Weirdest Day of the Mission

My dear family and friends! 

SHOUT OUT TO LEXUS! Congrats on getting engaged! I am so excited for you!!!!

What another great week it has been in the field. I don't know how I am going to be able to express everything that occurred this week. 

For Sunday, You'll have to wait until I return home to hear all about this day. It's fuuny, leaving our house Sunday morning, Sister Wong prayed we would be able to see miracles today and, literally Sunday, was the craziest most weirdest day of my entire mission. I think it beats the day where the baptismal font collapsed in YuLi, Typhoons, etc...everything :)  

But, what I will write about Sunday, we saw a lot of success at church today! We had Zhou Ming Yu and her two boys come again. This woman and her boys will for sure be baptized in the next few months. Zhou JM wants it more than anything. The only time though that she has to meet is on Sunday so we can't teach her the lessons very fast. Jian DiXiong and Yan JieMei also came to church for the first time with their 1 year old son. And May also came!! 

Sunday evening, a woman, Li JieMei, who moved from my previous area, Tao4, about the same time I did to SanChong dedicated her home last night. She came up to me in church and invited us to go and she said a lot of Tao4 members were going to be there. So when we went, I walked in and everyone freaked out! It was so so funny! It was super exciting! I am so grateful I was able to see a lot of the members in whom I loved so much one last time because I never really had an opportunity to say goodbye to any of them as it was a surprise to me when I got the call to transfer and train. It was a great dedication. 

Sunday night, we visited Li Xun and one of her daughters, Kim. Rui Cong came with us. It was a great small FHE. Kim is really starting to open up!!!

Saturday was the first day of no rain for about the last 2 weeks! It was literally a miracle from above!!! We met with a new investigator who came to English class for the first time this last week. She brought her 14 year old son!! The son has been to a Christian church before but she has never been. We shared with them about the Plan of Salvation and eternal families. I think it really hit home for them. They were willing to set some baptismal dates. Church will be a bit faith tester for them since it is so early in the morning and Sunday is their only day they can sleep in though :) Saturday night, we had a little Easter activity at the church with the LuZhou Ward. LuZhou ward actually hosted it but invited us missionaries and our investigators. It was fun to dye eggs, have a little Easter egg hunt for a chapel tour, and some American pancakes for a little dinner :)

Friday: Part of Friday has to do with the Sunday story, which will just have to wait because it is so long.

Friday, we had a cool finding experience. It was raining, and we were walking on this road. I decided to turn down this lane and when we turned down, there was no one down it. I thought, why did we decide to turn down here, then, just as I was about to turn back, this man comes up and says are you Christian? Yep, we started talking and he became a great potential investigator. He is Christian as well, hasn't been to church for a while.  The Lord really leads us to the people who we need to come in contact with!! 

Thursday we had trainer-trainee follow-up meeting in Taipei. 

Wednesday: Had a really neat experience with our investigator Liu Zu Mei. She is the one in the wheelchair. She has been pretty sick and we taught her about the priesthood and the power the priesthood has. We asked her if she wanted to have a priesthood blessing. Well, we set it up on Wednesday afternoon. Due to some meetings in Taipei, a set of LuZhou elders ended up coming and doing it for her. But, I know it was Elder Anderton and Simonson who needed to come and do this blessing. We had a really good short, powerful lesson on faith and how according to our faith, God will answer our prayers. This woman is a woman who says she doesn't have any faith. haha So it was a really powerful experience. We gave her the blessing and the Spirit was so strong. Her home was literally filled. It was the greatest feeling ever. Words cannot describe this experience. No, her sickness wasn't immediately taken from her and she is still dealing with it, but I know this blessing gave her the strength to continue forward and endure through her life's challenges. 

When I first met Liu Zu Mei, I thought she was the cutest, most innocent lady. Well, as we have began teaching her, her little 'other' side has come out. haha She is so funny, sarcastic, but also has some really strong opinions. I can't wait for you all to have the chance to meet her. 

Tuesday, we had President interviews. Those are always so good 

Monday: For p-day, Sister Wong and I went to this Frozen exhibit. So neat. Frozen is still HUGE here! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yesterday was so special being able to celebrate Easter. Christ's Resurrection. I came across these scriptures this morning in my personal study and I thought they were so applicable to today. 2 Nephi 25:12-13:

 12 But, behold, they shall have wars, and rumors of wars;and when the day cometh that the Only Begotten of the Father, yea, even the Father of heaven and of earth, shall manifest himself unto them in the flesh, behold, they will reject him, because of their iniquities, and the hardness of their hearts, and the stiffness of their necks.
 13 Behold, they will crucify him; and after he is laid in a sepulcher for the space of three days he shall rise from the dead, with healing in his wings; and all those who shall believe on his name shall be saved in the kingdom of God.Wherefore, my soul delighteth to prophesy concerning him, for I have seen his day, and my heart doth magnify his holy name.

