Hardest week but so rewarding!

Let me just tell you...this week though!!!!!! wow. A lot of things happened. So much happened but now it's over so phew. This week was a lot of people saying they would come to things but then not showing up, typical missionary life. But anyways let's go into the stuff you really want to hear:

陳佳茵 (Chen Jia Yin) got baptized!!!!! Her baptism went so smoothly, it was so great. It was definitely the highlight of this week. She is one of the most humble people that I've ever met, she thought her testimony wasn't big enough (it grows over time!!) but she loves church and that you can learn how to be better from it. We call her the day before to make sure how she's feeling and she's like...I feel good. No concerns whatsoever and we are like alright. Saturday rolls around and we had told her to come at 5 pm so we could get her the baptism clothes and help her feel prepared. 4:50 rolls around and she comes up to us with all these Taiwanese snacks that she wants us to try! So...my companion and I had these chips that literally taste like Taiwan, like sometimes when you ride past restaurants you get this smell and that smell is exactly what the chips tasted like. We also tried pigs blood cake (pigs blood with glutenous rice, peanut powder, and Taiwan parsley)!!!!!! She like runs upstairs to cut it since it was on a stick, she then ran down the stairs and starts cackling evilly cause she wanted all the missionaries to try it. (It wasn't that bad but I wouldn't ever buy it myself.) She then got baptized and bore her testimony, it was just so smooth I was so surprised. She also had invited her brother and her cousin to come so it was super special!!

高佩憶 is also doing really well! We finally had the opportunity to meet with her and we asked her why she wanted to be baptized before and she said that it was because she wants to do the right things in life. She wants to make the decisions that will give her a greater purpose in life, so we testified to her that she is on the right path and that after baptism the Holy Ghost will guide her to make the right decisions and give her a greater sense of happiness! She was more than willing to accept a new baptism date and I am excited for her!!

We have been calling through some records and we found this one for a family. We call it up and they invite us over and so we get to meet the mom and a girl named leaf. While the rest of the family wasn't as interested in our message, the coolest thing was the girl named Leaf. When we had started  the lesson she had straight up told us that she didn't believe in God and that there was no way God existed, after we died we would all just disappear into nothing. We shared about the first lesson and how if God existed then He truly never left us because of prophets and the Book of Mormon. When we had asked her if she was willing to read and pray every night she sat for a second and then looked us in the eye and said I am willing to try.

We also got one of the coolest referrals last night. This member had called us during our lesson and so we called her back afterwards and she said, "hi, my friend from my class is interested in understanding our church. I had talked to her about my religion and she said she's interested in understanding more about it." I had finally recognized her name, when Sister Eyring had first got to Xinzhuang we had gone to the 張's (Zhang) house for a YSA activity and they had told me to befriend this LA that was there...it turns out it was the lady that was currently calling us!! It's so cool and so nice when members share the gospel because their friends trust them and are more open to listening!!

Nonspiritual thoughts:

Nothing really happened this week though.

When we went English boarding and I hand the tract to this girl and she looks at it and then in English says, "I don't need this" and tries to hand it back to me and inside I'm like but then I calmly said give it to a friend!

Then yesterday on our way to the lesson with the family it was pouring and so my shoes don't stay on that well in the rain but usually I'm fine. but this time...oh this time it was different. So here we were trying to cross this big busy road and I was looking left and right to find the moment and then here it was..the moment we had been waiting for...just enough time to cross the street. So I went to push my bike to get going and right when I did my shoe popped off!! So here I was in the middle of the street while it was raining with ONE SHOE ON. So I had to like hurry and went back and tried to pick my shoe off the street before the cars came back, but no worries, I am still alive and so is my shoe. 

So after the baptism there was this ward activity that Danfeng was holding and so we went to attend it and as we head up the stairs to the big meeting hall we hear this music. But not just any kind of music....rock music??? So we look into the big meeting room and there is this boy that is jumping from side to side and banging his head up and down as he plays his electric guitar for everyone. We were just so surprised cause we didn't know exactly what this activity would be.

We had been cleaning our old apartment cause of the move and my companion is cleaning in the kitchen and she looks under the sink to move everything out. She moves this big bag out from under the sink and then just goes... Sister Chao. I go in and there's this huge dead cockroach and I'm like NOOOPE. So...the picture is her with the broom about to throw it's dead body outside. If you look closely at the broom you'll see this giant dark oval thing...that's the cockroach.

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趙姐妹

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Sister Tiffany Chao

Taiwan Taipei Mission

4/F, #24, Lane 183

Jin Hua Street

Da-an, Taipei 106

Taiwan

Middle of August?

