Ups and Downs of Missionary Work: A Small Miracle

AHHHHHHHHH. Last week of the transfer excitement happening already. Since it's the last one I'll ever go through, I'm kind of apathetic about it, but I don't mean that in a negative context. What I mean is that I honestly couldn't care less about what happens to me. No matter what, I've already determined I'm going to work really hard, but have a lot of fun. The other details will work out themselves by inspiration and revelation this week as President decides who to put where. But it's fun to watch the excitement other people get because of it. There are 2 Elders who serve with us in the Taoyuan second ward. Just us 4. The ward in Tao 2 is super supportive. So, even though I've only gone to the Taoyuan church once for church because the way things just worked out, I know a lot of the members and love them a lot...they sign up to feed us, and I know it's important to them that we come, so I've done my best to make every appointment I possibly could. Because of it, I know tons of the members right now, and on a more personal level than just church. Well, one of the Elders is already passing around his Bye Bye book like he's moving. Haha. I personally told him I wouldn't sign it until he was sure he was moving. But I'm just lazy like that. :)

So yeah, other then the normal slight buzz of excitement from the uncertainty of where you will be and what you will be doing in a very week from now, this week has been really unique and full of some lowest of lows and highest of highs.

Saturday was a particularly interesting day. In the morning, we went out and bought some flowers for Jian Jiaying's baptism. Well, because there is no way that the flowers will fit in my basket, my companion clipped her bag to the back of the bike, and put the flowers in her basket. It was raining and we had spent forever getting ready so we could look nice for the baptism...but were prepared too..I brought my straightener to fix my hair during the lunch hour if necessary. Well, somewhere from the flower shop to the church, my companions bag disappeared. That bag had a lot of important stuff in it. Because she carries a bigger bag, she carries all our stuff. She had potential records for the area for the last 6 months or so, that we call on spare time...she had all our DVDs we both had bought, pictures we use for our lessons, and just a lot of stuff important to her personally as well. She claimed in the bag, it was probably about 200 dollars worth of things. (American dollars) So, of course, even though we were supposed to eat pizza with the Elders and a member of the bishopric buying us pizza, we decided we could be a little late for that, and went back to look for the bag. This time, I'd taken off my raincoat, and putting it back on and going back out, I got really soaked...and when we went back, my companion went all the way back to the flower shop super fast....I even lost her for a couple minutes, but in the end, neither of us could find the bag. We thought someone probably threw it away. It had no cash in it and since it was raining it was just put in a pink garbage bag. Well, we came back to the church a little sad, and the Elders were/ being quieter than usual as well. We didn't end up eating the pizza until a lot later than scheduled, but Brother Wang just messed around on his computer until we were ready...and so it ended up being good. I was really sad about the bag, and I took it out on my hair. I was really frustrated the rain made my hair SUPER frizzy, and the straightener wouldn't fix it. Haha, so we were all not in the best moods at the baptism, but I'm grateful for Brother Wang, finally, we ate the pizza and it helped our mood to talk to him and eat with all the people who arrived early for the baptism.

Eventually, Jian Jiaying arrived. She was really cute. I felt bad because she was a little weary about the fact that she had to be baptized 4 times, which is really bad luck in this culture, but I think despite that, she was happy. She got to talk to a couple friends and really liked the food at the end...a return missionary from (Yuanbo) did an awesome job at preparing snacks for after, and she really liked them. Also, I just really was able to feel the spirit during her baptism. Even though most of us are trained singers, meaning we can sound really nice after practice...and we didn't really have a bunch of time to practice, we sounded really nice in the end (I thought) and I was just really excited for Jiaying. She's really cute, and even though she doesn't say a lot and I haven't known her for a long time, I really love her. I think she's a really good child to her mother. Her mom is a little bit of a pusher, and probably gives her a lot of stress, but she works so hard to do well in school. She has a lot of strength and intelligence. So it was a really exciting experience.

