Monday, October 26, 2015

TEMPLE twice in one week, and a BAPTISM!!

My "generation" of missionaries - now all leading the mission!
Me and my comp!
Some amazing miracles from this past week:

-BAPTISMS FOR THE DEAD WITH OUR RECENT CONVERT!! We took 陳文鐘 to the temple to do baptisms for the first time!! It was so amazing to see him be baptized for people who now have the opportunity to accept the gospel!!

Sister Sagisi and me at the temple
-We were praying on where to go to find, and as we prayed, the number 72 popped into my head. So we went to #72 on the street we planned to go to and it was a building complex, so we tried to decide which doorbells to knock on. One of the mailboxes had a "神愛世人" sticker on the mailbox which means "God loves everyone", so we decided to ring that doorbell. They let us in (WHICH HARDLY EVER HAPPENS) and the 16 year old boy and his grandma were SO welcoming and willing to let us share. The grandma actually knew what she was talking about when she was talking about the Bible...most of the time when people say they are Christian here, it means they go to church on Sundays, and know absolutely nothing about Christ, but this 崔阿嬤 (Cui Ama) did!!! And as we gave her grandson a Book of Mormon, she encourages him to read it every day! He set a date to be baptized, so we will help him work towards that!!

-We were headed home last night, the last hour we had to find a new investigator to meet our goals for the week. Right by where we had stopped our bikes, a guy was parking his. We started talking to him, and I have NEVER had someone be so willing to pray, accept a Book of Mormon, and set up a next time to meet with us. Li Dixiong, his grandma taught him how to pray when he was younger and he hasn't for over 20 years, and really wants to come back to church!!!

I got to see my "baby" at transfer meeting!
-Zheng Jiemei....she is SO AMAZING. In one 45 minute lesson, we taught about the Law of Chastity, the Ten Commandments, and the Law of Tithing and fasting! We are excited for her baptism on Saturday!!!

-We met with a less active Lin Dixiong. He actually REALLY wants to come back to church and his work is literally like 18 hours a day, AND when he doesn't work, he is in school since he is only 22. It is crazy, all he needed was our invitation to come back to church and he is going to start praying to find a new job!

Another fun thing...I went on exchanges with Sister Kunzler this past week!! My beloved past companion, haha I love her so much, we still work so well together and we are such similar people! She is so optimistic, much happier than when we were together, and she is SUCH a powerful teacher. I love it. It was SO good to be able to just talk to her, reminisce on the miracles we saw when we were in 八德 together, and just talk about life and mission experiences. She is so uplifting, and yet still so humble and human, it was great to be able to be companions with her again for 24 hours.

With Sis. Kunzler on exchanges!
WE HAD A BAPTISM!!!! yayyyy Chen Hui Mu 陳輝木 GOT BAPTIZED!!! He might not look very happy in this picture, but trust me, he was glowing!!!!!!!!! He has bad knees and so he was really scared at first to have to bend his knees to go back into the water, but it was fine:) He got confirmed yesterday and he was just so happy! 

Chen Hui Mu

Chen Hui Mu and our Bishop!
Something I have learned while being on a mission: Life is full of ups and downs. Like, duh right, but it still has new meaning sometimes. We can't be perfect or we wouldn't learn. We can't be happy all the time or we would not appreciate those moments fully. This mission...it is SO precious to me. I am focusing less and less on myself though and more and more on these members and missionaries and my companion who goes home in 10 days...weird. Well my ponderize scripture for the week is Mosiah 23:10, WHAT'S YOURS??:)

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

exchanges lunch


Sunday, October 25, 2015

No One Believes I'm American


Once again, I had a week full of people asking me if I'm from China or if my mom is Taiwanese and my dad is American. Before I even speak Chinese, they ask me!!! I was born to be in Asia:)

We have a baptism this Saturday YAY! Chen Hui Mu, he quit smoking a week early and we moved his baptism 2 weeks up!! He is so awesome and is so proud of himself, as he should be. :-)

We hope to have another baptism on October 31st, Sheng Yi Ting Jiemei! She was a referral and a self contact, she's awesome!!! Her only issue is that she works almost every day, and its a rule at her place of work that she has to work at least 2 Sundays. SO, currently, she is coming to BeiTou ward on the days she has off and then going to XinAn ward's sacrament meeting when she has work at 10 am. We want to ask her to get a different job though, since she just got this one anyway. :-)

Her job is at an animal hospital and she REALLY likes it, but her testimony is already so strong, so I don't think it should be a problem. It's so cool, we taught her about repentance and invited her to repent. We followed up and she said, "Yes, I repented, then I opened my scriptures." 



