 |
| Our shopping cart |
 |
| All items now on our bicycles |
 |
| I am making a street contact |
I now have one week less left on my mission. Sometimes it seems so far
away till I will be done and sometimes I feel like I will be leaving
tomorrow. Okay, maybe not tomorrow but soonish. I have had an
interesting week this week. Satan definitely knows my weaknesses and
has been using them against me. He knows that my mind wonders easily
and that I love my family and as such I have thought about you all way
too much this week. I love you, but I know and you know that my
thoughts need to be here in Taiwan, not with you in the States.
But, I have an amazing companion and we have decided to do something
that will be really hard, but hopefully mission and life changing. We
are going to PURIFY OURSELVES! This morning we made a long list of
everything that we do or don't do that keeps us from devoting 100% of
us to the Lord's work. The list included talking to the Elders that we
work with, waiting inside the chapel for investigator's when we could
be outside contacting, eating lunch and dinner at our apartment we we
get distracted, and telling eachother stories about our lives. But I
think the one that will be most hard for me is that we are not going
to check the mail on any day but Monday. We discussed various
challenges that will arise as we try and do this, and we know it will
be really hard. Sis. Howard has tried this previously with other
companions, but somewhere along the way they have fallen short. Our
goal right now is to do this as a 40-day fast of all of these
distractions, but the real goal is to have it last the rest of our
missions and beyond. I am so excited for this really hard challenge!
It is exactly what I need to get completely focused on the work that I
have been called to do. I have faith that with Sis. Howard's optimism
and my determination we will be able to succeed. She said that of all
of her companions, she thinks that I really am the one that will be
able to stick through to the end with her. I hope that really is true!
This week at church and also in personal study I have felt the need to
really sacrifice and serve to my fullest extent. As part of a
mission-wide activity we are reading the Book of Mormon together in
three months. I just finished reading 1st Nephi again for who knows
how many times, and as always I was impressed by the behavior of Laman
and Lemuel. All my life I have thought of myself as maybe a Sam, but
this time I saw myself more as a Laman and Lemuel. I have not had any
of the experience or trials they had, but in my own little ways I have
been blessed beyond belief and then chastized over and over again. And
I still have not learned the greatness of my Lord, and the nothingness
of myself. I want to be a Nephi. I want to be someone that completely
trusts in the Lord and is always willing to help others understand and
live His great Law. Nephi was never afraid to "call out" his brothers,
never too busy to explain something to them, and NEVER too proud to
give the Lord all the honor and praise He deserves. I hope that as I
truly discipline myself and devote ALL of me to the Lord I can become
a Nephi.
KJ- we actually have a really big problem with people working on
Sundays here in Taiwan. I am not sure exactly how it is handled here,
but I will talk with my companion and study it out a little more and
let you know what I find out. I think that if you are truly teaching
and working through the promptings of the Spirit any promise you give
your investigator's will be fulfilled. Remember though that blessings
are given in the Lord's time not ours and the we will be blessed after
the trial of our faith. Let me know what you discover as you do more
research. Oh, and I am sorry for making your letters look so small.
You are amazing at getting right to the point and not blabbing on and
on like I do. I love you letters and think the are PERFECT. Keep up
the work. I am so excited for the Elders in our district! They have an
amazing leader! As Sis. Howard says- Kick Satan's face in! :D
Okay, mom- you asked me a bunch of questions that I am so excited to
answer. First and foremost- receiving letters. I absolutely love
having a hand-written letter to read back on anytime I want. But I
know that takes extra time and extra money. And more than getting a
handwritten letter, I love having current information. So I guess what
I am saying is you don't need to send me a hand-written letter each
week as your weekly letter. I would LOVE one everynow and again, but
you don't need to stress about it. But what I would ask is maybe one
or two pictures each week of something you did or someone you saw. You
know me, I love pictures! :D As for the actual process of me getting
mail, that is kinda intense. When you send it to the mission home
sweet Sis. Green hurries really fast and sticks a little mailing
sticker on it and forwards it to our apartment here in Feng Yuan. I
think it takes about 1.5 weeks total for me to get letters from the
states. I got the letters you sent on the 4th of Feb on Thursday or
Friday.
As for where I am right now I am just north of Taichung. On the map
there probably isnt much of a distinction between Tanzi/Feng Yuan and
Taichung. We are basically just a suburb of Taichung and are in the
farthest north district in our mission. Maybe that will help you find
it on the map that we drew my boundries on.
Okay- Taiwan. It is so different here than I ever imagined. I don't
really know what I thought it was going to be like, but whatever
visions I had I was completely wrong. There are a TON of people and
they are all teeny little things! There are a lot of cars and 10x more
scooters than cars. It is really funny to see how many people and how
much stuff they fit on those little things. The other day I saw a
little child that was literally strapped to the back of a mom on the
scooter. I would be so scared to have my child on there! But with
there being so many scooters it makes it super easy to talk to people.
We just peddle our little bikes on over and start talking to them. (my
legs are getting more and more used to the bikes. they get really
exhausted sometimes though!) It is really scary for me sometimes
though cause I rarely know what they are saying to me. And even if I
did know what they were saying it is usually jumbled because of their
facemasks. The polution is so bad here that most people wear masks
over their nose and mouth indoors and out. Some just wear hospital
type masks, but a lot have cute little fabric ones. Anyway, those make
it hard for me to understand their response. But everyday I am
understanding more and more. I can't wait till I can understand and
speak Chinese so that I can really help them understand how much God
loves them!
Okay. I think that is all I can tell you about Taiwan today. I say all
like that was nothing, but looking back, this letter is super long.
Sorry! I hope it is a good read at least! :D I love you all tons and
thank you for your many prayers! I need them always and especially now
that Sis. Howard and I will be trying so hard to focus. Satan knows
our plans and will trying to do everything he can to prevent us! Oh
Satan! But while I know his power is strong I know that the Lord's is
greater!
I love you!
Sis. Amy Reece
p.s. there are a couple pictures from our shopping adventures this
morning. Yes, we fit all of that stuff in the shopping cart on are
bikes. And yes, we still contacted! it was so fun! love you!
No comments:
Post a Comment