Week 57: taoyuan is FIRE

Dear TaoYuan, I will compare thee to a summers day................

FIRE.

Oh my gosh every single time we go out the door we find people who want the gospel!!! It is impossible to explain how many incredible, prepared people there are here in TaoYuan! I love them all so much. We are currently teaching about 40 people and needless to say we hardly have time for dinner. Instead of the usual hour, we have a comfy 12 minutes--> teach, bike, park, run, buy the food, shove food in mouth, helmet, bike, teach. We are trying our best to give every single person love and attention. Serving in TaoYuan has taught me a lot about how in life you've gotta choose the things you are not going to do, prioritize and make the most of every single moment Heavenly Father gives you to be alive on this earth. i luv de meesh

this weeks happenings:

1. I have a new companion! I will miss Sister Cullen tons but I am so stoked to be companions with the most crunchy-granola, sweet, kind, and hilarious---> SISTER JENSEN! She loves coconut oil and has carried a ginormous bottle of it her whole mission. Needless to say, we get along great.

2. Sister Jensen got bit by some unknown specimen each night for the first 3 nights she got to TaoYuan. The 3rd bite was on her eye and made her eye swell up like a golf ball! And then on Sunday morning she lost her voice completely. On our way to church, a woman stopped us as we were biking and wanted to talk to us about religion. Seeing Sister Jensen in the state she was in and her voice gone, she started telling us all these Chinese Medicine remedies we could do at home. The one she was most passionate and urgent about was the onion sock. Here's what you do: 1) buy the onion 2) cut the onion 3) apply the onion to arch of foot 4) make onion pieces stick to arch of foot 5) apply sock over the onion 6) go to sleep 7) wake up and be healed in all senses of healing.  Anyone willing to try? Let us know how it goes. We didn't have adequate amounts of onion....

3. TWO FAMILIES randomly showed up to church yesterday and we have a total of 9 investigators partake of the sacrament with us. Afterward every person said something along the lines of the peace they felt during the sacrament or how they had never been to a church service before or how they felt energized and ready to go start the week ahead of them. I LOVE THESE PEOPLE!  Their hearts are so pure and kind. Just blessed. Heavenly Father always leads His children to Him when the time is right. 

4. We went to go visit a member named Wen Cai Yuan to do a mission plan with her. She has been struggling a lot lately after a divorce and her husband taking everything. We went over to share with her about faith and do the mission plan. As we were sharing, it was so incredible to see the change in her face. By the end of chatting with her there were 3 of her friends she wanted to share the gospel with. One of them was her next door neighbor! So naturally SIster Jensen and I were like uh well let's go visit them right now!! We are planning a special Mother's day sacrament meeting service for 5/14 and encouraged Wen Jm to invite them to it. She was so nervous but we prayed with her, told God our plan, went over there, and the family of 7 said they would come to church on Mother’s Day! YOU SHOULD'VE SEEN WEN JM'S FACE hahaha she was so surprised and we were just like, "homie this is the life"

5. Moira 遊, Dai Wei Xuan, 莊姐妹, 胡書美， 周姐妹, and the 謝家庭 (Xie Family) have all set baptism dates and it is so awesome to hear them progressing in faith and loving the gospel. We have been blessed with really incredible investigators here in NanKan and I love seeing how the Lord prepares people and gives them answers. Pray for them! They are all so amazing!

6. Also at Missionary Leadership Counsel this past Friday two different missionaries came up to me to tell me that two women named 吳姐妹 that I taught with previous companions were baptized! It is seriously the happiest thing to hear about people and what they’ve done to repent and change and come unto Christ! One of them specifically was a woman who stood us up 7 TIMES when I was training Sister Rhynard in XinAn. She told us she had really bad anxiety and depression. When we finally did meet her she was so prepared! But she told us she didn't think she could get baptized because she couldn't give up smoking. Well she did it!  I CAN'T TELL YOU HOW STOKED I WAS TO HEAR SHE GOT BAPTIZED! The Atonement of Jesus Christ is soo real.

So basically that's it today for the NanKan Newsly (weekly news?). I have so much faith in our Savior Jesus Christ and I love seeing other people's faces when they witness the miracles of God. They are so real. 

