Playing hard and Working Harder

大家好

I hope you all have had an amazing past week! This week has been crazy good and crazy tiring!

Our district has been working overly hard to set high goals and working to achieve them! My companion and I have literally been talking to everyone, and all while sharing the Book of Mormon. It's been to come home absolutely exhausted but wake up the next morning overly excited to do it all over again.

Below are pictures from last pday when we went shopping with Sister Lin and Sister Yen. Also pictures with a couple of the members we visited this week, and our pday today! Today we went to the national park Taroko with our members Kailin and YangKai, it was absolutely gorgeous!

Fun story about the picture with the mom and son: after church on Sunday we were in the foyer talking to a member when this mom and her son walk through the parking lot, I ask the member if she knows them and when she told me she had no idea I had the strongest impression to go talk to them. I left mid conversation to go talk to them, they were visiting from one of my old areas (Yilan) and they thought our church was cool so they decided to walk by. I asked if we could give them a tour and they readily agreed! They were both absolutely adorable! We got their phone number and she said she would think about meeting with the Sisters in Yilan! Miracles!

I hope you have a great week! 

Love，包心穎姐妹

Sister Judy got Baptized!

好久不見!

It's only been since Wednesday so not many changes but there was one really big one! Our friend Sister Judy, Sister Valencia and I started teaching her, was baptized on Sunday!!!! It has been a process in the coming from life changes to the day before unsure if she get work off to come. But Heavenly Father surely has a plan and everything fell into place. 

Something I've learned from Sister Judy is how much this gospel can truly change us, and as lose our old life for his sake we ARE able to find a better life. This process wasn't easy for Sister Judy but as I watched her come out of the water and star to cry I knew it was all worth it. She told me that she never had been so happy before, and she was grateful for the start of her new life. 

It was the highlight of my week! 

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and will have a happy new year! 

Love, Sister Porter 

Here is a picture from Sister Judy's baptism, our cute English class, we visit Sister Tao (who is an amazing artist) and the beautiful scenery of Taiwan

Merry Christmas! 聖誕節快樂!

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

I hope you all have an amazing and miracle filled Christmas! 

This week has been amazing! I got my new trainee this week, Sister Fondell! She is originally from Sweden but has lived in Massachusetts for the last 11 years. She is so sweet and is such a trooper! 

We have so many Christmas miracles! Our new friends Zhi Mama and Sister Xu set baptismal dates after our second meeting with them. We have been using the Book of Mormon like crazy in our street contacts and people are loving it! We got over 5 people to set up with us in the past 3 days! So many miracles when we have faith and work hard!

On Sunday we went up to Taipei for the missionary Christmas concert. What an amazing experience! The spirit was so strong the entire time, and made it feel like Christmas. 

It was the first time that our MTC district(aka family) were reunited since we came to Taiwan, and the last time before the sisters go home. I love them all so much! It blows me away that I've only known them for a little over a year and yet they have become my best friends. I don't know what I would do without them, I'm grateful I had the opportunity to meet them all.

With being in Hualien and usually a solid +70° weather it hasn't felt like a normal Christmas. However, because of all the normal indicators of Christmas aren't present I've had the opportunity to focus on the true meaning of Christmas, which is Christ. I feel that I've come to know my Savior better and I understand more of who He is. 

I hope you all have an opportunity to take the time to really think about the Savior this Christmas!

Love you all!

包姐妹

Pictures: Mission Christmas picture, MTC family, caroling with the Hualien missionaries, English class and MERRY Christmas from the Hualien Sisters!

Moving Next Door for Christmas

T- 9 days until Christmas!!!!!

Even though Christmas is next week we are already in the full holiday swing here in Hualien!

This week we have taught Christmas themed English classes, shared Christmas messages with our members, Lighted the World, passed out more Christmas cards, and of course caught the cold for a week!

I absolutely love Christmas and I absolutely love Taiwan! What a wonderful mix. 

Highlight from the week: 

We had our annual ward Christmas party which is legendary in Hualien for how extra our ward goes. Every year they perform the nativity and they go all out for it! Well it was the night before the party and our Bishop calls one of the Elders and asks if the missionaries where ready for our 5-10 minute performance before they perform the nativity. Jokes on us because this was the first time we had heard about it. So the next day 3 hours before the party we put together a very fast reenactment of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas'. Oh my goodness! It was hilarious! It was absolutely perfect and everyone was laughing the entire time.

