1. Sister Player and Jeremy got bored on the bus
2&3. On our way to Jiufen
4. Our area is gorgeous!!!
5. We got kidnapped and taken to a petting zoo
6. Dinner with our member and her friends
7,8&9. GIANT'S BAPTISM!!!
Monday, July 8, 2019
The End of an Era
大家早安!
If you can believe it or not I have been in Yilan with Sister Player for 2 transfers already. She is leaving this Thursday and what's even crazier is that I'm training! I'm nervous but also super excited!
This last week we've added to all the memories:
~GIANT WAS BAPTIZED!!! This our ward mission leader's son, who turned 8 this year but has been skeptical of being baptized, but a couple of weeks ago he decided to get baptized. It was such an exciting moment! Sister Player and I decided this is how moms must feel when their own child gets baptized, because we were both so happy!
~ Our friends Sister Zhuang her two kids attended the baptism and really liked it! They are absolutely hilarious and I love them! They understand everything we teach them, and told us the other day how they've been reading the children's Book of Mormon together as a family at night. It just makes my heart so happy to see people feel the love and happiness that the gospel can give. They truly have been prepared.
~ Thursday we ate dinner with a Less Active member and she invited 5 friends! It was so good! One of them brought her grandson who is 10 and speaks pretty much fluent English. The whole dinner he talked to me about Pokémon, I know nothing about it but he insisted! It was hilarious and made my entire day! His grandma liked our spiritual thought and us speaking English with him that they are coming to English class on Wednesday!
~ For Pday we went to a place called JiuFen with the elders and our friend Jeremy. Oh my goodness it was crazy hot! Lots of fun! We had a two hour bus home which was a little rough, but I got some really cool pictures!
I think one of the hardest things about being a missionary is you meet such an amazing people but then have to say good bye to them with 3 to 6 months. And even though it's hard I'm so grateful for everyone I have met on my mission, companions, members, friends, strangers the street. I've come to love them all!
I love you all!
Love, 包姐妹
If you can believe it or not I have been in Yilan with Sister Player for 2 transfers already. She is leaving this Thursday and what's even crazier is that I'm training! I'm nervous but also super excited!
This last week we've added to all the memories:
~GIANT WAS BAPTIZED!!! This our ward mission leader's son, who turned 8 this year but has been skeptical of being baptized, but a couple of weeks ago he decided to get baptized. It was such an exciting moment! Sister Player and I decided this is how moms must feel when their own child gets baptized, because we were both so happy!
~ Our friends Sister Zhuang her two kids attended the baptism and really liked it! They are absolutely hilarious and I love them! They understand everything we teach them, and told us the other day how they've been reading the children's Book of Mormon together as a family at night. It just makes my heart so happy to see people feel the love and happiness that the gospel can give. They truly have been prepared.
~ Thursday we ate dinner with a Less Active member and she invited 5 friends! It was so good! One of them brought her grandson who is 10 and speaks pretty much fluent English. The whole dinner he talked to me about Pokémon, I know nothing about it but he insisted! It was hilarious and made my entire day! His grandma liked our spiritual thought and us speaking English with him that they are coming to English class on Wednesday!
~ For Pday we went to a place called JiuFen with the elders and our friend Jeremy. Oh my goodness it was crazy hot! Lots of fun! We had a two hour bus home which was a little rough, but I got some really cool pictures!
I think one of the hardest things about being a missionary is you meet such an amazing people but then have to say good bye to them with 3 to 6 months. And even though it's hard I'm so grateful for everyone I have met on my mission, companions, members, friends, strangers the street. I've come to love them all!
I love you all!
Love, 包姐妹
Monday, July 1, 2019
Pictures 7-1-2019
1&2. Beautiful scenery from our ride to Sanxing (三星)
3. Our new family we are teaching! 慧芬，Penny and Hunter
4. We made snickerdoodles with Anita!
5. We went to an American restaurant for my birthday where I ate a Peanut butter hamburger! Super yummy!
6. The 蔡s bought us Mango shaved ice
7&8. Our amazing members and friends bought me a birthday cake!
9. Our beautiful chapel!
Earning the Pillow
This week flew by! I can't believe it's Monday again already. This week we have seen some fruits from our labors!
