聽不懂 face

 Ya know, people always say "If you don't understand a word I say, just stop me and I'll help you!" My question for them is "What if I can't understand ANY of the words?" Let's just say I have gotten very good at practicing my 聽不懂 face haha. 

This week felt mega super ultra long. Different things always feel long, and Taiwan is about as different as you can get. Especially compared to the MMM. Just about everything is so different, and it's been a pretty big adjustment, and not gonna lie I've cried during more personal studies than I would like to admit, and I think I need to get my eyes checked out or something, they must be broken. But it'll be all good!

It's for sure a big change, but Heavenly Father will always provide a way! He gives us all the tools and resources we need to be successful in our work, and I just need to remind myself (quite often) that it's only been a few days and patience is key. Waiting on the Lord can be a sacred place if we let it.  So please don't let anything previously said concern you. 

Last Monday we were able to go to an all you can eat meat place with some members which was fun! They just keep giving you food haha. 

Tuesday, we had district council which was good, and that night we were able to meet a guy from India and teach him and make him a new person! I personally love finding foreigners, it helps me feel useful haha. We were also able to meet someone at the MRT station who had been taught before and who they had ran into twice, and he wasn't really interesting in learning, but we saw him again and now he is! Miracles! 

Wednesday, we had other miracles too, we were on our way to our chapel and stopped at a random Starbucks halfway in between for some studies, and a guy came up who was an inactive member, and he bought us drinks and wants us to contact his wife who isn't a member! And the next day he arranged so we could get free food at his family's restaurant! Heavenly Father is just a champ! Wednesday night we had our English Group (which we only had two people come over zoom and neither of them live here) and we did a chapel tour in English! I really enjoyed it!

Thursday, we went up to Taipei so I could have a health checkup with some of the other new missionaries. We had to have a blood test, chest X-ray, eye test, etc. I passed! Aren't you proud? That night we ate dinner with a member and planned an activity for Saturday, and he had one of the Elders dress up in protective gear because he wants to teach martial arts at the activity. It was pretty fantastic. 

Friday, I don't really remember what happened. We ate dinner with a member! 

Saturday, we had the parent child creativity (PCC) activity, and made paper snowflakes and origami! We also got to play basketball that morning and had a ton of people show up! Here they do things like "basketball finding" and "tennis finding" and such. Saturday we also had dinner with the bishop’s family! 

Sunday was good, new people in the ward have to do an introduction and share their testimony (luckily my comp let me know in advance) so I had to do that, it went pretty well! She said she understood! We also had a two-hour ward council meeting, and it is far too easy to accidentally zone out when you don't speak the language. I was completely gone the entire time. 

Danshui is super hilly and windy, and I have had many times almost crashing because I'm frantically trying not to flash the world haha! Don't worry, I'll buy some pants :) And biking through traffic is absolutely terrifying. It's beautiful though here, I love it! 

Spiritual thought for the week: Out of all the Savior's examples He showed while on earth, one of the greatest things He emphasized was the fact that He suffered the will of the Father in all things. Why do you think He placed so much focus on that point? It is when we accept the Lord's will that we can find joy in any circumstance. Trying to force our own only leads to lost opportunities and a fraction of our ultimate potential. We all face affliction in life. My question for all of us today, is are we allowing these afflictions to be consecrated for our gain, by letting God prevail? When we choose to put our trust in Him, rather than the world, that is when hearts are changed. When we choose to accept His will and align our desires with His, we can slowly but surely become the trusted heirs He asks us to become.  

I love you all and hope you have a fantastic week! Good job for those of you who actually got this far :) you're my favorite! 

 

Deer in Headlights 🦌🚘

Throwback to when I first started my mission, and a member told me I didn't actually look like a deer in headlights! I was like "hey sweet." But I think my brain just wanted to save it all for Taiwan. And we haven't even started missionary work yet. 

