Temple!

October 26, 2013

Dearest dear ones,

Well, this is the last time you'll hear from me as a full-time missionary in Taiwan. It's a bitersweet time, I'm sure you understand. The last year and a half have been rewarding beyond measure. I feel like I am finally starting to understand a tiny piece of the gospel. I feel so blessed to have been able to serve here in Taiwan among these people I love so much. Today I get to go to the temple with Liang Mama. I dont know if you remember, but she was baptized just over a year ago. If not, let me refresh your memory :)

Liang Mama is one of my favorite people in all of Taiwan. She is the most sarcastic, funny, loving, ama you will ever meet. She makes everyone smile and always serves others. She also felt she was far too old to change her ways, however, Liang Mama was 78 years old when she was baptized last year :) It started off simply, Liang Mama would pay attention for about 1 minute before she would try to feed us more food or tell us about her neighbors, or say something sarcastic . We'd steer the conversation back to the gospel, and eventually got more and more creative, bringing pictures and making big murals to keep her attention. We would invite her to be baptized, and she'd say "Sisters sisters, I'm about to die! Don't worry about me." However, we never gave up. We kept visiting her, helping her meet people in the ward, and could see her testimony growing each day. One day we walk in and she goes, "Sisters... I would like to be baptized tomorrow. Can you arrange that? Alright, thanks." We helped her prepare instead for the week after, and she was baptized last year in September.

Now, the last week of my mission I will be going through the temple with her. I'm grateful from head to toe! This last week has been a wonderful one, visiting the people I love. Riding along the beach with Cynthia as we chuanjiao'd together, helping Pan JM, seeing Mibo, Yuli, throwing the best haunted hause ever for our english party, seeing Zhuang Bei bei, and so many more.

I love you all! I'm sad to leave but I promised Heavenly Father that I'd go where He wants me to go, say what He wants me to say, and be what He wants me to be. I can't wait to see you!

Love, Sister Smart

No email this week

October 21. 2013

Family and Friends,

Sister Smart did not write an email this week.

Hopefully, there will be one more email from Taiwan before she returns home on October 29.

The following email message was sent to us from a friend or member in her local area:

Hi. This is cynthia, the friend of Sisters smart. She says tomorrow she cannot email you. She is go to temple saturday and will write saturday. She love you a lot. Thankyou. 

Christmas songs

October 14, 2013

We've begun singing Christmas songs, and I am utterly thrilled to celebrate the Savior's birth in a few months! I'm again sorry about the lack of time to write a decent email last week. I'll do my best to quickly write about this last week as well, but again, my time is short. We don't have much time and I have to do a bunch of random things since I'm going home soon, sorry, but here's some highlights, I'll tell details in a few weeks

 

We had another baptism this week! With the help of a loving ward family, Qiu JM decided to be baptized last Thursday 10/10 on Taiwan's independence day. Yeh yeh! She was so cute and happy. She shared a really strong testimony about how she knows the Book of Mormon is true and talked about how it has blessed her life.

 

I went on exchanges to Douliu with Sister Parkinson, a great girl from Michigan. We did a lot of tracting, and found some really nice families that invited us to come over again another day. 

 

English was pretty funny... Right before it started, an elder threw up all over the place. My class was thankfully in another room, and we had a great time talking about opposites and then general conference.

 

Speaking of General conference, it was amazing!!!! I watched it in chinese this time, but the spirit was just as strong. I learned so much from every single speaker. I really loved President Monson's talk and I'm so thankful we have  living prophet to guide us now. One of our friens, Ming Zhen came to all 8 hours, and loved it all! Yuli also came for most of it. The music was also really beautiful. I saw Lanni!

 

We visited Chen JM in Yongkang again. Her 95 year old mom is a gem and speaks a mix of japanese, chinese, taiyu, and english. She's really cute and likes to hug me.

 

We had a really neat discussion with Su Jm at Pan JM's house. They are both friends, one is Mibo's mom, who joined the church a few years ago. The other is one of our new friends who really wanted to learn about the plan of salvation. Her husband passed away 5 years ago and she has raised her 7 year old all on her own since. Tears came to her eyes when she realized she will see him again. The plan of salvation is so important and brings so much comfort and hope into our lives.

 

My time is up, but I love you all! The time is far spent and there is little remaining, so I'm going to go out there and give it my all. Have a great week!

 

Love, Sister Smart

Sorry!!

October 7, 2013

Dearest dearest family! I want to write so much, but my companion threw out her back yesterday and we are going to the doctors in a second. No time! If we have time afterwards I'll write more. I'm so so sorry! Know that my last week was great, I love you all, and that Heavenly Father is really great! Have a great week!!!!

Love, Sister Smart

Photos sent with email of September 30, 2013

Yet another "Best week ever!"

September 30, 2013

But really, it was like the best week ever. It is incredible what working with the members in your ward can do to help God's work truly progress. We made a goal to work with different members every single day this week, and it brought a slew of miracles.

Monday night we had too many lessons to do on our own, so we both split up and went with members as our companions. I was with Ya lan and we met with Guo JM, one of our investigators. When we met with her, we talked about how she feels about all the things we have taught her. She said that she  believes they are all true and wanted to understand a little bit more about baptism and the Book of Mormon. We took some time to explain a little more in depth about the Book of Mormon and then how it contains all of life's answers. Afterwards, she started to ask some questions and we together found answers in the Book of Mormon! We talked about how repentance is truly changing our hearts and how it relates to baptism and she really felt the spirit. It was one of the coolest lessons and she really could feel the Holy Ghost testifying that all these things are true. She is having her baptismal interview tonight. She has changed so much over the last 2 months and it makes me so happy to see her so happy!

Tuesday proved to be extremely busy as well, so again, we split up with members to go and work. I went with Hong Chen, we met with Cynthia, Pan JM, Zheng Jm, and the Xu family. There is something special about having a church member be able to testify of how the gospel has changed and blessed their lives. We are missionaries, this is what we do all day every day. They expect us to share these things. However, when a mom of 3 kids shares about how the gospel has helped her family have more peace in the home with a mom who wants her children to be happy, it helps them so much.

You guessed it, wednesday was also busy and so we worked with the Xu family to visit some families! The Ke family came to church yesterday and loved it! Their 3 little kids are ridiculously cute. I can't wait to see my own nieces and nephews :) That night for english spiritual share, after teahing about nature, I taught about the creation. It was really fun as my students drew it out on the whiteboard. We then talked about what a great gift Sunday is as a day of rest and service to the Lord. I love sunday!

Thursday, Sister Shen and I went up north to Taizhong for a meeting. We talked about how the mission is going after some changes implemented with the new president. We also got fed an incredible homemade lunch... it was a chicken something. I'm not sure but it was the best food I've had since the last time I went to this meeting last month... haha. That night we came home and went out with Guo Jm, a sister who is about to go on a mission to Australia! She came with us to visit 2 friends. She really loves the feeling of sharing her testimony and I know she'll be a great missionary.

