It's Ma Burfday!

Nov. 27, 2016 email

Hola Familia!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Emma turned 20 this week!!  Some favorite friends in Muzha brought a beautiful cake and came to celebrate her birthday!!  She had the best day!

This week was truly amazing. Mom I am so sorry, because I got overloaded with so many awesome pictures, stories, mexican adventures, and birthday wishes this week, I am low on time!!! But I'll give the deets on some awesome highlights from the week:)

A beautiful friend in Beitou shared the birthday love with Emma too:)

So Monday we decided that we would go and have Kao Rou Chi dao bao since it was mine, Elder Dong, and another missionaries birthday this week. This is basically an all you can eat barbeque with hot pot and haagen daaz ice cream.

HECK YES.

Kao rou is my favorite food in all of taiwan:) 

Emma's favorite food in Taiwan!

So we were all eating there having an awesome time when all of a sudden one of our favorite members from the Jinhua ward walks in! She was so excited to see us all that she qinged all of our meals! That means she paid for ALL OF US!

It was a true tender mercy. nuff said.

The next tender mercy was on tuesday afternoon. We had just finished up with our district meeting when Elder Clark yelled, "Wait! Everyone go down to the kitchen!" We all scuddled down to the kitchen and Elder Clark pulled this massive Costco pumpkin pie out of the fridge. He told us he found it at costco and couldn't resist! "happy thanksgivng!" We split it into 8 pieces and ate hearty. It was so wonderful:)

Can you tell food is a really big deal to me? I am grateful for delicious food. It is a straight gift from God.

Next tender mercy. Our beloved investigator Chen Hui Zhong:) this week we finished sharing with her commandments. She is so incredible. She truly understands who her savior is and that this is the path that she is meant to be on. It was so cool, she told us an experience she had reading the book of mormon this week that really touched my heart. She said that she made a goal for herself that every time she finished reading a chapter from the Book of Mormon she would pray right away and really ask God to help her know that what she read was true. She said that this week she has had several experiences where she was able to know without a doubt that this book is true. Sister Kho and I had been praying and wanted to invite Chen JM to be baptized this weekend instead of on the 17th. We told her that we knew she was ready to be baptized. We asked her how she felt and she started to cry. She said that this is something she has been waiting for her whole life and now she gets to do it 2 weeks early.

:) 

We are so pumped for her. Her interview is tomorrow so we are hoping for a baptism this weekend to kick off the Christmas Spirit:) I know that this gospel is so true. the Secret is out! its all true! I love it so much and couldn't be more grateful for my Savior and Redeemer Jesus Christ.

The Thanksgiving Feast!  Some quick dumplings and then...........

Little Egg Tarts for dessert:)

This thanksgivng was CRAYZZZ. We were super duper busy but celebrated with some yummy little egg tart pies for planning that night:)

the next night we saw another awesome tender mercy. We did a service project at a home for these people who have slight mental problems, but no family to take care of them. We went over and did a thanksgiving party with them! It was so much fun and so cool to see them all smile so much:) 

Muzha friends!

Emma said it was so good to see these people and it was really hard to see them leave.  Thanks to these kind people who love Emma:)  

My birthday was one of the greatest days ever. We were on exchanges that day so me and Sister Langley got to mission it up together. The best part of the whole day was when 4 of my favorite muzha friends came and took us out to lunch! It was awesome! huge cake and everything! I love them all so much. Sister kho wrote me like 20 little notes and hid them all around the house for me to find during the day. She is so amazing and I'm just so dang blessed to have had the most special bday ever!:)

This is from the Thanksgiving service these cute missionaries did, and then 8 of them were Emma's Little Ducks who followed her to church on Sunday!!

Last fun tender mercy of the week. So sunday was nuts.... sister Kho and I had to go on splits with members for church cause we had people in both wards that we are over! Sister Kho went to danshui and I was here in Beitou. My companion was Fang JM:) She is so wonderful. It was pretty stressful. not gonna lie. 8 people from the thanksgiving activity earlier in the week wanted to come to church with us but they didn't know how to get there! So Fang JM and I went to pick them up and walk them to the church. I had 8 little ducks following me to the chapel:) I'm so mad I forgot my camera! I was praying so hard. I don't have my beloved companion, I have 8 ducks with me, am i gonna miss the sacrament?, where are all these people gonna sit?, AGH! I kept praying and Heavenly Father SO delivered. We walked into the chapel and there was a beautiful bench in the front row wide open. My 8 ducks slid on in just in time for us all to partake of the sacrament:)

wow.

