Taiwan Week 18 - Christmas Without Snow

Hello all of you wonderful people!

I hope you had a beautiful white Decembery week! I keep forgetting it's December here because there is no whiteness to be had, but it has become a lot colder though! This week was full of exciting things, miracles, tender mercies, growth spurts, all of the above :)

This week was Sister Exchanges so I got to go to Xi Tai Nan with Sister Liu and I loved it! She is an adorable girl from Taibei who joined the church less than two years ago! She is a stellar missionary and I learned so much from her :) She has a great attitude about missionary work, is so humble, and really gives it her all. O best part.....we ate dinner at.....COSTCO! Yes, I had a delicious Costco hot dog in Taiwan- it was mmmmhhhhmmm good :D

I got to go on another Sister Exchange on Saturday with Sister Walbrecht as President Bishop approved a little mini "Dong Qu" Sister Exchange for us 4 sisters. We had a blast together! She is just full of love and we saw many miracles with less actives and investigators. The miracle story this week comes from her......we had gone to visit a member on Saturday morning and I remembered there was a less-active who lived right down the street who we had not visited for awhile. She is from Brazil and is married to a Taiwanese man. We decided to just stop for a few minutes and see if she was home,which she was! She was on her way out, but said we could come in for a few minutes. We sat down and started talking to her and then Sister Walbrecht, being the spirit led missionary she is, asked her if she would come to church this Sunday and help guan xi our investigators. I had never seen this less active sister at church and when I had previously visited her, she still said she wasn't ready to come to church. So I wasn't really expecting her to say anything.....BUT she said yes!! And then she came to church the next day!! The ward was elated to see her and everyone was coming up to her. She said she felt a lot of love and feels like yue lai yue she will be able to become fully active. It was a huge, wonderful, happy miracle :D Helping less-actives is such a beautiful part of missionary work! It always reminds me how much the Lord and Heavenly Father loves His children.....He never, ever, ever forgets them :D O! and remember LJQ? She was a less active we had been working with in the 1st ward before it was split and the other sisters told me she is now officially active! So happy!

Investigators are all just dandy :) Through her daily prayer and scripture study, ZJM's faith is growing more and more. We have an adorable young mom, CJM, who is a sister of a husband of a family in the ward. We have been meeting with her every Sunday and she is recognizing from her brother and sister-in-law's testimony, what a blessing this Gospel is to families. It's an absolute treasure to meet with an investigator and have their family members also help us to teach and bear testimony. I'm always way more nervous for lessons with members' family members, but the Spirit is always there to guide and teach :)

So you've been asking about a typical proselyting day.....well here's how it goes!

Wake up at 6:30....roll out of bed and do some exercising and then get ready for the day
8:00-10:30....Studies! Personal, companion, and language study
10:30....depart for the day! We usually have a lesson at 11 or we will go finding (tracting, contacting, etc.)
12ish- eat lunch and do some more language study!
1ish- lesson time, finding, etc. In Taiwan, a huge mode of finding is through contacting at intersections which I have really come to love! You just pull up to people, meet them really fast, share a 5 second message and try to get them to pull over...it's great :) We also do quite a bit of tracting too....I prefer night time tracting, but this week we are going to try some caroling tracting for Christmas!
5:00- eat dinner :) and then we just have lessons, visiting people, finding, or meetings until 9 and then we plan for the next day, finish calling some people, etc. and get ready for bed.......and that would conclude my 1 minute tour of a missionary's day :)

I am so grateful to be a missionary at Christmas time- it is the best thing ever :) I absolutely love singing Christmas songs in lessons right before we teach about the Gospel- it doesn't get much better than that. I'm so grateful for this Christmas season to focus on the birth of our Savior and let the entire world know that He lives and loves us. Maybe there's no snow here, but His Spirit is. I pray that we, both members and missionaries, will be able to find people in these coming weeks who are in need and searching for their Savior's love and atoning power. Have a wonderful CHRISTmas filled week :)

Love you all so much and am so grateful for all of your love and letters!

Sister J. :)

Taiwan Week 17 - Trust in the Lord With All Thine Heart

See pictures below! We think "shi yi feng xian" is a reference to tithing.

Wu an!!!

Hello my dearest wonderful family and friends!! I hope you all had a very happy and energized week :) Just realized this week is my 5 month mark---crazy! The weather is changing here and I LOVE it! It's just barely chill, but everyone wears big coats and parkas....but it's nothing compared to a Utah cold so I'm just in my little sweater confusing all of the people I pass on my bike :)

Funny story: We were visiting one of Sister Liang's old members and her brother made his son speak to me in English for 10 minutes before he could play his computer games....poor kid :)

What a wonderful week of blessings! We had some great lessons and also had some great tracting experiences this week!

First off - Dear Sweet ZJM..........This was quite the week with ZJM. She gave up tea on Tuesday and we were elated by her faith! We taught Shi yi feng xian on Thursday with a great pei-ke (member) couple and ZJM had some questions, but it all seemed fine. When we came back Friday, she seemed a little different. She said she felt like there were too many commandments and had been drinking tea that day :( My heart broke.....we found out she had a lot of concerns with shi yi feng xian. As we were talking to her, we reemphasized the Plan of Salvation and other parts of the Gospel to help her understand the importance of commandments. It didn't really seem to be helping her.....we finally asked her how she felt about her relationship with Heavenly Father and she said she still didn't even really know if He was there or if He listened to her prayers. Aha....that was the key :) We realized we needed to focus on her relationship with Heavenly Father, through daily prayer and scriptures, and set everything else aside for a little bit because this was the most important thing. This was one of those "how to be a better missionary moments" ;) Everything just seemed to be good with her, so we kept teaching her the commandments and knew her faith would be fine. The problem was that she had a little foundation of her trust in God, but it wasn't very strong. If an investigator understands their relationship with God, prays with an earnest heart to Him, and reads the scriptures to grow closer to Him....than they will be fine to live the commandments and progress quickly to making a baptismal covenant.

There is an awesome triangle depiction I learned in the MTC: Heavenly Father at the top connected to the missionaries in the left corner, who are then connected to the investigator/less active in the right corner, who is then connected to Heavenly Father. All of the relationship lines are important, but if the investigators line with Heavenly Father is not the darkest and strongest, true conversion won't take place. Now how do we strengthen our relationship with Heavenly Father???? PRAYER, SCRIPTURE STUDY, CHURCH :D Isn't that amazing? The three simplest parts of the Gospel: daily prayer and scripture study and attending church are all it takes to come to know our true relationship with Heavenly Father and our Savior. I feel that Heavenly Father was really helping me to understand this principle this week......if our foundation is not strong, it won't hold our for long......our relationship with our loving Heavenly Father and Savior need to be the strongest part of our faith! So this is what Zhen JM is seeking to do right now and am so grateful for her humble attitude and pure desire to receive an answer from Heavenly Father. I know that I have to continually build upon this foundation every day, so when the rains come (and they do!) I can stand strong through Faith in my Savior :)

We have two other great investigators right now, both moms :)....one who has a Christian background, who is so humble and willing to read and pray - she is earnestly seeking to feel Heavenly Father's love. We have another whose family is Buddhist, but she has always been interested in Jesus Christ and His Gospel. She is also so humble and sweet, and I feel that Heavenly Father is really preparing her to accept this beautiful Gospel :) O we also have an adorable 72 year old a ma and her 12 year old grand-daughter who we are also teaching.....they have had a hard life, and we know this Gospel can bring them much needed love and joy :) We had two Less Actives who came to church on Sunday, who both have not been for a long while :) That is one of my favorite things - to see a less active return to church and partake of the Sacrament :)

I'm learning a lot from LJM :) She has amazing empathy and love when she teaches - you can't help but want the joy of the Gospel when she teaches about it.

Well I love you all so much! I know that this Gospel saves lives....reiterating my favorite scripture (it means way more now then it ever has :) ) "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding, in all they ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct they paths." Our Savior loves each one of you so very much and knows us all so personally.....I'm grateful for this time to share with these people that they have a Savior who loves them!

