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

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