A New Year and a New Companion, January 3, 2011

Hello Lovable Family, It was so good to hear from you this week. I love hearing how your days and weeks go, especially the fun stories and experiences you have. First off, I want to express to John how sorry I am to hear that you mother passed away. Please forgive John for not being able to be there for you and the rest of the family. Death is the one thing that I hate the most and I am so sorry that I can be there to give at least some comfort to you. However, I do know with all my heart that she is a great place and you can see her again. This gospel is what reunites families for eternity and I have the privilege in sharing this great message every day to people in Taiwan. John, I hope and pray that one day you can receive this great message and tast the sweetness that it brings. I did hear that you have a neat experience that happened with your mother. I would love to hear this great experience John if you would like to share it with me. I also failed to thank you for taking the time to restore the antique furniture. Thank you for doing this for me John. What an amazing Christmas present to get from you and my mom. Mom, it was also my favorite thing to talk to you as well. I loved hearing from all of you and realizing again how much I am loved by my dear, sweet family. It was neat to realize that I do have an amazing family who does love and miss me. Sometimes I feel like I have been gone for a lifetime and all of you seem to be too surreal, too perfect. However, I am very excited that I can talk to you again in 4 months on Mother's Day. Mom, I'm glad you kept the tradition with making eggs, goat cheese, and the very delectable Christmas bread. I do wish when I return hom that you will make this for me (even though it won't be Christmas). You are too good of a cook Mom. How fun and exciting it must have been with Carter and Boston celebrating Christmas with all of us. It is always fun having little ones around who still believe in Santa Claus. I'm also glad to hear that you still left out a plate full of cookies, milk, and carrots for Santa and his reindeer. I am very curious to know what this special gift is from you Mom. Can you give me some more details? You already didn't need to send a box full of gifts and now I here there is more; you are too nice Mom (and everyone else). I keep hearing about this new I-pads and saw one at the airport in Salt Lake when I left for Taiwan. They do seem a bit complicating, but I know Alex and Cole can help you work with it. I do hope you use it though since I know technology can a bit difficult for you :). I hope you had a wonderful New Years Mom and I'm glad you celebrated it with Cole, Alex, and Whit. In addition, I am glad to hear that Cole finally got his drivers license; it about time :). However, I do worry about Tink (even though it has been in a couple of crashes, whoops :). Make sure he takes good care of her and is a careful driver. I do worry about him being behind the wheel and especially in Utah weather during this time of the year. Whit, I am so glad to hear that you celebrated New Years with Alex and Cole. It was funny to hear that you cider froze from how cold it is in Logan. But don't worry because I have my share of cold as well (especially since pretty much no building has any type of a heating system). Sometimes it gets so cold that I can see my breath outside. I'm so glad you went sledding this year and somehow you were able to get Mom come along for the ride. Last year we did the same thing with the boys at Old Main Hill. It was so funny to hear the about Boston and jumping on the sled by himself. Thank goodness he didn't hit into the tree and Mom stopped him before he hit the cars. Man, he must be some brave boy. Hopefully, he still remembers me by the time I get home. Good luck with school. I know school is very stressful and hectic, but in the end it's nice to see how much success you had and you will never regret. Don't worry I will be in your same shoes soon as well. Paige, I was able to receive your email. I'm glad you were able to celebrate New Years Eve at LeNonne's with Charles. I forgot how good that place is. You and I will definitely go there when I return home. Charles must be very lucky to have you help him write so many essays and fill out several applications. I hope things go well with that. Let me know how it goes. I'm glad you loved the presents I sent; I loved yours as well (even though you spent way too much on it; I keep getting compliments on how good I smell :). Thank you for letting me know about John's mom and I did hear about Bossy's funny experience, which was very hillarious. I have to admit that I didn't really celebrate New Years Eve. It was a first for me not to stay up to midnight to celebrate the new coming year. It is a rule that we have to go to bed by 10:30 so we did. But, don't worry because I was woken up several times by fireworks going off all night long. I was suprised to hear fireworks since Taiwan doesn't celebrate the new year until guonian (meaning past year), which call fall in January or February depending on the Chinese calendar. This year it falls on February second and it's one of the biggest holidays that is celebrated in Taiwan. I do hope you all will celebrate the new year by making a New Years Resolution. Please make it detailed so you can be accountable for it. You can include areas such as: school, work, emotionally, spiritually, intellectually, etc. I sent you all a card that expresses this in more detail. Things are going great in Tanzi and Fengyuan. It was just move-call today and I have a new American companion named Sister Howard from St. George, Utah. I have already met her before through Sister Exchanges and she is awesome. I'm pretty sure we will continue to see success in our area. She already seems like a great missionary who knows how to work hard. Nothing much has happened this week, except we were able to get 4 of our investigators to come to church. Sister Lin was able to quit her job so she can attend church and keep the Sabbath Day holy. I am amazed by her faith and her willingness to follow the commitments and commandments. She is golden and will probably be baptized in a few weeks (after she comes to church at least 2 more times). We are also teaching a new family named Huang who are doing really well. They loved going to church and the ward was so good to them. In addition, we are teaching anoter part-member family who I think is Autistic. She is doing awesome and continues to progress even more spiritually and socially as we strive to teach her the gospel. I love you all Family and thank you again for your love and support. I can't wait to the day that I can see you all again. Please make sure you continue to do what is most righteous. Love and miss you all! Love you Always,Sister Museus

Christmas and the Great Phone Call, December 27, 2010

