Monday, October 28, 2013
Pictures 10/27/13
10/27/13
Hello family and friends! 大家好!
I feel like I have seen incredible miracles this week just with our ward. Our relief society president really seems to be warming up to us, even though she fanged us. We saw her Thursday night and yesterday and genuinely smiled at me both times. She also set to meet with us again on Saturday and seemed like she really means it. This is a miracle to me. Our ward seems to slowly become more and more welcoming. Yesterday I also finally got to meet some of our RCs. Such a strange experience to just be meeting the ward when I've been in the area a full 2 weeks already.
Best miracle this week was our new investigator. We met her last week after 2 days of finding with no success, not even a single lesson and we were on our way to dinner before heading to Jinhua for stake conference. Well, her little boy was staring and me so I started talking to him, he's somewhere around a year old. Well, I started talking to her and she said she wanted to go to a christian church and learn more about our beliefs but she didn't know where any were. Then, she said that her husband had told her there was one nearby but she could never find it. Weird thing is, there is a Christian church right next to where we were standing, I could see its huge cross. That day we were able to give her a Book of Mormon. Well, we met with her on Saturday and she's started reading the Book of Mormon a little bit, mostly just flipping through it. But she's so open. We invited her to baptism and she said she didn't want to give herself stress because she's never sure about her time but she really does want to work towards it. She also said she wants to come to church this coming Sunday. Yesterday she couldn't but she said this Sunday we can probably walk with her to church to show her where it is! YAY! She is definitely a miracle.
The temple was incredible. Sadly, we don't have the new temple video but it was incredible to be able to be in the temple again. 6 months is WAY too long! I never want to do that again. I feel like I had a good talk with Heavenly Father while sitting there too, always nice.
Thursday we had specialized training and President kinda made the hint that our mission might be phased in next year. He said something about smart phones or something coming next year. Hey, maybe my mission will be phased in before I leave. Haha, watch, it'll happen the transfer before I go home... I enjoyed specialized training though. Once again, President talked about being exactly obedient, apparently that's been a problem lately since he talked about it in zone conference too. Funny thing is, in zone conference he told us that we're all basically disobedient missionaries since few missionaries ensure they take an hour for lunch and an hour for dinner. He told us if we are not doing this we needed to repent because we are not being exactly obedient. That's a new one for me :)
In specialized training they also did training on family history. It was cool. I need to get better at using that awesome tool. Someday I'll be a truly awesome missionary and using all the tools available to me :)
I'll also be awesome enough to able to read and write Chinese so not relying on a translating tool to understand what old investigators are complaining about. haha sorry for that tangent. I just got an e-mail from one of my investigators in Taidong and she's telling me a lot of the things she doesn't like. Sadly, translation tools are unreliable especially when they're connected to the e-mail. And sadly, I barely read like, 20 characters, and can't type any. So sadly, I don't get to be much help to her anymore :( At least she writes me, already knowing this, right? haha.
So yea, I think that's about it for this week. Hope all is well in your neck of the woods!
Ai ni-o!
Sister Thomsen
湯姐妹
(let's be honest, I'm more 湯姐妹 than Sister Thomsen anymore since few people call me Sister Thomsen even among all the foreign missionaries, we still just tend to go by our Chinese names. It'll be weird to only speak english when I come home... I don't know if I can do it!)
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Temple Day 10/21/13
Jiating!
This last week has been a good and a rough week all in one. We have had awesome miracles. One was as I was on exchanges in Songshan Monday night. We were out contacting and English boarding and met this high schooler that Sister Chen asked "Can we just take a short period of your time to share our incredible message?" And she listened! Then, when we wanted to give her a Book of Mormon she was so excited, she was like "what, you want to GIVE me this book?" I love giving them copies of the Book of Mormon, as their gifts. Truly incredible to see the smile it gives them! Xizhi is great. We truly have investigators progressing, few as they may be. We've also hit the pavement a lot this last week. Sadly, it's really hard to actually teach people here, they often don't want to listen to what we have to say. If we're lucky, we often can give them a pamphlet but that's it. However, we also had a cool miracle last Wednesday. On Monday, we'd gotten a referral from Elder Chen in the Bu and she had contacted him about English class. I called her and she set up to meet with us. Well, not only did we get a new investigator, we also were able to set a baptismal date with her! I really felt the spirit in that lesson, it was incredible!
Also, we have another investigator here that is more or less an eternal investigator because her husband fandui's. Well, as I was able to meet with her, we were able to discuss a lot and she set a baptismal date! She wasn't willing to set before next April but it's a start and I truly know a miracle can happen and that date can move up if she desires it. Sister Porter had told me that she wouldn't set a date because she knows she can't keep the sabbath right now (because of her husband) but I asked if we could just set a date that day, according to her feelings. I truly hope she'll get baptized sooner but I know setting a date is a big step so miracles can still happen!
On Sunday, on our way out from stake conference, I was also able to see several of my old Tu Cheng members. But the one that touched me the most was seeing my RC, Jia Ling. She was so excited to see me and it really helped me to feel good. Reminded me why I'm on a mission and that I have a purpose here. It was exactly what I needed at the time I needed it. Really reminded me that Heavenly Father is mindful of every one of us and He truly loves us and desires to help us and for us to be happy.
Another awesome miracle I've had since I've come to Xizhi has really been seeing how much my language has progressed and how useful phase 2 is. For the first time, my Chinese is the best in my companionship. When I realized this, I had a mini-breakdown wondering what on earth. However, I've really felt Heavenly Father's help lately as we've been talking to people and I can somewhat understand what they're saying! No, I'm not perfect. No, I don't understand 100% but I understand a lot more than I did before. And phase 2 has really come in handy because my companion will ask me about a word I understood and more often than not, I realize I learned it in phase 2! Definitely a miracle and a blessing!
I'm so excited to finally get to go to the temple again today. I realize the other day that the last time I went was in April. So long! Especially when I used to go pretty much weekly before my mission and weekly while in the MTC. Also, I'm really excited to get to partake of the Sacrament again on Sunday. 3 weeks without the sacrament! Wow! Really do feel a difference even though I'd go to church and stuff, it's different, it's a different feeling.
That's about it for now. Hope all is well with you and in your neck of the world! Love you!
Jiayou!
Sister Thomsen
Monday, October 21, 2013
Pictures speak 1000 words
Start of transfer 6 10/13/13
I think my favorite miracle was Tuesday night when we found a family for the Taidong sisters to teach. It's funny to see the relationships we've been building with Cai Huizhang's (Hualian's district president) family. We went to visit a referral we'd received of Cai Jiemei's niece and were waiting for Cai Jiemei to arrive to help us peike. Well, across the street from her niece lives Cai Huizhang's mom and 2 of his sisters. His older sister invited us in to just talk to them while we were waiting. She's always super sweet to us. She has yet to develop an interest in the gospel but it's incredible to build a relationship with her anyway because I believe one day it'll come based off of her good relationships. Then, we went to meet with the family and set a baptismal date with them! It was so awesome! Definitely a great last night in Taidong.
