Youth Conference in Nantou and the Power of Fasting and Prayer

August 27, 2012

 

Ello hello cello jello.Congrats to Crystal and Jared and little baby Ryan!!!!! I am so excited and can't wait to meet him next year! I hope all is well with their family. Does Shari know if she is having a boy or girl yet? Or am I asking way too soon...haha It's good to hear about all the things going on back home. Keep updating me! I love you all so much.

 

I want to start off with a really great miracle story that could totally be found in an Ensign or something like that. President Bishop told us that Taiwan had a youth conference scheduled in Nantou from August 23-25 (this last weekend) There was also a typhoon bearing down on the middle of Taiwan, so they were going to cancel it. However, the youth sent out a mass notification and 1000 youth all throughout Taiwan fasted and prayed that their once-a-year conference would be able to go on. Then, to the suprise of all the weather predictions and government agencies, but not to the youth, the typhoon abruptly changed direction (never happens) which allowed the youth conference to go on!This miracle will go down in the memory of the history of the church as a clear example of divine intervention so that the purposes of God could go forward.  How cool is that?! Okay, as if this story wasn't great enough, guess what! I was at this conference! President Bishop asked some companionships from our zone to go and work with the youth for a few hours. We were able to go and help them understand the importance of sharing their testimonies of the Book of Mormon with their friends. We started off with a "Dan Jones" activity. I don't know if you remember, but my first night in Taiwan they gave us all Book of Mormons and had us stand in the middle of a night market on a stool and testify of its truthfulness. That's "Dan Jones" ing. So in a huge auditorium, we grabbed about 15 youth and invited them to each share their testimony Dan Jones style. Then we watched a really cool video clip President Bishop had put together of youth around Taiwan doing service and sharing the gospel. In a country where morals are mocked, chastity is laughed at, the word of wisdom is thought of as impossible, and many people choose to worship statues and idols, the youth in the church really have to stand strong. They are so incredible and have such strong testimonies. Some of them have other family members in the Gospel, but many are the only members in their family, yet their testimony is an example to everyone. It was so refreshing to see so many strong examples in the same place and hear their stories. Then we split into groups and my companion and I had about 10 youth. We practiced sharing the gospel with their friends with them, specifically a Book of Mormon scripture and how it has blessed your life. I wish we could have stayed longer, but I'm so grateful I was able to go and see a little piece of it. Sister Wainright was able to see some of her recent converts that she hasn't seen in a year or so! Also, tell Mary Gibson that I saw one of her recent converts! She came up to me, telling me that Mary told her I might be there, so she came and found me. She is doing great and she seemed to be having a great time :) Thanks! It was just a wonderful experience all around. Not to mention the fact that it was at Sun Moon Lake... yep! Literally the most beautiful place I have ever seen. We were driving up just as the sun was setting and words cannot describe it! Sadly pictures can't either because we aren't allowed to take pictures outside of preparation day haha. Drats.

 

Welllllll, let's see. Have I ever mentioned that a mission is more than an emotional rollercoaster? It's like flying up into space and then dropping into the earth in 3 seconds. We build up so much emotion into these people that we love so much, that when they either choose not to be baptized or cannot because of an objection, it hurts so bad. I know the happiness they could feel and that they have tasted of, but it doesn't always work out the way you wish it would. One of the hardest things I've dealt with so far happened this morning during our personal study. We have an investigator Liu Jiemei who has been meeting with us for the last month and half. She has 2 precious little boys and wants to be baptized so bad. Her baptism was scheduled for this wednesday and all was set except for a little huge part. She had yet to ask her husband... We had a huge lesson on faith and courage yesterday and how everything is possible with the Lord's help. She was excited to go home and talk to her husband and tell him her desires to be baptized, and said she would call us in the morning to let us know how it went. We've been praying for her for weeks and weeks and continued last night and this morning. She called us and said that her husband won't allow her to be baptized. He doesn't even want her to come to church or meet with us anymore, but she said she still will do those 2 things. We told her we still have faith that it will work out, gave some suggestions of how to soften his heart, hung up and burst into tears. We love her so much and all she wants is to be baptized and make a better life for her family, but he will not let her. It's so heartbreaking to hear things like this, because husbands often object to their wives getting baptized. However,I absolutely know that the Lord's plan is better than ours, and that one day she will be baptized. The Lord has His own timing and I am just grateful we are able to be a part in her conversion process. We have experiences like this often and my emotions are all over the place haha, but I can't imagine it any other way. I'm being pushed far beyond my limit and the Lord is carrying me the rest of the way to do His work. I could not be more happy or lucky! I love the Taiwanese people. THEY ARE SO WONDERFUL!

