It Snowed in Taiwan!

Yep folks, Taiwan made history this past week. IT SNOWED. Yes, SNOW in TAIWAN. This has NEVER happened. It occasionally snows on the highest mountains of Taiwan BUT it snowed in the CITY. It was crazy. It didn't snow much but it was SNOW! It was so funny to see the people. Everyone was freaking out!! We were talking to some people about it on the street and they were like, "I'm 50 years old and I have never seen snow!" We were laughing with them.  Of course, the snow also brings cold. The last 2-3 days have been the coldest days Taiwan has seen in the past 10+ years. I have worn so many layers. Including my sweatshirt and all the long sleeve shirts I got underneath my coat. It has been quite the adventure! My hands and toes haven't been warm for a while:). Here there is also no heat so the homes are all freezing. BUT when the coldness comes, the miracles come in even faster!!! Sister Cardon and I have seen so many miracles this week. This week has been one never to forget! 

 

Back to the snow, here in NanKan（南崁）, we saw a few flakes, up in Taoyuan（桃園）, some of our members told us that is snowed up there pretty good--like it was white outside and in ZhongLi (中壢）, LinKou （林口）, and other surrounding cities, there was some snow on the ground for a couple hours.

Sunday was a phenomenal day. We woke up early to get to meetings on time. We biked in 3 degree Celsius weather plus humidity so not going to lie, it was really cold!  But, we got to church and had great meetings. Today, Han Zhi DiXiong （韓志) passed his baptismal interview after church so we will have a baptism this coming Saturday!! Luan JieMei also came to church with her husband, and Zhang Jing Ping (張景評）attended Sacrament Meeting. What faith these investigators had to come to church despite the freezing elements outside. When Zhang DX walked in, his hands were super red. He biked from NanKan to the chapel-about 25 minutes or so-without any gloves. He had a great experience though and many members fellow-shipped him and got to know him. Three Less Actives also attended Church today. It was a HUGE miracle!!

 

Sunday afternoon was when it snowed and we met with a few investigators and did some finding. Sunday evening, we had dinner with 3 families in our ward--the Chen JiaTing, Chi Jiating, and Qiu JiaTing. Chen Jiating had us all at their home and we literally have a Thanksgiving Feast--with really turkey, potatoes, onion rings, stuffing, etc. It was really Americanized! The Chi Jiating have a son who is leaving for the MTC next week going to Canada French, English, and Chinese speaking, and the Qiu Jiating have a daughter leaving for England in March speaking English. It was so fun being able to spend dinner with them and talk about missions and all they will learn!

Last Monday, we went bowling with the missionaries in our district. A less active who Sister Cardon and I are working with took us and brought his friend/coworker who is going to start taking the lessons! Monday night, we had a lesson with Luan DiXiong and Luan JieMei. Today, we started teaching Luan JieMei! She has been prepared over the last few months while her husband has been brought back to activity and she is ready and prepared. We are going to have to take it really slow so we taught just about prayer and encouraged her to start reading the Book of Mormon instead of starting with the Old Testament.  We also had a lesson with Cao JieMei, a Less Active who wants to come back but feels like she has to change so much to be able to and doesn't even know where to start. The Spirit was so strong tonight. I love night like these where the Spirit really does all the teaching. 

Tuesday: We met with Zhang Jing Ping. We invited him to read 3 Nephi 11 last week and he came this week feeling like he understands more why he needs to be baptized!! We talked about the blessings of the Spirit and how we can have the Spirit with us always after we are baptized. We had district meeting and met with the two moms we met last week at the church. We gave them a tour of the chapel and shared with them about the Book of Mormon. Sadly, we found out they both don't live in our area--they both live in separate wards and the wards both meet in different buildings.  Tuesday night, Sister Cardon and I went to dinner with Kristy and her husband! They are SO nice! Dad, please tell her thanks again! It was fun to be able to meet her!! 

Wednesday: We had lunch with Lily and her family and then right after lunch taught Han DX the Ten Commandments and Law of Chastity. Having lessons with him are hilarious. I don't even know how to explain it. He loves to joke and with his China accent, it takes Sis. Cardon and I some time to understand his jokes but he is also a super intense 'student' as he calls himself. Every lesson, he comes with some questions about things he has studied between the days we meet with him. To sum up his lesson, about the ten commandments: he told me numerous amounts of times that every night I need to lock up my hair because someone is going to steal it because it is gold and so if I lock it up I will help other people keep the 10 Commandments. haha...

