Sunday, August 23, 2015

THIS WEEK WAS PERFECT

At the Beach on P-Day

As for this week...THIS WAS SO INCREDIBLE. I feel like I got a new start, as a successful, confident, happy missionary and person. I don't know exactly why, but I do know that it was ALL Heavenly Father's help. 
I decided to turn to Him in prayer and even though I have been doing so all along, I think I really have been focusing more energy and sincerity into my prayers. I can't adequately describe all the changes I have seen and felt this week. I have felt more confident and God has helped me see and feel my strengths and experiences bless others. 
I think that is the beauty of coming to this little YuLi area...it first makes you see ALL the things you need to improve on and maybe makes you get down on yourself at first, but then you learn what "Fully rely on God" means and if you apply it, you see miracles, which is what I experienced this week. I feel like I kind of have my old, happy self back, which I felt like I lost for a long time. I REALLY hope that I can continue in this upward pattern for the rest of my mission and rest of my life. I feel like my confidence, positivity, sensitivity to the Spirit, and testimony were all increased this week. 
I honestly feel like it has to do a big deal with my companion. We get along so well and she likes to talk and to laugh and work hard. We saw SO many miracles as well, that's the amazing thing, it wasn't just in myself, but it was also manifest in the miracles we saw in people this week. 

We met with Zhu JM this week and we realized just HOW MUCH we still had to teach her in order for her to make her date. We went to review the baptismal interview questions and planned to review the commandments that she didn't remember from the past time missionaries taught her. Turns out she remembered most of them, was willing to follow ALL of them, and expressed confidence even when we said she would have to have 2 interviews! She is still struggling not chewing binlang or drinking, more drinking is the problem. But she wants to quit by the time she has her first interview, so we are excited!! Her change has been amazing!!! Seeing her change has filled me with such indescribable joy.
 

We also set a baptismal date with
黃軍越 this week, someone we found almost 2 months ago, who finally had time to meet!!! We also re-set a baptismal date with Jiemei, who has had a baptismal date on and off for a year or more I think!! She has to have heart surgery at the end of this month and has to recover for a long time, so her date is scheduled for October 10th! Another highlight of the week includes two adorable little Taiwanese boys following us around all night while we were proselyting. 3 and 5 years old, a bit sad because their parents didn't care at all, but they followed us around for at least an hour while we taught the gospel to people...hopefully they will remember this experience when they grow up and go on missions;)
We met with a Jiemei who has been investigating for 7 months. She had recently been avoiding the missionaries so we didn't go see her for a long time, but we felt prompted to go visit her and...miracle! She told us, without us asking or reviewing anything, that her goal is to go to the celestial kingdom and to do that, she has to get baptized, and to get baptized, she has to read the Book of Mormon and quit smoking. So all we did was say "Can we make a plan with you to help you stop smoking?" and she said YES!!! Wow...I never thought I would be helping so many people stop these bad habits!!
At the Tropic of Cancer!
FUNNIEST MOMENT OF THE WEEK: We went to visit our Indonesian investigator at her fruit stand, and she had a customer wanting to buy something that she had to go into the back to get. He looks at us, politely says "Ni Hao" and then proceeds to say "KISS ME" in perfect, no-accent English, then moves about his business like it never even happened. The funniest thing is that he OBVIOUSLY had no idea what he had just said!!!! Someone probably taught him that it meant "How are you?" or something else polite. We looked at each other and could hardly control our laughter or believe that had just happened!!! Yah pretty typical 
We were also able to help one of our recent converts learn how to better apply the Atonement in her life and use it to not just cleanse sin, but overcome weakness. She actually has a super similar problem as I have had, so I was really praying that I would be able to adequately express what I wanted to tell her, even though it was a bit advanced. Yes, we still have to pray for the gift of tongues every day! I experienced the gift of tongues in expressing not only what I wanted to say, but what she needed to hear:)
The only thing about this week that was not perfect is that my precious little 仁傑 moved away:( My entire heart is fully invested in this family, they are so dear to my heart. I am grateful that 仁平and仁和 are still here so hopefully I can still see them often!!!
So many other amazing things happened this week, I can't begin to describe them all. If you're really interested, read my journal ;) I am just so eternally grateful that Heavenly Father has provided prayer and His Son Jesus Christ as ways for us to seek His help and improve ourselves. Like it says in Helman 6:36 and Alma 41:8, He will bless us as long as we are willing. He has already prepared the blessings He desperately wants to give us. I have been a firsthand witness of that. I love being a missionary with every single fiber of my being. Nothing that I sacrificed to serve a mission matters because THIS is the only work of eternal significance and lasting import.
I know with every part of my heart and soul that this is true. Heavenly Father lives and loves us. Jesus Christ sacrificed His life for our sins and so that we all have an opportunity to return and live with Them again. I know that we have to strive our hardest and work for it. Like Nephi in Helaman 10:4, The Lord will bless us for our unwearyingness to declare the word, to resist against temptation, and to endure through the trials of life to the end. I love you all!!!!


last time with our old Yuli district

Monday, August 17, 2015

New Companion!!

