Saturday, March 3, 2018
Foreigner in China
I love going to other countries and seeing different cultures. I'm blessed that I've gotten to travel as much of the world as I have, gotten to live so much like a native in other countries. However, nothing on earth could prepare me for being a mother of two adorable little boys in China. When my friend came to visit last week, we decided to go to the Beijing Zoo. The funniest part about the whole thing, people paid good money on tickets for the Zoo (that was kind of depressing, I'll be honest) but they and their children were more interested in staring at the "foreigners" than actually paying attention to the exhibits. People, that is a real-life Giant Panda moving behind that glass over there! However, you're turning to stare at ME because my skin is white? I don't understand it. Though I do find great humor out of it! I think we were gawked at more than the animals. Maybe I should have convinced the Zoo to pay us since we were treated like an exhibit!
Sunday, June 8, 2014
6-8-14
Hello! Da Jia Hao!!!
This week we have been blessed and uplifted so
much!!! Heavenly Father is just pouring out the miracles. Luckily, He's
also sweet enough to give me the strength to keep going. I swear if I
sit down for more than 5 seconds I'm instantly fighting sleep anymore.
It's an interesting experience...
Monday, our whole district went to play in YingGe for awhile. It
was so much fun. I love my district!!! They also all loved YingGe. Not
as much as I do of course. But it was funny because on the way Elder Lee
looked at me and was like "Sister Thomsen, your area is so beautiful."
haha. I then told him "I know, why do you think I wanted ya'll to come
see it?" Then he later told Sister Singh that we have to be 2 of the
fastest-biking sisters in the mission. The elders were having a hard
time keeping up with us!!! haha. Miracles happen.
Monday night we went to visit a new investigator from the week
before, the vietnamese lady. She's so cute. She was telling us how much
she was hoping we would come back to see her since we hadn't been able
to visit at the time we'd set and we hadn't been able to get in touch
with her. She needs the gospel so much. Poor thing. My heart breaks for
her since her husband is really not good to her at all...
Tuesday we had zone training. I got out of giving my final
testimony since we just had Zone Conference on Wednesday. I'm glad they
didn't make me do it 2 days in a row... That night we met this awesome
girl that lives in Daxi. We were able to give her a copy of the Book of
Mormon. I hope she reads it. She's already Christian so maybe a miracle
will happen :D
Wednesday was zone conference then English class. It was such an
amazing zone conference. I'm so fired up to just be a missionary for
eternity!!! It just added to my fire. I walked out of zone conference
with a lot of great inspiration from Heavenly Father. It was amazing. As
I said, I also gave my final testimony there. So sad to think that it
was my last zone conference. It was amazing though. I honestly don't
remember what I said besides telling them over and over to be exactly
obedient (haha guess we all know what goes through my head, eh?) but I
had several missionaries tell me it was really powerful. I guess I did
what I was supposed to and was able to be a tool in my father's hands
then. That's always amazing. Sadly, we also found out that a sister
missionary from Taibei had gotten in a bike accident Tuesday night. She
flipped over her handlebars and broke her collarbone so had to fly home
for surgery and such Thursday. So heartbreaking.
Thursday we did exchanges!!! We also went to visit an LA and an
investigator. It was amazing how in sync Sister Johansen and I were from
the get-go. That's never happened when I've been on exchanges before!!!
Then Friday we ended up staying together all day because my companion
wanted an outside view on some people. Those lessons went really well as
well. We went to visit the Bishop and talk about home and visiting
teaching as well as LAs. I have such a strong testimony of home and
visiting teaching now. DO IT!!! They need you!!! Then throughout the day
we went to visit several LAs. It was so good to be with Sister Johansen
though. She has so much spunk. Plus, she's only a transfer younger than
me so she said exchanges with me are like a break because I already
know what I'm doing so we just work hard and do the work. But she really
touched my heart as well, apparently I'm at peace now. Really helped me
to see how much I have changed. I am okay. I've worked hard, a job well
done and will continue to do so until I'm on that plane next Saturday.
It still hasn't fully hit me that I'm coming home. I don't think it will
until right before I crash out on the plane from the utter exhaustion.
haha.
