Hello and welcome to the wonderful life of Sister Flora Bruno. Starting today, I enter into last transfer on my mission here in the Taiwan Taipei Mission. Juicy information in following paragraphs can identify this weeks happenings and events. In later times, you can stay tuned for the last 4 letters from a missionary with her days numbered. But until then, you can be satisfied with this one.
This week, we went through another move call. And, no suprise...I'm.....MOVING. Ha. That's my life! 我是一个很会搬家的传教士姐妹。 I think I've moved more than any sister on our mission right now, even more than the Taiwanese who have an extra two transfers thanks to their excellent Chinese language skills. They graduate from MTC status in just a mere 3 weeks. Maybe not, but I sure know I have moved a lot. This last 6 weeks, I'm going to Xinzhu to be with Sister MacIsaac from the MTC. It should be an interesting transfer. Missionaries are already buzzing about the dynamics involved, since there is a group of 7 sisters going home with us, and not nearly as many coming in. But no matter, no matter, whatever happens,Sister MacIsaac and I will make sure that we leave Xinzhu with a bang I'm sure. Another interesting fact from move calls, one of the Elders moved here 6 weeks ago with me into the Taoyuan ward. I refused to write in his bye bye book because it was more assumed he and I would stay since we are going home in only one transfer...well, 不用写。 No need, no need. We are moving to the exact same place together. Ha. So that will be pretty sweet. I've already met two of my district members, plus from what this Elder has told me (he's Taiwanese, he knows things...Taiwanese people know everything about everyone...they are cool like that....) our district should be super fun. And super mixed. We are 4 Americans, 4 Taiwanese. Yeah. How's that for diverse?
Okay, enough about all that business, this week was really an interesting week. On Friday afternoon, we were at the church, trying to get in some WPS before MM meeting since we were in Taipei doing Tours on Thursday, when we hear two strange voices calling to see if anyone was in the church. Well, it ends up the that Immigration Agency next door was having a cultural celebration for the Dragon Boat Festival, and they wanted us and some other Americans to come to their party. So I called President, and he said that would be a good thing for us missionaries to go to, since we work with that building very closely getting our ARC (Alien Resident Card) from them. So he gave me the names of what missionaries he wanted me to call and invite... So, my companion and I with some of the Elders went and attended their cultural event. They had us go and learn how to make zhongzi...this thing they eat during the Dragon Boat Festival...and my companion and I were completely the center of attention. It was a little embarrassing for me, it was at 9 in the morning, and we had to bike there in the rain, so my hair was wet, and I didn't have a lot of time to get cute in the morning, you know, since I'm a missionary and everything, and we had cameras of all sorts in our faces. So that was interesting. Later that day, the ARC lady called us and got our Chinese names....so I know we will be in the news somewhere. I'm not sure I'll ever see it since I'm moving, but I told my companion if she finds out where they publicize to get me a copy even if I do look bad. And one of the Elders was really good, and took some pictures with my companions camera...so it's mostly my companion, but there are a couple good ones I'm in I'll send. I have to say though, it was one strange to be filmed and people shoving me to stand in the right place and taking a million pictures....I was glad when it was done. Although, I guess it was cool in some ways...they had some really cool cultural performances, and we got to eat the zhongzi...and it was a unique day in the life.
This week, we went and saw a lady from my English class named Joyce. We have visited her before and I really like her a lot. When I first met with her, it was because Elder Lin told me she had cancer and that she could really use visits, so a member helped us set up with her. The first lesson went pretty smooth and she had to go back to work, so she got busy for awhile, and I wondered if it was really true or not that she was sick because she seemed so healthy. Well, when I found out I was moving, I wanted to see Joyce. I felt a connection to her and I really love her. I called. She said we could come over Sunday when she found out I am moving, but told me she was not doing very good lately, and she was very sick and had cancer. She sounded awful. We went over, and it was incredibly hard for her to even meet with us a half hour. It was hard for her to sit up. We shared a brief lesson on the plan of salvation with her, but she is really doing bad right now. She said her body is not reacting well to chemo, and she has not been able to keep anything down. I was really grateful she let us come over...she is very humble and said she has been reading the Book of Mormon and praying, and that her doctor said it's really good she has this religion at this time in her life. I didn't know how to help her, but I just felt the spirit so strongly while I was there. We exchanged information and I said I'd keep in touch with her and see what happens. Since her condition is not good, she said she'll rest for a couple weeks, and then when she starts to feel better, she'll let more sisters come and visit her. I was just greatly humbled at that woman's strength. Her trials are big, but she hardly complains. She will just admit it is hard, but she said her mind is still optimistic. She's a rock.
It's been sad to have to be saying goodbye to another area. The members once again barely know who I am or what I am like, but I really like Taoyuan 2nd ward. We were invited over to eat with a member last night. That's never happened that a member wanted to feed us on my last night here. A lot of my companions had that because of their great relationships with the ward, but I was the younger missionary for a long time, and nobody knew what I was saying, and then after that, I was just moving moving moving. A really cute member, Sister Xin, and her daughter fed us. And it was really cute, a Bade member Brother Qiu went over and helped Sister Xin cook from 2 in the afternoon until 6. It was super good food! I don't know if they realize how touched I was to go over there and spend my last meal in Taoyuan with them, but I really was. I really love this Taoyuan ward. Elder Du and I both talked about how sad we were to have to leave it, but I have hope that Xinzhu will be a good place for me to be at for the end of my mission. I'm going to take it week by week. I think this transfer will be a further testimony to me that Heavenly Father loves me and answers my prayers and knows my needs. I have a lot of prayers and hopes and desires for my last transfer...And now, I'm going into it. Wish me luck. Write again next week!
