General Conference 💪

Haluo everyone! Hope you all had an outstanding week :) mine was good!! 

Last Monday I went on a pretty walk with my comp and there were these random giant hulahoops at the top! I discovered I still have the skills then afterward we had a lesson with our friend 丸子！ Please pray for her, the lessons are fine, and she said she believes us but isn't willing to keep any commitments. 

Tuesday we did some weekly planning from last week and then that night we had a miracle! While we were eating dinner a guy came up and started talking with us and we were able to set him up again! Blessings!! Then we went to a far place and visited some of our friends that we don't really have contact with. So that was fun! 

Wednesday morning, we had mini-MLC and District Council right after, and I gave the training which was pretty good, nothing really worth mentioning happened the rest of the day. 

Thursday we were doing weekly planning and ended up going to do some service for an older less active in the ward. It was fine, but she kept talking about a devil in her home, but my comp and I didn't feel anything wrong, so we just reminded her to pray and gave her some other options! Please pray for her!  That night we were doing more weekly planning and another lady came up and started talking with us and we found out she had met with missionaries in the past! We were able to make her a new friend, miracles! I guess Heavenly Father just doesn't want us to do weekly planning haha. 

Friday we were going to have a long service activity, but they told us last minute that they had enough people, which was a shame cause we kind of rearranged everything around it. But we finally finished our weekly planning! Wang jm and I came up with a fun new finding method, but we only had 10 minutes, and didn't have any success. But on the way to our dinner apt Wang jm added a line while biking! We were there for a reason :) then we had a member meal and went to a ward activity for like 30 seconds and practiced some music for a baptism on Saturday!! 

Saturday morning, we played frisbee with some YSA, and then we went to a baptism for the Elders! I sang at it. Afterward we watched general conference, cause it was this weekend for Taiwan. It was so good! I still haven't had time to watch all of the sessions yet, but it was great :) afterward we did some more service for the LA above, and then that night we met with 丸子 again and taught the last half of the plan of Salvation. We still have far to go with her but she's got this :) 

Sunday we had General Conference yayay!!!! And then we went to our bishop's house for dinner and their family home evening, it was a lot of fun! Brought back memories, it was set up with a song and activity and treat like when I was little:) 

Today we went to Taroko gorge and hiked, and it was so pretty!! I love Taiwan and Heavenly Father's creations.   

Other funny things: 

-I almost accidentally poured alcohol on my dumplings because I thought it was vinegar

-At one of our lessons my companion was talking about church (or so I thought). She said, "We will sing, pray, hear different talks and testimonies...." I added in, "we also partake of the sacrament" and she said, "Oh no Sister Jensen, we're talking about FUNERALS." 

-crepes that we didn't have eggs or milk for, so we used Chia seeds and yogurt. It was an adventure.  

Spiritual thought for the week: This week we had a lesson and taught the plan of Salvation, and our friend asked us how we know the Plan of Salvation is true. It kind of surprised me a little, and I have been thinking about it. How do I know the Plan of Salvation is true? I know because of the Book of Mormon, which I know is true. I know because of little experiences I've had with it throughout my life. I most of all know because I learned it by the Spirit, line upon line, precept upon precept. It makes sense logically and spiritually, in a way that can only be divine. But that's just me. How do you know the plan of Salvation is true??  

Happy Easter!!! 🐰🐣🥚

This week has been so good and flew by but has been so crazy we haven't had time for weekly planning yet haha. Wish us luck. Last Monday was good, we had a plan to go visit some of our friends but then we got a call from the ZL's who were like "Hey are you coming to that dinner in 10 minutes?" And we were like "aahhhh" cause we had forgotten to put it in the area book! But we went and it was fun!! 

Tuesday we had district council and afterward did finding with our district by letting people flip to a random page in the Book of Mormon and highlighting something they liked! We didn't have too much success, but it was fun! Afterward we met with our friend 文娟 for dinner and a lesson which was good :) Wednesday we went to a park for our language study, which was fun, but it was on the hotter side, and I almost fell asleep like 12 times haha. Afterward we did some calling and facebook to invite people to an Easter activity this weekend! Then we met with our friend 小木 and taught her about repentance! Still not quite sure how much she understands it, but our joint teacher was awesome and so it was good! Nobody came to our ECG again, but it gave us some much-needed messaging time because we haven't really had time to message our friends haha. 

Thursday we had exchanges! Funny story, beforehand I had been trying to get the sim card out of my phone with a staple, and the staple broke in my phone...and I couldn't get the sim card out. So, upon realizing this when we started exchanges, Wang JM and I hurried and went to a shop to try to fix it and they couldn't, so we ended up just switching phones. And then the other sisters' wifi had problems too so they also just switched phones, so we all had the wrong phones, and it was an adventure haha. Not to mention it was pouring outside so I got totally soaked haha. It was fun! I was with Sister Boseman, and we had a good time! We were able to call gray dots, go tracting, and I showed her how to do facebook work! 

