Sister Winters - July 30, 2012 Contacting Cranes (not the bird kind)

Dear family,

 

Zao an from Taidong! This week has been full of miracles. Most of the miracles have to do with people, so I think I'm going to write about them today. As for me, I'm feeling great right now. I passed my halfway mark this week - crazy! - and I'm committed to make my second half even better than the first (but the first was super-great too - no regrets).

 

Title: I contacted a crane not too long ago. The huge kind that's used to work with huge buildings. It was SO MUCH FUN. I stepped up on my bike and said, "Hey! Have you been to our English class before?" and then talked to him for a bit. I think he was really amused that I had the guts to talk to him in his crane in the first place. I don't blame him - I felt the same way and just couldn't stop smiling for the rest of the day.

 

Okay, onto everyone else. We met this lady named Sister Su this past week. She lives in our apartment complex and I started talking to her as we were going out one day. Turns out she's super-Christian (a rarity around here) and we started talking about spiritual experiences we had had in our life. Miracle associated with her - I mean, yeah, it's always a miracle to find someone to teach, but I think the real miracle is the gift of tongues. She was speaking SO FAST - and about random subjects like the Second Coming and Peter and random stories from the Bible - but I was understanding her. I just kept thinking: "I seriously don't know how it's possible that I'm understanding her right now. I really don't know how it's possible." And yet, it happened. We met with her again yesterday and the same thing happened. Wow.

 

Another lady is a Sister Hou, or "Allie." I contacted her super-fast on the street this past week and only had time to set her up for the next day. Well, she came! And we had another terrible member experience, kind of like the one the week before (different member this time though) - but was complaining about other members of the church. But after I pulled (almost literally dragged) our member outside so that I could talk to her and then chatted with her, Allie said to Sister Burton, "that woman just doesn't get it, does she? God gives us trials so that we can learn from them and be better. I'm so grateful He's given some to me." GOLDEN. AND a miracle. AND she's coming with us to an FHE at a member's house (and these members are great) - I'm so excited.

 

Another lady is Sister You. She's pretty young - 17 this September - but she's already had a really rough family life. Sister Burton originally contacted her across the street from the chapel to talk about English, but eventually we were able to invite her in for a tour of the chapel! And she seems super-great. She has a lot of faith, but also a big desire for her to know these things for herself. And hearing about how hard her life is makes it even more of a miracle that she's able to have such a happy, optimistic attitude about life. I love it.

 

Next is Annabelle. She's from the Philippines working here as a nanny (side note: a TON of people from the Phillippines do that - come here to take care of kids or old people and then send money back to their families in the Pillippines). The people who do that live super-hard lives, where they hardly ever get to see their families. I think that it would be really easy to be bitter about a situation like that, but Annabelle isn't. The elders originally contacted her, and as one of them said, "She's just such a sweetheart." But I have to admit that I was a little skeptical about the situation, since she "didn't remember" her cell phone number. That skepticism really grew when we got there and she wasn't there. So we started contacting in that area and sure enough, 20 minutes later, she came! She was so great - she has tons of faith (she's Catholic) and a very willing and humble spirit. She's smiling and laughing all the time, even though her husband and 7-year-old daughter live in the Phillippines. I think my favorite part was when she was explaining that she sings "The Lord's Prayer" to the kids she takes care of - so we sang it together softly on the bench where we were sitting. :)

 

Okay, last person - one of my favorites! Sister Yang. I met her on the street near a less-active member's house. She was wearing these crazy pants with this old-fashioned shoe pattern all over it. She was getting ready to get on her scooter to go home when I rushed up to her and said, "Hey! I like your pants." And that's where it all started. We had a lesson on the street - when I invited her to be baptized, she said, "Of course I want to! If it really washes away your sins, why wouldn't I? In fact, I think that I want to be baptized all of the time so that I can always have that clean feeling!" ...You get my drift. This past week we taught about the Atonement. When we were done talking about Alma 7:11-12 we asked her what she was thinking and she said, "It just makes me sad that Jesus Christ had to hurt so much for us. It makes me want to be better so that He didn't have to hurt as much." I love her! And the funny thing is - she's completely different from me. A 45-year-old woman who's Taiwanese, has a Buddhist background, wears crazy pants and smokes. And yet, I feel such a huge, natural love for her. It's almost overpowering sometimes. I know that it's God's love for her, and I know that it's the same for all of us as well.

 

Closing thoughts: we had a talent show Saturday that the missionaries put on for a branch activity. So fun! I played violin and got complimented way more than I deserved, Sister Burton played the guitar, and everyone had a grand old time. Last P-day we all bought matching t-shirts and might've gone against what the white handbook says about "not looking like a tourist" because of it (see the pictures - we look like we're having a weird family reunion). Today we're probably going to San Xian Tai (sp?) - that bumpy bridge - again, but there's a promise of tandem biking at Guanshan in the near future. Life is good! Spiritual thought: I've been thinking about how I can be a better missionary this past week and wanted to share part of a scripture (Mosiah 3:19) - we need to "[become] a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and [become] as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father." I know that we need the Atonement of Jesus Christ to be better! As the Lord's representative, I need to be better than I actually am, be someone that I naturally can't achieve. But the Atonement of Jesus Christ helps us make that extra jump: "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." I know that this is true! I've seen it and I've felt it, especially this week.

