On Monday we went to Jiayi to have lunch with a members family for guo nian as well as to get some color put into my hair by her niece. She really was so nice. She offered to do it for me, I just had to provide the dye and foil. It's quite a long process putting highlights all throughout my hair. It was so good except for the fact that I had woken up that morning feeling a bit queasy. So I was actually unable to really eat anything they had prepared for lunch. I felt really bad about it, but was pretty sure if I had anything but soup, I'd vomit. That night we were invited to dinner by another family of members and I was also unable to eat very much there. But, while we were there I was beginning to feel quite terrible. By the time we got home by whole body hurt and I had a fever. I ended up turning in early only to wake up about an hour later to go and throw up. It was one of the biggest, most horrible, best vomiting experiences I've ever had. The vomiting part of course was the horrible part, but right after I was done, I felt almost completely better. My stomach finally felt comfortable and I was able to have a comfortable sleep. The sad part is after I was done, my companion started, and hers went on for several hours... It was a night of illness alright.
On Tuesday we were both feeling weak and pretty crappy and couldn't make it to breakfast with our Ward Mission Leader. But we rested well enough to make it to Jiayi for ZTM. ZTM was really good. Our Zone Leaders really are inspired and always seem to address things that I had been wondering or concerned about. I was also able to get the first boxes of Phase 2 and Phase 3 for my language study. After ZTM I started to pass off Phase 1 Lesson 1-3 with the Zone Leader, Elder Chia. He is from Singapore and is the best at role playing. It is hard to describe... basically his charater portrayal is basically perfect, but at the same time there is still some Elder Chia in there and it just makes the whole pass off a bit more interesting. After about an hour we still weren't done so we scheduled to finish on Wednesday before interviews.
On Wednesday we went back to Jiayi for interviews with the President and to have area book and planner checks. The interview with President Blickenstaff went really well. I had originally been a little bit nervous about it, but really it was a chance for him to know how we are doing and how he can help. I really am so glad that I have come out during President Blickenstaffs time. It really is a blessing. Because I had to finish my Phase 1 pass off (which in the end we still have a little bit more we need to finish on another day) we got there about an hour early, but due to the schedules slowly getting pushed back, we didn't get back to Douliu until about 6pm. The rest of the night consisted of English meeting and English class. It's been really different being in Xiao Pengyou Ban (The little kids class) I really do miss being able to talk to my previous Gao ji ban (Advanced class) students. But! Kirt, a student from the advanced class gave be a bag of treats for Chinese New Year. It really was so nice.
On Friday we had exchanges. This time I stayed in Douliu and Chen JM went to Tainan. I was so nervous about it. I felt like I would get us lost and would be a huge disappointment without Chen JM to help pull me out of trouble when I felt like my Chinese was lacking. But, something strange happened. Sister Adams got her and I thought I heard a click go off in my head. It was like "She doesn't know this place, she doesn't know your RCs, she doesn't know your LAs. Just do it." And I did. She got here, I told her we had an appointment with He Mama, told her what we planned and we were off. I got us there, started talking to He Mama. I was doing all the talking that Chen JM usually did. We shared our lesson, when things got off tract I puled it back as best as I could. It was a very strange feeling, just talking and talking and keeping the lesson and conversation going. Over all it went pretty well. After that we had planned to do maps around the area. I had never been the one to navigate maps before, but I pulled the book out, started looking at the road names and nearby places that I knew and I got us to the next destination. After that we had correlation. This meant I'd have to update our Ward Mission Leader on the progress of the people we were meeting. My first time!! But, surprisingly enough it went fine. There were a few parts where I wasn't sure how to explain something, but Yeh Zhanglao was there to help me translate a bit. After that we went to an appointment with a LA and it was one of the best lessons I've been able to be a part of. The Spirit was so strong and it was the first time where I felt like the responses I was giving to her questions were coming from a source other than myself. The most amazing part is that the lesson had gone so well, and I was the one leading it. Ever since I had come out to the field, leading lessons had been the hardest thing for me to do. Basically what I learned form the whole experience is that maybe I'm not as terrible of a missionary as I think and that I can do it. I am able to do stuff. Yay!
This week was also a good week of change. One of our RC's who we had really begun to start worrying about was able to meet up with us and we were able to help her take notice of how she was doing spiritually and committed her to come to church on Sunday. We were also able to go and visit one of our LA's whose husband had been in pretty bad condition in the hospital. She was doing surprisingly well, but was able to share a bit of her testimony with us. On Sunday one of our potential investigators from English class came to church for the first time. She said the experience was normal, but was willing to find a time for us to meet with her. On Sunday He Mama, also not only came to church, but also brought a friend with her. It was awesome. A miracle from the exchange would have to be Sister Adams contacting a girl who was a former that loved church and said the reason she didn't get baptized was because she was just too busy.
So, all in all this past week was jam packed with a lot of new and fun experiences.
I hope all of you are taking the time to do some daily scripture study. Even one verse a day is good if you are busy. Get in the habit! It's one of the things I regret not having done before the mission. I love the Book of Mormon!
Sister Hsu
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