Taidong!

HI everyone! 

Well I didnt get to go to transfer meeting up in Taipei because I was getting transferred down to Taidong. It's a lot smaller than Hualien/Ji'an. Everyone says I'm really lucky to get to serve in two of the prettiest places in Taiwan. I'm still close to the beach. I love the people here. I still dont know the roads yet...that will come over time. Let's just say i'll be really good at reading the map after the mission. There are still lots of mosquitos, but not as many xiao hei wens thankfully. I havent found any good places to eat here yet. My favorite vegetable that i get for super cheap in ji'an is so hard to find here!!!! I'm dying! I need to figure out where to go. It's hard when you dont have a native companion and who has only been in Taidong for 2 weeks and probably doesn't like food as much as i do. :) My companion is from Washington. She is only a transfer ahead of me so i actually met her in the MTC. It's been really rough these past few days. Sometimes she doesn't treat me the best, but i pray that Heavenly Father will help me get through it. I finished Phase 1 though about 2 weeks ago! yay! Now I get 2000 flashcards for phase 2 to pass off. I just barely got it yesterday. When i look at the boxes of cards, i get so discouraged! SO MANY CARDS! My chinese better be great after memorizing them. I really do understand most of what everyone is saying. My chinese is improving thank goodness! I miss my trainer but i know im in Taidong for a reason. The Lord has big things instore for me here. I just need to continue to work hard. Maybe this transfer is just to help my companion and love her. That's what I've learned these past few days. 

I feel like we are basically whitewashing Taidong since Sister Thomsen has only been here for 2 weeks. Its been an adventure. We both can't read chinese which has been hard. Lots of the records are in chinese and we can't read them. It has been a little frustrating. The first night we went knocking a lot trying to find some new investigators. We got a few set ups for this week so I'm excited. We also knocked a lot on Saturday. We met this girl riding her bike to a Daojiao church and she was willing to pray with us and meet with us next week! so great! All of Taidong 1 missionaries went over to Ho Huizhang's house and talked about visiting less actives and members. He really wants us to get to know the members, which I'm really excited about. Ho Huizhang is so nice and he really loves us missionaries. I'm excited to work with him more. Sunday was really great and I loved getting to know all the members here. They are so nice here! They are all very welcoming and we also got lots of set ups this week. Sunday night, we made it a goal to get 4 other lessons while knocking. When it was time to go home, we had only gotten 3, but there was a man standing outside of our apartment complex and we ended up praying with him and teaching him about prayer and Heavenly Father. I know that Heavenly Father answered our prayers right there. 

Yesterday was also a miracle day. We met with an L.A. Lang JM and her whole family is less active. Her mom had passed away 6 months ago and had told her to go back to church. Right now, that is what she wants. She said she would come to church this Sunday. I could tell she could feel the spirit when we came to visit her. She is awesome and is starting to read the BOM again. She prays everyday too! Then we went to go meet with another investigator named Liu JM. She is 20 years old and has a lot of faith. Apparently she met with the missionaries before but hadn't learned anything Gospel related. We taught her the first lesson and invited her to baptism! We set a date for 8/24. She says that she believes that Joseph Smith saw God and Jesus Christ. She said she would start praying and reading everyday. I have faith that she will make her baptism date if she keeps progressing. She said that she just wanted to meet with missionaries because she wanted to learn more about Christ. She is so prepared. Hopefully she will continue to have this fire. She is awesome! What a miracle! 

Love you all! Update me on life! I will send pics in a little. Hopefully it works. 

Sister Chao

Typhoon Shmyphoon

Hello!

Guess what? The typhoon wasn't even big here in Hualien. We had a typhoon day Friday nightand had to be back at our apartments at 5PM. Nothing really happened that night, just rain and wind. I think we could have stayed out and would have been just fine. There was just really strong winds and rain while we were sleeping and the next morning. We got to go out the next day. Thank goodness! I didnt want to be stuck inside all day. People here the day before were all getting ready for the typhoon just in case it was stronger than what it had been. Hope the weather is all good back at home! 

