Dear Family-
It's Preparation day...thank goodness! Not having a real preparation day for two weeks is Exhausting. I know, 10 days ago I had "preparation day" but that doesn't count in my book. Move days are not days of recuperation and preparation. They are stressful.
Gaoxiong is really great. In the morning we run along the Ai He (love river). There is a bike trail lined with palm trees and old men fishing. At night the bridges are all lit up in bright colors and the one by the church has a fountain. We live in a huge appartment building that makes my old one look like a baby! We are on the 12th floor and out my window at night I see all the tall buildings and lights and feel larger than life. I really enjoy Gaoxiong a lot. It doesn't remind me of any other city. It is on a port and we (sort of) cover an island. We cover the bay and the river and mountains and the city! It really is a great city.
Today we have had a weird culture day. We are two Americans living in Taiwan, and we went to the Gaoxiong Museum of History where the exhibition was loaned from the Czech Republic about Prague. Then...*drumroll please* we found Mexican food. Yes!!! It was like hitting gold. It is owned by a woman from Uruguay named Teresa who wore hot pink lipstick. I feel weirdly pulled in a lot of directions.
Sister Busathe and I are getting along swimmingly. Thank you for your prayers, I'm sure they helped :) She is really focused and I appreciate that. She has a deadpan humor that sometimes I'm still not sure I pick up but overall I think our personalities are more similar than any of my other companions. We are working really hard to get seven baptisms this movecall (yes, in 4.5 weeks). We both had a really strong feeling about it when we were setting our goals so pray we can do it. It is a high goal, especially for such a young companionship, but when you get an answer to a prayer you better listen! Sister Busathe has only been out two movecalls longer than I have; this is her first time being senior companion.
We have a lot more investigators than we did in Douliu and that is a nice change. Yesterday we had I think 6 lessons. We have a lot of really great investigators. I'm still getting to know the ward though.
FMLGot to go,
lots of love
Sister Johnson
Cami response to my email to her and answering my questions.
Well, those are the November temperatures - it is cold in January and February I hear. And they don't heat their houses, and we are outside all day. I don't know; I just hear it is really cold! So far I've been ok :)
I am limited in my luggage so probably don't send too much stuff right now. I could use new running shoes... size 9 or check my closet at home. Long underwear, tights, a nice pair of gloves (my companion recommends icebreakers? I guess they keep your hands 20 degrees warmer but are relaly thin or something)...
I am in fact the English leader (again!) So let me know if you have Christmas party ideas :) It sounds like you've been busy with deals.
Keep it up :)
Love you,
i'll write the family letter now
Cami's response to my making a cozy cat cabin for Bo in Shelly's window well...
the cat cottage looks very cozy; is it in the windowwell because it is warmer or have we turned the basement into a cat orpahage :)
FML
cami
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
I moved!!!!!!! Nov. 9th, 2009
Dear family-
Hello from Gaoxiung!
I didn't expect to move, but I guess it shouldn't have been a suprise- I'm a missionary! Now I am in the second largest city in Taiwan after Taipei. We cover one ward and our area is small- we can bike across it in a half an hour! In Douliu, we biked 45 minutes one way just for appointments in the country. I will miss the long country rides, but the city will be an adventure. My area of Gaosiung is gorgeous. We are right along the Ai River (Love River). Sister Busath says she likes the feeling of the city; she compared it to London or Rome. I haven't been here, seen enough, or been here long enough to decide if I think it deserves such a high comparison, but we will see. Rome is overrated anyway :)
We are also right next to a place called MONKEY MOUNTAIN, so named because it is a mountain practically stuffed with monkeys!!!! I am excited. Well, no one told me it was "stuffed" with monkeys persay, but I have been told that there are monkeys there. Haha, I prayed once that I would get to see monkeys on my mission, so maybe this is my answer to that prayer. I also prayed that I would be somewhere warm for the winter, so hopefully this is an answer to that prayer too. I hope I will stay down south for the winter because it will be less cold here. It was only cold for one random evening in Douliu but I can already tell, being outside all day in the cold is going to be hard! Sister Pickering had to go home and get sweaters and I put on my split slip (which is pretty much a modern word for bloomers ha!) to stay warm.
