WEEK 48

Happy New Year's Eve!....or...I guess it's already the new year for some of you...so..Happy New Year!

Here are some of the things I did/learned this year 2007:

January 31st - Entered the Provo MTC.
I spent 3 weeks learning how to teach the gospel in Mandarin and received 1 week of Visitors' Center Training. We spent half a Saturday at Temple Square to go on exchanges with the Temple Square Sisters. Sister Wong (from Macau) and I took a man, Mr Zhang, visiting from mainland China, to tour the temple grounds and the Visitors' Center. It was my first time giving a real presentation in Mandarin. A few months later, I received a letter from Sister Wong telling me that Mr. Zhang came back to the Temple grounds the next day to look for us to thank us for the tour =)

Febuary 28th - Entered the mission field.
President & Sister Beck and the assistants to the President took us street contacting at International street during our first hour after landing at the airport. We had our first taste of Oakland and soon discovered that this mission largely consists of Hispanic people, African Americans and Asians of all sorts!

March - Sister Scholl (from Utah) trained me well during my first transfer. I learned how to work in the VIsitors' Center and how to work in our Chinese area - the Oakland Chinese 7th branch. I also learned how to find our way around the crazy streets and roads of Oakland using our favorite "Thomas Guide" map.

April - Trained Sister Daniels.
Sister Daniels (from Idaho) and I taught many tri-lingual lessons...using Mandarin, Cantonese and English to teach the gospel. Sister Daniels had learned Cantonese for 3 months in the MTC and we both tried to use our Chinese as much as possible, sneaking in English words here and there when we didn't know how to say it in Chinese =P We also conversed with many Cantonese speaking people in the Oakland China Town.
One night when we were on tour at the Visitors' Center, a Chinese lady by the name of Shan and her member fiance walked in. She wanted to take the missionary lessons from us, so we started teaching her a week later. Shan too experienced our famous tri-lingual lessons =)
With all the language mix and confusion, we both learned how to speak the language of the Spirit...which ultimately carried the message of the gospel into the hearts of these precious Chinese people. Later in June, Shan was baptized. Without the Spirit, we are nothing.

May - My first three-some companionship
Sister Scholl, Sister Hsiao (from Taiwan) and I taught got to teach a Chinese man by the name of "Song" who walked in to the Visitors' Center when our companionship happened to be on tour shift.

June - Lots of craziness happened but the work of the Lord still pressed forward. Our miracle investigator, Song, was later baptized on July 7th.

July 3rd - Went out "full pros" in Alamo.
Sister Khanakham became my favorite Thai companion. We learned how to quilt from an investigator and we cooked and ate lots of Thai food. We also shared many musical numbers with the members and investigators. Sister Khanakham plays the piano really well ;-)
This being a rich area, we've discovered that every home in Alamo has 3 things - a dog, a pool, and a piano!

August - Nursed Sister Hsiao back to health in Danville
Sister Hsiao became my good friend on the mission. We had many spiritually strengthening experiences together whether it was out in the area, at the hospitals, when we were stuck at home...bed-ridden..or with our fellow missionaries in our District.
I also laughed the most this transfer! =D

September - Spent another transfer in Danville with Sister Leung (From Hong Kong)
We had a booming teaching pool after the special Gladys Knight musical fireside. We also cooked and ate a lot of Chinese food together =)

October - Turned 22. I didn't feel any older, but I hope I got a little wiser ;-)
Sister Leung and I worked hard to help our investigators and families to attend church and to progress in the gospel. We taught a part-member family and had the opportunity to help 14 year old Randy to be baptized on early November. It was a wonderful experience!

November - Back to the Visitors' Center and the Oakland Chinese 7th branch!
My new companion, Sister Lu (from TianJing China and Tonga) was called Cantonese speaking but we mostly taught in Mandarin. Our roommate, Sister Qiao is from ShanDong, China. I picked up a Northern Chinese accent but soon found my accent to become part Taiwanese and part TianJing-ShanDongnese...as I soon had Sister Hsiao back as my companion again in December...I think I am now a sad, confused Chinese child!...=P

December - Had an absolutely AMAZING Christmas!
Sister Hsiao, Sister Lu and I were a three-some for 2 weeks. Sister Lu successfully got her California driver's license and just got transfered to the Tongan program. She is still our roommate =) So Sister Hsiao and I are back to a two-some and we are excited to baptize all the Chinese people in Oakland. We have 4 or 5 transfers left on the mission to accomplish this goal, so pray for us that the year 2008 will bring such blessings =)
I love you all and hope that your new year's resolution does not include starting a loosing weight program...like most of the sister missionaries here do!