WEEK 38: T-13 dAyS!

朋友朋友！你們好嗎？今天的天氣很美和我的心好開心！

One of those times (aka all the time) where I would love to write you an essay on how much I love Taiwan and the people here and being a missionary---> This week was legittttttt and Sister Rhynard had I had so much fun! It has been great how we’ve become so close over the past 10 weeks through everything we have been learning together and I will miss her like crazy when transfers come in a couple weeks! :'( my lil child </3

Here a a few highlights for this past week!

1. 張姐妹! (far left) Zoe. She is an investigator we have been meeting with for about a month now and she has been coming to church every Sunday! Lately she has been a bit undecided on baptism until our lesson this past week. It was one of the most powerful lessons I have ever been in. We really tried to understand what was holding her back and she opened up to us a lot. We told her we know we have no possible way to understand the challenges she faces but we know that Jesus Christ completely understands her. We shared personal experience and our member helping us teach shared a story with her. It was so amazing to see that through all of our different challenges and trials in life- even though they were all extremely different- the Savior and the gospel helped us through. 張姐妹 started crying and said “I know God caused us to meet as part of His great plan for my life.” 

2. 鄭姐妹, a 20 year old who also doubles as our best friend, has taken over the role of "missionary" in our lessons and basically teaches us every time. She is amazing and her faith inspires me so much! She fully trusts God and Jesus Christ and knows that they will help her through everything. I have never met anyone with as much faith as her!  It has been the greatest blessing to learn from her and to learn the gospel with her<3  She is getting baptized on 12/31!

3. We have ANGELS in our life - people in our current ward who know Sister Rhynard's family in the States! - whom we randomly met at the chapel. They gave us little bags full of CHRISTMAS presents! :'))))) Christmas decor and pretty much anything festive does not really exist here in Taiwan because it's not a part of the culture (lol duh) so the little bits of Christmas looking stuff has been way fun! People in this world are so good. As is constant, I am amazed at the kindness and thoughtfulness of the people I’ve come to know here. Always, always amazed by the Taiwanese!!

4. The individuals we are teaching here are so solid. They ask the best questions and Sister Rhynard and I keep reflecting on the blessing it is to get to share the gospel with people who are so prepared and ready and willing to hear what we have to share! I love the people here in XinAn and WanDa and am so grateful to serve here. 

I am so grateful for Christ’s gospel. I'm so grateful for the indescribable blessing that is TAIWAN is in my life! All the people, the culture, the ways the gospel is being shared- I would not trade this experience for the world. I love you all and fam I cannot wait to see your faces in less that 2 WEEKS WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love you！ 我愛你 我愛你 我愛你！

xoxoxo

莫姐妹

merry xmass tehe

more photos

1. dis ma birthday cake! our church family made my birthday<3  in this photo - with some of my best friends who surprised me with sushi!

2. THE MOST legit veg sushi roll in the entire world. like it won a prize for being so good...(yes i take pictures of food & yes I eat food 哈哈 ＃抱歉)

3. we bought BOOTS! #merrychristmas

4. our chapel on Saturday! The English ward and the Jin Hua wards put on a huge nativity production to reenact the Savior's birth and it was a m a z i n g! I have never seen anything like it! We had 3 of our investigators come to it and they all said they finally understood why there is Christmas!! Hahahah YAY mission accomplished!


5) this is the one and only 龔巧珍。 she reminds me so much of Grandma and it makes me so happy. she wears these glasses- they are the gong jm glasses and they are level 500. i don't speak prescription language but i know that's a lot because when i put them on i can't see ANYTHING. Also it was Mov Monday (mov is this pink color of my jacket AND the color of her glasses!) On Mondays we Mov and 剛剛好 i had a suit jacket and gong jm's mov glasses #movmonday

6. this is 小林長老 (little elder lin). he is my best bud :') SO CUTE

7) don't ask what i am doing but plz zoom in on Sister Rhynard's face. thank you.

