Small blessings become great!

Most of you know that I am a very spiritual person. I have experienced great joy from my faith and this journey has been no exception. Today was a very lovely day at church and it got me thinking about all the blessings we've received since coming to Xi'an. Thus motivating this new page about all the ways we have been blessed by the Lord through this experience.
Enjoy~ Melissa

I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. 

Or as we are more commonly referred to, I am a Mormon, I love it and I live it. I found my faith when I was 19 and I have been blessed in so many ways ever since.

-Quick Overview of my faith-

If you are not a religious person, that's ok. Everyone has their own path to discover!

I believe in God because of my belief that a greater power intended for us to exist. It's as simple as that. Everything else stems from that.
I believe that anyone can be a wonderful, kind, good person regardless of where or if you attend a religious service.
As a member of the LDS faith, people make some interesting assumptions about who "we" are and what we believe. If you want to visit THIS LINK you can learn more about the LDS faith.
Otherwise, here are some highlights
-We are Christian and believe in the teachings of Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.
-We read the King James version of the Holy Bible and other scriptures about Christ such as The Book of Mormon
-We strive to live healthy.
-We strive to serve and help others
-Families are the most important part of our faith.
-All church leadership and positions are voluntary. None are paid and we teach each other.

But this page isn't about my life, it's about feeling and expressing gratitude for the Lord's hand in my life. Especially as we've moved to an entirely new continent!

A few years ago when I started thinking about the possibility of teaching abroad, I had no idea nor desire to ever come to China.

As many of you, I feared what I didn't know or what I misunderstood. I know now that the Lord was with me every step of the way through this journey and he was quietly answering my fervent prayers with small blessings!

The first blessing that came was around Christmas time 2014. I hadn't been successful in contacting schools with strong debate programs, nor had I had much luck in finding other positions that met my needs. After much prayer, I decided to take a break from the job hunting and utilize some greatly tested patience. Toward the end of Christmas break, however, a school contacted me about a position teaching humanities and language arts.

At first, I wasn't really interested in speaking with them because I did not have any of the qualifications they were looking for nor did I have any desire to move to China. In fact, China was on my never-moving-there list. After a few days I decided I would use the interview as practice for the future. I spoke with the Deputy Principal at Hanova International school and afterward went and did some research on the IB (International Baccalaureate) Curriculum. I instantly got hooked on the philosophy and approach to teaching. My next task was figuring out where this school was.

I had never even heard of the city of Xi'an (pronounced shee-on) *some people make the 'O' a little softer and closer to an 'awe' sound.

I had heard that China did not allow missionaries and had very strict rules about church. This made me very worried. I knew, before I had even begun looking at teaching abroad, that I would not move anywhere that Rachel and I couldn't go to church. This was for many reasons; 1- my faith is very important to me and I like the ceremonies, the organization, the whole thing. 2- I knew where ever we went, if there were other LDS people, we would have support and help with anything. Since we knew that Tony wouldn't be coming with us, this was extremely important. Physically, emotionally and otherwise, you just simply need supportive people when you move to a new place.

So I got on to lds.org and looked on the "locate a meetinghouse" map to see if I could find any church opportunities in China and when I saw that little indicator appear right in the middle of Xi'an, my heart jumped.

After about a week they asked me to have a second interview. It went well but I still wasn't sure this school would be right for me. A few days later they extended me an offer to join their school in the fall. I did not decide right away.  After a late night Skype chat with two teacher that have small children around Rachel's age, I felt positive about the staff and curriculum but I still wasn't convinced that I could bring my daughter here. I spent the next 4-6 weeks praying and thinking and talking it over with my husband and close friends. I asked our home teachers to give me a blessing that I would know what path the Lord would have me take and that I would receive the confirming feeling I needed, that I was making the right choice.

Another week or so would go by until one night I spoke with the school once again. Afterward I called my mom and we had a great conversation. After I hung up, I received my confirming feeling.

That seemingly tiny feeling was all I needed to secure my future for the next few years. It has helped me avoid fear and anxiety about moving here. It has given me the confidence to accomplish hard things. It has given me a sense of peace and joy, knowing that this is where I am supposed to be. All my potential worries about being away from family are calmed with this knowledge and feeling. It also has strengthened my faith in the Lord and made it easier to handle the new challenges we face each day.... 

Here are some other blessings I'll write more about soon!

