Dongtian

Yes, Winter does happen here... so that would have been nice to know when I was purchasing clothing! Haha no worries I am holding up fine and I do have a few warm things to wear! The weather here now is a cold rain but it is not too bad so long as we really try to stay as dry as possible. But the Lord is strengthening me so that I am not getting sick from it!

 

This week was really awesome! We met again with Zhang Caroline- yes that is what we call her- and she is so great! She has now read 1 and 2 Nephi and is FINDING ANSWERS!!! We retaught of Joseph Smith by watching the restoration film which I think really answered some questions also she now thinks I live in a grove of beautiful trees.. ah well. But she commited to kneel and pray about Jospeh Smith to know if what we are teaching is true. I know so long as she continues to read from the Book of Mormon she will indeed recieve and know that this is true and that Heavenly Fathers church is again on the earth!! We also met with a Cho Jiating (Family) We had planned to teach lesson three which is the doctrine of Christ. Well, essentially it went well. We had a member present which I am again greatful for. Although at times it is a little interesting. The end of the lesson ended up being the three of them mincing words about why baptism is necessary why people who dont recieve baptism should be judged less harshly and what would happen if someone recieved baptism and then didnt follow the commandments. I have really learned a lot about listening. I am not able to say much especially when its a battle of words because its too fast for me to keep up. But I have learned a lot from my listening that missionaries really need to work on this. I saw when we respond too fast without fully understanding the question they just asked it gets really messy really fast. I am so greatful the Lord sent me speaking another language so that I am learning how important it is to not talk. BUt listen. Ask questions and listen some more.

 

This week I also had the opportunity to go up to Fulong and with an investigator do a huge hike! Taiwan is SO beautiful. It was raining but that turned out to be a huge blessing because it was a cool temperature for the hike which it a bigger blessing than I could appreciate! So yes, it is just like in kung fu panda when asains climb up a mountain they climb up steps. Yep. The hike was hundreds and hundreds of stone steps up the mountain! It was a very different hike than I have ever been on. And mom its good you are not a missionary here I dont think you could have kept the rule of not playing in the water. The rivers and waterfalls were GORGEOUS! If you can goolgle fulong and dali look at the distance and some pictures. We came from fulong to dali. It was really fun and a nice way to reflect on the beauties of the earth and remember how great the Lord is. Haha but man am I out of shape! Using our bikes the past few days have really been a painful experience for my companion and i because our legs are so sore! HAha but as I always say the Lord is strengthening us and we are able to everyday wake up and do it all over again.

 

So I am finishing my training! Yes no longer a greenie!!! Oh wait. K no yes I am but I will be getting a new companion and maybe a new area this week! I am going to really miss my sweet little companion. I have learned so much from her and have really come to love and admire her. Isn't it weird- I have spent 3 months of my life with her every minute of everyday and now that we are going to be changing companions I may never see her again. THe mission really is an interesting perspective. But I love it so much and am really growing and seeing how much the plan of our Father effects us every day.

 

I love you all and am greatful for your support and prayers. Know you are also in mine! May you have a wonderful week!

 

-Sister Thornley

Oh The Rain!

 Dont you get me wrong I LOVE the rain so very much its really nice to be wet not from my own water if you know what I mean. And It really is way fun to ride bikes in but it stinks to contact in because NO ONE IS OUTSIDE!!!! The taiwanese are afraid of the rain so when it rains and all we have to do that day is contact well it makes us feel a little unproductive which is not a good feeling as a missionary. Anyway, Taiwan is so great!!! This week was awesome!!!

 

This week We got qin ke'd twice which means members payed for our meals which is fun because they take us expensive places and it tastes REALLY REALLY good!!! At one of the members dinners I made my first big Chen lao shi moment. We were talking about how americans have more wrinkles on their eyes than taiwanese I said its because we laugh and smile more than they do. To which our member agreed and began talking about how so many people there have depression and how hard it is. Well then she started touching her eyes where the laugh wrinkles would be and then said my husband has it too. So I of course respond "Oh how great!!!" thinking she was meaning her husband must laugh a lot too if he had the wrinkles... well I got a very interesting look from her and my companion. To which my companion starting laughing hard and tells me, "you jsut did a chen lao shi!" Turns out she was not meaning her husband has wrinkles. She was saying he has depression.   So... okay yep I am still a greenie. And the Chen lao shi refrence is to my MTC teacher who made a simalar mistake :) I am so grateful that I think she is the best missionary ever and I can make the same mistakes as she does! must mean I am off to a good start!!!