WEEK 37: 我想念你們! + a huge 奇蹟!

hello 大家好!

i am not doing caps this week because i decided to go for a bit of an e.e. cummings vibe ~可以嗎? 

this week i woke up on my birthday and missing the family and laura and everyone just hit me like a big old AIRBUS! (sorry that needed to be caps hahaha) really though i woke up and i was just like "wow I miss my people soooo bad!" it hit me and i cried it out before we got ready and went to the court to play basketball with the elders. i cannot tell you how weird it is to have a birthday on the mission but i will say it was a bit of a turning point for me. that sounds so cheesy hahah but i actually feel like my 20th birthday was a crucial day of reflection and learning. i was pretty deep in thought the whole morning, thinking about how weird birthdays are and where is my family and why do we celebrate birthdays and why am i even thinking about myself this much i need to focus on studying and preparing for our investigators today, and why do i feel like i am watching my life in 3rd person? 

hahah it got weird~~~

basically i had a billion thoughts going through my head about how STRANGE the feeling was and why it was happening. i was used to missing my family but i was not used to feeling so caught up in the feeling that i couldn't really focus. so i said a prayer asking Heavenly Father to help me focus and help me think about things in a more constructive light (rather than destructive, since it was weighing me down). i started a.m. scripture study after that prayer and i opened to Alma 37: 36-37.  it says,

36 Yea, and cry unto God for all thy support; yea, let all thy doings be unto the Lord, and 
whithersoever thou goest let it be in the Lord; yea, let all thy thoughts be directed unto the Lord; yea, let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever.

 37 Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest 
down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day.

i miss my family and friends very much. i miss them every single day and i want that to be fully and 110% clear, that since i began this experience here in Taiwan i have felt the distance every day. but on my birthday morning, it came in especially like a big wave and i couldn't seem to move past the feeling and focus on it...

...until i started reading these 2 verses in Alma. 

i have read these verses over and over again but this time felt different based on the circumstances. i love this about the Book of Mormon and the Bible- that we read them continually and learn more and take away different things each time! this verse felt like Heavenly Father was talking to me, telling me to rely on Him, trust in Him and turn to Him. He promises us that He will take care of us through his Son, so all i needed to do was to turn my thoughts to Him and stop relying on myself. "let our hearts be full of thanks to God" is one of my favorite phrases. we are promised challenges as part of this life. but i love love LOVE that in constantly turning our thoughts and gratitude to God, continually remembering His and our Savior's love for us, we show Him we need him and trust Him and in turn He blesses us. i spent the rest of that day thinking a lot. pondering everything! (literally one of those days where your mind will not stop) i felt gratitude and overwhelming feelings of thankfulness for my Savior and for Heavenly Father. the moment i turned to Him, He helped me turn the feelings of sadness and physical pain of missing my loved ones to a realization of how blessed i am to have the people that i have in my life and that I have them because of Him! if all of our thoughts are truly directed to the Lord, He will help us turn those moments of discomfort into hope and comfort. of course the feelings of missing my peeps are there and they are gonna be there every single day of my mission! but i want you all to know that i know for 100% sure that Heavenly Father can ease the pain and heartache. 

lesson learned:  no matter how big or small your challenge is, there is always the choice of whether or not we want to turn to Him and allow Him in.  i really want everyone to know that wherever you are in life and whatever you are going through, you can find hope and peace through Heavenly Father & Jesus Christ.

(i am pretty sure i wrote this for myself because wow so much reflection hahah thanks for bearing with me!)

last i want to share an INCREDIBLE miracle that happened last night to show you that God is constantly preparing people to hear the gospel.  last night we had a Fireside. it was fantastic and there were Christmas songs errywhere (HOLLA!) after the Fireside, there were treats and basically everyone just chats and you see people you met awhile back from other areas of Taipei. well i was just eating my 橙子 and talking to our amazing investigator named Zheng Hui Jun when this guy comes up to me and says, "it's you! i knew it was you!" and i had absolutely no clue who he was so i pulled one of those awkward laughs like "aha ahh yes...it's...you........¿"

-TOTALLY BLANKED-

but sensing how awkward I was and the fact that I was not saying his name he goes "i am the guy who ran after you a couple weeks back! and i followed you to the chapel to get a copy of the bible! and now because of you i am meeting with the missionaries in BeiTou and getting baptized at the end of the year!" 

大家!!!! He was NOT creepy and turns out Heavenly Father had just realllyyy prepared him to see us that night and feel inspired to RUN (nope, he definitely did not bike. he ran a whole mile) and ask us for a bible. It was probably one of the greatest miracles I have seen on my mission- especially seeing how God's plan played out! Sister Rhynard and I are in shock/kinda feel bad at thinking he was so creepy hahaha OOPS. Really though God has a plan for everyone and I am so excited for him to be baptized! 