Saturday was AWESOME!!! Most of the day was spent traveling but we
had 3 super awesome lessons. One was with an LA that's doing so much
better. It's true, serve and love people and they will change!!! She
even agreed to come to church. Sadly, she didn't but she is still slowly
coming along.
After we got back from YingGe (our LA lives in YingGe) we met with
another member and her friend. Her friend is super awesome and really
curious. She's not willing to commit to anything yet but she'll keep
meeting with us. I think she has a lot of potential. I'm excited to see
what happens.
Finally, we went to a qingke with a recent RM. She's only been home
for a little over a transfer, probably about 2 months. So weird because
her boyfriend was there too. So weird to think about, haha. But we had
fun talking. I really love my members here and will really miss them.
They've all become some of my best friends... I have to say my goodbyes
on Sunday and I think it might break my heart, wont lie.
So yea, it was an awesome week that we worked hard and had fun
again. I'm so grateful for the blessings my Father has given me. I'm
excited to see what happens this, my last full week in Taiwan. So weird
to think about. Pretty sure no matter how many times I say it, my heart
still hasn't accepted it. haha.
Hope this e-mail finds you all well, sorry it's a little more on
the boring side again. Love ya'll!!! Take care and of course JIAYOU!!!
Sister Thomsen
6-1-14
Hello! Da jia hao!
This week was a roller coaster again but with
more ups than downs. Another week that I can't help but praise my God.
He has been so good to us, I will forever be grateful to Him.
To start off with, Monday we had an awesome miracle out contacting
after p-day. We were knocking doors and had many shut in our faces, as
usual. But as we got to one of the last houses on the street, I'd
started singing "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" (yea, I know, never
thought you'd hear ME say I was singing a Christmas song in the middle
of the year...) and we knocked another door. We of course did the usual
"we're missionaries and sharing a happy message that we'd like to share
with you." The funny thing is, this sweet lady then looked at us and
asked "are you going to sing for me? That was you I just heard singing
right?" We told her we'd be more than happy to sing for her and so she
called her daughter down to let us sing for them and share our message
with them. They don't have a specific religion but they more follow the
traditional taiwan buddhist/daoist traditions but were more than willing
to let us come back. It was a huge miracle. Right after we walked out
of their house we were just overwhelmed with joy. Funny thing is, a guy
was getting out of his car and my companion was talking to him. Lo and
behold, he's a member picking up his children. His daughter was so
excited to see the sister missionaries, it was super cute. I feel like
he's also an LA too, but we're not quite sure. It was really cool.
On Tuesday we had another awesome miracle. We were supposed to go
english boarding but had a wrench temporarily thrown in our plans so
decided to go knocking nearby. As we're slowly walking up the street a
man looked at us and asked "are you Christians?" Of course we told him
yes so he walked to a door nearby, threw it open and said "come on in."
Sadly his wife was busy and so we couldn't visit them but he's more than
willing to let us come back. It was just really cool to have someone so
excited to see us and be welcoming. I guess this late in my mission, I
can still have some firsts. :P Another first happened that night on the
way home when Sister Singh used the "finger of faith" My companion
stopped at a red light and pointed across the street, asking if the lady
would stop there (why it's the finger of faith) and she did! We then
had an amazing lesson with this beautiful daughter of God who really
needs the gospel in her life. She's had a really hard life. Her dad
passed away I don't know how long ago and her brother has cancer. She
said she's also been sick too. This poor girl was once Christian but
felt that God had abandoned her or just didn't exist so hasn't prayed in
years. It broke my heart, especially since her story had a familiar
ring to me. I was grateful to be able to promise to her that God is
listening and would answer her prayers, that He'd help her through it.
Then we got to hear her say one of the most beautiful prayers ever
heard. It was amazing!!!
Wednesday was a harder day with little success. Sadly, on top of it
one of the elders here got in a bike accident. Luckily he's okay, just
got a sprained ankle but I think it drove it a little closer to home for
all of us missionaries again since summer's here and so more people are
out and they drive crazier than ever. We're blessed we missionaries
always have guardian angels :) It was also sad for me to hear that from
his companion since I've been with this Elder since he moved to Xizhi 4
transfers ago so we've served in the same area for 5 transfers. It's
always crazy when you get those reminders. I promise I'm being safe
though so no panicking :)
Thursday was also a rougher day in general. But that night we got
to go eat good food at a member's house with many of the amazing friends
I've made here. I really enjoyed it. This week it's hit me again
exactly how blessed I am with the friends I've made, they really are
friends of eternity, not for the brief space that I'm a missionary and
it's truly incredible.
