WEEK 11: I loooooovvvvvveeee Taiwan and I love being a missionary!

Family & Friends...

I AM IN TAIWAN!! After 9 weeks of thinking the day would never come, I am actually here and it is indescribable. I love everything. And I cannot stop smiling as I am biking in 100 degree weather, 100 % humidity, or pouring rain. The people here are incredible. The food is the best I have had in my life (besides mom's cooking of course). The city is sooo beautiful and the streets are unlike anything I have ever seen. AHHH everything here is so much more amazing than I will ever be able to describe!!

A brief rundown: We landed after a really smooth 13 hour flight and were greeted by our Mission President, Jace B. Jergensen and his angel wife Sister Jennifer Jergensen - they are amazing people. Then we spent the night at the mission home and I woke up the next morning at 4:00 thanks to jet lag :') oh also I blacked out again and hit my face on the bunk bed and then the closet and when I regained consciousness I was already crying. SO yeah hahah this was an important part of my week. (m & d I am totally fine I promise hehe)

So that morning we went to a dedicatory prayer sight and had a cool little introduction to the mission. Then we met up with all the trainers and got assigned our new companions. My companion/trainer is..... SISTER BRADLEY! She is one of the sweetest people I have ever met. I am so blessed with companions. We will be together for 2 transfers/12 weeks! LET'S GO. We spent our first evening together meeting people on the streets. We talked for awhile with a man who by the time we were ready to leave asked if we would pray with him. He said that he had not prayed before but he prayed one of the greatest prayers I have ever heard. SO COOL!!

The next day we biked- and YES I survived my first time biking in Taiwan!!! It was really something else... I cannot tell you how qíguài (strange) the traffic system is here. There are lights on every street that count down either 90, 60, or 25 seconds and nobody crosses or turns until their light is green. Also there is a box for bikes at the front of the lanes at every light. SO you gotta weave your way through all the cars and get to the box. Then when there is like 2 seconds left, you start revving up (aka awkwardly pedaling forward with your foot and getting honked at for being uncoordinated) and then everyone is off! There's just me and my comp, two little wàiguó rén (foreigners) on our foot bikes while all the cars, buses, and motorcycles zoom by. It's a beautiful thing how well the system works tbh.

Our Zhǔjiào (bishop) invited us and the Elders over for lunch and made us some tomato egg drop soup. (Dad you would have died for this!!) But when they found out I was veg (side note: Taiwan is probably the easiest place in the WORLD to be vegetarian) because I didn't eat the duck, his wife went back into the kitchen and came out with a plate of vegetable fried rice....the Taiwanese are seriously the kindest people in the world!! I definitely felt bad but once they knew I was vegetarian it was a done deal. The people here :'))))

Here are some more highlights/random things:

1. The fruit here is the most flavorful I have ever tasted.

2. We met a woman named Gloria (her English name) on the street and she was so excited to talk to us. She ended up setting up another appointment to meet with us and is super interested in baptism!

3. In every park here (so many parks!) there are tons of fitness groups. They do dancing, Tai chi, meditation, running and circuits. What's the big deal? Everyone in them is OVER 85 YEARS OLD. I will take a video. Words don't do them justice. Let's just say I got lapped by a 90 year old.

4. A giant plate of curry here costs 80 kuài....THAT'S $2.45!?!

5. The Chinese is coming so much easier being here and immersed in it! I can understand the gist of what most people are saying!! I really, really love the language. OH also I was asked to share a brief testimony yesterday in church in front of about 40 people...in Chinese hahah!  I shared how Tiānfù (Heavenly Father) gives us strength to get through trials we couldn't get through ourselves. That is one of the greatest things I have come to know on my mission. Try it out- say a lil dǎogào (prayer) and see what happens! Yǒu xìnxīn yǒu bànfǎ! 

There is so much to say but so much that I could never describe through words. I loooooovvvvvveeee Taiwan and I love being a missionary. This is one of the greatest experiences in my life. Most of the time I am just in awe that this is my real life!!

