聽不懂 face

 Ya know, people always say "If you don't understand a word I say, just stop me and I'll help you!" My question for them is "What if I can't understand ANY of the words?" Let's just say I have gotten very good at practicing my 聽不懂 face haha. 

This week felt mega super ultra long. Different things always feel long, and Taiwan is about as different as you can get. Especially compared to the MMM. Just about everything is so different, and it's been a pretty big adjustment, and not gonna lie I've cried during more personal studies than I would like to admit, and I think I need to get my eyes checked out or something, they must be broken. But it'll be all good!

It's for sure a big change, but Heavenly Father will always provide a way! He gives us all the tools and resources we need to be successful in our work, and I just need to remind myself (quite often) that it's only been a few days and patience is key. Waiting on the Lord can be a sacred place if we let it.  So please don't let anything previously said concern you. 

Last Monday we were able to go to an all you can eat meat place with some members which was fun! They just keep giving you food haha. 

Tuesday, we had district council which was good, and that night we were able to meet a guy from India and teach him and make him a new person! I personally love finding foreigners, it helps me feel useful haha. We were also able to meet someone at the MRT station who had been taught before and who they had ran into twice, and he wasn't really interesting in learning, but we saw him again and now he is! Miracles! 

Wednesday, we had other miracles too, we were on our way to our chapel and stopped at a random Starbucks halfway in between for some studies, and a guy came up who was an inactive member, and he bought us drinks and wants us to contact his wife who isn't a member! And the next day he arranged so we could get free food at his family's restaurant! Heavenly Father is just a champ! Wednesday night we had our English Group (which we only had two people come over zoom and neither of them live here) and we did a chapel tour in English! I really enjoyed it!

Thursday, we went up to Taipei so I could have a health checkup with some of the other new missionaries. We had to have a blood test, chest X-ray, eye test, etc. I passed! Aren't you proud? That night we ate dinner with a member and planned an activity for Saturday, and he had one of the Elders dress up in protective gear because he wants to teach martial arts at the activity. It was pretty fantastic. 

Friday, I don't really remember what happened. We ate dinner with a member! 

Saturday, we had the parent child creativity (PCC) activity, and made paper snowflakes and origami! We also got to play basketball that morning and had a ton of people show up! Here they do things like "basketball finding" and "tennis finding" and such. Saturday we also had dinner with the bishop’s family! 

Sunday was good, new people in the ward have to do an introduction and share their testimony (luckily my comp let me know in advance) so I had to do that, it went pretty well! She said she understood! We also had a two-hour ward council meeting, and it is far too easy to accidentally zone out when you don't speak the language. I was completely gone the entire time. 

Danshui is super hilly and windy, and I have had many times almost crashing because I'm frantically trying not to flash the world haha! Don't worry, I'll buy some pants :) And biking through traffic is absolutely terrifying. It's beautiful though here, I love it! 

Spiritual thought for the week: Out of all the Savior's examples He showed while on earth, one of the greatest things He emphasized was the fact that He suffered the will of the Father in all things. Why do you think He placed so much focus on that point? It is when we accept the Lord's will that we can find joy in any circumstance. Trying to force our own only leads to lost opportunities and a fraction of our ultimate potential. We all face affliction in life. My question for all of us today, is are we allowing these afflictions to be consecrated for our gain, by letting God prevail? When we choose to put our trust in Him, rather than the world, that is when hearts are changed. When we choose to accept His will and align our desires with His, we can slowly but surely become the trusted heirs He asks us to become.  

I love you all and hope you have a fantastic week! Good job for those of you who actually got this far :) you're my favorite!