Week 69: double nay nay

This week our favorite doorman, Mr. Wei, gave us 2 bunches of bananas and one of them was a double nay nay and if that isn't an answer to prayers then I don't know what is.

It seriously was a sign though because this week was full of so many spiritual and miraculous experiences~ here's the story of BLUE WHALE:

Sister Nolan and I were trying to find a less active member's home we'd set up to meet with and we needed to ask someone on the street for directions. I knew we were going the opposite direction but we kept going a little bit so we could find someone we could ask for directions. We passed a couple people and then saw this high school girl walking home and felt the need to abruptly pull over and ask her. This is very uncommon because usually high school students don't know roads so we usually don't ask them for directions. But this time it felt right. The cool part: we were RIGHT in front of the chapel. We started talking to the girl (her english name is Blue Whale- in love) and she helped us find the address! But the besssssttt part was that we started talking about our chapel and briefly talked about what we do and how it has blessed us and Blue Whale set up to meet with us! She told us that her family had all been baptized into a Christian church that she didn't know the name of and every year the church holds one big baptismal service. Blue Whale said that without fail, every year for the past 6 years, she has gotten super sick on the date of the baptismal service so everyone in her family is baptized but her. 

Fast forward to the lesson 3 days later: Blue Whale is one of the most GOLDEN people we have ever met! She told us of all the trials and insane challenges she has been through and how she knows that it is only by the grace of God that she is still alive. We asked her why she was willing to meet with us and she told us, "I really don't know how to describe it but when I talked to you it all felt so familiar." She is incredible. We shared the Restoration and the Book of Mormon with her and the Spirit was so strong the whole time. SUCH a huge miracle happened during the lesson. Our member present, Hu JieMei, told of a time when she was going through a similar trial Blue Whale had been through. Then Hu JieMei opens up the Book of Mormon to a scripture in Ether 2:24:

24 For behold, ye shall be as a whale in the midst of the sea; for the mountain waves shall dash upon you. Nevertheless, I will bring you up again out of the depths of the sea; for the winds have gone forth out of my mouth, and also the rains and the floods have I sent forth.

25 And behold, I prepare you against these things.

God's plan and timing are PERFECT!  It was soooooo powerful and Blue Whale had the biggest smile on her face as Hu JieMei shared the scripture. I love the Book of Mormon! It has answered countless prayers that I have said and it answers the prayers of anyone who is willing to read and know for themselves. I know it is the word of God and it has helped me to understand God as well as Jesus Christ and the relationship I have with them. I love the gospel! It brings the greatest joy in life.

Book of Mormon + Bananas= joy

all de love

xoxox

莫姐妹

Coco and Lisa! Their member is a friend and they showed up to the cookie activity! They set up with us for this Saturday to learn more about the restored gospel woot woot 

 The beautiful Cai Family<3 

Teaching how to make cookies! We had already half'ed the sugar for the recipe and we caught one of the woman trying to DUMP OUT more of the sugar because they were appalled at how much sugar there was hahahaha

Week 68: hellooooo from the north bamboo!

My new companion: SISTER NOLAN! I love her so much! She welcomed me with guacamole. 

Moment of silence for guacamole. I haven't eaten guacamole since I have been in Taiwan.

Hi friends and fam! 

Last Wednesday I got transferred to 竹北 - Zhubei - which is a super cute little city in the west of 
台灣. I am in love with it!! My new companion is Sister Nolan and she is super rad. She is from California so we naturally connect lol  She just got out of training so I am "breaking" her as we call it here on the mission. She is doing awesome! Her Chinese is so incredible and she has only been in Taiwan for 3 months!

I will miss 桃園 so much! The people there are incredible and I really do feel like a piece of my heart is there but that's how it is everywhere here so my heart is just scattered all over Taiwan. Just how I like it :) Sister Jensen and her new comp will continue to kill it with missionary work!

