From the Land of level 9 typhoons and solar eclipses

something cool:

ok, so hopefully everyone was aware of the solar eclipse yesterday. it was amazing! it happened yesterday morning here, so i don't know how that works out for ya'll in america, but we could see it really well here. if i remember correctly, solar eclipses are extremely rare, right? dad, you would know. where are you when i need you! anyways, i took lots of pictures and they turned out pretty well. unfortunately, i forgot to bring my camera cord today, so i will have to send them next week. if you missed out, don't worry, there will be another in like 100 years or something like that....:) ha! jk...

something a child would say:

we are meeting with a mother who has a small boy named Vincent. he is probably my favorite chinese child ever because he is really fat and always really happy. whenever we come over to visit and teach them, he gets really excited and runs around the apartment and says things like "yeh sou gei duk!"...translated "Jesus Christ!"...:) he is 6 years old. the mom really wants him to learn english too, so we've been helping him lately learn how to pray in chinese and english. everytime we ask him how you end a prayer, he comes up with a new response that makes us bust up laughing. when we taught him in english, he said he would say, "B-BYE!" then in cantonese he said, "joi gin!" which means "see you again later!" we were kind of going for "in the name of Jesus Christ, amen"....but i kind of like his version...:) little children are so sweet and innocent and they really know what it means to have a relationship with their heavenly father. prayers for them are really sincere and like having a conversation with him. i need to be more like them. he loves to sing the primary songs as well. he will belt them at the top of his lungs, even though he has no idea what the notes or the words are. so adorable.

something weather:

yes, i know, more weather. but you can't ignore the fact that we had a level 9 typhoon here this last week. so exciting!!! it happened mostly during the night and several of our windows flew open in the middle of the night because they weren't latched dowm properly. ahhh! scared us to death, but it was cool. in the morning, it rained forever and wind blew like crazy and there were trees broken down all over the place. luckily, the worst was at night so it didn't keep us from going to church. dad, i wish you were here to see all the amazing weather. you would go crazy!

something different:

this last monday and tuesday we had 24 hour companion exchanges. i was lucky enough to have one of the sisters from my MTC district come be my companion in my area! it was so fun to be with her and see how far we have come since we were learning the language in the MTC together. we both love to sing, so we decided to do some "musical finding" time. sister lindsey has a beautiful soprano voice, so it was fun to harmony and everything with her. we basically went out on the street and asked people if we could sing to them really quickly. we had several opportunities and everytime after we finished singing, people would say it made them happier and feel peaceful. we had some really good discussions and met some special people that i know we were meant to sing to. people here are so busy, that they rarely take time to stop and listen and feel at peace. it was fun to try something different and touch people through music.

something miracle!!!:

so, our toilet last week was having lots of problems and as i am the apartment leader, it was my responsibility to fix it. it wouldn't refill with water, so we had to keep filling it up with a bucket. to be completely honest, with all the apartments in our building, i'm surprised there aren't more problems with plumbing and sort. after 7 days of issues, it just started flushing again! miracle!!! i didn't have to do anything! wahoo!...yes, the little things here are a big deal!

something festive:

so, as it is very hot, sticky and humid here, you think a lot about things like snow and winter time and how nice it would be if it were christmas time. so, here is just a friendly reminder to all of you to celebrate christmas in july. yea! we started listening to christmas songs already....yes, we are that desperate!..:) goood times.

love you all, cheers and merry christmas!