Friday we had another day of meetings, zone conference, but this time in Jiayi and with our Tainan zone and the Jiayi zone. That just means we met with about 40 other missionaries to receive training from our president. We talked a lot about the blessing of repentance and converstion. I really learned a lot and am excited to keep trying some new things we learned. The only bad part of the meeting was towards the end... Every new missionary gets introduced by their trainers at these meetings. I remember previous meetings when I was introduced by my trainer, and then later when I introduced my new missionaries. This is fun and entertaining... However I was unprepared for the second part, where missionaries about to go home give their reflections. And yes, I had to give a 2-3 minute reflection about what I learned on my mission. I had to sum up 18 months in just 3 minutes. I rambled about love and converstion. To me, converstion is  truly knowing that God loves us, and being willing to show Him that we love Him too. Once we feel His love and His mercy, the desire to obey will naturally come. It's a pretty neat thing. That night we all raced home because we had a baptism! Our cute little 12 year old Xue Qing got baptized, along with Cai DX, one of the elders friends. It turned out great and helped Guo JM (the one listed above) get excited about her own baptism. Everything went wonderfully.

Saturday was great, Sunday was great, last night's missionary fireside was great, the lesson the 3rd ward bishop asked us to teach to relief society and priesthood combined went great (talked about member missionary work), Sister shen's talk in the 4th ward went great, to put it simply, life is just great. I know this work is true. I know God loves us. I pray for each and every one of you every single day!!!

Love, Sister Smart

Surviving typhoons and eating lots of meat

September 23, 2013

As the subject foretells, this last week we had a typhoon and I ate a lot of meat. I think the latter was more fearsome.

The whole week in general was pretty rainy, but nothing out of the ordinary. The wind got pretty bad the last few days but it really wasn't near as bad as other typhoons I've experienced here. I've heard it was worse in other cities though, so I hope they are okay. Monday night we ate dinner with a family here. It was pretty crazy when I mentioned my brother in law served here 10 years ago, of course they ask who, I say his name, and they go crazy and ask if he is the one with the crazy blonde hair. They said "he showed me a picture" and I knew it was Davido immediately :) They love him so much and still remember him. It makes me happy to think that the time we spend here really does make a difference. Thanks Davido for being a great missionary many moons ago!

Cai JM, a sister in our ward, has had it pretty rough lately. She's gone through a bad divorce and can't see her 2 kids as often as she'd like. She's been a champ through it all but we wanted to do something special for her. We both thought of tons of quotes and scriptures, wrote them down on tiny pieces of paper, and put them into little already-made pills, and then into a glass jar. She was prescribed to take daily or as needed. Hope it helps her!

We also started meeting with a new friend, Li JM. She is one of the most prepared people I've ever seen. First, we met her in a 7, and she walked up to us and asked if she could learn more. She then came to church, loved it. Then she met with us again, asking why there are so many different churches, so we shared with her about the Restoration. She really feels that God is really helping her to find truth, and that's why she wanted to talk and meet with us. God really does help us meet the right people at the right time.

Mibo is doing great! We taught her about prophets and general conference coming up. I'm so excited!!! When you think about it, it really is pretty dang cool that we have a living prophet who can guide us in these days. We had them in bible times, why wouldnt we have them now? Watching them speak helps my testimony grow each and every time, I know they are men called of God.

We also had "Clean the Earth" day with 3 & 4 ward. We had it pretty good because we went to beautiful Anping Harbor, the beach, and cleaned up trash. The beach is only about 15 minutes from my house. I am a lucky girl. It was really great, and we had some friends come with us to help clean it up. Everyone had a great time serving together. The funniest part was at the end when we ran into a group of students. They freaked out when they saw americans, and begged to talk with us, take pictures etc. When I was about to leave, I gave one of the girls a hug. As I let go, she turned and screamed to her friends, "IM NEVER SHOWERING AGAIN!!! My life is complete!" I felt pretty awkward at that time and told her that she definitely needed to shower because I smell really bad. It was pretty funny in general, and we enjoyed our service that day.

This last weekend was Zhong Qiu Jie! Mid autumn festival. We got to go to 3 different BBQ's asian style. They are pretty different, but we were able to get our hands on some marshmallows! It was a great time. One of them was on someones roof, overlooking anping harbor, nighttime with a full moon, and fireworks overlooking the water. Talk about a beautiful site! It was a really great week and I love living here.

Funny:

I met a lady named White Lily Jesus. She gave me bananas.

Well I love you all dearly :) Have a great week!!!

Sister Smart

Sister Smart with companion Sister Shen

HIIIIIIIIIIIII



Hello hello! My life is great. My week was great. My companion is great. And I have a funny translation for you: Elvis in chinese is translated to Cat King. Mao wang. Funny right?

 

Dangit. My computer just got weird and exited out all my stuff... This will be quite short due to lack of time and a decent computer :) Forgive me!

 

Quick rundown:

 

Mibo is a cute fiesty little 10 year old in a family we're meeting with. We're best friends now and are making cookies together this week. It'll be fun. When we were talking about how the earth was created, she yelled out, "THAT'S FALSE!!!!" I asked her to explain and she said, "no no, it's really like this: The sun and the moon had a baby and the earth came out! There was no person who created it!" It was quite funny, I've never heard it explained like that :)

 

We also had a talent show for english, great success. We went to a very far away place (2 hour bike ride) and it was wonderful. On our way back my bike completely broke. The chain went crazy and the back part just somehow turned... it was weird and hard to explain, but its far to expensive to fix, so I'm just riding an tiny old sisters bike left here for the next few weeks. It will be fun haha :)

 

One of my favorite parts of the week was when we went and sang to an old grandpa and his family in the hospital. He had a stroke and couldn't sing, or understand chinese. I got to use my rusty taiyu and Sister shen could speak with him. At the end we sang a song to comfort him and he got all teary eyed. It made me really happy. We get to do cool things every single day. I wish I could write more, a long letter next week, I promise :)

 

LOVE YOU ALL

Sister Smart

I extended for 2 years!

September 9, 2013

Just kidding. Thats what I keep telling people here though. Everyone asks me when I'm going home, I just say oh I've got about 2 years left. They laugh, say that's not possible, and I continually avoid the question. I don't want them to know or make a big deal about it. I just want to chuanjiao.

Last night we had an awesome ward activity where we got the Joseph Smith movie (the longer one) only recently translated int chinese and watched it with everyone in the 3rd and 4th ward. For most people here, it is the first time they find out how much persecution and sacrifice Joseph Smith and all the early pioneers made. Many were crying the whole movie. Afterwards, Shen jm and I led a discussion on how they felt. The overwhelming feeling was that sometimes we are tempted to think that God asks too much of us, however, truth of the matter is, we are often the ones that ask too much of Him. He knows how we can be happy, so He gives us the gospel. He invites all to follow, and promises happiness and blessings. We were all touched by so many examples of faith and dedication in order to translate the Book of Mormon and restore Jesus Christ's church.