Starting on Wednesday we were technically still in quarantine, but we were able to leave the hotel during the day, so we got to do lots of stuff and visit some really cool places! Wednesday, we had a bunch of trainings during the day and then we were able to go to the night market that night and see all the yummy duck heads they were selling! It was lots of fun though and food here is super cheap, the first thing I got was a bowl of noodles which cost 30 快, which is about one dollar. There were also some giant pigs and things there, so that was fun. 

Thursday was fun, this was the day where I probably had the most culture shock and it was an adventure. We did an activity that evening called an English Challenge. Basically, you would have a poster and go around asking if people wanted to participate and be asked a question in English. If yes, we would ask them a question and then invite them to come to the English group! Sister Kirton and I went with two native sisters, and the place we went was like a big/light up/anime/people dancing in the square/exactly how you would imagine China to be/so many Asians! It was really cool, just felt pretty surreal and I didn't understand like 99.5 percent of anything that was said. So, this was really where the deer in headlights come in. It is weird to be surrounded by so many people and just being very aware of how alien I am here. It was cool though! 

Friday we were able to go to the Memorial Hall for a famous guy! I can't remember his name, but it was really cool! Saturday, we had a challenge where we went to different MRT stations and had to take pictures of different things, take selfies with 5 different people, say hello a certain number of times, and so on. It was really fun! I'm really bad at talking to people in English let alone Chinese haha. Everything they say goes totally over my head and I feel really bad about it, but we'll get there! 

Sunday, we got out of quarantine whoooo! We went to church and spent the day at the mission office and stayed the night in the patron housing! It was cool! We were also able to go to the Taiwan Taipei dedicatory sight and say our own dedicatory prayers and pray and ponder there. It was really good! 

Today we had transfers! I am going to Danshui with my new culture trainer, Jin JieMei! She is super sweet and I'm excited for this transfer. She is a native to Taiwan (the only foreign sisters who are here are the ones who came in just last month) and probably most of my companions here will be natives, so in other words, my Chinese seriously needs to figure out life haha. I'm excited for this new adventure though! 

Spiritual thought for the week: Something that I have often struggled with throughout my mission and throughout my life is living in the past. While I was in Duluth all I would talk about was the MTC, while I was in Eau Claire all I would talk about was Duluth and coming here all I want to talk about is Eau Claire and the MMM in general. While looking back and smiling and learning from the past is not a bad thing, we must take care not to let it hinder us from our work in the present. This is something that I have thought a lot about and studied a lot about. I have thought, "Okay I know this is a problem, but what can I DO to fix it?" And of course, it is super beneficial to brainstorm ways to fix the problem, but it is also important to recognize that there is not one magic action I can implement that will help me focus. God is not a cosmic vending machine. But one thing that we can do now is continue building on the little things: Prayer, taking time to hear the Lord every day through the scriptures, picture people in white and recognize that every person you meet has infinite value and potential, and being diligent and intentional and letting your purpose drive all things you do. If it doesn't seem like anything is changing, that's okay. It will as you continue putting in effort. But overthinking about the problem rather than having patience and letting the Savior Jesus Christ take it and help us grow (little by little I might add) is only going to lead to lost opportunities. It is a long process, but we can make the conscious decision now to follow Jesus Christ and do things His way. It will come in His way and timing. 

Sorry for that throw up of tangents! I love you all and hope you have a fantastic and lovely week! 

Arrival Letter from Mission President

 Dear  Jensen  Family, 

Sister Yang and I are delighted to let you know that your  daughter  has arrived in Taiwan safely and is doing well.  The day following arrival was spent in orientation, training, and getting to know  her .  We had a wonderful lunch with the new missionaries and their training companions.

 

I had the opportunity of interviewing  Sister  Jensen  and am very impressed with  her  desire to serve.  Thank you for sending us such a wonderful young person.  Truly,  she  is a fine example of an enthusiastic servant of the Lord.  We send our love to you and promise to watch after your  daughter  as though  she  were our own.  Sister Yang and I have been called to lead this mission by ministering to our missionaries.  We have been praying for them since they received their call to work in the Taipei Taiwan Mission.