I am so grateful Heavenly Father is so watchful over all of his children. This week was amazing. I'm so grateful to serve here. I am grateful for literally the best fam in the world. I am so grateful to know about my loving father in heaven.

everyone have a sick week!

ADIOS!!!

SEESTER EMMA

I'm Grateful For The Promptings From The Spirit!

Nov. 20, 2016 email

Sister Clawson and Sister Kho met up with some of Emma's favorite Muzha friends for a picnic this week!    

This week has been a blast and a half! Not going to lie, It was a little tougher than others but Heavenly Father has still helped us see so many miracles. Sister Kho and I are so stoked that we get to be together for another transfer!! She is literally my rock and I love her guts. 

This week we had some cool experiences happen. Last Monday night Sister Kho and I had the thought that we needed to call one of our RC's Sister Ke and see if we could go visit her the next day. She was so excited for us to come over. Tuesday afternoon we headed over to her house in Bali. We went up to her house, knocked at the door, and her 3 little boys came rushing out to see us! It was so dang fun to see them all smiling at us. We went in and sat down with them all and talked with Sister Ke. As we were talking together and sharing with her all of a sudden her second oldest FLIPPED! He had like a rage attack or something and was strangling his younger brother and basically just going 100 percent nuts. It was actually super duper scary. Sister Ke jumped up and grabbed him and just burst into tears trying to help him settle down. She kept repeating to him over and over "Heavenly Father loves you and Mama loves you." After a few minutes of getting him to calm down and Sister Kho and I frantically looking at each other not knowing what the heck we were supposed to do, he calmed down and scampered off into his room. Sister Ke sat down with us and just started crying. Her second son as a head disease and he doesn't know how to control himself, its gotten a lot worse the past few weeks and she has been especially nervous because he always gets extremely violant. She bore her testimony about hoe the holy ghost has helped her so much the past few weeks trying to help him. She said that when we came to visit it was an answer to her prayers. She said that that day she was at the verge of giving up and then we knocked on the door to see them. 

I know Heavenly Father loves all of his children so much. I'm grateful for the promptings from the spirit!

Emma and Sister Kho

This week we had another funny experience. So the night before this experience happened sister kho and I were talking before we went to bed, as we do. We were talking about how its the worst thing in the world when people make fun of your family or insult your family. They can make fun of us or insult us no problem! But then when they talk about our siblings or parents, its  hard to control the rage from within!

so.... The next night we were riding home and stopped to talk to this guy for a minute. He was super duper nice at first and was interested that our message was centered on families. We asked him what he thought could help build a successful family and he said, "just making sure that they aren't anything like your families." ........

SAY WHAT?

He said that we were basically the worst human beings for leaving our families and that our parents obviously didn't raise us right and that all of our siblings would basically have no success in their lives. We tried to share with him and help him see that light, but he just kept hard core shutting it down.

Wow. This was ROUGH. Heavenly Father was testing us for sure! I don't think the 2 of us had ever prayed for charity and patience so much in our lives. I wanted to light into this guy so much, but knew that that is absolutely not what Christ would have done. We both bore our testimonies, thanked him,  invited him to english class, and biked away! 

Did I swear under my breath as I biked away and secretly want to flip him off? Maybe.

don't put that part in the big email mom:)

It was a tough but we are so grateful that Heavenly Father really will give us the strength to do all things.

On a happier note, Our investigator Chen Hui Zhong is doing AMAZING! she has been so diligently ready the book of mormon. The Book of Mormon is so true and Heavenly Father blesses all those who are willing to  open their hearts and open this book. We are so excited for her:)

One more awesome tender mercy from this week! Saturday night my back brakes broke and I had no idea how to fix it! (AGH! DAD WHERE ARE YOU?!) but luckily our neighbor owns a bike shop. His name is Brother Liu! I ran down and asked him if he could help me out. He checked out my bike and started to get to work. I was watching him, making sure that I took down note of the things he was doing so I could fix it next time. He was so quite, just smiling, as he worked. 

He reminded me so much of dad!! Just quitely making sure everyones bike was in proper working order:) After about 20 minutes, he look at me, smiled, gave me some bike advice, and then said, "fixed!" We all laughed and I asked him how much it was for his help. He laughed and said, "free!" I literally burst into tears.....

Then I cried all the way to our lesson,....

I was just so overwhelmed and grateful that Heavenly Father has placed so many amazing people in my path on my mission. People who have the same attributes as my family. I know he knows us all individually and I am so grateful:) 

I love you all so much and hope mexico is SICK!!!