Love you all,
Sister Flora Aimee Bruno 傅文馨姐妹
Showing posts with label Taoyuan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Taoyuan. Show all posts
Monday, June 7, 2010
Monday, May 24, 2010
Mock Sacrament Meeting
你好!What's up in the wonderful world of America? We have had a great week here in Taiwan太棒了。
Our investigator Jian Jiaying 简家盈 went to interview this week and passed, so we will be having a baptism this Saturday afternoon. So we are really excited for her. She's been meeting with missionaries for a really long time, so it's really excited to be part of the process when she has overcome her fear of enduring to the end and believes she can do it. I think now is a really good time for her as well, because she just finished testing and so now she can really focus on getting baptized and continue getting more ingrained into the ward here since she has some time. She's a shy girl, so we will take it slowly, and she's in a transition between young woman's and relief society...but I know that she will find her niche and do great. My companion and I are really excited about this upcoming week.
Also, Tuesday we went and did temple tours. I wrote to 谢惠如 Whitney over in Shipai and told her we'd be in Taipei so she came to the Jinhua chapel to see us and do a tour. It was great to see her again and hear what she had been up to and been learning lately .I was really excited to hear that by the encouragement and members, she has been reading her scriptures daily and she went to Institute with them in Taipei after we left tours that night. I think that's the most happy thing of a mission, is seeing people who are honestly enduring to the end. It makes me really happy, so I was excited to see her...that and because you make good friends and it's wonderful to see old friends. She said she will see me again when we go back to tours. So I might get to see her a handful of times before I go home, depending on a couple things...but that's cool. You don't get to see people from old areas all the time. It's a blessing when you do. This week was ward conference, so the stake presidencies were there, and it was really cool for me, because I knew everyone...because I've served in every ward in this stake. It was nice to see them, and some people from Zhongli had a cow about how much someone can change in a year. My hair is a little longer...I don't have bangs anymore...I can speak Chinese now...that kind of stuff. Haha. But to be honest, I will be seriously due for a haircut by the time I get home. I've only heard horror stories about how they cut Americans hair here...since our hair is curly, and textured different, so I haven't cut it...in 13 months. Ha. It's kind of nasty, but I just wear it up mostly anyways.
We met a new investigator this week named 陈郁燕 Chen Yuyan...she used to be a Christian and then she started reading Scientology. I don't even really get what that means, but my companion had a slight idea. We gave her a Restoration tract, which usually we teach people with a picture, but she was too distracted since we were at her store and she went from us to the customers...so my companion was inspired when she handed it to her. During the Restoration lesson, she was a little distracted...and seemed only slightly interested...but at the end, she was reading in the Restoration tract, question of the soul section...and she saw the question Does life still exist after death? And she said she'd been thinking about that a lot...and asked for a Book of Mormon and read Alma 40 with us sitting there...ha. That's never happened before.
Then, she proceeded to explain about not knowing who she was, and in Scientology it explains that you are your spirit, and it made sense to her, so now she's not sure what to believe. By that time, we were rushed for time, but we briefly explained we believed our spirit was within us, and because of the Book of Mormon we had this knowledge... and could explain to her more about where our spirits were before we were born and after we die...so we will be teaching her this week about the plan of salvation and I'm excited about it. She has a sincere desire to understand the things we can learn by the knowledge of Heavenly Fathers plan for us. I realized after teaching her, that some people really don't know who they are at all, and they search so hard to know...and because we have the Book of Mormon, we can know and we can share with others about who they are and what they can become. It's such a comforting knowledge. I'm also very thankful for prophets who lead and guide us to this and other gospel knowledge.
This week we got the opportunity to watch The Biographical Film "On The Lord's Errand" about President Thomas S. Monson.I bought it because Sister Ackerson used to own it and I just really love it. If you guys haven't watched it, no problem, I'll bring it home with me. You can watch it in two months...but it's a really great movie that tells stories about the Prophets life and how he became who he is today. Watching it really helped me feel like I know who our prophet is more and brings on a greater reverence and respect for what he does. We watched this film with two new members on Sunday, and I think it was a really great experience for Yuer.We all shed a tear or two...aww. I always do every time i watch it. I can't help it! But yeah, i thought it was a special thing to do with them...because even my companion hadn't seen it before, and we were all really touched by the film (even if Ruiyi slept for half of it, she loved the part she was awake for. HA)...Plus we haven't spent a lot of time with the new members in Taoyuan...so it was good to spend time with them. They were cute.
English class was also fun and unique this week. For the last 30 minutes of English class, we did what we called a mock sacrament meeting. We showed our English class a shortened version of what sacrament meeting was like.We even had two members come and share a talk/testimony. I thought it went really great, and I was really proud of my companions awesome Chinese as she lead the meeting, since she is the English Coordinator for this transfer. She worries about her Chinese sometimes, but I think we all have those days and that time in our mission...but she actually does really well. We have a really good unity in this companionship. I feel like our lessons are 50/50, so that's really an awesome feeling. That was something I was blessed with as a new missionary insecure I'd ever understand this language...that one day I'd notice that I could have a 50/50 relationship with my companions and work together to help our investigators. So we are doing awesome and our lessons are getting better as we do our best. We are working on getting our lessons to fit the 30 minute standard they have asked us to do. It's hard sometimes,but we are doing a lot better than I thought I'd do at it. Our average time in lessons has been getting less and less. So Zone Conference was 很有用 hen you yong. Very useful/effective.
This week we were able to go down to 大溪 Daxi and teach 李家珊 Sandy, Katie, and Ryan. It was a good lesson I thought. We taught about the 1st using the cup game, and also integrated a brief 3rd.I love that family and we were really excited to go down and see them. Unfortunately, their mom has to work some Saturdays, and the kids have school at night, so we can't meet them again for 2 weeks! But they said they'd do their best to get to church in the following weeks...and Katie was really cute...she wanted to know when she could get baptized if we couldn't see them for 2 weeks...so we set a new date in July with them. They have a children's Book of Mormon now, and are excited to read it. They kept asking us when we could get them one, so we got it when we went to Taipei this week. So cute. I love that family so much. Found out that Sandy's mother is a religion they say is "Yiguandao"一贯道？ (I don't know the characters or what it is in English)But I do know that they are the hardest people to teach in Taiwan as missionaries. I've had 2 Yiguandao investigators. It's nearly impossible to get them to progress. Not only that, but she opposes prayer and this church I guess. Sandy said that her mom said if she was praying or going to church, not to go see her. I felt really sad about that.I told her the importance of prayer and knowing for yourself. Teaching families are hard.Sandy has her mother concern, Ryan didn't have tons of fun at church the first time, and Katie is just a 10 year old girl, so you have to be super simple for her.So yeah, hard to hit everyones needs, but you just have to love them and do your best to teach a bit to everyone...and pray for the Spirit to take care of the rest. I'm really rooting for this family...we will keep in touch with notes over these next two weeks while we can't meet.