Well, being that I e-mailed you last Tuesday then most of the week after that was spent traveling or in Conference, I don't really have much more to report about missionary work at the moment...
I was blessed to say goodbye to my trainer at the transfer meeting as well as see many of my other mission friends.
Also, I got moved to Xizhi. It's basically in the heart of Taibei. I live a 40 min MRT & train ride from Jin Hua itself, the area where we have the temple and the Bu. My companion is Nicole Porter from Alpine, Utah. She's adorable and I already got to celebrate her 20th birthday with her last night. She's a 3rd transfer missionary which means I get to be her breaker too. Every missionary's second companion is their breaker. I was also Zhao Jiemei's breaker. However, I'm learning to love breaking because Zhao Jiemei and I ended up being great friends and had great unity and Sister Porter and I are already getting to be good friends. This is also a test for me however, as she is the first companion I've had that my chinese is the best in the companionship. I had a panic moment when I realized that one on Friday night. But I love how Sister Porter tries anyway. She really is an awesome missionary and I love the fire she has. I'm trying to learn from it, as well as trying to see Xizhi more as she does so I can love it as she does. Luckily, we are in the heart of Taibei where people tend to have relatively good English too. It'll be an interesting transfer I think. I'm ready to see the miracles we have and I hope the first one is the members working more with the missionaries. Sadly, they don't seem to have a very good attitude toward missionaries at the moment and I don't know why. However, that was a big topic in conference and apparently Saturday night's session of Stake conference will be much the same, kind of a huge blessing now that I'm here to see what it's like. It'll also be hard though since my first 2 Sundays here I wont have a chance to actually be with our ward, getting to know them.
This last week I really have learned the truthfulness of the statement that "whom the Lord calls, the Lord qualifies." This is definitely a huge blessing to me.
Last thing for the week is the heads up that next week I get to go to the Temple next week!!! YAY!!! If I got trunky in Taidong, it was always for the temple so now I don't have anything to be trunky about. Yea. :) But this means that my e-mail wont be coming until next Wednesday instead of Monday.
Well, that's about it for the week. Hope all is well!
Ai ni-o!
Sister Thomsen
10/07/2013
Hello family, friends, everyone!
First things first, move calls have yet to arrive, however training calls came to my companionship on Saturday night and my awesome companion will have her very own trainee this coming transfer. However, this means that I will be leaving Taidong :( On the bright side, I will be able to see my wonderful trainer before she goes home this week too, as she will be at the transfer meeting. What a blessing! It also means I don't know where I will be watching General Conference but I'm excited to watch it! Also, it means I may be blessed enough to go to the temple next week, depending on where I move. So if you don't get an e-mail til next Wednesday, please don't freak out... :)
This last week was a very incredible one and I feel blessed to be leaving Taidong this way. When Zhao Jiemei and I began our time together as companions, our vision for Taidong was that it would become a standards of excellence area and this last week, I feel like we've done well at accomplishing this. Yes, there is still room for improvement, there is always room for improvement. However, Our area is definitely on its way up and I feel very blessed to have seen this happen, to be able to leave Taidong in such good hands but also realizing that we have built this area up. I was very sad to know that I would be leaving here but I know Taidong is in very good hands and Zhao Jiemei will take very good care of it. Also, it helped lift my spirits, since when the call came to Zhao Jiemei and I knew I would be moving, I felt like I had no idea what I was to do here in Taidong, I'm still not completely sure, but I also felt like I had not accomplished my purpose here. However, Sunday night, as I saw our numbers, which reflected the growth of Taidong, Heavenly Father helped me to realize that I really have done my part in Taidong, I was able to help it grow and now as I hand the reigns to Zhao Jiemei she's going to make it even better. This was a miracle for me, seeing more of my prayers answered, and seeing Zhao Jiemei and my prayers of two transfers being answered.
Another miracle this last week was Susan. We were looking for a new investigator and had knocked a lot of doors, constantly being turned away, then on the street, at the crossroads of Zhang An and a xiang, we found Susan. Her story is truly incredible. She feels lost. She feels alone. She feels like she's in her own version of hell. She feels much as I felt many years ago before I welcomed the church back into my life. She helped me to see how much I've really overcome and been able to heal these last few years. I'm still growing, still changing, but it really did help me to feel a lot better, to better see Heavenly Father's hand in my life. To be able to tell Susan, yes, I understand how you feel, but I promise you that this can get better. We have the answer, you just need to take it. She's a very interesting character. She's Buddhist and told us she had devoted 4 years to Buddhism but it didn't help her. Didn't make her feel better. Now, she's sad and she's sick and she just wants a way out. She told us she'd met 2 girls 2 years ago in Gaoxiong who taught her how to pray and shared a little of the gospel with her but weren't able to share much but they did pray with her and it helped her to feel better for a time. She also told us she had prayed earlier that day that Heavenly Father would help her find peace and happiness. She especially wants happiness. It made me sad as I looked at this beautiful daughter of God knowing that I could've been her. In a lot of ways, I was her for a time. Then I felt truly blessed as I realized, I have the answer. I'm blessed enough to have this gospel in my life that I am no longer like her and I wont become like her ever again. She helped me to remember exactly why I'm on a mission. I want to help anyone feeling how I did to know that there's light, they don't have to always feel like that, and I feel like my prayers were answered as I spoke to her as well and was able to tell her it can change, it gets better and this gospel is the answer.
Honestly, this last week was great and had some interesting events but I don't really know what else to share from you at this point and time. Maybe you'll just have to hear about it next year. Hope all is well in your end of the world.
Ai ni-o,
Sister Thomsen
Clean up the world
our zone leaders. Don't they look happy? We 4 are the only ones not in training (that's 2 of 8 companionships in Taidong by the way, if you're doing the math) so we were the only ones that got to go... :) yay for not training!
9/30/13
Jiaren! Pengyou! Da jia hao!
This week was definitely a miracle week and I feel like many of my prayers have been answered. I have prayed my entire mission to find a family to teach. Zhao Jiemei have prayed every day for the last two transfers that we would find a family to teach. And I feel like this last week, our prayers really have been answered. On Saturday, we had the clean up the world project and got to talking to our District President. His family is incredible missionaries and most of our branch has come about through their efforts. This last week we got two referrals from them alone. As we were at this project, most of the time we were by his wife or his daughter, well, when we were by his daughter she told us her cousin is interested in the church. They were meeting with missionaries in Gaoxiong and wanted to come to church yesterday and she told us a lot more about them. Then, throughout the course of the next 30 minutes or less, his entire family came up to tell us they had family that wanted to learn about the gospel and her mom gave us the number asking us to call and invite them to church. So yesterday morning I called them and they came to church! They are incredible and really seemed to love church. Such a blessing, finding a family, especially one that's a member referral! But yesterday at church, I felt truly blessed as I realized not only did we have this little family at church but we have another awesome investigator who is a mom of 2 kids and whenever she comes she brings her two kids. Yesterday, she also brought her sister and another little girl with her daughter! Realizing that these kids have the opportunity to grow up with the gospel in their lives really just warmed my heart. I know I didn't appreciate the gospel growing up but since I have come back to the church and now am on my mission, I know how blessed I've truly been. I had the opportunity to return to the church, which I'm not sure I would have done without the gospel. I know I would've been someone else but I really don't want to be her. I feel so blessed Heavenly Father gave me the chance to have the gospel in my life.