I’ll tell you a miracle 好不好。 The past couple days in 竹北 have in literal senses been slower because my bike still isn't here. So we have been walking everywhere! I absolutely love walking. (My heart goes out to all the missionaries around the world who drive cars. I think I'd at least be 400 pounds by now hahahah oh man) ANYWAYS we walked. And because of it we saw miracles! 
Last night as we were walking to visit a member we met an Ama. Now 竹北 is really different than 桃園 in that there are not infinite amounts of people outside on the streets all day long. In 竹北 you get a good 3 people, but last night there was only 1 and her name is 黃Huang Ama.  Naturally we talked with her, doing one of my fav hobbies I like to call "flirting with Amas.":) Because that’s what they like - you telling them how pretty they are. Gets them smiling every time;)

But something to know is that a lot of amas just 不用 anything that has to do with the gospel. But Huang Ama is different. She said I am Amitofo and so we told her a little about what we do. We pointed to our chapel, which was right up ahead of us, and asked her if she’d like us see it. She said sure! In the chapel we sat for a bit so she wouldn't get tired. She sat there smiling with her eyes closed. We shared about Jesus Christ and how his teachings bless us and help us have peace in this life. She remembered a song she had heard on the radio years ago about Jesus and started singing it for us. So beautiful!! We said a prayer asking for her to be blessed and afterward with tears in her eyes she said『我的心很苦悶』 which means "my heart has been in anguish".  She told us that both of her children moved to the south and they don’t provide any money for her (this is VERY rare among the Taiwanese) and her husband died years back. She said she is needing to find work again. She said she knows God led us to meet.  We sang a hymn for her because she really loves hymns and then agreed we would meet again this Friday. Please pray for Huang Ama! She is sooo wonderful and sweet. I know the gospel will bless her! 

I believe that all things in this life happen for a reason. Even though it was slightly inconvenient to not have a bike, Heavenly Father had a perfect plan for us to meet Huang Ama. People around us need so much love and if we are always on the go or moving quickly and close off our minds to those around us, we will miss out on opportunities to serve and love others. 
I love Jesus Christ because He is the perfect example of loving and serving others. He just went out walking and healing others and praying for them and teaching them. His day was never centered on Himself and I love that about our Savior! All that He did was to glorify God. This is something I really want to work on this week. I know we all have the ability to feel Christ's love and share it every single day! Pray for the sensitivity to do so and I know miracles will happen in your life! 

I love you all and I hope you know how WONDERFUL you are

xoxox 

莫

The view from our apartment in Zhubei. (I spy a beautiful chapel! :o)

Absolutely love Wendy with all our hearts. She took us and 4 other companionships to lunch in the NICEST HOTEL in Taiwan. It was incredibly epic. Look up The Grand Hotel. A MILLION THANKS TO WENDY! She is a recent convert and has so much Christlike love <3

another 請課(getting fed food)...look at all dem veggies mmmm. Thank you to the Chi Family!

Teaching the gospel! From the left: Our incredible investigator Daisy Lu, member Zhu JM, Sister J$. 

Nearly every time we teach at someone's home they prepare fruit to welcome us. 

.

Leo (Daisy's son) loves to help with the fruit~ reminds me of Peyton:)))

Saying goodbye to TaoYuan members and investigators 
a.k.a. ripping a piece of my heart out! This is Cao Jm

Ah my loves!!

Amber (our cute investigator) found out I was leaving and 
came and played a song to say goodbye *tearssssss*

week 67: sugar

happy dance while talking to Moira

Hey fam this week a really really serious problem occurred 

and I am not doing well. Prayers appreciated.

So we were going over to the wonderful 汪家庭 for dinner on Sunday. They work with a lot of international students and had flown in some people from good old America this week. They were so sweet and wanted to make us missionaries some authentic no-bake cookies. CLEARLY we were stoked because I haven't had a real American cookie in forever! (if we ever make sweets here in Taiwan with the ward/for an activity, we don't add sugar). 

Well I took a bite and DANG WHAT DO WE EAT IN AMERICA? SO SWEET!!!!!!! It left this super powerful, poignant flavor in my mouth from how sweet it was. But this is not even the problem. After dinner Sister J and I went to go teach our AMAZING investigator, Cai Jing Wen and that cookie came in like a 

wrecking ball. 

Man that thing came crashing down and 

I actually thought I could die my stomach hurt so bad. 

