The Zhudong wind is upon us...yet I am still sunburned

Welcome back to another one of Sister Jensen's weeklies that probably nobody actually reads! I hope you are all doing absolutely amazing! Let me know how things are going! Also, a quick announcement...I haven't made this information public yet, but I applied to BYU Provo and recently learned that I got in! So, I will be attending there the upcoming semester upon my return. BYU wasn't my original plan, but I really felt like I should change my plans and apply while on my mission! 

Anyway! Last Monday we ate and played ultimate frisbee with a volleyball with some of the other missionaries in the zone which was a lot of fun! That was about it! Tuesday not much happened that is worth mentioning but we went tracting which was good! 

Wednesday we had district council in Xinzhu and then exchanges after! I was with dear Sister Kirton who I was in the MTC with and was quarantined with when we got to Taiwan! It was a lot of fun, we decided that if we were comps we would break the world haha. We did English group and ate a small cake in one sitting haha.

Thursday we studied and then went to Xinzhu to exchange back! Afterward my comp and I, the Xinzhu Elders and Sisters, and the Zhubei Elders did balloon animal and English challenge finding which was fun! We ended up doing that for most of the day and then ate dinner together!

Friday we didn't do too much, just weekly planning and a board game activity that one of our friends came to! Her name is Xué Yíng, please pray for her! She is 11 years old and is facing a lot of difficulties that she isn't willing to really open up about. She will be so ready, but she needs to choose to listen! 

Saturday was good and busy! That morning we had a ward activity that we helped with and played a bunch of games outside which was fun! Afterward there was a community walk for some holiday, it was all set up a little like Swiss days. We took the Bishop's 3 legged dog for a walk for finding purposes haha. We also met a less active family and ended up walking the loop with them!

Sunday was busy, we had church and then ate lunch with a member and came back and helped set up for an FHE game activity! The activity got lots of people and was a lot of fun! Then we had ward coordination and that's all :)

Today for P-Day us and a ton of members went out into the mountains where some of them live, and we went to a lookout/walk/hike with tons of cherry blossom trees. It was so pretty! I got sunburned so bad haha, this whole week was pretty windy and cold, but I have still managed to get sunburned like three times this week. It's literally February. Quite a low point for me. 

Spiritual thought for the week: in Relief Society yesterday we discussed the talk, "The Virtue of the Word," and it is so good! It really hit me how grateful I am for the word of God. It acts as a road map and literally illuminates our souls and gives us strength and protection. In this fallen world, we can never have enough illumination! I have really come to feel the difference that the word of God creates in my life, that illumination feeling. It takes practice and patience, but we can all learn to love the word of God and recognize the guidance it can give us. We need it every day!!!  

大家好！

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a great week. I did too! On Monday we went to the pet store, and then ate hot pots! On Tuesday I went tracking for the first time! It was fun. We got lots of doors shut in our faces. But it was an adventure! We also met with a less active in our ward and did service for another lady who needs help right now. 

Wednesday was Zone conference! I love Zone conference. Today we focused a lot on finding and went through a list of inspired questions that we could ask people when we found. It was very helpful! It was kind of 麻煩 to get there and we had to ride ubikes, but it was a lot of fun, and I learned a lot! It was crazy to see my comp and other people I've spent a lot of time with giving their departing testimonies. Also, we couldn't find the bus stop to get back, so we were late to our English group. But it went well! I think it went better than last week.

Thursday morning, we did service for a lady in our Ward who has some special needs. We were able to help take her on a walk in the sunshine, and it was a lot of fun. Afterward we met with our friends 老張 and it was good to talk with him! Please pray for him so that he can understand the necessity of the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. We also met with another member that night and were able to discuss with her on how to help her family, and that was really good! 