I love you al! Write me and tell me how the life is in Měiguó (USA)!

xoxox

mo jie mei

PICTURES
1.  a super cute girl who thinks my hair is fake
2.  me and my comp sis bradley and our sick bike gear
3.  a view from our apartment in my first area,  ZhongHe -- a district in Taipei
4.  the dedicatory site (also another picture of this with our group is @ taiwantaipeimission.com)
5.  view from our bishops apartment
6.  a chocolate pancake fish

WEEK 10: Mo Jie Mei in Taiwan

Hailey Jane made it to Taiwan after a 13 hour flight from San Francisco and traversing 7000 miles!

We received this photo of her with her new companion and trainer from her mission President, President Jace B. Jergensen.

You can watch a short video of her arrival and see more pictures of her in Taiwan at the mission website:   http://www.taiwantaipeimission.com/
The photos and video are under the section "Dedicatory Site and Training with New Missionaries".

WEEK 9: I AM FINALLY GOING TO TAIWAN!

HELLO I AM FINALLY GOING TO TAIWAN! Today is the day!

I cannot believe it has been 9 weeks. It has felt like an eternity & at the same time, a day. The MTC has been one of the greatest experiences of my life. I have learned so much and met incredible people here. People from all over the world! I love how diverse this place is. I have been stretched and challenged in ways I didn't know were possible, but have made it through every struggle by the help and grace of God. I mean I can *prettymuch* get by in a conversation with a native Chinese speaker and it has only been 2 months?! WHAT IS THAT? A miracle. Definitely a miracle. 

So yes- the next time you hear from me I will be in TAIWAN!! 7000 miles over the Pacific! Words cannot express my excitement or gratitude for this experience. I love you all and your support and love help me through. Thank you for everything! 

p.s. you know how you say "geng-ho!" to express being all for something/excitement about something? well that literally translates to "more good" in Chinese! so YES you all know a Chinese word and it took all of us here 9 weeks to realize it! hahah

I love you all!!!

xoxo,

mo jie mei 

莫妹妹

PICTURES

1. A lil earth angel named Sister Austad.

2. One of my favorite humans - Sister Woo.

3. Our little MTC fam.

4. My tongban + Sister Woodruff

5. More of some of the greatest people I know.

6. Sister Woo on the left & Sister Zhang (from Taiwan!) on the right. Saying I am going to be tall in Taiwan is a bit of an understatement. hahaha

7. More cute sisters from Taiwan.

8. Sister Shih! SO CUTE LOOK AT HER!

9. Wode ai Sister Zhang <3

10 & 11. Some super hilarious eye magnifying glasses. The glasses obsession continues.

12. Chosen by the thug life (@ laura where you at)

13.  i know my arm looks huge/i look huge  and it is prob because I am standing next to the smallest/cutest person alive

WEEK 8: 6 Words to Remember and 6 More Days Until Taiwan!!!

HELLO from my last Wednesday at the MTC!!! Words cannot express how happy I am or how excited I am to get to Taiwan. 

This week started pretty rough. Liang Jie Mei went home on Friday because she needed to get surgery and it was a rough goodbye. We all love her so much and as Lei Jie Mei put it "it feels like our right arm is gone." Please pray for her as she is getting surgery.  She will hopefully be able to come back to her mission in about a month! So I guess I shouldn't have said it was a goodbye- just a see you soon. :)

The hardest moments in life definitely leave you with a renewed gratitude for and awareness of every single happy moment. And this week has since been full of some of my favorite memories on the mish so far. The first sweet moment of the week was...*drum roll please*

#1) receiving our FLIGHT ITINERARY!! We are actually going to Taiwan!!! We leave next Tuesday morning and I don't have the words to express how excited and grateful I am. The Mandarin is coming along well, but I have also been so humbled (to put it lightly) to realize how little I know when speaking with native speakers here at the MTC. Taiwan will be shocking and humbling, but I have NEVER been more ready and excited to get wrecked #HOLLA

#2) We also found out that our Branch President (a.k.a. the man who acts like the grandpa of our class and two others here at the MTC) is kiiiind of a big deal. He has a Wikipedia page- search "Gregory Newell." He also casually took off one night after visiting us because "he needed to catch his flight to make it in time for his meeting with the President." Yep. With Mr. Obama. In D.C. At the Whitehouse. This is my claim to fame.

