really made me get out of my comfort zone and speak Chinese even though I had no idea what anyone was saying. We actually got into this one house. When we were knocking on a red door we saw a little hand reach out of the door and get the mail in the little basket at the neighbor house. We went over to see who it was and there was this little 10 year old girl with her cats. She started speaking english to us. YESH! Her mom is Taiwanese and her dad is from South Africa. We told her that we were the missionaries. She told us that she had never seen missionaries before.
"We share about Jesus Christ."
"JESUS? I love Jesus!"
"Have you been to church?"
"Yes. once. And it was soooo much fun! I want to go again!"
She got her mom and we went into their house and learned more about them.
I learned that I always forget the important stuff. Like a return appointment and their phone number. And Sister Liu didn't help with that. She was quiet the whole time. Well, now I know what I really need to work on.
Sunday:
What I wrote during Sacrament Meeting:
"I am so grateful for church. Especially the opportunity to partake of the Sacrament. The feeling I have right now is indescribable. I am full of gratitude towards my Heavenly Father. Church is definitely a place of refuge and safety and peace. I can really feel the Spirit here. And I feel happy. Like really happy. True happiness. Not the same as when a cute boy kisses you goodnight, but real peace and comfort. Just knowing that I have a Heavenly Father who loves me no matter what, who knows me and has made a plan for me just fills me with indescribable joy. I feel like I used to take church for granted. But coming to church is very important. And really listening to the speakers and to the Spirit is what it's all about. I come now to feel God's love and to learn more of His plan for me."
I love Taiwan! And I will see y'all next week :))
-Sister Graham
桂姐妹
Quote: It's a new dawn, It's a new day, It's a new life for me! AND I'M FEELING GOOD! (Micheal Buble)
- That song's been stuck in my head this whole week.
Oh man today was just great!
We went POWER TRACTING with the other sisters. Power tracting is where your companionship along with another companionship tracts in one area and then in the other companionship's area. Does that make sense? So The DaKeng sisters and us tracted in our area first for like 2 hours. And then we tracted in their area. It's to cover more ground. And I had a couple of great experiences. There was this one lady that we met. When she opened the door she was on the phone. I was just going to give her a pamphlet and leave, but she got off the phone and she let us in. We taught her how to pray (The whole house was decorated in DaoJiao stuff with a huge statue of Buddha) - well, we prayed with her and we told her what we do. She seemed really interested. She asked us if other people feel like crying when they talk to us. Wow...you feel like crying? Ya we told her about the Holy Ghost. It was a really strong lesson! Sister Voss did most of it. I've gotten good with sharing my testimony but ... it's hard for me to explain anything else in Chinese. And she talked really really softly so it was super hard for me to hear. But we set up another appointment with her which is awesome!!! Had to thank God for that one :)
Well, when we tracted in the other sister's area I went with Sister Liu (Sister Hughes companion). She is Taiwanese and really really small. I learned a lot from her. She is very quiet and really awkward. When we go up to doors and talk to people she is very ... straightforward, which is a good thing - but when I was with her I felt like I had to step up my game. Sister Voss is always so excited to share about the Gospel and makes it really interesting to people who have never heard about it before :) So when I was with Sister Liu I felt like I really needed to step up the beat to this dance party! It really made me get out of my comfort zone and speak Chinese even though I had no idea what anyone was saying. We actually got into this one house. When we were knocking on a red door we saw a little hand reach out of the door and get the mail in the little basket at the neighbor house. We went over to see who it was and there was this little 10 year old girl with her cats. She started speaking english to us. YESH! Her mom is Taiwanese and her dad is from South Africa. We told her that we were the missionaries. She told us that she had never seen missionaries before.
"We share about Jesus Christ."
"JESUS? I love Jesus!"
"Have you been to church?"
"Yes. once. And it was soooo much fun! I want to go again!"
She got her mom and we went into their house and learned more about them.
I learned that I always forget the important stuff. Like a return appointment and their phone number. And Sister Liu didn't help with that. She was quiet the whole time. Well, now I know what I really need to work on.
Sunday:
What I wrote during Sacrament Meeting:
"I am so grateful for church. Especially the opportunity to partake of the Sacrament. The feeling I have right now is indescribable. I am full of gratitude towards my Heavenly Father. Church is definitely a place of refuge and safety and peace. I can really feel the Spirit here. And I feel happy. Like really happy. True happiness. Not the same as when a cute boy kisses you goodnight, but real peace and comfort. Just knowing that I have a Heavenly Father who loves me no matter what, who knows me and has made a plan for me just fills me with indescribable joy. I feel like I used to take church for granted. But coming to church is very important. And really listening to the speakers and to the Spirit is what it's all about. I come now to feel God's love and to learn more of His plan for me."
I love Taiwan! And I will see y'all next week :))
-Sister Graham
桂姐妹
Quote: It's a new dawn, It's a new day, It's a new life for me! AND I'M FEELING GOOD! (Micheal Buble)
- That song's been stuck in my head this whole week.