I keep thinking about all the examples in the Book of Mormon, in church history, and in my own life that help me see that living the gospel is truly the way to happiness. I realized that as a missionary, we are daily sharing examples from the Book of Mormon. We talked about Captain Moroni with Cynthia to help her have courage and faith to do what she knows is right. We shared about Alma the elder, who prayed for his son to come to the truth, and later, Alma the younger who becomes a great missionary and blessing to thousands. We shared with Mibo about Mormon and the sacrifices he took to compile the Book of Mormon and protect his family. We talked about King Benjamin's righteous example of a leader with Bai JM when she was confused about how to take care of some problems. The truth is, the stories in there aren't there just to take up space, they are there for us to learn from, grow, study, and apply in our own lives.

The greatest example is Jesus Christ. As we shared about His life with Zhou JM, she was touched and wanted to know how the atonement works. I have no idea haha! I don't even know where to begin, but I do know that it is true. I know that when we want to change, we can. I know that when we trust Christ, we can have hope. I know because it is real in my life.

After we watched the movie and talked about it, we handed out Book of Mormons to everyone and invited them to write their testimony and share it with a friend. I invite you to do the same! Think of how much that book has blessed your life, and share those blessings. If you haven't felt its power in your life yet, that's okay. Try it out and read it. You'll find that it will give you more hope than you could have on your own. I love you all!!!!!

Love, Sister Smart

Photos with email dated September 2, 2013

HIIIIIII!

September 2, 2013

I apologize beforehand for the lack of time I have to send this email. I'm helping my companion with her BYU application (since it is in english haha) I haven't sent pictures in a long time, so I figured today would be a perfect time.

A quick bit about my last week: On preparation day a member and his wife took us out to an all you can eat Japanese buffet. It was to die for and I ate far too much. Have I mentioned that Tainan is famous for its ridiculously good food and that I eat an abnormally large amount? Well, I do. Haha, last week I got to go to Qishan up in the mountains of Gaoxiong on exchanges with Sister Haupt. The picture I sent with solid trees everywhere you look is the view from their apartment. It's a tiny tiny town out n the middle of nowhere. We had a grand time, going and finding friends and eating to our heart's content. They are known for their bananas, so everything there is banana based. I ate banana dumpling, banana bean curd, banana bread, and banana smoothie, all very very very good. That night we had some time to tract and got nicely rejected by many a folks. It's kinda weird how used I am to being rejected now. Most the times its a polite no thanks and a slam in the face, however, we had the privelege of being chased by dogs that night. That was fun haha. Anyways, I came back the next day with Sister Shen and we spent a few hours together only to again be separated that night when I went over to another area for exchanges again. I went to another area in Tainan with Sister Johnson. We too had a fun time together talking about why being happy is an important part of missionary work. I can honestly say that I have been happy every single day of my mission. Yes, bad things happen, sometimes we get a little discouraed, and sometimes we get rejected a lot, but we can still be happy! I feel like as long as I do my best to live the gospel and love the people, it is a recipe for happiness. Another movecall is coming to an end soon and it is scary how the time has flown, but I'm excited to see the miracles that will happen in the next few weeks. I'm sorry there's not more time, but enjoy the pictures and have a wonderful wonderful week!!!

I love you guys!  Love, Sister Smart

Excellent Excellent Excellent



August 26, 2013

From the subject title you can all probably assume my last week was quite excellent to say the least. In fact, yesterday while at church I was thinking about my week and about all the things I was learning from the speakers, and realized they all linked together. So, this week I'm just going to tell you what I learned at church yesterday.

I went to the 4th Ward this week, which starts out with Relief Society, then I'll go to Gospel Principles class, and then end it with Sacrament meeting.

Relief Society

Zhang JM gave a wonderful lesson on 4 roles that define us. Her lesson was based of President Uchtdorf's talk given to the men at general conference, but we linked it to women. The first role is that we are children of Heavenly Father. This reminded me of one of our friends, Guo JM. She has been meeting with us for a few weeks and has a strong testimony of prayer and her relationship with God. She loves coming to church and is working to prepare for baptism next month. She shared a cool experience with us last week about how her and her mom don't have the greatest relationship. She said that they often fight and don't really see eye-to-eye on a lot of things. She took our invitation to pray to heart and started to pray for their relationship to get better. She came back the next time giddy with excitement because her prayers had been answered. As she's worked on her patience and not getting upset so easily with her mom, her mom has also started showing more love and understanding. I know that Heavenly Father wants to bless our lives and help us see the good ineveryone, for we are all his precious children.

The next role was Disciples of Jesus Christ. A huge part of this comes from our own study of Christ's life and how He interacts with those around Him. I thought upon my testimony of the Bible and Book of Mormon. I also reflected upon the chances this week I had to bear my testimony of what I had learned and come to know that was true. First, while in a lesson with a wonderful Jehovah's Witness sister. She had come prepared with a list of why we are terrible and wrong and how we could not be Christian. However, as we lovingly shared scriptures with each other, bearing our testimonies of their truthfulness, she was touched. At the end, she looked me straight in the eyes and said, so you actually believe the Book of Mormon to be true? How? I was able to share a tender experience when I myself, 13 years old, came to know the Book of Mormon was true through feelings of the Holy Ghost. As I'vecontinued to study and read over the years, my testimony is strengthened everyday. As we study these things, the next part is to go and do! Fun story: We were about to get on our bikes to ride when I noticed a cute old man trying desperately to ghostride a bike home. It would go astray every few seconds and he would have to stop and readjust frequently. I ran over to help him stand the bike up straight and then asked where he was going. He said not too far, so I got on the bike and told him I'd ride it for him and then walk back. After being on the bike a few minutes, I began to realize that this bike was special... This bike had no breaks. Haha, it was a really funny ride (especially since it was a tall boy bike and I had on a skirt) but we made it! It was fine and that was that. We said goodbye and walked back to our bikes. I want to be better at doing nice things for people. It feels good. 

The next was "Healer of the Soul" We get to comfort the brokenhearted, help the sick and afflicted, strenghthen those who have lost their way, share the light of the gospel with our loved ones. This role is pretty special. Last week we went to visit a few members of the church who haven't been in many years. Many have been burdened down by the last few years of trials that keep piling up. They want to come back and feel free from it all, but are just not quite sure how to. As we become their friends, they realize that God has not forgotten nor ever will forget them. They feel that spark of hope and allow the atonement to help their lives feel peace again. 

