I love summer time!

Hi Mom!!

 I love summer time! Even though it is deathly hot and humid here, I am happy I get to spend yet another summer in Asia. Is this three in a row? I'm practically Asian by now. Also, It's mango season and I'm pretty sure that's all I've eaten in days. I'm surprised my skin hasn't turned yellow yet.

This week was a pretty crazy week here in Zuoying. Wednesday I attended my very last Zone Conference. I was a pretty happy camper sitting smack dab in the middle of Sister Hicken and Sister Mancilla (my previous companion in Beitun, Taichung). 

It's crazy because I was both of their second companion (even though Sister Mancilla is considered getting pretty old missionary time wise) which often times is considered to be one of the hardest companions. But I tried really hard not to be a hard second companion and I love both of them with my whole heart. It was a great day and we learned a lot about how we can better work with the ward. We also talked about the enabling power of the atonement and how it is through the atonement that good men and women become better. Sometimes we just look at the atonement as a means of being forgiven of our sins, which it is, but we overlook the fact that atonement can give us strength beyond our own. I have been working hard at applying that in my life, especially right now as I'm really tired yet wanting to finish out my time here really strong. 

Thursday morning was pretty cool. We woke up and went running (we go running every morning now, have already lost some weight! woo!) and then got ready for the day. We sat down to do studies and Sister Hicken picks up a Book of Mormon and asked if I put it on her desk. I didn't. So we were super confused as to how it got there. I told her that Heavenly Father probably wanted her to give it to someone today. So she put it in her bag and we forgot about it. Anyway, we walked out of our apartment and our guanliyuan (apartments here have like a guard person) started talking to us. He is new so we don't really know him that well, but he, in his broken English, says, "beautiful happy girls. why are you so happy?" So Sister Hicken pulls out that Book of Mormon, hands it to him, and tells him that it is this book that makes us so happy. He started telling us that he sees us walk out every morning and we are just so happy and it makes him so confused. How are they so happy?? So we tell him to read the book of mormon and how it will help him find the same happiness. He then goes on about how he loves his life and thinks it's beautiful but it's very different from ours. He loves to drink and smoke and do bad things but he knows that our lives, our religion, can't accept that. We invited him to read and he kind of just laughed and put the book down and then we left. Well, the next morning we come out and he's like, hey I read! This Nephi guy is pretty cool! This book is so different! And so we spent a half hour talking to him about where the book came from and why it is so different. He pulled out different little books from different Christian churches and he was telling us how he had read those and that the feeling from those books and the book of mormon are completely different. He then talked about how he really does want to change and quit smoking but he has tried so many times and wasn't able to quit. He also told a story about getting into a fight with someone and then saying a prayer for forgiveness, he spent a good five minutes explaining how he literally felt a bad feeling leave his body and feeling so peaceful and free. Here is the cool part, that very morning Sister Henderson had a feeling she needed to write down Alma 36 on a sticky note and give it to him to read. Alma 36 is all about Alma's experience with the angle and how he felt all this misery but once he accepted Christ and his atonement he was able to feel an indescribable joy. So we testified of the atonement and invited him to read. Turns out this guy had been given a book of mormon 30 years ago by a couple of Elders but he had just never read it. SO COOL!! 

Heavenly Father is preparing people all day every day. We don't know when and where and why people will be ready, so that is why we have to ask everyone! We get rejected allllll the time, but that little invitation to act will help prepare them for that one lucky missionary or member of the church who asks when the time is right. This is God's work, and we ALL need to help! 

Saturday we visited some less actives and....well actually nothing really was super out of the ordinary. Except that that night the Elders had a baptism! We went to go sing with them for the baptism and it was cool because a couple days ago I had a feeling to put an extra Book of Mormon in my backpack so I did. Which was super annoying because it makes my backpack way heavier because I have a ton of books in there (have to carry around English and Chinese) but I lugged it around for a couple days. And then at the baptism the kid who got baptized had invited his friend. So I sat next to her and people were referencing the Book of Mormon and I was able to pull out the one in my backpack and give it to her! She said she would read it! Hopefully we can keep in touch with her. 