The whole lesson was an awkward stream of bearing testimony of the 

Plan of Salvation while simultaneously trying not to scream in pain for how terrible my stomach felt hahahah. Good thing Cai JM is the best and she gave me allllllll the Chinese medicine. However, the sugar in that cookie killed all of the powers of Chinese medicine and I am still sitting in uncomfortable death as I type this email to you. (also either the cookie or the medicine turned my tongue completely black so that was a lil surprising this morning.) 

Moral of everything: We eat poison in America. 加油

Okay besides food poising, there were so many miracles this past week! 

Do you remember Moira? Our golden investigator I met my first Pday here in Taoyuan? Well she is away in Longtan for a month studying but we have been having FaceTime lessons with her and staying in close touch. 

Well she came back this past weekend for a day and we got to meet with her. I absolutely can't even begin to explain the difference in light in her face! She was a completely different person!! We started with a prayer and right as we said 『阿們』Moira starts telling us 

how Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon have changed her life. 

When we met her, she was super sad and down. Like we were constantly trying to just get her to smile. But because she has been reading and praying everyday and she went off about how much easier it is 

to make friends, to love people, to have hope and have direction. 

She has the light of Chirst in her life!! 

There are no words to describe that change in people! 

Only in and through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. 

So she went back a couple days ago and just last night I called her. She picked up the phone and goes, "Sister Armstrong, I want to be baptized the Sunday I get back. What do I need to do?" aoudfgaofsdnvgoausdfhgo can you even describe that feeling!? She moved her baptismal date up 2 weeks and she is so excited to be baptized! Also she said, "Okay I am going to hang up the phone. I found a scripture I want to share with my friends." She has also given her friends copies of the Book of Mormon after reading with them and them telling Moira that they felt that "the words in the Book of Mormon were powerful." There are so many miracles in this work!!! 

There is no greater joy than sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ!! I love that as Moira shares the gospel her personal faith has grown exponentially. I wish all of you could see the change in her eyes! 

Well another miracle- we were in church yesterday and this woman walked in from Kenya. Her bother-in-law is Taiwanese and is a member and he brought her to church with him. Guess what her name is...

JANE! 

(silent tears hehe shoutout to baby jane)  Well Jane is a walking miracle. We translated the whole 3 hours for her and at the end she said, "I have never felt this happy in my life." After chatting about the power of the gospel, Jane says to us, "How do I become part of your church?" She then asked us to be baptized!!!! WHAT! 

Ah how do I put these things into words? 

I want so badly for everyone to experience the joy of this gospel! It's so indescribable and I am so grateful for angels like Moira and Jane that exhibit the power of Jesus Christ in their lives. 

Other news: we have 10 investigators getting baptized in the coming month. Transfers are this coming Wednesday and I will probably move :'((((((((((((((((((((( 

I have loved every second of serving with Sister J and with the beautiful people here in Taoyuan! It really is the land of milk and honey. 

I want to be a missionary forevs. Good thing we all can hehe:) 

I love you all! 

Invite: do something this week to feel God and Jesus Christ's power in your life. I pray for youuuuuuuuuu

sis 莫

Eating at the world's most hipster veggie restaurant with our investigator 

(fam we are going here next summer)

Pinterest 嗎？

The cutest 吳姐妹 you eva seen

heart eyes

Best surprise EVER!!!! One of our members had us over for dinner and 蔡姊妹 surprised me there! I love them sooooo much

台灣<3 food by Cai JM<3

Mom! This is the angel that has been sending you random pics of me!! I luh her

the cookies that ended all cookies *disclaimer that Sister Jensen and I are of course soooooo grateful that they made us cookies!!! They are so sweet. I just actually got food poisoning b/c I'm not used to America

Mornings in the flat>>>

Zhong Zhong! 鍾鍾

Dior and Wendy after church~ crew

Week 66: 帥

The rice paddies are white, ready to harvest :')

Okay so it's only been 5 days but I feel like we just had a summer's worth of happenings so GEAR UP SONNY. 