Love you!!

Sister J.

The Sister Missionaries of Tainan!

Sis. Jarvis & Sis. Liang

Taiwan Week 16 - Getting to Know Sister Liang and Forgetting English!

Sis. Jarvis is starting to mix in more and more Chinese and we are not sure we can translate.  She's off to a great start with a new companion.

Update--We received some translations from a former missionary for some of Sister Jarvis' Chinese words:

Cha = tea 

Zhi hui yu = Word of Wisdom

Bei zi = cup

Wen ti = problem

Fu yin yuanze ban = Sunday School

Jia pu = genealogy

Bai-bai = worship of Buddhist gods

Hello, Yellow, Cello, Ni hao!

Happy end of November/first week of December!!  I hope you all had a fantastically scrumptious Thanksgiving!  We had some delicious shui jiao (dumplings) for our Thanksgiving feast :D Christmas time is coming!!  I keep walking into different stores and hearing English Christmas music and I'm so confused where I am :P  They love Christmas here!  & what a perfect time to share the Gospel with everyone on the streets!

New week, new tong ban, new experiences :)  Sister Liang is so great - she is a hoot!  She is a beautiful, spunky, Taiwan sister who has more clothes than I have ever seen! haha  She is an incredible teacher- she explains everything SO clearly and helps our investigators and others feel no pressure, but helps them to see the excitedness and happiness of the Gospel.  I have learned so much this week about teaching the Gospel to Taiwan ren(people) and the culture.  She has quite the story........her family is all members and she was baptized when she was 8, but was inactive until she was 20.  Her friends helped her come back to church and she read the B of M for the first time.  10 months later after coming back she decided to go on a mission!  She connects really well with less actives and investigators who are struggling to know if it's true.   I have already seen such an impact she has had on our investigators and know she is suppossed to be in Dong Qu :)

This was commandment week for ZJM.  We visited her every day and taught her the commandments.  She thinks they are all so great, except for the cha part of zhi hui yu :)  She and her husband drink a lot of tea so she just didn't know how she could overcome this.  She received a blessing on Friday from the Elders and helped her make a plan to go down one bei zi of tea each day.  I know this will be hard for her, but I have faith she can do it.  I know that if she will pray every day and continue reading the Book of Mormon every day, she will be able to overcome this wen ti through the power of God.  She is a very, very special person.  She has had kidney failure for about 10 years so she is very frail and skinny, but has the biggest smile in the world :)  The first Sunday ZJM came to church, the Fu yin yuanze ban was on temples and family history work.  She kept asking us all about jia pu after and how she could start doing it.....it seemed that it was answering her bai-bai concerns.  She met with the sister who helps the ward do jia pu last week and she showed her how to get started.  She asks all of our pei kes about jia pu and how she can go to the temple to do it - it's so great :)  Sister Liang brought up a beautiful thought yesterday......she said she was talking to ZJM about baptism and ZJM told her she feels like she needs to get baptized so she can help her ancestors also be baptized!!  I think this is very, very true for her.  ZJM definitely doesn't understand every aspect of the Gospel, but she knows the importance of baptism and that she needs to do this for her family :)  She brings her kids to church every week because she wants them to get baptized too!  It's so beautiful......I know that Heavenly Father loves this dear, adorable lady so so much and her purpose for being baptized may be for greater eternal purposes.

I forgot to tell you!  Last week was Mission Tour and Elder Wilson of the Seventy and his wife came to talk to us....it was SO good!!  They talked about how to use the scriptures well in lessons, how to look for all of the diamonds in Preach My Gospel, and just how to be better missionaries and not be so hard on ourselves :)  I'm so grateful for inspired leaders and to have them so close to us too.  Something Sister Wilson talked to the Sisters about was that we aren't perfect, no one is!  She talked about earthen vessels in the scriptures.......they all have cracks, but when you let the light shine through them they are beautiful.  We are all earthen vessels molded out of God's clay.  We all have cracks (especially me!), but when the the light of Christ shines through us, that's when the beauty happens.  The best thing I have learned is that missionaries aren't perfect!  I make mistakes every single day, but the only way I can do this work is by relying on the Spirit and letting the light of Christ shine through my cracks so that others can be edified by the Spirit and recognize us as servants of our Heavenly Father.  It is something I have to keep reminding myself over and over again, but I know it is true.  This is why we have the Atonement, this is why we have the scriptures, why we have prayer, why we take the Sacrament, why we have Temples.........so we can continually fill up our cracked vessels with light :)  I'm so grateful for a perfect Heavenly Father and Savior who know how to help me improve and overcome my own weaknesses!

Funny catch-ups:  I am now officially known as the "Ba bi wa wa" missionary to many....yes that means Barbie.....I apparently have too many bright colored shirts that I wear with my blonde hair :) haha.  Another funny story........I was talking to WJM at church yesterday and she was asking who my new companion was.  I wasn't quite understanding what she was saying, and kept trying to answer her question and she was just confused and then I was confused....and then she was like "Jin jie mei (Sister Jarvis) keep working on your Chinese and I'll keep working on my English!:"  Ok it's not that funny, but if was quite hilairous with my new RC telling me to work on my Chinese - she's hilarious :)

Love you all!  I pray for you always!!  I'm so grateful for you faithful examples and hope you have an amazing week!

Love Sister J. :D

Taiwan Week 15 - A Wonderful Baptism and a New Companion

WJM's baptism was clearly a great experience for Sis. Jarvis and Sis. Gibson.  See pictures below!

Hello Hello Hello!!!

Woweeeee!!! What a week! I hope you all had a wonderful pre-Thanksgiving week and got your bellies nice and ready for next week ;) Get ready for news and more news :)

First off- WJM was baptized and confirmed!!!!! :D Everything went so so well.............there was a wedding saturday night so her baptism was in the morning. It was raining, which it hasn't done in awhile, so we were worried about the turn out but there was still a great amount of people (who all really love WJM) there - WJM said that the rain was cleaning the earth just like her baptism was doing for her :) The speakers were great, it was a very love-filled atmosphere. The most powerful moment of all was when WJM bore her testimony after she was baptized. She had it all written out and talked about the three different changes she has experienced. The first being her ability to rely upon the Lord and her Heavenly Father. She has a burning testimony that They live and knows she can turn to them for anything. Another change is her smoking change. She had smoked for 20 years, since she was 11, and she testified that through God's power she was able to overcome. When she started to stop smoking a few weeks ago, the cigarettes suddenly had no taste or flavor and she had no desire to keep smoking. Her final change was her overall life change from where she began to where she is now. She has such a strong testimony of the Atonement, especially for a new member. She has repented harder and more earnestly then I have ever seen anyone do before, and because of that, she has felt the immense love and forgiveness of her Heavenly Father. She truly understands that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is the only way to return to our heavenly abode. She testified that she knows this is the only true church upon the earth and that we have a living Heavenly Father and Savior who love us. She talked about how she doesn't want to focus on where she will go after this life, but focus on this life right now and do all she can to be worthy and a righteous follower of Christ. Many people said that this was the most powerful and thorough testimony they have ever heard a new member bear at their baptism. She truly is a prepared soul as she has given everything to covenant with her Heavenly Father and receive the saving ordinances of the gospel. She definitely still has things she is working on, but she has such a strong, trusting foundation built upon her Savior.....and that is most important :) She also has such great relations with the ward, especially the Relief Society sisters and they just love her :) I feel so grateful to my Heavenly Father for allowing me to have this experience of seeing the saving and changing power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I truly know that this gospel can change anyone and the Atonement literally covers ALL sin, pains, and burdens. I am so proud of and happy for Wang JM - she truly has become a new creature through Christ and has an incredible life ahead of her :D

ZJM is doing great and is now saying that she believes she will get baptized :D yay!