 

Okay that is all for this week. I love you, be safe, and have fun at school!

 

Love,

Becca

Sister Winters - July 9, 2012

Dear family and friends,

 

Thank you for all of your wonderful emails this week! It really is the best start of my week to see all of the fantastic things that you're doing and thinking and saying. Thank you for keeping me on board - I really do love hearing from all of you. This week was one of those "roller coasters," but after it was all done I can honestly and completely say that I enjoyed the ride. :)

 

A definite highlight of this week was English class. I realized about two weeks ago that this year the 4th of July would fall on a Wednesday... aka English class. :) I was sooo excited, and told my English class to prepare an American dish and we'd have a party. None of them remembered. :) But I brought some Wal-mart brand chocolate pudding (a member visiting from the states gave us a couple of packages)! Mmmm. Everyone liked it. Plus I used a combination of candy corn and peanuts (a Winters favorite - thank you so much for the package, Mom!!!) in a game that we played. "Don't Eat Pete!" is a favorite in my class - a game that involves eating candy until you lose and everyone shouts, "Don't Eat Pete!" Well, this time I put my 4th of July thinking cap on and came out with "Don't Eat Patriotism!" Haha, so much fun! Especially because it was beginning English, so they struggled a little bit (we had to yell it really slowly). And in my English class version of the game, the students have to say a few extra words - try saying "Washington, D.C.," "The Declaration of Independence," and "The Star-Spangled Banner" and pretend that you're just learning how to speak the language. A little hard. :) I think the best part of that day though was singing 'The Star-Spangled Banner" at the end of class. I wrote all of the words on the board and then we sang it together. It was awesome. Actually, we sang it a lot that day - in companionship study, in our meeting before English class (it's 5 white missionaries and one Taiwanese - in the middle of the song he got up to the board and wrote "I'm Taiwanese" - I think he felt a little left out :)), and then in English class. Maybe not quite as patriotic as running the Peachtree Road Race, but I'd say a whole lot more memorable. All in all a great day.

 

Another huge highlight of the week was meeting our new mission president and his wife - President and Sister Day! They are amazing. I said earlier that this week was a little bit of a roller coaster - let's just say that the Days helped with turning everything going down to everything going up. I know that we're sent to specific missions for specific people that we're supposed to meet, but I had never considered my mission president and his wife being some of those people until meeting the Days. They are wonderful, loving people who are 100% southerners through and through. I seriously felt like I was right back at home in the Peachtree Corners Ward when I heard them talking to me. It was amazing how familiar the feeling I had with them was - I think it's because that feeling really is part of my home. Everything that they said expressed their love for us, their impressment with how the work is going, and their willingness to do whatever it takes to support us and to help us. I think one of my favorite parts was listening to Sister Day introduce herself and her family and the South - I LOVE THE SOUTH! Meeting them confirmed it more than ever. :) Anyway, then they asked all of the missionaries present to introduce themselves and say some things about themselves, etc - when it was my turn to get up, I introduced myself, said I was from Georgia, and then I said, "So I say 'Amen' and 'Hallelujah' to everything that was said about the South." Everyone laughed, and President and Sister Day said that they knew that we were going to have a great working relationship - I agree.

 

Last thought for the day - we really were so blessed this week. Even though I hit a record-high for people giving me wrong phone numbers this week, I still felt such an outpouring of love this week. And when I showed my faith and tried my best to bear my testimony, we saw miracles. We brought people into the chapel, they felt the Spirit, and they wanted to learn more. We also met an absolutely golden investigator this week. She's amazing - we met with her for the second time yesterday, and when we asked her how praying went. "Oh, it was great - I had these awesome feelings when I was praying, and I believe that Someone is hearing my prayers." Wait... what? And then we asked her if she'd be willing to pray about the Book of Mormon: "No problem - I've already been praying every day." I asked her if it was hard to get used to praying every day: "No, it was pretty easy and natural." WOW! And then here comes the best part: we asked her what she was going to do after she got home, what her fun plans for the day were, etc.: "Oh, I'm probably going to start reading The Book of Mormon." I couldn't believe it! I feel so so blessed to teach her. We also had a major breakthrough with Becky, one of our investigators who's required a little more time. I really believe that she'll get baptized this month. And I also really believe that the day of her baptism will be one of the happiest days of my life.

 

God is so good! He knows us and our needs. And He's so willing to help us and show His love for us. I've felt that so many times in my life, and I've been especially blessed to feel it many many times on my mission. I love being here, and I love all of you!

 

Go forward with faith this week!

Love,

Sister Winters

 

Sister Winters - July 16, 2012 "Friday the 13th"

Dear family,

 

I know that I say this every week, but I really can't describe how happy it makes me to hear how all of you are doing each week. Your examples, your love, your support, and your sheer wonderfulness inspire me so much to keep doing my best! Which I've been trying to give, every day. And we've seen some miracles from it, of course! Let me tell you all about it.