Or at least I thought that was my claim to fame....until our little class of 6 was selected out of every single class here at the MTC (about 120 individual classes like ours & ours was chosen!?!!?) to do an interview with SPORTS ILLUSTRATED. Yes YOU HEARD ME:  the Sports Illustrated Magazine!! The article was about athletes who put their sporting careers on hold to serve missions. It was pretty cool because the writer kept saying how impressed she was and that it wasn't at all what she had thought. And it seemed like she meant it in the best way possible haha. I also thought it was kind of weird how nervous she was, but I guess anyone would be nervous in a classroom with 6 weird teenagers speaking Chinese. OH & there was a camera man that literally took 5 billion pictures and he was so close to my face at one point that I would not be surprised if there is a picture of my right nostril in the article. 

ANOTHER COOL THING this week was being able to hear from Elder Renlund! He talked about how life-changing faith is. We got to sing in the choir last night that was the special musical number for Elder Renlund's talk and our choir director mentioned something that has been on my mind. (side note: the choir director is incredible and always explains the meanings behind hymns) He was talking about companions and how to be a good companion. He said "All you need to remember are 6 words: Be their blessing, not their burden."

So simple right!? But then I was thinking about how I want to adopt this motto for every relationship in my life. How can we help others instead of weighing them down? It's sort of like a glorified way to say "treat others as you want to be treated." But the way he said it really got me thinking. Be the companion that other missionaries look forward to having and be the person that other people look forward to meeting. 

A quote (pinterest, woot woot) I have hanging in my room back home says "Live your life in such a way that if anyone were to speak poorly of you, no one would believe it."

I wish I could glue these thoughts to the front of my brain because it is so easy to forget when I become upset or things don't seem to be going "my way." But I really want to try being that person that is a blessing rather than a burden. I don't think there should ever been any in between either! If you have the ability to make someone happy rather than weigh them down, why would we ever burden someone? This was such a good reminder for me and I hope it helps some of you, as well.

Bring a lil sunshine into someone's life

Wǒ ài nǐmen!

xoxo

mo jie mei

PICTURES

1.  Our flight itinerary!!

2.  Taiwan here I come!

3.  With my wǒ de tóngbàn <3

4.  Zuì kě'ài de rén huózhe: Fang Jie Mei from Táiběi!<3 

5.  This is the greatest thing ever. So I made ANOTHER friend from Taipei who is ALSO one of the greatest people I know. She only speaks Zhongwen so it is really good practice for me and my comp. The first day we met her, she invited us down to her dorm and already had written me a little note. Then she gives us these seaweed snacks her family sent her called "BIG SHEET".  There is only one seaweed piece in it....slightly concerned about how you only eat one sheet. however I guess it is called "big sheet" so it will probably suffice!  Is Asia not the best place in the world, besides home?   

WEEK 7: shēnghuó hé hūxī (living and breathing) and a lil' bit of divine intervention

Hi family and friends!

This week has definitely been the longest week of the MTC so far but I am happy to let you know that my companions and I are still shēnghuó hé hūxī (living and breathing)! On Thursday we went to the podiatrist for Liang Jie Mei's foot and found out that her foot was actually broken. I wish I could tell you I am kidding but one of my comps legitimately broke my other comp's foot. 

Mandarin Word of the Week: Zhēnshí de Gùshì

Translation: TRUE STORY BRO. (well actually just "true story" but you get it hehe)

This morning, we spent a few hours at the doctor before they ended up telling Liang Jie Mei she could either go home today or wait till the end of her MTC stay. A bone on the top of her foot is sort of crumbled but her tendons are what is causing her the most pain and will need surgery to fix. If she stays, she has the option to fly directly to Taiwan when she is healed from surgery. She will be staying with us until the day before we all fly out so that if she decides to, she can go straight there and resume her mission. I am soooo glad she decided to stay because I, nor Lei Jie Mei, know what we would do without her at this point. 

