Week 24: Best & Hardest Week Yet

Hey hey hey!!! 

This week was so up and down! It was great because our key indicators were fantastic and God truly blessed us. Which is so so amazing!  This is the best they have been since I've been here! I'm so so grateful! We found 9 new investigators this week and we had 9 member lessons! Wow! Anyway sorry, that's kind of a weird way to start off my e-mail. But just know it was absolutely nothing we did. It was all God, completely, 100%. I know with all of my heart that this is God's work and that we are just instruments in His hands. I'm so grateful for this opportunity to serve Him. 

This week was hard… It was amazingly but hard. I just wasn't myself all week. Sister H is great but we clash a little. I wasn't myself I guess because I am just really working on loving her and getting along. I do love her and she's a great missionary. I have a lot of self-improving to do. I'm working on not focusing on myself and just serving others and her. It always makes me feel better but sometimes it's hard.  Anyway, things are fine it just takes extra effort.

This week, the Elder's gave us a referral who is golden. Her name is Huang JM. She literally is the most perfect investigator and she's getting baptized on the 16th!  She literally has no problems with the gospel or commandments and is just so awesome. She has all the right questions.  She came to a baptism on Saturday and she was so gan dong (touched) during it, especially because the man who was baptized was someone who is paralyzed from the waist down. So it was very very special and she was crying a little. So so precious! She even has connections in the ward and is just perfect!!! I love her!!!

We also have another great investigator we met this week. Her name is Dora (Xu JM). She's 14 and when we met her and she already had a BOM and said she reads it every day. WHAT? Who does that??? She's so awesome. She set a baptismal date and she came to church on Sunday! Only problem will be family fan dui. Her dad is ok with it, and even sat in on the lesson with us. But we will see! She's so so amazing and when her dad declined baptism (for himself), she stood up for baptism and us. Like she said what we would have said. It was a very special moment!

So I hope I've talked about Juliet, she's the Philippine woman and she's awesome. And we had the RC Suzette translating for us because she doesn't speak any English or Chinese. Well, Suzette left Tai Dong last week. Not for good, but her Ama has to go to the doctor in Gao Xiong...so yikes. It'll be hard to teach her. But she's so prepared.  The problem is getting her to church and getting her Ama and the Ama's daughter to say ok.  Other than that we have a lot of other people we are teaching which is such a miracle! Seriously this week was amazing and God is blessing us and this area so very much! I'm so blessed!!!

I gave a talk on Sunday...in Chinese....what? haha three months out and I already had to speak in church. Sister H said she hasn't had to speak in church yet until now and she's been out a year. But it went so well and I truly felt the gift of tongues. It's amazing because I looked less at the paper (which was in English) than i do when I give a talk in English. Let's just say I didn't look at the paper much. Unfortunately, the talk wasn't on Easter. It was on sharing the gospel because that was the topic for the week. Easter kind of snuck up on me and then it was gone. I plan on studying it more this week.

So I have to share the best experience ever! I've been struggling a bit with thinking about home and a normal life. It's not necessarily that I'm homesick or that I miss home, but I'm just not focused like I want to be. I just think about normal life all the time. And I don't want to. Well on Wednesday, I ended up seeing a returned missionary (actually Sister B's old companion), her name is Sister Stephens and her whole family all came to Tai Dong. Well I expected to be really sad and wish that was me. But it was such a blessing because it was the opposite. I left feeling so grateful to be a missionary and the life I had. I left and for the first time I could say "I don't want to go home, I want to stay here" And for the first time I felt excited to have so much time left and I was excited to be new so that I could have more time. It was such an answer to my prayers and I'm so grateful. I just left feeling so much more at peace and excited to be here!