Also, I'm getting transferred!!! We found out on Saturday night that my trainer is training again in Jian and that I will be moving. Dont know where to yet. Ill find out this Friday. I was so scared that they would call me to train. So glad im not. I do not feel ready to train at all. My zone leaders this past month have been teasing me and telling me that I will train and trying to get me to finish phase 1, which im pretty much done with. They did a mean prank call on me and Elder Mattsson pretended to be one of the A.P.'s and called our house phone telling me that I was training and everything. I totally believed him and it gave me the worst anxiety and fear! Then I found out that it was just my zone leader i was talking to. I wanted to kill them so bad! They got me so good. They could not stop laughing afterwards. I'm so gullible sometimes! I love my district though. Everyone says its been the best district they've ever been in. We are just all really close and laugh a lot and have so much fun. It makes missionary work more enjoyable when it is difficult. It's fun to have the zone leaders in the same district. They love to tease me and Elder Xiong (we call him elder bear) the most. I dont know why...probably because we give the best reactions. Now I feel like i have high expectations for my next area and district. I'm a little nervous to go somewhere new. Jian has been so fun and the people here are just so nice! I love them. I've gotten so close to a lot of my investigators. I feel like I connect the most with our younger investigators who are mostly all youth. Anyways, I know i'll love my new area and my new companion. Can't wait to see where I'll go! Maybe ill be able to see Kira in Shilin before she goes home! 

This week was great. We saw so many miracles yesterday! We got a less active Melchizedek Priesthood holder to church! Our mission president wanted us missionaries to help a Mel. priesthood holder come back to church. I was happily surprised to see him. He was the guy that we went to visit in Wanrong a few weeks ago. He is normally super busy on Sundays taking people out paraglyding. Because of the typhoon and bad weather, he had no appointments and came to church instead. I'm slightly grateful for the typhoon because it allowed him to come! Everyone was so welcoming when they saw him since he knows lots of people in the ward. I think he had a really good experience. He even asked for a new copy of the BOM. His less active daughter, Chao JM, did not come to church but we called her this week and she wants to take us out. I feel like my bike accident (6 weeks ago) was supposed to happen because that is how I met the L.A. Chao JM and then her dad. Such a miracle that he came. That made my last Sunday in Jian so memorable. It was great! We also had 4 investigators come to church. 

We have an investigator, Yu JM, who is so close to baptism. Her initial date was this last Saturday, but she is super busy and hasn't been able to meet. We met with her before church yesterday and contacted her at her house a few times this week. She was willing to set a new date for August 3.Even though we only have one more lesson to teach her, we wanted to give her enough time and not let her feel rushed into this. She also has a difficult schedule. I believe she will make her date this time. She really is so great. She reads the BOM and prays and always has questions about the verses she reads. I love her so much! Also, she is referral from a member in the Hualien branch. Member referrals are the best! I'm so sad i wont be here for her baptism though. I feel like I've been apart of the whole process but I wont get to see her get baptized. Oh well, my companion will take good care of her. 

We found out that our golden investigator Lin JM, the 13 year old, is with social services right now. Her dad has a drinking problem and abuses her when he is drunk. The police took her away and we can't contact her right now. She was so excited to get baptized but now we don't know where she is at. We want to continue on trying to contact her but people have told us that they won't tell us where she is at since they don't want her dad to know. However, she can contact us if she wants. I was super sad to hear that she was in social services, but I know Heavenly Father is watching over her. She is such a strong little girl. 

We started teaching this R.C.'s sister. She has been to church with her sister before once or twice. We only met with her once so far, but I think she is going to be a really good investigator. It is always nice to have someone you know or someone in your family that is a member. She just had a baby and I think family means much more to her. 

We have an investigator Zheng JM who pretty much has been taught everything. Her daughters are R.C.'s. She is an awesome mom. However, our only problem is getting her to church. She has to work every Sunday and hasn't had a chance to get it off. She prays with her daughters and reads the BOM. She has become like my mom in Hualien. I've gotten really close with her and just wish she can make that commitment to get baptized. She is so close! We will continue to work with her and help her develop more faith. 

Right now we have a lot of hai hao investigators. We want to go out and find more solid investigators who want and have the desire to learn about the gospel and get baptized. Contacting and finding is so important! I love it! Jian is really such a great place. There are so many people here that are just waiting to hear the truth. I want to find them.

Hope everyone is having a great summer!!! miss you and love you all! 

Love

Sister Chao

Hello!

Hey!

How was everyone's July 4th? Don't worry, I still wore my red, white, and blue here. I even watched some fireworks that the Miao puts off like every night. Last p-day we went to the beach again. This time, the closer one. We also went out as a district to this really nice all you can eat hot pot place. It was really good and there was A/C. Summer is definitely hitting Taiwan. How warm is it back home? Feel free to send me a weather report of taiwan in F. On Saturday, Xu mama invited my district over for dinner at her house. She just barely moved to Hualien and lives really far. We cover Ji'an. It was a long bike ride up this huge hill and by the time we got there, everyone was dripping. Elder Mattsson and Orchard were soaked. Xu mama asked if it had rained outside because they were dripping everywhere. it was so nasty, but funny. We got invited to dinner at another member's house yesterday too. This doesn't happen very often. We are usually on our own for food so that was nice of them. Transfers are coming up next Friday. I dont really know if I'm going to move or stay. I wouldn't mind staying, but I also wouldn't mind moving and seeing a different area. I'm just nervous that I might train next transfer because my zone leaders have been telling me that i have a good chance of training. I just dont feel capable of training someone yet. I'm almost done with Phase 1, which is this language book that you have to pass off every week. Then you move on to phase 2 and 3. The Chinese is coming along. Very far from perfect but better than when i left home at least. :) Anyways, I'll let you know if i get transferred. I'm kinda nervous for a new companion. My companion now is great. 

