Monday, September 29, 2014

HeyO Pengyoumen!!!

This week has gone by so fast....  and yet so slow...

Last Monday we found this store called Pirate O's in I think it was Sandy that had Digestives and Hi-Chews (yummy British snacks) not to mention a whole variety of different European chocolate...it made me happy. 

Tuesday we had a lesson with a potential investigator and she accepted baptism and really wanted it, but her mom is really against the church, so she won't allow it :(  Lots of prayers though...so it'll soften soon.

Did you know you can get a blister on the inside of your toe?! yep... I don't know how it gets there, but it somehow got there. 

Also, Utah is going to make me fat...every dinner they give us dessert. It's so good, yet so bad!

Friday we had an appointment with one of our investigator families and on our way to the appointment it started POURING!!! like, streets turn into rivers flooding!! We kept mushing our way to the house and when we got in looking distance of the house we noticed the 15 year old son waiting on the front porch watching for us.  When we got to the door the mom was prepared with towels for us.  It was so adorable!! They're such a golden family! the Mom keeps telling us we are her three little angels. 

Speaking of angels, I have NO idea when our visas are coming... I don't like being NOT in the know or if it's close or far away.  AND I feel like I'm losing my Chinese.  On the upside there's a Chinese lady who lives with her daughter in law and she speaks NO english so I talk to her a lot

Women's Conference is AWESOME!!! I know God loves each and every one of us and I know the apostles and the prophet receive revelation from God.  I know He lives and He wants us to be happy.  Families can be eternal

LOVE YOU ALL!!!

YU Jie Mei


Tammy:  P.S. Sorry, No pictures again this week.  :-(

Monday, September 22, 2014

So, I'm in SLC south mission until my visa comes and it's pretty awesome.  Just some miracles these past couple of days:
My first night we went to this family that had mentioned that they were interested in learning more and taught them the first lesson and they accepted baptism!!!

We have a Chinese investigator!!! She is awesome, and hopefully we can nail down a baptism date soon

MOst of the work here is reactivation, and it's really sad to see how the gospel can bless people's lives, and then have them reject it and give you a whole bunch of excuses and justification for not coming to church because they can't see how it could help them. Some people, but I know they'll come around eventually and I know God has a plan for each of them. 

So my companions are S. Kusalieva (from Ukraine) and S. Verkist (Idaho). They are really hard working missionaries and LOVE to PUSH ME!!! Next week S. Verkist is going on a 48 hour exchange and on wednesday Sister Kushalieva has training so I'll be senior companion for 4 HOURS!!! I still have NO idea where anything is, so this should be really interesting. 

I have found that door approaches are VERY hard.  People in Utah don't have have a super high respect for missionaries, but we still continue :)

I know the Lord watches out for me! Have an amazing week!!!

Love,
Yu Jie Mei

 PS: sorry i have no pictures! I forgot my camera at home

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Cambrea has arrived safely in her temporary, new mission.  She was so excited to actually get out into the field.  We got to talk to her on the phone today as she was on the train heading for her visa-waiting mission.  She sounded SO good and we totally LOVED being able to talk to her!  She is loving what she is doing.  Here are some pictures from today.

Cambrea, some of her fellow Taiwan missionaries and the new mission president and his wife

Our sweet Cambrea!

Cambrea with her temporary mission pres. and wife

Monday, September 15, 2014

So....tomorrow I'm headed to SALT LAKE CITY SOUTH!!! I'm super excited :) and nervous because I haven't spoken all English in 10 weeks :)

I had the sad opportunity to say goodbye to my tongban, Sister Lew on Monday.  She is hopefully doing great in Sydney.  It was really weird without her and being a tongban with Sister Strong and Sister Jenkins.  And then to rub salt in the wound that we weren't supposed to be here we got combined with another district and moved to 18 M where all the English speakers are :(  And we keep getting different teachers.  They just don't know what to do with us...