Wednesday we met with a less active for the first time who then ended up coming to church on Sunday. I don't know if you remember but about 2 years ago there was a group of people who got baptized in a river where one of the first missionaries in Taiwan baptized someone (or something like that) and she was one of those who got baptized that day. Her experience is really special! We also met with a member referral, Wu JM. She has a lot of questions and is really curious about becoming Christian. She set a baptismal date with us and we are excited to help her work towards that! 

Wednesday night was our usual English Class. We had so many new people today! Our class was SO full! Especially now that people are on Winter Break there will be more people coming. 

Thursday: We were supposed to watch the Worldwide Missionary Broadcast that occurred on the 20th but it was moved to tomorrow. So, I am really curious about what is going to be taught/trained on. We spent the day doing WPS and took a small trip to see the doctor. Thursday evening, we began our exchange with the ZhongLi Sisters. I went with Sister Strong who finishes her mission at the end of this week. It was a great experience being able to go with her! We spent the night finding and teaching on the street. We met a neat man who we are hoping to meet with again tonight! 

Friday: Sister Strong and I went and visited one of our investigators, Su JieMei. We taught her about the restoration and talked to her about coming to church. Our peike offered to pick her up and her 4 children since she doesn't have any way to get them all to church. But, she had to ask her husband and she couldn't come this week. :(  We are hoping she will be able to come next week. She wants to come to church really bad but is really nervous about her relatives not agreeing. After lunch, we had some finding time and set two baptismal dates right in a row! Sister Strong and I were still companions and it was really neat because one of the ladies we talked to, lives in her proselyting area! So, we got a new investigator for them and for us! 

We exchanged back and Sister Cardon and I spent the night finding and then visiting Han DX. Friday afternoon was when the rain started and poor Sis. Cardon, she didn't have a rain jacket. Friday started the cold front. So, she got drenched and was freezing and just the bottom of my skirt got pretty wet. lucky for her, she was wearing all dark colors so no one knew she was wet or they would have freaked out. BUT for me, I was wearing a red skirt and when we went to visit Han DX, his wife made me blow dry my skirt before we could even start the lesson. It wasn't even that wet but that is the Chinese culture for you! :) They just really care about our health and well-being :) 

Saturday: The rain was coming down today plus the temperature wasn't that great so we bundled up---wore so many layers and hit the streets. We had a slower day today and I would say the largest miracle was that we made it through despite the pouring rain :) We ate dinner with the Chi JiaTing with all the missionaries in our district and mostly talked to their son who leaves soon for his mission. Saturday night, we also met with Lin DiXiong. We taught the plan of Salvation and he had SO many questions. Our member also brought up the Word of Wisdom so we got to share that with him. He was really surprised about tea and coffee but he is somewhat willing to give it a try. :) He is so curious. He told our peike that he was willing to meet with us because he feels like what we teach can help him be an even better person. He said he has walked into our church building and stayed for about 10 minutes but it was so big that if kind of scared him so he left. We invited him back and he said he will probably come to the baptism next Saturday night. He's going to be a great member someday! 

Overall, we had a great week. We have been bundled and wearing as much clothing as we can. Staying as warm as we can. But, Heavenly Father is blessing us so much. I absolutely love love my mission. I know this is the Lord's work and I am so grateful I can represent Him, My Savior, Jesus Christ. 

Have a great week! Marissa, I hope you feel better soon!! Alexa, your SO cute in your dance outfits, Lachlan, boarding is going to be fun with you! AND the Tabernacle temple is GORGEOUS! Mom, Sister Cardon and I are so jealous you got to go through the open house! Dad,  keep us updated on everything! 

Love you all! Stay warm! 

Love, 

Sister Haacke 

 A car must have gone somewhere where there was more snow and it fell off in NanKan. MotorScooters didn't know how to drive over it, so they would literally stop before slowly driving over this little patch or drive around it.  :)

The Snow: Look at the woman---she has her hand out trying to catch just a flake.  It is so fun to see everyone so excited to see snow.

 

 This is Yang JieMei, (Jiu is her English name) she helps us peike a lot and is an amazing member!!

The Chen JiaTing

 Saturday--Going out and in the elevator going home...We survived!!

 

 

Bowling

 

Friday night during dinner--we were pretty wet. :)

 

 Eating dinner with Kristy. 

 

 Sister Strong and I.

The Mission is Pretty Crazy

My dear family and friends,

I say this every week but..What an amazing week it has been this week. We have seen so many miracles. I truly know this is the work of the Lord. How awesome it is we get to serve Him! I love it. 

