#shehasthebesthashtags

Wow! Another week in Taiwan!!!!

I'm sorry, I have so little time:( My stories will all have to be very brief this week!!! And super scattered! Don't hate me! I promise I am alive and well!

 

The night market has the best fruit and veggies!

Baptism this week.

This is the church in Zhongli.

WE were blessed with 5 new investigators this week and 1 baptism on saturday!! His name is Xie Hao Zhe. He almost didn't come to his confirmation at church yestereday...that was scary..but then he did so now he's a member!! Sheesh!

The bathrooms are sketchy as heck.

There is a beautiful park where we go hard with the Elders in basketball some mornings. SO FUN! 

It's rained every single day since I got here!!!

Emma's companion Sister K. from Hawaii.

The night market, and Em said the produce is awesome!

We had a dinner appointment with a non member. She was soooo cute! WE ate pig feet...and she wouldn't let us leave till WE ATE IT ALL!!! It was the worst!!!!!!! Bless her heart;) She also made us these beautiful little cake things. but sadly...they were probably the worst tasting thing I've ever had in my life. Taiwan really does have amzing food! Those were just really bad...hahah

English class is every wednesday! WE teach the kids and they are adorable:) super rowdy, but darling.

We found the cutest family and young girl on saturday night!!! WE are meeting with them later and I am so pumped. The Lord has truly blessed us and guides us everyday to the people who are looking for us too:)

Every Weds. night Emma and her companion teach English to these cute kids!

My bike finally came! It's the best thing ever. I missed biking so much:) It's pretty crazy though. There are basically no traffic rules and it's a battle for your life every time you hit the roads. It's a thrill and I love it;) 

WE went contacting last night and It was awesome! Got a new investigator:) We also had a guy ask us if we had boyfriends..then he told us we were beautiful...bless him. He needs Jesus. I was just super excited that I could understand what he said!! but yes we do meet some intersting people. 

Our dryer broke this week and I FIXED IT LIKE A BOSS!

#wifeme #postmish

 

This week was incredible and the Lord is watching over us.

I love you so much!!! 

xooxooxoox

emma

Oh Taiwan.....

This is the group Emma traveled to Taiwan with.  They are standing in front of the Grand Hotel in Taipei.

ok. ok. ok. Everyone calm down. I'm in TAIWAN!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wow. I think I have died and gone to...kind of heaven... Ok it's not heaven, but I love it with all my heart!!!!!!

I have so much to say but so little time!!!!!!! 

Recap of the last week of the MTC. 

It was good. 

Felt the spirit.

Had a sweet roast with our district.

Cried.

Said goodbyes:( 

Then left to the airport!

Being picked up at he Taiwan Airport.  That must have been a sight!  They look so good!

We flew from SLC to SAN FRAN and then from there to TAIWAN! The flight overall took 15 hours.....it was a little long, but for some reason it felt like it just flew by. Classes at the MTC felt like they were longer than our flight to Taiwan..dang..hahah. 

Sister S, and Sister M from Emma's MTC District.

Elder Roe is a friend from Mountain Crest High School and that's the Taiwan Taipei Temple! The other handsome young  man is one of Pres. and Sister Jorgensen's twin sons living in Taiwan with them:) Cute boys!

Finding dinner the first night in Taiwan.

Dinner

We arrived in Taiwan and had to wait in customs for about an hour. It felt like we were in a zoo....we are a huge group of white teenagers surrounded by tons of short asian!!!! They all kept looking at us and saying, " hen piao liang!" Which means, beautiful or pretty. They are so stinking nice:) I've honestly never met such kind people in my life. Even when they are turning us down they are SO NICE. Agh:) anways, so we got through customs and met president!!! The first person I saw was my good pal Elder Porter Roe! (Emma went to school with Porter, and his is one of the AP's right now.)I died a little bit. We got all of our luggage and jumped on a bus to Taipei!

We unloaded all our luggage at the church by the temple and went out for some food:) My first taiwanese meal was....zhua bing and wintermelon tea!!!!! and. it. was. fantastic. I've never felt so free in my whole life:) It was an experience full of so many feelings that I can't even explain!

**(is a note for my aunt and uncles: Send me the food requests ASAP! xie xie nine) 

we stayed our first night in the mission home and then woke up at 5 the next morning to head to the Grand Hotel and Mission Dedication sight:) It was beautiful!!! We all dedicated our own personal mission with a prayer and then headed back to the Bu (office). We all gathered in Presidents home and ate breakfast together! They were egg sandwiches and then these interesting fruit ones..it was awesome:) After that we filled out some paperwork and had interviews! So much fun:)

Face masks everywhere!

Some of Emma's favorite gals!

The Grand Hotel.  And some elders:)

Later we went to the church by the temple for some training! We learned all sorts of traffic rules and basically how to survive in taiwan:) AFter that we met our new trainers, trained some more, ate lunch, and then we headed to our areas!!! It was a bit overwhelming....

My companion is Sister Komatsu!! She is the most wonderful adorable girl I've ever met. I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful trainer:) Our area is called Zhongli! It's about 45 minutes south of Taipei. I love it. Completely different than anything I've ever experience!!! Oh taiwan...so many face masks, so many scooters, so much rain, so many smells, so many asians, so much awesome work to be done! I . LOVE. IT.