The last was Heirs of Eternal life. Remember Chen JM, the miracle miracle who was baptized a few weeks ago? We met with her last week and I was able to hear the story from herself. She'd been meeting with missionaries and coming to church for several months. She was excited to be baptized, and had her parents permission (even though she was 26 years old) to get baptized. It was wonderful. 2 days before her baptism her best friend in the world tells her suddenly that she has to pick between getting baptized, or being her friend. She was really hurt and called the sisters, not knowing what to do. The sisters bore testimony that she was making hte right choice and to keep praying about it. Chen JM felt it was right and decided she'd still get baptized. The next day, her boyfriend of 2 years does the same thing, and again she decides to keep going. The day of her baptism, that best friend went to her parents house and told them how she didn't want her to get baptized and convinced her parents to forbid her. She came home from work to grab her baptism clothes to a changed house. Her parents locked her in and wouldn't let her out, forbidding her to be baptized. She called the sisters and told them of the situation. The baptism was about to start in a few minutes, so everyone was there. They all said a fervant prayer together and had the feeling that they should just wait for her and that she would come. 6:00 comes by and her boyfriend pulls up, her right behind, ready to be baptized. Turns out, her boyfriend changed his mind once he realized how happy church made Chen JM, he went over to her parents house and smoothed everything over, and attended the baptism with her. It ended with him even saying that he too would like to be baptized one day. I know that's a long story, but it just shows the faith and determination of a wonderful 25 year old woman. She will continue to learn and grow in the gospel and one day will be the heir to eternal life.  p.s. the best friend is still friends with her... no change after baptism haha.

Next class: Gospel principles.

We talked about honesty and how it is sincere, selfless, doesn't mislead, and a characteristic of Christ. This lesson affected one of our friends Qiu JM so much that she decided to quit her job that makes her do some little dishonest things, and quit her other job that usually makes her work on sunday. She decided that she wants to find a job she can come to church and learn every week, and to make sure that she feels happy and righteous at work, no matter how much money she makes. She is a wonderful example of taking what we learn at church and applying it in our lives right away!

Next class:

Sacrament meeting. 2 things really stood out to me in sacrament. 1- Love. Why do we serve? What is the purpose of our service? Love! We went to visit the Cai family, long time members of the church to do FHE with them. We asked Cai JM what she learned on her mission and she said, to love the members you serve with. I can testify that that is so important! It makes the work so much more fulfilling when we work with others to do it. A great example of love last week was the Xu family. They are ward missionaries and do an incredible job helping investigators, members, and everyone they see. We were on our way home after church and some meetings to grab lunch when they called and said they had a feeling we should go see one of our members who wasn't there today. We gladly went with them and turns our she really needed our help. It was so cool to see the Holy Ghost working in their lives and how they acted upon that prompting to help someone in need. The second thing was something that a sister said in her talk 2- "Our marriage is based on Missionary Work." What a cool thing to base a marriage off of. So many families in Taiwan have that approach. We got to go to Youth Conference on Friday night for Missionary Night. We got to play some games and help the youth see the importance and happiness in missioanry work. At the end, the stake president asked who from the youth planned on serving a mission. Almost every single youth of a group of around 400 stood up instantly. I could just feel the power of the future missionary force here in Taiwan. I am so glad they will get to experience the blessings of a mission and come to know Heavenly Father in a wonderful way.

As I read over President Uchtdorf's talk this morning, this stood out to me: "Perhaps it is ture that we are weak. Perhaps we are not wise or mighty. But when God works through us, no one and nothing can stand against us." I know that is true. I know that we can feel happiness as we turn to Him for help through our prayers. I love life. I know I say it far too much, but its true. I love you all and miss you so much!!!!!

Love, Sister Smart

Tainan oh Tainan



August 19, 2013

One day I'll write a song about how great Tainan is. But for now I'll just tell you about my supergreat last week.

FHE on monday night was a smashing success. We held it at the Xu familiy's house. It was so much fun! We had some people who recently joined the church come, also some who hadn't been to church in a long time, also some people investigating the church. We ate dinner together, then played a game and talked about how when we put Christ first, everything else works out.

The next day I went to Jiayi, about an hour train ride awaw and had exchanges with Sister Chord. We went there first for Zone training meeting, then we had a little pow-wow with the sisters and it was really fun. We talked about some of the stresses in missionary work and how we can deal with them. Afterwards I went back to Sister Chord's area, Douliu. They just opened the place up last week, so we had a nice open day just trying to meet some folks. We ended up tracting into a family who let us in and we were able to share about how the gospel blesses families. It was great! We also ate a pizza for dinner. haha

Wednesday we switched back in the afternoon and I came back to dear old Tainan. That night for english I taught them "Our Savior's Love" in english and we'll be performing it in a  few weeks for the talent show we're throwing. We talked about the lyrics. One of my favorite parts is when it talks about how the light of Christ lights our way is it breaks through clouds of strife. We together shared experiences about when Christ has led us through times when we were confused or felt lost, and what that light feels like. I know it's real.

We threw 2 activities this last week, one was a brownie night. It was really fun and we taught everyone how to make them. Of course we bought ice cream to celebrate and it was pretty funny to see them react to how sweet brownies are. The other was a pizza night. Note, if you want people to come to activities, just say there's food! Works everytime. Anyways, they were great opportunities for everyone to make friends and have a great time together.

Saturday night we went to a baptism with one of our investigators, Cynthia. She was so touched by the baptism and we talked afterwards about her own baptismal service. We set a date and we'll do everything we can to help her receive those wonderful blessings! It was such a great week. Sunday night we had another FHE (to be held on Sundays from now on) and it was also really great. The elders did the spiritual share and reinacted the 3 little pigs. It was so funny! Afterwards we played a game and everyone had a great time. Really, missions are so wonderful. I'm out of time but love you all!!

Love, Sister Smart

First week in Tainan

August 12, 2013

 

The wonderful world of Tainan is a dream beyone imagination. Just wait till I send you pictures. After our email last week, I jumped on a train to Tainan. A few hours later I found myself in the most beautiful city with an incredible companion! Sister Shen and I are just about as happy as happy missionaries can be! We got home and got right to work. This week was spent mainly getting to know tons of people, so let me introduce you to them

 

Zhou JM is our relief society president and a huge key to succcess in Missionary work. We met with her and asked how we could help the ward, especially the sisters. We talked about those who could use a helping hand and we spent the rest of the week visiting them. Her husband and her met the missionaries when their youngest child was only 2 years old. They've been incredibley faithful these last 30 years and helped us out so much.

 

Chen JM is a great girl who is investigating the church. She is in her 20's and has a strong testimony of prayer. She sells clothes everyday (get this, their jewelry is from Forever 21 haha) and has been coming to church the last few months. She is so great. A cute girl named Mango came with us to teach her, which worked out pretty great. Mango joined the church 5 years ago and has a really strong testimony of families. She is always willing to help the missionaries. That's when I started to realize that this area is full of people who love missionary work and are willing to do anything to help these people come unto Christ. It's so great!

 

Lisa is another wonderful woman. She has intesrest in the church because of Brother Lin, a co-worker. She think's he's the bee's knees, so when he invited her to come and see, she was more than willing. She has been learning so much and we'll hopefully see her again tonight for FHE. It goes to show that the most important aspect of missionary work is our own example. If we are living the gospel, others will want to come and see for themselves why we are so happy.

 

Nina is a cool 13 year old who lives in Australia. Her uncle is a member and invited her to meet with us. We got to know her and then shared about how the Book of Mormon and prayer will bless our lives no matter where we are. She'll be going back to Australia soon, but we hope shell continue to learn over there.