Nephi has just finished recording Isaiah's prophesies and bears his strong testimony about the Savior. I love how Nephi explains his soul delighted in the fact he was able to prophesy about the coming, death, and resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for this opportunity I have been given that I can wear Christ's name on my chest. The time continues to fly by. I am so grateful for this opportunity I have to represent Him. Like Nephi, my soul truly delights in this work of salvation. The Lord is truly on the MOVE and He needs us as his servants to work our hardest to bring all who will listen unto Him! 

I love you all!! Have a great week!!

ALSO SHOUT OUT TO MARISSA!!! YOU'RE 16!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TODAY (FOR ME) TOMORROW (FOR YOU)!! I LOVE YOU!!! 

GRANDPA H.: I also want to wish you a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! On Tuesday! Have a great day! Love you! 

Family, also thanks for the Easter package full of sweets! It was a great surprise! I love you all, mom, I loved your note and that quote. Exactly what I needed to read! LOVE YOU

LOVE YOU!

Sister Haacke 

 So, when we visited as a family when we lived in China, we took a picture right here, well, the characters have now changed but other than that its the same!

 

 After giving the blessing to LiuZuMei.

 LiuZuMei (above and below).

 

 

 

 

 All my Tao4 and Tao3 members in whom I love so very MUCH!

 

 

Rain!

My dear family and friends!!

To start, I loved reading all the emails I received today! Wow, getting emails from my previous companions who are now home living their lives is so crazy. Glad you are all doing great! Love and miss you all! 

Family, thank you for all the chocolate I received this week! I'll be sure to share it! Also, please tell Jennie another thanks for hauling my extremely heavy suitcase back to the states. That is so nice of her. Yes, you can just put it in my room and I'll go through it when I return. Sounds like everyone is staying busy with activities.  Marissa, congratulations on your first tennis matches! Lachlan, with basketball! Have so much fun this week during Spring Break! 

As for another week in SanChong. We continue to see miracles. Heavenly Father gives us a miracle every day. We just need to keep our eyes open and not allow our pride to get in the way! This week it rained extremely hard on and off. Pretty much it was a week of constant rain. Because of the rain, it made finding a bit harder because not very many people were on the street, but we used this time to contact and visit some less actives in which we saw so many miracles and met some great people. 

Monday: We celebrated our mission leader, Hong Rui Cong's birthday by going to an American restaurant in Taipei and eating cake. Monday night, we ate dinner with a family in our ward whose dad is a less active. We had some really good hot pot! 

Tuesday: We met with Joy. She is not progressing as fast as she was a few weeks ago. She still has a baptismal goal but her biggest concern is coming to church at 8:30 in the morning. She has many excuses we are trying to help her overcome right now. Tuesday night, we also met with a LA, Zhang Guo Cui. She has been on and off LA for the last few years. Well, we went into her apartment and it smelt really bad like cigarettes. There were lighters all over but we couldn't find any packs of cigarettes.  We shared about the spirit and what we can do to feel the Spirit more in her life. We also met with her later in the week and talked about obedience. She never confessed to smoking and committed to coming to church, which she didn't but we will continue working with her. 

Wednesday: We went and met with the beloved Liu Zhu Mei in whom we met last Sunday in the park. She is so amazing. She has had a really hard life and has a lot of negative thoughts and opinions but shows a lot of interest in learning more. We had English class and also met with Bruce afterwards! We haven't been able to meet with him for a while and now he has some more time while he is waiting to hear back from a company in ZhongLi whether or not he got the job there. Tonight, we shared the Plan of Salvation with him. He totally understands it and has a huge desire. He wants to be baptized! When we asked him what he needs to do now to prepared to go to the Celestial Kingdom, he responded by saying following the example of Jesus Christ and being baptized! 

Thursday: During finding, we met the cutest midget, Cai Jm. She is a high school student and her chain was stuck in her bike, so, after getting my hands all black, and helping her out, we were able to share a little message and invite her to English class. We also met a lady named Grace who had a crazy experience with prayer about 10 years ago. She had gone into an interview for a job and then was told a few days later she didn't get the job. After being told this news, she said a prayer and literally 5 minutes after saying that prayer, she got another phone call saying that they changed and the man couldn't do the job anymore so she got the position. A few months later, she found out it was because this man got in a car accident. She thought it was her fault because she asked God to help her get this job and she thought that is what caused the car accident. Well, she said a prayer with us tonight and set a baptismal date! 