Also super exciting, we invited Sandy and her 3 kids to the baptism, and they all came, all the way from Daxi to Taoyuan! Because they live in the other ward, but they really wanted to see a baptism...And they liked it a lot too. They stayed after eating desserts for a good 30-40 minutes. Sandy told me when she left, that she really loved the feeling during the baptism. Our investigator Shirley came as well, and said she was touched by Jiaying's mom's testimony. I too really felt the Holy Ghost during the baptism. A lot of people mentioned that they could, and so I thought it was a super successful baptism...the best ones are the ones with the Spirit. That's how you can know it was good, is when people were able to come and be edified by the Spirit. So, despite our sadness over our lost bag, we were able to forget it for awhile, and focus on Jiaying and have a really good experience.

After the baptism, we had told the Elders we lost the bag, and they were really insistent that they help us look. We had already looked and weren't sure if it was worth it to take up the Elders time and go look again...and we told one of the Elders...to which he responded by telling me since they were Taiwanese they understood the culture and what would happen to a random bag on the side of the street. So, because they were really positive and hopeful that we could find it, we told them we could go, and kind of partly for their sake because they seemed to want to help so bad...So we waited until everyone left the church, locked it up, said a prayer, and with the Elders and went to go look for the bag again with their assistance. To be honest, my companion and my faith was a little low. We had already looked for quite some time and hadn't been able to find it, and we had just hoped someone would find a way to return it to us. But the Elders faith was really strong! And because of it, we saw a miracle.

We biked back down Xianfu street, the street the church is on, and went the wrong way down a one way street, and only a block from the church, my companion and I biked right into a pink bag set on an overhang out of the rain on the side of the road. It was seriously a miracle. I felt the Spirit so strongly in that moment, the Elders claimed they didn't do anything (they only biked with us for like 90 seconds before we found it) and went on their way, but my companion and I decided they were our heroes. We were really grateful for their faith and example to us, to show us there is hope, and like it says in 3 Nephi 18:20, Heavenly Father will give us things that are right. And lets be honest, most Elders would not go searching for a lost bag with the sisters. They are just classy. So, after the Elders went on their way, my companion and I said a prayer of gratitude standing there under the overhang. We both were laughing and really happy, and all the stress and sadness we'd felt that whole morning just totally evaporated. And it was funnier we both were really touched by the Spirit, so I think our eyes were a little watery and such. Cool experience.

Then, we had a feeling to go see Fang Lizhen. We've been trying to meet with her since I got here, but it's been impossible, and she's not there a lot when we stop by, or if I call and tried to set up, she would say she'd call me, and never did. And she stopped coming to church like she used to...but we stopped by just to see, and she was there! We were able to tell her church was changed to a different building and she said that she'd come. We found out that she is moving to China in two days...and so has been super busy preparing to move...we were so we were glad we told her about church, she wanted to go and tell everyone goodbye. So, she did come to church Sunday towards the end, and was able to say her goodbyes. I was really sad we never got to teach her, but I'm glad she found friends at church and she has a good impression of the church. When the church goes to China, I have her address and phone number to send her in as a referral. Plus, the members love her, so I think they will keep in touch.

That night, we were scheduled to take an investigator to the Taoyuan chapel for stake conference, but it was raining and she didn't want to go...so we just had a lesson with her at the church, but I was really disappointed I really had my heart set on going to stake conference, so again, I was a little sad. I won't lie.

Last, that night, after a lesson with the investigator at that church and dinner, as we took our bikes out to head home, my bike tire popped! Well, this may not sound dramatic, but I forgot to tell you how last week on the way home from MM Meeting, my back tire popped, and they thought it was the inner tube, so they changed that only, then as Sister Lai (we were on exchanges) were biking down, 15 minutes down the road, it popped again. We were across the street from a store, and so we went in and they changed the inside again, they said the tire would probably be fine, so we went out again and within 5 minutes it had popped again! So, then we walked to the church, the rest of the way. We had MM meeting there and had to be at the church. After MM meeting, our awesome MM leader Youan found us and our bikes a ride back to our house, and we walked to a bike store down by our house and were able to get everything fixed perfectly. It took like almost the whole day and was kind of a dramatic process for me to keep blowing out my tires...(back) so when my front tire popped I was NOT happy. And we were in Taoyuan again, and we don't know any close bike stores.

