Sister Museus, February 7th, 2011

Loving Family, Hello everyone it always such a joy to be able to write to all of you each week and let you what I've been up to. Of course this week was a bit difficult with Guonian in the way (and I apologize for not sending you the events that take place during this holiday...I'll make sure to do it today so are all aware of what happens during crazy Guonian). Our baptism that we were going to have next week cannot happen since she went in labor on the day of her second baptismal interview (investigators have to have a second baptismal interview when they have had an abortion). Because of this she will not be baptized for at least a whole month since they have a very strange tradition in staying in their houses for an entire month without leaving (the wife and baby that is). In addition, the wife cannot wash her hair or the baby during this entire month. This is a bit strange if you ask me, but all of the women follow this tradition here. It's kind of a bummer that we weren't able to have another baptism this move-call. We still have several progressing investigators, but many of them were out of town for two weeks for Guonian so therefore, many couldn't go to church and therefore couldn't baptized until later. Nevertheless, Guonian is almost over and it's been really fun having Sister Howard as my companion. This entire week was full of lunch and dinner appointments from our members in both wards. You all know I'm a very picky eater so this was quite a bit of a challenge for me. From Tuesday to Friday we have lunch and dinner appointments every day (including a lunch appointment on Saturday and a dinner appointment on Sunday; and it's not over yet since we have another dinner appointment tonight). I am so sick of food right now. Luckily, I have an awesome companion who ate a lot so I could get a way with only eating a little bit. However, not all the food was that bad since one of the meals was a Subway sandwich, another with some yummy salsa like dish full of octopus (which I actually loved, it didn't tast fishy at all, just a bit rubbery), another was a grilling dinner full of good vegtables and fruit. Overall, it wasn't too bad, but I still ate more than I usually do and because of this my companion and I are going on a very strict diet this week. This week we will be only eating vegetables, fruit, and so meat. I cannot have any milk or bread. It will be a bit tough, but we are desperate to lose some more weight before we return home. I honestly don't think it will be so bad since I have someone who is doing with me. Our investigators are doing great. We have an investigator named Sister Wang who invited us to her nice house where we learned more about her as we also told her more about our background. She is very ready to get baptized, but had work in the way because of Guonian, but she will soon get baptized. Our investigator that was going to get baptized next week, but had her baby is named Sister Xie. She has been golden from the start because her mother-in-law is a very active member and her husband is a member as well (but is less-active). However, her husband was able to get an interview with the bishop and is going to start attending church so he can baptize and bless their baby girl. This is very exciting news since Sister Xie's husband has been less-active for many, many years. Some other investigators we have are Sister Wu and Sister Li. Both of them love reading the Book of Mormon and Sister Wu loves telling her kids the stories she reads in it. Another great investigator we have is named Sister Qiu that I actually contacted on the street. She met with the missionaries when she was very young and always saw us around and wondered why we never contacted her until I did. She is am awesome investigator, but struggles giving up her band club on Sundays so she can attend church. We will definitely work with her on this so she can understand that importance of coming to church each week. I know as we continue to work hard many of these investigators will soon enter into the waters of baptism as long as we trust in the Lord. We didn't do a whole lot today for P-Day. We cleaned the house for an hour and then my very sweet companion made my a delectable breakfast with scrambled eggs, toast, fruit, and vegetables. It was really good since I haven't had a great breakfast like that for a long time. Afterwards, (this might sound a bit nerdy) Sister Howard helped me make stats (graphs) for all of my key indicators (adds, investigators, lessons taught, etc. on a weekly basis). This will help me know where I am at (as well as our companionship) and what I/we can do to increase our numbers so we can continue to be better missionaries. In addition, she helped me reset all of my mission goals so they are more achieveable and attainable. Sister Howard has been a great help on how I can be better and what I can do to help more people come unto Christ. I know doing stats on my mission sounds dorky, but I know it will help a lot since I can actually see where I am at and where I need to improve. Afterwards, I dyed my hair again (since it was looking pretty bad) and while I was doing this my awesome companion decided to make me a very healthy and delicious lunch full of fresh vegetables. Sister Howard is too kind and I have loved being able to do missionary work with her. Later, we got our groceries and now we are here emailing our family. John, it was so good to hear from you. I feel terrible that I was not there again for something that is always painful to deal with. I am very sorry John that you lost your mom, but I do know with every fiber of my being that you will see her again. I would still love to hear about the neat experience you had with your mother before she passed away. Let me know about it. One of my biggest dreams is to have you accept this gospel John. I love you John and you are a part of this family and you can be eternally if you do get baptized and continue enduring to the end. I will definitely work on you when I return home. I also promise to help you with the yard work and such when I return home as well. I know it's a lot of time and hardwork to take care of our yard; I deeply appreciate your service John and I know everyone does as well. I loved hearing that Bishop Self asked you speak in church about my mission. Our ward loves you John and are just trying to get you to attend the other meetings at church since they do care about you, my mom, and the rest of my family. However, I do understand that you think my Mom would be better at telling my ward about my mission since she is a member of the church. Nevertheless, I know you would have done just as good of a job. You are an excellent speaker John. Maybe you and my Mom should both do it. I know our ward would love to hear from the two of you and I would as well. Just think about it John; you know you would do an outstanding job. I love you John and thank you for being such an amazing second dad. My family and I don't know what we would have done without you. I can't wait to see you and the family as well. Mom, I hear that John threw you under the bus? However, I think you both should consider talking about my mission. Having the two of you do it would help both of you and our ward would love it. I'm glad to hear that Bishop Self is trying to get you two more involved at church and in the ward. I'm sorry to hear that you had the flu for a week. Luckilly, I've been only sick twice on my mission with a cold and somewhat of a flu. I'm glad that you liked hearing about the funny celebrations they have here in Taiwan. I will make sure to send the sheet full of the events that take place on Guonian. It's good to hear that Lexie is working at the office. Mom, right now I'm still not sure what I am going to do. My mission president is wanting to know as well. Most likely I'll go back to school and get a Masters or start teaching. If I do end up teaching I will need to get permission from my mission president to start looking online, but I am still in the process of deciding. If I do go back to school I wouldn't mind at all with working at the business part-time. I guess our mission president and many of my companions have advised us to continue our education or get our professional job going. I will let you know what I've decided when I know Mom. I hope you won't be too mad at what I decide to do. I really appreciate you so much and for taking the time to do this for me. I'm really glad Cole is keeping himself busy with is swimming. I hope you all had fun with the Super Bowl (even though I'm not a big football fan, but I do love spending time with all of you and playing bad minton. It's also so good to hear that Mama Norma is doing better. I continue to pray for her and the rest of the family that all of you will continue to do what is right. I love you Mom and thank you from the bottom of my heart for being the best mother. I can't wait to see you in less than 7 months. I love you all very much. I was going to send you some pictures of us eating at some members house, but I ran out of time. I will send them next weekend. Challenge: all of you please try and read the BOM in 3 months. My mission president gave us this challenge at Zone Conference this week. I will explain more about it next email. Please get started and you only have to read 6 pages a day to do so. Love you all very much! Love you Always,Sister Museus