XOXOXO\EMMA

Goodbye Muzha:( But Hello Beitou!!

Oct. 9, 2016 email

Goodbye Sister Eyre!!!  

This week was fabulous:)

First we will start off with the KILLER pday we went on last week. We got together a bunch of missionaries and went on this hike called elephant mountain:) It was so dang beautiful. The whole hike was literally a gazzillion stairs all the way to the top. but we got to the top and you could see all of taipei. And then Sister Eyre pulled out her scriptures and read to us Alma 26:) So nice:) Afterwards was the best part ever. We all went to TEXAS ROADHOUSE!!! It was SOOOO expensive but JUST like America! The rolls, steak, all of it! So we all just ordered a ton of food and pigged out together and tasted America:) It was super fun to relax and eat. Right when I got in there I thought to myself, "the last time I went Texas Roadhouse was like a week before I went on my mission on a date with Chase Moffet! That was literally AGES ago" So shout out to Chase. Thanks for taking me to Texas Roadhouse.

P-day fun!!

That night was also amazing. We have a member from America in our ward named Nate. He had called us a few nights before and said he had started dating this girl in Muzha who really wanted to learn more about the Gospel! He invited us over to dinner at his house and got to meet her. Her name is Julia and is absolutely amazing! Which is funny cause Nate is kinda goofy...ahhaha Just kidding. It was a really amazing lesson we got to have with her. She loved hearing that we were all Gods children. We are excited to keep working with her and helping her feel more and more of christs love everyday:) Members are so amazing! You are all so wonderful and brave to talk to your friends about the happiness of the Gospel! People can literally see the happiness in your eyes!

Tuesday we had an awesome Zone Meeting all about setting SMART goals. It was the best. It made me think of Dad and how he always helps me set goals for everything. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-based. We had some awesome trainings from our Sister Training Leaders and the Zone Leaders and are super duper pumped to make smart goals for every aspect of this awesome work!

Saying goodbye is so hard! Emma will miss Muzha!

Wednesday.

Was the worst day of my life:( 

Ok not really, but it was super duper sad.

Sister Eyre and I are all done with training and Wednesday morning we got the news that I would be moving and Sister Eyre would be staying in Muzha with a new companion.

I knew I would probably be leaving muzha but it still was so sad to hear it. MUZHA IS MY HOME!!!! Oh my gosh I love that place and those people so dang much I can't even handle it!!!!!!!!!!!!

My new assignment is to Beitou as the new Sister Training Leader. WHAT?! So now I've got all this other neat stuff to learn! I'm pumped;)

Wednesday we had our last day together and had awesome lessons with our investigators and then had english class that night. After english class tons of our ward members came to say goodbye. Oh man it was awful! I like could not stop crying! I literally have met some of my best friends in the world here! Ji Pei De was crying too so that was the worst. But no worries we are SO going back to visit them all and I will still get to see them at firesides cause my area is still in Taipei. The gospel of Jesus Christ brings ultimate happiness and friendships that will last forever!

Sister Clawson and her new companion Sister Kho!

I'm so grateful to have been called to serve in Muzha. Now Here I am in Beitou!

Thursday morning I cried the whole MRT ride to Beitou...hahha:) But good news. It's awesome here too:) Me new companion is Sister Kho! She is from Utah but both of her parents are from Hong Kong so everyone thinks she is native:) I love her guts! We have been nonstop busy since I got here. Preparing trainings, having conferences, teaching lessons, you name it!

The chapel in Beitou.  

And she still gets to do Temple Tours!  This picture is from the Taipei Temple Facebook page advertising night tours!  

We cover our area in Beitou, but then we also cover all of Danshui and Bali's single female investigators. Danshui is super pretty and Bali is actually and island....SICK! We had to take a ferry there to teach some of our investigators! I'm so pumped to be here. It's going to be crazy awesome. This weekend we go to watch conference and Sister Kho and I got our own private session because we were the only ones that needed english! hahah VIP conference! We are so blessed to have a living prophet and apostles who are called of God to guide and direct us today. I loved Russel M. Neilsons about joy. We can find Joy in everything because we have the gospel of Jesus Christ! After conference we had a meeting with our Second Counselor in the stake presidency Yang dixiong. It was so dang awesome. He talked about how important it is to be happy missionaries. (apparently some elders here before haven't been the most jolly. which is rough when everyday we are teaching people about he plan of happiness...eek!) He gave us the most awesome Pump up about how beautiful, alive, and happy this gospel is. As we let the ward members see it radiate in our eyes and in everything we do they will REALLY want to spread it as well! I already love this ward and am SO pumped to make so many new friends:)

I love this work! this is going to be great. Love you so much fam and can't wait to here from all of ya next week:)

xoxoxoxooxox

emma

Half Way! WHAT?