Going to Church

Going to church in China is a wonderful humbling, sweet experience. Some have wondered if it is the same as it is back home and the answer is yes and no.
First of all, I was determined to find a job in a place where Rachel and I could attend church. Finding people with similar beliefs and attitudes was important but just finding people that you can socialize with is just as important. Additionally, I wanted to ensure we could have our weekly dose of happiness and joy, continue our learning of the Savior and help us stay strong in a new environment.

Our church in Xi'an is held at someone's home. We typically have church in one of two locations. There are about 20 people in our little branch. In China, people are permitted to practice religion but with great restrictions. Chinese nationals are not allowed to attend religious services with foreigners and proselytizing of any kind is prohibited.

Luckily through the LDS church website you can find branches, wards and stakes all over the world. On Sunday we travel approximately half an hour to the home of one of the families in our branch. With the new year 2017 our trip is now 1.5 hours.
We are made up primarily of teachers and foreign business people. There are several adults teaching at universities here in Xi'an that work through BYU (Brigham Young University) and the Kennedy Center. Then a few others like me who are teaching at international schools and a few families that work for other businesses like Micron.

We have a handful of children and they are all so sweet and precious.

Once we arrive at church we have our general worship meeting, known by LDS members as Sacrament meeting. During this time we renew our promises to God to be the best we can be and remember Him in all we do. We also sing and listen to messages given by one another. Each week two people are asked to give a talk on a specific gospel principle and during our Sacrament meeting they speak from 10-15 minutes each.
Our branch president serves as our bishop for the general needs of our branch but does not give weekly sermons or lessons like in other Christian churches.

After our 1 hour worship time, we split up for our next lesson. The children have additional lessons, music, and activities and the adults have scripture study or lessons from previous church leaders. Back home this time would comprise two classes for one hour each. Here in China we combine this time into a single one hour lesson.

Thanks to technology we follow the same lesson guides as everyone back home. We have a few hymnals and a keyboard for music and we all take on multiple responsibilities to ensure all things are taken care of. We are more spread out physically than a ward would be back home but we care for each other just as much. We have activities and parties and even a baptism.

The youngest daughter of one of the families turned 8 in the fall of 2015 and she was able to be baptized by her dad. Luckily the family had a large bathtub that was suitable for the baptism and it was a sweet experience for all of us to be a part of.

Though there are no temples or church buildings here in China, the Spirit of God is strong. I love my home ward but the feeling in our tiny branch is unlike any other. I think this could be a glimpse of what early church members felt in their small church houses or in the homes of families when a building was not available.

And although there is no direct discussion of religion, I have found great joy is simply showing by example how to love and help others, how to have joy and peace and how to be kind and compassionate.
I am currently serving as the relief society music leader. I love my church, I love my callings and I love the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I know that my life is better because of the hand of God. I believe that the scriptures teach us the words of God and direct our lives toward happiness. I believe that my faith has made me stronger, enabled me to overcome hardships more easily and given me peace during times of crisis.
My faith has allowed me to strengthen my family and teach my daughter to be kind, giving, humble and compassionate. She is observant of others needs and she handles challenges and disappointment easily. It has helped us be generally more happy and find the good in all things.

Mighty miracles are in the works in China and I am excited to be a part of it and I hope I get to experience some of the results.

The Day I lost Rachel-

OK This one was scary hard and everything in between! So let me first begin by saying I never ACTUALLY lost Rachel.
We returned home after a nice day of work/school. She wanted to play for a bit but I was tired and was carrying a lot of stuff.

After watching her play for a bit, it was time to go to our building. She of course didn't want to go but instead wanted me to go down a little path next to the bushes that headed off toward the building behind ours. After some discussion I told her that she could go down the path and if she turned left where the path splits, that I would meet her at the end.
I could see the path and we had walked it before so I was confident that she could do it.
I watched her walk into the bushes and I headed around toward the end of the path. I waited for her and after a minute or so she didn't come. I walked up the path thinking she had gotten distracted by a cute baby or something but I still didn't see here.
I continued walking up the path back to the play area that was maybe 30 feet from the end of the path, and she wasn't there either.

