Monday, March 7, 2016

A Disciple Forever



 Sister Jensen.  We started out as little greenie missionaries, and here we are...
 The three of us reunited, one last time
Wow. I cannot believe this is my last time I'll be writing home from Taiwan!  I'm not quite sure it's real yet. This week has been full of emotions! But over and above the emotions, I've noticed that most of my prayers have just been ones of gratitude.  I can't thank Heavenly Father enough for Him letting me come to this beautiful island and share the gospel to these amazing people.  I got to be here for a whole 8 months duo! What a miracle. 

RC fireside

 The Chen family.  Their girls are so cute
                                             Sweet little Chen Hui Mu.  One of our RC's
Lately I've been writing down the things I've learned from/with each companion, and I can't believe how much the mission has changed me and taught me.  I have become a more willing and faithful disciple of Christ.  I have learned and experienced that without Christ, I am nothing.  Prayer works.  God is real, and He totally answers prayers whether you want to believe it or not. I've been humbled over and over again, and it's allowed me to be molded into the person who I am today. I am so grateful for the testimony I've gained while I've tried to help other people gain theirs.  A lot of people say when they go on a mission, "I want to gain a testimony!" But that's not why we serve.  We serve a mission and serve in the church to bring others the gift of eternal life. All the things along the way are just extra (and much appreciated) blessings. 
 Central Zone
I had my last interview with President, and that still wasn't real in my mind.  We talked a lot about how I've grown as a missionary, and what life has to offer for me next.  Haha I'll show you the notes.  He's quite a man of wisdom.  Honestly, I still don't know what I'm doing with my life, but I have absolute faith that revelation will come little by little, and Heavenly Father won't let me get too far off the right course.
 We met these sweet Christian girls from the Philippines
We ate at a Buddhist Miao way up a hill with Sister Chen and Sister Xu
This week was literally filled with miracles! I couldn't have asked for anything better. To start off, we finally got in contact with Chantelle! Haha a ward member knew where she lived, so we went to her house and met her mom, who was real nice.  We just left a note, praying her mom would pass it on, and she texted us back a few days ago! We'll meet with her this week. Our prayers have been answered (: 
 Our cute little Korean investigator, Sister Jiang.  Guess how old she is?  WRONG.  38.
 Exchanges with Sister Lin and Sisten Chan
Especially since zone meeting, we've really been focusing on finding member referrals, and our work has finally produced fruits! So probably the first week that Sister Juarez was here, we went to Zhonghe, her old area, to see her investie get baptized.  She talked to a member that had a referral who lives in Beitou, and this week we were able to meet with her.  She's Jiang Su Ying, and she's the cutest little lady from Korea! She said she's seen a ton of Christians, but she noticed something different about Sister Cai, the sister from Zhonghe. She was so genuine and nice, and her family seemed so well put together and happy.  That was all it took? Being a good example is so easy, but so important!! People really do notice a difference in members of the church. 

Jia Qi took us to an all-you-can-eat dessert place--YUM


 Zheng Yi Ting.  She was baptized at the same time as Steven, on Oct 31st
 Zhang Ting--I'll miss this girlie.  Her family was LA until they came to
the Christmas party that we sang at. We guanxin'd her, and their
whole family is active now, and her little sister is working toward baptism.
                                                                   What a miracle.
Okay, church yesterday was just a huge miracle. You'll never guess.  CHEN LEI came to church!!! We didn't even call her or anything! She's the one who was married to Buddha, and didn't want to meet with us anymore because of 1 Nephi 4 when Nephi kills Laban.  She has changed, let me tell ya! She came and was just so humble.  She said she was thinking about it this morning, and realized that it was probably okay by the law or something that Nephi could kill Laban.  Then in gospel principles class and Relief Society, she said all these awesome comments and bore an awesome testimony about prophets! She totally knows and has a testimony of this stuff! I know that she will be baptized.  God loves us so much!

The Zheng family took us out to lunch today (: They're the cutest couple ever!