Another miracle at church is that we had 5 investigators there altogether! 2 of which come every week, then we had the family and the mom. Towards the end of sacrament meeting our 9 year old investigator also came in and brought 2 of her friends! So awesome! The fact that Becky, one of them that comes every week, came is actually a miracle since she's the one who didn't pass her baptismal interview the Sunday before and then stopped answering our calls. Saturday she finally called during studies and when I asked why, she told me she "just felt like she needed to." Spirit maybe? Most definitely. I was worried she'd disappear since she has a habit of doing so, and she did for a short time but she came back!
This week we've also had so many member referrals, most of our referrals have been from our members and one was an english referral that came about because of our 9 year old investigator inviting her friend to come. So cool. We're working on getting them all contacted. First time I've had so many referrals and only 1 was from a missionary! We've also been blessed to find a lot of potentials while contacting this last week. And we've found some really awesome investigators for other missionaries, I love working for Team Jesus! It puts a smile on my face to know that these people have the potential to progress, I don't care who teaches them how. Team Jesus rocks!
Funny story from the week. My companion hates birds, to start off this story. Well, the other day we were knocking doors on a street with a bird. My companion knocked on a door but since the door was open with the screen door shut when no one came she called into the house as we often do asking "You ren zai ma?" (anyone here?) and suddenly I hear this echo, "you ren zai ma? you ren zai ma?" I just busted up laughing! She didn't hear it so didn't understand why I was laughing so hard so I told her. Obviously she didn't think it was very funny. But later, we're talking to another person who didn't really want to talk to us and at the end of it, my companion told her "huanying ni lai." (You're welcome to come) and we both just looked at each other and laughed because again you hear "huanying ni lai. Huanying ni lai." So funny! Definitely a funny contacting experience!
Okay, I think that's about all for the week. I probably had more but can't remember what else I wanted to share from the week... Hope all is well in your neck of the world!
Ai ni-o!
Sister Thomsen
Typhoon pictures
Pictures again
9/22/13 Typhoon update
Wo de Jiating/Pengyou! 大家好！(I stole the chinese from one of my friend's emails... it's like a "hello ya'll" if you were to translate it...)
This week, I feel like I can truly say it's a miracle I'm alive. Every week I feel like living through riding my bike in the crazy traffic of Taiwan, we're blessed as missionaries because we really are protected. I know there have been many times angels have protected me from getting seriously injured or worse. However, the typhoon that hit this week is another once in a lifetime experience that I never wanted to experience. Saturday morning, our zone leaders called and said we could probably go out at 11 that the storm seemed about the same as last time (during which time we didn't have to be indoors) and I mostly agreed though the howling wind is always a little frightening for me. So, at 11 we went out to get to work. My companion was scared for the majority of it but I felt fine, I'm used to strong winds in Prosser, used to rain, nothing new. So, we're knocking doors and people think we're crazy. But this is Taiwan, they hate rain, they hate storms of any kind. They think we're crazy for just being out in the rain usually so it's nothing new. However, the storm started picking up speed until Elder Teshima called and told us to get home and to stay there. As I'm trying to walk back to my bike and can't see anything ahead of me, right after that call, that's when the fear hit me. We finally get to our bikes from the rain blowing sideways and I felt genuine fear at that moment, hearing the rain pounding around me and the wind blowing pretty good. But we said a prayer and I knew we'd be okay. Father comforted me when I needed it, let me know that my companion and I would both be okay and that He was there with us. It was an incredible experience. Not one I'd wish on anyone or ever want to repeat but I truly know it's a miracle neither of us were injured or anything in that storm.
Another awesome miracle this week is that one of our LAs is now okay to be considered an active member!!! She was inactive for 20 years but is back to being fully active. I feel so blessed to have witnessed this. She said she never had a good reason for going inactive but I've seen the light come back to her, especially since at first if she didn't have a ride she wouldn't come to church. Yesterday the typhoon was mostly gone yet it was still windy and rainy and she still rode her bike to come to church! She's probably 70+ and she rode her bike in the wind and rain to come to church! I don't want to hear any more excuses about wind and especially rain from our 20 something investigators with cars and scooters.
Monday night we also had an awesome experience with our new investigator. She's a miracle we found the Monday before while visiting an LA in the hospital since she was visiting her and talked to our relief society president telling her she wanted to get to know God better. Well, this Monday night we met with her and set a baptismal date! I think our relief society president was about to have a heart attack that we invited her to baptism so early since she was helping us peike but it was such an incredible experience and a very spirit-driven lesson. I could feel the spirit the whole time and knew that we were supposed to invite her to baptism. Then we were supposed to meet with her Thursday night but she never answered with ZhongQiuJie or anything. Friday night I called her and she's already reading and praying! And then she was asking me about knowing answers to prayers, how we identify them. I wish I'd had a better answer for her but I just pulled out Moroni 7:16 that tells us if it's good it comes of Christ. It seemed to answer her question for the time being. Definitely an incredible experience!
Another miracle is our 9 year old investigator. She's so cute! Our sister training leaders challenged me to be out contacting at 8:30 every night, pray to find a family, teach a lesson, and give away a copy of the Book of Mormon. We've been trying to do this as a companionship and Tuesday night while we were out contacting, we ran into a 9 year old girl, Lin Jiemei. She came to English class on Wednesday and we met her grandparents, who let us set up to visit her/them this Thursday. Then my companion called her Saturday to see if she'd come to church on Sunday and she was so excited and she actually came! We went to pick her up yesterday and she came to church! Such a miracle, especially at only 9 years old! She truly seems so golden!
Final miracle for today is that one of our eternal investigators showed up for her baptismal interview! Sadly, she didn't pass because of issues she still has towards members and because she still doesn't know for herself that the Book of Mormon is true. Apparently she also told Elder Teshima that she wants to get baptized she just doesn't know when yet. But with the way that she's been all week, it was a miracle she showed up at all and I think that interview probably helped her and got her thinking a little more, that's how I feel. Yes, it was sad to hear she didn't pass but I know her day will come someday, when she gets over being childish. I love her to death but she is childish. She's 24 and I feel like she should be our 9 year old investigator and our 9 year old should be the 24 year old... They seem that opposite. I find it interesting.
Really, that's mostly it for this week. It's been crazy up/down with wind and rain all week then the crazy typhoon actually hitting on Saturday. I'm just grateful for another day of being a missionary, of doing the Lord's work. Hope all is well with all of you! Jiayou!
Wo ai nimen!
Tang Jiemei/ Sister Thomsen
Pictures
9/08/13
Wo de Jiating!