~ Tuesday we had interviews with President, he didn't tell me anything about next transfer besides the fact Sister Player will be leaving Yilan :( The past two transfers have gone by crazy fast! I feel like I just got here and it's almost been 3 months.
~ We met with two former friends on Wednesday, both are absolutely amazing! Both agreed to start meeting with us again! One had still been reading the Book of Mormon and praying. And the other one accepted everything we shared about the Restoration. Both are so prepared!
~ Wednesday English Class I taught my advanced class First Aid. I had them do 2 minutes of CPR, which they found very tiring. We also did races of all the lifts/carries down the hallway. We had a pretty good laugh!
~ Thursday we biked out to a city called SanXing (三星) which took us a 2.25 hour (round trip was 18 miles) trying to visit 4 less active sisters. We got soaked on our way there, which I admit was honestly really fun. Sadly none of the Sisters were home, but we left notes and have faith that they will call us!
~ We had an amazing member referral this week! It's a cute family, a mom with her two kids (14 year old girl, and 9 year old boy). We have taught them the Restoration and the Plan of Salvation on Sunday. They set a baptismal date!!!! They love everything we taught and it clicks for them! It's so exciting and I'm even more excited to better get to know them!
~ Saturday we taught English class which was so much fun! We played Madlibs and headbands! That night members bought Sister Player and I our first Mango shaved ice. Oh my goodness absolutely delicious!
~ Church was packed! There were no spare seats in the congregation!!! We also ate two birthday cakes! Some of our members found it it was my birthday do they surprised me with cake. Haha both were delicious! I'm grateful I got to celebrate my birthday with some amazing people!
There is no better feeling than being completely exhausted after a hard working day/week! Sister Player and I have been working hard everyday, what makes it even more rewarding is that we love doing what we do. I have truly come to love the people in Taiwan, especially our members and friends! I'm grateful I have the opportunity to serve a mission, and even more grateful to serve with such an amazing, hard working companion like Sister Player! She has taught me so much, having confidence, loving every aspect of the work, laughing and just being a happy person. She had become one of my best friends!
I love you all and hope you have absolutely amazing week!
Love, 包姐妹
~ Tuesday we had interviews with President, he didn't tell me anything about next transfer besides the fact Sister Player will be leaving Yilan :( The past two transfers have gone by crazy fast! I feel like I just got here and it's almost been 3 months.
~ We met with two former friends on Wednesday, both are absolutely amazing! Both agreed to start meeting with us again! One had still been reading the Book of Mormon and praying. And the other one accepted everything we shared about the Restoration. Both are so prepared!
~ Wednesday English Class I taught my advanced class First Aid. I had them do 2 minutes of CPR, which they found very tiring. We also did races of all the lifts/carries down the hallway. We had a pretty good laugh!
~ Thursday we biked out to a city called SanXing (三星) which took us a 2.25 hour (round trip was 18 miles) trying to visit 4 less active sisters. We got soaked on our way there, which I admit was honestly really fun. Sadly none of the Sisters were home, but we left notes and have faith that they will call us!
~ We had an amazing member referral this week! It's a cute family, a mom with her two kids (14 year old girl, and 9 year old boy). We have taught them the Restoration and the Plan of Salvation on Sunday. They set a baptismal date!!!! They love everything we taught and it clicks for them! It's so exciting and I'm even more excited to better get to know them!
~ Saturday we taught English class which was so much fun! We played Madlibs and headbands! That night members bought Sister Player and I our first Mango shaved ice. Oh my goodness absolutely delicious!
~ Church was packed! There were no spare seats in the congregation!!! We also ate two birthday cakes! Some of our members found it it was my birthday do they surprised me with cake. Haha both were delicious! I'm grateful I got to celebrate my birthday with some amazing people!
There is no better feeling than being completely exhausted after a hard working day/week! Sister Player and I have been working hard everyday, what makes it even more rewarding is that we love doing what we do. I have truly come to love the people in Taiwan, especially our members and friends! I'm grateful I have the opportunity to serve a mission, and even more grateful to serve with such an amazing, hard working companion like Sister Player! She has taught me so much, having confidence, loving every aspect of the work, laughing and just being a happy person. She had become one of my best friends!
I love you all and hope you have absolutely amazing week!
