Sister Samantha Haacke: Hot and Sticky

Man, today has been a crazy day! It is a holiday here in Taiwan today and so all the internet cafe's are filled with school students playing that League of Legends game so currently, we are in this extremely loud cafe, with cockroaches and the smell of cigarettes. But its all worth it to hear about how you are all doing! The key board isn't very good so sorry in advance for all my mistakes :)

Yes, I received the Easter package, family history stuff, and picture! Thanks so much!! I can't believe Alexis is pregnant! Tell her and her husband congratulations for me! I am excited for them!!

This last week has been the hottest week ever! The stickiness is never to go to go away. I am always sweating. haha To top it off, the AC unit in our apartment broke on Wednesday and we don't have a fan and we have to wait to get permission to buy one so it's been some warm nights! haha

Here's a quick run down of my week:

Last Monday: we went to Zhunan to spend some time with our zone leaders and the missionaries there. Most the missionaries from our zone came. One of our zone leaders, Elder Stewart has been called as the new assistant to the president so he left Zhunan on Tuesday to start getting training from the AP that is going home at the end of this transfer. After p-day was over, Sister Fisher and I got on a bus to head up to Taipei because we were supposed to go on a mini exchange with the temple sisters but it ended up not happening because we didn't get there till 8:20.

Tuesday: We had the 1 month trainee, trainer meeting in Taipei where all the trainees and the trainers have a meeting and we discuss how our first month on the island has been. This last month has gone by so fast! It is crazy!! We got some really good training about stress, setting a vision for ourselves, and to always be fully dedicating ourselves to the work of the Lord. Overall, it was a really good meeting! Tuesday night after we got back from Taipei, we went tracting and talked to a guy making those flower bouquets in his garage. He was really nice and hopefully we will be able to go back and talk to him sometime!

Wednesday:We had district meeting and met with Fan Zhu Song. He is progressing really well. We had a good lesson with him about the Atonement of Christ and the Book of Mormon. He is still a little confused of the concept of the Atonement though. I always look forward to the lessons we have with him! He is so prepared and so interested in learning more about the gospel. Wednesday night we had English class. We got together a little bit before because it is Elder Marks birthday today and a couple members that help us with English class wanted to have pizza and cake with us for his birthday. They also bought the behind of a chicken for us to all try. So yes, I have now tried chicken butt...it tastes very slimy. Overall, English class was really good. We discussed almost the whole time about a, an, the and when it is appropriate to use each word. I gave them homework so hopefully they will be able to complete it.

Thursday: We had our weekly planning session and it was super hot! haha. I hope I adjust to the heat quickly! After WPS, we met with a couple less active members. We met with Xu DiXiong. He is having a really rough time right now. Everything in his life seems to be going downhill and he doesn't understand why. He tells us he is following the commandments and then things go wrong. We talked to him more about relying on the Lord and not only for asking for things in prayers but also giving gratitude for the things that we are given even in times of trial. Thursday night we also met with Huang Qi Wang and she talked our ears off. I didn't understand most of her stories but the main jest was about church and other churches she has been to. When we were walking out, she turned to us and said, I think I am going to come to church on Sunday! We were really excited but then she wasn't there yesterday. So when we meet with her this week, we are going to have to follow up and see why she didn't come.

Friday: We had a normal day of service of tearing up bikes and also breaking apart window seals. We met with Wu Mei Yu and reviewed the Plan of Salvation. She remembered most of it. She is looking forward to her baptism and we hope that she will continue to progress. She needs to gain a habit of coming to church though. She still is struggling with that. We had MM meeting and then the Temple Sisters came to Toufen for us to exchange with them. I took a bus with Sister Graham up to Taipei and spent Saturday serving there.

Saturday: Taipei is crazy! We had a really good morning of studies and I learned a lot from Sister Graham. She is amazing! Her life as a temple sister is absolutely crazy!! I can't believe how much they do! We were able to do some service with a referral from another set of sister missionaries and we were able to set a baptismal date with her! We also had a lesson with a new investigator. Crazy story: Friday night Sister Graham and I were trying to hard to find a member present for her lesson and no one could help us. Saturday morning while I was in the shower, Sister Graham pulled out some pages the relief society gave her of pictures and names of all the sisters in the relief society and she said a prayer asking Heavenly Father who He wanted to be the member present for this lesson. She opened her eyes and had this filling to call Ye JieMei. She had never met her before but when she called her she was so willing but nervous because she had never been a member present before. It was totally meant to be. We were able to meet with her and get to know her for about 10 minutes before the lesson. We also told her how we picked her to ask to come with us. We went and met with the new investigator, Wang JM and then at the very end, Ye JieMei bore her testimony about the gospel and she told the investigator how we asked her to be a member present and then she started crying and talked about her sons and how one of them is being really rebellious. The investigator talked to her for a little bit. It kind of turned into a lesson for our member present and our investigator was the member present instead, but it was really cool and the spirit was totally there. When we were walking back to where our bikes were parked, Sister Graham talked to Ye JieMei more and asked her what we as missionaries could do to help her and Ye JieMei said, "Do you think you could come to my house sometime and have a lesson with my family?" Sis. Graham told her of course! It was so crazy! Heavenly Father truly knows who we are supposed to make contact with!! We exchanged back Saturday night.

Sunday: We had church testimony meeting was really good other than the fact I couldn't really understand. There was a bike thing on Saturday where all the youth biked a super long distance and so they all bore their testimonies about it. Sunday we did a lot of tracting. We were able to talk to a few people but most weren't interested. Sunday night, we went to a members house. She is 102 years old but can still do most things on her own!! She doesn't speak any Mandarin only Haukinese but she still comes to church every week just to feel the spirit. Her daughter translates for her from Mandarin to Haukinese. She is super neat! We talked a lot about families. Tan JM, the daughter, went off and talked to us about the importance of getting married when we get off our missions and having lots of kids to make our parents happy...haha. It was really cute!

Today is Elder Marks birthday so we went out to eat with the Scheese Family and Jeffrey at this all you can eat hot pot place. It was really good and I tried some new food---intestine and Shark Skin...the intestine wasn't too bad but the shark skin was really slimy and a bit disgusting. haha

Also, Brother Scheese also served in Taiwan but was in the Taizhong mission. Dad, he was also born in 1971 and served his mission 1990-92. He said he was in the MTC September of 1990 and came on Island Nov 1990. He said he could have been in the MTC with you and mom! His name is Thomas or Tom Scheese...could you have by chance ran into him??

AND I lied last week...This month starts MANGO SEASON!!! I am so excited!!!!!!!!!!!

I love you all!! I hope you have a great week this week!!!

LOVE,

Sister Haacke