I started looking around for her and calling her thinking she went right on the path instead of left, but she wasn't there either. I started to get a bit concerned but continued walking around calling for her, thinking she might be playing a trick. The area near the playground really isn't that extensive and a person is really not likely to get lost in the bushes.
I walked around the area a few more times before my nervousness turned to concern and then worry.
I attempted to ask people if they had seen her and after a few minutes started showing her picture to people.
I tried asking a few older boys at the playground if they had seen which way she went and an older gentlemen pointed toward our building. I headed that way but she wasn't anywhere to be seen. We have a key card to enter our building and I had the card for ours. I would expect her to wait for me and I was surprised she hadn't come back to the play area if she got confused.
By this point I was really starting to worry. i still felt very safe in our neighborhood but, all the "What ifs"started creeping in my head.
I returned to the play area several times and continued to attempt to ask people if they had seen her. There is only one other little girl in our entire complex with blonde hair, and people are fascinated by how re girls look so I know they would have noticed her. Sadly I wasn't getting anywhere.
As my worry started to spill out from my eyes and onto my cheeks, I know I must have looked like a crazy person and people were very nice and tried to help me.

Finally I decided I needed to go up to my apartment and drop off all the stuff I had been holding and then I would come back out and start combing every inch of the complex.
What if she got turned around and didn't know where she was?
What if she was trying to find me and was just as worried?
What if she was scared?...

As I entered our building I saw a maintenance guy and I instinctively shoved my phone in his direction with her picture on it and mumbled "have you seen her?" Knowing he wouldn't understand me.
But he pointed and gestured up toward the elevator.
There's no way she came in and went up to our apartment. -I thought.
She wouldn't go all the way up by herself without me?
But as I got in that elevator my heart began to race, wishing it would go faster. I think I could have probably run up the stairs faster at that point.

As the elevator door opened I called out Rachel's name and little shoes appeared and then the rest of my sweet angel came into view. She was sitting on the floor in front of our door crying.

The relief that filled me was unlike anything I have ever experienced. I dropped everything and rushed to her. I picked her up and as I held and hugged her and told her I was so worried and that I was never going to let her out of my sight again.

I'm not entirely sure how we got inside because I didn't set her down, but somehow we fell into a sobbing puddle onto the couch. After we composed ourselves, I asked her what happened and why she didn't come to the end of the path like we agreed.

She told me that when she went down the path there was another path off to the right and she got confused because I had told her to go left. So she turned around and when she didn't see me in the play area, she had just walked to the front of our building. She said a lady was going in and let her in as well. Then she pushed the button for our floor and came up.

She said "We've came this way a hundred times mom."

I told her that I was so sorry she got confused and how I had looked everywhere for her. I told her that if she had just gone straight a bit further she would have seen the place to turn left.

She thought that I had meant to meet her at the apartment not the end of the path so when I hadn't come after a few minutes she got scared.

She said "I prayed to Heavenly Father twice!" I hugged her and held her for the rest of the night.
It was so scary but I am grateful that she is so smart and I am grateful for the people that helped in their own small ways. I am also grateful that my baby has a testimony of prayer and the peace that it can bring.

New friends and guardian angels- 

Since we have lived here in Xi'an we have had an incredible amount of support, but none so great as from my friend D. Her husband is a teacher at my school and they have lived here for 1 year. From the first time I met them and hung out with them they have been nothing but helpful. Giving me directions and words in Chinese. They offered to lend me money when we first got here because we were on a very tight budget. They took Rachel and I out to dinner the first week we were here and so much more.
But one day in particular, you may remember, I was feeling really homesick. Rachel and I had had a lovely morning at church and the day was really great but I was feeling emotional. After we got home I broke down during an episode of Glee! Well in the midst of my sobs D sent me a text asking if I wanted to bring Rachel over to play with her daughter so she and I could have some girl time. I kindly declined at first and then admitted to feeling down. She persisted and convinced me to come over. After a short time, I peeled myself off the coach and headed over. The girls played and we headed out in search of ice cream. D. let me cry on her and recounted her own experience when they first moved here. She wasn't working at the time and was home alone during the day. It was exactly the kind of comfort I needed at the moment I needed it most.
This isn't the only time D or another friend has come through at the moment of greatest need:

• My friend who teaches across the hall invited me to lunch one day and we had such a great time we decided to do it every Friday. 
• Another friend watched Rachel for a bit so I could have a little time to myself and get some grocery shopping done. 
• Our computer tech helped me buy my cell phone online so I could save a lot of money. 
• One of my Chinese friends helps me purchase things on Taobao (Chinese version of Amazon) She is so kind and patient. 
• Another took me to my first movie in China and helps me translate things I can't read.