As for this week: (if you don't want to read it all, just read the last paragraph about our week) :)

Last week, we called some former investigators from many years ago/some potential investigators we have meet in the last few weeks and got many set ups that way. It was neat to see and meet these people more. It was a miracle because most of the lessons, except just one or two went through!! 

Monday night, we visited a former and turns out she lives in a different ward boundary now due to the recent changes but she was really nice. She has read quite a bit of the Book of Mormon--mostly to learn English--but its a good start. Her 14 year old daughter is absolutely amazing at this Chinese instrument (see the picture).

She is soon at the level where she will be able to professionally teach others! 

Tuesday, we went on exchanges with the Sisters in Bade. They both came to our area since the worldwide changing of the exchange policy and we had a great time. I served with Sister Bain and we had an amazing experience. We went and visited a Wu yeye and his two grandchildren. The first thing his grandson said when we walked into their house was that he hadn't prayed in a long time! So, he totally remembered who we were! Sadly, their grandma wouldn't come out of her room she was watching a movie in, so we couldn't have a lesson with them and rescheduled for Sunday in which we could bring a member with us. We also went and visited a Cai DX (John) who met missionaries about two years ago. When we visited him, his sister came out and brought 4 glasses of Hong Cha and we cant drink it because it has tea in it and he told her for us before we even had the opportunity to..haha. But other than that, he has forgotten most of all what he learned! Sister Bain and I really expressed tonight the importance of developing a relationship with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ through prayer, scriptures, church, and baptism. He set a date to get baptized the end of March (he is going to America and Europe all of February). The amazing thing is too that he really has been prepared through the time he hasn't been meeting with missionaries. Whenever we asked him a question, he sat, thought about it, and then answered sincerely. After the lesson, we were walking back to our bikes and the member who came with us was just as excited as we were!! It is so neat to be able to see the members get excited with us for missionary work. I feel like sometimes the members sacrifice their time and see no apparent help but then when miracles like this occur, they feel like they are helping and making a difference! 

Wednesday, after we exchanged back,  we met and ate lunch with our most progressing investigator and his family. Han DX is progressing so much! On Wednesday, we shared with him the 3rd lesson, The Gospel of Jesus Christ. Before we shared though, he had a list of questions we were to answer. He is really using so much time to learn and come to know his Savior. We also met with him Friday evening and taught him the Word of Wisdom and he mostly has already given up  most of his addictions except for drinking on occasion but...he was extremely willing to completely give it up right there and then. Before we left, Han DX basically bore his testimony to us. It was so neat. He said how he knows a lot of people call our church the 'evil' church and all but he knows that that is not true and that people shouldn't be saying that. He thanked us again for all we have taught him (we haven't even really done much..:)) but I am SO EXCITED for his baptism!! 

Wednesday, we also had interviews with President Jergensen. It was good and he basically based it all on baptism and the importance of teaching repentance and baptizing converts. After interviews we had some short time to find before dinner and English class. Sister Cardon and I went and talked to these two moms in the park. At first, we just shared about English class and then just as we were about to leave, Sister Cardon said, "Well, if you ever also have any interest in Christ, we also teach about him!" And one of the mom's relied quickly saying, "I do!" we had a lesson with them and set up for this Tuesday afternoon :)! 

Random Note:An English student from my first area, TouFen, moved back to TaoYuan (his hometown) because he just completed his required military service AND he is in my class again! It was so awesome to be able to see him again!! What a small world. :) Well, Taiwan is pretty small :) 

Thursday after WPS, we went up to Taipei and had exchanged with the Temple Sisters-Sister Cutler and Sister Guo. I served with Sister Cutler for 24 hours and had a great time. I learned so much from her and am looking forward to applying what I learned this next week in my own proselyting. 

Friday night after returning, we also visited a potential family Sister Cardon met on exchanges last week. A mom Jin JM), dad (Wang DX), and an 11 year old son. The mom grew up going to church a little bit but hasn't gone in a while and the dad is Buddhist. They had so many questions and mostly just wanted to know how our church became and why there are so many churches on the earth. So we taught the Message of the Restoration. They seemed to really enjoy it and asked good questions. We aren't going to be able to meet with them for two more weeks though because the dad is going on a business trip to China and they want to be taught all together. 

Saturday, we also met with a new investigator. Su JM is 25 years old, has 4 kids, and is really looking for religion in her life again. She would love to come to church but we just need to help her find a way because fitting her and 4 kids on a motor scooter isn't really possible :). And, we have to get around her mother-in-law not agreeing to her coming to our church instead of the Catholic church...but it will all work out! 

