It's HOT

Its HOT

So this last week started out with much potential for greatness. We had temple tours on Tuesday and they were good. One of the tours my companion and I split to do a tour for a mother and a daughter. The mother was a member but the daughter was not. She was actually sort of from America (living with her father there) and going to school in LA. In fact she was returning to LA the next day. Her English was just as good as mine and we got along great. It was an awesome tour, she wasn't sure if she believed in God or wanted to follow her mothers footsteps with her religion, so we talked about how she could find out as we looked at different paintings. When we ended up at the temple I think she was really very touched, the spirit in the tour was very strong. I challenged her to pray for herself then go find the church nearest her in LA. I think she will.

Wednesday we had Interviews with the President. Those are always fun. They also include training from the Assistants to the president and a chance to get to talk with other missionaries. Wednesday night of course was English class. I actually had a pretty good lesson prepared and I think they really appreciated it and had a lot of fun. The last 30 minutes of the class belongs to a spiritual message and we watched the old family home evening movie "A touch of the Masters Hand" about the little beat up violin that no on e wanted to buy until the master played it and made beautiful music. I connected it to all of our self worth, no matter how we look or who we are, souls are precious in the sight of God. The spirit was there, and then I gave them the invite/home work, go make a friend this week, extend that happiness to someone who they didn't know, and who needed it in their life. They liked it.

Unfortunately, by the time English class ended I was not feeling too hot. Actually, literally speaking I was feeling very hot. I was burning up. We rode very slowly home and I took a cold shower and then crashed. Thursday I couldn't really get out of bed. Some how during the night a semi truck must have very nearly run over my head because it was in a lot of pain. Luckily our morning appointment canceled. We were able to go out about lunch time to buy some needed groceries but we quickly made it home. Thursday is our weekly planning day which is allotted 3 hours, and which I slept through. Then slept though everything after that too. I didn't really get out of bed much that day besides to take some Advil and drink what small amounts of fluid I could get down. My poor companion was going stir crazy in her corner of our little one room apartment, but she planned for us and then changed all our appointments to different days.

Friday morning I thought I was improved, at least enough to go sit at the church while sister Wu taught some needed lessons and prepped an investigator for her baptismal interview. We also had district meeting. and by the end of that I was pretty much done. I went out on the couch our chapel luckily possesses and very nearly died. It was too cold in the rooms with AC, but the rest of the chapel doesn't really have any AC, Taiwan's summer is already fearsome, and I was running a very hi fever dying on a couch unable to really relocate. I thought my eyeballs were going to roast in their sockets and my brain was going to melt out my ears. My companion was very worried. The elders gave me a blessing then gallantly went out to fetch me some medicine directed me by the mission nurse (who is my good buddy). Dear Wu jiemei did everything she could to ease my suffering, she rotated ice packs behind my neck and on my forehead while massaging my scalp to keep the headache at bay and also singing me soft childrens hymns. What a dear companion. We managed to have the lesson with the baptismal candidate then we took the MRT home.

Saturday I was a little better. The Mission nurse Elder Calvert had me on a stiff regimen of Tylenol then ibuprofen rotated every two hours and it was breaking my fever. So we went to the chapel again. Today was another investigators bapt. interview so we had to be there. It was a bit better, I just took it easy all day. And both of our investigators passed their interviews! Their names are WeiFan and NiuNiu, I don't know if I've mentioned them before or if you can even remember them ( I know Chinese names are hard to grasp) but they are getting baptized next week and they are so excited.

I am more or less whole and without brain damage by today. Though I have to say, that is the most serious fever I can remember having in a long time and I'm thankful for my companions patience and love. Glad that's over.

Well this week is the last week of my transfer 6. This Friday are move calls and they will be mighty interesting indeed. There will be a lot of moving in our district I think, and I think I might be one of them. But who can tell with these things?

Well this has taken me forever to write so I must bid you all adieu. But it is done with the very most love I can muster up. I want to send a special hug to my Nana and my Grandma who faithfully continue to write me despite their challenges. *hug*

Love,

Sister Thiessen

Dear family members and friends,

...how are ya? Its been a long time. Coming up on 1 whole year now. Wow. That is a weird thought. Just want you all to know that I miss you all a great deal. But things are progressing here and its good.