Friday, we had lunch with the 黃家庭, they are awesome! They live outside of Zhudong, so it is more open, and I love it! I decide over and over again that I want to live in the middle of nowhere. As long as it has a store haha. That night we did another board game activity and had two of our gray dots come which was awesome! Miracles! It was a great opportunity for them to get to know members and we had a spiritual thought at the end so hopefully they will be willing to meet with us. 

Saturday, we had a lunch with a member which was great! She invited a friend over and was straight up like, "These are the missionaries. Do you want to learn about the gospel? I'll come with you. Let's set up a time." It was the most solid thing! She doesn't live in our area but heyyyy! Members come on. It's as easy as that. Saturday night we had an English pass off lesson with a guy I found on Facebook! Also, it turns out he is actually a member.... but he really wants to find Christ again and doesn't remember any of the doctrine pretty much. He's solid and has great questions! 

Sunday wasn't super eventful, I helped translate for an English member in church! It was pretty rough haha. Also another update, this week I got MyPlan. For those of you who don't know, MyPlan is a program that missionaries get a few weeks before their last transfer, and its whole goal is to force you to think about going home. We're not gonna think about that right now. 

 Spiritual thought for the week: This week I have been thinking a lot about the importance of knowing that God is our Father who loves us dearly. Through Him we can find a feeling of belonging. He is our Father and wants us to succeed. What does it mean to you to know that? How can it bless your friends and family? How can you share it with them? 

40 day fast ✌️

 大家好！

I hope you all had the most lovely week in the history of weeks and that they only keep getting better from here! Email me back and let me know how things are going.  Monday, we didn't have my bike yet so we ended up walking like 20 minutes to a park for P-day! So, most of P-day was spent walking, but it was good to get outside :)Tuesday, we had district council and lunch with our district which was fun! Afterward we had a lesson with our friend 阿偉 and were able to make him a new friend! 

Wednesday morning, we went to the doctor and then did our studies and such. Afterward we stopped by our friend 老張's house. Please pray for him! He is just kind of old and sad, but hopefully our visit brightened his day a little! Afterward we had our English Group! It had a good turnout, but everyone was SO quiet. Like at the beginning they wouldn't even introduce themselves. In Chinese. It was a rough start, but a family came with two energetic little boys which I think lightened the mood, and we played Categories with them after, which they seemed to like! Very different from the parent child class that I used to lead, which is full of very energetic children, but hopefully they enjoyed it! 

Thursday morning, we met with a less active family and read scriptures with them! It ended up being way too long, but now we know haha. Afterward we did our studies, and then we were going to go to 新竹 for a district finding activity, but we missed our train, so we biked! It was fun! It's like 10 km one-way haha. I had a good time, my poor companion :) we did balloon finding and English challenge there! Tons of kids wanted to try, so they could get a balloon animal and we got a lot of flyers handed out! Also, President was on exchanges with the ZL's at the time so he went finding with us haha.

Friday was kind of crazy, we had interviews and zone council which was good! Afterward we had a board game activity with a bunch of members, and they all committed to bringing a friend next time so we'll hold them to it! I'm excited to see the results of the member work we have been doing! Heavenly Father has already been blessing us with referrals!!

Saturday was also crazy, that morning we met with a member and her parents who are potentials and got to know them! We basically just did a photo shoot with them with the flowers haha. I believe we will be able to start teaching them soon! Since that was part of our exercise time we went back and hurried and got ready and then were like "shoot we have a member lunch" and had a qingke and then went back, did our weekly planning, and then had a member dinner that night! When personal study has to happen after hours… it was a good time though! Also also! My boy 阿翔got baptized WHOOOO!!!! I'm so proud of him, he has come so far! And I got permission to watch over zoom but when I asked for the zoom link the baptism had already passed, my bad! I didn't realize it was the 11th that day! It's all good though! 

Sunday, we went to church and did our studies and such, and then had a member dinner that night! One goal that our zone has is to do a "40 day fast." This means that we would fast and write down things that we could change to become more pure and obedient, things that the spirit prompted us to start or stop doing. Then for 40 days we would make an effort to do or not to those things! It promised amazing blessings and spiritual power. We started our 40 days yesterday and I am excited to see how it goes! 