This week was really good. Monday was just the pick-me-up I needed after having a hard week last week. We didn't do anything incredible for Preparation Day or anything, just made cookies for our district but for some reason it helped me feel a lot better. I swear, baking is therapeutic. And it was a miracle in itself to help me feel better. After baking, we went to visit one of our LAs that we visit every week that has become more active than Less Active lately. We visit her weekly and she comes to church weekly. I think she's come to church every week but one since Sister Chao moved down to Taidong with me :) I love reactivating LAs. We also got to go do a family home evening with one of the couples in our ward. They have twins so are usually really busy but I honestly felt like I was with good friends from back home that I've known for forever. Who knows, maybe I have known them for forever :)
This week I also strengthened my testimony of back-up plans again. Every time we got fanged or had a lesson cancelled we had a back up plan and it proved to be exactly what we needed to do. All of our new investigators this week came from our back-up plans, whether that was to go knock a certain street or to go visit an investigator, all of our back-up plans are the times that we got new investigators with the exception of 1 who was from our back-up plans last week. It's so incredible! Definitely shows how we need to make good back-up plans and then to follow them!
One thing I've really loved this week was the Book of Mormon. I've made sure to have one on me everywhere I went and it really has blessed us because there were times we weren't able to have a full-on lesson but we could give them a Book of Mormon really fast, give a short introduction of what it is then let them be on their way. Sometimes, they wont take the book. But I've found some really awesome people through just handing them a Book of Mormon, letting them know why I love it then giving them the opportunity to use their agency to learn more about their Savior. I've grown to love it so much. One of my favorite miracles happened Saturday night. We'd had district dinner at a restaurant and were going out to our bikes because we had a set-up. However, I noticed 2 girls staring at me so I said hello. They were so excited the waiguoren was talking to them, it was funny and cute. One of them has no religion, the other has a Christian background. We were able to give them both copies of the Book of Mormon and I think they'll both come to english class next week. Sadly, we weren't able to get their numbers or anything but they really did seem interested so I think they'll appear again.
Another thing these last couple weeks is that I have truly grown to love working for team jesus! Especially as we find these golden investigators to hand off to our elders. One of which gave us a wrong number but we were in his area last night and the lights in his house were on so we knocked his door, handed him a copy of the Book of Mormon, he gave me his number again, and we got a set-up for this next week for our Elders. I feel like he really is golden and I pray for the day he enters the waters of baptism.
Another miracle was as we went to visit our investigator this week, Shi Jiemei. She's from Vietnam and our first time meeting with us she asked if we could bring her another copy of the Book of Mormon in Vietnamese so she could share it with her family. As we went to visit her this week as a back-up plan since we haven't been able to reach her lately, her sister-in-law also came out to talk to us and kept asking questions about the church. She actually seems rather interested. Plus, we now have their house phone so we can better get ahold of them and Shi Jiemei came to church yesterday! She showed up for the end of sacrament meeting as Hou Huizhang was giving a talk and stayed for the rest of church! She even knows one of our LAs that we've been working with. So, not only did we find her through the elders, who found her through an investigator of theirs, but she also wants to share the gospel with her family, and now her sister-in-law is also our investigator. I love working for Team Jesus. He tends to win :)
I have really felt blessed and strengthened this week. I have a renewed vigor for this work and I truly am so blessed.
Honestly, it was a really good week. I feel like I made some progress in a lot of areas. I just wish more of our investigators had been able to meet with us :( Maybe this coming week we'll be able to change that or start doing some spring cleaning... We've already hit the pavement a lot this last week and will probably continue doing so this week. We have souls out there waiting for us that we need to find and help come unto Christ.
I did buy a new camera, a Canon. It's really fancy and I'm still figuring out how to work it. Buying a camera is hard, doing so in a foreign language you barely speak is even harder! haha but we did have success at last so I will still be able to send you pictures!
Mom, you'll get a kick out of this. You know how much I love sugar and used to love cookies? Both times I've made them this week,they're too sweet for me. I can eat one or two but then I'm done. It's because Taiwanese food is NOT sweet. Even their desserts don't really have sugar. Tasted bland to me when I first got here to eat their desserts, but now I love them and American desserts are too sweet for me, it's so funny. Though we have a Young Woman in our branch that is more like an American than a Taiwanren because she LOVES sweet food. She was eating the cookies like it was nothing, like most Americans would. But my companion and I both said they were too sweet, and we even cut down on the sugar. haha. We're more Taiwanese than American now I guess :) But that was a blast Saturday night, we taught our young women how to make cookies. I really enjoyed it. I love the young women in our branch, they are very incredible women!
I think that's about it on my end for the week... Hope all is well on yours!
Wo ai ni-o! Jiayou!
Sister Thomsen
Cai Huizhang's Gingke
These are from being at Cai Huizhang's. This is the roof of his house! Such a nice house and nice view!
Beach Pictures
Elder Huang- "We are Missionaries!" Couldn't have put it better myself :D
More Pictures!
9/01/13
Wo de jiating! Zao'an!
I'm still in Taidong as is Sister Chao waiting to see some more awesome miracles this coming transfer. Maybe one of them will be a baptism. I'm hoping for Becky's to come since her date is the end of the month!
Our biggest miracle this week was the one new investigator we found. Monday night really was one of miracles. We got to where we were going to do English boarding and were going to park our bikes at the nearest 7 when one of our English students walks out of that very same 7. She wasn't really interested in meeting with us when she came to English class, said she was too busy. But as we talked to her on Monday, she told us we should go to this really good restaurant nearby so we suggested we go eat there together later in the week. Everyone has to eat, right? As the week unfolded, we found out that the restaurant she suggested is closed but she was willing to go to another restaurant to eat. Another miracle that's part of this was the same day we set to eat with her, we'd already set to have one of our Young Women go chuanjiao with us who's also in our English class and already knows her. Needless to say, dinner was awesome with these two incredible english students. Then, towards the end, An (our investigator) asked us a question about the Bible or something so we pulled out the Book of Mormon to answer her question. Her eyes lit up when we told her we wanted to give her a copy of the Book of Mormon. She was so excited, you would think she realized it was far more than a book that we were giving her. Sadly, she just really loves books but I think someday she will realize that when she received the Book of Mormon, there was far more that came with it, opportunities of eternity. I really think she has great potential and am excited to see what comes from it. Not too long after that, at the end of our English boarding time, we were walking back to our bikes when we were talking to 2 guys, 1 is from California, the other is from China. He kept asking us all sorts of good questions. Sadly, he left Tuesday so the only thing we could do to help him was give him a pamphlet and a copy of the Book of Mormon. The rest is up to him until China is open to missionary work. He was also really excited to get a copy of the Book of Mormon and made me so grateful I try to ensure I have at least 1 copy on me at all times. I just hope he reads it now and becomes someone's golden investigator someday :)
Another miracle, as we were sitting in church yesterday one of our members was late but she walks over to us and gives us this awesome referral of someone she had just met and invited to meet with us! Member missionaries really are incredible! She's already given us 2 other referrals, 1 is currently our investigator and the other didn't seem interested at first but seems like she may be interested now since she called yesterday and said she was coming to church. Sadly, the rain kept her away but we're not going to give up :)
I also loved our miracle in the rain on Thursday. We went to visit an LA we'd set up with and she'd forgotten so wasn't home even though we'd just set up with her. Well, we had a back-up plan that we'd take a card to an investigator that's been having a hard time lately and hasn't really been able to meet with us. We just parked our bikes and got out the stuff to write her a note when she walks out of her house with her two kids. She then invited us to come meet with her for a little bit even though she'd had other plans. It was such an incredible miracle. And she's been reading the Book of Mormon! She's already read to 1 Nephi 12 and she said she understands it! Now, we just need to get her husband to not fandui so much. That's been on of her biggest problems, her husband doesn't like her meeting with Christians, he's really against the church :( I hope we'll find a way to help her.
