better than ever

Hello.

I wanted to tell you that I'm doing fine, better still that ever, you might find the reasons than it here www site

Typos courtesy of my iPhone, Malone Massar

OMG it's true

Hi,

I've just found something really interesting and OMG ... it's amazing, just take a look http://thought.flylinebait.com/lnmdv

 

Sent from a prehistoric stone tablet, Ellyn Cardon

 

some new stuff

Hey, Don't miss up this new stuff, you're going to be delighted, read more here http://funkychode.garciamed.org/lnehi

 

Good wishes, Ellyn Cardon

So Great a Cause

Dear friends and family,

I can't believe the time is finally here! Today I have had my departing interview with my mission president, my companion has already gone back to our area with her new companion (leaving me awkwardly by myself)(good things there's lots of other missionaries around here), and now in my last two days I will be eating dinner with the Blickenstaffs, going to the Taibei temple. and leaving on a jet plane to America. I'll be back again in April, though, so that's exciting!

I've had a good last week as a missionary. It was Chinese New Year for everyone, which means that the missionaries get invited out to lunch and dinner every single day for a week. I think I paid for my own food for only one meal this entire week, and I decided to get ice cream because I was too full for anything else. The end result is that I gained like literally less than 1/2 a pound. I'm slightly disappointed. I was going for 10. ("Go big or go home," another sister said to me. "Or go big and then go home.")

I am so grateful that I could be a missionary. It has been the most uncomfortable, most difficult, most joyful, and most rewarding experience of my life. I wouldn't trade my mission for anything. Not even a bajillion dollars. I'd like to share with you what I wrote for my reflection I gave last week at zone meeting:

"I want to start my reflection, here at the end of my mission, by looking back at the reasons why I came on a mission in the first place. I want to focus on two of the phrases that have helped me throughout my time serving the Lord as a full-time missionary. The first is a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson (and he's smart so it must be a good quote). It says, "it is one of the beautiful compensations in life that no man can sincerely help another without helping himself." 

I'll admit that at first, my reasons for coming on a mission were a little bit selfish. I always thought about how everyone expects young men to go on missions. They want them to build character and grow closer to the Lord and change from a boy to a man. Well, part of me always thought, why wouldn't I want that for myself? Shouldn't I want to build character? Shouldn't I want to become more converted and stronger and build a solid foundation for my future family? And so in part the reason why I came on a mission was to help myself. But I've found, as most people do, that when I start focusing on myself is the same moment when I start regressing. I don't become a better person, I become more selfish and less charitable and more about me. But, as Mr. Emerson says, when we sincerely try to help other people is when we help ourselves. I've seen that when I spend time thinking about other people; my companion, our investigators, the ward members, then that is when I become better. I've spent hours of personal study trying to figure out questions for investigators and other missionaries, and in the process gained a wealth of spiritual knowledge. I've listened to many people tell me their life problems and in the process solidified my own testimony of gospel living. And even though I'm still prideful and probably still think about myself too much, I know what it feels like to truly care about someone else's well being. 

The second quote was told to me by someone in my first area, when I was visa waiting in Salt Lake City, Utah. He said that a missionary's job is to "comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable." That always brings me back to why I came on a mission; what I came to do. To comfort the afflicted, to help other people feel God's love when they can't recognize it themselves. To give hugs, to listen, to share what I know in order to help them feel better. But at the same time, we are called to afflict the comfortable. To call people to repentance and to help them see that no matter how great their life is now, it can be made better through the truth of the gospel. "Remember, you will help people the most by teaching them the gospel of Jesus Christ" (PMG). Sometimes, afflicting the comfortable includes yourself. I've had lots of times when I thought I was doing great, I was all that plus the potato chips, but every time Heavenly Father would send something to kick me right off my pedestal. I can't even remember how many times I've read President's letter and thought "oh that doesn't apply to me" only to keep reading and figure out that not only does it apply directly to me, but I better repent right now and shape up. 

I am so grateful that I served a mission. I cannot even describe all it has meant to me and all I have learned. I have gained a strong testimony of the truth of the Book of Mormon, the power of the Spirit, and the importance of obedience to God's commandments. When I see people smile at me on the street I think, this is why I came on a mission. When random miracles occur like running into just the person we were looking for I think, no that's why I came on a mission. When I bike through a beautiful rice field, or learn something new in Chinese, or make new friends in investigators and members. When I see someone truly change because of the gospel, not just do something because you told them to, but read all of 1 Nephi in a day because they really wanted to and they have really come to know God, that is when I know why I came on a mission. I love my Savior and I am so glad that I have had this time to represent Him. That is why I came on a mission."

I know that Christ loves us and that this is His true church. I know that this is the best and truest path to happiness. I love it! Man. I'm just so happy I could be a missionary. I honestly think I would do it all over again. It's the best thing that I've ever done. The Gospel is the happiest thing that ever happened. Sharing it with the others is the thing of most worth for us to do.

