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