十三週 - Week 13 - December 30, 2024 - 竹北 Zhubei

 大家好！

Highlites:

     -Bought another sweater because 冷 (Cold)

     -Whole Mission Christmas Party!

     -朋友s (Friends) reunited once more!^^^

     -French Toast :)

     -Got to hear my family wish me a merry Christmas 

     -Went Caroling and got treated to dinner twice! 

     -Had to bungee cord strap my Christmas package to my bike  It was truly a sight to see 

     -Christmas mission work was so fun!

     -Threw a Christmas party with our English group and made so many new friends!!

     -Dinner at a members house with a friend---> convinced our friend to decide to get baptized !!! He is seriously so awesome :)

     -Rode in a car (very weird)

     -Douglas!

     -Stay tuned for the miracle share later ;)

     -Almost doubled our new friend goal for the week and got 11 people to come to church! God is hastening His work!!

     

Friends!

     -Ben (our baptismal date friend) comes to church even though he works the nightshift!!! Church is really important:)

     -Our friend Brylle told us that coming to dinner with us at a members house was the first time he's witnessed what it's like to have a happy family. Never take what you have for granted.

     -Our friend Martty wrote us the sweetest letters ever and gave us presents for Christmas! He is truly such an example of Christlike love. He truly is always giving to others :)

READ THIS PART

     Miracle share: 

Mengo. We met him just 2 days ago!

That morning we arrived at the train station only to discover that Sister Haslam had forgotten her wallet! We prayed to know what to do. I felt an overwhelming sense of peace and patience (that was definitely not from myself) so we decided to return home, grab the wallet and go to Hukou. 

However, in Hukou we found no friends. It was cold and I definitely felt frustrated. 

We biked over to Hukou LiaoJie (which is a good touristy place to go finding). The ride was hard and when we arrived, there was hardly any people! We honestly had no idea why we were there. We were having no success.

Then a lady talked with us and told us to visit her house just down the road. We agreed, but we were a little confused by the request. However, the second we entered their house I knew this was exactly where God wanted us to be. Everything clicked.

Then we met Mengo! He is the lady's son. He told us he felt like his life was in a loop and was seeking to know his purpose in life. We taught him the Plan of Salvation and the spirit was so strong I couldn't help but shed some tears.

We told him our story of the morning and how we knew it wasn't a coincidence that we were here. He then told us it wasn't a coincidence that he was there either!

He hadn't even been planning to visit his mom that day, but there he was. When he got to the house, he found a book about Jesus Christ and asked his mom if he could read it. His mom then walked outside and immediately ran into us! She knew it was a sign from God and invited us over. We both knew that this meeting was so inspired by God!

It's the first time I knew for a fact that where we were and what we were doing was exactly where God wanted us to be and exactly what God wanted us to be doing :)

Mengo came to church the next day and attended a baptismal service as well! I know that God is ever so present in our lives!

Inspirational Spiritual message

(Inspired by Elder Hollands talk "Tomorrow the Lord Will Do Wonders Among You")

#1 The First Great Commandment is to love God!

--> #2 What we sometimes forget is the First Great Truth: That God loves us!

     Our Father in Heaven is a Loving God. He wants more than anything for us to return to him. He wants to bless us. That is His entire purpose! (Moses 1:39). Every tomorrow is significant because God wants it to be!

     I hope you all know that Heaven is cheering you on :) We can overcome all things! Unfairness, weakness, sickness, grief, sin, sorrow. Not getting the part you auditioned for. Not getting the test score you needed for that scholarship. Not winning that competition that was going to decide your future. Not getting that job you needed to provide for your family. All things that are unfair, or stupid or too hard. Because of God's infinite merciful Plan of Salvation and a Savior that died for us, all things that are unfair in life can be overcome. Things are unfair in our favor :)

I love you all! Even if things are going well, the Atonement is still there for you! (It helps us improve ourselves and increase the happy times too ;))

Quotes:

-"Yes, there is a character that's a cockroach in the movie. His name is Heimlich, but he's actually a caterpillar, not a cockroach. There actually isn't a main character that's a cockroach in the movie" -Meta AI

"Callisters favorite word is: I'm a bad missionary--so I bully him with kindness:)" (Elder Kleven)

"Do you have a Y chromosome? No? Then you are terrifying" (Elder Kleven)

-"Our purpose is to baptize 9 year olds. Find every 9 year old and baptize them" (Elder Bluth)

-"I feel like my head is peeling again" (Sister Haslam)

-"He's 快 (kuai - quick/happy) but not 帥 (Shuai - handsome)‘’

-"That sounds interesting, but I am a science guy. I like Elon Musk" (friend)

-"If you walk long enough you'll either get hit by a car or see someone else get hit by a car"

-"They probably don't even know what she looks like because she's so small"

-"I am a loser and a pleb" (Elder Bluth)

-"SO TURNS OUT BU BE IS A GIRLS NAME"

再見！

Sister 吳ardle

Pictures: Christmas Morning, Sister Haslam, me and my comp, 朋友's, My Christmas package stuff, Sister Vranes!!, 朋友's, 

Lesson w Mengo 

Brylle!!

