All because of a prayer- April 27, 2014

So not a lot of time to email this week because we are taking an epic PDay trip down to Taroko Gorge. But here are a few thoughts/updates I have for the week: 
  
1. CONGRATS TO STEPHEN AND TIFFANY!!!!!!!!!!!!! BABY BECKHAM IS ADORABLE! 
  
2. WE HAD A BAPTISM!!!!!!!!!! Sweet Xing Rou got baptized and confirmed this weekend. Tons of folks showed up and it was AWESOME. She is a miracle. We met her on the street like 3 weeks ago. She said in her baptismal testimony: "It is a miracle that these sisters found me. Especially at a time when my heart has been so low because my mom just died." Our jaws dropped. Xing Rou never told us that her mom died. Wow, all because of a prayer, the gospel changed her life. 

Xing Rou got baptized!  

3. We found a family that is going to get baptized on Mother's Day! It is soooo awesome. Their dad is so faithful! He is going to make a wonderful priesthood holder. 
  
4. Shout out to Kate Lepp...I am touched that you thought of me during the MI missionaries' prayer. I testify that whatever you felt during that prayer was the love of God. I invite you yourself to pray everyday to continue to feel that love. You can change peoples' lives with prayer including your own :) 
  

I FOUND THIS GIRL IN JILONG ON MY 3RD TRANSFER. SHE FINALLY GOT BAPTIZED YEAAAAAHHH!!!!!

5. I love this mission with all of my heart. We have a lot of folks were working with this week. Man, this work is rough. But I never want to leave. 

P.s. everyone please please please pray for Li Shi Hao. He is going down to smoking 1 cigarette this week and next week he's going down to 0. HE IS SO CLOSE TO BAPTISM. Please pray for him!!!!! 
  
I LOVE YOU ALL 
sorry for the short email 
Sister Tracy 

Easter- April 20, 2014

Cool things: 
  
~Xuan Yu and Yu Mama (my Recent converts from JiLong) totally took a road trip down to Hualien to visit me! They surprised me! It was sooo awesome! They showed up at a ward party we were having and brought me all this guava and my favorite candies and pictures and cards and stuff. It was so awesome. I felt real bad that I couldn't really hang out with them but they came to Church with me and they are both really strong in the Gospel. They are doing super well. Xuan Yu is going to go through the temple soon. I am hoping she will let me go with her. That would be so cool :) 
  

My RCs from JiLong  came and visited! 

~Xing Rou is getting baptized this week!!!! This Tuesday is her interview and Saturday is her baptism! She is doing so well. That girl is a prepared soul.
  

~We set up a lot of May baptismal dates with some awesome people. :)
 
~Our new investigator's dad sells mochi and they give us free mochi every time we come over (God knows me).
  

Xie Jia ting..and LA family we are reactivating!

~OH SUPER COOL THING: Elder Wilson from the Quorum of the 70 ( a general authority in our Church) came down to Hualien with his wife. They are doing a mission tour. We had this really awesome training about the power of the Book of Mormon, They really want us to focus on getting investigators, RCs, LAs, like..everyone reading the Book of Mormon more. It's an important tool for conversion. I've been learning more and more about that every day. It's true. I look back at all of the people I have helped bring to  the step of baptism...all of them were reading the Book of Mormon daily and had a testimony about it. SOOOO that's our big focus. Their training was really inspiring.
 
~ALSO SUPER COOL. Elder Wilson wanted to interview 5 missionaries based off of random inspiration and guess who was chosen....me + 4 others. It was a really cool interview. I showed Elder Wilson all of my family photos and he was really interested in our story (I shared about Ryan and Michelle and everyone) He asked me what he could do to help me. I didn't expect him to ask that. I thought for a second and I said, "I want to be wise. I want to know the scriptures better so I can help people with their problems like King Solomon." He gave me a bunch of cool tips for making a scripture memory bank and retaining scriptures. He challenged me to memorize a scripture a day and keep a list somewhere. He said he was going to do it too. So that was neat. 

Sophies baptism! 

 
This next week will be really eventful. We got Pday today (we might go hiking up to a cave so I'm stokeddddd) then tomorrow and Wednesday we have exchanges. Thursday and Friday we'll be in Taipei for a trainer follow-up meeting. And thennnnn Saturday we have a baptism!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and then Sunday I am going to celebrate Easter because by then I'll have my package and I can eat chocolate (there's not a lot of focus on Easter in Taiwan, unfortunately). YAYYYYYY HAPPY EASTER! 