The only reason that miracles will stop are because faith has stopped. 

NEVER GIVE UP NEVER SURRENDER. 

I love you all!

prayers

blessings

xoxox sista 莫

Last day with SISTER 孔<3 

My new comp Sister Jensen. i luv her

Week 56: flying tomatoes and member referrals

hey 大家好！

Yesterday we were sitting in Sacrament meeting when all of a sudden a cherry tomato came flying and splattered onto my leg. I looked around SO CONFUSED to see a mortified mother holding her young son's arms in and mouthing 『不好意思不好意思！』to me hahahahah dyinggg

Yep you guessed it- when the tomato hit, I actually squeak-laughed out loud DURING THE SPEAKER and our investigators sitting next to us were really confused cuz no one saw the tomato!! All around it was a terribly hilarious stream of events and I apologized to the brother who was speaking afterwards hahah (dat tomato though :')) 

Anyway, this week we realized that all of our most incredible progressing investigators are MEMBER REFERRALS! We have been going so hard with using all the methods of finding that Preach My Gospel talks about and member work is the best thing of life. Everyone has friends they want to share with but a lot of times knowing where to start is the hardest part! SO we have been visiting members and supporting them by helping them set missionary plans and goals. It is so incredible to see the miracles that have come from working with members as we currently are working with 11 member-referral investigators!!

Please pray for them 可以嗎？:)

I was reading a talk Mama sent recently and it's called "Believing Christ". Every day we meet people who know that Christ was hung on the cross and my favorite question we get is "Why?" Why was Jesus hung on the cross? Thinking about this question inspires me each day because I know that because He was hung on the cross, I have undying hope and ability to change, progress and ultimately live in eternal bliss. I love what President Monson says: "One of God’s greatest gifts to us is the joy of trying again, for no failure ever need be final."

I LOVE being a 傳教士姐妹 and seeing the Atonement of Christ change lives each day. The Lord is so merciful and I know if we give Him our heart, our pride & our fears, He will shape and direct our lives.

I'm so grateful for each new day God gives us all to live and serve and try our best! breathe my friends....we be livin'

I love you all and HAPPY ACTUAL BIRTHDAY TO MY 爸爸！！I love you daddy and I am celebrating 49 years of the best dad in the world over here on a little island in the sea<3 (don't edit your age out hahahah)

luvs

sis 莫

WEEK 55: jam packed! (and let's put google translate to the test)

    

I. LOVE. CAI MAMA!!!! 

I taught her while I was in XinAn and got to go to Taipei this past week to attend her baptism!

Cai Mama is 83 years old!  <333333

嗨!

我們真個禮拜有看到超級多的奇蹟！

我們最近超級忙

差不多每天有9堂課！

有時候沒有時間吃飯。

這真的是最好的！

最近跟我們的成員一起合作

我們在幫助其他的傳教士準備好母親節的聖餐聚會！

會稱呼它『信仰的婦女』

我們會專心在耶穌基督和尊敬這些姊妹們。

台灣的教會姐妹們是最忠實， 謙卑的人！

我真的很感謝每一秒我為神服務！

我非常愛我的救主耶穌基督和我每天需要運用他的贖罪

沒有耶穌基督我們沒有辦法改善。

我非常喜歡當傳教士^_^

看到人變得更快樂，是最奇妙的事情

每天為你們禱告。

我愛你們！

加油！

莫姐妹

Our cute investigator Amber Xu! 

She loves the church and comes to church by herself every Sunday<3

MA CITY. Dinner on the roof!

this is my favorite thing

Week 54: 目瞪口呆！Chinese idiom for eyes wide open and mouth dropping haha MY LIFE

One of our friends from church shading us as we studied Chinese. hahaha

Miracle: While sitting here and posing for the photo a man walked up to us and we invited him to church. He came to church 2 hours later!

親愛的FAM!

