HueiJyun

This is an email HueiJyun sent to us (Hailey’s family). She is the girl in the center of the photo that Hailey taught the gospel to and helped her apply for BYU...the one she mentioned in her last email about being roommates with when she returns back to school. 

Hello sistar莫 father and mother

I'm HueiJyun Jheng鄭卉珺,I'm Taiwanese.  I'm so lucky to know your daughter ,because of her I know many things about the church,and I'm  already baptized at December 31,2016 ,I'm a church member in 萬大支會,maybe in the future I will application the university about Brigham young -Provo ,sorry my English is so bad ,the grammar is wrong ,but I still want to talk about my thanks.

Week 44: Happy Chinese New Year

Hi friends & family! <3 

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!!! This past week has had that feeling of excitement that you get when you feel Christmas coming. New Year is the most important holiday to the Taiwanese and it has been soo much fun getting to be involved in such a rich culture during this holiday! So what happens during 過年 is that everyone gets together with their family. Most people return to their grandparent's home and it's a big happy gathering of aunts, uncles, cousins, brothers, sisters...everyone!! And what do they do together? Well if you haven't noticed, the Taiwanese know how to EAT. So it is a huge celebration with a GINORMOUS meal and happiness. (ok weird it almost sounds exactly like Thanksgiving from that description but just trust me it's worlds different hehe)

The people here are so family-centered and it is amazing to see how much they love and respect family. You can talk to anyone on the street about family and it will easily turn into a 30 minute conversation about the importance of family/family stories/family goals/etc. I have learned a lot from the Taiwanese and have been reflecting on how much they have helped me grow. They are so excited to hear the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ because so many people here truly want to do better for themselves and their families. These people are so Christ-like! I feel like so many of my prayers are answered through people on the street and in the ways that Heavenly Father has prepared them to hear His message. 

One of the coolest miracles of someone being prepared by the Lord happened yesterday! The last hour of church was just starting and we got a call from the elders attending the 11 o'clock ward. They said our investigator Tina/ 張藝 was there, sitting in the front!! Okay this is HUGE because 1) she told us she would be out of town the past weekend and 2) she hasn't been keeping commitments superrr well. A bit of background: we met with her last Thursday and we had a whole lesson planned out. But the Spirit definitely directed that lesson because we ended up focusing solely on the Sabbath day and how crucial it is to developing faith. She never told us she was coming to church, she just showed up!!!!! AH! And when we asked her why she was there she said, "I didn't go on the trip because I wanted to come to church." Wowowowwow this is a huge step of progress and act of faith and I can't describe how happy or proud we are of her! Please keep praying for her! We love TINA! (also we are teaching her in English now because she actually grew up in Canada and she said she understands a lot better in English so it's been really different but really cool to teach the gospel in our native language!)

I have been super inspired by Tina this week because she taught me how important it is to sacrifice and put in the effort to act on our faith. We are taught in scriptures that faith without works is dead so what is "works"?  Before my mission I definitely didn't understand all the effort that God requires of us but at the same time the beautiful simplicity of Jesus Christ's teachings. We have to continually study and ponder and pray and if we do that every day, we will be continually growing closer and closer to Him! I never really thought I could find so much joy in my life or in my relationship with God and I know I still have so much work to do. There's a funny quote I remembered finding on Pinterest a while back that I have been thinking about lately. It has to do with health/fitness (you know those "health/fitness" pinterest boards that every girl has next to the "baking" board lol u know) but I'm gonna relate it to our spiritual growth and development in a very vague manner so bear with me a sec haha. The quote says something like, "no one really knows how good our bodies were designed to feel" implying that we have all this potential to get healthier and feel much better/more energy. And as I have been thinking about the changes that a closer relationship with God and Jesus Christ has brought to my life, I have been thinking about how we don't even know how much happiness the Lord has waiting for us! Maybe we go to church every Sunday and read the scriptures and pray because it's just something we have always done. But I know for sure that we are unaware of all the joy that Heavenly Father has designed for us to have in this life, simply because we aren't putting in the effort and intent He requires of us. He is just waiting for us to act in faith so that He can bless us! The God of the Universe has a plan for each one of our lives but we gotta put a bit of effort forward because unless we make things happen, truly trying to align ourselves with His will, our lives will come and pass and we will have never come close the potential or the happiness that was achievable if we'd only used more faith and acted. 