Tuesday started out to be a beautiful day...plenty of sunshine, but while were studying it started POURING! so what do we do? Well, we go to our sushe (dorm) and change into crocs and rain jackets and play in it :) It was full of jovial fun... and we took our two month pictures in it.  We weren't expecting to be in the MTC during out two month mark, but we had to make due. One of my favorite quotes from devotional is, "Gratitude is the mark of a noble soul"

Thursday rolled around and  the word that was going around was that our temporary calls weren't going to be reassigned until next week so Jian Jie Mei (Sister Jenkins) was super bummed about it. So during companionship study on Thursday we went to the book store and decided to see if we got any mail and we saw a whole stack of papers that we assumed were our assignments.  And so the excitement started :) We ran and told our District Leader to get the mail because our reassignments had arrived and so they freaked out and booked it.  I think I ran a couple of miles that day running back and forth from the post office to our classroom.  We let Elder Peterson from the combined district to hold all of them so we couldn't see them.  We were going to wait until some of our elders got back from a doctors appt but the other zone had already opened theirs and it had a list of everybody who's going with them so instead of hearing about it second hand we all went back and read it one by one.  Sister Jenkins and Elder Jensen had to leave on Friday so they had to pack that day.  CRAZY!

Our room feels so empty without everybody! There are only six of us left now and after I leave tomorrow there will only be three left.  It's kind of depressing that we all don't leave the same time and we just trickle out...especially for those who are left behind

Friday we were sitting in our usual classroom with this mirror and for some reason I decided to look through the mirror (if that makes any sense) to see it actually wasn't a mirror... it wasn't! Yep, in the other room it was a two way mirror and you could turn on the speakers and see what we were saying in the study room...so people could have been watching us without us even knowing. Creepy!!!

That's pretty much it for this week.  It was definitely a week filled with lots of gospel learning and testimony building experiences.  I know there's a reason why I'm going to Salt Lake City South and why I don't have my visa yet.  They next time I write I will be in the FIELD!!! CRAZY!!!

Hen duo de ai!

 Yu Jie Mei (fish Sister)

She's been out for 2 months!!

Having fun in the rain

Sisters

Singing in the rain.

Ahhhh!

Thursday, September 11, 2014

DRUM ROLL PLEASE!!!


HELLO ALL!!! I GOT MY REASSIGNMENT!!! I'LL BE SERVING IN SALT LAKE CITY SOUTH MISSION UNTIL MY VISA ARRIVES!!! I LEAVE TUESDAY AT 7:00 IN THE MORNING AND  I WILL ARRIVE AT SOUTH JORDAN CENTRAL STATION THAT MORNING!!!

I'M SO EXCITED!

Monday September 8, 2014

So, super exciting week!!! The Temple was closed last Monday for Labor day so we all woke up and got breakfast then took a glorious nap.

So Thursday rolls around and we are supposed to use gym time to pack and we also have service that day so we had a good 4 hours to do laundry and pack all our stuff up.  On our way back from laundry we ran into our zhonglao (elders) who excitedly informed us that we needed to go to the travel office at 2  and they would call to see if our visas went through. super exciting, right?! So we seriously packed everything up and went to class.  During lunch the other districts told us we needed to go to the travel office because they needed to tell us something.  So after lunch we tromped over to the travel office where they informed us that our visas had not come and they had to fill out new forms because they changed....alll this stuff. So, here's what happened.  We have to stay at the MTC for at least 14 more days (two weeks) while they reassign all of us somewhere in the states until our visas come.   It's actually exciting because now I get to serve two missions AND it's like getting a mission call all over again.  But I'm stuck in the MTC for at least another week. YEA!!

So, funny embarrassing story about me.  After dinner we were scheduled to teach Biao (yan lao shi).  Luo Zhang Lao (Robinson) hadn't taught in a week because his tongban (companion) has been sick, so we invited him to be our "member."  1st mistake.  Then we went and knocked and he let us in and we sat down and started talking.  It was Lew, Me, Luo. 2nd mistake.  So we're talking to him (by the way, we're all sick so we're all coughing sniffling and can't think straight. 3rd mistake) and Lew Jie Mei is explaining how the gospel can bless families when this bubble of methane surprisingly slips out of me and makes a huge noise.  And that's the end of that lesson.  Seriously ALL of us started laughing and could. not. stop.  Yep, so the moral of the story is DO NOT invite zhanglaomen (elders) to be "members" in your lessons.... yup, that pretty much sums it up. 

The next day after dinner we had the pleasant surprise of wu lao shi teaching us!!! It was like a breath of fresh air, he asked us what we wanted to learn about.  So he taught us about coping with disappointment, how to keep motivated, and how to lose yourself in the work.  It was pretty amazing, because he didn't really teach us, he asked us all to find scriptures to answer them.  His point at the end was that we already had all the answers, they're all in the scriptures.  If we diligently seek for them and ask our Heavenly Father, we will find answers to our questions.   

