Team Sweaty!

It rained buckets!  Emma in front of the Taipei Taiwan Temple

This week was absolutely fantastic!!! Me and Sister Komatsu have been finding for days and days for solid investigators. One night this week we were losing our minds we were so exhausted from finding so we took a 5 minute break and biked around in circles chasing each other.....It was so stupid funny....we were dying laughing our heads off! We've been trying to find the little moments to stop and laugh to keep us sane in the hot sun of Taiwan. The other night we were in bed and got talking about our favorite Disney, Dreamworks, and Pixar movies. We Laughed our guts out talking about how we both cried in Toy Story 3, and how the 2 potato bugs in a Bugs Life are the best:) ah man.. pray for our sanity;) Our district leader gave some of the best advice at district meeting this week. "If you need to take a 15 minute Cocos Mango Bing break, DO IT." He's the best. It's been getting bloody hot this week! But then this morning we woke up and it's basically a Typhoon outside. Taiwan weather baby. Un. Pre. Dictable!  (that was a movie quote by Vector from Dispicable Me..:))

A man fishing outside Emma's apartment in Zhongli.  Looks like a good day fishing!

Taipei Taiwan Temple in downtown Taipei.

Dad! You are going to be so proud of me! This week we had an FHE (family home evening) with my Taiwanese Mom and her family:) Lin Jiating! She is so wonderful, her husband isn't a member but she's got two sons serving in taichung That are helping soften up that guys heart:) But anyways, I did that Rocks, pebbles, sand, and a cup of hot chocolate all in the bottle thing! You know where you have so little time and all these duties (the rocks, pebbles, and sand) but you always have time for a cup of hot chocolate with a friend! man. It was awesome. Super hard in chinese but they loved it! I referred it to the Gospel and it went super duper good:) Thanks dad:) They loved it so much that they even gave me a chinese name:) Ke ai jie mei. it means I'm loving and stuff, I can't remember it all but it's still sick!

This week I ate another whole pineapple...but mangos are in season now...and they changed my life. SO DANG GOOD!!!!!!!! I didn't really like mangos in america but they are to die for here!!

Ok here's a few fun tidbits from the week. We've been meeting with all of our LA's and RC's trying to get some new investigators and it's just been awesome to watch their personal testimonies grow as they have a desire to share with their friends. AGh! so neat:) 

Emma LOVES that she gets to ride a bike everywhere!!  

Sister Komatsu and Sister Clawson

Our english class cracks me up. They always have the most ridiculous questions that I have no idea how to answer...Like whats the difference between a Cinema and a Theater? WTH! i DON'T KNOW! edit the wth please mom...that was for my fams eyes only;)(Sorry I had to keep that part in.  It is so Emma:)

I also had my very first earthquake this week! It was nuts! We were studying, and then it felt like I was in the ocean and everything was swaying....SO COOL!!! About 5 minutes after my favorite RC Kevin called us and yelled, "ARe you OK?!" He's the best. 

We have 3 wonderful new investigators this week that we were able to meet with again:)

Willy:) He is awesome. He is a 23 year old guy that is going through intense schooling to be a baker. We have lots to talk about:)He also told me that beer is his life...pray for him:)

Fruit and veggies are AWESOME in Taiwan!!  And pretty cheap:)

Guo JM:) This lady is awesome! She is absolutely crazy;) We went to her house to meet with her and she showed us all the cool inventions she's made in her house. She reminds me of Seth, constantly building things! We shared with her The Because he Lives message on youtube and the part where Jesus shows up at the end she gasped and said in chinese, "Wow! He's so Handsome! I want to get to know this guy!" hahahhaah we couldn't help but laugh. Everyone thinks he's so handsome;)

Peter:) Oh my gosh. What a miracle. I was unlocking my bike outside of the church and saw him walk past and ran up and talked to him. He's 18 Years old and is getting ready to start college in a few months! We totally hit it off and he set a baptismal date on the street with us:) We met with him a few days later and got to know him more and shared with him The Restoration. He was so excited to try praying at the end. AGH! I just love him so much he is the cutest person in the Entire world!! He's the biggest sweetheart.

I love people so much. They are seriously the coolest:) 

This is a cute lady Emma and her comp. are teaching.  They're sharing the Because He Lives message on Youtube.  Here's the link for it.

The past 3 days some weirdo has been putting bike locks around our church gate so we can't get in. Loser. Bless their heart:) He just doesn't know that we have WU DX! The manliest man in the world who has an electric saw and cuts it for us everyday:) He's the best. 

Sister Clawson, Sister Komatsu and Ruby their favorite friend:)  Thanks Ruby for loving these girls!!

I sweat so much here. WEll I just sweat a butt ton in general. I wake up early to exercise and then we go play BBall with the elders. When we split up teams, I'm always team Sweaty. Thanks Elder Seamons:)

This week was awesome. Taiwan is nuts and beautiful.. Love you guys so dang much!!!!

xoxox

emma

Mother's Day Quickie!

May 8, 2016

This is the cute little Asian "Jane" aka #mynameissweetheart, that Emma found down a secret alley one night.