She opened to Mosiah 21:13-15; 
"And they did humble themselves even to the dust, subjecting themselves to the yoke of bondage, submitting themselves to be smitten, and to be driven to and fro, and burdened, according to the desires of their enemies. And they did humble themselves even in the depths of humility; and they did cry mightily to God; yea, even all the day long did they cry unto their God that he would deliver them out of the their afflictions. 
And now the Lord was slow to hear their cry because of their iniquities; nevertheless, the Lord did hear their cries, and began to soften the hearts of the Lamanites that they began to ease their burdens; yet the Lord did not see fit to deliver them out of bondage."

She started crying as she told us how she was trying to find a way to become more humble and then she saw this scripture. During the same lesson, when we invited her to repent, we asked if she believed that God is our Eternal Father and she said she wasn't sure. Then she had THIS experience and she believes now. Heavenly Father is so cool like that, giving this experience to those who have faith and are willing to believe in and act on any answer received.

This week was amazing. We had a man Lin DiXiong self contact us and ask what difference our church had with other churches. He was super prideful at the beginning, trying to show us that we weren't any different. After we taught about the Restoration and baptism in the way that Jesus Christ got baptized, he was eager to come to the baptism that we invited him to come to this Saturday:)

Also, I WENT TO THE TEMPLE TODAY!!!!!!!!! First time since I trained Sister Haupt...about 6 months (because when you live so far away, like in Yuli, you don't get to go to the temple) !!! A little extra surprise, I SAW ASHLEY AND LUKE SANFORD!!! Yep, little high school reunion at Temple Square today:) Plus Luke's parents, it was so cool!!!


Highlight of the week: TEMPLE TOURS!! First temple tours in a loooooooooong time too. HUGE HUGE HUGE MIRACLES!! 1. Jerry and Sofia cameeeeeeeeeeee!! They came to see me, especially took work off for it:) Jerry's one year baptism anniversary is next month, and he is GETTING HIS ENDOWMENT!! yeeeeahhhh 2. We did a tour in English with a girl named Shirley, she learned about Christianity before, but she said she had a different feeling in the chapel even though she knew the stories:) 3. DO YOU REMEMBER JIANG DIXIONG FROM YULI?? The super golden 25 year old man who said his life purpose was to be baptized?? I had an inspiration to call him to see where he was living...then he TURNS UP AT THE TEMPLE TO DO A TEMPLE TOUR. By the end of the tour, he committed to meet with the XinZhuang missionaries and be baptized the first week of November!!!!!!!!!! From meeting him in Yuli to doing a tour together in Taipei...sooooooo amazing:) 4. Our investigator Xie Dixiong came and did a tour too:) 

I REALLY don't have a lot of time right now, but I love the temple and I love Heavenly Father and I love praying. We also had interviews with President Jergensen this week, and he told me alot about the power of prayer. TALK and CONVERSE with God. He is our DADDY. And your daddy loves you, so do it:) Well....Sister Sagisi goes home soon and I will be taking over this huge Taipei area, so extremely out of my comfort zone, but Heavenly Father loves to push me to my limits:) This will be an amazing week, talk to you all in another short 4 days:)


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

Sunday, October 11, 2015

Simplicity


Our Zone!

What verse of scripture are you all PONDERIZING this week??? If you don't know what I am talking about, REPENT, and then go watch General Conference:) 

Funny story:
You know how about 2 months ago, my memory card deleted ALL of my pictures? Well, a new memory card did it again last Monday. 4,000+ pics, GONE. But I didn't panic this time, I just paid $800 for a man to fix it and pull all of the pictures out of it. Heavenly Father is trying to teach me the lesson of backing up my pictures and not relying on man-made technology.

Another Funny Story in the life of Sister Wright:
This morning I was being a good little missionary and cleaning the air conditioning filter, outside so as not to get dust everywhere. Before I knew what went wrong, I see my hands drop the filter and watch it spiral 3 stories down into the dark abyss that is the back-side of Taiwanese apartment buildings. What followed was a fun adventure, knocking on people's doors asking if they had a way to access the tiny dark wet moldy buggy area that I dropped the filter into. 