So we called the Zone Leaders for permission to call the Tao 2 Elders, and Elder Lin was really patient with us and explained to me in half English half Chinese how to get there...but I was just really stressed with everything that had been happening and I forgot the difference between right and left, and he kept saying youbien and zuobien, and I didn't know what way I was supposed to be going, so there on the phone with Elder Lin I just started sniffling and he'd be like "do you understand (in Chinese)" And I'd be like "sniff sniff...no, no problem...I'll just ask people on the road" but he was good and explained it like 2 times in Chinese, and even if I thought I wasn't understanding, I think I must have, because I lead us straight there, all the while not knowing exactly what I was doing, I just tried to remember his words....we got home really late, and had to call President, but everyone was patient with me, and things worked out...and we biked home in the falling rain...and I felt like the world was sad with me, so it made me feel better about being sad, because the world was too. Haha.

Sunday I had a similar experience with feeling the most happy I've felt on my mission and really sad at the end too. We had an awesome lesson at a members after eating, and I was just really happy during the dinner and getting to know that member, and the Elders shared the spiritual thought, and S. Zhao started crying, and the spirit was really strong as my companion and I shared and the Elders added to it, and it was just a really a really spiritual lesson, and interesting too as one of the Elders talked about his Twin brother, raised by a different parent and how different they were. Basically the spirit was super super strong during the lesoon part...and I laughed a lot and just felt really happy during the dinner part. We all felt like a big happy family(no time to go into all the details) but then that night, I just had such hope to find a new investigator. We didn't have plans because our appointment was canceled, and I had a strong feeling to go track at a specific place...and the wife invited us in, then they husband came out and said he didn't need us, so then I was just really sad because I seriously put my ENTIRE heart into finding the perfect place to go contacting and I had childlike faith that they would let us in...and it was like, almost, but not quite...and we still had quite a bike ride, so we only had time for just like 3 doors, and that was the only one that opened. Then the whole way home, nobody would listen to me on the scooters, they just were like, no, we are busy, we are Buddhist...and my hope was just so big that we'd find someone. Not sure why. I guess I can just pray that the family will read the pamphlet and come to church...but I just had this STRONG feeling like I was supposed to find someone. That rarely happens, so I felt like my heart was broken when we didn't.

So basically this week, I've learned there is a lot of pain that comes sometimes when you go out and love too much...but even when it hurts, when the good times roll back around, they are so sweet it's ridiculous...so the bitter bads help us even more feel and appreciate the excellent goods...so yeah, this week has been a roller coaster, but I'm extremely happy. Well, no more time! I wrote too much! Ah, we are late. See you later! Love you.

Sister Flora Bruno. Sister Fu.

D. Todd Christopher Visits Taipei

Okay! Not a lot of things to say....

This week, not a lot more to say about it. I guess something cool I can think of, is that we went and taught Hilda, the Spanish lady. I mostly just sat there. I introduced myself and my family...then said dificil when my companion was struggling for difficult in Spanish and coming up with Chinese. Ha, I was glad to be a help in that way...but pretty much I was mostly useless. I just listened. She was in a flow, and I didn't want to interrupt. I let it be her thing. She said it was hard, but I was proud of her, she was totally pull it off, even though she hasn't been speaking Spanish in a long long time. She taught this lady the whole first lesson, and we gave her a Spanish Book of Mormon, and invited her to read it. We left a note on her door before she went back to her country this week with our information and told her to keep in touch. So yeah, cool foreign language experience for my mission. And by foreign language, I mean something I don't understand...Chinese is really normal to me now, I can't remember the days it sounded like Chen Qingquan to me. Haha. There was an investigator the Elders had in Jilong with that name, and we always joked that his name sounded like Chinese before it all made sense....He got baptized now...wooo. So I guess I should say new member.

