Baibai, Baptisms, and BBQs‏

Family,

(someone give me Brianna Pesci's email please)

You are the pearl of my heart! Oh man, oh man what joy there is in the work!

Whoa yes! A campfire in the backyard, oh that is always the funnest. I loved when we did that! Haha, oh daddy, one of my favorite photos of us is when we were scoring Missy's game! I show my family pictures to everyone all the time. Tina! The melophone haha awesome. Send me a picture of her and it! I imagine it as big as her torso. Becki, Taiwan will be hot and sweaty and you will LOVE it! It feels super familiar because all of the food is mom's food and the people are just mom, so it feels like home.

They still think I'm a Taiwan-ren. My half-Asian confuses them so bad and they talk to me and tell me to translate for Sis. C, but in reality it's me that “ting bu dongs” and I need the translations! Actually the gift of tongues is real and God is generous. I can understand so much more and actually understand most of what is being said. It's amazing how quickly it happened. It was like nothing was making sense then overnight a switch happened. Still have lot to learn though! I love mandarin. I love the people! I love Taiwan! I shout it in the streets every morning. Sis. C introduces me as her friend that shouts "I love Taiwan" when we are contacting people.

Guess what. Taiwan has already stolen my heart. I love it here. I love the people. They are the most generous people I have met. Contacting is really fun and I think pretty unique. We talk to roughly 250-300 people a week depending on if it's raining or not. Taiwan-ren are hilarious. It rains ALL the time and if it rains they don't come outside. They stock up on food and stay in their house so, so, so funny. Everyone rides on scooters and so when we are on our bikes riding around we can just talk to so many people and we actually get people to set up to meet with us! We are meeting with 5 new people this week! And 2 are families! And we have more numbers to call. If you work hard here the Lord will guide you to people. It's all about work! You “xinxin” You “banfa”!!! Have faith, have a way!!

Let me tell you about these people who are the nicest. Twice this week Sis. C and I were contacting on our bikes and people gave us pork buns and another bun! Oh man you know me and my love for bread. They say we are really “xingku” (like "oooh poor you" you say that when people just work all the time) and just give us food and they are so kind even when they don't want to listen. And they love to giggle.

So I'm choking down the smoke of Buddhism. We call them “Baibais” here because that is what they say when they pray. Something is going on for it so they put out these fires and burn money. A little parade happened too! It was funny being Mormon missionaries in the middle of it.

I am so lucky to be in Gangshan. It's a little piece of heaven because of the members and it's more rural. The members are so great to work with.

Fams!, appreciate the church in the ol’Merica. It has only been in Taiwan 50 some-years and so the members are the cutest and always asking us how things are done in the states like FHE, Baptisms, and just whatever! If they saw a Deseret Book they would go bananas! They don't have any churchy stuff! If you ever send me something send me primary pictures or things or pictures of Christ or gospel things. Just the cheap stuff. The members are very dedicated to helping missionaries because most of them are converts. There is a 3 generation family in my ward and that is really rare. So we had a BBQ the other night with them! I have the mosquito bites to prove it. Just 9 on one foot! It was so great to talk with the members and they had some non-member friends we got to talk with and we taught them how to pray! The members started teaching them and were doing great! They are so dedicated to missionary work! Anyone can do it!

I had the weirdest hotdog thing, but it was really good! We basically had meat and green bean soup which is super good. Mom really, all the food here is the food you would make and I wouldn't want to eat, but I have ate it here and it's good! You were right all along. I'm really tapping into my Asian roots.

BAPTISM YAY! Baptism day is like waking up on for Christmas morning! When they are having their interview it's like waiting for a baby delivery. Just pacing the halls. Oh man, she was beautiful. She does taekwondo so when she first went down she just kicked her foot straight out in the air out of the water. So, so, funny. It took three times. She was a wet angel! When she bore her testimony she said that she knows God exists because she exists. My heart melted. That's it. Simple truth of testimony. She is so solid and the members love her. We will get our chapel! 18 more members to go!

I feel like a puppet right now. I feel like this life isn't my own and it's awesome. This is the Lord's work and I know that 100%. Every miracle that happens, every time I speak with someone, or teach them I know it's just Him through me and it's the most beautiful thing. Speaking of beautiful, I saw the OCEAN. Oh my heart, it was gorgeous. I hadn't seen the ocean since Hong Kong. It just went on forever. We rode out to a secondary and found a less-active and a former. The ride took about an hour and we were just barely in it. My area is really, really big. I'm so lucky because I get to ride everywhere. The family we met with out there was so surprised we weren’t chased by dogs!

My trainer is amazing. She is such a missionary to be like. She loves with an endless love and she is a great trainer. She lets me teach! The second day I was here she let me teach and I think that is what has helped my language so much. I love teaching. She flies airplanes for fun. She is really cool! And she's an artist and she is tall and she is so kind and funny. She loves to talk and be funny.

Let me tell you about my English class (I just realized this is so long sorry). I teach the little kids, so if you have any game ideas send them my way! (BRIANNA!) There is one girl I teach and she is 8. I'll call her Lilly. She is golden in every way. I taught them about prayer and the next week I asked her if she did it. She did! I asked if she did it with her mom and she said no by herself. I asked her how she felt and she said hot! The spirit jumped right in the room and I told her about God's love and God's love for her then we sang I am a child of God and she said she felt happy! AH! This girl. We talked about God for a bit and her relationship with him and I committed this 8 year old to pray every night. Oh, and she taught me the whole story of Noah. As she left, she took a Church tract which talks about our church. I'm trying to meet with her and her mom! Pray for her! Pray that I can meet with her and teach her! I can't even express how ready she is and how loved she is!

Family the work is real. I've been thinking a lot on obedience. It's the first law of heaven! You need faith to be obedient and everything is built on obedience!

I love you all! Till next week!

ps if you ever send things just send stuff to teach kids English, church picture/stuff I could teach with and whatever you feel is good! I love you all!

Sister Burr

The joy of baptism

My Taiwan

I love my life!

No-bake cookies