Saturday our zone did the cereal challenge.  For those who have not had this opportunity, the cereal challenge is when you drain a whole cereal row.  These cereal containers are about 2-3 ft tall and about a foot deep.  Our zone drained two! I seriously ate about 5 bowls of cereal. A lot of the Zhonglao (elders) averaged about 7 - 10 bowls. WARNING: do not try this at home, especially the meal before fast Sunday! :)

so with the pictures, the first one is during the cereal challenge, and the second one is me and my tongban for the last time because she leaves today.  Oh, and we would like to make a shout out to the photo bomber, elder wheeler

Too Cool!

Met up with Elder Feist from Cam's home town

Sister Fisher with Elder and Sister Woodland (branch Pres. and wife)

Cereal Challenge, recovery mode

They had to empty two full columns of cereal

Sisters Lew and Fisher one last time

Monday September 1, 2014

Well everyone, I hope that my next letter is from Taiwan, but we're not exactly sure.  But don't worry, I'll get to that :)

Monday:

We had Skype TRC with this guy named Willy from Taiwan.  Apparently he knows Elder Cook (an elder that left a couple weeks ago).  After TRC we were waiting in our classroom when E. Vaugh comes in with this dripping wet waterbottle.  He tells Lew Jie Mei to step back and promptly squeezes the water bottle.  Apparently he had poked holes in the sides so water went EVERYWHERE. His tongban (companion) looks up from writing his flashcards and asks, "why is my tie wet?" Apparently E. Jensen was the only one who got wet, and he didn't even know what was happening.  

Tuesday:

We had devotional where a member of the seventy came and and talked about having both feet in the mission and having no regrets.  After during devotional review with my district E. Jensen (district leader) stood up and shared with each person what they saw and admired about them.  There was such a sweet spirit there as he shared something with everyone.  He told me that he admired my strength and willingness to continue and how I always have a smile on my face. I thought it was really sweet :)

Wednesday:

DAY 50!!! I kind of freaked out on this day because I realized that I'm going to a country that rains ALL THE TIME, and I only brought leather and cloth shoes...silly me.  So I frantically am writing my mom to send me some crocs or something...totally freaking out :) I even sent an outline of my foot...desperate times call for desperate measures.  

Our LaoShi (teacher) did something really cool today.  One person from each companionship went out into the hall and decided on a problem that they would have as an "investigator." We then role played asking them if they wanted to be baptized and they said no, but instead of telling us their problem they told us a different problem.  We then had to be led by the spirit to tell them the right things to resolve their concern without knowing what it was.  It was kind of scary amazing how much they actually resolved the concerns without knowing what it was. Then we switched.  It helped me a lot because the Holy Ghost is the one who converts and knows what and how to help them .  It was really cool following the spirit.  

During dinner after we had already eaten the zhonglaomen decided to do the cereal challenge.  (basically we have these HUGE things of cereal and you have to empty one before they realize and fill it back up.) And of course they decided on cocoa rice crispy things so we only got half of it empty before we couldn't eat any more.  But let me tell you, there was cocoa crisp things EVERYWHERE. Bowls and bowls of it.

Thursday:

We were talking to Wu LaoShi about us being his first class and he confirmed saying we were his first born in the wilderness...haha....

With Tan Lao Shi we had a PAIDUI (party). She had us all get out a sheet of paper and we wrote our name at the top and passed it around in a circle.  Everyone wrote in them about us.  It was really cool to see what everybody wrote ;) Then Tan Lao Shi shared with us what attribute on pg 10 of Preach My Gospel she thought we each had.  She told me that mine was Christ like attributes  and she said I had strong faith.  she said she would NEVER question my faith in Jesus and His atonement.  She would NEVER doubt that I know.  It was really good to hear that. 

Friday: INFIELD ORIENTATION 

Today was the day we were waiting for! Infield orientation got me so pumped for the field.  We talked about making goals, planning, teaching God's gospel, talking to people, and involving the members.  During the last part of involving members they combined two rooms together because our instructor has to get ready for some skit.  so I'm sitting there listening to him start and get everybody sat down and quiet and I hear my name whispered...my first name.  I look up to see blue eyes, RED hair, and freckles...CHASE NOORDA!!! What the heck?! I thought he was already on his mission in Mexico! And he was excited to see me.  We shook hands excitedly, because that's the only thing we could do and the instructor observed, "something special is happening." We got to talk afterward and it was so cool to see him!

