Week 49 - XinNian Kuaile!

Jan 30

Hello Everyone!

I hope you all had a fantastic Chinese New Years just like I did... ;)

My companion and I got fed by the members for one straight week! Lunch and Dinner Monday through Sunday.... It was so awesome. I am so happy, and I enjoyed every single bit. I am also so in love with Chinese food. More then my companion is. ha

All of our investigators went out of town, which was a bummer. They all have stopped progressing really, and I feel like we are starting all over again. ha Because we didn't have a lot of lessons this week we did tons and tons of stuff with and for the ward. It makes me feel like a missionary in the States and I love that feeling. :)

Probably my favorite part of this week was preparing a present for the ward. The Bishop has this great plan for the ward and we typed it up and put it on a cool cut out for everyone. We laminated it the Bishopric passed it out on Sunday. The Bishop was so happy and pleased with our surprise. I know its a little silly thing, but I feel like it made a big difference and it really showed the Bishop that we love and support our ward.

Another fun thing that happened this week was that President and Sister Bishop came to church this week! They spoke in Sacrament meeting about missionary work, and I actually got the opportunity to translate for Sister Bishop. It was cool. It also helped me realize that my Chinese has room for improvement. ha They shared a great message about the spirit of missionary work, and it was fun having them there for the block of church.

Ok well that is all I have to say. I feel like all the fun and silly things have been sucked out of my life, and have been replaced with daydreams of missionary stuff. ha Sorry I am so boring! I will keep of funny things or cool things about Taiwan and tell all you all next week.

I love you!!! Thanks for writing me and keeping me in your prayers. You guys are literally working miracles over here.

Love you!

Sister Lee

Week 48 - This was not a relaxing Pday... It was better. :)

Picking Strawberries

Jan 23

Hi Family!!

I just had a great time today. We went to a BBQ and chit-chatted with some people in the ward, we also went strawberry picking and took pictures in a flower sea. It was so much fun. I love my ward. They are so good to us! We don't have very much time to email today because we played too much today so its going to be choppy and short, but I still hope that you guys get the jist of my week. :)

The ward has us scheduled for dinner and lunch everyday this week. I am so excited. EVerything is closed during Guonian=Chinese New Years.

I found out a couple things about Chinese New Year: If you drop your Chopsticks it means that people are going to ask you out to eat. ha Their New Years Eve they make fish to eat but the don’t eat it all because fish is a sign of good luck and foturne and so they leave some of the fish uneaten to bring wealth and good fortune in the coming year.

Everyone give and gets Hongbaos - Red envelopes of money. We made our Missionary Hongbaos. We put fake cash inside and put a scripture on the back. It was really fun. I feel like this week is way way more exciting then Christmas. Ha

Ok I will tell you guys more about it next week, when I find out more and I have more time.

I feel like it has been a long time since I told you guys about how missionary work is going. I am sorry. It’s going good. It’s going really good. The Elders and Sisters of Tanzi have committed to really putting our heart and soul into the ward so we can have good relations. This week that included: Putting together a service program for the Young Men, going over to Ward Members houses and getting to know them, preparing spiritual messages and hongbaos, have a lot of members help us teach and going out and doing missionary work with them.

Anyways, I will tell you about Zhou Xing Ting next week. She is hilarious, and she wants me to be her daughter-in-law.

Being a missionary is really special. It’s totally different then you think it is, and so better in other ways you couldn’t even imagine. I have been a roller coaster mess this week, but things are starting to smooth out. It’s all apart of growing into that person the Lord wants you to be I guess.

I sure love you guys! Happy Chinese New Year! When I get home we can celebrate it next year ok?

Have a great week!!

Love Sister Lee

Week 47 My So what a week!

Eating Birthday Gyoza!

Birthday Presents!

1-16-12

So here is the deal... The mission gives us an hour and a half to email our family. I usually take 45 min to 2 hours because our family is so big. . We were already doing totally fine, but we raised the standard and so now I don’t have as much time to email. I just wanted to tell you so you can tell everyone and if my email sounds lame-o it’s because I don’t have any time. No worries! We can just write a lot of letters. I would love to get letters! :)

Birthday!! Yay!! It was a good day. My companion gave me a left over Christmas card and some candy, and wasn’t in a bad mood which made me really happy. She even said we could go eat whatever I wanted. haha The Fengyuan Sisters were adorable and oh so good to me. They sang me happy birthday in the morning with the guitar and hit me awake with a pillow fight as my companion was in the shower. They made me breakfast, and put love notes on my bike. When I came home later that night I got home before them, and they came in singing happy birthday with treats and a little cake. :) Because of move calls I sadly didn’t get any letters or packages. They are holding them until everyone moves. It’s ok. I called the office, and it definitely came on time, I just didn’t get it. :) Oh President and Sister Bishop also called and sang me happy birthday. I really had a great day. It was kinda cool because the country election was on Saturday I had my own fireworks show. Definitely a birthday to remember.