Crazy thing 2.......Once upon a time I was parking my bicycle next to a motorcycle, and as I got off my bike, I let out a YELP as I burned my leg on the hot engine of the motorcycle. Motorcyle engines usually have a cover, but geng hao, this one didn't :P It was just a little burn so I wasn't worried, but then the pain came - just a little stinging........Sister Gibson was all worried about it so she called Sister Bishop who told us to go to the hospital and get it checked. So we got to experience a Taiwan hospital again! This time it was a lot better though ;D Taiwan hospitals are actually super cool, everyone is in cute matching clothes :).........anyways the nice doctor gave me 3 different cream medicines to put on it and Sister Gibson played doctor for me. The miracle thing is that it never has hurt again after I left the hospital so I just need to take care of it and all is well!

Crazy thing 3.......well there are these things called mini move calls which means that there is a move call/transfer in the middle of a normal move call. This is in case someone is going home early or they just need to change a few people. We went out to eat with WJM after her xili hui and while we were eating, President Bishop called us and told us that Sister Gibson would be moving on Monday to Gaoxiong!! What!!! I may or may not have burst into tears haha.......out of not knowing what to think! I couldn't believe it! We had just been saying how we had been there for WJM's xili hui..........so after we let it settle in a little we realized it was going to be ok. It was definitely super hard to accept the fact, but then it just seemed right. Sister Gibson only has 1 month left in her mission and moved (which is super crazy!) so there must be someone in Gaoxiong who needs her :) My new companion is Sister Liang! She is a beautiful Taiwanese sister and is Sister Walbrecht's old companion. She seems really great :) My Chinese skills will hopefully improve with my first native companion! It's still a lot of change for me, but I know this is what Heavenly Father wants and I will completely rely upon my Savior as Sister Liang and I begin in this amazing work together :) It was hard to let Sister Gibson go- she is an incredible missionary, but I am so grateful we could see WJM get baptized together :)

So that's about all of the exciting news for this week! In honor of Thanksgiving, I'm so grateful for this opportunity to serve a mission in Taiwan. I'm so grateful for the miracles we see every day and how much Heavenly Father loves all of His children. I'm grateful for the eternal plan of our Heavenly Father which allows us to have the help of the Atonement every day and prepares us for greater eternal joy than we can comphrehend. I'm grateful for an amazing family and friends who have supported me my entire life and have been such strong examples to me. I'm grateful for the scriptures and living prophets. I'm grateful for happiness and laughter and music that brings the Spirit :) I'm grateful to know I have a Savior and loving Heavenly Father who are always near. I love this work and I love all of you!!

Love,

Sister J :)

Sis. Jarvis, Sis. Gibson and the Tainan Relief Society

WJM's Baptism

Taiwan Week 14 - A Baptism Scheduled....and Pictures!

Great news from Sis. Jarvis this week and evidence of B-day Celebration!  Also, she jokes about her visit to a hospital - Sis. Jarvis has never done well in a hospital!

Heellllloooooo! Ni men hao!!

I hope everyone had a great week! with lots of snow! ;)

Well the big news.....dada da daa! WJM will be getting baptized this Saturday! Yipeeee!!! She met with President Bishop and then we went and ate lunch all together (President and Sister Bishop, Sister Gibson and me, and WJM) and she was just so happy and started talking about how she wanted to serve a mission to Japan. :) Anyways, I love her so much and am so excited for this incredible change in her life. It is still not going to be easy for her, but her life is going to be so much better. Her baptismal covenant will bring her closer to Heavenly Father and through the Gift of the Holy Ghost she will feel more inspiration and light in her life. She loves her Savior, trusts in Him, and wants to follow Him so that is all she needs to keep her on the right path :) Pray for her this week!

The S family didn't come to church this week, but we visited them last week and the dad is doing sooo great! The problem is that the mom is not as into meeting with us - so we are working on that :)

ZJM, the wife of the T family, is doing so well! She is praying and reading every day, little by little, but progressing. :) She truly is a miracle - we taught their family for soooo long with no one really progressing, but Heavenly Father could see the bigger picture and knew her heart was changing! We just love teaching her because she lights up as she asks questions and learns about the gospel and how eternal it is. She has a strong interest in Jia pu which I think will help her to overcome her concerns with not being able to do the traditional worship of ancestors in Taiwan. She always asks if Heavenly Father really loves her, and we always say, "Yes, of course!" and she just smiles. :)

We met a few less-actives this week who we had not met before. One was a young family who has not been to church in years. The mom is from China and married a Taiwan man and they have three adorable kids.....we are praying we will be able to help them remember why this Gospel is so important for their family. We also met another adorable sister who we met at her work (which was an exercise/dance center - big temptation for me! haha) who was baptized years ago with her husband and still just loves the Book of Mormon and meeting with the missionaries. She left the church because her parents opposed and now they go to church at another Christian church. It just breaks my heart - there are so many less active families in our ward......so many families that could be sealed in the temple for time and all eternity, but have this or that that prevents them from coming to church. I just want to help them all, but know that we all have agency - which is sometimes the greatest and hardest thing! I know that if their hearts are in the right place, that can overcome any trials preventing them from coming to church because they have the Lord on their side - so that's what we have to help them see!

A few funny updates........
- Last Saturday our stake had a blood drive at the big college near-by. They asked the missionaries to do a puppet show about smoking.....yes it's true. We kind of had to put it together last minute, so we had the tallest elders hold a sheet and the rest of us had our cute little smoking puppets. It was definitely an experience!
- We went to visit a member's friend at the hospital on Tuesday.....we went to the hospital about a month ago and it was totally fine! Well this time we had to bike a little ways in the heat and then somehow we ended up in the emergency room which I wasn't quite ready for....but we finally found the lady in her room and started talking to her. Well I started to get a little dizzy so I sat down on the chair. Then the person next to her started throwing up.....so I moved to sitting on the floor. Then we started to sing a hymn for her and moved to a laying down position as we sang. O dear.....although I'm a missionary, I am definitely still me! So I testified that Heavenly Father loved her from laying on the floor - I'm sure she won't forget that experience :)

Tomorrow is our Mission Tour and Elder Larry Wilson of the Seventy will be speaking to us. Our apartment is performing the musical number...."O Savior Thou Who Wearest a Crown" Hymn #197...it's a beautiful and sacred hymn.

We encounter so many different Christian churches here on a daily basis and I've never thought so much about what makes us different. Well the Great Apostasy is obviously a huge part with the Restoration. But it is truly the restoration of the priesthood and the Plan of Salvation that separates us from other Christian churches. They can all testify of Christ, but they don't have the power to seal families for eternity. The PLAN can sometimes be harder to teach, but it is definitely on of my favorites to teach. When people here that this life is not the end and that they can be with their families forever, ahhh! they just have this look of wowness! I am so grateful for the Plan of Salvation. I know that it is truly a divine plan of Heavenly Father to help us all return to Him and to one day be like Him. This life is merely but a spec of dust on our Eternal timeline, but what a chance we have to prepare now to return home to Him (Alma 34:32).  I'm grateful for the willingness of our Savior Jesus Christ to give us a way to come to earth, have His help, and overcome both spiritual and physical death so that we can become Eternal beings. I'm so grateful for my Eternal relationships, both in Heaven and on Earth, and am so kai xin (happy!) to let these sweet Taiwan people also know they can have them as well. I LOVE the Plan of Happiness :)

I love you all so very very much!! When times are hard, just think of the Plan of Happiness because it truly will make you happy :)

Love you!

Sister J.

Sis. Jarvis and her B-Day cake from the security guard at their apartment building.

He loves the Sisters!

Birthday dinner - Ice covered in delicious stuff!

The English Class Halloween Party - the Sisters went as twins!

Pumpkin Pie baked by a member for Sis. Jarvis's B-day!

Taiwan Week 13 - Still in Tainan and Thrilled!

Although Sis. Jarvis thought she might be on the move, she will stay with Sis. Gibson in Tainan until Sis. Gibson goes home - awesome!

Hello all of you wonderful people!!!

