New Transfer and Half Way

Good morning everyone!!

Happy Thanksgiving this week! Hope everyone is having a great thanksgiving. I'm so grateful for everything you all have done for me. I'm grateful to be in Taiwan and serving the people here. They are all so cool! haha. Thanks for all your support. Veronica, send me some pics of the baby! I want to see how big he is now. What is everyone doing for thanksgiving? Its the beginning of my 6th transfer! wowza! I hit my halfway mark on Nov. 20th. Time goes by so fast! We got a few new missionaries down here in Taidong. 

FUNNY STORY this week...actually kinda creepy. So this week we knocked on this gate door thing. This guy opens his door and stands behind the screen of his door and inside is all dark with the red buddhist lights behind him. It's daytime by the way. Then he decides to come outside to talk to us. Mind you he is in a tshirt and short boxers....haha. His eyes are constantly scanning back and forth without his head moving. Then when a car passes by or a scooter goes by, he ducks behind the gate and is in an asian squat position while talking to us. Um...a little awkward. Then he stands up and he keeps scanning. I asked him what was wrong. THEN he asks me "How would you feel right now if someone who has killed 20 people was standing right in front of you?" I really didn't know what to say "scared???" it was creepy and my companion didnt understand anything so she has no idea. Then he says "I can kill someone with my bare hands in 3 seconds. It only takes 3 seconds. Are you scared?" haha. I was a little scared then, but I knew he couldnt do anything to us. I also dont know if what he was saying was true. He said that he is scanning his eyes because the government is out looking for him. He cant go outside during the day time. We gave him a BOM and he prayed with us. When he prayed, he was in the squatting position. so funny. Then he asks us if we wanted to come in. YEAH RIGHT. no way. So just wait....it gets better!!! I wrote his address down and then we gave it to Elder Kang and Elder Huang. Elder Kang was like oh yeah he's going to become our new investigator. So the next day, they go over to visit him. They even went inside and wahlaaaa he is their newest investigator!!!! WHat the right?! he gave them this apple milk thing but they didn't end up drinking it just in case. haha. Then he asks if I would be at church. Sure enough, he came to church on Sunday! And after church he went to go buy dinner for us and dropped it off at the church. we all decided it was safe to eat. what an interesting contact. Oh and he was sweating the whole time while talking to us. it was not hot outside. haha. he is now known as the creepy guy. Elder Kang and Huang will take good care of him. The END. 

We are hoping to have a white Christmas with tons of baptisms. We should be having at least  2 more baptisms in December...maybe 3!!! Yay!!!!! Pray for a white christmas! My companion and I are going up to Taipei on Wednesday for a trainer/trainee follow up meeting. I dont really want to go because we are leaving our area for about 2 days. All this traveling for a short meeting. Oh well. Then we get to go to Taipei for Christmas eve. Cant believe its already december almost! 

Chen JM the gangster got BAPTIZED on Saturday!!! It was a glorious baptism and she was so happy. She has patiently waited for November 23rd and finally it happened. Wow. She is going to be an awesome member. I wish you could have been here to see it. I just don't really know how to describe it. She was in tears before she got in the water and so excited and happy when she got out. She is truly a miracle. I'm glad I was here to witness this special day. 

Well, i think the lastest update is that Becky set a new BAPTISM DATE!!! Yes, miracle I know. I was really scared she would disappear for awhile if we bring it up. We went out for waffles with her and just talked about the BOM and Joseph Smith. Then we talked about how the Church was perfect but is filled with imperfect people. I felt like the spirit was just leading me the whole time and that it wasn't me talking. We talked about our purpose as missionaries and I asked her how we specifically can help her. She didn't really know what to say. But I could feel like she felt something during the whole lesson. I invited her to set a new goal for January 19th. She accepted. I know it's still a little while until then but I think she was so willing to accept it because it wasn't apart of this year's numbers. We invited to re-read the BOM from the BOM and pray about her baptism everyday. After we left, I felt so happy and I couldn't believe what just happened. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be since last time we invited her was really difficult. This just testifies how powerful the spirit can be! Now lets pray she can finally make this date. I have faith she can and I'm excited to help her. 

