Week 18

Sister Lew left the area. I have a new companion her name is Sister Museus and I love her. She is from Logan Utah. We have been companions for three hours, and so far so good. :)

Shi Dixong got baptized!! It was such a great night. Every thing went really smooth and according to plan. We had lot of support from the members and it was really sweet to see how they all interacted. He is going to be so well taken care of. I know the Lord has special plans for this family. Once he was baptized he got to share his Testimony and it was incredible. It did not sound like a new member testimony at all. His little boy Andy (2) said the opening prayer and it was so cute. I said the closing prayer and the missionaries sang a musical number. It was all around just a really good day. It was so special to complete a family. I feel really blessed to be apart of it. On Sunday we went over to their house, and set a Temple goal for next year. I am so excited to help them reach that goal. :)

It was Sister Lews last week in the area and so we did a lot of visiting people and having lessons with people that she won’t ever see. We had a lot of good lessons, and concerns came up. I think because she was leaving people were comfortable telling her things. ha It was actually a blessing, and I am really grateful we now know how to better help them.

I love this area. I am excited to tell you more stories last week.

Your week sounded like so much fun! It sounded like summer time. :) I am glad that Dad and Paige had a good day on Sunday it was fun hearing about their day and the weekend. The pictures were soo great! I was soo excited. Thanks so much!

Miranda, totally take my guitar to college. It will be a blast. I think it’s super rad that you are learning how to play. A lot of really cute boys will be more then willing to teach you. ;) What are you doing with your life? Tell me everything. Do something fun with your girl friends. Start a club or something.

Dad you’re detailed weeks are a blast. Thanks so much. I even love that you include the food. I can really see and taste everything with you guys. ha You watch a lot of movies together.

Ok one thing I have been thinking about is that I think it would be really cool to be a "missionary family." In AZ you have so many opportunities to be good examples to neighbors and friends. You should really try and get involved with the missionaries (like in a missionary work sorta way ha) and help them find lessons and help them go to lessons and teach, or even hosting family home evenings at our house. Our family has such an amazing testimony of the gospel and people can really see how it affects families. do it. do it. do it. It would make such a difference in our home, and it would be amazing mission prep for Delan and Kade. Don’t just feed the missionaries but work with them. We are so blessed. We should share that with others. :)

Mom thanks for sending my package. I am excited. I am still working on that second tape. I am excited for the move call and setting new goals. I am excited for you to get excited about life again. I am totally in that same mood. That’s cool huh,. :) Ok so This move call is really inspiring. I want to make goals ,and be bold, and work really hard. I learned a lot from last move call and now I know how to be a better companion and missionary and I am excited to show the Lord that I am ready and willing to allow him to guide me through his work.

love love love you all!!

Love Sister Lee

Week 17

P-day with her district.


Me and Sister Lew at the cave.

Beautiful

Peace Out!

Jumping picture with some girls we met at the beach.

My Bike!

Primary President and Family

Can you believe it? It is going by so fast!

I only have one more week with my trainer. Transfers are this next week, and so I will probably be getting a new companion. Sister Lew has been in the area for 71/2 months, so I bet she is getting moved. Its the last transfer before she goes home back to America! So crazy. We have had a great week though. Let me tell you about it.

First off we moved. It was weird at first not coming home to the other sisters, but I actually really like it now. I feel like I am on vacation. Our apartment is right next to the church at the top of a big hill and high school. :) Erica and Clinton are two English teachers in my ward, and they live in the same building as us. It’s fun having them close. They actually invited us over for Sunday dinner and we had american hamburgers and fries. It was awesome. Erica served a mission in Tokyo and so it was fun talking to her about Japan. How is Grandma Shiohama doing? Can I get her email so I can send her little messages every once in a while?

Anyways, next big thing was CTDM. Combined District Training Meeting. It was fun. Our whole zone got together and were trained by the zone leaders on how to better work with the members. I met Matt Porters best friend Colby Sandford. He is a really cool guy. It was fun talking to him. He wants Matts Mission home address, but I don’t have it. Audrey do you think you could send it to me? Thanks sweetie.

