It
has been a very interesting week! Lots of ups and downs, but I survived!
Last
week, we ate at a chidaobao (like a buffet but you also grill your own food in
front of you), and then split off. The Elders went to Big City (a big mall),
and the STL's went to go buy a watch for Sister Bain and groceries. I thought
the Elders were just going shopping and I needed a watch, so we went with the
STL's. It wasn't until later I found out that the Elders went bowling! I was
mad that I missed the opportunity to go bowling, but I needed a watch, so it
wasn't a complete waste at least. You know me, I really hate missing fun
opportunities, especially on a Pday.
Today
for my last day as a teenager, we will go to the beach again! I was hoping we
would, so I am happy that we are doing it. Plus, we will, hopefully, be meeting
with some YSA buddies from Ba De at the Beach. I love and miss them so much.
One of them will be going on a mission soon! There are so many young Taiwanese
members who are going on missions, it's so inspiring. They have to "visa wait" a
lot of the time, though, for US visas for the Provo MTC.
I
can't believe it's been 19 years since I had my birthday in Asia (my first
birthday in Japan). It will be nice to finally be in around the right time
zone. I can't believe I will be 20, I feel so old. I swear it was yesterday I
was staying up late at my aunt's house in Cedar City (staying there before
heading out to a family reunion) and looking at the clock, enjoying my last
moments of childhood before I turned 13. Man, teenage-hood went by so quickly.
It has been fun, I don't think I am quite ready for a lifetime of adulthood
yet. Oh well, can't do anything to stop it.
It
has been kind of a rough week. I realized that a third of my mission is already
over (entered the MTC in January), and I still haven't seen any baptisms, which
was a kind of a punch in the gut (and heart). Other than a bundi/native
Taiwanese (who is waiting for his visa for Florida) who is being trained right
now, I am the only one in my district who hasn't seen any baptisms yet. It has
been killing me so bad lately. When you have been on a mission for 6 months and
have baptism drilled into your head constantly, it's hard to go for so long
and not see any. I'm trying to be patient and hopeful that I will see a baptism
one day. I can't wait for that day to come. I'm trying not to give up hope that
I will see a baptism.
Tuesday was
another rare miracle day, where we knocked on a bunch of doors and got new
investigators! One a day is a miracle, let alone 5! Right after district
meeting, we were challenged to go knocking for 30 minutes. So we went to a
neighborhood by the church in our area with the Sister Training Leaders, one of
who was my trainer. The STL's then knocked on one door (Monica and Vincent,
will mention again later) and they listened to them and became our new
investigators! The stl's then had to leave, but it helped us have faith, which
led to meeting 4 other interested people on the same street! It was great!
After Tuesday,
it went downhill. All week people either canceled their lessons because they
were busy or didn't show up (fanged), which is really hard because that means
finding, and I have been doing finding a ton since the beginning of the month
and was hoping all that finding would lead to scheduled lessons at the end of
the month. Except for two people's houses we randomly showed up to, all and I
mean all of our lessons were canceled. I don't like finding, I would much
rather do lessons. It's been so long since we've had a sit down lesson. We have
a few scheduled for today and for tomorrow (what I wanted for my birthday,
if not baptisms at least be busy with lessons).
Alaina, the Filipino, wasn't able to come to church which was super sad. She is stuck
taking care of an older member 24/7, so she rarely leaves the house. He was
doing bad yesterday, plus the person who gave her a ride and took care of him
last week wasn't able to do so again yesterday, so she couldn't come to church.
Hopefully through God's help we will be able to find a way for her to attend
church, even after she gets baptized. She just doesn't have the time or
transportation to attend church. I haven't realized how much of a
sacrifice it is to attend church for some people until now. It can be a simple commandment for
some like us missionaries, but super hard for others like Alaina. I challenge
you all to find people who might need help getting to church and see what you
can do to help. We have been doing less active finding here and there (which
can lead to referrals), but it would really help if the members could help more
in trying to find and fellowship them.
Fun
story: So right after English boarding (giving our free English tracts) with
the district, the Zone leaders stayed behind at the courtyard across from the
station. Long story short, my companion left too quickly, and I didn't know
where she went. So l called the zone leaders since they were right there and we
share the same area with them and ask what to do. One of them came to get me
(Elder Scovel, who I knew from Ba De), but then we didn't see his companion
behind him and he realized he lost his companion too. We both went back to the
train station and were without our companions for about 10-15 minutes. But then
both of our companions borrowed other peoples phones and called us and asked
where we were. So there's the adventure for the week: the zone leader and I
losing our companions together.
We
had the 15-year old sister, Monica, and 12-year old brother, Vincent, come to
church. It was cute how they were fellowshipped by the sunday school
teachers, young women and boys. Vincent was so interested and had so many
questions (his teacher told me later), and Monica seemed to be okay. Can't wait
to teach them again.
I've
also met a guy from Belgium and a lady from Thailand, which adds another person
to my list of people I have met from around the world.
Cool
story: So last Saturday we went to the Stake family history center in Zhunbei
(30 min bike ride) to help with Recent Convert Huang Di Xiong get started on
family history work. His dad died a while ago and his mom left the picture, so
he was raised by his grandparents. He is 18 years old. He printed off his dad's
name and will take it to the temple. It was amazing to see that happen. I
realllllly hope I can go with him to the temple to see him do his dad's baptism,
that would be sooo cool. The family history workers kept telling him over and
over again how his future kids will be so happy he started the family history
chart for them. It made me grateful mine has had a lot done. Also, while there,
we met with a guy from California and his wife from Canada who lives in our area
but goes to the English ward in zhubei. he served his mission in Hong Kong, so he
recognized my companion Sister Shek. He saw her as a younger girl when he served
in her ward. Her dad was the bishop of a ward for about 8 years and is now in
the stake presidency. Even when Elder Wang came a few months ago, he brought
her up and told everyone how her dad was his bishop. It was cool to see.
It's
been super hot and sweaty lately, super blessed and surprised that I'm getting
tanned and not burned.
Spiritual
share
This
week has been a rough one, but hopefully things will get better. I just need to
have faith and trust in God that everything will work out.
Love y'all!
-Sister
Brinkerhoff/ Xiao Bei Jie Mei
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