Haha we came up with a few more Chinese tongue twisters that none of you will understand but that's okay I'm going to say them anyway because they're delightful to me:

Wo chang chang qiangdiao wo toufa fei chang de chang (I often [word I can't remember how to translate] my hair is very long)
Wo jianzheng xianzhi shi shen de shizhe (I testify the prophet is God's messenger)

The Hong family.  They're not investigators (yet), but they've
been really good to us missionaries

Anyway. 
My ponderizing scripture for this week is 3 Nephi 5:13. I pre-memorized it. Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the son of God.  I have been called of Him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life. I will always be a disciple of Jesus Christ, and I will always carry that responsibility on my shoulders to share his gospel. I gladly accept (:

Exchanges with Sister Wong

 Movie party after church with Tony (elder's investie), Brother Deng
(our LA that's super active now) and Chen Lei
Teach by example, maybe?
Well, I've been asked a few times, but I'm not totally sure about my homecoming! It will be this Sunday, March 13 at the Main Street chapel in Orem [9 am]. Talk to my mom to find out what time and other stuff (: Everyone is welcome!

I just want to say thanks.  Thanks to everyone for your prayers, your emails and letters, and especially for your example and teaching and allowing me to gain enough sense and faith to serve a mission.  This has been the best choice I've ever made (: I can't wait to see y'all in America!

Woe I knee (: 

Love, Feng Jiemei
 Don't worry family.  I'm still me... (:

Monday, February 29, 2016

Finding Miracles



 Just an average beautiful sabbath day
Good morning beautiful family! 
What a crazy week this has been.  Not necessarily crazy things happening, but just super busy, and everyone wants to take us out to dinner and stuff.  Okay, so I've gained a little weight haha.  But who wouldn't? Taiwanese food is so good!! 
 Dinner with the Zhang family
                                    PIZZA HUT!!! + Exchanges with Sister Cutler and Guan

Lunch at Sister Chen's

The temple was wonderful, by the way. We did a session in Chinese, and surprisingly it was actually pretty easy to understand.  Mom, I saw Alice again! Haha honestly I don't even remember how she knows you, but it was so nice to see a familiar face from home (: 

Post temple with Sister Juarez


We a lot of cool miracles this week! So we didn't find any new investigators until like Thursday or Friday, which was really weird.  It was probably Friday or Saturday when we had only found 1 or 2, and we prayed so hard, and we literally only had 15 minutes before our dinner appointment to find on the street. Well, no one wanted to talk to us, and we might have even talked to a possessed ama that was just bai bai-ing at a buddhist miao.  We had to go, and we were a little bummed as we went to unlock our bikes, but then this lady, Sister Peng, walked by and kind of did a double take.  Those are the best (: We went to go talk to her super quick, prayed with her, she accepted our invite to baptism, and she set up! I'm finding there's people who are definitely so prepared, and some people just need a little more time.  That was just one of so many miracles this week. 
 Our sweet little Philipino member, Sister Lita
This was outside a cute little pottery place in Yingge (taoyuan) last p day
We ran out of wasi (gas) in the morning during showers, so we had a to call a guy to come.  Haha it's always a little awkward seeing a man in our apartment, but we decided we'd make the best of it.  So we gave our new friend, Brother Zhou a Book of Mormon, and got his number.  Then this week, I kid you not, we saw him riding around on the street probably 8 different times! Last night we finally stopped to talk to him, and set up a time to meet. This has definitely been Shen de anpai (God's setting up..?)
                                                              Cutest agong ever...
 Brother Zhu who owns a guitar shop.  And that's not the only reason
he's awesome--He said he's going to take the Book of Mormon and read it all!
We also met this cool guy named Brother Zhu, who works at a guitar shop! I thought Joseph would appreciate that.  He'll definitely be baptized, but he's just super busy.

MLC lunch at the mission home 

MLC was last week, which means zone meetings tomorrow! Haha it's interesting to work with the zone leaders from both central and north zones and see how different it turns out.  I've definitely learned a lot of leadership skills and how to work with people.  
You know, I'm really grateful for Sister Juarez.  She's been so easy to work with, and whenever we're done with exchanges, we're always happy to be with each other again (: She's definitely been a blessing to me and this area.  
Well, that about sums up this week.  Go to the temple, read the Book of Mormon every day, and pray as if Heavenly Father was sitting there beside you.  

Love, Feng Jiemei (: