Week 22

The gardens are beautiful

Happy 4th of July

I had so much fun responding to everyone’s emails, the family email is going to be a little bit short this week. :)

Nina is a doll face. We love meeting with her, and she loves meeting with us. We have basically seen her everyday for a week straight. She is changing and growing, and really starting to understand about life, and God, and our purpose here. It’s so cool meeting with her, having her learn and watching the spirit work on her. She makes me cry all the time because she asks such soul searching questions, that I can bear pure straight testimony in response. It makes me just break down and get all emotional. ha Its a little embarrassing, but she always thinks its cute, but she gets all emotional too. (I’m glad. It means she feeling the spirit.) :) During personal study in the mornings, I sometimes only study for her because I’m so excited to answer her questions. She is becoming one of my favorite people here in Dalio. It’s just exciting to see her progress so fast. One day we were biking to the church to meet with her, and she popped up behind us on her bike. It was fun traveling together. :) She came to church this week, and enjoyed it. She is getting baptized next weekend. She’s ready, God has been working with her a long time before we have and she doesn’t even know it.

We had a baptismal interview this weekend! Wang Zi Yun (my little pre missionary friend) passed and we are really excited for her. I can’t wait to tell you more about her next week.

Guo Duan Mei Ying is getting baptized on Friday!! She is such a good mom (the one from China), and wants to be a better mom, and we keep promising her that the gift of the holy ghost will change the way she parents, and she really will raise good kids, that turn out great. She’s really excited for it, cause she is having a hard time with both of her little ones being home at the same time. ha she’s so funny. She keeps asking how mom did it because she had 6 kids, and I keep telling her through prayer, scripture study, and going to church. :) Thanks Mom for being such a good example and really raising us right. I love love love you.

Ok that’s really all the highlights in a mini version. :) We keep finding awesome investigators through tracking, but they are all boys so we keep giving them to the Elders. ha One of their investigators are getting baptized this Friday the same time as Sister Guo but just at a different chapel. He is one of my English Students that is a dry Mormon. He’s been investigating the church for 3 years. We are all really excited for him. :)

Ok I think that’s about it! I love you guys so much and LOVE hearing from you. Do you have any questions? Sorry if I left anything out...

I love being a missionary and I know this church is true! My investigators are the reason that I wake up in the mornings and the thing that puts me to bed at night.

Keep being good missionaries and good examples. Thanks for all your prayers. Read your scriptures, and expect answers to your sincere prayers. The Lord loves you, he is so willing to bless his children, if they listen and obey.

Drink lots of water and put on sunscreen. xox0

Love Sister Lee

Week 21

Family!!

Every time I sit down to email I think about how much time has passed. I don’t know why it only happens when I am trying to write a subject line for my emails but it does. :)

This week’s email home is going to be really good, because it is full of stories.

I had my first Zone Conference, and it was everything I thought it was going to be and more. It was educational, fun, inspiring, exhausting and rejuvenating. President Bishop talked about having the "Faith to move mountains". He related it to our personal lives, and what we could be doing better as missionaries to move our personal "mountains: in order to continue our spiritual progression. He also talked about how we could help our investigators overcome their personal mountains. It was exactly what we needed to hear, and it was a great day. I got a package from Mom and it was so fun.

We met an adorable new investigator this week. Her name is "Nina" and we met her at English. She is 18 and working as a waitress as she goes through school. Her English is fantastic and so are her questions about our message. She is atheist, and doesn’t believe that we have a soul. We were able to share with her the Plan of Salvation and that God is our Heavenly Father. It was so interesting watching her, and seeing her try and wrap her brain around the idea that we live forever and that we have purpose to our life. It’s a crazy concept to think about at first, but its something that our spirit recognizes and seeing her recognize a portion of that was so touching. We had her say her first prayer in her life, and it was so sweet to hear. She agreed to come to church, and had such a great time. I am so thankful to the members in our ward for taking care of her, and accepting her. Everything that was said was so perfect for her to hear, and it was so cool being there to answer her questions. This Gospel changes lives. I see it everyday and its incredible.

Saturday was such a crazy day. We had 2 baptismal interviews set up, but after everything was said and done, we were only able to actually have one. ha Elder Wyatt was traveling from a different city to do our interviews for us and on the way over his bike tire popped. He ran 4 miles in the rain to make it to the interview. Talk about dedicated? haha We are so grateful to him! He was bright red and soaked, but he was able to do Sisters Guo interview and she passed! She is the Mom from China. Her mother in-law was the lady who has met with the missionaries since 1981. (We still haven’t been able to meet with her, but its a work in progress. Remember her? Her husband is so less active he didn’t know he was a member. Now we get to work on getting this family to go to the Temple!