We found a banana tree while contacting!

ALSO I AM SO STOKED FOR MY BABY NEPHEW TO BE BORN!!! SHOUT OUT TO STEPHEN AND TIFF. MAIL ME PICS IMMEDIATELY
 
Love,
Sister Tracy

lotsastuff- April 14, 2014

Nimen hao! 
  
This week was bomb. 
  
A few updates about people we love: 
  
~Our 13 year old investigator Xing Rou is gonna get baptized next week! We found her on the streets like 2 weeks ago and she is seriously so ready! Her dad really likes us missionaries and I'm trying to get him hooked up with the elders. He really likes to smoke and drink... man man lai...but he gave Xing Rou permission to get baptized! They both came to conference! and he reads the Book of Mormon! Xing Rou was a little sad when we taught her Word of Wisdom because milk tea is her favorite drink. But she's got it :) 
  
~We also have an awesome investigator named Wayne. He is a referral from English class and he came to conference. I asked him "Do you believe what they are saying is true" "Yeah" "Do you believe that they are called of God?" He paused for awhile then looked at me and said, "I believe." He will hopefully get baptized in the next next week! 
  
~Also met these miracle girls named Anne and Laura. They already have such a strong testimony in the Book of Mormon. They read it everyday. Their barrier right now is work; they cannot come on Sundays to church. But we are praying extra hard for them and as their faith grows they will figure it out. 
  

~Baptism this week! Super amazing girl named Sophie! I AM SO STOKED. I love this girl to pieces. Such a humble heart and solid testimony in Jesus Christ. Her baptism is scheduled for after English class so everyone is going to go over and watch right after. Yayayay :)
 
Funny things:
 
~We met a man that was barbecuing possums. They still had their fur, and when we asked him if he was going to skin them, he just said "no" and then he pulled out a blowtorch and started burning it off.
 
~Walked into a mochi store to buy a treat (mochi is this famous hualien dessert) and the lady loved us so much that she gave us 3 bags full of mochi. That's like 100s and 100s of kuai!!!!! And she is going to come to English class this week! Super duper tender mercy from the Lord.
 
~An old man that we contacted really wanted to give me a hug. I didn't know how to communicate that it's a rule that I cannot hug men for a year and a half so basically it resulted in me being chased by him down the street. I literally ran away from a hug...weird feeling. 

Does anyone know what this fruit is?????

Cool things:
 
~Temple sisters came down from Taipei to go on an exchange with us. I got to go on an exchange with my trainer!!!!!!! SISTER BARDEN! It was so cool! Last time I ever did mish work with her was way back when I could barely speak to people. I was the one leading out now and idk, it was wonderful. We invited a family to baptism and got free food. It was so cool. I love love love Sister Barden. Eternal friends for sure.
  

It was so good to see these friends again!

Me and Sister Barden!

Spiritual stuff:
 
~Conference was awesome. I got to watch it in English thank goodness. I think my favorite talk was Elder Uchtdorf's talk on gratitude. Not being grateful FOR things but rather being grateful IN things. I like that perspective. Probably because it reminds me a lot of Viktor Frankel's ideas of being happy no matter what situation you are in. I am going to focus a lot of my studies on gratitude in the coming week. I invite everyone to read that talk when it comes out.  I also like Elder Scott's talk. And Elder Holland is always a boss...
 
I am falling more and more in love with this work every day. I love these people so much. Don't make me leave in a few months. 

On Top of our Building looking down at the town

I Love this place!

Love you all
Sister Tracy 

There really is a God - April 7, 2014

Hey Hey Hey 
  
How goes it? 
  
P.s. I got that awesome surprise package from the MI young women this week. THANK YOU! such an awesome surprise :) 
  
Wow what a stellar week! Here's what I have to report... 
  
Deng Kai Sheng is a rockstar! We met with him last week to talk about the priesthood (since were trying to build up a stake we gotta get him on that). So we planned out this lesson and were gonna invite him to meet with our Branch president and read certain scriptures about the priesthood and everything. We met with him and he already had the Aaronic priesthood! He was like, "The night after I got baptized I went over to President's house for an interview" oh and he already read all of the exact scriptures we were gonna ask him to read. What a man! Also he's been helping out a lot of the other missionaries by pei ke-ing (being the member present) and apparently he is like the best peike ever. Watch out everyone--Kai Sheng is going to be the next prophet! 
  
