I'm not sure if I have mentioned this before or not, but Taiwanese graves are different than in the States. I'm not 100% sure how to describe them, so you may just have to google it. It's almost like a fancy hobbit door with lots of incense. So graveyards look like a hillside covered in hobbit holes. I really hope that is not disrespectful, but honestly I have no other way to describe it.
We were returning home one night, and it was super dark. We started going up this huge hill to get home, and my companion had to get off and walk his bike, so we ended up walking through this super creepy graveyard at around 9 at night. As we were walking, I saw this small glimmer of light flying through the air--a firefly. It made the whole creepy situation beautiful. It was amazing. It was also a very good metaphor for the Gospel: there are countless times in life where we are surrounded in darkness and a little scared, but that one glimmer of hope can completely change our perspective. Our situation might not change, and the glimmer of hope may quickly fade back into the darkness as a firefly might, but we are left feeling vastly different that we would if we didn't have that small flash of hope.
One firefly this last week for me at least was conference. This might be old hat for all of you because you saw it a week before me, but conference was so amazing! There were so many incredible talks, and I am so excited to keep studying them in the few upcoming months. One talk that particularly touched me was the last one by Elder Holland. There are a lot of feelings of inadequacy on the mission, especially when those new investigators just aren't coming. He said we should never think that we cannot improve, and that our Father in Heaven is willing to reward us if we even have the desire to change and become better. It really gave me comfort and I felt the Spirit very strong. Overall, conference was amazing and I hope you all had similar experiences last weekend! I love you all!!
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Elder Hawkes
It was raining so stinking hard!
I wish you could take better pictures of rain, but this will have to do!
We always get a good laugh from this billboard! Yay bilingual life!
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