The list goes on and on. Each day I am reminded of the gift of service for it truly is a gift. I have also been blessed by serving others. Whether it is simply holding the door or gate for someone or lending them cash because their card is having issues, my spirit is lifted. This evening I made beef curry but the seasoning I bought was not the same as what I thought it was going to be. So I sent a quick message to some friends asking them if they wanted it. Within seconds someone replied and instead of dumping a perfectly good meal, I was able to take dinner to a friend who has been ill this past week.

Living abroad in a setting such as this gives you a whole new perspective on what it means to be a family. Simply because my biological family isn't here, doesn't mean I don't have 'family'. We have so many people that love and support us and whom we can love and support as well. The Lord has given me a glimpse as to what it may be like when the world is "whole" once again. When we can truly look at one another and feel as if we are brothers and sisters, perhaps then we will understand that family is much bigger than what we think.

This experience has brought together an incredible group of people. We all have different life experiences and ideas and perspectives and beliefs, but despite all that, we are there for one another, we hug each other, we celebrate and cry together and we journey together. There is simply nothing else that I know of that could replicate this experience. 

God is so good! I am so thankful for all my little angels.

Health and safety of my family back home-

The day Rachel and I flew out was a very hard day indeed. My mom, who has never been sick a day in my life, was admitted to the hospital. She had been having pain in her side that I thought was a bruised or dislocated rib.
Unfortunately it was a really bad infection and the next 72 hours were some of the stressful and prayerful hours of my life.
Aside from the craziness of travel, time changes, connections, lost or delayed luggage and standing in line for hours on end; worrying about my family back home makes it all worse.

The Lord was definitely with me and my family during this time. Rachel had not been feeling super great herself when we left and literally slept the entire flight. She finally left the remnants of her tummy as we descended into Shanghai on the floor. How there was no sick-bag anywhere within reach is beyond me. Luckily for them she had basically only had water and a cracker since we left so it wasn't that bad.

My sweet husband went into overdrive taking care of everything back home. With the help of my sisters and aunts, they gave me moment to moment updates and made sure my mom was taken care of until she could come home.

There were definitely moments I wanted to get back on that plane and come home but through medical wisdom and some blessings from above, everything turned out ok and my mom is now happy and on the mend at home.

We often overlook God's miracles and justify them in many ways but my mom is alive right now because God is not done with her here on this earth yet. There are so many ways this experience could have been drastically different, but I know that He has a great plan.

Evidence #1- My aunt decided to take my mom to the emergency room right away that morning rather than having her wait until Tony came back from Idaho Falls to take her to Urgent Care.

Evidence #2- The doctors have no idea how long the infection had been there, how it got there or why it started causing pain at this time.

Evidence #3- No cancer- This was particularly surprising due to the location, nature and severity of the infection.

Each of these examples deny the normal pattern of logic and probability. Do these things prove the existence of God? No, but they certainly undermine the common argument against Him. I love my mom so much and I am so grateful for the way my prayers were answered in this circumstance.

Skype and Netflix- 

I honestly have no idea how the magic of technology makes it so I can keep in touch with my family so far away, but I am so grateful for it!

Netflix is our main form of entertainment and although it can be a pain to use a VPN (and Netflix/China really do not want this to happen) It is just one more thing that makes me feel connected to home.

UPDATE 2017. So Netflix has stopped working for the most part if you use any kind of VPN, Proxy server etc. This was very frustrating at first but then my good friends at school introduced me to torrents and all my media woes have been solved.

Skype still works great so I can keep in touch with all my family back home. Once you are more comfortable in China, you'll find other apps and technology that are useful too.

Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy-

Living in China has had some great advantages in helping us grow more spiritually. Our branch is very tiny and we meet at the home of another family, but it is so sweet. We have our regular worship meeting called Sacrament and then Sunday school afterward. We often have pot luck dinner and this is  great time to socialize and talk to other adults in English. Its awesome for Rachel to be able to play with kids close to her age. Now that I'm not working 30 hours every weekend, I can actually get most of the cleaning and shopping done before Sunday. This makes it much easier to just spend time with Rachel, do crafts and focus on our spiritual growth.

Reading the Scriptures-

Rachel has helped me stay dedicated to reading scriptures every night and we recently finished the Book of Mormon. This scripture study has deepened my understanding of the Lord as well as provided and incredible opportunity for me to help Rachel learn. She is so sweet and almost always wants me to read more than we have time for. We have learned important lessons about forgiveness and love by reading each night and helps us stay connected with the Lord during the week. It is a great thing to do before going to sleep each night and I'm so grateful for it!