Week 2 in Taiwan - Still a Wai Guo Ren

Hola Family!

Well Week 2 has already come and gone!  I loved hearing from all of you!! Keep it up ;)  The Brigham City Temple is gorgeous!  I can't wait to go!  Sounds like the summer adventures are coming to an end....yay for school!

  

I want to try to send a lot of pictures today, so I will try to give a little overview of our week :)

Sister Gibson and I had a lot of lessons this week which was great.  Our "golden" investigator right now is Nitti :)  She is 19 and is SO prepared, it amazes me.  Her baptismal date is September 8th so she is getting close!  They found her through English class and her mom actually has cancer right now so it has been a hard time for her family.  In our lesson with her on Mon, she told us how she had been reading the B of M and had read a verse that had answered her own prayers in Alma 32 on Faith.  Her Faith is incredibly strong and she is just so happy.  I learned a lot from her in that lesson........and then on Wednesday we taught her the WOW.  We knew she liked to drink tea and coffee( as most Chinese people do) so I was a little worried.  We had a wonderful pei ke( member at the lesson) who helped a lot......Nitti asked her questions, but decided right then and there that she wouldn't drink tea or coffee anymore!  When her family goes to get coffee, she tries hot chocolate and other sweet drinks which she is still getting used to :)  She is becoming an incredible example to her family as she has begun to try to pray with her mom and it has greatly blessed her mom.  She came to the Elders baptismal service on Saturday and said it helped her to not be nervous and is so excited for hers :)  She couldn't come to Church this Sunday because she already had family plans which we were kind of bummed about.  About 10 minutes before Sacrament ended, I heard someone walk into the Chapel.  I turned around and it was Nitti!  Her mom's plans had changed so her mom said it was fine for her to come to Church!  The Lord is preparing her so much and I literally feel like we have a miracle with her every day.  Keep her in your prayers as this beautiful daughter of God prepares for baptism :)

We have a Mom and a daughter we met at English class last week who have no religious background and were really excited to meet with us.  We met with them on Thurs and showed them the Restoration video and are meeting with them again tomorrow so I'm excited to see what happens with them!

We have an LA( less active) mom who's daughter we taught this week.  Her name is Xie Jie Mei and she hasn't been to church in about three years.  We have been struggling in trying to figure out how to get her to come back because she still thinks she is a strong member, but she needs church on Sunday!  For comp study today, I did the lesson on Activation through Family History.  It testified of the power of family history with bringing LAs back to Church.  It reminds them and helps them understand what the Church is all about- bringing every soul back to God's presence.  I think it is what we need to try- so pray for the LAs and that Family History work will help them!

My first Sunday with the wards!  We have two wards, so Sister Gibson and I have to split up on Sunday and each go to one of the wards.  I was super nervous, we had an investigator coming and I didn't know what I was supposed to do.  The ward was so kind to me and it was one of my favorite Sundays of my life!  As a missionary, Heavenly Father helps you to do things you would never be able to do.  It's amazing.......I know with faith we can do anything.

Ok funny story for the week........we went to a ward singles activity last night at a member's house.  They had a soup dinner things that you put over noodles.  There was a sweet hong dou( red bean) mixture next to the big bowl of soup that I assumed also went on top of the noodles.  This nice newly baptized member tried to stop me as I poured it on my noodles....I was like it's hond dou, I like it!  Apparently that was the dessert......and nobody puts it on with the soup.....yep still a wai guo ren( foreigner).  Everybody thought it was pretty funny and kept teasing me about my love of hong dou the rest of the night.

Things are great and wonderful!  We have hard times and good times :)  The Church is true wherever you are......open your heart and Heavenly Father will pour out His Spirit to you.  He loves you all so much........we have a Savior who has given everything for us.  I love you!

Sister J. 

PICTURES!

Sis. Jarvis and her MTC Sisters

Arriving in Taiwan!

Sis. Jarvis and her first companion, Sis. Gibson