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Sister Wright's last dinner in Beitou ward...

The World is Changing

IT SNOWED IN TAIWAN THIS WEEK. Yes. I am telling  you..........last week it poured everyday, and it did this week too, but it was SO COLD. I have never been so cold in my life. It never snows in Taiwan. I was wearing like 2 shirts and 2 jackets and 2 pairs of tights and 2 pairs of gloves....and a rain coat and people look at you like WHAT ARE YOU DOING OUTSIDE?!?! and i'm just thinking "Bringing your salvation":) It was great!

It snowed yesterday and everyone was a bit distracted during church because of it haha:) Yesterday was AMAZING. I gave a talk and it went super well. We had lots of people come to hear me speak, including my crew from Bade, JJ and Isabella and Debbie and my recent convert Pan Dixiong!!!!!! It was SO touching. I was given a lot of gifts yesterday and a HUGE card that the ward members all signed. Chantelle and ChenLei came. ChenLei is experiencing incredible changes. Her life is controlled by her mother who is like 85. So her mom says she can't get baptized even though she's like 48. But she is keeping the faith and learning and changing. It's been amazing to witness. 

Also Chantelle. She is just a fun loving 22 year old with no goals or plans, just fun. So she is just starting to witness the way the gospel can change her life. She is starting to keep commandments and love the gospel and feel the Spirit. It's so cool!! As we have been creating specific spiritual atmospheres for our investigators to feel the Spirit in the way they need it, it has been speeding up their conversion. It's so cool.

We have our new investigator LinLuoFan, he is 17 and SO gonna get baptized. He is so golden and he LOVES the feeling inside the chapel. We shared the Restoration with him this week and he said he, like Joseph Smith, had been lost and wanted to find a light and a direction, and now he is slowly finding it. He is so awesome!!! His mom said that he can make the choice for himself too, which is really rare in Taiwan!!

We went on THREE EXCHANGES this past week. Oh man I do NOT have time to talk about it all. I did temple tours on Tuesday with Sister Cutler and we saw SO MANY MIRACLES. Our former investigator ChenChongYong came to JinHua to take us to lunch. He still wants to join our church but is still afraid of his wife's reaction. Chen Lei SET A BAPTISMAL DATE. She pointed to her Buddhist bracelet as if to say " I am married to Buddha, I can't make this change." Then the Spirit told me to tell her boldly "That commitment has NO meaning." At first I was scared that I was too bold, telling her her lifelong religion and devotion to Buddha isn't real, but she accepted it and really wants to make it back to the Celestial Kingdom! 

I also saw Duncan at the temple, he brought me Costco muffins again:) He is so amazing, he said " I love prayer, It's my favorite. Heavenly Father is so awesome." He is truly converted to the gospel. He was originally going to come see me off at the airport, then he found out it was his stake temple day, so he decided going to the temple was more important. I agree:)

Then I went on exchanges with Sister Chan. It was so great to be companions with her again. She has changed a lot. Her viewpoint of her mission is more focused, she is happier and I can tell she does it because she loves the Lord and does it for His glory. She is so energetic and I am SO grateful I got to be with her again. We found two SUPER awesome new investigators together!!! Just like old times in YuLi:)

Then I went on exchanges with Sister Nanney. She is a quieter one, but her testimony is so powerful. We saw an awesome miracle of a 16 year old who said she felt an incredible feeling when we talked about baptism and the Book of Mormon. She committed to baptism on the spot:) I am so blessed to have had this calling as Sister Training Leader, to work with and learn from so many sisters. I am grateful that I have been able to influence their lives and them mine. 

We went to Jin Jiemei's house up on the mountain this morning with our whole zone. She made cake and noodles and salad for us. We got our zone t-shirts and just talked. She is so amazing for hosting us all up in her super fancy custom-made apartment up on the 12th floor:) We get to be all together again tomorrow because there is a world-wide broadcast for all the missionaries about Teaching Repentance and Baptizing Converts. 

We went house hunting this week...we might be moving!!! Our apartment is too small for 4 sisters to live in, even if its just twice a week. And our bathroom has mold. And the people who live below us are rude. Haha it was fun going shopping for a new house!! 

