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. :)