Sunday we went over to the Bishop's house and his wife made us some delicious curry :) They also fed us like, 3 mango's per person and taught us how to eat it like a real Taiwan person haha. It was funny, we all had mango juice dripping everrrywhere. It was delicious though :) They are super awesome, and they are flying to Utah on the same day as me! They are gonna go do the trek this summer. They are so cool. 

Well, I think that's about it. Except that I also wanted to say how much I love the people here. I love them so much. We had some less actives come to church yesterday. I turned around in relief society and gave one of them, Jiang Jiemei, a big smile. She smiled back at me like she was the happiest person in the world. The other one declared to us that she wants to go to the temple. She met with bishop yesterday and started getting things prepared. She had a smile like SHE was the happiest person in the world. In relief society the teacher asked Sister Hicken and I if we could share the plan of salvation. Sister Hicken has these cute little magnet picture things, so she put them up on the board as I explained the plan of happiness. A recent convert (who has never had a very good relationship with the missionaries and is really shy but we have been working with her and has come out of her shell a ton) silently clapped for me and gave me a smile like she was the happiest person in the world. And I realized that I was probably giving them smiles as if I was the happiest person in the world. And the truth is that we are ALL the happiest people in the world because that is what living the gospel does! "Men are that they might have joy" "And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven,that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness."

Well Mom, I hope you have a fantastic week! I hope you can see the JOY and HAPPINESS that comes from living the gospel! Know it, live it, LOVE it! 

I love you so much!! Thanks for all you do for me!!

Sister Fuller

Moving Day

Hello, hello!

Well, I moved today, probably for the last time until I make the big move back to America. And guess where I moved to....down to the heat! haha. I moved to Gaoxiong which is in the southern part of Taiwan. Everyone kept telling me that it's really hot here, and they were right. I stepped off the train and the heat and humidity hit me like a brick wall. This is the first time I've ever been down south; my entire mission I've been in the north. So I'm pretty excited to finish out here! My new companion just finished being trained, her name is Sister Hickens. She is from Springville, Utah and she is super cute! I'm sure we are going to have a great time. From what it looks like, my area is just a big city again, no more rice fields. But that's ok because that means there will be people to teach! Yay! I feel like I don't have any teaching skills anymore because we haven't taught anyone in the longest time haha. I'm excited to get to work :)

Michaela spells her new area Gaoxiong, but this map spells it Kaohsiung.

My last week in Zhanghua was really great. I love Sister Peng a ton and I'm going to miss her. We had such a fun time together, despite the setback of not having investigators. We went to the temple on Wednesday which was just a dream come true because Sister Anderson and I have dreamed to go there at the same time since we were in the MTC. It was raining that day though so we didn't get a ton of pictures (sorry). Other than the temple trip the week was pretty much same old stuff. Tracting. Talking to people on the streets. Finding less-active members and trying to help them come back to church. 

Sister Fuller and Sister Peng

Sister Anderson and Sister Fuller

Happy news from Beitun though (where I was two areas ago). Wei JM, she is the one who was supposed to get baptized on Christmas, got baptized yesterday!!!! Oh man I was so happy :) I wasn't able to go because she got baptized right after church which ended right when mine did, but I saw Li JM on the train to Gaoxiong and she showed me pictures. It was a happy moment. 

Um....I don't really know what else to say. Not too much has happened. I woke up with a cold yesterday, so I've been taking zicam so hopefully it won't get too bad. Other than that I think that's all. I took a bunch of pictures yesterday so I'll put them in the drop-box thingy. Also, you sent me a picture of a picture you posted on facebook and one of the people who commented on it is Xu JM the one who you asked about when we were skyping. She said she wants to come for Christmas. You should talk to her for me! Tell her I miss her a lot and to write me back! haha. 

Ok, I hope you have a fantastic week! Pray that I don't melt. I hear it's only going to get hotter as we get more into summer haha. Oh boy. I hope I answered all your questions. I love you mom!! 

Sister Fuller

Montage of Gaoxiong, Taiwan

Excited!

Hey Mom!

Sounds like you had a good weekend! The concert sounds amazing, I wish I could have seen it. When I watched general conference and they showed the temple and then again as you were talking about raking up the leaves and twigs I was suprised. I don't know why but for some reason I thought it was still cold and snowy there. haha. 

