7/28/14 ~ Fun With A Short Time Missionary!

1). Did you eat anything interesting this week? uh.... not really...

2).  Are you able to cool yourself down enough to get a good sleep? Yup, we have an AC.

3). Have y seen any big firework shows since you have been in Taiwan?  How does it compare to our firework shows? They aren't big firework shows.  They are just the fireworks that Buddhist and Daoist temples have for some sort of religious thing....

4). Have you seen any flowers there that you have haven't seen in the U.S.? They have lilies and some flowers that look like the flowers from Hawaii.

5). Did you get any mail from me this week? Yup! Thanks.

6). Any more knowledge or information as how to be a FB missionary?  The FB missionaries in the states all get iPads.  We don't have iPads. That would be so useful. No, we just go to a library and fb.  We still don't have any direction really.....

7). Do you think your Chinese is now better than mine? IDK. When I go home we'll see. :P  I think I really do want to major in Chinese and teach it....

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Hello Mom, Regan, family, and friends,

Well, I'm hungry right now... ah well, that's what I get for only eating a mango for breakfast.  But it was a good mango.  It is still mango season here, and they are soooo good! So happy to know that next year when I come back to visit, mangoes will be in season again.  For those of you who haven't ever eaten a mango, you are missing out!

So, this week was interesting.  We had a Duan Chuan, which translates to a short time missionary, with us.  Her name is Sister Kuang, and she is a young woman from Yuanlin first ward.  Our mission gives youth opportunities to serve mini missions with us missionaries.  We made Sister Kuang sooo tired! Haha! All she wanted to do was sleep! She was also very afraid of getting tanned, because the sun was very big.  But she kept layering on the sunscreen, and then wore a jacket on top of that.  Haha! Taiwan people are so funny.  They are always freaking out about my tan.  Granted, I've gotten really dark, but I don't mind. :P  I still put on sunscreen though, because skin cancer wouldn't be a very fun thing to get from a mission... :P  But still, you are biking down the street, and everyone is dressed like it's cold outside!  But it's soooo hot!

Sister Kuang was so fun to be with.  She has a lot of faith and testimony and is planning on going on her own mission next year (right now she is almost 18).  She really hopes to go to a visitor center mission- which will probably suit her well, seeing as she doesn't really like being outside too much, nor did she enjoy the biking...This week we biked all the way out to LuGang, like we always do, and though she was a trooper and made it there and came back, she was sore for the evening and the day afterwards. :P

I'm trying to think back at what happened this week, it's all blurry like it always is.  Sometimes you’re on your mission, and you swear you have short term memory loss!

Oh! How could I forget! This week we had interviews with the mission president and planner checks.  That took all of Tuesday... like, we just had enough time to come home, eat dinner, call a few phones and then we had to go home.  But it was good.  I love interviews and training meetings.  They always leave me pumped!  In the training meeting that President held for us, we talked about having a vision.  We need to have a vision and make goals to reach it.  We have a goal here in the mission to get 60 baptisms a month.  It's a high goal for the mission, we've only hit that twice since I've been here on island, but it's a reachable one.  We just need to have faith!

Meeting with President Blickenstaff also made me realize that "The Time is Far Spent."  My time here on a mission is getting less and less (Today I hit my 14 month mark as a missionary!).  It's very important that I do my best and align my will with Heavenly Father so I can make the most of this wonderful experience.  It's hard, yes, and it will be harder in the future, but it is worth it.  Totally and completely worth it!  I wouldn't exchange my time spent here and my experiences that I've gained for anything.

Oh, and we had a typhoon this week, but we didn't have too much problems from it.  It was only raining on and off and really windy.  And then evening came, and we were coming home from teaching English, and it started POURING!  Like, to experience what we experienced, find the nearest park fountain and stand in it, with all your clothes on... yup!  

Hmm... Yup... That's about it.... Well, we skipped Relief Society yesterday at church again to go back to Yuanlin and do the final Testimony meeting for the Duan Chuans, and said good bye to Kuang JM.  I'll miss her, but it's easier to just have a companionship of two. So now it's just me and Sister Pope. Back to normal. "Now our trio is down to two!" We are hoping to make the last half of this move call AMAZING!

