Hiii

Hello everyone!!! 

This week has been great. I feel like everyday is kind of the same and blends so it's hard for me to remember what happened. My bites are getting a little better, my legs are just really scarred up from them. I ate stinky tofu today at the night market. It wasnt even bad or stinky...just tasted like fried tofu with pao cai! people said the one i ate wasnt really stinky,,,just a little. it was yummy though. I still eat my favorite vegetable a lot. I havent eaten anytthing too crazy. A family invited us over for dinner and the weirdest thing on the table was duck tongue....i did NOT eat it. no one forces us to eat anything so thats good. we probably only go to a members house for dinner like once a week, other than that, we just go out. Oh....but i did go on exchanges this week and a member invited my companion and our zone leader out to dinner at this really fancy, huge hot pot place. it was all you can eat and it was so good. way too much food. there were appetizers, drinks, and desserts galore too! it's watermelon season and the watermelons are huge too. i love the fruit here. Its the best. 

As for baptisms, we had none in May, but if things go as planned and our investigators progress and go to church, we should have like 4 baptisms or more in June. We are praying for a miracle that these investigators will continue to progress. i feel like we will have at least 2 for sure though. Our mission president made it a goal for the Hualien and Taidong area to have 100 baptisms in EACH branch. we currently have like 7. The goal may seem impossible, but I have faith that we can make it! 

(This is part of my letter to the mission pres. so i dont have to retype it.) 

Heavenly Father has really blessed us this week. One night we were going to visit an L.A. and they weren't home since they moved to Taipei for school, but their aunt was there. She wouldn't let us in and wasn't very interested in talking with us for too long, but we just stood at her door and started sharing the Restoration with her. She listened and she became more and more interested. She even said a prayer and we invited her to be baptized but she didn't want to commit to a date. However, she is willing to meet with us again. Isn't it so cool how powerful the Restoration can be?! I love it. We have this other investigator, Yu JM, who is on the road to baptism. Her friend in Hualien branch gave us the referral. She asks really good questions about the BOM and is reading and praying. I have realized how referrals from members are so effective. They trust the members and can see how the gospel has changed their lives. Yu JM wants what her friend has. 

Another investigator we have that is progressing quickly is Lin JM. She is 16 and has already read past 1 Nephi 10 in one week. She says she prays everyday and she goes to church too! She is someone I see that has been so prepared to hear the message. I only pray that her parents will be okay with her getting baptized on June 22. She says that her parents are fine with her going to church and meeting with us, so that's good. I love her sweet spirit and diligence to learn. 

We met with a L.A. (less active) this week, Tian JM, and followed up with her on our invitation we extended to her last time we met with her. She was really struggling to know if this is the Gospel she should follow and believe. We asked her to start re-reading the BOM everyday and to pray everyday about it. When I asked her if she did it, she said yes!!! I could not have been happier. It gets better too. She said that she finds herself crying when she reads the BOM and she really feels the Holy Ghost. WOW right!? She said that she has been happier and she feels like the BOM and prayer has really been helping her life. The only problem still is that she works on Sundays and can't get it off. We are still working on that. Hopefully her whole family can come back to church. Best follow up ever though! 

We have another L.A. Dong JM. Her daughter is our investigator but is really shy. Usually our lessons with her start to focus on her mom, so we think we are going to separate them when we teach them. But anyways, during the last visit we had with them, the mom expressed to us how she doesn't want to go to church because she doesn't feel worthy. She has a smoking problem and is afraid people will smell it. We told her that no one is perfect and that is why we need to go to church. It we were all perfect, there will be no need of church. She also told us she didn't know how to pray, even though she has prayed for us before. We taught her again, and she still says she can't do it. We just told her it is like talking to your daughter, except you are talking to Heavenly Father. Prayer is from the heart and your own words. You can literally tell Him anything! She reads prayers out of a Namaste book and I think she is used to that and won't put it down when she prays. I invited her to pray from her heart this week and to ask Heavenly Father to help her quit smoking. She said she would try it. I really hope to see her back at church with her daughter. 

Well, i know all these miracles come from God. I love how strong the spirit can be during lessons. I'm so grateful to be here. It is such a blessing. I really want to see all our investigators get baptized! Heavenly Father really does prepare his children to hear the message. We are the mouthpiece. Love the work, despite the hundreds of bites. So worth it! 

Let me know what is going on in your lives. Mom and dad, what have you been up to lately? dad, i bet you are bored with out me at home. yep i know it. :) tell the ward i say hello, you can just give  part of this letter to the ward. I dont have time to write one to them specifically. maybe one day, but for now just give them this, 

okay I love you all!

Sister Chao