On Thursday we met with probably the most prepared person I've met. Her name is 曾姐妹, 19 years old, and the biggest miracle ever! She walked into our English class two weeks ago. We finally got the chance to meet with her and dang I wish I could have facetimed you all in so you too could see and feel the power of the gospel! 

We asked her how she found out about our English class and she said that two elders gave her an invite at a stoplight a couple weeks back. Well we shared a message about Jesus Christ with her and taught her about the Restored gospel and the Spirit was really strong. At the end, we felt inspired to invite her to baptism and she said 『好啊！』which is the equivalent of "okay!!" We asked her why she wanted to be baptized and she said that she knew God led her to our English class. She said she was never coming for English but she needed someone to lift her and help her and she felt that through God the past two weeks. She said, "I need a new start." She has jumped around to churches before but expressed that she was still searching for something. That lesson though...it was one of the most spiritual lessons I have ever experienced on my mission! 

At the end of the lesson, I mentioned how amazing and brave she was for moving from China and how hard that must have been. She then pulled her sleeve to show us her wrist. She said "I am not brave. I have been depressed for almost all my life. But as soon as I came here I felt like I didn't have to wish to be happy, it came naturally." She came to the sacrament meeting yesterday and at the end she said it felt like there was a hand supporting her on back the entire time. She asked us "Why do I feel like crying happy tears every time we sing?" This is the power of Jesus Christ.  Sister Jensen and I are sooooo inspired by 曾姐妹。 

She is getting baptized the first Saturday in September! Please pray for her!! 

Another miracle: Sacrament meeting yesterday...my goodness Heavenly Father is the BEST. Our golden investigator Cai Bi Zhen JM was FINALLY ABLE TO COME TO CHURCH! She has been wanting to come for over a month now. She usually has to go home on the weekends to the south to take care of her parents but this week her other sibling went so she was able to come to church and she loved it. Everyone was asking her if she was a member because she understands the gospel of Jesus Christ soo well!  

I can't tell you how big a miracle it is that she was finally able to come! 

We had a pretzel making activity this past Friday and had 30 investigators show up! They loved the pretzels although they were actually not good at all hahaha. It's kind of like when you're a kid and you make a really terrible looking bracelet of plastic beads for your mom and she wears it because she loves you and has a lot of goodness in her heart. Same with the sweet Taiwanese eating the pretzels :')

I know Jesus Christ is our Savior.  He died for us.  

He restored His gospel through the latter-day prophet Joseph Smith.  

Ask God.  

Find answers. 

Much love to all of you!!

xoxoxo

sisterrrrrrrrrrr 莫

PICS

Chronicles of elephant dress: Okay this man is Brother Zhang,  張弟兄。Legend. I met his daughter in the MTC but at the time she didn't speak any English and I didn't speak Chinese. I would go down to her room all the time and we became super good friends through our lang barrier<3 well a couple weeks ago her dad and I made the connection that I had known his daughter in the MTC!  He has been SO SWEET to me and it's so cute to see how much he loves his daughter and the missionaries. Thursday night we walk into the chapel and Brother Zhang walked in 5 minutes later. He says to me "Mo JIeMei I had a dream last night that my daughter ran home and told me I needed to buy you these donuts and give them to you."ISN'T THAT THE CUTEST THING!! He drove all the way to Taipei and bought Krispy Kreme donuts.  :') so sweet!!  The members here are so good! 

I love seeeester zhooong

YAS! PLZ NO BIRDS! this sign on the bus gets me

basic bus selfie

Mornings in heaven exhibit 1

Mornings in heaven exhibit 2

These pants cost me $3 US and the shoes cost the same. reason 2398462398472983 why Taiwan is the best. 
(the plants felt right :) )

I could never tell you how happy I am

happy Buddha biking through rice field. i feel like I am in a dream.

Week 65: So Much

Another family we are teaching! The Huang/Zeng Family: the little girl is 7 and her name is Huang Yi Jie. She wanted to say a prayer with us and she prayed for 100 dogs, 300 cats, and a house big enough for all of them to live in!

SOO MUCH...

