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