Dad!! Paige!! Happy Fathers Day!! Happy Birthday on Sunday!! I love you both very very much, and will be thinking of you! Please send me pictures. I can’t wait to see them. I hope you both have a fun day. It’s kinda fun that you get to share the holiday. Paige are you really turning 14? That’s so weird. I thought you were 14 this whole year. haha Nevermind.

Ok some other fun things:

I felt an earthquake during weekly planning. I was talking to Sister Lew, and she yelled: "Stop. That’s not normal." haha I was confused at first, but then I felt it. It was pretty cool. It was really really windy that day.

Sister Exchanges are tomorrow. That means I travel to a different area and I am with a different companion for a day. Kinda fun huh? :) I’ll tell you all about it next week.

Ok so here is the really good news. :)

We have a baptism this week!! Shi Dixong passed his baptism interview and he is getting baptized Saturday night! I am so excited. :) He went from atheist to having a strong testimony of God, the Book of Mormon, and the Plan of Salvation. It is incredible. It has been so cool to see the transformation. Sister Lew baptized his wife last move call and so she gets to see this whole family get baptized before she leaves the area. He is such a good dad, and is going to be such a strong leader in the church. Because of his work, it’s always a guessing game if he is going to work on Sundays or not. We had been praying all week that he wouldn’t get called into work so he could go to church and we were at his house when we got the phone call. We were all waiting and crossing our fingers. As soon as he got off the phone, he said " I don’t have to work until Monday." We all yelled and gave him high fives. It was really cool. It just showed to me how much faith this family has. So fun this week he went out and bought a whole new Sunday clothes that he wore to church yesterday. White shirt, black pants, and a tie. It was so fun to see him all dressed up. I’m really excited to tell you all about it next week.

Two other short success stories:

You remember the old grandma that had all the missionary friends from the 1980's? We went over to her house to check on her, and her Daughter in Law was there with her kids and inactive husband. (He is so inactive that he didn’t know he was a member even though he knows he was baptized as a little kid.) Anyways, they all came to church on Sunday and stayed all three hours! We have a lesson with them tonight and I am really excited to go and teach them.

Yu Jin. She is the cutest thing ever. 18 years old, works at a Stationary store, and loves loves young womens. She is such good friends with all of the girls. We taught her all the lessons in two days. She has her baptismal interview this Saturday, and is getting baptized next Saturday. :) Incredible right?

I love my mission! I am so happy that I can be here, and can be meeting these people. They are changing my life.

This morning I read a conference talk that said:

"Our greatest personal challenge in the mortality is to become a saint through the atonement of Christ."

So true! I have been studying a lot about becoming a saint It takes a lot of hard work. It requires humility, patience, faith, prayer, fasting, being submissive, full of love, meek, repentance and so much more. All my investigators are such good examples to me because they are such good examples of all of these things. I love them. Thanks for supporting me. I love you all so very very much.

Have a great week!!

Love, Camille aka Sister Lee

Week 16

Wow!! Hi Family. :)

What a fun week. :) Cleaning and relaxing sounds like the perfect way to start out the summer. Mom I'm excited to see pictures of the desk and of the boys buzz cuts, and Dad from your activity. Delan I'm excited to hear about Basketball camp. I wanna see pictures of all of your cool stuff ok!

Today was sooo much fun! We woke up at 5 to get on the train, to get on the bus, to take a boat, to ride a bike around this beautiful island. We went with our district, and all the single young adults in our area. They are all so amazing! They planned this whole thing for us, and it was fun getting to take pictures with them and playing.

While on the island, we went and saw the beach, had some home made ice cream, went cave crawling, and went on a hike in the mountains. The island was really pretty, and really hilly. ha The bikes we rode were so way too small for all of us, but it was all apart of the experience.

The Office Elders called us on the way home, and we are moving into our new apartment tomorrow. That's kinda exciting. The 4 sister apt was fun while it lasted, but now its time to get our own place. It’s right next to the church and so that will be really convenient.

This week was a really good week. I was in a way better mood from last week, and so I feel like I was able to be a more effective missionary. It’s so crazy to think that I'm a missionary. For how great my calling is, I feel ridiculously inadequate, but I think that's supposed to go like that because it keeps me prayerful and humble.