So move call..... dada da.....I'm in..............TAINAN! I am so excited!! I get to stay here in Dong Qu with Sister Gibson for another 6 weeks! This is also Sister Gibson's last move call so it is going to be sooo goood! Our entire apartment is all still here so we are all very happy and grateful :) Heavenly Father still has work for us to do here :)

This week was amazing!!!! We had so many incredible miracles and changes this week.......I don't even know where to begin!

First off, WJM :) She has still been doing so great, but smoking was the last thing she still needed to stop before baptism. Well we met with her Tuesday night and we were talking about how having more love and charity towards people. She also had her first testimony bearing experience with the other Sisters' investigator who was struggling to stop smoking. WJM bore her testimony that with help from God she could do it as she personally had come from smoking two boxes a day to only smoking 5 cigarettes a day. She loved bearing her testimony about it and we loved watching her do it.....I realized in that moment what a different person she is from when we first met her and what a beautiful daughter of God she has become. Anyways.....after ending our lesson with her she asked about us being here the end of November to see her get baptized. For a long time she has always talked about us being at her baptism and we hadn't ever told her we may move before the end of the month. We told her we didn't know if we would be as it was possible we were moving next week. All of a sudden she stopped, looked at us, and said, "If I stop smoking tomorrow, can you get everything ready for a baptism next week?" Well her faith sky-rocketed in that moment....we told her we weren't sure because she would have to completely stop smoking a week before her interview but we could see. She told us not to worry, she wanted us there at her baptism so she was going to stop smoking right then and there! We called President Bishop when we got home and he told us that it would probably have to be Nov. 17th at the earliest for her.......WJM was really upset when we told her there was still a chance we may not be there.  She even said she didn't know if she could get baptized then if we weren't here. Well that worried us a little.....we wanted her to get baptized because she wanted to follow her Savior, not because of us. But when we prayed about her getting baptized then, we felt so at peace about it so we trusted that everything would be ok.

 
When we met with WJM again on Friday, she still hadn't smoked! She seemed really happy and had told us that she had already fasted that we would be able to be there at her baptism. As we were ending her lesson, she told us that she had realized that her desire for us to be at her baptism was selfish and that it was possible that the Lord needed us in other areas to help other people. She told us she had prayed and that although she would love for us to be there, she would get baptized on the 17th no matter what........we most definitely had a little freak out after she told us! We were so happy!!! This is exactly what we had been hoping for and this was why we felt so much peace as we prayed about it - Heavenly Father knew her faith was strong and that she was ready. So long story short.....President Bishop is meeting with her this Friday and if all goes well (which it definitely should :) ), she will be getting baptized next week! I can't fully explain everything she has changed and gone through to come to this point other than by saying that she has had to overcome problems with every baptismal interview question......so that's a lot of changes. Through her experience, I have learned even deeper that the Atonement can cover any pain and any sin. She loves her Savior and Heavenly Father and they love her. She is beginning her journey as a faithful, beautiful, daughter of God.  :)

Miracle: We met a family on the road last Monday night as we were heading home. They set up to meet with us and we were so excited. When we called to que ding, the Dad told us his wife couldn't come anymore so it would just be him. We told him we wouldn't be able to meet with him if it was just him and asked him to ask his wife again. Twenty minutes later the entire family (husband, wife, and their two little boys) were at the church! The wife had a little bit of a Christian experience, but the dad hadn't ever had any religious background so she had to keep retranslating things to him that we had said. SDX began to understand the power of this message though and especially liked what he read from the B of M about praying in our families. We invited them to church the next day, but they said they weren't sure if they could come. We were sitting in Sacrament meeting and about 20 minutes in SDX walked in with both of his sons! He really liked Sacrament meeting and listened intently to all of the testimonies. I have so much faith for him and his family. They have a very close family relationship and I know S DX is coming to realize what a blessing this could be for his family. I feel that Heavenly Father has prepared him and I am so excited and pray that they will all be able to have the blessing of this Gospel in their family.

So there were so many wonderful things this week........I'm so grateful for miracles and for how much closer they bring us to heaven. He is in every part of this week and I could not do it without the help of my loving Heavenly Father and Savior. I pray that you will all be able to feel their love this week in your life and remember that they are always at your side to lift and guide you on this beautiful path of life.

THANK YOU THANK YOU for the numerous birthday letters!!! There was so much love in them and I am so grateful for such amazing family members and friends in my life! Love you all!

Sister J.

Taiwan Week 12 - The Days as a Trainee Are Coming to an End

Sis. Jarvis is anticipating a change in location or companionship...we'll see next week.

Hello all of you wonderful ren (people)!!

All is well here in the joyful land of Dong Qu! We witnessed some wonderful miracles this week, a few dissapointments, but then some even greater blessings!

Investigators: Dearest WJM is still progressing :) On Tuesday she shared 2 Nephi 4 with us and how she knows she must trust in God. She is committing to keep the commandments, no matter how hard they may be for her. She has come so far. It absolutely amazes me. She is such a different person now then when we first met her. I can't wait for her to get baptized! I don't know when it is, but I know Heavenly Father does :)

We had two of our college investigators drop us this week which was sad :( but the seed has been planted......... I met a girl on the road on Tuesday and we met with both her and her mom on Friday :)

Remember the T family? We have been teaching them for a couple months now.....we have invited them to church over and over again but have never wanted to come. THEN last week out of the blue the wife asked us if she could bring her son to come look at the church......we said SURE! They came the next day and we had a really nice lesson about the Sacrament in the chapel. Then even better, they came Sunday morning to church! It was so wonderful to see them there and they both really liked it :) We had wondered if we should stop visiting them for awhile because they weren't really progressing, but felt impressed that we shouldn't........and Sunday was evidence of that answer :) Heavenly Father knows each of his children so well and knows the right timing and place to bring them into His fold.

Sister exchanges were this week and Sister Liston came to Dong qu so that meant I had to take the reins for a day........she is so loving and sweet to everyone she meets. We had a great time teaching and chuaning the jiao together :)

Well the big news this week is that this is my LAST WEEK training! whoah. so crazy.
I turned to Sister Gibson, "are you sure you've taught me EVERYTHING??" She laughed. She told me I was completely fine...........she has so much trust in me and in my abilities as a missionary. This trust has allowed me to progress faster and helped me to feel a lot more confident in myself. I still have much to learn, but that is a ok because I'm not alone :)
It also means that we will be finding out on Saturday if either of us are moving for the next transfer next week....exciting times! At first I was super worried about leaving and was being persistent that I would just like to stay in Tainan.............but as the time is closer I have come to feel the Spirit reminding me that it doesn't matter where I am, just that I am serving the Lord. As much as I love Tainan with all my heart, I am overjoyed to go wherever the Lord needs me next move call.........whether that be here or somewhere else. I'm so grateful for these past few months with Sister Gibson.......I owe so much to her. She didn't hold back on me at all and never treated me like a trainee, but pushed me to practice, participate in every aspect of missionary work, and entrusted me with a lot of tasks. I love her so much and know that Heavenly Father placed me here in Tainan with her so that I could have the beginning foundation that I needed. I have learned so much from these people- they have such a big heart, investigators and members alike. I don't know where I will be next Monday, but I know it is exactly where I am suppossed to be, where my Savior wants me to be.  :)

I just want to thank all of you for the numerous letters and packages I have recieved.........THANK YOU!!! Every letter I receive brings so much joy to my heart and means the world to me! (I have never been such a mailbox hover bee until I was a missionary- we love mail sooo much :D) I'm sorry I'm slow at writing back, but thank you thank you for writing! I am so grateful for the amount of support I have behind me and know that I cannot take it for granted......each one of you have made such a huge impact in my life :)

I have been reading about the Gift of the Holy Ghost this week. In the Bible Dictionary it talks about how the power of the Holy Ghost can be felt before you are baptized, but you can't receive the full gift until you are baptized. In Our Search for Happiness, Elder Ballard related the gift to a firehouse. Everyone has acces to it, but the person living closest to the firehouse (the person with the gift of the Holy Ghost) is safest because they are closest. The Holy Ghost is real and is truly the greatest gift we can receive. I know that Heavenly Father loves each of you so much and that the Holy Ghost is always on duty to guide and protect us all.