This week I've been studying about the importance of developing Christlike attributes-especially as a missionary.  We have been commanded to follow in Christ's footsteps.  Not only to do as he did, but become like him as well.  He gave us the perfect example to follow to come back home the the Father and to receive eternal happiness.  By becoming as he was, we will find peace and help others be uplifted as well.  We may not be perfect now, but we can try to be better each and every day.  We can make every day count, and be true disciples of Christ.  I know Christ lives! I know that he loves each and every one of us, and is always there for us.  Come unto him, and be perfected through him.

https://www.lds.org/youth/video/christlike-attributes?lang=eng

https://www.lds.org/youth/video/come-unto-christ-2014-theme-song?lang=eng

I love you all! 

Love, Sister Nicholle Peng

7/20/14 ~ It Is Still So Very Hot In Taiwan!

1)  What are your plans for the day?

RELAX! :D So excited!

2)  Has there been anything this week that had a positive effect on your mood and mental well being?

Yup! Things went pretty smoothly when I thought they were going to be very stressful.

3)  Do the natives in Taiwan think that it is hot as well?  Are they more tolerant of the heat?  What do they do to stay cool?

I think they thing it is hot.  They stay inside.... so they have air conditioning.... 

4)  What is your favorite thing for breakfast?

Uhh.... I really like waffles... but I haven't eaten waffles here.  Here I eat a banana with peanut butter.

5)  Do they ever have future plans on training you as a FB missionary?  So, are you just a FB missionary for the remaining of this transfer or is it once your are a FB missionary, you'll remain one for the rest of your mission?  

Nope.... I guess not.... I really don't know what to do as a FB missionary.  And I don't know if I'll stay a FB missionary after I move... IDK

6)  Are you struggling with how you are doing?  How can I best help you?????????  How can I make my emails or letters more beneficial for you?

I'm doing good.  I like mail.... :D

**************************************

親愛的媽媽, Regan, and Everyone else;

最 近好嗎？我找到了一個辦法可以打中文字。但是比較慢一點, 並且你們會看不懂。 所以我可以打印文字就好了。比較方便。How is everyone doing?  I learned how to type in Chinese! But it's a bit slower, and most of you will not be able to understand... So I'll type in English.  It's more convenient.

Well, that week went by fast.  I'm not really sure what happened at the beginning of it.  My brain is soo tired right now.  Granted, I am always tired. 

Anyways, I guess I'll just do what I have been doing for a lot of my emails and share the highlights of my week.

Last P-day we didn't really do anything exciting.... just went out and bought stuff (like food and what not) and came home to rest.  Oh! I also adopted a pepper plant that I named 小辣 (xiao la) and he is doing pretty well.  Some of the peppers are starting to get orange! Yay! I'll upload pictures.  Sister Pope adopted a rose plant.  It's pretty. I'll upload Pictures.

 

On Tuesday we had a very good uplifting DTM by Elder Scoval about commitments, and helping our investigators keep commitments.  We have to let them know what blessings come from keeping the commitments to help them have a vision of what good things can happen in their lives from making and keeping commitments to God.  I personally learned that I need to learn how to keep more commitments (goals) to myself if I want to help investigators make and keep commitments... so now I'm and focusing on how I can stay more committed to the work and to the goals that I have set to make myself better.

On Wednesday we taught English, and we taught the little kids about Nature in English and had them draw pictures and label what things were.  We then taught them a fast version of the Creation, since they have short attention spans.

Thursday we had a great day in Lu Gang.  But it was so hot!  Anyways, me met with Liu JM, an LA, and just read some scriptures with her and invited her to church again.  She came! Yay! Then we visited with a Lin JM and her Daughter, who is our investigator, and shared about the Plan of Salvation.  She is really warming up to us, which is good.  She is so sweet! And I think she would be great friends with the other young women in the ward.  We also visited a Zhao XJ, who is a potential investigator.  She is handicap, and is always busy selling stuff in Taizhong.  She says she can't read the Book of Mormon because it's printed too small, and she doesn't want to pray because she doesn't want to bother God too much... We kept trying to think of ways to help her see that Praying doesn't bother God... but... she didn't seem to get it....  

