White Christmas, Sister Findlay, His birth, don't come passively, lesson of the shepherds

Sister Li passed her baptismal interview and is getting baptized on the 25th. It's going to be a white Christmas!

Monday, December 21, 2015
Tainan

Hello!

I cannot believe it's Christmas this week. Where has the time gone?! 

My new companion--Sister Findlay.
Getting serious with her purple,
plastic briefcase. :)

My new companion: Sister Findlay

Transfer calls were last Sunday morning, and the call went something like this "Sister Wawro, you'll be whitewashing" (because she's going home) and "Sister Hancock will be with a short-term missionary. Is there anyone in your ward who you could ask to be your companion for these 3 weeks starting tomorrow?" 

Uhhh no?

A short-term missionary is a member who is not a real missionary, but will be your companion temporarily because there aren't enough missionaries in the mission. It can be a high school-aged student or a young adult and they'll live with you and do everything like missionaries for a couple weeks, then go back to their normal life once they can be replaced by a real missionary. 

Unfortunately because it is not summer time, everyone in our ward is either in school, working, or taking care of kids all day, so no one could do it. But I was in a trio for a little bit with the sisters from the Tainan 1st ward and that was so much fun!


But then President called and told me there was one other sister in the mission who was also supposed to have a short term but had problems too, so we got put together! So my companion now is Sister Findlay--also my first companion ever from Utah. She's great! We're having a good time together.

It's been quite the adventure because we're basically serving in both of our areas still, taking the train back and forth between Gaoxiong and Tainan, so we're keeping busy and making sure to hit up all the Christmas activities :)

The Tainan government asked us missionaries to put on a show on Christmas Eve at the train station.
Here's our zone practicing all the Christmas carols :)

His Birth

I've enjoyed studying about the Savior and His birth this week in my personal study. I'm so, so, so excited for Christmas! 

I like this quote by President Nelson about our Savior: 

"He came to pay a debt He didn't owe because we owed a debt we couldn't pay". 

Christmas is such a special time to reflect and to think about how we're doing and about how we can better accept Christ as our Savior and come closer to Him. 

I especially enjoy serving in Taiwan, because no one really knows why we celebrate Christmas, they just know we have Christmas trees and stockings. So it's fun to be able to share with them all the symbolism and real meaning. And it's helped me a lot to stay focused on the real meaning of this season. 

Nanzi chapel

Don't come passively

Yesterday we went to a special meeting because they added a new stake in Gaoxiong, so a new stake presidency was called and Elder Wang, the President of the Asia Area came and spoke. 

In his talk he said several times that Christ paid the highest price for us, and we need to do the same. 

He said the church isn't something we do halfway or when we want to, that as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we don't come passively. 

His words sure rang true to me and helped me think about more I can do to increase my faith and better try to serve. 

Lesson of the Shepherds
There's so much we can learn from the Christmas story, but one part that stuck out to me this week was how the shepherds were able to see the baby Jesus. It was when they were out with their flock, taking care of the sheep that they were told the news of the Savior's coming. So as we focus on feeding His sheep, and serving those around us, we're able to come to know Christ better.

Love you all! Merry Christmas!

Sister Sinclaire Hancock