October 10, 2011
Dear Mom,
I loved conference! It was the best thing ever! So we had two investigators that each attended one Saturday and one Sunday session. Today we had a funny coincidence. Sister Sumko was telling me how they had called this former named Laura and invited her to come, but she wasn't really interested. Then on Sunday they were greeting people at the door and a girl walked in, they asked her what her name was, and she said Laura. They quickly swept her upstairs and introduced her to someone to sit by and got her all situated. Afterward they were meeting with another investigator right after, and then they couldn't find this Laura girl. They figured they could just call her when they got home. But when they called the Laura they had in their formers records, she curtly told them she hadn't gone. They felt really bad because they had no way of getting in contact with this other girl. After she finished the story I said, wait, did this Laura have glasses? Yes. And lighter hair and she is about our age and speaks really good English? Yes. This girl is one of mine and Sister Combe's investigators, who had told us she would come Sunday but wasn't answering her phone and we assumed she didn't come. So in the end it was perfect, because our Laura actually did come, they didn't let a potential investigator slip away, and we all felt a lot better!
The other two mudaoyou that we did see were Ling JM and Huang JM, and they both liked it a lot. Huang JM is getting baptized on Saturday! We are so excited! It is actually pretty cool because she is the first person that Sister Combe and I ever taught together, the very first day I got to Jia Yi. Not only that, but she is the first investigator that I have taught from start to finish. She is amazing! I love this lady! She wants to serve a senior mission. She is really one of the most vibrant people I've ever met, and she loves the gospel so much. You should see the inside of her Moermenjing. It is covered with notes on everything- prayer, the Word of Wisdom, repentance, anything you tell her that sounds important she writes down. And she loves reading the Book of Mormon! And she loves praying. She has a friend who is in the hospital for cancer right now, and the other day she said, I don't need to ask how you're doing- I know you're getting better because my church friends are praying for you! She has such a strong conviction that God loves her and answers her prayers and it's so inspiring to see the way she goes through life with this assurance. I can't wait to send you pics next week!
I love pumpkin bread. [I had mentioned Kneader's pumpkin bread in my letter to her.]
Requests.... not really. The flossers aren't sticks, they're like loops of floss. Hard to explain but any teenager that still has metal in their mouth should know what I'm talking about. The only other thing I can think of is dramamime- not available at hi-life, family mart or 7-11 as I found out at 5 am today as we were on our way to the bus station to get on the shuttle to Alishan (pictures attached). Most days I do not feel like I am in a foreign country. Sometimes it hits me and I go "holy cow. I'm in Taiwan, on a bike, in a skirt, wearing a name tag, speaking Chinese, chuaning the jiao...." And I love those moments because I'm reminded how blessed I really am to be here and how after this year and a half I'll never get another chance to do what I'm doing right now in the same way. And it reminds me of just how beautiful life is. The other day I met a girl on the street from France who was Muslim. And today at Alishan I met a small family from Israel. And those two experiences together made me miss Jerusalem a lot, and reminded me of just how much Jerusalem is a part of me. And I couldn't help but notice that Taiwan is equally a part of me now. I love it here.
Ok so let me explain pictures real quick- the ones in the woods are from our trip to the beautiful mountain of Alishan. The bus ride (2+ hours each way) was brutal without motion sickness pills but the fresh air and the view on the mountain were more than worth it. The lakes have a neat story with them- there was a tyrant ruling over the land who wanted to make the two most beautiful sisters his wives. They both wanted to marry him, but knew they could not both marry him, they loved each other too much. So they both ran away but when they realized they could not get away fast enough, they fled into the mountain. They died there, and their sweat from running and tears from crying turned into the two ponds- the elder sister pond and the younger sister pond. Super beautiful trees, little lakes, pretty walking paths, so hard to capture in a picture but I did my best. The two people with me in the one picture are Chelsea and Teddy, two new members in our area. They are super solid and really really fun to hang out with. The one of me in the kitchen was from a few days ago when I cooked lunch for one of our members and her Buddhist mom. Using all of the resources available at a Taiwanese market and a Taiwanese kitchen I made my specialty- fajitas! They loved them, and it was a lot of fun to cook a real meal again. Cooking and baking are definitely some of my most-missed activities. We just don't have time.
I love you guys so much! Hope you are having a great week.
