Ok, first off, the subject line is not a typo. This month, all the 7-11s had fall themed candy displays with a big 'Hallooween' emblazoned across the top, which Sister Bast and I found very funny.
(Good morning ~ peace happiness)
The highlight of this week was Halloween! Since it was on a Wednesday, we prepared a special English lesson, and showed up in costumes. I was Mary Poppins, and Sister Bast was Totoro, from the Studio Ghibli film, 'My Neighbor Totoro'. Turns out no one in Taiwan knows who Mary Poppins is. They're pretty up to date on American culture in general, so I was actually kind of surprised by that. They were all confused why we would be watching a movie that was filmed so long ago. My only pictures from this week are from Halloween, so please enjoy me and Sister Bast being cute. Here is Sister Bast as Totoro, demonstrating all the different ways Asia has come up with to make a heart with our hands:
I learned a new favorite word this week: 悟 (pronounced as a short, sharp 'oo'). When you put it into Google Translate, it translates as 'enlightenment', which I guess is kind of right. It's the moment where something that you understand intellectually suddenly clicks, and you understand it personally, with your heart. I feel like this happens a lot in the gospel. It's pretty easy to learn the basic principles and doctrines of the gospel, and understand them intellectually. The gospel's not that complicated. Learning to 悟 the gospel, on the other hand, is a process that takes a lifetime. Slowly, baby step by baby step, Heavenly Father provides the experiences we need to truly internalize and understand, or 悟 the eternal truths necessary for salvation. It's the process of 悟ing that helps us change and become more like Christ, and prepare to live with God again. I love Chinese!
We also had a really interesting contacting moment the other day. Our plan for a part of the evening was to hit up several 7-11s on the same road and talk to the people sitting down inside. The first 7 we went to was insanely awkward. The first two people didn't want to talk to us. When we approached the third guy's table and asked if we could sit with him, he took it to mean that we just wanted to sit at THAT SPECIFIC TABLE, and moved to another table to give us space. We tried to contact a fourth lady while sitting awkwardly at our newly vacated table, and she wasn't interested either. We made a hasty retreat to our bikes. After a quick prayer, Sister Bast joked that there must be some really prepared people at the next 7, so Heavenly Father must have wanted us to get through that first one quickly and get all our awkwardness out so we could get on with things. When we got to the next 7 though, Sister Bast's words turned out to be true. We walked in and sat down next to the first guy we could find, a dad waiting for his kid to get out of cram school. We had a really touching conversation with him about parenthood and God, and he said he'd probably have interest in learning more! Then we met another girl who is up in Xinying all alone, and really needed someone to talk to. We chatted with her for a while and were able to share a bit about the Gospel and her loving Heavenly Father. She also said she might be interested in continuing to meet with us, even though she's really busy. Heavenly Father definitely guided us to where He wanted us to be that night.
That's all I've got for this week! Have a great week!
Love you all!
Sofi
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