Sister Museus, June 21st, 2010

Hey Everyone, Thank you Mom, Ashley, and Alex for emailing me this week. It is always very wonderful to hear from you and what you are doing back in Utah. I'm glad President Hoer sent you a Taiwan CD. I didn't know that they were going to do that and I just knew they were going to send you an email of the pictures they took. I'm really sad to hear that you played badmitton without me, but when I get back I really hope we keep this tradition up so I can play it with all of you again. Don't get too worried about me mom. I do get very homesick each and every day, but the Lord is always there to comfort me and I have a great companion who is willing to help me with everything. It is very much like a roller coaster ride while being on your mission. I could be in the best mood and I feel like I am getting use to the humidity, but then I find out some terrible news about our investigators and my mood completely changes and then I realize how humid it is. I need to do better with not having these mood swings so often. I guess I just miss you all very much and when people here keep pushing the Gospel away and won't listen to you, it can get really hard here, wondering if you made the right decision to come out here when so many won't listen to you. I'm really excited to here that some of you are going to the Philippines. You will enjoy our cousins, the culture, the scenery, and the great places to shop! I haven't found very many good places to shop at here in Taiwan, except for really cute shoes and clothes. I can't find any plaves that sell cultural items, I will have to keep a better eye on things. But, I have to remember that I am in the poorest part of Taiwan that sisters get sent and the most humid, just my luck hehe. Just know when you get to the Philippines remember that the humidity in Taiwan is worse and very little places have air conditioning. Things were a bit rough for my companion and I this week. Usually you around 30 new investigators to our record, but this week we only added about half that and we didn't get very many referrals either. We didn't have a baptism this week either, but there are several people who are ready for it and we are still waiting for their parents' permission. Yesterday, we went over to Elaine's house (a progressing investigator who wants to get baptized, go to the temple, and serve a mission, and her brother does as well), however, things didn't work out and their mother wasn't willing to give them permission to get baptized. We pray each night that these investigators' parents will soften their hearts and allow them to get baptized. The majority of our investigators are teenagers or younger and it seems like most missionaries are in Taiwan. To me, it seems like the younger generation are more willing to hear our message maybe because they're not too set in their ways and still have a willing heart to listen and feel the Spirit bear testimony to what we are saying is true. Today, we have the opportunity to go with our district on our Preparation Day to visit different parts of Taiwan. A native investigator is going to feed us lunch and then take us on a tour of different parts of the island. I'm pretty stoked since I've seen very little of Taiwan. I'll make sure to take lots of pictures so you can try to experience it with me (in some sense). Each day my love and gratitude increases for each one of you. Please continue to do your best and I know the Lord will be there for you. I can already see Him blessing my family as I faithfully serve Him for another 15 months. Each day is hard being here, not being able to pick up the phone and call you, but in the end it will be worth it because souls will be saved because of my efforts. We have an eternal investigator who know the church is true and has been investigating since February. I had a feeling one day that we should share family history with her. We taught her about family history and she loved it. Later that night we did a follow-up on her and continued to thank and made copies of all of her family history (which she wasn't suppose to do because her family didn't want her to). We are hoping this will help her have a more of desire to be baptized and continue to progress. I'm so glad that Bonnie helped me gather so much family history because it is so beneficial here in Taiwan. The people here love their ancestors and each day we several people burning things for their ancestors, especially money. They believe that their ancestors need help and by burning pretty much everything they will be taken care of in their afterlife. Because of this they also have really good family records that can go back farther than most people can. However, they keep these records very sacred so in a few of them are allowed to see them and keep them. Just think about it...by having one person here come unto Christ and be baptized and you teach them about family history and doing work for the dead....you are saving thousands of souls who are waiting to have their work done for them so they can progress. One of my teachers at the MTC who was from China, collected 10,000 names from her ancestors and her friend collected 30,000 names. This is how important this work is and each and every day we pray that their ancestors can help us along the way was we preach the gospel to these people. Well the humidity continues to get worse since summer is here and it's the rainy season. On Saturday, my companion biked for a total of 3 hours trying to visit less active members and investigators. The same day we did some service by pulling some weeds. By the time the day was over I literally felt like I was wearing a swimsuit since I was completely drenched in sweat. The sweat here is completely different because it's not salty....which is gross to say. I'm sweating just sitting here writing this email to you. Hopefully, one day I'll be fine with it, but I really don't think that it's a possibility. When the day was over I had a huge missionary tan and I was pretty much red all over, oh well....that's the Lord's work for yah. I love you all very much and I'm sorry that I still can't give you my pictures that I've been taking. There isn't a lot of them since I can only take pictures on Mondays, but I will try and send them off to next week. My companion thought her adaptor would work, but my card was too small. I failed to bring my plug-in for the computer and left it at the house. I will try and find one this week and buy one, but if I can't I hope you will send it to me so I can send some pictures to all of you. I apologize for forgetting somethings really important. My companion believes that we will find one so hopefully I will. Remember to continue to go to church and do the right things. Mom, I hope you continue to go to Sunday School and maybe one day to all three of the meetings, I'm very proud of all of you. I'm glad to here that Ash is continually doing better, keep up the good work Ash and keep going to church and you will see many blessings in your life. By the way who is Marc? I'm also excited to see pictures of your business Alex, it sounds really cool and awesome. Keep me updated on it and what you're doing. Please, everyone keep me updated on what all of you are doing. I love hearing how you're doing and what you're doing. I love you all very much and think about you each and every day. Please do what is right so we can always be an eternal family forever and so we can see dad again. Love you all and I will continually have you in my prayers. I can't wait to see you all in 15 months love and miss you very much. Take care! Love you Always,Sister Museus