Happy Thanksgiving! The weirdest (well, one of them) thing about serving in Asia is that no Western holidays are celebrated, including Thanksgiving and Christmas. Tomorrow will just be a normal day for us of proselyting and teaching (although a member family did invite us to come to their house for a "thanksgiving dinner"--which was nice!) and our mission president has "cancelled" Christmas for us this year, which means besides the call home, it will also be a normal day of proselyting. Oh well, we celebrate the Chinese holidays, right? :)
Hmm, I am not quite sure what to write about this week. Our dearly beloved investigator Lin Wan Ting got baptized this Sunday.
It was our turn to be in the Taoyuan 2nd ward for church but Sister Lin was getting baptized in the Bade ward right after church. We planned on leaving the Taoyuan ward right before Relief Society so we could ride our bikes the 50 minutes to the Bade chapel and be there for her baptism. Well, one of our investigators (her name is Oscar--kind of weird, I know) was at church with us and when we said we were going to leave church early to ride 50 minutes in the rain she freaked out and, after several minutes of scolding us, she told us that she was going to take us in her car. When I told her that we still had to ride back to the Taoyuan chapel later, she said she would come and pick us up and bring us back. Well, we certainly weren't going to argue with her, so we got a break from riding almost 2 hours in the rain. The Lord really sends us angels in our need!
Last Wednesday at English class I told my class members that if they had any English papers that they wanted me to check their English on, I would be happy to do so. Well, one of my students, Sue, came up to me after class and said she had a paper and asked if I would correct it. Not supposing it would be too long or difficult, I readily agreed. I really want Sue to start investigating the church and I felt that a service opportunity would be a great way to strengthen that relationship.
Well, on Friday morning (about 1 pm--I guess not really morning) she gave it to me. I asked her when she needed to have it back and she hesitated, looked embarassed, and then said, "Tomorrow is a really good day in the Chinese calendar, and if I turn it in tomorrow it will be really good. Can you have it done by later today?" Well, no problem, until I looked at the paper--40 pages of an academic paper about science parks in Taiwan. It was one of the most boring things I have ever read--and I guess I didn't realize her English was that good! Anyway, we were planning on going up to Taipei with an investigator that day but she cancelled so I had plenty of time to correct the paper. Sue wanted to pay me but I told her that missionaries cannont accept money--so when she came to pick up her paper she had a huge bag full of fruit for us--a watermelon, apples, peanuts, tomatoes, and pears. I guess she decided that if we can't take cash we can take fruit!!!
Saturday night the ward asked us to help with an engagement party. Remember the wedding party last transfer? Well, we are good publicity for the non-members that came to the church to attend the engagement party (we stood at the door and handed out programs) so that was fun.
And then yesterday, we were eating lunch with a member at a restaurant. She had just taken us to meet her friend who she was hoping would start meeting with the missionaries and took us out to lunch after. When we were almost finished this man came up to me and said in broken English, "Are you from church?" When I nodded in the affirmative he said that his friend (eating lunch at another table) needed a religion, he himself was preparing to be baptized and become Christian, and he wanted us to come over to the table and talk to his friend. His friend looked like he hadn't slept in a week (which was true, he told us later) and said, "Can we go to the church right now? I need to confess. Is you pastor at the church?" I told him that we didn't have confessional but the missionaries would be happy to meet with him. He said, "Can they meet right now?" so I called the elders and they just happened to be at the church and have time. He and his friend went immediately to the church and the elders taught them. It was a great testimony that the Lord really is in charge of this work and He will lead his children to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Well, that's about it. Life is pretty good--exhausting, exhilerating, exciting, and every other "e" adjective. Hope you all are well. Eat lots of turkey for Thanksgiving dinner :)
Sister White
Hmm, I am not quite sure what to write about this week. Our dearly beloved investigator Lin Wan Ting got baptized this Sunday.
Last Wednesday at English class I told my class members that if they had any English papers that they wanted me to check their English on, I would be happy to do so. Well, one of my students, Sue, came up to me after class and said she had a paper and asked if I would correct it. Not supposing it would be too long or difficult, I readily agreed. I really want Sue to start investigating the church and I felt that a service opportunity would be a great way to strengthen that relationship.
Well, on Friday morning (about 1 pm--I guess not really morning) she gave it to me. I asked her when she needed to have it back and she hesitated, looked embarassed, and then said, "Tomorrow is a really good day in the Chinese calendar, and if I turn it in tomorrow it will be really good. Can you have it done by later today?" Well, no problem, until I looked at the paper--40 pages of an academic paper about science parks in Taiwan. It was one of the most boring things I have ever read--and I guess I didn't realize her English was that good! Anyway, we were planning on going up to Taipei with an investigator that day but she cancelled so I had plenty of time to correct the paper. Sue wanted to pay me but I told her that missionaries cannont accept money--so when she came to pick up her paper she had a huge bag full of fruit for us--a watermelon, apples, peanuts, tomatoes, and pears. I guess she decided that if we can't take cash we can take fruit!!!
Saturday night the ward asked us to help with an engagement party. Remember the wedding party last transfer? Well, we are good publicity for the non-members that came to the church to attend the engagement party (we stood at the door and handed out programs) so that was fun.
And then yesterday, we were eating lunch with a member at a restaurant. She had just taken us to meet her friend who she was hoping would start meeting with the missionaries and took us out to lunch after. When we were almost finished this man came up to me and said in broken English, "Are you from church?" When I nodded in the affirmative he said that his friend (eating lunch at another table) needed a religion, he himself was preparing to be baptized and become Christian, and he wanted us to come over to the table and talk to his friend. His friend looked like he hadn't slept in a week (which was true, he told us later) and said, "Can we go to the church right now? I need to confess. Is you pastor at the church?" I told him that we didn't have confessional but the missionaries would be happy to meet with him. He said, "Can they meet right now?" so I called the elders and they just happened to be at the church and have time. He and his friend went immediately to the church and the elders taught them. It was a great testimony that the Lord really is in charge of this work and He will lead his children to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Well, that's about it. Life is pretty good--exhausting, exhilerating, exciting, and every other "e" adjective. Hope you all are well. Eat lots of turkey for Thanksgiving dinner :)
Sister White
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