Hello Everyone!
Fun Fact of the week.
I'M IN TAIPEI RIGHT NOW! We have a follow up new missionary/trainer meeting in Taipei. We had to come up here early today because they were the only tickets they could find! Thank goodness my awesome companion is from Taipei! PDay in Taipei! WOOO!
Also my 6 month mark is on WEDNESDAY! WHAT?!?!
Next crazy thing from the week is that I'm in a trio for the next 2 weeks until the end of the transfer! Her name is Sister Giles and I LOVE HER!! She's going to be taking over one of our 2 branches with her greenie companion! We've been helping her get to know the area, the members, and our investigators. It's also pretty crazy because she's only a transfer older than me, so I knew her in the MTC! Also she got reassigned to Georgia like me, and she had a native companion when she got to Taiwan! She understands my situation so well!! She's been such a blessing for me this week! She's helped me know what's normal when you first get here, and what's weird and what's good about having a native companion. Literally such a blessing. We've had some pretty funny crazy times this week:) And some miracles of course!
First the miracle. We had some extra time one night when Mao JM was at another lesson. So we decided to go visit these 2 adorable sisters we knocked into a few weeks ago. They haven't been home since our first visit, but that night they were home! They remembered my name and maybe more importantly how to pray! ;) They loooove to read, so we gave the both Book of Mormons. We taught them about the Book of Mormon and why prayer is important and they were really receptive. Then they wanted us to come back the next night, so we did! We taught them the first lesson about the restoration and they loved it! They are 10 & 11 and just love meeting with us. :) ...the only problem is their Mom is VERY Buddhist and won't let them come to church! She might not even let them meet with us anymore. :( It's so sad! They have so much potential and they have a real desire to learn about the gospel. We're definitely praying really hard for their Mom right now. You xinxin you banfa! (Have faith, have a way!)
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday all had bike problems for me! On Thurs. I ran over a screw so we had to go get my tube replaced, then on Friday out in Zhi ben, riding super old missionary's bikes, both of the tires were just really flat after a few hours so we stopped to get them aired up, then Saturday was the craziest one.... Do you remember the hill I talked about a few weeks ago that I REALLY didn't want to go up so I was praying all the way up it? Yeah. So Saturday we went up that hill again and I was just so proud of myself for how much easier it's gotten for me to go up that hill. So I put my hands up and said, "KEFU LE!" Which means overcame! ...but then I kinda lost control of my bike and crashed... :) I scraped up my right shin pretty bad... pictures to come if you want to see them.. :) So. Basically. Don't be prideful. I kinda forgot where I'd been before and the only reason I've been able to make it up that hill before. It obviously wasn't my power that's gotten me through before! :)
Last funny story of the week. We were at 3rd Branch President's house last night for dinner and we were sharing the #becausehelives video with him and his family. Then me and one of the elders and President Ho got in a debate about when Christ actually died. We didn't know if it was the Thursday and Friday before resurrection Sunday. Well as we were debating I could feel the spirit of the meeting leaving really fast. So I just put my hands up and said, "Mei guanxi! Ta huozhe!" "It doesn't matter! He lives!" I meant it just like, who cares when He died, He's alive now! :) We all laughed about it for a while.
Though I said it kind of flippantly and a little sarcastically, I know it's true. HE LIVES. Because He lives he can help us overcome anything. Anything we've done in the past can be cleansed through His Atonement. We can be strengthened through any hardships or trials we're going through Because HE LIVES. You might get sick of me bearing my testimony of this every email, but I think it's the thing I've gained the biggest testimony of so far on my mission. HE LIVES. I want to encourage all of you to go watch the new Easter video onhelives.mormon.org. Then go share it on your Facebooks and Instagrams and everything. It's a really powerful message for EVERYONE. :) He sacrificed for ALL OF US. He loves ALL OF US.
I hope you all have an awesome Easter next week and enjoy Conference! We won't see it until the week after when the Chinese translations come out. :( But It's all good! I'm so excited! :) Anyways! Have an awesome week! Thank you for everything!!
-Sister Oviatt
P.S. My birthday is in ... 3 weeks and I really love MoTab soooo yeah there's a good birthday present idea if anyone wants to send a package to Taiwan! :) hahaha
