🎁🎅🎄 聖誕節快樂! 🎄🎅🎁

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!! WE HAVE CHRISTMAS. WHICH MEANS. JESUS. WAS BORN. AND LIVED. AND DIED. AND WAS RESURRECTED. SO WE CAN LIVE AGAIN!!! YAYYY CHRISTMAS DFEOWIJFEJWEFIJF. 

I hope that you all had the most wonderful week and Christmas! Let me know how it all went!!! This week was good! We didn't do too much this week; we had some temple tours and such! Zone conference was Thursday and that was awesome! My president really hammered baptism and the importance of being bold in challenging our friends to receive that ordinance. It was really good and helped me remember that there is so much more we can be doing! The real difference between being bold and overbearing is love. If our friends can feel our love for them and our desire for their welfare, you can never be too bold! 

After zone conference we went caroling as a zone and passed out a lot of flyers (not me, I sang the whole-time cause there weren't a lot of sisters and they made me do a few solos), it was fun! On Saturday we also did a caroling activity with the YSA where they were going to sing and we were going to contact...but it turns out we weren't allowed to sing in that spot, so we just sang and walked, and yeah so nobody got contacted. It was fun though! I pretty much just hummed because I couldn't read the Chinese and walk at the same time haha. 

This week we also had a situation with someone who was a little too close to preaching some extremely interesting beliefs/anti to the whole ward at a Christmas party and then at church the next day, but blessings cause he got there late and didn't Our church building is not really a safe place, I'll let you know what happens with that. He was kind of following us to our activities...we'll see. I told the bishop. 

Christmas was great! That morning we had church and then went to a primary activity which was good. They gave us lots of food haha. Afterward we were doing our planning outside and helping lots of people take pictures in front of the nativity and temple. We were talking to a family of Americans from the English Ward, and they were like "do you have somewhere to eat tonight?" And we were like "um our apartment" and they were like "do you want to come over for dinner tonight? It'll be a small Christmas dinner, but we'd love to have more than just us" and I was like awwwww my heart!  keep in mind we had never really talked to them, and they weren't even our members! It was really great and I think I needed it. Taiwan doesn't really do anything for Christmas, it was pretty much a normal day, so I was super grateful that Heavenly Father gave me a small American Christmas and made it special. So that was super fun! I always feel bad for my comps in English lessons though haha. Heavenly Father knows all of the needs and even the smallest concerns of His children! He loves us all individually and wants us to feel that love. We can if we look for it! 

Spiritual thought for the week: watch this video.

Why We Need a Savior

 https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/video/christmas-messages/2015-12-1000-why-we-need-a-savior--a-christmas-message-about-our-savior-jesus-christ-asaviorisborn?lang=eng

What does it mean to YOU personally to know that we have a Savior? How has that knowledge affected your life? Hope? Security? View of the world? 

There are people who don't know this. Lots of them. They are all around us. They might be searching and don't even know it, at least until they find what they are looking for. We can offer it to them. How can you help another person know a little bit more about what the Savior can do for them this week?

 

Transfers, Training, and Temple Tours!

Hello everyone! This week was so fast and so slow at the same time haha. Probably the biggest thing that happened this week was transfers! I am training a new missionary named Huang Jiemei, she is nice and has a desire to learn which is great! I'm grateful to be working with her! Last transfer was great and although I'm going to miss it, I'm excited for this one too :) 

We also had our last 3 Christmas concerts on Friday and Saturday! It was a little bittersweet to see them go, but I'm glad I got to help participate. It's been fun. My last companion's (Li Jiemei) comp got covid and Li Jiemei still had to help with the Christmas concerts, so she stayed overnight with us, which was fun. 

I also did a temple tour on Sunday which I was really worried about, but it went pretty well! Heavenly Father definitely gave me a boost of confidence there and I only had to play charades a little bit. I don't think much else happened that is worth mentioning :) I love you all and wish you the best week! 

Spiritual thought for the week: This week I was feeling overwhelmed with my current situation (STL, training, doing tours, and not usually knowing what is happening). I guess I hadn't realized just how much I have relied on all my companions since I have been here (辛苦他們) and while I know that Heavenly Father enables us to do the things He needs us to do, I was still starting to wonder why He trusted me with this. Feeling such, I decided to read my scriptures and came across these verses that helped calm my stress: "For the Lord hath heard thy prayers, and hath judged of thy righteousness, and hath sent me to declare unto thee that thou mayest rejoice; and that thou mayest declare unto thy people, that they may also be filled with joy.

5 For behold, the time cometh, and is not far distant, that with power, the Lord Omnipotent who reigneth, who was, and is from all eternity to all eternity, shall come down from heaven among the children of men, and shall dwell in a tabernacle of clay, and shall go forth amongst men, working mighty miracles, such as healing the sick, raising the dead, causing the lame to walk, the blind to receive their sight, and the deaf to hear, and curing all manner of diseases." (Mosiah 3:4-5).

These verses helped me realize again that it's not always about us. We can rejoice because the Lord has given us an opportunity to share His message. We can rejoice because the Savior has come, and through Him all things are possible. It helped me realize that wondering if we are good enough to handle something is still a form of pride, because we are still trusting in our own ability (or rather worrying about our lack of ability) instead of depending on the Savior. The best servants are the submissive ones! 

Sorry for that Ted Talk! Hope you all have a great week! 

 

🎀 IT'S A GIRL 🎀

Hello everyone! This has been a crazy week full of Christmas concert trips, exchanges, baptisms, transfer news, and fake famous people! And today is zone P-day and we're going to Taipei 101, so I'll make this quick: 

Exchanges! I went to Danshui with Yao Jiemei, it was fun to be back, and we had a boppin time! 

Christmas Concert Road trip! Thursday, we went to Luodong and had a concert there and then we stayed overnight in a fun air bnb that had wayyy too many different themes for each room, but it was fun! The next day we went to Hualian, and it is so pretty! We were all straight up glued to the window the whole drive. That day we went to Taroko gorge which was gorgeous! This whole trip made us feel like tourists and not missionaries and it was kinda uncomfy but it was a lot of fun! That night we had our Hualian concert and then we went to a night market afterward (another thing that is not a missionary activity...but president took us...) and it was super fun! 

Saturday morning, we came back from Hualian, did our weekly planning, and had Huang Yi Shuo's baptism that night! Ah what a champ I'm so excited for him! Right after the baptism the bishop interviewed him for the temple and the priesthood! So happy for him. 

Yesterday we got transfer news. Drumroll please....as you might have guessed because of my email title...I'm gonna be a mother! Or, if you don't understand missionary lingo, I'll be training a new missionary! Crazy! I didn't think I ever would because I'm an STL, but get this, I'll be split STL training. In our apartment we have four sisters, and they are having another STL named Li Jiemei come, and we will both be training new missionaries. So, we will be STL partners but not companions. It'll be an adventure! 

We were going to have a famous singer named Wubai come to our Christmas concert, and it turns out it was totally an impersonator and I found it hilarious. But this guy was famous too for being a fake one! Good times! 

One of our recent convert's stories got accepted in the Liahona magazine for the Church, so we got to take a bunch of pictures teaching her for it! Look for me in the next few editions! 

Today we went to Taipei 101 for P-day! 

Spiritual thought for the week: 

I had a good thought earlier this week but don't have my study journal now...but right now I want you to consider the significance of each part of the "Love, Share, and Invite" sequence. Without love, sharing and inviting is empty and meaningless to others. Without sharing, there is no reason to act. Without inviting, it is a "nice message," but the change will never be made. What is the most important step for you right now? What do the people in your life need right now??