Friday we had another awesome miracle. Several in fact. But I think
my favorite (and one of my favorites all week, probably because I have a
soft spot for LAs) happened while we were english boarding. We wanted
to english board at a school but ended up being 40 minutes early so
decided to go to a small lane nearby and knock and english board. Well,
we got to an area I've been before with Sister Wu a long time ago and
gave a lady an english tract. As we walked away, I realized she had our
church sticker on her door and I knew she was one of the lost sheep, I
could feel it. We walked away and Sister Singh and I just stopped and
talked about it. I told her she was a lost sheep and her response was
"dang it, I knew I should've talked to her. I knew I should've followed
the spirit (funny how you always know after that it was the spirit)" So
we decided to go back and talk to her. She really was an LA that has
struggled a lot. She's younger (in her 30s) and felt like a misfit at
church. I think she also never really had a strong foundation so it was
easy to fall away. She was happy to meet with us and let us come again. I
think she really can come back. One thing that struck me Friday and
Saturday was that twice we heard members (one less active and one
semi-active) tell us "I thought the church had forgotten about me."
Broke my heart. Heavenly Father really does lead us to the prepared, and
sometimes those prepared are already members that need a little boost.
Saturday was a huge miracle day. It started out by visiting the
semi-active member that I think is struggling a lot. She talked about
how the missionaries used to always visit her so I think at some point
the ward really worried about her. She's originally from vietnam and is
divorced with a little boy who is now 8. I feel like her son is probably
a little on the special side and they just need a little extra
encouragement. We've decided we're going to keep visiting and helping
them, let them know that even if the church has forgotten about them,
their Father in Heaven most certainly hasn't.
After that member, we went to visit an LA in YingGe and that was
pretty incredible too, she's progressing. She looked happier than I've
seen her since I came here and really, we both agree that she's doing
better in general. It's amazing. We also met some really awesome people
contacting that day. But that night we had another "finger of faith
experience." A girl had stopped next to me at a light and I had a couple
seconds to talk to her then asked if she'd be willing to pull over and
talk for a bit. Then we were also able to teach her about prayer. It was
incredible! Heavenly Father has blessed us so much this
week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Another cool miracle I just heard about is that one of my really
stubborn investigators in TaiDong that we all knew would get baptized
but just didn't know when got baptized next week. A huge miracle. I'm
super grateful for it :) Yep, I'm definitely blessed!!!
I also loved as I was looking back through old journals last night
and could see the change from then to now. I definitely feel a lot
different now and that's a huge miracle in and of itself. I love this
amazing blessing and that I can see it. Missions are awesome, they
really do change lives, most of all the missionary's life. I will be
forever grateful for this amazing experience I've had.
Sorry for such a long novel this week, but I wanted to share my
awesome experiences with ya'll. Hope this finds you well! Keep working
hard and taking care of yourselves. Jiayou!
Love you!
Sister Thomsen
5-25-14
Hello! Da jia hao!
This
week was so jam-packed full of miracles I don't even know where to
start! Heavenly Father has blessed us so much. Sister Singh and I were
definitely having an "Ammon"-moment from Alma 26 last night where he
says that "I will not boast of myself but I will boast of my God" I
definitely feel like boasting of my God. He has blessed me so much and
given me so many miracles lately.
Monday and Tuesday were pretty hard on me, hadn't quite hit the
boasting in God yet but were still kind of stuck in the "trial of your
faith" area. Tuesday it hit a climax for me in district meeting which
makes me super grateful for my companion since she really helped me
through it. Then right after we all went out English boarding (handing
out tracts inviting people to our free english class). It was so fun and
so cool. It gave me a break from everything I'm doing wrong and helped
me to have a lot of awesome experiences of being self-contacted. We'd
brought the signs they handed out when we started this new English
program at the beginning of my mission. However, this is the first time
we've ever used the signs when I've gone english boarding and I really
had people asking me for tracts! I've never had that before! So cool!
