Tuesday, September 23, 2014

9/21/14 ~ Hum....Is that Acid Rain???



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....
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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

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