Wah wah wah. I got my Chinese nametag two days ago and it says Ping Jie Mei. Needless to say, I was very disappointed and/or sad. So I asked my teacher who told me to ask a Chinese teacher who told me to ask the other teacher if I could change it. He said buhao yisi, but since I'm white and don't have Chinese ancestry I can't change it at the MTC. They are programming the names now or something and that maybe if I'm lucky, my mission president will allow me to change it. But I still introduce myself as Pan Jie Mei because that would be like me introducing myself as Sister Parker, it's not my name. And dad, I was wondering if there might maybe be a way for you to help me get a nametag with our guixing on it?
This week in the last few days with my English speaking district/class our teacher told us a story from when she was in Taizhong. She said they got this referral and called and the mom was like, "Yes! Come over!" And in Chinese, plurals aren't very clear. So the lady was saying, "You can help my daughter, she loves her cat, she only likes her cat, she only spends time with her cat." And the missionaries were like ok, weird. But they went over and said as they went into the apartment this overwhelming cat smell overpowered them. The mom showed them to the daughters room. They opened the door and all over the room were cages full of cats. They looked at the bed and the daughter was on the bed shaving the fur off of one of the cats. Woah. They ended up baptizing the mom, but they couldn't help the daughter...haha. Hopefully that is one experience that I'll miss out on.
Last week I was forced to overcome my fear of singing in public when people can actually hear me. We started singing a hymn in a council meeting and everyone sang their own tune to the words. It was so bad I had to stop singing. Then the Branch President stopped us and was like, "Does anyone actually know this song?" Only one other sister and I raised our hands, so he said, "Ok, you two will sing it for us and then we'll join in on the second or third verse. WHAT?? But there was no arguing. Luckily the other sister sang soprano so I didn't have to. It went pretty well. I only blushed a little. And that was step 1 of 1 to overcome that fear. Won't be doing any more of that in the near future.
Also, something really nice that I heard twice this week, one from a less active investigator and one from another sister missionary. The investigator said that we had a brightness about us. That we looked like we had bright, happy countenances. And the other sister said that I have love in my eyes. That she could tell I cared about the people here and I cared about the gospel. That was really nice and made me want to keep following the rules and choosing the right so that I can keep having that brightness, hope, and love in my eyes; because I represent Jesus Christ. His name is on my nametag. And I want to act as he would.
This past week I had to wake up two nights in a row at 3am and 4am to take my roommates to the bus to the airport. My eyebags were so big that my companion told me I had twins growing. -____- (yes the whale face is necessary.)
Another thing I learned this week, stalking has been taken to a whole new level here at the MTC with our limited social media opportunities. With no facebook, google, or myspace (do people still use that these days? The MTC is like a time warp) to stalk people, missionaries have been turning tomormon.org. Every missionary has to create a profile before they serve, and that is one website we have access to. So missionaries look up their companion's boyfriend or girlfriend on mormon.org so they can see a picture.
The last thing I want to say about this week is that I have finally learned how to truly teach by the spirit of God. We were teaching a lesson to a less active member who has a son with a lot of physical and mental trials/challenges. Before we learned anything about her, she said, "I want you to teach what you feel prompted to." Oh no, I can't even ask good/inspired questions, how was I supposed to know what she needed to hear? But immediately the thought came into my head to teach the Plan of Salvation and how families can be together forever. I started talking about it, shared an experience and she said how similar it was to her son. Then my companion, in her broken English, shared an experience and the woman said she felt the exact same way. The spirit was so strong and she said she felt really inspired to start going to church again and that she felt strengthened, like she really could help her son. Having the spirit teach through me was amazing. Instead of using my own skills and intellect, I let the spirit teach through me and my experiences to fit her needs. The same thing happened as we taught a very strong Methodist nonmember. She really felt the spirit and even though she said she doesn't like mormons, she invited us back and asked why her Mormon son had never told her any of those things before.
I know the spirit can teach through me. I know I have been prepared to share the gospel to the people of Taiwan and I know that they have been prepared for this gospel. I know that Christ is my Savior and that through Him everyone in this world can return to live with God and that we can live with our families forever.
Love,
Sister Perkins
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