Well, I'm still in Zhanghua! yeah! My companion moved to Tainan which is down in the south of Taiwan, and my new companion arrived today! She is super cute! Her name is Sister Peng. She is from Utah but her mom is from Taiwan and her dad is from China. I'm excited to serve with her,I think we will have a good time and really see a lot of miracles. 

Michaela with new companion, Sister Peng

This week was pretty crazy. We FINALLY found some new investigators! WOOHOO! I'll start on Wednesday though, which was the English party. I'm the English leader, so I'm in charge of the English party. Delegating responsibilities and making sure everything is organized and set up and stuff. It sounds legit but it's really not that big of a deal haha. Anyway, Wednesday night comes and we get all set up and all of us missionaries have a little meeting before it starts and go over last details and stuff. I start saying how we can play some little games for about 10 minutes or so before we actually start because everyone always comes late, so we would actually start at 7:10. Then an elder pulls out one of the flyers that I had made, printed out, posted all over the church and handed out on the streets and said, "Sister Fuller, you wrote that the party starts at 7:30...." hahaha NOOOOOOO! I felt like I was in a really lame pre-teen movie haha. We all had a pretty good laugh. The party was a success though, we had about 45 people come with 12 members. The theme was Easter, so we had an easter egg hunt, coloring eggs, pin the tail on the bunny, and the big hit was a pinata at the very end. They loved it! Then Sister Zhou and I shared a little bit about Easter and why we celebrate it. It was really good :) 

We met with a less active sister. This was the first time I met her, but I have talked to her on the phone a lot. She has back problems and is in pain a lot of the time, so I suggested a priesthood blessing. She finally agreed, so we brought Bishop Huang with us to go visit her. She is so cute! I love her already! She felt the spirit and agreed to let us keep coming to visit her. After that we had a really long bike ride to our next lesson which is with our beloved Luo JM (16 year old) who is getting baptized this Sunday!!! Xiao Mama had agreed to help us peike (accompany the lesson). We called her to tell her we were running a bit late and she told us to just pull over and she would come pick us up. So nice! The lesson went great, but we were still running behind schedule. We had another lesson with a new potential investigator at the church (about an hour bike ride from where we were). Xiao Mama offered to take us and help us with the next lesson, too! We thanked her a bagillion times and she said "it's ok, members and missionaries need to work together". She is amazing. She's about 64? Anyway, the investigator was running late, too, so we started contacting on a busy street. Xiao mama came out and contacted with us! The lesson with the new investigator was a complete disaster, but she somehow was willing to set up with us again (miracle). Then Xiao mama drove us back out to our bikes. We then went to a night market with the elders and "Dan Jones"-ed. I got up on a stool and yelled out my testimony of the Book of Mormon. It was terrifying. haha. All in all, Friday was amazing. 

Saturday was amazing too because A. Luo JM had her baptismal interview and passed with flying colors! haha. She is so cute :) B. it was General conference!! Oh man. I LOVE general conference. I learned so much. After conference we went to eat dinner, Ke JM came with us. 

Sunday was general conference again.  Anyway, that day we got fed a lot of meals because Zhou JM is moving. When we got to Ke JM's house, she got a text from the Bishop that said that Xiao Mama passed away. No one knows how or why. I cried a little bit, but when we got home that night Zhou JM and I cried really hard. She was with us two days before for the entire day. She came out and did missionary work with us just two days ago. And on Wednesday she was whacking at the pinata and making everyone laugh at the English party. And now she is gone. It's really sad. But it just makes the plan of salvation so much more real. I am so thankful for the knowledge that there is life after death. I am so thankful for Jesus Christ. He is our Savior from spiritual and physical death. Because of Him we are able to achieve eternal life with our families and with our Father in Heaven. There is not a doubt in my mind of the truthfulness of this plan. 

Also, I put some new pictures in my drop box. Surprise! We went and saw the big Buddha last week. The more I learn about Buddhism the more I am convinced the gospel has been here before, it just got twisted and turned into a huge religion that isn't ours.