Sister Williams and I had a lot of contacting time this past weekend. We picked a road the night before and prayed really hard that we would be able to find people. Well we found 4 new investigators!!! All willing to set a date! 

-A man named Yang Di Xiong...at first he completely shut us down. He was like "There is no God" We told him about the Book of Mormon and how he can know who God is though reading it. He took the Book of Mormon in his hand and was like, "really?" it took me back for a sec. I was like, "uhh, yeah." Then he said, "Hm..I will try it." It was awesome! 

-The other was this young girl named Wu Xing Rong. Shes about 14 years-old and she is adorable. We had a lesson with her at her doorstep. Her mom pulled up on a scooter and [to us] said, "Don't waste your time on her. She's too young and doesn't understand what you are saying." Xing Rong started to cry and we shared a scripture about how "even a child can understand" and how God wants us to humble ourselves "like children." She was really touched by those words. I have a lot of faith in her. The mission is really teaching me a lot of what kind of parent I want to be. I do not want to be the parent who says my child cannot understand God. 

-We ran into a father and his daughter on the way to play basketball. We invited them to church and yesterday--THEY CAME! :) So excited! Turns out the daughter's classmate is in our ward. Super cool. And her dad loves our church too. He wants her to keep going to church with us. He told us yesterday, "I want her to go because I want her to be like you two." I told him, "I think you mean you want her to be like Christ." He was like, "Hmm, yeah I guess so." You guessed right my friend. 
  

Lastly, I would like the share a special experience I had this last week. Probably the most tender experience I have had on my mission so far. We were biking to an appointment on Friday night. It was one of those nights where I was the classic exhausted, wet missionary. Not in the mood to talk to anyone but knew I needed to. We were at a stop light and I saw this small, 40 yr old lady next to me. I put on smile and said, "Hello" She looked at me and nodded and half smiled. I said "How is your day going?" Expecting her to say what EVERYONE SAYS "Not bad" or "Good." She looked at me for a few seconds in silence then said "Actually, today is bad." She started crying and I was like..whoooooosh! suddenly my problems did not mater whatsoever and it felt like the only thing that mattered was this woman. Sis. Williams and I pulled over and talk to her. She said that her older sister had to get emergency surgery that night and that she was terrified. I offered to say a prayer for her and her sister. Afterward I pulled out a pamphlet and pointed to a picture of Christ and told her "His Gospel will fix everything." She took the pamphlet and said, "I want to meet with you girls. I feel like I need this." So cool. There really is a God. 

Sister Williams and I shopping 

I ate some stinky Tofu!  It was awful!

This is where we live!  So pretty!

Awesome week. More awesomeness to come right? RIGHT! I love you all 
  
Sister Tracy 

Build a stake here- March 31, 2014

Wow, lots lots lots happened this last week...I don't even know where to begin.

Well first off: My baby is here! I am training Sister Williams, a very sweet 21 year old girl from West Jordan Utah. She goes to BYU studying Neuroscience. (aka genius) She is SOOOOOOO awesome! I could have not asked for a better trainee. She is so sweet and humble and willing to learn. She is really worried about the language but that's normal, she'll be fine! Training is a different experience. I lead everything now--places we go, schedule, lessons, setting up, phones...but it's okay! Sister Williams is a fast learner so she'll get there soon. Plus I don't feel all that stressed out...I think it's because we have the spirit in our companionship. :) It's really nice. 
  

Second: DENG KAI SHENG GOT BAPTIZED. Awww man he is a miracle. We barely made it back in time for his baptism! It was a miracle. We accidentally took the wrong train after picking up Sister Williams from Taipei. The baptism started at 7 and we weren't going to be back until like 6:50 and we had to bike her luggage over and everything. God wanted us to be at that baptism though so we got there right on time. Deng di xiong is cool and he is going to get the priesthood and be amazing. He is our miracle. 

Third: Since we were in Taipei all week and trying to get Sister Williams' dong xi together we didn't have a lot of contacting time. We were biking to the train station to pick up Sister Williams' bike and I had this tiny tiny feeling to talk to a boy washing his scooter across the street. At first I thought, "nah we need to get this bike." but then I remember something I read to Sister Williams during training. Some scripture about following the tiniest of promptings. If it weren't for that scripture I wouldn't have stopped. I said, "Yo, Sister Williams let's go talk to this guy about baptism." So we got off our bikes and walked up to him. I started with, "I don't know why but I felt like I should talk to you..." then we kept going and talijhng about the gospel. Turns out he was totally prepared to set a baptismal date right there on the street! It was a miracle! FOLLOW THE SPIRIT.
 