Love, 包姐妹
Monday, June 24, 2019
Pictures 6-24-2019
1. Getting 20 Gospel Conversations we rewarded ourselves with some Yakult!
2. Splits with Natalie (in the back) and Carly (in the front)
3&4. some of our members trying the stick pull
5. Sister Player taught them how to make friendship bracelets
6. Me vs Giant, Crystal and Elder Steffen in a stick pull. I can proudly say I held my ground until we broke the stick...
7,8&9. District Bonding over making s'mores
10. Reporting with Sister Training Leaders
Chopsticks, Marshmallows and a Flamethrower
好久不見!
The past couple of days have been so amazing! Our mission has a goal that everyday every companionship talks to at least 20 new people inviting them to learn more about our Savior. We've been focusing a lot on that lately, trying hard to talk to everyone! We've had some really cool experiences from doing so!
~ Thursday we called a bunch of Less Active members asking if we could come visit them. A miracle happened! I called someone on our list and when I told her we were the missionaries she got so excited! She told me that as soon as finished moving to another city we could come visit. On top of that she told me that me calling her that afternoon was God's plan because that morning she had been packing her Bible and Book of Mormon and she had the desire to call the missionaries but didn't have our phone number. She gladly set up with us in July and we are really looking forward to meeting her!
That same day Sister Player and I when visiting some less actives turned our bikes around SOO many times so we could go back to talk to someone who had waved at us. We had so much fun talking to people and got to meet some really cool people!
~ Friday was also an amazing contacting day! We went on splits with two amazing returned missionaries, I went with Carly and Sister Player went with Natalie. Carly and I went and knocked while my companion went to a sports park across the street to talk to people on the running track. IT WAS SO MUCH FUN! Every door answered, not all of them were willing to listen but it left us with such a good feeling from baring testimony that through Jesus Christ we could find happiness! Because of our amazing member missionaries we reached our goal of 20 invites/gospel conversations!
~ Saturday was absolutely hilarious! We had English class where we played 20 questions and almost lost because one of students had picked UFO. I saw an Elder from MTC district in the train station coincidentally. Then in preparation for our Family History/American Culture ward activity our district made s'mores! Haha we attempted to start a fire with coals and a flame thrower which did not work, luckily for us we also had an electric grill. Because we are in Asia we had to use chopsticks to roast the marshmallows which actually worked really well! We are pro s'mores makers! Our activity went really well too! We taught them what a stick pull was, an animal guessing game and one you try to make each other laugh. To sum it up we made memories!
~ Sunday Elisa from my first area and who I taught since my first transfer was baptized! I got to go back to Bitan for her baptism which was so exciting, because I got to see her smiling and just so happy, as well as seeing members I absolutely adore and miss!
I've learned so much this week and am so blessed to be a missionary here in Taiwan! I know that the spirit will guide us and lots of the times we won't recognize his promptings until later. I didn't realize at the time when I called specific Less Active that she had been wanting to get ahold of the missionaries but He knew and led me to call her. I also know that missionary work is not for the missionaries alone, working with members makes things more efficient and gives members an opportunity to share their testimonies in a way that might never have done before. Missionary work is meant to be fun and happy! We share a happy message and one that will change others lives, so we need to make sure we are sharing it happily! Lastly that everyone has their own timing, and we just need to trust that all will work out in the end.
I love this gospel and am grateful for everything I've been learning! I love all of you!
Love, Sister Porter
包心穎姐妹
The past couple of days have been so amazing! Our mission has a goal that everyday every companionship talks to at least 20 new people inviting them to learn more about our Savior. We've been focusing a lot on that lately, trying hard to talk to everyone! We've had some really cool experiences from doing so!
~ Thursday we called a bunch of Less Active members asking if we could come visit them. A miracle happened! I called someone on our list and when I told her we were the missionaries she got so excited! She told me that as soon as finished moving to another city we could come visit. On top of that she told me that me calling her that afternoon was God's plan because that morning she had been packing her Bible and Book of Mormon and she had the desire to call the missionaries but didn't have our phone number. She gladly set up with us in July and we are really looking forward to meeting her!
That same day Sister Player and I when visiting some less actives turned our bikes around SOO many times so we could go back to talk to someone who had waved at us. We had so much fun talking to people and got to meet some really cool people!