I'm so pumped by the fact that we never have to be stagnant in this life! There is so much potential in this world and Jesus Christ and His gospel help us reach goals and mold our lives in ways we can never do on our own. I love you and here's your weekly encouragement from me that you can do it! You have a loving God and Jesus Christ waiting to help you (and also me if you need me hehe). GO GO GO--->

神祝福你們

加油加油！

我超愛你們

love always,

莫姊妹

p.s. I got a nickname this week: 莫豆豆！it's my surname "mo" and then the two other characters are "dou" which means bean. So I am "mo dou dou" or mo bean bean (#laurawhereyouat)

p.p.s. Taiwan culture tip of the week: it's more expensive to buy nuts (almonds, walnuts, etc), than it is to get an MRI at the hospital in Taiwan. just let that sink in

To prepare for guonian we cut out a bunch of "chun" character's from traditional red paper (chun means spring and is a symmetrical character!).  It's the equivalent of cutting out snowflakes. We are planning to deliver them to all our church members this week!

WE WENT TO MAOKONG!  look up maokong gondola's..this is what we did last pday!

in a little bubble in the sky! ^-^ happy as a clam

i. love. taiwan.

mis compañitas! i love these 2

sharing the gospel through taking photos with fashionable ama's<3

it's the seeesters

3 generations of banana spiders: a tiny baby, the mom, and the skeleton of the ama spider #fearnospider

btw the baby spider you see (if you can even find it :P )  is bigger than any house spider I have ever seen...just for scale

Week 43: HELLO and happy 5:00 am from Taiwaaaaannnnn.

你好  Nǐ hǎo

  

:D I am emailing early early today because we are going to the temple and then to the gandola's in maokong! (look it up! srsly!) I am so sorry but I really don't have too much time for a weekly email! Here's a quick miracle from this week: 

ANNIE/林姐妹! We started talking to Annie on the street on our way to lunch on Friday. She walked right up to us and said "hi I read the Bible!" We talked briefly with her about the bible but she was in a hurry to get to class. We asked her if she had time after class that we could talk more and she set up with us for 5:30 pm the same day! She really loves God and talked about how much He has helped her in her life:')  We gave her a Book of Mormon and invited her to read it and she seemed excited about it. SO CUTE! We told her it was God's words too and that she could learn more about Jesus Christ through reading it. She told us, "I think this is another book of God's help". YES ANNIE YOU'RE SO RIGHT! 

The tripan is going well! Literally every day is like 3 musketeers taking on Taipei city and it's a party hahah I think we have too much fun *insert sassy hand emoji* I am always in amazement that the Lord has given us this life and that He has provided everything we need to find joy in it! The thing though is that we will never be able to find lasting happiness through the world but only through Him. 

祝你們平安快樂！

我超愛你們

下次見^_^

 all my 心 

seester mo

It's Sister Barber! She is the one I met at the store the day before I went into the MTC and we both found out that we would be serving in Taipei City :D SO good to see her.

101 building in the background

We met this man at Elephant Mountain and he introduced himself as follows: "I am Bond. James Bond. That is my English name."

I organized a workout class! It's the Bikini Body guide thing and literally every night at least one of them will call asking us if we are "bikini bodying" the next morning hahahah I LOVE IT

I FOUND A PENNY!!!!!!! This is Penny from ZhongHe (my first area) and I have missed her SO MUCH!  SO MUCH LOVE FOR PENNY! LOOK AT HER. SO SMALL. SO CUTE.SO PENNY

please look at this child. . .hair is on POINT

did i tell you that i love penny?

A message from my best friend  卉珺  She sent the sweetest email and the google translation is absolutely terrible! She wants to get into BYU and I told her she is rooming with me if she does. I love her so much!! (p.s. taiwan has the cutest photo apps)

Hi 莫姐妹我是卉珺

謝謝你每個禮拜都會打電話關心我

也謝謝你教了我很多的東西

感謝天父讓我認識你跟饒姐妹

感謝天父還沒讓妳搬家

讓我還有機會可以看到你

真的很希望你可以在傳教上很順利

我希望妳能每天都很開心

雖然傳教很辛苦，但是感覺你們很快樂

希望我也能有機會考上楊百翰跟妳當室友

我很愛妳也很謝謝天父讓我有你這麼好的朋友

Week 42: 大家好

大家好！ hello hello! 