No worries our other interview was Wang Zi Yun. She is the cute 17 year old who wants to go on a mission. She is doing her baptismal interview next week. :) Yay!!

There is nothing more important I could be doing with my life right now. In Preach my Gospel there is a part that says, "As your understanding of the Atonement grows, your desire to share the gospel will increase." (something like that) But you guys it’s so true! The center of our message is Jesus Christ and its of great value and importance. He is the reason why we have a forever family, and all the blessings that we do. Having a Christ centered home is so important, and everyday that’s what I get to share with people. We can all do a better job of keeping him in the center of our lives. I know we will be better at understanding what our Heavenly Father has planned for us if we learn of him and his son. We got to tell Nina about them for the first time in her life this week. We are so lucky to have the knowledge that they exist. I love being a missionary. Ok so as I write this to you, there is a man to my right who keeps asking me questions about being a missionary. :) I love being able to tell him all about why I am in Taiwan, and what I do. I was talking to his wife and daughter a little bit earlier. They were watching him play Mario Cart. ha anyways... It’s such a special work and I'm so grateful that I can be apart of it. It sounds so "missionaryish" but its true.

I love you all so so much.

Love Sister Lee

Week 20

Family!!

4th of July was not anything like the 4th of July in Utah, but still really fun. :) We went out to an "American Restaurant" and then took pictures and walked along a dock. It was mostly just fun being together. I forgot to mention but 2 Sundays ago there was an American couple that moved into our ward. They are teaching English at the high school and so last week we took them around town. They are way nice, and it’s good being able to take care of them and show them where things are. It’s kinda weird for me though because there is such a big difference between living here and being a missionary here ya know? After showing them around and playing with all the other missionaries they took us out to get "mango ice" and I wrote my name on the wall. :)

We had a great day yesterday. We have been meeting with Hong Xing Lei for about 2 months. She has been coming to English, but it’s been hard getting her to come to church. Because her time is so uncertain we have a hard time meeting up with her. We have only been able to teach her the first lesson. Anyways... after inviting her to church for 8 Sundays in a row she came yesterday!! It was soo good having her there. The members were really great and took good care of her. The members that she actually clicked with were members I had never met before. They were only visiting our ward for the week, but for some reason she opened up to them and told them about all sorts of concerns we weren’t aware of. Her Dad died when she was really young, and so her Uncle had taken care of her while she was growing up, but he passed away as well. So sad huh! She was really upset not knowing where they were and what was going to happen to them. Sister Cai, and Sister Xue were awesome and told her about the Plan of Salvation and about Temple work. How we have missionaries in Heaven and how we can help them get baptized here on earth. Xing Lei was so touched that she started balling and was so relieved to hear about the Plan of Salvation. It was really sweet, and it was one of the highlights of the week.

Another highlight was that I got to go to a "Specialized Training Meeting". The Mission President and his wife came down along with the assistants and they had a great training on the Fundamentals of Preach My Gospel. It was from 8:00-8:00 and I learned so much. It was really great because I got to see all my MTC companions. There is some kind of a special bond with a companion that you can’t describe. Its like they are like family, but closer because you did something really hard together. It was a great day.

This Thursday I get to see most of them again, because it’s Zone Conference. My companion is giving her reflection talk cause she is going home at the end of the move-call. It’s so weird? Anyways. :)

There are 300 people on our ward list but only 50 are active. Crazy huh? Since Sister Museus and I are both fairly new to the area we thought that it would be a good idea to try and find part member families that we could start teaching and so we could start adding more people to our teaching pool. So this week has been a lot of hide and go seek. ha But its been nice cause we have gotten to know the area, and have found places with lots of good tracting. I also feel like we are updating the ward list for the Bishop. A lot of people have moved, and a lot have wrong numbers. It’s been a process, but I really think it will work out and we will be able to find those families the Lord wants us to help.

All of our main progressing investigators have big problems preventing them from baptism. It’s so hard to see people so close and then stumble. I imagine it’s a lot like what a parent feels about their kids who are having a hard time. Anyways this week Sister Museus and I have thought really long and hard about what we can do to help them increase their Faith and continue on progressing. Remember that investigator who wants to serve a mission? Her parents won’t let her get baptized. Its ok though. It will all work out in the Lords way and the Lords timing.