 

Ah, well my time is up. I love you all so much. Ooh next week we get to go to Taipei temple!!! Very exciting but I won't be able to email until wednesday. Just wanted to let you know. I love you soooo muchhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHhhh!!!! It's unreal how much I love you all! Please know that you are thought of and prayed for all the time by a little white girl in asia.

 

Love, Sister Smart

Attacked by dogs and singing in the rain

Greetings from an internet cafe in Zhanghua, Taiwan! I feel like I'm lying to you everytime I say I'm in Taiwan... but no, really guys, I am here. Last week was great! We conquered 3 mountains, ate weird stuff, biked through floods, got attacked by dogs, and invited hundreds of people to come unto Christ and it was all SO good. We'll start off with my experiences lately with dogs. We exercise 6 times a week. 3 are running outside around a track, and 3 are done inside at home. 2 weeks ago I met a friendly little stray dog. Have I mentioned that I see about 14583957 stray dogs everyday? They are all over the place. This one was nice-ish and stayed by my side as I finished my last lap. However, once I stopped, Hank (I sometimes give stray dogs names) started biting my leg. I kicked him off, and started running away. He followed me for a bit but then gave up. 2 days later I saw Hank again, but he was wise enough to leave me alone. Last Tuesday I had finished running so I started doing sit ups and push ups as normal. As I was getting abdominal muscles of steel (HA or just trying to work off all the chocolate I eat here) I went down to start another sit-up and immediately felt paws pounce on my stomach. Hank was back with a vengeance. I rolled over and started to get up as he started snarling and attacking my ankles again. I started running... and he followed. I turned and delivered a nice kick to the face (but not too hard because I felt bad hurting a dog) and kept going. However, he was undeterred and followed closely behind. I started running up and down bleachers to try and confuse him, but he just followed and kept trying to eat my legs. The best part about this is that a little crowed of who walk around the track each morning gathered to watch and laugh, but not a single one of them did anything haha. I continued to kick when I could, run when I couldn't, and pray this dog would leave me alone the whole time. One blow was hard enough to stop him for a second and I quickly ran and hid behind a tree. He was confused, and eventually Hank left the premises. The cliche stories are true. Dogs hate missionaries. My legs are just fine, no visible wounds other than a few little scratches, but oh how much more cautious of dogs I now am.

 

Alright, now for some other random stuff. I ate pigskin. It's clearish, thick, looks like pure fat, and is disgusting, but I ate it. Oh, and ginger looks a lot like potatoe, but it's not. I learned that the hard way. It rained so much the last 2 days! Last night was the hardest rain my companion says she has ever seen in Taiwan. It was so fun! We are expecting another Typhoon this week so I'm looking forward to that. Sister Wainright and I enjoy singing the awkward song nobody really likes in the Sound of Music while it's storming. "Climmbbbb everyyy mountainnnnnn, forrrrge everrrry streeeeammm" One, because we bike up mountains, two, because we forge streams in the rain. We use our really high operatic voices and it is just pure joy. It's really great because nobody can hear us since the rain is so loud haha. After English class on wednesday, we saw Sandy again! Remember her from one of my first emails? She had pulled over and was willing to meet, did for a few weeks and then the week before her baptism she dropped off the earth. Wouldn't answer our calls, meet with us, come to English or church and it was so sad. However, she came back! She apologized for ignoring us for so long, and wants to discuss baptism again. We are meeting with her again this week and I'm so excited. She was one of the first people that I personally contacted and was willing to pull over and set up a time to meet ("add" with us). I shall keep you updated! 