Shall we not go on in so great a cause?

Love,

Sister Cardon

Picture: all my bags are packed, I'm ready to go! No, not taking my bike with me. Gladys and I are finally parting ways.

Breaking News

This week has had quite a few surprising moments! Let me give you all the news in order of whatever order I feel like.

News #1: Elections were last weekend, and Taiwan has elected her first female president! There was a lot of hullabaloo leading up to the election and then I heard absolutely nothing afterwards. I finally had to ask someone who won (usually people just tell missionaries that sort of thing) and her name is Cai Ying Wen; the same Ying Wen as "ying1wen2" which means English. Her first name is English.

News #2: It SNOWED. Did you read that clearly? There was SNOW in Taiwan yesterday. Remember a month ago when I told you I was freezing and you all thought I was super lame? Well let me tell you it has been COLD the past few days. One person's phone said it was 1 C for a little while, and otherwise it has been hovering around 5 C. Let me give you an inventory of all the clothes I wore out the door this morning:

gloves

scarf

face mask

tights

shorts

two pairs of socks

a slip

a t-shirt

a dress

another skirt

button-up long sleeve

regular sweater

cardigan sweater

fleece jacket

and finally, my big sweater I bought a few weeks ago.

I'm cold.

News #3: and this is the BEST news. The Zhu family passed their baptismal interviews! WOOHOO! They have decided to be baptized together next Saturday, February 6. We are SO STOKED. Man. They are just great. 

News #4: okay this isn't really news, just that on Saturday I hit my 18-month mark on my mission! Man, a year and a half has gone by so fast! So crazy. I have learned so much and changed so much in the past 18 months, I can't even believe it. Yeah, I know everyone says that about their mission. This week I have had to reflect a lot on my mission and what it means to me (departing missionaries give a "Reflection" in the last few weeks before they leave, so I've had to get that ready for when I'll be speaking next week). I've also been thinking about my vision, goals, and plans for the future after my mission (that was an assignment from my mission president when we had interviews a few weeks ago). As I was thinking about what kind of a "vision" I want for myself in the future I wrote down that I wanted to be someone who brings others to Christ. As I wrote that I thought "really? that's the first thing on your list?" I realized that reaction was because it probably wouldn't have been the first thing on my list before my mission, but in pondering I discovered that the kinds of things I want really have changed on my mission. It's been so long that I've just had one purpose, to invite others to come unto Christ, that I can't really imagine any other kind of purpose for myself. I love being a missionary. And I hope to be able to keep the fire going even after I don't wear a tag anymore.

News #5: I bought some awesome colored contacts last P-day and I feel super cool and Asian every time I wear them.

News #6: We went to a fabric store last week and I figured out they had fabric for only 30 KUAI A METER. So, less than a dollar a yard. I may have bough 6 yards of a really pretty fabric to make a dress for myself.

News #7: We went to a world wide missionary broadcast on Friday that was way cool. It was basically apostle teaching us MTC classes so it was spiritual times 10.

love you all! Hope you have a fabulous week and you find ways to bring others to Christ.

Sister Cardon

Pictures: we went to visit an investigator who is a Taiwanese aboriginal and she let us try on some of their traditional clothing. SO COOL. Everything we are wearing is handmade and all together costs about $1000 USD. (my name tag was on my outer coat in case you were wondering)(also this is a good example of how my style has been thrown out the window)

Me on the way out the door yesterday afternoon. COLD. Also those are the other apartment buildings in our complex, if you were wondering our apartment looks like.

Great People

Hey folks!

It's been a fairly cold and rainy week up in Shalu, but we sure have seen a lot of miracles! It's been a great week.

Pretty much all I want to talk about all day every day is our AWESOME investigators Titan and Vivi. They are a couple we have been meeting with for a few weeks and they are just fantastic. Let me tell you some of the awesome things about them:

They came to church last week and someone gave Titan the Howard W. Hunter book we are using in church; he read all of it this week.

When we asked them if they had heard about tithing he said he had read all about it in the book and was totally willing to try it, sounds like a test of faith but it's great.

Last week when they came to church they were 10 minutes late because of the times of the bus they took. Yesterday we called them at 8:30 to see if they had found a ride to church and they said "Oh, we're already here, we took an even earlier bus!"

Titan set a goal for himself to be baptized in two weeks and announced it when he introduced himself in priesthood class.

Vivi was comparing the Old Testament and the Book of Mormon in her personal study in order to understand what the HWH book was talking about.

At church I overheard a member say to them, "Oh, you're investigators?! I was sure you were members who had just moved in from another ward!"

In conclusion, these are the greatest people ever. I am so grateful that I have the chance to come to Taiwan and meet people like this! The church is true.