Although this has probably been the most exhausting week in every respect, I have been really inspired by Liang Jie Mei's strength and outlook on everything. It was just her and I at the doctor appointment this morning (we were on splits) and the entire time she talked about how all she wanted was for Lei Jie Mei to not feel bad or worry about it. She really is one of the most selfless people I know and has inspired me so much to think less of myself, especially when things get hard. In the pictures below you can see her still being her same goofy, happy self. 

I JUST LOVE HER.

Because of all of the happenings of this week I have been thinking a lot about how Heavenly Father has a huge master plan for each of our lives. I was listening to Josh Groban's song "You Raise Me Up" while studying this week and realized how true that is. If you need a little boost, definitely go read the lyrics and listen to that song! My favorite lines are "I am strong when I am on your shoulders, You raise me up to more than I can be." There is no way I would stay sane through 9 hours of studying each day and there is no way Liang Jie Mei could be feeling the peace she's feeling without a lil' bit of divine intervention. 

I hope everyone is doing well! Write me whenevaaa<3 

love you all

xoxo mo jie mei

p.s. Taiwan in T-13 days!!

My people #xìngfú

This is Huang Jie Mei from Taichung Taiwan! She is sunshine.

My companions being amazing as per usual.

WEEK 6: Small Acts = Much Joy

This week was insaaaaane. I will start on Friday because I really have no recollection of Thursday haha. So after lunch on Friday my comps and I were in the line to put our dishes on the conveyor belt. Well Sister Reinhard (Lei Jie Mei) stepped backwards and didn't know that Sister Langley (Liang Jie Mei) was right behind her and she stepped on her foot. Normally this would be an "ouch get off my foot" situation. HOWEVER at the time of the stepping-on-the-foot, Lei Jie Mei was wearing these epic Dansko clogs. Now if you don't know what Dansko shoes are, they are basically bricks meant to survive a nuclear bomb. So Liang Jie Mei was in a ton of pain, limped out of the lunch room and we went to class. Well, class ended and her foot was getting worse but the doctors office had closed so all we could do was get her crutches from the training room. Needless to say it was a VERY long Saturday and Sunday with the doctors office being closed and Liang Jie Mei not wanting to go to the ER. It was only made longer by everyone asking if "sasquatch" had stepped on her foot....and Sister Reinhard was standing right there....many awkward moments. But we are still livin'!

So here is where the doctors come in. Sister Langley and I spent the entire day, 8:00-4:30, going to and from doctor's appointments while Sis Reinhard stayed in class. It was exhausting, but also quite the adventure. Turns out she has a "severe deep bone bruise." We have no idea what is going to happen or how long she will be in the boot & on crutches. It is always the elephant in the room because we are all supposed to leave in 3 weeks and Sister Reinhard feels horrible if Sister Langley isn't able to leave the same time. Please pray for us hahah.  We are on the struggle bus. #THANKSDANSKOS

Also, to describe the picture of me and Elder Stroud (#2). So at the temple on Sunday my companions were standing and talking to other people and I was sitting by Elder Stroud. He was telling me alllll about his girlfriend back home. Then this MTC zone president comes up to us and with GREAT concern says, "I know you are missionaries but this looks a lot like a date."  We both thought the entire situation was hilarious. Another Elder in our class captured our reactions after the zone president left hahaha. Rest assured that I was not in fact on a date. 

This week has been a long one, but I have still easily found so much happiness in each day.  If there is one thing I have learned this week it is that losing myself in serving others results in the most happiness. My favorite hymn is "Because I Have Been Given Much." The second verse says:

Because I have been sheltered, fed by thy good care,
I cannot see another’s lack and I not share-
my glowing fire, my loaf of bread-my roof’s safe shelter over head,
that he too may be comforted.

Service definitely requires you to forget yourself and your wants, but I know that is why it is so meaningful. Small acts of service that require such minimal effort from us can bring someone else so much joy. I love these lyrics because it makes me think, "why am I not serving others every single chance I get ?!" My goal is to become a person that "cannot see another's lack and not share" what I have.

Spread the love & make other people happy. You will find so much joy! 

Don't worry be happy now!

i love you all!

xoxox

sister armstrong

PHOTOS

1.   I have a new obsession with glasses and wear anyone's glasses I can get my hands on. These were my fave. #i'mharrypott

2.   Elder Stroud 

3.   My last pic with sister clark :'((((((( i love that girl!

4.   Fun bumping into Jonathan Staheli (family friend) who works at the MTC.

WEEK 5: Flustered chickens, REJOICE ALWAYS and "let your pigeons go"

NIhǎo! Zěnme yàng?

This week has felt like an eternity. I will try to recount all the happenings but my brain is so cloudy with a bunch of Zhōngwén mixing with my English and the occasional Spanish word! I am confused haha ANYWAYS! Last P-day was pretty exciting.  We had gotten back to the room and I was brushing my teeth and walking around with Sister Clark (the Sister from Sweden). She was telling me a story when all of a sudden the fire alarm goes off!! I, in all my wisdom, bolted into the bathroom because I wanted to spit the toothpaste out and rinse my mouth really quick and then I started smelling a super horrible burning smell. I know you are thinking I am the dumbest person you know and you are 100% right. HAHAHA Mom and Dad I truly am sorry for being so dumb, I promise it won't happen again. Anywayyys so I turn around and sprint out of the bathroom and find my tóngbànmen (companions) and all the sisters evacuating looked and sounded like flustered chickens. Everyone was screaming and pushing and the whole time I was just thinking how annoying it was that I didn't get to spit out my toothpaste. 

So how did the fire start? Well turns out that someone on the 3rd floor (I live on the 4th) had put their ramen in the microwave for SEVEN MINUTES and it caught on fire. Don't ask me how or why. Wǒ bù zhīdào. But all that was lost was the ramen (#rip), the microwave didn't blow up, nobody died, and I got to spit my toothpaste out in the tulip garden.

Note: Mom and Dad I realize that this story wasn't comforting in any way. I was only in the bathroom for a split second but I ended up being in the front of the line of people evacuated if that helps hahaha I love you.

Next highlight was Elder Jensen going vegetarian for a whole entire day. I challenged him and, surprisingly, he agreed because he thought it would "detox him from the 3 feet of Subway sandwiches (from a recent challenge)." Best part is that he actually liked what I eat (he ordered the same food as me) BETTER than the food he has been getting! However, he didn't admit that he loved it until dinner when he had to explain why he was going back for another wrap. (Peyton- It was just like in spongebob when squidward finally admits he likes krabby patties) So yes. WINNING! #goveg 

On another note, learning Mandarin has been simultaneously the most challenging & most rewarding thing I have probably ever done. We spend soo many hours studying everyday and sometimes it feels like I am getting nowhere. But then my Lǎoshī will ask me a question and I can respond/have a conversation IN CHINESE and it blows my mind. It's only been 5 weeks and I am understanding and speaking Zhōngwén?! I don't have an impressive vocabulary at all but this is some crazy stuff. I really, really love the language. It is SO much fun to speak and it is very logical. For example: their number system literally involves math. So to say 31 you would do 3 x 10 + 1 making it sān shí yī. It all makes sense! & ooo that reminds me: 

Mandarin Word of the Day: Fàng gēzi

Say it: faaaang geezah

Meaning: To stand someone up

Literal Translation: To let your pigeons go

Last point in this novel of an email is something that has been on my mind constantly these past weeks: gratitude. Sister Andrew gave me a copy of a talk by Dieter F. Uchtdorf called "Grateful in any Circumstances" and I highly recommend searching "The Google" (Laura and Teresa that one was for you ;) ) for it. He starts by saying, 

"Perhaps focusing on what we are grateful for is the wrong approach. It is difficult to develop a spirit of gratitude if our thankfulness is only proportional to the number of blessings we can count."