Well, I still need to write one more email before we head off, and I believe I've written a lot...so until next week, adios. Love you guys.
Sister Flora Bruno (傅姐妹）
Our investigator Jian Jiaying 简家盈 went to interview this week and passed, so we will be having a baptism this Saturday afternoon. So we are really excited for her. She's been meeting with missionaries for a really long time, so it's really excited to be part of the process when she has overcome her fear of enduring to the end and believes she can do it. I think now is a really good time for her as well, because she just finished testing and so now she can really focus on getting baptized and continue getting more ingrained into the ward here since she has some time. She's a shy girl, so we will take it slowly, and she's in a transition between young woman's and relief society...but I know that she will find her niche and do great. My companion and I are really excited about this upcoming week.
Also, Tuesday we went and did temple tours. I wrote to 谢惠如 Whitney over in Shipai and told her we'd be in Taipei so she came to the Jinhua chapel to see us and do a tour. It was great to see her again and hear what she had been up to and been learning lately .I was really excited to hear that by the encouragement and members, she has been reading her scriptures daily and she went to Institute with them in Taipei after we left tours that night. I think that's the most happy thing of a mission, is seeing people who are honestly enduring to the end. It makes me really happy, so I was excited to see her...that and because you make good friends and it's wonderful to see old friends. She said she will see me again when we go back to tours. So I might get to see her a handful of times before I go home, depending on a couple things...but that's cool. You don't get to see people from old areas all the time. It's a blessing when you do. This week was ward conference, so the stake presidencies were there, and it was really cool for me, because I knew everyone...because I've served in every ward in this stake. It was nice to see them, and some people from Zhongli had a cow about how much someone can change in a year. My hair is a little longer...I don't have bangs anymore...I can speak Chinese now...that kind of stuff. Haha. But to be honest, I will be seriously due for a haircut by the time I get home. I've only heard horror stories about how they cut Americans hair here...since our hair is curly, and textured different, so I haven't cut it...in 13 months. Ha. It's kind of nasty, but I just wear it up mostly anyways.
We met a new investigator this week named 陈郁燕 Chen Yuyan...she used to be a Christian and then she started reading Scientology. I don't even really get what that means, but my companion had a slight idea. We gave her a Restoration tract, which usually we teach people with a picture, but she was too distracted since we were at her store and she went from us to the customers...so my companion was inspired when she handed it to her. During the Restoration lesson, she was a little distracted...and seemed only slightly interested...but at the end, she was reading in the Restoration tract, question of the soul section...and she saw the question Does life still exist after death? And she said she'd been thinking about that a lot...and asked for a Book of Mormon and read Alma 40 with us sitting there...ha. That's never happened before.
Then, she proceeded to explain about not knowing who she was, and in Scientology it explains that you are your spirit, and it made sense to her, so now she's not sure what to believe. By that time, we were rushed for time, but we briefly explained we believed our spirit was within us, and because of the Book of Mormon we had this knowledge... and could explain to her more about where our spirits were before we were born and after we die...so we will be teaching her this week about the plan of salvation and I'm excited about it. She has a sincere desire to understand the things we can learn by the knowledge of Heavenly Fathers plan for us. I realized after teaching her, that some people really don't know who they are at all, and they search so hard to know...and because we have the Book of Mormon, we can know and we can share with others about who they are and what they can become. It's such a comforting knowledge. I'm also very thankful for prophets who lead and guide us to this and other gospel knowledge.
This week we got the opportunity to watch The Biographical Film "On The Lord's Errand" about President Thomas S. Monson.I bought it because Sister Ackerson used to own it and I just really love it. If you guys haven't watched it, no problem, I'll bring it home with me. You can watch it in two months...but it's a really great movie that tells stories about the Prophets life and how he became who he is today. Watching it really helped me feel like I know who our prophet is more and brings on a greater reverence and respect for what he does. We watched this film with two new members on Sunday, and I think it was a really great experience for Yuer.We all shed a tear or two...aww. I always do every time i watch it. I can't help it! But yeah, i thought it was a special thing to do with them...because even my companion hadn't seen it before, and we were all really touched by the film (even if Ruiyi slept for half of it, she loved the part she was awake for. HA)...Plus we haven't spent a lot of time with the new members in Taoyuan...so it was good to spend time with them. They were cute.
English class was also fun and unique this week. For the last 30 minutes of English class, we did what we called a mock sacrament meeting. We showed our English class a shortened version of what sacrament meeting was like.We even had two members come and share a talk/testimony. I thought it went really great, and I was really proud of my companions awesome Chinese as she lead the meeting, since she is the English Coordinator for this transfer. She worries about her Chinese sometimes, but I think we all have those days and that time in our mission...but she actually does really well. We have a really good unity in this companionship. I feel like our lessons are 50/50, so that's really an awesome feeling. That was something I was blessed with as a new missionary insecure I'd ever understand this language...that one day I'd notice that I could have a 50/50 relationship with my companions and work together to help our investigators. So we are doing awesome and our lessons are getting better as we do our best. We are working on getting our lessons to fit the 30 minute standard they have asked us to do. It's hard sometimes,but we are doing a lot better than I thought I'd do at it. Our average time in lessons has been getting less and less. So Zone Conference was 很有用 hen you yong. Very useful/effective.