AND the BEST PART of the week, we were finding on Saturday and met this man smoking on the side of the week. Qi DX, is just recently divorced, has two little girls ages 7 and 4 and is really worried about them. His ex-wife takes them to the temples everyday and the bai-bai together and he feels like that is not the right path they need to take. He is not a Buddhist because he doesn't believe in picking up something- a rock-calling it a god and worshiping it...so, he wants his daughters to become Christian. He asked us how he could do that. Well, we told him, he needs to become their example. He laughed but then said how. We invited him to bring his two daughters and come to church the next day. Right there and then, he called his ex-wife, she was at the Buddhist temple worshiping and said that he is taking the girls to church the next morning. AND 30 minutes after church started, the Elders from the other ward who has Sacrament Meeting first walks in to the Relief Society room and tells us there is a man with too girls looking for a Sister Haacke! (Weird..he remembered my English name, right!) YES THIS MAN, we met on Saturday, came to church! AND STAYED all three hours! Sacrament meeting was an absolute blast. I tried to get as much out of it as I could but Sister Cardon and I were busy trying to keep the girls entertained so they wouldn't interrupt their dad to try and give him a good experience!! It was a huge miracle! Sunday night, I also called him to set up a date to come and meet with him and he asked if he thought his girls were ok at church. He was so nervous they were a huge distraction...they weren't at all! AND they had a great experience. It was so cute, as they were leaving, they both came up to us and gave us the biggest hugs. I love them already so much. This family is in desperate need of the gospel and I know they are ready to hear it!!! The only sad thing is that the dad is leaving for China this Friday for business. We are not yet sure how long he will be gone for :( 

Han DX also came to church with his family and a recently returned LA's nonmember wife came who we are starting to teach her the lessons tonight. 

LITERALLY, the MIRACLES came FLYING in this week. I know Heavenly Father loves me so much! I know he LOVES everyone of us. I am going to steal the last paragraph dad wrote in the family letter to me and Bryan to share with everyone:

As I was preparing my talk last week I was using Sam’s old laptop and I found a quote she had on her computer from President Uchtdorf.  I used it in my lesson today in High Priest group.  Here’s what he had to say about God’s love for all his children, 

“Think of the purest, most all-consuming love you can imagine. Now multiply that love by an infinite amount—that is the measure of God’s love for you. God does not look on the outward appearance. I believe that He doesn’t care one bit if we live in a castle or a cottage, if we are handsome or homely, if we are famous or forgotten. Though we are incomplete, God loves us completely. Though we are imperfect, He loves us perfectly. Though we may feel lost and without compass, God’s love encompasses us completely. He loves us because He is filled with an infinite measure of holy, pure, and indescribable love. We are important to God not because of our resume but because we are His children. He loves every one of us, even those who are flawed, rejected, awkward, sorrowful, or broken. God’s love is so great that He loves even the proud, the selfish, the arrogant, and the wicked. What this means is that, regardless of our current state, there is hope for us. No matter our distress, no matter our sorrow, no matter our mistakes, our infinitely compassionate Heavenly Father desires that we draw near to Him so that He can draw near to us.” 

I love this quote. I think it perfectly explains God’s love for all of us.  I hope as you labor this week you will remember that your ultimate mission is to bring people to Christ and help them understand the amount of love God has for them.  We are indeed his children.  I love you both.

I just want to add my testimony to dads, I KNOW Heavenly Father loves us all so so much. I feel like on my mission I have been able to see this first hand. No matter who we are, where we have been, what we have done, his ARMS are OPEN WIDE for us all. He wants us to come unto Him. He wants us to be happy. His biggest desire for us is to return to His presence--He love us all so much He gave us His son, Jesus Christ. He gave us this gospel--the only way we can find true happiness and joy!

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!  Have an amazing week and hopefully you don't get snowed in! Stay safe!

Love,
Sister Haacke



P.S. 
1.This week Sister Cardon and I also almost set our smoke alarm off...we burnt cookies we were trying to cook in the toaster oven. We forgot to buy food Saturday for Sunday meals so we survived off of cookies and found some Ramen in our 72hour kits. :) Yup, I still can't cook :)
2. Sister Cardon and I both had a couple close calls on our bikes but I have yet to crash on my mission :)
3. Sister Cardon and I forgot to bring our rain coats to church and yes, as soon as we got to church, it started pouring rain and never stopped all of Sunday. So our 20 minute bike ride back to our house from the church yesterday we got soaked. Luckily, Sunday we stayed really busy with lessons so we weren't out in the pouring rain too much
4. Taiwan has a new Female President--菜英文. (Her name 英文 . Those two characters mean English but I'm sure also have some better meanings in names :)) 
5. So many funny, awesome things happened but these are just a few. I love what I am learning...and yes, the mission is pretty crazy :)

 

 Eating with Han DX and his family.

