5/18/14 ~ Hot and Rainy!!! Not too conducive for missionary work!

Hello Mom! Hello Regan! Hello World! I would love to start this email by a shout out to MOM AND REGAN! CONGRATULATIONS!!!! I am sooo happy you guys got married! And I'm glad to hear everything went smoothly.  It sounds like it was a blast!  May you have many days of happiness and sunshine! :D (Though, hopefully not Taiwan sunshine, because then you guys would be roasted....)

Well, one more week down.... and a lot more weeks of summer left to go.​  And with summer comes the yearly rainy season.  I don't like rain, and yet it rained pretty much every day this week.  In fact, it's raining right now.... inside the internet cafe.... yup.... soo soo wet!  Everyone knows how much I looove the rain here... yup.... still a work in progress... I've been feeling a little bit rainy in mood, and a little drowned.... This week I had to have my bike tires changed twice because my front wheel got flat... and with the rain... no one wants to talk to us here... well... except for a kind soul that we met on the road here. :)

As to investigators.... we still have none... and we are still spending our days finding...  We did get into three houses this week while tracting.  Two of them were on Monday, and the other yesterday.  One on Monday was a nice family who also invited us back.  But the second time they said that they just wanted to be friendly to the "wai guo ren"/foreigners, and they really didn't care about Christ since they are Dao Jiao.  After we went to their house, the next house over a lady let us in, but she wasn't really interested in learning more because she was Buddhist.  Then yesterday, we were let into a house by a cute couple.  The wife only speaks Taiwanese, but she was insistent that we understood her, and the husband kept having to translate.  Well, apparently the Elders had knocked on her door three days earlier and gave her the same flier.  We taught them to pray, and they were so very nice.  But they say they can't travel that far to go to church (we were about an hour away from the chapel).

We've been having a lot of nicer contacts with people, or people willing to set up.  Though... most of our appointments have fallen through (probably due to the rain.... Not fun....)  We've been trying to figure out why we aren't having success yet.... but we keep striving to work hard and keep moving forward.

We've also been working on our relations with the ward and helping them do missionary work.  That's been a bit frustrating as well, since most of our ward have been saying they are too busy to meet with us...  But in the meetings we've had, it's been a spiritual experience.  We've been sharing with them Elder Nielson's talk from the Oct 2013 Conference.  It gives three invites on how we as members can help hasten the Lord's Work.  I invite all of you to do them as well, since they are all pretty easy but have a lot of blessings!

Okay... what else... Oh! I went on Companion Exchanges and learned a ton.  We also didn't have water in our apartment... so Sister Worthington and I went to my apartment so we could take a shower.  We found some really cool LA's though.  I love helping LA's return. :D  And Sister Worthington is great!  Oh! Also, when I was with her, we ate Stinky Tofu for dinner.  I like stinky tofu. :D

Well, we are only allowed to email one hour this week, since we are going to the temple on Wednesday and today doesn't count as a p-day.  So, I've got to go.  I hope you are all doing well.  Congratulations again to Mom and Regan! I'm so excited to have a big family! Haha! :D

Love you all!

Sister Peng

5/11/14 ~ Happy Mother's Day!!!

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!!!!

I can't express how happy I was to be able to Skype home to see all those happy faces awaiting me.  Especially that of my FAVORITE MOM!  I was super happy, and I'm sad that time went by so quick... 45 minutes is not enough.  But I am so excited that on Christmas I won't have to Skype.  I'll be home! Wa Sai! Time goes by so fast!

Thank you Mom for always being there for me.  You are my best friend in the WORLD and I know that God really does plan out our families before we come to this earth.  Mom, you are by role model and hero.  You always know what's best for me, and you always are willing to talk and listen.  I'm sorry I can't be there with you this Mother's Day in person, but I hope you can feel my love all the same.