This week, we were planning on have 2 baptisms on Saturday. However, that isn't going to happen anymore. Lin JM and Yu JM both were on track for getting baptized this Saturday but they both cancelled on us twice this week and didn't go to church. I was so disappointed because they were so ready. Lin JM's phone has been broken all week, so it has been hard for us to get a hold of her. We were sure she would come to church because she always tells us that she loves it. I hope she still has the fire and desire to get baptized. I know that she will soon. As for Yu JM, she is just a really busy person, trying to run her business and take care of her 2 little kids. She is awesome and I think it will just take a little time for her to get baptized but I believe that she will by the end of this month. We stopped by her house a few times this week to say hello. She doesn't feel comfortable for us to teach at her home since her business is also there so we just say hi. Anyways, I learned that sometimes Satan works really hard on our investigators, but that just means we have to work even harder. I really wanted to see them get baptized and be there for it before transfers, so i was a little bummed. But who knows, i might be staying in Ji'an after all. 

We met with this 16 year old girl named Vivian. She is really great! She is a referral from the Elders and she accepted our baptism invite after we gave her the first lesson. Then we met with her again this week and taught her the 2nd lesson. She told us that her parents won't let her get baptized. I was sad to hear that because I feel like that is the case for most youth here. They want to get baptized but their parents won't let them. Also, she says that her parents won't let her go to church on Sundays. We are still going to work with her and teach her. Maybe things will change and a miracle will happen. Maybe her parents will have a change of heart. 

We also met with 2 people from English class that were interested in learning more about the Gospel. They both like it when we teach them using English and Chinese. We gave one of them, Vivian, an English BOM. She read it all in 2 weeks! She might have some kind of disability though. She doesn't seem all the way there. She didn't remember anything she read or understand any of it. She has a Chinese one too. She is really nice though and she also has a baptism goal for the end of August. The other lady we taught, Sue, is really awesome too. We met with her for the first time this week. Hopefully she will become a progressing investigator soon! I love getting referrals from English class! English on Wednesdays is a great way for people to be exposed and introduced to the Gospel. 

We went to go visit this new L.A. that we found last week, Li JM. She is a little crazy...but very nice. She has been through the temple and everything. She said that she believes in the Church, just doesn't want to keep any of the commandments. She said church is too strict and serious. She is a free spirit. She said she likes her freedom and likes to do anything she wants to do. She also told us she likes being the bad child. It was a very interesting visit. Then she told her son, who isn't a member, to come down and talk with us. We shared with him the first lesson, but I'm not sure if he really wanted to talk to us. He was willing to give us his number though to give to the Elders. We gave him a BOM too. Maybe he will be more interested in listening than his mom. We will keep trying to get her back to church and start keeping the commandments. When we visit her, we try to bear testimony a lot and help her feel the spirit again. She really wants her son to come to church though. 

We meet so many different and interesting people here. I love contacting and sharing the gospel with people. Sometimes you will meet really prepared people and sometimes you will just get rejected. It's great. love the work and love the heat! :) 

Hope all is going well at home. How is Yeye doing? What are all of your plans for the summer? Love you all!

Sister Chao

Summer is here in Taiwan!!

Nimen Hao!

How is everyone doing?! Summer has definitely hit Taiwan. It's been super hot and humid. My arms have been getting really dark and i have the best watch tan line. :) Basically im soaking wet when i get to a member's or investigator's house. This week I went on exchanges with Sister Parker and I got to go to Hualien for a day! We rode all the way out to Xincheng from Ji'an!!! We took the long way there and lots of side roads so we can contact on the way. It took a little over an hour to bike there and visit this member. It was in the middle of the day too, so when we got there, we were both dripping from head to toe. I've never biked so much just to go visit a member! Then on the way back we biked the faster way home and it only took 50 minutes. I was so tired by the end of the day, but it was a good experience. Hualien is so pretty and we pretty much just went to the middle of no where. Sister Parker is great! I love the way she teaches. Fast and simply. That's how I like it. 

