Taiwan - Week 41 - May 27 - Pouring Rain, McDonalds, and Maps

Sister Jarvis had a great week :-) She references her last interviews with her mission president as the Taiwan Taichung Mission will be getting a new mission president the first of July.  

Ni hao, hola, como estas!

How is my most amazing family???? :D We are excited with joy today because we had an absolutely amazing week last week!!!

This week we hit the pouring rain....and when I say pouring rain I mean pouring rain! Example: Your biking down the road, beautiful sunshine, then suddenly!! in 30 seconds dark cloud comes over and starts raining.........10 seconds later it starts pouring!! And I love it because everyone pulls over to the side of the road to take cover or put on their neon-colored rain gear :) We biked up to the Shi family when it was pouring rain, but it was so beautiful! Lots of vegetation and open skies with the beautiful sound of rain......aren't Heavenly Father's creations so beautiful? :) We also had quite the hey-day biking down the hill afterwards throwing our legs up in crazing jumping poses as we went over the puddles tehe :) Only in Taiwan :D

This week in summary: last interviews with President Bishop, came so fast! He is so amazing and I am a better missionary and member because of him. We love him and Sister Bishop dearly! We also saw miracles with working with the ward this week! We have started asking some new sisters for member present lessons and the sisters in these wards have been so willing to come to so many lessons......we also saw how much the members help the investigators, it completely changes the lesson! I love these wards sooooo much! The members are probably my favorite part about Sunday......it's so fun and joyful to be with them and to learn from them :) We have a 15 year old investigator who's mom said she could not get baptized until her test was over which is next week! She has been waiting since February to be baptized and she comes every week :) She loves the Gospel and shared with us that she prayed that Heavenly Father would help her to be baptized whenever He thought she was prepared so she felt like she wasn't prepared in February, but is now :) She is going to ask her mom again this week and hopefully will be baptized in about two weeks!

So once upon a time, we went to use the bathroom at McDs. We were sitting down for a second and looked up to see this super cute girl smiling at us. She was about to leave with he friend so we ran over and gave them an English flier and invited them to come.......well they did! And then the other Sisters invited them to church and they came to church too and brought a friend! They stayed for all 3 hours yesterday, really seemed to love it, and now we are meeting with them this week! How amazing is that? I never cease to be amazed at the little details of Heavenly Father's plan :) A 30 second English invite at McDonalds could turn into 3 new investigators at church....they are so cute and we can't wait for them to begin to feel the blessings and joy that this Gospel will bring to their lives!

Our mission has these brand new maps that are absolutely incredible!! A member in Taizhong started making them and then the office decided to make them for every area.........it's like a lot of little google maps with the ward list.....has every one's names and pin-point map of where they live so it makes it really easy to find people's houses and easy to look up any members in whatever area you are in! I absolutely LOVE them..........it's going to change missionary work forever!! We were able to meet three less-active families this week from finding them on the maps who either invited us in or set up a time for us to come back......so many families are going to be rescued through this inspired tool and helps us to get to know the ward so much better too! & it's super fun to use because it's like going on a treasure-hunt :) I just love them so much and truly so many people will be brought back into the fold of God because of them!

This was a week of faith :) Last night the Zone Leaders called us and asked us how we were able to accomplish all we did this week.....we had 3 answers: Heavenly Father, Faith, and Planning! Truly we saw the power of faith this week....it brings success and it brings miracles. We owe it all to Heavenly Father and our Savior. We also realized how much more faith we had this week and how much better it made the week! As my dear companion said, maybe we didn't move mountains or part the red sea, but we were able to help save some souls which is quite an exercise of faith. An amazing scripture of faith I found this week, Alma 44:4 "Now ye see that this is the true faith of God; yea, ye see that God will support, and keep, and preserve us, so long as we are faithful unto him, and unto our faith, and our religion; and never will the Lord suffer that we shall be destroyed except we should fall into transgression and deny our faith." I love this scripture exemplifying Captain Moroni! This is true faith and it is powerful! It's not always easy, our faith gets tried, and it may be a long time before we see the results, but if we put our faith in Him that power increases ten-fold. The Gospel is true! Faith is real and is eternal! Keep the faith.

Sister J. :)

Taiwan - Week 40 - May 19 - Bug Bites and Testimonies

Wu an!!! My dearest, darlingest family!

