Letter #12 - It's A Christmas Miracle Charlie Brown

Shengdanjie kuaile!!!!

Christmas in Taiwan "came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags!" but it was amazing. Maybe the hardest and best week of my entire mission (not that I've been here very long lol). So many miracles!!!

We were in a 7 one day and started talking to a woman. Turns out she was SUPER eager to hear about the gospel, she'd been to a ton of different churches and read a lot of different bibles but she didnt understand any of them. We showed her Moroni 10:4 in the Book of Mormon and she got really excited to the point of jumping out of her seat, saying, "I understand!!!!!! How is that possible?" And we said, "Because it's the word of God!" She was such a golden investigator and so anxious to learn!

But...it was very frustrating because I couldn't understand what was going on. She was asking so many questions that my companion was kept busy answering all of them so she wasn't able to translate. I would say I've never been more frustrated in my life, but that would be a lie, because math exists and math is worse than even Chinese.

But, meiyou wenti. I know I'll get the language eventually, it just might take a while. Aaaand on two different occasions this week we found waiguoren (foreigners) who spoke English!!! So we contacted them and I got to share the gospel with them in English!! It was so awesome to actually know what was going on for once haha! Sister Reeve and I started saying "It's a Christmas miracle, Charlie Brown!" anytime something awesome happened this week. :)

Our ward threw a huuuuge party on Christmas Eve! I forgot my camera reader so I'm very sorry I don't have pictures this week...but, it was awesome. There was so much food. They set up tables of food in the church garage and everyone just dove in! It was crazy and awesome. We were kept busy contacting all the nonmembers who had come to the party. 

In the weeks before the party we tried to give out as many flyers for the Christmas party as we could, and I was praying that at least one of the people, out of the dozens we gave flyers to, would actually show up. Well, someone did!!! A man we found in a 7/11 a couple weeks before brought his niece and nephew! It was awesome. The party was great too, there was a nativity and music and an Asian Santa. Nobody in Taiwan really celebrates Christmas so it was awesome the have a ward who wanted to celebrate anyway.

MEMBER MISSIONARY STORY OF THE WEEK: A member took us out to lunch, and while we were eating the waiter asked "Are you church people?" The member, Chen Jie Mei, started talking to the waiter: "Yes, they're church people. They're from the mormon church. They're here for a year and a half and they teach lessons about Jesus Christ." She just kept talking and telling our waiter all about us and about the church! She bore her testimony and asked if he wanted to learn more! And he did! We set up a meeting with him! Whaaaaaaat!!! So, challenge for this week: Take the missionaries out to lunch and introduce them to your waiter. Your missionaries will LOVE YOU.

Anyway, that was long and rambly. But I wanted to bear testimony of my Savior. I am so happy that on the most holy day of the year I got to think about Christ. I got to celebrate Him, to remember His birth and how much He did for all of us. I know that my Redeemer lives. 

Much love!

Sister Daynes

Deng Jie Mei

Letter #11 - Hello from Yuanlin!

Some things about Taiwan: 

1. "Don't eat vegetables, they will make you fat. Also don't drink cold water, because it will make you fat. But eat all the rice and noodles you want." These are things we have actually heard from Taiwanese people. So I guess we need to let up on the ice cubes.

2. There are no stop signs. Traffic laws are pretty nonexistant which makes biking an adventure. We do bike contacting here, which means we pull up right next to all the people on motorcycles when we stop at stoplights and try to talk to them as much as we can before the light turns green. There have been some pretty great surprised expressions on their faces when two white girls try to talk to them. It's pretty priceless.

3. There are 7/11s on literally every street. Except they dont say 7/11, here everybody just calls them Sevens. We probably go into a seven every single day.

4. It's cold. I was not expecting this from Taiwan! But I guess it is December. Everyone is afraid of the cold, they bundle up in big jackets. We usually wear coats a lot now of the time now, especially at night.

5. In the MTC we said Nihao (hello) and zaijian (goodbye) all the time. But I had to unlearn that when I got here because nobody actually says those. Instead everybody says "Hallo!" and "Buh-bye!" Almost everybody speaks at least some English since they learn it in school here. We also teach a free English class once a week. It's pretty helpful when I try to talk to members because they are able to speak a little English to me. I'm making friends! There are some YSA sisters who love to sing and so I could talk to them about that! They're so awesome.

I am convinced that if every LDS church member in the world were like the members here, pretty soon the whole earth would know about the gospel. They are constantly sharing the gospel! They are always inviting their friends to church and volunteering to help us with lessons. We even got 4 referrals this week without even asking for them! This is member missionary work at its best! These people know how important the light of the gospel is and they want to share it so badly! Especially with their friends, because the gospel is the most important thing in their lives and they just want to share it!

The gospel is like having a $100 bill and walking around looking for someone to give it to. Except it is sooooo much better than a $100 bill. The gospel has given me and millions of others peace in our lives. Because of it, I can feel true joy. 

If you're wanting to share the gospel with someone and are nervous about it, don't be! I highly recommend all of you read Elder Dallin H Oaks' most recent conference talk on member missionary work. What do you know? Here it is. I found it for you. You're welcome. https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2016/10/sharing-the-restored-gospel?lang=eng 

Thank you so much for all your love, prayers and letters!

Much love,

Sister Daynes (Deng Jie Mei)

P.S. Address!

# 498-11, Wu Chuan Road
Taichung, Taichung 404-46
Taiwan

PHOTOS - First shots from Taiwan (Dec. 11, 2016)

1, 2, 3- last week at MTC

4, 5 - the district eating amazing food. That's pig ear on the table. I have also tried pig stomach and cuttlefish. They are not bad.