Spiritual thought for the week: Have you ever noticed that God always tells His children to fear not? Heavenly Father never wanted us to fear. If you look in the fear section of the Bible dictionary, it says that one of the first things that man experienced when Adam fell was fear. Fear comes from sin and is unworthy of a child of God. God wants us to have confidence in him, he wants our fear to go away. In the Book of Mormon there is a reoccurring theme that although people feel fear, that fear will turn to joy as soon as they repent. The message of repentance is a joyful one. Repentance through Jesus Christ's Atonement allows us to be confident in our Father, and comfortable in His presence and joy. His "perfect love casteth out all fear." 

Just vibing out in the boonies 🤙

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful and fantastic week :) Last P-day we had a zone picnic which was a lot of fun! We played ultimate frisbee :) Afterward we had a lesson with one of our friends and taught the Restoration! We don't teach that one nearly as often in Taiwan as we do in America (or at least it feels like it) so it's always refreshing to teach because it's like my favorite thing in the universe. That and the Plan of Salvation. And the gospel of Jesus Christ. And all of the things because they are just so wonderful and fantastic and bring people so much hope! 

Tuesday was good and busy! We had district council and a temple tour right after (my last one) and then went to the Sanchong chapel for DLC (which we ended up completely missing...whoops) and then did a zone music finding activity in Sanchong! It was super fun, Li Jiemei and Jiang Zhanglao and I just switched off singing while everyone else street contacted. It was a lot of fun, I got to do the easy part haha. 

Wednesday, we had a lesson with a friend before English Group, and she led a Book of Mormon discussion! It was good! Afterward I had my last english group with the kids :( they're all so cute but also really crazy haha. Then we had a lesson with Axiang and taught him the last few principles he needs to be baptized! Then I packed :) I'm honestly really sad to be leaving Jinhua and the friends I have met there, but Heavenly Father has a different plan for me now :)

Thursday was transfers! I said goodbye to my baby 黃姐妹 and met up with 姚姐妹，one of my past companions from Danshui! We headed out to Zhudong in Xinzhu! The Miaoli sisters left a phone at our apartment, so they came with us. Also, my luggage wheels are straight trash, and it feels like just dragging 50 pounds, and then when we got here I found out that one of the wheels was missing so I actually was dragging 50 pounds...that's nice haha. 

Friday, we had weekly planning and then went to a member's house for a visit! Afterward we went to a recent convert's house and ate dinner with their family. They are super sweet! Also, the place where they live is super pretty! I want to live there :)

Saturday, we didn't have much going on, so we just bounced around doing a whole bunch of finding activities! We added some lines and met a lady from the Philippines who wants to come to English Group! We also filmed a singing video for me :)

Sunday we had church and it was good to meet a lot of the members! Our ward is really small and probably had only 20 something active members, but Yao Jiemei and I are hoping to put some activities together to help some of our less actives come back and help members feel comfortable inviting their friends! One of our members did invite a friend to church which was a miracle! 

Spiritual thought for the week:

The other day I was thinking about the scriptures Mosiah 24:13-14. I love the comfort that these scriptures give. Something that stuck out to me that hasn't before was the part that says "And it came to pass that the voice of the Lord came to them in their afflictions, saying: Lift up your heads and be of good comfort, for I know of the covenant which ye have made unto me; and I will covenant with my people and deliver them out of bondage.

   14 And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions." 

This part stuck out to me because I believe that everyone who seeks the Lord's comfort, will find it. But we can't just leave it at that. Our responsibility, after receiving His comfort, is to stand as a witness of Him and testify that He does comfort, and that He does love us. Are you standing as a witness to others that the Lord will help His children? Do you know? 

Love you all and wish you the best week!    -江柔安姐妹