I'm excited for this week and this coming move-call. I'm excited to be able to celebrate Easter, celebrate the resurrection of my Savior and Redeemer. I'm excited to start new with a new companion and new goals and expectations and ideas. I'm excited to grow and improve. I'm excited to find and teach more and more people in this beautiful area on this beautiful island. 

Practicing Inviting Someone For Baptism

Zone Conference

I hope your week goes really great, mom! I love you so much! SO MUCH!!

Sister Fuller

Learning to be Humble, Patient & Grateful

Hey Mom!

Thanks for all the pictures! Everyone looks so happy and stuff! I love seeing pictures. Sorry I don't take more pictures. I'll be better at it! haha I think I've been saying that for about a year now. I really will though. We were planning on going sight seeing today but the weather is looking a bit rainy so we might end up doing it next week. I'll be sure to take lots of pictures, though. 

Michaela says this LDS church building is the largest LDS church in Taiwan

This week was pretty good. Tuesday I went on exchanges with Sister Anderson. It was muuuuch needed. I love her so much! We stayed up way too late talking (oops). It was good though. 

We still haven't found any new investigators. It's starting to get a little humorous, going so long without finding a single new investigator. It's got to be a record or something haha. I'm working my tail off, though. So I know its not a lack of work, diligence or obedience. Heavenly Father probably just wants me to learn how to be humble, patient, and grateful. I set a goal of the kind of person I want to become, its all of the characteristics listed in Alma 7:23-24. I'll get there, one day. 

Wanna hear a funny story? Ok, so..thursday? Yeah, thursday morning we are walking out to our bikes and I start to tell Zhou JM how much I just love my bike. I told her that my bike is like my best friend, that it has been so good to me, it hasn't ever given me big problems and it rides nicely and on and on. We ride out of our apartment complex and about hmmm...1 min later I hear a big POP. I look down to see if there was a rock in my tire thing place...where all the little metal things are. That's what it sounded like. But there wasn't, so I just shrugged my shoulders and kept riding. We were riding out to Hemei, which is about 30 min bike ride. Well, maybe 10 min in to the ride I notice that it's getting harder and harder to pedal. So I pull over and guess what! That big POP noise was my tire...it had no air. At all. This has happened a couple of times before, it's a pretty easy fix and you can still ride your bike til you find a shop to fix it. So I keep riding. But guess what, the inner tire that holds the air started coming out! haha. oh man. So we had to walk for FOREVER because we were in the middle of nowhere. It was ok though because there are lots of rice fields out there, it was really sunny and we just sang some hymns while we walked. So we finally find a bike shop and he fixes my tire but guess what, my brakes need to be switched, too! They were worn all the way down. haha...oh man. It was pretty expensive. We left the bike shop and Zhou JM laughs saying, so much for your bike not giving you any big problems. haha! I still love my bike, though :)

Michaela's bike-her best friend

That night we went to the bishops house to eat dinner with his family and a bunch of other members from our ward. I was chatting with the bishops wife while she was preparing some of the food and told her about my bike experience. As we were leaving after dinner and our spiritual share, she gave me a hug and then plopped a red envelope in my hands. Red envelopes in Taiwan mean you're getting money given to you. She wanted to give me the money that I spent on my bike. I was really touched. I didn't accept it of course (we have a rule, we aren't allowed to accept money), but I was really touched that she was so generous. The people here are so giving and wonderful and I just love them to death.

Hmm..what else. Oh, one day Sister Zhou and I were doing a finding activity. I prayed to know where we should go to find a new investigator. I started riding my bike and followed promptings from the spirit. I was getting nervous because I was being led to a place where there was absolutely NO ONE. The thing about Taiwan is that there are people EVERYWHERE. But I turned down road after road and there were less and less people. I kept thinking to myself why in the world am I coming here?? Then we stopped. I walked up to a house and knocked on the door. An 18 year old girl answered and we taught her about Heavenly Father and prayer and baptism. She said we could come back. She wasn't willing to tell me what her name was or what her phone number is, but we wrote down her address and will go back this week. That was pretty cool. 

View from Michaela's 12th story apartment

Michaela and her companion with ???