We will just get right into this email by saying that this week we got stood up because of a cat. We set up with one of our investigators, Corrie, for Saturday night and we called her on Friday night to make sure she could still come the next day and she was like "sisters I am so sorry but I can't come because my cat." and we were all thinking GOOD ONE CORRIE but said "..oh, what's going on with your cat?" and she goes on to explain to us that her cat, Koko, is passing a kidney stone and they had already been to 2 different doctors. And then Corrie started crying because she loves her cat so much and loves all the animals in the world! Ah such a good heart she has;) We love Corrie and we love Koko. Lessons learned-

1. sometimes excuses to not meet with us are legit

2. if you need some comfort, Koko the cat had a worse week than you did

3. #ilovealltheanimalsinthewholewideworld

The work here in XinAn is going as good as ever and this past week we met a bunch of people who want to meet with us! yesssss Specifically we met a mom and her 9 year old daughter on our way to dinner one night. We talked with her and found out that she had met a bunch of missionaries before just on the street/in passing. But after chatting a bit with her and asking if she would like to learn more she told us, "Usually I say no but for some reason I feel like I need to learn more about Jesus Christ right now." We met with her and her daughter 3 days later and will again tomorrow! I think my favorite thing on the mission is seeing the changes that the gospel of Jesus Christ causes in people. For 何 mama and meimei it was hope brought by knowing that they are God's children and can be together forever. It is the joy and hope and relief that comes through repenting and the Atonement of Jesus Christ that makes people change and it is beautiful to see how people who have felt guilt and pain for years humbly turn to Jesus Christ for relief. I found this quote this past week during studies, “Hope and Healing are not found in the dark abyss of secrecy but in the light and love of our Savior, Jesus Christ.”—Sister Carole M. Stephens, “The Master Healer”

I've been thinking a lot lately about how I have grown up knowing this gospel but not until coming on this mission did I start to understand more fully the depth and power of Jesus Christ's gospel and His sacrifice. There is always more to learn about the Savior. There is always love and patience and kindness to work on. There are experiences every day that we can recognize and improve and all because Jesus Christ has felt the pain and the happiness that every one of us has felt. Turn to Him! How can we and why would we settle with being where we are? Change is hard sometimes but if God has promised us that he has more happiness and joy waiting than we can imagine, why would we not just try? No matter if we are in a trial or life is going superb, there is always more joy that God has waiting for us! He just wants us to use a lil bit of faith and turn to Him. I love the gospel. I am so happy I get to share it every single day and see the happiness that Jesus Christ brings people. This gospel gives hope and happiness and purpose and forgiveness. I LOVE IT!

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2014-00-1420-because-of-him?lang=eng

xoxo mo 

PICS

It's ZoE!!! (we are gonna travel the world together post mish)

ma people--> XinAn ward mini party!

this is my favorite picture. ENJOY

WEEK 41: Wrapping up 2016 and a fre$h $tart

Welp my child Sister Rhynard moved out into the world (moved to ShiLin!) and I am taking over the land of XinAn! I will miss her and am so grateful for all the memories and work we were able to do together in XinAn the past 12 weeks. I have been here since the end of September and will be here for another 6 weeks so it's safe to say this place feels like a 2nd home:') 

Who are my companions though? Oh how the turn tables....

I have TWO: Sister Watson and my MTC companion Sister Langley!

Back to the trio and I am so excited for a new year, new transfer, and new fresh start. Happy 2017 everyone!!

I have been pondering the year of 2016 a lot and I think it is safe to say it was the best year of my life. I started the first couple months of 2016 by spending incredible time with the people I love most and then headed off on this adventure of sharing the gospel in Taiwan! I have never felt so close to my Savior than I did this year. Lesson learned: Heavenly Father has so much more in store for our lives than we could ever achieve on our own and the happiness He gives is extremely different than the happiness the world can give. And the greatest ending to the best year of my life *drum roll please*  鄭卉捃 was baptized on 12/31!! I have no way to describe to you how amazing it is to see people changing their lives through Jesus Christ. Watching the process from beginning until when they are being baptized is the most beautiful and strengthening experience. I love the Savior and I love this gospel and the Book of Mormon and that I get to share this message everyday!

not gonna lie most of the time I think the hardest part of the mission is writing weekly emails...!!!!

