Dear Mom, Regan and
other wonderful people in my life!
How are you all doing
on this beautiful morning/afternoon/night.... etc? I hope you are all
doing well. I picture you reading my words and asking yourself, "I
wonder if she has anything else to write... she always asks the same questions
that are more of a rhetorical nature seeing as I can't give her an answer.
And if I were to give her an answer it would be a few weeks too
late." But I'm afraid there isn't much else that you can write as a
greeting for an email that gets written every week.... I do like this
whole weekly summation of what I did though. It'll be great to be able to
read over what I wrote in the future. Maybe I'll keep this habit and just
blog for the rest of my life... haha... or maybe not... Life's too short to
spend it in front of a screen.... I've learned that on my mission.
I mean, do you know
how fast time flies? When you plan your day to day life by half hour
blocks, you realize that you don't have much time, so you'd better use it
wisely. I do love doing daily planning though. Then then next day
isn't as daunting. You already know what you have to do, and when you
you'll have time to do it. Why did I not like planners before the
mission?!?!? Haha! I was probably just too lazy... also; I had a phone to
do all that fore me. :)
Anyways, before I
babble on a bit more, I have something very important to say! HAPPY
FATHER'S DAY TO ALL THE DADS IN THE WORLD!!! Especially those dads who have
made a different to me! I'm so grateful that on my mission I've acquired a new
father in my life, and I'm so thankful for Regan and all he has done for my
mom. I can't wait to meet him person! I'm also grateful for my
Grandpa who has always let me know that he loves me and that he supports me in
all of my dreams. I'm grateful for my uncles who always teased me, but I
know they mean well. I'm grateful for the fathers of my friends for being
great examples to their kids as well as to me. But most of all, I am
grateful to my Heavenly Father who has blessed me so much and has placed many
wonderful blessings including the many people who have touched my life and have
changed it for the better.
Of course, to answer
my mom's question and the questions of others regarding Father's Day in the
Taiwan, Father's day isn't celebrated till August 8th or 8/8. 8 in
Chinese is "ba" and then they call it "ba/ba" day.
Ba-ba is Dad in Chinese. Cool, eh? Mother's day is on the
same day as it is in the US. But I guess they changed Father's Day to
make it more... cool? Haha! But it's okay, I'll just wish the Fathers out
there a happy Father's day twice. :) Also, Happy Father's Day to Mom,
since she's pretty much taken on the role of being both parents to me up until
recently. She is SUPER MOM! And she is awesome!
Oh! Also, shout out
to my cousins Jordan, Jacob, and Kaitlyn. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! I hope you
all have a great birthday! You are all getting so grown up! And I
heard Jordan got his Mission Call?!?!!? TELL ME WHERE HE IS GOING!!!!
And HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO
MY FAVORITE MOM IN THE WHOLE WORLD!!!! I know it's not till Sunday, but
still, I wanted to be the first to say happy birthday! Don't feel too
old, okay? You are only as old as your heart is. :D And you'll
always be my best friend. :D
So, all of that is
now out of the way... do I have anything else to say before I get on with last
week's things? Hmm...
Well, on Monday we
went to a great place to buy clothes. It's all super cheap and they have
dresses that are perfect for staying cool and classy while being a missionary
in Taiwan. Yay! We may or may not go back again today. We are
also planning on going to the Giant Buddha today. Yay!
The big thing that
happened this week is that we gave Albee a baptismal goal! We are hoping
she'll hit it and that she'll really feel the influence of the Gospel in her
life! We still don't quite understand her fully.... we ask questions and
she gives pretty much perfect answers. We are hoping it's what she really
feels and not just because she likes us. She is so cute and so shy!
When we gave her the baptismal goal, her only question/concern was
"Will there be a lot of people there?" I am so excited for her
to have the blessing of the gospel in her life. So if you would all keep her in
your prayers that would be great! Pray that she will feel the Spirit will touch
her heart.
