Sunday, June 5, 2011

Ooopsies.... We Slept In... Until 4:30am!!!

OK, so the big news on this side of the world is... after Sister DeVictoria and I returned home on Wednesday night we got a call from President Bishop assigning Sister DeVictoria to make an emergency transfer to TaiZhong because one of the Sisters there has to have surgery to remove a tumor from her brain. It's Sister Zheng--I've gotten to serve with her twice, once on sister exchanges and once when I was in limbo waiting to come to GaoXiong (that's who I was serving with when I called home for Mothers' Day). She's so sweet, and has so much faith. She was battling brain cancer before she came to serve, but after lots of miracles she was able to overcome it, and now we're praying that she can overcome it again.

So, we spent Wednesday night packing, and Sister DeVictoria was on the train the next morning, and Sister Brownell took her place serving here with me. She is such a wonderful missionary and I loved her from the very get go. I'd met her several times at the mission office during sister exchange days and always thought it would be fun to serve with her, and little did I know I'd get the opportunity, and under really unexpected circumstances at that! This whole move has been so crazy, and I'm sad Sister DeVictoria and I didn't have much time together, but I'm LOVING serving with Sister Brownell. The thing is, since I've only been here for 3 weeks and she's completely new to the area (she hasn't been down to GaoXiong her whole mission, and this is her 9th move-call) it's pretty much like a white-wash. We're having a lot of fun getting to know the area and the people together though, and we're already seeing miracles happen!

Sister Brownell and I have already been through so much together and it's only been 4 days! On Friday morning we were supposed to get up at 2:45am to take the bus at 4:30 with the rest of the southern zones to the mission meeting with Elder Jensen (President of the Seventy) and Elder Watson. I was struck with absolute horror when I woke up to my clock reading 4:30, only a few seconds before the Zone Leaders called us asking where we were! AHHHH!! I was so sad and so scared that we wouldn't be able to make it to the meeting in time, but luckily, through lots of phone calls, patience and prayers we were able to find a way to get to the mission meeting just a few minutes after everyone else by taking the High Speed Rail. It was super cool and it was a fun experience, but I'd rather not have had to taken it under those kinds of circumstances!!! We made it right in time to take the mission picture and go in for the meeting. We got to shake the visiting General Authorities hands, and I was especially excited to see the Watsons. They were super surprised to see me, and Sister Watson caught herself quickly when she first called me by my first name, haha :) That was a sweet exchange.

And, my time is up again... man, I just have so much to say about this week! I wish I could tell you more about what I learned in the mission meeting with the Jensons and Watsons, and then at the nationwide fireside with Elder Bednar on Saturday. It was another Question and Answer session like we were able to participate in in Hong Kong. Absolutely incredible. But I'll just have to save it for next week and tell you how I've been incorporating the things I learned :)

I LOVE this gospel so much and I'm so grateful that I'm serving a mission. The Lord has blessed me in so many incredible ways, and I've been growing a lot. Most of all, I've been able to see other people grow and change, and it's so awesome to see the power the gospel has in people's lives! It's true! It was all reconfirmed to me several times this week. I know it's true with all my heart.

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