August 22, 2018
Dear Family and Friends:
I guess I’m on the two week plan of writing! I just can’t make the world stop in between
to sit down and email. (crazy emoji face)
Though I think of you all so often and am so grateful for your love and
prayers. We feel them and we need them
so thank you thank you!
First off, what an incredible prophetic announcement and
correction we have received from President Nelson on calling our Church by it’s
full name! There is such power in saying
the name of the Savior each time we let people know which church we belong
to. We are excited to embrace this
personally and as a mission to more fully proclaim that this is the restored
Church of Jesus Christ –The Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter-day Saints. I love that President Nelson is humble, bold
and sensitive enough to both receive and respond to this revelation and I know
as we follow his lead, more people will know that this is the church Jesus
Christ established on the earth when He was on it and which has been restored
to the earth with all the priesthood authority through Joseph Smith the
prophet. Henbang!!!!
Speaking of henbang, we did celebrate our 35th wedding
anniversary on a Saturday before the official day by attending the temple (Chinese session),
trying some Greek food place (not as good as in US but good attempt!) and then
we attended a concert of the “3 reds” –the mom and sisters of Elder Cline, a missionary in our mission who is going home
so they scheduled some performances while they were here. They were wonderful and brought a great
spirit with their beautiful music. (They
also brought a big bag of brown sugar and McCormick spices clear from Cheryl
Nord and Linda Dyches which was sooo thoughtful and kind of them! THANK YOU
CHERYL, LINDA and MELOU!!! You are the dearest friends!) It
was sweet--someone in the mission found out it was our anniversary that next
day and we had a few cute texts throughout the day. Hard to believe we have been “companions” that
long. It has been quite a ride and if
anything I have learned in the last six weeks of being “missionary companions”
with Mike is how much I love and admire him and am so grateful for his love and
patience with me. I’m grateful he hasn’t
put in for a transfer—at least not yet!
It’s wonderful to serve together and truly rely on the Lord
together. I love seeing him nurture and
teach and train and laugh and cry with our missionaries. He truly is an amazing man and I tell the
missionaries I fall in love with him all over again hearing him bear testimony
and teach the gospel with all his might and strength just as I did initially
when we met in our BYU 85th ward when he was Gospel Doctrine teacher
and my dutiful Home Teacher. He truly is
my best friend and I’m eternally grateful for his teachings from the day I
first saw him!
That next Wednesday--August 8th (which is Father’s day here because it is 8/8 Ba (8) which sounds like BaBa or "Father" in Chinese) Mike
became a “Dad” (and I became a MOM) of nine new missionaries who had come from
various VISA waiting missions—New York, Layton Utah, Arcadia CA and
Minnesota! Crazy! It was such a joy to
welcome these missionaries after seeing their pictures on our “new missionary
board” for weeks! We welcomed Sisters
DeLong, Distajo and Valencia (the last two from the Philippines), and also Elder
Velasco from Philippines, Elders Bown, Fong, Ray, Brunette and Reynolds! We took the Assistants and our big banner to
welcome them to Taiwan at the Taoyuan airport.
It was so exciting! We had
imagined this moment now for many months and hope they felt our love! After a very long wait due to the fact one
Elder’s bag never made it from SFO, they finally came thru the exit door! What a joyous HUANNING to this tired but
smiling group! (Some had been flying for over 24 hours!) We drove back to Taipei on a bus and introduced
ourselves all in Chinese to one another!
Their Chinese is hen hao! Way
better than mine that’s for sure! We
took their bags to the basement of the mission home and then went out on the
streets near our temple to get a famous juabing and CoCo drink. The juabings are amazing! They are like a
fluffy pancake with green onion that they put egg, cheese, ham and fresh basil
and a sweet hot sauce on! So good! The Co Co drink is a sweet mango drink with
the tapioca bobos and things in the bottom.
The missionaries devoured them and were then ready for bed. They sleep downstairs in the Temple patron
housing which works perfectly!.