Speaking about Albee,
she lives in the middle of nowhere! Her house is really in the middle of
a bunch of rice fields, and there is only one road that takes you there.
It was funny, because we got lost and we could see her house, but there
was a rice field in between us. So we kept trying to bike around the rice
fields to get to the right road. We eventually found it. :D Thank
goodness she took us to it the first time we had met; otherwise I know we would
have never found it via address.
Also, another miracle
was the fact that we were able to meet with a Less Active yesterday when doing
an LA (Less Active) look up. I had the feeling to plan her into Sunday's plan, but I
had no idea who she was. Just another name on our records. So, we
when there and sat down with her. We were having a hard time breaking the
ice, but then she mentioned that she had brothers who were members in Gaoxiong,
who also ended up living where Sister Pope used to serve. So, Sister Pope
and this LA hit it off, talking about the LA's brothers and such. It was
a great sit down, and we made a new friend! Then, after the lesson,
Sister Pope tells me that she was actually thinking about this LA, Sister Wu,
today. She had remembered that members in Gaoxiong had asked her to find
their sister, a Sister Wu, who they said lived in 2nd ward. Well, we live
in 3rd ward, so Sister Pope was going to ask the 3rd ward missionaries about
it. But it just so happens that Sister Wu lives in 3rd ward! The
Lord definitely guided us to her, since she would not have normally been my
first choice to pick when we wanted to do an LA look up. She lived a bit
far from our house, and on Sunday we didn't end up with a lot of proselyting
time, due to our church changing to 2 pm. But, it was perfect timing to
go to her house, since she is not normally home! The experience testified
to me that the Lord really is guiding us. :)
Hmm... What else....
Oh, we were almost robbed... We had gone to visit with a member and had locked
our bikes outside of her house. Well, we come back and the black pouch
that Sister Pope puts extra pamphlets and fliers in was open and it was on my
bike. We opened up our bike boxes to see that they had been rummaged
through, and Sister Pope said they really had to dig because the black pouch
was on the very bottom. Thankfully we don't keep anything of value in our
bike boxes. Just a few Book of Mormons (which we just give out to people,
so if they would be thief wanted one, by all means!) and our rain gear, and
extra fliers and stuff. We think that someone must have thought the black
pouch was a wallet, and he must have gotten very excited.... only to find out
that it was a bunch of church tracts... haha! We kept laughing as we pictured
this person's look of disappointment. IT was a funny experience.
But it's also a reminder not to keep anything of value in our boxes....
of course, we are poor missionaries... we don't carry around anything that we
wouldn't be willing to give away to others. Haha!
Oh! We also had our
English party. We did a talent show, in which a lot of people sang and
had fun. We missionaries all did a skit, where each companionship acted
as a very small person. (We used a big shirt and the missionary in the
front is the head, and the missionary behind sticks their hands through the
sleeves to be the hands of the small person, and the person in front also has
their hands in a pair of pants and shoes to form the legs.) I'll see if I
can get pictures, it makes more sense.... We made a lot of people laugh,
and everyone had a good time!
As to my spiritual
thought, well... I don't know how much time I have left on this computer....
But, I just want to give you all a reminder of your eternal worth and
potential. Never ever forget that you are a child of God! He is
always watching out for you and is waiting to guide you by the hand. You
just have to follow and he will teach you and strengthen you.
I love you all!
Be strong and of a good courage! Until next week!
Love, Sister Nicholle
Peng
P.S. Hello to a
Hillary Hughes! I got your letter, and I'm working on a response.
I'm more than happy to help and give advice and info about mission life
in Taiwan. Good luck!
P.S.S. Yeah, if
anyone has questions or anything, feel free to write, I'll try to answer!
Also just feel free to write in general.... I'm a missionary... mail is
like GOLD and it brightens our day! Heehee! :D
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| New favorite drink!! |
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| Sis. Pope hates bugs....but this is how she would appear to them! |
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