Chinese is coming along well and the work is moving forward! I know that the Savior lives. I can't put it any better way. I looked up at the sky this morning, and at the beautiful sunrise and clouds, and as I had been thinking about Easter, I thought about how when Christ died, there was no light, none. And I just looked up at the sky and the light, and looked at all that the sun touched and it was cool because the sun was perfectly behind the clouds that there were light rays coming out and it was amazing. I looked at the clouds and I just felt the Spirit testify that the Savior lives. The Spirit testified to me that He truly is the light of the world. And it felt as if I could look behind the cloud and see my Savior. I have never felt so personally and so definitely that Jesus Christ lives. He came to Earth and atoned for our sins. And then He overcame death and rose after the third day. He is the light and life of this world and He knows everyone and everyone's pain and joys and sorrows. I know this with all of my heart! 

I love you all and I hope all are well! You're all amazing!

Love,

Sister Roberts

Sister H being Sister H ... she's so fun 

Huang Jie Mei

Odd Easter decorations with McDonalds fries :-)

Us with the new brother ... he's awesome

With Jessica Liu after my talk on Sunday

Cute kids on the street

Scooter truck!

Beautiful Taidong

Week 23 - Exchanges & Happy Easter

Hey Hey Hey !!!

So we kind of had surprise exchanges this week. Which sort of threw everything off. But exchanges were so so so good. They are always what I need right when I need it. Sister Lafevre is in Hua Lian and is my STL!!!! I don't know if you remember her, but she was Sister Child's companion when I first got here. Poor thing though, she's been moved around so so much! Anyway, I know that she was so inspired with what she said, and I'm so grateful to be around such amazing missionaries who are so in tune with the Spirit. 

This week, I don't know that I have anything super exciting to "report". Our main investigators are all still where they were before. We have a precious Phillippino woman, Juliet who is so prepared but can't come to church because her Ama's daughter won't let her? It's tough because she doesn't speak much English and no Chinese. It's a work in progress. But she's great and our pei ke is great, and helps us to translate and it all works out so well. 

We have another, Xie XJ who is really prepared too. She has so many great questions, and is awesome. She's afraid of church though because she had a bad experience at church before. Like with fitting in. But without me even asking her, she goes, "That will be another issue I put into my prayer" So precious! She is so so sweet! I need to take a picture with her so you can see! 

Chen XJ (The one we met on the bike path a few weeks ago)  said she just doesn't have time and that she won't be able to come to church for a while. But we aren't giving up on her, and I know she needs this gospel. I also know it's her choice to accept it. But we are meeting with her tomorrow, so it'll all be good. I know it :) 

On Wednesday, I was having a hard day. I was just in a bad mood, and wasn't being patient with myself or anyone else. But at English class, there was a baptism and the Elder's investigator was baptized. It was such a spiritual experience for me! I was sitting there listening to the stake president talk about how amazing missionaries are, and I just felt the Spirit tell me that this is why I am here. Not for myself, not for the numbers, not for the food, or the experience of being in Taiwan. I'm here to bring others unto Christ through baptism. I'm here to help them know for themselves that they are beloved children of God, and to help them know for themselves that this church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints it Christ's restored church on the Earth. As I was studying this morning, I read a scripture in Helaman 5 where it talks about the precious gift of eternal life, and recently I've been struggling to focus again. Just thinking of "normal" life. Phone, music, walking on campus, driving a car, having freedom to do what I want, to play guitar, piano whenever I want, etc... and it's hard because I want so badly to just give my all. To just give everything I have. But I read this scripture and was thinking about giving my all, and just though about how this mission, about how what I'm doing has eternal consequences. That this isn't about me at all. I also learned that at exchanges. I need to focus on others and not myself. Give myself to others and then I will be able to focus. But I'm here for them. Everything I'm doing has an eternal consequence, whether that's helping someone accept baptism or meeting with someone and simply testifying that they are loved by God. And this also is affecting my eternal self. And my future family. Sorry i'm just ranting and I'm pretty sure none of this makes sense.  I'm so grateful. 