Hmm.... Friday it rained, thank goodness we were in a Family Mart at the time so we didn't get drenched.  Saturday, we visited Ding JM, and her daughter, who are both active members.  Her daughter is cute, Yao JM, but she is a bit touchy feely, which was making us missionaries feel a bit uncomfortable.... She just doesn't get the personal bubble thing....  We also visited Gu JM and her kids.  They are awesome!

And Sunday.  I thought Sunday was going to be a disaster and a half... okay, not that bad.  It was just going to be really frustrating.  Because we learned that we would be having a 短傳/ duan chuan, short time missionary, and we were trying to figure out how we were going to have enough accommodations for her.  Like a bed and a bike.... In the morning we got a bed situated for her (picture to be included), so we still had a bike to figure out. And then they tell us the meeting for the 短傳 activity starts at 4:30 in Yuan Lin.  Our church didn't end till 5.  But, we went with the bishop's wife and her daughter who was going to be a 短傳, and left church at 4.  So, now I can say I sluffed church as a missionary.... Haha! Anyways.  So we got to the meeting on time.  And, our 短傳 is so cute and amazing! Her name is Sister Kuang.  And, we didn't have to worry about her bike, because they just drove it to our church in Zhang Hua, so we could ride back home with her. :D  Everything worked out! I'm so glad! I prayed so hard! So, this week is going to be amazing!

Oh! Also on Sunday, I learned that I'm not used to being in cars anymore.  Sooo car sick!

That's pretty much the run down of what all happened.... We are praying to have plenty of miracles this week, since we heard there is a typhoon coming in.... so, wish us luck!

I love you all so much! Be Awesome! Until next time!\

Love, Sister Nicholle Peng

7/14/14 - The Heat Is Not Sister Peng's Friend!!! Facebook Missionary!

1). So, what does being a FB missionary mean?  What do you do differently than what you are doing now?  How often do you have to update?  

So, I'm not really sure.  Normally, they have you go through a training, or at least one member of the companionship has been a Facebook missionary before... but nope.  We are whitewashing Facebook!  They really haven't told us much about it.  Right now, we just have to clear out our walls- make it so we can't see any posts from people at home.  It's super ma fan....  I don't really like being a FB missionary.  Because the computers we can use aren't even in our area.

2). What are your plans for the day?

RELAX! Soooo tired!

3). Are the investigators progressing?

Nope... we found more investigators... we now have like 3-5 ish.... who all need help to progress.... but hey, it's better than it was a move call ago.

4). What fruits are in season?  I really miss Taiwan's fruits!

Mangoes- we had members give us mangos that they grew themselves.  Pretty much most of the fruit is out right now.

5).  Are you getting mail from me regularly again?

kind of.... still waiting for the mailing system.

6). What are the funniest or most unusual habits or quirks that the people in Taiwan have?

Umm... I don't really know.... Staring at wai guo ren (Foreigners).

7). Are you doing good on your healthy eating? 

Kind of.... I keep cheating lately- because I've been starving.  I don't know why....  We have lunch and like 2 hours later I'm hungry again... sigh... It's really hard to healthy eat while on a mission.... Because most things around you aren't healthy.  I wish I could make my own food.

8).  Are you avoiding heat stroke?

I think so.... it's hard to say.... it's sooo hot!

9)  Are you having any medical issues?  Is your health still good?  

I'm doing fine.

**************************

Hello Mum! Hello Everyone!  It's super hot!!! Why is it so hot....? Oh, because I'm in Taiwan and it's July.... yup.... They keep telling us this is the hottest part of the year.  I feel like I've melted!  In fact, we keep running into dogs just lying on the road looking like they've melted onto it.... It's hot! 

Oh! Stuff that I forgot to mention last week! We got new beds!  They are soft.  So much better than my box spring- though I was getting used to the box spring.  Sister Pope finally had enough of the rock beds, and called the MTA to get them switched out.  Sister and Brother Wheeler got them to us that day! So nice of them!  But now our beds are super tall, since we originally already had a wood box, and two box springs.... so now we added mattresses.  I feel like a princess!  I love tall beds. :D

As to this week, it's been good.  We've just been sweating bucket loads and biking a lot.  We are so grateful that we can find places with AC to call phones in.  We've also been drinking a ton of water.  Though, I've discovered that I now don't mind drinking lukewarm water....