 

But first: Mom, you asked a few questions. Have I seen any "tiger moms in action" here? The answer is yes. One of the best examples I can think of is when we were on the train a couple of weeks ago and this little kid started crying so the mom picked her up and started yelling at her, "SLEEP! SLEEP!" ...Strangely enough, that didn't really seem to help. But it was really funny. There were four of us missionaries watching and we were cracking up. But, just like in the States, moms here have different personalities - I've definitely seen some tiger moms, but there are still quite a few who spoil their kids, and some who even ignore their kids. It just depends. You also asked about how often the Taiwanese go on vacation. I'd say that it's much less frequent here than it is in the States. I mean, you still see it occasionally, but the most important thing to everyone here is work, and they do a lot of it. So not as many vacations no. And last question: do I talk to the children a lot? Yes, I do! When I contact moms (one of my favorite hobbies here), I normally will ask their child whether or not they've gone to our English class, whether or not they've been inside the chapel, etc.. And it normally works out pretty well. The only thing is that 99.9789% of Taiwanese children are terribly shy, and sometimes the parents will rely on their children's answers (or, more frequently, their lack of answers) as a way of avoiding my invites or questions to them personally. To give an example, I'll ask the mom if I can say a prayer to bless her and her family, but then the mom, who probably wants to rejects me but doesn't want to be rude and do it openly, will look at her child for the child's answer... but the child is squirming and trying to get away. And then the mom looks at me and laughs nervously while I watch her expectantly for an answer, but still doesn't give one. So we just spend time awkwardly waiting for a small child's answer who isn't actually going to say anything. I've found some bold ways to overcome it, though - yesterday I put my foot in front of this five-year-old's bike tire so she wouldn't bike away (like she was previously doing) and thus allow her mom to leave without saying a closing prayer and exchanging information. :) Boldness. It hasn't served me wrong yet!

 

Okay, back to more stuff this week. Actually, this week we were gone a lot - I had meetings in Hualian and in Taipei this week. Although I was super-excited to go to Taipei (it was my first time going back there in about five months and was also the first time seeing other people in the mission besides my zone of 14 people for the past five months), it was really, really complicated to work everything out for us to go. The tickets we originally wanted were all sold out, so we had to call the assistants, President Day... basically everyone in order for us to work out a time when we could go. It was also confusing because we were doing a companion swap on the way - Elder Peterson's companion left at Yuli, and Sister Burton left in Hualian to go with the Hualian sisters and Elder Devisser came on the train at Hualian to be companions with Elder Peterson and me. Yes, I was a companion to two elders for a couple of days. A little weird. I guess it wasn't a whole two days (I spent the night and the next morning with the temple sisters), but it was a long time. Anyway, we realized that the reason everything was so darn complicated was because the meeting in Taipei was on Friday the 13th! So any weird or unfortunate thing that happened that week before that was just "helping prepare us for the events on Friday the 13th," as we would say. But, despite the superstitions behind that date, the meeting was super-great. I had a joyous reunion with Sister Christensen (my MTC companion who is now training - can't believe it!), ate some great food (including Coldstone creamery ice cream at the Taipei train station - my suggestion, of course), and just enjoyed being in a big, Westernized city. Taipei really is so much like big cities in the US - I almost felt like I was in NYC. Even the apartment I stayed in was like being in the States - I woke up wondering if I was somehow in American Fork, Utah. It was weird. The elders laughed at me when we were walking around the streets - I was just gaping at how big the buildings were and how many people there were! Wow. I felt like such a country bumpkin. I wonder if I'll ever get sent to serve there - I really can't imagine serving outside of the East Coast, but, then again, I've never served outside of the East Coast, so that's probably why. So Taipei was very fun, but when we finally got home (President Day told the elders like 16 times to take good care of me - he's such a Southern gentleman, I love it!), I was so happy to be there. This is Paradise!

 

Oh, one extremely important thing that happened in Taipei that I was so excited to talk about - when the meeting was over and we were talking to all of the missionaries, the missionary that I was talking to gestured for me to look behind me. I saw this short little Asian guy that I'd never seen before and was completely at a loss as to why he would want to talk to me. He said, "Sister Winters? I'm Elder Kim. I was your brother's..." And I completely cut him off and said, "YOU WERE DANIEL'S COMPANION!" Oh my goodness I couldn't believe it! Daniel's trainer - who isn't even from Taipei at all - was there in Taipei, at the same meeting (I guess he went to go see people?), as me - who normally serves in a place six hours south of Taipei. I couldn't believe it. I was so, so, so incredibly excited to talk to him. I asked him about Daniel, about his Chinese, about him as a missionary, etc. - he said that he was great, he was smart and picked things up quickly, all good things. I also remembered to be nice and ask him about himself as well. He was really nice, too - he said that Daniel had always said that my Chinese was really good, and now he knew that it was true. I'll pay you later, Daniel! Anyway, I just thought that that was a delightful ending to a long and stressful process to be in Taipei on Friday the 13th. Obviously, Heavenly Father knows us and knows what's going to happen way better than we do.

 

Last thought about this week. I completely agree with what Daniel said about following the Spirit when we're trying to be "good boys and good girls." I think that that's one way I've changed the most on my mission - I've leanred how to recognize and follow the Spirit on a whole different level. It's wonderful. But today I wanted to talk about Jesus Christ. This past week I've been taking five extra minutes in the morning to think about the Savior, His example, His atonement - basically everything that He's done for me. It says in PMG ch.1 that "as our understanding of the Atonement increases, our desires to share the Gospel will grow." It's been so true! And I feel like this week, as I've really tried to focus my desires completely on doing what the Savior would do, to try and 100% align my will with His, then that's when I've felt that I'm totally an instrument in His hands. It's the best feeling - I can't even describe it. All I know is that I'm so grateful to serve Him and to represent Him here in Taiwan.

