A Shocking Twist of Events

Last week Sister Angulo and I were 99.99% positive that I would be transferred today. Looks like the .01% came back to bite our predictions, because I'm still in Yongkang. Sister Angulo moved to Guiren (only about 30 minutes by taxi from Yongkang), and Sister Ma moved from Guiren up here. I was definitely completely shocked when we got our move calls, but I'm excited to stay here and to keep working with the same people!

Sister Ma is amazing. She's ABC (American-born Chinese). Before the mission, she was going to school in Idaho, but she also worked as a fire fighter--the kind of crew that gets flown in to areas that have forest fires and stuff like that. Pretty awesome. More importantly, she's full of faith and hard work, and I'm really excited to get to be with her for six weeks. I'm so blessed when it comes to companions! Actually, I don't think I've met a single sister missionary in my mission that I wouldn't be excited to serve with. It's been quite a while (since my second move) since I was the one who knew the area best out of the companionship. This is when I get to see a lot of blessings in terms of remembering where things are, knowing who we need to go help, etc. as my companion gets to know the place and the people. I know she'll also have help to learn and remember quickly so that we can work together to the blessing of this area. We have several investigators that I believe will be prepared for baptism this move. I'm so grateful to be a part of that process.

It's going to be a good move.

Temple Blessings

We all went to the temple last Wednesday and it was AMAZING. The closest temple is in Taipei. Our mission goes once a year in two groups (i.e. half the missionaries go one week, the other half go the next week). Because the trip is every February, and I'm only in Taiwan for one February, this is the only time I'll get to go during my mission. I'm so grateful that we have the opportunity at all. The temple is unlike any other place. As soon as you walk in, the peace starts to settle in. Changing out of street clothes into all white sort of completes the process for me. It feels like all the fog and complications are cleared out and only the most precious and simple truths are left. It was especially nice to go with the other missionaries and my mission president. Temples allow us to do the ordinances necessary for salvation in the Kingdom of God. Through the ordinance of the endowment, we make sacred covenants and receive knowledge and blessings that allow us to return to our Heavenly Father. Through temple marriage, God is included as a party to the marriage covenant, and families become sealed to live together again after death. Endowments and sealings, as well as baptism and confirmation, can all be performed in proxy for the dead in the temple. All missionaries will receive their endowments before they begin their service, so we were all doing that ordinance in behalf of people who have already died. It is a wonderful opportunity to do something for someone that she cannot do for herself. It's also a huge blessing to go remember our promises to the Lord, the blessings He promises in return, and to receive enlightenment on our concerns and questions. Suffice it to say, I think we all felt spiritually rejuvenated by the whole experience. I can't imagine any success or accomplishment in the world that could possibly bring more satisfaction to me than the feeling of being in the temple with people I love around me.

It is by grace that we are saved, after all that we can do.

The exact reference for that scripture in 2 Nephi chapter 20-something is eluding me, but let me say that I have learned once again how true that is. Every night when my companion and I plan the next day, we begin and end with a prayer. We usually take some time to individually ponder and pray over who we should visit or what activities we should do, and then we compare our impressions and make the best plan we can. This week we got several confirmations that the Spirit does help us to do what we could not do ourselves. I can think of two people who we visited, one former investigator, one less-active church member, who both asked us how we knew to come at just the right time. The former investigator's father died recently (which we didn't know), and at the time she visited she normally wouldn't have been home, but that day her schedule was a bit different. She said seeing us was like seeing old friends. It was such a blessing to be with her at that time. The less-active member is going through some back problems that may require risky treatment. We showed up the night before her examination, which she was very nervous for. We were able to get two priesthood-holding men from the ward over to give her a blessing (to understand what the priesthood is, I recommend checking mormon.org or lds.org). She said every time she's having especially many trials, the missionaries show up. I know we do all we can, but in the end it's grace and guidance from God that saves us and allows us to do what we need to do.

Family History Extravaganza

Well, the festivities are basically over, and the routine is mostly back to normal after a few weeks of turbulence. One of the major variations from our usual was helping out at a family history activity in Tainan city. Last Wednesday through Friday, the Church here hosted a family history open house in a school behind a Buddhist temple. As we all discovered, Tainan during guo nian is bustling, so there were lots of people around. We were there Wednesday afternoon, Thursday morning and afternoon, and parts of Friday handing out fliers on street corners and inviting people to come check it out. Family history seems to be of particular interest to Taiwanese people, who are culturally (and religiously) inclined to honor their ancestors. I think about 3000 people attended. They were often excited to hear that the Church could help them trace their ancestors for generations. Some were also curious to know why a Christian church would be doing this sort of research. One of the things I would really like to get more into after my mission is family history. There's a lot of interesting things to learn about the stories and background of one's own family, but the best part is getting to take names to the temple to do ordinance work. We believe that certain ordinances (baptism, confirmation, endowment, sealing in families) are necessary for exaltation. However, a fair God would have to make provision for those who didn't have opportunity to complete those ordinances on the earth. At the same time, He would also be unfair to force anyone to accept them if unwanted. So members of the church go to temples to perform ordinances in proxy for the dead, believing that those spirits will hear the gospel in the spirit world, and then have their own decision of whether or not to let the ordinance apply to them. As the saving ordinances apply across generations, families are linked together through sealing for eternity. I love this doctrine because it does illustrate how fair God is, and how meaningful our families are; despite inequalities on the earth, in the eternal scheme, each person has an equal opportunity to obtain eternal life with the people most dear to us.