Hm... So, highlights from the week:

We had a lesson with Cai XJ who is pretty golden!  We were planning on only doing a get to know you lesson, with a review on prayer (we found out she didn't live in our area before the lesson, so we also wanted to just see if she was okay with meeting with the Second ward elders), however, she kept asking questions that led right into the first lesson.  She is great! I am super sad that she's not ours.... she is super willing to learn.  I mean, she brought a notebook to take notes in! And she was really willing to make commitments.

Friday was a very busy and fun day.  I like being busy.  I love having a lot of lessons planned out.... I mean, I like doing finding activities too, but when you have to fill the whole day with finding activities it gets pretty rough.  Anyways, On Friday we met with Lin JM, who is a member, and her daughter, who isn't a member.  Hopefully her daughter, who is really cute by the way, will become a progressing investigator.  Anyways, they have acquired a puppy since the last time we were there (the week before).  It was homeless, so they took it in.  They are looking for someone else to take it, but right now they are trying to train it.  It is super cute and loves to bite everything....  It was like having a baby in the house though; it was a bit distracting to the lesson...

Saturday we met with a potential investigator, a Tong XJ.  She is... interesting.  She lives out in the middle of nowhere!  She says she is Christian, because she goes to church, but she is atheist on the inside.  It's really sad, she says she has hoped that God exists for about 30 years now, and still hasn't had any evidence of his love in her life.  We were trying to help her see that God lets us know he loves us through small things, but she kept getting distracted by the young mother and her son sitting behind her at the Family Mart (a convenience store).  The kid was spoiled, and the mother wasn't really succeeding at taking control of him.  Tong XJ was giving her "tips"/ kind of being really insulting to this mom....  I felt really bad for the mom.  It was clear she was under a lot of stress, and doesn't really have much education (She is an aboriginal).  Anyways, Tong XJ doesn't really have much true interest.... so we probably won't be seeing her again....

We also visited Gu JM, a recent convert.  She is super awesome! She is about to give birth any day now, but when we visited her, she and her 3 young kids were working in their garden (not light work).  But they wouldn't let us help, because Gu JM says that working in her garden gives her a sense of accomplishment.  When we were there the bishop and his family also came over.  They then invited us to go with them to visit a member who just had a baby.  So we followed behind their car on our bikes.  Bishop said he would drive slow.... NOPE!  We were biking our little hearts out and were super sweaty.  The baby was so cute though! 

Hmm... what else.... Went to church yesterday.  I realized that we are surrounded by kids here. Since, one of our investigators is a nine year old son of an LA, and he and his sister, who is baptized, sit next to us along with Gu JM's kids. We can't take a rest in church! The kids are all over us, and want us to entertain them.  But that's okay; I still got the main point of a lot of the talks.  They were talking about how to prepare ourselves and our families for the Second coming of Christ.  And they stressed the importance of Family Home Evening and daily scripture study and prayer as a family.  

Oh! This video is so good! I was just watching it:

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/mormon-messages/mormon-messages-2014?lang=eng

Oh! I also forgot last week to mention that with this new move call I was assigned as a Facebook missionary.  Though, we haven't received much training or info on the matter... so, I don't even know what to do with that.... but pretty much we are going to start using Facebook to build relations with the ward and with our investigator, as well as using it as a finding tool (we invite people off the street to find our Facebook and be our friends).  I'm not really sure about that last part... I've actually not really enjoyed being on Facebook this last week.  It just drains me.  I think being on a mission has changed my view of technology a bit.  I just don't enjoy spending too much time in front of a computer anymore.  I do like writing and reading emails though, but that's only once a week.  It'll be weird going back to life in the states where everything is done online...

Anyways, I hope you guys are sitting in air conditioned places as you read this.  Because being so hot isn't fun.  Ah well, thank goodness there has been wind to kind of cool things down.

Hope you all are doing well! Love and miss you!

Love, Sister Nicholle Peng

7-7-14 Transfers! Sister Peng is staying put :)

1)  Have you got any of the letters yet?
I got the big one with the pictures.  I loved them! :D  Thanks so much!  Have you gotten my letters yet?  I've sent a couple.