I am sooo grateful for daily miracles and for the miracle it is that we get to turn to God daily. we can legitimately choose to see miracles! family and friends it is not possible for me to express my love to you and my gratitude for each of you in my life. i cherish every single relationship i have and i thank Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ for making it all possible. life is so beautiful! i hope everyone is making plans to express love to Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ and to everyone in your life this holiday season because wow WE BE BLESSED!

thanks for reading my document!!! i love you all with all my fiber

(trust me i eat a lot of fiber) 

xoxox

sista 莫

p.s. SORRY I FORGOT MY CAMERA! i have no pics this week

WEEK 36: Chen Fen Fan got baptized!

CHEN FEN FAN'S XILIHUI!!

Meet Fen Fan. She is amazing and Sister Rhynard and I are constantly talking about how happy we feel after every time we met with her. She has taught me so much about faith in the past couple months we have been teaching her! She is one of the most prepared people ever to meet the gospel. 

Our Side of the Story: One Saturday night a couple months ago, I was feeling like we needed to invite more people to church. So I browsed through our cell phone contacts and found a number that said "Referral Chen Fen Fan." Turns out it was a referral from one of our church members that had been in our phone forever but just never got contacted. So I called her and invited her to come to church with us the next day. She responded, "well I am already Christian and I am going to another church." But then I was like, "oh cool! have you ever thought about where all these Christian churches came from? and why there are so many?" and she was quiet for a second and then goes, "actually yeah I have wondered about that". And then I say something along the lines of, "well your church is in the morning and ours is in the afternoon! meet us tomorrow at 1:20 and we can talk about why there are so many churches." The next Sunday SHE CAME right at 1:20!!! And she stayed for all 3 hours of church and then wanted to talk about why there were so many churches. We shared the Restoration with her and from that point on she kept every commitment to prepare to be baptized. It was a huge miracle. Huge.

But little did we know that it was actually WAY HUGER (yes it's a word) than we even knew!!!

After Chen JieMei was baptized she got to share a lil testimony. I want to write it down how she said it (but in English):

"A couple months ago I was watching Good TV (the Christian station here in Taiwan) and I was wondering why there are so many churches. I have been to a lot of churches, been baptized 3 different times.  DURING the time I was watching Good TV the phone rang and it was Mo JieMei. She introduced herself then asked me if I had ever thought about where all these churches come from!  She said that she and Rao JieMei could teach me about why there are so many churches and she invited me to come to church with them the next day. I went and the moment I got there I felt like I was in the right place and that Heavenly Father had lead me there."

I was speechless. Heavenly Father seriously leads us missionaries to people who are ready to hear the gospel. I am so amazed at the Lord's hand in helping Fen Fan find the answer she had been praying for! It resulted in one of the most converted people I have ever met, and someone who has taught me so much about faith and the restoration of the gospel in this time. I have been pondering about this experience a lot and grateful to witness a miracle. I feel like we seldom see the results of why we felt to do something. As we keep trying to follow the Savior's teachings we are led to do things that a lot of the time we can't see direct outcomes of our efforts. Or think of it like whenever you do an act of kindness or service- 99% of the time you cannot see the results of your efforts. And sometimes that's the hard part because you might think it was all in vain. But I know for sure that no act of service to do something for another person that you feel the need to do is ever wasted! Heavenly Father always keeps His promises. He blesses us and others as we try to follow Jesus Christ and His teachings. I love how simple this gospel is- that's something I understand even greater from Chen JieMei :') 

I love you all so much. Thank you for your continual support and love and for taking time out of your lives to email me! It means the world to me. I am kinda out of time cuz we are about to eat a vegetarian curry sushi roll called "Steph Curry" so it's a bit urgent..

HAHA it is literally the only item in English on the menu and it is a vegetarian sushi roll called Steph Curry!! All my favorite things in one little bite :')

I love you more than I love Steph Curry.

xoxox

Mo JieMei

莫

the streets of JiuFen

This was the clearest day I have seen the whole time I have been in Taiwan! We got up to JiuFen and the rain stopped and the sun came out and BAM! :')  I basically have no words for how much I love JiuFen.

sister rhynard and lu jiemei<3

Our Japanese Thanksgiving! Basically everyday is Thanksgiving here in 台灣 (as you have probably noticed from my pictures hahaha)  Happy Thanksgiving America!!