Fourth: English class was bomb. We had a Harry Potter party and we made coke explode with mentos as a "Potions class." The Taiwanese thought it was the funniest thing ever. Especially because it got all over my skirt. lol 

Ji An is doing really great. I love this place, I love my companion, I love this work. 

Please Pray for:
Sister Williams and me to find a family to introduce to the gospel.
Sister Williams to not be nervous about the language.
Sister Williams and me to bring back 2 LA Melchezidek priesthood holders.
 
We need to build a stake here!
 
Love you all,
Sister Tracy 

I'm going to be a mom! (Missionary Mom)- March 24, 014

I'm going to miss these girls!  They are off to new places!

Nimen hao! 

First item of news: I'm going to be a mom! Yep, I am training this next transfer! Super exciting! I've actually known for over a week now (President told me at interviews) but I haven't been able to tell anyone other than my companion until now. I'm super stoked! My baby and I are going to have a blast! If there is anywhere I could choose to train it would be in the beautiful bountiful land of Ji An :) I head up to Taipei on Thursday to begin training and pick her up. I have only one goal for this baby--I want her to fall in love with her mission. How are we going to do that? I don't know---BUT We're going to do whatever God wants us to do and have fun every step of the way. The mission is a precious time. 







Second: They split up the branches last week so I am getting reassigned new boundaries/opening some new boundaries...so my trainee and I are going to be getting to know people together...even better! 


Third: THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRAYERS FOR KAI SHENG! So he didn't get baptized on Saturday cuz he relapsed last Monday (gotta be clean for a week). BUT As of Tuesday he has smoked ZERO cigarettes. The first day he smoked zero (last Tuesday) he called us up and was like "Zhong Jie Mei! Wo jintian meiyou chou yan! Wan quan mei you!" IT WAS AWESOME. Sis J and I were jumping on our beds yelling "Gong xi gong xi!!!" And if that weren't awesome enough, yesterday at church he comes walking in--new haircut, new suit, helping the elders carry in bread for the sacrament. I had to do a double take. I was like "Kai Sheng!! You are going to make an awesome priesthood holder!" He just smiled and said, "I can't wait to be baptized on Saturday!" Nothing is greater than seeing somebody's life improve through Christ. 


Fourth: Li Shi Hao also relapsed. We are still working really closely with him. He went 4 days without smoking though which is a HUGE improvment. He goes to church every week now though and goes to all the activities with his kids. Church members are very close to him. He's got it. 

Fifth: MIRACLE of MIRACLES -  remember those three kids that got baptized my first week here? We are working super hard with the mom and she by a complete miracle came to church yesterday. Sis J and I were also freaking out. Who thought that somebody coming to church would ever be so exciting? She's so close! 

Sixth: English class is the best thing ever. We had 5 of our English students/investigators get baptized this last week! I love them all and will never forget them! 

Our awesome english class students being Baptized!

Seventh: We had a duan chuan activity last week. (The youth came with us for a day to do missionary work) The first part of the day was rough because we got stood up and rejected a few times) but I said a super hard prayer that these girls would be able to see a miracle. We went knocking and the first door we knocked a SUPER golden new investigator opened the door and the girls got to bear their testimony and we invited him to baptism. Afterwards the girls were like, "WOW missionary work is so cool!" It is. :) 

Youth came with us to chuan the jiao (spread the church)

Eighth: I have been super sick all week with a ridiculous head cold. My voice gave out several times during lessons. If you don't already know, Taiwanese are BIG into herbal medicines. If they sense you are sick or hurt or have acne or anything they WILL give you a medley of herbal medicine suggestions. Let's just say in the past week I've been given ground up mushrooms, a chain of dr mario pills, packets upon packets of powder, herbal aroma remedies, you name it...do they work? Kinda. 

Medley of herbal medicines I collected in a day of contacting

This week was awesome. LOTS more to come. 

Fun Party!

So many Asian children!

Please pray for:
Deng Kai Sheng
Li Shi Hao
Zhang Bo Lin
My future trainee


Love you all!
Sister Tracy