2)  Is Lychee season over yet?  Are you sick of them yet?
Nope, there are still lychees.  I am a little sick of them, but I've learned that freezing lychees after peeling them make a delicious snack!

3)  What are your plans for the day?
We are going shopping... most likely window shopping.  I love shopping here! I find clothes that fit super easily, and they are cheap! :D

4)  So, did you move?  Change companions?  What are your feelings about that?
No moving.  It's still me and sister Pope.  I'm glad I'm not leaving.  I really want to help this area!

5)  Is your Chinese still improving?  How is the writing coming along?  Like your letter to Gong gong, did you copy all the words or did you just know how to write them?
My Chinese is still doing okay.  I can write most of what I want, but there are still some words that I write in letters that I have to look up.  I'm getting better though.  My goal is to make all of my plans be in Chinese, and to be able to write letters and progress reports all in Chinese without having to look things up.  My reading is better.  To look up words, I can just type out bopomofo and choose the characters I want. :D

6)  What are the fruits that are in season right now?  Do you enjoy eating them?  Oh, we've had some really awesome watermelons!!!
Like all of them.  We just had a member give us mangos from her tree.  I am soooo excited! Best of all, Sister Pope doesn't like fruit, so I get to eat all the fruit! Fruit makes her stomach upset.

7)  What do you do to relax?
To relax, I've got myself a thought book.  It's a book that I can carry around with me and write whatever I need to write to get them out of my head.  It's also used to just ponder and write my trains of thought.  I like it.  Also, I sing.  And I've gotten into drawing again.

8)  What kind of exercises do you guys do in the morning there?
Lately I'm tired.  So I do a few crunches and leg lifts, then I do the yoga position of "corpse pose"

9)  Are you still going to the pizza joint?
No pizza.  I figured out that my companion is Gluten intolerant (she kept having stomach issues) and so, now we are going to be staying away from pizza places.... but that's okay, we are setting a whole bunch of health goals.

10)  You have been doing hot pots a bit.  What are your favorite hot pot items?

I love everything!  It's soo good! :D

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大 家好！Hello! How is everyone?  This week was a ton better, I think... I don't quite remember it... time flies! But I remember not feeling so stressed out.  It was the last week of the move call, and it was a pretty good week.

We are working hard to fulfill what the mission president has vision for- basically what the whole church is working towards- which is missionaries working with members.  We are working hard to get to know our ward and let them have experiences sharing the gospel, with either their own family and friends, or people we are already meeting with.  So far, we've seen a bit of success!  This week, we went and visited a Lin JM, who we've been visiting to build up a relationship with her and to encourage her faith to grow.  Well, this week, when we went to visit her, she had invited her daughter to sit in with us as well.  And her daughter said she is willing to learn more about church! Yay!  I love visiting part member families.  We are also working on finding the time to meet with a Li JM (who is less active because of her work) and her kids (who already come to church though one is not baptized yet).  

We've also had a few successes from our own efforts as well.  Especially from calling old investigator records and old contact cards.  We called a contact card from a Cai XJ, and she imminently accepted our invite to go to church, and she actually came!   She also set up with us to meet again.  Yay!  And then, last night we were also calling phones and we got two people to set up appointments.  So hopefully those will go okay as well. :D  Oh! And Albee, our investigator (who has been really busy with work) came to church! Yay!  And, Luo JM, a recent convert (who used to not come to church due to work and school) can now come every to church every Sunday! Yay!!! :D

So, we are hoping the all the good things that have been happening over the last week is a little sample of what is to come during this next transfer.

Oh! Yeah, speaking of transfers, both Sister Pope and I are staying here in Zhang Hua.  We are both so excited! Yay for not having to pack! Haha!