**Random side note.

Sister Lew and I have decided to start a little 2-man band when I get home. ha "Something that starts with an L. " is the name that they other sisters gave us. We already have 2 CDs. #1Mission Music. #2 Stuff for when we get home. So far we just have 5 tracks on CD #1. It’s been so fun riding around on our bikes singing our own versions of our favorite hymns. Phina-One of our new members got sick on the boat, and so we sang to keep her occupied. Kinda silly but actually really fun.

We had a lot of good lessons this week. Here are little tidbits from them.

Last Sunday we went to visit less-actives, but none of them were home. We left notes and so this week we went by to follow up. We knocked on a ladies door and long story short, she hasn't been to church in 25 years. She has two adorable little kids, and is willing to come to church. We taught about Joseph Smith, and the Book of Mormon. She had really really good English and she kept saying Wow. Oh yeah. Oh I get it. Wow. It was really cute. There is no denying the message of the restoration. It’s incredibly powerful.

We got a random referral on the phone, and so we set up with this mystery family. We stopped by their house, and inside were the most beautiful dolls. Her front room was kinda like a craft room, and there was this one ballerina doll that made me think of Paige. :) Anyways, she was an old 70 yr old lady who was totally excited to see us, and kept mentioning that she had a missionary from America. We were confused at first, and then she brought out the letters, address cards, and the pictures, and it all started coming together. She has been an investigator for 41 years. When she was young she met with the missionaries a ton, and all of their little notes all said stuff about her getting baptized. I guess she didn't want to upset her parents when she was young so she never got baptized, but now she is ready. Can you believe it? So cool huh. She has a family now, 5 kids and a couple grandkids. From what we got one of her sons is a member. She still had such a strong testimony of prayer and that God is our loving Heavenly Father. It was such a walk back in time seeing all the letters, but it just strengthened my testimony of how "God is the same yesterday today, and forever". I'm excited to baptize her and then send letters to all those sets of missionaries that taught her.

We contacted another lady last week in the rain, she was under an umbrella getting food, and so we started talking to her. We set up to meet with her, and during the lesson we found out that she met with the missionaries as a young girl as well. She said that now that she has a family of her own she wants to teach her kids right so they can grow up to be like us. It was cool because when she said that I heard… "I’m so ready to prepare my self for baptism, so my family and I can be blessed from living the principles of the Gospel." ha Such a cool story.

It was good to have all these investigators who talked about missionaries from a long time ago... It gave me hope because we had an amazing family drop us this week. Dad opposes and so that means we can’t have any contact with them anymore. Really sad! Especially because we were done teaching them, and they were ready to get baptized next week. :( Even though I'm really bummed out I personally don't get to see them get baptized its ok. Maybe someday in the future another set of missionaries will bump into them and get to teach them again. Investigators and member might forget about the missionaries, and missionaries might forget about investigators, but I know the Lord doesn't forget, and that he is preparing these people. It’s not a matter of if, but when. As a missionary I still have to work my hardest and try my best, all the while trusting in the Lords timing. It’s sad, and frustrating, but ok in end.

Probably the best part of the week was last night. Brother Shi committed to baptism and is having his baptismal interview in just a couple of hours! He is such an amazing man. His wife is a recent convert of 6 months, and the Primary President. We LOVE her. She is always helping us teach lessons, and follow up with our investigators. I have really come to love this family, and so having Brother Shi get baptized. Is such an amazing feeling!! If they prepare to go to the temple. I could go and see them get sealed before coming home from my mission. How cool is that? :) This is the reason why I came on a mission; to invited people and families to come unto Christ through baptism so they can receive all the earthy and eternal blessings our Father in Heaven has in store. I'm so grateful I got to learn and grow with him. I can’t wait to tell you how it goes!!

I love you guys so so much! Thanks for the emails, it was so great hearing from everyone as always. I am learning so much, and having so much fun. "There is no greater work than this". It’s still really annoying I cant speak Chinese, but I'm learning how to study better and I am so grateful to Sister Lew for studying with me. I passed off Lesson 2 of Phase One on Saturday… 5 more tests to go. ha Elder Adams was really nice, and I'm really grateful to him. ha

Ok family. I better go. Thanks for all your love and support!!

