WEEK 24: 新年快樂！！！

WOW THIS WEEK WAS AWESOME!!! And New Years is RIGHT around the corner!!!!

Some things that made this season special:
Sister Branch's family always has a Christmas Elf that visits them so I thought it would be special if I played that part and left her cute notes and a teddy bear and stuff:)

EVERYONE gives us food and random crackers and anything that they can. I know everyone else is getting chocolate and we get that too, but also tomatoes and bread. Haha awesome.

Monday:
We went to have tons of fun with our posse (Sofia, Yoyo, Jerry and 小寶) in Taipei and just look at trees and eat food and it was SOOOO FUN!! Just felt like a normal day out with friends....definitely going back to Taiwan after the mish:) Sister Branch had Krispy Kreme for the first time and there was a Santa Claus handing out free gifts!!



Wednesday:
CHRISTMAS EVE ZONE CONFERENCE!! Oh man this was incredibly fun, all of
the zones outside of Taipei got together and we ate food and got
presents--a pinyin+characters+English NEW TESTAMENT!! And had training and a talent show and listened to the choir. We did this hilarious activity were we were given a bag of tools and then Sister Branch had an occupation on her back and we had to see if the tools matched up. Her's said PLUMBER, which is Oh so applicable to our lives. Oh man so so so much fun! OH AND I GOT TO SEE SISTER AKITA WHO IS HERE NOW IN MY
ZONE YAYYYYYYYYYYY! <3

Thursday:
CHRISTMAS DAY TEMPLE TOURS! First of all....The Plumber occupation was
given to us on Christmas Eve...well first thing Christmas morning, I'm
going to take a shower and I turn the water on and the pipe under the
sink BURSTS. MERRY CHRISTMAS TO US!! So we call a plumber and he comes
over and fixes the pipe, tracking mud all over our house while we open
the presents our families sent us:) Very memorable to say the least:)
But really,  I really am such a lucky missionary to be able to go back
to Taipei on Christmas and be on the temple grounds all day and find
people and give them tours of the chapel and tell them about Jesus
Christ! We were walking around in the pouring rain and we found a mom
who was going to pick her daughter up from school. We all went
together and we gave her the first lesson about Joseph Smith and the
Book of Mormon. The incredible thing about this: her daughter is 7 and
partially deaf so she only listens to her mom. Consequently, her mom
explained every picture of Jesus Christ and every aspect of the first
lesson to her daughter, so she got to say all of these incredible
details about the Savior's life in her own words!!!!!! I know from
personal experience that when we testify of His life, our own
testimony grows stronger and so I can only imagine what it did for
her!! Then we were about to go find some more when we talked to a lady
sitting in the chapel. We assumed she was a member...she told us she
comes to the chapel at least once a week with her friend during a
Relief Society Activity and sits and waits for her. So we gave her a
tour too and she accepted a baptismal date!! It's so incredible the
miracles we saw on Christmas, truly testifying of Jesus Christ and
having the wonderful opportunity of sharing about Him on the day we
celebrate His birth!!!

Friday:
SKYPE MY FAMILY DAY!!!!! Not much to say more than I love them and I
miss them and it was a million years too short. It didn't distract me
from my mission or anything...just made my Chinese pretty bad for the
rest of the day because I spoke so much English! haha:)

Saturday:

MIRACLE: we saw JOYCE!!! Joyce, went to Australia for a month Joyce. We

felt like visiting her and as soon as we go over to her apartment, she
comes out and is like "Oh I'll see you at church tomorrow!!!" She
looks 12 times happier, truly a miracle! Also, we talked to this dad
and his little kids. This 6 year old little boy kept calling us "hot
girls" and "perfect girls" and telling us to stop by his house the
next night!! WHAT in the world!! He tried to hold our hands and play
with our hair and he is SIX. Hahaha hilarious but concerning.

Sunday: 
Joyce didn't come to church but she is coming to Family Home Evening tonight!!
Raymond came to church and got to attend the baptism after church!!!!
We still can't tell if he is progressing because his understanding is
just so slow, but at least he came!! Then we met with Jerry and found
out that he hadn't slept in 48 hours...work from 10:30pm to 7am the
next day is SOOOO 辛苦！！！ But he is such a hard worker and now he is
WARD MISSIONARY!! Along with 黃聰敏...two of our recent converts!!! As
for 陳逸倫, please pray for her! She never has time to meet with us and
has work on Sundays sometimes...she doesn't seem to be putting the
gospel first and doesn't seem to understand some very basic doctrinal
principles so pray she can meet with us! Also pray that Tony and his
beautiful family will come to church!! We still have hope for them!

Today:
WE GOT UP at 5 am!! Yah what who am I right?? We exercised and then
cleaned our apartment for an hour and a half because it was NASTY. But
now it has never been cleaner everrr!!! The floor is no longer covered
in hairballs, but is super shiny:) I'm still living, so I guess the
extra sleep wasn't needed;) Haha we even were awake before the
BUTCHER!! Whatttt crazy!! If the rest of you don't live above a
butcher who chops meat every day for 7 hours (and I'm assuming most of
you don't), I would invite you to imagine it...fun:)

Feeling pretty good because despite all the goodies we've been eating,
I am still getting comments about how I'm losing weight and asking if
my parents were worried when they saw me on Skype and wondering on how
I'm losing weight so fast...HAHAHAHA not true but cool I guess!

This week has been amazing because I have been learning so much about
what I can do to become more like my Savior and how His infinite
Atonement applies personally to me. And helping people feel it has
been so amazing!! Helping people understand that HE is the reason for
the season, not Santa Claus like many people think haha!! I can feel
myself improving each day, more confident and more able to feel the
Spirit and more able to see myself for who my Savior and Heavenly
Father see me as! We can still share the gift even when the holidays
are over. We make new year's resolutions to change and improve
ourselves...let us not forget that Jesus Christ is the ONLY reason we
can change in the first place!! I invite you all to make it a goal to
be more spiritually oriented this year, always reading the Book of
Mormon and the scriptures and finding out just how much He loves us!!!

Well a ton of missionaries are going home this Wednesday, so I might
still be here with Sister Branch or not, but whatever happens, I am
learning more and more how to trust God and His plan for me!!
Also I'm sorry my emails are taking a weird format...I don't know how
to fix it!! I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!! <3

Sister Wright (Taiwan Taipei Mission)
Rèn Jiěmèi 任曼欣姐妹