1). What are your
plans for the day?
We went to the
doctors to get S.Berrey's ear cleaned out. She hasn't been able to hear
out of it for a week....
2). How many
times did you guys get fed this week?
Once? Li Family
fed us a very yummy dinner. :D
3). How many
investigators and less actives attended church this week?
Uh... Like one
investigator, with her daughter and we had 9 LA's
4). What new
things did you learn about Donghai this week?
Idk...
5). Tell me some
fun and interesting things about your companion.
She has red hair.
:P
6). Where is your
favorite place to eat in Donghai?
I like eating at
the dong Hai night market.
7). Anyone
willing to listen to your the second lesson?
Not yet... They
are all too busy with the holiday
8). Have you
eaten any moon cakes?
YES! Soooo many!
I'm moon caked out.
**********************
Dear Mom and
Regan and everyone else,
Sorry for
emailing a bit later than normal. We had to go to the doctors this
morning because Sister Berrey hasn't been able to hear very well for a week.
We asked Sister Blickenstaff about it, and this morning during companion study,
she told us to leave as soon as we could, so we didn't even get to finish with
our studies. We then traveled to the mission home to get some paper work
and instructions from Sister Blickenstaff, and headed over to the
hospital. After a load of going back and forth between registration desks
and talking to nurses we were finally able to get Sister Berrey's ears cleaned
out (She had an ear wax build up) and tested (which showed better than average
hearing). It took a looong time. And coming back also took a bit of
time as well. So now I'm tired, and it looks like there will be some
errands that will have to wait till next week...
So, this week was
loooong and short all at the same time. It was short because it feels
like I was just emailing yesterday. And it was long, because some parts of the
week feel like they happened forever ago.
Monday we went to
the night market that is in the neighborhood of the mission home. That
was fun. I bought some fun/cute earrings. I have pairs of rocking
horses, cameras, roses and M&M's. They were also pretty cheap. :D I
also drank some mango milk and ate some stinky tofu which was delicious by the
way. I've decided I've been on island too long. Stinky tofu doesn't
smell bad to me anymore. It smells good. Haha! In the evening we
visited a Liu JM (Member) who has these two adorable kids. One is soooo
talkative though, and wanted to play show and tell with everything in his house.
The other is younger and much much more quiet. We also had someone set up
last minute when we were calling phones, and after a bunch of confusion found
her house at like 9:15. Needless to say, I was very stressed about
getting home on time, especially since the person was very nice and she and her
husband were both very talkative. We got home before 10, which is the
very latest we can be out.
Tuesday we had
ZTM and it was so fun to see all the missionaries in our zone. The
Blickenstaffs also were there, so I guess that's one of the perks of being in
the northern part of the mission. At ZTM they shared about gearing our
teaching towards getting people converted and baptized, teaching with love, and
being PUMPED and HAPPY missionaries. Afterwards us Sister Missionaries
got together and had our own little meeting and talked about letting go of the
things that are hindering us from becoming better missionaries. We also
ate cookies... sooo much cookies and dong gua cha. After ZTM we went on
exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders, which meant that I got to spend
Tuesday and Wednesday with one of my favorite missionaries ever: Sister
Anderson! It was so fun being with her and catching up. I can't
believe that it's been a year since we both came on island. We kept
talking about how both of us have changed a lot, and how we both seem
older. Don't worry, we still did missionary work, but we also had a lot
of fun swapping experiences and sharing our perspectives on life and the work.
It was so fun being at the STL's apartment. They live in an apartment
with 4 missionaries. The other companionship is Sister Funk and Sister
Biancardi (Sp?). Sister Funk is also in our generation. :D Oh! On
Tuesday we also learned from Sister Blickenstaff that we are most likely going
home on Dec. 18, because the Church has a no fly rule from Dec 19-28th or
something like that. So we'll be coming home a week early! Which will be interesting,
since we are going to be leaving our areas one week before move call.... I'm
not sure how that will work...
Wednesday, after
the exchange Sister Berrey and I got dinner and then taught English. Not
sure how to help those kids. They don't really listen or retain.... we
just need to have a lot of patience and everything will work out... right?
