Can you believe its already been 4 months!! crazy!!

Hii!

Happy Birthday Kaitlin!!! I can't believe you are 11 already! The pics Alma sent me were so cute. She is getting so old!! Sorry this email is so late. We had to watch the Special Broadcast at 6AM this morning. It was so good. There are so many missionaries at the MTC now! The choir was cool. Alma, when i heard about the FB thing, i knew you would ask me if used it in Taiwan. So far, we are not using it to help our missionary work. Maybe in the future though. I love how they stressed the importance of member missionary work. So true. Members help us so much during lessons. I think it is much more effective. Also, the investigator can get to know people in the ward that way. We need to invite all to come unto Christ. Everyone has the same purpose. Dad, hopefully you are still going out with the missionaries a lot. It helps a lot. I love how Elder Anderson talked about how we don't always know what is ahead but the Lord does. We need to trust in Him! and miracles will then follow. We had a lot of knocking opportunities this week and I've seen so many little miracles. I love it when people open their doors and are willing to listen to your message and say prayers with you. The work of salvation excludes no one. keep working hard everyone! 

The other day, we had an appointment with someone we have never met before way out in the middle of no where. the bike ride was fun and super windy. we got to her house and called her since she didnt answer her door. She said she would come down and open it for us. 10 minutes later, still nothing. we called again and she said the same thing. 5 minutes later, nothing. we were so confused. then one last time we called her and we knocked again and finally she answered. she wouldnt let us in so we taught her at her door. She was a little strange, but hopefully she has a desire to learn more. Since we were in the middle of no where, there were lots of xiao hei wens that were attacking me while we were teaching. so I got a lot of new bites. anyways i wont send a picture because my legs don't really look much better from the last pic i sent. dad, im using the oils. so dont worry. anyways, we will see how it goes the next time we meet with her. She didn't seem all the way there when we taught her. what an interesting lesson.

Pong JM got baptized! Yay!!! She was my first baptism. What a cool experience. She has really changed over the weeks. She is understanding the Gospel more and more. She was someone I didn't think would get baptized but she changed and totally did it on her own. I know the Lord prepared her to meet with us. She has such a sweet and energetic spirit. I love her so much. She is probably the most unique person i have ever met. She is getting to know more ward members, which is awesome. I want to continue to help her stay on the straight and narrow. She truly knows she is a daughter of God and that God is our Heavenly Father. yay!

We had dinner with our two investigators who are friends. Kim has a baptism goal for this Saturday. Kim shared with us that she was lesbian and cannot keep the law of chastity. She also shared with us that she wanted to get baptized and can keep all the other commandments except for that. We shared with her that she couldn't get baptized unless she obeyed that commandment. She also can't act on those feelings or thoughts she has. We had a peike who shared an experience she had with her little brother who was gay. We told her that families were ordained of God and the importance of families. She said that she was happy right now and that she thought God wanted all His children to be happy. We told her that when a man and woman have a family, you can have true happiness and that was part of God's plan. She said she was willing to pray about it but not willing to obey the commandment, which contradicts itself. It made me so sad to hear that she didn't want to even try to follow the commandment. It all comes down to agency. I know how strong Satan can be at times. I'm praying that one day, Kim will come around. She is so great and wants to get baptized! But before baptism comes with obedience to God's commandments. I feel like she has become one of my good friends. We will just continue to love her and teach her. I know that this is something that will be really difficult to overcome. 

We went to go visit an L.A. who called Long Huizhang when I got into my accident. She was driving by and saw it. Anyways, Chao JM has 3 kids and just got a divorce 3 years ago. She grew up going to church with her dad, but hasn't prayed or gone to church since her divorce. She feels bad for going to church since she has always been taught that divorce is discouraged. She also thinks that Heavenly Father doesn't answer her prayers. She said that her main focus now is making money to raise her kids. She is an awesome mother and works really hard to make ends meet. She doesn't want to come to Church because she says she has to make money that day. We shared with her how prayer and coming to church will bless her beyond what she has now. Her faith is really lacking right now and doesn't think God listens to her prayers. We shared with her how God gives us trials to give us experiences so we can learn and grow. We need to trust in Him and put all of our faith in Him. No one's life is perfect. I shared with her about Alma's divorce experience and how the Lord has truly blessed him and our family ever since. We just need to continue to endure to the end and have faith in Him. We might be taking the train out to visit her dad on wednesday. He lives about an hour away in our area. He is also an L.A. Hopefully he will come back to Church. That would be cool. 