~ Friday was also an amazing contacting day! We went on splits with two amazing returned missionaries, I went with Carly and Sister Player went with Natalie. Carly and I went and knocked while my companion went to a sports park across the street to talk to people on the running track. IT WAS SO MUCH FUN! Every door answered, not all of them were willing to listen but it left us with such a good feeling from baring testimony that through Jesus Christ we could find happiness! Because of our amazing member missionaries we reached our goal of 20 invites/gospel conversations!
~ Saturday was absolutely hilarious! We had English class where we played 20 questions and almost lost because one of students had picked UFO. I saw an Elder from MTC district in the train station coincidentally. Then in preparation for our Family History/American Culture ward activity our district made s'mores! Haha we attempted to start a fire with coals and a flame thrower which did not work, luckily for us we also had an electric grill. Because we are in Asia we had to use chopsticks to roast the marshmallows which actually worked really well! We are pro s'mores makers! Our activity went really well too! We taught them what a stick pull was, an animal guessing game and one you try to make each other laugh. To sum it up we made memories!
~ Sunday Elisa from my first area and who I taught since my first transfer was baptized! I got to go back to Bitan for her baptism which was so exciting, because I got to see her smiling and just so happy, as well as seeing members I absolutely adore and miss!
I've learned so much this week and am so blessed to be a missionary here in Taiwan! I know that the spirit will guide us and lots of the times we won't recognize his promptings until later. I didn't realize at the time when I called specific Less Active that she had been wanting to get ahold of the missionaries but He knew and led me to call her. I also know that missionary work is not for the missionaries alone, working with members makes things more efficient and gives members an opportunity to share their testimonies in a way that might never have done before. Missionary work is meant to be fun and happy! We share a happy message and one that will change others lives, so we need to make sure we are sharing it happily! Lastly that everyone has their own timing, and we just need to trust that all will work out in the end.
I love this gospel and am grateful for everything I've been learning! I love all of you!
Love, Sister Porter
包心穎姐妹
Wednesday, June 19, 2019
Weekly: The Power Week, oh and I ate a Fish Eye
Hello everyone! It's not Monday but its pday because we get to go to the
Temple! I'm so excited to go to the temple, it feels like so long since
we've been last time.
This week has been so good!!! There is so much so here is the run down:
~
last pday we went with our friend Johnny and his wife to go visit some
beautiful scenic areas. It qas absolutely gorgeous, we went to a lake
and then cooked food in a hot spring! It was absolutely yummy.
~
I went on exchanges with the one and only Sister Zaitz. She came down
to Yilan with me, which was just happy memories for her because she has
served there before. We visited a couple of members and they all just
love her!
~ We had a
Stake Beach Baptism on Saturday! Oh my goodness it was so special and
absolutely beautiful! A man named Atta was baptized, what is so special
about Atta is that our Elders have been teaching him for 10 years and
never has been baptized. But the day finally came and everything worked
out that he could be baptized! It was such a happy moment for everyone!
~
After the Stake Beach Baptism everyone who came went and ate lunch
together. I tried shark, which is actually really yummy. Then one of our
Young Men, Slide, and I got on the topic of someone eating the fish's
eyes. Haha well because of a bad deal Slide ate the eye and then I ate
it! I would never do it again, but I now can cross that off my list!
~
We had Zone Conference this week which I absolutely loved! We focused a
lot on the spirit and how we need to help others feel the spirit. Its
just amazing how everytime we get together as a Mission we discuss the
things I've been working on. I can just feel Heavenly Father's love and I
know he is mindful of us!
I absolutely love my mission and I'm so grateful for this experience! I'm so happy! I love you all!
Have a great week!
Love, Sister Porter
包心穎姐妹
Pictures 6-19-2019
1. District Bonding
2. Cooking food in a hot spring
3. Lunch with Johnny
4. Johnny took us to drive these!
5. Sister Zaitz
6. The beach of the beach baptism
7. Me and my cute companion
8. A gorgeous view we saw with our ward
9. The beach baptism
10. Zone Conference
11. Our zone
Monday, June 10, 2019
Dragon Boat Festival
What a crazy busy week! This week our focus was on contacting Less
Active members, we tried to visit/call 15 from 3 different cities. It's
been a learning experience meeting and trying to understand their
stories because every one of them are different. We received different
answers of being hung up on, no answer, welcomed us in but didn't want
us to come back, to people welcoming us back. I'm really excited to
better meet them and help them feel God's love for them.