Guo Nian

I think I'm getting one of the more unique perspectives on (guo nian) Chinese new year. I'm sure I'll never be able to recreate the experience of being a missionary in Taiwan at this time. To be honest, I'm not sure why the celebrations last an entire five days (starting 26 January). As far as I can tell, a large part of the celebrating is eating a lot of food. At least, that will be my main form of celebration as invitations to lunch and dinner pour in like never before. It's also usual to do a thorough house cleaning right before guo nian, which we also get to (read: are required to) participate in by announcement (read: decree) from the bu (bu=mission office; it makes sense if you speak Chinese). I'm actually really glad that we're asked to do a good cleaning, because it justifies us in using more of our limited personal time to get our apartment more in order. We do maintenance cleaning, but of course everything needs a little more from time to time. Cleaning and letting our souls delight in fatness aside, the most noticeable change from my perspective is all of our investigators and most less-active church members that we try to set up with suddenly not being able to set up with us because of the holidays. This may seem like a setback, but on the other side of a setback there's always something that you didn't expect which often does more good than the setback did harm. I'm not sure exactly what miracles will emerge this time, but I trust they'll come. It's already a blessing to feel the love of those who welcome us into their homes to celebrate with them.

This week we got to sit down with an entire family in their home, which is probably one of my favorite things to do as a missionary. This family consists of a father, mother, and three little children. We've met with them sporadically before, always at the church. Having an opportunity to go into their home and share the message of the restored gospel was really special. I know from my own life that the blessings of the gospel are made all the sweeter when shared in the family. I'm so grateful to have the support of my parents, and my brothers and their families while I'm so far from home. It's great to know that we can be together forever through the ordinances of the temple, especially because I think that living gospel principles makes our relationships with each other such that we would like to be together eternally. My companion, Sister Angulo, had a little sister who died in an accident when she was seven and Sister Angulo was ten. She'll happily tell anyone how that experience turned her to really find out whether or not she would see Taylor again, and that she did in fact find her answer through prayer and the scriptures. Instead of relying on the passage of time to put it behind her, she has the knowledge that someday she'll be with her family forever to heal her grief and make her truly happy. Seeing the peace that she finds through that has made me all the more anxious to find people who are looking for the same thing and share it with them.

A New Experience

Perhaps you have already begun to suspect that something out of the ordinary is going on over here, since I did not write until a couple days after I said I would. How true it is. This is probably the least expected move call I have yet received: same area, same companion. Yes, Sister Angulo and I are together in Yongkang for another six weeks and excited about it (the last bit is especially good news). I'll spare you all the reasons why, in retrospect, this is not as surprising as it might have been. The MTC aside, I have not been with a companion for more than six weeks yet; many missionaries never do have a companion for more than one transfer. There are a lot of fun things about switching up companions, getting to know a new place or a new person, learning new ways of doing things, etc. This week I'm finding out that there are also many good things about getting to stay in the same place with the same person. We're both familiar with the place and the people, so we don't spend time on introductions, plus we can share the planning burden more evenly from the beginning. That we have a good relationship is obviously helpful. I'm really glad that I can be with Sister Angulo for so long, because I suppose that we'll be friends for a long, long time after the mission; it's a real blessing to have so much time to get to know her, learn together, and have spiritual experiences together. Actually, so far I see myself being friends with all my companions after the mission; that's what I would like, anyway.

Maybe it's because of the chilly weather (I'd say it's about like an Iowa October these days), but it seems like even more people than usual are commenting on how "xing ku" we are. "Xing ku" is difficult for me to translate. As best I can understand and can explain, it means hard-working, but can also sort of imply that you are working at a very difficult or unpleasant task (e.g. "Wow, you bike around outside in the cold all day? That's pretty xing ku."). Anyway, people regularly tell us that we're xing ku, and we always tell them that we're not really. For example, there was some sort of cable or TV person at our apartment complex a couple weeks ago, and he asked us if we had a TV. We said no, because we can't watch TV anyway. He seemed impressed and apalled at the same time. Whoa, so xing ku. How in the world do you pass the time? What, you do missionary work all day every day? Very very xing ku. I think I've realized that I'm really glad we only have part of one day every week (Wednesday from 10:30am-6:00pm) to do things like write letters, go play, etc. I'm sure if more time were available, it would get used, but that's not what I came here for. When I had my unopened mission call letter in my hand, I couldn't have cared less if I went to a midwestern state close to home or the coldest part of Siberia, I was really just excited to be getting my call to know where the Lord wanted me to go. So really, the recreational/tourist opportunities, even the cultural learning had nothing to do with my original arrangments to come on a mission. They are nice little extras, but really, I'm glad that pretty much all I do is bike around all day having lessons, finding people, and talking to everyone I can about the gospel, because that's what I came for. Not xing ku in the unpleasant way. Very xing fu (joyful).

Photos from Zuoying

A view of Kaohsiung, which includes a lot of Emily's area in Zuoying.

Emily's zone in Zuoying.

Sister Du's baptism.

With Sister Frasier at the train station as Emily is leaving Zuoying for Yongkang.