We have had some great lessons knocking too. We met this lady who has one child. She grew up Christian but now her husband is buddhist. She hasn't prayed or gone to church in a long time. She said she feels lost. She said she would come to church but she never did. We are visiting her again this week. Sister Evans thought she might have been a little drunk when we went to go visit her. She was being a little weird, but hopefully she will become a progressing investigator! 

anyways, let me know all your plans for the summer! no more school for the kids. Is it super hot back home? I'm pretty much always sweaty here. sweaty and itchy. but i love it. today we are going to some mountain and going hiking i think. the elders are planning it. I really have such an awesome district! they are so funny and so renzhen! love you all!!! keep me posted!

Love 

Sister Chao

Hello!

Transfer 2

Hello!

I got a new camera! so my pictures should be clear. it was only like $100 U.S. money. I just found a cheap one. 

I'm still in Ji'an for my 2nd transfer! Usually training takes 2 transfers. We got a few new missionaries in our area this week. Since I took forever writing to you about the accident, here is my email to the president. Everyone...I'm fine and now i can just check the car accident off the list of things to do in Taiwan! 

As for missionary work, we didn't have very many new investigators this week, but we had 29 lessons! A lot of people just didn't want to set up for another appointment. But I felt like we made some really good contacts this week. We knocked on this lady's door and she had just moved to Ji'an from Taipei. She said she was Christian and was looking for a church to go to. We talked about Church and invited her to come. As she said the closing prayer, she thanked Heavenly Father for sending us to her door as she was looking for a church to go to! It was so cool! She called us Sunday morning and told us she wouldn't be able to make it, but hopefully next Sundayshe will. We are meeting with her on Tuesday. I can't wait! Then we contacted this graduate student from Taoyuan. He prays everyday and we asked him if the missionaries in Taoyuan could visit him. He said yes and sent over the referral. He is very intelligent and such a nice guy. I hope the missionaries can baptize him. 

We have 2 investigators with a baptism date of 6.22. Pong JM is one of them. She is a little on the crazy side and has a lot of different views and thoughts. We always have to have a peike with us when we teach her because we don't quite understand everything she says. She likes to talk a lot so it is hard to keep her focused. However, I love her so much! She seems to be understanding a little more this week and she comes to church every Sunday without us reminding her sometimes. She also read from the BOM and did our assignment we gave her for the FIRST time. She really wants to get baptized. We just hope she is prepared and passes the interview. She is a character and so unique, but truly a daughter of God. 
Then we have Lin JM She is 16 and i feel like she is so ready for baptism. However, she still really likes to bai bai with her family. She reads the BOM and prays and goes to church. She asked if she had to get baptized. Well, we responded to her and told her it was the only way to return to live with Heavenly Father. We used lots of scriptures so it didn't just sound like a yes answer. Her parents also said that it was up to her if she wanted to get baptized and that they would be okay with it. What a blessing! 

We have an L.A. Dong JM and we are in process of helping her come back to church. Her daughter is our investigator. She feels unworthy to come to church because of her smoking problem and is afraid people will judge her if she goes. She also wants to feel what she felt when she got baptized. We told her that if she went to church she can feel that again and that no one will judge her. We told her that if she prays, reads the BOM, and goes to church again, she can feel God's love for her and help in her life. She said that she might come next Sunday. We really hope to get their whole family at church. 

Another L.A. we visited is Kang JM. She is awesome and really wants to go to church. She just can't because of her job. She works with teenagers who haven't made good choices in their lives and needs constant supervision. She might be able to come in July though if they hire more people to work. 