The next morning we got them up early to drive over to the
Grand Hotel and nearby sacred site where Mark E. Petersen dedicated Taiwan for
missionary work. As we walked into the
garden-like area the locusts were buzzing loud but they increased in volume as
we started to sing Called to Serve! It
was cool! We had copies of that dedicatory prayer for the new missionaries to
read aloud taking turns and then Mike talked to t hem about consecrating themselves
to the work and then asked them to go find a spot to pray and dedicate
themselves to the work and ask the Lord for His help to do His work. That was so special for us to do as well with
them individually since we hadn’t ever done that either. We came back together and then Mike asked me
to offer a prayer. It was hard not to
weep thinking about how proud of these missionaries Heavenly Father must
be. What love I felt for them and I know
Heavenly Father and our Savior feel for their servants. I know they/we will not be alone in the vineyard! (Jacob 5) We took pictures on the steps of the Grand Hotel and then
went inside to see the lobby. It is very
REGAL with everything RED and very GRAND indeed. We then came back to the mission home
apartment for our homemade wheat waffles with all the trimmings and the new
trainers and assistants joined us! It
was so joyous to have a house full for the first time. Costco had fresh peaches and berries and the
missionaries were in hog heaven! They all said they woke up at 2 am and couldn’t
sleep! I feel so bad for them because
they aren’t going to get a nap today! No sir! ChuanJiao life starts in full
today!
We introduced ourselves and our family with the family
video, shared our testimonies and then the new missionaries went off to the
office to take care of all their debit cards, bicycles and other things. The
trainers went with us to be trained.
Mike had these trainers discuss what the “culture” of our mission is and
then asked each of them to TEACH the new missionaries what that culture
is. I literally cried I was so touched
that these missionaries know what the culture is and taught it with such
enthusiasm to the new batch! WE loved seeing the trainers hop up to write on
the whiteboard a word that describes the mission culture and then testify of it
with such HOPtimism! They literally were
bouncing with enthusiasm and zeal! The
first said: We are a PMG mission! Next we are a TRBC mission with an emphasis on the R for
repentance! They circled the R and said President
says please don’t skip over the Repentance process directly to Baptism. When we invite people to repent we are
inviting the power of the Atonement into their lives! We BAPTIZE! We are an OBEDIENT mission, We are
a FINDING mission
thru ENGLISH CLASS!, WE are a HAPPY mission—drink from the positive cup!, We are all about LOVE for the people of
Taiwan, We are a mission who TALKS
to EVERYONE—if we have to stop our bikes every ten feet!, We follow Safeguards for Technology, We are a planning/scheduling and area
book keeping mission. We are an ACCOUNTABLE mission who
returns and reports to our leaders and most importantly to the Lord. There may have been more but we were so proud
of these missionaries and their desire to be such diligent and loving examples
for those following them. A tradition in
this mission is that to learn who their trainer will be, they stand up and read
a letter like a mission call saying you’ll be laboring in the “Jonghe” area
with Elder so and so! The excitement and love as they embrace was so so sweet
and I felt the love of these trainers and trainees for each other was instantaneous.
Again, I don’t know why but I again had to wipe tears from my eyes as I saw
these sweet trainers and missionaries have such love for each other and
willingness to go out now and serve the Lord together with all their heart
might mind and strength, knowing it wasn’t going to be easy—but rejoicing to do
it together! I loved seeing this whole process and my heart
went out to the new exhausted missionaries.
I gave each trainer some melatonin to give to their new trainee to help
them sleep the next few nights and get over jetlag. These new missionaries were about to pass out
from travelling fatigue and they still had to get their bikes, luggage and
travel to their new areas and then go out and ChuanJiao the rest of the day and evening!
Welcome to Mission Life! We prayed all week for them and their trainers
with all our hearts that they’d not be overwhelmed and be able to adjust and
feel confident that they were called to succeed here! And we know and felt so powerfully that they
ARE and Will as we prayed together at the dedication site!
Likewise we felt such love for the first batch of
missionaries returning home the next day!