Other things about this week... I went on exchanges to Zhongming, which is more in the middle of Taizhong. It felt like such a big city! Sometimes I forget that Shalu really doesn't have very many people. I went with Sister Gonzales, who is super cool and full of sunshine. It was a really fun exchange. The only downside to going on exchanges is that we have to ride the bus forEVER. But it's fine. I like buses. 

The saddest thing that happened this week was that my super awesome $11 watch from Target finally decided to fall off my wrist as I was stopped at a stoplight in Zhongming. I have worn that watch nearly every single day of my mission, but finally the pressure was too much. We came into this world together, but it didn't quite make it out of the world with me. RIP silver watch. 

Wow I wish I had some more exciting things to share. Ooh! I bought a really comfy sweater thing that I've worn like every day this week. It's really cold. But I have my cozy sweater and it's all good. 

Ooh here's an awesome quote I read in the Liahona the other day and LOVED: "God left the world unfinished for man to work his skill upon. He left the electricity in the cloud, the oil in the earth. He left the rivers unbridged and the forests unfelled and the cities unbuilt. God gives to man the challenge of raw materials, not the ease of finished things. He leaves the pictures unpainted and the music unsung and the problems unsolved, that man might know the glories of creation." Thomas S Monson. https://www.lds.org/ensign/1988/03/in-quest-of-the-abundant-life?lang=eng

Yep! Love you all! Have a fabulous week. 

Sister Cardon

Picture: by the National Art Museum in Taizhong where went contacting on exchanges. That's my new sweater!

It's a New Year, it's a new start

Well, it's finally come! I am officially at the start of my last 6 weeks as a missionary. AAAGGGHHH. Okay I'm good let's not mention it anymore.

Happy New Year! Hope you all had an exciting New Year's. We... did not. We went to bed. But someone was putting off fireworks near our house last night (January 3rd?) that were nice and pretty, so we celebrated a little bit. By "celebrate" I mean "looked out the window and aahed a little".

It's been a fairly good week for us! Not much going on. It rained super hard last night, man it's been a couple of months since I've been that soaked. It was great. Had to wring out my skirt when we got home. We went and visited a less active couple who were super nice; they were just getting dinner ready when we came by so they invited us to eat with them. We had soup with potatoes and black tree ears (hmm I wonder what that is actually called in English) and she was worried about it not being flavorful enough so she brought out the most beautiful sight in the world: Montreal Steak Seasoning. I think I almost cried. oh MAN I was going to ask if I could bring some home. I guess we'll have to go back.

I also accomplished another one of my life goals this week. Let me back up though; we were visiting a member whose dad is essentially a Traditional Chinese Medicine Man. He was working with a patient (in the living room) as we were chatting with the member and I casually mentioned that my shoulder had been hurting recently so she volunteered for her father to look at it for me. yessss

So then I sit down on a stool. I kind of expected him to look at my shoulder immediately but no. He takes my hand and feels for my pulse in a few different spots, closes his eyes and breathes deeply. Other hand. Then he looks at me: "Your heart isn't very healthy. Your liver and stomach aren't doing so well either; like 50%. Your thighs are probably sore, and you get exhausted easily." me in my head: ...I just want my shoulder to feel better.

He then proceeded to prove to me that my body was not functioning correctly. I had to hold up one arm and resist while he pressed down on it, then place the other hand on whatever part of my body was ailing; over my liver, stomach, heart, etc. When I could resist with more strength it meant that body part was doing good; if I was weaker though, man it's serious. We determined that my breathing was doing okay but, as he suspected, when I had my hand on my liver I could hardly put any resistance with the other arm. Then came the solutions, which involved scratching my head (REALLY HARD) with a comb, me rubbing my sternum, him stepping on my foot with his heel, and him poking my back (also really hard) to fix my heart problems. Finally we got to the aching shoulder; he determined that my shoulder was hurting because my head right above my right ear was struggling. Arm up, hand on head: yep, I couldn't resist for even a whole second. The solution for this problem included hand massage, punching my arm, and me going "ow ow ow bu yao BU YAO" and as a result I've got a gnarly bruise on my bicep.

In conclusion, Chinese medicine is awesome.

As for how missionary work is going this week, man Shalu is awesome. We are meeting with an AWESOME couple named Titan and Vivi. They just love reading the Book of Mormon together. We taught them the Plan of Salvation and they had tons of great questions and it all totally made sense to them. They did a lot of "ohhh I see" during the lesson in unison, it's pretty cute. Seriously, it just builds my testimony so much that no matter how many times we get rejected and people don't want to meet with us, there are still people who are so prepared to listen to the gospel.

oh also don't forget to make New Year's resolutions! One of my goals is to say something in Chinese every day this year and to not get married.

Love you all! Hope you have a great week. 

Sister Cardon

Picture: There's like a Seaport Art Museum right next to our house with really pretty architecture!