This week has been the best week of my mission and I don't know where to start. Ummmm let's start with 3 weeks ago! When I first got to TaoYuan, Sister Cullen and I got straight to work at planning Easter Sunday. We set a vision and goal and decided we wanted 16 people to church on 4/16 for Easter Sunday that would eventually prepare to be baptized. After we set the goal, we began praying for the Lord's help in accomplishing it in every single prayer. Setting that super high goal gave us such a huge motivation and drive and I think the biggest thing was that we never doubted it.

So as for all the things we did! We had a prayer box that members were putting in friend's names, fasting for them, we typed up an action plan and presented it to the bishop and we met with over 5 members every week to do member-missionary plans with them. We invited every single person we met to come attend our Easter Sacrament meeting! We made cute little invitations. Sister Cullen and I seriously put our heart and soul into it. Each night we got home sweaty and late from teaching lessons, we would just start calling and call call call till 10:30 every night! It was the most exciting, joyful, miraculous experience of my mission as we got to sacrament meeting yesterday and witnessed Heavenly Father's hand at work after all we could do...because honestly when you get to Sunday, you never know who will actually come.

Yesterday, we were blessed by the Lord to have 18, not just 16, investigators attend Easter Sunday Sacrament meeting! Only 6 were investigators invited by us and all the rest were friends of members. I HAD TEARS IN MY EYES! We just sat on the pew as more and more and more people kept filtering in! The bishop was in astonishment and they ended up having to bless the sacrament water a second time because they didn't have enough. Sister Cullen and I looked at each other and were completely speechless. Even though we had the goal and wanted to see it come through, we both really felt this was God that made this happen.  God knows His children and He helped every single one of those 18 people be led to church yesterday. The spirit was incredible and strong. It was probably the most spiritually uplifting meeting I have ever been to. The chapel was packed and the love of God was so real. As we went around talking to everyone afterwards, almost every single person mentioned something about how touched they felt. We observed two mothers there yesterday (one a member referral, one our investigator) crying as they cuddled their children. They told us afterwards how special the feeling was there and they found "healing." It was really really powerful. I don't have the words to describe my gratitude to God for leading His children to help them feel 
His love! 

It is truly indescribable! 

We talked with President last night about this miracle and he said, 
"Sisters, that's the most investigators I have ever heard of here being at a single sacrament meeting." 

We are so dependent on God! I have seen what my life is like when I do not rely on Him and when I do and the difference is so strikingly obvious. We cannot possibly find the joy we are meant to have in this life without Jesus Christ and daily repentance coupled with taking the sacrament weekly! 

目瞪口呆！

(Chinese idiom for eyes wide open and mouth dropping haha MY LIFE>>)

Oh man I love you all. My heart feels so swollen. like a sunburn:') 

I am praying for all of you back over the ocean blue!

luv u long time

sista 莫

Our bishop's kids are the CUTEST! They made us Easter eggs:')

We got hats. It's hot and sunny in Taiwan now. We wear them while we teach... Sometimes....;)

action.  hat.  helmet.

glasses

Week 53: THE 吳家庭

There are not even words to describe how incredible this past week was or how much I love serving in Taoyuan with Sister Cullen! The Lord has been pouring out blessings and I have witnessed many miracles. My heart is so full of gratitude and love and thanks and I am so pumped to share this incredible miracle about the 吳家庭!!! Here we go:

This little 帥哥 is Jason. 

We found Jason at a park two weeks ago. He was playing with his little sister Yoyo and his grandpa. We got talking and set up a lesson and they are pure GOLD! Their family is a little torn apart as the mom has been in jail for 2 years for online drug trade (but she gets out at the end of this month). Despite everything, Jason and Yoyo are such incredible, fun, mature, sweet children. We were sharing a message with Jason and Yoyo, about Jesus Christ. Then all of a sudden 11 year old Jason goes, "we need Jesus Christ because our lives are here *he holds his hand in front of his stomach* but with Jesus Christ we can change and our life goes like this" and then he shoots his hand up to the ceiling! We were so shocked at how well he understood Jesus Christ, and frankly extremely confused because as far as we knew, they were Buddhist! Hahah so we go, "uh yeah uh Jason WHERE'D YA LEARN THAT?"

...are you ready fam? 

