Sister Winters - August 27, 2012

Dear family,

 

I love hearing from all of you! You are all so worth waking up super-early for (and for those of you who have served a mission, you know that that's saying something). I'm so glad you're all doing well. I'm doing pretty well too, as you'll see from this week's report.

 

So, in most important news, Susan got baptized this week! And confirmed! I wasn't sure that last part was going to happen - it was 3 minutes before church was starting and she still wasn't there, her phone was turned off... bad news. So I paced around desperately not knowing what to do for a little bit and then went up to Susan's primary teacher and said, "Will you go get her with me?" She looked at my face for a second and then said, "Okay." So we ran out to her car and were starting to drive away when we saw Susan racing into the parking lot. She apparently had only woken up a half an hour before that and needed to bike over to the church in that time as well. Whew. Let's just say it was a little bit stressful. The baptism also had a few stressful moments as well (water needing to be filled again, needing to be baptized three times, etc.), but as one elder said, "It all came together in the end." I just hope that things all start coming together in the beginning soon! :) It will make my job a lot easier.

 

BUT, one cool thing about that whole experience that I wanted to share - yesterday I was sitting next Susan in church. Before she went up to be confirmed, I explained to her once again what would happen. Anyway, she was a little nervous when she went up in front of everyone, but dutifully sat down and was confirmed and received the Holy Ghost. There was a very sweet spirit there as that happened. And then she went back and sat down next to me. I asked how she felt. "So nervous!" she said. I said, "Yeah, but when they put their hands on your head and gave you that blessing, what did you feel?" Then she smiled at me and said, "I felt really really good." So great! Moments like that are ones that missionaries live for.

 

For the weather report this week, we actually had a real typhoon a few days ago. It actually hit Taidong, which practically never happens. I feel a little guilty because I was kind of excited to see what one actually looks like, but there was actually a lot of disaster involved. Huge trees getting completely uprooted, etc. Well, actually not too much etc.; huge trees being uprooted was mostly it. It was a little startling riding around the next day and seeing that. Thankfully it happened during the night so we still got to be out and about the next day - I was grateful for that.

 

Funny/awkward contacting story for the week: as some people have already found out through my brother's email about La Duzi, the Taiwanese have no TMI ("too much information") borders. They just don't exist here. While I hope that I can really embrace the culture of the people whom I serve, I hope that my sharing-too-much-personal-information level never quite gets to the point of the Taiwanese. An example of this is Mr. Luo. We were trying to visit a girl named Jane Luo. I had heard that her dad was quite strict, so I was a little nervous to see what kind of person he'd be. But I was determined to find her, so we found her house and knocked on the door. Nobody answered, so I knocked again. And then I heard something inside, so I said (already knowing the answer to my question): "Is there anybody there?" Finally, a man opened the door about six inches wide and then poked his head out.

 

"Yes, what do you want?"

"Hello, we're missionaries."
"Oh! Oh! *awkward laugh* Well, you see, um.. I'm not wearing anything. I'm not wearing any clothes."

"Oh."

 

Even though I only said, "Oh," what I meant was, "Why on Earth did you come to the door without wearing anything?!" Or, "What would make you think that it would be acceptable to come to the door without wearing anything?" Or, "Is this a normal thing for you?" Thankfully that crack in the doorway never got wider than six inches. And thankfully I just happened to learn the word "tuoli" (naked) in my mission vocabulary program this week (don't ask me why that word's in there, because I don't know), which enabled me to have my clever email title. 

 

Okay, spiritual part: this week I've been studying hope. It's been interesting because I've always thought that I'm a pretty hopeful person in general so I haven't ever studied hope too much, but it's part of my mission-long study of charity ("hopeth all things") so I decided to give it a try this transfer. It's so great! I love hope. Preach My Gospel describes it as being made manifest in "confidence, optimism, enthusiasm, and patient perseverance." Those are all things that I hope to have more of, so I'm happy to be studying hope. I've found as I've had hope more in doing this work, we've seen more miracles, and we've been made better - made into more than we were originally. I know that that's only through the Savior, whom we have a hope in, along with His Atonement. I'm hoping for great things this week, and I know that as I continue to hope in Jesus Christ that I really will be able to do all things in Him, who strengtheneth me.

 

Have a wonderful week!

 

Love,

Sister Rebecca Winters