 

Ke family! They are the greatest. They live at the top of Gaoxiong, which is still our area, so we rode our bikes down the beach to get there. Read that sentance again. I know, right? Biked down the beach. This area is so beautiful. If I get a chance to ride that road on a pday I'll of course send pictures to you. This family was baptized almost a year ago and is getting ready to go to the temple. They have 3 cute kids, Bella, Ryan and Jordan. They are so much fun!

 

Chen JM, just got baptized 2 weeks ago. Huge miracle story I'll share with you next week if I have time. Sorry, today's time is also pretty short. Qiu JM is so funny! She wants to be baptized so bad but her grandpa objects. We're helping her continue to build her faith, and we know miracles will come. Zhang JM is so cool too! We shared the word of wisdom with her and turns out she's an alcoholic. However, as we shared the blessings of keeping this commandment, she was willing to try it before we even asked her.

 

We also met with other leaders, like the Bishops of our wards (we have 2 wards here) and they want us to help strengthen the youth and the singles programs. They'd like us to help them throw activities and help everyone come to the church and feel loved. We're so excited to work with them! gahhh. The time goes by so fast! Next email will be more interesting because I've got 2 exchanges, a pizza party, a cookie party, and much much more coming up this next week. Haha, simply put, I love my new area, companion, and all these people. They are so wonderful and I am glad to serve them. I love you all and miss you so much! Don't forget to read your scriptures and say your prayers :)

 

Love, Ally

I don't have much time today, I'm moving to Tainan

August 5, 2013

I'm sorry I don't have much time today. The big news is that I'm moving to Tainan here in a little bit. I'll be companions with a Sister Shen and it should be a blast. I was hoping to stay my last 3 months here, but guess Heavenly Father has other plans for me. I'll go, but I'll miss this place a lot. I love Fengyuan and it has changed so much in the last several months. I figured I would be moving so I spent the week visiting the people I will miss the most. Mainly, Lily and her family. Theresa and her family. Hong JM and her family. Chen JM and her family. Lin JM, Li mama, Eva, and so many others that have touched my life. I love this area so much! I'll be taking on some new responsibilities in Tainan, so it will be a cool chance to get to serve the people and missionaries there. My train leaves in a little bit though and I'm not sure I'll have another chance to finish my emailing time today, but know that I love you all! I know the Lord loves us all and He is always by our side, helping us do the things we feel inadequate to do. I know prayer is real and that it can change our hearts. Sometimes it kinda just boggles my mind at how ridiculously happy I am... It's because there is no greater message that we could be sharing and living. It's fun and I plan on working non-stop these last 2 movecalls. Love you!!

 

Love, 宋姊妹,

9 Principles

July 29, 2013

Beloved loved ones,

Hi! I'm doing quite excellent. Lately I've been really studying the 9 principles for a successful Family and realizing how much it can relate to any aspect of our lives. In my journal its listed as "9 Principles for a successful... ANYTHING" Seriously. Wanna have success? Just do this. This week I'm going to talk a little bit on how these 9 principles fit in with missionary work this last week for me. Let's begin. I'll write some of my thoughts, or other's thoughts (like prophets and stuff) and then link it to my week.

Faith

"In uncertain and difficult times, faith is truly a spiritual gift worthy of our utmost efforts." We need to understand and believe the doctrine. This is more of a funny story. We rode home in sheeting rain Saturday night after our luau, racing to get in the door. I carelessly forgot to lock my bike (unusual) and ran inside. The next morning, we go out to bike to church and hmm.. Weird. Where did my bike go? Oops. Got stolen haha. I was strangely calm and laughed as we hiked to the nearest bus stop. We came home after church to eat really quick and I observed, "Well, I guess that guy who needed it isn't quite finished with it yet. It'll be back later" My companions laughed and I did too, still not quite sure what I would do if my bike did not come back again. We left to go meet with some people and came back that night. Still no bike. Again, "Guess he's not done... yet. Still needs it." In my mind I figured I was just joking, however, lo and behold, that night I get a call from the Tanzi sisters who live with us saying, you're bike is back! Haha, guess he was done using it and I now can ride my bike. Now this isn't some example of heroic faith that saved nations, but it was enough to give me hope and let me not worry about the future. Even if it hadn't been returned, I still know everything would have worked out fine.

Repentance

"Today is always a better day to repent than tomorrow!" This is one of the best ways I can feel the spirit daily. Continual daily repentance brings joy, hope, and the comfort of the Holy Ghost. I mess up daily. That's okay. I try to repent daily too to make up for it. We are constantly evaluating ourselves to see where we can improve and how we can better represent Christ. It just feels good.

Prayer

"As soon as we learn the true relationship in which we stand toward God, then at once prayer becomes natural and instinctive on our part" When Christ wants to show others that He loves them, He prays for them. My night time prayers are filled and filled with names and people I love. Sometimes they are extremely specific, sometimes they are not, however, the feeling is always the same. God loves each and every one of us, He knows us personally and perfectly. I try to help others realize and make that connection daily. Once its there, there is nothing that can get us down.

Forgiveness

"Heaven is filled with those who have this in common: They are forgiven, and they forgive" We cannot hold grudges or judge others. This is super helpful when you live with someone 24 hours a day and for months at a time. We are different, but that's okay. We talk and work together, knowing that nobody is perfect. When we are unified, we have the spirit and can teach effectively. I have loved each and every one of my companions dearly.

Love

"By THIS (Love) shall men know, ye are my disciples." Love others as we know the Savior loves us. What would He do? The Xie family is one that I love deeply. A mom and her 3 sons. We meet with them twice a week and they are so wonderful. We were talking about who our best friends are once while chatting as we arrived and the oldest said without skipping a beat, Heavenly Father! These children are finding out that God loves them. We love them too. Because we love them, we share the precious knowledge that we have. Love is the most important aspect of missionary work.

Respect

"To consider worthy of high regard" "Honor them. They need to hear a good word. They need a friendly smile. They need a warm expression of true love" This last week we had a duanchuan with us this week named Lin JM. I have much respect for her. She's the only member in her family and her family really disapproves of her joining the church and leaving behind their family traditions. She has a strong testimony and is filled with faith and love for the Lord and His gospel. She was not afraid to share it with anyone and has grown so much over the last week. I am so grateful for all the people in my life that I look up to and respect.

Compassion

"To suffer with, to show sympathy, pity, and mercy for another" Sometimes people just need a listening ear. I was reading in Mark when John the Baptist dies. Christ must be feeling so sad, and keeps getting followed, no time for Himself. He goes to a quiet spot to dwell after the news and is still swarmed with people pleading for His mercy and His healing. He was not like most of us who would say, oh just a second. I'm having a hard time, can you come back later? or I'll help that person another day. He immediately healed them and blessed them. He wept with those who needed comfort and strengthened the weak wherever He went. I want to be like that. Last night we met with a wonderful Mom and her daughter (Lily's family I've told you guys about) The Mom opened up about her past and we sat and listened for a long while as she spoke about the hardships in her life. Things very hard to imagine. Some were brought to tears as we listened and thought about how blessed each of us were for our wonderful families and lives, no matter the difficulties we may face. What a wonderful gift it is to have the opportunity to meet these wonderful people who need a listening ear, and then the gospel to help find a new start.

