Sister Museus, July 18th 2011

Hen Ke Ai De Jiating (Very Adorable Family), Hello everyone! I cannot wait to see you all real soon! I am so excited that most of you will be able to come and visit my island; the place I've been living for over a year! Thank you Mom for helping me put this trip together; I don't know what I would without you. I hope to hear for more of you next week since I only heard from Mom. Whit, you owed me an email on what you would like for your b-day, but I went ahead and bought a few things for you today instead. Things were a bit crazy this past week. On Thursday was my last and final Zone Conference. I always love these meetings since they really get you re-energized to continue doing missionary work. It was fun getting re-acquainted with old missionaries like Sister Brownell (who I served with in the MTC) and Sister Cooper (the only black missionary on this island). In addition, I was able to give my last farewell speech (called my reflection). Sister Lee (my companion right now) loved the talk that I had written down (I didn't write the whole talk of course, but just some thoughts, questions, scriptures, stories, examples, etc.). However, she knew (as well as I did) that it was definitely too long, especially for a 3-minute talk. So I ended up shortening it a lot, but when I still gave my talk I competely ran out of time and just started rambling on about the last half of it so they understood it (since I talked about the 6 hidden treasures that I found on my mission; this is something Pres. Utchdorf asked us to do as missionaries when he visited Taiwan last year). Anways, the Zone Conference was great! I loved learning from Pres. and Sister Bishop, the Assistants and other missionaries on how to continue being a better missionary. Pres. Bishop talked a lot about the importance of faith and what it consists of and how we can help our investigators have more faith. The assistants talked to us really listening to our investigators and asking soul-searching questions in order to understand and teach to our investigators' needs. Saturday was a bit of a crazy day that didn't turn out the best. We had two great baptismal interviews set-up for the day, but while our district (he had to give the interview) was traveling to our investigator's house (which he lives in a different town, 30 minutes by bike) his tire burst. So, he ended up being over 30 minutes late and ended up running with his bike for 3-4 miles and because of this he ended up being too late to give our other baptismal interview since she had Gram School. We ended having to push her baptismal date back one more week because of this (but, she also couldn't come to church as well so we would have ended up pushing it back anyway). It was a very hectic day because of this big mess and the weather (for the past week) hasn't been helping since it's continues to rain on and off (because of the typhoon season). In addition, our investigator Sister Guo (who is from China and just passed her baptismal interview) will be getting baptized into the Fengshan ward since she will be moving there within a month. Because of this she cannot be counted as one of those that we helped get baptized, but it is for the best she gets baptized where she will be soon living and plus they will put her on my recent convert list. Hopefully, President Bishop will give us special permission to attend her baptismal service since Sister Lee and I taught her the entire time. Moreover, today we were able to meet with Sister Wang (who is 17 yrs-old and the one who waited for us at the church and couldn't do her interview since our district leader's tire was ruined). We had an amazing lesson about being fully committed and she is all for it. Her biggest struggle is still with her parents and them being against her baptism. However, she is now willing to let us come over and visit with her mom and our great new member, Sister Shi said she would definitely help us with this (since she came with us to visit Sister Wang). We will also see Sister Wang receive baptism before I return home. In addition, we also have Sister Lin who is amazing, but still struggles with getting work off on Sundays so she can attend all three hours. We are still working with her with this, but she is still so golden and loves reading and praying every day. We will meet with her on Tuesday and set goals and make plans to help her overcome her work situation; I know we can do it! Today was another adventure since our American friends, Carly and Nathan Weller and Anne, all came to Fengshan with us to do some more shopping and to eat at the famous hot pot restaurant called Shabu Shabu. We had a lot of fun with them as we found another Taiwanese pawn shop and some fun shoe shops as well. I did buy a few things again, but some of them for Whit's b-day. I have to admit that one of my favorite places to shop is still the Taiwanese pawn shop. Everyone always comes out with something that they loved and wanted. After shopping for about an hour we went to Shabu Shabu and ate. I also have to admit that I am sick of eating at this place, but I will definitely have to take you to one when you all come here since Taiwan is famous for their yummy