Taiwan post December 23, 2013

This week has been so amazing. So many things have happened. And we have been working hard. This week we had exchanges with our sister training leaders in Zhanghua. I left the area, so Hsu Jiemei was leading the area. She’s only been here about a week...so I prayed that she would be ok...it seemed to have gone well. I went on exchanges with Sister Chord. She is so amazing. We went out to a secondary area (which means it’s far away) it was raining and the bike ride was about 45 minutes. But it was really cool. Got to see so many Taiwanese temples and different buildings. It was awesome. Then on the way back, we were going to end up soaking wet, so we rode through really big puddles and had fun on the way home. :) Their investigator is so amazing, her insights on the parts of the Book of Mormon that she reads are really deep. She is so in tune with the spirit.

Thursday this week we went as a whole mission to Sun Moon Lake!!!!! It is a really pretty lake and a huge tourist spot. There is a really big temple there and we all got a picture together. I got lots of pictures with other missionaries and with my trainer. It was really cool seeing missionaries that I have never met. Since my companion is Taiwanese, I got to meet more of the Taiwanese missionaries. It was so much fun. The temple is huge and lots of people come. Then there is an area to buy food, and trinkets. The shops are old styled shops. I bought mochi (mashed rice...sesame seed, peanut, cherry, melon, mango, walnut, taro, chocolate, red bean) so many different kinds. It was so delicious. Then we bought fried taro. It was interesting, pretty good, and very unique. Then we went to a huge restaurant and ate Japanese styled food, meats, and noodle dishes, rice dishes, sushi, ice cream, and fried food. It was really good. Then we went to the Dongqu chapel (the church building I go to every week for church) and had a devotional. It was really inspiring. President Blickstaff had really interesting insights on 2 Nephi, the Isaiah chapters, the Isaiah chapters in the bible were not changed because they were not understood.

This Saturday our investigator had a baptismal interview. She is going to be baptized on Dec 28. So exciting. She is so ready. We review the questions before she had the interview. And she felt ready!!!! She is our recent convert’s friend. She is so amazing, she is reading the Book of Mormon like crazy, and she is already half way through Alma. Then that night we had an activity at the mission office, the chapel next to it. There was a Christmas celebration, we invited everyone to come, and welcomed them to learn more about Christ. There was a choir that sang Christmas songs, and then little children sang some Christmas songs. It was really cool, you could feel the spirit. We had people walk in off the street to see was what going on. We invited them to learn more about Christ.

Christmas is a really special time to focus on the Savior and His life of service and His sacrifice. We are more focused on finding ways to serve others and to help them feel His love in their lives. I love this time of year where I can refocus and learn more about Him and learn what ways I can change to be more Christ-like. To be more humble and willing to change. Merry Christmas!!!!!

"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men" Luke 2:14

Love Sister Basko

Sorry for the late posting. It was so awesome to talk to Rachel on the 24th (for us) the 25th (for her). She looks so good and she is so excited about being out serving the Lord and bringing them unto Christ.  Here is a link to the missions blog and the video the took of the missionaries singing Christmas hymns. Rachel is on the front row in the red coat. Merry Christmas. Mom

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hn--NC24fHs&feature=youtu.be