Hey!!
My time short again today. Grrr...but I'll try to remember all that's happened recently! I might have to do it in bullet point presentation though. :S
--It's been a rough couple weeks. I think the culture shock has finally set in and my frustration with Chinese is mounting. I'm blessed that I can understand it really well, but speaking is the biggest headache and I sound like a 2 year old.
--I've been stressed out of my gourd, but so has my companion...so maybe it's SATAN and it means good things are on their way!
--Good things actually have been happening...Last week we had a member bring 10+ of her High school students to a BYU-H info meeting at the church then pull them aside and say, "hey, why not listen to the missionaries?" So we're meeting with 8 of those girls and they are SO cute!! One of them has a tentative baptismal date. The lessons with them have been good and full of the Spirit.
--We had an investigator (a NON progressing investigator, mind you) tell us out of the blue that she had a testimony and wanted to get baptized ASAP. CRAZY. We had a new member explain to us (and I fully believe) that the only way someone will ever have a desire to be baptized and to CHANGE is if they are in a valley of hard times. If they are feeling like they are on top of everything and are doing great without any change, why would they? Hence, WHY we have trials.
BLAST!! Time is up. :( Bah, Sorry. Thank you all for your emails and letters. I love reading them and they make me feel loved and warm inside. :)
Love you!
Poohy
Monday, March 29, 2010
Sunday, March 14, 2010
"Good job, it stinks to be you"
Hey!!
FINE, FINE!! SORRY!! Haha, Yes, I completely space sending my address every time! But here it is:
4/F #24 Lane 183
Chin Hua Street
Da An District
Taiwan, Taibei, 106
TAIWAN
Hope to hear from you all soon. :D
Well, life is good in Taiwan. Full of lots of ups and downs. The ups being beautiful bike-rides, people who accept meeting with us, having a moment when my Chinese sounds good, having someone accept a pamphlet; the downs being overwhelmed with the language, lonely when everyone knows what's going on but me, and being occasionally petrified to talk to people on the street. But all these things are part of the process I suppose. I really enjoy it. We had zone conference last week which focused on having a "vision". Having a vision for ourselves, for our areas, for our missions, for our lives. When you have a vision, you have a drive, and goals that keep progressing. So we visited Wu Zhujiao (Bishop Wu) and asked him what his vision for the ward is. Satan is hitting families hard here too, from what he says. So his vision for the ward is for the members to "return to the basics" of the gospel and to let it strengthen their families, THEN for the spirit of the gospel to give them a passion for sharing the gospel. So we're going to visit the member families this transfer and strengthen them and look for referrals. It should be great! My companion is Sister Kunzler (Sister Scott was transfered to YongHe). She is on her last transfer so she has high goals and alot of drive to go out with a bang. And I'm fresh and clueless so we're ready to do big things. We just need to have faith and optimism and things will work out. Really, I'm clueless and frustrated often, but the Lord makes up for our weaknesses and we really do see miracles happening often. We got 13 referrals last week from sheer miracle, for instance. Our goal as a companionship is to baptize a family before she leaves.
Hmmm...anything happen this week? It rained cats and dogs (I explained that term to a fluent English speaker the other day and was so proud of the random knowledge I learned from Pioneer Village) for a few days. We showed up to church with soaking skirts and squishing shoes. I think people are used to missionaries looking like rats. They have this phrase: "oh, hen xinku" which pretty much means "oh, good job, it stinks to be you," in essence.
Thursday was alot of fun. It was the beginning of a new transfer and since I never got arrival training, I got to go to Taibei and have that training with Sister Collyer who just came from the MTC that day. Sister Collyer is the BEST! She reminds me alot of Brewy and Cousin Carolyn, so she is amazing and fun and really a GREAT missionary. We always joke and say we're related because once we went to the Provo temple and an old worker said, "oh, Dowdle, my ancestors were Dowdles in Cache valley." Then Sister Collyer talked to him and he said "Oh, Collyer, my ancestors were Collyers in Cache valley. They married the Dowdles." Haha. So we say we're related by marriage. Anyway, we had our training in Taibai, which was nice. The President is AWESOME! He's SO laid back. Not as laid back as President Laney, but pretty darn close. We are allowed to watch Disney movies on PDay! When we went to pick up Sis Collyer at the airport, we watched a Lakers game. The whole training was so laidback and nice. We got to buy some dictionaries. Oh yeah, and he took us to the dedication site of Taiwan where we all (president and sister Grimley, the Wrides who are a new Sr. Couple, the APs, Sis Collyer and I) bore our testimonies and had private prayers where we dedicated ourselves to the preaching of the gospel in Taiwan. It was cool. Then we saw the Grand Hotel which was AMAZING. It's HUGE and intricate and gorgeous. I will stay there before I die.