Mom and family!
I'm so stinking grateful for all of you. I'm so glad that I was able to see all your beautiful faces today:) I'm so blessed to have the greatest family in the entire world!!!!!!! Never change:( 

this week honestly has been so full of miracles. I may have felt like I was in a crappy spot but time and time again Heavenly Father has blessed me with tender mercies every day to keep me going. He loves us and will NEVER forget us:) We went to a members house for dinner this week and there daughter got home from her mission a few months ago. She doesn't know that I'm struggling, but she felt inspired to share a story with us from her mission. She was exceedingly stressed and sad, she didn't know what to do! She told us the best thing she did was to pray, slow down, have fun, and to realize that everyone is going to have a crappy time at their mission at some point.:)

Dinner with some favorite members.  Thanks for feeding and loving her!

Later that night we met Burt:) he isn't a member, but saw us biking and bought us dinner because he loves missionaries and Americans..:) We talked forever about the gospel and bikes;) Heavenly Father helped me realized that i have more in common with these incredible people than I think!

An awesome member went to Costco and bought the missionaries their favorite cereal!!  Thank You!!

The next night we were out finding, we hadn't had any luck getting lessons and decided to head down an unfamiliar street...sketchy as heck...There were two little girls playing in an ally. One yelled at me in chinese, "You're a foreigner!" I told her yes and ended up having the funnest little chat:) Her name was Huang Yi Hui and she is 4:) We told her about Jesus and how we have a Heavenly Father that loves us. She took my name tag, put it on, and then we taught her how to pray. She was Janes twin! I know for a fact she is going to be a missionary someday;)

A favorite friend from the MTC.  

This week we had Zone Conference and Holy cats was inspired!! Elder Wang of the 70 came with his wife and it was amazing! It was all about using your scriptures and asking inspired questions... Well shoot....that's what I've been praying for help with the past few weeks!! GOD ANSWERS OUR PRAYERS! President also bore a powerful testimony of how missions are the biggest blessing for our lives and for all the people we will meet. He said it's a sunny day in Taiwan! Now go have fun!!

We got to watch 2 baptisms this week and it was wonderful. The gospel literally flips peoples lives around complete 180..but for the better;) 

Emma's cousin Dave posted this and both James and I shared it with Emma.  She's got it taped in the back of her scriptures now so she will always see it.  Thanks Dave V.!!

I've been really trying to learn how to better develop my faith so that it is UNSHAKEABLE! I have so many flaws and am trying so hard to be able to conquer them! I've learned a lot the past few months that I'm an exceedingly selfish person...I need to give up myself, get work and serve others!!!!!!! any advice lovely family? I love you all so much:) so wonderful to be able to talk with you all today. Be safe. Choose the right
xoxo emma

The Roaches Are Out.....

Wowzers. Another week dead and gone. 

Honestly..the time is so weird when you are on  a mission. Endless. But so fast. So dang weird.

Last monday we went to one of our favorite spots for Pday, we get together with the Elders and go to the Game Place..It's just a shop chuck full of games...It's awesome! so much fun. We play forever and all laugh our heads off together. I'm blessed to have such a killer district!

This week we also had Trainer Trainee follow up meeting! Talk about AWESOME. It was so much dang fun to see my mtc lovvers;) I love them all so much and they are all doing so great! We've all been going through similar challenges, cried together, talked forever, and recharged for the new transfer and the last inning of our training:) We have the best leaders and Mission President who are so inspired and know how to keep us happy and successful. I AM SO GRATEFUL.

MTC Besties back together for an afternoon.  Emma said it was wonderful!!  I can't believe how much I love these girls and I don't actually know them, but in 14 months I hope to hug them!!

We had some sad news this week, thursday night, both of our most progressing investigators that would have been getting baptized this weekend both dropped us. We are completely heartbroken. It's hard to know if we gave it our all. But, what it really comes down to is their agency. Satan is the worst and knows all of our doubts, fears, and weaknesses. I'm so sad for Zhuang and Jia DX, but I know we gave it our all and planted a deep seed in their hearts. One day they will be ready and become truly converted and put their faith in the Lord. Pray for the rest of our investigators to be strong.

Missions are Physically, spiritually, mentally, and emotionally draining. We are at our strongest and our weakest! I'm positive Satan knows us just as well as Heavenly Father. Don't let him get into your minds people!!!! He's the biggest jerk in the world and wants to rip us apart everyday!

Finding people on the streets of Zhongli.

We've been blessed to have been able to find tons of new investigators this week. The scriptures on the street are killer:) We are just like, :"can I share my favorite scripture with you? " BAM! Lives changed. Sometimes...ahah:) 

We are also the new ADVANCED English teachers! Oh man, its' so fun:) Our class is awesome and they all have killer english. I learned an important lesson though...never bring up wakeboarding to a bunch of asians...they have no idea what it is....then your entire english lesson turns into explaining and acting out what wakeboarding is....:) it was awesome:) They think I'm the coolest. Well, maybe. I think I'm cool so that's all that matters. 

Dinner with some favorite friends.  Notice the gentleman's shirt.  James has the exact same one!  It's the Plan of Salvation:)

Mango Boba Smoothies!  It's a mango smoothy with big black chewy tapioca balls in the bottom that you slurp up through the super fat straws.  It may sound odd, or yucky, but we LOVE THEM!!

Some fun tidbits:)

I also had a mango bing. 

It changed my life:)

I've eaten 8 whole pineapples by myself so far in training.

Probably 1000 kiwis.

My legs and butt are so strong from biking and exercising. yes!

We met a super drunk guy last night. He told me I was beautiful and that If I ever needed anything to CALL HIM. He was great:)

I'm so grateful for the crazy Taiwanese people. They make me so happy. The biggest sweethearts in the world!

 

Love you so much family.

xoxo

emma