Recreation

We had a smashing Luau on Saturday. I want to talk more about it but am out of time. Tons of people came, everyone had a great time, we took tons of pictures and I'll send them next week :)

Work

Honest labor, not wasting time, discipline, seeing it to completion, and enjoying it every step of the way. Yeah, we work hard, but we have the best time doing it. I love being a missionary. I love working hard and sweating till you're not really sure if its raining or super hot when I walk into a room (gross, right?) I love meeting people. I love hearing their stories. I love speaking chinese. I love speaking Taiyu to old amas. I love the food. I love the weather. I love riding my bike. I love the weird habits people have here. I love the gospel. I love sharing it with everyone. I love smiling and having Christ's name in characters over my heart. I love every single part of my life and am grateful for this chance I have to be here.

I love you all so much! More next week

Love, Ally

We had a duanchuan (short term missionary)

July 22, 2013

Hello folks! Sorry I'm a little bit later today. I just got back from a nice day in Taizhong city seeing some sites and eating at a really cool restaurant. I'll send some pictures!

Last week we had a duanchuan (short term missionary) Lu JM with us for just a week. It was a young men and woman's activity so she was only 15 years old and just lived with us for a week, obeying all missionary rules and going out with us as if she were a missionary with us. It was really fun and we had so many cool experiences. Welp, We just got word that we are picking up another duanchuan in just 20 minutes... AHH so I don't have much time but let me tell ya some o the good stuff from last week:

We spent a day up in Xinshe to visit some people, including a woman named Mina up in the mountains. She was really sweet and googlyeyes for Americans, but still had interest in learning the gospel so that was nice. While we were waiting to catch the bus back (no possible way to bike to Xinshe) we had a cool miracle! Benson is one of the elders' investigators who really wants to be baptized but who's mom fandui's. Well, lo and behold, we're waiting for the bus and Benson rolls up on his bike. We start to chat a little bit and turns out he just lived a few doors down and asked if we'd like to come and visit his mom! We were able to get to know her and help her understand a little bit about what we do. She said we could come back another day, so we're really excited. Crazy how things work out sometimes. That night we met with one of our new converts and she decided to bring a friend. We talked about the priesthood and how important  it is and how much it blesses us. She expressed a desire to go on a mission and wants to start preparing for that, so we're really excited! After that, we visited a friend who was baptized a long time ago but hasn't been to church in a long time. She however has been the last 2 weeks and is enjoying the new peace and comfort in her life. We were able to share a cool article from last general conference about how the scriptures are like a map on our journey in life. It was really great!

Ahhhh my time is almost up. We have to go pick her up. Here's some things I'll try to explain next week

-Zhong ama's son having interest!
-74 folks at our english class, including 34 kids
-Ye JM in Houli wants to start learning
-Getting soaked to the bone in Houli without rainclothes, and led around by the mayor
-Eva came to church! So did Teresa and her kids! And Lily and Jenny and her friend!
-Hula class is going great, party is looking good for this week!
-Hong Jm and her daughter miracle!!! Lu JM is her daughters friend!
-Pizzaaaaaa-Baptism!
-Weird parade for a gods birthday here

Sorry I don't have time to explain it all, but I LOVE YOU GUYS! I'll write more next week!

Love, Ally

Survived another deadly typhoon



July 13, 2013

I am alive for those of you who were aware that Taiwan had a "deadly typhoon" as some like to call it. More on that later!

This week was crazy, Some of the cool highlights are as follows

-Huang JM is a cute older woman we meet with. Lately she's been really down on her self and extremely negative. We had a cool lesson with her where we talked about who we are as daughters of God and how being positive towards yourself and others can bring so much happiness! She was moved to tears as we testified together and helped her see that she has great worth and divine potential. One of my favorite things on my mission has been to see the transformation as they come to be someone with confidence who radiates happiness because of the truth they have found.

-Lily and her Mom are doing so great! Lily was the one we found a few weeks ago who hadn't been to church in 5 years, since she was baptized. Her mom is a huge support of her coming back and also has interest in learning the gospel. We love their family so much and have so much fun every time we go over there. The gospel was made for families and blesses them beyond our imagination! It's so cool

-Wednesday night at english I taught about music! We had a HUGE class of 31 kids with a few parents. It was crazy but so much fun. We all brought in instruments and I let the kids play mine. We also practiced a hula dance that one of our recent converts is teaching them... because we're throwing a luau! Yeh yeh. It's gonna be a hit. The men, women, and kids are all learning different things and performing them. 7/27 is coming up and we're doing a ton of preparation for it. It will be a blast!

-Eva is one of the girls that we teach ukulele to. She is so cute and wonderful but is always a little hesitant towards the gospel. When she came on Thursday, she didn't pull out her ukulele. She instead started off telling us some problems she's been having lately. She was confused as what she should do and asked us for advice. After a little while, I ended up saying something about how I was grateful to know where we came from, why we're here on earth, and where we go after this life, and how much comfort that knowledge has given me. She stopped and stared for a second, and then said, what!? You know the answer to those questions!? We were delighted then to share about the plan of salvation and tell her all those answers. She's excited to continue learning! The gospel is seriously so cool. 

Last, yes we had a huge typhoon. Friday night it started and the wind and rain were just howling all night. I woke up that morning a little after 6, and as I set my feet on the floor, I felt around an inch of water at my feet. I'll send pictures next week. Yep, all the windows in our house (though closed) flooded. It was a ton of clean up but we got it all under control. Later when the typhoon wasn't as bad, we went out and saw trees everywhere! We did little clean ups as we could, trying to serve wherever we went. It was really fun! And we are all safe. Don't worry!

OH and a funny story: So this week we went go and visit a lady in our ward that we haven't met yet and when we got to her house her sister answered and said she wasn't home but invited us in. And then her mom (who is this cute little grandma) came down and started talking to us. There was this baby doll sitting on the table next to her and she grabbed it and told us that she had been taking a babysitting class and she was telling us all about it while she was playing with the doll and then she went to say how she just got finished taking her babysitting test and how she failed, right as she was saying this the arm of the doll popped off! hahaha and she was like, "whoops.... i'll fix that!" after a few minutes of trying to fix it she just sat it on the side of her and said she'll do it later. hahaha it was the funniest thing ever. My companion and I were dying. Good times good times.

Well I love you all! You're the best and I'm praying for you always! See ya next time!

Love, Ally

PICTURE TIME!

PICTURE TIME!

First, food! I love the food here. It's mostly noodles, rice, breads, and fried anything. The picture is of Guotie, fried dumplings I think they're called. A good 12 will fill me up for lunch. 

