AI NI MEN! (Love you all!)
I have really grown to love my companions. Sister Bayart can be really serious and spiritually uplifting but she also is hilarious and loves to laugh! And Sister Finlayson has a lot of interesting views on the gospel that I haven't thought about before and loves to share what she finds in the scriputres! They are both amazing and help me so much in everything! I thought it would be SO WEIRD to have no time to myself, but now when 1 of them is on a switch or I loose them in the cafeteria it feels so empty.
We had our first gym day on Saturday which was nice! They have LDS movies (Joseph Smith story, Mormon Messages, Conference) playing and you can connect your headphones in and watch as you run or bike! AND WE FOUND 2M! The normal gym is really crowded and doesn't have much to do other than basketball or foursquare. But I found the area that not a lot of people know about but is very very nice! Only the Sisters in my District go, so its very nice!!
Every week before Sacrament meeting the Branch Presidency asks all the missionaries to prepare a quick 3 min talk on a topic, and this week was Endure to the End. I didn't speak, but they did ask me to say the closing prayer!
Our classes have been so great! We have 2 teachers: Sister Larsen and Brother Rellaford who are so amazing! I have learned a lot from them! One of my favorite things was that "part of my ministry will be relify from physical & spiritual storms". In D&C 121 (41-44) it kinda explains it better but I just thought it was cool because Taiwan could have some pretty intense typhoons and I just liked the analogy.
As a Zone we are really close. We all went on a Sunday walk up to the Temple and took pictures together. Outside the temple was an ex-member yelling and shouting at all of the thousands of missionaries going to the temple. It was a little scary but 2 of our Elders wanted to talk to him :/ We Sisters stayed faaar away. A counselor in the Branch Presidnecy came up with us and told us that we shouldn't have talked to him, even though we should talk to everyone. He wasn't in the right 'space' (my brain is fryed today i think that makes sense?) he just wouldn't have listend to anythign we say.
AND OH MY GOODNESS! Sunday night devotional was super! It felt like Sister Mary Ellen Edmunds was talking right at me! She is hilarious. It would be like so great if someone could send me anything you can find about her online. Talks, quotes, I dunno she's great! She served a mission for 2 years and served inL: HK, Taiwan, Philippines, and Indonesia! She talked about how when I was set apart, I was also set apart from my old life. and that its no small thing to make that decision to serve Christ. She told so so many stories. I'll have to write them in a letter (i took 5 pages of notes during her talk)
I also started a system for marking my scriptures! Yay! That pen Mom picked up for me .. is amaaaazing! Ugh I love it, it has like 8 colors all in one and is much easier to use than the crayons.
OH AND OUR INVESTIGATORS!! okay so let me explain first. 2 are our 'teachers' who have adoprted a person they taught on their mission. At the end of each class we teach that person what we feel they need. So Peter is doing well. He looks up to his Uncle who is a member and wanted to know why he was the way he was. he is really liking the lessons and enjoys saying his prayers, he's just not too sure if he thinks anyone is listening.
And Sandy is in the same-ish boat. A pair of Elders helped her rake leaves one day and shared a message. She is always really busy so we only share short messages but she is reading little bits of the Book of Mormon and seems to really understand.
AND THEN THERES SYDNEY. She is by far my favorite investigator. She is super prepared by Heavenly Father. She has thought about most of the thigns we are telling her, wondering why God is inconsistent, why people say they are going "home" after they die to a place they have never been. We have met with her 2 times in 3 days and she went out and bought a BOM and read most of 1st Nephi. SO AWESOME! She just isn't feelign the Spirit, even though we keep pulling our the perfect scriptures and bearing our testimonies. I feel a little stuck with her ... jhmmmmmm
On Monday I got my first anything in the mail :) We were hungry like all day because we only had time for quick meals. oh and ugh I lost my ID card .. which wasreally frustrating because I know I left it in the room but I checked all of my things!! I just felt so dumb and mad about it, but I knew if i prayed I would, or someone would eventually find it. Luckily 2 days later I found it. But i am postitive (and so are my companions) that it wasn't in my coat pocket. Prayer is great like that. just when you say 'im done. no more.' Heavenly Father says "AH HA HERE IT IS I LOVE YOU YOU'RE WELCOME"
Brother Rellaford got in contact with another teacher who served in Taiwan, and Sister Finlayson and I were able to try teaching in Chinese. Zenmenan (literally HOW HARD but it means it was really difficult) He gave us tips after our quick lesson. And tips on how to teach people who don't know anything about the Christian world! Terms they just would not understand the concept of .. etc. He said my grammar was "taibangle" (which means really great!!)
