5 May

Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone! Please don't get too wild with your celebrations and get the Swine Flu. We got a notice and an announcement about it at zone conference--but there haven't been any cases in Taiwan so we are safe for the time being.

I have attached a picture of Sister Chen's baptism. It is her and her husband and her two daughters and her sister (who introduced her to the gospel) and her sister's daughter. And us. Isn't it such a happy picture? Sister Chen came out of the font and we were in the bathroom with a towel waiting for her and she just started crying and said "I love you both!" and gave us both hugs, even though she was dripping wet from the font. I almost started crying too--what a happy happy day for generations to come!

And now for a funny story. I include funny stories because I want all of you to know that I am still human! Of course my purpose in life right now is to help others come unto Christ and I think about that all the time. But I haven't yet been turned into some sort of machine that never even laughs--and I just feel the desire to share those laughs with you all back home. I hope you think they are funny, too!

So after Sister Chen's baptism my companion and I went out to Sanxia (don't worry, we took a bus this time) to visit a referral from a member in Taipei--his younger sister. The first time we visited them we went with the member--Brother Yan--and also a senior couple in Taipei, Brother and Sister Kunkle. Oh, and also a female member from Muzha whose Chinese name is the same as mine (Sister White). Weird. Anyway, it was a little overwhelming for this cute little family and we just talked about how the gospel can really bless our families. They have an adorable 10 year old daughter and a 3 year old son (he is cute too).

So we didn't know how it went when we left--it just felt kind of awkward. Well, then I got a call later that week that said they wanted us all (minus the other Sister White) to visit them again on Saturday. Luckily I was warned before hand what it was all going to be about--Brother Yan is 37 and has been dating this girl for 10 years and is not married yet, and his sister really wants them to get married! So she invited her mother, the girlfriend, Brother Yan, and Elder and Sister Kunkle to have some sort of "family counsel" where Elder Kunkle would persuade Brother Yan to get married. And they wanted me to translate the English and Chinese so the Kunkles could communicate with this family! It was just a little bit awkward for me! Plus, my Chinese is really not good enough to translate--it is only good enough for me to pretend like I know what is going on. Anyway, imagine an hour of translating a discussion about not putting off marriage and preparing for a temple marriage, etc. Lots of fun. But the whole family came to sacrament meeting the next day, which I consider a big step! Maybe the sister can get baptized and the brother can get married and everyone will be happy. :)

Anyway, I will wrap this up now. I think that mission emails are kind of like a really good sandwich--if you eat too much, it becomes not good anymore! Love you all,

Sister White