The next is of me and my dear companion Sister Ah Quin. We missed the bus one time so just walked and walked for a while. It was still fun :)

The long scarf is a gift from one of the members here she gave abefore she moved. It is so long! haha she was like, sorry, I made it too happily and had no idea it had gotten so long! So funny

Curry rice!

A cute ama working sorting out recycling. We were wondering around in Miaoli Zhuolan and saw her and jumped in and helped! Normally people turn us down but she actually let us, well, we kept doing it when she said no but eventually she was happy :) 

 

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Sorry there won't be much of an email today because we are short on time and downloading pictures takes forever! I know the gospel is true and I love you all so much though!!!!!!!!! 

PICTURE TIME!

New mission president, President and Sister Blickenstaff

Week was amazing! Man chased us down on his scooter

July 1, 2013

This week was amazing! Not a lot of huge things happened, just bazillions of miracles, so forgive me but I'll go in just a quick-like manner. 

A mouse bit Sister Ah Quin haha

Li JM gave us a huge plant to put in our house as a goodbye present (she is going to China and then Australia for a few months)

A man chased us down on his scooter (at first we were a little concerned) but then he was like, sorry sorry! I just want you to come talk to my family over there! We then followed him back to his store where his family was waiting there to be taught... It was one of the coolest things ever! We were able to get to know them and will go back and visit. 

We have continued to visit those who haven't been to church in a while and found several more families that are wanting to come back! Lily and her Mom, Sidney and her brothers, Julie and her family, Jenny and her triplets, and are continuing to visit the ones we've found before. It's so much fun getting to know these wonderful people that just needed a little loving reminder that Heavenly Father never gives up on us. We are encouraging them to bring their friends and families to church with them. It's so much better when you have support from those you love the most when it comes to changing your life around. It's not easy and a lot of times we don't remember that. As we help them remember the teachings of Jesus Christ and feel supported and loved at church, they will continue to come back and be happier. It's so great!

Our dear Li Mama (we've been visiting her for quite a while now, in her 60's) started praying last week!!! It was a huge miracle and we are so excited for her! She refused for the longest time and now she loves it!

President Blickenstaff came a few days ago! Nothing has really changed much, so I can't tell you a lot. I'll let you know if anything big happens. With that new broadcast (you all should watch it!!!!!!!) the Work of Salvation, there will probably be changes coming in the mission but I'm not sure how soon they will come.

English was great! 60 folks came and it wasn't even a party. We had to create another children’s class because mine was getting too big! We split it up into an ABC class, and then a conversation class. I'll be teaching the latter, with my companion teaching the ABC class. It will be fun! 

We bought 26 pounds of mangoes for the American equivalent of 6 dollars. It's been a heavenly week

In the end, I'll share the biggest miracle! My companion had to do a language evaluation with our sister training leaders. They also scheduled a lesson during that time, so I went with Sister Whitesides to teach it. It was my first time teaching an American. Weird but really cool. Anyways, after she told me the name, I was like... Hmm that sounds familiar, but brushed it off. Well, long story short, this woman was raised in several different churches but then due to some college professors, decided there was no God. She's been trying to find something more out there for a long time. She's lived in Taiwan the last 4 years and missionaries have been keeping in touch the whole time. That's when I realized that I called her last year when I first got on island! She wasn't interested at that time, but now is definitely her time. She felt the spirit so strong and wants to believe. She was able to share her feelings and concerns with us and we were able to testify of God's great love for her. She could feel it and although it scared her at first, she knows it is true. I was so grateful for that experience and know that the Lord is always knows what He is doing. I love you all so much and will write more next week :) 

Love, Sister Smart

ps got Shari's letters!!! Thank the kids for me!!!!! The pictures are the best! Thanks for the letter of update as well! I love you all

Start of the 10th movecall

June 24, 2013

I feel like it was only yesterday when I said it was the start of my 9th movecall and I only had 3 more times to say that. Well, today starts my 10th and I only can say that 2 more times. Time is going freakily fast. Kinda scares me, but we'll make every minute wonderful! Here's last week for ya

-We met with Zoey last week. She's preparing to go to Tainan for the summer, a place down south. So this was our last week with her. I'll probably be out of Fengyuan before she gets back. We stressed the importance of CPR (Church, praying, and reading the scriptures) as she goes to a new area for the summer. She knows where the church is and will take the bus there, and the sisters there will start meeting with her. I know she'll do great. This morning we took her to the train station and sent her off (since her family "didn't have time") and were able to say goodbye. I'll miss her tons, but I'll see her again.

-We spent a lot of time visiting some members of the ward who have not come to church for a long time for one reason or another and were able to meet some really great families! One, the Zhang family. They have a 16 year old daughter named Sunny that is so funny. She came to church yesterday with her mom, so we were really excited about that! We're going to visit them again tonight. Another girl, Lucy, was surprised when we took the mountain trip up to visit her. Her grandma was really excited to see waiguoren (foreigners) and let us in immediately. We were able to get to know their family and are also going to visit them again. There was another Zhang JM that we met who was really excited to see us! She had just kind of forgotten about church for a while, and when we met with her, that brought back some really great feelings. It was a huge miracle that we met, because we had the wrong address, but still found her! She gave us her new address and told us to stop by anytime, which of course we will.

-We had the English class America party on Wednesday! It was a TON of fun and we had around 70 people come. One station was sports, where they taught about what football is (they have no idea here) and showed some clips, and then had them "play" a little bit. Another station was history where they dressed up as indians and pilgrims and talked about how we came to be America. The kids especially loved their little indian hats! Another station was on movies, where a bunch of movies were written on a piece of paper, and then their synopsis on another. They split them up and had to find their match, and then act it out. My station was on food! We talked about all the different food we eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and then different holidays. We also taught them how to make pancakes and even had SYRUP! Both are not to be found here. They loved it! At the end, everyone got together and I thanked everyone for coming and introduced the song I am a Child of God a little bit. Then the ukulele class along with my kids english class performed together! It was so cute and I think everyone loved it. Afterwards, I had invited 2 members to share their personal experiences with prayer and taught everyone how to pray. It was a ton of fun and I hope everyone enjoyed themselves. 8 of our english students came to church yesterday for the first time :)

-Thursday we went to Houli, a beautiful city in my area. It is few buildings and many rice fields, just what I like. We were able to visit lots of folks and enjoyed our day. The only downside was the 102 mosquito bites on my legs from one person's house. I was shocked. My legs are something quite hideous, will you all still love me? Hope so. If you have ANY remedies from mosquitos/bites/anything please let me know. It was still a great day though haha

I'm sorry I know there is a lot I'm missing this week but the time just slips away so quickly every week! I'm glad Spencer is doing well and I'm glad Mom and Dad were able to spend so much time in Utah helping out over there. I hope you are all having a wonderful time and are remembering how lucky we all are. We each have countless blessings every single day. I know that even when times get tough, we always have a loving Heavenly Father who knows whats best. I don't doubt that one bit. I love you all so much! I know this work is true and am excited to watch that missionary broadcast thing next week! I heard some cool things might be coming our way. We get our new mission presdient this week, so that will be exciting!

