Hello all!!!!!
First, I have officially left Dong Qu/Tainan and am now in Da Liao (lee-ow)!!! I am super, duper excited!!! My new companion is Sister Cole from California (kind of different going back to wai guo ren (foreigner) companion :D) and she is awesome! This is her first time going Da (senior companion) so she is a little nervous, but I think she'll be great :) I am in Gaoxiong city's countryside! It is quite different from Tainan, but I've heard the members are great and I'm really excited to serve in the countryside!
It's kind of an adventure to get to Da Liao.........I took the train from Tainan to Gaoxiong and then we took the MRT( Metro) to one stop, switched trains, traveled another 20 min. and then took a taxi....it's kind of out there, but it is really pretty! The chapel is the best :) It's shaped like a little box and it only has windows in the front and back.......yay for xiang xia (countryside)! I'm super excited to serve here! I also heard that the ward has already signed up to feed us both lunch and dinner for all 9 days of Guo Nian (Chinese New Year)......all spots are filled haha.....I will definitely have to up my exercise activity if I still want to fit in all of my skirts......
Well our email time is a little shorter today so my email will be short today, but that's ok :) Let me share some little miracles of the last week in Dong Qu:
ZJM finished the Book of Mormon last week! LOVE HER.....she just started D&C :) Amazing story is that before she began reading the Book of Mormon she couldn't read very fast or very well......well as she will tell you, as she read the B of M she began to read faster and understand everything and she was reading a lot better. She has a testimony that the B of M will make you smarter and that's true! O! and her son is probably going to get baptized in the next couple of weeks- Eternal Families is what it's all about ;) She wants to go to the temple next month if she can.....SO AWESOME......I will miss her!
With new changes, come new adventures, new prepared children of our Heavenly Father, and new miracles! I loved Dong Qu and will never forget my experience of serving there, but know that this is where the Lord needs me now. This work is incredible....I just love it so much! I could not be a missionary without the help of my loving Heavenly Father and Savior. Their love is insurmountable....and I felt it through so many people this last week. As a missionary, if there is anything I can bring to Taiwan, I hope that I can help people feel the love of their Heavenly Father. This is a huge part of my testimony and a huge part why I chose to serve a mission. I can remember from being a little 6 year old and praying that I could find my lost shirt or that monsters wouldn't get me while I went to bed to being a teenager and feeling His love through friends, crying over a bad day, and through laughter and now as a missionary.......I feel His love through watching another come to know He lives and that He loves them. I pray that I may help the people here feel the divine love that comes through living this Gospel.....I don't know what hills lay up ahead, but I'll run right up with faith and confidence in my Savior. It's not always easy, but it's ALWAYS worth it :D
I'm so excited with the Gathering of Israel that is happening...it's remarkable. 80,000 missionaries by August? WOW.....it's definitely time to let the entire world hear of their Savior and His Gospel! No more ifs, ands, or buts.....It's time to put on our armor and go to work!!
Love you lots and lots! and Heavenly Father does too :)
Sister J.
Breakfast with Members (at McDonalds)
Before Leaving Tainan





