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