A new mask, but not for Halloween

I passed my 6 month on island anniversary this week.....what?!?!?! How have I already been here for half a year?! Time is flying.

I'll start by talking about some of our investigators who I mentioned last week. 

-Y: had her baptismal interview this week, and she passed!!! The challenge is that she wouldn't fill out the baptismal record because she hasn't told her parents yet, and she is afraid that they will oppose. She is really nervous, but she said she plans on doing it sometime this week. We are praying for her.

-W: she is one of our 14 year olds! She came to the baptismal service of the elders' investigator on Saturday and recommitted to be baptized on Oct 25. She said that her parents know that she is learning about the church and they are okay with it so hopefully there won't be any problems there in the future. She also came to church this Sunday! Our Young Women did a great job of welcoming her. 

For English class this week the topic was 'clothes and fashion'. As part of the lesson, we did a recyclable talent show- we split them into two groups and gave them a few minutes to create an outfit out of materials from the recycling bin and then they had to use English to describe the outfit. They got really into it- it was so much fun! 

missionaries from Nicole's MTC group together at zone conference

 One great experience from this week was meeting with a less active church member we have been working with for the past couple of weeks, C. Last time we met, we encouraged her to read, pray, and attend church, so this time we followed up and asked if she had been reading the Book of Mormon every day. She said, "I promised you I would- of course I have! I am in 2 Nephi!" That made me so happy to hear that! She promised us that she will come to church this coming Sun- it will be her first time back in several years. 

On Saturday we had several really neat experiences! Every time we bike to the chapel, I have been having this feeling that we needed to turn down a lane and contact, so on Saturday we went and did it. It is pretty close to a college, so we figured that there would be lots of students at home and lots of people to talk to. We started knocking doors, and there was literally no one at home- door after door. Part of me wondered if we should just go somewhere else, but there was a little feeling that just compelled me to continue there. One door was finally opened by a man and his sister, and they invited us to come in. We sat down and started getting to know them. He seemed to be familiar with missionaries, so I asked if he had been to our church before. He said "of course". Huh? Then he listed off the five things that the word of wisdom prohibits. We finally asked him how he knew all of this and he said he was baptized 18 years ago. double "huh?!" We shared the first lesson with him- he had read from the Book of Mormon before, but didn't have one. He asked when church was, and said he would come the next day- and he did! We looked him up on our ward membership list, but he is not there, so maybe his records are still somewhere else- either that or he was baptized into a different church. But we really feel like God led us to meet them, which was a neat miracle! 

On Saturday we also got to see a recent convert we taught, J, baptize the elders' investigator! I am so proud of him! 

I am SO SO SO SO SO SO SO excited for general conference!!!!!!!!!!! And so jealous of all you lucky people who get to watch it a week before we do! But I think it will be the best early birthday present ever. :D I have been rereading the talks from last conference to prepare....did I mention I am excited for conference?!

The weather here has been cooling off a little! It makes me feel like I have sunshine in my soul to step out the door in the morning and have it be not blazing hot outside. :D I love fall!

UPDATE ON MY “CHILD”- the new missionary I will be training: The new missionaries' visas have cleared the San Francisco office and are now waiting for clearance in Taiwan! Usually that takes about a week. They could be here as early as this Saturday! 

Love you! Thanks for the prayers...I can feel them!

Sis Murri

I know this looks like I am really angry, but mostly it's just because if I smiled, the mask would start to fall off! A member of the church gave these to us- they are skin whitening facial masks. Taiwanese people love giving other people ointments and products. If, for example, your acne is acting up, you will get a whole ton of people come up to you and tell you that they saw that you had a lot of pimples, so they bought you some medication. It is hilarious, because in the US it would be a little rude, but here it's a show of love!