Hello everyone!
I am an aunt! That is the exciting news for the week. My sister Jocilyn had her baby and named him Peter Lloyd May. And he is the cutest nephew I have. :)
And now for the missionary work. Achin got baptized! She is the Indonesian investigator (now member) that we taught last transfer. The story of her baptism is really interesting so I thought I would share part of it with you.
Achin is here in Taiwan taking care of her brother-in-law, who is Taiwanese and 83 years old. It is a long story but the short of it is, her sister died and so Achin came from Indonesia to take care of her brother in law, who needs a lot of help. Well, she really doesn't like it at all, especially since her family is still in Indonesia, but the gospel has brought her a lot of joy.
Anyway, so Saturday afternoon (about 1:30) we get a call from Achin, who tells us that her brother in law is very sick and she might have to take him to the hospital...and then she calls again and tells us that she is in the hospital with him. And we start to panic because her baptism WILL go through, whether or not her brother in law is in the hospital. So we start calling our ward mission leader, and talking to the other elders, etc, to try to find a way to get her from the hospital to the baptism and have someone at the hospital to take care of the brother in law (you can't just leave them in Taiwanese hospitals). And we had a baptismal interview at 3 in the Taoyuan church and a lesson at 5 in the Bade church and then the baptism at 7 in Bade. So while our investigator is having her interview, we are outside trying to figure out how to get Achin to her baptism.
And then, even though I warned our district leader that this investigator might not pass her interview and to not take more than an hour (because we had to ride an hour to get to our lesson in Bade) he still took an hour and 45 min (and she still didn't pass) and we had to change our lesson and then ride like crazy to get to the Bade chapel. We finally asked the elders to go to the hospital and take care of the brother in law so Achin could come to her baptism--and the MM leader would go and pick her up and take her back.
But by the time we left the Taoyuan chapel we only had 25 minutes to make it to the chapel an hour away--so after riding really fast we caught a bus and took the bus the rest of the way.
But the busses in Taiwan have no maximun capacity. If they can stuff more people in they will, and that was how this bus was. It was so crowded that I just looked at it and got claustrophobic, and my companion and I got on and I tried to stand on my tiptoes and hang on to the ceiling bars so I could get some fresh air, all the while being touched on all sides by people and purses, etc. Did I mention that I have a very big bubble?
But, we finally made it to the lesson (only 15 minutes late!) and Achin made it to her baptism (only 20 minutes late) and the speaker made it too (only 50 minutes late) and Achin got baptized and then confirmed the next day.
Needless to say, it was quite the adventure!
Oh, and I forgot to mention that this transfer I will be in Bade once again and with the same companion, Sister Olsen. We are really excited. :)
Speaking of transfers, I only have this one and then 3 more before my mission comes to a close. I was in the mission office two weeks ago and one of the office elders told me my stats. So as of two weeks ago, I had:
15593969 seconds
259900 minutes
4332 hours
181 days
25 weeks
6 months
4.31 transfers
left on my mission. Of course, when the senior missionaries and the mission president's wife heard that he gave me my stats, they were properly horrified and told him that he could NEVER tell anyone how many seconds they had left on their mission! But it is ok--I am a sister, and it is not like a secret when I am going home. But I thought it was funny and wanted to share it with you.
Well, I had a lot more adventures but I am tired of typing, so that is all for now. Oh, and just a bit of good news--it is finally turning into fall! And getting SLIGHTLY cooler. I weep tears of gratitude--or maybe it is because of the dust blown into my eyes by the 30 mph winds that we have been experiencing lately! My companion said the other day that she didn't know she needed to bring goggles on her mission! Sometimes the wind is so strong that it blows my helmet off (but the buckle thing keeps it on my head) and we wonder why there is ALWAYS a head wind and never a tail wind. Oh well.
Sister White
I am an aunt! That is the exciting news for the week. My sister Jocilyn had her baby and named him Peter Lloyd May. And he is the cutest nephew I have. :)
And now for the missionary work. Achin got baptized! She is the Indonesian investigator (now member) that we taught last transfer. The story of her baptism is really interesting so I thought I would share part of it with you.
Achin is here in Taiwan taking care of her brother-in-law, who is Taiwanese and 83 years old. It is a long story but the short of it is, her sister died and so Achin came from Indonesia to take care of her brother in law, who needs a lot of help. Well, she really doesn't like it at all, especially since her family is still in Indonesia, but the gospel has brought her a lot of joy.
Anyway, so Saturday afternoon (about 1:30) we get a call from Achin, who tells us that her brother in law is very sick and she might have to take him to the hospital...and then she calls again and tells us that she is in the hospital with him. And we start to panic because her baptism WILL go through, whether or not her brother in law is in the hospital. So we start calling our ward mission leader, and talking to the other elders, etc, to try to find a way to get her from the hospital to the baptism and have someone at the hospital to take care of the brother in law (you can't just leave them in Taiwanese hospitals). And we had a baptismal interview at 3 in the Taoyuan church and a lesson at 5 in the Bade church and then the baptism at 7 in Bade. So while our investigator is having her interview, we are outside trying to figure out how to get Achin to her baptism.
And then, even though I warned our district leader that this investigator might not pass her interview and to not take more than an hour (because we had to ride an hour to get to our lesson in Bade) he still took an hour and 45 min (and she still didn't pass) and we had to change our lesson and then ride like crazy to get to the Bade chapel. We finally asked the elders to go to the hospital and take care of the brother in law so Achin could come to her baptism--and the MM leader would go and pick her up and take her back.
But by the time we left the Taoyuan chapel we only had 25 minutes to make it to the chapel an hour away--so after riding really fast we caught a bus and took the bus the rest of the way.
But the busses in Taiwan have no maximun capacity. If they can stuff more people in they will, and that was how this bus was. It was so crowded that I just looked at it and got claustrophobic, and my companion and I got on and I tried to stand on my tiptoes and hang on to the ceiling bars so I could get some fresh air, all the while being touched on all sides by people and purses, etc. Did I mention that I have a very big bubble?
But, we finally made it to the lesson (only 15 minutes late!) and Achin made it to her baptism (only 20 minutes late) and the speaker made it too (only 50 minutes late) and Achin got baptized and then confirmed the next day.
Needless to say, it was quite the adventure!
Oh, and I forgot to mention that this transfer I will be in Bade once again and with the same companion, Sister Olsen. We are really excited. :)
Speaking of transfers, I only have this one and then 3 more before my mission comes to a close. I was in the mission office two weeks ago and one of the office elders told me my stats. So as of two weeks ago, I had:
15593969 seconds
259900 minutes
4332 hours
181 days
25 weeks
6 months
4.31 transfers
left on my mission. Of course, when the senior missionaries and the mission president's wife heard that he gave me my stats, they were properly horrified and told him that he could NEVER tell anyone how many seconds they had left on their mission! But it is ok--I am a sister, and it is not like a secret when I am going home. But I thought it was funny and wanted to share it with you.
Well, I had a lot more adventures but I am tired of typing, so that is all for now. Oh, and just a bit of good news--it is finally turning into fall! And getting SLIGHTLY cooler. I weep tears of gratitude--or maybe it is because of the dust blown into my eyes by the 30 mph winds that we have been experiencing lately! My companion said the other day that she didn't know she needed to bring goggles on her mission! Sometimes the wind is so strong that it blows my helmet off (but the buckle thing keeps it on my head) and we wonder why there is ALWAYS a head wind and never a tail wind. Oh well.
Sister White
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