Writing Mission President More Regularly and Whitney's Baptism

Time is flying! I'm going to write really fast this week because I finally have a jump drive, but I'm in Shipai in between New Years eating appointments, so this place is doubly expensive, so I couldn't buy 2 hours like I would normally if I wanted to send pictures. The good news though, is, like most missions (as I've heard) our mission is switching to the new email system. It was a little annoying as I got the pre-email to register in my account, despite having all the correct information, it said none of us are in the system, and when we tried to sign up, it took us to a Chinese page, and kept showing an error. We are with Shipai Elders right now (Elder Weinberger and Shumway) and none of us really understand the message, so we'll check into it again next week. President is requiring an email (previously president's letters were not TOO enforced, and most people did them every 2 or 3 weeks...but now it will be enforced) because the new system will make it convenient for us to email him, and help him know how everyone is doing (numbers wise especially) with a new graph system or something. I think it will be nice to get the new email system, it takes me like 4 minutes a picture when I send them.

As for news that happened this week...lots of stuff went on. We had Zone Conference on Wednesday. The theme this week was Using Time Wisely. We talked a lot about the importance of planning and was given examples of how to plan. The most amusing (although I think slightly apostate in some ways) part was that President's Assistants did a role play, where they were God, except they "didn't want to call themselves God" so they called themselves angelic messengers (who happened to not be able to go down personally to earth, so sent someone instead...haha so they were executive angelic messengers I guess!) Angel Worthen and Lysenko (my companion and I refer them as such these days). The content of the role play, was, they were planning on how many people they could save in the highest kingdom...in the what not to do section, they said Peter, James, and John were good...Steven perhaps could be good, but Saul potential was not high. They made some ridiculous goals and just kind of threw Steven in as Saul's peike...then ended. In their better role play, they put names to goals. They wanted to increase their numbers, so Angel Worthen showed confidence in Saul...said to help he would maybe have a rock fly out of the heavens and hit him, a messenger to talk to him...and see what they could do about converting him, since their Peike Steven couldn't peike now due to unfortunate circumstances.  Something to that effect. It was just funny and had a lot of scriptural references to it. Sister Ackerson was cracking up with a small part of the crowd, but other people weren't laughing. I think it's because people didn't know how to react. Haha I personally thought it was amusing to watch the reactions of everyone around us.

Also had Presidents interviews this week, that's always fun to go talk to the Grimleys for a time. That day was a little confusing though, because we had a tour at 3 and interviews in the morning, but it ended up being fine with us doing studies at the church, it just ended up being inconvenient because our 3 o'clock didn't show up! And I'd left my stuff at the chapel! As luck would have it, Elder Carter and Elder Robertson? showed up at the MRT right then, and happened to have their bikes, and they did some service and went and got our stuff so we didn't have to walk there and back. It was tons faster. I'm thankful Elders and so willing to do service, especially since we had been waiting around and totally rescheduled stuff to be able to, only to have the girl not come because she said she was uncomfortable.

So onto something interesting, or maybe at least slightly because I am rambling, and at this rate no way I'll send pictures (especially since the Elders keep talking to us (about how fat they are getting from the new year and how they will die if they eat at our McDonalds appointment in and hour) and asking me how to spell definitely etc etc) So!

This week Yan Yuhang got confirmed! But we weren't there, because we were in Beitou/Shipai for Whitney's baptism! It was seriously a fun service!; The night before the MM leader called and asked us if we could do a musical number. He didn't want Sister Ackerson to play, because he said that would make girls too small, so Elder Mao (Beitou elder) to the rescue! He is amazing at the piano, and brought in some amazing accompaniments (which I can't spell, and neither can the others, despite the fact that Elder Shumway tried to help me out and maybe even got it right, who knows, i'm sticking with this way)...so we sung Sweet Hour of Prayer to an amazing piano part and the spirit was good. The Service went well and Whitney did a nice testimony, as did the MM leaders wife, Sister You. Haha, so onto the amusing part of the ceremony, every baptism needs a comic relief...Whitney was really cute, she brought HUGE leopard skin bag with all her stuff, even a complete change of clothes, because she didn't want to take hers off so she wore them under the baptism suit...it was cute, when she was baptized she went in and one time was enough...after we are in the bathroom, and since she completely soaked a whole outfit, it took a little while to get back to the chapel...lucky for Elder Weinberger...I hear the blowdryer going quite some time, and finally peek my head out and ask Elder Shumway if Weinberger forgot an towel. Elder Shumway laughed and said, "Worse. He forgot a little more than that!!!" HAHAHA i cracked up so hard and told my companion what happened. We both were laughing in the bathroom, and the other girls were like "What what?" And we were just like, "Nothing..." So that was the amusing part of that baptism. Everything else was really smooth. I loved that we had a baptism that went so well. The spirit was there and we were just all really excited.