Jason goes on to tell us "Oh you don't know? 5 years ago people just like you came and visited us all the time and taught us about Jesus Christ. But they were males not females. But then they moved and we haven't seen them till we saw you today at the park! Yay I'm so happy!!" Sister Cullen and I were speechless. Absolutely speechless!!! After a few moments of staring blankly in amazement we testified of God's timing and Jason said, "yeah you were supposed to come back!" We told them our purpose and the blessing of the gospel and baptism and then their dad came and we met him. Long story short, we've been teaching them and invited the whole family to baptism. Their dad said, "This is exactly what our family has been needing." We set the date for 5/6 and then the next lesson we had with them the dad, more soft-spoken guy, goes, "you have no way of knowing this but 5/6 is my wife and I's anniversary..." He was emotional, we were emotional and the Spirit in the room was incredible!! Can you even believe it!?  吳弟兄 (the dad) does have some pretty serious alcohol and smoking addictions so we may have to change the date but either way this has been one of the greatest miracles I have seen in my life! I cannot stop thinking about the missionaries that first started teaching this incredible family and that the Lord's timing is so incredibly perfect that Sis Cullen and I were there at that park the same day and time that they were!! God's power is undeniable and so often I feel like I am just sitting back in amazement at the miracles that Heavenly Father performs in order to draw His children to Him. I STAND ALL AMAZED!

I love this work and I cherish every single moment I get to serve the Savior and meet the beautiful people of Taiwan and wear 耶穌基督的名字！My heart is changed and I know this is His gospel. 

Learn the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know He has the power to change anyone and lift us to become more and find more happiness! I love you all soooooooo much!

big luv

sista  莫

p.s. other random miracles

1. Went on my first exchanges and it was so powerful to see how many miracles Heavenly Father showed based on each Sister's individual needs.

2. We met a big Taiwanese man named Flower. Yes. 

3. I was able to read the subtitles during General Conference (by the way, such a good General Conference!!)

4. The members here are so stoked about the work and we are working on mission plans with them! As of now, we are planning 3 family home evenings with different families that they can invite friends to. 

5. TAOYUAN AND THE MISSION IS A DREAM. GO ON A MISH IF YOU CAN!

PHOTOS

CHANEL! Does this guy look familiar!?? Coolest story ever! We were eating with the 王家庭 and the mom is super awesome and always hosts people from other countries. Well these two were RM's from Japan and I was like oh no way my cousin served there! Then I asked him when he served and he said a few years back. And so I thought I would take a shot and see if he knew Chanel and he goes, "She is from Elk Ridge right?" WHATTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT HOW IS THIS EVEN POSSIBLE! I AM IN TAIWAN AND THEY ARE THESE RANDOM JAPANESE PEOPLE IN TAIWAN FOR THE NIGHT THAT THIS MEMBER HAD US OVER AND THE WORLD IS SO SMALL!!! Okay bringing it down. His name is Kenichi. I hope that spelling is correct! Let me know if you remember him, Chanel! 

B l i s s at the 王家庭 <3 

I love Sister Cullen... us going crazy at responsibilities 

when you ask a greenie for a massage 

I LOVE being a missionary with my whole heart!

Week 52: i need glasses #一百度

This beautiful woman is 100 years old!

This week we were in MLC (mission learning center) and I think I've mentioned that I have a weird love for wearing people's glasses. So I took Sis Cullen's glasses and looked at the computer screen and MY LIFE WAS INSTANTLY CHANGED. I could see it so clearly and it felt like I had been transported to Narnia. Like I sort of malfunctioned for a second and thought about my whooole life and if I had always been seeing that way and WHEW who woulda known?! Hahah it's only a lil bit fuzzy so I'm getting prescription 100 glasses (? - I do not know how to write glasses lingo terms in English) I'll be getting some Asian style frames today and I'd be lying if I told you I wasn't super giddy about it. I'll take any reason to buy Asian glasses. I feel like this is kinda like when I was young and really wanted braces haha okay anyway...

The past week was absolutely wonderful and serving with Sister Cullen in TaoYuan has been one of the greatest experiences of my entire mission. We get along great and got right to work. Already we have met a lot of people who want to understand Jesus Christ and His role in their lives! 