 

The missionary work is very focused.  Missionaries can call home once a week on P-day.  We also suggest they write home once a week to stay in close touch.  In addition, I strongly suggest that you diligently write weekly to keep in touch with your missionary as well.  If an emergency arises, please call the Mission Office and leave a message, or contact us through the mission e-mail address.

 

The monthly money that the missionaries receive is sufficient for their needs.  Please do not send extra money for your  daughter  unless requested.  If money needs to be sent to your  daughter , we suggest you open a bank account and send your missionary an ATM or debit card.  This provides fast and easy access to money from the many teller machines available in Taiwan.

 

May the Lord bless you and your family through the service of your missionary  daughter .

 

Yours sincerely, 

 

President Shih Ning Yang

Taiwan Taipei Mission

 

Toto, I Don't Think We're In the US Anymore!

You heard it here first folks, guess who is in fact no longer in the United States, but the great island of Taiwan?! THIS ONE. Which means that I am also in quarantine haha which makes things a little anticlimactic but it's all good. To fill you in on the rest of the week:

Monday was pretty wild, I had to figure out a whole bunch of stuff for Taiwan, but everything was closed for the fourth of July, so we were kind of running around like crazy people. But we did get to have a district P-day and Elder Vang's dad came and made us Hmong food which was super fun!

Tuesday was good, I got to sing and share my testimony at district council which was fun! Afterward we got to eat lunch at a Hmong Grandma's house, and I ate another Thai chili pepper. We also got to go to a baptism for someone the Elders were teaching which was awesome!

Wednesday was pretty chaotic haha but it was an adventure! Wednesday morning, we got a call from the lead STL's asking if Sister Carter would be willing to train! Super exciting! They also let us know that we would be spending the night in the cities that night, so I packed up everything and we went to Woodbury for a covid test, Bloomington to pick some stuff, went to a bank, hurried and grabbed dinner, and did our finding time at a park and then went to Plymouth to stay with the Sisters there. It was a lot of fun actually! Crazy but good day! 

This past week the days got progressively more chaotic. Thursday was a big one! That morning we had to hurry and go to a library so I could fill out a health declaration form, Sister Carter was very patient with me (I was just slightly freaking out haha) which was super helpful, and then we headed out to Bloomington! We got there a little early and got to stop at a park and walk around for a few minutes, which was really nice honestly. The last few days had been super chaotic, but I really enjoyed spending that time with my companion. I went and said goodbye to President and Sister Richardson which was really sad, and said goodbye to Sister Carter, which was really sad, and said goodbye to the Minnesota Minneapolis Mission. As I'm writing this, I'm re-experiencing all of those emotions that I had just a few days ago. The MMM will forever hold a piece of my heart, and although I will miss it a lot, I guess Heavenly Father has a new plan for me now. 

After that everything was kind of a blur with a 5-hour flight, 8 hour layover, and 12 hour flight to Taiwan. I got to meet up with some MTC pals, Elder Pyne and Sister Kirton! Then we had to go through customs and all that jazz, and eventually made it to our quarantine hotel. My mission President is super funny and I'm excited to be a part of the work here! 

Spiritual thought for the week: Yesterday I was studying chapter 4 in PMG, and something that stuck out to me was how it talks about being "careful" in recognizing the Spirit. Why do you think God made the Holy Ghost sometimes difficult to recognize? How does that promote our growth? I have also been relating it to the talk Careful Verses Casual. There is a range of how careful we can be in keeping the commandments. Something Sister Richardson was saying to the new missionaries right before I left was that we shouldn't try to be the exception to the rules. Look for reasons to follow the counsel of the gospel, rather than reasons not to. Our level of carefulness in keeping the commandments is directly correlated to our level of recognizing the spirit. What actions might we be justifying that are keeping us from being able to recognize the spirit carefully?