September 14, 2010

A Belated Letter

Yeah, sorry about that. We had a special zone conference yesterday with a member of the Asia Area Presidency, Elder Pratt. As a result, preparation day was moved to Tuesday. I hope you weren't too worried about me. :) That zone conference was really good. They're instituting a new sort of curriculum from Preach My Gospel to really help missionaries become more effective teachers. We talked a lot about how vitally important it is for people to be praying on their knees and understanding they're actually talking to Heavenly Father, as well as reading from the Book of Mormon and applying it to themselves. It was great--an answer to my prayers. And we got Subway for lunch! Mmmm...I'll tell you what, you don't know how good so many fresh veggies taste until you go a few months with only fried veggies. I was even eating the cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, and bell peppers. Yeah, I've become much less picky with my food. Do you happen to know if you can go lactose intolerant by going without milk for two years? Milk and cheese are soooo expensive here. I don't think I've had genuine cow milk once since the MTC--it's all soy milk. =D

Well it sounds like you're all doing well. You had Elder Holland and President Packer?? That's so awesome. I love Elder Holland's talks. I just wish he'd speak up and tell us all how he really feels.

I've had several varieties of Taiwanese shaved ice, and all are delicious beyond compare. One is the bingsha I told you about, which is like a Slurpee but with real fruit and MSG and all kinds of tasty stuff inside. The other's called a chuabing, which is shaved ice, sweetened condensed milk, chopped mango, and a scoop of mango ice cream on top. Way good.

Well, this week has been a lot of fun. Still faithfully working to find those people who will be baptized this move call. I now sometimes meet people and start to contact them and they say "I know. You've talked to me three times in the last two weeks." Oh. You wanna come to church? I've seen so many miracles I can't begin to count them. One I see so very often is when I'm talking to an investigator or someone on the street and I don't completely understand the words they're saying, but I know what they mean. I will also sometimes be thinking what I can say to an investigator, drawing a total blank, and suddenly the perfect question just comes to my mind. That's the Spirit working through me, I know.

That reminds me, I gave my second priesthood blessing ever this week. Our Filipino member was in the Emergency Room a few nights ago and she asked us to give her a blessing. There are very few things more special than to start giving a blessing, feel your mind go blank of your own thoughts, and just start saying the words that flow to your mouth. That's what it felt like--the words didn't even really pass through my brain. She's doing fine, by the way. She's so solid; every Fast Sunday she gets up and bears a really powerful testimony.

Last Sunday I also got to go up to the mountains to visit some less active members. Taiwan's mountains are so cool, and the people are also so great up there. They're Taiwan's native people, so they've got a completely different language from Chinese or Taiwanese, and they have aboriginal art and stuff. Way cool. If I ever go there on a preparation day, I'll take pictures so you can see.

I love you all, and I look forward to talking to you again next week. Remember, Heavenly Father loves you!

Carter