Sister Samantha Haacke: New Tastes In Food

I FIRST HAVE TO SAY HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!!!!!! I know you were in Taiwan. We were so close! haha I'm glad you were able to relax on Saturday and spend some time with some co-workers. Also...I believe it was Father's Day yesterday (Well, atleast it was for the Philippines) Taiwan's isnt until August 8th. So, HAPPY FATHER'S DAY! I love you dad!

This week was great! It was a little rough some days but I feel like I learned more than ever this week. I learned more about myself and the love that our Heavenly Father has for each and everyone of us!

Family, I was so grateful for the letter sent today. It really really helped!

Yesterday was honestly probably the hardest day of my mission. We had a day full of finding after church with no success. The blessing and miracle we received yesterday was the weather. haha It was hot and you are dripping sweat every second you are outside but yesterday it was a little more overcast so it was heaven sent. Dad, I laughed when you talked about the weather in Taiwan. It hits about 36 degrees everyday by about 10 am here in TouFen. It was crazy because last week as we were riding to church at 8:30 in the morming, we passed a thermoniter thing and it was already 35 degrees. And, July and August are even hotter. Heavenly Father is really helping me get used to this weather! I can honestly say...I have never been so hot and disgusting in my life! I laugh now when I think back to the family vacations we went on--specifically to Mexico last summer when we were doing a day of going around Mexico and it was so hot--yeah. Just think of that, a little worse, 24/7, inside and outside and that is Toufen's weather for you..haha! I love it though.

This week was a little bit more challenging but it still had its miracles!

A few neat expereinces this week. Our Monday night appointment got cancelled so we had finding time. We went to this neighborhood to do some finding and no one wanted to talk to us. I felt really strongly we needed to be in this neighborhood and I didn't understand why. Our miracle came on the last door. We knocked on the door and this little boy came running. Through the glass, we asked him if his mom was home. He just stood there and we didn't know what to do! Haha! As we were walking away, the mom opened the door. We told her who she was and she let us in her home. We had a really good discussion about God and who He his. Half way through, her husband walked in from dropping their daughter off at piano lessons and sat in on the rest of the lesson. It was such a huge miralce. There are prepared people everywhere. The Lord knows where these people are. We just need to learn to listen to the Spirit!!

Tuesday night we learned Chen DX has completely quit smoking!!!!!! It was hard because he didn't ever want to talk about it and he didnt want help from us so we never really knew how he was doing. Tuesday night, he told us he had been clear for 2 days!!! I was SO happy! He had his baptismal interview Saturday night and is getting baptized this coming Thursday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He loves reading the Book of Mormon and is already in Alma!

Thursday night, I was able to watch the Restoration video with Lai Ming Jin for part of his new member lessons. The Spirit was honestly SO strong. I love the Restoration video so much. It has so much power to it. Lai Ming Jin really loved it as well. It is just another testimony to me that Joseph Smith is truly a prophet of God. He was called to restore His church on the earth again!

Saturday was a great day. Many people were not in TouFen due to the Dragon Boat Festival but we made the best of it! Saturday night was crazy! One of our new investigators, Zhang Li Mei, (she is from China!) invited us over for dinner. She is here in Taiwan till about March of next year. She is pregnant and wants to have the baby in Taiwan. Her husband is Taiwanese but is working in China so she is here all alone. We had some amazing food! (See below.)

Oh, mom and dad, I love shrimp now. I think it is so good. Especially the small ones. And squid--that's pretty good too and fish eggs, chicken skin (yeah this took a while to get used to). It's all good though! haha. After finishing at her home, we raced over to Yang JiaTing where they invited us and the Elders to dinner. So, we had a second dinner. It was amazing as well! We ate dragon boat festival food. I don't know what it is called in English but we had tons of Zhong4Zi. They are like a rice ball with meat and other things in the middle wrapped in a large leaf. They are really good!

Saturday night was also Chen DX baptismal interview at the church.

Two less actives we have been working with, a grandma and granddaughter, became active this last week! It is so neat! They were honestly ready to come back to church. All they needed was some extra fellowship from the missionaries :) Home teaching and Visiting teaching are so so important. I never realized the importance until coming on my mission. These callings are some of the most important callings. Fellowship and loving those we are called to teach is what keeps individuals active.

I continue to cherish the hour I have each morning to personally study. This coming week I will complete the D&C. I really came to realize this week that the missionary work we are called to do, whether that be as a full time missionary or as a member missionary, is so so important. We are called to spread the gospel to all the world. We are called to bring our friends unto Christ. We are not only on this earth to help others come unto Christ but to help ourselves prepare to enter the Celestial Kingdom. The trials and tribulations the early saints made for our benefit and for the building up of the church are so precious. Let us all work together to 'pay back' those who suffered for the happiness we have now.

I love you all so much. Thank you so much for all the prayers. I honestly feel them everyday!

I hope you all have a great week!!!!

Love you!

Sister Haacke