Saying farewell to Sis. Chan

So first off, I was told that it is about 9 miles from Yuli to Songpu, so we rode 18 miles in 3 hours...not bad;) 

Family and friends, IT IS SO HOT. Like, walking around through an oven all day every day!!! People offer us tissues to wipe off our faces with and sometimes just let us inside since it's so hot, only to throw us out when they figure out what we are sharing:) But just look at how tan I am, that's one good thing about it:)

We went to the 赤柯山 this past week to look at the 金針 flowers, or day lilies, I think. All of the Aborigine people here have their own plot of the mountain where they harvest these flowers, so we went up to see 高姐妹's dad's flowers!!

This last week with Sister Chan was so good, we visited a TON of members to say goodbye and stuff. One of the best parts....胡弟兄 (a really old man) told us he wanted to treat us to lunch. So we show up at the restaurant, this really nice place, and he says he actually wants to go somewhere else....so we follow him to the FamilyMart, which is like a bigger version of 7-Eleven where you can buy like...bags of chicken nuggets or frozen vegetables to heat up. Pretty good last lunch together;) We also drove up to see Ren Ping and Ren He, the cute twins. They were at their grandma's house and wouldn't go home until after S. Chan left, so we drove up the mountain to see them!!

HUGE MIRACLE: the morning she left, we went to the train station, and ALL OF OUR BELOVED KIDS WERE THERE!! 潘家庭and 何姊妹 and the蔡kids were all there!! What a tender mercy!!! Then Sister Walker came to YuLi and we saw so many miracles, one of the big ones was a tiny little fair they put up for the afternoon, we had a less active member walk up to us, hand us free lunch, and walk away. We got to buy cotton candy and I bought an I <3 YULI shirt:) We also had a member from XinZhuang walk up to us and want to pray for us:)

at the fair with Sis. Walker
Then SISTER HAACKE CAME!! I already love her. She is a fun redhead who loves tennis and is from Idaho Falls. We like a lot of the same things and are both super excited to get people baptized here in Yuli:) Speaking of people to be baptized....江弟兄 IS SO AMAZING!!!  We met with him this week and shared the Plan of Salvation. He received a confirmation that Joseph Smith restored Jesus Christ's gospel to the earth. When we asked him what he thinks his life purpose is, he said "To be baptized" and when we asked why..."So I can return to live with Jesus Christ." WOAHHHHHHH HE IS SO GOLDEN. 

He has been reading and praying every day and has promised to start reading more and more. Even though he didn't go to college and he is a humble farmer, he really understands the scriptures. He couldn't come to church because of work, but we still have hope for him! As for 朱姊妹 she came to sacrament and brought her two youngest kids! We had a lesson about stopping drinking alcohol and chewing binlang....(if you don't know what it is, look it up haha). She has A HUGE habit and drinks and chews everyday, A LOT. She says just seeing us makes her want to quit, but we want it to be for the right reasons. She really wants to be baptized, but this Word of Wisdom problem is a pretty huge obstacle and I'm a bit scared that she will just give up on baptism if she thinks she can't overcome this commandment, especially since 2 other sets of missionaries have tried to help her with it. Patience and prayer is the key here. Her prayers are so strong though, we're not worried:)

What we are worried about though is that our sweet little 蔡 boys are MOVING!!! 😢 My heart is broken in a million pieces, I literally gave all my heart to this adorable family. 何姊妹 WILL get baptized, someday....she thought that her son (Ren Jie is going to the temple!!) could be baptized for her in the temple so she doesn't have to actually do it hahaha. She wants an eternal family, but she wants all of her kids baptized first. I hope the next set of missionaries who meet with them will take care of them. <3

Well that's about it for this week. Time is going by so fast. I really love Taiwan and all the special people here. We are going to the beach today with a member, super excited:) I love you all and I promise that anything that you pray for will be given you if it is a righteous desire. Sometimes we don't know why we have trials for so long, but just like in Alma chapter 58:7-11, the proper response is to pray and be assured that the Lord will deliver us, we just have to trust in His timing. I love you all, have a great week!!!