Anyways, I'll send more pics. I wish i got pictures of the accident. oh well. I love you all. tell mom im okay! 

love

Sister Chao

Car Accident

Well.....as you all may already know from the heading, i got into a pretty bad accident monday night coming back from FHE at a member's house. Luckily our zone leaders were riding right in front of us and my poor companion behind me saw it all....she was pretty traumatized. She thought i died for a second. no worries im alive and fine. we were going through an intersection and our light was green and we were going straight. cars who want to turn left have to yield like in utah. the elders went through the intersection and i was right behind, then i went through and a car that was turning left didnt yield to me and it looked like he would stop for me, but he kept slowly turning left, i tried to swerve to the right but he kept going to so we kept moving in the same direction and i didnt have time to slam on my breaks...i was already in the middle of the intersection, and he never even slowed down or braked....also the intersection is pretty well lit so he should have seen me. well we ran into each other and i was going at a good speed...my thoughts right before i knew i was going to hit him..."oh crap oh crap oh crap". my bike hit the front right side of his car and i flipped over the hood and landed on my bum on the ground. my head and shoulders hit the car and rolled over so i just did like a 360 flip. after i landed....i was a little confused and i just stood right up immediately. i think i was just in shock and i was so surprised i could move my head and neck and legs and feet. my legs and feet felt really tingly for about 15 minutes, but my head felt fine. good thing i was wearing a helmet!!!!! it saved me! my helmet was cracked right down the middle and smashed. SO KIDS...wear your helmet! anyways, only my shoulder hurt a little and my legs because of the road burns. but i got a sweet road burn on my right thigh and there is a distinct line from where my garments were. so cool. as terrifying as all of this was, i felt really protected the whole time. didnt even shed a tear! :) i was just so grateful i could move! the elders in front of us heard my companion scream really loud when it happened and they thought it was me but it wasnt and one of them threw his bike down in the middle of the road and just started running towards us. haha. he got a little mad at the driver, who was only 20 or 21 years old. his girlfriend was in the car too and they both had their phones in their hands so we think they might have been texting maybe. then our ward mission leader happened to be driving past and saw us and got out to help....i felt fine though besides the minor injuries. my bike was smashed in the front. Bro. Li called the police and was like do you need to go to the hospital!? and i was like no i dont want to go to the hospital. so the police came and took some pictures and pictures of the bike. haha. then we had to go to the police station and i had to take an alcohol test. i had to blow into a machine. dont worry....i was sober! :) DUH! and then they had to interview me and record me talking and bro. li and long huizhang helped me translate and answered for me because i wasnt quite sure what they were asking me. basically alll this legal stuff. and THERE IS A VIDEO of the accident at the police station!!! they had cameras so we found it and watched it 3 times! so cool. i want it! the police said that it was obviously the guy's fault so he has to pay for everything. since he had to pay for my bike to get fixed and a new helmet, they made me go to the hospital to get checked just in case anything major happened so they can pay for it. now it was about 11:30PM at night at the police station and i definitely didnt want to go to the hospital. so we went the next day with our zone leaders and long huizhang. all they did was like move my arms and told me to do these hand movements and that was it!! what a waste of time!!!! so dumb. basically the next 3 days were pretty painful as my body got more and more sore. mostly just my back and shoulders. but now im good. i just have a few cool bruises. but looking back, im so grateful that our zone leaders were there and bro. li and long huizhang. they all helped out a lot and were so worried. my companion was surprised i didnt have any major injuries because she said it looked pretty bad. i know that Heavenly Father was protecting me the whole time. he loves his missionaries! anyways thats the quick story of the week. pretty traumatic...and i didnt want to bike the next day, but we still went out to do work after the hospital. the work had to go on regardless of any pain. i just sucked it up and went out. im borrowing a bike from a bike shop owner in our ward. he is so nice. my bike is still getting fixed!!!!!!! so annoying. oh well. just wanted to tell you guys. love you! ill email more laters.

Last week of my first transfer!

Hello!!!

Wow, I can't believe im almost done with my first transfer! Each transfer is six weeks and sisters have 11 transfers. Time goes by really fast here, even though some days may seem longer than the others. I'm pretty certain i wont get transferred because im still being trained. training is 2 transfers. but you never know what will happen.So yesterday during a lesson, there was an earthquake and it was pretty strong compared to the little ones we have felt. nothing was damaged or anything. but it was pretty fun to feel it. there has been a lot of little ones and i mostly feel them during studies in the morning. but nothing to worry about. they are super small. Oh and last P-day we went to Toroko Gorge! Famous tourist spot to go to if you come to Hualien. You can google it. It was beautiful, besides the fact that it was hot and humid. i got a nice tan though. :) the mountains were amazing and you can really see how beautiful taiwan is. We climbed a million, literally, steps!! or at least it seemed that way. it was never ending just to get to this miao. we got super high up. then after that, we went to this beach area. no one was there. the sand is super rocky and when the tides would come up, huge rocks would hit our feet...we put our feet in the water. dont worry, its legal for missionaries to do that. haha. but my feet got pretty cut up and bruised. so fun though. it reminded me of home and all the nice beaches there. sorry all my pics are blurry...my camera is broken...ill explain more at the end. i need to buy a new one today. lame. anyways, last pday was super fun and we went with a member who had a van, so he drove our whole district. also rainy season is over. this last week was the first week it hadn't really rained! it literally has rained EVERYDAY since i've been here except for last week. i dont know which one i like better, hot sun or rain. both of which i still feel wet. but im getting used to it! i just feel bad when i go visit people and teach people and both me and my companion are dripping the whole lesson. hahaha. so funny. 