During that meeting they said that all the Taipei missionaries had to go to the travel office.  So all 31 of us go tromping off after the meeting to find out that our visas have been delayed  and we probably won't be going for another week or week and a half, but we don't really know.  We could end up going on Friday, but we don't know.  Basically we all got pumped for the field, then to have all our hopes and dreams crushed with a crane... mafan!

Saturday:

We found out on Thursday that we were getting new teachers, which is why we had a paidui (party) with tan lao shi. the new Laoshi are pretty funny and cool, but I have my doubts about them being as awesome as our old ones.  

During lunch they had tomato basil soup so I got a little creative and made a grilled cheese in the toaster and microwave... it was actually pretty good.  

Pretty much all the zhonglaomen are loved by their parents and family (either that or they want to make them fat) because they have SO MUCH FOOD!!! So we had a diqu (district) paidui on Saturday where we ate food and sang songs.  It was loads of fun.  E. Robinson was trying to convince me that butter makes colds go away because E. Elliot got a box full of rolls, butter, and jelly...

Sunday:

The reign of Sister Lew and I has ended. We are no longer sister training leaders. Since it was our last Sunday together as a group (the three districts that arrived at the MTC at the same time) we did a musical number during sacrament meeting.  We sang "How Great Thou Art." It was BEAUTIFUL.  There were only us four Jie Mei and about 26 Zhonglao, so it sounded really good with all the men :) I decided to sit next to Sis. Woodfield to translate for her.  I also had not written a talk for today so I thought I would be safe if I sat next to Sis. Woodfield.   Whoa was I wrong. I gave a beautiful spur of the moment talk on the Holy Ghost.  Everyone thought it was really good, but I'm not so sure :/

Well that's all folks!!! I hope you all have fantastic weeks! REMEMBER that God loves you and knows you and has a plan for each of you.  I love this gospel! And hopefully the next email will be from Taiwan ;)

Love

Yu Jie Mei

Monday August 25, 2014

GUESS WHO GOT HER TRAVEL PLANS ON FRIDAY!!! Yep! We're heading out on the 5th of September. All 31 of us are taking Delta Air Lines from Salt Lake at 11:00 AM, so we have to be at the travel office at 6 that morning, so it's not that bad.  We have a 2 hr layover in Tokyo, so some of our zhonglaomen (elders) are super excited to get to go to Japan. We land in Taipei at 9 Sunday night, so just in time for some more sleep :)

So, a week ago we went to the temple and did a session.  On our way out we met a lady that goes to TRC a lot, Sister Chen.  We seriously talked to her for about half an hour in the dressing room.  Something she said that really stuck out to me was she said that the Lord gave us up so we could learn and grow in this life.  When we go on missions, our parents are giving us back to the Lord for 1.5-2 years to be taught by Him.  She told us to never get frustrated and to never give up on our investigators because it took her 2 1/2 years to join the church.  Also, our TRC is now changed to Monday and we're skyping people in Taiwan.  It was a little nerve racking because we couldn't see the person's face and they were talking really fast, but near the end we had a really good discussion about the Book of Mormon.  Let me just say that bearing testimony is the best thing you can do for someone because it comes with so much power and spirit and they feel it.  

Tuesday it rained all day

Wednesday was very exciting.  So Wednesday is the day that all missionaries come in.  Our district had requested to be hosts because a lot of us had people coming in that we knew, but they denied us! how rude!!! We weren't called to be hosts so we sat outside on a bench studying and watching all the missionaries come in with that deer in the headlight look.  We started noticing a big pile of luggage start to accumulate over in one side.  We were pretty sure they were sister missionaries because Elders can't host them past that point.  Then this elder sister missionary came over to us and asked us if we would help out because they were short on sister missionary hosts. WE WERE CONSCRIPTED!!!  what the heck?! they first totally deny us, then ask for our help... all I have to say is they should have listened to us. 

Anyway, I was hosting and I felt this tap on my shoulder and hear this weird fail at a chinese accent.  I turn around and who do I see? The newly arrived Elder Warnick.  Wow, and I'm pretty sure he hasn't talked to me since...what a cupcake. That night Sister Lew and I had to give them a tour and talk to them about san shi san (pg 33 in the white handbook that talks about not flirting) because we're Sister Training Leaders.

