7/14/14 - The Heat Is Not Sister Peng's Friend!!! Facebook Missionary!

1). So, what does being a FB missionary mean?  What do you do differently than what you are doing now?  How often do you have to update?  

So, I'm not really sure.  Normally, they have you go through a training, or at least one member of the companionship has been a Facebook missionary before... but nope.  We are whitewashing Facebook!  They really haven't told us much about it.  Right now, we just have to clear out our walls- make it so we can't see any posts from people at home.  It's super ma fan....  I don't really like being a FB missionary.  Because the computers we can use aren't even in our area.

2). What are your plans for the day?

RELAX! Soooo tired!

3). Are the investigators progressing?

Nope... we found more investigators... we now have like 3-5 ish.... who all need help to progress.... but hey, it's better than it was a move call ago.

4). What fruits are in season?  I really miss Taiwan's fruits!

Mangoes- we had members give us mangos that they grew themselves.  Pretty much most of the fruit is out right now.

5).  Are you getting mail from me regularly again?

kind of.... still waiting for the mailing system.

6). What are the funniest or most unusual habits or quirks that the people in Taiwan have?

Umm... I don't really know.... Staring at wai guo ren (Foreigners).

7). Are you doing good on your healthy eating? 

Kind of.... I keep cheating lately- because I've been starving.  I don't know why....  We have lunch and like 2 hours later I'm hungry again... sigh... It's really hard to healthy eat while on a mission.... Because most things around you aren't healthy.  I wish I could make my own food.

8).  Are you avoiding heat stroke?

I think so.... it's hard to say.... it's sooo hot!

9)  Are you having any medical issues?  Is your health still good?  

I'm doing fine.

**************************

Hello Mum! Hello Everyone!  It's super hot!!! Why is it so hot....? Oh, because I'm in Taiwan and it's July.... yup.... They keep telling us this is the hottest part of the year.  I feel like I've melted!  In fact, we keep running into dogs just lying on the road looking like they've melted onto it.... It's hot! 

Oh! Stuff that I forgot to mention last week! We got new beds!  They are soft.  So much better than my box spring- though I was getting used to the box spring.  Sister Pope finally had enough of the rock beds, and called the MTA to get them switched out.  Sister and Brother Wheeler got them to us that day! So nice of them!  But now our beds are super tall, since we originally already had a wood box, and two box springs.... so now we added mattresses.  I feel like a princess!  I love tall beds. :D

As to this week, it's been good.  We've just been sweating bucket loads and biking a lot.  We are so grateful that we can find places with AC to call phones in.  We've also been drinking a ton of water.  Though, I've discovered that I now don't mind drinking lukewarm water....

Hm... So, highlights from the week:

We had a lesson with Cai XJ who is pretty golden!  We were planning on only doing a get to know you lesson, with a review on prayer (we found out she didn't live in our area before the lesson, so we also wanted to just see if she was okay with meeting with the Second ward elders), however, she kept asking questions that led right into the first lesson.  She is great! I am super sad that she's not ours.... she is super willing to learn.  I mean, she brought a notebook to take notes in! And she was really willing to make commitments.

Friday was a very busy and fun day.  I like being busy.  I love having a lot of lessons planned out.... I mean, I like doing finding activities too, but when you have to fill the whole day with finding activities it gets pretty rough.  Anyways, On Friday we met with Lin JM, who is a member, and her daughter, who isn't a member.  Hopefully her daughter, who is really cute by the way, will become a progressing investigator.  Anyways, they have acquired a puppy since the last time we were there (the week before).  It was homeless, so they took it in.  They are looking for someone else to take it, but right now they are trying to train it.  It is super cute and loves to bite everything....  It was like having a baby in the house though; it was a bit distracting to the lesson...

Saturday we met with a potential investigator, a Tong XJ.  She is... interesting.  She lives out in the middle of nowhere!  She says she is Christian, because she goes to church, but she is atheist on the inside.  It's really sad, she says she has hoped that God exists for about 30 years now, and still hasn't had any evidence of his love in her life.  We were trying to help her see that God lets us know he loves us through small things, but she kept getting distracted by the young mother and her son sitting behind her at the Family Mart (a convenience store).  The kid was spoiled, and the mother wasn't really succeeding at taking control of him.  Tong XJ was giving her "tips"/ kind of being really insulting to this mom....  I felt really bad for the mom.  It was clear she was under a lot of stress, and doesn't really have much education (She is an aboriginal).  Anyways, Tong XJ doesn't really have much true interest.... so we probably won't be seeing her again....

We also visited Gu JM, a recent convert.  She is super awesome! She is about to give birth any day now, but when we visited her, she and her 3 young kids were working in their garden (not light work).  But they wouldn't let us help, because Gu JM says that working in her garden gives her a sense of accomplishment.  When we were there the bishop and his family also came over.  They then invited us to go with them to visit a member who just had a baby.  So we followed behind their car on our bikes.  Bishop said he would drive slow.... NOPE!  We were biking our little hearts out and were super sweaty.  The baby was so cute though! 

Hmm... what else.... Went to church yesterday.  I realized that we are surrounded by kids here. Since, one of our investigators is a nine year old son of an LA, and he and his sister, who is baptized, sit next to us along with Gu JM's kids. We can't take a rest in church! The kids are all over us, and want us to entertain them.  But that's okay; I still got the main point of a lot of the talks.  They were talking about how to prepare ourselves and our families for the Second coming of Christ.  And they stressed the importance of Family Home Evening and daily scripture study and prayer as a family.  

Oh! This video is so good! I was just watching it:

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/mormon-messages/mormon-messages-2014?lang=eng

Oh! I also forgot last week to mention that with this new move call I was assigned as a Facebook missionary.  Though, we haven't received much training or info on the matter... so, I don't even know what to do with that.... but pretty much we are going to start using Facebook to build relations with the ward and with our investigator, as well as using it as a finding tool (we invite people off the street to find our Facebook and be our friends).  I'm not really sure about that last part... I've actually not really enjoyed being on Facebook this last week.  It just drains me.  I think being on a mission has changed my view of technology a bit.  I just don't enjoy spending too much time in front of a computer anymore.  I do like writing and reading emails though, but that's only once a week.  It'll be weird going back to life in the states where everything is done online...

Anyways, I hope you guys are sitting in air conditioned places as you read this.  Because being so hot isn't fun.  Ah well, thank goodness there has been wind to kind of cool things down.

Hope you all are doing well! Love and miss you!

Love, Sister Nicholle Peng