Fav miracle round up:

1. Last pday we prayed for an opportunity to meet someone who would be prepared and on our way to bowling we met the one and only MOIRA! That's her English name and she told us it means fate or destiny. How ironic because it proved another miracle as we met with her a few days later and she opened up and told us, "I have a lot of anger I am holding in my heart and I just want to love people better." She set her baptismal date for May 6 but she lives in another area so will be meeting with missionaries there. The grace of God has been a really big theme this week<3

2. A woman we met at a stop light gave us corn and set up an appointment for a lesson with us this week.

3. We were studying outside one afternoon and a woman with a baby came up to us and asked about what we teach. We told her we share a message about family and would love to share it with her sometime. She said, "Well do you have time right now?" Sister Cullen and I just stared at her for a moment and then looked at each other and were teaching her at her house 5 minutes later sharing the good word. #wut !!

4. We had a 17 year old RC (recent convert) bring her sister and two friends to church yesterday!

5. We found a family to teach on my year mark, March 30th! Also on my year mark (get ready you will love this) we were biking to visit an LA (less active) and we were stopped at a light. Right on the side of the road was a pineapple truck and a dad & his cute 3 year old daughter buying pineapple. He told us he knew a missionary and actually meets with that Elder in a different area and then he bought us a pineapple! Best gift ever:') so emotional haha

Well we are off to a park with our ward members to play sports and picnic so we gotta go! 
I love this work and I love the gospel. I have so much gratitude for the grace of God and for the chance to become more every day. 

All my love and more!

 An awesome investigator we met on the street and got a lil selfie in our 雨衣：）

We met a really nice Christian lady and she gave us corn. This is our favorite picture. ever.

 I LOVE SISTER CULLEN

Sister Cullen bought me vinegar (my favorite drink hahaha) and sweet potatoes 

for my year mark and we made a delicious dinner to celebrate! 

Week 51 & 1 Year Mark (3/30): up and outta the brain

1st: HAPPY BIRTHDAY (today) IAN!!! You are one of my best friends in this world. I love you and miss you and hope you have the best birthday ever! I will celebrate your birthday here with red bean soup and sharing the 福音好不好？:) 

Well I moved out of the fun brain - Toufen (I am so sorry you just will not get this joke hahah) and I am in.....

TAOYUAN 4th WARD! (Taoyuan means "peach garden")

It has been my dream to serve in TaoYuan my whole mission because the work here is on fiyahhhh. I am serving here as a Sister Training Leader over 7 companionships of sisters with the incredible---> Sister Cullen!

Sister Cullen down low: born in San Fran (HOLLA) , grinds her own wheat, extremely hard worker, computer programmer, allergic to bad food, voice of an angel, knows how to have fun, loves everyone, gets to WErK. 

I am so excited for this new transfer and calling and to be serving with a literal earth angel! The church is really strong here in TaoYuan. We have an awesome investigator named Maggie Cai who is preparing to be baptized on April 22. (mom everything good has been happening on the 22nd on my mission... :D) We have been focusing on the sacrament with our investigators. It's incredible to know we can repent and change our lives through Jesus Christ and take the Sacrament every Sunday to have a new start. 

Our potential is unlimited in the eyes of our Lord and that is the most empowering thing in the world! 

I LOVE being a missionary in the land of no carpets (literally never seen carpet my whole entire mission) and the kindest people in the world! 

I love you 大家！我一直為你們做禱告<3

loves and beans

xoxxo 

莫姐妹

Us missionaries at la playa playing sports. Wow I miss sports! (Laura you know)

Taoyuan City

Week 50: The most hopeful thing in the world!

Ni hao!