Hello Dearly Missed Family (who none of you wrote me this week), I thought I made it clear that I wanted you all to write me each week. I didn't receive one email this week except from John wearing his Chinese hat (I loved it John). I will forgive you all this week, but please write me next week. I sent you all a bunch of pictures. However, some of the pictures are not working and I think Mom, Ash, and someone else's mail box is too full since it said a email full of pictures failed. Since it is taking so long I promise to send the rest of the pictures next week: more from the Christmas activity, opening Christmas presents, and the Christmas baptism. It was so great to talk to all of you Christmas night (for me). I apologize for having to call you all so early. Mom, I apologize if it sounded like I didn't want to talk to you I was just afraid that everyone wasn't with you since I knew I could only make one phone call. I have to admit that it felt like I had talked to all of you for only 10 minutes and for an hour. After I got off the phone with you it hit me hard on how much I miss you all again. I can't look forward to the Christmas phone call anymore, but don't worry I have already found out that in a little over 4 months I can call of you again. I will definitely be counting down the days until I can talk to all of you again. I miss you all so much. It almost felt like I was in a dream as I was talking to all of you since I haven't heard your voices for so long. I just glad that you are all real and it's not some kind of dream that I am longing for. I do have the best family in the world. First off, the Christmas activity was Thursday was really fun. Our entire mission went to a big Buddha statue and took some mission pictures. Afterwards, we went to the best shopping place ever. Everything there was handmade from Taiwan. In addition, the shopping area had great historical sites and little miaos (Buddhist temples) that you could go and see (and each of them have some historical significance to them). I wasn't able to visit all of the great sites since they only gave us two hours and I was having too much fun shopping and looking around. Later, we visited another historical Buddhist temple and then went to a nice buffet for dinner. The food was pretty good, but I always prefers Mom's extravagant food over anything. Later, we all met back at the church near the mission home and had a Christmas devotional together that was full of reflections from missionaries leaving, introductions onm new missionaries, and Christmas thoughts from the mission president and his wife, and great Christmas music. Before we left the mission president and his wife gave each some Christmas candy and a booklet full of all of the missionaries "You Banfa/Miracle" stories. (I have to admit that I accidently left behind the amazing missionary blanket since I was having some of my old companions sign it. Don't worry though because a missionary is giving it back to me tomorrow. I have dearly missed that blanket for the past few nights since it kept me so warm and it helped me feel so loved from all of you (since I know it was made and sent with love). On Friday (Christmas Eve), I made my companion and I some yummy eggnog that turned out to taste like a mixture of rice pudding and eggnog (since I overcooked the eggs, I already told you about this story). However, it was still very delicious and I made it again today since I needed to send some to a member who borrowed me some vanilla. I have to admit that the eggnog is still a little lumpy, but better than last times. On Christmas Day I was able to open all of you great gifts in the morning (since the package arrived Christmas Eve). I even made sure that I was wearing the PJ's Becky and Cheryl sent me, and my hair and make-up was done before I opened the gifts. (I did make one mistake by eating my breakfast while opening the gifts than before I opened the gifts). You see, I was still trying to carry on the Christmas traditions. I even had the yummy yogurt cranberry bread for dinner (like Christmas bread, but still not as good as Mom's Christmas bread....maybe you will make it for me when I return home Mom). I loved each of your gifts. The camera will come in handy as I record some of my experiences here and will send them to all of you. I also loved the scarf Mom and John and I needed a brown one to match some of my outfits too; it will definitely keep me more warm. I love the white jacket Alex and Ash and it will also keep me warm. I have already worn it twice since it's getting pretty cold here. I loved the perfume Paige and needed some more Alien since mine is almost gone. I started to use it less since it was about gone, but now I don't need to worry. I love Alien Paige, but you should have not spent that much money since I know that perfume is expensive. But thank you for thinking of me and sending something that will help me feel more clean and descent. Cole, I loved the necklace and will definitely wear it. I love the footprints poem and it reminds so much of Dad and how close he is to all of us. Whit, what a great idea to send a frame full of digital pictures. I love it and it often gets me distracted as I look at the fun pictures. Where were the pose pictures taken, Phoenix? Who took the pictures? I am guessing they're from Phoenix since Johnny, Jessica, and Ted are all in them. Thank you all for the lovely gifts (you should have not giving me so much). I love you all so much and I'm excited that you are all coming to Taiwan to pick me up. You will need to bring a lot of suitcases since I will need some help bringing all of you great gifts home and some of the stuff I bought you all. Please make sure to tell the exact day USU starts school so I can talk to my mission president about you all coming to Taiwan. Later on Christmas Day we had a "white" Christmas as Sister Lin was baptized by her own father. It was a neat experience to see this take place (and how happy I am that dad was able to baptize all of us). It's amazing to realize that my companion and I have helped three people get baptized during this month (the most baptisms in our entire zone) and two of them helped complete more of a family. Just like our family I want to complete ours even more. That is why I will be after John, Charles, and those who are less-active in our family (these include those who are not progressing by not reading and praying every day, and going to church each week for 3 hours). I want our family to be eternal and complete and it is through this amazing gospel that this can take place. Afterwards, I was able to talk to all of you, which was so very nice. It really helped recharge me for the next 4 months when I can talk to all again. Yesterday, we had church of course and afterwards I talked to a member who takes a mentally handicapped person to church. I thought she was a member, but found out she wasn't and was wondering why she hasn't been baptized. In Taiping, we helped someone who wasn't all there get baptized it was was so special (even though I wasn't there to see it). However, as long as they have the ability to know from right and wrong they can get baptized and should if they have the desire. I explained this to the member and she was so happy that we wanted to teach her (her father and brother are members too). Later, that night we ate dinner at a member's house (that the food was alright) and Sister Cai (the handicapped) came and the member who helps her. It was neat to see her already progressing and being able to answer our questions during a mini-lesson that we taught her. The member even started to cry as she saw that Sister Cai has the desire to get baptized and is progressing in the gospel. The process will be slower with her, but we are excited to be able to teach her and help complete more of her family as well. Today, we are going to go bowling and I will make sure to take the video camera and record the experience so you can all see it. I would have loved to take it to the baptism, but I needed to use a computer to charge it. I failed to mention that on Tuesday was Sisters Exchanges and I went to Beitun, which is right next door to Tanzi. It was with a native named Sister Su (who I already did Sister Exchanges with back in Fengyuan). The exchanges went pretty well, except almost all of our appointments didn't show up. However, it was neat again to see how Sister Su teaches and how she likes to do things. I actually was able to meet the Relief