 

That is it for this week. I love you all, and I pray for you all daily. Have a wonderful week!

 

Love,

Sister Winters

 

Sister Winters - July 9, 2012 "Don't Eat…Patriotism!"

Dear family and friends,

 

Thank you for all of your wonderful emails this week! It really is the best start of my week to see all of the fantastic things that you're doing and thinking and saying. Thank you for keeping me on board - I really do love hearing from all of you. This week was one of those "roller coasters," but after it was all done I can honestly and completely say that I enjoyed the ride. :)

 

A definite highlight of this week was English class. I realized about two weeks ago that this year the 4th of July would fall on a Wednesday... aka English class. :) I was sooo excited, and told my English class to prepare an American dish and we'd have a party. None of them remembered. :) But I brought some Wal-mart brand chocolate pudding (a member visiting from the states gave us a couple of packages)! Mmmm. Everyone liked it. Plus I used a combination of candy corn and peanuts (a Winters favorite - thank you so much for the package, Mom!!!) in a game that we played. "Don't Eat Pete!" is a favorite in my class - a game that involves eating candy until you lose and everyone shouts, "Don't Eat Pete!" Well, this time I put my 4th of July thinking cap on and came out with "Don't Eat Patriotism!" Haha, so much fun! Especially because it was beginning English, so they struggled a little bit (we had to yell it really slowly). And in my English class version of the game, the students have to say a few extra words - try saying "Washington, D.C.," "The Declaration of Independence," and "The Star-Spangled Banner" and pretend that you're just learning how to speak the language. A little hard. :) I think the best part of that day though was singing 'The Star-Spangled Banner" at the end of class. I wrote all of the words on the board and then we sang it together. It was awesome. Actually, we sang it a lot that day - in companionship study, in our meeting before English class (it's 5 white missionaries and one Taiwanese - in the middle of the song he got up to the board and wrote "I'm Taiwanese" - I think he felt a little left out :)), and then in English class. Maybe not quite as patriotic as running the Peachtree Road Race, but I'd say a whole lot more memorable. All in all a great day.

 

Another huge highlight of the week was meeting our new mission president and his wife - President and Sister Day! They are amazing. I said earlier that this week was a little bit of a roller coaster - let's just say that the Days helped with turning everything going down to everything going up. I know that we're sent to specific missions for specific people that we're supposed to meet, but I had never considered my mission president and his wife being some of those people until meeting the Days. They are wonderful, loving people who are 100% southerners through and through. I seriously felt like I was right back at home in the Peachtree Corners Ward when I heard them talking to me. It was amazing how familiar the feeling I had with them was - I think it's because that feeling really is part of my home. Everything that they said expressed their love for us, their impressment with how the work is going, and their willingness to do whatever it takes to support us and to help us. I think one of my favorite parts was listening to Sister Day introduce herself and her family and the South - I LOVE THE SOUTH! Meeting them confirmed it more than ever. :) Anyway, then they asked all of the missionaries present to introduce themselves and say some things about themselves, etc - when it was my turn to get up, I introduced myself, said I was from Georgia, and then I said, "So I say 'Amen' and 'Hallelujah' to everything that was said about the South." Everyone laughed, and President and Sister Day said that they knew that we were going to have a great working relationship - I agree.

 

Last thought for the day - we really were so blessed this week. Even though I hit a record-high for people giving me wrong phone numbers this week, I still felt such an outpouring of love this week. And when I showed my faith and tried my best to bear my testimony, we saw miracles. We brought people into the chapel, they felt the Spirit, and they wanted to learn more. We also met an absolutely golden investigator this week. She's amazing - we met with her for the second time yesterday, and when we asked her how praying went. "Oh, it was great - I had these awesome feelings when I was praying, and I believe that Someone is hearing my prayers." Wait... what? And then we asked her if she'd be willing to pray about the Book of Mormon: "No problem - I've already been praying every day." I asked her if it was hard to get used to praying every day: "No, it was pretty easy and natural." WOW! And then here comes the best part: we asked her what she was going to do after she got home, what her fun plans for the day were, etc.: "Oh, I'm probably going to start reading The Book of Mormon." I couldn't believe it! I feel so so blessed to teach her. We also had a major breakthrough with Becky, one of our investigators who's required a little more time. I really believe that she'll get baptized this month. And I also really believe that the day of her baptism will be one of the happiest days of my life.

 

God is so good! He knows us and our needs. And He's so willing to help us and show His love for us. I've felt that so many times in my life, and I've been especially blessed to feel it many many times on my mission. I love being here, and I love all of you!

 

Go forward with faith this week!

Love,

Sister Winters

 

Pictures from Sister Winters

Sister Winters - July 23, 2012 French food in Taiwan

Dear Dajia ("big family"),

 

Good morning from Taiwan! It is cold and rainy outside while still being somewhat delightful (I'm so used to hot and rainy, I guess), so I am one happy sister missionary. :) Plus reading all of your emails and seeing your fantastic pictures just makes life great no matter what the weather's like.