Thursday we went to Yoga :) I had set my alarm at 5:50 the night before and Lew Jie Mei set hers for 5:49 (because her's is softer, so we get a warning before my blaring nightmare goes off).  So her's goes off and I get out of bed and stand over by mine so I can turn it off as soon as it goes off.  5:50 goes and passes and it doesn't go off, but something does look off about mine...then I realize it's 4:50, sister lew's got set an hour before, so I got up for no reason, and then got woken up by this sound from Hell. :(

I'm pretty sure this is the best place to hear chinglish, because we're all trying to do SYL (speak your language) so we say a lot of things like, "Women de mudayou's needs" (our investigator's needs) and, "are you tingdedonging me?" (do you understand me?) Also, that night we had another district party and E. Elliot brought his whole watermelon who's sender is still a mystery.  We had other snacks as well and bonded, but I'm pretty sure we all got eaten alive by mosquitoes. 

Friday was super exciting due to the fact that most of us got our flight plans (the ones going to Taipei).  But then there were all these rumors spread that we didn't have our visas and we were going to have to wait another week extra...it was a fiasco and our elders FREAKED!!! it was rather humorous to watch though.  

Saturday we woke up at 4:00 in the morning to earth shattering window shaking thunder!!! It was pretty crazy but I love thunder!!! It was cold outside and we look up at the mountains to see SNOW ON THEM!!! WHAT THE HECK!!! It's still August! SUMMER!!! what is the world coming to? 

Why is it that extreme emotions always follow each other? Sunday was one of those days.  We had our usual meetings and relief society and lunch.  We were in our classroom while the elders were at priesthood writing our talks.  We hear the intercom go off and they ask me to come to the front desk because they have something for me.  I instantly knew what it was.  I had lost one of my name tags and they were tired of waiting for me to come pick it up...So I walk up to the front desk and this guy comes up to me and tells me, "So you're mother called and she needs a memory for your grandfather's funeral. So the mission president has authorized for you to call home. We'll give you about 10 minutes" !!!!! WHAT?!!! @)#*%($%$* (by the way, that's not cussing, it's just me being flabbergasted).  So they lead me to this room and let me call my family! Mom answers the phone, "Hello fisher's" and I answer, "why hello fishers" and it takes her a second to realize who it is....then she puts me on speaker phone while i'm talking and freaks my dad out.  anyway, that was interesting.  Devotional was amazing as well.  The speaker talked about how Satan knows how to push our buttons to make us feel inadequate or unworthy to go on missions and how we need to just keep pushing through.  He told us we need to turn our families over to the Lord and He will protect them and take care of them.  We are God's soldiers, His elite troops.

Then we went to the "movies" which was basically a taped talk by Elder Holland.  MAN IT WAS THE BEST I'VE EVER HEARD!!!  IT was titled "missions are forever" and i'll just highlight a few things he said.  He told us that we as missionaries are the closest we will ever get to being apostles.  We are apostolic.  He shared that poem I shared in one of my earlier emails about going to the edge.  And then the best part.  He shared Moses 1: 39 and told us that it's God's gospel, but in order to be effective missionaries we need to make it ours.  He shared Mosiah 27: 11-12, 18-19 about Alma the younger.  Astonish is actually derived from the same word as thunder.  He said, "GO OUT AND ASTONISH SOMEONE ELDERS AND SISTERS! GIVE THEM SOME THUNDER AND LIGHTNING IN THEIR PERSONAL LIVES"  

The last thing he talked about was why this work is so hard.  Why don't people come flocking to the font? While there are many reasons, one reason he gave was because SALVATION IS NOT A CHEAP EXPERIENCE AND IT WAS NOT EASY FOR CHRIST! The road to salvation goes through the Garden of Gethsemane and the Hills of Calvary.  It's going to be hard everyone! But we need to be strong, because He was.  He is our example, and only by following in His footsteps can we come back to our Heavenly Father.  

After the devotional we went back to class and Sister Lew and Sister Jenkins asked for comfort blessings.  It was one of the specialist (forgive my English) experiences I've had here and it really bonded us as a district together. 

God know us. He puts us with people He knows we can help and they can help us.  God knows what's best for us. We need to trust in Him and his redeeming LOVE! He is our Heavenly Father and He wants all to come unto Him.  This is why I'm here, why I'm giving up 1 1/2 years of my life. BECAUSE HE'S WORTH IT!  I know this gospel is true, and families are forever!

Love EVERYONE!!!

Yu Jie Mei 

Sister Cambrea Fisher