OUR PEOPLE! We organized a Thanksgiving activity with food and a play of Nephi & the brass plates for our ward and it was AMAZING! Such a good turnout and all we had to do was get members to make food and invite people and when you got free food you got an activity #winning (no joke I was trying to figure out what we were going to do for decorations and asking around and finally someone was like "莫姐妹 我們是台灣人我們不管!" hahaha it means "mo jie mei we are taiwanese and we do not care about that stuff". reason #793 why I love Taiwan.

Week 35: Gǎn'ēn jié kuàilè Happy Thanksgiving!

This week has been insanity...like P-90X Tony Horton level of insanity. 1st: Sister Rhynard is halfway through training which means my child is growing up :') I can't believe how quick a month and a half goes by here. That also means that 聖誕節 is in less than 6 weeks! I GET TO SEE YOUR FACES FAMILY!!!! The excitement I have for this = aksudgbkasjdnvoishei4

Next! You know how I told you we were like reallllllyyyy busy? Welp joke is on us because we just took over another area so now Sister Rhynard and I cover XinYi, DaAn, WanHua, and DaTong areas....LITERALLY THE WHOLE CITY OF TAIBEI! 

The reason we are doing this is because they took the Sisters out of WanHua/DaTong area and closed that apartment and apparently someone trusts us to do stuff so we are in charge now?? lolz  We met with all of their investigators on top of our investigators and basically just became one big fam. Time is a precious gift 大家!! USE IT WELL. (and feel free to donate us some if u can hehe)

CHEN FEN FAN IS GETTING BAPTIZED NEXT SUNDAY! I know I never tell you enough about all of our investigators, but it's because I would need to write novels and again...time hahah SORRY. Better late than never, yes? --> Chen Fen Fan is a 50 year old Christian woman who has one of the strongest beliefs in God and Jesus Christ. She shared a lot with us about how much her beliefs have changed her and helped her through so many things in her life, the good and the bad. She has been baptized three times before but she told us she always felt something was missing. We had a member ask her why she wanted to be baptized in our church (because our member was like "is she just going to keep getting baptized?") and Fen Fan said, "None of the other churches have the restored gospel of Jesus Christ." Hahah she was kind of just like, "duh" It was sooo cool to see how converted she is. She had so many questions when we first met her weeks back, but she told us they had been answered after we finished the last lesson with her. So yes, she is getting baptized on Sunday!! So many miracles in the 城市.  Please pray for her to keep feeling loved and that the baptism will go 顺利! Pictures and stories to come next week :D 

(wow I really am such a spaz when I type hahah really sorry it's the best I got without emojis I guess - insert sassy hand emoji) 

I really have seen so many miracles on my mission. Getting to reflect back and write these emails on what has happened makes me feel an immense amount of gratitude. Everything that I see and learn here has brought me much closer to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and recognizing that they really do know who I am and are aware of me and each and every one of us.

TO DO RIGHT NOW: think about something you have been through in the past that was really difficult/challenging. Then take a moment to think about where you are right now at this point in your life and in this very moment. Compare the feelings from that trial and think of how that trial ended or how it is not as "heavy" anymore. My friends, that is a straight up 奇蹟 (miracle). What a great opportunity to thank Heavenly Father for where you are in your life right now and if you are in having a hard time right now, you can rely on Jesus Christ and his Atonement to help you through it. I know it's not possible to feel happiness and joy all the time and that was never how it was meant to be because we can rely on Jesus Christ to support us and pull us through! But there is always something to be grateful for and there is always good to be recognized which helps us notice the love that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have for us.  

Alma 37: 37 Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day.

i love you!!

xoxo 

sista 莫

Taipei 101 building with the elders

when you walk into church and the members have already 

prepared you a special vegetarian lunch>>>>> (every single week) #grateful #blessup

Week 34: the best week of my LIFE

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Where do I even begin?

GONG QIAO ZHEN GOT BAPTIZED!!!  