But after that, the miracles were still waiting in the ranks, cumulative
with a migraine and all. So we had a fun lesson with an LA that night
since he's usually hard to understand most of the time, often my
companion has no idea what he's saying and my brain was struggling with
my head pounding. Probably one of the worst lessons we've ever had with
him.
Wednesday however, the heavens opened and started pouring rain. As
it poured rain it also poured miracles. We were knocking doors in the
morning and I kid you not, the first door we knocked opened and let us
in. It was amazing. She's already Christian and said she's super busy
but it was still a first in my mission :)
That afternoon we went to YingGe and ended up almost bible-bashing
using the Book of Mormon with one of our LAs. She's a very special LA
that seems to have gone to a lot of Christian churches and has just made
her own religion from all the teachings of the different churches. And
she takes every word of the book of mormon literally and leaves no room
for interpretation. She also said she can't say she believes the
prophet's words are the words of God. It was really sad to see. But I'm
really proud of my companion and I since we quickly took a step back and
stopped bible bashing and just went by the spirit. It was amazing to
see how it happened.
After that LA it was literally POURING rain! There is no other word
for it, the rain hurt my eyes as we were riding around, they were like
water-bullets. So we went to do a pop-visit on an LA and met with her
sister then she came home and we met with her. Sadly, her sister's not
really interested but it was good to see more of their family dynamics.
They're really not very nice to each other.
An amazing miracle that culminated on Thursday came as we've been
going to areas we'd chosen in our Weekly Planning Session throughout the
week. It was definitely led by the spirit! We've had several lessons
from it, given out a couple copies of the Book of Mormon, and even found
a super awesome new investigator that really needs the gospel in her
life right now. It has been incredible to see the evidence that as we
chose those areas in WPS last week, we really were being led by the
spirit. I'm excited to see what happens this week! But the super awesome
new investigator is also a super interesting story. My companion came
up with this fun story of what kind of new investigators we were looking
for as she always does. She said we were looking for parents who were
home but their kids were on the way home from school. We hit towards the
end of our time with very little success but came to this alley that we
decided to knock. lo and behold, there was only one door and the lady
happily let us in. She's from Vietnam and struggling a lot being so far
away from home. Her husband was home and then headed out to go get their
son who was on his way home! What the heck?! My companion predicted so
much! And we definitely felt the spirit. We finally got to where we
could say a prayer with her and when we opened our eyes she was crying.
She felt the spirit. Then we shared Alma 26:36-37 with her that God is
mindful of all people in every land. It was amazing and I know it really
helped this beautiful sister. I was grateful for the spirit :)
However, I think my favorite miracle happened last night. I've
mentioned the Wu family in several of my e-mails, they're a part-member
less active family I've been working with since I came here to BaDe.
They were the first family to get baptized in YingGe but ended up
leaving, and I'm not really sure on the reasons why. However, the dad
has become really active again lately, still progressing but he's come
really far this last month and it's been miraculous to see. Last week we
felt like we should focus again on helping their daughter work towards
baptism. Last time we'd brought it up she told us she had no desire to
get baptized so we felt like we shouldn't push her but should give it
some time and help her family come back. However, that is one of the
biggest miracles I've seen is this process of how the spirit has been
working with us all along. It came to completion last night as we met
with them once again. We decided to focus on the atonement and how
Christ drank out of the "bitter cup" for us, that it can give us all a
new start. The spirit was so powerful in that lesson! Also, it was
completely led by the spirit. I'm still totally in awe from it. The mom
or daughter brought up that it's a new start when we're baptized or
partake of the sacrament. So we asked if they would want that, which of
course they all agreed to. Then, the daughter committed to be baptized!
We wanted to do it in June before I left but with the Taiwanese culture
of school being the end-all be-all and that she has a performance, we
scheduled it for the first weekend in July, the earliest they were
willing to agree to. It was miraculous to me as we then turned to her
father and committed him to prepare himself so he can be worthy to
baptize her. Their whole family will be working together towards this
goal and it is already amazing to see. The dad even asked her to promise
him she would truly work to prepare herself to be baptized that day.
I'm super excited for the day I get to see them all in white in the
temple, they're such an amazing family and I love them all to pieces!