As for the Chinese New Years news, I'm doing pretty good. We've been fed every lunch and dinner (and even one breakfast this morning) since Saturday, and will continue that pattern until this Saturday. I like it because I'm pretty good at just eating until I'm comfortable, but some people are not doing as well as I am, it's not the easiest thing to eat until you can't eat anymore every meal...fortunately for me I've been good and I'm handling it fine. The only drawback is I'm scared I'll be gaining some weight, but It's okay, I love doing member work and really have felt the spirit and closer to the members these last couple days as we go to their houses. It's really good to get to know them better.I love this area a lot more as I know and love these members.And plus I've been eating some good food! I'll work on getting it back off after this Saturday. For now I'm handling it fine. :)

So that's that! I have to stop writing now! Love you guys, be back on Next week!

Sister Flora Bruno (fu)

Yan Yuhang's Baptism: The Seventh Try Is the Charm

Ugh. Sometimes I miss typing in a program that doesn't have a 5 minute automatic save like my nice little word documents back at home. I just typed Gen a long email, but now I'll write the family one, and if there is time switch back to the email to Gen. It seems like I lose an email at least once a transfer. There are worse things in life though. Since I'm on a mission, I realize that typing an email is lucky, since it means i don't have to write a paper letter home every week. I've been quite awful about writing paper letters ever since transfer 3 or 4. I still write people back, but I don't just write to people I think of, sporadically like before.

Okay, so this week was quite an interesting week...but the mentionable of the week first, and if there is time other things later. Yesterday night, we had Yan Yuhang's baptismal service. The talks went pretty good, and were touching. I just was smiling so hard it hurt when Yan bore her testimony about being grateful for us teaching her how to pray, and why she liked our church and such. It felt good to be part of her experience. She was definitely someone the members took great care of. Her brother-in-law is a member, so she is a referral from him, and his brother-in-laws girlfriend came all the way down from Taizhong to be with her. It was good. But, as you may remember, interesting things have happened the last few baptisms (during the ordinance part) that makes the last few people my companions and I have taught baptism quite the experience. Now, Yan Yuhang was no different. In fact, I have to say that her experience in being baptized by water takes the cake...and here's why:

You see, the church in Danshui has no built in baptismal font. Next week I'll send pictures, but this week there is no drive on this computer for that. So, the baptismal font is this...well, the best way to describe it is to say that it is a blue tank.  It's kind of a weird looking thing.  Nothing like a child's swimming pool in the backyard or anything. Totally unique. Well, to get you a better picture of what this was like, the entire tank itself comes to about my hips. You know, me at 4'11'' and it only comes to my hips. Well, last time there was a service, we actually traveled from Jilong to go to Chen Meishan's (who attended Yan Yuhangs baptism :) ) and the Elders had filled this thing too high, so there was a little flooding in the Primary room. Elder Smith did not want the same result this time, so they didn't fill it quite as full. In fact, I think the water was...pretty darn low. So that was problem one--low water.

Elder Scott Carlson is the one baptizing, he even calls himself Scott the baptist before he puts on his white clothes, funny joke. It's his first baptism service on his mission, so we thought it would be fun to have him be the one to perform the ordinance. He was very dedicated and practiced the prayer and the tones on her name a lot. So, he does a great job, gets through the prayer like a champ, and goes to help submerge her. Unfortunately, Yuhang's body is really tense, problem two...so her legs and arms went in, but for some reason I can't figure out, her stomach floated up. She just couldn't get low enough, it was like they she was playing limbo and not quite succeeding. Let me just tell you, it was a pretty HILARIOUS sight to see. The crowd is cracking up with laughter, I'm not much help, because I'm trying to restrain myself and not doing a good job, and Elder Carlson is a champ and does it again, no luck. Again, stomach still not going in. After three unsucessful attempts, we get enough control of ourselves to start giving advice.  We tell her to relax a little more and get her as she is going down to knee on one knee, which helps him get her deeper. Unfortunately, even with this extra help, attempt 4 and 5 a knee pops up. Poor Elder Carlson, the crowd is so rambunctious, people would interrupt him and offer advice, he'd get nervous he just tried 5 times unsuccessfully and had to pull it out together...he must have started the prayer at least 15 to 20 times I think before the end. Finally, time 6, Elder Broadhead at the left calls it good, her knee went in and everything, so, she gets out of the tank, which isn't an easy task and we usher her toward the bathroom, when we hear from the right...that her elbow was not in. So, she has to get back in the tank, and this time #7 is the charm. Baptism. By complete immersion. 7 times just to make sure. We are lucky it was Elder Carlson and Yan Yuhang, because both of them are just pure examples of patience. Yuhang wasn't even bothered at all after we said it had to be complete immersion...and Elder Carlson said, oh, if she's good I'm good. So that was that, and we all got a pretty good laugh about it. We told her she was extra white and clean. It was fun because everyone there were big picture takers, so there are some good pictures of us back in the bathroom with Yuhang...and as a group at the baptism. It was very excited group, and we ate some fruit together after the service, and it just felt really fun. Yuhang was happy, and so were we. It was a baptism to remember for sure. The last 3 have been! Yuhang, Jasmine, Chen Yiting...all three of them had experiences I'll probably never forget. Too unique. :) So yeah, that was what I was up to yesterday night!