Hope you had a stupendous last 4 days! Has the heat come yet? :)

Fun facts that you learn only in Taiwan: My dear companion Sister Schultz is very sweet, sooo sweet that she literally gets bit when she steps outside :) At the end of this week her legs looked like a combination of chicken pox and an allergic reaction of little red dots....bless her soul. She literally has about a million bites on her legs and everyone just wants to help her! There was one day when every person we visited gave us their secret ingredients for itchy legs haha it was so great! So when itchy, bug-bitten legs arise here's what works: mouth rinse, Chinese orange medicine, sesame oil, fermented brown sugar, and many more! They work! Her legs have now become an effective finding tool as they attract people's concern on the street...you can find souls in miraculous ways! :)

Miracles: A child's answer to a prayer :) We invited the little sisters we have been teaching to sincerely pray to know if the Book of Mormon was true after they shared with us that they weren't sure if they had really felt the Spirit confirm that to them yet. Well, we went back and followed up..........suddenly D (who tends to be more quiet in the lessons) popped up and said she had just been praying upstairs before we got there. She said she had prayed to ask Heavenly Father is the B of M was true and suddenly felt the feeling of a hand on her head pushing her head down and telling her "shi! shi! shi!" which means "Yes! Yes! Yes!" She said she felt like it was God telling her that the B of M was true and now she knew it was :) We were so gang dong and touched by her experience. I feel I understand a little better why we are taught in the scriptures to humble ourselves as a child to be "submissive, patient, humble and full of love."

We also saw the love and guidance of ward leaders help our recent convert LJM..........I know that Bishops are called of God and our ward leaders truly represent the Lord in their stewardship.  The sister we are working to rescue also came to church yesterday again! I have a testimony of never giving up........when we go out and find those lost sheep with the power of the Lord behind us, we can find them and bring them back :)

This week my testimony was strengthened of reading the B of M over and over again! I read Alma 32 which I have read so many times, yet learned something completely knew! I was able to understand a little better the connection between faith and knowledge. After we use our faith and see/feel something take place........we come to know it and therefore it becomes our knowledge...."Yea, your knowledge is perfect in that thing, and your faith is dormant; and this because you know, for ye know that the word hath swelled your souls..." No wonder we are commanded to read, pray daily and attend church weekly! As we act and grow in faith, it turns into true knowledge and we will have knowledge forever and forever :) I also read a lot about the Atonement in Alma 35 and again so touched by the power of the Atonement for each one of us. As it says in 35:9, we get to leave our old world behind, and come unto Christ to receive nourishment and be given all that we need for a new life :) And that is the miraculous beauty of the Atonement..........which I'm still learning about!

I asked President Bishop last week in my email how he has found he has accomplished his goals, I want to share his response with you : "Elder Evans taught that we accomplish what we incessantly work for.........we must be relentless. Never give up on the quest for finding, teaching, and baptizing families." Wow.........so inspiring!

I love you all so so much!!! I love this Gospel with all my heart and know it leads us home and helps us to truly be the happiest we can be! I know that the Atonement is real and the Savior can help us with absolutely everything, it's amazing :) I'm so grateful for all of your examples and pray for you daily!!! Love you!

Sister J. :)

Taiwan - Week 39 - May 15 - The Taibei Temple!

Sister Jarvis was able to skype with her family for Mother's Day. She was also able to take a temple trip to the Taibei Temple which was a wonderful experience for her.
Hi Fam!!

Well it was so great and wonderful to Skype with you!!! I can't believe how much everyone has grown up...zhen de!!! It's crazy! I haven't been gone that long have I? ;) It's just so fun and wonderful to hear that everyone is doing just dandy.  I could really see that all of you are just so happy.....what greater blessing could I ask for!