My new companion's name is Sister Busath. She has strawberry blonde hair, glasses, and when I asked her about her family she said, "They are alive." Adjusting to new companions is an exhausting process. As soon as we figure out how to best work with each other one of us moves and we have to start all over again. Oh well. It should be good; I hear Sister Busath is really lihi (really awesome/dedicated/successful).
Alright, pray for me and my new area and my companion! It should be a great.
I will email next Wednesday.
Much love!
FML -
Sister Johnson
Cami's email below hoping we were online sending her a message- poor girl, we let her down :-(
still haven't heard from you so email me quick! my hour just started
Cami's email response to my email message regarding Christmas ideas is below.
I thought of one thing you could send for Christmas- if there are any old gloves, hat, long underwear, etc that you could send me that would be great. I will wear them for the winter and get rid of them when it gets hot. I have this winter in Taiwan and leave the following November - it probably won't be cold enough I will need them again until after March or so. Then I won't have to carry them around for 8 months or leave new things or send them home. Does that make sense?
Hope you are doing well,
I love and miss you.
22 seconds
FML
Cami
Hello from Gaoxiung!
I didn't expect to move, but I guess it shouldn't have been a suprise- I'm a missionary! Now I am in the second largest city in Taiwan after Taipei. We cover one ward and our area is small- we can bike across it in a half an hour! In Douliu, we biked 45 minutes one way just for appointments in the country. I will miss the long country rides, but the city will be an adventure. My area of Gaosiung is gorgeous. We are right along the Ai River (Love River). Sister Busath says she likes the feeling of the city; she compared it to London or Rome. I haven't been here, seen enough, or been here long enough to decide if I think it deserves such a high comparison, but we will see. Rome is overrated anyway :)
We are also right next to a place called MONKEY MOUNTAIN, so named because it is a mountain practically stuffed with monkeys!!!! I am excited. Well, no one told me it was "stuffed" with monkeys persay, but I have been told that there are monkeys there. Haha, I prayed once that I would get to see monkeys on my mission, so maybe this is my answer to that prayer. I also prayed that I would be somewhere warm for the winter, so hopefully this is an answer to that prayer too. I hope I will stay down south for the winter because it will be less cold here. It was only cold for one random evening in Douliu but I can already tell, being outside all day in the cold is going to be hard! Sister Pickering had to go home and get sweaters and I put on my split slip (which is pretty much a modern word for bloomers ha!) to stay warm.
My new companion's name is Sister Busath. She has strawberry blonde hair, glasses, and when I asked her about her family she said, "They are alive." Adjusting to new companions is an exhausting process. As soon as we figure out how to best work with each other one of us moves and we have to start all over again. Oh well. It should be good; I hear Sister Busath is really lihi (really awesome/dedicated/successful).
Alright, pray for me and my new area and my companion! It should be a great.
I will email next Wednesday.
Much love!
FML -
Sister Johnson
Cami's email below hoping we were online sending her a message- poor girl, we let her down :-(
still haven't heard from you so email me quick! my hour just started
Cami's email response to my email message regarding Christmas ideas is below.
I thought of one thing you could send for Christmas- if there are any old gloves, hat, long underwear, etc that you could send me that would be great. I will wear them for the winter and get rid of them when it gets hot. I have this winter in Taiwan and leave the following November - it probably won't be cold enough I will need them again until after March or so. Then I won't have to carry them around for 8 months or leave new things or send them home. Does that make sense?
Hope you are doing well,
I love and miss you.
22 seconds
FML
Cami
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Nov. 4th, 2009 Postings
Dear Family,
Well, another week has passed and it's November!
Move call is this Sunday night and 6 more weeks are gone! That means that Preparation day will be on Monday (yes, just 5 days from today) and then I won't have another until the following Wednesday. So email me by/before Sunday for me to get emails.
Today we rode our bikes out to the Meishan Buddha again, like I did with Sister Killpack last move call. It was still really cool; this time we explored a different part of the temple and found a pool with turtles and those fish that look at you. (Koyfish? Poyfish?) I will try to send pictures....soon.