Another really cool miracle I loved this week is that one of our members who basically turned inactive at the beginning of last transfer has come back to full activity! He said it was because we kept calling him and just told him that we missed him. Now, he's been at every activity for the last 2 weeks. I'm so grateful that we were able to help him come back before he strayed too far off the path. Truly a blessing.
Last week we also went to see the beautiful SanXianTai with Hou Huizhang and our elders! It was marvelous. Sadly, it also means I have to buy a new camera today since I was taking pictures when Hou Huizhang asked why everyone was being so boring in the water and not splashing or anything so the elders started before I had a chance to put my camera away so the sea water killed it :( Luckily today is pretty chill so I'll have time to look at cameras today. We're actually spending the end of the afternoon baking cookies since we're teaching the young women how to make cookies at the end of the week and we want to see how our recipes turn out in Taiwan before we teach them to make them... So our elders get to be our guinea pigs and they are so excited, lol :D can always depend on them to eat, that's for sure!
Well, that's about all for this week. Hope all is well with you!
Wo ai nimen!
Sister Thomsen
8/18/13
Wode jiating!
This week was a fun week. I feel like our companionship has received some blessings from the fast and I'm sure more will follow in time :) We have been working hard this week, spending many hours knocking doors and because of it, we found 2 new investigators! One of them I definitely feel like has interest, there's one I'm not sure about but I'm willing to keep trying! However, we did also find an awesome new investigator from a member. Such a cool story. We were way out on Gengsheng bei lu visiting an LA on Wednesday and she started to worry because it looked like rain so she turned to us and told us we needed to say a prayer because it looked like xia-da-yu and she didn't want us to get caught in it. As Elder Huang was in the middle of the closing prayer, it just started pouring down. We went outside to our bikes and I was sopped wet within about a minute. But we just kept working as usual and went out to another LA's house. Turns out, she'd forgotten and wasn't home. So we went to visit another member that works in that area. We're sitting there talking to her and all of a sudden she turns to us and says "wait a minute, I want to go see if my neighbor is home" and just walks off. She comes back and tells us, "yes, she's home." and that we need to follow her. Her neighbor's Christian but rarely goes to church anymore and she's willing to keep meeting with us! So our LA visit became a member visit which became a peike. It was so cool. Best part is after we get this awesome new investigator, we still got to go visit our LA. She said she wants to be a better example to her kids so she will make more effort to come to church. Though sadly, she didn't come yesterday :( We'll keep working with her though.
Funny story for the week. We knock doors a lot and my companion usually has the approach that if the doorbell doesn't work and the gate's open then it's valid to knock on the door. I usually have a hard time walking through someone's gate, I don't know why. Usually she runs up to the door, knocks, and runs back to me. Last night we were knocking doors and there was this nice house with a big gate that had no doorbell but the gate was open. So she said she'd go knock the door. Then she sees a dogbowl and is scared to do it but starts to walk in anyway. She gets almost to the door when this big black dog comes running out, before I know it, she's booked it halfway down the street practically. The owner followed his dog though and his dog didn't bark at all or anything so I started talking to him some. The dog then ran up to Sister Chao and started sniffing her so she asks its owner "will your dog bite people?" It was so funny. I wish we'd gotten a new investigator out of it though, but definitely did get a good laugh and hopefully you will now too :)
Funny story for the week. We knock doors a lot and my companion usually has the approach that if the doorbell doesn't work and the gate's open then it's valid to knock on the door. I usually have a hard time walking through someone's gate, I don't know why. Usually she runs up to the door, knocks, and runs back to me. Last night we were knocking doors and there was this nice house with a big gate that had no doorbell but the gate was open. So she said she'd go knock the door. Then she sees a dogbowl and is scared to do it but starts to walk in anyway. She gets almost to the door when this big black dog comes running out, before I know it, she's booked it halfway down the street practically. The owner followed his dog though and his dog didn't bark at all or anything so I started talking to him some. The dog then ran up to Sister Chao and started sniffing her so she asks its owner "will your dog bite people?" It was so funny. I wish we'd gotten a new investigator out of it though, but definitely did get a good laugh and hopefully you will now too :)
Another funny moment between my companion and I. Also happened on Geng Sheng Lu. We were waiting to cross the street and all these bikers went riding past. And when I say bikers I mean people riding bicycles. They don't seem to have bikers here like the do in the states with motorcycles and such. Well, I think they're doing the tour Taiwan bike ride thingy that's always being advertised. As they go riding past my companion tells me to look at all the cool bikers and that she wants to be like them. So I told her she is cool like them, just cooler since anyone can bike in pants, it takes someone truly awesome to bike in a skirt everyday. It was a fun goofy moment between Sister Chao and I :) we have them often as you can tell...
Another big thing this week is we have an investigator that might get baptized this week or next week! The big thing is, she has to have her parent's give her permission and she's terrified to even ask them. They're really devout Buddhists and don't like her even meeting with us, don't like her even leaving the house really. We're doing a fast with her this week hoping her parents will give her permission to be baptized but I guess we'll see. Thing is, she's moving to Gaoxiong soon for school. Hoping for a miracle but if not, she turns 20 in a year or two and hopefully when that day comes she'll still have the desire. She's so awesome. We've been meeting with her and her boyfriend and I really hope they're both able to get baptized. He especially seems golden but so does she. I guess we'll see what happens...
Other than that, we really just got fanged (stood up) a lot this week by set-ups, investigators, and members alike. We've also spent a lot of time knocking doors. We know there's people in this city waiting for us, there's a family here somewhere, we just have to find them. And the only way to do that is to be out finding and knocking doors. I can't wait for the miracles that will follow from all of this! As Elder Martin's always saying "we're gonna make it rain." Or you could also go with Elder Teshima's approach that right now we're planting a lot of seeds but it's good, because soon it's going to rain. And when it does, we'll reap what we've sown. Figures a farming analogy would come from him. He spent his summers in Tri-Cities and Othello areas farming actually. It's funny talking to him about home because he actually knows what I'm talking about. lol.
I think that's about it for this week. Hope all is well!
Wo ai ni-o!
Sister Thomsen/Tang Jiemei
8/11/13
Wo de jiating! Wo de pengyou!