This week we were able to go down to 大溪 Daxi and teach 李家珊 Sandy, Katie, and Ryan. It was a good lesson I thought. We taught about the 1st using the cup game, and also integrated a brief 3rd.I love that family and we were really excited to go down and see them. Unfortunately, their mom has to work some Saturdays, and the kids have school at night, so we can't meet them again for 2 weeks! But they said they'd do their best to get to church in the following weeks...and Katie was really cute...she wanted to know when she could get baptized if we couldn't see them for 2 weeks...so we set a new date in July with them. They have a children's Book of Mormon now, and are excited to read it. They kept asking us when we could get them one, so we got it when we went to Taipei this week. So cute. I love that family so much. Found out that Sandy's mother is a religion they say is "Yiguandao"一贯道？ (I don't know the characters or what it is in English)But I do know that they are the hardest people to teach in Taiwan as missionaries. I've had 2 Yiguandao investigators. It's nearly impossible to get them to progress. Not only that, but she opposes prayer and this church I guess. Sandy said that her mom said if she was praying or going to church, not to go see her. I felt really sad about that.I told her the importance of prayer and knowing for yourself. Teaching families are hard.Sandy has her mother concern, Ryan didn't have tons of fun at church the first time, and Katie is just a 10 year old girl, so you have to be super simple for her.So yeah, hard to hit everyones needs, but you just have to love them and do your best to teach a bit to everyone...and pray for the Spirit to take care of the rest. I'm really rooting for this family...we will keep in touch with notes over these next two weeks while we can't meet.
Well, I still need to write one more email before we head off, and I believe I've written a lot...so until next week, adios. Love you guys.
Sister Flora Bruno (傅姐妹）
Monday, March 22, 2010
Having Fun Doing Missionary Work in Taoyuan City, Taiwan
Okay. Welcome to the writings of my week two in Taoyuan City. Still getting used to the area and I still am not super familiar with where we are going or the investigators yet, except 2 who we have just chanced to see a lot lately...but it's been pretty fun. Still getting back into the whole bicycling thing. I forgot how much I hated hills. Haha. Luckily the hills here are not like Jilong, and I think in another week or two after getting back into shape, they will be no problem.
My district, being all Taiwanese, doesn't really have the same idea of fun as us, not to mention, at least one person in each companionship...is quite...older. Haha I like how I'm calling them older but when I get home I'd probably date boys older. I guess I'll just say they are older than the 19/20 year-old Americans I'm used to being with, who are always up for fun. I'm just used to doing district activities on Preparation Days..But these ones are a little bit less willing to do much but nap and bum around on Preparation day, so Sister Tedjamulia and I, a little opposed to doing that more than about once this transfer, are going out to find some fun ourselves. Today we are going to Yingge with a member who has the day off. Sister Tedj has never gone, I went back with Sister Hill as a Sister's activity when I lived in Zhongli, but I think she'll like it, and maybe I can make different pottery this time.
In investigator news, yesterday we were able to set a date with an investigator here named Vera, or Sister Zhou. She attends the Advanced English class, which, I am now going to be teaching in this area. Sister Tedjamulia told her she would be able to progress more towards baptism by attending the correct ward, since she goes to the wrong one, and by meeting with us twice a week, so we have set a time twice a week now. I think she'll be great. She's already read in the book of Mormon to Alma, and they had only met with her once before I got here, so she's a really great investigator. She really believes in the Book of Mormon. She just has a couple hard life problems, with a broken family and an abusive brother who she feels like she can't forgive, so at our lesson this week, we talked about how even when she felt alone and abandoned by her entire family and wanted to run away like she was talking about...if she was willing to pray and realize she had a loving Heavenly Father by her side, her views would be able to change, and she would be a happier person. She talks about how unhappy she is a bit. I hope we can help her. She really needs the gospel. I know it will help her a ton.
We also have a young girl named Crystal with a baptismal date. She is 11, and her sister is about 19 and a member. I still haven't met her because this week we did Saturday temple tour and Sunday she had to visit her grandparents, but I'm positive I'll meet her soon. We go visit them at their house, and their mother is very nice to us I heard, so I'm excited to get to meet Crystal and her member sister. It's been awhile since I had a child investigator, since Zhongli actually.
We also spent some time Friday, Saturday, and Sunday with an investigator, Sister Lai Yu Chun. On Friday we called and went to her mother's store and they fed us. We didn't get to teach a first lesson or anything since the purpose was just to introduce us to her mother, but we did get to share a small message and pray with them. Then, on Saturday, Sister Lai took her kids to Taipei to play, but her member friend, Sister Zhang wanted to go to the temple, and said they could play together if they just waited for her while she was in the temple. So, Sister Weng and I were able to take her on a temple tour while my companion, and the other temple tour sister, Sister Beus, went on another tour. It was an interesting experience, but she had a lot of questions and loved looking at the pictures and at the temple book. Then, she said she couldn't come to church Sunday, but ended up showing up for 2 of the 3 hours. That was a nice little surprise. She really likes church. We just need to get her taught the actual lessons. With her having 2 really small kids, she's always running around after them, and it's hard to share a lesson, but we talked a little Sunday, and will call in a day or two to set up a time she can sit down and hear a full lesson. I'm excited to teach her because she is just already really curious about the church and asks a lot of good questions and has made some friends at church in additional to the member friend that referred her.
That's about all the investigators I'm super familiar with. We've had some good people and miracles lately. Once day I called a referral on the missionary referral system, and she set up for a week later, then called back and asked if we were at the church, and said she'd just come see us. I was able to share with her about Joseph Smith a little in the chapel, while my companion and Vera talked about some stuff, since we had a lesson with her that night. A Sister Chen Wei, who I met when I came to Taoyuan for a stake activity, and loved me then and said she wanted me to come back and serve in this area, had found I was back that night, and wanted to hang out with us missionaries, so she helped me talk about Joseph Smith and truth and we invited her to come back for church. That was really cool she just came right down to the church. Her little sister is a member. I hope to see more of her.