My new companion Sis Haacke and  our beloved little boys at church!

Finishing off the chocolate with Sis Chan before she goes!
Sister Wright (Taiwan Taipei Mission)
Rèn Jiěmèi 任曼欣姐妹

Wednesday, August 12, 2015

WE ARE ALIVE!

Greetings from Taiwan! We are safe and sound!

A beautiful country! (pre-storm!)

love these girls!
Don't worry anyone, the typhoon is now gone! Biggest storm of the entire year headed straight for our island, it's over and we are all safe:) On Thursday night it was blowing wind like CRAZY down here on the east coast. We were told to buy food and water in case we had to stay inside and the power went out. Everyone and their dog was out buying food and some stores had hardly anything left! Friday morning, it looked pretty ok so we went out to proselyte. We went to Sister Gunn's house for lunch, and biking back home was TERRIFYING, we almost didn't make it, the wind was blowing backwards and sideways and there was debris in the air and dirt covered our faces and chests and arms when we got inside. 

Once we got inside Friday at1:30pm....we didn't leave the house until Sunday morning at 8:30!!! Yes, that's about 43 hours inside our little apartment walls!!!!  The storm was supposed to be headed straight for our little town, but I guess it redirected and Taipei got it the worst! However, it was rainy and SUPER windy down here in Yuli. Yuli hardly has any people anyway, and during the typhoon, EVERYONE boarded up their houses and pulled down their little metal doors and there was no one anywhere haha. No one answered their phones either, so during the two full days that we were inside, we cleaned A LOT and talked A LOT and ate A LOT:) I'm very grateful that the typhoon provided an opportunity to get to know my companion better:)

I wanted to share a quick experience from last Monday. At the very last 4 minutes of email time, I plugged in my memory card to send pictures. Sister Chan asked if she could use it and I said yah, so she pulled it out of the computer and when she put it in her computer, she pressed some button and then NONE of the pictures were on my memory card anymore. About 3 months of pictures, just GONE. I was SO angry at first, but trying not to blame her, she didn't know, probably didn't think about what she was doing. We took my memory card to a camera store, the man said nope, no way to restore the pictures. Then we took it back to the boss of the internet cafe we were using...he said that the pictures were gone because the computers rebooted every time someone stopped using them and refreshed the harddrive. At this point, I am beyong distraught. I was bawling like a baby, because pretty much every mission memory from training Sister Haupt and every thing in Yuli and the historic memory of Hualian becoming a stake...all gone. I didn't blame Sister Chan, but there was a part of me that wanted to and I wanted someone to blame and I was so angry. 

But I decided that I had to let this sorrow and anger go, no matter what happened, because my relationship with my companion was WAY more important. My personal personality is to let things like this bother me for a long time and I tend to hold grudges. But because of the Atonement and the power of prayer and the ability to change our natures, I was able to almost immediately let it go and act like nothing happened. The MIRACLE came when we took it to a computer store and they said they might be able to save the pictures off of the ruined memory card. Two days later we went back and I got almost ALL of them saved and put onto CDs. I know that this miracle, which 2 professionals in this sort of thing had already told me was impossible, was only possible because I decided that I was going to let it go and not influence my attitude. I know that it is the Atonement of Christ that allowed me to change and to let it go.

Sister Chan and I feel that we have grown so much together and have a special bond now after having gone through this incredible process and coming out on top of our challenges. Sister Chan and I have gotten a long SO well lately, I can't explain how it happened, but it's truly been a miracle.

The other main miracles this week were all because of Jiang Dixiong. We met with him on Monday Thursday and Sunday of this week, after he attended all three hours of church!!! We actually met him about a month and a half ago and he never had time to meet until now...he actually met with missionaries about 3 years ago, but said it was kind of boring. Well.....we shared the law of chastity and the Word of Wisdom pretty much first thing, and he committed to keep them! Our peike for that lesson was actually a less active sister Zhang Jiemei and she bore such powerful testimony. She said she knows she needs to come back to church, but has her own time table for it...I guess we will see how we can help her speed that up!!:) Jiang Dixiong pretty much said that he didn't seriously keep meeting with missionaries before because they didn't mention commandments!! Cool!! And he is just SO golden, he willingly set a date for September 5th, and wants to keep every commitment so he can join our church! He saw the wall with pictures of people who had been baptized on it and was excited to be the next one:) 

When we shared the Restoration with him, he said he believed that Joseph Smith saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and that he restored the church. He really understands the authority of the priesthood and why it is so essential. Actually, he also asked us about temples because that is what was shared in priesthood meeting during church. He is really excited to get the priesthood and go to the temple ALREADY and we have met with him only 4 times in total!! He prays so simply and fervently and prayed to know if the Book of Mormon was true in our closing prayer of our lesson yesterday! We are going to share the Plan of Salvation with him tonight, yes, we have shared lessons a bit out of order but it is what he is interested in and understands!! So exciting, he will be one of the Melchizedek Priesthood holders we need in order to make Yuli Branch a WARD!