Miracles! I feel like I've been so blessed in seeing miracles lately! My favorite was one that developed throughout the week. Monday night we got a referral in the phone system, a Ding Xiao Jie, so I called her. She told me she was busy at that time but I could call back on Tuesday, so I did and set up with her. Thinking she was an investigator, when our 8 o'clock appointment cancelled we invited the peike to help us at 7 instead for her appointment. So the peike came and my companion, the peike, and I were all waiting for her to show up. Well, she gets to the church and it comes out over time that she was baptized 10 years ago but went inactive shortly after. She doesn't seem to have much of a testimony was the feeling I got but she was willing to come so I think her heart and spirit are willing. The true miracle is, she came to church on Sunday! After 10 years of being inactive! That was truly such a miracle and a blessing to get to see. It was a miracle she was found, I truly know it was Heavenly Father's guiding hand and I'm so truly grateful for it.
My second favorite miracle was a new investigator. Her name is Chen Xiao Jie, though we have so many Chens that we call her Chen scooter girl to clarify who she is. We were English boarding Monday night and were actually on our way back to our bikes since our time was done and we were going to head out to contact somewhere else. Well, this lady slows down on her scooter so my companion started talking to her. She pulls over and keeps talking to us, then asked why we're "latter days" and asked if there was a former church or something. We smiled and asked her if we could meet with her again so we could better answer her question. She was willing and so we met with her about 3 days later. The miracle is, she set a baptismal date too! She truly seems like a prepared person. I feel so blessed to know her and get to teach her.
We have some really progressing investigators but this last week we've also been doing spring cleaning. We've dropped 2 or 3 and we have the potential of dropping a couple more this next week because they're not progressing and meeting with them is wasting their time and ours because they're not ready yet. They're not willing to do their part. That's always sad, but that's why we have former's records, so one day, when they are ready, someone else can find them. I feel like we're starting to build Taidong back up though, all the missionaries are. Our mission's kind of in a drought at the moment, but I think that will change after our special fast this week. We've invited the members to join in with us and it will be our entire mission doing it. I'm excited for the results. I feel like Taidong area especially has been having troubles lately but it's been great to see the missionaries still working hard and having good attitudes. I feel so blessed to be here daily. I love being Heavenly Father's missionary, to do this work and help his children come unto Him.
Thank you for your love, prayers, and support. I know they help to bear me up which is exactly what I need sometimes.
Hope all is well! Take care!
Ai ni-o!
Sister Thomsen/Tang Jiemei
8/04/13
Jiaren! Pengyou!
My favorite miracle this week was out finding. We went to visit some of our members Thursday night and ended up just knocking by their house. Well, we said a prayer and started out. We had about an hour until curfew. I don't remember what goals we'd set. We knocked the first house. The lady let us teach her and said a prayer with us but was unwilling to keep meeting with us. Her time just had not yet come. Then, we went to the house next door. No one was home. The third house we knocked, the mom came out. Then, she let us in to talk to her and share. Turns out she's Buddhist that works at a Christian hospital. I felt like her interest is more in the middle, like she's not completely certain. However, she's willing to let us go back this week and teach her and her daughter! It was so cool! We walked out and I turned to Sister Chao and asked "what just happened?!" I've been praying so hard for a family in my last two transfers, 2 different areas, and we may have found one, or at least a mother and a daughter. I was incredulous when it happened and still am when I think about it.
Another amazing miracle was the referrals we met with. We had 2, one from the elders, one from a member. The one from a member has been scheduled since the first week I got to Taidong but every week something comes up that stops us from meeting with her. Well, last week we finally got to and she seems really interested. She also came to English that night with her son. The funny thing is, she seems willing to go to church but seemed really worried her son's just too loud and would be too distracting. We're working on it. Hopefully she'll be able to come this next week. Our other referral, the elders had already taught her prayer. The thing is, I'm not sure how much she understands since she's from Vietnam. She's lived here for 8 years but still seemed really confused at the end of our lesson with her, and we ended up teaching prayer again. Hopefully she'll progress. It was really cool though, we gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon and right after I handed it to her she asked if maybe next time we could bring another copy so she could share it with her family, her mom or her sister! It was so cool. Now we just need to find another Vietnamese copy of the Book of Mormon... She said she'd read it so I really hope she does. She seems so ready for this gospel!
One thing I really loved this last week was meeting with Chen Jiemei. She was part of a gang and because of things she did while associated with the gang, she has to wait until November to get baptized. We'll she's super golden and ready to get baptized already. We are always having to find new things for her to read because she reads everything so fast. Well, I talked to her on the phone Thursday night to make sure she could still meet with us Friday and she told me she had something she wanted to share with me the next day. Our branch president gave her a triple to read! She was so excited! She loves reading and learning. She still has a lot of changing to do but I know this gospel has definitely changed her life already. Friday she also shared her story of the day I came. That she knew Zhong Jiemei was going to pick up a new companion in Taibei that Friday and how Zhong Jiemei called and set up with her Saturday and she said at work she was so happy, everyone kept asking her why she was smiling so much. She said it was like a little kid when they're given candy, just smiling from ear to ear (She loves biyus...) and when everyone asked her why she just kept telling them, "there's a new sister missionary here and I get to meet her." Means a lot to me because she was so excited and she said she's still happy about it, even though my Chinese is really hai hao and I have a hard time understanding her. I love her to death and feel like she really is my friend.
As you can tell, it's been a good week in my neck of the woods but there's still a lot of room for growth, ways to be better and make it better. I look forward to doing that this week, to astonishing the amazing people of Taidong. Anyway, I think I've rambled long enough. I hope this e-mail finds you all well.
Wo xiangnian nimen! Wo ai ni-o!
Sister Kim Thomsen/ Tang Mei Xing Jiemei
7/28/13
Wo qin'ai de Jiating! he Pengyou!
Honestly, one of the biggest miracles this last week is how things have just worked out. On Thursday the Sister Training Leaders called and said we were doing exchanges on Friday and Saturday. This required traveling until about 3 in the afternoon and being able to get to work after that. Because of this, we ended up having to move our appointments on Friday and Saturday, which were all lined up in a row back to back for pretty much the full day, and I was amazed how not one of them was upset and they all rescheduled with us. It was awesome! I'm also amazed at the end of this week seeing how calls worked out and other lessons. We worked hard this week and as I see the amount of contacted referrals and other lessons that came from it this week those are both miracles to me, especially with as much time as we were traveling and such, not really working in our area. I know we were blessed in our efforts this week. Another really cool miracle is as we went to visit an LA and she just completely opened up to us. She told us that there's no reason why they stopped going to church and they just got used to it but she also told us there's no good reason for her not to go. It was incredible. Then, one of our active members called her yesterday morning to see if she was going to church and if she wanted a ride and she came! Our active went to pick her up and sat by her all day, it was awesome. Just shows that we really do need our members, to help bring people back to activity as well as help them get baptized. Another cool miracle was one of our investigators, I've never met her before but Sister Zhong had set her up to meet with us this Friday night before she left Taidong. Well, Wednesday night we got a call asking if she'd set up for Wednesday or when because she couldn't remember and it turns out she left town on Friday so had no way to meet with us Friday. She was able and willing to reschedule with us for Thursday night. Thursday she called to move it up because she had to leave. It was so cool, I've never had an investigator so on top of things who was willing to ensure she met with us no matter what was going on. When we did meet with her, one of her first questions was, can we make a set time to meet every week? It wasn't like we were going to tell her no! So now we have 2 investigators with set times to meet with them every week, it's really cool and definitely a miracle.This week, it's also a huge miracle I'm still alive. I've almost been hit countless times this week riding my bike. Elder Rayburn and Sister Chao have both told me they thought I was about to die after someone almost hit me. I definitely know Heavenly Father has angels surrounding me, for there is no other way I could have avoided being hit as much as it happened this week. I keep telling Sister Chao, I can't wait until after this life when I can rewatch the videos of my mission and see all the angels around me that kept me alive while riding my bike here.