Seventeen of the finest the TTM has ever seen I’m sure: Elders Rhoton,
Hooker, Balmforth, Alexander, Jorgensen, Hiu, Doyle, Hinckley, Olsen, Nelson,
Davis and Holderness and Sister Eyring along with Sisters Hanna and Wells who
go home this week but participated in the farewell activities with this
batch! After going to the dedication site
with the new ones, we decided to do a new tradition and take those going home
back to that site to Return and Report on their missions to the Lord! Mike told them after each one took time alone
to pray and report to their Heavenly Father that they should feel acceptable
and at peace. That each one would feel
like they could have done more but that they were to know that the Lord
accepted their offerings. I felt
impressed as I had tried to imagine how they were feeling to share with them
what Lauren wrote home in the final letter of her mission. I love it so much, I asked her if I could
share it with them. She wrote: “My mission has healed me. I have seen miracles every day. I have walked beside angels, both on theis
earth and on the other side of the veil.
I have laughed, sun, danced, and rejoiced in my King every single
day. I have cried many tears, and even
asked God—(as pioneer Amy Porter did) “Oh, how shall I ever go on?” But like
another pioneer—Priscilla Evans, “I thought it was a beautiful way to go to
Zion and I wouldn’t change one thing.” I
can testify with everything that I am, that God lives. He lives! His beloved
Son, Jesus Christ, Is our Savior and Redeemer!
I owe everything to Him and know that He will continue to strengthen me
through out the rest of my life. I know
that this is His church and only true church on the face of the earth
today. I know that Joseph Smith truly
was a prophet of God and that he in fact restored Christ’s church, along with
bringing for the the Book of Mormon as another testament of our Savior.” Then I read a quote she quoted by then
President Uchdorf about how we are eternal beings of light: “In light of what
we know about our eternal destiny, is it any wonder that whenever we face the
bitter endings of life, they seem unacceptable to us? There seems to be
something inside of us that resists endings.
Why is this? Because we are made of the stuff of eternity. WE are eternal beings, children of the
Almighty God, whose name is Endless and who promises eternal blessings without
number. Endings are not our
destiny. The more we learn about the
gospel of Jesus Christ, the more we realize that endings here in mortality are
not endings at all. They are merely
interruptions—temporary pauses that one day will seem small compared to the
eternal joy awaiting the faithful. How
grateful I am to my Heavenly Father that in His plan there are no true endings,
only everlasting beginnings.” I know
that this mission has just helped me see who I truly am, a daughter of God, and
an heir to His kingdom. I know now that
the true beginning starts!”
I testified to the missionaries that they were just
beginning their life of consecration not ending it. I plead with them to continue to remember
their purpose to invite others—beginning with themselves to Come unto
Christ.
After that sweet experience we got to go together to the
temple for a session together! What joy
for THEM especially to be there together as a group and reflect on the joy they’d
had serving the Lord and helping others come to know Him and His eternal plan
of happiness! Such amazing
missionaries. It was an honor to be with
them. We went from there to the MRT
(subway) to an underground mall where they have a BUFFET that the missionaries
all look forward to partaking in. It has
all the Asian delicacies from Sushi and Fish and all kinds of Seafood to Hagaan
Daz ice cream and Mango cheesecake, punctuated by endless glasses of guava
punch. We got to sit with the three sisters
and Elder Rhoton and enjoyed getting to hear of their plans and their
reflections on their missions. Sister
Eyring shared with us how this past spring her sweet Bundi-ren (native)
companion had had to push her in a wheelchair for SIX WEEKS while she recovered
from an injury incurred from falling down some stairs! She showed us a video of this companion
running behind her pushing her along the busy streets here! It was amazing that she did this with so much
love. They gave us tips on foods to
trust and shared all kinds of funny stories of people and experiences. We soon were so full and decided we all
needed to push away from the table and push our stuffed selves back toward the
mission home! We there had a very sweet
hour together hearing them bear their testimonies. I asked them to underline their fav scripture
in my Chinese/Pinyin/English Book of Mormon and sign their name in the margin and Mike asked them to
sign his Taiwan flag he had bought as a young missionary and which we hung in
his office here. What a sweet thing to
hear their testimonies and their love for the work and what they have learned
as they’ve learned to rely on the Lord.