My mom is what you call a "super star mom."  I don't think anyone could ever compare to her.  She always taught me from when I was little how to be loving, how to be kind, how to be patient, how to be happy, and how to have faith.  The Lord has blessed me with her.  And there is no way I can ever repay her.

Anyways, for everyone else, thanks for being awesome!  Because of all my family and friends, I am who I am today.  Thanks for your love and support.

Also, for all those who don't know: Mom and Regan are getting married this week!  I am sooo happy!  God has truly blessed our family with even more miracles than I could have ever asked for.  I remember leaving on my mission and telling my mom that she could do anything, except get married... well, I am swallowing my words and giving her full approval!  Exciting things are happening! And I couldn't be happier!

As for what's going on here... well... this email is probably going to be short... Nothing much is happening in the work here....

Oh! We had a single parent family move in.  The mom was just baptized this month on the 3rd, and then because of some stuff, she moved to our ward with her 3 kids (and she also has one on the way).  This family is going to need help, but the ward have been so awesome at taking care of them.  I love member power!

Hmm... what else... I tried a Tuna Corn waffle... Did you know that pretty much anything can be put in/on a waffle?  Well, it can!  I'm seriously thinking about opening a small cafe that serves all the random yummy thing's I've eaten here in Taiwan.  Like Mango ice (as well as other Taiwan shaved ice treats), Crazy waffles, Mango Milk, Papaya Milk, Watermelon Milk, etc.  It would be a fun thing to do.... Or I'll teach Chinese... or go into medicine... or teach psychology.... or just stay at home with my future kids..... so many options!

Hmm... well.... what else.... not much... I'm going to be so thankful for air conditioning these next few months.  It's HOT!

Well, that's pretty much all folks!  To all the mom's out there: THANK YOU!!  YOU ARE ALL AWESOME!!!! But no one is as awesome as MY MOM!!!! :D

Watch this, it's so good! : http://motherhood.mormon.org/?cid=HPTH050814094

And This: https://familysearch.org/campaign/mothersday-vp?cid=HPMO050514102

Love, Sister Nicholle Peng

(The luckiest Daughter in the world)

5/4/14 We are biking, biking, biking, and more biking......

1)  What fun things do you have planned for today?  Have you had a chance to try some mua wan yet?  I absolutely love that  stuff!!!  eat pizza and buy stuff.  this week we'll eat mua wan. :D

2)  What is the best thing about being able to serve with sister Fullmer?  Is it nice to speak some English again?  She is always so spiritual! And sooo funny!  It is great to speak in English.

3)  Have you received the package of photos yet?  If so, do you like them?  How about the other stuff that were sent with them?

Nope...

4)  Are you learning to love Zhang Hua?  What lessons have you learned from this place that you haven't been able to learn before?

Yup.  Patience.... but i've learned that before... idk... being more diligent as well....

5)  What has been your favorite thing to eat in Zhang Hua?  Any good restaurants?

There is a good Hot Pot place in He Mei (secondary area) in Zhang Hua there is a good restaurant that they cook in front of you.  I like the pizza place we go to...

6)  Any luck on getting more investigators, LA and RC's to teach?  We have been praying for you on a daily basis.

Nope....

7)  Have you given more thoughts to your major when you return to school? Umm... let's see... job choices that have went across my mind since being in Zhang hua:  Journalist, Chinese Teacher, Nurse/doctor, Psychologist, Owner of a cafe/ mango ice shop called Yong Yum (yong as in yong yuan as in forever)... etc.... 