Love you!!

Sister J.

Sis. Jarvis and Sis. Gibson

Sis. Jarvis and her fellow missionaries

Taiwan Week 11 - Little Miracles and Zone Conference

Sis. Jarvis references meeting Sis. Watterson, who is a good friend of a family in our Brookhaven Ward.

Yellow, Cello, Hello, Ni hao!

Can you believe it is October 22nd because I can't!  I'm not ready to be 22! haha...I'm crying and laughing all at the same time haha.... Sometimes I take a step back and I'm like, "Whoah.....I'm almost 22 and on my mission....what??"   My young days are leaving me.... ;D

So this week was my first Zone Conference! yay!  It was so great and so uplifting!!  You feel so much better about yourself and about your mission when you get together with all these missionaries who are experiencing the exact same things as you.....a little reminder that you're not alone :)  I FINALLY met Sister Watterson....she's awesome!  So you can tell Charla I finally delivered the letter :)  She is super cute and full of life....we've just been waiting to meet each other for so long lol.  We have two new sets of couple missionaries....one is proselyting and the other are family history missionaries.  They gave a really great lesson on Family History and Missionary Work.  They talked about how our purpose is to help people be baptized, but that's only the beginning.  The final goal is the temple.....it's those Eternal covenants and sealing power & that's why Family History is so important!  I tell you....I'm going to come home and do my family history!  President Bishop talked a lot about the importance of working with members.......my mission has greatly changed my perspective of my responsibility as a ward member - I want to be a better one of those too!

Funny story:  Well so at Zone Conference you get a big, large in stature Costco bag of proselyting supplies.  Sister Gibson and I had to carry it back the train station and then on to the train...it was quite heavy so being the geniuses that we are I carried one strap on my shoulder and she carried the other strap on her shoulder and we walked the whole way back.  Remember I'm significantly taller than Sister Gibson so it was quite hilarious....we also had to run to catch our train while carrying the bag, while Sister Gibson was on the phone....I hope we entertained some Taiwan people :)

O! So we have this new investigator who is awesome!  She is a young mom who has been looking for a church to go to and happened to call the church one day!  She already has a lot of faith in Christ and prayer, so she had a lot of great questions when we met with her and was so willing to read the BofM.....they just moved back from America, from Maryland about 10 minutes out of Gaithersburg- small world!

WJM- cleared up some concerns for this week and had a wonderful ward sister at the lesson who was able to share a lot of her own testimony of trusting in God.  She still has a great desire to continue to progress and follow Christ and is learning that we don't obey commandments for convenience or because it will help our life, but because we love Heavenly Father and want to obey Him. 

Miracle story!  About 3 months ago, our Elders Quorum president gave us the name of a LA sister he wanted us to find.  We have gone to her house many times over the last couple months, but she has never been home.  We were near her house yesterday and we figured we might as well go see if she was home.  We weren't really expecting her to be, but lo and behold she answered the door!  She was busy cleaning so she set up to meet with us at the church at 6:30 and said she would call us if she couldn't come.  6:30 came and we went to the church really hoping she would come.....and she did!  She told us that when she had gone to call us to cancel she couldn't find her phone anywhere......she kept looking and looking but couldn't find it!  She also told us that she had told herself that she wasn't ready to go back to church until the missionaries came a third time looking for her......well the third time was us!  She herself said that this was Heavenly Father's way of helping her come back to church and it was time.  She hasn't been to church in 7 years and we are so excited and happy for her! I keep thinking of the picture of Christ carrying the lost lamb....His arms are open for her. She wants to pray, she wants to read, and she wants to meet with us....a complete miracle :)

Sister Walbrecht talked about hope at Zone Conference and she had a great definition:  "Faith is believing in true principles and Hope is believing that those principles are good." 

Yay hope!  

Although I've had challenges, I have felt a lot better as I recongize that I am not a perfect teacher and that's ok!  My Savior and Heavenly Father will help make up for my weaknesses......it's so wonderful!  Trust in the Lord and everything will work out and be just fine!  A mission is a spiritual, physical, and emotional stretching process to prepare us for the kindgom of God :)  I love this Gospel with all my heart and would give my life for it. 

Love,

Sis. Jarvis

Sis. Jarvis, Sis. Gibson and their roomies

 The foursome visit a hair salon

Sis. Jarvis found this sign and its translation very funny

Taiwan Week 10 - Challenges, Investigators and a Barbershop Musical?

Another great report from Sis. Jarvis... and what a musical imagination!

Wu an! :)

Well this week was great, but was definitely harder!  We were dropped by two investigators, I didn't have very much success in contacting, and we were dealing with LAs who didn't want to come back to Church.....sad story! :P yes, missionary work is hard and is not always the happiest thing, but it's always worth it :)  For example, we had 4 investigators who came to Conference (including the Dad of the family we are teaching this week), had GC, found some golden referrals, have two new investigators, and had some great lessons.  It's just the roller coaster of missionary work!

WJM came to Conference and loved it :)  We knew we had some important and critical lessons to teach her this last week and so we studied, prayed, practiced, and fasted.  We received a lot of guidance from Heavenly Father in how to help her and prepare for the lesson.  Two weeks ago, I was really nervous about teaching this lesson, but when the day came this week,  Sister Gibson and I both felt very at peace and knew we had been prepared.  As we began, WJM seemed worried and nervous, but as we continued she felt the love of her Savior and Heavenly Father and was in tears.  We had prepared a talk to give her by Elder Holland that addressed her concerns and she ended up reading the entire thing in the lesson.  It brought so much peace to her - I'm so grateful for the words of living prophets and their ability to comfort, strengthen, and heal.  We still have a few things to work out and go over with WJM, but she is on the road to baptism and is doing her very best to humbly prepare herself.  The Atonement is so beautiful.  I know that a month ago, even two weeks ago, I was not prepared to teach that lesson.  But through the power of the Atonement, we as the mouthpieces and she as the listener were all taught from on high and prepared to teach such an important lesson.  

We have this adorable college girl right now, ZJM, who is our investigator :)  She is a member referral  which makes it even better, and we have met with her twice.  She doesn't have any religious background, but has felt the Spirit at the member's home and truly seems like she has a desire to learn.  She is just really busy with her job so that occasionally gets in the way of us meeting with her (that is the number one reason here for people not being able to meet with the missionaries :P), but am so excited to see her progress and come to know she is a daughter of God.  :)

So one of our new investigators is this beautiful 60 year single lady who owns a barbershop and it's where we had our lesson. All of the cute lady workers all wear matching pink or blue outfits that literally look like they came straight out of the "Hairspray" generation.  All of these little old men were in there getting their hair cut, toe-nails trimmed, etc.  It was the perfect set-up for a musical!  I couldn't stand it!   Here's my Taiwan barbershop musical.....our investigator bursts into song, gliding down the  aisle....the lady workers come in as back-up, and the old men chirp in with some low "bummenem....menem bummenem" as they get their hair washed...I love it :)

I've been thinking the last few days about how I could be better about declaring the gospel more boldly.  I love the talk that Sister Ann Dibb gave at Conference with the slogan, "I'm a Mormon, I know it, I live it, I love it!"  This is such a beautiful view of who we are.....we know this is true, we live the gospel daily, and we are so happy because we love it!  I also love D&C 33:9 "Yea, open your mouths and spare not, and you shall be laden with sheaves upon your backs, for lo I am with you."  I know that no matter who we are or where we are, we can declare this Gospel with truth and power.  We should be so proud to be members of this Church!  I'm so grateful to have this opportunity of declaring the Gospel every day in a foreign land to an entirely different race of people.  I KNOW it is true - I KNOW our Savior lives and is with us every day and I KNOW that we are all children of God and will all be able to return to live with Him.  May we put all of our faith in the Lord every day and open our mouths in praise unto Him.......I hope you all have an incredibly, wonderfully,happy week!