Also on Sunday, we got a less active Huang Xiao Ling Jiemei to come to church for the first time in over 6 months! We went to her house and stood outside convincing her to come until she went upstairs to go change into a skirt...then a customer came to get her hair washed (Huang Jiemei is a hairdresser) and we politely told the customer that Huang Jiemei had to go to church, please come back later. Haha we totally shooed a customer away while Huang Jiemei wasn't even there, BUT we saved her soul which is WAY more important:)
Well I wanted to maybe ask someone to look up how far it is from Yuli玉里 to Songpu松浦...because this past Wednesday, after we got back to Yuli from Taidong zone meeting, Sister Chan and I rode to Songpu and back, which is a tiny little tribe village about an hour bike ride away from Yuli, up into the mountains!!! So I want to know how far we biked:) when we got back to Yuli, we ate stinky tofu with the elders and Liu Jiemei. Truly a memorable day:)
sweat-soaked from our long-distance ride!

I love you all and hope you have a good week. I testify that there is nothing more rewarding that seeing growth in yourself and in others. I love Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father and all these people in Yuli, even the people who name themselves after America's current President. I love Taiwan:)

Sister Wright (Taiwan Taipei Mission)
Rèn Jiěmèi 任曼欣姐妹

P-Day at the beach!

Eating stinky tofu!

stinky tofu

Tender Mercies of the Lord



8.2.15

Everyone in our mission got to go to the temple this past week except our zone, we live too far away:) But we were busy down here creating holy experiences for ourselves.
I think a lot this week I was focused on my spiritual progression and what Heavenly Father still has for me to learn. I came across this scripture while reading in Alma 27:18 "Now was not this exceeding joy? Behold, this is joy which none receiveth save it be the truly penitent and humble seeker of happiness."
I have been thinking a lot about how to ALWAYS, no matter what, no matter if its 110 degrees outside and you have to bike for 45 minutes, no matter if no one wants to talk to you, no matter if someone stands you up for a lesson or says they don't want to meet with you anymore, no matter if someone is not keeping commitments, BE HAPPY. And this was an answer to that prayer. We need to SEEK it. Be humble and repentant and remember that happiness is a quest, a constant thing we need to work for. So I have to SEEK this happiness, actively and not stop. I remember at the beginning of my mission I made it a goal to seek how to be the most obedient I could, and now that that has become part of who I am, I can now also focus on seeking how to be the most happy. It's invigorating:)
We had a super fun preparation day in TaiDong last week, definitely what we needed. We stayed the night there and proselyted in TaiDong monday night!!! We had interviews on Tuesday, President Jergensen is awesome!!!:)

Tender mercy this week:
We have this investigator Zhu Jiemei, she is going to get really busy during August because she has to go harvest her flowers at the top of the mountain every day all day (yes the native Aborigines of Taiwan have giant crops of flowers at the very tip-top of mountains that they have to take care of), BUT she has been reading, praying, and coming to church. She says she feels a power every day keep pushing her to do what is right, pushing her to do what she needs to do in order to be baptized. She says that we came at just the right time in her life. When we knocked on her door, she had been wondering why none of the missionaries she saw riding by had stopped to visit her in a while. She also was thinking of how to handle the poor relationship she has with her husband. But we came and helped her remember that Heavenly Father's help is always available. She got super emotional when I just bore my testimony that through Christ's Atonement, we can make ANY change that we need to make. The Spirit was so strong in that lesson.
We didn't have any super crazy fun stories this week like we have in the past, or maybe I'm just so used to the way things go down here in the East Coast that I can't remember:) We proselyte in tiny towns where you have to walk for 15 minutes to talk to anyone. We drip sweat from every pore and have people offer to give us napkins to wipe our faces. We eat chocolate when we are sad because people won't accept Christ and we eat chocolate to celebrate when people make steps to becoming more like their Savior. This past week 仁傑 bore his testimony to a less active young man. He pondered a long time about what to say, and then he said "家庭是永恆的。不用擔心。" or for you people who don't read Chinese;) "Families are eternal. You don't need to worry." His testimony is so pure and so strong. His little brothers both came to church too...we hope to still work with 仁和 to get him baptized!!! We are finding new people, almost every day. The thing is is that we live in such a tiny place, and so many people live in other tiny places, up in the mountains that we, on our little bikes, have NO WAY to pedal 2 hours up a rocky slope to get to...BUT we have faith we will find a way:) I love being down here and getting to meet people that are the gold of Taiwan. It's a very special place and even though its hard to love at times, Heavenly Father is putting that love in my heart. We are ALL His children, and He doesn't compare us against each other, He wants ALL of us back. How lucky I am that I get to take part in His plan, no matter how small of a part I play. I love you all!!!!