The temple sisters came for exchanges this week. I went on exchanges with sister ochoa. she is from mexico but lived in Highland, UT and she went to Lone Peak too! we saw so many miracles that day! It was the hottest day of the week it felt like and we biked a ton. i got a pretty good sunburn on my arms and neck that turned into a nice tan. but we were dripping all day long since it was so humid. we taught so many lessons and found a few investigators. we prayed that we would have 3 lessons during one of our knocking times and guess what? we did it! we had more that day too and it all went really well. I've really learned that if you have the faith that you can accomplish your goal, you will do it!! Heavenly Father will help you if you have the faith. i love exchanges because you get to see how others teach. i learned a lot. Also, i was praying we wouldnt get lost since i was the one who was leading the way since it is my area. im learning how to use a map...but everything is in characters!!! i use 7'11s to help me know where im at since they are on the map. haha. 

Here is part of my letter to the president so i dont have to re-type it all. sorry if it is a little repetitive. 

This week was so awesome! I felt like I saw so many miracles. We had a total of 36 lessons! The temple sisters came down for exchanges and I got to go with Sister Ochoa. I learned so much! When we got to this neighborhood to knock, she asked me how many lessons i wanted to have in the time we had. I said three and we prayed that we would accomplish that goal. We did it too! I was so happy! I learned that if we have faith in our goals, Heavenly Father will help us achieve them! We found this Christian lady and she let us into her house. She was so excited to listen to our message. We shared with her about the Restoration and she just seemed to happy. She has a lot of faith in Jesus Christ. I can't wait to meet with her again next week. I love exchanges because I get to learn how other missionaries teach and find. I learn new things everyday!

We have lots of investigators that are Young Woman ages. Alex and Nicole and from our English class. They are very smart and have lots of questions. They like to ask questions to stump the missionaries. I love their fire. We taught them the Restoration and they even set baptism dates! I really hope their parents will give them permission. That is the only thing that worries me when they are under 20. It's so sad to see parents not let their children get baptized when they are so ready. But I have faith and pray for them everyday. We have 2 other investigators who are friends, Hu and Jiang Jie Mei. They are about 15. Hu JM is really shy and brought her friend Jiang JM to the lesson we had with her. It seems like her friend has more interest than she does. We set baptism goals for both of them. They came to church on Sunday too! Yay! Also, we have another girl who is 14, Huang JM, and she is super smart as well. We've met with her twice and she also set a baptism date! I'm so happy to see all these youth have this desire to be baptized. They are going to change generations if they get baptized. 

We have this one investigator Lin JM who is 16. Her baptism date is 6/22 and she is progressing quite quickly. She is very interested in the gospel. She does have a lot a questions regarding Buddhism and baibai since her family is buddhist. We hope she can get permission to be baptized. I love her so much. She really is someone that is prepared. 

Zhen JM who I thought was for sure going to make her baptism date wrote us a letter saying she doesn't feel ready and that it is her problem she needs to fix. She can't get work off on Sundays and she feels like she just isn't ready to take that step. Her two daughters are members. It broke my heart when I read that but I know that she will get baptized in the near future. I feel like she is lacking in faith a little so we will work on that. We will still be meeting with her every week. In fact, we are having family home evening with her and a member family tonight. I think it will be really fun for her to go to. I fasted for her yesterday and I pray for her everyday. 

Anyways, i hope all of you are doing well back at home. Dad, you still didn't tell me what you do everyday or what has been going on in your life. do you go out with the missionaries a lot? 

I love all of you and cant wait to here from you next week. 

Love,

Sister Chao