聖殿合照‏

Nihao everyone!

In the picture are my companion Sister Chu and a woman I met in a hospital, named Sister Su. She is a member from Southern Taiwan, but is recovering from cancer in a Taipei hospital. I went to visit her with another sister once while we were on exchanges, and found her to be one of the happiest, warmest people I have ever met. She sat up in bed to chat with us about our lives, and kept demanding her son to peel oranges for us or to search the cupboards for snacks to send us home with.  I asked if I could take a picture with her, because I wasn't sure if I would see her again, but she said no--she doesn't want any pictures taken of her when she is in the hospital. (That was probably insensitive of me to ask? I didn't think about it.) But she promised as soon as she got out of the hospital, she would come to the chapel where I serve and find me, to take a picture. I didn't think she would, but she really did! I wasn't even at the chapel when she came, but when I showed up an hour later several people said, "Hey, a lady is looking for you!" And there she was. She kept her promise. That meant so much to me.

Sister Chu and I went to Hualien on exchanges this week, (that lovely town on the east coast), and had an amazing time. When we got back, we were full of fire that we wanted to use in our own area. On Friday we were like little kids, hurrying to get our homework out of the way so we could go out and play. We got all our planning and training done in the early afternoon so we could have several hours of free, uninterrupted contacting time on the street. Somehow it seemed we were laughing the whole night long--whether we were pedaling our rusty bikes down a long stretch of road, or getting rejected, or staring wide-eyed at each other after just saying goodbye to someone who surprised us with how "golden" they were. We had such a happy energy between us. Neither of us are afraid of talking to strangers, and at this point we are either good at bringing up the gospel naturally with people or (more likely) are totally immune to the sting of social awkwardness, so we went crazy making friends with people and inviting them to learn. We met a woman who wants to get married and is really interested in our church's family values, an insurance agent who watched people reject us several times and was so touched by our cheerful responses that he wanted to get to know us more, a college student who has always wanted to come to church but never felt she could just walk in by herself, a man who wanted to know if there was anyway to experience God in his life. Unfortunately, most of the people we met didn't live in our area, so we may never see them again, but we got a lot of good referrals for missionaries in other areas!

Really, life is just so good. We have a big, 3-hour training we are in charge of this Wednesday, and I am getting a bit stressed. But whenever I start feeling overloaded with all the things I have to do before then, I remember God. He wants me to embrace whatever situation I am placed in, do my best to make it more beautiful than it was before, and then just enjoy whatever comes from my efforts.Dad asked me in his email today what I think of the "what if" questions we always give ourselves, regretting how we've handled things in the past. Obviously self-introspection is hugely important, but it is also silly to think introspection can ever allow us to see ourselves clearly or our special way of making waves in the universe. So there is also a space we have to find during our daily-repentance-processes where we acknowledge how much we need's God's mercy and find a humble enjoyment in the goodness of life as it already is. Read D&C 59. Or the Pearl of Great Price. Or just think about the atonement! We all know the half of the atonement that says we need to change and repent, but we often forget about the part that says we can let ourselves free after we have done our best.

So, can I still call you all for Christmas? I could just talk for a few minutes. Mom, I don't need a lot for Christmas. But could I ask for a new set of scriptures? It's a long story (that is actually a really cool story, you should ask me about it when I get home), but basically I don't have any scriptures anymore so i've been using a cheap set I bought at the distribution center here. Also, I don't know if you're considering getting me a cell phone, so I hope I'm not making assumptions, but if you are, go for cheap! If it can text and make calls, it's good enough for me.

Love you all! Have a great weeK!

Sister Brown