Hi I am alive!! :)
Last Tuesday we experienced one of the biggest táifēngs (yes I speak fluent chinglish) Taibei City has seen in a really long time and it was chāo jí dà. Sister Althoff and I received a text late the night before instructing us how to prepare for the typhoon; to buy enough water and food for the next day, lockdown, etc. #survivorwomen
Well we bought what we needed to but the last 2 typhoons that were supposed to hit Taibei never did so we were like "meh it is probably not coming...they don't make it this far north to Taibei." but WOW were we wrong! We woke up to the loudest whipping wind I have ever heard and the rain was unrelenting. It was insane. And it went on ALL DAY LONG, with both the rain and the wind never letting up. We woke up to the sound of the typhoon and went to sleep to the sound of the typhoon, both times of day equally just as loud and powerful. The typhoon cleared sometime in the middle of the night. Early, the next morning at 6 a.m. on our morning run, we were amazed to see our neighbors and others already outside, everyone working together to clean up! This shows just how much respect the Taiwanese have for their shared home here. No one wastes a single second or waits for the natural disaster teams to come around and do it. By that evening the city had only a few piles of branches laying around that were all cleaned up the next day. SUCH EFFICIENCY!
The typhoon hit the east coast near Taibei a lot harder. Many people were effected by it and the damage more serious there. Please send some prayers for those people!
This week another big thing happened. Sister Althoff and I visited with Zhao XJ whom I've talked about before. She was so excited to tell us that she got into BYU for next semester!! ALSO Zhao XJ has been wanting to be baptized and has set a baptism goal for November 12th. I wish that I could bring all of these people home for everyone to know them as I do because my descriptions do not do justice of how wonderful they are. Zhao XJ is just so cute and sweet and nice - a little lamb, but also she's got a mischievous side...she never fails to make us laugh. Picture to come next week hào bù hào <3
This week we met another extremely cute person (Taiwan only has cute people ok) named Wu XJ. We met with her just this past Saturday and she already has a desire to be baptized next month. She wants to come to church with us this Sunday for all 3 hours. like wut?? Where did you come from Wu XJ?! We'll get a pic with her this week too!
The last thing I want to share is something that was said in a talk I recently read given by Elder Rasband. His message was about helping others and here's what he says~
"If you come upon a person who is drowning, would you ask if they need help or would it be better to just jump in and save them...? The offer, while well-meaning and often given, 'let me know if I can help' is really no help at all."
I LOVE THIS! The Taiwanese have this down. Maybe the extreme weather here has been a gift in that way to them, in that it gives them the opportunity to not say "let me know if I can help" but rather to just help; a "we are all in this together" mentality. Of course, sometimes people really do not need or want help with certain things and honestly express that, but beyond that I think there is always something we can do for someone else to add, at the very least, some joy to their life in some small way. And that, we don't need to ask in order to do. Right now, I am working on how to not wait for those obvious opportunities to help someone (luckily as a missionary we are involved in a lot of "obvious" service related needs) but ALSO to have enough awareness to know what I can do or how I can add joy for another person in the moment.
I love you all and hope you know I am praying for you and thinking of you every day! I am so lucky and thankful for all of the people in my life!! 加, 油 !
xoXoOx
莫姐妹
Morning run to this beautiful place - Chang Kai Shek (Zhong zheng ji nian tang)