1st: Lu Jie Mei will be getting baptized in the next couple weeks! They are going on a family vacation to Japan so we have to schedule around that. She is amazing! She is reading the Book of Mormon and praying each day. I love that even though small trials will come up, because she has the habit of reading and praying daily, God helps her see miracles that clearly answer and resolve her concerns! She is so amazing! Lots of love for LuYuQi JM:)

2nd: Sister Jensen and I went on 4 exchanges the past week and a half. It was so busy!! Back to back exchanges. Every time we go on exchanges I am so amazed by how incredible the Sister missionaries are. I have learned so much from them! It's cool to see how everyone missionary's in their own way and as long as we rely on the Lord and are obedient in His work, He will be able to work miracles through us. This week we saw an amazing miracle with a mother and her daughter. We met them on the street and without much of an introduction to who we are and what we do, Sister Jensen asks, "Do you want to come to our chapel?" And before she even finished the woman said yes. Well she showed up yesterday afternoon with her 17 year old daughter and they both have already set baptismal dates for 8/26! The Spirit is incredible and was so strong the entire lesson we shared because the mom and daughter had such a huge desire to come unto Christ! Soo miracle!

3rd: Wendy and Dior, the two high schoolers I mentioned last email, set a baptismal date last Wednesday and have been praying each day for God's help to be prepared by August 15th. Seriously such a miracle! We have also been teaching the cute family in one of the pictures I sent - the woman with her sister- in-law and 7 year old daughter who loves dogs. They are developing a relationship with God. I really loved what one of them said when we asked why they were willing to meet with us. She said, "I have never had the opportunity to learn about Jesus Christ before and I think this is really something that will help our family." Wow!! Literally so golden! Also, they don't work on Sunday's because they believe it is a family day. This is SO RARE here in Taiwan! Pray for them please:D

This week was just so so good and continues to be as we are about to go to the temple so #祝福.  

I was talking to a Taiwanese girl my age who is thinking of serving a mission. It made me think about how about 2 years ago (oh my gosh 2 years wut..) when I was making the decision to serve I mostly just felt so “unqualified”. I had always gone to church, prayed and studied scriptures, but I think the gospel just hadn't clicked for me quite yet. Two years later and I look back and FREAK OUT to think that it was even an idea in my mind to not serve a mission!!! I have learned so much about my Savior, Jesus Christ, and have felt the joy He gives us fill my soul for the past year+. 

It has changed my life. 

I know that change only happens through repentance through Jesus Christ's Atonement! 

I talked to the girl considering a mission about how no matter where we are at in life, no matter where our faith is, no matter what we think of ourselves, God knows best and He has a PERFECT plan prepared for our lives. He gives us our agency and all we are required to do is to faithfully use it. God presents each of us with specific opportunities in life. All we have to do is pray and move forward in faith. I am SO GLAD I didn't follow the doubts I had about serving a mission and let that prevent me from going. 

I can't even express my gratitude to my Savior! We can find happiness in this life on our own. But I now know that no happiness in this life can compare to the joy our Savior and Heavenly Father want to give us. Trust Them! One of the biggest things that hold us back is pride - if we give it up it will allow us to try to trust in our Savior. That is all we are asked to do..to try! 

I know if we take a step in faith rather then fall back in doubt, we will allow a perfect God to have a place in our life, to change it to become something so incredible we could have never have accomplished on our own. 

I LOVE THE GOSPEL! GO BE HAPPY!

all the love 

Sister 莫

On a rooftop in Taiwan. Teaching about Jesus Christ. Doesn't get better.
















Don't be a PHUBBER!


this is Leon! Our investigators cute, sassy son. He reminds me so much of you, Peyton! :)

Eating in Taiwan- straight from nature. + taiwanese ama goals>>>

selfie with the storm

Teaching Lu Yu Qi JM<3 we love this family!! they're progressing so well:) 

Exchanges with SISTER ZHONG LOVE OF MY LIFE (she's from southern Taiwan)

writing notes to investigators-Taiwan has the best stationary. also best everything.

this family thoughhhhhhhhhh>>>>>>

This is Jiu. We love Jiu.

Wendy and Dior<33333333

I bought an elephant dress....for 100NT. I will let you go convert that to USD