Some highlights from this week
~Pday! We played games with our Elders and we used Andes mints for "tokens". It was hilarious! (There will be a picture coming soon) It's been a little bit of a change going from 10 missionaries in my district in Bitan to only the 4 of us on Yilan. I'm grateful I've gotten to serve around these amazing missionaries!
~ In the past two weeks we have received two referrals from a family and they are amazing! They both have genuine interest in learning what kind of relationship they can have with God. They both ask amazing questions! It's also been really funny getting to know these members too! I've been really blessed having amazing members in both of my areas so far!
~ Friday was Dragon Boat Festival!!! Sadly we didn't get see any of the races but we got eat a traditional food they only eat around this time, it's called a 粽子. Its sticky rice with meat, mushrooms, sometimes eggs all wrapped up in bamboo leaves. They have to sit for a really long time, but are super yummy!!!
~ Saturday was an adventure for us! We played basketball in the morning with our friend Jason and the Elders. We taught English Class that afternoon which was fun! Afterwards we learned it was Florence's birthday (a family we use to teach) they asked if us and the Elders wanted to eat cake with them. What we thought would be a half an hour turned into them driving us to a bakery and than a lake. It was unexpected but really helped our relationship with them grow!
Something I've been studying and focusing on a lot these past couple of weeks is Charity and Love. If I'm being honest when I first came on my mission I didn't know how I was going to develop love for people I never met before. But now I have a lot of love for the people of Taiwan and it keeps growing everyday! It's not always easy because we get rejected a lot, or we realize people only talk to us because we are American. But we talk to them anyways! I love being a missionary and I love having the opportunity to meet so many amazing people!
我愛你們!
Love, Sister Porter
包心穎姐妹
Some highlights from this week
~Pday! We played games with our Elders and we used Andes mints for "tokens". It was hilarious! (There will be a picture coming soon) It's been a little bit of a change going from 10 missionaries in my district in Bitan to only the 4 of us on Yilan. I'm grateful I've gotten to serve around these amazing missionaries!
~ In the past two weeks we have received two referrals from a family and they are amazing! They both have genuine interest in learning what kind of relationship they can have with God. They both ask amazing questions! It's also been really funny getting to know these members too! I've been really blessed having amazing members in both of my areas so far!
~ Friday was Dragon Boat Festival!!! Sadly we didn't get see any of the races but we got eat a traditional food they only eat around this time, it's called a 粽子. Its sticky rice with meat, mushrooms, sometimes eggs all wrapped up in bamboo leaves. They have to sit for a really long time, but are super yummy!!!
~ Saturday was an adventure for us! We played basketball in the morning with our friend Jason and the Elders. We taught English Class that afternoon which was fun! Afterwards we learned it was Florence's birthday (a family we use to teach) they asked if us and the Elders wanted to eat cake with them. What we thought would be a half an hour turned into them driving us to a bakery and than a lake. It was unexpected but really helped our relationship with them grow!
Something I've been studying and focusing on a lot these past couple of weeks is Charity and Love. If I'm being honest when I first came on my mission I didn't know how I was going to develop love for people I never met before. But now I have a lot of love for the people of Taiwan and it keeps growing everyday! It's not always easy because we get rejected a lot, or we realize people only talk to us because we are American. But we talk to them anyways! I love being a missionary and I love having the opportunity to meet so many amazing people!
我愛你們!
Love, Sister Porter
包心穎姐妹
Pictures 6-10-2019
1. Last weeks pday!
2. We saw a gorgeous field of flowers so we had to take a picture
3. Ginormous Buddhist temple in the rice fields!
4. Kidnapped at the lake;)
5. 粽子!!!
6. Squishing in the car when we got kidnapped;)
7. Ann and Willy brought silk worms to church!
8. I've been teaching Ann and Willy cursive after English class
9. We taught Ann and Willy the games cats cradle. They love it!!!
10. I think this picture is just funny so I had to add it! 🤣
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