Thursday we met
with Tian JM (LA) in the morning. She is progressing, but she still
has some issues that are preventing her from staying three hours at
church.... We then met with a Liu JM (LA) who is Indonesian. We
aren't sure how to help her as well. We've learned that she doesn't
really want to learn from us. She just sees it as "sharing
time". Like, you share your believes and I'll share mine. I'm
not sure how she was baptized. She is completely clueless about basic
gospel principles... Like the fact that she believes that after death, there's
nothing. We completely die. And no matter how many scriptures we
shared with her, she was like: The bible told me that there is no life after
death. We just go back to the earth.... I want to see what scripture she
was reading, since the whole gospel is geared towards us gaining salvation
after death.... I think that perspective would be so sad! If there wasn't
anything after death, if death was the ultimate end... then what would be the
point of us being here? Where is the purpose in life???? After her, we
needed a bit of spiritual uplifting. Good thing that we had scheduled a
visit to a Chen JM who is an older member in the ward. She is AMAZING!
She has been a member from since the church was just beginning to spread here
in Taiwan. And she has been active ever since then. She used to be
RS president, and used to help out the missionaries a ton. She even knew
our Mission President from when he was a missionary in Taiwan. Sooo crazy!
She is amazing! I want to be like her! She has so much faith!
Friday we did
weekly planning. We also helped a Zho JM (Member) make brownies for a baptism
of a little boy, which was very fun, and very yummy. Heehee! Then after going
home and doing more weekly planning, we were invited to Li Families and they
prepared a very yummy dinner from food bout at a lot of different places. Like,
we had Domino’s Pizza, KFC chicken, corn, Chinese onion bread, chestnuts, and
fruit. So yummy! They always treat us so well! Then we went and
visited Jiang JM and her family and read scriptures with them before we had to
hurry back to the church for ward correlation. The ward correlation
meeting here lasts forever! Like, they are very thorough. But
sometimes it takes like two hours or more to get it done! Ah well,
whatever helps us work with the ward.
Saturday was a
looong day. In the morning we joined the relief society in their pizza
and cake making activity. They made Taiwanese Pizza, which is made with an
egg and noodle crust... it's not really crust, and meat on top. The Cake
was a cake that had meat in it... It ended up not working really how they
wanted it to work. It was a steamed cake, but the middle was always raw
when they cut into it. So they put it in the oven. Then they were all
disappointed and didn't want to eat the cake... so we were given it.... It
tastes like corn bread with meat, so it's alright. Then, since for the
rest of the day, we didn't have any scheduled appointments we went to a Lai XJ
(Investigator)'s restaurant and taught a really simplified version of the
Gospel of Christ, since she was busy. She really wants to learn the
gospel, but she is always so busy. Also, she is going to America this
week... and she will be there from 1-3 months. She's visiting her
daughter, who is a member... so hopefully something gets worked out!!!!
We also went tracting in the evening, and that's when we had a miracle. A
woman from the Philippines answered the door of one of the houses and invited
us to come in. Her English is so good. Also, she told us her late
brother was a member of our church, and later into the conversation, we learned
that she was baptized as well, but she was baptized right before she came to
Taiwan, and she's been here for 4 years. So, she invited us to come back
the next day!
Sunday- Church
was good. We had an investigator named Qiu JM come and she brought her
daughter. The members were good at making her feel welcomed. We
then also met with an LA named Chacha- who is just "too busy to come to
church." We then went to the Filipino lady's house, well actually it's the
house of an old grandpa who she takes care of, and shared with her the first
lesson. It was so spiritual, and I knew in my heart that what we were teaching
was true. It was so cool teaching in English and being able to truly
express the feelings of your heart to someone. You could tell that she
felt the spirit. What was weird though, is that she completely doesn’t'
remember hearing about Joseph Smith... so we are a bit confused if she was
truly baptized or not....
And here we are
today. There's not much left time for us to rest, but we'll just hurry
and get done what needs to be done.
***Sad news.
So apparently the new missionaries who are waiting at the MTC are having
problems with their visas and they will most likely be delayed. That
makes me soo sad, because if they don't come... I probably won't ever have the
chance to train.... I'm so sad... because that would have been a very fun
experience.... So pray that their visas come... We were expecting 20
missionaries to come in this next move call. So if they can't come, we'll have
missionaries leaving, but no new ones coming in. :( That means we'll be short
missionaries. I'm praying for a miracle!
I love you all! I
hope you have a good week!
Love, Sister
Nicholle Peng
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