Oct. 2, 2016 email

I just love them!

Such a fun week here in the Muzha:) This week started out with a pretty dang funny twist. Late monday night we got a text from the Mission home saying that nobody was allowed to leave their house until further notice because of the typhoon! I was like, "pffff...whatever! They will text us by the morning and say it's ok to go outside." 

I was wrong.

We woke up and it was CRAZY. I've had like 4 typhoons in the past month and a half but this one was pretty dang awful. Wind was HUGE. Waves on the Road. Waterfalls from the roof! Oh man it was the best:) So. The whole mission was confined to our living quarters for the day. It literally didn't let up ALL DAY! Like It got worse and worse by the hour!!!! Agh it was hilarious! Sister Eyre was getting cabin fever hard core. It was still a pretty effective day. We called EVERYONE! Members, LA's, potentials, investigators, the whole thing! We also cleaned our house till it sparkled and got some excellent studying in:) Sister Eyre and I also solved all of the worlds problems, well all the problems in our little mission world at least;)

Lunch with some members from Muzha.

We were talking about what it means to be a "Great Missionary" because, lets be real, that's what every missionary hopefully wants to become, A great Missionary! As we kept studying and reading Sister Eyre explained to me that we had it all mixed up! We shouldn't be focusing on being a great missionary. Our focus should be on how we can become a more sanctified Servant of the Lord. As we are doing our best and working our hardest on being Servants, the good missionary part will flow naturally. I'm am switching my entire mind set now! Focus on being a SERVANT! not just a great missionary:)

Here's some miracles from this week:)

we had temple tours this week and a guy from zhongli came in with an RC and we gave them a tour. He was so touched by the video Because of him. He said that he felt so brave and new that he could do anything. Then he asked how he could get baptized.

Riding the Metro

-Our investigator Emily, who used to be the most shy, awkward, wouldn't even make eye contact girl has made a complete 180! She smiles, laughs, prays, asks questions, and talks about Christ. She is starting to really believe that through him she can be healed and changed:)

-Ji Pei De got to go to the temple for his first time this week! He was like a 5 year old with a fistful of chocolate cake.

-Visiting our members and being so overcome with the spirit:) Their stories were touching and it helped us see hope that anyone can have this blessing:)

I am SOOOOO OUT OF TIME!! My computer will die soon!!! Sorry I have no time for pics!! Next week !!! I AM SO DANG SORRY!!!!!!!

I just want to tell you how important it is for us to invite people to learn about Christ and His atonement. In my studies this morning I really realized that the key to coming closer to God is by inviting others to partake of the blessings as well:) 

this stuff is so true, and so good.

i love you all so dang much:) Be so safe!

xoxoxox

We Love Yvonne!

Sept. 25, 2016 email

Looks like these are the temple tour sisters for the day.

What an awesome week! Lots of funny stories and miracles. Serving in Muzha really is the greatest blessing in the entire world. Sister Eyre and I are almost done with training and we are super duper sad:( We have had the best time as we have been teaching and learning together! We are going to make this last full week the best one yet!

Trying Stinky Tofu

Last Monday we spent all Pday with one of our favorite members Zhue JM. She and her husband we baptized about a year ago and she is just so dang SOLID. Agh! She has the biggest heart and is always so willing to help us:) She invited us over to her house for stinky tofu and doing our nails. hahahahaahaha!!! Totally a girls day..so funny, haven't had one of those in a REALLY long time! But it was such a blast! Everyone just talked and talked and talked and painted nails. Sister Eyre and I were completely SPENT by the end of the day. Our brains were completely fried! When you have a girls day in America it's a little easier cause its in english and stuff. But our chinese was really put to the test that day!! Girl talk plus mission talk plus solving all the worlds problems ALL in chinese....we were a bit tired after. It was so much dang fun:) I love chinese and taiwan!

Tuesday morning was really cool. Sister and Eyre studied together on The Holy Ghost and how we can ask more inspired questions to our investigators and people we meet on the street. 