 

Thursday we had a Trainer/Trainee meeting for all the missionaries that came to the island when I did. I saw my two MTC companions and they are both doing good, so that was great! President Bishop gave us some really great advice and wanted to see how we were all doing now that we've been on island a while. We read in 3rd Nephi 11 in the Book of Mormon which is when Jesus Christ comes to visit the Americas after He is resurrected. The chapter starts out with the people hearing a voice but not being able to understand it. The voice was small, but pierced their souls. After 3 times, they knew where to look, they opened their ears and were able to understand the voice of God introducing His Son Jesus Christ. I feel like that is our role as missionaries. We help them know where to look, and then help them understand the message of the Gospel through giving them opportunities to feel the Spirit and God's love for them. Then we help them come closer to Christ. In the chapter, Christ comes down and presents Himself as a living testimony. My favorite verses are 14 and 15 because He invites everyone to come up to Him, one by one, and feel the nailprints in His hands and feet. There were thousands of people there, but He let them all come up one by one. Christ loves each of us individually. He sacrificed for each of us individually. He invites each of us to gain a testimony of Him individually. Our relationship with the Savior is very personal, and as we remember that, we know that we can turn to Him for all our needs. He has felt each of our pains, knows each of our griefs, and is waiting with arms stretched out open to come unto Him again. I know the Book of Mormon is true and am so grateful I get to testify of it everyday here. I love my mission and I love all of you! More next week

 

Love, Sister Smart

 

p.s. I got letters from Mom, Dad, Shari, and my friends Liz and Shelly, thank you so much!!! You are all too great :)

Sister Wainright and Sister Smart at Baptism of Tracy

OH MY GOODNESS. What a week!

August 13, 2012

 

OH MY GOODNESS. What a week. I know I say that every week, but this week really... what a week! We had our first baptism!!! One of our investigators named Tracy was scheduled to have her baptism at the end of this month. However, when she had her interview, our District Leader Elder Reynolds asked her why she was waiting so long, and asked if she wanted to switch it to this Saturday (which was 2 days ago) and she said YES!!! We got everything ready and she was baptized! It was such a wonderful day! We went out to eat with her and another member named Jojo afterwards and asked her how the day was. "Today I so happy!" the best broken english I have ever heard. Our Zone leaders Elder Haag and Elder Mitchel had 3 wonderful people also get baptized. It was such a great xili hui (baptismal service) And my first! You will find attached pictures of this happy occasion. Wow, what a great feeling.

 

Whew! Okay so the rest of my week was pretty great too. Last Monday on preparation day we went to San Min Lu street market with 2 sisters from our zone and 2 members from our ward. We all had so much fun together and afterwards went to a tempanyaki or whatever its called where they cook in front of you. It's funny because in America, you'd go to one of those places as a fancy restaurant and to feel kinda asian. Here it's normal. It was a really cheap meal and soooo good. That night we went to the stake president's house to have dinner with his family and one of our investigators. They also invited a few other members, one of them named Xiao mamma, a much much older woman. We were standing around talking when all the sudden she grabs me and starts holding my hands behind my back in weird positions. She then starts to hit me with her elbow and eventually throws me into a chair. I couldn't resist at all because I was still in utter shock as to what in the world was happening. She was so old... yet so strong. I was so confused. She then started kneeing my back as hard as she could. Finally I realized I was being abused and looked back at my companion who was just standing there, laughing so hard. She said, "Don't worry, she's just giving you a massage." WHAT??? That is a massage? Not to mention the fact that this woman is spouting/yelling out Taiyu. I tried to calm myself down so I could enjoy this lovely "massage" but to no avail. Eventually she grabbed my companion and then it was my turn to watch and laugh. Oh, Taiwan. Hahaha well that was Monday.

 

Tuesday we went to visit a cute girl who can't come to church very much because of her dance team, and afterwards went to the Shi family's house. 2 of the brothers were baptized last Saturday with Tracy, and then the sisters are new investigators. They were celebrating Fathers day a day early (In Chinese, Baba is Dad. Ba is August and Ba is 8, so August 8th they have father's day! so cool) and gave us some mango cake. It was SO good. We shared Enos 1:1 with them about how Enos is grateful his father taught him the ways of the Lord. Every parent loves their children, so we like to ask what kind of hopes and desires they have for their children as they grow up. They tell us, and then we tell them how the gospel of Jesus Christ can help them achieve all those things. It was a great visit, and I hope they will all be baptized soon. They are such a great family!!!