Remember the Lin family? Well, it is been interesting. Our bishop got up in Sacrament meeting last week and pretty much said awful things over the pulpit. He said he didn't think the Lin boy should have been allowed on a mission. The only way he had been allowed to go back out was through the intervention of Stake and Asia Area Authorities and my mission president. (The bishop had some personal prejudices and wouldn't sign his papers.) So, the Bishop got up over the pulpit and said the Lin boy never should have been back out, and he has bad parents, and if someone else wants to be bishop they can do it. It was awful. Sister Lin though is so awesome. For most people, that would be irreparable damage. Instead of going inactive because of the offense, the next week she was still there. She was blessed too; her husband decided to go to church with her for the first time to support her. It is such an amazing story for so many reasons.
Saturday morning I felt a little like I should bring a Book of Mormon with me. I usually don't carry one unless we have a first lesson, which we didn't, so I put it in my bag and forgot about it. That night we had to go back to a convenience store because we forgot something, and contacted into four Chinese (from Mainland China). They were so excited to talk to us and interested in our message. They were in Taiwan for just a couple days and were leaving the next morning. There was no time to meet, so I gave them the Book of Mormon. I am keeping the contact cards they filled out and when China opens I am sending them all Book of Mormons. Sister Pickering was so happy that I could give them the Book of Mormon because she taught English in China previously. She said it was so hard because she wasn't allowed to talk about church at all! Even if they asked, she couldn't say anything about it. Chinese people would see her carrying her scriptures and ask what they were, and she would have to say I can't show you. Or in church, if a nonmember is there..."Why isn't it starting?" "Oh...umm..." "I just want to sit and listen." "We can't start until you leave, sorry..." Or they would see pictures of Christ that Sister Pickering had in her room and ask, "Who is that?" "It's ...my brother." "No, he is not your brother. I've seen Him before." I am planting seeds for China! Sister Pickering was really grateful I had a Book of Mormon to give them because she had never been able to in China. Currently, Chinese people can only tell their immediate family members about church, and to get baptised they have to go to Taiwan or Hong Kong. Sister Pickering and I have been blessed to add a lot of new people lately. Last week we led the zone for three days with 9, 7, and 7 new adds... (Usually we have a third that.) So that has been really great.
Alright, times out,
lots of love :)
FML-
Sister Johnson
Cami's response to my email to her:
Wow, 750, that is unbelievable! You must have had to buy so much candy!
and there is one thing I know I wantit is a face wash; mine recently ran out and since then i've started breaking out though before then I was clear as day. it is Neutrogena oil free Acne Stress Congrol Microclear technology face wash. It was in a white squeeze tube (with where it comes out on bottom) was was the one that is white, not clear. I know it was kind of green and orange on the bottle... Yes, two bottles of that would be great. Just...make sure you know what one. My last one lasted from May-October so 2 is probably enough... I'll let you know what else next week. Maybe some long underwear/tights for when it is cold.
And yes, I have a copy of my call, thank you
I love you big bunches :)
FML
CAMI
Well, another week has passed and it's November!
Move call is this Sunday night and 6 more weeks are gone! That means that Preparation day will be on Monday (yes, just 5 days from today) and then I won't have another until the following Wednesday. So email me by/before Sunday for me to get emails.
Today we rode our bikes out to the Meishan Buddha again, like I did with Sister Killpack last move call. It was still really cool; this time we explored a different part of the temple and found a pool with turtles and those fish that look at you. (Koyfish? Poyfish?) I will try to send pictures....soon.
Remember the Lin family? Well, it is been interesting. Our bishop got up in Sacrament meeting last week and pretty much said awful things over the pulpit. He said he didn't think the Lin boy should have been allowed on a mission. The only way he had been allowed to go back out was through the intervention of Stake and Asia Area Authorities and my mission president. (The bishop had some personal prejudices and wouldn't sign his papers.) So, the Bishop got up over the pulpit and said the Lin boy never should have been back out, and he has bad parents, and if someone else wants to be bishop they can do it. It was awful. Sister Lin though is so awesome. For most people, that would be irreparable damage. Instead of going inactive because of the offense, the next week she was still there. She was blessed too; her husband decided to go to church with her for the first time to support her. It is such an amazing story for so many reasons.