So to continue with Wednesday, I was having this great spiritual experience and it was interrupted by something and we had to leave, so I was kinda irritated again. But I walk out of the chapel and who do I see? I see Wen JM and Gabby!!! (former investigators and who I absolutely love) I get super excited and Gabby turns around and I can't tell you how much her little face lit up! She opens her arms really wide with the biggest smile on her face and runs over to me and hugs me!! It was such a tender mercy from the Lord. They are going to come to English next week which is so so awesome! But seriously, that moment was like a little hug from God, giving me a little encouragement and it was like Him just saying "I love you". 

On Monday Chen JM and her nephew set baptismal dates which is so so awesome! And I can't wait to meet with them again! They are so prepared!!! 

On Friday, we were in du jing ban and Sister Hadley says there is something weird happening with her eye, so we step out and call "headquarters" and they tell her to go get it checked out. So at 8:00 at night we go to the hospital only to be redirected to an eye doctor, which was then closed. So we "wasted" the night running around the city which was kind of a bummer. But the eye thing went away over night and she's good now. We got it checked today and yea it's all good. But an interesting experience.

Sorry there's not too much this week, and that's it's totally all over the place. I'll be more organized next week. 

Happy Easter and I love that the literal Chinese translation is "resurrection holiday". It just reminds us of the true meaning of Easter. I hope all of you remember the amazing miracle of Christ's resurrection. He atoned for our sins, died on the cross and after three days was resurrected. He overcame death and because He did so, we will too. No matter who we are, we will all be resurrected to perfect immortal bodies. Christ knows every single thing in your life. He knows every heart ache, every joy, every insecurity. He loves you and wants to help you. I also studied this morning how we need to make Christ our foundation. (Helaman 5:12). If Christ is the foundation of your life, everything will be ok. The rain and storms will still come, but if you are founded in Christ, you can trust 100% that you can lean on Him. 

I love you all. Have a great week!

Love you!!!

Love,

Sister Roberts

Wen JM & Gabby

Sister Hadley & I at Lantern park

Sister Hadley cleaning the laundry balcony 

Lantern Park

Week 22 - Training ... CHECK; Phase I ... DONE; Transfer #3 Here I go

Hey ya'll!! 

So just to start off, I was NOT transferred, and am still in the heavenly sanctuary of Tai Dong. I hope to stay here for a long time too! :D

Sister Beeston went to Yong He and is a sister training leader! So fun! She has two transfers left! And this will be her 3rd area. Her whole mission she only had three areas! So crazy! My new companion is Sister Hadley. She's from Utah. Figures haha, everyone is from Utah. But she's super outgoing and super friendly. She's been out for about a year and this is her 5th area! So basically she hasn't stayed in an area for more than one transfer. She seems to be a great missionary. She said that president told her (while she was waiting in the mission office before coming down to Tai Dong) that he didn't know why, but that he felt very strongly that Sister Hadley and I were supposed to be companions at this time.

So Monday: We went to Tai Ma Li!!!! It's a 30 min train ride away and it's the most beautiful place you've ever seen! The ocean was sky blue and oh my goodness! There was no one on the beach and it was so so perfect! And it was a great farewell Sister B trip! 

That evening, we met this wonderful lady who was really excited we taught about Christ. Her name is Chen XJ. She is Christian (about 30) and she asked us to teach her and her nephews about Christ because she wants her two nephews to believe (for themselves) in Christ. Geng hao, that's what we do (Geng hao is like "much better"). So we had a great lesson with them the next day and just taught about what we did and taught the gospel of Jesus Christ. So yea, that was fun.

Tuesday: We found out Sister B was moving :( Sad day. That's pretty much all that happened.

Wednesday: Was crazy! We had to help Sister B pack, then get her on the train. I spent Wednesday and Thursday doing missionary work with Sister Hickenlooper and Sister Child, so that was super fun! Their area is a lot of the countryside and is very populated with dogs. Which is terrifying. I hope I still love my dog when I come back because wow dogs ... I can't look at a dog without stepping back and thinking whether or not it's going to start eating my face off... haha just kidding but not actually. They’re terrifying!

