Muzha Miracles!

She got her first Mango Bing this week.  It was life changing!  The dollop of stuff on the top is Panna Cotta she said.
Delish!

What an awesome week!! Chuck full of miracles. In the Taiwan Taipei mission we are asked to look for miracles everyday. It's the best! Keeps us all looking out for the tender mercies everyday! To start off the week I finally had my first mango shaved ice! and man...
It changed my life. Mom. They are so DANG good!!!

Monday night we got a call from the Mission home saying that the next day we had to go check out a new apartment that we might be moving into. Our apartment right now is being sold!! We are so sad because it is so nice;( But it also doesn't have AC...so secretely we are kinda excited to leave too...;)

Em lives very close to the Taipei Zoo.  Emma's Aunt Jenny said the zoo is great, and one of the most interesting animals there is a regular old dairy cow!  I guess they don't have many of those in Taiwan:)

But anyways! Tuesday rolls around and we pull out our handy map and find this apartment and set up an appointment with the land lord. She was SUPER late so we went and contacted everyone that lived around the neighborhood. Once she finally showed up, we went on our tour! It lasted about 5 minutes... HOLY CRAP THAT PLACE WAS THE WORST!

It was the scariest apartment I've ever seen in my life. We made a swift call to the mission home and told them to keep looking;) To make tuesday even more weird, we had a dinner appointment with a family from our ward. we got to their house and then I saw once of the scariest sites of my life...at least 7 people of all ages surrounding a roasted chicken ripping it to shreds with their bare hands....hunger games style. That was our dinner appointment.. hhahahhaha it was so funny. We ate what we could here and there, thanked them, and were on our way with the Elders. It was so fun:)
To top of Tuesday night we went contacting and met the coolest guy. The spirit was so strong and his prayer was amazing. My companion was bearing the most powerful testimony when all of a sudden behind her head was the biggest spider coming down from the tree. AGH! I couldn't help it...I squealed and slapped it out of the air and murdered that thing! 

spirit gone.

hahah not really. It was a great bonding moment for us all:)
Taiwan is a crazy place. They've got some pretty killer bugs here. As big as your face kids.

Emma and Sister Hughes on the streets of MuZha.  And they found CREPES!  Reminds me a little of Jed's mission in Albania:)

Since there are only 4 of us missionaries in our area, we all have our own individual english class! It's so fun! I'm the intermediate teacher!! I swear english class is always so great. The students are so willing and ready to learn everything. I'm more serious now with my lessons and make sure that they actually learn valuable stuff.. but don't worry. WE still have a party;) This week we are learning how to ask for a job:)

We are also so lucky to live in  Taipei because now we get to help with Temple Tours! A few times a transfer we go and take everyone on temple tours! our first one is tomorrow so I will let you all know how it goes:)

Melvin's baptism!

This week we saw one of the greatest miracles of all time.
MELVIN GOT BAPTIZED!

Melvin is the most adorable 16 year old boy in the world. That went A-wall the week before his baptism!!!! We had been trying to get a hold of him for days and days with no response. We were literally pooping our pants every single night....then, thursday night, he called us back, and said he still wanted to be baptized. :) HALLELUJAH! Melvin! It was such a fun and special baptism. This gospel changed lives and touches hearts:)

Sunday was such a fun day. Our ward once a month has a day completely dedicated to missionary work. so sunday from 2-5 they come contacting with us, then 5-6 we all eat dinner and then 6-7 is a missionary devotional. WOW. Oh my goodness! Our ward has the most amazing member missionaries I have ever seen:) My companion for the day was Liu JM. She is a tall, beautiful, 60 year old asian woman:) She KILLED IT! she had 0 fear and wanted to pray with everyone! She did so dang great. It's incredible how big of a desire our ward has to tell ABSOLUTELY everyone about this beautiful gospel. They are family. I'm so grateful to be here in Taiwan and especially here in Muzha:)

Pray we can find the prepared:) I love you so dang much!!! This church is true:)

xoxoxoxox

Zhongli I Love You!

Sister Clawson and her new companion Sister Hughes!

🔥🔥🔥

Holy Cats!!! this week was nuts! I know I say every week is the craziest week of my life...but it's true. Ever week just gets crazier and crazier!!

We will start with last monday! PDAY! We went on the coolest hike in the outskirts of...somewhere...I don't even know where we went! but it was amazing! Taiwan is so beautiful. And weird. So we are going on this hike, in the mountains, and we get to the half way mark and what do we see? A karaoke bar! What?! People apparently just go on this hike so they can do karaoke...:) We finally got up to the top and took some AMAZING pics!! it was so dang pretty! Then to finish off we strung up my hammock and everyone had to give it a try:) They loved it:)

After our hike we had to book it back home cause we had a member who was feeding us and the Elders at 6;30! She lived in Neili which is about a 20 minute ride from our house, and we still had to change!!!!!!!!!! Stress levels were high..We hustled our buns, changed, and took to the roads of Zhongli. About half way to our members house I hear a POP! Elder Magness's bike tire had popped!!! Oh man oh man oh man! 