Friday was good! We were able to do lots of studies and finish out our exchange and everything and that was good! Also, we had a lady give us free food which was super nice! Right after the exchange we had a lesson with a potential, 程DX, and he is so solid! You can tell he really wants this in his life, and we are super pumped to help him continue learning. Afterward we had to go practice a song for stake conference and then we had Ward Council and then we did a bunch of stuff to prepare for our Easter Egg hunt activity. It was a busy busy day. 

Saturday was even crazier than Friday haha, because of the Easter activity. The missionaries were put in charge of it, and I don't know why cause we don't have time or MSF, but it was fun! We spent all morning preparing scriptures to go in the eggs, wrapping copies of the Book of Mormon, preparing a kahoot, and the works. Then we had the activity! Luckily everything went smoothly, thanks to my companion haha. Afterward we spent a long time cleaning up and had like a 15 min. personal study and then we met with our friend 丸子！We were able to teach the Godhead using the Bible and it was good! Saturday was a fun but busy busy day. 

Sunday was also crazy haha but was good! That morning we had church which was shortened because of easter, then we had a music practice thing, then we went home and ate lunch, went back to church for our second ward (Xu jiemei came yay!!!), had a 7 minute personal study and 7 minute comp study, met with a less active, afterward prepared another lesson and met with another less active, and then afterward went to a dinner with some members. Typically not your average Easter but it was fun and good to hear their testimonies! Afterward we came home and updated areabook cause we were so behind and are still nowhere near done haha.  This week honestly flew by, and I have more than 300 unread messages haha! We're just vibin! It has honestly been really fun though! 

Spirtual thought for the week: This week was Easter, the perfect time to ponder what Jesus Christ has given you! What has Jesus Christ given you? What are you willing to give Him back? This week it really hit me that Jesus Christ gives me so much hope. That because of Him, I am not lost. He gives me purpose. So, this Easter, what has He given you? And what can you give back?

 

Sprint to the finish 🏃‍♀️🏁

Hello everyone! Hope you had a great week :) before I get too far into this, just wanted to mention that I will be returning home on April 29 and my homecoming will be on the 30th! If you would like the info, ask my mom because I don't know haha. Also, Taiwan doesn't get General Conference for another 2 weeks so DON'T SPOIL IT!!

Monday was good! We went to a pretty lake and saw lilacs and saw lots of Monkeys! Tuesday was busy, we did some service for a friend we are teaching, then went and did an English service for a lady who wants to teach English, and then later that night we biked the long way to our friend 文娟's house! She had to leave but we taught her quickly and she was able to set a baptismal date!!! YAY 文娟！ Afterward we taught another family, the 戴 family, and they are just the cutest! They have a little 6-year-old who gives the most inspired answers! After that we had to stop at a park on the way home because we had our coordination call, and then we had a DLC call and then we had a sister call. Busy night. 

Wednesday was kind of crazy too, we had a lunch with a less active member who made us cute little leather elephants! Afterward we biked the long hilly way to a friend's house named Wu Xiansheng. We had a pass of lesson with the Elders there. Afterward we were knocking some doors there and had an encounter with a lady who wanted us to call the police for her because of something her son did or something, I did not understand the majority of the conversation haha. But it was a fun experience. Afterward we went back and taught our friend 小木！ It was good! She had read the Book of Mormon and had lots of questions about it. After that we had ECG! We weren't expecting anyone because we hadn't had people come for the last like four weeks in a row, but then a mom and her daughter ended up coming (45 min late haha) which was fun!! That was about it for the day :) 

Thursday we had zone conference! Also, a little rule change, I can actually use messenger to contact friends from home now on P-days. It doesn't really change much for most of you I don't think, but let it be known that if you want to shoot me a message, I can now respond. I was able to sing at zone conference and shared my departing testimony which was sad. Afterward we had left and then we got a call from the Elders asking if we just wanted to do our interviews then. So, we did! President told me to sprint to the finish! So let it be written, so let it be done, or whatever the phrase is, haha. Then we went to dinner with President! After that we did some paper gray dot calling for a bit! That's about it! 

Friday was good! That morning we had a lesson with a family and so they will be new friends as soon as we set up another time!! And they totally got us coffee which was kind of nice of them/awkward haha. Other than that, the day was mostly planning and messaging! Saturday was also pretty much planning, messaging, and organizing things so not much happened worth mentioning! 