Holy cow. We saw SO many miracles that day! Heavenly Father totally guided our studies that morning. That night we met with 2 of our investigators and found out some crucial information. There parents would HARD CORE oppose to them getting baptized and that was why they have been nervous to set dates. All from asking inspired questions! We were able to use the spirit and help them with this concern. I know Heavenly Father can help us with ALL of our challenges and concerns. We had another cool moment when we went down contacting by the river and saw this lady sitting down on a bench. We prayed to Heavenly Father and asked for him to help us know what we needed to ask her to help her in her life. We went and talked to her and got to know her a little bit. Then I asked her what she did for a living. She looked at us and said, "Guess. If you guess right I will buy you dinner." Sister Eyre and I looked at each other and then after some thought Sister Eyre answered the question. "You're a surgeon for the military." 

Nailed it.

Say what?! The lady then told us more about her job and how it is really taking a toll on her soul. Because we asked these questions we knew exactly what we needed to share with her to comfort her heart and see that the Gospel of Jesus Christ can heal her soul. Such a tender mercy!

Teaching in ACTION!

Wednesday. Was the best. hahaha:) The day started out normal. We had studies, ate, had some lessons, but by about 4 oclock Sister Eyre wasn't feeling too hot. We still had some lessons so she was a champ and toughed it through. 6 oclock we had to prepare for english meeting. I'm the english leader so I was just getting some things set up and getting ready for the meeting when Sister Eyre was like," We need to go to the bathroom now....!!" Oh no! I booked it and grabbed the key to unlock the bathroom door and we were both sprinting to the bathroom.

we almost made it.

Blaaaaaahahhhhhhhhhhfdskajfkdls;ajfkdlsuafudsaudshafaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Throw up. EVERYWHERE! Holy crap it was impressive. like it spread 10 feet in all directions....all of our shoes...

Thank heavens they are water proof!

I took off my shoes and told Elder Jackson to go ahead and start english meeting without us:)

After a little clean up (JK it was a LOT) a day of rest, sister Eyre was ready to go! Good as new!

Oh man best moment ever. hahahhaa Sister Eyre is the best!

Best day!!  Baptism:)

This friday our favorite Yvonnne got baptized!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WE LOVE YVONNE!! She was so excited and looked so adorable in her white jumpsuit:) She helped us get the font all filled up and she asked us, "Is this regular water?" "uh..ya!" We replied. Poor kid probably thought she was getting baptized in blood or something weird like that....ew. jkjkjk

Her dad got to baptized her and he was just glowing with excitement! It took him a few tries to get her fully immersed...but eventually he got it! hahahaa:) I am so grateful for this gospel and the incredible people I've been able to meet while sharing about Jesus Christ. He is the light in the dark and will always guide us.

Love you guys so dang much!!!!!!!!

 xoxoxooxox

Typhoons and Moon Festival

Sept. 18, 2016 email

They are wearing Pomelos on their heads.  Not sure why, but I'm assuming something to do with the Moon Festival.  Pomelos look like giant moons and they've been eating lots of them so........

Another wonderful week here in Taiwan. Just so you all know we are safe and sound from the "massive typhoon". hahahaha it was basically some rough winds and rain. I'm pretty sure I've seen it 10x worse every single time we go to Lake Powell:) Sometimes people over react a lot. Especially here in Taiwan. hahahaha.

This week was the moon festival so nobody had work from about thursday to sunday! So dang fun. The only hard part for us missionaries was that nobody wanted to set up with us because they were all partying and what not...oh well. We still saw miracles! Here we go:)

Last monday we went to the zoo for Pday and met these two guys from england. They were SO CURIOUS as to what Mormons actually were. They couldn't believe that we were even normal people. We had a good chat and shared with them true doctrine, they were so pumped that we were so normal and not a cult that they asked if we could get them in touch with the missionaries in England. OF COURSE!

Wednesday we had english class and went english boarding right before to get some new kids coming. The wind was going CRAZY! so much fun! Like so dang windy! People were laughing at us trying to hand out english flyers but it was still a great time. Even with the typhoon that night, we each had about 3 new students in all of our classes. Miracles of English boarding in the Typhoon:) That night Yvonne also had her baptismal interview! She was a little nervous. We all said a prayer together and asked for Heavenly Father to comfort her and give her confidence. By the time the interview was over she had the BIGGEST smile on her face!!!! I've never seen her so happy or talk so much ever! She is so ready to get baptized:) Sadly, because of the Typhoon her baptism got cancelled and moved to this friday! Pics next week!!

Some of the members in Muzha:)

This week we also got the chance to be temple tour sisters again! Except this time it was a little different. The temple sisters were backed up on all the referrals that hadn't been sent yet so they asked us to go into the mission system and send them all in. 

woa.