Oh! We took some time Monday to call a couple old investigators, we got a couple set ups from it, and yesterday we met with someone who met with missionaries twice last year...and she's willing to meet again. She said she really wants to believe there is a God, but she's just not sure. We taught her about the importance of prayer and being like Joseph Smith...she also had questions about why people sin, so we told her next week we'd share with her. I've never really had an old investigator before, but she was only taught twice before she got busy before, so we'll see how it goes. I think the first lesson was pretty good.

Jian Jiaying set an earlier date, so she should go to interview next Saturday. I'm excited. She's starting to really progress towards baptism. She was ready before I even got here, but just said she's been scared. I think she's overcoming her fear though. When we first set a goal, it wasn't until the middle of next transfer, and she sounded unsure if she thought she'd be ready...but we had a really good lesson about Mosiah 18 and what have you against taking the Lord's name on you after you know. We told her we knew this week she had to take a huge test, but asked that she prepare to interview next week and promised her Heavenly Father would help her on this journey, and she agreed! We ate dinner at the bishop's Monday night, and told him she had a date. He was excited and was like, in June or July probably huh? And we were like, the 29th! Haha. So even the bishop was excited I think.

It was fun at his house this week. They invited us over for dinner, and his wife and he are both return missionaries. We talked about the Melchizedek Priesthood and when it was and wasn't on the earth. It was super unique. I've never even been curious about that stuff, but my companion was really confused and they were having a serious conversation, then I got involved and into it...and in the end I was just really glad for the bishop and his knowledge.

Also, we have 3 people with dates who are a family. A mother and her two children (she has 3 children, but one is 4) Super cute. Sandy, the mom, is really interested in the 2nd coming because her daughters concern about the end of the world. We were able to share with them from the Book of Mormon how it helps us prepare for the 2nd coming of Messiah like it says in the Introduction. We also shared the 2nd lesson. Her daughter loved the chapel and said she really wanted to go to church. They were out of town seeing mothers for mother day this week, but the should come this Sunday, so we are excited for this family. They are doing great, and they really have a desire to learn. We invited them to have family prayers. I'll call and follow up on them tonight. So yeah, we are excited about them.

Oh yeah...something Dad probably would have wanted to hear about that I didn't talk about, this week D. Todd Christofferson came and we had a mission conference. Also, Elder Perkins from the 70 and their wives were also here. It was a really unique experience. I wish I had thought to bring my notes to email this week, but I didn't, so sorry, I can't tell you everything he said. My memory is really bad...but I do remember the end, he was blessing us and encouraging us, and I remember at one point, he blessed us that when we were sad or discouraged and for whatever reason thought we couldn't do it, that we would remember the Spirit that we felt at that moment, and that the remembrance of that would help us pick back up. At the moment, I felt the Spirit so strongly it was super amazing. I really respect D. Todd Christofferson...he is so in tune with the Spirit that his words can help us feel the Spirit super strongly, one of the strongest feelings of the Spirit I've ever personally experienced. I'm grateful we have leaders like that in our church. I also really loved Elder Perkins talk, about talking to everyone and finding new investigators. He took a scripture and helped us apply it to our mission. I love when people help me see the scriptures through a light I'd never personally thought of before. Their wives also both spoke, and they were really good talks, so the 2 hours they spoke, was just 2 hours of an amazing experience. I'm glad I got to be there for that. I've been lucky on my mission to be in Taipei at a time so many leaders are visiting. We have another member from the 70 coming next month too. I'm excited for that Zone Conference as well. Plus, I even further appreciated The Perkins and Christofferson's because they came and did the mission conference straight from the airplane...and it was about 3 or 4 am in America and their bodies were still on that time...but despite how tired they were, they were willing to come and talk to our mission, and were very active the whole time. So yeah, that's the cool experience of the week, and now we are going to the temple today, so I'll wrap up..since I still need to send President his weekly email...so, I'll email you guys again next Monday. Love you guys. Until next time.....

xoxo,

Sister Fu.(Flora Bruno)