Saving Dogs

HiFamily!

Thank you all for your emails!! I was so happy to get them!

Taoyuan is still good! We are teaching an amazing girl named Heidi. She's 28 and speaks English really well. She is pretty much the golden investigator. She already knows half the ward because she tutored their kids in English. She promised she would go to church every week, and she bought a skirt because she felt like she should dress nice when she meets us. She said every time she prays, reads the Book of Mormon and goes to church, she has a special feeling. We explained that was the Spirit. Then we taught her about repentance and baptism and how we commit to keep the commandments. She said "Yes, you've told me about commandments. Can you just teach them all to me? I don't know what I'm doing wrong until you teach me. I will do everything you ask me to do." My companion and I joked that never again in our life will we ever have someone tell us they will do everything we ask them to. She's really amazing. She set a baptismal date for August 7. She has quit coffee. She's sooooo good!!

We are also teaching a little family, Shandi and her 2 kids Ryan and Katie. Heavenly Father loves us because she also speaks really good English. Haha. She is really neat. She was doubting the need for another God because she is VERY religiously Buddhist. But this week she's been saying she doesn't like going to the Buddhist temple because she feels guilty like she's betraying God. And she said whenever she goes to the temple to "bai bai" it doesn't work, but praying works, and works fast! She's really neat and really a good person. We're excited for her.

This week was a little stressful. I don't know...there are a lot of sisters going home next transfer and there aren't many other sisters over me, so people keep saying there's a possibility me and others me "age" will go senior next transfer or the transfer afterwards. That would be fun and all, but being senior is so much more stressful than being junior. I've been so paranoid this week about how I'm doing as a missionary because I feel like I have to know everything now. We'll see.

So we had a really funny experience yesterday! We were biking to a teaching appointment at the church when I saw a stray dog trying to claw his way out of a little irrigation ditch. The ditches have little concreted walls that rise about a foot and a half about the water (which is about a foot deep.) There's no incline for the dog to use to climb out. He started barking frantically when we biked fast, so I was pretty sure he was stuck and couldn't get out. We didn't have time and I didn't want to get clawed to death helping him out [see Lady Hawke] so I just said a prayer in my head that the poor dog would get out somehow. About an hour and a half later, we were biking back the other way and I glanced at the ditch to make sure he'd gotten out. The poor dog was just standing there in the ditch, his pitiful white head and top of his back showing above the BLACK disgusting water. I felt so bad, we stopped and tried to cheer the dog on to jump out. We encouraged him to jump up the side and he just gave us this look like "don't you know I've tried that already?" He looked so sad, defeated and hopeless. It was so hot he probably had heat exhaustion. So we said a little prayer and my companion knelt down and lifted his belly out of the water and I grabbed his front paws and we yanked him out of the canal. Half his body was dyed black from the grime and he had leaches all over him. He pitifully hobbled away, without any thanks at all. But we were glad we saved his life. Haha. But I learned that sometimes we pray and think "Heavenly Father, please help such and such will go well." But just because you prayed for it, he won't take away dirty work you don't want to do. For instance, I REALLY wanted the dog out of that ditch, but I REALLY didn't want to touch him or the water, so I prayed A LOT. But I don't think God will answer prayers that we make only because we're lazy or don't want to do something ourselves. Haha.

I saw a spider the size of my hand the other day. So gross!!! They are fast too.

I love you all! The Church is true! Keep living the gospel and you'll have peace and joy and life really will have more purpose. I love this gospel!

Wuv, Poohface