Well, that's probably about all for this week. I think it's interesting that you said in the picture you saw you thought I looked confident and content. Sister Anderson said that I have developed a...resilience? That I am just like, strong and more content with myself.That I won't let people take advantage or push me around, but am still my same sweet self. I would say that's probably true. I'm so thankful for all that I'm able to learn while serving the Lord. This is the hardest, most tiring, happiest best thing I've ever done. I love being a missionary. 

Have a great week, mom! I love you so so much!

Sister Fuller

IT'S THE BEST!!

Hey Mom!

Thanks for filling me in with whats going on at home. It's always fun to hear :) Also, the pictures are great! The one with dad and the fruit made me and my companion laugh haha. 

Found Dragon Fruit at Grocery Store. Sent a picture to Michaela to see how to eat it.

The dragon fruit (its the pink one) is one of my favorites! I don't know how you guys have them already though, its not dragon fruit season yet! haha. It's pretty easy to eat though, just cut it in half, then use a knife to slice it. You don't slice it all the way though, just cut it into cubes but when you get to the skin stop cutting. Then when its all in cubes, flip it inside-out. Does that make sense? So it will just fall out of the skin. Delicious! I can't really see what the other one is. If it is what I think it is, just peel the skin off and eat it. There's probably a huge seed in the middle, don't eat that part ;)

As for me...well. Moving is really hard. You get to one place and you love it and the ward becomes your family and the investigators you love with all your heart and then you have to leave. 

I was really, really sad. And my new area...we met with one investigator the entire week. So...there is lots of room for improvement! I am super excited though! 

Zhanghua city is pretty similar to Taichung. Lots of people everywhere and buildings and TONS a places to tract. But our area also covers the more like....xiangxia...like..rural! The rural outskirt little places. So we ride our bikes A TON and there is like, no one to talk to. Which is hard for me because the dynamics of what I just came from (tons of investigators, riding as fast as we can to get from lesson to lesson, ect.) and to what it is like here are completely opposite. It's been cold and grey this week so it's not that pretty right now, but once the sun comes out and the rice starts growing its going to be a beautiful place! I love more rural areas :) 

Can you find Zhanghua (spelled Changhua on the map)?  West coast, middle of Taiwan in yellow area.
Taichung, which is where Michaela has been the majority of the time, and just got transferred from,
is just above Changhua in the blue area.

My companion is called Zhou Jiemei (Taiwan person! Yeah! She is helping my chinese a TON). She herself has admitted to being lazy, so I'm not afraid to say it out-loud. She is pretty lazy. But she is also really humble, so we are working on diligence! She just finished training, so I very much still feel like a trainer. She is wonderful and we are having a ton of fun together. I'm excited to get to the point where we can both be 100% obedient and diligent (I'm not perfect either) because it is then that the miracles start coming down like rain.

Sister Zhou

Hm...what else? We did see a miracle with the investigator we met with this week! Her name is Luo Zi Xuan. She is 16 and GOLDEN! Zhou JM had met with her once before with her previous companion, they taught the first lesson. As we were preparing for her lesson, I mentioned we needed to invite her to come to church. Zhou JM was apprehensive because she is super busy with school and she has a job on Sunday, too. I told her we would pray really hard for her and invite her anyway. So we did. The lesson went AMAZING! She accepted an invitation to be baptized on April 5! She herself even mentioned going on a mission! What!? She is more than prepared. We also invited her to church and she was really excited to come. She said she would pray to find a new job and that she would come on Sunday, which she did! It was Zhou JM's first time having an investigator come to church! So yeah, really cool :) I asked her if any of her family would be interested and she said her mom would probably be interested, so hopefully we can start meeting with her mom soon too! 