 

Wednesday we had a special English meeting. Because it was father's day, we decided to have that be the theme for our English class. We played different games, had them write letters to their fathers, and afterwards talked about how we all have a Heavenly Father who loves us so much. A lot of people came and it ended up being a great success! Thursday we were able to meet with 2 new girls who are really interested in joining our church. At the end of the lesson, they told as that they were girlfriends. It kind of took me by suprise, and we didn't really know what to say. I feel bad that we didn't talk with them more about it, but we will see them again tomorrow. It's hard to know what to say, because marriage needs to be between a man and a woman, but the Lord still loves those two girls SO much. As His representatives, we need to prayerfully consider how to help them see both of those things. The next morning we had a hilarious lesson with Yang Jiemei. It was our first time meeting her and we went to her little street stand where she sells this white bean cake type thing. She doesn't let 3 minutes go by without either telling us how beautiful we are or asking a random stranger walking by "Aren't these 2 americans just so beautiful? They are like dolls, no?" It was really awkward haha, but the lesson went great. She loves the fact that anyone can pray. She believes in God and has felt His spirit in her life, but didn't know she could communicate with Him. She also is excited to start reading the Book of Mormon. When we were about to end, she said, "wait! Don't leave! What if I go grab more people for you to teach?" Then she ran up to a few random people and asked them if they wanted to hear "some gospel stuff" from Americans. Nobody was willing, but it was still so hilarious watching her go up to them. We are excited to go visit her again haha.

 

Saturday was our baptism! Oh what a great day. Sunday we had several investigators attend church so it was also really great! Geez louise, I just feel so blessed to be here with these people, eating their food, speaking their language, learning about their culture, and sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with them. I am so lucky! It's 100 degrees outside, it's hard biking miles and miles up and down hills each day, and I sweat more than humanly possible, but oh how I love it! It is all so worth it to see a young girl be baptized, so see a family come closer together, to see lives change and hope renewed. I love it here in Zhonghua!

 

I love all of you! I'm glad Ciera and Savannah could come visit! Let me know how that goes. Hang in there Crystal!!! I'm excited to hear about Ryan hopefully this week :) I will write more next week

 

Love, Sister Smart

Nantou Lake Scene

Beautiful Nantou and Typhoon this week

August 6, 2012

My week!!! I don't even know where to begin!!! How about with last Monday? Okay. It was a lovely little preparation day. We were lucky enough to meet with 2 girls who wanted to learn how to play the uke and guitar. I have been teaching Sister Wainright how to play the ukulele, so she taught one girl, and then I taught the other girl a few guitar chords. It was so fun! We then shared the scripture (D&C 25:12) about how the song of the heart is a prayer unto God. I love how anything we do in our lives can be linked to the Gospel and God's plan of happiness for us! Plus, I love playing music every chance possible haha.

Tuesday I had my very first Sisters Exchange! Once every move call (6 week period) we get to spend 24 hours with another sister in a different area. My companion for the day was Chen Jiemei... she is Taiwanese, aka spake no english! It was definitely a growing experience. I got to visit beautiful Nantou... probably the most beautiful place I have ever seen. We met at a train station halfway between my city and hers and then began the hour long bus ride up and over the mountain. We were on a tiny bus that sounded like it would break down any minute, but the scenery was more than enough to keep my mind off the thought of potentially falling to our death off the side of the mountain. Luscious green EVERYWHERE! Leaves the size of half my body covered trees that towered above us. Green green green, greeny green green. I live in a very populated city with zero green, so it was a welcomed sight. As we trekked through the mountain, I felt as if I were on a jungle safari... Except no animals and on a really tiny island. We arrived in Nantou, ate a quick meal, and got to work! We had a lesson with one of their investigators and talked about the power of the Holy Ghost. At the start, she offered us coffee candy, so we ended up teaching her the Word of Wisdom. We talked about how since God is our Heavenly Father, He knows what is good and bad for our bodies. He loves us so much that He wants us to be healthy! It was a great start to the lesson because one of the blessings of keeping the word of wisdom is being able to feel the Holy Ghost more abundantly in your life. She commited to keep the Word of Wisdom and start praying and reading the scriptures. Afterwards, we got stood up by a few folks so we started tracting. We were able to teach a few people about prayer and one about God's plan of happiness for us. It was a great day filled with rain and success! The next day I headed back to good old Zhanghua. It is crazy how fast a place can feel like home! Speaking of fast, guess who has been in Taiwan over a month now! Song Jiemei. Isn't that weird? I keep doing double takes every so often. Am I really thousands of miles away on a tiny tiny island with almost 25 million people? Am I really speaking Chinese? This is that "mission" that so many people talk about. Stories for years and years to come will be created in these next 15 months. I feel so blessed! I absolutely love the people here.