Then.

I pulled out my handy bike bag.

Completely changed out his tube.

Cleaned it up.

put it back on his bike.

Pumped it up with my CO2 pump.

Winked.     (not really..:) )

Jumped back on our bikes and made it to dinner right at 6:30:)

It took me 3 minutes to change his tire... DAD!!!!!!!! I'M THE COOLEST DAUGHTER IN THE WORLD! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR TEACHING ME HOW TO CHANGE MY BIKE TIRES!!!!!❤❤❤❤

All Elder Magness could say was, "Dang Gina! That was the coolest thing I've ever seen!"

Heck yes:)

Working their tails off in Muzha!!

The next Day we had Zone meeting in Taoyuan! It was all about FEAR. So dang good!! We talked about how fear is not of God and what we can all do to overcome fear! so awesome! So grateful for awesome leaders!!!

Wednesday. sitting in our apartment studying, waiting for our text message that says who my new companion is.... ding ding! 

oh snap.

I'm not in Zhongli anymore.....

I got MOVED!!!!!! To Muzha!!!!!!!

HOLY CRAP TALK ABOUT THE SURPRISE OF A LIFETIME!! so i jumped on the train the next morning, left my beloved Zhongli, met my new comp sister Hughes (who is so dang awesome!) and got to work! We are whitewashing Muzha!...so neither of us have been here before! She is a transfer older than me so we are both so fresh!! We have seen so many miracles and gotten so much work done!!

but before I talk about Muzha we gotta reminisce about Zhongli:)

Our last night in zhongli was so dang awesome. We sent out a huge text saying that we were all leaving!!!!!!!! Because literally everyone moved...only 2 people out of the 6 stayed!!

A few of our Favorite RC's (recent converts) and Ward members came to the church after english class and sang and bore testimony and gave us gifts! Like, it was a little nuts..They really really actually loved us so dang much! The hardest was saying bye to Ruby the cute RC that would come contacting with us, and Sister Lin:( WE were all cryin like babies! I wasn't prepared to leave at all!! The next morning we were off! All the Elders met us at the Station, along with peter our ward mission leader so say bye. They are some of the greatest friends ever! Missions change so many lives and you make so many life long friends! 

Zhongli I love you!

MUZHA!!!!! I'm in Taipei! You can see Taipei 101 from my house:) And this is such a beautiful place. We are in the city, but then the JUNGLE is literally surrounding us! So dang Cool! We are about a 10 minute bike ride from the zoo so that is exciting:) Since we are both new hear we have been contacting our GUTS out and exploring this place! It's crazy. Saturday we had a baptism with the Elders and it was incredible.

 

The spirit was so strong.

The ward is so incredible. They are all about missionary work! The testimonies were amazing, and we sang at least 67 hymns at the top of our lungs together. Everyone was crying by the end! the church is so dang true!!!!!!!!!!!

Muzha is such a special place.

I've never felt so welcome in my whole life. Heavenly Father has definitely prepared us, these members, and the people in Muzha.

I love you fam!!!!!!!!!

xoxoxoxo

emma

I Love You, I Wanna Love You Tender Taiwan!

May 29, 2016 email

Cut girls!

Whooo!!!! What a killer week! the weather here is absolutely ridiculous. One day its basically a typhoon and then the next is hotter than sin!!!!

It's so dang fun:)This week was full of so many dang crazy adventures. But first things first.

IM DONE WITH TRAINING!! Wow. that flew by. I'll get my new comp on thursday. I don't know who she is..but I'm pumped. Sister Komatsu is all finished and has been giving me the last advice and wisdom of a dying missionary. I'm so grateful for everything she has taught me!!!

ok. now for a crazy story.

Street life in Zhongli.

It's like 7pm and we are biking to Longgan to go finding when all of a sudden we just hear this blood curdling screaming. Oh man. Someone just died on their scooter in the street.......But no! The screaming kept going and I realized it was a dog. Someone NAILED this small dog in the street and it was screaming its guts out! literally...I booked it as fast as I could cause I didn't want to see anything that would give me nightmares.. But then I looked back and My companion was in the middle of the street with some lady pulling this dog to safety!!!! Oh my heck they are so brave! I'm biking away and these 2 are being heros! So I biked back slowly and hellped them save the poor dog. It was the worst. I hated it.

then we went to the church for a sec to regroup ourselves. Taiwan is nuts!

English class!!

The next day we got to go to Taipei to be in a new video the mission home is making for our english class!!! So much dang fun:) I'm gonna be famous mom! haha just kidding:) 

Our investigators are all doing so dang awesome. It's crazy how different everyone's learning pace is. but they are all so fantastic. :)

Sister K.'s last Sunday:)  She is headed home this week.  And we just found out last night that it was Emma's last Sunday in Zhongli as well.  She is headed to Macha today.  She is REALLY going to miss all the people she loves in Zhongli.  

