Week 58

Family!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was so good to talk to you and see you!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ahhhhhhhhhh! You all look so good! I just can't get over it! I LOVE you all so much!!!!! You truly mean so much to me! I hope everyone had such a good Christmas! Christmas here was so special!

On Thursday we had a wonderful mission Christmas activity. We woke up bright and early to be on a bus at 5:30am to go to the surprise location. We were on the bus for a few hours (We watched the First Presidency Christmas Devotional on the bus. I was so excited because I didn't think we would see it.) then we got to a beautiful mountain with a sign that said "Sun Moon Lake." I was so excited!!!! It was so beautiful! We went up to the very top of the mountain and took some pictures with the whole mission. (P.S. I think they are sending you a recording of us singing because we also sang some carols there too) It was so great to see all my friends! Some that I haven't talk to since the MTC! It was so great! It felt like a huge family reunion! Later we had a nice steak dinner and a very beautiful and spiritual devotional. It was such a great day!

Christmas Eve was special as well. We had a wonderful Christmas activity with our 2 branches here. We watched a beautiful movie about Christ's birth. There were fun skits and talents and a beautiful slide show of the Temples in the world with beautiful testimonies. Sister Wainright and I put Christmas lights up in our room and brought in our space heater which lights up the room like we have a fireplace in there. We read the book "You are Special" and told fun Christmas stories and sang Silent Night and fell asleep.

Christmas Morning we woke up early so Sister Wainright could skype her family before church. It was so fun to watch her and meet her family! Then we went to church. We called a lot of investigators, new members, and less actives to help get them to church,one less active being Sister Li. We have been working with her for a bit. She hasn't been to church for years. We have also been teaching her teenage son. We called her and she said she couldn't make it. We were rather bummed when we went up to the chapel. But then who did we see.... Sister Li and her son. Then another less active family we have been working with...... then another...... then another. Then investigators started coming....... Oh the joy! Sister Wainright and I really wanted to have a white Christmas with a baptism but we realized our Christmas was truly white in it's own way. Our own Christmas miracle! It was so amazing! Then later last night we went to a park by a night market and caroled with members in our branch. It was so fun. It just felt like Christmas. As we were ending with Silent Night I looked over to all the members and teared up. A feeling of love and appreciation came over me. I love these beautiful Taiwanese people. I am so grateful to be here serving. I am so grateful for our Savior and for the opportunity I have to bear testimony of Him.

I love you all so very much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy New Year!

Until next week!

P.S. I have more pictures to send but the camera just died.......... next week! :)

Week 57

MERRY CHRISTMAS !!!!!!!!!

I hope everyone has a wonderful, spiritual Christmas! Sister Wainright and I are getting pretty excited for Christmas. It's a little different here in Taiwan. Christmas isn't a big holiday here... it makes sense seeing as Christmas is more of a Christian holiday and most people here are Buddhist... but we get so excited every time we see a Christmas tree and here Christmas music. We have been listening to Brother Archuleta (David) and the MoTab any time we get :)  We have been trying hard to feel the Christmas spirit and share it with others. We realized this week that trees and music don't bring the Christmas spirit... but Christ does. I feel so very blessed to be a representative a Him and because we have been set apart with this sacred calling we are entitled to have His spirit with us as we try our best to do what He would do if He were here. I AM SO BLESSED! And family is a big part in the Christmas spirit because Christ came to the earth to helps live together with our families forever. So even though I'm not home with you... know that I am grateful to be with our other bigger family members sharing with them this beautiful message so that they too can feel the Spirit of Christ.

But....It has been a great week! It always is!
 
We had some downs this week... all of our investigators dropped. Some dropped themsleves and others had been sitting on the fence for a bit. We were doing all we could to help them but felt that they wouldn't progress then our district leader invited us to drop them and start over... That was really hard.... We started to get a little down... So we knelt down together to pray.... and Heavenly Father poured out His love and blessings upon us....

We saw so many miracles with less actives this week...