Thursday: Spent the day with Sister C and H and then met my new companion, Sister Hadley! Yay!

Friday: Had WPS and found some cool people. We also had Du Jing Ban. So just a normal day I guess.

Saturday: Found some more cool people, and we met with an RC's family. Her dad just passed away so her whole family is in town to worship him. Kinda strange, but we were able to share a little message about families. We also had a lesson with Xie XJ, and we had Sister Liu's come pei ke for us. It was great. She has a lot of great questions, and it's going to be good! Then on our way to dinner we saw Liu JM and Michael (her son) and she invited us to dinner. So we ate dinner with them, which was fun. And so so nice of her. She's like my second mom here! Such a blessing. 

Sunday: Mostly finding all day. Church was good.

Oh so I totally forgot to say, I passed off Phase #1 before the end of the transfer! How great is that?????!!!! I know God helped me so much and I couldn't have done it by myself. I'm off to phase two and I'm just so grateful that I worked as hard as I did. I know that if I didn't, I would regret it so much!

This week, I learned about weaknesses. I was a little frustrated that I’m not as good of a missionary as I would like to be. As in, I have this idea of where I want to be, and I understand that I'm not going to be there yet, but I just felt like I wasn't doing good enough,  that I wasn't progressing enough. But this week, I learned that it's totally fine that I'm not there yet. Also, a friend reminded me that I need to remember my potential instead of worrying about who I am at the moment. Remember who I can become, and trust that God will give me the experiences to get there. I also learned (or it was confirmed to me) that we are given weaknesses to bless us, and to make us humble. The scripture in Ether 12 says it all. But I was really grateful for my weaknesses because I was able to see how they could help me. And that will definitely apply this next transfer. It's going to be an interesting one!

Chinese is coming along great, and I understand more and more, and it's a miracle. The gift of tongues is real. 

I just wanted to let you all know that the Savior lives. I know it with all of my heart and soul. I'm so grateful for this opportunity I have to bear testimony of Him. Like my Dad said this week in his e-mail, this time is the hardest and most discouraging time, but also the most joyful BECAUSE I get to bear testimony of the Savior all day every day. I just hope and pray that I never take this opportunity for granted. It's so special and I'm so grateful!!! Just remember who you are. Remember your potential. If you aren't where you want to be, don't be discouraged. Remember who you are, you are a son or daughter of God, and He has sent you to this Earth to LEARN AND GROWN. You’re not supposed to be perfect yet because that's part of life. You need to have the experience of learning and becoming better. I hope that made sense! I love you all!!

Love,

Sister Roberts

Sisters Beeston, Child, Hickenlooper and Roberts

Paradise

Cooking with Sister Yang Xing

I love Tai Dong!

My new companion - Sister Hadley

Beautiful Tai Ma Li!

Tai Ma Li

I love this picture!!!

More waves Tai Ma Li

Sister Yang Xing

Cecily's name & pic on our stake mission board right below her cousin Nathan Ward

Week 21: End of Training!

Holy smokes!!! This week is transfers and that means I'm done with training! Where did the time go?????? 

This week was pretty good! We had zone meeting on Wednesday which was good. Monday and Tuesday were pretty normal. We met a cool lady who teaches Tai Qi and I thought of you Dad and how you were always "obsessed" with the Tai Qi people. Haha she asked us to come, but it was only on Saturday and Sunday. Xing Ku. We also had a drunk man pay for our dinner because we were cute Americans. Haha gotta love it. 