This week I got to see Tina!!! (Rc from my last area) She is the most wonderful human and she came all the way down from Taipei to eat lunch with Sister Olsen and I before she went home to Canada on the 10th. I love Tina so much. Look at how happy that smile is! There is so much light and joy in her life and it is the biggest change from the first day I met her back in Taibei city. The gospel changes lives. It is through Jesus Christ that we can repent and change and align our lives with God's will for us. When we let Christ into our lives, we will find happiness unlike anything we can achieve on our own! I love that everything Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father do are for our good and happiness. I am so grateful for the Atonement and for forgiveness that allows us to change and try to do better each day. It is the most hopeful thing in the world! 

sorry bout this shawty email

I love you all! Have a great week and fortune!

xoxo 莫

 TEENA

i literally don't know what to caption this....we did a talent show and our ward mission leader is such a weirdo and had us do PPAP (the pen pineapple guy thing that I did not know about till 4 days ago) and they brought us costumes. Basically we looked homeless and i like to call this one white girl gets it down part 2

we played gamez

our amazing investigator 黃弟兄 sent us a text one night saying he has been praying and reading every day since we started meeting with him a week ago. he has been trying to find work for 4 months and this text says, "I have been reading and praying and Heavenly Father answered my prayers. Today I found work. I am so grateful for Heavenly Father!" *que sister olsen and i dying of joy×

I LOVE TAIWAN #rice

the most beautiful child in the world: 丁力恩

WEEK 49: i love being a meeeesh

Hey everyone! this is gonna be short and sweet like the taiwanese because we are playing ping pong this afternoon and PRIORITIES. Fam by the time I get home you won't even know what hit you. #bringitondad

This week we found 2 new families to teach! One of the families we found through a member. The member does curtains and we have been working with her on her mission plan and she was like "go visit these people." SO we bike for a really long time and get lost and then we finally find the house down a little road called 六合二村. We knocked on the door and a young dad answered. We only started to introduce ourselves before he interrupted and said, "No no come in, we want to hear a message!" Wow!!! We got to chat with him and understand why he was so willing to let us in. He wants his kids to have a foundation and has always wanted to find a church but is confused by why there are so many Christian churches. So we shared some personal experiences about how amazing our parents are and how grateful we are to have grown up knowing our Savior. We are going back to visit them and their two cute twins (one girl one boy 一男一怒) this Thursday - please pray for them!!

The next family we met was also through a member! Sister Olsen and I were in the middle of Chinese studies when a member named 種弟兄 called and said, "hey do you sisters want a new investigator?" and we were like uuhhhhhmmm yeah I guess...hahah (the whole phone call we were trying to stay calm, keep our qi in balance ya feel) He then tells us about this woman that he has been talking to about the church for a really long time. Apparently, she had walked into his bread shop that day and she told him, "I went to my church a couple days ago and I get such a weird feeling there and they don't let me ask questions. Also I want to be baptized on Easter. Can I meet with your missionaries?" THE MIRACLES! We called her and she is this super sweet amazing mom who has so many great questions. We are stoked to be meeting with her and her kids this Wednesday! (also lowkey stoked on members who give you fresh multi-grain bread and new investigators #holla THANKS 種弟兄)

Okay let's take a moment and talk about my most used and abused word: miracles. I realized I say this word probably more than I say the word "the". Every SINGLE day something miraculous happens and it's gotten to the point where after every time one of these clear, huge, miraculous things happen, Sister Olsen and I just sit in shock and look at each other with mouths wide open. We talked about it and it's almost like an outer body experience. And pondering it more, it's because it's this feeling of knowing 100% that nothing you'd done could have resulted in that miracle but that it was solely through the power of God.  I decided to study the word in the Bible Dictionary and I wanted to share this part with 大家：

Miracles are a part of the gospel of Jesus Christ. If miracles cease it is because faith has ceased.

Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ want us to see miracles!! It is a literal part of Jesus Christ's gospel. I was thinking of when Jesus Christ performed miracles during His time on the earth and how He would first ask, "do you believe I can perform this miracle?" This is so meaningful to me because truly nothing can happen - change will never occur and we will never achieve the happiness God has prepared for us if we don't make the first step. We can't sit there waiting and blaming God for never doing anything. I know with my whole heart that if we use faith and act in faith-if we do something!!- we make room for Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father in our lives! I love this gospel and I love sharing it because I know Heavenly Father wants every single one of His children to see miracles and feel that joy that only comes after faith.

I love this gospel! I love you all and I love that this email was def not short by any means hahaha

THANKS FOLKS

I love you and I am praying for you!!

sis 莫

words can't explain the LOVE for these human beans

WEEK 48: bless UP

Hey Fam and Friends <3 

This week I am using (probably REALLY) outdated slang to title this email because I am 100% overwhelmed by life and the beauty of it!! There were so many times this week I was on the verge of tears from just feeling so much happiness and joy.

