Hello all!
I
think my favorite miracle this week was doing Temple Tours on Saturday.
Originally,there were no tours scheduled but I definitely felt the hand
of the Lord as we were told we had no tours scheduled then a few
minutes later the temple sisters called to tell us we had a tour at 10.
We were busy the whole day with all the weddings! We would go out
contacting and then one of us would need something from Jin Hua or
something and every time we walked back in the door of Jin Hua, there
were once again a ton of people and usually at least one person asking
us to do a tour. It was incredible. But I think the biggest miracle was
doing a tour for the English Ward elders. Yea, I eat, drink, breathe,
and sleep Chinese but they wanted me to do a tour in what language?!? So
hard to do it!!! But I definitely felt the spirit so strongly. It also
helped me to see how much my Chinese has really progressed, something
that is often hard for me to see, and to see how much my english has
regressed since often the Chinese came into my brain so smoothly but it
took serious thought to be able to say it in English... We invited him
to be baptized and I think it's the first time I've ever had someone
who's already Christian agree to be baptized so easily and be so willing
to do his part to know. Definitely a miracle and I definitely feel like
he's so prepared!
Another miracle was that one of our investigators finally came to
church yesterday! And he's been calling us every day instead of us
having to call him, makes life a lot easier for us :)
haha so
funny story to share with you this week. I found another cultural
difference between us and America. Or us and Taiwan. Between America and
Taiwan... haha, welcome to my mind. Anyway, you all know how America
wears wedding rings on the left hand ring finger. Well, apparently in
Taiwan it's different. I had a recently re-activated LA the other day
look at me very seriously and ask "Tang Jiemei, are you married?" as she
also grabbed my hand (but not in an inappropriate way or anything) I
staggered out a very surprise "no," but I think she saw my confusion. So
she was like, but where you where your ring means your married in
Taiwan. hahaha!!! So apparently in Taiwan, the tradition is that when a
girl is engaged, you wear your ring on your right hand ring finger and
when you're married it's on your right hand middle finger, exactly where
I wear my CTR ring!!! For guys, they just wear their wedding ring on
the same finger Americans wear theirs. Cultural differences are so funny
sometimes, especially when you know nothing about them and you've been
on island for about a year!!! Crazy how time flies.
haha another funny thing is we have an RC in Bade that I've been
unable to meet because she's always so busy with work (she's a nurse and
it's been flu season in Taiwan) but she came to church yesterday! So
weird and true, there really are people you're meant to meet. I think
Liu Jiemei is one that I was meant to meet on my mission. When she came
in Sacrament meeting had already started but she waved at me and just
sat in the back. The funny thing is, the second I saw her, I felt like I
knew her and we'd been friends for a long time but I honestly had no
idea who she was. I truly believe we were friends before we came here.
We seriously were instant friends and connected really fast, unlike
anything I've ever experienced before. Really cool experience :)
Well, I hope this e-mail finds you all well. This week I also just
want to share with you the importance of going to church. As I've
visited LAs this week, it's broken my heart as they've told me they're
just "too lazy" or "too busy" to go to church. I even had one ask me if
it's really all that important that we go to church! Then she asked why.
Heartbreaking. Really, church is so important. That's something I've
seen as a missionary. It's the LAs and Investigators that go to church
that are able to really progress because they have the support system
and they better understand. They stop just relying on us missionaries
but rely on each other. So please, make sure it's a priority in your
life. It will make all the difference!
I love you all and help you are still doing well! Keep up the good work on your side of the world!
Love,
Sister Thomsen
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