My eyes  and brain were broken after about 3 hours of putting referrals in.

BUT! We got them all done!! So now all those people will be set up with missionaries and can finally start learning about christ and preparing for baptism! The office elders have it rough. That's basically what they do all day everyday!

Thursday was the moon festival! The weather was pretty good that day and EVERYONE was outside doing some good old taiwanese bbq. It all smelled so good! Sadly nobody invited us over to bbq with them, so Sister Eyre and I went on a nice comp date to a yummy japanese place. Then we went down by the river contacting and met some awesome new investigators! Everyone was down there checking out the moon and setting off fireworks! It's cool to see how willing people are to here about Jesus Christ when they feel the Holy Ghost. I know that Prayer and teaching true doctrine will soften hearts as the spirit touches them.

This is how Emma writes home every monday.  Those two have the best smiles!

We are so dang excited for all the exciting things this week has in store for us!

This was one of my favorite scriptures from my Book of Mormon reading this week:)

4th nephi 1:15 

"And it came to pass that there was no contention in the land, because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people."

The Love of God is the greatest of all things! if we are always trying to be like Christ and love everyone we will be able to better understand people and help them learn about the healing and enabling power of the Atonement. :)

other fun facts this week:

-killed a cockroach in the middle of the night,....I had to go to the bathroom and the lights were off....I saw an even darker spot scuddling around and new it was a cockroach....I grabbed my shoe ( still no lights ) and smashed it and went back to bed......

in the morning there were like a gazillion ants feasting on it.....nast....

-I had a handful of Great Harvest granola and cried.

-Sunday we met so many old ladies and they would not stop touch our facing and telling us we were beautiful...oh my gosh they are hilarious. I've never been rubbed up so much in my life!

have a fab week Love you guys.xoxoxoxoxoxoxox

"Smite The Earth With The Word Of God"

Sept. 11, 2016 email

What an awesome week. Seriously so much dang fun. Missionary work is the hardest but most happy, satisfying work in the entire world! I LOVE MUZHA!

We shall start with last Monday. We traveled to Yingge and made pots! It's this little village not far from zhongli that is famous for throwing pots! So we all went and made pots together. Some good clean fun:)

But best part about monday was our super duper cute investigator Yvonne. She is adorable and hopefully getting baptized this saturday! Monday night we met with her. Usually we ride our bikes to our house, but we were completely out of time so caught a bus about half way there so we wouldn't be late. Our lesson started at 8:30ish. We were teaching, praying, singing, testifying, all that good stuff, then I looked down at my watch and it was 9:10.....the buses stop coming at 9.......and we are at the top of a mountain and have to be home by 9:30! OH NO! We rapped up the lesson real fast and booked it out of there. Sister Eyre and I looked at each other and were like. "oh crap...what do we do!!!" We both knew what to do. Zipped up our backpacks real tight, and booked it down the mountain. We were running our guts out!!!!!!!! like literally sprinting down this mountain!

I AM NOW GOING TO TESTIFY OF HOW IMPORTANT IT IS TO EXERCISE!! I looked down at my watch and it was 9:15...oh my goodness!!! I yelled at sister eyre and said, 'LETS PRAY!" We asked Heavenly Father to give us the stamina we needed to run down this mountain, get to our bikes and make it home in time. Heavenly Father answered our prayer X10!! we were FLYING!! I wish someone could have videoed it or something! We raced down, grabbed our bikes and were in our house right at 9:29. 

:)

These three pictures are of the absolutely AMAZING ward members in Muzha!! Once a month they help the missionaries find people to teach.  The entire ward!!  And each of these ladies and Ji Pei Di send me photos and little notes about Emma quite frequently.  I love the members in Muzha!

Sister Clawson on splits with Jewel.  She is a recent convert who is on Fire!!  She radiates joy and goodness and takes care of the missionaries:)  

The Lord will always help us! I'm so grateful for his endless help and guidance!! Huge testimony builder. Again ! something new every week! 

I don't have much time but here were some other tender moments from the week.

-we found 3 new families this week:)

-riding our bikes through waterfalls it rained so dang hard.

-ate TONS  of pomelos:)

-went on splits with the ward.

-a mean asian guy from america chastized us for being missionaries.

-and soooooo much more!

One of the greatest miracles this week was from our other lesson with Yvonne saturday night. Sister Eyre and I were just kind of nervous with how much she actually wanted to get baptized and if she really had a growing testimony. We prayed and planned for our lesson and knew the Holy Ghost would guide us to know how to help her. We taught and we had the impression to ask her how her prayers went the day before. She then told us the most tender story about how she was so stressed for her test, said a pray, and had the most amazing feeling of comfort come over her. She said she new it was the Holy Ghost and that Heavenly Father knows and loves her. 