Love,
Danielly
I loved conference! It was the best thing ever! So we had two investigators that each attended one Saturday and one Sunday session. Today we had a funny coincidence. Sister Sumko was telling me how they had called this former named Laura and invited her to come, but she wasn't really interested. Then on Sunday they were greeting people at the door and a girl walked in, they asked her what her name was, and she said Laura. They quickly swept her upstairs and introduced her to someone to sit by and got her all situated. Afterward they were meeting with another investigator right after, and then they couldn't find this Laura girl. They figured they could just call her when they got home. But when they called the Laura they had in their formers records, she curtly told them she hadn't gone. They felt really bad because they had no way of getting in contact with this other girl. After she finished the story I said, wait, did this Laura have glasses? Yes. And lighter hair and she is about our age and speaks really good English? Yes. This girl is one of mine and Sister Combe's investigators, who had told us she would come Sunday but wasn't answering her phone and we assumed she didn't come. So in the end it was perfect, because our Laura actually did come, they didn't let a potential investigator slip away, and we all felt a lot better!
The other two mudaoyou that we did see were Ling JM and Huang JM, and they both liked it a lot. Huang JM is getting baptized on Saturday! We are so excited! It is actually pretty cool because she is the first person that Sister Combe and I ever taught together, the very first day I got to Jia Yi. Not only that, but she is the first investigator that I have taught from start to finish. She is amazing! I love this lady! She wants to serve a senior mission. She is really one of the most vibrant people I've ever met, and she loves the gospel so much. You should see the inside of her Moermenjing. It is covered with notes on everything- prayer, the Word of Wisdom, repentance, anything you tell her that sounds important she writes down. And she loves reading the Book of Mormon! And she loves praying. She has a friend who is in the hospital for cancer right now, and the other day she said, I don't need to ask how you're doing- I know you're getting better because my church friends are praying for you! She has such a strong conviction that God loves her and answers her prayers and it's so inspiring to see the way she goes through life with this assurance. I can't wait to send you pics next week!
I love pumpkin bread. [I had mentioned Kneader's pumpkin bread in my letter to her.]
Requests.... not really. The flossers aren't sticks, they're like loops of floss. Hard to explain but any teenager that still has metal in their mouth should know what I'm talking about. The only other thing I can think of is dramamime- not available at hi-life, family mart or 7-11 as I found out at 5 am today as we were on our way to the bus station to get on the shuttle to Alishan (pictures attached). Most days I do not feel like I am in a foreign country. Sometimes it hits me and I go "holy cow. I'm in Taiwan, on a bike, in a skirt, wearing a name tag, speaking Chinese, chuaning the jiao...." And I love those moments because I'm reminded how blessed I really am to be here and how after this year and a half I'll never get another chance to do what I'm doing right now in the same way. And it reminds me of just how beautiful life is. The other day I met a girl on the street from France who was Muslim. And today at Alishan I met a small family from Israel. And those two experiences together made me miss Jerusalem a lot, and reminded me of just how much Jerusalem is a part of me. And I couldn't help but notice that Taiwan is equally a part of me now. I love it here.
Ok so let me explain pictures real quick- the ones in the woods are from our trip to the beautiful mountain of Alishan. The bus ride (2+ hours each way) was brutal without motion sickness pills but the fresh air and the view on the mountain were more than worth it. The lakes have a neat story with them- there was a tyrant ruling over the land who wanted to make the two most beautiful sisters his wives. They both wanted to marry him, but knew they could not both marry him, they loved each other too much. So they both ran away but when they realized they could not get away fast enough, they fled into the mountain. They died there, and their sweat from running and tears from crying turned into the two ponds- the elder sister pond and the younger sister pond. Super beautiful trees, little lakes, pretty walking paths, so hard to capture in a picture but I did my best. The two people with me in the one picture are Chelsea and Teddy, two new members in our area. They are super solid and really really fun to hang out with. The one of me in the kitchen was from a few days ago when I cooked lunch for one of our members and her Buddhist mom. Using all of the resources available at a Taiwanese market and a Taiwanese kitchen I made my specialty- fajitas! They loved them, and it was a lot of fun to cook a real meal again. Cooking and baking are definitely some of my most-missed activities. We just don't have time.
I love you guys so much! Hope you are having a great week.
Love,
Danielly
posted by Sister Smith at
7:04 AM
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