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