This made me wonder how I think of gratitude in a way that is conditional on how much I can find to be thankful for. I'm not saying this is wrong because counting blessings is something we can all benefit from. But what about the hard times when it is hard to feel grateful? I think that's what Elder Uchtdorf is saying here. I'm not quite sure what a "spirit of gratitude" is exactly but I think it looks a lot like Philippians 4:4,

"Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice."

Obviously life is gonna get hard. But it is also going to be GREAT. It is easy to be grateful when life is going well but I easily get caught up in the bad when life doesn't seem to be going my way. My favorite line of the entire talk says, "Could I suggest that we see gratitude as a disposition, a way of life that stands independent of our current situation? So instead of being thankful for things, we focus on being thankful in our circumstances." No matter how much I complain about the food here or sitting for 9 hours a day. I can be grateful. And I have noticed when I stop complaining, life is much easier and much happier

So everyone- REJOICE ALWAYS!

& REJOICE that you made it to the end of this email!!! 

Hahaha I love you all. I miss you. Write me whenever. Keep me updated on life out there :)

all my love,

sista mo

PICS: 

1. HALFWAY PIC! These are ma people (sorry about the blurriness). 

2. My favorite picture from the mish thus far. Please appreciate each face individually.

3. Middle part Monday....

4. Some new sisters in our zone! Sister Woodruff & Sister Martin and some very successful photobombing. 

WEEK 4: Mama huhu

Hi fam & friends!!!

Mandarin word of the day: Mama huhu

Pronunciation: "mama who-who"

Literal translation: horse horse tiger tiger

Meaning: So-so

Example: If someone asks how you are doing today you can say "mama huhu." HOW GREAT IS CHINESE! 

These emails are so strange to write because every week is exactly the same in terms of schedule, but every week is so different at the same time. Pretty much every day is like deja vu, but there are many exciting things that happen throughout the weeks that help me survive the next day here at the incubator. 

My embarrassing language mistake of the week:  Our investigator (who is actually our teacher posing as someone he actually taught on his mission) was telling us a story about his mom who hasn't been doing well.  I thought he said his mom was doing a little better and able to get outside more. So after his story I said "Hǎo kě'ài!" which means "Oh how lovely/nice!" Little did I know he was actually saying that his mom was now having to go to the hospital more often for check-ups. Don't ask me how I did it, but I REALLY botched that one. hahahah I didn't realize until after the lesson what was actually happening. I was so grateful this wasn't a real investigator because things got awkward really quickly. hahah Oh, Zhongwen. :')  (an "investigator" is someone who is interested in learning more about LDS beliefs)

I am running out of time, but I love you all so much! I am sorry this email is short and doesn't have anything even somewhat inspirational. I am getting so anxious to get to Taiwan!!!  Although, I clearly have a lot of language learning to do still!

I hope you all have a great week. You are in my prayers! 

I LOVE YOU! 

xoxo mo jie mei

P.S.  Missionaries pick a scripture that expresses their feelings about their mission.  Hailey told us this week that she decided on Alma chapter 29 verse 9 from the Book of Mormon (a volume of scripture translated by the prophet Joseph Smith) ~ 

I know that which the Lord hath commanded me, and I glory in it. I do not glory of myself, but I glory in that which the Lord hath commanded me; yea, and this is my glory, that perhaps I may be an instrument in the hands of God to bring some soul to repentance, and this is my joy. 

I GOT MY CHARACTER NAME TAG. YAY!


Studying Mandarin.  (I still draw good lamas!)



I went up to the sister in the red and her friend and (in Chinese) said "you are so cute" and they literally LOST IT. They were so happy and could not stop laughing. Finally they calmed down and we got a pic. hahaha I love them!



I got to hold a hideous dog (loved it!).  It's name - Popcorn.


Some of my favorite sisters!





Our lil class and one of our Laoshi (teacher's) who left (tearz)