 

 Parking in Taiwan.

 Night markets.

Splits and Findings

My dear family and friends,

Another week has come and gone. Time truly is flying!! Everyday I ask where the time is going. It seems to slip through our fingers every week! 

It was a great week filled with miracles and tender mercies...so here are a few:  

We started teaching 韓志弟兄 this week! He is such a prepared man! This week we met with him twice-shared the Restoration and the Plan of Salvation. He does have some crazy thoughts and questions we have to clear up but other than that, he is so golden and working well towards his baptismal date that we set with him for January 30, 2016!! He will be the first baptism in this ward (since the ward split in Sept/Oct 2015). The first lesson was with Sister Cardon and I. It was so funny. This man is like my grandpa! The first thing he said to us when we sat down in his daughter's home was that we are his teachers, he is our student, and that he wants us to be very direct with him and answer all his questions. He wouldn't let his daughter answer any of his questions. haha So Sister Cardon and I are in for a treat. :) But, he is a great man and loves church and reading the scriptures! 

We met again for the second time with a new investigator we found last week. Last week, we thought she was at least the same age as me, 20, but Thursday night, we found out that she is only 16. BUT, the first thing she told us when she sat down with us was that she told her parents last night that she started to meet with us and her parents support it! (Blessing from above!) And she is really excited to learn. It was really cute and makes me think of when I was her age because she also told us how last week she and her boyfriend got in an argument and she went home and prayed about it and she felt Heavenly Father comfort her! I was really cute! We taught her the Restoration and she accepted it and believed it was true. I love the power that comes from reciting Joseph Smith's First Vision experience. Every time it is shared, the Spirit always comes flooding in to the lesson. 

Bitter Sweet Moment: Sister Cardon and I went to McDonald's to eat some ice cream during dinner and a family-dad and two daughters-sat down two tables away from us and before they started eating, they each bowed their heads and said a prayer together. So rare--even rarer in Taiwan. 

Friday, Sister Cardon and I had the wonderful opportunity to go on exchanges with the Tao2 Sisters. Since the new changes, they both came to our area and we split the lessons we had and spent most of the day finding. I went with Sister Harvey and our whole afternoon was spent contacting. I loved it though. Being able to share the gospel is incredible. The mission is filled with really neat miracles and also really sad ones as well. Sister Harvey and I met an amazing man-李先生, who has just been diagnosed with some health issues and he was really down about it--knowing that his health is not good at all. We prayed with him and shared the Book of Mormon and Baptism with him. We promised him that Christ may not take away the health issues that he has but that Christ can help him bare the pain and sorrow of it. We pretty much set a baptismal date with him right there for the End of February. He couldn't set up then because he didn't know his work schedule for this next week yet, but said he would text us to let us know. Well, he texted us this morning and sadly, he told us that he doesn't want to meet because he is a devout Buddhist. I am grateful for the small lesson we were able to have with him though and allowing him to feel a little bit of the Spirit. Hopefully we were about to plant the seed and one day, he will have the opportunity again to accept. 

We set up with a lot of former investigators for this next week and I am looking forward to meeting with most of them. We met with one on Saturday and the main reason why he stopped investigating was because of his work schedule. He is super willing to meet again and I look forward to seeing what is going to happen. 

The neatest miracle probably occurred yesterday evening. Our lesson that was scheduled got cancelled last minute and so we decided to go visit a member at her shop who didn't come to church yesterday. We were there for literally 5 minutes or so and then her friend walks in. The member looked at her and said the missionaries are here so you can talk to them. We were all a little confused because neither us or 洪姐妹` (the member) called for us to go over. We sat down with her friend and she told us how she had talked to missionaries before and that she asked  洪姐妹 a couple days ago questions about the Book of Mormon! Wu JieMei ( 洪姐妹 friend) is having some family struggles and wants to start learning about how Christ can help her. She asked for us to give her some scriptures she could read about prayer. We were more than willing! What a miracle, our lesson got cancelled, the Spirit prompted us to go visit 洪姐妹and that we now got to meet with her friend! 

I am so grateful for this gospel and the many blessing that it has giving me. I know with out a doubt this church is true. I know Christ lives and loves and cares for each and everyone of us. He is our Redeemer and our Savior. He know us individually. As I was reading through the family letter this week and the last section of how you were reading through our call letters this last week, I was reminded of Moroni 9:6. 