Another miracle associated with this was also feeling the difference
I've been able to make in their lives. It even came up that I leave next
month and they were all so sad. They told me that they will never
forget me and were rather sad that I will not be here for the baptism.
At first I was sad too, then Heavenly Father instantly made it okay for
me, helped me to see I've really helped them and made a difference, that
I've done what I came here to do. It was such an incredible miraculous
experience. I don't even have sufficient words to describe it, in any
language.
We've had many more amazingly incredibly miraculous experiences but
I think I've written enough of a novel for the week. My heart is
bursting with gratitude and I truly do feel like shouting from the
rooftops and boasting of my God. He's so incredible and I feel his love
so much. To sum it up, if you want to know more about my week and how I
feel about it, go read Alma 26. It's a great read and explains a lot :D
I hope this e-mail finds you all well and you're also recognizing His hand in your lives! Love and miss you!
Jiayou!
Sister Thomsen
5-18-14 Pics
My companion's awesome. She decided to buy pizza. Such a treat for the district. Definitely a district party! We have such a great district, I'm excited to party with them again today :D
5-18-14
Hello! Welcome to another rainy day in BaDe!
This last week... I
really loved doing temple tours on Saturday. It gave me a chance to see
some of my members from my former areas since they came to the temple.
One of which was my RC, Annie, from my first area. The only investigator
I've been blessed to see through the whole process (except the physical
baptism itself). That was a really amazing experience, to be able to
hug my sister and tell her how happy I am for her and how proud I am of
her. She even started crying, it was so sweet. I'm so grateful she came
to say goodbye to me. I can't wait until the day I see her again. She's
truly one of my best friends. Aren't missions incredible? We also saw
some of our members from TaiDong. It was fun to reminisce with them.
Helped me to be reminded that maybe I haven't had high numbers or
anything throughout my mission, I've still been blessed enough to see
people change their lives and to help influence their lives. That's
always a miracle, when we're reminded of those little things. Let's be
honest, it's those little things that help us get out of bed and get to
work sometimes.
A really awesome experience this week was riding my bike last
night after visiting an LA family. Their daughter isn't baptized and the
father is finally progressing in coming back. They were talking about
the influences we've had in their lives and how they'll never forget us.
Well, on the bike ride home I was thinking about them and had the
feeling that we really need to help the daughter get baptized, that
needs to be our focus again. We'd stopped because there wasn't any
progress and we'd felt we needed to help them come back to church. Well,
I felt that we need to push for the daughter to get baptized and have
her dad prepare to be able to baptize her. I'm excited to see what
happens. I love this family so much and I'm excited to see them prepare
to go to the temple.
Another really great experience was at church yesterday. At the
beginning of the month we did an activity with our ward to encourage
them to read the Book of Mormon. We were sad about the lack of people
that came. But yesterday in Relief Society, our teachers was one of the
members that attended and she was talking about how much she loved the
activity and encouraging our members to attend the one for June. Then
she was also telling all the sisters how because of the activity she
felt like she should start helping her kids read the Book of Mormon and
now her sons remind her every day before bed that they need to read the
Book of Mormon. It was really touching to see the impact the activity
had on them.
An interesting experience happened Thursday. We have
Weekly Planning from 1-4 on Thursdays. Well, that morning was nice and
sunny then in the middle of planning, it started raining a ton! So we
got to go out in that right after planning. And ride to YingGe...
Probably slightly dangerous with the crazy hills into YingGe but we felt
like it would be okay. The funny thing was, as we're riding our bikes,
there were points on the road that our pedals would go under water
because the puddles were SO big! So crazy. Grateful that we always have
angels to protect us :D
This last week we've spent most of our time in YingGe trying to
help it progress. Well, it's definitely still a work in progress. Just
need a little more faith and a lot more prayers... I'm excited to see
what will happen this transfer.
I think that's all for the week. Hope this e-mail finds ya'll well!
Take care! We're gonna go play in the rain in Daxi today on their old
street. It'll be fun. It's a district activity with several of the
sisters in our ward. I'm super psyched. I love these girls, they've also
become some of my best friends. :D
Take care and jiayou!
Ai nimen-o!
Sister Thomsen
5-11-14 Pics
Jia Xing was off playing somewhere else and wasn't in the big group pic
so of course I needed one with her too. Another beautiful daughter of
God :D
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