Love you all!

Song Sister

Ups and Downs

June 17, 2013

Welp, dearest family. I miss you all a lot! This last week was great and had a lot of ups and downs. More than ever I know that the Lord is mindful of us and know He loves us all.

Monday night we met with our lovely Zoey who's baptism was scheduled for the 15th. She passed her interview last week and her Dad traveled the 2 hours (1 hour by foot, one hour by bus) back from Heping to come and sign her form. He is really supportive of her decision which we are so grateful for. So many parents here object to their children getting baptized because they are worried that they won't have any children to bai bai them (burn incense and worship them once after they die) Her dad is aware of the changes that she's made and is really supportive. Her mom lives in China (divorced at a young age) and doesn't have much to do with their lives. We talked about Jesus Christ and prepared her for what would happen at her baptism. She was so excited and we were too! We also met with Monica that night and shared about the Restoration and Joseph Smith. She said she is willing to pray and read to find out for herself if it is true. She is so great and has such a strong desire to know what is right and what the Lord wants her to do. Our own desire is the most important part when it comes to finding out.

 Random bit: We also went to COSTCO for the first time on my mission!!! Taiwan has costco, did you know that? I've never been close to it before but a member wanted to take us. We've been thriving on some american goods this last week and it has been luxurious!

Tuesday we rode up to Dongshi and visited some friends. Well, tried to anyways. The addresses we have are all wrong because the addresses have changed in the last few years. It started pouring rain which is always a nice break from the wetness from sweat haha. It's always cooler when it rains. Wednesday rained even more, almost typhoon like! It was so much fun to ride in. The streets were flooded and we were more than soaked. During the day, we were standing by a door about to get on our bikes when a lady holding a baby raccoon came out and yelled at me to go home, then hit me (literally hit me), and then asked if I wanted to hold her racoon. Of course I did! It was cute. and then we got on our bikes and left as she was yelling at us to go home. It was funny. That night, english class was especially fun. We learned body parts and played a fun game. I wrote body parts on pieces of paper and then put them in a bag. I then gave each student a piece of paper with a head on it. As they drew out the body parts, they picked a number 1-6 and then drew how ever many of them that they drew. Does that make sense? Like if I picked 4, then drew eyes, I had to draw 4 eyes on my alien. We called them our funny aliens and the kids loved it. Then we practiced for this weeks performance (big english party coming up) again. They are excited, and the uke class is too! I'll be sure to take pictures and let you know how it goes.

Thursday we had a training meeting for the new missionaries and their trainers. We just talked about how things are going and how we can all improve. It was one of my favorite meetings ever. We talked about what it means to be a Nazarite. Those are the people in the bible that wouldn't cut their hair, or do certain things for a certain period of time. Similar to missionaries, we don't do certain things for a period of 18 months-2 years. During this time, we can focus on what is truly important and help others, while also receiving a special strength from the Lord.(we wont let dumb girls come cut our hair either during that time.. haha) My companion and I set tons of goals to work on and how we can become better teachers and representatives of Jesus Christ. It was so great!

 We also started a fast for Zoey and her baptism on Saturday. After we finished our fast on Friday, we got a call a few hours later from Zoey. She called, almost in tears, saying that her mom called from China saying that she changed her mind and that she cannot be baptized in a Christian church. She said she was too young and didn't understand what she was doing. Her dad said she could, but not wanting to go against her mother, we had to cancel the baptism. It was a really shattering moment. I'm ashamed to say that my first thoughts were questioning whether fasting really works. I know that God has His timing and His plan for us all, so I didn't doubt in faith, but I was just disappointed. However, the Lord knows what we need and in the next few hours we saw that fasting and prayer truly work, just maybe not always in the manner we expect it in. The moment we finished dinner, we had incredible lessons and met wonderful people that had interest in the gospel. It was a wonderful night that we all needed. I love my mission more than words can say!

Well I would write more but my time is short, but I can testify that the Lord is aware of us. He knows what we need and that we can overcome it with His help. I'll fast with you all this week for Spencer. I love you all so much!!!

Love, Ally

Hiii

June 10, 2013

This last week was amazing! Sister Ah Quin and I are having a blast as usual. I have once again repented and became a journaler last week. Haha, its a weekly struggle. Here are some highlights for the week!

-We went to our new stake center in Daya and it is beautiful! It's huge too! We had a great Zone meeting where we practiced teaching in unison. Sister Ah Quin's chinese is getting better and better each day. She works so hard at it and the Lord is blessing her a ton. It's great!

-We met with one of our less active friends, Lai JM and took her a gospel art book. She was curious who Emma Smith was, so we ended up reading in the Doctrine and Covenants with her. I love that scripture about Emma being an elect lady who has divine potential. The talks in church Sunday were also about Zion sisters, and what kind of women we are and how big our influence is. It's so great to see so many examples of wonderful women here in Taiwan that are helping their posterity have happier lives.

-Wednesday I went on exchanges with our Sister Training Leader ( a new calling in the mission!) Sister Whitesides. It was pretty fun. We taught a few lessons and then had english as normal. That night I taught about animals, and it was so much fun. My class has grown to about 20 now and it is insane, but a lot of fun. Good practice for the future teaching I guess.

-Thursday we tried the ukulele class to prepare for our english party next week. It was a smashing success! Tons of people came, only 1 of them having ever played a ukulele before, but it was really fun and we got to learn all the chords for it. We'll be working on the strumming this week and performing next week. They're so excited, and my english class is too. They are working hard to practice their english for it.

-Zoey passed her baptismal interview and is getting baptized this week! We'll be going up to Heping to get her dad's signature, which will be an adventure, so I'm excited. We also said goodbye to one of our wonderful friends who was going to get baptized soon, because she moved to Austria for a few months. Do you know if we have missionaries there? Let me know. I'll miss her so much, but we got her email and will stay in touch.

-Friday we were handing out english tracts at a night market when a member walked up to us and was like, Hey! I'm a member too, I haven't been to church in forever. Will you guys come visit me?.... YA! haha it was really cool and we got to know her a lot more. We also met this cool happy family. The dad was missing part of his leg, the mom had a cleft lip, and some of the kids had little deformaties as well. It was so awesome to see how happy and loving they were to each other and reminds me that we can find joy in any situation. Family and love are the most important of them all!

-We also had a cool lesson with Vicky. We went over to her house and went into her kitched. We talked about how none of us are perfect, and all will make mistakes or come against trials, so we slowly started adding gross things to her hands. Soy sauce, honey, pepper, etc etc, until we asked her to get rid of it by herself. When she couldn't get it off, we read a scripture about how we need Christ and His atonement. She then washed her hands and became clean. He suffered for us and through his atonement, we too can be clean and overcome all that is unfair in the world. I love this gospel and love teaching her in Taiwan! I love you all and shall write more next week as usual.

Love, Sister Smart