"And now, my beloved son, notwithstanding their hardness, let us labor diligently; for if we should cease to labor, we should be brought under condemnation; for we have a labor to perform whilst in this tabernacle of clay, that we may conquer the enemy of all righteousness, and rest our souls in the kingdom of God."

I know we are all in different stages of our lives--on full-time missions, parenting, a school student, a child, a grandparent...etc. but, we have all been called to come to earth and labor. We all have a labor to perform! We are all called to me missionaries and spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know when we do share and are willing to share, our mouth is opened, and the Spirit will be able to touch the lives of our family members and friends.  

I love you all so much! 

Love, 

Sister Haacke 

 AND, last week for Preparation Day, we went to Yingge with the Zhongli (中壢) Sisters and made some pottery.

  

Grass Jelly is also amazing!
  

 Hamburger with rice as the bun.:) Is that in America?

  

 Sister Denison, Sister Harvey, Sister Cardon, and I finishing our exchange.

A Whole Year in the Mission

My dear family and friends!

What a great week we had this week here in NanKan. :) I loved reading the family email and hearing about everything you did over the holiday week! So awesome that Dale and Cambria were able to come up for New Years and you were all able to celebrate together! The snow looks BEAUTIFUL! What a great year for sledding and skiing! Everyone also looks so grown up! Its crazy! So glad you had a great week! Hope the weather can get a bit warmer! 

As for NanKan, Taiwan has had a much milder winter. I have literally served my mission the best time. The summer was really hot like extremely humid but not as bad as the year previous and the winter has yet to be 'unbearable' there have only been a few days where it was really cold outside--which I am so grateful for!! 

First of all, HAPPY 2016!! It is so weird to think that 2015 went by all in the mission field. The time has literally gone by WAY to fast! I have loved every second--through the rough times and the good times! This week there were many miracles--a great week to start the new year! My life, and outlook has once again been influenced for the good and I am looking forward to this year and the things I will be able to experience and the lessons I will be able to learn from. 

This week was full of miracles so...I will get in all that I can :) 

Monday: Preparation Day: as was said last week, we went to lunch with Chen JiaTing from Tao3. After P-day, we had 3 lessons set up right in a row but with our luck, we got stood up and then cancelled on twice! BUT, we had a great 3 hours of finding. We met a man who despite the fact he didn't set up with us again, we had a short lesson with him about the Savior and how His teachings can and will change our lives. His wife is struggling with health--living in the hospital. We taught him how to pray and promised him through prayer, he can and will be comforted. We also met a man who owns a beer shop and he invited us to go back and meet his family. He has some interesting views on religion but was willing to talk to us. He said that when he was young, he went into a Christian church and decided to be baptized but he has never been to church, opened a Bible, or anything so he doesn't understand anything at all. He has two sons so hopefully we can help him more fully understand how the gospel blesses families. 

Tuesday: Today was my first of many exchanges this transfer. We had a great district meeting talking about the importance of being bold and praying with people on the street. After district meeting, we biked to the TaoYuan train station where we exchanged with ZhongLi Sisters. Sister Wang and I came back to NanKan and Sister Cardon went with Sister Strong to ZhongLi. Sister Wang and I had a great time together! She is so adorable! I learned so much from her. She is just starting her 4th transfer of her mission and is from GaoXiong (in the other Taiwan mission). We had a few lessons with investigators and some finding time Tuesday night. The neatest lesson we had was with our investigator Zhang Jing Ping.(The former investigator). Today we retaught him the Plan of Salvation. He couldn't remember most of it but we really emphasized Christ's Atonement. Sister Wang and I and our member shared really powerful testimonies about the power of the Atonement and when we asked him about his relationship with Christ or what the Atonement meant to him, he thought for a minute, and then looked up and with full sincerity said, "I don't know. I haven't felt anything yet. I haven't gotten an answer." It was a bit heartbreaking but it was really cool because he was willing to express his concern and we were able to help him understand how he can have a personal experience with Christ's Atonement.  

Wednesday: Sister Wang and I had a morning full of finding. We met a sweet older woman, 黃小姐, who is really open to discussing religion. She has never heard of our church before but from what we understand, she is meeting with another faith's "missionaries" right now as well...BUT, we invited her to begin reading the Book of Mormon. In the afternoon, we exchanged back and Sister Cardon and I went straight to District Dinner and then we had English Class. We met a new student named Tako (is her English name). She just returned to Taiwan from living in Australia for two years. We set up to meet her next week after English class and share more about the gospel but we think she lives in Tao3 so we will probably be giving her over to the Elders in that ward. 