 

As for other adventures this week, We saw so many miracles!!! We did a district fast and finding this week which proved so great for us YiLan Sisters!!! We really devoted our hearts and minds to talking TO EVERYONE but whats the miracle is that it was not when we were finding that we found. The actual finding was a little discouraging but each time (we did it twice) we had one girl each time so two come up to us as we ended our finding and seek us out. Talk about miracles. The one girl is you rei jia pronounced- yo ray jia. She is such a miracle! We had contacted her weeks ago on the street and invited her to english class but she never came or so we thought. Turns out she had come but didnt see anyone there so left. And she saw all of us missionaries ending and reporting on our successes and recognized my companion and I and came up and appologized she didnt come. Anyways we were able to set up with her and teach about Heavenly Father and families and give her a Book of Mormon! I am very hopeful on her and we believe she will be prepared to recieve baptism before Christmas! But it will take a lot of prayers!! Good thing I have been so strengthened in my faith of prayers here. \

 

The work is amazing. I find so many joys from it and I love it so much.

 

-Sister Thornley

Rainy Monday

So its a really good thing that I love the Rain here so much! And dont worry I am keeping my hair covered so it wont fall out from the acid! Yep thats right if you don't keep your hair covered I am told it will eventually fall out and you will be left having what they call a bright head as the light would be reflected off of the baldness. So that is that! It really is so cool when it rains here there are three types I have seen first is Tsunami rain which is so crazy huge and hard it could knock you off your bike! The second is small small rain drops that come down by the GaGILLIONS! So even though its so small you still get completely wet in less than a minute! And third is whats happening right now, a heavy rain that is not as hard as tsunami but bigger raindrops than the second I described. But I really do love it so much! I think its beautiful and after you get past the point of no return of wetness its fun! Also It is a nice conversation starter- my past contacts have often started with, "HEY!!! Do you like the Rain!!!??!?! (Its funny because all taiwanese people HATE the rain) So I know their answer ahead but it still cracks me up to see their faces twist in confusion as to why on earth I would ask such a question, this is a great lead into "Well I am from America and we dont have rain like this I think its BEAUTIFUL!!!" This usually makes them smile because I love Taiwan so much! Its also really easy to then tell them why I am here and bring up the Gospel! 

  This week was really great! We went to a less actives house and made some american food with the Elders and their family! IT WAS AWESOME! WE had BLT's and Omelets! Yum! She is really great and so generous. This week we really tried to get a good all around missionary experience so I mean we really tried to get good amounts of each key indicators Kyle can tell you what that means. 

  I also went off roading for my first time EVER!! We had kind of not planned our lessons well and had one lesson on one side of Loudong and another right after on the other... Well so we were hurrying as fast as our little legs would let us and then we tried to connect two roads together... which got us a little lost so :) My companion wanted to turn back but I saw a nice little dirt road and started peddling on! I've been told over and over if your not having fun your not doing it right so I was determined! And it proved productive!  We quickly found the road we wanted and I had an adventure! The lesson we went to was with a Cho Jia Ting (A family) which would pass as our most difficult investigator. And his Chinese is so gao ji (high?? no good translation) and so I am totally lost most of the time. So last week I prayed so hard to feel the spirit and be able to teach SOMETHING so before I left I bore my testimony of the Book of Mormon and of Jesus Christ which at the time I felt good! Until we came back this week. It was my first time of really being scolded in chinese. He told me bluntly I had offended him in my testimony and felt I was accusing him of not knowing the things I had said were to be true. Well, needless to say I depended a lot on the Savior to help me know how to look at him so he could understand my compassion and that that was not what I had intended to do at all. It was really hard to hear that from what I had felt the Spirit was prompting me to do. But I know I can not get shy about bearing my testimony I know that this is the Lords work and he wants me to be bold. My purpose is to share what I know and I do that through bearing my testimony. 

  I had another fun experience for service this week of gardening at the church with Dong jie mei. Well I ask you all to try gardening in a dress. Its not easy. But it was exciting! Also this week I was really grateful for my English abilities. We teach an English class every week here for a finding effort which scares me to death because I have no idea how to teach English I just know how to speak it! Well one of my students came up to me with a homework assignment he had from College. He asked me to read over it and give him suggestions. Well it was a science paper and I didn't understand most of it so he tried to explain it to me and I did the necessary corrections according to his broken English to me... Well come to find out that was a research paper he was submitting to a graduate college to apply there. So yep my prayers were very great towards his professor that night. So scary! Haha He is also an investigator for the church but I don't get to meet with him because well he is a he. His name is Eric and he really is so great I know this gospel can really help his life and his goals! This gospel really does have the capability to change our lives because it should be the focus of our life! I invite you at home to get to know the missionaries. Pray for them by name and ask them to tell you about two of their investigators and their situation and then pray for them by name too. Its not just an invite from me but from an apostle of the Lord. Until you know them by their name and face you can't know their heart. Believe me the missionaries and their investigators NEED your prayers. Well this is all for this week I love you all a lot and hope you are all doing well... also I am looking for Christmas Gifts for you all but I don't know if I will send them home in a package or just bring them home with me to give to you next year at Christmas!!!

-Sister Thornley Yao Jie Mei