04/27/14 ~ The Lord is Definitely There For Us!

1). How many people attend church in your ward?

Like... idk.... 100 ba?

2). Are you liking the area more?  Are members feeding you?

The area is pretty okay.  No members feeding us, though tonight we will be going to visit Sister Wang at a Curry place.  She is our RS pres.

3). Did you get the photos that I sent you yet?  I hate for you to draw stick figures of me any longer than necessary.

Nope, still waiting....  Don't worry, the stick figures are very flattering. :P

4). Any luck with getting any investigators or LA or RC to teach?  I hope you are able to keep your enthusiasm and spirits up.

Nope.... kind of?... we've got some potentials, but they are all too busy, or they are just so so interest...

5). What foods is Zhang Hua known for?

Ask Grandpa.  They have these things called rou yuan or in Taiyu: Ma Wan.  I haven't had any yet.  My companion seems not very willing to stray from the restaurants she already knows... most of which are very expensive.  I'm all for trying new places, but every time I suggest it, she's like "Uh..."

6). Are you sweating to death already?  Do you think you'll be able to tolerate the heat and humidity better this year since it's your second year?

It's super-hot, but I'm doing alright so far.  It's not really the middle of the summer yet though.  I heard the summers in the middle of Taiwan are a bit better than in the south, so, I should be doing okay.

7). So, do you think you’ll get to go to the temple one day?  I love the new movie that they made since you have been out.

 There is a temple day in May, so I'll be able to go!  Yay! I'm one of the few missionaries who have been on island for so long without being able to go to the temple at least once.  I'm super excited!

8). How are you and your companion, whose name I forgot, getting along?  Are you guys a good match?

Sister Fuller and I get along great! :D

9). What can do to support you this week, and what should I include in my prayers?

I guess you can pray that we'll be able to find people.... yup... that's about all...

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Hello Mom and Family and Friends!

Well, April is almost come and gone... Weird eh?  I hear that April has brought its annual showers back in Utah.  We had a bit of rain two days ago.... but other than that, it's been pretty hot.  Oh, well, aside from today where the weather decided to be windy and overcast...  I always wish that we missionaries could look at the weather reports so we know what to plan for.... that would be so useful.

Anyways, as for the weekly missionary reports, the work here has been...going a little bit better than last week.... but only by a smudge.  We actually taught over 10 lessons this week! Yay!  Improvement!  Though, I've never had the work be so dead before.  Being here in Zhang Hua has definitely been... humbling and faith trying.  But we are going to find people! Just you wait and see!

Though, the Lord is helping.  I guess the most exciting day of the week was last Monday.  After a tiring P-day (We went to Lu Gang and walked through their "old street" which was just a bunch of old houses and vendors selling food or tourist items... and we did a lot of walking... like a ton....) we were greeted in the evening with two phone calls telling us that the people we set up lessons with all cancelled... so we had to figure out what we wanted to do with all that empty time.

So, as many missionaries do, we just went out to go tracting.  So we tracted and tracted... and tracted... and tracted... and everyone was rejecting us, and we were thinking it was about time we did something else.  So we tracted the last house on the street, when this lady answered and let us in.  Well... it didn't take us long to figure out that she was a bit special...  She had some sort of memory loss, which was actually pretty sad.  We spent like 10 minutes talking to her, in which she kept saying things like "Are you guys foreigners? Are we in Taiwan?" And "People say I'm 40, but I just don't know...."  We were at loss of what we should do but then, a 20 yr old woman comes in, and we start talking with her.  She said she was Buddhist, but she was willing to take the time to learn more about what we had to share.  When we prayed with her, she said she felt good inside, she felt peace.  She was super nice!  And we were super happy to have found a new potential investigator.

So, we leave and we start biking when a lady calls out to us.  She starts off by being super friendly and then she starts asking us about the Ten Commandments.  We figured out fairly quickly that she was quizzing us, and so we wearily began to recite to her the Ten Commandments.  When we get to fourth one about keeping the Sabbath day holy, she then starts hammering us about why our church celebrates the Sabbath on the first day (Sunday) of the week, not the seventh(Saturday).  The Spirit immediately left the conversation, and no matter what we said, she wouldn't leave.  She was just talking to us to argue.  I just don't understand why people enjoy doing such a thing...  I am so grateful not to serve in an area full of Bible Bashers.... I think I would go crazy.... Arguing about doctrine is not the way of the Lord...

Anyways, after we finally got her to leave us alone, we biked to a 7/11 to call some phones, to see if we could get people to set up with us.  And lo and behold! The first phone we call is this lady who immediately says: "I'm soo happy you called! Can we meet tonight?"  She then sets up a meeting point that is at a different 7/11 down the street.  We meet with her, and she is like the happiest lady in the world! She is super sweet, and super nice!  She starts telling us how the day before she was having some trials and she was feeling a bit down, and she was praying for the Lord to give her some help.  And then we called her.  She is a former investigator, who was dropped just because she was too busy (her job is a baby sitter).  But, she reads the Book of Mormon EVERYDAY! And she prays on a regular basis as well!  

So, we went home feeling in awe of the night the Lord gave us.  Everything that had happened was because he had it planned out.  He gave us the opportunity to see of his miracles, by first giving us trials.  We were originally frustrated because our lessons dropped, but we were lifted by having other lessons given to us and by having the opportunities to meet new investigators we can work with.

The rest of the week was a bit... yeah... it was just a lot of biking and such.  Like, I've never done so much biking on my mission, as I have here in Zhang Hua.  

Oh, on Saturday morning we attended a funeral of a very awesome member of the ward who died before I came.  So I never had the chance to meet her, but from everything I've heard she was a great example and friend to everyone.  The funeral was beautifully done, and you could see the love and support of all the ward members to the family.  You could also see how much hope the Plan of Salvation brought to the people here.

Hmm... anything else I'm forgetting?  I don't know.... Sorry, I'm so tired!  This is what missionary work does to you! It makes you tired and so you can't remember what things happened only days before.

Oh! I found this video.  It's Elder Holland's report on his visit to Asia with the last few months.  I'm grateful to be a part of the work of spreading the gospel in Taiwan.  The Church is Growing! https://www.lds.org/prophets-and-apostles/unto-all-the-world/gospel-light?cid=HPTU042214727&lang=eng

I really hope all of you are doing fantastic!  I've hit like my... what 11th month anniversary of being a missionary!  It's been amazing so far, but I still have several more months that are going to be full of miracles!  I am so grateful to serve, and I know that what I am doing is the Lord's work!  I love you! I'm praying for you!  

Until Next Time!

Love, Sister Nicholle Peng