Um, something slightly fun we did, is that the Tao ward has this party called the Elder Smith party once quarterly, because someone named Elder Smith was huge on implementing this party. What it is, is a ward activity specifically geared towards bringing family and friends and introducing them to the church in a non stress atmosphere. They played Chinese Chess with human pieces. The ward members were the pieces and two older men, were the ones saying where to move. It was kind of fun. On and off I was the ambulance who came in a picked up the dead chess pieces. We had a blanket they'd sit in and carry them off in. At first people were dramatic and it was super fun, but it did wear off a little as people got tired, so yeah..I would say it was an interesting activity...but once playing was enough. I still don't get it exactly...but maybe I'll learn eventually. I already forget how to play American chess, so maybe that's a reason it's hard for me to get the Chinese version with all these characters and stuff.
Well! That's about it this week. Love you all. See you next time.
Sister Flora Bruno
My district, being all Taiwanese, doesn't really have the same idea of fun as us, not to mention, at least one person in each companionship...is quite...older. Haha I like how I'm calling them older but when I get home I'd probably date boys older. I guess I'll just say they are older than the 19/20 year-old Americans I'm used to being with, who are always up for fun. I'm just used to doing district activities on Preparation Days..But these ones are a little bit less willing to do much but nap and bum around on Preparation day, so Sister Tedjamulia and I, a little opposed to doing that more than about once this transfer, are going out to find some fun ourselves. Today we are going to Yingge with a member who has the day off. Sister Tedj has never gone, I went back with Sister Hill as a Sister's activity when I lived in Zhongli, but I think she'll like it, and maybe I can make different pottery this time.
In investigator news, yesterday we were able to set a date with an investigator here named Vera, or Sister Zhou. She attends the Advanced English class, which, I am now going to be teaching in this area. Sister Tedjamulia told her she would be able to progress more towards baptism by attending the correct ward, since she goes to the wrong one, and by meeting with us twice a week, so we have set a time twice a week now. I think she'll be great. She's already read in the book of Mormon to Alma, and they had only met with her once before I got here, so she's a really great investigator. She really believes in the Book of Mormon. She just has a couple hard life problems, with a broken family and an abusive brother who she feels like she can't forgive, so at our lesson this week, we talked about how even when she felt alone and abandoned by her entire family and wanted to run away like she was talking about...if she was willing to pray and realize she had a loving Heavenly Father by her side, her views would be able to change, and she would be a happier person. She talks about how unhappy she is a bit. I hope we can help her. She really needs the gospel. I know it will help her a ton.
We also have a young girl named Crystal with a baptismal date. She is 11, and her sister is about 19 and a member. I still haven't met her because this week we did Saturday temple tour and Sunday she had to visit her grandparents, but I'm positive I'll meet her soon. We go visit them at their house, and their mother is very nice to us I heard, so I'm excited to get to meet Crystal and her member sister. It's been awhile since I had a child investigator, since Zhongli actually.
We also spent some time Friday, Saturday, and Sunday with an investigator, Sister Lai Yu Chun. On Friday we called and went to her mother's store and they fed us. We didn't get to teach a first lesson or anything since the purpose was just to introduce us to her mother, but we did get to share a small message and pray with them. Then, on Saturday, Sister Lai took her kids to Taipei to play, but her member friend, Sister Zhang wanted to go to the temple, and said they could play together if they just waited for her while she was in the temple. So, Sister Weng and I were able to take her on a temple tour while my companion, and the other temple tour sister, Sister Beus, went on another tour. It was an interesting experience, but she had a lot of questions and loved looking at the pictures and at the temple book. Then, she said she couldn't come to church Sunday, but ended up showing up for 2 of the 3 hours. That was a nice little surprise. She really likes church. We just need to get her taught the actual lessons. With her having 2 really small kids, she's always running around after them, and it's hard to share a lesson, but we talked a little Sunday, and will call in a day or two to set up a time she can sit down and hear a full lesson. I'm excited to teach her because she is just already really curious about the church and asks a lot of good questions and has made some friends at church in additional to the member friend that referred her.
That's about all the investigators I'm super familiar with. We've had some good people and miracles lately. Once day I called a referral on the missionary referral system, and she set up for a week later, then called back and asked if we were at the church, and said she'd just come see us. I was able to share with her about Joseph Smith a little in the chapel, while my companion and Vera talked about some stuff, since we had a lesson with her that night. A Sister Chen Wei, who I met when I came to Taoyuan for a stake activity, and loved me then and said she wanted me to come back and serve in this area, had found I was back that night, and wanted to hang out with us missionaries, so she helped me talk about Joseph Smith and truth and we invited her to come back for church. That was really cool she just came right down to the church. Her little sister is a member. I hope to see more of her.
Um, something slightly fun we did, is that the Tao ward has this party called the Elder Smith party once quarterly, because someone named Elder Smith was huge on implementing this party. What it is, is a ward activity specifically geared towards bringing family and friends and introducing them to the church in a non stress atmosphere. They played Chinese Chess with human pieces. The ward members were the pieces and two older men, were the ones saying where to move. It was kind of fun. On and off I was the ambulance who came in a picked up the dead chess pieces. We had a blanket they'd sit in and carry them off in. At first people were dramatic and it was super fun, but it did wear off a little as people got tired, so yeah..I would say it was an interesting activity...but once playing was enough. I still don't get it exactly...but maybe I'll learn eventually. I already forget how to play American chess, so maybe that's a reason it's hard for me to get the Chinese version with all these characters and stuff.
Well! That's about it this week. Love you all. See you next time.
Sister Flora Bruno
Monday, June 29, 2009
Missionary Email: Becoming a New Person
President Grimley will be here on Wednesday. We saw President and Sister Nielson for the last time here in Zhongli on Sunday. They came and spoke in the 2nd ward. It was nice to see them for the last time...and we finally got those letters we wrote to them...My companion lost the letters twice...so we had to bike all over the world and waste a lot of time and energy both times just to get them...but I put a lot of effort into them, so that really was a blessing that we were able to find them again both times. The Nielson's told me I looked good and had a light in my eyes and stuff. I guess I was happy to hear that, because its true. I really have changed a lot from when I first got here and I'm a lot better. Still a lot of things I need to change, but as long as I'm making steps and becoming a better person a little every day, I figure that's what really matters. You can't become a new person in one day. I used to want to, and tried, and failed. I mean, maybe some people can, but for me, it's just step by step.