Saturday morning I felt a little like I should bring a Book of Mormon with me. I usually don't carry one unless we have a first lesson, which we didn't, so I put it in my bag and forgot about it. That night we had to go back to a convenience store because we forgot something, and contacted into four Chinese (from Mainland China). They were so excited to talk to us and interested in our message. They were in Taiwan for just a couple days and were leaving the next morning. There was no time to meet, so I gave them the Book of Mormon. I am keeping the contact cards they filled out and when China opens I am sending them all Book of Mormons. Sister Pickering was so happy that I could give them the Book of Mormon because she taught English in China previously. She said it was so hard because she wasn't allowed to talk about church at all! Even if they asked, she couldn't say anything about it. Chinese people would see her carrying her scriptures and ask what they were, and she would have to say I can't show you. Or in church, if a nonmember is there..."Why isn't it starting?" "Oh...umm..." "I just want to sit and listen." "We can't start until you leave, sorry..." Or they would see pictures of Christ that Sister Pickering had in her room and ask, "Who is that?" "It's ...my brother." "No, he is not your brother. I've seen Him before." I am planting seeds for China! Sister Pickering was really grateful I had a Book of Mormon to give them because she had never been able to in China. Currently, Chinese people can only tell their immediate family members about church, and to get baptised they have to go to Taiwan or Hong Kong. Sister Pickering and I have been blessed to add a lot of new people lately. Last week we led the zone for three days with 9, 7, and 7 new adds... (Usually we have a third that.) So that has been really great.
Alright, times out,
lots of love :)
FML-
Sister Johnson
Cami's response to my email to her:
Wow, 750, that is unbelievable! You must have had to buy so much candy!
and there is one thing I know I wantit is a face wash; mine recently ran out and since then i've started breaking out though before then I was clear as day. it is Neutrogena oil free Acne Stress Congrol Microclear technology face wash. It was in a white squeeze tube (with where it comes out on bottom) was was the one that is white, not clear. I know it was kind of green and orange on the bottle... Yes, two bottles of that would be great. Just...make sure you know what one. My last one lasted from May-October so 2 is probably enough... I'll let you know what else next week. Maybe some long underwear/tights for when it is cold.
And yes, I have a copy of my call, thank you
I love you big bunches :)
FML
CAMI
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Wed 10/28/09- A Week
Dear Family
I wish I could tell you how happy getting your letters makes me. They are always full of such funny little details that make me laugh, or beautiful descriptions of the weather or nature. I am realizing how much my writing is just a product of my family. I love you all so much.
I was having a really hard few days earlier this week; despite our best efforts our investigators don't seem to be making progress very quickly and Wu Jia Lin has completely disappeared. I was getting really down about it; it was making me feel sick and I didn't want to plan lessons. I was just worn out. On Monday I wasn't feeling well and considered not going out. I decided to at least go see our investigator who lives out in the country, thinking maybe the exercise of riding my bike would make me feel better. As we were leaving we asked our Guanlien* if we have mail. He got very excited and said yes, so many! I got five letters that morning; more mail than I've received cumulatively in Taiwan. It really helped me feel up to going out. Grandma, the cousins all wrote me thoughtful cards wishing me a Happy Bosses Day :). It made me smile. I still was sick most the day but it was a nice tender mercy to get mail right at that moment.
That night I took Airborne and felt better the next day. Amy, and thank you for the letters - I'm sure you encouraged everyone to write me. Daddy also sent me a package this week with Halloween party favors for my students. Thank you! It really made our party special and we used them all.
We had our Halloween party last night! I was so excited, we had been planning for weeks. It was so well planned. We were going to have a member be the doorman and we were going to break into four groups and have the students rotate. The groups were going to have the history of halloween, decorating masks or party bags, bingo, and blindfolded "stick your hand in food like spagetti and tell them it's brains" activity. We were going to watch a On the Way Home for spiritual share. It was all planned. I made bingo boards and a list of words. (Thank you Mother for the Halloween party ideas, they really helped me get my share ready) Yesterday afternoon however was CDTM in Jiayi- about a 30 minute trainride from Douliu. Well, the Mission President was running late, and interviews took longer than we planned and so did training. Though we were interviewed first, we didn't get back into Douliu until 7:15. Before class starts we always have an hour for English planning meeting and at seven English class begins. So Sister Pickering and I were late, there were a bunch of students waiting outside confused, and the Elders weren't there and we didn't know when they would get there. Oh, it was so hectic! The Lord answered our prayers and we had more students than normal but my goodness we didn't know what to do. So Sister Pickering started teaching all 35 people different Halloween words and I ran around and tried to register new students. The Elders showed up and didn't have their things at the church so we just sort of winged everything and it ended up going pretty well. So much for what we planned! I figure everyone would have been happy just going home with candy. Oh yeah, I wore a witch hat I bought for a dollar somewhere and my students LOVED it. I will have to send pictures.