This week went by in a strange fashion, it seemed like a lot of it was out of my area. On Monday we returned to my second area, the lovely Danshui. Its a Sea side city and we traveled across to the island just off the coast by a short ferry ride and tandem biked for a bit along a gorgeous coast trail. It was really great. Then we traveled back to Taipei to pick up our mini missionary.

Her name is Sister Huang, and she is a delightful 16 yr old. She is very brave and very friendly. When we went contacting or knocking or called numbers she was always willing to do any and everything. We contacted in a park for a couple of hours and she bravely went off on her own to talk to absolutely everyone. I imagine at 16 I wouldn't have the courage necessary for that. She is a trooper. We went tracting several times in the dumping rain, without rain coats or umbrellas and she trooped it out. She was great.

Tuesday and Wednesday I was in Xinzhuang again on exchanges, this time with sister Petersen. My mtc companion. It was a great exchange and I feel like we really helped each other again through some emotional moments. I feel like she is the one thing that pulled me through the MTC, where I was a bit of a mess. This exchange I feel like I got to return the favor a little. Then we got to see each other again on Thursday because we had a special junior companion meeting. It was pretty good, and Sister Peterson and I were spontaneously called to talk with about 5 minutes to prepare something. I was surprised at how well I did, i was hardly nervous at all, and I delivered it clearly and with feeling. Several people told me after that it was pretty good. Now I don't say this to, ya know, puff up my own self image or anything. Its just remarkable to me about how far I have come with my comfort zone about these things, to be able to now deliver that kind of message on the fly and do it well is a huge improvement from where I was before my mission when I was hesitant to even go share my testimony in church.

Last night we had something of a little party with our favorite new members. They had a Costco field trip (mom when I get back to the states we HAVE to go to Costco.) recently and bought all the makings for delicious quesadillas. Yesterday our district leader, elder Van Drew, and I got in touch with our Mexican sides (him in a more literal sense since his grandmother is from Mexico) and whipped up some mighty delicious beef and chicken quesadillas for our little Taiwanese friends. They had never tasted such creations before. Mexican food is un-findable in Taiwan at large. It was a fun experience.

Well I have taken far too long on emails today and I want to send some pictures so I had better call it an end. I love you all! Jia you and keep your prayers and church attendance strong! Yes! This means you!

Sister Thiessen

District Meeting

So this week flew by, we seemed to have so much to do every day. Tuesday was district meeting, and Wednesday my companion was in Taipei all day for a senior companion-training meeting. So I got to go to a nearby city called Tucheng with Sister Petersen and another sister we were with in the MTC, Sister Van Duren. It was a lot of fun to be together again, and we had an awesome day. Tucheng is a really big area and we biked out to the farthest corner, which is an hour away, both ways. It was a beautiful ride. Our lesson there unfortunately fell through so we spent two hours trying to locate some member's houses to visit them, but no one was home...or we couldn't find the address. Then it was time to bike back. I was on a bike borrowed from another Sister that is about half the size of my bike. It was really short. And it murdered my knees. But it was a really fun day nonetheless. We got back to our area just in time for English class. I am now teaching the advanced class again, which is a lot of fun. The people in this area probably have the best overall English I have seen yet.

Thursday we had wps, and Friday we went to Taipei to go to the dentist. It was my first time at a Taiwanese dentist and I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was a really nice place. They took me in immediately to do an x-ray and then sat me down in the chair and saw me. I thought that I had a cavity because one of my molars had this big black spot. I was a little worried about it. But the dentist poked around for a minute and then discovered it wasn’t a cavity at all! It was just something wedged really tightly in my tooth! He resealed my tooth for me and then cleaned my teeth. That was the weird part. They put a large cloth over my head with a hole for my mouth. It was like being blindfolded for a teeth cleaning, which was done with a little drill and some scraping and that’s it. It was almost a little creepy... all in all it took about 5 or 8 minutes and I was done.

Ironically while I was in for my 'cavity', my companion wanted to get her teeth cleaned and they found that she had 3 cavities! I got to watch them fix them.