 

This week was really good - lots of miracles, lots of funny little contacting experiences, lots of fun church activities, etc. It was at one of the activities that I actually tried a little bit of french food - snails. It was a first! But it wasn't too bad - pretty chewy... kind of like octopus, but I think better. Probably not that much better that I'll want to eat it all of the time, though. :) It looked pretty scary though when I was about to eat it - I'll make sure I include some pictures. There was a member who kept making the joke that I was eating French food for dinner - every time he said it he would crack up for like five minutes. So by the time we left that meant it was like a whole half an hour of his laughing from the number of times that he made that joke. :) That activity was a little barbeque up in the mountains of Luye - there's an Aborigine festival going on there right now and we were going to see some of the performances. BUT, the activity was taking up too much time so we went home before the dancing even started. Bummer. But at least I got to try on some of the clothing! Another activity was last night - we made pizza in someone's homemade brick oven. Tell you what, I didn't know that tuna and corn was a popular pizza flavor. But I'm pretty sure that 99% of the pizzas I've had here (you got me, that's not very many) have had tuna and corn on them. Oh, and onions. It's actually pretty good - maybe I'll tell Papa John's about it when I get home.

 

In other food news, I thought you might be interested (might being the key word here) to know about one of my favorite drinks here. There are drink shops ALL OVER THE PLACE in Taiwan - all different kind of tea shops with all sorts of weirdly delicious things you can add to them. I actually think that the Goodwill shopping center next to Norcross has a Taiwanese place with some drinks you can order - Pheonix? Something like that. Anyway, my favorite here is something called "winter melon tea" - it's like a cucumber, I guess, but bigger. And then they add sugar to it so it's nice and sweet ("ku ku," or "bitter" drinks are much more widely accepted here than they are in the States - yuck). But I can't just go to a cool drink shop with hundreds of choices and just order winter melon tea - way too boring! So I add milk to it, and also a little thing called "zheng zhu," or "pearls" - they're these little tapioca pearls that you can add to your drinks. I don't really quite understand it yet, but the Taiwanese love chewy, gummy things. They have them in their soups, in their candy, and even in their drinks. So they'll give you these huge straws so you can suck up your milk tea and then your tapioca pearls - to tell you the truth, it kind of fascinates me every time to see those little tapioca pearls going up in the straw when you drink it. Yeah, so if you ever go to Taiwan, go and order "Dong gua cha, jia xian nai, jia zheng zhu." You won't regret it.

 

So in interesting mission news, President Day came to give us some training in Hualian this past week. It was good - but really different. He went over some of the principles behind rules in the white handbook and in Preach My Gospel (as well as the scriptures). He said that these principles were the reason we have some (if not all) of the mission rules that are specific to our mission (we have more than 50 of them). And then he said, "These principles are going to stay the same, but the rules are not. I'm taking away all of these rules, with the expectation that you're going to still be obedient and stay true to these principles." ...Wow. That's a lot of trust. I'm still kind of reeling from the fact that he did that. 53 rules, plus some that are "fable rules" that are passed down from generation to generation - that's a lot. But, I guess in reality, not much has changed. The expectation is still there - be exactly obedient. And in a way, the responsibility is even greater, since we don't have the little list of "do's and don't's" to keep us in line. One thing that I am excited about though from this change is music. We can now listen to early-20th century music (before it was only until the 19th century). Oh yeah! :) No, there used to be a lot of specific rules about music, but now there aren't any, so there are some songs/pieces that I would listen to before my mission that really helped me feel the Spirit and happy and excited about the Gospel/life that I couldn't listen to here because of the rules... but now that's changed - I listened to "Brigham Young" and sang along with it when we got home to celebrate. :) Fun fact: the Chinese character for "music" and the character for "happiness" are exactly the same. I think that that's very fitting: music = happiness.

 

Time for the miracle of the week and then I've got to go. Miracles! We saw so many. One of them that was really cool yesterday had to do with a Sister Li ("lee"). The elders came into the chapel with Sister Li and said that they'd found her on the street and were going to give her a tour but since we were there they just let us take care of everything. Anyway, there was a member in the chapel (who normally talks about really deep stuff in the Gospel and talks a lot) that I asked to help us. It was only going to be for a few minutes, and nothing bad would happen, right? WRONG. This member started talking to Sister Li - a strong baptist - about priesthood authority and when the Church was established, etc. Sister Li got really confused and a little angry, and somehow I was able to clearly and succintly explain priesthood authority in a way that she perfectly understood and invited the Spirit - it was the Spirit "putting the words in my mouth" to help me know what to say. But THEN, this member started talking about how the Bible was full of mistakes and the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book. And she grabbed a bible and started bashing her religion and the Bible. Then Sister Li got offended and hurt and started arguing with her - it was so bad! And I was praying so hard that we'd be able to take control of the situation and leave Sister Li with a good impression of the Church, if nothing else. So the member went around the corner to talk to another member about how to prove Sister Li wrong, when I went up to her and quietly said: "Our purpose is not to say who's wrong and who's right in this situation. Our purpose is not to say anything about the Bible except that it completely supports the Book of Mormon and that the Book of Mormon supports the Bible. Our purpose is only to invite her to pray about the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon." Really bold-sounding in hindsight, but I guess I had the Spirit helping me again, because this member wasn't offended - she nodded and backed off. Meanwhile, Sister Burton was helping us work everything out with Sister Li. It wasn't until Sister Burton bore a powerful testimony - in English, actually (Sister Li's English was pretty much perfect since she used to live in the States) - that Sister Li calmed down. Then we took her to the chapel, sang "I am a Child of God," and everything was good. The Spirit was really strong - so strong that not only was Sister Li not offended, but she also agreed to keep meeting with us. Woah, talk about "wonder of wonder, miracle of miracles!" God's hand was totally in that lesson. And in this whole work, actually. This really is His work - as one of our recent converts said yesterday: "This is all true! It's true!" It is. And it makes me so happy to be able to bear testimony of that.