Honestly, I don't have much else to share this week. It's been another interesting, hard week. Welcome to life white-washing the east coast. But I wouldn't trade it for the world. This experience has definitely been one with a lot of growing and I know it will continue to happen. Obviously there's still a lot of room for me to grow :)
I love you all and hope you're doing well.
Wo ai nimen!
Sister Thomsen/ Tang Jiemei
7/22/13
Hello family!
Well, there have been some huge changes in my life once again... Transfer calls came to the East Coast last Monday, and one just so happened to come to my companion, Sister Zhong. So I now have a new companion, Sister Chao (Pronounced Zhao). She's an ABC in her third transfer. Yes, this means she's an even younger missionary than I am. It also means I'm on my fourth companion on my fourth transfer. That's another huge change, I'm now senior companion and we're basically white-washing Taidong 1st branch. It has been a roller coaster this last week as I found all of this out, but mostly I was terrified. Many days I still am as I feel so inadequate to do this work, but mostly as I feel inadequate to lead, especially in an area I mostly don't know. But because of it, I have been blessed enough to see some really awesome miracles. I know this transfer will be hard but I feel like I will grow a lot because of it.
Sadly for poor Sister Zhao, time has mostly been spent finding, knocking on doors, and doing our best to find some new investigators. Not to best impression of a new area, but it happens when you're already basically white-washing an area and our investigator pool was pretty small to begin with when I got here. But I feel like our efforts have somewhat paid off as we are looking at a pretty full week this week. It's added to by the fact that we have 2 days we aren't really doing anything before 6. This is also why my e-mail is a day late. Yesterday we had Specialized Training in Hualian so our p-day got moved back a day.
The weird/cool thing is, I got a blessing last week since I've been feeling so sick since I came to Taidong. It was bad on Thursday and I just felt totally worn down and I got sick again that morning. So, I got a blessing and the feeling that I had was that this transfer is going to be really hard, it will take a lot of faith and diligence, but I think it's also going to be really incredible. I was promised that I'll be able to find those Heavenly Father has prepared for us and I've already gotten to see this happen as our miracles have occurred these last few days.
One of our biggest miracles happened yesterday but started on Sunday. Sunday afternoon after church we got a text from an investigator I haven't met who said she was outside parking her bike. I was so confused since church had just ended and we didn't have any set ups. Well, I call her but she texted us by accident. The cool thing is, I still got her to set up with us for yesterday and last night, she came! She showed up late but she still came! And it was truly one of the most incredible lessons I've ever had. It's the first lesson Sister Chao and I have taught together to an actual investigator and it was incredible. For the time we were teaching her, everything else just melted away, I didn't notice the 7 we were in or the people around us. Everything was so centered on her, on this daughter of God finally learning how to come to Him, to come to His Son. The spirit was so strong there and she's so ready! She's met with missionaries before but said they never taught her anything but prayer and she hasn't really seen or heard from them since May and didn't understand why. She even set a baptismal date with us to work towards. It really was an incredible lesson, I wish I had more words for it but my words have been inadequate. Right after her lesson, I was buying a drink really quick and this man comes up to me and was like "I know you. I met you with Sun Zhanglao and An Zhanglao a while ago." I was totally taken back because I don't know this man and I've never been around a companionship of Sun Zhanglao and An Zhanglao, not to mention I just arrived in Taidong a little over 2 weeks ago. However, we got his number and he'll probably be coming to our branch's activity on Saturday! It's been so incredible to see the blessings that have come to pass this last week. I was promised that Heavenly Father would help me find those I've been prepared to find and that have been prepared to me. I'm getting to see this amazing blessing come to pass and honestly, I really do "Stand all Amazed." I am beyond grateful for this wonderful blessing I have been given.
So, that's been my exciting adventure lately. Just getting one new companion, being told she's moving, getting a new companion, basically white-washing the wonderful branch of Taidong1, and being made a senior companion as we're doing this. I know there are many more adventures ahead as I continue to work hard and try to learn Chinese. It's been hard that almost everything is in characters, and I'm still learning to slowly read characters. Been interesting and I'm sure my characters will get better this transfer, lol! That's about it for now... Thank you for your e-mails and your prayers. I truly have felt your prayers helping me lately. I love you and hope all is well with you!
Sister Kim Thomsen
7/14/13
Wo de Jiating!
I feel like one of my biggest miracles this last week was the Elders and Sisters already serving in this area. I know that's not a normal missionary miracle but the love I've felt from the missionaries in this area has made this adjustment a lot easier for me, I truly feel welcomed and like they're glad I'm here which means the world to me. It was really hard for me to leave TuCheng, I really did love that area though I'm also growing to truly love TaiDong, mostly for different reasons. :) A really cool miracle this last week happened when we went to visit an LA family. All their grandkids are visiting for the summer and they're all older than 8 but don't really know the gospel and haven't been baptized :( So, we got 3 new investigators from that. They really did seem interested in the gospel, especially the little boy. That same night, my companion had stopped to look at the Aborigine celebration that was going on and I noticed a woman walking by, well I said hello to her of course! Then, she stopped to talk to us. Apparently she's met missionaries long ago and they taught her how to pray, but never met with her again and she said she'd forgotten how to pray. Well, we re-taught her and she said an incredible prayer! It was amazing! Then we were trying to work things out on time since she's so busy but she told us she wasn't sure on time then told us "But don't worry, I'll definitely see you again." She's so ready for this gospel! It's incredible! I think it will be hard to work around her business and her work schedule but I'm so blessed to have met someone so ready and I'm ready to put my patience to the test again to try to help this daughter of God be able to come unto Him.
Sorry, my thoughts are all over the place today. First of all, Happy birthday this week Dad!
Second, crazy! Riley got a hurricane about a month ago, I got a Typhoon. However, the crazy thing is, the typhoon hit my old area a lot harder than it hit Taidong. Here it really just felt mostly like a normal storm with wind and rain but I hear Taibei area got hit really hard whereas we had wind and rain but were allowed to go outside the entire time unlike in the Northern part of the mission since most of them seem to have times they had to be in their apartments. Crazy to think about.
