1). What are your
plans for the day?
We were thinking
about going to the Dong Hai Night market, which is open all day. Though,
it's raining... so idk if that will affect the plans
2). Did the pictures
make you feel like you had a virtual vacation?
I loved the pictures!
They look like so much fun!
3). Favorite thing
about Dong Hai?
The food... haha! Too
bad we don't get to eat much of it. My companion doesn't like to eat things
that look unhealthy unless it's given to us by members or others.... She is
super healthy.
4). Saying safe and
healthy? Yup!
5). Any progressing
investigators yet? Uh.... Nope... we keep meeting a lot of new people though
6). Get fed this week?
Yes. We have so much food.
7). Did you get the
electronic dictionary? Nope. There isn't a place that I can find that
sells them here....
******************
Dearest Mum, Regan,
Family and Friends,
Hello! Today I am
typing from the usual internet cafe on a lovely drizzly/rainy day. It's
not as hot as it normally is, so that's a blessing, though the air seems to be
thick with humidity. But, I guess that's supposed to be good for your
skin, right? Funny story, I walked out to my bike this morning that had
been exposed to the night’s /morning’s rain and it was covered in what looked
like white-ish rain droplets. I went to wipe them off, only to realize
that the rain drops themselves were clear, they just had a chemical effect with
the paint on my bike and now my bike is spotted.... so.... Maybe it will go
back to normal. I'm less worried about my spotted bike than I am that it
was probably acid rain that fell last night... That's why I wear rain
suits. I don't want acid rain to damage my clothes and hair.
So, this week has
been really hot, mainly due to the typhoon that was making its way through the
Philippines to Taiwan and then onto China. The typhoon got here on
Saturday evening, just as we were about to go home, so that was
fortunate. Apparently it caused a lot of problems in other parts of
Taiwan. For us it was pretty okay, just a lot of lightning and
thunder. But then, on Saturday evening we got a text saying that on
Sunday, we weren't allowed to leave the door (until given permission) and that
church services would be cancelled. Apparently the storm was supposed to
get a lot worse. So, we were kind of excited for what the weather would
bring, though we were sad to not be able to go to church. But when I
woke up the next morning and looked out the window the words of a hymn popped
into my head: "oh how lovely was the morning." Aside from a few
grey clouds in the sky, the sun was shining, birds were singing, and it looked
like anything other than a typhoon was going on outside....
We kept waiting for
someone to call us and tell us that church was going to start, or that we could
leave our house, but it didn't come until about noon. Enough time for us
to do all of our studies and eat lunch. So we were able to go outside and
prostylite (SP????). Because of the typhoon, many businesses were closed
and people didn't have work... and yet the typhoon didn't really affect our
part of Taiwan. So we were lucky and safe. In fact, I think this
morning had more rain than all of yesterday had. Haha!
Anyways, this week
was pretty... interesting? It felt as if we had barely any time to go and
prostylite for some reason. I'm only going to write down highlights,
since most of our days are pretty... not exciting... ba...
So on Tuesday we had
a zone conference! I love zone conferences because they can give us the
spiritual boost we need to do this work. This zone conference was all
about being focused on our purpose as missionaries. A missionary’s
purpose is to "Invite others to come unto Christ, by helping them receive
the Restored Gospel, through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement,
repentance, baptism, receiving the Holy Ghost and enduring to the
end." And by staying focused and having a love for Heavenly Father
and for the people we serve, we can become more powerful missionaries.
Because honestly, if we aren't doing things out of love we aren't doing things
right. We are out here because we have tasted what the Gospel brings to
our lives. We know of the hope and the power the Christ's Atonement
brings, and how it can change us all to become better. We know we aren't
perfect. I mean, we are all very young and perhaps inept and many worldly
things. But we have faith. We know that Heavenly Father loves each
and every one of us and that is why he has sent us here to share his
gospel. So we can help others learn of him. So we can help others
have the blessings that the Gospel brings and help them receive eternal life,
with their families, in a state of everlasting happiness.
Also at the zone
conference I got to see Sister Anderson, Sister Funk, Sister Park, etc. A
whole bunch of missionaries that I haven't seen for a while. It was
Sister Park's birthday! So that was nice to be able to see her and wish her
happy birthday in person. I can't believe it's been about 6 months since
we were both in Tainan together. I love her and learned a lot from
her. And she is so cute! Also, Sister Anderson's birthday was this
past week as well. Everyone is getting old! Ha-ha! Still, I think it's
weird that I'll go home and I'll still be 20. I'm sooo young! Haha!
Hmm... What else...
Oh, this week feels like we've been just singing all week long.... Unfortunate
because I had caught a little bit of a cold, so it wasn't so good for
singing. But the reason we've been singing was because we were practicing
for an Art Exhibition that a member wanted us to sing at to commemorate an
artist who had passed on a few years previous. The whole thing ended up
being really... classy. We felt in nowise prepared to sing at such a high
end event, but we sang and prayed that people would feel the spirit. We sang
"Love at Home" in Chinese and a hymn called "Oh What Songs of
the Heart" (Hymn 286?) in English. I think we did pretty
okay. And we met a lot of people who had things in common with our
church. Like a lot of people had relatives who were members or they had
been to Utah before. It was very interesting, but it was a fun
activity. The art was all beautiful, though we didn't look at much of
it. We left early, because the event would have gone on way too long for
our missionary schedules. Haha! Anyways, funny fact. It was so
classy, that all of us felt not dressed up enough even when we were all wearing
our suit coats. Haha!
Oh, and then on
Friday we also attended a baptism that the Elders of Feng Jia had.
Chen JM, the sister who got baptized, is AWESOME! You could tell that she had
developed a testimony of the gospel, and you could just see the light radiating
off of her. It was such a happy event and we sang "Love at
Home" for her as well, which made her cry. She says she wants to
work on helping her family receive the gospel, so she can have a forever
family. :D
As for the rest of
the week it was filled with lessons with some new investigators and LA's.
I love each of them, but it's frustrating when they don't really
progress. This area is known for being a good area to find new
investigators in, but it's hard to have progressing investigators... I mean, we
don't even have any "eterniagors" which are investigators that love
to meet with missionaries often and have met with them for an extended amount
of time without progressing.... But that's going to change! My goal is to have
a baptism in this area in the next few months. Though, praying that I'll
still be here. There is only one week left of this move call! That's so
crazy to think about! Didn't I just get here?
Anyways, I hope you
all had a great week. I love reading your emails and letters and seeing
what you are up to. I'm glad that Mum and Regan had a great
vacation. Oh, and...
CONGRATULATIONS TO
EILEEN AND DON!!!!!
I was so glad to hear
that your wedding went well. I am so happy for the union of your
family. I'm sorry I couldn't be there, but I love you both! I love Kevin
too! Ha-ha! May all of your days be filled with happiness and joy!
I love you all! May
God be with you! Choose the Right! Count your blessings!
Love, Sister Nicholle
Peng