I really wish I was more eloquent with words so I could tell you how incredible that moment was and how I have never known more clearly how much Heavenly Father knows and loves each one of us and the fact that the gospel changes lives. The baptismal service was sooo beautiful! There were about 40 people there at the service supporting Gong JieMei. Our member shared a little message about baptism and then Gong JM was baptized. The happiness in that moment was unlike anything I have ever felt. I really cannot describe it! You hear all these stories of missions being the happiest thing and I thought I had pretty well understood that! Hahah but let me tell you- thinking back through all the moments we have had with Gong JM and seeing that everything had led up to that moment and seeing the change & excitement and joy in her eyes was life-changing. 

After she came back from getting ready, Sister Rhynard and I sang "Abide with Me" and then Gong JieMei shared her feelings and testimony. You know how I have mentioned before how much she loves to talk?? Well she gets up there, pauses and then goes, "我真的很感動。我不知道我應該說什麼," And then she started tearing up!!!! FAM! Gong JM has never teared up or really anything close!!!! Sister Rhynard and I were so shocked and then it was just the craziest and coolest and most beautiful thing to see how at peace and happy she was. She went on to share about how peaceful and warm she felt (sounds better/makes more sense in Mandarin so I am sorry if that sounds like awkward English, I really don't know anymore hahaha) But wow. It was the happiest moment ever and I can't tell you the feeling in that room. I am at a LOSS for words.  Basically I just want everyone in the world to have that exact experience and feel the unbelievable love that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have for all of us. Their love and the Atonement of Jesus Christ can get us through anything and give us joy that we can't find anywhere else. I really experienced that this week. <3 :'))))))))))))))

Ah what else! Here are some of my favorite other moments of this BLESSED week:

1. Sister Rhynard and I were heading to the chapel for a lesson with a new investigator, Zhang Yi, and we pulled up and parked and started getting our 東西 ready and this guy parks at the church and frantically walks over to where we were parked. He was super out of breath and just stood there looking at us trying to catch his breath. We were both a lil confused so I go, "Hi are you okay?? and he goes "You ride really fast!"  Sister Rhynard and I look at each other and I was like 什麼東西？！So I said "You followed us!?!?" hahahaha (mom and dad don't worry I handle these situations very professionally hahah) He said "Yes my friend told me to follow you but you ride really fast!" and we were like well why did you follow us? and he said  "I want a bible".  Our investigator was standing right therewith us and was mortified at the fact that this guy had followed us...but 後來 we made sure he got a bible. hahaa

2. Yesterday we had 6 INVESTIGATORS come to church! Sister Rhynard and I didn't even know what to do with ourselves. It was the coolest miracle ever. The night before we had one of our investigators, Chen Fen Fan's, friend call us and say, "Hey my friend is meeting with you and she says she is learning a lot. I heard you have church tomorrow and I want to come with you all!" UMYESOFCOURSECOME! It was soooo cool- she came, loved it and we are meeting with her tonight! We also had Chen Fen Fan, Zhang Yi, Shi Lan, and Wu XJ & her son. It was insane how well our members welcomed them and to see the love that everyone had. YESTERDAY WAS JUST SO AMAZING 大家！#happy #lifelaughlove #fun # lyf3

I really have no words to do this week justice. There's so many little things every day where you see the hand of God at work in people's lives and constantly witnessing those things brings the most happiness! Hearing our investigators tell us about miracles that happen in their lives and seeing the changes they make has really affected me. They teach me so much! I think the beauty of having friends and family and loved ones is that we can see changes in their lives that teach us. I think sometimes it is so hard to tell if we are improving or if we can feel God's love or if these insane moments of happiness and love and growth really do occur. But it is always something that we can notice in others, and to be extremely grateful that they are feeling that love and happiness. I definitely know Heavenly Father answers our prayers through other people! It happens with just about everyone we talk to. We have so much to learn from others and so much to learn about God and Jesus Christ's love for us!!

I really hope you can feel Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ's love this week!! It is a love that should uplift you and motivate you and give you peace. I love you all and am soooo grateful for every single person in my life! HAVE FUN HAVE FUN

luv u all with my whole heart

xoxox 

莫姐妹

GONG QIAO ZHEN'S BAPTISM!!!!!!

my child

my mom and child

Week 33: 大家好!