Our fastest progressing investigator Lily is awesome! I love her so much. She goes to FHE with us at a member's home every Monday. She is almost done with the lessons and I can just see how happy she is. She loves getting to know the missionaries too. She struggles with some commandments but with prayer, I know she can keep them. Also, even though she is 22, she doesn't know if her parents will let her get baptized. I'm praying that her parents won't be an obstacle here. She is just so great! 

Tsai JM is progressing towards baptism except for the fact that she needs to come to church 2 more times. She was supposed to come yesterday but she didn't end up coming. I'm not sure why. She didn't answer her phone. She has been reading and praying. We asked her how she felt about baptism and she said good and that she could do it. She knows she has to come to church though. I think she has just been really busy with work and her husband gone for the week. I'm hoping she will make her date. She is awesome and I know this can really bring happiness to her family. 

Liao JM, a less active's mom, told us she didn't want to get baptized anymore and that she wanted to go back to her other church. She said she liked it more there and that she knows the people better there. We asked her to pray about it. We will see what she decides next week. She just doesn't really have interest in the BOM. We read with her in the BOM and talked about baptism and how we need the priesthood authority. I'm hoping we can continue to meet with her. 

We have a new investigator from a referral from the elders. Her name is Gao JM and she is 19. She was willing to meet with us and she came to church! She said she liked church and hopefully she can have a baptism date by next time. I'm excited to start teaching her. She seems prepared and hopefully she will feel the spirit testify to her. 

This week I made an appointment with Lai Jiating. I did what you told me and invited a member to go with us. I invited Lin JM, the district R.S. president. When I called Lai JM to confirm the appt, she asked if anyone was coming and I said Lin JM. I couldn't lie to her of course. But when she heard that, she told me she doesn't want her to come over. She only wanted us to come by ourselves. She said that Lin JM can make her own appointment if she wants to see her. I was so sad to hear that. Then I told her what should I tell Lin JM? So she decided to cancel the appointment. I told Lin JM everything and she understands. She apparently is her Visiting Teacher. She understands her circumstances. We will try to reschedule with her next week. 

WEll everyone. have a great weeek and stay safe. i love you all!!!! 

Sister chao

Thanksgiving!

Hello!!!! 

This week was one crazy week. OUR GANGSTER PASSED HER INTERVIEW WITH PRESIDENT AND IS GETTING BAPTIZED ON THE 23rd!!!!!!!!!! MIRACLE. She had to wait 6 months to get baptized and President got the OKAY from the Asia Area Authority. I'm so excited for her. She was literally jumping up and down after the interview. Anyways, we had interviews with President and it went really well. We also had our thanksgiving activity this week with both branches. The missionaries did a thanksgiving play and I was a native american and got to wear these aboriginee clothes. so cool. My companion also had her birthday on Saturday. I'm going to send lots of pics. OH and we got these new safety vests from president. We HAVE to wear them at night. its a new rule. Alll of us missionaries hate them and we took a picture to show all you guys the new fashion for missionaries. Its great. we stand out even more now. hahaha. so funny. 

First off, Chen Shi Yun is SO excited for baptism. It was announced in church and everyone is so happy for her. She has waited so long and the time has finally come. She has been so patient and faithful during this time. I am so lucky to be apart of her baptism. She is awesome and I don't really know what else to say besides that. I'm sure you got to see her desire to be apart of God's church during the interview. 

One of our fastest progressing investigators we have is Lily. We met her a few weeks ago from English. She meets with us almost twice a week and has a baptism goal for 12/14. She is awesome. She has come to church twice now and loves the missionaries. She just seems so happy and she loved the Thanksgiving activity we had. We do FHE with her and a member family every week. I just love her! Can't wait for her to get baptized. English is such a great finding tool! She literally feels like my best friend. She is someone I will definitely always keep in contact with. She just has this light/glow every time i see her. 

Tsai JM, the one related to Tsai Huizhang's wife, has been slowly progressing. She meets with us almost every week and has a baptism goal of 12/14. She still needs to come to church 2 more times but she has been busy traveling back and forth to Kaohsiung. Her and her family just moved here from there so they still have some stuff to take care of over there. She also works full time and has 2 cute little kids. She has been reading the BOM and praying everyday. I'm hoping she can come to church this Sunday. She is really great and i could see the Gospel blessing her family so much. 