In other news, the Chinese New Year is starting Saturday. I've heard of people gaining as much as 20 pounds over the 10 days it lasts. Our schedule has already seen a hit, due to the new year, nobody wants to meet. Anyone I call to set up with, says they'd love to meet with us, after 2/21. So, I have 12 names in my planner to call on the 21st and the number grows. That's good news, but I hear our schedule will be a little nontraditional starting here soon. The nice thing is now we get to do a load of member work, as there is a feeding missionary (chikebiao) and members will feed us lunch and dinner daily, and occasionally even a breakfast or two, for the entire guonian. In America missionaries get fed pretty much nightly. Here, we eat outside from the street vendors most days, and maybe at a members once about every two weeks or so. But guonian (the chinese for chinese new year) the feed us every lunch and dinner. I hear sometimes we eat during the new years for 2 hours, then roll ourselves out the door to eat some more. I don't know how it will really be, but we have 3 wards that we regularly attend, so all three wards have put us down to feed us, sometimes we can't go, like when we have temple tour and stuff, but we are going to try to find a way to meet as many members as possible in all 3 wards. We'd love to extend sister's member work. I'm still asked in some wards sometimes "Do we even has sister missionaries in this ward?"...yes, we are them. I say it all the time :) It's because we only come every other week, so I guess it can be confusing...but no problem. Next week should be good for meeting members and an interesting time of the year. I'll tell you how the first two days went next week.

In other investigator news, Xie Huiru is doing great. We told her she was ready to get baptized and asked when she wanted to change her date to, and she wanted this Saturday, chuxi...or the first day of the Chinese New Year. She basically didn't want hardly anyone to come, she's a little scared of a huge baptism...but a bishop representative would not come for an hour baptism on chuxi. The bishop took it upon himself to interview with her and talk about it, and the end result is that since church is one hour next week, they convinced her to have her baptism after church, so next week after church Whitney will have her baptism. We are excited. She's really ready. She's been super diligent about repenting, and has changed a lot. She seems super ready, and since Sunday is guonian, she will probably get her wish, and have a relatively small baptism. Not sure though. The ward loves her. Today, the MM Leaders wife, Sister You called us and asked us to come to her house tonight to meet with Whitney. We hadn't even mentioned we were meeting with her tonight to anyone. She must have called Whitney herself. So that will be good. Sister You is a very cute return missionary with 2 children. I'm excited we can go over there and not only Whitney, but also us missionaries can get to know her better. Good things have been happening lately with Shipai. Good ward.

Chen Zhirou is also doing pretty well, still has a little bit of parent opposition. We had a little experience, her mom called the church and accused of us teaching Zhirou to swear at her and argue with her. I guess those two had gotten in a fight, and her mom was really upset. She called us to probably rant a little, and it sounded like she couldn't find her child, so she was worried. She asked a million times if she was at the church. Fortunately, that night, Zhirou said the Holy Ghost impressed her to write an apology to her mother for the means words they exchanged and gave her the note. Her mother forgave her and gave her permission to come to church on Sunday...so she came to church and the baptism. It was good for her. She got to talk to the bishop for quite some time. She's made good friends with him. The ward will really help her out I think. She played the piano for us and the ward was just amazed by her amazing piano playing skills. She's quite fast. I'm impressed too. :)

Um...let's see...not a lot more going on, Jiang Xiuwen, or Doreen didn't come to church. That made me a little sad because I really would like to see her make friends at church....that and I'd like to see her progressing in the gospel of course. I know the church will help her. She's still really willing to meet, so I think we can get her to church eventually, especially after the new year. We are going to even check and see if she can come up to Beitou for just an hour, or go to church in Yonghe and still make her goal...if not we will just move back the baptismal goal...either way I think she will progress. I've had nothing but good feelings about her since I met her. She's someone I loved very much from the first meeting, so I'll keep you updated on that. We'll go see her tonight at 6.

Hm Hm. I think that's about it for this week. Write again next week. Until then...love you guys. Jiayou!

Fu jiemei. Sister Flora Bruno