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