Monday, September 8, 2014

9/8/14 ~ Hum....Stinky Tofu is Delicious!



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.

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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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