hahaha #strugglebus

Lastly I will tell you my word of the year for 2017! In a family home evening a while back, my mama had us pick a word that would be our motto for that year and this year I picked the word "sacrifice". I have learned so much about sacrifice through our Savior and it is something that I want to study more. But basically every single day in every situation we have the opportunity to sacrifice what we want in order to serve others and serve the Lord. Tell me your words of the year! I hope everyone can make a goal this year to learn more about Jesus Christ. The joy that comes from doing so will change your life. kisseeeesss

xoxo 

hermana 莫

Photos

ZHENG JM BAPTISM<3<3

mis companitos! Sister Watson & Sister Langleyyy

S T E L L A

AP'S being super annoying and made us go to the mission office to figure out where we were going this transfer and who our comps were

got reunited with mom and baby #3generations :'))))))

Our investigator Sophie!!! She invited us to her insane 2nd home in the mountains and we hung out with her last P-day

breakfast at tiffany's? (never seen that movie but i feel like this is breakfast at tiffany's)

she made us lunchies

i love 山

hunger games prep with Sophie

AM I KATNISS YET

On the way to Sophie's house! (in XinDian) *heart eye emoji*

WEEK 40: MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY 跨年!

Let's just say this was one of the most special Christmas' I have ever had in ma vida. I feel like there are categories of Christmas: Christmas with family and Christmas away from family. I had no expectations because I have never been away from fam at this time before but DANG this Christmas exceeded all the expectations I never had lolz 

FAMILY AND LAURA getting to see your faces this Christmas was the best gift I could have asked for! Ahhh so 感動 <3 I feel like I have had a teddy bear in my heart since I hung up hahaha. The joy from that Skype + seeing the incredible people I have in my life has got me feeling so blessed and grateful and I just can't stop smiling. I LOVE YOU<3 

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and were able to think about the gift of being with family! And if you were unable to be with family that knowing the Savior was born was able to provide peace and happiness. 

Christmas Miracles: 

1. Seeing the people I love most for the 1st time in 9 months. <3 the feeling is so indescribable! I love you i love you i love you i love you

2. 5 people came to Sacrament meeting yesterday!

3. A girl from China walked into the chapel 15 minutes before church was starting. She said that the other day her taxi driver drove her past the chapel and told her it was a good place and she needed to go there on Sunday. She showed up 100% randomly and it just happened to be right before the meeting was starting! She loved it and talked about how she is always so curious to learn more about Jesus Christ but doesn't know how to learn more in China. She also ended up coming back at night for our Christmas choir concert and brought 3 other friends she had met here in Taiwan. INSANE!

4. At the performance (fam, isn't it presenting??) last night, we had an investigator show up that we have not seen in f o r e v e r and she is meeting with us this week! She heard about the activity through a member friend she met a while back and she came and asked if we could keep sharing the gospel with her... #yas

5. Pretty much half of the ward members from my first area (ZhongHe) came to the Christmas performance last night and it was one of the most joyful experiences I have ever had.  It hit me so hard how much these people become your family for the weeks you serve in that area! They care for you, love you, feed you, put medicine on your booboos, teach you Mandarin, and treat you like family. I love the Taiwanese and I love Taiwan!!

Needless to say many tears were shed yesterday:') I am in awe at the love of Heavenly Father for each of His children. Yesterday sort of reached overwhelming levels happy-it felt like time had stopped and I was watching everything from a different perspective. I looked at all the people I know and the friendships made and the ways that they have influenced my testimony and all the millions of ways that these people have served me and my companions as we serve on our missions. I fully believe that if we look at people and we pray to God to help us love them as He loves them (even if they are people you already love a lot!) He will give you experiences that truly overwhelm you and you will feel a love you never knew you were capable of feeling. It is a type of love that will help you know that God really does exist and that He hears your prayers. It is a love that will help you understand a tiiiiiiiiinnnyyyyy bit of the way that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ feel for you and it is a love that will change your life. I have been pondering so much about this and about the sacrifice Jesus Christ made for us. We have the chance and opportunity to change our lives through Jesus Christ! The joy and comfort and peace that God wants to give us is so much more than anything we can imagine. If we just open our heart to Him and trust Him and His timing and His plan, God promises us He will give us more joy than is possible to attain on our own. When I think about it like this, I wonder why I ever think I can do this on my own. God, the Creator of this world and the Father of all of us promises He will bless us if we just trust Him. So trust Him and follow Jesus Christ's example and our lives will change in ways we could not have changed on our own. 

I am very very grateful for this Christmas season and for my mission and the way that learning of Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father has changed my life and perspective. 

After the Skyping...apparently my English is suffering so I apologize for any errors or anything incoherent in my emails. hahahah

...actually incoherent has to do with my brain right?