So I really don't have too much to say today because all that's on my mind right now is the Temple :) It was so wonderful!!! It was definitely worth waiting 9 months! The Taibei Temple is absolutely beautiful. It's a pretty small temple, but the visitor grounds are just beautiful with palm trees and tropical plants. When you walk in, everyone removes their shoes, just like what you do in people's homes here, and I really like that because it makes it feel even more sacred. We had the wonderful privilege of doing initiatories before our session and I was able to do them in Chinese! The Sisters which I did them for were all from China born about 1660-1750. These are the ancestors of the people whom I am serving among......how incredible is that. It touches my heart so deeply every time I think about it. Then we went and did an English Endowment Session with some other foreigners who live in the area and it was just beautiful. We had some time to sit in the Celestial Room and just soaked the Spirit in :) It was also really special to be their with my fellow missionaries, reminding me that we are all children of a so loving Heavenly Father on their pathway home to him......and helping our fellow brothers and sisters so they can come home too :) The temple is so beautiful! The furniture is all Asian design in simplicity and by the baptismal font they have a very traditional Chinese painting of people by a river...really cool.  I love the temple! If I could, I would go there every day...I really would! I'm so grateful for the covenants I have made and now I may not be able to go to the temple all of the time, but can help my fellow sisters and families to go and receive their own eternal covenants. The Temple brings it all together.....I know that it is the house of the Lord, for He does walk those halls. I know that is why I am a missionary and why we work hard every day.....so that more people may experience these blessings.

We had some really special lessons on Monday after Sister Schultz and I skyped and we really accredit it to the Spirit and the joy we felt from talking with our families :) We are so imperfect, but the Spirit is not and the Restoration is real. I love you all sooooooooooooo much!!! Have a week of joy, laughter, love, service, and the Spirit! Don't forget to share your testimonies because you never know who needs to hear them :) I hope you will all be able to go to the temple soon as well!

Love you forever!
Sister J.

P.S. I'll try to stay away from all parallel parking cars this week ;) **During our phone call, Sister Jarvis shared with us the fact that she had actually been hit on her bike by a truck trying to parallel park.  Her bike was munched and she got a little scraped up, but luckily was ok.  The driver was very  apologetic and paid for her bike to be fixed etc. 

With Sister Schultz at the Taipei Temple

The Sisters at the temple

The Taipei Temple

Taiwan - Week 38 - May 5 - A Cinco de Mayo Party and More Miracles

Good Mornin Fam! Zao an!!!!

Happy week, happy day!! I hope all of your tropical vacationing and field sporting all went just superb this week!

This week de hua...........a lolly oooda lolly gally what a week :) It's May! Yippee! We are having a Cinco de Mayo party this week in English! and have also been teaching our 79 year old RC how to speak Spanish...she's a hoot :) We also had a Sisters' Meeting this week!!! It was incredible--so uplifting and inspiring! Some of the Senior Sisters spoke and it felt like being back in YWs with adorable hand-outs and inspiring music :) We watched this really amazing video on with all the Presidents of Primary, RS, and YWs that the church has made that also really helped us understand our role with the Priesthood and in meetings. I'm so grateful to be a Sister Missionary! It is truly a privilege :)

Funny story of the week: We were biking out to hua tan (more of the countryside) with lots of people on the road.......heard the ambulance siren so everyone is looking around behind us, but no ambulance! We keep hearing the siren and then all of a sudden this young kid comes flying past us on his bike with a megaphone siren hooked to his bike! haha it was pretty funny......everybody was just chuckling.........love Taiwan :)

O the miracles of this week..........sooooo good :) There is no other explanation for them then for the hand of the Lord. Heavenly Father truly made all things possible this week! First off, remember the dear, sweet, adorable young sisters who can summarize the entire Book of Mosiah in detail? :) Yes....well they still have their baptismal date but have not come to church yet so this was the do or die week! Well, after inviting and inviting we realized there really wasn't too much more we could do and decided to leave it all in the Lord's hands. We prayed every day that if it be His will, there would be a way for them to come to church or that their desire to come would increase. We turned everything over to Him.........well we still hadn't heard from them by Sat night so we decided to stop by their Aunt's house and they were there! And they said they were sleeping over so she could take them to church! **AAAhhhh!*** and truly one of the happiest moments ever was when they walked through the church doors at 9:00 on Sunday morning! The Primary President was there to greet them and made them feel so welcome and they stayed for all three hours! (Sister Shultz was prepared with paper and pens for doodling during Sacrament ;) ) It was an absolute miracle. They are still progressing and we will continue to turn to the Lord and know that if it be His will, they can be baptized this month :) We truly must trust in the Lord and His ways and His timing in all that we do and as we do, I know that everything will go according to the Heavenly Plan :)

2nd: Another miracle....the Zone leaders gave us an invite this week to confirm all of our RCs for church by Friday. We had one RC whom we both have still never met, so we decided to go find her! She was our back-up plan for Thursday night and when the other plans fell through we headed to her house. She was home and was so happy to let us in! We had a great little lesson about the Spirit with her and invited her to church and she said yes! AND she came :) We were so grateful for their inspired invite this week because this sweet sister is now on her way to coming back :)