Love, Sister Jarvis :)

Week 9 in Taiwan - The News Travels Fast!

Sis. Jarvis received the news of the change in missionary eligibility on Sunday at church....

Hello, hello, hello, hello!!

18 and 19 WHAT?!!!! Is this not the coolest, craziest thing ever!!! Let's go back to a Thursday night two weeks ago.........my companion and I were sitting in our beds talking and she asked me if she thought they would ever change the ages for missionaries........I was like "uh I don't know, they've been this way for so long - I don't know if they would ever really change them again."( o o o was I wrong ;D) Flash forward to yesterday at Church......we were talking with the primary president, Sister Skyles( her husband is American, but they are living in Taiwan right now), and she suddenly asked us if we had heard the news that they had changed the age requirements for missionaries to 18 and 19. I was like, " zhen de ma?!( trans: really? o come now....) She was like, "Zhen de!" But I still didn't really fully believe her - in my head I was thinking, "O stop, pulling our leg Sister Skyles" :) Well, there we were sitting in Sacrament meeting and the 1st counselor announced it again! I turned to my tongban (companion) and we both had shocked faces - so honest truly our first reaction was, "Ah! We're so OLD!" Selfish, I know :) But once it settled in, I couldn't believe what incredible revelation this was! How many hundreds more missionaries there would be, how much this helped girls after freshman year who wanted to go, how marriages will be changed forever (as I think there will be many more people getting married sooner in their early twenties), and of course what this meant for the world - For missionary work! These Book of Mormon prophecies that this message would fill the entire Earth- it's happening, right now! Ah! I think that mormon culture and the church will be changed greatly because of this revelation. There will be so many more people serving missions, so many sisters!! I wouldn't be surprised if most girls end up going on missions now - the youth are ready to fight this fight and spread this glorious message! They are stronger than we were at their age :) I could have a companion in 6 months or so who is two years younger than me - that's so crazy! But so cool! The time is now for the Gospel to be spread to every land and people - what an exciting time to be a member of the Church! I'm so excited for these young men who don't have to worry about school immediately and can go right out on their missions and for these young women who can leave just after the young men do! I think about myself going at 19 (not sure that I was mature enough to go then ;) )- it would have changed my life.....and will change so many lives! So excited to see what great plans the Lord has in store for missionary work!!

All is well here in Tainan! Fall is in the air- I left my hair down all day for the first time yesterday so I know it is getting cooler :) All of the sisters were so touched by the Relief Society General Broadcast- it was so powerful. Everyone here is so excited for General Conference this coming weekend- a time to hear living prophets speak and receive personal revelation. We taught an investigating family and an inactive family this week. So grateful for this sacred opportunity to help these amazing people.

Sorry, talked a lot about the new missionary standard, but it's just so exciting! I'm so grateful to have a living prophet on the Earth who leads and guides us. I'm grateful for technology that allows members all over the world to hear his words in their own language. I love this Gospel with all my heart and know it is the truest thing on the Earth. Hold onto the truth that you know- it is our anchor of hope in this world :) 3 Nephi 28: 31- great and marvelous works are happening every day!

Love you!
Sister J

Week 8 in Taiwan - The Blessing of a Prepared Investigator

Sorry we are so slow with the postings!  Sis. Jarvis is having a great experience with a new investigator....

Hello all! Da jia hao!

Another week of preaching the Gospel in Dong Qu Tainan! This was mine and Sister Gibson's first week with all focus on the 2nd ward............it's been quite a change for us :) The first ward had more investigators and is a much bigger area.........so needless to say we have found ourselves with a lot more free time which means finding time! I didn't realize how blessed we have been to have so many lessons and really no unscheduled lesson time. I definitely feel like we have to work even harder now.....so bring on the smiles and good attitudes and we will bring the Gospel to this little(literally) corner of the world!

We went to the big college in our area this week and had so much fun! Contacting was surprisingly harder as we met many people who really felt no need for the Gospel in their life....they were content with what they already had. We did find a couple of great adds though :) (particularly one at 7-11 who Sister Gibson talked to as I cleaned up my soup that I had just spilled ALL over the table and floor) We actually went onto the campus for about an hour and did English proselyting which is not speaking in English( as I thought the first week :) ), but inviting people to English class and inviting them to meet with you as well if you feel prompted. So many memories of Nanjing came back to me and I loved talking to all of the young people and this time having an opportunity to share the Gospel with people I met on campus :) I really love teaching the younger people, they have so much light and faith!

Investigators: Our awesome and wonderful WJM has a baptismal goal of the 27th. Sister Gibson met her on the road and she has had a really rough life. She is one of those people who when you see at first it may be really easy to judge her, but she has such a loving heart and has so much faith. We have been meeting with her for about 3 weeks and it has been an incredible experience. She truly understands repentance.....I have never seen anyone repent so earnestly and intently. She prays and reads the B of M every day and has really come to know her Savior. She wants to make these changes in her life so she can be baptized. In about her 3rd lesson she told us how she felt "bu hao yi se"( felt really bad) whenever she said Christ's name at the end of the prayer as she realized everything He had done for her. She has come to church for the last 3 weeks and had a particularly special experience during Sunday School yesterday. This week we are continuing teaching her a few commandments that we know may not be easy for her, but her faith is growing immensely and know it is time for us to teach them. Her parents have pretty much disowned her so she's never really had a family, but now she knows she does.....she is a beautiful daughter of a Heavenly Father who loves her SO much. Sister Gibson and I have been very prayerful as we prepare for this week with her. The Atonement is incredible.......there is no greater power on all the Earth. No matter what mistakes or despair we have felt, the Savior knows and invites us into His arms to be healed. I know this is true and that our Savior Jesus Christ died, suffered, and was resurrected for each one of us- we must never forget His sacrifice.

Keep being the wonderful people you are! Enjoy General Conference this week- I'm so excited!! We won't see it until the next week so you'll have to tell me all about it! I love Taiwan, I love this world, I love the Gospel, I love

Love you all!

Week 7 in Taiwan - Faith, Repentance...and a Starfish!

Sis. Jarvis welcomes another companionship this week - and pulls out an old favorite - a Starfish - for Nitti....

Hello from Taaaaiiiiwwwwaaannnnn!

Well I have officially just began my second move-call( transfer) - crazy! On looking back at my first move-call, there were definitely moments when it seemed to go slow and I couldn't quite fathom that I would be in Taiwan for a year and a half, but I can't believe I have already been here this long and now it seems like time is just clicking away.

We picked up our new sisters at the train station today and they are great! We are going to have so much fun :) Sister Gibson and I are over the second ward and they are over the first.....which means a little separation from Nitti because she is in the first :( We can still see her every Sunday and can eat with her occassionally so that will be good - the new Sisters will also be visiting her family this Sunday so I'm super excited! It's kind of nice to just be able to focus all of our efforts on one ward, one area, one Bishop, etc. There aren't as many investigators in the second, but there are some really strong ones so we'll keep nu li(ing)- pushing forward!

We have this investigator named WJM.....it's been an amazing process to meet with her. She definitely has some worldy problems, but she has just begun to repent whole-heartedly, comes to church every week, and came to the Elders' baptism on Saturday. It's been incredible to watch the Atonement in action.....and she still has a little way to go, but through her faith and the Atonement of our Savior...she'll be baptized :) This week we read Lehi's dream with her and related it to the Doctrine of Christ....faith, repentance, baptism, Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. I didn't realize what a metaphor the dream is for the DOC! It's so cool! Everything that Lehi experiences mirrors it...I love how the scriptures can be such a powerful teaching tool for any doctrine.