This week we had a cool experience with a new investigator. We pulled up to a stoplight and started contacting a woman, Miss Zhang, on a scooter next to us (standard proceedure). She was like, do you know Sister Reymund? I told her I had heard of her but that she went back to America. We couldn't find a time to meet with her (people work really crazy hours here) so we said, how about you follow us back to the church and we will teach you right now? So she did and we taught her a first lesson and gave her a Book of Mormon. Miss Zhang told us that she had talked to Sister Reymund before but had never had time to go to church or meet with the missionaries. She still had Sister Reymund's phone number saved in her phone (our number), and had just been wanting to call her that morning but hadn't. Then a couple hours later we found her on the street and she had time to meet with us right then.It was really cool; people that desire the truth will be lead to it.
President Hoer told us an interesting thing. It was how anger comes from violated expectations, that we become angry or upset when we expect people to do things the way that we would have done them. Really though, that is usually a crazy expecation. He gave this example: You can't expect people in Taiwan to drive they way they do in Utah or Nevada, or etc. It is easier to change yourself and your attitude than try to change 180 million Taiwanese drivers. It is the same with most things. Expectations aren't true, they are just what we are accustomed to.
I think that people that believe in relative truth are confused between expectations and truth. Truth is something that doesn't change over time or across cultures. Expectations do and when enough people agree on them they get confused and think it's truth but it's not. It's an expectation. Truth is not relative; otherwise it doesn't fit the definition of truth. That was random, but this is the sort of thing I think about on those long bike rides.
Love you lots,
FML
Sister Johnson
* I don't know if Guanlien is a word in English - I think it may be doorman? The guy that sits in the lobby and rings up visitors, etc. We always ask if we have mail and we rarely do, so they get really excited to tell us we have mail
I wish I could tell you how happy getting your letters makes me. They are always full of such funny little details that make me laugh, or beautiful descriptions of the weather or nature. I am realizing how much my writing is just a product of my family. I love you all so much.
I was having a really hard few days earlier this week; despite our best efforts our investigators don't seem to be making progress very quickly and Wu Jia Lin has completely disappeared. I was getting really down about it; it was making me feel sick and I didn't want to plan lessons. I was just worn out. On Monday I wasn't feeling well and considered not going out. I decided to at least go see our investigator who lives out in the country, thinking maybe the exercise of riding my bike would make me feel better. As we were leaving we asked our Guanlien* if we have mail. He got very excited and said yes, so many! I got five letters that morning; more mail than I've received cumulatively in Taiwan. It really helped me feel up to going out. Grandma, the cousins all wrote me thoughtful cards wishing me a Happy Bosses Day :). It made me smile. I still was sick most the day but it was a nice tender mercy to get mail right at that moment.
That night I took Airborne and felt better the next day. Amy, and thank you for the letters - I'm sure you encouraged everyone to write me. Daddy also sent me a package this week with Halloween party favors for my students. Thank you! It really made our party special and we used them all.
We had our Halloween party last night! I was so excited, we had been planning for weeks. It was so well planned. We were going to have a member be the doorman and we were going to break into four groups and have the students rotate. The groups were going to have the history of halloween, decorating masks or party bags, bingo, and blindfolded "stick your hand in food like spagetti and tell them it's brains" activity. We were going to watch a On the Way Home for spiritual share. It was all planned. I made bingo boards and a list of words. (Thank you Mother for the Halloween party ideas, they really helped me get my share ready) Yesterday afternoon however was CDTM in Jiayi- about a 30 minute trainride from Douliu. Well, the Mission President was running late, and interviews took longer than we planned and so did training. Though we were interviewed first, we didn't get back into Douliu until 7:15. Before class starts we always have an hour for English planning meeting and at seven English class begins. So Sister Pickering and I were late, there were a bunch of students waiting outside confused, and the Elders weren't there and we didn't know when they would get there. Oh, it was so hectic! The Lord answered our prayers and we had more students than normal but my goodness we didn't know what to do. So Sister Pickering started teaching all 35 people different Halloween words and I ran around and tried to register new students. The Elders showed up and didn't have their things at the church so we just sort of winged everything and it ended up going pretty well. So much for what we planned! I figure everyone would have been happy just going home with candy. Oh yeah, I wore a witch hat I bought for a dollar somewhere and my students LOVED it. I will have to send pictures.
