Taiwan Taipei Mission: 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.