Dad- you talked about your meeting with the regional general authority and how it was all about rescuing. I thought that was really neat that right there in Davis County there is a need to rescue those who have strayed or are lost, just as there is in Taiwan right now. A huge part of our work here is rescuing and helping these less actives become really actives. There is a beautiful girl we have been meeting with, LJQ. Just before I got here, she had met with the missionaries for the first time in a long time as she has been inactive for quite some time. She told them she had been praying for the missionaries to find her and they miraculously did one day :) The first time I met with her she was really down on herself and wanted to feel closer to Heavenly Father but didn't feel like she could. Since then, we have been meeting with her every week and she has come so far! She began praying every day and especially that she could find a job that would allow her to have Sundays off. You could see her countenace change and there was so much more light in her as she truly began relying on her Savior. Her prayers were answered and she found a new job that allows her to come to church on Sunday morning! I love her so much and she has such a sweet and humble spirit............she grows so much every week in both her faith in herself and in Heavenly Father. Heavenly Father never forgets his children, never. He knows each of them so well, even when they seem far away from Him, and wants everyone to come back into His fold. Christ never gives up on anyone, so why should we? I just love that there is never a one-time chance with the Gospel....His hands are always open for every single one of His children to return to Him :)

FAM- you would think this was funny :) Funny story for the week.....we were talking to NT after English class and I realized something suddenly so I pulled the "starfish" move out of excitement. NT just laughed and laughed and told me that I reminded her of a kid, a young boy to be exact haha I wasn't quite sure how to take it, but my companion assured me I'm the furthest person she knows from that and NT must have just meant I had a young personality ;) Well, when you grow up with only brothers that's just how it goes! Anyway it was funny :)

Things are going well....I feel like I'm still learning so much about missionary work, the Gospel, and myself. It's definitely pushes me every day, but I'm so grateful to have this opportunity to be on the front lines of God's army. The Gospel's true...live it, love it, embrace it :)

Love you- have an amazing week!

Sister J. :)

Week 6 in Taiwan - Splits with Sister Wang and New Roommates

Sis. Jarvis sounds a little busy this week, but great experiences keep coming....

Hi Fam!

Sorry this is going to be a slightly shorter email :)

Things are good!  Just doing our best to move along the work here and bring people into the Gospel :)

This week......well currently we have an assortment of investigators right now.  Chen (cute little sewing lady) currently has a baptismal goal of 9/29, which is pretty soon, but Sister Gibson and I both felt good about her having that goal.  We taught her about Tithing and enduring to the end, and she seemed so happy and chipper that day.  She had some previous concerns with tithing, but we had a great pei ke (member) at the lesson who shared her personal experience with tithing and the Spirit was definitely there....we know she will still have to work at it, but she can do it! 

We had a huge miracle at Church yesterday.....we had 5 investigators come, 4/5 Recent Converts, and a good number of Less Actives!  It was a tender mercy as they just kept walking in and we were in shock as some of these people hadn't been answering their phones, or we hadn't been able to get in touch with them, and here they were at church!  I know the Lord softened hearts and guided many people to church yesterday :)

O! and we are getting two new sisters in our apartment this week!  So we will just be over one ward starting next week, but we still don't know which ward......this means it will be easier for us to focus all of our attention in just helping one ward, but we will have to hand over some of our investigators to the new sisters.  There are 27 missionaries coming on island this week, which is a ton!  So yay! We will now be a 4 man apartment and Tainan Dong Qu will have even more help in hearing the Gospel :)

I went on exchanges with Sister Wang in Jia Yi this week- it was really fun!  She is from Taibei, went to school at BYU-H, and her brother is also serving in Taizhong right now too!  She is adorable and taught me a lot about remembering to laugh and have fun while you serve.  We had some great lessons with people who were working to their baptismal goals and I loved listening to her teach and tesify to her own people.  She is just so cute....her favorite english word right now is "Macho Man" haha so of course I had to teach her a part of the song ;) 

This morning as I was preparing a lesson, I read over The Living Christ.  It has been a long time since I have read it and I forgot how powerful it is.  Especially the end as you read their testimony of Christ........the Spirit testified so strongly of the truth of those words.  Christ lives and is truly our Redeemer and Savior.  He literally saves us....I have felt that saving power in my own life and have witnessed Him save and reach out to these wonderful people in Taiwan as well.  He is always there, right next to us.  It's amazing to see someone really begin to believe that Christ lives and that He loves them.  I'm so grateful for my Savior and that I can rely upon Him every day - He has given His life for everyone of us and stands at the ready to help us along this path of life.  Cool scripture:  look up 2 Nephi 22:25 and then look up the footnotes for pasture.  I did a little scripture study on pasture today and it's a beautiful metaphor for the kind of place Christ can cause our lives to become. 

O!  and we added a family yesterday!!  We are meeting with them on Sat and I'm so excited! :)

Catch up on funny stories: 

- Last week we went to the big Carrefour store, which is a huge shopping center and I bought these muffins.......well I was eating the second one and it tasted a little different, but took another bite........thought about the smell, looked at the package and realized they were coffee muffins!! ahh!  Way to go......Sister Missionary eating Coffee muffins.....not such a great combo haha we immediately had to get rid of those ones!

I love you all so much!!!  I hope you have an amazing week and please send my love to the whole family!  Thank you for all of your love and support- it means the world to me and gives me the faith to just give it my all every day!  I'm so grateful we can be an Eternal family and that Heavenly Father has given me such an incredible family :)

Love you!

Sister Jarvis :)

Week 5 in Taiwan - Baptism!

Sis. Jarvis and her companion witnessed the fruit of their labors this week, as well as powerful testimony.

Hello Familia!

What a week!  Lots of contacting, baptism, new and old investigators, service project, and new things every day! 

Well I have to start with NT's baptism first :)  Everything went SO well - there were no glitches or problems....she had a great week and had a beautiful baptism.  My trainer said that it was the smoothest xili hui(baptism) she's ever had!  We have an amazing Ward Coordinator/Mission leader who planned and set up everything.  There were also so many people there...they all couldn't fit into the room to watch the baptism :)  A very special part of the baptism was NT's family.  Remember the story I told you about her Aunt seeing NT at Stake Conference and bearing her testimony how she has been praying for years for her family to accept the Gospel?  Well her Aunt spoke at her baptism and reitterated her very powerful testimony - it was an incredible moment that I will never, ever forget :)  After 30 years of being a very strong member of the Church and praying for her family to accept this Gospel, her Aunt was able to see her neice be baptized and you could just see and feel the eternal joy that she had.  Her Aunt's son, NT's cousin, baptized her which was also very special.  NT's Mom and older sister also came, which you could tell meant the world to NT.  I don't know if I mentioned before, but her mom has been battling cancer so it has been a really hard time for their family, but Nitti has told us that since she has decided to be baptized, her family has become even closer and things were getting better.  When NT bore her testimony after being baptized, she was in tears as she spoke to her mom and sister, telling them that she knew the Church was true.  She talked about how grateful she was for her family and really just bore testimony to them.  There were so many ward members there.....so many people have played such an important role in her conversion.  One brother from the ward even had all these delicious fruit and snacks set up afterward for everyone!  I know she is in such good hands and I know she knows that too :)  

As we were listening to NT bear her testimony, I sat there realizing that this had absolutely nothing to do with us, the missionaries.....we literally just led her and guided her along the path of preparing for baptism.  She came to know her Heavenly Father and Savior herself and we were just there to help......I love that it's not about us at all, it never is and never will be.  We're here to help people receive their salvation, but it's all about their relationship with their Heavenly Father.

O!  Another miracle story with NT :)  Her Dad and sister came to Sacrament Meeting the next day when she received the Holy Ghost.  They stayed for the entire meeting which I thought was really neat.........I talked to them afterwards while NT met with the Bishop and they really really liked it! Her Dad had only been to church once before, like 30 years ago with his sister, the Aunt who spoke at NT's baptism, but he really liked Sacrament Meeting.  And lo and behold, her sister just graduated from college and her roommate was from the U.S., from Utah, from BYU, a member, and had already given her a B of M!  (Heavenly Father is truly preparing this entire family!)  I asked them if Sister Gibson and I could come visit them and share a scripture message with them and they said YES!  Not just yes, but Yes with a smiley :)  I just feel like NT's story isn't done yet and can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for her family!  She is a great strength to them and I can't wait to see what her future holds!

