Monday, March 30, 2015

So we made banana bread this week in our rice cooker, and because of it we got an investigator to come to a baptismal service and another investigator come to sacrament meeting...the power of banana bread!!!!! 

Something I've learned this week is that I feel the Spirit the most when I'm teaching one of my investigators.  When I teach and actively listen I can just feel where I should take the lesson.  What questions I should ask, which scriptures to share, what to say.  It's amazing when it happens because we're all uplifted and edified and I come out knowing we were successful in helping them come more unto Christ. 

Also, another thing I learned this week was the power of peikes! We were able to hit our goal we made of district meeting of getting 7 peikes. It was amazing to see how much our investigators progress when they have someone there who understands them and understands their chinese and is able to explain it so clearly.  We tried to make a goal of having a peike at every scheduled lesson.  For the most part we were successful, and I hope the members were able to feel that Spirit and get excited about missionary work.  

We met with an awesome investigator this week named Fan Dixiong and he is amazing.  We went through the baptismal planner and planned when he was coming to church and according to that we gave him a new baptismal date.  When we gave him the invite, I've never seen anyone so excited! And I've never seen anyone outside of missionaries say 'yuanyi'...he even said excitedly, "FEICHANG YUANYI!!!" 

I'm super pumped for General conference!!! We don't get it until a week after the actual Genearal conference, sooo....yea, I'm still excited! 

Love you all! You are all the best! keep jia youing it up over there and see you next week!!!

 

Yu Jie Mei

This is a short black guy...we went to a ghost temple on Monday and the god of hell has two bodyguards that catch escapee bad ghosts...one is tall and white and the other is black and short...haha. it's cool.

Sis Fisher and Haake.  After daysssss of raining the sun finally showed it's face.

Love

Sister Fisher, Gan Jie Mei and Sister Haake

Monday, March 23, 2015

So this week was CRAZY!!! 

We had exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders and it was definitely a learning experience. I love how focused Sister Smith is in the work and she doesn't waste time. We had service on Friday where we had to take a bus and we did former calls and investigator calls inviting them to church. I definitely learned new ways I could use my time more effectively. Another thing is spirit knocking. Instead of knocking all the doors in a Xiang we knock the ones we feel prompted to knock. It's definitely different and interesting and I'm still not sure how I feel about it, but we've been trying it and it has had success. It's definitely not easy. 

 
We've seen amazing miracles this week with investigators. A lot of them have to do with peikes. Peikes are SOOO important in missionary work, especially if you're language isn't the greatest. They understand our investigators and are able to help answer things we are not able to answer. Only one investigator made it to church but we're working this week to get them all to church and to the baptismal service this Saturday . The baptismal service will help so many of our investigators, we just have to get them to come! Getting people out of their houses is like pulling teeth. so hard! 

We met with Gan JM this week and it was another great lesson full of the Spirit. At the end of the meeting she mentioned how she learns so much from our visits and feels so happy afterwards and when she prays. We asked her if she knew why it made her happy and she said it was theS pirit and faith. She is so close to baptism, and I'm kind of at a loss as to how to get her to accept baptism. I guess we just keep being bold in invitations and eventually she'll accept the invitation. But in the meantime we're making sure she has really good spiritual uplifting meetings and keep trying to get her to come to church. 

 
We also met with a Fan XS who was a self contact. He has a date for next month, but we found out last lesson that he probably doesn't live in our area. He listed about 4 different areas that is 'close' to him...including ours -___-. But it's okay! He is so prepared and we're all for Team Jesus right? :)  

So hopefully our tub will be fixed this week!!! I'm really excited to be able to shower normally and not have to worry about things coming out of the crack.  Last night I killed about 100 little moths in the bathroom with bleach...I love bleach :)  

Also, on exchanges we were taking the bus and the bus driver was texting and driving...good thing I'm a missionary because I felt scared for my life and they had no seatbelts! 

Charity and Love for the people you teach is so essential in the work.  The Lord is here for us and listens to our prayers! You guys are amazing! love you all!

Yu Jie Mei

Big crack in our bath tub!!

Monday, March 16, 2015

Guess what happens when you mix wind and sand and a beach with a whole lot of missionaries? yep! SAND EVERYWHERE!!! I had sand in my hair for about three days.  It's true, but it was tons of fun, so I guess it was worth it ;) Also, last week was my 8 month mark! next month is half way done! where has the time gone?!

So this week was full of meetings. Zone meeting we talked about being more bold with our baptismal invitations and the mission vision which is to work on Sheep, Sweep, and Loving them Deep (from Luke 15 parables).  This month we're focusing on LA's and bringing them back to the fold.  Here in Toufen branch we are so close to becoming a ward and me and Sister Haacke plan to help them accomplish it.  We only have around 45 active members, yet our ward list is about 8 pages long...lots of LA's. Unfortunately, that's very common in Taiwan. 