Well, Becky actually came to church this Sunday and she stayed for ALL 3 hours!!!! Miracle! A member invited her for FHE but she didn't respond yet. Hopefully she will come! We made a temporary appointment with her for Friday. This is slight progress from last week. I was so happy to see her on Sunday. 

We have another miracle investigator. Her name is Su JM. We were waiting for a referral to show up at the 7'11 but she never showed up. Then i get a random phone call from Su JM, not knowing her beforehand who she was. I was a little confused at first and didn't know how she got our number. She asked me how she could learn more about the Gospel. I told her she called the perfect people. She was willing to meet with us right then! She hurried and came over to the seven and we had a short lesson with her. She has been trying to find a church that is most suitable for her. She has gone to Zhanglao jiaohui and doesn't like how they speak Taiyu. We didn't have time to invite her to baptism but we are planning on it next time. She lives with her boyfriend right now. I'm hoping she will continue to have this desire. She said that she had our number from the time she met the missionaries 5 months ago but just never had time to learn about the Gospel. She has had a feeling to call us for awhile and she said she was finally brave enough to make the call on Monday. MIRACLE. The spirit does work in mysterious ways and Heavenly Father has truly blessed us when our appt didn't show up. She is so awesome!!! 

At the Thanksgiving activity, our LA, Hou JM, came and brought food for the party. She has not come to church in SO long but has such a great testimony. Her husband has been sick with cancer. She is this older lady and just so nice. She has told me that she won't go to church on Sundays unless her husband takes her because she feels like it is his duty to take his family to church. I was so surprised to see her at the activity. She couldn't stay long but at least she came. I'm so happy she came!! Everytime we meet with her, I can tell she loves the Gospel so much. I just wish she would come to church on her own. 

Sister Singh and I are doing great. We have been seeing miracles everyday and we are having more baptisms. It has been so fun to see Taidong grow from the time I got here. We had no baptisms for a long time and all of a sudden, we are having lots! Or it seems like a lot at least. The missionaries are having a baptism every week this month. Sometimes even more than one a week. I hope we can have a white Christmas. Heavenly Father has blessed Taidong so much! I love it here and wouldn't want to be anywhere else. You asked why I was happy and it really is because I'm in Taidong. The people here are fabulous and I just feel like I'm in the right place. 

Love you all!!! 

Sister Chao

Baptism!!

Hello!!!!

Mom and dad, i can't believe you might be coming to Taiwan!!! thats so crazy. I probably wont see you on the streets though. Dad, you just want to come for your birthday huh? haha. So i've been sick the past 2 weeks and i can't seem to get rid of this cough that i have. I've just been so exhausted lately probably because of my cold but I just want this cough to go away! I'm fine now except for the cough. Aborn and Keely, I can't believe Mia is walking!!!!!!!!!!!! yay! she is so cute!! I went on exchanges with Sister Miao. She is from Taizhong. She is also vegetarian so we had a good time eating on Wednesday. haha. We went to all the vegetarian restaurants, one of them being a vegan one. It was fun. So delicious. My companion got to go to Hualien for the exchange. I was slightly jealous since I wanted to go back to my birthplace and see everyone but im glad she got to go there. :) I got to ride the train for 3 hours to go pick her up in Hualien. So I was there at the train station for about 45 min. We got to buy mochi in hualien. Hualien is known for their mochi. So good. So i rode a train for 6 hours that day and did 3 hours of WPS after. SO MUCH SITTING. haha i almost went crazy...not really though. but close. :) 

We had a baptism AND confirmation yesterday!!! Shi JM, our Vietnamese investigator, finally entered into the waters of baptism. I was so happy for her! Although it was a slightly stressful and crazy baptism, I could still see how happy she was. Her son wouldnt stop crying through the whole baptism. Shi JM called me earlier that week and told me she didn't want to get baptized anymore since her family and her husband weren't too happy with it. I told her to pray about it and a member called her and talked to her. I'm so glad she came to her own baptism because I was getting a little worried when she showed up a little late. You can just see the light in her eyes. Yay!!!! Mom you should call her again and see how she is doing. 