The hottest month in Taiwan is halfway over!!!!!!! IT IS SO HOT HERE (record high of 38.5C a.k.a. 101 F + high humidity) I AM NOT KIDDING. LIKE I HAVE NEVER EXPERIENCED HEAT LIKE THIS EVER IN MY LIFE. but it's fine...cause it's almost over?? *fingers crossed* 

Let's get started with this week!

We went English boarding on Tuesday in 思源 (Siyuan) and like normal it was super hot. We went English boarding near the MRT station and nearby is this high school. Usually when we try and give the high school students the English tract, they either deny us or they take it and then just walk away really fast, but this time it was a bit different. We were crossing the street going away from the high school when we see this younger looking girl. My companion and I immediately try talking to her and start talking to her about English, then we decided to take the advice that we had learned in zone conference and we started talking to her about the Book of Mormon and about who God was. She then told us that she wanted to learn more about God and so we set up with her for the following day. The day we met with her was definitely one I won't forget, we met with her and explained more about who our Heavenly Father is and then decided to go straight into the first lesson. We read Moroni 10:3-5 and she really liked the part about praying with sincere intent and with a desire.Then at the end we asked her if she would be willing to give us the closing prayer, she hesitantly says yes but was concerned cause she didn't know exactly how. We then taught her and we listened to her say her first prayer, she thanked our Heavenly Father that she was able to meet the missionaries and to learn more about Him and even though she didn't fully understand everything she was willing to keep trying. After she finished her prayer she looked at us with tears in her eyes saying..."I feel like I want to cry right now. I have this feeling right now that I don't know how to describe." We happily explained to her that the feeling she was having right now was the Holy Ghost, it was from God confirming to her that He existed and that He loved her. She then starts crying and it was truly such a special moment.

This week we figured out that Bai Xia Nian technically isn't a convert baptism since she's a part member family and she's not turning nine before her baptism, but it's okay because she's so cute and is still getting baptized this Saturday. Her family was set to come to church yesterday and usually it's just the children and the mom. My companion and I were sitting near the front with Rachel's mom when we hear the doors open and a small child, now in my mind I am thinking oh it's probably them and the son, so we turn around to see who it is that's walking in...and in comes Bai Xia Nian, her siblings, her mom, and finally....THE DAD. That is literally one of the biggest miracles, the dad before didn't really like the church nor the missionaries (he was never mean to us just didn't like us at the apartment) but the mom had told us that he had told her that morning that he wanted to go to church too!! 

Also.... 陳佳茵（Chen Jia Yin ）is getting baptized this Saturday!! She passed her interview yesterday and is set for getting baptized!! It's so exciting! Let me tell you the story of how this all started...I remember first getting to Xinzhuang back in May. When I had first gotten here, Sister Hickenlooper had mentioned this lady named Joanna (Chen Jia Yin) but that Joanna had stood her and Sister Hickenlooper up way too many times and so that she was giving up on her. She had told me that when they were able to meet with her that she was awesome, but that just at that time it wasn't Joanna's time. So...I never got to meet her but I kept inviting her to EVERYTHING over text. I'm talking if there was anything happening...she was invited. She would say she would come to things but then never show up, but then the second to last week of last transfer I invited her to come to our musical fireside and she said she would come. So I kept texting her trying to help her not forget. That night we were trying to look in the small amount of people that were there for a face that was unfamiliar and we saw her in the back left corner. That night I knew something was different about her, she was so willing to stay and interact with everyone and was super willing to meet with us at any time. And from there well...now she's getting baptized!!

Last one I promise, there is this guy that got baptized this past Saturday. His name is Joe (陳國興）, and he has one of the coolest conversion stories. He had seen missionaries on his TV and had googled: how to become a Mormon. He then found where our church was but every time he had tried to enter it had always been locked. He then made his way all the way to the Jinhua chapel and then was referred all the way back to Xinzhuang. He had progressed so fast and was willing to do anything to be baptized, but then he hit a speed bump. His mom was super against him being baptized before he was 18. But because of his faith and fasting, his mom signed the paper and he was baptized!! 

Joe's baptism. He's the one with the white tie and glasses in the second row

Nonspiritual thoughts:

We met with this new investigator this past week at her house and when we had gone to her house, her whole family turned out to be there. The dad was like how did you meet my wife? And we are like...at the 7/11 and he thinks about it for a second and he's like that sounds about right. We then try and get their actual phone numbers cause the one she gave us didn't work and the husband was like if you want to talk to her just go to the 7/11 she's literally always there. She only comes back here to eat. So...that was funny.