This move call I am staying with my companion, in my area. It’s going to be hard, but I can do it. Our wards focus is missionary work for this year. They really want to increase ward attendance as well as baptize more people. It’s an incredible ward. I am so lucky. I can’t wait. My companion and I had a good talk last night about our relationship, and if we want success we need to work on being friends.

I’m doing good. I’m happy. Happier today then I was last week. I am growing and I can feel it. I am being stretched and it’s so uncomfortable, but when things are good between my companion and I, I can feel that Heavenly Father is proud of us that we are making it work. I love my mission and I’m grateful to be here.

That’s everything for now.

Love you all,

Sister Lee

Week 46 - I totally forgot!

Sister Exchanges with Sister Lethco

Got caught studying.

My companion got a hair cut.

I was feeling so relaxed during emailing today, and it is because I totally forgot to write this family email!

Ah sorry everyone...haha

Real quick:

Monday: Can’t remember

Tuesday: Sister Exchanges

Wednesday: Rained all day. We switched back but forgot to give the keys to back to the sister’s bike and so we spent all day on the bus and at English class.

Thursday: So awesome! Rained all day again. We had the perfect mix of everything. Visited with Members, had new lessons, visited LA and it all went so smoothly. It was probably my favorite day

Friday: Can’t remember

Saturday: Had an awesome day like Thursday

Sunday: Had a great day like Saturday

I know I know really really lame email. I’m sorry! I’m out of time. :(

I still love you!!

Love Sis Lee

Week 45 - I think I told you most of this but...

It feels like I talked to all of you guys forever ago??

I am in a time warp. I come home from my mission this year. Tai kuaghang= Too crazy

New Years was exciting. It was great telling everyone: "Xinnian kuaile"=Happy New Years! I was talking to my companion and I feel like a lot of people are going to get baptized this year because everyone is afraid the end of the world is coming. It’s a strange feeling being a missionary at the time of the "end of the world".

The first day of the year was a Sunday. Too perfect huh... We had investigator, less actives, and recent converts all attend and so it was really a great seeing everyone.

I had a really good week. It was busy, and full of really good lessons. We found lots of really cool new people, and have been seeing a lot of success recently. I can’t really remember anything too crazy or important to even tell you guys. ha sorry! If I think of anything I will tape about it later on today.

Yesterday I was reading all of my notes from the MTC and it was crazy how much good stuff I learned in that place that I can actually use in the mission field. ha Who woulda thought? ;) One thing I reread yesterday that someone during devotional encouraged us to do was to write down all the spiritual experiences you have and keep good track of them. That is one of my new years resolutions. I just wanted to share one right now.

On Saturday we were leaving our apartment to go teach one of our progressing investigators. For some random reason I felt like we should go a different way. As we were traveling I saw a mom waiting for the light to turn green, and decided to talk to her. I slowed down, said hello, told her how I was so grateful for this gospel and how much it blessed my life and asked her if we could meet with her. She agreed! We wrote down her information, and have an appointment to see her this week. It may sound really small and insignificant, but I know that we were supposed to find her. It doesn't matter if it’s a small thing or a big thing, but blessing always come from heading to the promptings of the spirit. Sometimes we get to see the results of the prompting, and sometimes we don’t. The important thing is that we listened, and obeyed.

When I first started my mission it was really hard knowing how and when the spirit was talking to me. The more I have learned and studied what the spirit is, and the more I have experienced its promptings the easier it is for me to recognize. It has come step by step and inch by inch. It has always been a blessing in my life. On my mission I am lucky enough to learn about the blessings of the Holy Ghost on a whole new level.

One of my favorite scriptures about the Holy Ghost is in 3 Nephi. The Lord has just come down and has started ministering to the Nephites. He teaches his apostles how to pray and then commands them to teach the multitude how to pray. Everyone starts pouring out their souls, and Jesus tells everyone to pray without ceasing. After they are done praying they all ask for the thing which they desire the most, and that is the Holy Ghost. Cool huh! They haven't even been baptized yet, but they know how incredible it is, and they want it. I know that the guidance and presence of the spirit is such a blessing in our lives. Lets do all we can to invite it, understand it, and follow its promptings. Ok that's all I have to say. :)

I love you.

Love Sister Lee