十二週 Week 12 - December 23, 2024 - 竹北 Zhubei

 大家好！

Highlites:

     -Zone conference! (learned)

     -Ate the red bean soup<--

     -Went on exchanges!

     -Lived through exchanges!!!

     -More hot pot :)

     -Tried white boba pearls! (10/10~)

     -Got qinged twice while on exchange! (got to eat salmon and steak it was crazy)

     -Survived the hardest day of my mission yet!

     -Learned that God will help you find people in the most unlikely of circumstances

     -Ate some incredible authentic Filipino cuisine at a Christmas party :)

     -Attempted to eat a crab

     -Ate some mystery Taiwanese foods at a members house! (I didn't want to know)

     -Did a lot of awesome finding and teaching !

     -Its cold!

My thoughts:

     -My companion was talking with me about Chinese and she mentioned that my Chinese genuinely improves (faster, better accent, more fluid) when I'm praying or bearing testimony--if thats not the gift of tongues, then I don't know what is. Its truly miraculous how God multiplies our efforts as missionaries. 

     -During exchanges, I got the incredible chance to be companions with 鐘姐妹！她是非常好的傳教士！Speaking in Chinese all day did fulfill my dreams and seriously helped me so much.

     ----> Part 2 --> Day 2 of exchanges it was me and another greenie together. Insane things were going on! Both of us didn't have a super good idea of the area and neither of our Chinese is fluent. I don' think I've ever prayed so much in my whole life. BUT--God does not need or even expect his missionaries to be perfect. Despite the 1000 trillion mistakes I made that day, we found a friend, bore a lot of testimony and still did everything we needed to do. Its the first time in my life that I knew without a doubt that the work I was doing had nothing to do with my own abilities and everything to do with Gods abilities. Definitely changed how I view mission work. I always knew in my head that it wasn't me, but through this experience I now know in my heart that it isn't me :)

P.S having an organized gospel library is life changing 

Friends!

     -We met a new friend last week named Brylle! He is from the Phillipines and is seriously so amazing. He is one of those friends that has such a genuine desire to change and to learn more. At the end of our first lesson, we asked if he had questions and he asked if we drink coffee or not. We told him no (explaining that later lessons would help him understand better) and then he asked us about what we drink instead! Me and my companion looked at each other and said, "Hot chocolate!". We didn't think too much of it. A few days later at church, he came early and it looked like he had a hot chocolate in his hand. Me and my companion were so giddy about it later. We hadn't even taught him or invited him to start keeping the Word of Wisdom :) Thats when you know!

     -Last week we prayed every night with our friend 陳Ivy and her son Eason. This week they told us they wanted to start praying on their own! (Eason still wanted to call us though he is adorable).  When I got to Taiwan, we almost dropped her and Eason because they weren't progressing.

Now Ivy shares so many miracles she has started to see in her life because of their prayers. Its so wonderful to see people's eyes open and conversion begin--its impossible to describe the joy and excitement you feel!

Thoughts on Christmas:

I'll be honest: because no one really celebrates Christmas here I don't feel like I'm missing out. There's nothing to miss out on. I am also SO EXCITED to do missionary work on Christmas!!! Its seriously one of the greatest opportunities ever. There is never going to be another time in my life when I get to do missionary work on the day we celebrate Christ's birth:) AAA

READ THIS PART------>

During exchanges, our area was closed for 2 days because both me and my companion had to go to 新竹. We had absolutely no idea how we were going to complete all of our goals for the week with all this missed time!

But guess what. God is a God of miracles.

 It was a miracle that we were able to hit nearly all of our goals spot on. We even exceeded our new friend goal by one! When we set goals and have a sure knowledge that they are the goals God wants us to set, He will provide a way for you to accomplish them. 

1 Nephi 7:3 

7 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.

Its really cool when things in the scriptures actually happen in real life too :)

--> #1

We have to have the confirmation that our goals and plans are in alignment with Gods will.

--> #2

We have to have the faith that He will provide a way! (There are people prepared for us to find, there are people willing to come to church, 等等）

--> #3

Act! Go and Do!

《These principles apply to any plan and any goal anyone ever makes. (School, work, dating, church callings, auditions, moving--literally any circumstance where you need help). We aren't supposed to do it alone!》

耶穌基督真的一直在你的旁邊：）

Quotes:

-"I feel like I've just always been like...how I am" (Sister Haslam)

-"You cant threaten to kill my family and then 風耶穌基督的名阿門" (Elder Au)

-"There are so many reckless drivers on the road …utter prats " Adrian

Merry Christmas everyone!

-Sister 吳ardle

The army of Youbike missionaries

Brylle, Martty and 墐筵：）