Society president from her ward who gave us a yummy pastry (from Cosco that tasted like apple pie), but it still wasn't as good as Mom's delectable homemade pies. I hope it won't be a bother to ask one of you to send me at least three bottle of the second step of Proactiv (called revitalizing toner and comes in a green bottle in liquid form). I have about a month left of it, but would like some more so my skin keeps pretty clear. However, if this is going to be a bother or a burden don't worry about it and I will try and find something here. But if you can it would help me so much, especially when the humidity starts to come back. I failed to mention that I wanted you all to also watch the Christmas Devotion given by the First Presidency. I was able to watch in Chinese (which was very difficult since they used high-class words). Please take the time to watch it and if you have time please send me the articles from this devotional. Alex, Fluke told me that her mom has been sending you her emails. Will you please send them to me? I would love to here more of what she is doing. I love you all very much. Please continue to write me each week so I can continue moving forward, especially during this time when I miss you all very much. Have a great Happy New Year! Please make some new year resolutions and I will do the same. Move-call is on Saturday and I really hope I stay here in Fengyuan and Tanzi. I really don't like to move and hopefully I can stay with Sister Li since she is very nice. I love you all and have another great holiday together. I hope you celebrate it together! Love you all and miss you! Love You Always,Sister Museus

A Miracle...A Baptism on Christmas Day, December 19, 2010

Christmas Day Phone Call Home
You are authorized to talk to your family on Christmas Day. You have two options for this phone call. You can arrange to talk to your family on the evening of December 25th or the morning of December 26th. (Taiwan time) *Calling on December 25th will be Christmas morning in the States. *Calling on December 26th will be Christmas Day evening in the States. Your phone call should not exceed 60 minutes (if your parents are divorced, then you may make two 40 minute calls, one to each parent) You and your family are responsible for the cost of the phone call; therefore please budget and be sensitive regarding the financial burden on your family. Please make sure your call home is uplifting to your family – this is a great time to let them know how much you love them and appreciate their support. Let them know how much your testimony has grown on your mission.Plan now how and when you will call your family, or receive their call. Coordinate with your companion, and then email your family giving them a couple of options for the best times to talk. Have your family call your apartment landline, do not use cell phones! If your family does not have an international call plan, the cheapest way to call is by using a phone card. (If you are calling with a calling card you will need to know the country area codes) USA 002+1+ # Thailand 002+66+# New Zealand 002+64+# UK 002+44+# Philipin’s 002+63+# Likewise, if you call your family, the cheapest option is a phone card. You can buy an international calling card at convenient stores (7/11) which can then be used from your apartment phone. This is the information that I failed to give about the Christmas phone call. Hello Wo Ai de Jiating! (My Loving Family), What an joyous occasion it was to receive your beautiful gifts. I didn't receive until the 17th, but it was a good day that they came (it came late since the Mission Home didn't pay to ship my package and we were not at our apartment at the time to pay the fee so I had to give our guard the money before they would drop off the package). Nevertheless, it was the perfect day they came because of the horrible day I had on Thursday. My birthday was great other than the fact that I couldn't celebrate with the people that I love the most. We celebrated my birthday by eating at "Pizza Hut" with one of our great investigators named Sister Lin (English name is Miranda). It was really thoughtful of them (especially since they wouldn't let me pay). This pizza was pretty good, but I rather have other things here in Taiwan that are healthy (and their pizza here is a bit different since they have seafood on everything and it was very greesy. I think they may have just poured oil on it :), but most things here are really oily). Later, my companion gave me a box of chocolates and Sister Xu (who we baptized a couple of weeks ago) suprised at English class with some chocolate and a cute puzzle card. I don't even remember telling her about my birthday, but somehow she knew. It was very sweet of her. (Luckily, I ended up secretly giving away most of my chocolate since I am trying to eat more healthy). In addition, my English class were really nice and remembered my birthday as well. Since Christmas is around the corner, we watched "Joy to the World" together for the spiritual share. The whole class enjoyed it and I fell in love with it was well. I hope family, that you will take the time to watch together as a family so you can remember the importance of our Savior at this time. Please do this for me. The reason why I enjoyed getting your package on the 17th was the fact that on the 16th is was freezing cold. Luckily, on my birthday it only seemed to rain when I was inside. However, the following day the temperatures dropped tremendously. It was so cold, especially since it rained all day. The entire day I could see my breath and the rain made me feel like I was swimming in Alaska. I now understand what Sister Roper meant by the cold here. It may not be as cold as Utah, but there is no heat anywhere (except for 7/11 and Family Mart). The churches, houses, our apartment....none of these places have heat. Houses and buildings are much colder here since they are made of cemet and have only tile and granite flooring. We are only equipped with 2 small heaters in our apt. I ended up getting a bad headache from the cold and even a stomach from not being able to warm myself up. Luckily, I had mom's leathers gloves that she bought me (thank you Mom), which kept my hands warm and luckily we stopped at the apt. in the middle of the day to put more warm clothes on. In addition, I had muscle aches in my thighs from going up and down stairs on the 15th for 30 minutes (since we couldn't run because it was raining). I don't mean to complain too much (even though I just did), but I just wanted to let you know how much your birthday package meant to me. Once I saw the lovely quilt that Mom handmade, tears were streaming down my cheeks. I couldn't stop crying as I read each of your letters (especially Moms) and the lovely gifts you all gave me. You all must of took a lot of thought (and in tune with the spirit) into each gift because I was in need of each gift: Mom and John: Thank you for the wonderful missionary blanket. I love to pieces and will make sure to have my companion and baptisms sign it. It was so thoughtful and something I needed to keep me warm at night since it is a bit cold and every apt. is only equipped with a bedspread. I will always cherish this blanket and it was such a great gift to me. I love it so much. Mom, you always have the best/cute ideas (just like the cute Christmas tree in a box) and it's because of how thoughtful and generous you are. Ash and Alex: I have to admit to both of you that I was wearing the "Road to Hana" shirt as I was opening your gift. You both obviously knew that I needed a new running outfit. Thank you very much; now I can look more decent in the morning when we go exercise. Somehow you knew I needed a new running outfit (I guess my pictures gave it away). Thank you again; it was obviously needed). Whit, Cole, and Paige: Somehow you all must of known that I also needed a new outfit. I am getting sick of my clothes that I constantly wear and it was so good to receive such a nice new outfit. I wore it yesterday for church and received so many compliments. Thank you for sending me a vibrant colored shirt since I have gotten comments from companions that I wear too much black and blue (whoops). I also loved the cute jewerly and wore them yesterday as well. The shoes were fabulous and my companion loved them. I just hope I don't ruin them when I'm riding my bike all day (however, I will be extra careful). I was also in need of a cute light shall because of the cold weather. Thank you all for taking the time to send me something so cute and in need. I love it! Thank you again Family for your thoughtfulness. It meant the world to me when I was not in a very good mood or had a very good attitude. I have to admit that there were a few times that I wanted to cry while riding my bike in the bitter cold. You all definitely lifted up my spirits and gave me the strength to continue moving forward. Each email, letter, or package I receive from all of you provide me with the strength and courage I need to continue moving forward even when things are tough. Well, my companion and I loved watching Sister Wen get baptized on Saturday night. She was very prepared and so excited to get baptized. Luckily, her mom (who is less-active) came and helped support her daughter. I already mentioned the story behind Sister Wen on how my companion and I helped her discover and realized that she had her answer the whole time and learned how to recognize the Spirit. It was really neat to watch her get baptized and come so much closer in receiving salvation. The spirit was really strong and it was amazing to watch Sister Wen and her mom embrace each other after she was baptized. We were so proud to watch this since her mom was wanting her daughter to get baptized and Sister Wen did as well, but wanted to find the right answers first (and to know that it was my companion and I that helped her realize she had the answers all along). The Christmas miracle happened on Monday night. I had mentioned to you all in my last email that we were not sure we could find a baptism for Christmas day (since Christmas lands on a Saturday this year and baptisms usually are held on Saturdays) and our district leader, zone leaders, and mission president have been stressing on having a "white Christmas" by having a baptism on Christmas Day. Well, we worked our guts out by looking through formers and part-member families who had been to church at least once (since they needed to be in order to be baptized on Christmas day). We ended up adding 5 week C's (but like I said before none of them came to church). However, on Monday night our plan didn't work to visit an investigator in Tanzi so at the last minute we decided to visit a part-member family. We had added a girl named Sister Li who is 12 and her dad and brother are members, but not her mom. She said she would come to church with her dad and wanted to be baptized, however her mom was against this. In addition, after she didn't show up to church members continually told us not to visit their family since their mom is very against the church. However, we still made the cautious decision to give it a try with prayers in our hearts that it would work out. We arrived at the house just in time to see her mom drive up on her scooter. She didn't look very excited to see us, but her daughter was jumping up and down when she saw who it was. Luckily, she invited us in to talk and 5 minutes later the husband came in. We sat down and gave a spiritual lesson on 3 Nephi 11 when Christ visit the Americas and blesses the little children. This soften the mother's heart and she explained that she didn't want her daughter baptized until she understood what it was and had a complete desire for it. Luckily, over the weekend we organized a calendar of things her daughter could read, questions to answers, and things to do to help her understand baptism. In addition, we called her every night and taught her a quick lesson on the gospel. Then, we met with their family again on Friday and gave a lesson on the Plan of Salvation and the 5 steps on how to receive the salvation (the Celestial Kingdom). The daughter enjoyed the lesson and finally understood the lesson. We were able to get permission for her baptism and know Sister Li we'll be baptized on Christmas Day. What a miracle and an amazing way to celebrate Christmas (especially since I cannot celebrate with all of you, but I am thrilled for the phone call). What a blessing this is since we were worried we wouldn't have a baptism on Christmas day all because we followed the spirit and visited her family despite what other members had said. I love you all family and I have a list of things I hope you do before Christmas comes. I believe these things will help reunite you as a family during this season and the importance of our Savior and the true reason why we celebrate Christmas. First off (like I already mentioned), please take 30 minutes as a family and watch "Joy to the World". My companion and I continually watch this with our investigators and they love it. The spirit is very strong every time I watch it.Second, read about Christ's birth as a family (only a few short chapters Luke 1,2 and Mark 1,2) Please read them as a family so you can understand the importance of our Savior and what He did for all of us. Please make room for Him in your life (since there was no room in the inn for Him), especially during this time of the year. Third, go to temple square together so you can all remember the importance of families and being together. Surround yourself with the lights, the temple, and the family since these three things are vitally importance (light=gospel).Fourth, read the great Santa book that Mom all gave us a few years ago for Christmas (with the cute child and Santa praying together). I was reminded of this cute book and statue from a recent convert who asked me why we celebrate Santa during Christmas and not just Christ. Luckily, I was guided by the Spirit and explained to her that Santa actually can represent Christ and I related the cute Santa book and statue and how Santa and Christ are very similar to each other (they both wear red and white, have a beard, bring gifts, etc.) Please read this great book from a loving Mother who knows the importance of Christmas and celebrating Christ at this time of the year.Fifth, please open my Christmas package on Christmas evening (after you have done the first 4 above steps) and have a fun time opening each gift with each other and the letters that go with them. Please make sure to read the first Christmas article together as well which gave me a better perspective on the importance of family and the gospel. You will love the article since it made me think of all of you and how much I love you all dearly (it actually brought me to tears). Lastly, on Christmas morning I will give you a call. Make sure you are all together since I can only make one call for 1 hour. I provided you with the information and the top and since I am 15 hours ahead of you I will call you Christmas evening here. I apologize for the bad time different, but you will most likely receive my call at 6 in the morning (your time) since I will call you at 9 at night here in Taiwan. I will try and get my companion to let me call maybe at 10 at night so you don't have to get up so early. But most likely, my call will be at 6 in the morning. I am so excited