So you said you want to know what it's like being a missionary in Taiwan. Let me tell you. IT'S THE BEST!! I absolutely LOVE it with all of my heart! Imagine being on a bike all day. Super sweaty. Stop at a stop light, talk to every female. Look em in the eye and promise that the message you have will change their life. Most of the time you get rejected, but you just smile and ask them if they've eaten yet. (It's a Taiwan thing, are you full?) You get to shock a ton of people when you hear them talking about you because they think you don't understand what they're saying but it's a great way to introduce why you're here and why your Chinese is so good (or not so good haha). Knock on doors and kindly but firmly get rejected because their family is "bai bai" and all religions are the same anyway. Get force fed a bunch of delicious food by loving members. Ride your bike some more (through some rice fields with the sun setting behind some palm trees with mountains in the background). Meet amazingly humble people and remind them to come to church. Call/text people and tell them to read their scriptures and pray, promising them JOY that they won't find anywhere else. Man. I can't even describe how much I love it! I love it all! It's extremely exhausting and I constantly feel like I could pass out any second and sleep for 5 days straight, but I've never been so happy in my life. I've never felt so much love for other people that I've never even met and I've never felt Heavenly Fathers love and patience with me in so much abundance. I've learned so much from this experience and I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. 

So hopefully that gives you a little taste. I hope you're saving your money, because I'm definitely coming back and I've already promised a lot of people that I'd bring you and dad with me. They're excited to meet you guys haha. 

I think that's all for this week. As for the school thing, I think I've decided on BYU. It's funny, Sister Anderson is also serving here in Zhanghua, so we get to see each other pretty frequently (YAY! I love her so much!). She said, "Sister Fuller I've been thinking about it, and I think I know why Heavenly Father needed you to come to Zhanghua. It's so I can convince you to come to BYU." haha. Regardless of how persuasive she is, I really do want to go there. And after praying about it I've got a good feeling about it. So yeah. If I could room with Rachel that would be amazing! I love Rachel! 

Well mom, I love you SO MUCH! I hope your week goes AMAZING! Pray that Zhou JM and I can find some new investigators! We need em! Thanks for all you do for me! Love you!

Sister Fuller

Power Week

(This email was from last week, February 24, 2014.  Michaela's mom needs to get on the ball)

We were listening to music this morning as we were getting ready today and "This is the Christ" came on. It made me think of the day before you took me to the MTC and we went to Deseret Book and bought that CD and then on the way home listened to that song really really loud haha. It seems like that happened last week. But it's been over a year! So crazy. 

This week seriously had SO MANY! This week was "power week", so basically every single day we came home absolutely extra exhausted. Every day President Blickenstaff gave us a goal to hit and we left the house early (at 9:30) to go out and hit the goal. Because we went to the temple (which I'll talk about later) it was a little messed up for us, but we still worked our very hardest to hit all the goals. It was fun! Monday we went out and tracted, hoping to get let into two different houses. We didn't hit that goal, but in the process we found a girl that we tracted into a while ago and said we could come back. So that was cool. 

Tuesday's goal was to hand out 13 Books of Mormon and exchange contact info so we can follow up with them on how they like it. We handed out 13 books but 1 person just would NOT give us their information haha. So we just barely missed the goal. That day we ran into a bunch of Americans, they were all Christian and it made me really grateful that I am serving in Taiwan. They basically said, "I admire your search for God and Christ, I can see that you really believe in what you're doing, I'm just said that you haven't found Him yet." It wasn't that much fun. Xinku missionaries who go to the bible belt. 

Wednesday we went to the temple!!! Oh man, it was SO GREAT! We do the session in English, and we saw the new movie! It was SO GOOD! Oh man, I love it! I learned a lot from that temple trip, the biggest thing I think I've been learning lately is that God created us so that we can have joy. He wants us to be joyful! He wants us to not only have joy in this life, but eternally. And the best way to have that joy is through living up to our potential. The only way to fully live up to our potential is through Christ. 

Thursday we had to drop in 5 week E baptismal goals, which means that they want to work towards getting baptized in March! We didn't hit that goal either, but we did meet with a new investigator that we found a while ago. She came to English class a couple of times, and while she was there we gave her a book of Mormon. We kind of lost contact with her because she was busy, but we met with her this past week and when we got to her house she pulled out her Book of Mormon. Turns out she has been reading at least 2 pages every single night before she goes to sleep! She loves it! We gave her a baptismal goal, but she is super busy, so it's hard to meet with her. Her son has autism so she is always taking him to classes and to see the doctor and stuff. Pray for her! Her name is Liu Jiemei. 

Friday we had to confirm 14 people for church...we confirmed 12! haha so close. 