Honestly, I don't really know what to tell you this week. I'm still adjusting. My companion's been sick a lot. She says it's the heat but I really don't know what it is. Our roommate has also been really sick, she thinks she has the flu. I've had a lot of problems with throwing up and feeling like I'm going to throw up since I moved to this area but I'm just dealing with it and trying to not let it affect the work since I don't really know what else to do. Luckily, I mostly just throw up during studies so it doesn't really affect anything else in the work. :)
And since I don't really know what else to share with you this week since I'm still getting to know our investigators and members here and I've spent a lot of time in my apartment having a sick companion this week, I'll just share with you some thoughts I had yesterday on my bike. It's not the prettiest and it's incomplete, but these are some thoughts I had about serving my mission last night.
"The mad bike dash from appointment to appointment, often apartment to apartment.
The rush of the wind racing through your hair while at the same moment you're fighting your skirt to not blow up.
Dying in the dead summer heat of the day.
Having the ear-to-ear grin in the pouring rain.
Person after person turning down the greatest gift you have to offer anyone, the thing that brings you the most joy.
A baptism.
That moment a person finally gets it. They finally feel the spirit. They know the church is true. The seed of faith has been planted and begins to grow.
The moment there is no language barrier, they're still speaking Chinese and you don't understand what's coming out of their mouth but it no longer matters because you and they understand perfectly everything being said between you two.
The hard companion. The easy companion.
The companion it's hard to get along with, you're searching for things to love by the day.
The companion that you just met 5 minutes ago but is instantly your best friend and you swear you've know each other for eternity.
Your miracle day. You know you'll never forget that days experiences and you'll be forever grateful for them.
The hard day you feel like no matter how hard you try, you just don't measure up, to your expectations or anyone else's. You feel like you're a failure and wonder what on earth you were thinking when you accepted the call to serve.
This is a mission. These are the moments that make up the best 18-24 months of your life. The hardest moments of your life, but also those that you never want to end. The moments you know are changing you, helping you to grow, helping you to become who you were meant to be and who your Heavenly Father wants you to be.
The best and hardest thing you could ever do. The thing that you know at the end of the day, the end of your time to serve, you will never regret. You'll only regret the moments you didn't give more than 100% of your efforts to this great cause.
The truly most rewarding experience of your life, that you know will affect the rest of your life. This is being a Taiwan Taibei missionary, inviting others to come unto Christ as you, yourself are brought to better know and love Him. Giving your all to truly accomplish your missionary purpose. This is a mission."
These are some of the thoughts I had last night. Sorry, it's not perfect but maybe it'll give you more of a glimpse into my life because I truly feel like this is a snapshot of most of my life though many of these are the extremes of my mission. I haven't figured out how to give you snapshots of the normal, every day experiences but I really am working on it.
In other news, I'm getting a tan line. Yes, the world is coming to an end, Sister Thomsen actually does tan! Apparently I just had to move to Taidong, who would've thought? lol.
We also got to go to an LA's house in the country this week and do service. It was so awesome and felt so incredible to really be in the country again. I loved it. It was also great to do service and try to help someone else. I hope it'll help her come back to church as well but I guess we'll see.
Anyway, I think that's about it for this week. Hope all is still well at home! Take care!
Wo ai ni-o!
Sister Kim Thomsen/Tang Mei Xing Jiemei
6/30/13
Jiating!
This week has been great. I think one of my favorite miracles was a man that self-contacted us. I know that he's in good hands since we gave him to the elders, I just hope he'll meet with them. We were very up front with him that male missionaries would be the ones calling and working with him so I think that avoided some confusion that seems to come sometimes handing referrals around for the missionaries of the same gender. But I'm getting ahead of myself. It was really cool. It was one of my last firsts in TuCheng since I've never really been self-contacted and it happened on Saturday, after I'd already been told I was moving. We'd just taught a lesson to a mom who seemed interested but is really busy. Well, we were about to walk some direction and this man just walked up to us and asked where we're from. Then asked if our church had anything to do with "Mormonjiao" so we had to explain that was a nickname other people call us by because of the Book of Mormon. I don't remember much of what went on in that lesson, but I remember teaching him prayer, then having this prompting to ask if he'd like to have a chance to read the Book of Mormon, the reason people call us Mormonjiao. He was overjoyed that we were just going to give him this book. He even seemed to have a lot of interest in reading it. I really do hope he does and that it works out. He seemed to have a ton of interest and he seemed so golden! I truly think he will get baptized. He'll be their Annie. Annie self-contacted Elder Forbes and it has been a miracle as I've been able to work with her and watch her progress. She and I have also actually become really good friends. I'm sad I'll miss her baptism but I know she'll be a great addition to the church and has a ton of potential to keep progressing. It has been miracle this last week to work with her one more time, to see her prepare for her interview and pass her first one though she has to have another, which is scheduled for today. I will miss her and I hope the self-contact for the elders really does become like her and I think he will.
In many ways, this move is also a miracle, hard as it is. To be looking back and see the work I've been able to contribute to this area. When you feel like you haven't been effective, often you're just not looking hard enough. To sit in sacrament and such yesterday and be able to know many of those members as well as their struggles, to remember times I've met with them, times I've laughed with them, times I've cried over their pains, the opportunities I've had to strengthen and encourage them. That was a blessing. And that's where the work begins, with our members. I have yet to have had an opportunity to watch the broadcast but from what I've heard it's a lot about members and missionaries working together, and that really is where the work begins. That's how Annie started coming to sacrament: a member invited her. That's how we've had 2 baptisms this month, members invited them to meet with us, then invited us to call them and set up a time. Members are truly how this work progresses and where everything starts. It's incredible. Please remember this. You may not be paying to be on a full-time mission yourself. You may not be set apart. You may not know how to open your mouth and share this work. But you are still full-time missionaries. And if you want the opportunity and truly seek them, you can bless this work and people's lives so much.
Now for the part I've already mentioned. I got the call last Friday from the assistants, which came from President. That is truly terrifying, to have your companion tell you that the assistants want you to call them back. Your first reaction is oh no, something's wrong. I've done something wrong or something, I knew something was up. And it was, I'm moving areas. I move this Friday, don't know where I'm going or anything about it besides that it's happening and Sister Brown is getting a duanchuan. A duanchuan is a member that will come be a missionary for a short period of time, sometimes as long as a transfer from what I hear, and sometimes just for a week or so like the one Sister Brown will be getting. It's been hard to say my goodbyes, especially to Annie. I've been the one to meet with her every week as we've had to work separately due to having more than one appointment at the same time usually. It's hard to know she'll be getting baptized, probably this weekend, and I wont be there. But she knows I love her. I've done good work here. My time in TuCheng is up. I'm ready for a new start, hard as it is to leave this place that feels like my home, these people that feel like my family. I'm ready to stop hearing how much my Chinese has progressed, ready to have the motivation to make it progress even farther because people wont know how much it's progressed to be telling me. There are many ups and downs to this. I'm trying to focus on the ups.
Anyway, I hope this e-mail will find you all in good health. I love and miss you all. I also wish you all the best. Jiayou!
Wo feichang ai ni-o!
Tang Mei Xing Jiemei/Sister Kim Thomsen
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