 

Thank you for your support, your love, and your prayers. Have an amazing week!

 

Love,

Sister Winters

Sister Winters July 16, 2012 Friday the 13th

Dear family,

 

I know that I say this every week, but I really can't describe how happy it makes me to hear how all of you are doing each week. Your examples, your love, your support, and your sheer wonderfulness inspire me so much to keep doing my best! Which I've been trying to give, every day. And we've seen some miracles from it, of course! Let me tell you all about it.

 

But first: Mom, you asked a few questions. Have I seen any "tiger moms in action" here? The answer is yes. One of the best examples I can think of is when we were on the train a couple of weeks ago and this little kid started crying so the mom picked her up and started yelling at her, "SLEEP! SLEEP!" ...Strangely enough, that didn't really seem to help. But it was really funny. There were four of us missionaries watching and we were cracking up. But, just like in the States, moms here have different personalities - I've definitely seen some tiger moms, but there are still quite a few who spoil their kids, and some who even ignore their kids. It just depends. You also asked about how often the Taiwanese go on vacation. I'd say that it's much less frequent here than it is in the States. I mean, you still see it occasionally, but the most important thing to everyone here is work, and they do a lot of it. So not as many vacations no. And last question: do I talk to the children a lot? Yes, I do! When I contact moms (one of my favorite hobbies here), I normally will ask their child whether or not they've gone to our English class, whether or not they've been inside the chapel, etc.. And it normally works out pretty well. The only thing is that 99.9789% of Taiwanese children are terribly shy, and sometimes the parents will rely on their children's answers (or, more frequently, their lack of answers) as a way of avoiding my invites or questions to them personally. To give an example, I'll ask the mom if I can say a prayer to bless her and her family, but then the mom, who probably wants to rejects me but doesn't want to be rude and do it openly, will look at her child for the child's answer... but the child is squirming and trying to get away. And then the mom looks at me and laughs nervously while I watch her expectantly for an answer, but still doesn't give one. So we just spend time awkwardly waiting for a small child's answer who isn't actually going to say anything. I've found some bold ways to overcome it, though - yesterday I put my foot in front of this five-year-old's bike tire so she wouldn't bike away (like she was previously doing) and thus allow her mom to leave without saying a closing prayer and exchanging information. :) Boldness. It hasn't served me wrong yet!

 

Okay, back to more stuff this week. Actually, this week we were gone a lot - I had meetings in Hualian and in Taipei this week. Although I was super-excited to go to Taipei (it was my first time going back there in about five months and was also the first time seeing other people in the mission besides my zone of 14 people for the past five months), it was really, really complicated to work everything out for us to go. The tickets we originally wanted were all sold out, so we had to call the assistants, President Day... basically everyone in order for us to work out a time when we could go. It was also confusing because we were doing a companion swap on the way - Elder Peterson's companion left at Yuli, and Sister Burton left in Hualian to go with the Hualian sisters and Elder Devisser came on the train at Hualian to be companions with Elder Peterson and me. Yes, I was a companion to two elders for a couple of days. A little weird. I guess it wasn't a whole two days (I spent the night and the next morning with the temple sisters), but it was a long time. Anyway, we realized that the reason everything was so darn complicated was because the meeting in Taipei was on Friday the 13th! So any weird or unfortunate thing that happened that week before that was just "helping prepare us for the events on Friday the 13th," as we would say. But, despite the superstitions behind that date, the meeting was super-great. I had a joyous reunion with Sister Christensen (my MTC companion who is now training - can't believe it!), ate some great food (including Coldstone creamery ice cream at the Taipei train station - my suggestion, of course), and just enjoyed being in a big, Westernized city. Taipei really is so much like big cities in the US - I almost felt like I was in NYC. Even the apartment I stayed in was like being in the States - I woke up wondering if I was somehow in American Fork, Utah. It was weird. The elders laughed at me when we were walking around the streets - I was just gaping at how big the buildings were and how many people there were! Wow. I felt like such a country bumpkin. I wonder if I'll ever get sent to serve there - I really can't imagine serving outside of the East Coast, but, then again, I've never served outside of the East Coast, so that's probably why. So Taipei was very fun, but when we finally got home (President Day told the elders like 16 times to take good care of me - he's such a Southern gentleman, I love it!), I was so happy to be there. This is Paradise!