This week, as we have been notified of last night we will have a temporary missionary with us. She should be arriving today sometime. The ridiculous thing is that the missionary office didn't tell us, the 'duanchuan' sister called us herself to tell us she was dropping off her stuff this morning! Short notice much. Our apartment is one room with two beds; we don't know where we will put her. hah.

Well that’s about it. I love you guys! Keep writing!

Sister Thiessen

Temple Tours!

This week went by faster again. I'm starting to feel a little pressure from next transfer while only two weeks into this one, because next transfer I anticipate "going da!" Or becoming the Senior Companion. I really wouldn't mind another transfer with my current companion, but that will not be a blessing given me. I have pretty much convinced her, (Sister Wu) to try for BYU, which I am really excited for her to do. But that means that she has a long way to go with her English and that I, her first English speaking companion, only have 4 weeks left to help her. Therefore, in the weeks to come, there will be a lot more English spoken in my companionship.

We went on Exchanges this week, and I went to a little place called XinZhuang with our coordinating sister. I taught my first lesson to a man, because there are no elders in that area, and I also taught my first investigator trying to overcome a serious sin. He'd killed somebody. I'm not clear on the circumstances, we didn't really ask. But he'd lived a rough life with a rough crowd previously (as his one remaining eye attested) and he was ernestly seeking recompence.

Our investigators of late have been doing really well, we have a couple that are really becoming solid. Unfortunately, my very favorite, we have to give up to another area. Her name is Jing Fen, and she is one of the most sincere investigators I've ever met. She is a tiny little thing, really, really thin and little. She looks like she is 10 instead of 16. We met her one day outside the MRT station (the subway station) waiting for a friend. My companion contacted her and invited her to come to the church with us. I would definitely not have done it, gone walking off somewhere with two strange people that started talking to me on the street. Especially, since the way to get up to the little chaple here in Banqiao really passes as sketchy sometimes. But she came, and she has been awesome since. She comes from a bad family situation and I think the gospel can really help her. We met with her on Thursday, and the time before we'd given her a Book of Mormon. We asked her if she'd read it and she said a little. Then, she pulled it out and she had gone through the entire preface portion, marking and color coding and taking notes, like I haven't seen most members do! She is very careful and with clear characters, writes down her testimony and what she learns, in the margins and cover of the book. It was impressive. Especially, since most investigators (espesially the first time you give them the BOM) don't really do more than flip through the pages here and there.

Then we did Temple Tours on Saturday. It was a little crazy and we had back to back tours all day. Jing Fen came to do a tour at 3 and we didn't have time to get to her until 5 when we could go to dinner, so we went with her and then when we got back there were other tours waiting for us. So we didn't get to her until 7. She waited there all day, taking pictuers of the temple and the chaple and talking with a very talkitive old man that had done a tour that morning and also stayed all day reading the BOM. There was a baptismal service at 6 and since she was just sitting there, the missionaries in the area invited her to attend. When we met with her after that she was grinning and happy. We did a tour then took her out to touch the walls of the temple and she asked us when she could get baptised. She knows her own date but wanted it sooner. She is so good. *sigh* I don't want to hand her over to someone else.

Temple Tours were very eventful that day. I think we really helped some people, a few missionaries brought in some of their investigators and I think by the time they left they really had a desire. My testimoney on prayer made one woman cry. That was a first. I chalk that one up to the spirit. Laura, I think I've mentioned her before, she also came to do a tour and I think she is really beginning to open up to the gosple. She was so excited about the temple, I've never seen her so animated. Its a good progression.

Well today is the day of freedom for my country, and I will pass it off with our favorite members here, Boya and Karina, wraping dumplings and watching Kung Foo Panda 2. I am comforted to know that this is the only one that I will miss on my mission. I miss American celebrations so much, we do it a little differently than the chinese. (Bigger, and with more excitement!)

Thats all I have time to write for now. I love you guys, remember to be good and say your prayers every night. Oh, and write your missionaries. :)

Sister Melissa Thiessen

Taiwan Taipei Mission

F4, No. 24, Land 183, Chin Hua St.

Taipei, Taiwan 106-42

TAIWAN

EMAIL-- melissa.thiessen@myldsmail.net