hot pots. Later, we biked here to the computer place and said goodbye to our American friends. I think all of us enjoy each others' company since it's just a taste from home. I even told Sister Lee that the only time that I got real home sick was when I was with my Taiwanese companions because they are nothing like Americans and you cannot relate to them culture wise. I even failed to mention that yesterday night we stopped by their apartment (since they still don't have cell phones) to see if they would help us teach a Nigerian who only speaks English. However, we ended eating American food at their house and talking about fun things together (especially for Carly since she has had a bit of a struggle living her all by herself with her husband and has never been outside of the U.S. before). We did stay over at the apartment a bit too long, but we definitely lifted up Carly and Nathan's spirits as we talked to them and share a short spiritual mesage. Our Nigerian friend ended up cancelling his plans, but we are suppose to meet him tonight and Carly and Nathan are still willing to come with us. I know I only have one month left, but Sister Lee and I are working our tails off and we are looking forward to have at least 3-4 more baptisms before I completely end my mission. Mom, thank you so much for being the Saint you are and giving me the information and dates for the hotels. I noticed that you made a mistake on saying that we were staying in Tainan on the 17th and 18th and Taichung on the 18th and 19th. But, I am pretty sure you met to say only one day in Tainan, which is the 17th since I saw that the hotel confirmation one for only one night in Tainan. Let me know for sure that this is the case since I didn't see hotel confirmations for Taichung and Taipei (the final destination hotel). I'm glad you were able to get your International Driver's license and John and Alex did as well. We will just need you three to have them if we plan on going by scooter. I still don't know what would be best to travel with because they are pros and cons to both of them. I will tell them to you and then you can decide: Scooter: can have at up to two people on them, you can get around the town faster and easier, there is no room for things we buy to be put on the scooters, and if the weather is bad scooter are also bad (especially in rain and it is the typhoon season right now until September) Car: more room, can't get around as easy, shelter for bad weather, safer, air-conditionedMom, I don't know what would be the best one to travel by just because some of the fun places we want to travel are a little farther away, which might make it hard to travel by scooter. However, most places are near each other, which would cause it to be easier to travel by scooter. Do what you think is best Mom and just make sure you look up what the weather will be like the week you arrive here. If the weather says that it's going to be rainy then it would be best to travel by car. I know you are wondering if a car rental or scooter rental are available right when we get off the subway/train, but I don't know. I have actually never seen any near the subway stations just taxi cars. I will try and ask around and see what I can do. But, I am guessing you might have to do some research on the internet and see what you come up with on this subject. I will try my best to see what I can do. I am still narrowing down our traveling plans and seeing what would be the best sites to see. I will try and give you a list of all of them next week. It's cool to hear that Alisha Watterson will be serving here in Taichung on her mission; maybe she will be taking my spot. I hope Alicia is doing okay with her baby being overdue. In addition, I am glad to hear that Mama Norma is doing better. I also can't wait to see you soon Mom! I did talk to President Bishop about when I can see you. I will be doing my exit interview, final devotional, career workshop, and such on August 1st so it doesn't get in the way when you come and get me. He said it was entirely up to you when you want to come and get me on the 15th. I was thinking the earlier the better. Maybe around 9 or 10 in the morning? Let me know what you think and I will try and give you directions and such on how to get to Taichung by yourself and to the mission home. I can't go to Taipei and see you since I will still be a missionary and cannot travel by myself. In addition, I have a lot of stuff that I have bought you and the family so I need you all to help me with it (so make sure everyone brings two big suitcases). I love you all family so much and cannot wait to see you all in 4 weeks! I am also now counting down the days until I see you all. Please don't be too scared of how bad I look in this humidity :). Love and miss you all tons!!! Love you Always,Sister Museus p.s. I failed to mention that we are now meeting with a great new investigator who is Athiest and doesn't even believe we have a spirit. However, she is doing great and came to church. In addition, she told us about her prayer experience where she ended up crying the entire time because she wanted to know if God exists. I will give you more updates on her (Nina is her English name) next week.