 

Oh, one extremely important thing that happened in Taipei that I was so excited to talk about - when the meeting was over and we were talking to all of the missionaries, the missionary that I was talking to gestured for me to look behind me. I saw this short little Asian guy that I'd never seen before and was completely at a loss as to why he would want to talk to me. He said, "Sister Winters? I'm Elder Kim. I was your brother's..." And I completely cut him off and said, "YOU WERE DANIEL'S COMPANION!" Oh my goodness I couldn't believe it! Daniel's trainer - who isn't even from Taipei at all - was there in Taipei, at the same meeting (I guess he went to go see people?), as me - who normally serves in a place six hours south of Taipei. I couldn't believe it. I was so, so, so incredibly excited to talk to him. I asked him about Daniel, about his Chinese, about him as a missionary, etc. - he said that he was great, he was smart and picked things up quickly, all good things. I also remembered to be nice and ask him about himself as well. He was really nice, too - he said that Daniel had always said that my Chinese was really good, and now he knew that it was true. I'll pay you later, Daniel! Anyway, I just thought that that was a delightful ending to a long and stressful process to be in Taipei on Friday the 13th. Obviously, Heavenly Father knows us and knows what's going to happen way better than we do.

 

Last thought about this week. I completely agree with what Daniel said about following the Spirit when we're trying to be "good boys and good girls." I think that that's one way I've changed the most on my mission - I've leanred how to recognize and follow the Spirit on a whole different level. It's wonderful. But today I wanted to talk about Jesus Christ. This past week I've been taking five extra minutes in the morning to think about the Savior, His example, His atonement - basically everything that He's done for me. It says in PMG ch.1 that "as our understanding of the Atonement increases, our desires to share the Gospel will grow." It's been so true! And I feel like this week, as I've really tried to focus my desires completely on doing what the Savior would do, to try and 100% align my will with His, then that's when I've felt that I'm totally an instrument in His hands. It's the best feeling - I can't even describe it. All I know is that I'm so grateful to serve Him and to represent Him here in Taiwan.

 

That is it for this week. I love you all, and I pray for you all daily. Have a wonderful week!

 

Love,

Sister Winters

Don't Eat...Patriotism!!

Dear family and friends,

 

Thank you for all of your wonderful emails this week! It really is the best start of my week to see all of the fantastic things that you're doing and thinking and saying. Thank you for keeping me on board - I really do love hearing from all of you. This week was one of those "roller coasters," but after it was all done I can honestly and completely say that I enjoyed the ride. :)

 

A definite highlight of this week was English class. I realized about two weeks ago that this year the 4th of July would fall on a Wednesday... aka English class. :) I was sooo excited, and told my English class to prepare an American dish and we'd have a party. None of them remembered. :) But I brought some Wal-mart brand chocolate pudding (a member visiting from the states gave us a couple of packages)! Mmmm. Everyone liked it. Plus I used a combination of candy corn and peanuts (a Winters favorite - thank you so much for the package, Mom!!!) in a game that we played. "Don't Eat Pete!" is a favorite in my class - a game that involves eating candy until you lose and everyone shouts, "Don't Eat Pete!" Well, this time I put my 4th of July thinking cap on and came out with "Don't Eat Patriotism!" Haha, so much fun! Especially because it was beginning English, so they struggled a little bit (we had to yell it really slowly). And in my English class version of the game, the students have to say a few extra words - try saying "Washington, D.C.," "The Declaration of Independence," and "The Star-Spangled Banner" and pretend that you're just learning how to speak the language. A little hard. :) I think the best part of that day though was singing 'The Star-Spangled Banner" at the end of class. I wrote all of the words on the board and then we sang it together. It was awesome. Actually, we sang it a lot that day - in companionship study, in our meeting before English class (it's 5 white missionaries and one Taiwanese - in the middle of the song he got up to the board and wrote "I'm Taiwanese" - I think he felt a little left out :)), and then in English class. Maybe not quite as patriotic as running the Peachtree Road Race, but I'd say a whole lot more memorable. All in all a great day.

 

Another huge highlight of the week was meeting our new mission president and his wife - President and Sister Day! They are amazing. I said earlier that this week was a little bit of a roller coaster - let's just say that the Days helped with turning everything going down to everything going up. I know that we're sent to specific missions for specific people that we're supposed to meet, but I had never considered my mission president and his wife being some of those people until meeting the Days. They are wonderful, loving people who are 100% southerners through and through. I seriously felt like I was right back at home in the Peachtree Corners Ward when I heard them talking to me. It was amazing how familiar the feeling I had with them was - I think it's because that feeling really is part of my home. Everything that they said expressed their love for us, their impressment with how the work is going, and their willingness to do whatever it takes to support us and to help us. I think one of my favorite parts was listening to Sister Day introduce herself and her family and the South - I LOVE THE SOUTH! Meeting them confirmed it more than ever. :) Anyway, then they asked all of the missionaries present to introduce themselves and say some things about themselves, etc - when it was my turn to get up, I introduced myself, said I was from Georgia, and then I said, "So I say 'Amen' and 'Hallelujah' to everything that was said about the South." Everyone laughed, and President and Sister Day said that they knew that we were going to have a great working relationship - I agree.

 

Last thought for the day - we really were so blessed this week. Even though I hit a record-high for people giving me wrong phone numbers this week, I still felt such an outpouring of love this week. And when I showed my faith and tried my best to bear my testimony, we saw miracles. We brought people into the chapel, they felt the Spirit, and they wanted to learn more. We also met an absolutely golden investigator this week. She's amazing - we met with her for the second time yesterday, and when we asked her how praying went. "Oh, it was great - I had these awesome feelings when I was praying, and I believe that Someone is hearing my prayers." Wait... what?And then we asked her if she'd be willing to pray about the Book of Mormon: "No problem - I've already been praying every day." I asked her if it was hard to get used to praying every day: "No, it was pretty easy and natural." WOW! And then here comes the best part: we asked her what she was going to do after she got home, what her fun plans for the day were, etc.: "Oh, I'm probably going to start reading The Book of Mormon." I couldn't believe it! I feel so so blessed to teach her. We also had a major breakthrough with Becky, one of our investigators who's required a little more time. I really believe that she'll get baptized this month. And I also really believe that the day of her baptism will be one of the happiest days of my life.