Friday: While contacting, we met a man. Huang DX. He was waiting outside of a doctors office. We ended up having a lesson with him. He comes from a Buddhist background but has experience with Christians. He currently mostly takes care of his parents. He loved the message we shared about our church. We invited him to baptism and he said he is waiting for the day his parents pass away so there won't be conflict between the two religions. But, he said he wants to continue learning more! As we went to set a time to meet, we realized he didn't live in our area but lives in the neighboring area. We were really sad...BUT, team Jesus!! We also went and stopped by Chen Xi's home. Her abusive husband just moved out and she is much happier. The only thing now is she is going to have to pay all the bills and she doesn't have the funds to do that yet. She wont be able to come to the church for a few weeks because she got a cleaning job Sunday mornings for the next month or so. We also met with Bruce again and shared the gospel of Jesus Christ! Bruce has been praying everyday but he hasn't been reading. Well, today, we found out he wasn't reading because we didn't clearly tell him that reading everyday is what will help him understand more fully our message and that the Book of Mormon is true. (Yep, we aren't perfect teachers!) When we asked him if he would read every night, he readily accepted and I'm excited to follow up with him! We also shared with him the importance of church and committed him to church this week. 

Saturday: It DOWN POURED this morning. Like literally cats and dogs. I don't think I have seen such a down pour in a very long time. Today, we went LA finding, we went and knocked on a door and got let in through the security. When we went in, only the mom was home--her two kids are the less actives. She told us one of them is currently working in Australia and the other one was at work. We asked if we could come in and share a short message with her. She did. As we were just about to close, her son, the LA, walks in from work and we were able to meet him. We learned that their dad is very against the church and missionaries. In fact, he doesn't even know that two of his kids got baptized. Su Bo Yang (the LA) used to attend church but then about a year and a half ago when he did his required military service he couldn't go and then now he has been busy trying to find work. Saturday night, we had a small ward activity put on my us missionaries and Su Bo yang came!!! 

SUNDAY: Literally, the miracles FLOWED in today. An LA, Wu Shu Min, who we have been working with for about a month or so came to church for the first time in forever! AND Bruce came!!!!  AND Zhou Ming Yu and her two boys. 

I am not sure if I wrote about Zhou JM a few weeks ago, but she is a friend of an LA in our ward and her friend told her to start going to church. Well, today she came for all three hours and then we shared a lesson with her after church. Today we shared about the restoration. Zhou Jm is coming from a background of knowing nothing about the church but desires so much for her boys to have successful lives. We shared the restoration with her today and invited her to baptism. She didn't even think twice about setting a date. We set a date for April 16th. She is worried she won't be ready by then but was willing to set that as a date. We can only meet with her on Sundays so we will see what happens!! 

We also ate dinner with our relief society president and her two cute boys Sunday night and had FHE with them. 

This week was great. I continue to love every second. Despite the challenges :) Missionary work is absolutely AMAZING! I can't believe how fast time is flying by. I am soaking it all in these last weeks! I love it so much!!

I hope you all have a great week! 

LOVE YOU!

Sister Haacke 

 Liu Zhu Mei--I forgot to send this last week, I think.

 

Rui Cong and Sister Wong and I celebrating his birthday!

 Rui Congs birthday.  (Above and next two.)

 

 Monday night dinner with the Huang Family.

 Look at this rain!

Ye JM and her boys.

Last Transfers of the Mission

FAMILY AND FRIENDS!

How great it is to be a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It's such a blessing. 

We had some pretty big changes this week in the mission. We said goodbye to 18 missionaries--most of them I have either served with or have become some of my very good friends. Included in that group was Sister Cardon and Elder Payne who was serving here in SanChong. It was weird to say goodbye. I don't know if you remember but about 2 years ago I was at Lachlan's football game with dad and we were driving to go get some food and we read on the news that 2 missionaries in this mission has passed away to Carbon Monoxide. Well, the one who was from Springville, Utah, Elder Thredgold would have finished his mission this transfer. He was Elder Payne's companion in the MTC. SanChong was also the area in which the Carbon Monoxide accident occurred so he was talked about a little at church and remembered. I am so grateful for the Plan of Salvation. 

The Elders area in SanChong also got whitewashed and so Elder Luther is training a new missionary, Elder Smith (who is from Highland, UT). It is fun to have two training companionship's in the same ward! 

And with the new transfer, this starts my 12th and final transfer of my mission. It is so strange but I am looking forward to the next 6 weeks and the miracles that will come. 

Some neat miracles from this last week:

Last Monday, Sister Wong and I were at the dongxi store (a store full like STUFFED of random stuff) we were there buying a goodbye gift for Elder Payne and as we were checking out, Sister Wong was in front, then a couple, and then me. This couple was speaking perfect English to each other and it sounded like the man was from America. Well, he turned back to me and asked if we were the LDS Missionaries. He went on to say that he is a member of the church but hasn't been to church in an extremely long time. He is from Hawaii and is currently working here in Taiwan. He doesn't speak any Chinese but his girlfriend is Taiwanese so translates everything for him. :) As we got talking, he said he knows a girl from our ward who is about to get married and it has brought him to think about possibly coming back to church! We invited him and his girlfriend to come. Later that night, we sent him a text telling him we were so grateful we were able to meet him. And he responded by saying that it was such a coincidence that we met and that he and his girlfriend might come to church in 2 or 3 weeks! We found, well really he found us, a long lost LA!