Sister Olsen and I had just experienced a really crazy ordeal that involved a crazy woman we like to call the Crazy-Lesson-Crasher who gave us bags of mustard-colored broccoli from the garbage and scared our investigator. We leave on our bikes as quickly as we can and then realize we have 10 minutes to find before our next appointment. So we decided to pull over and pray and ask to find one person in that ten minutes.  BIGGEST MIRACLE EVER: We are at a stop light and I see a woman pulling up and I had such a powerful and clear feeling that it was just a thought in my head, "her."  (Peyton this reminds me of you and "target spotted" but I am telling you this was SO REAL!) The Spirit was so strong and I haven't had a feeling to talk to someone so strongly as I did with this woman.  In about 20 seconds I told her we were here on missions sharing about Jesus Christ and families. I then asked her about her family and she says, "I have a 1 year old son, do you want to come over sometime and see him?"....UM YES! She then says this - "I live just right around the corner, follow me so you know where my house is." I was SO stunned, because all we had was 10 minutes and she lived so close!

I looked at Sister Olsen and was like just "follow me!!" hahah (love her so much). This woman’s name is Lin Zhen Qi and her beautiful 1 year old son is nicknamed Dan Dan which means egg. :'  She says "this is my house. so when can you come share with us?" We could barely speak because of how miraculous it all was (our prayer was answered). We set up a time to come back Friday. When we came we realized how much she is prepared for the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. She is a single mom. Her "husband" is in China and they are not in touch. She doesn’t have support really from her parents or friends. She lived in China and France for years but came back to Taiwan to raise her son. Her son is SO happy and smiley and you can see how happy he makes her. We shared a gospel message with her then invited her to church on Sunday. She came 10 minutes early with lil egg and they stayed the whole time. At the end of church she told us, "我有一個很溫暖的感覺， 從來沒感覺過" which translates to "I have such a warm feeling I've never felt before." We shared our testimony of Heavenly Father's love for and awareness of her and she was so teary. She cares so much about being a good mom and about her son and his happiness. We asked when we could visit her next and she said, can you come this afternoon? Sister Olsen and I were once again surprised and told Lin Zhen Qi "當然!” (of course).  So we came over that afternoon and she told us that she has never felt loved or accepted like she did at church and said how kind all the people there were and talked about how much she wants to raise her son in that environment. She asked us about baptism (we hadn't even brought it up yet...:o) and then she said "I want to be baptized because this is what I have been looking for." 

Meeting Lin Zhen Qi and just every interaction and conversation with her in the past couple days has given me such profound gratitude for and realization of the importance and power of family in our lives. Heavenly Father is so close to her and her son and we can feel it every time we're around them. Lin is an angel. It is incredible how the gospel of Jesus Christ can answer and heal our hardest problems, personal ones and family ones. I know there is nothing that Jesus Christ's Atonement cannot heal.  Likewisssseeeee this experience has made me think soooo much about my own parents. I thought I had realized how much my parents have done for me but watching Lin with her son has made me ponder and reminisce about families and parents in ways I never have before! My gratitude for the gospel and for families and for my own parents is completely indescribable.

It's impossible to explain how much happiness and gratitude I feel from the gospel and for knowing that families are eternal! I love sharing this message with Sister Olsen out here in cute lil 頭份 with amazing people every single day. 

  

i love you all

more than 豆花

xoxxoox

sista 莫

Invitation: sit down and think about all the good things in your life and then think about all the things your parents have done for you. set a timer for at least 20 minutes. GO. ;)

After we met Lin Zhen Qi: Rain brings miracles EVERY TIME

TAMMAY! This is Tammy we've been teaching. Love her lots 

Cute Carol and Betty we are teaching (and yes fam, I think of "Mr. Betty" when I see her OOPS)

ginormous guava also to be called ginormous happiness. LOOK AT IT

Making pizza with our investigator Zhao JieMei who thought it would make us really homesick:)

Best Taiwanese-Italian pizza ever: put the sauce on, crack eggs on top, grate a lil parmesan cheese, add fresh basil, BINGO.