Letter #10 - TAIWAN

I'm here! And this place is the coolest.

We left the MTC Tuesday morning, took a 14-hour plane flight, got to the mission home in Taiwan and crashed. After 2 days of orientation I met my trainer! Her name is Sister Reeve, she has been on island 7 months. About 5 seconds after we met she said "Has anyone ever told you that you look liike Aowyn from Lord of the Rings?" I immediately knew I had hit the jackpot. I found me a nerd!!!!!!!!!!!!! She has been such a blessing and is so fantastic. 

We are in a small city/big town about an hour North of the big city, Taichung, in an area called Yuanlin. It's definitely not as busy or bustling as Taichung but there's still enough motorcycles to make biking interesting. We are whitewashing, which means we are both new to the area, we didn't know anyone or anything about it beforehand. But we met the bishop and the members pretty quickly and they are AWESOME. They LOVE missionaries, they are always inviting us to eat and volunteering to come to our lessons. The Bishop really wants us to focus on part members families in the ward so they can get 120 active members and split the ward in half next year. So we have a goal!!! We also have a lot of investigators and recent converts we need to meet with so there is a LOT to do! Sis Reeves says she's never seen members this golden her entire mission, nor has she ever had so many appointments set up in one week! As she said, "They've given me so many toys to play with that I don't know what to do with them!" It's nuts but it is the best problem EVER!

The tricky thing for me is that we're in an area where fellowshipping members is really important and I have no idea what they're saying. My sweet companion does basically all the talking and I contribute when I can. I know it'll come with time but gah I just want to talk to these amazing people! I did bear my testimony at their request on Sunday which was crazy.We also bike everywhere and talk to everybody on the road, or at least I try to manage a sentence or two in passable mandarin and then let my companion take over cuz I don't know what they're saying. But it's a fun time! This place is awesome. 

Our first lesson, the only one we've taught so far was with a woman named Enci who believes the church is true and wants to get baptized but she has to work on Sundays and is scared to ask her boss for time off. We shared Ether 12:6 with her and told her the Lord will help her, he will not leave her alone. That's one of the most important things I've learned on my mission. The Lord does not forget you. Why would he do that? You are His child. The Lord wants to help us and will guide us through all our trials. By the end she decided she would ask her boss. It was so cool and I really hope she'll be able to come! I didn't understand 98% of the lesson but you could feel the Spirit so strongly.

Thank you so much for all your love and prayers! They definitely strengthen me.

Much love,

Deng Jie Mei

Letter #9 - Walking In A Winter Wonderland

Last email from America!!!!! (Assuming everything goes smoothly with my visa...) It's crazy to think that in a week I'll be in Taiwan. After 10 years in Asia and 18 months in America, I'm so excited to get to return to Asia for the next 18 months of my life. 

I definitely don't know enough Mandarin. But the prophet has promised us that the Lord always qualifies those He calls. We are representatives of Jesus Christ. We are His hands on the earth, and our job is to act in behalf of Him. And that's incredible. We are certainly called to His work. (Seriously, we sing Called to Serve all. the. time.)

In other news, SNOW!!!! I am seriously stunned by it. It's gorgeous. I've been walking around feeling like I'm in a movie. I'm not used to this! It feels so unreal, it's like a fantasy. We were walking to the temple on Sunday and it just came pouring down!!! Like rain, but not! It's such a blessing to get to experience it before we leave and I'm really grateful for it. My roommates probably think I'm crazy but I'm too happy to care. We are seriously in a winter wonderland and it's freezing but it's wonderful.

Thanksgiving was actually pretty great. I was pretty impressed with the cafeteria's turkey and cranberry sauce. We did a service project where we made meals for kids in need which was a lot of fun. We also watched Ephraim's Rescue, which if you've seen the movie, it certainly gave me a lot to be grateful for. (Although, as my roommate Sister McCabe said, "Happy Thanksgiving! Everybody dies)." Elder Neil L Anderson (and his 8 grandkids who were adorable) spoke to us about gratitude which was also cool. And they had a program in the evening with musical numbers and that was a lot of fun.

So I've basically become the walking dictionary for my roommates. We're all sitting here emailing and at least 3 times in the last hour they've asked me how to spell words. It happens all the time in class too. It's nice to feel useful #englishmajor

They also give me a hard time because apparently I talk in my sleep a lot. This is weird because I don't know if I ever talked in my sleep before coming to the MTC. Apparently it's a lot of mumbling, sometimes in Chinese.

I also read a story this week that stunned me: An elderly couple, Brother and Sister Smith, in their late 70s joined the church, and a year later got their patriarchal blessings. One fast and testimony meeting Brother Smith stood up in church and read from his blessing: "Brother Smith, you and your wife would've joined the church several years ago, except the missionary who was supposed to teach you the gospel decided not to go on a mission."

What?!?!?? This was such a testimony builder to me that there are people out there who need the gospel and who God prepared for me to find. I'm so excited to go to Taiwan, to do my very best, to find these people and to serve them! We leave December 6th, so it's coming up soon!

Last thing! Go onto mormon.org and click on the #LightTheWorld initiative. This is such a great program the church has put up where it gives you ideas for 25 ways to serve over 25 days and starts tomorrow, Dec 1! I love this because at a time when we have so, so much to be grateful for, we can find ways to truly serve and help others. No matter what religion you are, service is something we all love to do.

Thank you so much for all your prayers, letters and support. (And thank you for reading my absurdly long letters). It really means so much to me. Wo ai nimen!

Sister Daynes

(Deng Jie Mei)