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Happy Cinco De Mayo everyone!  I know I'm in Taiwan, and we don't celebrate that here, but perhaps you all are eating yummy Mexican food.  I like Mexican food. And I really miss it... (The burritos in Tainan weren't the same...) but, there is a place here with Mexican flavored Pizza, so we are going there to get us some yummy, yummy pizza.  We must really like pizza.  We go there almost every Monday. Haha!  But it's seriously delicioso! They also have a four cheese pizza that is to die for!  Yum!  I think it may be my favorite pizza in the world. :D  

Anyways, Zhang Hua is... well... it's still has a pulse... a very slow.... slow... pulse...  I mean, the people are thriving and there's a busy world passing by... but as to missionary work... we are still feeling like we are a fishing in a pond with the wrong bait.  We keep trying new things and keep trying to focus on different areas of the work, hoping and praying that something will give... but... no success yet.  Though, tracting this week wasn't as "zao gao"/bad as it was.  We still got rejected by a TON of people... but we had people who were willing to let us in or take a few minutes to talk on the door step.  We are working on going to all of our secondary areas to contact people, since we feel like we need to get out of the city (no one here seems willing to listen...).  

Anyways, in Shen Gang (about an 45 minute of fast bike riding away from the city) we met a nice lady who gave us bananas and seemed to really feel the spirit.  Though, she said she has been Buddhist too long to change, and so she wasn't willing to set up again.  Then we also met a grandma, mom and daughter who let us in, to sit for a bit, but weren't really willing to talk about anything regarding the gospel.

We also met this guy in He Mei (about 30 minutes away from the city) who invited us in, though we couldn't go in since it was only him and his son at home, but he seemed really interested to know what us missionaries where up to, and he seemed pretty cool.  He also wasn't willing to let us have the elder's call him or visit him though....  We also met with an LA and her two kids, who are all really wanting to come to church, but the mom is super busy with her 3 jobs....  but hopefully we can have a member take the kids to church. They are AWESOME!

Then we also went to Lu Gang twice this week (about 1 hour of fast bike riding away) and met with an LA, who is very sweet but doesn't go to church because she is afraid of being in the same place as a lot of people.... Also, what else... we ate some red bean ice while we called phones.... yum... :D  

Other than that, I have felt completely dead this week!  We've been biking and biking and biking.... But, we did meet some kind souls. :D  So I guess that counts for something.  We are working hard to plant seeds in Zhang Hua along with our other areas and we are hoping that the rains of blessings will come and we'll be able to harvest soon...  

Oh, talking about rain, it's been really rainy this week... like really rainy... Last night I woke up to a clashing of thunder and the flashing of lightning....

Hmm.... What else....  Oh, Sister Fuller and I have been working hard to keep our spirits bright and happy.  Or, we are just going a little bit crazy.  Who knew playing with the ants in the apartment at 10 pm could be so fun (Sister Fuller gave one a "magic carpet ride."  And then this morning, while discussing what we could teach our little kids during English we had a very happy excitable moment of singing "Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree."  Also, we've been eating yummy food (all the while thinking of new things we could try to lose weight... Cuz, being in Taiwan really works against you if you are trying to lose weight....)

Something that I've learned here, as well as in my other areas is the impossibility of doing the work without members.  I am so grateful for the members here who are helping us with this work.  Sometimes, I feel, as a missionary that our true purpose is to help members become missionaries in their day to day life.   It is so important for everyone to be a part of this work.  Did you know it was a part of our baptismal covenant to share the gospel?  When we are baptized we promised to stand as a witness of the Lord in all things, and to help others.  There is no better way we can help the people around us, than by sharing with them the gospel and allowing them to have an opportunity to find everlasting happiness.  And by fulfilling our covenants that we made at baptism we can more fully obtain the promises that Heavenly Father gives us. The windows of heaven will be opened to us, if we are willing to be faithful and steadfast.  

So, as a missionary, I ask you members to get to know the missionaries in your area.  Ask them how you can help.  Help them teach investigators.  Pray about those around you to see who you can introduce to the missionaries.  Invite people to church or other activities.  Pray for the missionaries.  I know that through these simple things, you can be a part of the hastening of the work.  We missionaries need you members!  And the Father needs your help in helping your spiritual family come unto him.

View from Sister Peng's Apartment --- See the Famous Big Budda in the distance?

This has not been Sister Peng's favorite treat

I love you all! I hope you have a great week!  

Love, Sister Peng