In zone conference we talked about the four languages that a missionary needs to be fluent in to be an effective missionary: the Language of Love,  the Spirit, the Gospel, and Chinese.

The miracles keep coming! It's amazing to see how hard work pays off. You show the Lord that you value the time He has given you and even when you have that random 30 minutes in a day you make the most of it. Street contact, call formers, potentials, or ward members and try to set up a time. It's amazing to see the miracles in that. The Lord literally SENDS people to us and they find us wherever we are. The Lord is in this work and when we show our dedication, He will send the prepared to us. 

We were able to get a baptismal date investigator. Her name is Wu Jie Mei and she has been an investigator for a while and has previously had a baptismal date in the past before I got here. When we set the date we were able to give her a baptismal planner and put church every Sunday on it. We were able to show her how the baptismal planner can help her get to the font. 
 
Our investigator Gan Jie Mei's lesson this Saturday was A-mazing! The Spirit was so strong and she is so close to accepting baptism! She's one of those investigators who teaches herself and we talked about the importance of scriptures and why we're supposed to read them everyday. She loved the scriptures we shared along with the tree of life. One step out at a time we're picking Toufen up and running with it. We will make that goal to help Toufen become a ward. Little by little. 

Yu Jie Mei

Having fun at the recycling center.

. 

Monday, March 9, 2015

So this week I'm grateful for the chance to stretch my wings.  I'm grateful that the Lord could see what I could not see.  He saw what I am capable of and gave me a trial to help me realize my potential.

Also this week I've learned that the Lord is in this work.  He knows who we are and what we're capable of.  When we do the work the Lord's way and with love we'll find results.  Exact obedience brings miracles and I can attest to that this week.  We set up with investigators and qiaomened all day and didn't find anything.  But it was a test of our faith.  The Lord saw our effort and blessed us accordingly.  He sent people to us in unexpected ways.  

On Friday we were going to do service for this lady in our ward and I had to put money on my bus card so we ran into the family mart right behind this lady who turns around and just starts talking to us.  my 'crazy' alarm goes off because usually if someone just starts talking to us their either crazy or a miracle...and usually the first.  After she's done talking she turns around and then I realize who she is.  We were doing a chalk drawing...which we found out later wasn't legal...of the POS and we met this lady who said she was preparing to get baptized in a different church.  I gave her a baptismal planner and then she had to go. After she left I realized I forgot to get her number...and tell her our purpose as missionaries was to help people prepare to be baptized. It was a low blow and I prayed a lot that I would see her again so I could redeem myself.  So the second time around we were able to get her phone number! YES!!!  The Lord answers prayers!!!

1 Ne 18:2, "Now I, Nephi, did not work the timbers after the manner which was learned by men, neither did I build the ship after the manner of men; but I  did build it after the manner which the Lord had shown unto me; wherefore, it 

was not after the manner of men.:"

Doing the Lords work HIS way is the ONLY WAY.  I've learned this week that on the outside we may seem a little crazy to give away a year and a half of our life away to come to a foreign country to spend all day on the street trying to get people to listen to you about this Jesus person who can somehow change your life.  But this is the Lords work and His ways are higher than our ways.  It's all about the individual.  The way He wants us to do it is WAY better than anything we could have thought of.  

So training isn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.  The Lord knows what I'm capable of and He knows what I need.  This week I've realized that my Chinese is not that bad :) I can actually talk to people and understand what they're saying :) 

SO we had a huge miracle this week.  Saturday we were doing FB at the church and this lady walks in and asks us if this was a church and when it started.  We told her Sunday morning at 9...  and guess what?! She actually showed up the next day! How amazing is that!? and she stayed for the WHOLE thing and loved it.  We're meeting with her this week and we were able to give her a Book of Mormon.  

Just a little update on our investigators:

Gan JM: we invited her to pray about baptism because she still doesn't believe it's for her because she's been baptized already

Qiu DX: we asked him to pray about God and to feel His love for him.  Little by little

Lu JM: FINALLY met with her.  She's a referral with a baptismal date. super cute.  She's been reading the BOM and when we shared the Joseph Smith story she said it sounded kind of like Nephi's experience.  We just need to get her to church ;)

Well, that's about all folks! Have an amazing week! 

Yu Jie Mei

PS: HAPPY 8 MONTHS!!!

Happy 8 month mark

Monday, March 2, 2015

So this week I killed a missionary and got a brand new one.  pretty crazy right? Killing a missionary is hard because you feel like you should be going home with them when in actuality you still have a long time left.  Sad day, but I'm relearning to enjoy every minute of my mission. 