Sunday we had like 8 hours’ worth of meetings. That's about it. Sundays in this area absolutely destroy me. Chinese is so dangerously easy to tune out. But on the plus side, we have a new program we want to try to get more referrals so I will let you know how it goes in the coming weeks :) 

Today was good, we went shopping and I bought clothes for after I'm home, and then I cried cause I'm sad, and that's all! Oh, we also had a member visit!

Spiritual thought for the week: This week I feel like I've encountered several people who are just holding anger in their hearts. I find it so sad, because they tell us the things going on in their lives and from the outside perspective of a missionary I can see that the Savior can free them if they allow Him too. These things that happen are not their faults, and I think forgiveness isn't just saying "It's okay" and moving on. Forgiveness doesn't mean ignoring the problem. Forgiveness is depending on the Savior and His perfect judgment. Forgiveness is trusting that Jesus Christ's Atonement is enough to someday replace your lack with substance and your pain with joy. Forgiveness is letting Him carry your pain, because He already has. You don't need to hold that anymore. Recently I learned that the meaning of the word "Hosanna" is "Save Us." How fitting that is. 

 

Overcoming the World

Hey, I'm going to make this quick and start out with a shout out to my sister Jaiden for getting her mission call to MONGOLIA!!! Wild! Congrats Jaiden!! This week was good, most of our friends canceled or didn't show up to their lessons haha, but that's okay. Our ward members are awesome and super willing to help out. 

Wednesday we had MLC which was so good! Lots of focusing on how to be a blessing to those in our zones. They also changed the mission culture for our mission, and we all chose a part for our zone to work on. My zone chose to emphasize the Book of Mormon and Preach My Gospel in our teaching! We were able to set some goals and I'm excited to see the miracles that come. 

Not too much else happened! We had a few lessons, zone council, ward activities, and biked a lot a lot on Saturday. It was a good time! 

Spiritual thought for the week: I was recently studying Pres. Nelson's talk about overcoming the world, and it stuck out to me that by consistently living the Gospel of Jesus Christ and keeping our covenants is the way to overcome the world. I was studying 2 Nephi 31 about the doctrine of Christ and how it allows us to change into the people Heavenly Father knows we can become, day by day. How does repeatedly and consistently living Christ's Doctrine of Faith, Repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end allow YOU to overcome the world? 

 

It Came Upon a Midnight Clear

Rick arranged this Christmas Hymn for Janelle and sent it to her when she was in the MTC, December 2021. However, she couldn't find someone to play it and was never able to perform it. Fast forward to March 2023 -- nearing the end of her mission in Taiwan. This video showed up in my Google Photos. I started crying! It is so beautiful! What a gift! Hope you enjoy! 

It's Hualian's Time

So I had a full email written out and then it erased.... I really don't want to write another one.... so I'll just do a really brief version haha.

Last Monday we filmed a video for our mission Facebook page! Tuesday we ate really expensive Kao Rou with our district and then we also ate dinner with some members! Wednesday we had lunch at the bishop's house and ECG that night! Thursday we had transfers, and our awesome member was willing to drive us to Taipei! It was fun to see everyone, and then Wang Jiemei and I headed out to Hualian!

That night we had a lesson which was good! Friday we had a good lesson and found really old PAPER area book records for gray dots! So, we did paper record gray dot calling and it was really fun! Saturday we did lots of planning and stuff and had some miracles and did some tracting! Sunday was busy, we had 7 hours straight of meetings and then ate lunch at 5 pm then we had an FHE activity! 

I have loved Hualian so far; it is a busy area and has more friends than I have ever had on my mission! Weekly planning took 2 days haha. We have also had so many miracles and have had random people come up to us and recognize that we are missionaries, and we have been able to get their contact info! My companion is awesome, and I'm really happy to spend my last transfer here! 

Things I ate: Jellyfish, chicken feet, pig kidneys.

Hope you all had a great week, email me back please ;)

Spiritual thought for the week: THE BOOK OF MORMON IS JUST GREAT. In Preach My Gospel it says that your ability to teach with power from the scriptures comes from the time you personally spend studying them. If we want our friends to understand the power and direction that comes from the word of God, we must have experienced it in our own lives! I love that in Lehi's vision the Iron Rod (the word of God) leads to the tree of life. The Book of Mormon provides the map that we can hold fast to, in times of darkness and light, and trust that we will reach our destination. And our responsibility as missionaries and as people is to help others find the Iron Rod in the first place! The Book of Mormon, along with the Spirit, are the most powerful resources in conversion. This is because it allows us to know "to what source [we] may look for a remission of [our] sins" (2 Nephi 25:26). Are you sharing the gospel and using the Book of Mormon in a way that allows your friends to find the iron rod that will lead them to the tree of life? The word of God is quick and powerful. It will bring about a mighty change of heart to those you teach, AS YOU USE IT.