One Elder told how up til his mission everything had come fairly easily
to him and so he thought the mission would be the same. He talked about how hard it was and how he
had to kneel in prayer and beg his Father in Heaven to help him do what seemed
impossible. Through that humbling
process he was so grateful he has learned to set goals now and that anything is
possible as we plan with a purpose and set goals and keep working toward
them. Another Elder wept for joy that
the mission had taught him how much we need the Savior because we need to
repent and how grateful he was to understand the Atonement of the Savior now
and to know this means he CAN repent and he can be clean and “need no longer
droop in sin”. Each testimony built on
the last and so when it was my turn at the end I couldn’t hold back the tears
again. I told them how grateful we felt
to them for their service and the mission culture they had created and the
legacy of their service that would continue to bless the people of Taiwan and
our lives. They were our FIRST LAST so
we will always remember them! We plead
with them to remain true and to keep track of one another and those they taught
and help to continue invite others, themselves and each other to Come unto Christ. Each Elder was given a Taiwan temple tie
clasp or Sisters a Taiwan temple necklace to help them remember their days as
ChuanJiao shi men. Such a special evening
and special group. Last thing we did was
take them up on the roof patio that overlooks the temple. So glorious at night! Such an amazing sight and inspiration to
behold together one last time!
The next day we had the chance to have the three returning
home sisters spend the night. Two of
them are staying an extra two weeks and Sister Eyring’s parents were coming to
pick her up. What joy to film that
reunion and get to visit with them. She
is their first child to serve and a granddaughter of President Eyring. Her parents were so kind and offered to take
us to lunch at a famous Beef Noodle place just down the street. Being a first time for them using chopsticks this was
quite a challenge to eat slippery noodles! Sis. Eyring’s father Matt was chuckling
because Mike’s white shirt got splattered on from across the table. He was hilariously counting each new “spot”
and said "you’ve got a few here (as he pointed out the splotches) and another serious one over there on the right side now!" We laughed so hard. It made it so funny and memorable! We loved our time with the Eyrings and could see clearly Sister Eyring was born of goodly parents! That night (with a clean white shirt onJ) we saw them again at
a baptism that was so joyous—someone Sister Eyring had taught and Mike had
interviewed for baptism. The 26 year old
woman baptized is named Sloane and she was so so humble. Sis E describes her first meeting with Sloan: "She walked into the JinHua chapel on a Sunday and was needing someone to talk to. She described to the Sisters feeling far from God and was questioning if He really exists. She wanted the happiness that she saw in us missionaries! I told her that she had come to the right place and we had all the answers for her. When I said this, her face just lit up and she said, "Really?!!! Please tell me what you know!" I have never seen anyone so eager to learn the gospel." So they sat her down and started teaching her. She was golden! Sis E. said it has brought Sloan a level of joy that she had never even imagined was possible. Mike shared that during her interview she was
so touched to tears that she could be forgiven of things in her life. She asked How can this be? How is it done? As Enos had asked and to
which Mike could joyfully tell Sloane that through repentance and the Atonement
of Jesus Christ and faith in Him. After
her baptism we asked her how she felt and beaming she said “I feel so Clean!”
So happy! What a joy for Sis Eyring and her parents and for us to be there and witness her joy!
This last weekend we attended another beautiful baptism of a
mother and 26 yr old son—Krystal and Leo Li.
The son, Leo has autism and works at a “Seven” as they call them here
(7/11) and saw our sweet Elder Ellison and his companion studying there one day, which our missionaries have
permission to do to get out of the heat and it is often good exposure for
people to see and visit with them too.
This particular day, Leo walked over and was standing right next to them
just watching them for several minutes.
Elder Ellison couldn’t help but notice him and invited Leo to read the B
of M with them and he did. They gave him
a copy to read to take home and asked if they could come teach him. Krystal,
his mother was shocked when at home she saw and heard her son reading the Book
of Mormon. This was the first time she
had EVER heard him read out loud because of his autism! She said she felt the power of the scriptures
he was reading. Her sweet son taught her
about the commandments and read her scriptures about the blessings we receive
as we obey them. As the missionaries
taught her son, she wanted to hear too.