But yeah, it was really cool, President had us missionaries get up and we sang I am a Child of God. It was a really neat experience. I saw a lot of woman crying in the crowd. I think it was a good thing for our ward.
Then later that night, we had a missionary fireside for the other ward. So this was a good week for the wards.
This week has been pretty slow. It hasn't even been a week since we wrote. I guess the cool thing of the week is that 11 people were at church. So that's really good. Especially since we only have 2 people with dates. But honestly, I was still a little :( because I had a goal for 15, since 20 people said they were coming. My companion said she highly doubted that many would come. She was suprised 11 came. So I guess wo de xinxin bu gou. My faith wasn't enough. Maybe one day.
Mom and Dad...I need you guys to send me a family picture I asked for forever ago! Also I need a way to get my pictures from my camera to the computer...I've been borrowing my companions and she leaves in a couple weeks. I told dad forever ago for just a couple bucks you can get something that converts my sd card to a jump drive. So if you could find that really soon so I can keep sending pictures that would be great!
And Gigi, can you try to get me the following addresses, I would like to write....Amanda Lowder, Sara Medina, Nick Drake, and Cole. Matt Moses will probably have Cole's address, the other ones have facebook. So if you could do that for me, it would be great. I thought of other ones before, but now that's all I can remember.
Okay well time is up, byebye.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Missionary Email: People Learn in Steps
Tuesday, June 2, 2009 11:59 PM
Hello, and welcome to another Preparation day in the hot and humid little island of Taiwan. This week was kind of discouraging if you think transfer wise, but happy if you think long term wise. Both of our people with dates for Saturday reset them for next transfer in week 2. I'm just glad they reset their dates and that they are still progressing and growing. Because that matters more than if we are here or not. I might still be here next transfer though, since my companion is going home in the middle of next transfer. But you just never know. There's still 3 weeks before I have to worry about it.
I'm getting used to Zhongli... I know how to get to all the places we go regularly. The first transfer here, I didn't really pay attention and everything just seemed different and I watched the stuff on the side of the road more than the paths. But now I can ride in front sometimes if I'm in a petal fast mood...and if we are going down hill. Going uphill no way...I'm slow.
So this Friday is my companions birthday. Not really sure what I'm going to do for it since we are going on exchanges...so I'll only be there in the morning for it anyways. We'll see.
Hmm, I have my planner in front of me to try to figure out what to write but it all seems pretty boring and repetitive. Even though each person and lesson is unique, hearing about what missionaries are up to probably isn't SUPER interesting. We are in lessons, riding bikes, etc etc all day.
On Tuesday Yvonne's baby piao piao had her 2nd birthday. It was us and the Neili Elders, and Lin jiemei and 2 of her 3 sons. We thought it was pretty convenient that Yvonne invited a peike (member) for us. :) It was a little ... for her husband though, because S. Lin tried to commit him to baptism, but I'm sure it's fine. It never hurts to hear about baptism. We didn't know if he was ready for it yet though. Well, we know he wasn't. We had to explain to Yvonne that you have to learn principle by principle, and we met with her a lot to prepare her for baptism...and that we could still prepare her husband, but we just had to meet with him more often and teach him principles. You can't just in one day say...you can't drink coffee or work on Sunday and you need to pay tithing all in one day. Or at least not generally. Of course their will be the exception. But that's an exception. Most people learn in steps. I know I do. So yeah, the birthday party was a lot of fun. The baby was really cute and we had a lesson with the Elders. Ate cake...Wooo. Yeah then we met with Yvonne again later in the week about baptism. Her date was set for Saturday, but we already knew she wasn't ready for that, she had told us on Sunday. We reset it for her husbands birthday. It's still over a month away, so I know that if we are really diligent we can get her husband ready for that date as well. We might give him to the Elders. We are waiting to see how that works out, because it's easier for them to get over there, but he's not there that often, and his wife is always there when he is, so it might be better to just keep teaching them together. We'll see what happens though. We set up to meet on Thursday with the both of them.
Our other person with a goal, Wang Zixia missed church on Sunday. Her husband had family over and wouldn't let her go. She also talked about how she didn't feel ready. We talked about teaching her smaller lessons over again and meeting twice a week so she could remember everything. She said that sounded okay as long as it was times when her husband wasn't home. We tried to set a date at the end of the transfer, but she thought that sounded fast. We told her to pray about it and told her that Yvonne had a date for 7/14 next transfer, and she could do that if she wanted too, since she knows Yvonne. So we just had her commit to pray and we'd set a goal on Saturday at Eddie's baptism. Which she is coming to. Woo. Eddie is a really amazing investigators the Elders have been teaching. We are all excited for Saturday.
We had a really amazing Sunday. We had 10 investigators show up to Zhong1, or afternoon church. It was a miracle really. We invited one girl to try to come on the bus, and she came! With 2 friends too.
We are also meeting with this young mother who I already love a lot. She's married to a Canadian. Her name is Rita. She came and brought her baby to church. She said that she really loves the feeling singing hymns brings. And that she just is happy at church. She has a big testimony of prayer because once her husband lost his dogs 30 minutes from their house, and he prayed and promised God he would go to church for a month if he could find his dogs, and his dog found his way home. He really loves his dogs. And he said the dog was kind of a stupid dog so it was amazing he didn't get hit by a car and found his way home. He's a nice guy. And Rita is really cute and sweet. He is also a blogger. He recorded me and my companion singing a hymn in Chinese, so somewhere out there is me messing up a couple times a hymn in Chinese. That's the only English I'm aware of, but I also know there are a lot of people here that take pictures of us and say they will put it on their blog. Yikes. I'm on Chinese blogs. Ooooh blogs...haha.
