Hi FAM!
Well Tanzi is such a wonderful place!! I'm already loving it so much! The city area is a lot like Zhang hua but there are beautiful green mountains too!!! The sky is beautiful! The chapel we attend is in a near-by city and it is the newest built in Taiwan- it is absolutely beautiful!!!! It was finished in June and is such a blessing for the members here :) The members are incredible.....they are literally living the Work of Salvation......they have a schedule for missionary dinners weekly where we can bring investigators, RCs, etc.....they will call and guan xin our investigators on their own and are so willing to help them! There is a Sister in the ward who has a free Ukulele class for Moms on Friday morning that lots of the members as well as her non-member friends go to and her whole purpose is missionary work :) She shares B of M stories and they are going to start learning hymns- so great! Ward Correlation was great......ward mission leader with Bishopric member and ward missionaries......and then at the end they have the missionaries give a little training from PMG- so good! They are such wonderful examples to me! Their desire to serve and kindness just emulates from each of them :)
This week was Zhong qiu jie (mid-autumn) festival which means the kids are out of school, parents don't have work, and everyone is out BBQing! On Friday we had to kao rou (BBQ) activities......definitely had our meats worth for the week :) They BBQ sausage, corn, vegetables, chicken, pork, mushrooms, tofu, everything and then they put some delicious sauce on top- yum! We also went to a member's house on the mountainside and had hot pot outside with lots of members and they had the Mormon Music Channel playing- it was marvelous :) Their son reminds me of little Jackson.......if you say Michael Jackson he will do the Beat It dance or if you say Michael Jordan he will swoosh it...absolutely adorable! We have a really incredible investigator right now named LJM. She is a single mom with a 7 year old son who has had a pretty rough life....the Sisters met her a few weeks ago while tracting.......she has a Christian background but she started to read the B of M and just loves it, marks it all up and everything! Due to exchanges, I haven't had a chance to actually be in a lesson with her....but miracle, she was worried about her boyfriend's opposition, but then she prayed that he could come to the ward BBQ and he suddenly didn't have work and so was able to come!........the members talked to him a lot and started talking with everyone too! We gave them both a church tour and she was telling him about Sunday and everything that happens.....then at the end Sister Christensen and I had a chance to talk to him and he said that he is Buddhist, but how he thinks the church is great and was so touched by how happy we were that they had come to the BBQ. He said he has to work on Sunday, but if he ever has time he will come to church and is more than happy for LJM and her son to come!! Absolute miracle!! He now has invited us over to their house for lessons- she was so happy! She has a baptismal goal for next month and so excited to share more of the Restored Gospel as it has already blessed them so much! The Spirit truly softens hearts and prepares the way for the Lord's work to take place.
I went on exchanges with Sister Park from Korea this week and I just love her to a million pieces!!! She just finished training this week so she was really stressed this week with trying to lead her new companion around and plan everything, but she felt the exchange helped her to feel a little better about everything.........she is incredible and let me tell you why.......she couldn't speak English or Chinese before she got to the MTC and now she can speak both! She comes from a family of 5 kids, all members, and her two oldest brothers are also on missions in Korea- her mom also served a mission- super strong family! She is really shy, blushes super easy, always bows to anyone when she gives them a tract, cares about her investigators so much, and has so much faith and love for Heavenly Father. Loved that exchange- we had about 3 self-contacts come to the church while we were there.......love Sister Park :)
This week we have 3 meetings!! yay!! Sister Christensen is just wonderful, so kind, happy, hilarious, and super strong....love her :) She's only been here one move-call so we are working to build up the area with investigators.....I know this is exactly where I am supposed to be and it's an incredible feeling.......I found myself praying the other night and realized the only things I could really think to say to Heavenly Father were words of gratitude! My heart was so full of joy and gratitude to Him and for the Savior.......in placing me here with these people, these Sisters, and these experiences. I love you all so very, very much! Last night at the ward FHE we watched the Tyler Haws video- if you haven't watched it on lds.org, you should watch it!! I know that the light in each one of us has the power to influence and help people all around us- that's exactly why He gave it to us. Service is incredible........finding the smallest ways to serve or help others feel the love of the Savior can make all the difference in the world. So pray for opportunities and I know Heavenly Father will definitely provide them :) I love you!!
Sister J.
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