We went to visit a former but had the wrong address... We decided to look at the ward list for a less active member near by. Right on the front page there was a Sister Guo that lived on the same street we were on. We had made a Christmas tree that morning and thought we could give it to her. Then we saw that she was baptised on Christmas 13 years ago and felt that it was perfect. The address that we went to was her husbands vet hospital.  He was was very welcoming and said that she would be there in a few minutes...She was happy to see us and a little embarrassed that she hadn't been to church in so long. We set up a time to meet them at their home. When we went there her mother and sister were there from out of town. We found out her sister and father are both members and that she had shared the gospel with them. It was so great to talk to them and to meet their 2 adorable daughters. Sister Guo's mom was so nice and just kept feeding us more and more! It was so good! Sister Guo still prays everyday and she has taught her daughters how to pray. We are excited to start meeting them and helping them. They are a beautiful family. They are coming to our branch Christmas party on Sat and church on Sunday. We pray that we can help her and her father and sister come back as we also help her husband learn and hopefully receive the gospel.

We also met a less active family of 4. The Luo family. They recently moved really close to the church. The mom was baptised about 10 years ago with her son and then the 2 daughters when the youngest was 8. They haven't been to church in a long time but when we asked if we could say a prayer all of the children quickly knelt. It was amazing. We talked to them more and found out that they really missed church and their friends. They were excited that they live closer to the church. The youngest daughter, who is 10, said that she wanted to bring her friend to church this week. It was amazing. The friend that she brought was actually a boy that we had met the day before at another less active, Zhuang family's house. He obviously has some good friends in the church... So we want to help them come back and help him come in.

I am so grateful for the miracles we have been seeing. This truly is the Lord's work. This is His church. What a blessing it is that we get to celebrate His birth this week and have this special time to remember Him and all that He has done for us.

I love you all so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Until next week!!!!!

P.S. My stomach is doing much better! I'm eating and happy and back to work!!!!!!!!!! Love you!!!!

Week 56

HELLO! HELLO!

Wow it has been a really crazy and interesting first week in JiaYi (ChiaYi.) I got really sick this week... still not exactly sure what it was. It started early Tuesday morning. I had really sharp pains in my stomach and I couldn't stop running to the bathroom. I tried to keep working until the pains got really bad in the afternoon then called Sister Bishop and she had me get some medicine and rest. Well the pains kept getting worse so the next morning I went to the doctor and he said that the good news was that as of then it wasn't a parasite.... he gave me some pills and a strict diet of water rice and told me to rest and said if the pain moves lower it could be a parasite.... So sweet Sister Wainright was stuck calling phones for most of the day Wednesday (I still feel so bad.) Well I stopped running to the bathroom so frequently so we were able to get back out and teaching... then we got stopped by the cops which is a story for another day.... anywho the pain wouldn't go away and it had started to move lower so I went back to the doctor and found out that I had eaten or drank something unsanitary so my stomach and intestines are inflamed... so I was put on another great diet (because just thinking of the water rice made me gag) which was rice and bread with out the crust aka I'M STARVING!!!!!!!!! I was able to receive a beautiful blessing from the Elders and have seen a big improvement. It was amazing! I am so grateful for the power of the Priesthood and to see and feel it in my life. I feel much better today and have been able to expand the diet to include apples and bananas.... What a week!

But I do love JiaYi! Its so fun! It's a great city! Sister Wainright is amazing! She used to be a efy counselor :) so we hit it off pretty well! She loves the work. She loves it here. We got to know each other pretty fast with the sickness... so that was good!

We met a really cute new and awesome investigator Sister Liu. She was actually a referral. She is so great! She has a really big testimony of Joseph Smith and wants to get baptized asap. She also has a big testimony of prayer and has already seen the blessings in here life. I am really excited to continue working with her. She is amazing!

We also met with some really great less actives that have family members who are now investigating the church. I hope we can continue working with them and help them really progress and receive the full blessings of the gospel.

It's been a good week. I love this work! It is so amazing! It was so hard to stay in but I'm really so excited to get back out there for a full week of work!

I love you all!!!!!!!!!

Until next week!

Week 55

Hello!!!!!

Wow! I moved............................ To a place in the south of Taiwan called Chiayi (Jia Yi). Leaving my last area was really, really hard. I was there for 6 months. I love the people there. They truly became my Taiwanese family. The members there are so great. Truly my little family. Bearing my testimony yesterday was really hard. I just cried. I wish there were words to describe my love for the people there and how grateful I am that I could serve there. There were many tears shed but it will be good.

It was really hard to leave Sister Watterson. I have so loved serving with her...... I am so grateful for her. I have seen her grow and do things that she didn't think she could do and in return have had the same experience. I have become a better missionary because of her. I will forever be grateful for our time together and I know that it will bless my life..... I love her. I wish you could meet her... but you will soon-ish.... she has a while.