大家好! Wowww it feels like forever since I have written a real weekly email and I am so sorry!! These weeks of training have been the busiest of my...well yeah probably of my LIFE! and half the time I feel like a wild turkey. Not even a chicken because this is next level stuff. But it has been the busiest as well as some of the best weeks of my whole life. I have seen more miracles and the grace of Heavenly Father so clearly in every single day. The past weeks have really strengthened me and my testimony of this gospel. Sooo I am going to share with you the biggeesssssttt miracle that has ever happened: 龔姐妹 (gong jiemei) is getting baptized next Sunday, the 13 at 12:00pm!!!!!!!! Okay okay okay I will try to be calm about this but I literally cannot contain my excitement for her! Here's how it happened: 龔姐妹 walked into the chapel about a month ago and she did a little tour with the tour sisters that are at the chapel. She started meeting with those sisters, the Jin Hua sisters, but later found out that she lived in our ward's area (which she was STOKED about because she thought that everyone in the Jin Hua ward was too old and boring which is hilarious because she is 65 years old. But she is in no way boring so yes...it worked out). Then one day, Sister Rhynard and I met her as she was coming out of the chapel and she stops us and asks us a question about one of the stories in the book of Alma.  After we answered her question she tells us that she loves the Book of Mormon and says, "我相信這是神的話" (I believe it is the word of God.) 

龔姐妹 had already met with the Jin Hua sisters a couple times and set a baptismal date for 11/27. [Back story: the Jin Hua sisters are Sister Chang and Sister LeFevre and we go running with them sometimes in the morning at 大安公.  園 & I had heard about 龔姐妹 during morning runs.) Sister Chang told me the first time they met with her, they could not get a word in and 龔姐妹 was constantly telling them how bad their Mandarin was. hahah

Fast forward to us finding out she is now our investigator: The first time we met with 龔姐妹 it was pretty much just as Sister Chang had described. But finally our peike (member helping us teach) was like "龔姐妹 you came here to hear their message so listen to what they prepared for you and if you don't want to listen you have the choice to leave." I WAS FREAKED OUT!! I was like oh my gosh you're going to offend her and then she really will leave! BUT after the member said this, 龔姐妹 just stopped and stared at her for a couple seconds and then said, "Thank you for reminding me." Then she looked at Sister Rhynard and I and said, "Please teach me." It was the coolest thing ever. Since that point, 龔姐妹 has been the most incredible listener and learner. But I feel like at the same time I have learned just as much from her. After every lesson with her, 龔姐妹 writes down what we invite her to do and sits in the chapel reading the Book of Mormon and praying because she "likes the Spirit in there." She is already in the second to last book of the Book of Mormon and has one of the strongest testimonies I have ever seen! 

Okay so how is she getting baptized next Sunday then??? Gewd question ---> We have met with her many times since finding out she was our investigator. Then last week after meeting with 龔姐妹, Sister Rhynard and I were talking and felt, "she is so ready to be baptized. we gotta move her date up." We prayed about it and were like yup, she can get baptized on the 13th! Then two days later when we met with 龔姐妹, the lesson really was not going well as in Sister Rhynard and I really did not have any direction and it was all over the place. The peike and 龔姐妹 were chatting about something way off topic and I had no idea what to do to bring it back so finally I was just like, "龔姐妹, we know this is completely 100% your decision but Sister Rhynard and I have been praying about your baptism on the 27th and we think that you are ready to be baptized on the 13th." After I said that she was silent for the longest I have seen her not speak.  Finally she spoke and said "How did you do that?"  She told us that she almost called us the night before to tell us that she wouldn't be meeting with us and that she wouldn't be baptized or learn anymore, but, she said, "I felt like I needed to come to one last lesson." I was thinking "what? how could she have changed so quickly and forget how she had felt before?" But luckily I didn't say that because 龔姐妹 went on to say, "That is the answer I have been looking for. I have been praying too, but felt like the 27th was not when I should be baptized so I was going to just stop meeting anymore but when you said the 13th, it does feel right and I now know that is the day for me to be baptized.

BIGGEST MIRACLE EVER!!!!!!!!!