So... here's a few fun experiences we've had this week:

• On our way to Lin JM's house, we were passing by a lady selling 红豆饼 (is this little pancake like pastry thingy that is filled with a range of sweet yummy stuff, like custard or red bean paste, or taro paste, or chocolate) and it smelled so good.  So, my companion reading my expression told me that we could go back so I could buy some.... To be fair, I hadn't eaten them for a long time and they are yummy! And hers were really cheap! Just 5 kuai!  So, we went to go get some, and she told us that she would just give them to us because we are so 辛苦 (hard working....) and proceeds to shove bags of the delectable snack into our hands and refuses to take our money.  Then, she tells us that we need to protect our arms from the sun, and she give us these arm protecting sleeves, and makes us put them on before we could go.  She was a sweet soul. :D 
  
• The awkward moment when a returned missionary tells us his name means "humble" and my companion tells him: "My name is cooler" and he then asks "That's a real name?"  Haha!
• Oh! We had a pioneer activity where we played a bunch of pioneer games and ate yummy peach cobbler.  I taught people how to make corn husk dolls made from banana leaves... And we missionaries played a game of tug of war against everyone else.  We won! Missionary power! Yay!
  
• Sister Pope and I have discovered that blowing bubbles is a great stress reliever.
• We ate at a 吃到饱 Hot pot again.  But this time it's because the Bishop and his family took us there.  It was soo yummy! It soon became an Ice cream buffet, because everyone ate at least two of these yummy cookies and cream ice cream bars.  Sooo good! 

Yup... that's pretty much it....  Hmm.... Oh! I've set a goal to do better at journal writing.  Did you know it's important to keep a record?  If Nephi didn't keep a record of his experiences, what would have happened to the BoM?  Think about it!  Your journal could help your future grandchildren! Or Great Grandchildren.  Our church keeps encouraging us to do family history work.  But there wouldn't be any history to learn from if our ancestors didn't record anything! So write a journal!  Record your thoughts, your experiences, but most importantly, your testimony.

2 Nephi 25:23 For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.

I love you all! I hope your lives are filled with joy and peace! Until next time!

The Missionaries of Zhang Hua

Love, Sister Nicholle Peng

6/30/14 ~ Our Low Numbers Are Causing Me Major Stress!!!

1). So do you notice any difference in the temperature between Ping Dong, which is suppose to be the hottest area of the mission and Zhang Hua?  IS it cooler at all?  More tolerable?

It's just hot everywhere.... so hot.... I don't like it....

2) do you think that the changes are greater than 80% that you guys will come home in November?

I don't think so.... IDK.... the answer he gave me this time was the same he gave me a while ago.  When I asked if I could go earlier than Dec 23 and he said, that my dates already been pushed back to the 20th.... big whoop.  So idk when I'm coming back.

3). Have you eaten Mua wan yet?

NOPE! stop asking

4). Any more opportunities to teach lessons?  Things progressing with investigators?  Still extremely slow to dead?  So sorry...

We have one new investigator.

5). Did you buy more stuff last week at the store you found.  I see that you were wearing a new dress in your photos. Nope.  I have like 5 new dresses... that's plenty
 

6). Plans for the day??? Do you guys not do things or outings with other missionaries and ward members?  I see that a lot of missionaries do that.

Rest.  Go to a stationary store.... I don't really like going out with others... we do sometimes... but really, it just makes everything more ma fan. And I get sick of always having to be with too many people.

7). Have you guys tried doing more service as a missionary tool rather than just tracking since it hasn't been too effective there?

Service doesn't work here.  We try to help, and people get mad at us, or we ask if we can help and we always get declined.

8) Did I tell you that there was an earthquake here about 2 weeks ago?  It’s only 3 point something on the Richter scale but because we were quite close the epicenter, there was a noticeable jolt.  I missed it though because I was driving back from California.  Speaking of earthquakes, have you experienced any?  Taiwan is known for them.

 Really? That's interesting.  I've only noticed one, and that was back when I was in ping dong.

9). How are you doing?  How is your health?????   Any headaches or any aches in general?  Any injuries?  Any rashes?  How is your mental health?  Suffering from depression?  How about your spiritual health?  How are you in general?

I'm fine.  Just really tired and a bit stressed.  They changed our key indicator counting method, so now our numbers look even worse.  And I'm not quite sure how to bring them up... since the work here isn't the best.

11). So, has this mission been the hardest thing you have ever done in your life?  If you had the chance to go back in time and knowing what you do know, would you still choose to serve a mission?

Yes and yes.