Well in a nutshell the rest of the week.....lessons, contacting, O! and on Saturday morning was Clean Up the World Day- did they have that in Utah?  We got to ride with the Relief Society President in a car (it had been a long time since I had been in one!) to Ping An, which is right by the ocean.  Our Stake all helped clean up the dock area by the ocean, so that was really fun!  The RS Pres, who is incredible, also took us out to Friday's after so it felt like a P Day haha  O!  Remember Tian and his wife Zheng?  Well Pres. Bishop had told us to try to read the B of M with them to help them........we went over last night and read Alma 40 together and it was such a beautiful lesson.  Tian didn't make his tea and was much quieter.....his wife really began to understand about the resurrection and Tian was truly listening.  The Spirit was there.....he said the closing prayer and just poured out his heart to his Heavenly Father.  Sister Gibson and I feel like they can really keep progressing.  We just love them and are so excited as we continue to read with them :)

What an incredible blessing we have to have the Gospel, to have an Eternal Family :)  With the Savior you can do anything, anything.  The scriptures are full of power and what a blessing to have a living prophet on the Earth (I can't wait for conference!).  Heavenly Father and your Savior love you so much, more than we can even comprehend. 

Love you all!

Sister J.

BAPTISM PHOTOS!!

Week 4 in Taiwan - A baptism scheduled and pictures!

Sis. Jarvis has found a new favorite treat - ice topped with chocolate and peanuts!!

Hello Fam!!

I love hearing from all of you and hearing how life is going :)  I love you all so much!

Well first up on the list is.....NT's baptism is this saturday!!  Am I excited? O yes!  Am I shocked that we are already having a baptism?  Most definitely........so I am so grateful for this beautiful experience I have had to watch Nitti grow and gain such a strong testimony.  She's not just ready, she's super ready........and she really knows who her Heavenly Father and Savior are and will continue to learn.  She is also a really deep Gospel thinker.....for example, this last week we were finishing the rest of the commandments and read a scripture to introduce tithing.  NT gave this beautiful explanation of tithing being a way we can thank Heavenly Father for all that He has given us and why it is important that we do it...when she was done we were like, "um perfect! On to Fasting!" haha jk, we went into a little more detail on tithing, but she really is so deep when it comes to Gospel principles!

This week was really humbling as the last few weeks we have been very blessed to have a lot of lessons and a lot of adds (people we meet on the street or call who set up a time to meet with us), but this week we had more people cancel with us and didn't get as many adds.  It made me very grateful for the little things! :)  Our mission leaders just gave us a goal for September to have 100,000 other lessons this month as a mission!  This means every companionship needs to contact 300 people a week- that's a lot of people, but a lot of people who will be invited to hear the Gospel this month!

We had this dear sweet lady who is in her 60s or so, has 5 dogs and 3 cats, and we visit her every Wednesday morning in her sewing shop :)  She's been reading and praying, but hasn't really been progressing all that much in feeling the truth.  She came to church last week for the entire block and in Relief Society she said she received an answer in regards to a family issue she is dealing with her right now......we love it when investigators say that :D  When we met with her this last week, we asked her how she could apply the scripture we had been reading to her life and she totally made a personal connection!  I feel like she is really beginning to see the love of God in her life and how much this Gospel can help/change her life.........we're hoping and praying that she will continue to stay strong and this could be her month! :) 

Another investigator-like story haha......once upon a time my companion and I went tracting down this bai-bai (the main cultural religion where they burn money to their ancestors) road and knocked on the door of T and his wife Z (in their 50s).  They invited us in and we have met with them twice since then and every time is quite an experience :)  haha T always sits there and makes his tea while we talk to them and Z is pretty quiet as T does most the talking.  He has a hard time focusing in on the lesson as he can't quite understand why we can't have tea (he always pours us hot water :) ), so the lessons tend to kind of go all over the place....BUT they are feeling something because last time he told us that he wants his sons to have this Gospel because he thinks it would do something for them and told Sister Gibson last time that he has always believed in God, but never really done anything to show respect to Him or develop a relationship with Him.  We had a couple from the ward come with us last night so that was a little more helpful, but hopefully something will click with them and he'll see what we're trying to teach them!

Something big that I learned this week was that happiness doesn't come before the work, it comes after.  I was reading the talk by Elder Wirthlin in the August Liahona which talks about fulfilling our duty....we have to be dilligent and fulfill our duty AND then the happiness and joy will come - such a good reminder for every day!

Love you lots and lots!!!

Sister J :)

 Sis. Jarvis and her companion found a new friend!

Sis. Jarvis with the Sisters from her zone

Sis. Jarvis at her first Zone Conference

Week 3 in Taiwan - Typhoon!!

Sis. Jarvis had her first major weather experience in Taiwan this week and her family was watching the weather reports closely.  Thankfully, it passed her area by with just a lot of rain.

Hello Momma and Familia!

Typhoon.....O I should have guessed you would have been worried :)  We were totally fine!  We had a really big wind storm one night and I woke up a lot in the night and then the next day it rained for half the day, but that was it!  We were immensely blessed....it didn't feel like we had a typhoon at all!  Some areas were hit really hard though...more south, so some missionaries will be helping with the clean-up this week.  Pres. Bishop said there are probably a few more coming, so be on guard, but we have 72 hour kits and we will keep checking up on the weather status!  Miracle Story........there was a huge Church Youth Activity this week in Taizhong for all the youth in our mission area.  They thought they would have to cancel the activity due to the typhoon, but then the youth send out a message to everyone to fast and pray and they had 1000 youth who fasted that the activity could still happen!  Right before the activity, the path of the typhoon suddenly changed direction and they were able to have it!  What great faith the youth have here.....a powerful reminder of the power of fasting and prayer :)

This was a busy week for us!  NT is still doing so great!!  Her faith grows every day and she is witnessing so many blessing in her family from it.....she learned about the temple this week and she loved it.  Everything is worth it for that, everything!  She has her baptism interview this week, so all should go well, but keep praying for her :)

Have I told you about GJ and her daughter?  I can't remember haha. Well, we met them through English class and we love them!  We have only met with them three times and they haven't been able to come to Church yet........but they are great and the daughter is 17 and she is already in the Book of Jacob in the BofM! Awesome!  & all of her favorite verses are about Christ....I love it!  Her mom also really seemed to like the Plan of Salvation, so I'm excited for them!

We have a couple of investigators who we love dearly, but just haven't made that personal connection with why this is important.....why they should pray and why they should read.  I've really been trying to ponder how to help them strengthen that line between them and Heavenly Father.  It really comes down to them acting in faith......we can't do it for them.  It is such a great reminder that the Spirit is the teacher and we are the mouthpiece.  It's been incredible to see how when we were inspired to read or say something to our investigators....it has opened another door.  The Spirit is the key!  

President Bishop has asked us to tell everyone we talk to about the Book of Mormon.  I think this is a great committment because it's not always easy, but it has so much power.  I'm really going to try to do this, this week, even with my 30 second intersection conversations :D  The B of M is the keystone of our religion, it's everything we believe and know to be true.  Sister Gibson is really great at reitterating when we introuduce the B of M in a first lesson the introduction promise:  If the B of M is true, then Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God, then the Church is true, and then Christ is the Son of God.  Nitti is such a beautiful example of this because she loves the B of M and has already received her own answers through it!   

I love the saints here!  They are the cutest, happiest people!  I love all of the other wonderful people from various backgrounds we get to meet on a daily basis too :)  I love you all so much!  Remember why the B of M is important to you.........that book has changed my life.  Since I began reading it as a little girl, it has been my rock in my life.  It has always been there and has always been my greatest comfort.  I know that it is true and is the word of God.  I love you all!!!!!  Have an incredible happy, stupendous week!

Love, Sister J. :)