Sister Rhynard, 龔姐妹, and I have all been in awe at this experience and Heavenly Father's awareness of everyone. It's also been helping Sister Rhynard and I be more brave in doing and saying things we feel like we need to because it is so clear that those promptings come for a goooood reason.  龔姐妹 is getting baptized!!!! And every time I think about that I feel this insane happiness and gratefulness for how Heavenly Father knows and loves her. :')

Other 奇蹟!
1. We went to the beach....words don't do justice just check the pics #REJUVENATION

2. Sister Rhynard got hit by a motorcycle but she is OK.<3 The motorcycle T-boned her front tire and messed it up. If it had been like a millisecond later it would have hit her leg and done some serious damage but both people came out completely fine. Also I watched it happened and I am telling you it was an insanely huge miracle- like watching Heavenly Father put a force field around her. MY CHILD IS OKAY!

3. President Jergensen continues to be the greatest and coolest mission president ever and changed the time we wake up from 6:30 to............7:00!!!!!!!! YAY!!! Also, now we go to bed a half an hour later but I would take waking up later any day. holla holla!!  

Well this time next week I will be emailing you pictures of the one and only 龔姐妹 at her baptism! Life in XinAn is the best. I wish I could ship all of you over here to show you a day in the life!  I love you and tanksszzz for reading this bad boy...kinda long. You are a champion.

ALL MA LOVE!!!

莫

p.s. sorry if any of this was super confusing ain't nobody got time for proof-reading

p.p.s. xoxoxox

Breathtaking 

when you have way too much hair + wind

 we went to a lighthouse #momyouwoulddie

lunch with Ye Mama! love her more than 包子

Week 32: Mission Blog or Food Blog? hmmmmmm

Dàjiā hǎo! Hi everyone! 

This week was the busiest/most fun/best/craziest week of my whole mission! We had soo many lessons and invitations through our church peeps. IT'S THE BEST FEELING IN THE WORLD! 

I will start off with telling you about this past week by sharing what I did on my last p-day with my comp the elders and a friend named Lu JieMei, which involved the one and only Modern Toilets restaurant. (Warning: photos might make your stomach turn) This restaurant is more than I can ever describe to you in words so I will just let the pictures speak for it and say that it was actually really good and only slightly morbid. And yes, it's all things toilet from the dishware to the seats to the decor...oh and of course the look (only) of the food. 

This place does not mess around.

Free with every meal!

Continuing on...the next day we had a lesson with Zhao Jin Fan and she is doing well! Sister Rhynard and I felt a lil bit weird though because we sortttt of ended up being match makers and the person who came with us from our church to help us teach really hit it off with Jin Fan. hahahah OOPS. The lesson went well though and she came to church yesterday! After the lesson we took a lil pit stop because my bike could not pull it together.  The chain, my tire, some screws and my brakes all had problems. Reason #239847 why Taiwan is the best is that all of the fixing up only cost $180 NTD...which converts to $4 US... cha bu duo!! :o

That night we had a lesson and dinner with the amazing Wu Cai Hua.  HOW CUTE IS SHE

Next, this past week the pollution was the worst I have seen it yet. (luckily it rained and it got better) I decided I needed a picture in my trusty face mask. project #becometaiwanese is going well!

Bian DX, from our church, showed up at our apartment with this FEAST for us and the elders! The best part -- it was VEGAN! 

Continuing on with food...by Thursday Sister Rhynard and I realized "ah end of the month and we have no money left for food!" even though we felt we had tried to be frugal. But then a miracle happened. At EVERY single appointment we had that day people gave us food to take home with us (no, we didn't ask or mention our predictament). AND that night when we got home, Cai JM (from our church) was waiting at our apartment with a ginormous box of food for us...like A WHOLE WEEK'S+ WORTH OF FOOD!  I almost cried. I don’t understand how these people are so good and how they know every single time we are in need of something!  

Here's what we were given.

Friday we got to make 饅頭 with one of our Sisters, 林姐妹!! (notice although I'm still talking about food I've tried to disguise it in chinese characters).  Papa, these remind me a lot of the "toughies" you make except they aren't tough at all hahaha SO MUCH FUN!  We made well over 50 饅頭 and then packaged them up to go take to people in our church! It was tons of fun getting to learn how to bake from a master steamed dumpling maker! It really surprises me how different the cooking and baking styles are in Taiwan from the U.S.  Probably the number one difference is that Taiwanese don't add butter or oil to their foods (excluding night market foods!) I told a friend here that in America people cook their vegetables with oil and she was so disgusted. She said "why would you ruin them?” 

