Hi Everyone!
(Good morning. Beauty in your mood. Cheerfulness in your life. Be a happy you.)
The happiest news of the week, Friday was my birthday! I am now 21 years old. It was fun to reflect on the last year I've spent in Taiwan. I was still in Training on my last birthday, and the changes that have happened from then to now are large. It was really cool to realize that I actually wanted to spend my 21st birthday sharing the message of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ with people. I love being a missionary!
Also, I love Line, the social media app here in Taiwan. It conveniently informs all your friends of your birthday and provides a nifty feature where you can add a photo or a quick birthday message in about 30 seconds. I bask in compliments and love celebrating with people, but I also feel weird about telling other people to celebrate me, so it was very nice for Line to do the job for me so I could just focus on basking :) Actually though, I was really touched by all the people who reached out, even a couple of people we'd just met on the street a few days before. Sister Wu called that evening and sang a happy birthday song that included 4 different languages. I'm so grateful I get to love and be loved by so many people here!
The rest of our week was pretty normal. We had the better part of a day free on Tuesday, so we went on an adventure to Madou, one of the farthest towns in our area. It's a 20 minute train ride and an 8 km bike ride away. Upon our return, we had a few extra minutes, so we stopped outside the train station to pray about where to go. When we stopped praying, we looked up and saw Karl standing a few feet away. We said hello, and then spent the next 20 minutes talking about our relationship with God. It was a really cool conversation! Turns out he lives a few minutes out of the border of our area, so the elders will be teaching him, but it was still really cool to be able to be the first step in helping him come to meet Heavenly Father.
Saturday was a really hard day. We had lunch with an investigator, and it was a really frustrating meeting. She would contradict or disregard anything we shared, but also kept pressuring us about when she could get baptized. Sometimes it's frustrating when you're doing your best to share with someone, and they listen, nod along, and then say something that shows they didn't actually register a single thing you said. We made it out of that, and had no time to recover, because we had three more lessons lined up back to back. The next two were with men, so as sister missionaries, if we wanted to meet in the church we needed another woman to accompany us. The two sisters who agreed to come for those two lessons both ended up cancelling last minute, so we had one lesson at the park next door, and the other one awkwardly standing in the parking lot of the church. By the end of our third lesson, I was completely emotionally, mentally, and physically drained. I didn't feel like I had anything left to possibly give in our fourth lesson. Thankfully, we had a half hour break, so we decided to grab some dessert before sitting down to skype our friend, Lawrence. Taiwan has a specific food category called QQs, which are squishy, chewy, sweet little desserts. Mochi falls into this category if anyone's tried that. With the help of QQs, shaved ice, and some fervent prayer, I was renewed spiritually and mentally, and our fourth lesson went great.
One thing I've learned a lot about this week is how God is able to sustain us. As missionaries, the majority of our schedules depend entirely on other people. As a result, things rarely go according to plan. Just because this is the Lord's work doesn't mean he's going to make everything go smoothly. There are so many bumps in the road, and sometimes it's exhausting to be always trying to keep up as you move through plan B to plan C, D, and on down the alphabet. Because I am a dramatic person with a narrow perspective, sometimes I get caught up in a particularly chaotic moment and imagine that this is how life will be for the rest of the foreseeable future. But what I am always surprised to find, no matter how many times I've already experienced it, is that God truly does have His plan, and while it doesn't usually match with our preferred timeline, He does His work in the time that we need it. There are always frustrating or disappointing days on a mission, but I have yet to have a day where I go to bed sad or discouraged. By the end, I am always amazed and awed once again by the angels He sends to lift us and help us accomplish the things we are called to do.
Have an amazing week! Love you!
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