Love Sister Lee

Week 15

We Match!

My companion is signing up for classes at BYU right now, and its so funny hearing her squeal about how weird it is. haha Love her.

I love you guys!

Ok first things first.

I get on to email about 10:30ish our time. Idk what that is your time. Next week we are going to an island, so emailing will be different. Rad huh? We are going with the other sisters we live with, and I’m so excited.

The size letters I got in the MTC were perfect. Maybe you could write and do smaller emails so I have more time to write you guys back. We will get a grove going on, it’s still only by 4 pday,

I am doing things, I have never done before. The Lord is totally watching out for me, and helping me accomplish things I couldn’t with out his help. This week has been such a treat. We had mission conference, and it was so fun! We had to wake up at 2:30 to be ready to get on our bus around 4:00am so we could make it up to Taichung for the conference. We slept on the way up there, but it was still exhilarating being with all these missionaries. :) Oh ya. I saw Elder Carter. He was on my bus. He seems to be doing great.

Elder Jay Jensen came to talk to us and gave some amazing advice about learning from the scriptures. He also instructed us how to better teach by the spirit, and how both combined could have such a powerful effect in our work. We had assigned seats for some reason, and I got to sit front row. I came with a couple "soul questions" and by the end of our meeting the spirit helped me answer all of them. Personal revelation is so powerful and I am learning more and more about it, as I see how it affects my personal life, my companionship, and the members that we teach.

Sunday was probably my favorite day this week. Sister Lew and I had 13 investigators to church. 13?? Such a blessing, can you believe it? She said it was an all time mission high for her, and a good feeling I could compare it too, is like seeing how many friends come to your birthday party or something. ha Right now we have 19 progressing investigators, and 7 that are getting baptized in just a couple of weeks. The numbers don’t matter. The Lords has prepared these people long before we contacted them, and now we just get the privilege of helping them get the rest of the way. We call them all everyday, and I feel like I get to talk to my own family on the phone. These people are amazing and they all have different needs, and wants and desires, but they are all working towards the same goal, and its been such a blessing being able to see them progress.

Elder Bednar came to Taiwan this weekend to talk to the youth and we were able to go via technology! He was up in Taipei It was a question and answer setting, and one of our youth got to ask him a question! Technology is amazing isn’t it? Pres. Bednar reminded us that technology isn’t progressing to merely progress, but to better spread the gospel. Really cool. He had a common theme of being an agent and not an object, and we are "to act on not be acted upon" (insert scripture reference I cant remember/find). He talked about this in correlation with faith, and our prayers. Faith is an action of power. Usually we pray for the power to act, but we rather should act and then the power of faith will follow. So powerful, so cool. And it changed the way I do missionary work. With the things I learned from Elder Jensen I have a better understanding about my purpose and how that helps me better take care of my investigators and how I can better fulfill the Lords work in the Lords way.

Boy I wish I had more time to tell you all the details of the week.

Miranda you had a crazy weekend. Thanks for taking the time to type it all out. I have things to say. I’ll tape em to you. :)

Mom way to be. You work so hard, and it’s so impressive. I’ll take a picture of my bike today. I still haven’t made it ugly.

Dad I’m glad that you got to see your friends this weekend!

Delan The blind lady doesn’t have a guard dog. She has a friend that comes to her house and helps her out.

Paige I can’t wait for your letter.

Kade your shirt sounds so cool, and the pool pictures were awesome.

I gotta go, but quickly this is what my senses are telling me:

Seeing: Fireworks going off in the middle of the day. Funny huh. ha

Hearing: The garbage truck. He sounds like the ice cream man. haha People come out and throw their trash away.

Smelling: Fruit stands! The fruit here is amazing!

Feeling: Gods grace helping me get through everyday. Sore legs!

I love you all so much. We saw so many miracles this week, and its all because the Lord loves his children. We just happen to be desiring to do his will, and that allows us to be in the right place and the right time. It’s so incredible. Have a great week everyone, and keep having family scripture study. It’s changed my life.

Love,

Sister Camille Lee