The sassiest person you'll ever meet in her kitchen: 林姐妹 (laura you would be surprised)

 饅頭 extravaganza!  the process: we added taro and sweet potato to our 饅頭

awww wook how cute my child is :'))))

太平山!!!!!

Saturday was I N C R E D I B L E. We got to go to a church activity about an hour out of Taibei to a mountain called 太平山! It was unbelievable. But I do have to tell you about the ride up there. We were in a bus and I am really not used to riding in cars now so when I do I get really, really carsick. Well turns out that the road up this mountain could also be known as the road of switchbacks that never ever, everrrrr ends. A straight hour and a half of switchbacks. I have never been so sick in ma whole LIFE! It was like I was spinning and then someone kept spinning me and I couldn't ask them to stop. Finally, I couldn't handle it anymore and asked my friend Ji JM how close we were. I had to kind of turn back to look at her to ask and basically that was the worst decision ever and made the car-sickness 20 times worse! My entire body went into shock and started shaking so badly I had no control over it. I blacked out and when I started regaining consciousness there was someone in our group doing Chinese medicine on me and putting all these ointments on me and using this weird brush thing on my neck and feeding me these weird seeds and hitting my back with a paddle thing....(wish I had a picture of the ordeal, especially the paddle hitting my back moment haha)

1st thing: Chinese Medicine is magic

2nd thing: I have no idea where all the 東西 came from but I have decided that it's like the equivalent of a first aid kit but more effective.

3rd thing: IT WORKED!

4th thing: the people here are angels. They were so worried about me the rest of the day and everyone kept asking how I was doing :') I LOVE THEM

As for 太平山!! It was sooo beautiful. The weather was rainy and foggy and we could not see the view at all because we were basically in a cloud but it made for the freshest air I have breathed in 6 months! It really felt like we entered another world up there. I realized that I have gotten really used to living in a big city because it was shocking to not see a ton of people or hear noises or see big buildings! It was so tranquil. We had a nice lunch and enjoyed the neature. 

Hiking Taiwanese style!! (walking up stairs and man-made paths) p.s. we do not know these people I just liked them :]

The next part of the trip was a hot spring! But this was NOT anything at all like the hot springs you are thinking of. It's more like a mini volcano with boiling hot water.

In the boiling water people were cooking food! WUT We got to boil corn and eggs to perfection in only about 2 minutes. It was the best corn and boiled egg I have had in my life...mmm sulphur (no really it gave it an incredible flavor)  

taiwan i love you

寧靜 lunch with ma people

This week was the best week of my mission. We made so many memories that I will cherish forever! I am so grateful for this experience and the opportunity to meet some of the most incredible people. Something I have learned on my mission is how important it is to talk to other people and how important relationships are in general. As a missionary, I talk to everyone every day and maybe that isn't the most normal thing to do, but people make our lives so rich! I have been learning that a lot of the time Heavenly Father answers my prayers through other people. I'm so grateful for every single person I have in my life. I believe that every person has a special purpose and reason for being in our lives and we see that at the times that we need them or they need us.  

I am so thankful for every single one of you. I love you. 

 大家: 我愛你們!!!

Have a great week xoxo

莫

Week 31: Can I take a raincheck...? :D

Hi everyone!

So when bloggers do blogs, you know how they take those really long breaks of not writing a post? Well, I am not a blogger and I don't plan on taking a really long break but I think I will take this week off from writing a weekly because Sister Rhynard and I have been insanely busy and having so much fun. Here's some photos though that tell a few things about this past week.

I love you all! see ya next week :)

莫姐妹

PICS

We went to an investigator's house for a lesson and she had a calligraphy MASTER there at the same time. He picked a full name for me "mo fei ya" (pronounced mo fayyy aahhh) as well as wrote a summary of the lesson we taught! 

Mo Fei Ya and Mo JieMei (my name)

Me with my friend Kay n my sick style.

Random pic Kay took of the elders...and me.

The cutest person ever - Jenny from Malaysia! 

She made us authentic Malaysian desserts :D

A coconut ball with coconut sugar filling and rice around the outside rolled in coconut flakes. 

(dad even you would have loved this)