WOW, IT HAS BEEN A ROLLER COASTER
OF A WEEK!!!! I would describe it in one word: bittersweet. It has been a very
sad but cool week for me.
First off, our pday was very busy
last week. I had to write a short email cause I had to print off pics for bye
bye books (it was transfers week). Then, we went to Yingge. I wanted to do the
ceramics museum so bad but a member wanted us to come to his house, have lunch
and play some games. The games were kinda complicated and boring, but it's ok.
Then we ate at an expensive chi dao bao (you are given a ton of meat and grill
it yourself right in front of you). Then we went back to Ba De and taught a
lesson.
Then, last Wednesday, we got the
transfer notices. BADE SISTERS ARE WHITEWASHED! So me and my trainer Sister
Bain got sent to Hsinchu (she is now Sister Training Leader). It's weird cause
trainers and trainees are separated, but we are living in the same apartment together.
It's good though she can still help me out. My new companion is Sister Shek
from Hong Kong. She has been in Taiwan for 3 months too (we came to Taiwan
together on a mission), so we are both Senior Companions and we are breaking
each other!!! It’s super hard, we have to figure it out for ourselves.
Thankfully she was trained here so she knows where everything is. Hsinchu is kinda next to the beach. Still don't know what to do for pday today,
but will let u know next week.
I am really kicking myself hard for
not enjoying Ba De more (as well as not going to the Yingge Ceramics Museum
right after my aunt emailed me to do it). Really hard lesson learned- enjoy
life and take advantage while you can. I love and miss it so much. We had
so many investigators so close to baptism, but I hope the Ba De sisters will
take care of them. Even sister Bain wrote on a sticky note on the area book
"take care of them, THEY ARE LOVED!" It's definitely the hardest part
of a mission, leaving an area, members and investigators. I really thought I
was gonna stay over and take over Ba De, but God has something better in mind.
It was a good reminder that the investigators are God's and not mine. I
definitely left my heart in Ba De. I don't know if it's possible (since we are
the only two sisters in the area), but I hope one day I can go back and train
in Ba De (as well as check on the investigators). I hope to love Hsinchu as
much as Ba De. I talked with a Russian a few days ago in Hsinchu and there are
some white people which is super rare to see. I’m totally gonna freak out when
I get back to the us after my mission and see so many white people.
So now I am in Hsinchu, the big
city. Ba De is like Cedar City (smaller), and Hsinchu is like Salt Lake City.
It's rough. The sisters had baptisms
recently, so now Sister Shek and I have to start from scratch-finding new
investigators, which is hard. But like I've seen in Ba De, if we find really
hard the Lord will bless us with awesome investigators (like the ones we left
behind in bade).
OKAY MIRACLE TIME!
So remember the Dominican Republic
family I talked about? Little background about them: they are living in an
apartment right next to our chapel. They speak Spanish, a little Chinese and a
little English. It consists of a dad, mom, and a six-year-old boy. They have
lived in Taiwan for two months so far and have 16 more to go. The dad works in
the military. They have time to meet with us on the weekends. We met with them
once already. We gave them a Spanish Book of Mormon we found and introduced
them to the church website in Spanish. They came to our English class. They
also came to church last Sunday, but it was super difficult in Sacrament
meeting for us missionaries to translate for them, since all of our Spanish is
very limited. After Sacrament, they were leaving for home, thinking church was
just an hour long. After we explained we have two more hours of church with
classes, they said church was hard enough not having anyone being able to
translate for them, so they went home. They are super ready to be baptized (the
mom was crying when she read the introduction of the Book of Mormon), but it
was very difficult without a Spanish speaker.
Well, guess what people? Guess who
was transferred to Ba De? That's right, THE ONLY SPANISH SPEAKING ELDER IN THE
WHOLE MISSION, ELDER BUDD (who was in my MTC district) AS WELL AS THE ONLY
SPANISH SPEAKING SISTER, WHO IS ALSO TRAINING IN BA DE (Ba de is where a lot of
missionaries start their missions like me because the area is small and easy
and the chapel is super close). It’s exactly what we needed. OUT OF 200
MISSIONARIES IN 29 DISTRICTS, THOSE TWO WERE SENT TO BADE!!!
So Sister Bain and I though it was
because President Jergensen read our emails about them. So we thought, Oh he sent them there cause he read our emails. But guess what? Guess who called yesterday after church and
said they had not idea that the Domnican Republic family even existed until
after transfers? That’s right, brothers
and sisters, President Jergensen called and said that he had just read my email
ten minutes before about the family, five days after transfers! This proves that God does exist and is aware
of his children!
This family was too busy at work in
the Dom Rep to go to church on weekends, and the fact that they LIVED RIGHT
NEXT TO OUR CHAPEL IN BADE, that one night they stopped me and my comp and
asked if they could come to English class then came to church, that the mom
cried when we gave her a Spanish Book of Mormon, THEN have 2 Spanish speaking
missionaries sent to them? I AM TELLING
YOU RIGHT NOW, THEY WILL GET BAPTIZED! I really hope Sister Bain and I will get
permission from president to go after they are taught by the missionaries since
it's kinda far away and its hard to attend baptisms out of your area without a
really good reason.
And did you know that Ba De means eight values/morals? And that Deguoren
means Germany (morals country), Yingguo
is England (hero country) and Meiguo
is American (beautiful country)? Its
probably based on how the country sounds like how Jianada is Canada and Moxi is
mexico.
Anyway, thanks for your prayers and
please pray that the investigators in Ba de will get baptized even though I’m
not there, that I will be okay (super sad to leave the Ba De investigators),
and that we will find people here in Hsinchu (the sister here before me just
went home-she was here for 9 months and had no baptisms until the last 2 weeks
when she had 3).
Thanks for your love and support! Love you all!
-Sister Brinkerhoff
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