Dear family
Well, it has been a long time coming, but here are some pictures! I was going to attach more but my battery just died. There is a picture of Sister Liu and I, one just of her outside the temple, one of our tiny Nantou Zone at the temple. The last one I was actually trying to attach something else but oh well! It is me with a really cool art piece in Gaoxiong but is partially cut off plus me standing in front of it sort of ruins the effect. It looks like the balloons are ripping up the huge container. I really like it.
Isn't Sister Liu adorable? Her nickname is Bear, which I think is halarious. Sometimes Taiwanese people honestly look like cartoons, they are so cute. There was a Sister in Gaoxiong that looked exactly like a rabbit. I'll try to send a picture...sometime!
This week has been interesting! I have accumulated a couple great stories.
First, earlier this week I had this conversation with my district leader.
"Sister Johnson, I want to follow up with you about the referral you gave us, that Brother Chen*. He wants to get baptised and his interview is tomorrow. First I want to ask you, how did you find him?
I didn't remember him. I can barely remember my own investigators, let alone referrals. My companion reminded me, and then I remembered.
"Oh, we met him tracting. We started talking to him through the window of his house, he was really interested, he said he reads the Bible but doesn't understand parts of it. He kept inviting us in but there were no women there so we didn't go in. Then his mom came home and invited us in so we went in and started teaching. She sort of wandered out in the middle of the great apostasy, and Sister Liu looked at me because we aren't allowed to be alone with men. I didn't know what to do, you can't just end the lesson "And then there were centuries of darkness, and we need to go!" We quickly covered the restoration in about a minute, prayed and got his number for you."
Elder Stubbs was quiet a minute.
"Well, Sister Johnson, you were in a great deal more danger than you ever realized, because Brother Chen has killed people."
"WHAT?!"
"Yeah, today we were going over the baptismal questions to get him ready for his interview, and when we asked him if he thought the Atonement could make him clean, he said he has a lot of sins, he doesn't know. I asked him what it was (usually it's something like, they tell lies) and it came out that he used to be in the mob and has murdered. He said he used to be really scarey. A while back he had a stroke and moved home and has been off probation for a couple years. He is a really great investigator though. He read the whole Book of Mormon and really wants to be baptised. He is really golden."
Brother Chen did not pass his interview. I guess that if you have shed innocent blood, you have to actively come to church for six months to even be considered for a second baptismal interview, and if you pass that you have to be considered and approved by the first presidency. Crazy!
So there you have it, I tracted into a murderer, who wanted to change his life and repent of his sins! I hope he hangs in there and gets baptised.
Story number two:
I got hit by a car this week! Sister Liu and I were riding really fast because we were late and needed to eat before District Training Meeting. Sister Liu was riding in front, and we rode through a flashing light, and I got hit by an SUV! Oops!
I got up, made sure nothing looked broken, and like any self respecting sister missionary, invited the driver to church on Sunday. My bike needed some adjustments but I was okay. My first reaction was "Huh?" and then they put a bandaid on my foot where I had a little scrape. When the driver was assured I was okay and when she was leaving I had an overwhelming desire to hug her, which I'm not sure if I was confused what had just happened, or if wanted her to know I loved her and wasn't mad at her for nearly killing me, or if it is just habit. My next reaction was that my companion needed to eat because she had already taken her insulin forty minutes ago, and district meeting was starting soon. So I got my companion fed, made it to district meeting just a couple minutes late, then started to cry during the announcements, much to the alarm of the Elders (haha). I think I just got really scared and realized that "Hey, I just got hit by a car!"
I was and am fine though. I had a couple bumps and bruises but nothing some Ibuprophen didn't take care of pretty well. I was scared my shoulder was going to suffer permanent damage but it has felt okay the last couple days.
Well, that's about it for this week!
I love you all very much!
FML
Sister Johnson
ps - the subject of this email is happy Saint Patricks Day because I forgot to wish a single person a Happy Saint Patricks Day and it made me sad! Try ex
*name has been changed
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