WEEK 47: TOUFEN so fun

Welp transfers came this week and I took the long way by first going to TAIZHONG! 

HEHE for those that don't know it's outside our mission boundaries (and ya don't leave the mission boundaries)

Here's the story: on my way to my new area...頭份! - pronounced: tow-fun - I was traveling with another Sister named Sister Calderwood. Together we had 5 pieces of luggage. Well the train stops at the stop we needed and we are awkwardly pushing all our luggage off the train. Sister Calderwood got her first piece out of the train and then...drumroll...THE DOORS START CLOSING!!!! So we are pounding the red button that apparently does nothing because the door just kept on closing and the train just started rollin'. Sis Calderwood was freakin out because her luggage was chilling on the platform and we were in the train waving bye bye to it. Also we didn't have a phone. BUT luckily we were prepared and had all the numbers we needed. We asked the worker how to get back to the station and she said since we were on ziqiang (the train that makes the fewest stops) it would be another 40 minutes to the next stop.....in TAIZHONG! Hahahahahah so we went to Taizhong, took some rebel pics (oh man so rebel lol #mishlife) and then headed back to zhunan. I LOVE ADVENTURES!

btw we will never live that one down. forever the 壞妹 (means rebel sisters lol)

Made it to 頭份 safe and sound and I don't have words to tell you how much I love this city, the people here, and my comp Sister Olsen!!! Here's all you need to know/all I have time for :')

1. Sister Olsen is a real-life angel. The most Christlike, loving, gentle, kind, and fun-loving person. And such an amazing and dedicated missionary! Oh and I met her sister in a class in college so we got that connection. Also many other (almost frightening) connections including: her dad is a podiatrist. We have the same nuts. (Mama, do you remember how you sent me those Orchard Valley Harvest nuts? Well her mom sent her some too...#orchardvalleyharvest hahahahah) Also Ryan (my cousin) went to homecoming or prom or something with Sister Olsen's sister so basically we were DESTINED to serve together. I AM SO GRATEFUL seriously this is going to be the best transfer ever!!

2. The members in 頭份 are incredible. They are literally asking us how to help their friends get to know Jesus Christ! We have been doing tons of member work and it is really inspiring me to see how they would give anything to help their friends find the joy they have found. It is so amazing!! We are meeting with a member and one of his friends on Tuesday. She is a woman who recently got divorced and has a 1 year old daughter and is having a really rough time. Please pray for her!

3. The work in the countryside is soooooooo WORLDS different than the city and I have served in the city my entire mission. I can't explain the feeling of being able to see more of the sky and to breathe fresher air and to see GRASS! Can you believe it....grass!!! I love this area so much and I find myself feeling extremely refreshed and grateful that Heavenly Father has given me the opportunity to serve here. The work is so different and the feeling and everything! It is crazy to think that I lived at such a fast pace of life the past 7 months. I don't think I even realized what a hippy I was till I got here and saw all the green!! (it is a lot different than the google images hehe) and oh man the people here. Always the people! They are so humble. I really really love 頭份 and I really really love Sister Olsen and I really really love being a missionary and sharing the gospel every single day. #感動

4. I have gotten really REALLY white (no I'm not using bleach don't worry) 

5. We had 3 investigators at church on Sunday which was huge!!! (apparently the area has been struggling in finding and teaching and getting people to church)

6. We are currently working with members on 8 different referrals!!

7. Sister Olsen and her mom have a teacup collection just like my mom and I <3 :')

8. We ate eggs cooked in brown sugar water

9. Our investigator TINA got baptized and our mission president, President Jergensen, baptized her!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY! I got to skype her since I wasn't able to travel back to Taipei and man I wish everyone could have seen how happy and bright her smile was. Her testimony is so strong and she has the light of Christ in her eyes!

Well I love you all so much! I could never tell you enough how much I love this gospel or our Savior Jesus Christ! It is so exciting to see huge changes in people and the changes in their smile and faces. It's so real and it's so beautiful.

all the love,

sista 莫