to hear from all of you. I'll probably start crying so I am apologizing in advance (since this is what I have been looking forward to for so long). Being able to talk to all of you will be the best Christmas present ever!In addition, I have more great news to tell you. I received permission from the Mission president that you all can come to Taiwan. I will talk to you more about this when I talk to on Christmas day since my time is almost up.Alex, I loved your email. I'm glad you had a great birthday (even though you had to celebrate it late and without me). In addition, I'm very proud of you for getting good grades and will graduate in 4 months. How exciting! Carter's gift sounds great and fun, he'll love the cowboy outfit and stuff. I'm glad you're thinking about service at this time. Help the family out, they need it most and make sure you all do the above stuff. I love A!Whit, I did have a cake for my birthday. (Though I bought the cake my self at 85, just a slice and shared it with my companion. Thank you for your service of gift wrapping, you are the best at it and mom does sure neeed your help. Thank you also for spedning so much time with Pj and MN.Mom, I could never thank you enough for your service and hard work. I don't know how you and dad did it. I wouldn't mind at all helping out at the office and getting my insurance license if it's okay that I got to school as well.Love you all gotta to go!Love you always,

A Baptism this Weekend and the Christmas Phone Call, December 12, 2010

Hey Everyone, What a glorious experience it was to go to the temple in Taipei. It took us 2 1/2 hours to drive there, but it was definitely worth the trip. I needed to go to get rejuvenated and spiritually renewed and uplifted. I sat in the temple pondering about things I couldn't help but have tears spilling down my face as I was thinking about all of you and dad. I wa realizing again what an amazing family we have and realizing that we would be together forever. I looked into the eternity mirrors (just like the ones in mom's bathroom) and knew that there is no end to our family and to the relationships with each other that can continue to grow forever. Thank you Mom and Dad for making the most important decision we can ever make to get married in the temple. Because of you Mom I have the opportunity to see Dad again if I endure to the end. I have tasted the most sweet and precious thing in the world and continue to do so because fo you Mom and Dad. My heart continues to swell even more for you Mom (and for everyone in the family) because each day I realize even more how amazing and special each of you are. We can be a family for eternity means the world to me and going to the temple always reminds me of this and the special privilege and blessing it is to have the gospel in our lives. I sent a letter to you Mom explaining more of my experience I had at the amazing temple (you can share with the others as well if you would like). I continue to pray and have faith that each of you will realize the importance of the temple and those who haven't gone please prepare yourself and make it your main goal in life. For those who haven't gone for quite some time please make it a priority to go each month to the temple and I promise you will feel dad's presence with you more frequently and the Holy Ghost as well. I will come straight out and tell you all that when I return home I am going to work on those who are straying from the strait and narrow path and I will be helping John and Charles accept this gospel and be baptized. I cannot sit here and help so many other people accept the gospel here in Taiwan and not even help my family (who means everything to me) completely receive the gospel and make the temple their priority in their life. So watch out family because I will be coming for each and everyone of you when I return home. For our preparation day, my companion and I went to the hospital at 8 in the morning (since we got permission to leave early) because I thought I had a bladder infection. I don't like going to hospitals and especially here since they are so crowded, but I constantly have to go to the bathroom. Every two to three hours I have to go to the bathroom and at night I wake and go another 2-3 times. However, they checked my urine and nothing was wrong, except that I actually needed to still drink more water. The doctor told me I needed to control my stress and learn to relax better because this was causing my bladder to be stressed as well. They gave me so pills to take to control my bladder and I checked with my mission president if they were okay to take (since he use to be a doctor) and he said they were. Hopefully I learn to be less stressed out and the pills will help. In all the pills and seeing the doctor only cost me 15 US dollars and I will get reimbursed for it. We also went to the dentist again since Sister Liu needed to fix something with her teeth and then we had a short meet with our zone. Afterwards, we ate at TGI Fridays together and then shorty stopped at the afternoon market and I bought each of you a little something for Christmas. We didn't spend much time so I will have to go back. The market reminded me of Thailands night market that was full of great shopping. But don't worry because I'm only in the mood of getting cultural things since who knows what will be in style in the coming year. Our investigators continue to progress, but they always seem to have one little problem that they need to work out before they can get baptized. Hopefully we can see some more baptisms the next coming weeks. Sister Chen was going to get baptized in 2 weeks, but we found out she can't attend church because of a fencing competition and investigators have to attend church three times in order for them to get baptized. This makes it hard to get several baptisms in a move-call since our investigators have only 4 chances to attend church before our move-call ends (they last 6 weeks) because the other two times having to announce it one week before the baptism and usually the first week they won't attend church without first meeting with us. I know this sounds very confusing, but I just wanted to let you know how fast they expect investigators to get baptized and what they must do before they are baptized. I did get a great letter today from Xiao Ba in Huwei. If you remember she was an investigator of mine in Huwei who wanted to get baptized, but couldn't because she was living with her boyfriend. She was following all the commandments, but she couldn't be living with her boyfriend. However, she sent me a letter today that had her wedding pictures. She got married on November 7th and is getting baptized November 13th. It's so exciting to hear that she is getting baptized and only a month from when I was there in Huwei. My hands are feeling better and I still have no cavities. I went to the dentist a few weeks ago (which only cost me 3 US dollars) and they checked them and scrapped my teeth as well. However, they don't clean or floss them for you, which was a different experience for me. I failed to mention that Sister Roper and I got our haircuts in Huwei before we left and just cut 2 inches off (only cost me 7 US dollars). In addition, I had to paint my bike since other missionaries where getting their bikes stolen so now I don't have a the nice characters on it saying that I was a missionary of our church. However, I rather have a painted bike than a stolen one. Moreover, we were finally able to get hot water since for the past 3 weeks I've been showering in cold water. Moreover, my new perfume is mosquito spray since I continually get bitten here in Taiping. They have the worse mosquitoes here that are