This week we had a cool experience with a new investigator. We pulled up to a stoplight and started contacting a woman, Miss Zhang, on a scooter next to us (standard proceedure). She was like, do you know Sister Reymund? I told her I had heard of her but that she went back to America. We couldn't find a time to meet with her (people work really crazy hours here) so we said, how about you follow us back to the church and we will teach you right now? So she did and we taught her a first lesson and gave her a Book of Mormon. Miss Zhang told us that she had talked to Sister Reymund before but had never had time to go to church or meet with the missionaries. She still had Sister Reymund's phone number saved in her phone (our number), and had just been wanting to call her that morning but hadn't. Then a couple hours later we found her on the street and she had time to meet with us right then.It was really cool; people that desire the truth will be lead to it.
President Hoer told us an interesting thing. It was how anger comes from violated expectations, that we become angry or upset when we expect people to do things the way that we would have done them. Really though, that is usually a crazy expecation. He gave this example: You can't expect people in Taiwan to drive they way they do in Utah or Nevada, or etc. It is easier to change yourself and your attitude than try to change 180 million Taiwanese drivers. It is the same with most things. Expectations aren't true, they are just what we are accustomed to.
I think that people that believe in relative truth are confused between expectations and truth. Truth is something that doesn't change over time or across cultures. Expectations do and when enough people agree on them they get confused and think it's truth but it's not. It's an expectation. Truth is not relative; otherwise it doesn't fit the definition of truth. That was random, but this is the sort of thing I think about on those long bike rides.
Love you lots,
FML
Sister Johnson
* I don't know if Guanlien is a word in English - I think it may be doorman? The guy that sits in the lobby and rings up visitors, etc. We always ask if we have mail and we rarely do, so they get really excited to tell us we have mail
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Cami in Provo while at MTC 
Letter from Mission President regarding arrivalDouble click image to enlarge for reading
Cami's Mission Call to the Taiwan Taichung Mission!!!Double click image to enlarg for reading purposes
Oct. 21, 2009
Dear Family,
1- Wow, I am exhuasted! It's been a good week but draining. All of our investigators right now are really challenging. Wu Jia Lin, the one who told us she wanted to get baptised the first time she went to church, has only met with us once in the last four weeks. She did her baptismal interview and then has been near impossible to get ahold of since. Our other investigators haven't been coming to chrch and we have literally done all we can. We don't know what else we can do. I'm sure it will be fine it just is a bit more challenging this move call.
2- We did have a very special lesson with a member's husband. Sister Lin has been a member for 22 years but her husband hasn't been interested in the church. Their son left on a mission, got sent home, but in the past month was sent back out again. They are very good to us, because they hope others will be good to their son. It is the first time Mr. Lin has been willing to meet with missionaries. We watched The Joseph Smith Movie and it was really moving. Sister Lin started to cry as I was bearing my testimony in my broken Chinese. I knew having her husband accept the gospel is a blessing she has been seeking for a long time, and she is so righteous. Iknow I am a tool of Heavenly Father's, being used to bless the family of that other missionary.
3 - This week was Stake Conference, so on Sunday we went to Yuanlin on a bus with our ward to watch it. I wasn't expecting this, but their Stake Conference is a broadcast from the General Authorities and shown in all of Asia. I thought it was kind of neat that they got their special own session of Conference.
4 - So, the biggest amusement park in Taiwan is in my district! Today we went with two other sisters from our Zone. It was the most beautiful amusement park I've ever been to. It is situated on the tops of green jungly mountains which gave it amazing ambiance. It didn't feel like the depressing concrete parkinglot island like most amusement parks do. It was so beautiful! You had to take escalators up and down to different parts of the park. We rode the rollercoasters and ate ice cream and got gawked at alot.