Saturday we needed to talk to 20 families about the gospel! We did it! Woohoo! Including meeting with our family, the Lin Jiating (family of 6, 4 kids). Our lessons haven't been going that great with them, we have been having a really hard time teaching them. We finally realized that we just need to be really, really simple with them. They have absolutely no idea who God is, who Christ is, or anything. We are started from nothing. It's hard! haha. I'm really excited to see them grasp the gospel, though. They have a desire to know (otherwise they wouldn't keep letting us come back haha)

Sunday the goal was to have 4 investigators at church. Ready for a huge miracle? we had 10!!!Ten investigators at church! That is the most I have ever seen on my mission! The Lin family came, all 6 of them, at 8:30 in the morning! They came for all 3 hours! Man, we were so happy! We also had a less-active husband come who we have met with twice, Wei JM (our amazing investigator whos parents wont let her get baptized yet) brought her friend who we will meet with this week and then Xie JM. Xie JM is a miracle in and of herself. Let me tell you about her.

I don't know if I've mentioned Xie JM before or not. Her husband is already a member, he served his mission in Canada. Anyway, they went to Japan a while ago and we lost contact for a month. Two weeks ago we finally met with her and told her she was ready for baptism, she just need to decided to do it and then work hard for it. So she said ok! Then this past week we met with her almost every day, finishing up all the lessons and helping her prepare for baptism. And she's ready! She passed her baptismal interview on Saturday! She was telling us that her 7 year old daughter kept asking why she wants to get baptized. She said because she wants to be with dad for forever. Then the daughter said, I want to too! Can I get baptized? So we got her a children's Book of Mormon with pictures and after her interview on Saturday we all sat in the park eating fruit and read (and looked at the pictures) from the Book of Mormon. I got to talk to Xie JM about the temple and how amazing it is and she is so excited to be able to go be sealed to her husband. And oh man...they're going to have an eternal family!! It's the best feeling in the world! I love Xie JM so much! She has completely changed. You can physically see the change that the gospel has brought to her life. It's amazing. Oh man.

A lot of miracles, right? Well that's not even all of them! Sunday we were riding home from church and decided to stop at a park and talk to some families there. We talked to one family and the mom was like, I've run into you two on the street....three times..! haha. Heavenly Father is really putting her in our path. She was there with her husband and two kids, all of whom are willing and excited to invite us over to their house and listen about the gospel. We gave them a Book of Mormon and will call them tonight to set up a time to meet. ALSO. Last night we went over to Wei JM's house, we went last week and met with her and her mom. Her mom committed to reading the Book of Mormon, and we also told her about priesthood blessings. She has some heath problems and so we arranged for Su Dixiong to come over last night to give her a blessing. So last night we talked about faith and we all shared some experiences we have had with priesthood blessings. The spirit was really strong. After the blessing we asked her mom if she would let Wei JM get baptized this Sunday. She said we will have to ask her dad, which I think is a step forward! We are praying SO HARD for a miracle. Wei JM deserves it.

Also, yesterday Bishop Stevenson (the general presiding bishop of the church) came and spoke to us. We got to hear from him, his wife, and President and Sister Blickenstaff. It was so good! I also got to see Sister Mancilla and Sister Anderson! Oh man, it's been a long time since I've seen Sister Anderson. We hugged for quite some time. I love her so much!

So yeah, basically this week was really really...really really great. Heavenly Father LOVES HIS CHILDREN! I know that to be true with all my heart. I am so blessed to be able to be here and to get to know these amazing people. Move call is next Monday, I'm super scared I'll be moving. I don't want to leave,  l love my area so much. That's usually how you know it's time to go, though...

Well, I think that's about all. I hope your week goes really great, mom. I love you so much! Thank you for being the best mom in the world. 

Sister Fuller

Time is going fast, I hit my one year mark

Speaking of time going fast, I hit my 1 year mark this past week. Weird. Also, about 2 years ago I went to China....that feels like it was yesterday. Also weird because I feel like that was a completely different person. I feel like I have changed so much, and for that I am grateful. I'm thankful for the Atonement, that every day we are given the opportunity to change and become better than we were the day before. I don't like to think of where I would be without it. 