But she said when they learned about the Word of Wisdom she told her
son, What will we eat or drink? We have wine or tea with every meal. Her son simply said “I guess we will have
water!” J. She was so amazed at the change in her son, she
knew it was the power of God and so she has given up all these things and been
willing to change too. During the
baptism the spirit was so sweet. The
missionaries sang “A Child’s Prayer” (in Chinese of course!) Tears ran down Krystal’s cheeks (and mine
too!!!) Mike was asked to share his testimony and he shared that though there
might be days when it is hard in the upcoming weeks, to remember this feeling,
this day of your baptism which is like a birthday—a day of re-birth . He told of the family he taught in Taidong and
what joy they have now as they pushed through those first weeks and months when
they were making changes in their lives. Now they have a whole family who rejoice in
the blessings of the gospel and temple blessings because they keep their
covenants. As she continues to live faithfully she too will enjoy those same blessings! She was soo thrilled Mike
would come as he had interviewed her for her baptism. It
was sooo touching to see her and Leo go down in the waters of baptism and come
up so happy and excited and then to hear their testimony (thanks to Elder
Ellison’s interpreting) and feel of her sweet spirit as well as of Leo’s. When the missionaries asked Leo’s older
brother if they had noticed any changes in their brother they said, “before he
never smile—now that’s all he does!!!
Thank you so much for helping him!”
I feel like that’s all we do too, is SMILE to get to be able
to be in Taiwan and to be able to
witness these miracles and missionaries who are “walking miracles”. Yesterday as Mike was interviewing, I was
visiting with the district of missionaries all waiting their turn to be
interviewed and it happened to be the district of missionaries where we had
attended the baptism of Leo and Krystal and they had all been present
there. So as we were discussing what a
beautiful baptism it was and as I asked them what miracles they were seeing in
their area, the sisters—Sister Sorensen and Sister Garner shared with me that a
miracle had come because of the baptism!!
They had invited a brother named JOY! Joy Chen -- who had been
investigating for 7 years! He had been
invited to be baptized and had accepted finally just three months ago, but then
backed out because he felt he wasn’t quite ready. The
sisters said he had never attended a baptism so they invited him to come to Leo
and Krystal’s. He said as he heard Ping
Huijang’s talk and saw the sister and her son be baptized he knew he too needs
to be baptized!!!!!! So he asked if he could be baptized in four
months on Christmas!? Sister Sorenseon said
she felt impressed to tell him. Brother Chen,
What if I gave you a sweet ripe Mango today but I asked you to wait until
Christmas to eat it? He pondered on that
and then said I understand. She said “you
need to be baptized while you want to eat the fruit!” So he agreed and they are
setting the date for his baptism in a few weeks! I love the mango analogy and everyone here understands
you never want to wait to eat something as sweet and delicious as a mango—and the
sweetness of the gospel will never go bad! What an inspired missionary and
miracle that came from another miracle of Leo and Krystal’s faith.
I had other missionaries tell me miracle after miracle as I “waited”
with them for interviews. Another Elder said
they had prayed and planned for two “set ups” one day but couldn’t find any
because it was down pouring all day and no one was out. When they returned to their apartment all
drenched and feeling sad they hadn’t met their goal, they found two phone
messages of people who called them from who
wanted to be taught. They knew because
they had been obedient, the Lord had helped them meet their goals which they’d
set in faith!