3rd: Super fun night tracting last night!! We found this super steep, long hill that is really forested with all of these houses. We started at the top and went all the way down- meeting lots of cute, old a mas and a bas (we kept on ringing bells, running around as fast as we could AND THEN.........we met an adorable young family who said we could come back this week!! So great, so excited :) Met with a family we tracted into last week again who are formers from a few years ago and they were so excited to have us back and so eager to kneel in prayer! The Dad is hilarious, super happy and friendly, and wanted to be prepared this week so he read up on the Prophet Joseph Smith and Restoration this last week and really understood it! Yay for families!! Teaching families is like having this really delicious, specialty made cake..........so so so good, and every opportunity to "eat" it is so precious and just have to eat it little by little :) We are so grateful that Heavenly Father has given this opportunity to teach a few families!

My testimony this week............turn to the Lord in everything you do! I learned this week that we need to involve Him in everything and to always continue to be more like Him. I love a line from PMG pg. 115 it says, "Just as vital as what you do, however, is who you are. The restored gospel enables you to become like Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ." Words of truth.......Ch. 6 in PMG is amazing! Read it if you haven't, because it will change your life and your relationship with Christ. I know He lives! And as we come unto Him and invite others to do the same.......we will never fear or worry for He will always be with us. Have an amazing week- See you on Monday!! (Monday was when Sister Jarvis was able to call and skype with her family for Mother's Day)

Sister J.

I love you!!!!

Taiwan - Week 37 - April 28 - Cleaning the Baptismal Font and a Baptism

Sister Jarvis had a busy week and a baptism!

Hello my dear and wonderful family!

Hope you all had a happy, dandy week! We had a full week here: Sister Exchanges, Singles' Activity, Baptism, and just the great every day teaching! I'm sitting here trying to remember everything that happened and I'm totally blanking! But I know lots of amazing things happened :) I went on exchanges with an awesome Taiwanese Sister this week and we had a blast! It was a change to speak all Chinese again, but it was super fun! We met lots of new investigators this week......cool stories: one mom from English who's husband told her to come and learn about God and ran into another former family last night who said we could come back! We were also able to visit a few members this week, which I haven't done much before, but we saw miracles from it and I definitely have a strong testimony of doing so now! The weather is hot........then cold.......then rainy........then hot- but we love it!

So this week...........LJM was baptized on Saturday!! It was quite the week of trying to put the baptism together (Sister Shultz and I were cleaning out the baptismal pool in our skirts and crocs an hour before the baptism ;) ) but it all went just right :) LJM was nervous, but excited :) She was so happy after she was baptized and she said she literally just felt so clean. I am so happy for her and know that as she begins the journey of Enduring to the End she will continue to feel the influence of the Spirit and prepare for even greater eternal blessings. We have had some really special experiences with her in just pouring out our hearts in testimony to her, sometimes in English and sometimes in Chinese, in which you can feel that eternal connection of the Spirit. Her home life isn't all that great, but she has felt the love and comfort of the Gospel. She told us once that even if everything else in her life wasn't true or working........the Gospel is the truest thing she knows :) Heavenly Father loves her so, so much and I know that as she continues to continue to read and pray daily, she will only grow in her relationship with Him. She is a music genius so the ward is so excited for her to start playing the piano or performing in sacrament meeting! She is very special and I feel privileged to have had the experience of seeing her become part of the great vine of this restored gospel.

What a week of testimony strengtheners! I'm grateful for an inspired district leader who led me to Moroni 7 in talking about the light and Spirit of Christ. I have a testimony that all thoughts, feelings, or desires that bring us to Christ are from the Spirit. I have a testimony that the Spirit can speak to us in the smallest ways and it does. I know that as we listen and cling to those smallest impressions that they will grow and the Lord's path for us will open before our eyes, but we have to trust it with all the faith we have. I know these things are true! I know that as we trust in the Spirit and our Savior each and every day we can never go astray. Cling to every good thing of the Spirit and He will bless you! He loves us all so much and may we never forget it. I'm grateful for all of your help in missionary work! We really can't do it without the members....they help less-actives and investigators so much! You are all such great examples to me and I love you immensely!

Love,
Sister J.

Bike riding with Sister Shultz

Baptism of LJM!