It's really hot and humid here lately. It's definitely getting to be summer. We go to Taipei twice a transfer and do the temple tours. We went this last week and it was really hot in Taiwan. As I walked to the church from the train station, I noticed how even breathing here is different because it's just really thick. The smells are new, the people look different. There isn't even a lettering system. Just characters. So I understand now why my teacher in the MTC said that life seemed a little surreal sometimes. In Taipei, for a few minutes it really did seem surreal. I was in a place completely foreign and it seemed like a dream for about 15 minutes. Then I remembered how I can't see objects or color in a dream, so clearly it wasn't. But I'm starting to understand that feeling. haha.
Today we are going with the Taoyuan Sisters to make pots in Yingge. It should be fun.
Anyways, there are only 4 minutes left and 2 weeks ago I think my letter didn't send because I waited too long...so I will now send this! Byebye.
Hello, and welcome to another Preparation day in the hot and humid little island of Taiwan. This week was kind of discouraging if you think transfer wise, but happy if you think long term wise. Both of our people with dates for Saturday reset them for next transfer in week 2. I'm just glad they reset their dates and that they are still progressing and growing. Because that matters more than if we are here or not. I might still be here next transfer though, since my companion is going home in the middle of next transfer. But you just never know. There's still 3 weeks before I have to worry about it.
I'm getting used to Zhongli... I know how to get to all the places we go regularly. The first transfer here, I didn't really pay attention and everything just seemed different and I watched the stuff on the side of the road more than the paths. But now I can ride in front sometimes if I'm in a petal fast mood...and if we are going down hill. Going uphill no way...I'm slow.
So this Friday is my companions birthday. Not really sure what I'm going to do for it since we are going on exchanges...so I'll only be there in the morning for it anyways. We'll see.
Hmm, I have my planner in front of me to try to figure out what to write but it all seems pretty boring and repetitive. Even though each person and lesson is unique, hearing about what missionaries are up to probably isn't SUPER interesting. We are in lessons, riding bikes, etc etc all day.
On Tuesday Yvonne's baby piao piao had her 2nd birthday. It was us and the Neili Elders, and Lin jiemei and 2 of her 3 sons. We thought it was pretty convenient that Yvonne invited a peike (member) for us. :) It was a little ... for her husband though, because S. Lin tried to commit him to baptism, but I'm sure it's fine. It never hurts to hear about baptism. We didn't know if he was ready for it yet though. Well, we know he wasn't. We had to explain to Yvonne that you have to learn principle by principle, and we met with her a lot to prepare her for baptism...and that we could still prepare her husband, but we just had to meet with him more often and teach him principles. You can't just in one day say...you can't drink coffee or work on Sunday and you need to pay tithing all in one day. Or at least not generally. Of course their will be the exception. But that's an exception. Most people learn in steps. I know I do. So yeah, the birthday party was a lot of fun. The baby was really cute and we had a lesson with the Elders. Ate cake...Wooo. Yeah then we met with Yvonne again later in the week about baptism. Her date was set for Saturday, but we already knew she wasn't ready for that, she had told us on Sunday. We reset it for her husbands birthday. It's still over a month away, so I know that if we are really diligent we can get her husband ready for that date as well. We might give him to the Elders. We are waiting to see how that works out, because it's easier for them to get over there, but he's not there that often, and his wife is always there when he is, so it might be better to just keep teaching them together. We'll see what happens though. We set up to meet on Thursday with the both of them.
Our other person with a goal, Wang Zixia missed church on Sunday. Her husband had family over and wouldn't let her go. She also talked about how she didn't feel ready. We talked about teaching her smaller lessons over again and meeting twice a week so she could remember everything. She said that sounded okay as long as it was times when her husband wasn't home. We tried to set a date at the end of the transfer, but she thought that sounded fast. We told her to pray about it and told her that Yvonne had a date for 7/14 next transfer, and she could do that if she wanted too, since she knows Yvonne. So we just had her commit to pray and we'd set a goal on Saturday at Eddie's baptism. Which she is coming to. Woo. Eddie is a really amazing investigators the Elders have been teaching. We are all excited for Saturday.
We had a really amazing Sunday. We had 10 investigators show up to Zhong1, or afternoon church. It was a miracle really. We invited one girl to try to come on the bus, and she came! With 2 friends too.
We are also meeting with this young mother who I already love a lot. She's married to a Canadian. Her name is Rita. She came and brought her baby to church. She said that she really loves the feeling singing hymns brings. And that she just is happy at church. She has a big testimony of prayer because once her husband lost his dogs 30 minutes from their house, and he prayed and promised God he would go to church for a month if he could find his dogs, and his dog found his way home. He really loves his dogs. And he said the dog was kind of a stupid dog so it was amazing he didn't get hit by a car and found his way home. He's a nice guy. And Rita is really cute and sweet. He is also a blogger. He recorded me and my companion singing a hymn in Chinese, so somewhere out there is me messing up a couple times a hymn in Chinese. That's the only English I'm aware of, but I also know there are a lot of people here that take pictures of us and say they will put it on their blog. Yikes. I'm on Chinese blogs. Ooooh blogs...haha.
It's really hot and humid here lately. It's definitely getting to be summer. We go to Taipei twice a transfer and do the temple tours. We went this last week and it was really hot in Taiwan. As I walked to the church from the train station, I noticed how even breathing here is different because it's just really thick. The smells are new, the people look different. There isn't even a lettering system. Just characters. So I understand now why my teacher in the MTC said that life seemed a little surreal sometimes. In Taipei, for a few minutes it really did seem surreal. I was in a place completely foreign and it seemed like a dream for about 15 minutes. Then I remembered how I can't see objects or color in a dream, so clearly it wasn't. But I'm starting to understand that feeling. haha.
Today we are going with the Taoyuan Sisters to make pots in Yingge. It should be fun.