 

God is so good! He knows us and our needs. And He's so willing to help us and show His love for us. I've felt that so many times in my life, and I've been especially blessed to feel it many many times on my mission. I love being here, and I love all of you!

 

Go forward with faith this week!

 

Love,

Sister Winters

Sister Winters - July 2, 2012 Talk to Strangers

Okay, well I just wrote my entire email and then accidentally discarded it. And it is absolutely nowhere to be found (how is that possible?!). So I'm planning on reliving my MTC days as I type my heart out as fast as possible.

 

Dear family and friends,

 

Zao an from Taiwan! This past week was so great. We saw so many miracles every day, I love my companion, and I love my district - about half of them are new, so everyone's on fire to make this place grow. Even though it's been pretty hot lately, I still am so in love with Taidong. It's a gorgeous place, and I feel so blessed to serve here.

 

I have a little bit to say about being senior companion, but that'll wait until the end. First, some funny stories from this week! So we have a little tradition here in Taidong where we hike up this mountain behind our apartment complex as a district for exercise time during the first week. When I say "mountain," I mean Amicalola status - without the little walkway but with twice the stairs. Then after we get to the top (and catch our breath) we introduce ourselves and say a prayer where we dedicate ourselves to building the Lord's kingdom here in Taidong. I love it. :) Well, this week's was extra-special! We were chatting at the top when this white guy (such an anomaly here - and yes, I just used the word "anomaly" and I feel so great) with grayish hair, big glasses, blue Hawaiian swimming trunks, and a giant SpongeBob shirt came up to the top of the mountain with a baby strapped to his front and a Taiwanese wife coming up behind. We asked him where he was from and he said he was from Atlanta - Decatur, actually. Talk about worlds colliding! I couldn't believe it. Anyway, he was very eccentric - it was hard to keep from laughing from the strangeness of the situation. The best part though was when he pulled out this giant wooden flute and said: "this is a Japanese flute - I go up to the mountain in the mornings to play it. Can I play it for you?" Well, how often have you had a random man from Decatur in Taidong at the top of a mountain asked you if he could play his Japanese flute for you? It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! I loved it so much - yeah, the flute playing wasn't that bad, but the real reason was just because of the hilarity and all-around randomness of the situation. That meeting on the top of the mountain kept me smiling for days afterwards. :)

 

The Taidong first and second branch had a softball tournament activity this past Saturday which we were able to attend. Since one of my biggest regrets in life stems from not taking pictures at the past few activities, I decided that this time my camera was a must. I was so glad I took it! I got some fun action shots from the day, not to mention a couple of secret shots of some of the members wearing their full-out baseball pants. Let's just say that some of the day's softballing was a little more intense than what I'm normally used to.

 

Sister Burton and I were talking about how on our missions we do so many things that our mothers told us never to do when we were little. Here are a couple of examples:

- "Don't talk to strangers."

- "Don't take food from strangers."

- "Don't go into sketchy alleyways with strangers. And don't talk to them there."

- "Don't ask strangers for their phone numbers. And don't call them."

- "Stay away from drunk people." (Okay, so my mother actually never literally told me that, but it was still a general rule that I followed.)

- "Don't eat berries that you don't recognize, especially when it's offered to you from a stranger."

 

Funny story about that last one - last week we were visiting this less-active family, which was good. We've been meeting with them for the past two months or so and I think we're making progress. Anyway, they always give us fruit afterwards, which I love (the fruit in Taiwan is seriously the best in the world). But this time was special - they brought out some pineapple, some mango, and then said: "Eat the mango first, then eat the pineapple. It's sour, right? But then eat this berry, and everything will be sweet! It's called the Dragon's Eye, and it's sacred here in Taiwan." Well, we did what they said, and then the pineapple was sweet! Apparently I could straight-up eat lemons and they'd still be sweet. Crazy. And also a little sketchy. Especially when our tongues started feeling all weird and tingly afterwards. I guess my mom was right - do not eat random berries you don't recognize. Especially when they have strange properties.

 

Okay, spiritual thought: I loved this past week. I loved leading, I loved finding, and I loved teaching. I remember with my past companions thinking: "how did they know where to go?", and then being sad that I didn't seem to have that ability. But this week when I was leading there were times almost every day where I was led by the Spirit to know where to go and whom to talk to. And sure enough, there were prepared people placed in my way. It was so wonderful! And I know it wasn't anything to do with me or strange abilities that I have that suddenly were realized last week - I just tried to be obedient, and Heavenly Father took care of the rest. I know for a fact that when the Lord calls you to a position, He will help qualify you. I also know that this work is His work! I've seen His hand in this work even more than ever, and it's been so humbling and so wonderful for me to feel this week even more like I'm serving as an instrument in His hand. I love this place! I love this work! I love these people! And I love the Lord.

 

...I also love all of you, everyone. Have a fantastic week - I'll do the same!

 

Love,

Sister Winters