Thursday: We had a lesson with a recent convert, Duan JieMei, and had WPS. Thursday night we visited a member family who just returned back to full-activity a few weeks ago and helped her son a little bit prepare for a big College Entrance Exam that is at the end of January. We also went to go visit a potential investigator with a member in our ward who is preparing to serve a mission but when we got to his house, he was gone--his mom said he went to Taipei to watch the fireworks--we were sad because he said he would be home when we called to double check. BUT we had a short lesson with his mom and re-taught her how to pray. She said that many many years ago, like 15+, Elders used to visit their home and would pray with them. She said that then when they invited them to get baptized, they said they didn't want to. So, she remembered their purpose. :) As we spent the remaining time making street contacts, everyone kept asking us why we were still working and not having fun for the New Years..haha but it got people talking to us :)

Friday: New Years Day!! Sister Cardon and I had MLC (Missionary Leadership Council) in Taipei pretty much all day. So, we took the bus up and spent 9-5:30 in meetings discussing the changes of the mission. All Mission Presidents world wide received new videos from the Brethren in Salt Lake regarding the changes of missionary work that are going to take place. Many changes will effect our mission but we are excited for the changes. We will be having no more transfer meetings so similar to Bryan, we will be told if we are moving or staying and if we are moving, we have permission to use all public transportation by ourselves and we are responsible for getting ourselves to our next area. The thing that will be really neat is with exchanges now, the Sisters we exchange with will both be traveling to and from their area to ours and we will basically go on splits with them but all the work will be in our area. So, we will no longer be leaving our area to go on exchanges. At first this was a huge shock to everyone and there were tons of questions. But in the end, it will be really nice because we will have SO much more time in our area and we will be able to have so much more finding time to find the prepared! There will also be a worldwide Broadcast for all missionaries around the world on January 20th from Salt Lake so that will be really cool. 

The new theme from the Brethren is to Teach Repentance and Baptize Converts. In MLC, we focused mostly on the importance of teaching repentance and how essential this is to the retention of keeping converts. It made me really excited because this is an area in my missionary work that I could really improve on. Sister Jergensen gave a great training on Repentance and used a parable John 2 that I will share at the end of my email. Overall, a great day! 

Friday night, we returned home around 7:30 and went straight to a members home. She is from China but has lived in Taiwan for several years now. Her parents come to Taiwan for 6 months every year. They would love to move here but they don't have citizenship so they come for 6 and then go back to china for 6 and they came just a few days ago! Han JieMei, and her mom Liu JieMei were baptized last year together and Han JieMei's dad wasn't but she has been praying really hard the last 6 months that when he came this time, he would accept the gospel! We went and met him! He is the sweetest man but can I tell you, the China accent is SO hard to understand! They pronounce everything differently and like slur and have deep accents so Sister Cardon and I have to pay really close attention. It took me a few minutes to start understanding him but it will be something we get used to :)  Anyways, he is SUCH a prepared man! Tonight, we taught the importance of Prayer, Scripture Study, and Church. Being from China, Han DX has not much background in religion so we are starting from the very simple concepts. He was really willing to learn and has lots of good questions! I am so excited to begin meeting with him!! 

AND, Lilly (Han JieMei-the member that lives here in Taiwan) also invited over her neighbor who is a bit older and lives alone. Come to find out, her neighbor, Yang JieMei, is a long lost Less Active! As soon as she met us, she kept saying how when she lives down south Taiwan, she was baptized into our church (she kept using the old name for the church) so she was baptized a long time ago but then when she moved to NanKan, she just stopped going!! SO, we found a new LA through the help of our member!  haha Miracles!!