So I don't know...not alot of things different happen in a week, so I can't remember what I've already said about Taiwan. Hmmm...everything molds. My closet, food, etc. I had a cough drop MELT. Weird! We have to keep our scrap food garbage in the freezer. We have the biggest chapel in Taiwan. Hmmm...We went to the Temple and it was 2000 degrees in there. We email in a internet cafe full of smoke and the sound of machine guns. Teenagers stay here for HOURS and have their food delivered to their computers. Sick. I'm trying to walk flat-footed...tell that to Heather. We'll both have a goal of walking flat by the time I get home. No one can read my Chinese character. They stare at it forever before they figure it out.
Well, I love you all!
The Church is True!
Sister Poohface/ Dent Jiemei
FINE, FINE!! SORRY!! Haha, Yes, I completely space sending my address every time! But here it is:
4/F #24 Lane 183
Chin Hua Street
Da An District
Taiwan, Taibei, 106
TAIWAN
Hope to hear from you all soon. :D
Well, life is good in Taiwan. Full of lots of ups and downs. The ups being beautiful bike-rides, people who accept meeting with us, having a moment when my Chinese sounds good, having someone accept a pamphlet; the downs being overwhelmed with the language, lonely when everyone knows what's going on but me, and being occasionally petrified to talk to people on the street. But all these things are part of the process I suppose. I really enjoy it. We had zone conference last week which focused on having a "vision". Having a vision for ourselves, for our areas, for our missions, for our lives. When you have a vision, you have a drive, and goals that keep progressing. So we visited Wu Zhujiao (Bishop Wu) and asked him what his vision for the ward is. Satan is hitting families hard here too, from what he says. So his vision for the ward is for the members to "return to the basics" of the gospel and to let it strengthen their families, THEN for the spirit of the gospel to give them a passion for sharing the gospel. So we're going to visit the member families this transfer and strengthen them and look for referrals. It should be great! My companion is Sister Kunzler (Sister Scott was transfered to YongHe). She is on her last transfer so she has high goals and alot of drive to go out with a bang. And I'm fresh and clueless so we're ready to do big things. We just need to have faith and optimism and things will work out. Really, I'm clueless and frustrated often, but the Lord makes up for our weaknesses and we really do see miracles happening often. We got 13 referrals last week from sheer miracle, for instance. Our goal as a companionship is to baptize a family before she leaves.
Hmmm...anything happen this week? It rained cats and dogs (I explained that term to a fluent English speaker the other day and was so proud of the random knowledge I learned from Pioneer Village) for a few days. We showed up to church with soaking skirts and squishing shoes. I think people are used to missionaries looking like rats. They have this phrase: "oh, hen xinku" which pretty much means "oh, good job, it stinks to be you," in essence.
Thursday was alot of fun. It was the beginning of a new transfer and since I never got arrival training, I got to go to Taibei and have that training with Sister Collyer who just came from the MTC that day. Sister Collyer is the BEST! She reminds me alot of Brewy and Cousin Carolyn, so she is amazing and fun and really a GREAT missionary. We always joke and say we're related because once we went to the Provo temple and an old worker said, "oh, Dowdle, my ancestors were Dowdles in Cache valley." Then Sister Collyer talked to him and he said "Oh, Collyer, my ancestors were Collyers in Cache valley. They married the Dowdles." Haha. So we say we're related by marriage. Anyway, we had our training in Taibai, which was nice. The President is AWESOME! He's SO laid back. Not as laid back as President Laney, but pretty darn close. We are allowed to watch Disney movies on PDay! When we went to pick up Sis Collyer at the airport, we watched a Lakers game. The whole training was so laidback and nice. We got to buy some dictionaries. Oh yeah, and he took us to the dedication site of Taiwan where we all (president and sister Grimley, the Wrides who are a new Sr. Couple, the APs, Sis Collyer and I) bore our testimonies and had private prayers where we dedicated ourselves to the preaching of the gospel in Taiwan. It was cool. Then we saw the Grand Hotel which was AMAZING. It's HUGE and intricate and gorgeous. I will stay there before I die.
