January 7th Letter--New Place

Hello everyone!

Wow! I am in Nantou now. It is the most South you can get in our mission. So I
have  been North, Central and now South. It is so beautiful here. BUT THE
MOUNTAINS ARE HUGE. I have only ridden to do e-mail and my legs are sore. You
would think living on my bike for the last six months it would not be that way,
but oh no it is! One of the elders here last two move calls has lost 36
pounds... so this just might be the place for me... haha. I don't need to lose
quite 36 pounds in case anyone was cringing...

So I have a new companion. Her name is Sister Browning. She is from Morgan,
Utah. She is really nice. Small and quiet. This is her first move call senior so
it should be pretty pretty interesting. A lot like the last, I think. I'm
excited to be South. They have two week B's (so soon to be baptized) that are
looking really good. So I am excited to meet them and get to work!

We had a baptism on Saturday! She is a nut! Cao Mei Hui- she is like 40
something and just so crazy. She thinks I am fake. She sometimes asks me if I
really exist or if I am an angel. I quickly inform her I am just a you ruan ruo
de ren (a weak person.) But the thing is she is completely normal besides that.
So she is going to be an amazing member and move the church forward! Those are
my favorite baptisms.

Not a whole lot has happened lately. Just working hard. This last move call was
a little bit different. I hit the point where my Chinese was better than my
senior's. It wasn't because mine was good. So I took on a lot of
responsibilities and had to do a lot of the work myself. Can I just say I am
thankful that I am still junior companion. I am hoping this move call is not the
same as last, but it is good preparation. And taught me a lot about humility and
what a hinderance(sp) pride is. There were times when I would be feeling good in
my Chinese and then was quickly humbled by a "ting bu dong"  (I don't
understand.) I've learned a lot about following on my mission. And I am pretty
sure everyone that knows me will be grateful for that. I didn't really quite
realize how much of a pusher I was and how I have the "I'll just do it myself"
mentality. So I am becoming a better leader by becoming a better follower. Isn't
it funny how things work those ways?

Well, I know this church is true. I am thankful for the testimonies of my family
and friends that have helped me develop my own testimony. I am so thankful to be
serving the Lord! I know that Jesus Christ is there waiting to lead our lives.
Turn it over to Him. I was reading the Ensign awhile ago and really liked a
quote... It was a story about a lady and her husband and the lady was just
pushing pushing her husband. Just always correcting him and what not. Well, it
was tearing apart their marriage.  So paraphrasing the quote was... I just
learned to relax and when the pain became too much I became familiar with the
distance from my pain to my knees. I would say this is the quote of my mission
up until this point! I really have a testimony of prayer and of relaxing... I
know right you are thinking. Sister Shaver relaxing, but it is getting there.
You can be 100% obedient and relaxed... who would've ever thought?

I love you all! You all are so amazing to me! Keep going strong... as the
Taiwanese say "jia you" add oil!

Sister Shaver