 *************

Hello Mum and family and friends,

First, I must apologize for the quality of this email today.  I am very hot and my mood hasn't been the best these last few days.  Just stress, nothing too big.  It's the last week of the move call, and there has been but little progress in the area since I first moved here.  Granted, we do have 2 investigators, and we will have 3 (hopefully) at least by the end of this week... so, I guess that's a bit better than what we faced at the beginning of this move call: 0 investigators.

So, the reason for my stress is an accumulation of a ton of things... But the thing that topped it all off was our zone conference.  Zone conferences always leave me on a spiritual high, as well as make me desire to do better.  This zone conference was the same, though it left us with a bit more to work harder and "jia you" on.  For example, they changed the "suan-ing"/counting method of our key indicators in which RC and LA lessons don't count as such unless we have a member come with us.... well... that's super hard in this area where members are all spread out and our LA's and RC's all live in far out places and only have times to meet when most members are busy....  So, there goes the only number that looked decent on our Goal Reports.... I know it's not about the numbers, but it frustrates me even more to see that our efforts won't even show on our reports.  Our numbers are all 0's to 2's....

The whole effort is trying to get us to work better with the ward.  So now we will also count our meetings with members, so that is something that I do like.  Though, it's hard to see our numbers be so bad in other areas....  It's not like we aren't trying...  I've never been so exhausted in my life! This is definitely the hardest time of my mission thus far.

All that aside, this week was alright.

On Monday we ate at a hot pot buffet. That was pretty fun.  It was expensive, in relation with other food places, but it was worth it to just choose what we wanted to eat.  And there was a wide variety.  And we ate till we were very full, but not exploding, so we wouldn't have to eat dinner.  So worth it! I'll have to bring you guys to the restaurant when we all visit Taiwan next year.

Tuesday was good as well.  Had DTM and talked about the importance of establishing expectations with people during our first lessons with them.  Oh! And then in the evening we visited with a Li JM who is a less active, only because she has two jobs that make her super busy.  She taught us how to make super yummy Vietnamese egg rolls! So good!  We are also going to start teaching the lessons to her son, who is 10.  :D  He comes to church with is sister, because a member Yang JM takes them.  Yang JM is awesome! The kids are also super funny!  I'm excited to be able to go to their house more often.

Wednesday... Oh, right, we just had the Zone conference and then we taught English.  So, that day was eaten up with meetings and such.a

On Thursday we went to Lu Gang and met with a referral from the Elders.  This lady was super funny.  She kept telling us how she is Taoist, but the "Teacher" who is the same being as Heavenly Father said she could listen to us and learn from us.  So we were all like, cool!  She loves to learn.  It was funny.  When we taught her about the experience of Joseph Smith in the grove, she was like: "I can accept this, because when you go to a quiet place or you go in nature things like that can happen.  I've accepted this.  This is true."  And then she kept telling us that she loves to learn and what we taught her matches what she already knows and she like us.  So... hopefully we can teach her the Plan of Salvation this week and see if she likes that as well.  :D  We are also planning on giving her a baptismal goal.  Wish us luck!

Also on Thursday, we were looking for a place to tract when we found ourselves in front of member's house that I've visited once before.  She is super cute, just a bit lonely.  When we went in, she ushered us over to her coffee table (or what they call a tea table) and started teaching us origami.  Ever since then, Sister Pope and I keep making things out of paper.  Heehee!

 On Friday we did our weekly planning, met with Chen JM a member who is also a bit lonely and in need of a little bit of friendship, and had FHE with the singles.  That was fun! We played a fun game with running and rock paper scissors.  Oh! the elders also gave us mini uno! It's so cute.

 

And Saturday... well... most of our plans fell through on Saturday... so... yup... it was very hot and people kept cancelling.... 

Sunday was good.  It's weird having church in the afternoon.... we eat, go to church, have ward correlation meeting, go home eat... and then it's already like 7:30... yup.... weird....

And today, we are just planning on relaxing.  We need to relax.

I hope you all have a good week.  Here's a video you can watch that's good. It made me cry.

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2013-06-010-enduring-love?category=mormon-messages/mormon-messages-2013&lang=eng

Sister Peng's cell phone charm.

 Love you!

Sister Nicholle Peng