So I don't know...not alot of things different happen in a week, so I can't remember what I've already said about Taiwan. Hmmm...everything molds. My closet, food, etc. I had a cough drop MELT. Weird! We have to keep our scrap food garbage in the freezer. We have the biggest chapel in Taiwan. Hmmm...We went to the Temple and it was 2000 degrees in there. We email in a internet cafe full of smoke and the sound of machine guns. Teenagers stay here for HOURS and have their food delivered to their computers. Sick. I'm trying to walk flat-footed...tell that to Heather. We'll both have a goal of walking flat by the time I get home. No one can read my Chinese character. They stare at it forever before they figure it out.
Well, I love you all!
The Church is True!
Sister Poohface/ Dent Jiemei
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Missionary work weddings!
It's P-day again! I'm trying to think of all that's happened in the past few days...
The members are amazing here. There was a wedding reception in the ward and the adorable bride and groom turned it into a missionary event. They had pass-along cards and pamphlets at their guest book table and their wedding video was being played to "I know that my redeemer lives". They had the Bishop speak about Eternal Families and the Relief Society sang Families can be Together Forever. It was so neat. There were so many non-members, it was awesome! I love the strong people here. We also had a cool experience with contacting. So, I don't speak Chinese...and this is a probably and causes me much frustration and sadness. But the other day we were contacting on scooters (ride up to a scooter when we're stopped at a light and give them a mini lesson and a pamphlet) and I couldn't say much. Alot of time I just said "I want to give you this. It was will help you find happiness in your life". But I decided to write our phone number on the back of all my pamphlets and we actually had a guy I talked to call us yesterday and he's going to meet with the Elders! Isn't that cool? It's another testimony that as long as we're doing what we should, the Lord will allow someone who is prepared to hear the gospel to be in the right place at the right time to meet the missionaries. Heavenly Father really loves us. And it's really incredible what your eyes are opened up to on a mission. This is one thing that is HUGE that I've seen that has really been a testimony builder. And that is, that those who are active, strong members, ARE happier and have better families and more stable lives. Those who fall into inactivity generally have alot of "mafan" or trials, annoyances, unhappiness, and more family strife. It's really amazing. It goes back to what I remember someone said in testimony meeting in a ward we attended in South Jordan: That people don't change, but the GOSPEL changes people. It really is 100% true.
So we're having some new training on having a "vision" for our mission/area/ourselves. If you have a vision about something, you will most likely make goals that will actually allow you to achieve your vision. My companion pointed out that we are in an area with a HUGE (the biggest in Taiwan) LDS chapel that is beautiful. But our wards don't fill half of the chapel. But that's okay, because the Church and the Lord have a vision for this area. Someday, that chapel will be full and the overflow doors will have to be opened to have room enough to receive all the members. Now the Church and God have this vision, so the missionaries and members now need it too to accomplish it. It makes me so excited to be here. Times are really hard sometimes...I get frustrated with my language abilities and get lonely not being able to speak with people. But I love it and feel so lucky to be in this area with these great people. The Chinese are really something special. I feel like "Gladys Aylward" on a much lesser level. Haha. You should all google and find the Dedicatory Prayer for China by David O McKay.
I always LOVE hearing from you all. I love hearing about your lives!
Love you all!
Coley
The members are amazing here. There was a wedding reception in the ward and the adorable bride and groom turned it into a missionary event. They had pass-along cards and pamphlets at their guest book table and their wedding video was being played to "I know that my redeemer lives". They had the Bishop speak about Eternal Families and the Relief Society sang Families can be Together Forever. It was so neat. There were so many non-members, it was awesome! I love the strong people here. We also had a cool experience with contacting. So, I don't speak Chinese...and this is a probably and causes me much frustration and sadness. But the other day we were contacting on scooters (ride up to a scooter when we're stopped at a light and give them a mini lesson and a pamphlet) and I couldn't say much. Alot of time I just said "I want to give you this. It was will help you find happiness in your life". But I decided to write our phone number on the back of all my pamphlets and we actually had a guy I talked to call us yesterday and he's going to meet with the Elders! Isn't that cool? It's another testimony that as long as we're doing what we should, the Lord will allow someone who is prepared to hear the gospel to be in the right place at the right time to meet the missionaries. Heavenly Father really loves us. And it's really incredible what your eyes are opened up to on a mission. This is one thing that is HUGE that I've seen that has really been a testimony builder. And that is, that those who are active, strong members, ARE happier and have better families and more stable lives. Those who fall into inactivity generally have alot of "mafan" or trials, annoyances, unhappiness, and more family strife. It's really amazing. It goes back to what I remember someone said in testimony meeting in a ward we attended in South Jordan: That people don't change, but the GOSPEL changes people. It really is 100% true.
