Taiwan Week 22 - An Awesome Week!

Sister Jarvis had many great experiences with her recent convert and her family.  She is currently the only non-Taiwanese member of her Zone and says she is learning to be "more Taiwanese."

Hi all you wonderful people, friends, family, acquaintances!

Hope everyone had an awesome first week of January! We had a really happy, super great week filled with Stake Conference, lots of lessons, the Tian Family, broken bikes, awesome members, and seeing the love of Heavenly Father :)

Let's begin with our super awesome new convert, ZJM and her family :) When we went to visit her Monday night the first thing she asked us was when we were going to start working on Jia Pu( family history)....she had only been baptized for 2 days and was ready to go! Due to my not being Taiwanese ability, Sister Liang immediately helped ZJM organize all the family names she had. Her husband, T DX, has also been meeting and sitting down with us every time we are there so we asked him if he would help us write down the names on the family history sheet. He at first, of course, rejected, but then he started writing.....(small TDX introduction: He is like a nut, really hard outside but you find that you really like it once you start eating :) He is a very vibrant, loud personality, your typical man who sits on the couch kind of man, but he loves it when we come over because he feels different and he has also recognized the huge change in his wife :) He is hilarious, sometimes gets us so off topic, but we love him.  Anyways, I took a step back from our family history moment and marveled.......here was a brand new member and her non-member husband working on both of their families' history! We came back the next day and TDX and ZJM had filled out the entire papers with all the right names and info! It's just amazing! She doesn't want to waste any time :)

Funny Tian Family story: We came over Saturday night and we all read Alma 41 together. TDX was roasting nuts at the same time so he was walking in and out of their living room. We were talking turns reading verses and it was his turn but he had left the room so we said, "Well we had better wait for him to come back...." and then all of a sudden in the kitchen you hear this booming voice, "And it came to pass!" and in walks TDX holding the B of M in one hand and reading in his most powerful voice.......it was hilarious :)

Miracle Tian Family story: Yesterday we had a little Stake Conference miracle :) (I am a strong believer in them because my last stake conference here was my first Sunday in Taiwan when Nitti's aunt saw her at church for the first time!) ZJM said we could ride with her and her family to Stake Conference. TDX said he would drive us but would not go in with us. He has refused the invitation of church for about 4 months now :) Well when we got to Yong Kang he got out of the car with us, and then he kept following us, complaining all the way that he would not go in. We kept telling him to come and just look inside and he kept saying no.....but was still walking behind us. He followed us all the way in the front doors, up the stairs, and then sat down in the chapel and stayed! He has been telling us for so long that he won't come to church, but there he was....it was so wonderful to see him sitting there with his wife. He left 30 minutes early, but it doesn't matter because he came! I know by "small means are great things brought to pass"....this is only the beginning of his own conversion :)
**Everything is about the Tian family this week, but we love them so much!

There is a sister in our ward who I have visited a few times who is awesome. She is about 50 and has been battling cancer for over 10 years. She is so strong, but recently she has become more sick. Her husband is not a member, but he has been coming to church with her every Sunday for about the last 2 months. Last Sunday he came by himself because she was not doing well at all. She has been a member for a long time so she is friends with the majority of the ward. Our Stake President is a doctor at the nicest hospital in our area and he was caring for her. She was in the hospital on Tuesday and then on Wednesday she passed away. There were a lot of ward members at her bedside when she passed away and know it was a really emotional time for them. The beautiful part of this story is that her husband came to Stake Conference yesterday :) When the Stake President spoke, he shared this past week's experience with this Sister and how much help the stake members had given her. Her husband eyes were red, but you could see a small smile on his face. I was so touched and marveled at this beautiful plan. We know his wife is at peace and is going about doing a new work and now here is her husband who is also opening his heart to the gospel. I know I've said it before, but I can not express my gratitude for this amazing Plan of happiness! It unites us to our loved ones eternally, no matter where we or they are :)

I am currently the only wai guo ren (foreigner) sister in my Zone right now- kind of crazy, but I'm learning how to be more Taiwanese :) I'm learning a lot more about the culture, how to interact with the people, when to say yes and when to say no.........my companion has helped me to recognize I just answer yes sometimes even when I don't fully understand what they are saying....it's caused some good laughs :)

Thanks again for so many Christmas cards and packages!!! I felt so much love from home and it only makes me want to go out and share with everyone here! I love you all so very much and hope you have an amazing week filled with the happiness and love that this Gospel brings!

Love you! ai ni men!

Sister J. :D

Sacrament Meeting Powerboarding!

Sister Jarvis and her bike