smaller than nats and just continue to bite you and you can barely see them. However, I have learned not to itch so much or else I will come back with scarred legs like my trainers and Sister Brownell is starting to get them as well. Thank you for sending me a Thanksgiving package. You didn't have to do this for me at all. I did send off a package for Cole for his birthday coming up (his sweet 16 birthday, how exciting). I hope you enjoy your gift Cole. For my birthday and Christmas (I hope it's not too much to ask you to send me some new garments. They won't do it for me in Taiwan. I would love 7 new pairs of the Carnessa bottoms (size: S-A) and 5 new silk tops (size: 28T). Mine are getting pretty gross and I already bleached them too. If could also send me the two bottle of the step 2 Proactiv (it is a green liquid that says toner on it). This would really help my skin and would last me the rest of my mission. Thanks Mom for emailing me like you always do. I'm glad to hear that Max and Marnie are going through the temple. Deb sent me a letter and told me about it. I'm glad you all spent time together with Bossy's birthday. Let Ash know that I'm sorry for not sending something. I will once i find something for him. Give my love to John since it must be difficult for him right now with his mother. I'm glad to hear that Cole is still swimming away and that you're still going antique shopping. I would love to go with you when I come home. I promise to do the best decoration job for Christmas when I return home. I miss you too MOm and also count down the days. I actually found out that my group has more than a 50 percent chance that we all will be sent home early for school. Which means I might still come home in the middle of August instead of September. This means I only 9 months left of my mission and that it is half over, weird!!! Time somehow flies by, but at the same time it's not. I love you all and miss you very much. Please do what is righteous. Love you Always,Sister Museus

Temple Trip and the Hospital, November 8, 2010

Hey Everyone, What a glorious experience it was to go to the temple in Taipei. It took us 2 1/2 hours to drive there, but it was definitely worth the trip. I needed to go to get rejuvenated and spiritually renewed and uplifted. I sat in the temple pondering about things I couldn't help but have tears spilling down my face as I was thinking about all of you and dad. I wa realizing again what an amazing family we have and realizing that we would be together forever. I looked into the eternity mirrors (just like the ones in mom's bathroom) and knew that there is no end to our family and to the relationships with each other that can continue to grow forever. Thank you Mom and Dad for making the most important decision we can ever make to get married in the temple. Because of you Mom I have the opportunity to see Dad again if I endure to the end. I have tasted the most sweet and precious thing in the world and continue to do so because fo you Mom and Dad. My heart continues to swell even more for you Mom (and for everyone in the family) because each day I realize even more how amazing and special each of you are. We can be a family for eternity means the world to me and going to the temple always reminds me of this and the special privilege and blessing it is to have the gospel in our lives. I sent a letter to you Mom explaining more of my experience I had at the amazing temple (you can share with the others as well if you would like). I continue to pray and have faith that each of you will realize the importance of the temple and those who haven't gone please prepare yourself and make it your main goal in life. For those who haven't gone for quite some time please make it a priority to go each month to the temple and I promise you will feel dad's presence with you more frequently and the Holy Ghost as well. I will come straight out and tell you all that when I return home I am going to work on those who are straying from the strait and narrow path and I will be helping John and Charles accept this gospel and be baptized. I cannot sit here and help so many other people accept the gospel here in Taiwan and not even help my family (who means everything to me) completely receive the gospel and make the temple their priority in their life. So watch out family because I will be coming for each and everyone of you when I return home. For our preparation day, my companion and I went to the hospital at 8 in the morning (since we got permission to leave early) because I thought I had a bladder infection. I don't like going to hospitals and especially here since they are so crowded, but I constantly have to go to the bathroom. Every two to three hours I have to go to the bathroom and at night I wake and go another 2-3 times. However, they checked my urine and nothing was wrong, except that I actually needed to still drink more water. The doctor told me I needed to control my stress and learn to relax better because this was causing my bladder to be stressed as well. They gave me so pills to take to control my bladder and I checked with my mission president if they were okay to take (since he use to be a doctor) and he said they were. Hopefully I learn to be less stressed out and the pills will help. In all the pills and seeing the doctor only cost me 15 US dollars and I will get reimbursed for it. We also went to the dentist again since Sister Liu needed to fix something with her teeth and then we had a short meet with our zone. Afterwards, we ate at TGI Fridays together and then shorty stopped at the afternoon market and I bought each of you a little something for Christmas. We didn't spend much time so I will have to go back. The market reminded me of Thailands night market that was full of great shopping. But don't worry because I'm only in the mood of getting cultural things since who knows what will be in style in the coming year. Our investigators continue to progress, but they always seem to have one little problem that they need to work out before they can get baptized. Hopefully we can see some more baptisms the next coming weeks. Sister Chen was going to get baptized in 2 weeks, but we found out she can't attend church because of a fencing competition and investigators have to attend church three times in order for them to get baptized. This makes it hard to get several baptisms in a move-call since our investigators have only 4 chances to attend church before our move-call ends (they last 6 weeks) because the other two times having to announce it one week before the baptism and usually the first week they won't attend church without first meeting with us. I know this sounds very confusing, but I just wanted to let you know how fast they expect investigators to get baptized and what they must do before they are baptized. I did get a great letter today from Xiao Ba in Huwei. If you remember she was an investigator of mine in Huwei who wanted to get baptized, but couldn't because she was living with her boyfriend. She was following all the commandments, but she couldn't be living with her boyfriend. However, she sent me a letter today that had her wedding pictures. She got married on November 7th and is getting baptized November 13th. It's so exciting to hear that she is getting baptized and only a month from when I was there in Huwei. My hands are feeling better and I still have no cavities. I went to the dentist a few weeks ago (which only cost me 3 US dollars) and they checked them and scrapped my teeth as well. However, they don't clean or floss them for you, which was a different experience for me. I failed to mention that Sister Roper and I got our haircuts in Huwei before we left