Last P-day we biked to Qixingtan. We took the long scenic route along the coast so it took like 1 hour and 20 min. I wanted to die because it was so hot, but i survived. ha. When we got there, we got some ice cream and played on the beach. There isn't sand, only small rocks. It was just my district. So much fun. I really like my district this transfer. They are awesome. There is just 2 sisters and 4 elders. We are all really close and it is fun to spend p-day with them. There isn't much in the part of qixingtan that we went to. only a few houses and ice cream shops...and a pretty beach. I love being on the east coast! so beautiful! You get the view of the mountains and the beach. Im not quite sure what we are doing today for pday. 

Dad, I'm still in Ji'an. Transfers aren't until July 19th or something. I'm not sure if I'll move or not. I love it here though, besides all the bites and how my legs look diseased. but thats okay. i think the oils are helping. 

The work in Ji'an is great! We saw so many miracles and I love teaching people who actually care and are truly interested in the Gospel. 

The zone leaders met this 12 year old girl on the street one night named Lin JM. She is golden! She is so prepared to hear the Gospel. She showed up at church the next day and we started to teach her. She lives with her dad, who isn't the nicest when he is drunk. But she loves our church because she said she has a different feeling when she comes. She didn't like her other church because people with make fun of her. She has been progressing so fast. We set a baptism goal of7/13 and if she comes to church every Sunday, i know she will make it! She reads the BOM and prays everyday. She is always excited to come to church and meet with us. I've never seen someone so prepared. I know it was the Holy Ghost who led the Elders to find her. We are all so excited to see her get baptized. She is excited too! She has so much faith and fire. I love teaching her because she is willing to act and commit! Best feeling ever! She is going to be one of those investigators who gets baptized in 3 weeks! 

One of our L.A.'s Chao JM drove us to Wanrong to visit her L.A. dad Chao DX. It was over an hour drive there. He lives all the way up in the mountains because he takes people out paragliding for his job. He is pretty well know for that here in Taiwan. We stayed in Wanrong forever because the daughter didn't want to drive us to the train station for us to go home at the time we wanted to. She said she would take us home,in a little bit. She didnt end up taking us home until like 3 pm! we left in the morning too! It was kinda frustrating but we made a few contacts. I felt like we were stuck there. We couldnt walk to the train station because we were all the way up in the mountains. We saw Chao DX take people out paragliding since he had a few appts when we got there, so we had to wait for that too. But once we actually got to talk to him, it was great! He has such a strong testimony of the church and is just awesome! The only thing is, is that he never has time to come to church because of his job. He takes people out paragliding and always has appointments on Sunday morning. Also, church is over an hour away. I loved talking to him. We want to get him active again and i believe we can do it with the help of members. He knows a lot of members and I want them to call him and invite him to church and just follow up on him. Chao DX said he wants to make it a goal to come to church once a month and he might come next Sunday. We will continue to call him and follow up. He such a great man. His daughter that we are working with doesn't really have any faith now. She told us she doesn't pray and doesn't want to go to church because she wants to make money. It's so sad to hear how she doesn't think God can help her raise her kids or make money. We tried telling her if she puts the church first in her life, she will have blessings she wouldn't have even thought of. 

Our other really great investigator Yu JM didn't make her baptism date because her kids were sick and couldn't meet with us. She is hard to meet with because of her job. We set a new date for7/13. She is progressing and loves learning about the Gospel. We just need to get her to church one more time. She has such a strong testimony of prayer and I believe she will make her next date if she makes time to meet with us at least 2 times a week. She is a friend of a Hualien member. Members are so important in missionary work! Anyways, I just love meeting with Yu JM. She has such a sweet spirit. 

We also met with our other investigator Little Hong. She is 14 and her mom is an L.A. We meet with them regularly. The girl is super shy and lets her mom talk for her every time. Her mom has a smoking problem and likes to read prayers out of a Namaste book. She wrote out a prayer for her daughter to read using our prayer outline because her daughter wouldn't say her own prayers using her own words (probably because she sees her mom reading her prayers). I was so bummed and frustrated when she told me she wrote a prayer for her to read every night. We were trying really hard to get her to say her own prayers using her own words. We also invited her to baptism again and she started to cry because she got really nervous. Then her mom answered for her and said she wasn't ready. Her mom told us that her daughter always gets really nervous when we ask her questions. I think it will be a slow process with her, but hopefully we can get her to pray on her own, using her own words. I want to meet with her separately without her mom, but her mom always has to be there. We are going to try our hardest and continue to work with the both of them. 

Our investigators have been coming in contact with the Jehovah Witnesses here. It makes it hard to teach them because they just come up with all these questions that dont really matter. It is kind of frustrating. 

Anyways, our goal is to get TWO more baptisms before transfers are over!! I want to be here for those baptisms! I love those people! 

I love you all! Update me on life! I'll send some pics soon.

Love

Sister Chao