August 30, 2010

Dear Friends and Family,

Hello again from Taidong! I finally managed to stay in one place for two transfers! Unfortunately, I still have yet to keep a companion for that long. Yes, I have a new companion...Sister Howell! She was in the MTC at the same time as me but one transfer behind me. Not gonna lie, it was one of the most surprising/nerve wracking move calls of my mission so far because now I have officially been in Taiwan longer than my companion! It is kind of scary to think about, but I know that God is guiding the work and he is going to help us a lot! But, of course, your prayers are always a welcome support.

I am really, really, REALLY going to miss Sister Lin a LOT. I just felt so at home with her. I should have known it was too good to last. She has been such a good support and blessing while I have been in Taidong. This morning we ate our last SiJia (Sweet Apples) together. It is a famous fruit here in Taidong. IT is DELICIOUS! but extremely hard to transport, so pretty much Taidong is the only place in the world that has them. I feel lucky. It was good to be with Sister Lin!

Sister Howell is so awesome too! I am really excited to work with her. She is very hard worker and such a loving person and really funny, so we should have no problem at all working together here. I just hope we have an added measure of the gift of tongues! We are really going to need it!

Our investigators are doing great! WE this week had two people set baptism dates...yeah! They are great. One of them - Lan Wanling - is serisouly golden. Sister Lin contacted her while riding her scooter at a stop light and she had already come to church twice and loves it all! I really love her. This week in Sacrament when sister Lin was giving her goodbye testimony I started to cry and Lan Wanling put her arm around me and it was so great to have her there. She is going to be an awesome member.

The Liao family also came to church and they are great too! They live about a 1 hour drive away, but the Mom, Wendy is willing to drive up to meet with us every week to learn about the Gospel. I am so grateful for her example. Her husband and little boy are also great!

The Hu family also came to church. A mom and one little boy and a little girl. They are also great! They came to church last week in normal clothes and saw that most people dressed up so this week they came in church clothes and the kids were so stinking cute! They love the church! The amazing thing is how fast the gospel has changed their family. The mom told us that only one week after meeting us her two kids are much more noticeably more behaved, and they remind her every night and before every meal that they need to pray. WOW! The father has also seen the change and is super supportive. What a miracle! It is so true that the gospel has the power to change people.

WE also met a few other people this week who have a lot of interest in the gospel. The work here in Taidong is certainly full of miracles! Keep up those prayers of faith---they are working!

I love you all very much!

Love,

Sister Collyer