Anyways, there are only 4 minutes left and 2 weeks ago I think my letter didn't send because I waited too long...so I will now send this! Byebye.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Missionary Email: Exchanges are Great
Hey everyone,
This week was fun! First I'll actually answer questions because I usually run out of time and don't. And ARC is an Alien Residence Card. So it's like my green card. A Dan Jones is when you get up like in the front of a bus or on some kind of thing that is high, and you start preaching the gospel in a really loud voice and testifying for everyone in the large group of people that the gospel is true. It's unique.
This week was pretty for finding investigators. We had a girl, Chen Zixia, show up at the church one day, and we invited her to come to Sunday church. She came! And stayed for all 3 hours too! Then we set up for Monday, she got there early (Woo that excited!) so our zone leaders taught her, and she already has a baptism goal for the last Saturday of the transfer! And she already plans on coming to church again, since last Sunday when a member asked her about next Sunday, and she said "of course I'll come." It was a miracle. One of the members saw her looking at the church and asked her if she wanted to come in, then we showed up with like perfect timing. But yeah, we have a couple members that are amazing missionaries! :) Having a really good ward is so nice in the missionary work. I'm blessed to be in Zhongli...
On Monday before I left for splits, we were on our way to a morning appointment and ran into a member, and she was just like, OH I'll go with you! And then we had a peike (lesson taught with member present). It was awesome. She was a great asset. Especially since my speech is very limited and it takes lots of time and effort for me to say things, so if we are on a time limit sometimes I'll talk less than I already do. I'm getting slowly better about talking though.
And not to worry about my health, beacause 4 of our investigators, which we call the "Herbal Life team" are concerned for me. Peiyu told her mom that at 6 at night before a lesson with her, I was eating chocolate, because she had showed up early and we were eating. She was like "BU XING!!!!" Or, that is not okay. They say it a lot. Lin Jiazhen has tried to commit me to drinking 4 of my water bottles worth of water a day, and that is a lot, because she gave me this HUGE water bottle that I carry around with me now. But I try, since we committed her to read the Book of Mormon. Her husband died from a heart attack, so they got really into health. She wants to help people who are overweight become normal. Her daughter was overweight and is now really thin. They are always trying to get me to buy the shakes and stuff for my "own health" and instructing me on how I shouldn't go to McDonalds and eat more vegetables. Haha.
Taiwanese people are really blunt. People always tell me "did you know you are fat? Riding that bike will help you lose weight." Or once even, a member spend a lot of money to take us to drink grass and other gross "natural foods" Then I'm supposed to say thank you for calling me fat. That's so kind of you to tell me riding my bike will help me lose weight. :) It makes me laugh a lot though. I love their bluntness. It's amusing.
However, the food is taking longer to adjust to. I've eaten some pretty nasty things...pig's foot, grass, weird fishes of every kind, gross slimy things that I've never even seen in america so I couldn't tell you if I wanted to...But there is also food that is amazing
You know Desi, I don't think I would have sat down and cried walking on some pioneer trek. I wish I could walk! Riding a bike to Neili and all kinds of other cities since the sister's area is huge is a lot worse...well for the staight uphill part. The return trips, or going trips depending on where we are going aren't bad.
I'm glad you guys already got my package. It came fast! I just sent it last p-day a week ago! That's amazing! Sending packages here is really cheap, so I sent one to the Sneddons too. It cost like 12 dollars (American), including postage to send both of them. That's less than sending some stuff from the MTC was. Give Annika that piano pencil! I didn't realize she'd be home already when I sent it. I'll send another one in a couple months with candy once I figure out what the good stuff is. Don't worry about sending me anything until I ask for it, oh except in an envelope I'd like a family picture please, sending stuff from America is way more expensive! Americas postage is bad I found out. For us to send a letter to America here, it is less than the equivalent of sending a letter in the US to another state in the US.
So exchanges in Taoyuan were really fun! It was like a party. And my Chinese improved a lot. I was with 2 other sisters, so a threesome for 24 hours. One was a bendiren, or native Taiwanese. So if I used English it generally had to be translated, so I was forced to try REALLY hard to express myself in Chinese when I wanted to. They were so good for me. Planning was like a party, and we ate junk food, even though my trainer lectures me when I eat at night about storing fat...but nobody lectured me...and we just had a lot of fun. It was pretty much like a sleepover with lessons and tracting, etc during the day. In Taoyuan, they had a very distracting boy, about 10, so they had me teach him the ABC's while they taught his mom. I felt useful and in my element. His ABC's aren't perfect, but now he has V down, so that's an accomplishment. His mom gave me mangoes for payment for my English lesson. We tried to refuse, but she insisted. I ate one this morning. So yummy! That's a plus on food for here, the fruit. So good!
Sister Zhang and Bernardo were really sweet! I love them! They snuck a candy bar in my suitcase when I left. I need to get them something today in Taipei when we go to our once a transfer temple trip right after this email...and leave it in their mail. Sister Shi, the companion that split and went to Zhongli is really cool too! She left me a note and a bookmark and some candy on my desk. Aww. They are so sweet. I love bendiren (natives).
Oh ...something kind of funny about Taiwan...the weather is crazy! One day I'm dripping sweat, the next I'm dripping soaked from the rain...and yesterday I almost got knocked off my bike a couple times the wind was blowing so hard. Ah the joys of the tropics!
Xie dai dai's baptism date is mother's day. I'm excited! I love her. She is so cute. we drew "I love dai dai" in characters on the white board and she was like "OHHHHHH I LOVE IT...and took pictures...haha!
Yeah, so a mission is fun. Hard, but fun! I miss you guys!
Congrats on your job Gigi! Thanks for getting addresses. That's good about Matt and Felicia. I'm glad you are updating me about them, since our p-days we keep getting random lunches and dinners and temple trips so thus far I haven't had a single second to write a hand written letter besides those packages I sent. Keep me updated on the SC boys Annika, and Desi...Maybe that way I can have friends when I come back indirectly by hearing about it.
Love ya
Fu jiemei
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