:) She is excited to be able to get baptized this week:) 

Hopefully all continues to go well:) I know the Lord loves all his children and is helping yvonne so much:)

I love this work and the happiness that comes from this Gospel!!!

Mom and family! Go and read 3nephi 28!!! It changed my life this morning!!

lvoe you all so dang much!!!

I Love You Family!

Sept. 4, 2016 Email

Hello my dearest family:) This week was a blast and a half. Way different than any other week because Sister Eyre and I had like 15,000 different meetings and things we had to go

to this week!! All in all we are spiritually uplifted and ready to put it all into action this week:)

Last monday was so stinking cool. We all went to the National Palace Museum together. Ji Pei De even took off work to come with us:) We've been planning this trip for like a month because they have 7 Terracotta warriors on display there! WHAT?! 

The museum is absolutely beautiful. It was  super duper dark inside though (apparently to preserve the ancient artifacts....whatever..) So not gonna lie, I got way tired for a hot minute! But It was all just so neat and old with tons of history behind all of it. Elder Jackson in our district is a major in Archeology so he was just freaking out having a hay day like a 5 year old with a handful of candy. It was fun to watch and he was a good professor guide for us:)

The Coolest part was definitely the Terracotta warriors. Lets be real...all I knew about the Terracotta warriors was from what I saw in The Mummy3. So not a ton....but luckily Elder jackson gave me ALL the background and I became very educated! History is so neat! Good Pday.

Wednesday we had English class! I've been called as the new english leader so we had to go to the Mission home for a training on the whole thing. English class is a lot more intense than I thought but I am so stoked to help everyone else get pumped about it and to Teach Repentance and Baptize Converts through english class!!

Anyways, now for the funny part.

So I'm all pumped about english class right? so I did some good prep for my class. This weeks lesson was on How to go to The Pharmacy.! sounds like good, clean, fun, english class right?!

No!

We had a new student in our class that was NUTS! She was a bit lost in the head..but anyways she got way carried away with medicine, the way you take medicine, which then lead to other kinds of medicince, AKA drugs! She then started talking about how a little bit of heroine never hurt anyone!

AGH.

Lets just say I had to kindly escort her to the hall and then had a lesson with my class on how drugs are not good for you. Ever, which then lead in to a nice discussion on the Word of Wisdom:) Perfect.

Word of Wisdom for the WIN!!

Ps thanks dad for really teaching me the Word of wisdom. I don't know if you remember but one day we were talking about exercise and being healthy, like we do:) and you shared with me D&C 89. I have loved it and 100% believed it ever since. I think I was like 14. Best Dad award goes to you! Love you tons;)

Thursday we had a killer Trainer Trainee follow up meeting!!! It was super fun to get together with everyone and refocus! Me and Sister Eyre are over half way done with training. WE cry about it every night. well at least I do...:( She's the best and we have been have seen SO many miracles together!

Friday we had exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders. It was a blast! I learned so much! Sister Tinsley was my comp for the day and she really pushed me to think outside of the box and to set some awesome goals. She also helped me see that I have awesome faith in the Lord, But do I have 100%? Woa. this made me think big time! I have faith. But I don't have 100%. Huge eye opener for me. I know as I have complete 100% trust in the Lord He will NEVER let us fail:)

This sunday was the greatest! I have this english Student that has come to my class the whole time I have been in Muzha and his daughter goes to Sister Eyres class. Jungle and Barbie.

best names ever:)

Anyways we set up to meet with them and share with them more about the gospel! They invited us to their home and gave us their address. Ok. Cool.

We were riding our bikes looking for the house and...............

turns out they basically live in the Ritz Carlton of Taiwan......................

like literally I can't even............

It was nicer than the Grand America mom!!!!!

So we went inside to this building and they treated us to Iced cocoa and Chocolate cakes.

Holy crap it was so posh:)

We got to meet with his wife and share with them about eternal Families. They got all sorts of excited and we are meeting with them again this week:)

Last night we also got to go with our beautiful Yvonne to a fireside for investigators. It is amazing to see her change so much. She smiles and talks more and more every time we meet with her. The changing and life-enriching power of this gospel  cannot be described. As we rely on Christ's Atonement, we can change:) AGH SHE'S SO GOOD!