We had the privilege on August 12-13 to host Elder David
Homer and his wife Nancy from the Asia Area Presidency. They were a delight and so kind to come and
see how we are doing and to minister to us and our missionaries. As we tried to find them in the busy train
station to pick them up a man saw us looking around and came up and asked if he
could help us. He went out of his way
for several minutes to guide us to where we needed to be. We had even gone there the night before to
map it all out but had gone to the different entrance the next day so we were
confused. I was so amazed by the
kindness of this stranger to go so far out of his way and be the answer to our
prayers. It was so fun to bring the
Homers “home” with us and have some company in the apartment. They graciously greeted us and all our
missionaries who came to the conference and those who skyped in and then spoke
powerful words of counsel to them. He
told them to listen for the things spoken and asked them to tell him the things
they heard that were not spoken as
well. Powerful to listen in those two
ways. He called on me and on Mike—to talk about Teach Repentance and Baptize
Converts. He also had me share how Mike
and I met and also anything else we felt impressed to say. I shared that what I heard that wasn’t said
out loud was from Heavenly Father saying:
Look at these amazing missionaries—how I love each one. How dear and special they are to me. How proud I am of them! That’s what I heard and that’s what I shared
with them. My testimony on
Repentance was a quote by Quentin Cook
that to preach repentance takes the power of conviction. Just as the Elder going home shared with us
how grateful he was to know he no longer needed to droop in sin, but that he
could repent and be clean through the Savior, we too need to know this great
gift individually so we can preach of the power of repentance with conviction! I
felt so grateful as I testified of the power of repentance in my own life. The power to be lifted from our pains and
sorrows is an additional great gift of the Atonement I’m so grateful for!
One of the many things the Homers shared which was powerful
was: “Never doubt the divinity of your call! He called you because of the
uniqueness of who you are. We compare
the insides of ourselves to the outsides of others. There is no one else who can bear testimony
but you at this place at this time.
Never compare yourself with others.
Remember how you are in this moment is how Heavenly Father loves you!” He told a tender story of the time he served
as a young missionary in Hong Kong and they worked in retraction buildings for
people who were poor from war time circumstances and had nowhere to live. As missionaries they spent most days walking
up floors of cement stairs and knocked doors.
One woman they found was a Sister Muk (muck). At first she wasn’t receptive because she
didn’t see a need for God. But after feeling the influence of the spirit she
realized she had been in darkness for years.
She had had to do things in her past during the war to survive that made
her feel wracked with guilt. She was so
happy to learn (like Alma the younger in the Book of Mormon) that she could be
lifted from that awful heavy feeling and burden through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ’s Atonement. She became
a different person with this light and truth in her life! He
taught the missionaries how this is what they are bringing to individual’s—this
gift of helping them repent and being lifted through Christ’s loving
sacrifice. He then said that years later
while on a return trip to Hong Kong he
tried to find Sister Muk and go see her but learned she had been put in a home
for those with dementia and was told “you won’t want to go there!” It’s a
terrible place and you won’t want to see her –she won’t even know you! He said “that doesn’t matter to me—I want to
see her!” So he found the address and went to find her. He said it was indeed a very sad place in
poor condition and he initially didn’t even recognize Sister Muk and walked
right by her because she had become so thin and frail. But when he realized it was her, he took her
hand and told her who he was. I’m Elder
Homer—do you remember me? She seemed foggy at first and then suddenly
recognized him! She exclaimed “YOU
Came! You Came! And patted his hand over
and over for 20 minutes, saying You came You came!! The connection with these souls we can help
save will be eternal and sweet!
I feel I could say the same for My Savior—You Came, YOU CAME—and
for me! I am so grateful for the great
gift of the Savior who CAME and through whom we can be lifted and Clean
again! He lives and loves us and His
mercy can lift us and keep us Smiling every day! I invite us all to come unto Him and allow
Him to be our Savior!
The other night for FHE with our dear Liu Huijang (temple President
and sister Liu) they sang with boldness and beauty this sweet hymn # 42 I’d
never heard before: I cry thinking of
him singing this in Chinese with all his heart and soul and his sweet wife
leading next to him. As I looked up these lyrics in English today, I thought how perfect they are for these days as the
gospel is rolling forth to fill the earth….
Hail to the brightness of Zion’s glad morning!
Joy to the lands that in darkness have lain!
Hushed be the accents of sorrow and mourning.
Zion in triumph begins her glad reign!
How blessed we are to live in this time of Zion’s glad
morning—when the Gospel of Jesus Christ and His Church—the Church of Jesus
Christ—has been restored in these latter days!
We MUST share this good news and relieve others from the darkness of
sorrow and mourning!
Women ai nimen! Women ganxie ni de chi dao hen ganxie ni de ai! Love to you all and gratitude for your love and prayers that
sustain us daily, hourly and minute by minute!
We feel them!
Xie Xie nimen!
Ping Jie Mei