Thursday Sister B and I had a "romantic dinner" at this beautiful lantern park. We got our favorite quesadillas from a food truck! They are the best quesadillas that I've ever had. Ever. haha so yummy. I think it's because of the sauce. They have this pineapple mustard type sauce and it's heavenly. I'm like drooling thinking about it. Haha not really but it's delicious. After dinner, we went and visited Wen XJ. (Her daughter is Gabby, and they've come to English).  But we went and this was a determining lesson. She kept canceling on us, so we needed to decide whether to drop her. We visited her, and she said she was interested but just too busy and that once a week was too often because she was so busy. She said once a month would be good. But obviously, we couldn't do that. So we "broke up with her". I know she'll have the opportunity later in life. It's so sad though. I love them so much and wanted them to badly to see how happy they could be. But they still pray together (her and her daughter) so we know seeds are planted. 

Friday We met an awesome lady. Well sorry, we had a lesson with this awesome lady and yea. We met her earlier in the week through her daughter. I started talking to her 8 year old daughter on the street, and gave her an English tract. We asked if her mom was home, and she said yes, so we walked with her to her house and met her mom. Who then set up with us, and yea. We taught the first lesson on Friday and it went well. she committed to learn more and to pray and read the Book of Mormon. She's super cute. But her whole life is Bin Lang (this drug that everyone here chews). Like she chews but also sells it. So that might be a problem but we'll see. She's super cool, and hopefully things work out. She said she would come to church but ended up not coming, and we haven't been able to get in touch with her yet. But it's only been a day so yea. 

We also met with an RC that has been out of town for months. Her name is Suzeth and she's from the Philippines. She's amazing and her testimony strengthened me so much. Well and it's such a miracle and tender mercy that she's back in Tai Dong because we have a Filipino investigator who speaks no Chinese and hardly any English. So Saturday we had a lesson with Juliet (the investigator) and Suzeth came with us and helped us translate. It was awesome. Juliet is so prepared and we are excited to see where it goes!

Sunday, we met two awesome new investigators. One is Xie XJ and the other is Cai XJ. I think Xie XJ has really good potential. She has Christian background and has a lot of questions so yay! She also speaks good English.

I really felt the gift of tongues this week. I just finished lesson #5 for phase one, so now I only have to do the 1-5 eval. But I'm ok that I didn't finish that before transfers because I really felt I did the most I could. So finishing all the material in phase 1 is fantastic! I really felt God's help with memorizing. And just in speaking, and everything this week. I really feel like I'm getting the hang of it. Which might sound crazy but I love Chinese and it's amazing that I'm speaking as much as I am. It's a miracle. 

This week I was reading a talk in the Liahona called Catch the Wave by Elder Anderson. I invite you all to read it. It's awesome. It helped me to be more excited to be a missionary. It talks though about members and how critical they are to missionary work. I know I've talked about that before, but this week I want to invite you all to be prepared to answer questions about the way you live. When someone asks you "why don't you drink coffee?" you will know how to answer. If you do FHE, practice with your families. Roleplay it. Roleplays are awkward at first, and weird, but I promise you they help.

I love you all so much. I'm so grateful that God has blessed us with people to teach. I know that He lives, and I know that He loves every single one of you. Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer, and I know with all of my heart that through Him, we can receive eternal life. I know that our families will be blessed and you will feel a peace like you have never felt as you follow God's commandments and do everything you can to grow closer to Him. 

Have a great week! We are starting off the week by going to Taimali. Look it up on the map :) Beautiful!!! Oh also, just because it's transfers doesn't mean I'll be transferred. Sister B or I could go. But chances are very high I will get a new companion. So so scary actually.....like what if I don't get along with them??? Yikes here I go! Haha ;) 

Love,

Sister Roberts

P.S. Oh my goodness I forgot to say!!!!! Yang JM and her daughter got baptized!!!!!!!!!!!! She was the one that we found a few minutes before the Christmas activity!!!!!! When they bore their testimonies, they gave us a shout out and said thanks to us for meeting them! Ahhhhh!!!!!! 

Yummy frozen treats

Some wonderful Ward members

Exercising on the mountain

Yang JM and her daughter's baptism