Love you with my whole flippin heart and miss you guys like crazy.

xoxoxoxoxxoxoxoxoxxoxoxo

emma

I Luh Taiwan!!

Aug. 28, 2016 email

Looking for packages!!!  Hopefully Sister Clawson's package full of Dr. Bronner's Minty soap made it!!! 

Oh man this week felt LONG! I don't know why. It was still fantastic but I was pooped this morning and grateful for a good ol P-day:) 

we will start off with the adventures from last pday:) Last week we all went up the Maokong Gondola again! But this time we went exploring around all sorts of super duper sick temples! We took a lot of pics. Sister Eyre is basically Mulan;) we were up there exploring for hours! So much fun and so dang pretty! Pday adventures are always a blast.

oh and cool news! I'm the new English Unit leader! So basically I'm in charge of all our english classes and trainings with them so that we can effectively get new investigators while helping others learn english:) How fun! I'm kind of nervous...because My english is getting worse day by day...but is my desire to teach repentance and baptize converts worse? NO! So it should be lots of fun:)

I'd say these two are enjoying their watermelon.  Yellow Watermelon:)  It's dripping off of Emma's chin!

This week we had temple tours and it was full of all sorts of neat experiences! We shared with people from all over the world! It's super hard when you meet people that don't speak english OR chinese.....SHOOT! But that's ok, the spirit does all the talking. :)We taught 3 guys from Korea and then a chinese man and his wife who is from Poland! It was such a cool tour. We taught it in chinese and then he would translate to her in polish...what?! I'm so glad I'm not learning polish! it sounds SO HARD! His chinese was really hard to understand as well....polish chinese..hahaha:) And now they are all meeting with the missionaries! Temple tours for the win:) We also got to see all the new missionaries that came in this week! 36 new missionaries!!!! WOW! Both Muzha companionships have trainees now cause elder Jackson is training now too! So much fun")

This weeks pictures all came from "other people".  Either members or Sr. Missionaries:)  Thank you!!!

The First one was on Thursday night. So in Taiwan you have to take out the garbage everyday when they truck comes. Except thats sometimes hard as a missionary cause you are always out talking to people being busy and what not. so....Sister eyre and I had 9 MASSIVE bags of garbage in our fridge and freezer.....this is so we don't get cockroaches!!!! We decided that we HAD to take out the garbage tonight! We gathered all the heaping bags, arms straining from how heavy they were, and hauled them to the street. We waited. No truck. 5 Minutes pass. no truck. 

Oh crap! We MISSED THE GARBAGE TRUCK! but now we are standing outside with 9 bags of garbage....what are we gonna do?! WE cant just leave it! And we CANT put it back in our house!!!!!!

I looked at Sister eyre and said, "Lets pray!" hahhaaha oh man.

I prayed that Heavenly Father would help us to know where we needed to go or what we needed to do to get rid of our garbage.

2 minutes pass. and we hear someone laughing....

I'm like, Who in the heck would be laughing at us?! 2 cute american girls with a ton of garbage is NOT funny! (hahaha ya it is:)

A scooter pulls up to us and guess who it is? 

Ji Pei De.

WHAT.

hahahahha he was out for a night run to Mcdonalds and decided to take the backroads:)

He jumped off his scooter, we each grabbed 3 bags, and he said, "The garbage truck will be at my house in 5 minutes, run!" so we booked it up the Alleys of muzha to the garbage truck and plopped it in just in time:)

GOD ANSWERS ALL OUR PRAYERS NO MATTER HOW WEIRD THEY ARE!!!

I know that God lives and he loves us:) 

I've been reminded so much of that this week. God will always answer our prayers and the Holy Ghost will always guide us. We just have to listen!

 

Last night we were on the street and met this lady. We had shared with her a message of the restoration and set up to meet with her again. I was scared to talk to her about baptism because I didn't want to scare her away! I had the strongest impression to open up my mouth and tell her about the blessing of baptism, Like Im supposed to as a representative of Christ! Before we left we invited her to baptism. 

She gave the most solid yes I've ever received my whole mission.

She explained that if she really knew it was true, why wouldn't she get baptized!!!!!! YES!

We must ALWAYS listen to the promptings of the Holy Ghost. No matter what! If I hadn't listened, that Lady wouldn't have set a baptismal date and known about the blessing of baptism. Always remember to have courage and be kind!!!!!

we left that contact with that lady giving hugs and so much love.

10 minutes before she was a complete stranger. 

Be kind to everyone and always testify of Jesus Christ:) Love you guys so dang much:)

emma