Taiwan Taipei Mission: "This is not my day"

Hello!! What is up? This week was definitely better than last week. Some adjusting period and just working together, Sister Xie and I have been able to see some real cool miracles! This week we made some big goals to work with members and visit a lot of them and it was super cool to see some progress with them!

Angelina had some hiccups with interviews and stuff but she is going to get baptized this Saturday!! It's been really awesome to see how the ward has been helping her and really working to help her work towards baptism! Really...if it wasn't for the ward we would not be where we are at. They have been so supportive and super helpful with taking care of her children at church. She even told us this cool miracle where her child was feeling not so well but she wanted to go to church and so she did a prayer and then all of a sudden her child was okay and she was able to come to church!! Heavenly Father really does help us when we have the right intentions! Let me tell you a little bit about Angelina, she's been searching the church for FIVE YEARS. She's been through a ton of missionaries and with having children and some other stuff happening, it's now her time!! It's amazing how things work in God's plan, His plan is truly not our plan. I'm sure the missionaries five years ago to now would have had her baptized a long time ago, but the thing is we cannot force our time or wants on God's plan. It's truly humbling to see how our will must align with God's will, His will never moves...it's unchanging. I have learned so much this past transfer and this past week to accept God's timing. God knows what I need and it may not be what I want, but His plan and His timing is WAY BETTER than anything I could think of.

It's been super cool to also work with some part member families, we've really been trying to focus on working with LA's and part members this week. There is this man in our ward who his wife wasn't super into believing into God. She would say that she acknowledged His existence but would never go as far as worshiping Him. She was never super willing to meet with us. But this past Wednesday was a huge break through!! We got to meet with her and share a bit more about God and she said she was willing to listen to more about Him!!

This week we have been sharing a really cool article with our members called "A Yearning For Home" by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf. https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2017/10/a-yearning-for-home?lang=eng It starts off with a family that goes on a trip with their dog but on the trip they lose their beloved dog!! A little while later the dog (well a super skinny version of their dog) comes back and everyone was super amazed on how this dog could find his way home. Isn't that cool that all of us have that yearning for home? a place where we belong? A place where people love us? This talk has really been so important for me this past week. When things get hard it's easy to forget our Heavenly Father and to complain (which I'm going to be honest I did for a bit...) but to always remember that He is calling out to us to return home. How can I return home if I am the way I am right now? That is something that the mission has truly taught me and that I am so grateful for, it's that everyday we can change and we can become better. No matter how far we've gone or how much we've turned away from our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, "The Savior extends His hand to you. And, as He did to those fishermen who stood long ago on the banks of the Sea of Galilee, with infinite love He speaks to you: “Come, follow me.”

If you will hear Him, He will speak to you this very day."Christ reaches out to all of us saying to follow Him and when we do, just like President Uchtdorf states, our lives will be better!!

Nonspiritual thoughts:

WHERE TO EVEN BEGIN WITH THIS WEEK HAHAHAHA. So to start off with this "Today is not my day" It's because one day we were biking to all these super far places and then on our way back home my companion's bike chain goes WACK. It just is twisted and we are like how did this happen?!?!?! We call up our Elder's and they biked thirty minutes to come and help us. They fix her bike and they are like you should go to a bike shop and get it fixed. My companion says nah it's fine and so we keep biking. Later in the evening we are biking to this LA's house which is in the opposite direction of our dinner with a member that evening. As we are almost to their house and crossing an intersection, I see her rain poncho come out from her water bottle holder and FLY INTO HER CHAIN. She starts ripping it out of her gear and chain but avast no luck. We leave our bikes on the side of the road, tell the Elders and walk to our appointment. The Elders went and looked at her bike and ended up ruining it even more! They tore off a piece of her bike and it was just a mess. So we got it taken to the bike shop with the help of members and then we went home to grab something real fast. But in the middle of an intersection her bag falls into the street!! Then we got home and I went to the bathroom and then all of a sudden I hear this coughing and a "Sister Chao what is this stuff?" I come out and I see my companion rubbing her eyes and crying/coughing. I look at it and it says "Body Protect" My companion had sprayed PEPPER SPRAY. She thought it was body perfume!!!!!

Then as we are going out the door she looks at her watch and starts flicking it. Her second hand of her watch had fallen out and was just chilling in the corner of her watch face. She even melted the spatula during cooking. That day was definitely not her day.

Yesterday we were doing an all English day and we usually hug before we leave the door. When we hugged I asked her if she had the keys. She then looks at me and puckers her lips and says keys? I realize that she had thought I said kiss!!! I then start saying NO NO NO KEYS. KEYS. KEYS.

She also melted our spatula HAHAHAHAHHAA. Literally so hilarious.

This Elder in my district was like look at this. and then he walks out with this outfit