Saturday: We had a morning full of finding. Met some really prepared people who all don't live in our area so we got to send some really promising referrals. Afternoon, we went to a wedding reception for someone in our ward. We went with Han JieMei and her parents. It was really cute :) After the reception, we met with a potential investigator. Zhang JieMei is absolutely adorable. She is probably about my same age and just recently quit her job to spend some extra time with her family while she finds a new one! So, she has all the time to meet with us! She has some Christian friends and so she has always been really curious about Christianity but they have never invited her to go to church with them or anything so when she met us! She thought, why not!? haha  She really wants to be Christian but she is a bit nervous about what her family will think. We told her to slowly start talking to them about it and to pray to receive help from Heavenly Father :) We also taught her simply about Prayer, Scriptures, and Church and invited her to be baptized. She set a baptismal goal for February 13 she is willing to work towards! We also went and visited a recent convert, Ding Ling, her and her mom got baptized together but she goes to school up in Taipei and only comes home on the weekends. We talked about faith and repentance. They just got their temple recommends so they will be able to go to the temple and do baptisms for the dead soon! Ding Ling asked us more about what we do in the temple. After we explained, her mom went off about how she needs to marry someone who is also a church member and how she really needs to think about who she is going to marry and date him for a longtime! haha It was really funny because Ding Ling was like, "Mom, I know." it just reminds me of when I was a teenager like her. :) But back then i didn't know what I was doing, haha Thanks mom and dad for raising me well and being patient with me. :) Love you guys :) 

Saturday night, we met a man-Zhang Dixiong. He is really interested in Christianity and just barely started working for NuSkin SO I think that is something that is also making him a bit curious because NuSkin being in Utah. He is willing to meet but can't meet again till next Sunday because of meetings in Taipei all week! 

Sunday: WE HAD 2 INVESTIGATORS COME TO CHURCH TODAY! Our area has been struggling with this for some time so this was HUGE today. Han DiXiong came today and loved it. He even participated a lot in Gospel Principles where we talked about Heavenly Father-a perfect subject for him. And sadly, our other investigator accidentally went to the wrong ward...haha. With our church now starting at  8:30, the first two hours we are on the second floor in auxiliary classes and Sunday School and then our last hour, we are in Sacrament Meeting. Another ward starts their sacrament meeting at 9 so he went to that on accident and didn't really understand anything BUT, he had the experience and is going to come again this next week hopefully!! We had quite a few half active half LA people also attend church today which was really nice!

After church, we went and visited our RC's husband/dad. He has some crazy views about religion but he is really willing to learn. We committed him today to completely give up alcohol! We were really bold but it is what he needed! We also meet with that new dad-beer shop owner from Monday and his two small sons. His wife didn't seem to have much interest but he was willing to meet. We talked mostly about the scriptures and why we are given them. We will see this week if he truly has interest or not.

Sunday evening we had dinner with Luan JiaTing. The husband is a member but his wife isn't. He just barely came back to activity and so it was nice for me to be able to meet them more. The Elders in our ward are hopefully going to try and start meeting with Luan JieMei and sharing the gospel with her. She will come to church every week with her husband to Sacrament Meeting so that is pretty big! Sunday night, we went and visited some less actives and then met with some of the Filipinos in our ward! One of them named, Alster, lives in the Bambang district (Bryan's first area) so it was cool to talk to him about that! They are so respectful and they would call us Sister. Almost every sentence when they were talking to us, they would say Sister. :) And they call themselves Brother and then their first name. It is so awesome! 

And lastly, quickly, this is part of Sister Jergensen's training: She did a training about the first miracle recorded from Christs' Ministry and related it to Repentance: 

It is when there was a wedding in Cana and Christ showed up and there was no wine at this wedding. Wine is like comparable to food at a wedding reception today. 

1 And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there:

2 And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage.

3 And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine.

4 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come.

(read the footnote for verse 4)

5 His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.

Christs' relationship with his mother was so precious. His mother knew who he was and what he could perform

6 And there were set there six water pots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece.

firkin=about 9 gallons. This is the Jews Purification method.

7 Jesus saith unto them, Fill the water pots with water.And they filled them up to the brim.

Christ said to not empty out the dirty water, but to refill them to the top. When more water is filled that stirs around the dirt from the bottom

8 And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bare it.

the servants are probably like, wait...what??

9 When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom,

make sure you notice the ;) face...the servants were the only ones that knew about this miracle of turning dirty water into wine.

10 And saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now.

It wasn't just wine, it was the best wine

11 This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee,and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him.

So, what can we learn from this miracle performed by Jesus Christ? The Savior can turn the worst into the best. No matter the mistakes we have made, the things that have gone wrong in our life, the Savior and His Atonement can make up. He won't just make us an OK person, the Atonement can allow us to become the best person--the person our Father in Heaven wants us to become! So, what does repentance mean to you? How can we use the Atonement everyday in our lives?
I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!  Have a great week!
Sister Haacke

 Sister Wang and I.

I love Taiwan!
 

 New Year Eve dinner.

 

Taipei

 Lilly and her son and another member at the reception.

  

Duan Jiemei, Ding Ling, Duan JM's daughter.

 Us visiting Lilly and her parents and her neighbor.

 

 Another one from the wedding.