and just cut 2 inches off (only cost me 7 US dollars). In addition, I had to paint my bike since other missionaries where getting their bikes stolen so now I don't have a the nice characters on it saying that I was a missionary of our church. However, I rather have a painted bike than a stolen one. Moreover, we were finally able to get hot water since for the past 3 weeks I've been showering in cold water. Moreover, my new perfume is mosquito spray since I continually get bitten here in Taiping. They have the worse mosquitoes here that are smaller than nats and just continue to bite you and you can barely see them. However, I have learned not to itch so much or else I will come back with scarred legs like my trainers and Sister Brownell is starting to get them as well. Thank you for sending me a Thanksgiving package. You didn't have to do this for me at all. I did send off a package for Cole for his birthday coming up (his sweet 16 birthday, how exciting). I hope you enjoy your gift Cole. For my birthday and Christmas (I hope it's not too much to ask you to send me some new garments. They won't do it for me in Taiwan. I would love 7 new pairs of the Carnessa bottoms (size: S-A) and 5 new silk tops (size: 28T). Mine are getting pretty gross and I already bleached them too. If could also send me the two bottle of the step 2 Proactiv (it is a green liquid that says toner on it). This would really help my skin and would last me the rest of my mission. Thanks Mom for emailing me like you always do. I'm glad to hear that Max and Marnie are going through the temple. Deb sent me a letter and told me about it. I'm glad you all spent time together with Bossy's birthday. Let Ash know that I'm sorry for not sending something. I will once i find something for him. Give my love to John since it must be difficult for him right now with his mother. I'm glad to hear that Cole is still swimming away and that you're still going antique shopping. I would love to go with you when I come home. I promise to do the best decoration job for Christmas when I return home. I miss you too MOm and also count down the days. I actually found out that my group has more than a 50 percent chance that we all will be sent home early for school. Which means I might still come home in the middle of August instead of September. This means I only 9 months left of my mission and that it is half over, weird!!! Time somehow flies by, but at the same time it's not. I love you all and miss you very much. Please do what is righteous. Love you Always,Sister Museus

November 2, 2010

Ni Hao Jiating (Hello Family), I miss you all very much and get excited to hear from each of you. Your emails always help me get through each week since missionary work is so strenuous and tiresome (both physically, mentally, and spiritually). However, things are going great in my new area. My companion and I are teaching several lessons a day, which means I can practice my Chinese more and we are in an air-conditioned church. However, the downfall to this is that we cannot find as many investigators. But, the investigators that we have are progressing so well. We have the best peike (a member who comes to our lessons and helps teach the lesson by providing their insights, experiences, and testimonies) her name is Sister Huang who will come to at least 5 lessons a week. Last night her and her husband came to an investigator's house to meet her parents and help us get parent permission to get her baptized. For the past couple of months Sister Peng has not be able to get baptized because her parents didn't think she was ready and still wanted her to bai bai (worship her ancestors). However, they came over last night and explained to them the importance of ancestors to our church and provided their experiences, etc. Because of them we will be having a baptism this weekend and another one the following weekend. The second baptism is to a girl named Sister Lai who is a mother and enjoys the gospel so much and is willing to do anything for it! She passed her baptismal interview this Sunday and will get baptized in two weeks! So far things are going great and I love seeing success from our efforts. Sister Liu is an excellent missionary and knows how to communicated well with our investigators and the people here in Taiwan (since is from Taiwan). I feel like I have more confidence with my Chinese with her and I speak it more often since we are teaching more and since we talk a lot in Chinese. I don't feel as intimidated as with my last companions since she is trying to learn English better from me by asking me questions and I am doing the same with her. Sister Liu and I continually practice teaching the lessons back and forth to each other in Chinese which has really helped me speak more clear and freely. Today for our preparation day, Sister Liu and I went to Taizhong (Taichung) to go and eat at "TGI Fridays". It was delectable! I ended up getting some yummy grilled chicken. I miss eating American food, but eating fruit, ice drinks (bing), and bread has helped me lose weight. I do need to be better at eating less still if I want to continue losing weight. After our yummy lunch we stopped by a cultural store where they sell so many goodies (Taiwanese paintings, wood work, pottery, etc......the kind of stuff that we all like to buy. I will definitely take you all to this place when you come to Taiwan). I ended up buying some really neat paintings that are hand-painted on scrolls. I will definitely be saving them for some of you, especially one for Mom and John. Mom, it was so good to hear from you again. I'm sorry that you had a dream that I came home and that you thought you saw me riding a bike. Sometimes I have dreams that I'm home as well with all of you....these kinds of dreams make me miss you all even more. I guess one of my weaknesses is...after having something deprived from you (such as my family and great homemade food and American food) you miss it even more since you are not around it and you cannot keep in contact with it. However, going to college away from home and serving a mission here in Taiwan has helped me realize even more how important families are (especially since I share this message every day) and how much I miss and love each and every one of you. Anways, I'm glad to hear that Mama Norma is doing well and her health is progressing. Thank you all for taking care of her since I can't be there to help her. I'm also glad to hear that everything is still okay with the business even though the economny is still horrible. In addition, I'm glad you were able to get away for a while and spend some time in Phoenix. I hope we can do that when I return home (which is in less than 11 months). I love hearing from you Mom each week. Thank you for always writing me. I miss you so much Mom and think about you every day. You are such a shining light in my life, please remember this! Whit, the area is something to get use to since it is a lot bigger than little Huwei (a lot). My language is coming along a lot more since I have a local companion and since we are teaching a lot more lessons throughout the week. We already have two baptisms coming up and we even have two progressing investigators who are amas (grandmas who are in the 80s and 90s, you can't get older than this, better late than never!). It was funny to hear of your all nighter with Lexie doing your scrapbooking. If I was there I would be with you two as well. I need to catch up on my scrapbooking when I return home. I'm glad to hear that you are taking care of Mama Norma, thank you for doing this. In addition, I'm glad you went to Amanda's luncheon (even though she got married way too soon). It was funny hearing