My new area seems really great! Chiayi is technically country but I am in the main city. And this is where my previous (as in second in field) companion Sister Chen was born and raised and just so happens to be here again... So it's got to be a good place because she came out of it. :) My companions name is Sister Wainright. She is adorable! She is from Mackay, Idaho. I love her already! It's going to be great here!

Last week was so great! So great! We had so many lessons and we saw so many amazing miracles! We met a sweet little less active Sister Ji this week. This was such a tender mercy. She used to live in Taichung but moved to Zhanghua because her mom is really sick and in the hospital. She has been in the hospital for 7 years. Sister Ji has been a member for about 14 years. She has had many trials in her life but this one is her greatest. She told us that she can't believe in God because her mother is still sick and God wouldn't do that to her. I just hurt for her... Sister Watterson then did a beautiful thing. She told her of this friend that she has that went through a trial like hers. She told her of me and mom's passing and me staying. She said it all so beautifully and so by the Spirit.. then she asked her " do you know who this friend is?" ... "No".... "Sister Bray"... Sister Ji just started to cry. It was such a sweet tender moment. It was so amazing... as she talked I had so many thoughts come into my mind of what scripture to share. Going from the Bible to the Book of Mormon. I knew that all of thoughts were coming from the Spirit. I didn't know how i was going to express them but when I opened the mouth... they just flowed right out of me. I was given the word right when I needed it.... Such a miracle. We met with her the nest day and could see that her faith was already coming back. We also found out that a member in our ward is one of her good friends from Taichung so she came as well. It was such a blessing.

I needed to be there at that time. It amazes me how well the Lord knows each of us and how He will let our paths cross right when we need them to. "It passes all my understanding."

I love you all so so so so so so much!

Until next week!

Week 54

HELLO!!!

I HOPE EVERYONE HAD A GREAT THANKSGIVING!!!!!!! I AM GRATEFUL FOR ALL OF YOU AND I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

Wow! It has been a great week! This week we had a fun filled POWER WEEK! So everyday we had a special assignment and specific purpose. It was AMAZING!!!!! We saw many miracles! On Thanksgiving we were given the assignment of "Flooding the Earth with the Book of Mormon." Our mission had the goal of giving out 1000 copies of the Book of Mormon and.... WE DID IT! We ended the night with a total of 1037 copies given! It was so much fun! Sister Watterson and I had a little Thanksgiving Party with some investigators, new members, less actives and active members. It was so fun! It was just a little group of us. At the end we all went out and gave copies of the Book of Mormon. It was so awesome to see these sweet women bear testimony of the word of God. Some were nervous but they did it and ended up loving it. It was a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Sweet Ke Meimei and Didi are able to start meeting with us again! We were able to talk to their mom and she gave us their dads phone number so that we can call him and hopefully help him come unto Christ as well. We talked to Ke Meimei and Didi  about it and they wanted to help us prepare so while they were staying with their dad this weekend they told their dad of what changes they had seen in their lives because of the gospel. Ke Meimei said that the biggest change that she has seen has come from prayer... now when she has trials she knows that she can turn to Heavenly Father in prayer. Ke Didi said that he has learned knowledge. He said that from reading the Book of Mormon his whole reading has improved and has helped him in reading other books at school.... so sweet! They are so tender and I teared up when the we saw them jumping because we were ridding up to their house on our bike's. Seeing them was a tender mercy.
 
Another sweet miracle this week was Sister Bai. She was a less active when I first came to this area. We started helping her come back. She started coming to church every week. She had a goal to go to the temple and to receive her patriarchal blessing. She had challenges to overcome but she did it. Last week she went to the temple and receive her blessing. Oh what JOY!!!  She was so happy and excited yesterday. It was so sweet and so beautiful!

But some sad news.... We went to visit Penny this week because she was sick and she told us that her father really opposes her coming to church or meeting with us. It broke my heart. She is so amazing! We talked to her for a bit and she told us again of the feeling that she had when she prayed and that it is a feeling that she won't forget.... It's always so hard to hear that they can't meet with you.... but it's also so good to know that they want to and to see the beautiful pure desire they have. Penny has that pure desire. She will be okay.

A great and marvelous week!!!!

I love you all soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much!!!!!!!

Until next week!