One of my favorite miracles this week: we went to the Family Mart (a convenience store that is on every corner, the most common convenience store besides the 7-11 in Taiwan). We always have lessons with our investigators on the 2nd floor. We went in and there was this guy staring at us a lot. We went up to the 2nd floor and saw that our investigator wasn't there. Normally we wait a few minutes to see if they show up, then leave after 5 or 8 minutes. I had a feeling we had to leave immediately. We walked out and the man that had been staring at us was no where to be seen. I felt a sensation pulling me to the right and I started sprinting. After like 10 seconds, I found the man who had been staring at us. He looked as surprised as I felt that we had found him. I told him we were missionaries. He asked us what we wanted him to do. I said read, pray, come to church and be baptized. He said ok how do I do it? So we prayed and gave him a Book of Mormon and set up a time to meet and he said he would be baptized when he feels God's love and that this is right. It was SO COOL. I truly have learned to follow the Spirit on my mission, a truly priceless gift. 

In Chinese, Zion is XiAn. We have a street in our area called XiAn Xiang or Zion Lane. It is STRAIGHT up a mountain. So we walked straight up the mountain on the coldest rainiest day of the week and were singing and laughing the whole way. We found a family who lives in a place that reminds me a lot of YuLi. I love Sister Facer. We have definitely had our ups and downs, I have pushed her to work harder than she probably ever anticipated she would have to work and she pushed my patience to the limit at times. But we love each other and have inside jokes and she said to me this week "Sister Wright, please don't go home." 

My dear family and friends, I miss you, but I don't want to ever go home. I love Taiwan and it is my home. I feel more at home here than I have anywhere else in my life. The people love me and I love them. My ward here is my family. They call me they're "most beloved sister missionary". I have changed lives here and my life has been changed. There is no more humble or hard-working or consecrated or dedicated people than the Taiwanese. They are kind and loving and strange and I love them. I feel accepted here and their culture has become a part of me....except for worshipping their ancestors that is:) 

No matter where I have been, GuiShan or TaoYuan or Bade or YuLi or BeiTou, I have loved every second of every day. It has all been full of growth for me and for others. It will be impossible to ever describe how much this mission has meant to me. This next week is going to bring a lot of changes. I am grateful for the trust and confidence I have gained in my Heavenly Father. I still have so many weaknesses but I have grown so much. I will continue to write updates every week, if you are interested in still hearing from me. 

I love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love my mission in Taiwan. 

I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I am called of Him to declare His word among His people, that they might have everlasting life.  

 

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

We Spent the Whole Week in Our Raincoats

Another stormy week this week!!! It rains so much here and I'm so used to it that I forget to mention things like this in my email to you people!! We practically lived in our raincoats. :)

This is a giant pile of recycling and trash, many of which exist everywhere in Taiwan. This is my "I am here to clean up the garbage in the souls of mankind" face

Of course this week was amazing, but most of it was finding and finding and knocking and contacting and more proselyting. There are so many people here in Beitou, and GuanDu, but most of them did not want to talk to us this week haha. :)

I went on exchanges with Sister Ioane from Tuvalu, a tiny island by Tonga. She is amazing. We saw a cool miracle where a lady came up to us and started talking, she had been contacted by the elders in DanShui (right next to our area) about a month earlier!! We spent the whole day street contacting in the rain except for one lesson with ChenLei, a self contact. She loves God, believes that Christ is her Savior, loves everything we teach about and believes its real. BUT she is "Buddhist". Even when we tell her that those gods don't exist, she accepts it. But in her mind (which is a little strange sometimes) she can't get around the fact that she is "married to Buddha" and has no reason to "divorce" him, so she can't be baptized. *sigh* I love Taiwanese people, :)

I went to the physical therapist last Tuesday, she relaxed all the muscles in my back and taped my muscles into position of good posture. IT HURT SO BAD. I have had impeccable posture, but it hurt so bad. So I am still figuring out how to stand up straight without it hurting haha I am going back this week. 

MIRACLE: I stopped a 17 year old kid to give him an English tract for our free class, then started talking about baptism. He was so focused and committed to be baptized on the street. We met with him Saturday and he said he LOVED the feeling in the chapel, he didn't want to leave. He said he wanted to get baptized right there. GET THIS: I explained what the Holy Ghost was and he was like "I finally know what it is" meaning that he had been feeling it since middle school but didn't know how to describe or say what it was! He came to church yesterday and said it was great. :)

Chantelle Lai. She is amazing. She is a 22 year old dancer, and we are bffs:) We taught her pretty much all of the commandments this week, including the Word of Wisdom and the 10 commandments. She loved it and says the commandments are awesome and loves to follow them. She came to church yesterday even though she didn't feel good. She is scheduled to get baptized on February 20th. :)

In November when Elder Stevenson of the Twelve Apostles came and spoke to us, he said that all we need to proselyte is our Preach my Gospel, white handbook and Book of Mormon. So since my back has been hurting, this week, I took those three things and my daily missionary planner and put them in my pockets, and went out a-proselytin'. No bag and no tracts and no flyers. And it was SO cool. I relied solely on the power of my nametag and my testimony and the Holy Ghost to get people to listen to us speak about Christ and baptism and prayer!! We have this awesome investigator WuChengHan, he is 19. We went over to his house to teach him the first lesson and his little sister joined too!!! I sat there and taught from the heart not using any teaching materials other than testimony and the Spirit. It was cool:) They both are scheduled for baptism on the 20th of February too. :)

This next week is gonna go by SO fast I can't even believe it!!!!!!!!! Life is so good. I love you all!!! Keep looking for the rainbow, the bright side of all things. 