I got another Chest X-Ray for my Visa here. That was fun because Sister Finlayson and I (Sister Bayart went on splits) used our umbrellas in the rain and had a walk off campus!
AND YESTERDAY I GOT MY CHINESE NAMETAG!! Before jsut the Church name was in Chinese but now I have tags that have MY NAME IN CHINESE! They are beautiful and that is all I use now :)
Also, yesterday we had In-Field Orientation. Which was fun because I learned a lot about a lot of things that we have't talked about in class. Class is mainly focused on how to TEACH but the ALL DAY ORIENTATION was about how to Find people, how to set Goals and to Plan, how to strengthen your Faith, and how to Work with Memebers. Also, the blonde guy from the District 2 (watch it and you'll know who I'm talking about) was in the play they put on to kidn of put all the things we learned together in one 'experience'. oh and yea I was in it too!!!! They asked me to be the Primary President and I had 4 lines. So proud :)
I want to share a really special story that almost didn't happen. Wednesday was a really rough day on all of us Sister in our companionship. We were just all tired all day, hungry, and frustrated because we kept being late and having to eat short meals and just grrr. I was also bummed missing all of you. So not in the best place. At lunch we sat in a new spot because our Zone always sat in the same spot and my companions wanted a change. But our Zone sat where they normally do and so that wasn't fun either. UGH. A lady (Luisa) came up to us at our table and asked about where the hot chocolate was .. and I pointed. But that didn't feel right. So I pushed my seat up and took her to the dispenser. She was grateful. I showed her the machine and she said, "Oh no coffee?" kinda disapointed that it was jsut the hot chocolate. And I said, "No sorry we don't drink coffee." She said in Spanish to a man (who I found out was her BF) oh they dont have any coffee just american hot chocolate. And I responded and whipped out my Spanish saying, "I am really sorry but it does taste good." THEY WERE SHOCKED THAT I SPOKE SPANISH! Thy looked at my tag confused haha. But I carried on a conversation with this couple about our Church and what we believed and they were SO INTERESTED. We kept talking and talking and Elder Ortega (from Spain and in my Zone) came up and asked them in Spanish if they were okay. I kept talking with them and so did he. Then we talked about the Book of mormon. And I felt like I needed to go find one. But the bookstore was closed because of new missinoaries and so I went to the Front Desk, no. Went to he international office, no. NO ONE HAD ONE!!! I said a quick prayer that I could find one, and then we ran into our Branch President Marion. And he found his friend who was Branch President of a Spanish Zone. Who had a Book for us!!! I ran back in to give it to he couple and they were so grateful ... and drinking hot chocolate sitting with our Zone :) I found out later that they agreed to talk more with us on Monday! HOW AMAZING IS THAT!!
I took a skirt that needed to be lined and a shirt that needed some fixing to the Alterations department today. It cost $1 to have them both done before next week!! So that's awesome!!
UMMMMM
i think that's it? It's crazy that I leave here in 2 weeks!!! I want to see who guesses what on if i will go to Taiwan right away or if I need to wait for my Visa and where I will be serving! So let me know!
I loved getting everyone's emails today!! And the letters :) My box switched so if you are sending anything send it to #225!
Love always,
Sister King
Juju jimmie
Thank you for putting this up! I love the slideshow of our little missionary!
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