 

As for me, this week was amazing! We had 2 baptismal goals drop out (they didn't come to church, so they have to have new goals so they can make it to church at least 3 times) but we had 2 new goals drop in! So we are still at 5, but should soon be up to 7!!! They are all doing so great! We met with a new investigator on Tuesday? and gave her a goal for March 1. She was so excited! She has work on Sunday but said she would talk to her boss to see if she could come in late so she could make it to church! She is 23, super cute! The other one is an 18 year old student who wants to be a nurse. She works at a tea shop. She accepted to be baptized at our first meet, too and said she would share the plan of salvation and Book of Mormon with one of her friends and her sister! She is super cute! Heavenly Father really is blessing us so much, just putting prepared people right in our path. We have so many right now, its a challenge keeping track of them all! But Heavenly Father is helping us with that, too. It's really amazing to see it all just fall into place as we are working our very hardest. We also met with one of Wei JM (our AMAZING investigator who couldn't get baptized on Christmas) friends. About a month ago she gave us a list of 3 friends that we prayed for by name every single night. When we set up with her I was like, wait....why does this name sound so familiar. And it's because it was one of those friends who we prayed for every night! So cool. She is super cute! she didn't accept a baptismal goal yet, but she committed to read the Book of Mormon and pray, so basically she is awesome. I'm loving all the work that's going on here in Beitun. It's amazing how much this area has changed and progressed. 

 

I had a few more of those moments that you mentioned that you have, Dad, that you will remember from your mission for your whole life. It wasn't a huge moment, it was actually really small. We have this investigator, she is 69 (I think? really old), and I love her with me WHOLE HEART! She is so so cute!! I just love her! Anyway, we meet with her a lot because she is old and has nothing to do haha but every time after the lesson she walks us out to our bikes and then walks to us to the stop light until it turns green and we have to ride away. It was in the evening and it was a beautiful day, sun was setting, didn't need a jacket yet it wasn't hot, clear sky (no smog), and the light turned green. We had said goodbye and I love you like a bagillion times, but as we rode I way I looked back one last time to tell her I loved her. She was just standing there watching us off and waved goodbye. And right then I felt the spirit. And I said a prayer of gratitude for Heavenly Father allowing me to come to this wonderful place. I don't know what I did to be so blessed, I don't feel like I deserve it, but I am so so thankful.

 

Also, this week is Chinese New Year! Didn't quite keep up on your new years resolutions? No worries, this year you have two new years! Yeah! It's actually pretty cool, a less active told us the story behind new years. So anciently in China, there was this large animal called "nian" (nee-en) and every year at a certain time he would come and eat all the people. The people discovered that if they put red stuff around their front door, the big animal wouldn't eat them. So they would. And now everyone has these red posters that they put up around their door that says, everyone, congratulations! Congratulations you didn't get eaten! haha. So that's why its called guo nian. Guo is like, pass, to pass through, and nian is the name of the animal. Pass through the animal. haha. When she told us I was like hmmmm.....wait a second! That sounds like it's from the Old testament! Moses sound familiar to anyone? Yeah, Christianity has definitely been in China before. Anyway, Chinese New Year is actually a really scary time to be a missionary. Our ward has created a sign up list on when to feed the missionaries. As a result, every single lunch and dinner for every day this week is going to be spent at a members house. President Blickenstaff has given us permission for us to be at each appointment for 2 hours to show politeness. Crazy. That's how big of a deal Chinese New Year is. On top of the 15 pounds I've gained in the past year of being a missionary, I'm about to gain another 15 in just one week. AAAAH! But! When in Rome do as the Romans do. I only get to experience one Chinese New Year, so I'm going to simply enjoy it. Also, I'm considering waking up at 6 am to get some extra exercise. haha.

Week Schedule-Booked

Anyways, thanks for all your support and prayers, mom. I really do see that they are helping. My language is getting better and better (even though I'm still pretty hai hao) and we are seeing so many miracles every single day. I'm so thankful for this time that I have to give all that I have and all that I am to the Lord. I wouldn't trade the experiences I'm having and the people that I am meeting and helping come unto Christ for anything in the world. I absolutely LOVE Taiwan and I LOVE the people here and I LOVE the gospel! So much love going on. haha.

 

Have a great week! HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 

Sister Fuller