We went on exchanges this week with the sister training leaders. Sister Miao was my companion in Taidong. We had such a great time and saw so many miracles!!! The biggest thing I learned from her was that I wanted to follow the spirit more and recognize the promptings of the spirit during lessons so that i can act on those promptings and help my investigators. I feel like that has always been a challenge for me. The zone leaders asked us to do the training during the zone training on Tuesday on listening to the spirit and languages of the spirit. I felt like it was the perfect topic for me. I learned so much and I've been praying everyday so that I can recognize the spirit and follow the spirit more as I teach. Sister Miao and I met with one of our investigators from English class and we invited her to baptism and she agreed to set a date! She is so great and I'm so grateful for English class! Anyways, the exchange was awesome and I love Sister Miao and her example to me. She is a great missionary!

So this week, I've also realized that most of our investigators who are not progressing are either not interested or lack the faith to keep all the commandments or commitments. I've been trying to figure out who we need to put in a different pile for later missionaries to contact them and who needs us to help them with their faith so that they can progress. It's been a little hard but I know through prayer, we can make the best decision and know how to help them. Sister Miao said something in Zone Training that I really liked. She talked about how they are focusing on the investigators who can actually come to church. Because people who can't come to church, can't ever progress towards baptism. That's what I've been thinking about lately. Who can really come to church, because those are the people who will progress. Some investigators need more faith so that they will make that decision to come to church. 

Anyways, Lily, our investigator from English class that we set a baptismal date with, came to church this Sunday! She is 22 and she just graduated. At first, she was super busy with 2 jobs but then she decided to quit one of them and now she has time for church. I was so happy....not that she lost a job but her not having that job allowed her to have more time for church. :) She stayed for all 3 hours too. She really likes us missionaries and talking to all the missionaries. I'm hoping she doesn't become converted to us. I'm really excited to prepare her for baptism!

Another miracle of the week, we met with one of the tsunami investigators Lu JM. She is actually from Vietnam as well and she has lived in Taiwan for 17 years. Her chinese is pretty good, but sometimes i think it is difficult for her to understand us. We taught her the Restoration and invited her to be baptized on the first visit! She was hesitant at first but she agreed to set a date! My companion both had a feeling that we should invite her on the first lesson and that 12/21 would be her date. It's crazy how the spirit works! Truly a miracle. We had a lot of investigators from the tsunami who ended up not being too interested so teaching Lu JM was awesome. We meet so many Vietnamese people here!

We met with Liao JM this week and we had a couple from our branch peike. Liao JM is the one with the LA son that the elders are working with. She really has a desire to get baptized but it is hard for her to come to church because of work. She loves to talk and I was so grateful we were able to get through the first lesson finally. We are having an FHE with her and our peike familynext Monday. The elders will be coming since her son will be home. I really can't wait to see Liao JM get baptized. She just wants to help her son and that is what is motivating her right now. It is a little hard for her to read the BOM since she doesn't know how to read that well. We are going to get her a simplified BOM. 

Our teenager investigator Chen JM who had a date, but now doesn't, still has a desire to learn about the Gospel. Her friend from the 2nd branch helped peiked. Her mom was there too and sat in on the lesson. I had a feeling to reinvite Chen JM to baptism and her mom as well. Although they didn't want to set a date, I know that they know what our purpose was. Chen JM's mom told me that she had a little desire to get baptized and become a Christian but her family and husband would be against it and that she would disappoint them. I invited her to read the BOM and pray specifically for this and the BOM. She agreed. Chen JM didn't want to set another date because she feels too rushed and she wants to take her time learning. Both of them are so wonderful and I can just see both mom and daughter getting baptized.  

Chen JM (the gangster) told me about her story from the past without me asking her. She just shared mostly everything with me and i listened so carefully my brain was going to explode, but I UNDERSTOOD HER! Finally! Wow, she has a crazy crazy past. 

okay im out of time!!! ill be sending lots of pics with this email. 

love you all!

sister chao

November already?

Hello Family!!!

Happy Halloween!!!

Alma sent me an email saying that Danika's brother just died in a car accident from drunk driving with friends. Please pray for their family. Tell Danika through FB or something that I'm thinking about her! I can't believe that happened. It is so sad. so guys...dont drink and drive!!! 