Sister Wright (Taiwan Taipei Mission)
Rèn Jiěmèi 任曼欣姐妹


It's hot

7.26.15

Our cute little Ren Jie passed the sacrament for the first time this week, I was the first person to take it from him:) His mom's boyfriend moved out of the house and is gone for good, so now his mom only needs to stop smoking and she can be baptized!!! She wants to stop smoking ASAP, she herself expressed the desire!!!
I ate chicken feet. Yes, 2 summers ago when I was in China, I promised myself I wouldn't. I made it up until 2 days ago and finally did it. I wish I could send pics this week, but we are in TaiDong for our zone volleyball activity and the computers are weird!
I gave a talk on Sunday about how to preach of Christ in the home. It went really well, I was filled with gratitude for such an awesome family:)
Gao Dixiong came home this week, he has been living in ZhongLi for work, but he received a revelation from Heavenly Father that he needed to come back down here. Gao Jiemei and KaiKai are so happy:)
We went to FuLi for 4 hours on Saturday and helped sweep up an old rice barn, full of spiders and cockroaches and dust and rice shells. It was fun to do some sweaty dirty labor:) Sister missionaries can do hard things!!!
We rode our bikes around for about 3 hours yesterday up in the mountains of a tiny town in the middle of nowhere to contact a referral. Well, he wasn't home but his mom said he would call us. We found 3 miracle investigators along the way though!!! We were just hot sweaty tired and the only thing keeping my legs peddling up the mountain was thinking of eating dinner:)
BIGGEST NEWS: We threw away Lin Jiemei's coffee last week. We visited her that Monday and she hadn't had coffee, she hadn't dranken it!!! (is that proper English, I literally don't even know) She said "I dont have any coffee, how could I drink any?" haha so awesome. THEN...... we met with her on Tuesday and SHE KILLED US. She straight up was like " I don't think I can live the standards in your church and you have too many restrictions. I don't want to come back and I don't want to see you." She wouldn't even say a closing prayer. We literally don't know what happened, she was supposed to get baptized this upcoming Saturday!!!!!! Our sweet little Lin Jiemei...we didn't even know she was capable of dumping us that hard. The day after our "break-up" we saw her riding her bike and waved...the day after is always the hardest:((
Our investigator Luo Jiemei set a baptismal date this last week!!! Her family has 6 kids and her husband gambled all of their money away, so we bought her food so they would have something to eat. We hope she starts taking real action to help herself and her family be happier. 

I read a scripture in Alma 20:30 "And, as it happened, it was their lot to have fallen intothe hands of a more hardened and a more stiff necked people; therefore they would not hearken unto their words,"... so even to these amazing prophets, who could work miracles any second, had struggles. It is just going to happen that sometimes we get harder areas and harder circumstance in our lives, but Heavenly Father always knows what we need.

Well we saw lots of miracles this week, lots of new people with potential to be baptized and be brought to the glorious light of this gospel, the only real and true and happy way to eternal life. This week was hard but beautiful and worth every single drop of sweat...and let me tell you that was not a few. it is BLAZING HOT HERE IN YULI. Like a million degrees, hotter than anywhere I've ever been!!! I am turning black, my skin is so tan :) I hope you all have a good week, and whenever you wanna give up, just take a breath, take a break, and keep going. Heavenly Father only requires one day at a time. I am so grateful for prayer. Prayer is so simple, yet so powerful. It you have been neglecting your prayers lately, first of all, repent, but then say a really good prayer and thank your Father in Heaven for everything you have. I love you all, keep on keeping on and praying for the missionaries:)

Sister Wright (Taiwan Taipei Mission)
Rèn Jiěmèi 任曼欣姐妹