Finally we went in to the hair salon on the bottom floor (we live on the 3rd floor) and they got the back door open (which looked like it hadn't been opened in years) and handed me a lantern to go down and look. It will be hard for you to picture this scene, but I jumped out of the back door of the salon into a tiny dark and damp alley about 2 feet wide and tip-toed along the wall so as not to fall into the river of filth at the bottom. But I SUCCESSFULLY RETRIEVED THE FILTER!! I thought this experience was a lot like repentance. I made a mistake, dropped the filter. But this filter was important, and I knew I needed to get it back even when everyone told me "It's too hard! It's too dark, it's too dirty! You can't go back there!" I made up for the mistake I made even though it was difficult. Sin is dirty and dark and sometimes it looks like there is no way back and no way to retrieve the purity and happiness you had before, but you have to work for it anyway. Only THEN will you feel triumphant and be able to breath clean air again:)

In search of the air filter!
So everyone, I did my first zone training this week as a Sister Training Leader!!! It actually went really really well. I rapped about the scripture "Here am I, send me" in Isaiah and it was pretty great if I do say so myself:) I also went on my first exchanges!!!! I went to YiLan 宜蘭 with Sister Facer, it is so pretty but so isolated there!! She is so awesome, quiet dignity:) I got to read Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets in Chinese on the train there, that was pretty cool for me, plus I probably made that little girl really happy, sitting next to her and creepily reading it over her shoulder. :)

Reading in Chinese!
I Also got to go to NeiHu 內湖 with the tripanionship of Sister Meyers and Sister Hadley, both new in the area. They have no bikes, so we basically ran everywhere that day, and then they didn't know where to go on their way home, so we walked 25 minutes in the wrong direction, then had to catch a bus and run home!!! Crazy, but so fun, those sisters are POWERFUL and obedient and bold:)

I love this leadership position because it helps me forget myself. I am a shepherd and a steward just like Christ, and I can now be that emotional support that I relied on when I was a young missionary.

Our investigator Chen Hui Mu told us he gave up smoking yesterday and wants to get baptized  a week early:) Our other golden investigator Zheng Yi Ting says that she is willing to give up a vacation to the beach with her friend so that she can come to church and then be baptized:) 

This Conference changed my life. I felt so inspired because everyone was so specific in their invites and counsel, and yet left so much room for pondering and personal analysis. Also, a lady in our ward made BROWNIES to eat between sessions. Like, real brownies. I haven't had brownies in over a year. It was amazing. 
This is how we watched conference. (The Elders couldn't be in the same room so they watched from the hall)
Some of my favorite parts from conference include:
E. Nelson "If you quit now, others will have to painfully learn what you already know." I love this because I have felt like giving up before, only to realize how selfish it would be to withhold the knowledge I have gained from a trial. I loved his talk, it made me feel empowered.

I also loved the talk about "What lack I yet?" This conference's overlying theme to me was internal and personal analysis. The answers to all of our questions can be answered through prayer and personal pondering. I loved how Pres. Eyring talked about how his father learned to follow the Spirit throughout his whole life. That is now my biggest goal, to learn to listen to and follow the Spirit more closely so that I can receive the answers to any of my questions. I also felt a great desire to serve more and help build others up against the pain of temptation and trial. Pretty much just inspired on every spiritual level. My dear friends and family, I had a lot of questions to be answered. All of my questions were answered through this conference. There was an entire talk dedicated to answering each and every question! Heavenly Father is amazing and prepared me to receive and recognize the answers I was looking for.

I loved the talk in Women's Conference about how this life is a time for preparation, not a time to receive all of our blessings. I know that we will receive all of our blessings in the Celestial Kingdom, and we must hold onto that hope for the future when we don't see the fruits of our labors and obedience in this life. 

I am going to simplify. When I think too much about the gospel, what is expected of me, what could go wrong, etc., I just get frustrated. I am going to live my life in the light of His love, and that is it. :-) I have no way to express how much spiritual nourishment and direction I got out of this conference, but I LOVED IT and I love you all. :-)

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

Our view from the bus
We had McDonalds




Monday, October 5, 2015

Surprise Everyone!




Sorry for taking a picture while riding my bike!

Sis Haacke!

Zhu Jiemei!

Goodbye Yuli district!
Soooo I might have forgot to mention a few things last week:


Did I mention that Zhu Jiemei passed her baptismal interview and GOT BAPTIZED???
Did I mention that transfers were postponed a week, so they happened this past Thursday and...I LEFT YULI???