It was really special when our ward performed the nativity because we invited our English class to come watch and it was a lot of their first time hearing/seeing the story of Christ's birth. I had couple kids come up to me afterwards and tell me how much they loved story of Jesus and were excited for next year's performance! It made my heart so happy!

I'm moving this next week but just next door! I'll be reopening the other Sisters area in Hualien with my new trainee! What an adventure this will be but I'm so excited to learn the other part of Hualien. 

I hope you all enjoy the week before Christmas! And continue to Light the World! 

Love, Sister Porter 

Christmas cards and a cold

Hello Everyone! 

I can't believe it's already the 2nd week of December. Time goes by so fast! This week has been a good one!

We had exchanges with our amazing Sisters Dalton and Sister Lin in Taidong. I just love them so much! I went with Sister Lin who is one of the most bubbly I've ever met and is absolutely adorable! We literally talked to everyone, and I don't think there was a single person who walked way not smiling. She helps everyone feels loved, it was so fun being her companion for a day.

Both my companion and I have been fighting a cold this week, there was a day this week that neither of us could talk which made things rough but we got through it! 

We have been working like crazy to get all of our Christmas cards and cookies down to deliver to our members. It took absolutely forever hand writing everything, but it was so worth it! As we started delivering it them they were so touched. Everyone has loved the cards so far and that makes us all so happy. 

Missionary work isn't easy and has its hard parts. This week had some amazing highlights but also its rough patches. I've had a lot of time to think about why would we need to struggle when we are trying to do so much good. As I have pondered and read half a million Conference talks I've learned how God prepares us for the better. There will be times we get cut low and we feel like we've lost everything we've grown to be, but it's when we are at this low that we learn God's true plan for us and that's better than where we were before. 

I truly believe through the Atonement of Jesus Christ we can change and grow to become the best version of ourselves. It won't be an easy path and there will be moments we fall down from the pressure, but that's only because God is helping us remember we need to get down to our knees to ask what He needs us to do next.

I hope you all have an amazing week, and remember to Light the world!

Love you all!

Sister Porter

Happy Thanksgiving

Hello Everyone!

I hope you've all had an amazing week, and got really full on giving thanks and turkey. We for sure did! 

I've so grateful to be serving a mission and have met so many amazing people.

I'm grateful for:

- our member's cute kids

- pdays in the beautiful city of Hualian 

- our AMAZING Bishop's family

- our English Class

- Zone Conference, and all the great trainings that we've received 

- our YSA member ShiJia! One of my favorite people!

- Exchanges with our amazing Taidong Sisters, Sister Wang and Sister Ling

- making Christmas cards for our members!

I love this gospel and I'm so grateful for the opportunity to share it with the amazing people of Taiwan!

Love you all!

Sister Porter 

True Happiness

Hello Everyone,

I hope you all have had an amazing week. And HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

As you all know a mission has its ups and downs. There are hard moments and great moments! 

This week had a mixture of both. Adjusting of the transfer has been a little harder because we cover two areas and are crazy busy!

We had to go to Taipei this week because of MLC (mission leadership council) and when we got there both my companion and I were a little stressed with everything on our to do list. During the council we talked a lot about becoming a disciple of Christ and how we do that. As our meeting continued I felt very peace and questions answered. It was as if a rock on my shoulder had gotten a little lighter. 

Later this week we had interviews with President and we talked a lot about everything going on and what we are doing to be able to accomplish everything. At one point President asked me one simple question that I've pondered a lot since then. "Are your relying on the Lord or yourself?"

This really made me think about how I'm doing the work. I've tried really hard in every situation to think what would the Savior do and then do that. It hasn't been perfect and there are still moments where its really hard. But I always remember that the Savior will lift me up and consecrate everything I do. 

I know that as we rely on the Lord than we will be able to carry the load we've been called to carry. We will be able to find true happiness in every step of the way.

Love, Sister Porter 

Pictures from the week!