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

I don't even know.. 

Eating with the relief society. I would come back to Beitou and live here in a heartbeat! 

I love when investigators and less actives come to church. :)

SHE COMES HOME IN TWO WEEKS - HOMECOMING ON FEBRUARY 14TH!!!

It's been 18 months...

Well my dearest family and friends, I have been a missionary for 18 months AND STILL GOING STRONG!!!! I can't tell you how exhilarating it is to STILL be a missionary...I love it:)

 18 months and still loving it!

 18 months and still going strong!

A happy yellow wall!

We met an 18 year old from Michigan on the MRT this past week on exchanges with Sister Torres-Ortiz. His name is Kenton Loux. He says he has changed alot because of Christ, and has sees lots of other people change because of Christ, so he wants to study to be a pastor as his profession. We told him that what we do all day everyday is help people change because of Christ, and we would like to meet to share more. So we met with him and I TAUGHT THE RESTORATION IN ENGLISH. It was the hardest thing ever, I practiced for 40 minutes that morning. It really paid off because it went great and he said he wants to get baptized SO bad, so he will think and pray about the date we extended of February 13th. SO COOL. We walked with him to church on Sunday and I translated since it was all in Chinese. He speaks Chinese but it was church vocabulary! Then at the end...we find out he lives in TianMu. But he is still willing to learn, SO I am so excited and I know he will be baptized and serve a mission:) SUCH a miracle. 

We also went on exchanges with Sister Lindsay!!!! So now that the policy has changed and all 4 sisters proselyte in OUR area, we have been seeing CRAZY miracles and lots of cool people willing to get baptized! Sister Lindsay is a fireball and SO good at following the Spirit.

We reset a baptismal date with Chantelle, she is SO awesome and says she is excited to genuinely repent. Which is good since she told us last Sunday she didn't come to church because she was drunk HA.  

Other miracles: we met with a member's less active son, Deng Dixiong. I shared scriptures that came to my mind from the Spirit and he said I helped answer some of his questions. He hasn't come to church in probably 8 years or so I'm guessing, all of his own choice. When he walked into sacrament on Sunday, EVERYONE'S head turned. I told him welcome and he said "It's because of you!" It's not, it's because of God. He prepares people to come home:)

Our golden platinum all-star investigator Xie Dixiong...he can't get baptized. Without sharing too much personal information, basically him and his wife had to get divorced for legal, financial reasons about 3 years ago. So although they love each other and are still raising a family together, they are not lawfully married. He told us this 2 days before his baptismal interview. Finding out he couldn't get baptized was REALLY hard for him. He owes some serious debt that still might take a long time to pay off, and only once it is paid off can they get remarried. So as of right now...he doesn't want to meet with us, he wants to let his emotions get back in order. He said he will continue to read and pray everyday and repent because he finally knows his Father in Heaven. He says he will continue to prepare for the day when he can finally be baptized. It was heart-breaking, but he says that he trusts in God's plan. So yah. that's that.

We also found a cute lady from the Philippines, Louiela. I told her we had church, and she said she was Christian, she hadn't been to church in so long. We left in the middle of church to go get her and walk up with her, she was SO grateful saying " I just need to worship." She gets 2 hours off work a week, from 10:30 to 12:30. She said we were angels and God is a God of miracles:)

Well, this week was awesome. Sister Facer and I are besties. We trained on TEACHING REPENTANCE AND BAPTIZING CONVERTS in zone meeting this past week and now that that is our common focus, everything has just fallen into place for us. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY AND THAT'S ALL. 

Sister Wright (Taiwan Taipei Mission)

Rèn Jiěmèi 任曼欣姐妹

Kenton and Louiela and Deng Dixiong

 Splits with Sister Lindsay and Sister Xiao!

 We went to Jin Jiemei's celestial kingdom house...no big deal

Mac & Cheese! 

as sister training leaders, we also have to be carpenters and install stuff together

NEW YEAR, How's it feel?

Our cute little recent convert group, all priesthood holders! 

Plus Xie Dixiong who is getting baptized next week:)

 MLC!

Happiest pictures ever!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jerry, Duncan and JJ!

And Debbie and Belle and Pan Dixiong visiting me at the temple!!

Me and JJ!!!!!

Pretty much this week was great, as usual:)

Missionary Leadership Council was amazing as usual. This was my 4th and last one:( I got to see my trainee there though!!!!!!! Sister Haupt is now a Sister Training leader, how cool is that??? 他太厲害了！

Sister Haupt and me (my trainee)

謝偉傑 is all set to get baptized on January 16th!! He stopped drinking coffee on January 1st, came to the temple to do temple square tours on January 2nd, came to church and paid fast offerings and the New Member Fireside on January 3rd!!!!!!! He personally told the bishop he was ready to be baptized on the 16th. He is SO EXCITED and in it for life, he always prays that he can endure to the end:) We found out this week that he is actually an orphan and that he was abused in his foster home, and that despite all of the dark experiences he has had, he felt God leading him through it all, but only realized it was God since we taught him prayer. He is amazing. He is excited to teach his son the gospel too, he's 9:) Pray that his wife starts to meet with us!!

陳蕾 is the woman who walked into church after it ended last week. She came right on time yesterday wearing a beautiful dress, she participated in the lessons and said she really wants to become a part of Heavenly Father's church. Problem is, she believes that she has already accepted Buddhism, so there's no way to accept anything else. Even though she doesn't believe in Buddhist gods...I don't know, it makes sense in her head. We will teach her:) She actually drove us up the mountain last night to meet her mom and make dumplings at her house:) Her mom is 80 and doesn't speak Chinese, only Taiwanese, but she is so spunky and adorable!! No one will love Taiwanese amas as much as me. 

Spunky 80-year old ama!

I went on exchanges with Sister Nau this week!! She is awesomeeeeeeee haha she knows some people from Henderson when she lived there, and she also lived in Florida. She is my inner black counterpart and it's great. I love her:)

Me and Sis. Nau

SATURDAY WAS SO AMAZING. We went to the temple and did Temple Square tours!!!!!!!!!

Jerry and Duncan and 潘弟兄 and JJ and Debbie and Belle ALL CAME TO SEE ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was literally the happiest thing in the world because they are all super active in the gospel. Duncan is the secretary for the bishopric, and Pan Dixiong has started going to the temple a lot and taking the Gospel Doctrine class and Jerry is just....so awesome, I can't even describe the spiritual power that radiates from him. I am SO blessed to have so many awesome friends:) 

JJ leaves on her mission January 12th to Temple Square in Salt Lake City!!!!!!! So I am glad I got to see her one last time <333 Debbie wants to come to Las Vegas to see me, so that's cool too. I can't believe all of these amazing people haven't even been baptized over 3 years!!!!!

Another cool miracle on Saturday, Sister Facer and I were determined to find someone who lived in Beitou....super rare, kinda just begging for a miracle. We found a lady who was interested in coming in for a tour....at the end we asked her where she lived...GuanDu, the farthest end of our area wooooooooooo!!!:) So cool of a miracle. We also got to teach a man from China who walked in off the street. He doesn't really have a home, always traveling, so he will have to earnestly find the church himself. But at the end of the tour, I invited him to offer a kneeling prayer and talk to Heavenly Father. It was SO COOL. People from China are so ready for the gospel, even though this man was a bit confused since this was his first taste of religion. 

Last night was the New Member Fireside, Chen Hui Mu spoke, and he is SO cute, just bearing testimony of how we need to be pure and thats why he gave up 40 years of smoking. Love it. He shared with me afterwards that he knows he is pure because even his nose hairs grow white now. He is such a special man:)

Happy New Year!

New Years....nope nothing. I woke my companion up at 11:58 pm and we took a picture. That was it. Haha:) Oh yah...we went to the official poop restaurant last Monday, called Modern Toilet. The tables are bathtubs, the waiters wear bathrobes, the seats are toilets, and all the food is served in a toilet or something else you would find in a bathroom. Quite appetizing. 

I hope you all take some time to make some resolutions, some goal that will help you progress as an individual and help bring you CLOSER TO JESUS CHRIST. I love it:) My current goal: teach repentance and baptize converts <3

Sister Wright (Taiwan Taipei Mission)

Rèn Jiěmèi 任曼欣姐妹

Ice cream in a toilet...our adventure at the poop themed restaurant, "Modern Toilet"

It's a sink...I promise! 

You always knew I was an angel, right? 

At Modern Toilet. Can you see that the drink cups are urinals?