Yes these were TWO HUGE surprises to me too. I wasn't super thrilled when they told me I was moving. Like REALLY. Yuli is my city. I never ever thought that I would love the middle-of-nowhere as much as I did. I got on the train at 4 pm on Wednesday and Zhu Jiemei got baptized at 8 that night. I missed her baptism by 4 hours. To say that Sister Haacke and I were sad to be separated is an understatement. She has permanently changed my life and made me into a happier person. 

Sooooo yah I went to Taipei to the biggest transfer meeting ever. I felt SO out of place. I had never even seen half of these missionaries because I was "banished" to the east coast so long. I got to transfer meeting and everyone was like "Sister Wright where have you been??" "Sister Wright, you're SO tan!!|" "Hey, Sister Wright, you escaped Yuli!" and my favorite: "Sister Wright, you look skinnier!" Haha. Yah lots of people were surprised to see me. I was surprised to be there. I didn't mention transfers last week because I was SO SURE that I wasn't moving. But Heavenly Father has been playing this little trick on me my whole mission...haha now moving to my 5th area and 7th companion!! He never lets me get too comfortable, and I know that it's good so that I can stretch myself and grow. But the results of the transfer meeting were the most surprising. 

I am now Sister Training Leader in Beitou, East Taipei!!! I AM A TAIPEI MISSIONARY NOW. And many of you, well all of you don't know what that means, but basically it means, changing ALLLL of my missionary habits! Like going from proselyting in, let's say, a tiny town in Iowa to a huge busy bustling town of lots and lots of people like New York. It's a different world that plays by different rules and I have a bit of culture shock. BUT Heavenly Father hasn't given me anything that I can't do (yet) and I believe that, even if it takes me a little longer than usual, I will adapt:)

Moving to Beitou

New Member Fireside
Fireside meeting

I am super super excited for this opportunity to forget myself and work to support these amazing sisters in my zone. I know that Heavenly Father has given me MANY opportunities to learn the patience and listening skills that are required for this calling. 

Also at the transfer meeting: SISTER BRANCH SKYPED IN!! You see, my trainer, Makenna Branch, went home the day the transfer meeting was supposed to be, so I got to talk to her on Skype on Thursday!! It was so AWESOME. I loveee herrrrr.

So YES ZHU JIEMEI GOT BAPTIZED. The reason I didn't mention it is because we didn't know quite until the day before if she would be able to be baptized on Wednesday. BUT SHE DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!!! And yes, right after she passed her interview, we took pictures in her white clothes because I knew I wasn't going to be there. I was definitely heartbroken, BUT she knew that this was a decision between her and Heavenly Father and whether or not I was there, she wanted to do it. This attitude is really the best I could ask for. 

I love Zhu Jiemei!

Zhu Jiemei's baptism!

Sis. Haacke & Zhu Jiemei, after her baptism!
I had a really cool miracle though this past week that showed how much my Heavenly Father loves me. So Sister Haacke's dad works for Melaleuca and they are a big deal in Taiwan. So he comes to Taiwan frequently for business trips. So my first night in Beitou, we were finding with a member, and we talked to a man who said his boss was a member of our church. He points to a picture on his wall and it's PAUL HAACKE. I was like "NO WAY I know him!!" and this man goes "I'm going to see him tomorrow!!" So I showed this man a picture of Paul Haacke's daughter S. Haacke and he said he would show it to Bro. Haacke. 

I didn't think anything of it until Sunday night when we went to the New Member Fireside at the chapel next to the temple in Taipei. I looked behind me and saw Bro. Haacke! We talked after the meeting and he told me that the previous night they had had an awards night for the company and this man had showed him the picture of me and S. Haacke that I had showed him!! He had asked this man where he lived and he said Beitou. Bro. Haacke new that the missionaries in Beitou probably would come to the New Member fireside, so he got off work early that night by some miracle, just in time to make it to the fireside and BAM - I met him!! And then....we set up a time to eat lunch together so I ate lunch with S. Haacke's dad in the basement of Taipei 101 today! :) 

Lunch with Bro. Haacke!



Another miracle....my friend from Green Valley Stake Sister Allen MOVED up to our Taipei Mission and I got to spend the night with this past Wednesday night WOO!!!:)

Well, I certainly am excited for what this transfer brings. I am companions with Sis. Sagisi, who I served with in TaoYuan, and she and I were both born in GuiShan!! She GOES HOME THIS TRANSFER!!!! So I am "killing" her, so this will be a fun transfer. I take over the area in 5 weeks, wish me luck!! :)

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

New companion, Sis. Sagisi!

Taipei 101