We told Joanne that she was awesome and  then our funny investigator Joanne (Wu Jia Xuan 吳嘉軒) was like..."I know I am.....I need to be more humble...Just kidding!!" She's literally the funniest 18 year old. She like omg you're breaking the word of wisdom cause you aren't drinking enough water...that's unhealthy. 

Also..for today we have to deep clean our apartment cause we are moving next monday somewhere a little closer to our area...yay.

 

A surprise visit from Sister Oates

Taipei Visitor Center

Taipei Temple

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趙姐妹

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Sister Tiffany Chao

Taiwan Taipei Mission

4/F, #24, Lane 183

Jin Hua Street

Da-an, Taipei 106

Taiwan

The week of meetings

This week was full of meetings, from exchanges to a zone conference. But you learn SO MUCH. Where to even begin? Last Monday was so fun, our Ward Mission Leader took us to Yilan! By us I mean the 思源 elders and us. We left around 12:30 and made the drive to Yilan! It took about an hour, but then we stopped at this museum and it was talking about the history and agriculture of Yilan. Then we went to this beach that was nearby and because it was hotter than none other we went and got some shaved ice!! Overall super fun.

We then taught a lesson to Bai Xia Nian and helped her prepare a small testimony for her baptism and she isn't as scared as she thought! She's getting baptized on the 26th so fingers crossed it all goes well!!

We also went on exchanges this past week and it was super weird cause instead of going to Taoyuan we ended up going back to Yonghe! (which is where I went on exchanges when I was in Xizhi) One cool miracle that we saw was when we went to go visit this less active to give her this read along book of mormon pamphlet thing and our plan originally was to just drop it off with whoever was home. Right when we were about to do that, she rides up behind us on her bike and invites us in! We had a sit down little lesson with her brother and then he committed to going to English Class!!

On Wednesday we traveled back super fast to go visit the Xiao Family (the family we met last week) and we did the restoration with them! The six year old daughter asked so many questions about Christ and the lesson went really well! We gave them book of Mormons and then set up to meet with them later that week. We met with them and the mom was talking about how the dad would secretly read the Book Of Mormon by himself!! She also talked about how great it was to go to church because it had been a long time since she had really gone and she forgot the good feelings it gave her. 

Then we had English class and there was a new girl named Zoy (16 years old) in my class. I had figured out that she had gotten a Book Of Mormon from the Sanchong missionaries but that she had never finished it and wasn't meeting with them. After sharing about really listening to the Gospel and watching a Mormon Message I ran over to her and wanted to see what she thought about it. I asked if she would be willing to listen more and she hesitated at first and was like...I don't know if my mom would allow it, she's very traditional. I asked her if she wanted my help asking her mom and she still was unsure, so I asked her...if your mom were to say yes would you have interest in hearing more? She then confidently said yes and so I was like..okay I will help you talk to your mom if this is what you want. We see her mom come back to pick her up and they are about to leave so Zoy hurries and makes eye contact with me and I run over to say goodbye to her mom. I started off just complimenting her daughter and how great her English was and then I started doing a short one minute power lesson about how Christ helps us in life and how He can help us achieve our goals and give our life purpose. I then ask if it's okay to meet later and her mom is like what if we came early next week cause you will talk about church stuff right? and I'm like yes. Then her mom thinks about it for a good ten seconds and then says okay! Literally such a big miracle!!

On Thursday after Zone Conference we met with this family that attends the English ward but lives in Danfeng, it turns out this lady is the one who referred Joanne to us!! Joanne is one of her students and so she started sharing the gospel with her. It was super good to have this dinner with their family and to have Joanne there because the family was able to support us in having her come to our ward and really developing a relationship with our ward (she loves going to the JinHua ward already) so Joanne is doing good!

Xie Ting Yu is also doing really well!!! She is really set on being baptized on the 26th also, she talks about how being baptized will help her become closer to God and allow her to be a disciple of Christ. She even testified to this other girl who has a goal for the 26th (Chen Jia Yi). Both of them came up with us all the way to JinHua to go to Stake Conference!!

Nonspiritual thoughts:

This week was full of funny things that I just can't remember right now okay....I am really trying to remember...like REALLY TRYING TO REMEMBER.  

did anything funny happen this week? aw man. 

We got this referral from the Elders a couple weeks ago and she finally answered and we set her up, but we had no idea what she looked like and she had previously blocked us on our phone so it was a finding game of asking people if they were her and them being like  and us being like  we eventually found her.

 

 

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趙姐妹

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Sister Tiffany Chao

Taiwan Taipei Mission

4/F, #24, Lane 183

Jin Hua Street

Da-an, Taipei 106

Taiwan