Happy new year!

Nimen Hao! 

Happy birthday to Natalie, dad, Kira, and Lucas! Yay for birthdays! Don't know what I'll be doing on my birthday...probably missionary right? 

It was really good to talk to you guys on Christmas and see all of your faces....even though it might have been through 2 computer screens to see you. haha. Time is flying by and I will be starting my 7th transfer already. Transfers are this Friday. I find out if i move tonight or tomorrow night. yikes! I'm pretty positive I'll be out of the east coast. I've been too blessed to spend so much time here. I love it. I'm a little nervous on where I'll go next. Definitely will be a new environment. Mom and dad, I gave Shi JM her present. She says thank you. After the day I skyped you guys, it got super cold here. Biking is freezing. I heard it has rained for like half a month STRAIGHT in taipei. noooo. it hasn't rained that much in Taidong, which has been a blessing. Rain is a hassell when you are a missionary. Lily was really excited to see you all on skype. She is so excited to come to America next year. She really wants to take english classes at BYU. Her english is super good too. So Mom and dad...are you guys really coming to Taiwan in March? That would be fun. No worries on picking me up in August, I know it will be really hot and humid and miserable to be outside. haha. 

Anyways here is the update for the week:

Best news of the week, Lily got baptized! She is doing great and was confirmed yesterday. We had a white Christmas! I must say, her baptismal service was one of the best ones I've ever been to. The ward was so involved since everyone knew her. The Relief Society prepared a musical number for her and gave her a bouqet of flowers and a really nice card. They also prepared a lot of desserts and made the place extra special. I was really impressed. The speakers were really good too. All in all, it was wonderful. I'm so glad I was able to be apart of it. This just shows why attending church at least 3 or more times before baptism is so important. You get to know members more and have a relationship with them. If you are able to sacrifice time for the Lord and come to Church, you will see so many blessings come out of it. Lily loved it. 

On a little sadder note, this morning I received an email from Becky saying, "我一點都不適合教會." Everything was going great with Becky until Lily's baptism. She attended the baptism but she had the worst attitude. I asked her why she was sad and she wouldn't say anything.  We couldn't really focus on her that night since it was Lily's baptism. We called her that night but she didn't answer. I remember when we went on exchanges with the temple sisters, they told us to just let her be and not call until she calls us. It was so hard for me to do that since I care about her so much. I texted her on Saturday night and invited her to church. She came to church on Sunday and was in a bad mood again. I just sent a positive email back saying how grateful I was to be able to teach her and become her friend. I talked about the importance of church and such. I don't really know what to do at this moment. I'll probably try to follow the temple sister's advice and just let her cool off for a little. I know her baptism is coming up. I hope she realizes how much she is loved and becomes more humble. She has investigated the church for almost 2 years now. 

Anyways, we met with Tsai JM this week and had to move her baptism date back again. She just needs to come to church. She is always gone for some reason. She still has a problem with coffee and tea. She said she is trying really hard to overcome that and is praying everyday and reading the BOM. She told us that when she gets baptized, she wants to be 100% committed to the commandments. I was so happy to hear that. She is someone who wants to keep her promises when she says she will. I know that she will get baptized soon. 

We've seen so many miracles this week. I'm so grateful to be a missionary! We set 3 new baptism dates. Two of the baptism dates was with our investigator's 2 little cousins, who are boys. We might be handing them to the Elder's next week. They seem to have more interest than her and we might end up dropping her. We don't think she is quite ready. She keeps cancelling on us and doesn't seem to have a desire. So next week we might have 3 less baptism dates. It's okay though, team Jesus and that means more time for finding. We set a baptism date with one of our investigator's friend this week. They both came to church. This was an investigator that hasn't answered our calls in a month and finally her phone rang and she answered! It was truly a miracle. We also found a new investigator from our Christmas activity last week. She is awesome and came to church with her daughter. She has a desire to learn more and is so nice. 

Sister Singh and I are doing great. We both love Taidong and never want to leave it, but I have a feeling my time is almost up here. I have been so blessed to serve on the East Coast for this long and I will always remember the experiences I've had here. I've met so many great people and I can feel God's love for these people. I know that I will be placed where ever the Lord wants me to go. I've had a good time training Sister Singh and have learned so much. She is awesome and is such a great missionary. Right now in studies, I'm almost finished with the D&C and will be starting the Pearl of Great Price. As for language study, I'm trying to memorize 25 new characters a day and review. It's been a little hard though. I'm just really bad at memorizing and it comes slower for me. You'd think I would be good at it since I'm Chinese but I'm as white as you can get when it comes to Chinese. It's a work in progress right now. But I do enjoy learning characters. 

Love you all!!!! 

Sister Chao