I sure love you guys. My mission is so amazing and I feel so blessed that I could be here in Taiwan. I’m learning more and more each day. It’s hard work, but it’s worth it. I wish you could be here to meet all these cute people that I talk about. They feel like my family. Tonight we have a lesson with Sister Meng about Temples and I’m really excited. :)

Keep loving each other and having family prayers and scriptures study. I know its the summer, but its when you don’t want to do something is when you need it the most. :)

I love you all and pray for you everyday!!

Love Sister Camille Lee

Week 19

July 3

The 4th of July weekend sounded like a dream. It actually sounds like every other year. ha But it’s my favorite holiday, and I feel like I was right there with you.

I am excited to hear how girls camp was for Paigey! I got Miranda’s letter, and will probably have to write her back next week because I won’t have time this pday. We are going out to eat at an American restaurant with the same group of awesome single members from the other ward in our stake. It should be fun. I’ll tell you guys all about it next week. I loved her letter! Miranda go to school. Do scholarships all summer long. Make it your part time job. You won’t regret it. You will have enough money for everything. Promise Promise. That’s what I’m doing when I get back from my mission. ha

Thanks for the pictures. They were my favorite part. I feel like I haven’t seen Delan in a while. I loved his communications badge letter. I totally could read it without peeking at the bottom. Sorry I don’t have any pictures for you guys this week. After today I will. Keep them coming!

Sunday was my favorite day this week. It felt like home, and I was so ridiculously happy.

I’ll tell you why:

*Sister Meng was called to serve as the second counselor in the Primary Presidency. She gets to serve with Brother Shi's wife. I’m so excited for them. When everyone sustained her I cried.

*Brother Shi was able to pass the Sacrament for the first time. He was so nervous, but did a great job. His little boy Andy was so excited to see him, that he ran up to him and took the Sacrament form his Daddy’s tray. It was so cool I started crying.

*I went to Sunday School with the youth and they did a special "Welcome the Achievement Day girls into Young Women’s" activity. All the "big sisters" were lined up across from the "little sisters" and when their name was called the "big sisters" gave the "little sisters" a poster, a welcome into young women’s gift, and a big hug. The Bishop talked about the importance of Personal Progress and then gave the "big sisters" Young Women’s necklaces to put onto the Achievement Day girls. It was so cute, and so special. I cried.

*Michelle (an awesome member who always is willing to help us teach lessons) got her mission call to Taipei! She opened it after church and the whole ward was there to support her. It reminded me of when I opened mine, and how you guys were there to support me. It was so touching I started to cry.

*Sister Huang the Relief Society President and I had a mini meeting after church about the less active members of our ward. I told her everyone we had contacted and went and visited that week. We did it all in Chinese and I cried for joy. It was so surreal, and I felt so blessed that I could communicate all that important stuff to her.

Can you guys see why Sunday was my favorite day? :)

The Lord is really blessing this ward, and I am excited to be able to be here for a while to see it grow even more.

One more highlight from this week:

Zi Yun is a cute little student I met one of my first weeks here in Taiwan. :) I contacted her while we were getting dinner one night with Sister Lew. I invited her to church and to english class. She came to church that week. Because she is really busy we can only meet with her once a week. Every Friday at 5:30 is our set time. We asked her to start reading the Book of Mormon from the beginning. We had been checking up on her all week to see how she was doing and she said she had been reading. When we met with her this friday, we asked her where she was in her Book of Mormon reading and she told us she was in 1 Nephi: 19! We were shocked. :) Only because she is so busy? It was just a testimony to me that the Book of Mormon is worth making time for and it will change your life if you read it. She had been marking it and everything. It was so exciting. I don’t know how this came up but a wonderful member asked her if she wanted to serve a mission. She said yes! I was floored. I was so excited to hear her say that. The first time I met her she asked for my Facebook, and I gave her my blog instead. She has been reading all this time, and I guess she really likes my letters home. She is changing. I can see it on her face, and in her countenance.

I love being a missionary. I love my ward. I love my investigators. I love that you love hearing about it. I love that this message is worth going all the way to Taiwan, and missing out on my family doing fun things with my family. ha

"A mission is leaving your family for two years to help another family be with theirs for eternity."

Read the Book of Mormon this week. More then once.

Love you all, Miss you all.

Love Sister Lee