I'll work on that too lolz

maybe

can't make any promises 

I love you and MERRY CHRISTMAS/NEW YEAR! eat veggies and spread the light of Christ

xoxxo 

莫姐妹

1 One of my greatest friends here- Cai JM made us into caricatures (is that the right word? cartoons?) and wrote me a Christmas card. I am OBSESSED with how cute it is

2.  I got to see my best friend from the first area I served in!! ——> 林妹妹 ^o^

3. dis be 黃致茄 and I also love her very much

4. also a person I love from my first area! 蘇姐妹 we were at the Christmas activity and when it ended I heard this person screaming "莫姐妹 , 莫姐妹!!" and she ran up to me and gave me the biggest hug and it was pure JOY

5. This is the famous running-after-us-on-our-bikes guy! His name is Henry and HE GOT BAPTIZED YESTERDAY in another area called Beitou! At the Christmas activity last night, he came and found me afterward and he said "if you hadn't driven past that store that night I would have never had this chance to find the truth. i know it was God's plan for me, thank you." 

6. There is a college student in our ward studying art and last week I was super annoying and asked her to paint me something and yesterday she gave me this....how beautiful is this? :o speechless

WEEK 39: Merry Christmas!

Hello 大家 and 聖誕節快樂!!!

I wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas from Taiwan! This Christmas season has been one I will never forget and has really helped me focus on the reason we have this holiday. Jesus Christ is the reason we are here and have everything that we have! I am so grateful for the holiday season to think of Him and His example and focus on trying to serve others as He did! If you need ideas check the link below and definitely watch the video:) I love my Savior Jesus Christ and am grateful every single day that I have the opportunity to be a missionary and share about Him. Sending you all my prayers and love and lots of hugs and kisses over the miles. I love you so much!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

xoXoOx

sista 莫

check it outttt--> 

https://www.lds.org/blog/25-ways-to-lighttheworld-this-christmas?cid=HP_FR_9-12-2016_dOCS/MIS_fBLOG_xLIDyI-2_

1.  On a morning run this week at the park I straight up ATE IT.

2. MY CUTE FAT HAND--> I landed on my right hand and it took all the impact (plus my knees and my elbow and shoulder a lil hahah)  bruisie bruise. My hand hurt worse after this fall than it did when I broke my foot in high school. I landed on it and then sort of skidded forward with my weight all in my fingers bent under my body. I thought I had broken every bone/tendon/blood cell in my hand it hurt so bad hahah BUT God works miracles and NOTHING WAS BROKEN!! 

3.  This is my taiwanese mother 徐媽媽! (mama you would LOVE her!) she makes the best smoothies and always brightens my day.

4. The day that I fell running, we walked by her smoothie shop on our way to grab lunch and she saw my hand and freaked out! She was like "I am going to do for you what your mom would do for you if she were here" and then whipped out a first aid kit full of Chinese Medicine haha. She takes out this red ointment that is like...well...super red and she rubbed it all over my hand. And the thing with the red stuff is that it does NOT rub in. You just glob it on apparently hahaha. So she puts it on and then puts some gauze and tape over it and tells me I am good to go! Here's the final product: HAHAHAHA

BUT remember how we were on our way to lunch? Well it was a veg place where you use 夾子 your hands, it's self-serve.You would not even believe the looks of horror that I was getting hahahahah  People were gasping and staring and moving far, far away from me HAHAHA oh my goodness so funny. So finally I am checking out and the lady at the counter is like "你怎麼了!?" (what happened to you?!) and I announced, loud enough for everyone to here, "這是中醫!" (it's just Chinese medicine!) and then the whole restaurant calmed down and people resumed eating, only a little distraught by how terrible my hand looked hahahahah

5.  I'm a berdddd!  (The best start to the week- last pday at the beach<3  rejuvenation ah yeah)

6. Sister Rhynard and me :')

7.  Writing xmas cards on the beach + proof that my hair has 800% changed color :o

8.  Being a missionary...random contact on ze beach :)

9. Getting to see some of my favorite people in the world! My trainer sis bradley, sister austad and sister tadd :'D

9. I got to cut Sister Koh's hair!! Life goal= complete

10. OUR INSANELY CUTE INVESTIGATOR: Meet Zheng Hui Jun<3 she is getting baptized in 2 weeks! I love Hui Jun.

11. Our ward's Christmas performance!! Such a awesome experience to sing hymns in 中文. Mandarin is such an incredible language and it is so fascinating to see how hymns are translated differently and with slightly different meanings. YAY FOR CULTURE