We teach a free english class every wednesday night (My companion and I teach the intermediate class) It's always a lot of fun, and afterwards we got to have a lesson with Lin Jiemei. She first met missionaries over a year ago, and has been wanting to be baptized the whole time. However, there is a rule that you cannot be baptized if your family (spouse or parent) fanduis/objects. Her husband refuses over and over again, but it is so inspiring to watch her continue to do all the things she knows is right. She has such great faith and I pray one day her husband's heart will soften. So often here there are fanduis against baptism. Right now we have 3 others that dearly want to be baptized but have parent or husband fanduis. How sad that some families cannot accept such a wonderful decision, however one day they will be blessed for their patience and diligence! That night it started raining pretty bad, and we woke up the next morning to a TYPHOON!!! I love the rain. Thursday I was seriously on cloud 9 all day! It poured and poured, the wind howled and roared, and we kept going and going! The great thing about typhoons is that nobody will leave their house. On one side, that means there are not very many people to contact on the street, but on the other hand, that means all the people we want to visit are there! It's a missionary's dream come true. We were able to visit so many people that day, tract to tons of houses (tracting is where we knock on their doors and share a little message with them) and stay soaking wet all day. People kept getting mad at us for being out in the weather, but we didn't care. This message that families can be together forever is far too important to stay inside!  My bike was more of a boat and at one time we were peddling through 4 or 5 inches of water with the wind practically blowing us over. I have a tradition. It's called "if it's raining, I'm singing" so I sang all day! Making up songs about typhoons, 7-11s (have I ever told you there are HUNDREDS of 7-11's here?), or church hymns, etc. It makes the work so much more fun. One funny/probably-not-so-safe thing that happened was when my companion went to ring the doorbell to a house and got electrocuted a bit. I say funny because she didn't get hurt, so don't worry, but we were much more cautious after that haha.

The typhoon had mostly passed by the time Friday morning rolled around so it was just a rainy day. I feel like rainy days always bring miracles. We were tracting by a member's house when all the sudden a woman just walked up to us. In case you are wondering, that never happens. We are always stared at, pointed at, gawked at, or avoided, but rarely confronted. However, a woman walked up to us and just kind of stood there waiting for us to say something. We started talking to her and got her to commit to come to church. I love it when the Lord reminds us that He will always put people in our path, sometimes very literally! Saturday night we went to the Elders baptism in our ward. We have an investigator named Liu Jiemei who wanted to come see a xili (baptism) since she will have hers in a few weeks. She has 2 adorable sons, and a little before the baptism started, we were all in the room and my companion and I started singing. The older son is 6 years old and started dancing. It was the cutest thing ever! It made me miss all my wonderful nieces and nephews even more!!! Please tell them all that I love them so much! Tell Lindsay I am so happy she made the decision to be baptized and I know it will bless her so much!!! I'm so proud of her :).

Sunday was wonderful as usual. It was a little disheartening when several of our investigators didn't show up, but we were able to help out with some of the Elder's investigators so it was still great. It was really funny in the second ward when during sacrament meeting, an old man stood up and started yelling at the person bearing their testimony in Taiyu (taiwanese) I have no idea what he said, but I guess it wasn't very coherant taiyu because nobody else did either. His wife was able to calm him down and then we proceeded as normal. However, 5 minutes later it happened again. And again 2 more times haha. It was an interesting experience! That night my companion and I had a lot of lessons to cover so we went on splits with members. There are 2 sisters that are the world's greatest member missionaries. They help us out so much and we were able to each take one and go chuanjiao. We were able to teach 4 lessons in just an hour! It was such a miracle and we are meeting with some of them this next week. I know I say this a lot, but I LOVE teaching about prayer! That connection between our Heavenly Father is so important and we get to help them start it! Anyone can pray. Anytime, anywhere, and about anything. How cool is that?

Well family dear, I love you all dearly. I hope babies to be are all doing well! I can't wait to hear about baby Ryan! Shari, when do you find out if it is a boy or girl? Has Rachelle sold her house yet? started building yet? How was Keri and Jason's trip to TN? Lindsay's baptism sounds like it turned out great! Do you have any pictures? How is Christy's back/new house? Tell Tyler and Alyssa to email me about EFY. I hope all is well with all of you! I love hearing from you and seeing pictures, so feel free to send them :) I must be going now, for there is much work to be done! You're all in my thoughts and prayers!.

Till next week, I wish you enough

Sister Smart