Anyways, on a happier note. SHI JM is getting baptized on SUNDAY!!!! Mom and dad, thanks for all your help! She loves mom. DAD why did you say that you might be here for it if she got baptized in December?!?! ARE YOU COMING TO TAIWAN? Let me know!!! But I probably will not see you since I'm all the way down in Taidong. weird. okay. well MEGAN...i got your package! thank you so much! You are the best! Cinnamon toast crunch cereal?! whattt. so good. and reese's? you cant find that here. We used the fangs for our halloween pictures. thanks meg for the fun break we had during the 3 hour weekly planning sesh. it was much needed. we couldn't stop laughing because one of the sisters kept druling. haha.

We had a million missionaries in Taidong this week...well just ten extra, but still. it was chaotic! our apartment and showers were crazy. But it was fun to have them here. They are awesome. It was a week filled with phone calls and more!

Here is what went down. sorry...just copied and pasted from mission president's email. no time!

Not going to lie, this week was crazy!!! The missionary tsunami was awesome. It was so cool to see so many missionaries here in Taidong. The nights were filled with endless phone calls from Elder Tay and others, set-ups/double set-ups, finding peikes, getting numbers, and more phone calls. These missionaries were so hard working. A lot of the investigators that we met with don't have much interest but we are planting lots of seeds. Their time will come! I'm grateful for the missionaries' efforts.

Shi JM is getting baptized next Sunday before church! I'm SO excited! Finally a baptism! It has felt like forever, especially for the sisters. I feel like the end of the year will be filled with baptisms. Shi JM seems really happy and came to church on Sunday. Her and another guy the Elders are teaching are getting baptized at the same time. I feel so blessed to be apart of this.

Chen JM, the gangster, is still really excited for baptism and interviewing with you. She really respects you. I told her that she may not be able to get baptized on the 23rd but she is still really hopeful. I love her faith. I learn so much from her. I told her that you needed to get permission first from the area president. Does that take a long time? I've never seen someone so excited.

We met with Tsai JM this week, who is related to Tsai Huizhang's wife. She is so sweet and great. We taught her the 3rd lesson and she has been praying and read a little of the BOM. She didn't go the church this week because she was busy but i'm hoping she will come next week. If she keeps it up, I know she can make her baptism date no problem.

Liao JM is the person we set a baptism date with on the first lesson. We had a peike come with us and apparently they know each other. Zhang DX and his wife came with us. They know her less active son. They talked forever and it was a really awkward visit because her and her son were fighting about him having his cell phone for about 20 minutes. Then our peike just tried helping her after, so again, we didn't get to teaching the Restoration because we were almost there for an hour. But she still has a desire to get baptized. We talked a lot about prayer and her setting an example for her son and praying with her son. Even though we didn't teach a lesson, i felt like we helped her a lot and helped her realize the importance of prayer and the BOM and her helping her son. Her problem is is that she can't come to church that often because she only gets one Sunday off a month. I'm praying for a miracle that she will be able to get baptized in December.

Meeting with Becky and having Sister Day peike was great. I think Becky was not expecting that at all, but I'm glad she didn't leave. She actually answered my questions more this time since I think she felt a little pressure that Sister Day was there. The temple sisters talked to us a lot about Becky's situation. We concluded that we just really need to focus on the Atonement and Christ with her. Also, if she doesn't show up or has a bad attitude to just ignore it. We think that we need to back off and give her less attention and then she will realize how much she needs the Gospel. This has happened before and when I don't call Becky, she will end up calling me in a few days. It is really hard to set up with her to meet with her since she doesn't like putting us in her schedule just incase she has something else or better come up. The temple sisters told us that we did everything we could, along with the other missionaries, and all we can do now is wait for her to make the decision and choice to change her attitude. Even with you there on Tuesday at the church you could see her attitude towards the Elders. I'm almost embarrassed about it. She also wasn't really happy on Sunday and wouldn't talk to us. I dont really know what her problem is right now. But all I can do right now is pray for her. Thanks for lunch on Tuesday!!! Sister Day is too nice!

Hope everyone is doing well!!!! love you all!!! keep me updated. i cant believe i hit 9 months this month!!!

wo ai nimen.

ZHAO Jie mei