Being a white American in Taiwan is a little like being famous and today I really felt like that. We asked people to take a picture for us we would end up with about 8 random people taking pictures of us with their own cameras. They also talked about us openly in Chinese, not realizing we can understand them! In Taiwan, calling someone a foreigner is more a term of endearment than an insult. A big school group had kids yelling "Hey look, foreigners!" so I shouted back in Chinese "Not uh, I'm Taiwanese!" and they were all so suprised, they about laughed their faces off. I rather enjoyed it.
I have 33 seconds left Just enough time to tell you I love you all so much!
Daddy why haven't you emailed me in weeks. you fail
Cami's letter to Donna-
Congrats on the house closing! Wooo!
I always have been impressed with GBC's productions. I bet it was a lot of fun to see all the women in the ward.
And a bike ride, how fun! Then I remembered that I am on my bike all day anyway haha! Today we walked to a grocery store and I was like, weird, I am not used to walking more than a few feet into a house. I am either running as fast as I can during exercise (I try to sprint a lot) or on a bike!
Today we also went to an amusement park and got a special deal where someone sold us tickets and then a private car drove us and picked us up. So I walked and rode in a car all on the same day! Not common here.
I love you.
Keep plugging along in the lessons! This is a learning opportunity. :)
I love you
FML
Cami
1- Wow, I am exhuasted! It's been a good week but draining. All of our investigators right now are really challenging. Wu Jia Lin, the one who told us she wanted to get baptised the first time she went to church, has only met with us once in the last four weeks. She did her baptismal interview and then has been near impossible to get ahold of since. Our other investigators haven't been coming to chrch and we have literally done all we can. We don't know what else we can do. I'm sure it will be fine it just is a bit more challenging this move call.
2- We did have a very special lesson with a member's husband. Sister Lin has been a member for 22 years but her husband hasn't been interested in the church. Their son left on a mission, got sent home, but in the past month was sent back out again. They are very good to us, because they hope others will be good to their son. It is the first time Mr. Lin has been willing to meet with missionaries. We watched The Joseph Smith Movie and it was really moving. Sister Lin started to cry as I was bearing my testimony in my broken Chinese. I knew having her husband accept the gospel is a blessing she has been seeking for a long time, and she is so righteous. Iknow I am a tool of Heavenly Father's, being used to bless the family of that other missionary.
3 - This week was Stake Conference, so on Sunday we went to Yuanlin on a bus with our ward to watch it. I wasn't expecting this, but their Stake Conference is a broadcast from the General Authorities and shown in all of Asia. I thought it was kind of neat that they got their special own session of Conference.
4 - So, the biggest amusement park in Taiwan is in my district! Today we went with two other sisters from our Zone. It was the most beautiful amusement park I've ever been to. It is situated on the tops of green jungly mountains which gave it amazing ambiance. It didn't feel like the depressing concrete parkinglot island like most amusement parks do. It was so beautiful! You had to take escalators up and down to different parts of the park. We rode the rollercoasters and ate ice cream and got gawked at alot.
Being a white American in Taiwan is a little like being famous and today I really felt like that. We asked people to take a picture for us we would end up with about 8 random people taking pictures of us with their own cameras. They also talked about us openly in Chinese, not realizing we can understand them! In Taiwan, calling someone a foreigner is more a term of endearment than an insult. A big school group had kids yelling "Hey look, foreigners!" so I shouted back in Chinese "Not uh, I'm Taiwanese!" and they were all so suprised, they about laughed their faces off. I rather enjoyed it.
I have 33 seconds left Just enough time to tell you I love you all so much!
Daddy why haven't you emailed me in weeks. you fail
Cami's letter to Donna-
Congrats on the house closing! Wooo!
I always have been impressed with GBC's productions. I bet it was a lot of fun to see all the women in the ward.
And a bike ride, how fun! Then I remembered that I am on my bike all day anyway haha! Today we walked to a grocery store and I was like, weird, I am not used to walking more than a few feet into a house. I am either running as fast as I can during exercise (I try to sprint a lot) or on a bike!
Today we also went to an amusement park and got a special deal where someone sold us tickets and then a private car drove us and picked us up. So I walked and rode in a car all on the same day! Not common here.
I love you.
Keep plugging along in the lessons! This is a learning opportunity. :)
I love you
FML
Cami
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