So we're having some new training on having a "vision" for our mission/area/ourselves. If you have a vision about something, you will most likely make goals that will actually allow you to achieve your vision. My companion pointed out that we are in an area with a HUGE (the biggest in Taiwan) LDS chapel that is beautiful. But our wards don't fill half of the chapel. But that's okay, because the Church and the Lord have a vision for this area. Someday, that chapel will be full and the overflow doors will have to be opened to have room enough to receive all the members. Now the Church and God have this vision, so the missionaries and members now need it too to accomplish it. It makes me so excited to be here. Times are really hard sometimes...I get frustrated with my language abilities and get lonely not being able to speak with people. But I love it and feel so lucky to be in this area with these great people. The Chinese are really something special. I feel like "Gladys Aylward" on a much lesser level. Haha. You should all google and find the Dedicatory Prayer for China by David O McKay.
I always LOVE hearing from you all. I love hearing about your lives!
Love you all!
Coley
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
PICTURES from serving in SLC!
White board of Missionary Work! 
Happily Tracting!
Happily Tracting!
Woohoo!! Emailing family!
Townsend's Baptism!
I can't believe I'm a MISSIONARY!!! WEEEEEEEE!!!
FINALLY in Taiwan!!!
I'm in Taiwan and I love it!! Very little culture shock...it's just like coming home! It's almost exactly like China, except I get to share the gospel, which is a dream come true. In China I always wanted to tell the people about the church but couldn't and now I can! I love it...but my Chinese is horrid so they don't understand me. Alas. But the day will come! I don't have a whole ton of time, so I will just make a wee little list of the fun things about Taiwan.
1. I have 2 companions. Sister Scott and Kunzler. They are awesome. Sister Scott is African American and people apparently ask her often if she's Obama's daughter. Haha. Sister Kunzler is from South Carolina and Sister Scott is from Maryland.
2. I'm in a suburb of Xinzhu called Zhubei. It's HUGE!! My area in SL was about 15 blocks. This is several miles. We biked for 45 minutes to an investigator's house yesterday. I'll tell you. The best way to work off cellulite is biking for a million years. My rear hurts so bad but it looks awesome! haha. I breathe scooter exhaust all day, but meh, oh well. There are a bajillion scooters here.
3. I haven't seen Jay Chou yet, but don't worry, I will baptize him before I leave. :D
4. Little boys are adorable yet evil. They torture their mothers but they are so cute their Mom's can't stay mad at them.
5. My skin is always super clammy because of the humidity. I hate it. I feel so sticky. But I must have hair similar to Asians because I stopped using conditioner too and my hair is awesome. When I first got here I used conditioner and it looked like I rubbed my head in bacon.
6. Sleeping is misery. Remember nice, cozy, dry sheets? Well pretend that every night someone snuck in your room with a spray bottle and dampened your whole bed. It's SO uncomfortable. It makes my skin crawl.
7. I really could like in Taiwan forever. I hope that umm...whomever I marry wouldn't be opposed to living here. Haha. I love it so much. It brings back great memories and feelings of China and the people and atmosphere is so wonderful. I love it!
8. Biking in a skirt is an adventure. Sometimes you have no choice but to flash the world your undies. Some people have said, "oh, I know the Sister missionaries! They are the ones with the white biking shorts." Yeah...Anyway, I'm improving.
9. Oh! haha, I have to tell you about my first two contacting experiences. The first one my companion and I walked up to a man and introduced ourselves. I told him I'd just barely gotten to Taiwan and said "I'm nervous to speak Chinese." But the tones were off or something because it came out: "I'm Bible to speak Chinese." Then the next person I talked to, was a 15 year old boy on a scooter. I asked his name and he said, Zeng. I said, "Oh! Mr. Zeng" He said, "actually, it's Miss Zeng". I was mortified!! It was a girl with a boy haircut!! I was freaking out and apologizing but then she just said, "oh don't worry. I'm gay." Awkward!!
10. They make a drink out of everything. I gagged down asparagus juice the other night at a member's house. I was pretty good at staying composed but accidentally shuddered when the member looked my way.
11. Paddington Bear is all the rage here. Weird.
12. I've experienced the singing garbage trucks. When you hear a pleasant tune in the road below, instead of seeing chubby children with their pennies buying nice little ice cream cones, you see hoards of people running out with sacks of garbage.
13. Their are orange spots all over the road from people spitting "beetlenut", a narcotic wrapped in a red substance. Ew!.
14. It's fun to contact people at traffic lights.
15. Everything looks like it came from a Jay Chou music video. Go to Youtube and type "Terraced Field Jay chou" and that's what taiwan looks like.
Love you! TIme is up!!
COloey
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