So I was pretty worried about training, but it's okay now. I felt kind of like Indiana Jones when he's trying to find the HOly Grail and he has to go across the "Leap of Faith" bridge. There didn't seem to be anything there, but he leaped and landed on the bridge. I trusted the Lord, but still couldn't see the bridge in front of me. Saturday morning I was sick with worry and all through studies my mind kept going over and over what we were going to do that day and just worrying over it. For lunch I didn't eat a whole lot, and then we went to one of our investigators lessons. It didn't go super well, and afterward we had mormon.org time planned. Mormon.org is super useful for investigators and yourself. I found some really good videos for my investigators, but it was also really comforting to see and hear about people who had these struggles and had come out on top. I knew I could do it. After dinner we went finding and the first door we knocked on we found a new investigator and a potential! The Lord does help his missionaries. He was just waiting for me to make that leap of faith so I could find that he's supporting me all the way. As long as I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing. As long as I'm following PMG and the Spirit I'll find success. It's interesting because I already knew these things, but I just needed to put them into play. I needed to show the Lord that I DID trust Him. And just in the past three days I've gained a lot of confidence in my language abilities. I'm not perfect, but I can hold a conversation with someone. I'm excited for the next two transfers and what the Lord has to teach me. I'm excited to help Sister Haacke learn and grow and be ready to train by the end of the 12 weeks :)

There's no growth in the comfort zone and there's no comfort in the growth zone ;)

Jia You everyone! 

Yu Jie Mei

mom, baby, then dad.  (me, sister Haacke, sister Singh)

Monday, February 23, 2015

Guonian:Chinese New Year

Definition of Guonian: a 5 day holiday.  Take thanksgiving, 4th of July, and all other American holidays and combine them together with no firework regulations. fun right? 

weird things I ate during Guonian:

chicken feet

fish eggs

octopus pizza

mystery meat with hair still on it

pidan:1000 year old egg...and it tasted like it

philly cheese steak rolls from costco

SPAGHETTI!

Other than that I continued to learn calligraphy from one of our LA's.  It's super hard, but I'm slowly improving.  Every morning for exercise we go to the park and learn baduanqi which is like tai qi.  It feels pretty legit.  

oh yea...and something else...I'M TRAININGI'MGOINGTODIE!!!

 

 I received a call this morning telling me that I'm training this next transfer...I'll get my new new companion of Friday. OH my gosh it's going to be really rough, but amidst all the terror of training after being here for only 3 transfers and just getting out of breaking and the feeling of inadequacy, especially with the language, I've come to terms with it...not quite but almost.  The Lord wouldn't call me as a trainer if He didn't know I could do it.  It's going to be a steep learning curve, but I'll find a way to come out on top :) I know the Lord will take care of me and make up for my inadequacies.

 

Talk to you next week.

Yu Jie Mei

Tai Qi (Tai Chi)

A little bike fun!!

Sweet calligraphy skills.

Chicken leg (and foot) in a cute little Hello Kitty bowl.

They drew the Plan of Salvation in chalk.

Monday, February 16, 2015

Happy 7 months! Also happy valentines day..or (Single awareness Day) haha...I can't believe I've been out for 7 months! To celebrate we found an old lady trying to wheel two huge TV's on a wheel barrel across the bridge...I feared for her life so we helped her across.  Note to anybody, if you want to get rid of missionaries, try to give them money...we'll back right up and decline it. It's actually really funny.

We had a ward activity on Saturday where we painted lanterns.  There's this LA in our branch that took an hour this week and taught us calligraphy...well, she tried.  Calligraphy is way harder than it looks.  It depends on how you hold the brush, you only move your wrist, it depends on the breathing, and the brush HAS to be vertical; It depends on whether you're writing big or small...it's crazy. The LA painted something on our lanterns for us...mine was about fish obviously.  Everybody talks about fish with me. It's cool though.  

Our only investigators now are a Qiu Dixiong and a Gan Jie Mei.  They're really awesome but don't have baptism dates yet...yet.  Gan Jie Mei is so ready but she had a bad experience with baptism in the past so she's hesitant.  The spirit's been working on her though and we see her change every time we go.  

I've been getting ready for guonian or Chinese new year.  We've been putting these tracts (about family or the restoration or family history) in red envelopes to give out to people on the street.  Also, we've been uping our exercise in the morning...because we're going to get fat during guonian! All the members want to feed us, and it last five days! 

I've been studying the New Testament recently and the parable of the sower reminded me of fruit trees.  We are all like fruit trees.  There are big huge strong fruit trees that produce a lot of fruit.  There are big strong trees that produce little fruit. Then there are small little baby trees that produce a lot of fruit.  There are little trees that put all their energy into one little piece of fruit, but that little piece of fruit is so delicious! We all need to be the kind of tree God wants us to be.  some people need to be big trees that produce a lot of fruit, some of us need to be little small trees that produce one big juicy piece of fruit! Trust the gardener...He knows what he's doing.

 

 

Happy New Years!

Yu Jie Mei

Sisters and Elders

If you walk on these paths it is supposed to improve your health.

Calligraphy lanterns they made at RS