 We had a miracle last night!! So one of our investigators, Zeng jm, She is 15 years old and has had all the lessons from past missionaries and is meeting with us now too, she wants to be baptized but says her dad won't let her! We've all been praying and praying for him. We asked her if we could come over to meet him, but she's just too dang scared. So last night we were meeting with her at the 7-11 and who just happened to show up for a drink? HER DAD! She saw him pull up and almost burst into tears she was so scared! We walked up to him and introduced ourselves and got to know him:) It was amazing to talk to him. He will let her be baptized!!!! Heavenly Father is the greatest:)

"All the public restrooms are squatters.  Good thing I've been camping in the woods a lot!"  emma clawson

Here's some tidbits from this week:)

-me and elder Seamons sang the whole elephant love medley at mcdonalds. it was legendary. I was so impressed he knew the whole song!

-We have this diva in our english class that said she just wants everyone to tell her her darkest secrets....shes nuts.

-I'm going to take over Zhongli...

-Pizza huts everywhere are crappy. Even in Taiwan.

-Biking and getting lost is a daily thing.

-I'm done training:)

-Jed and Gracie and MARRIED!!!!!!

-I made banana pancakes yesterday and Sang the song along with it;) so great:)

-sundays are completely the opposite on a mission as they are at home!

-My Chaco tan is killer.

-My farmers tan is legendary.

-My watch tan is sick.

-Everyone go read Hebrews 11!

-I deep cleaned the heck out of our apartment..SO MUCH DARK HAIR EVERYWHERE! Girls..

-This morning I remembered the Love you tender music video and sang the whole thing to Sister K. She loved it:)

Taiwan you are loved.

xoooxxox

emma

Pot Sticker Tender Mercy

 May 22, 2016 email

They're lost, but still smiling!

OK. I promise my life is super exciting and this week was the greatest...!!!!! It was just so dang busy I forgot to write down everything awesome we did... I know. I am repenting. Forgive me!

A cool story to start off the week. Last Monday night a member took us out to dinner at a neat steak house! American food..sometimes members think we hate tiawanese food so they take us to american. But Hey! It's free food! I ain't complaining! 

But anyways...I was eating my delicious steak and our members son started choking. They all started slapping the crap out of his back but nothing! He started to turn blue and I thought I was gonna have to leap over the table and do the Himlich! or however you spell it..But then after one hard slap to the back he threw up pretty much the whole steak. SCARY! "Chew your food you're an animal!" -Matilda

These are the Tender Mercy Potstickers.

Tuesday we went out on exchanges and got SO lost. so we walked around and finally found our way to their house at like 7pm...hahaha oh man! But the Lord blessed us with a tender mercy and we found our favorite spot to eat for dinner. The Lord is so aware of all of us and our challenges! Even when we are just super hungry and lost. We were so hungry but didn't know where we were or what to eat! So what do we do? Pray. :) the lord guided us down several different paths but the whisperings of the Holy Ghost saved the day. As we turned an ally corner there it was. Our favorite pot sticker shop!. Wow. We died laughing and said a very intense prayer of thanks. Nothing short of a Pot Sticker Tender Mercy I tell ya!

Exchanges went good. Sister Pendergrass was super sick..so I was actually a secretary for a day writing down all their records while she slept. :)

These are the LOST faces.

English class was so great this week! We were blessed to get 4 new investigators from it!!! So great. It's because I teach them slang and they love it...:)

this was my class warm up lesson this week...

Rad, Gnarly, Sick, Killer, Out of Sight, Daaang

What do all these words have in common??

they all mean something is "super cool!"

They loved it 

;)   

Don't worry. We teach them real stuff too:) 

We had so many new investigators that we met with this week! It's funny how different all people are and how they are all on such different learning levels. They all have a different sized cup to fill! And we have this massive pitcher of Knowledge and have to tailor it perfectly to their cup size:) We had so many Restoration lessons prepared to teach but only taught it 2 times, because some of the other investigators just weren't quite ready for all that INFORMATION quite yet!

WE had so many miracles this week. One of our engish students, Tony, met with us for the first time. We shared with him the first lesson and he asked us how he could get a testimony of what we were teaching.. What?! Know one asks us this ever?! He has the strongest desire to really know the truth of what we are teaching. SO DANG COOL! then he asked all of us to share our experience of how we got our testimony of the gospel. The spirit was so strong as we all shared our stories. He was so excited about how different all our answers were and is ready to learn how he can build his own as well. The Lord puts the prepared in our path:)

I'm impressed with the organization!

some fun tidbits from the week.

-if people have diarreah, they will cancel meetings

-I found the coolest resturant in all the world. I have so many pics. Hot pot buffet. Even cooler than Mauna Kea mom! It changed my life. Me and Elder Magness were freaking out.. (He gets excited about food too. haha)

-Recent Converts are the best missionaries. We went out with 2 of them this week and they killed it!

-I've never gotten so wet in my whole life as I did last night. Instantly soaked on my bike within 5 seconds:)

-Scriptures answer the questions of the soul! Everyone read Jacob 2:8

Taiwan you're something else. 

oxxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoox

emma 

Seester Ke