you speak of missionaries talking about their experiences. I guess I will be one of those people when I return home :). Paige, it is always good to hear from you, especially since you are so funny in your emails. You scared me a bit when you talked about going to the hospital, but I'm glad to hear that it was only a air bubble from eating so much fruit and veggies. I've also been trying to eat more fruit and veggies lately so I can continue to lose more weight. It was really nice of you to celebrate Charles' birthday so big and fancy. I apologize for not being able to celebrate with you and the rest of the family. I'm glad you loved your letter that I sent you and I'm also shocked that you received it so soon. I will write you another letter soon when I get a chance. Love and miss you Paige, keep up the good work! I miss you all very much. I was going to show so more pictures of my last day with Sister Roper and some new ones with Sister Liu, but I ran out of time. PLease forgive me and I promise to send them to you next week. Please send this to sister Roper when you have a chance her email is:anneroper4@gmail.com and if you any of you want to hear her homecoming talk just email her and she will tell you the place and time. It will be at the end of this month. Love you all.SIster Museus

Temple Trip, November 2, 2010

Hey Everyone, It is now 5 in the morning here and my companion and I got up at 4 in the morning so we could have time to email today since the majority of the day will be spent on the temple trip to Taipei. If you are serving in the Taichung area, missionaries have the opportunity to go the temple every other move-call. This is very exciting for me since I haven't gone to the temple for 5 months now. I hope Sister Greene (the office couple) was able to send you an email and let you know that I wouldn't be able to email until Wednesday since if you're going to the temple the preparation day changes from Monday to Wednesday. I didn't know about this so I had Sister Greene send you an email and let you know so you wouldn't be too worried. I'll let you know how the temple trip goes on Monday. Things are still going great in Taiping. It's actually been a bit hard getting along with my companion lately (maybe you jinx me mom :). She can have terrible mood swings, but my first companion was like this so I know how to handle this. I think too many missionaries put too much into this work that they get a bit over stressed. However, it can also be from my companion being a diebetic as well. I actually didn't do anything fun for Halloween. They don't celebrate it here (which is called Wanshengjie (thousand ghost festival) and since I have a Taiwanese companion she didn't care to do anything for it. However, maybe it was for the best since we all know what happened last Halloween. Let me know how Halloween was for everyone. What did everyone do? It was cool to hear from mom that you all made a Halloween dinner together. Maybe this is a new tradition we can start together. I love to hear the fun things you are all doing together and I can't wait to be able to talk to all of you in less than 2 months. We did have Sister Exchanges last Tuesday and I went to a place called Wufeng, which is right next door to Taiping. The exchange went well I was with another Taiwanese missionary. There isn't much to say about it since we did the usual missionary things. However, it is always neat to see how each missionary teaches and contacts people. We were going to have a baptism this weekend, but our investigator's father-in-law opposes and she is now afraid to get baptized. I only wish she would have got baptized last week like she was suppose to or this would have never happened. However, my companion and I will try our best to fix this problem. We have some other great progressing investigators who are also real close at getting baptized. One in particular is Sister Chen who I contacted on the phone from a referral that I received. I actually taught the whole first lesson by myself in Chinese to her (since my companion was teaching someone else at the same time). The lesson went well and she was very excited to receive the Book of Mormon. Sister Chen is progressing really well and her member friend continues to come to the lessons we teach and to church, which is a lot of help since investigators need all the support they can get. Most likely Sister Chen will be baptized in 2 weeks and she is very excited. She even went through the temple tour at the visiting center and this is what sparked her interest in the gospel. It will be really neat to see her get baptized since she will be the first person that I contacted and got baptized from it. We are also teaching to great families who are progressing really well. One in particular is pretty wealthy and the mother desires to have a better relationship with her children. We've been getting them excited abou the "Strength of Youth" pamphlet and next time we will go over the "Proclamation to the World". I think the mother will really enjoy and see how important families are in this gospel. It is through the gospel that we can be eternal and continue to strengthen our relationships with our family members. One thing that I've noticed here that is particularly scary is seeing less-active members and some investigators get caught up in a different Christian religion. Sister Lin who is a recent convert is starting to see the Jehovah Witness people and we ran into them before we went to see her. She is struggling with understanding the Book of Mormon and Bible and got offended at church so now she is starting to get interested in another religion. It sad to see this since she has already tasted the joy of what the Gospel has brought into her life and has already tasted the fruit of the tree of life. It's like she has the fruit in her and is now walking away from the tree of life. Too often I find people getting distracted by things of the world and getting offended by other members. We continue to work with these people and help them understand that the gospel is perfect and not the people and only through this gospel can we find true happiness and peace. Please family continue to do what is right; don't get distracted by the things of the world and continue to drink from the fountain of the gospel. You all know that it is only through this gospel that we can be an eternal family. I continue to have dreams about all of you. Just the other day I had one with having to say goodbye to all of you again. Mom wouldn't let go of me and I couldn't help but feel homesick when I woke up the following day. I miss you all very much and continually have you in my prayers each day. Please do what is right and continue to spend time with each other. Mom, don't worry there was no typhoon that hit us except for huge cold front. The weather has been a bit cold and there is very little humidity in the air so I can now start wearing my hair down. I didn't file my taxes last year since John said it wouldn't give me much money back. I told John to call Zupas in Provo and they will give him the information he needs about my taxes. I'm glad you were able to get pictures of the boys in the cute chef outfits. Please send me some pictures of them. I'm glad you all made a Halloween dinner together. This will be something we need to do each year. My address is still the same and will always be. Everything first goes to the mission home and then to us. Alex and I didn't hear back from you or from so many of you. I will make sure to send pictures on Monday since I don't have much time left. I love you all and hope to hear from more of you. I will write to you again on Monday. Love You Always,Sister Museus