She ate it, and she loved it!

We don't have tons of investigators right now so we have been doing tons of street contacting. it the best. My chinese is crap but they just smile at me cause I'm white. :)

We had some luck the other night and met an awesome guy named Jiang Dixiong:) He is the coolest. At first when we started talking to him he wasn't to interested, but as we kept talking, and introduced the Book of Mormon it completely changed. He said, " I have interest! Everyone reads the bible. But I've never heard of the Book of Mormon!" So basically he's a hipster that wants to be different..:) Perfect:) We are meeting with him saturday! Get pumped!

We watched a baptism on saturday and that was awesome!! her name is Ruby and she is wonderful. :) We have another this week, and  next week, and the week after...Man:) I've got some big shoes to fill and help out with!

Outside Emma's apartment

Emma with her new companion Sister Komatsu.

Welcome to JungLi.  (or Zhongli as James and all my sibs say.)

Emma outside of "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints"

Sunday night dinner with the Bishop of the ward, and the other missionaries.  Thank you Bishop!!

Sunday was fantastic. Our ward is the best and they are all so nice!!! I have no idea what anyone is saying half the time, but they are so welcoming and loving and make me feel like a million bucks!! They seriously are amazing! We had dinner last night at Bishops house with his fam. I have no idea what it was we ate, but it was awesome. The End. I ate a whole shrimp. Like head, eyes, legs, the whole thing. SO good:) It POURED HARD last night when we were walking back. It's funny, we like box people in with our umbrellas when we are contacting..:) hahahaha we've got em cornered!! There are so many people here and they are all wonderful.

I have so much to say but no time!!! Taiwan is amazing. This Gospel is amazing. I'm so BLESSED.

xoxxoxo

sista clawson

Hark All Ye Nations

All the sister's!  (Except for Emma's favorites, Sister M and Sister S who were off being social!)

Hello my familia!!! This weeks email will probably not be to long because I've got all sorts of crap to get done...know why?....cause it's my last pday at the MTC!!!!!!!!

YAYAYAYAY! I never ever thought that this day would come:)

This week has been chuck full of lots of personal coaching time so we can get all the last minute things in that we need before we head out to Taiwan. My focus has mostly been on grammar and tones...so help me they are kicking my trash. 

All the girls by their room the night before Sister Money left for Canada.  

We did a practice teach with the other mandarin zone that is going to taiwan and that was a blast! i taught about the word of wisdom. The girl that taught me talked about the Law of Chastity. She did great;) 

I also went on teaching splits yesterday with a fast track Sister from Hawaii! Her name is Sister Yee. She lives with us in our room and is companions with me and sister apsley when we go to eat and bed and stuff;) She's awesome! It was cool to teach with her. We also ran a 5k this morning on our way to and from the temple because she forgot her recommend...bless her heart. hahahaha good times at the MTC. 

A candid Groupie in the hall between classes!  

Sunday was awesome! Because we got released from being sister training leaders!!!! YES. I was so pumped. It was such a fun calling, but we were more than ready to pass the reigns onto someone else;) That night we had an awesome devotional by Stephen B. Allen. We've heard him once before, but again he did a great job. Talked about being worthy to be on a mission... then he shared a story that made everyone feel really really awkward....it was great:) 

Sundays are the best!

These are the Elder's in Emma's district. She titled this picture #freshcuts.  (They all just got haircuts.) They will not be traveling with the girls to Taiwan.  They are headed all over the United States:)  They will be missed!

Me Sister Apsley and Sister Money had our last skype TRC on Monday night! It was amazing. The perfect one to end on. We taught a sister named Pearl who lives in Oregon and is from Taiwan. She was incredible and thought that we were all just hilarious and white. Cause we are, lets be honest. We shared about how we can receive revelation through The Book of Mormon and the spirit was so strong! She shared some killer experiences that were beautiful. :) I'm never going to work at the MTC but I would definitely volunteer to do TRC;)

Emma's two beautiful companions!!  Sister M left a few days ago for Canada, and it was a sad day.

Last night we had our last session of choir:( It was so good! we finished with the song, "Hark All Ye Nations." It was amazing!!!!!! Choir is how you survive the MTC. The devotional was by Brent Nielson of the 70. It was awesome. He shared so many stories that had been shared with him by the prophet and apostles that were so touching. We are so blessed to have a living prophet on the earth today! One of the many super duper awesome things about this gospel.

Just so you all know, I know I talk about the MTC usually in a very negative way. 

Not going to lie, the MTC has been the hardest thing for me and I haven't loved it all the time..BUT. Without the MTC my relationship with God would not be NEARLY as strong as it is now. I've been so blessed with amazing teachers, the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost, and comfort from the Lord. I have learned so much and will only continue to keep learning when I'm in taiwan!! Hopefully I'll be able to speak chinese in a few months..:) the MTC truly is an amazing and sanctified place. I'm so grateful for the experiences I've had and the friendships I've made here. I love you so much!

Till next time! IN TAIWAN!!!!!!

XIE XIE NIMEN

oxoxoxoxo

sista clawson