It sounds like the weather was about the same here as it was in Idaho. This week was pretty rainy. So not many people were out on the street. BUT, Sunday afternoon, there were a few hours where it was really nice. So, we hit up our favorite finding spot by the CaiLiao MRT station and we ended up having a pretty long lesson with the cutest Liu JieMei I have ever met. Liu JM has been handicapped her whole life. She has a bone disease and is in a wheelchair. She has no legs, lives on her own, does everything on her own too--showers, cooks, etc. She has no family to care for her. She has the cutest personality. From the second we said hi to her, her face lighted up! We shared with her the Plan of Salvation. At first, she told us that God doesn't love her because she is constantly in pain, and hasn't had a very happy life--it has just been really boring. She thinks that God hasn't been very fair to her. We shared the Plan of Salvation and really emphasized the point that she will be able to be resurrected and receive a perfect body. This brought her to tears. I love this woman more that anything. We are scheduled to go to her home this next week. Such a wonderful opportunity and miracle Heavenly Father gave us! 

This week we also had our big English Party. We went all out this transfer--making a big story line, dressing up, having props and decorations, etc. It took a lot of time to put together but the results were incredible. So many people posted about it on FB and other internet sites which really advertised our English Class and the church! We had students telling us they will be bringing their friends and family next week! We had a cowboy themed party. 

Funny Story: Sister Bowman (dad you ate with her that one time with Sister Wright) is currently serving in SongShan and Sister Wong and I helped out with a big Temple Tour on Saturday for their ward. On Friday when we were training for this tour she told me that just a few days ago as they were contacting on the street, she started talking to a woman and she said that she knew about her church, and that she said that she knows a man, (Dad, she called you the Melaleuca Man) who has a daughter serving in Taiwan and that he told her that whenever she saw missionaries that she needs to take care of them and protect them! Thanks dad! haha      

AND on Saturday as we were in Taipei doing the temple tour, GUESS WHO I SAW?!?!? FAN ZHU SONG! He is my first convert. The man who I taught with Sister Fisher in TouFen and then got baptized! I haven't seen him in so long! He has changed so much. He had just gotten doing baptisms with some members in his ward. He is currently living in Taoyuan.  

I am so grateful for this opportunity to serve. It has strengthened my testimony so much. I have learned and grown in ways I never knew I could. I love studying the scriptures. They are such a strength to me and teach us what we must to in order to have the most joy and happiness on earth and what we must do in order to receive eternal happiness. I love this work. I love Taiwan! 

Have a great week!

Sister Haacke

 Dinner on Tuesday.

 

 Dinner on Thursday with the new Elders.

 

 English party (above and below).

 

 

 

P-day last week!

After church yesterday.

  

FAN ZHU SONG!

Thanks For Your Prayers

What a week full of tender mercies. I Don't even know where to begin. If you haven't noticed, the last few weeks have been some of the hardest weeks of my mission for me. I have been hit with some hard challenges. I have been praying so hard and Heavenly Father really answered my prayers this week. I am so  blessed. Heavenly Father loves me! I am also so grateful for my challenges. I'm telling you, challenges are SO hard but when we continue to endure, and continue to show our effort, Heavenly Father will deliver us. I am so grateful. 

There are so many tender mercies and miracles I can share about this week. So, I will try and use my time as best as I can and share as much as I can.  

Saturday: It was Sister Wong and my turn to head up to Taipei and do temple tours for the day. Temple Tours always bring so many miracles. We started the day off nice and early with a group of 10 little kids. Yep, there was a ward up from TaiZhong who brought several of their friends who are non members and we split, the adults and the kids up and had two separate tours, so while one companionship of sisters was giving a tour to the adults, Sister Wong and I were able to give a 'tour' to the kids. We played picture bingo with all the pictures in the chapel and did a fun little biyu with them with orange juice and dirt...that baptism can clear us of all the dirt :) 

The Taoyuan stake was also in Taipei for their temple day. As I was helping a group take a picture, I looked outside and GUESS WHO I SAW?!?! Sister Cardon and the Han Family! I starting freaking out! Hurry and helped the group take the picture and ran outside to meet them! The Han family is the family that I worked with in NanKan. Han DiXiong got baptized the day after I got transferred from that area. It was so good to see him. They came up and did baptisms as a family, Lily (daughter) and Han JieMei and Han DiXiong and Lily brought her cute little son. It was seriously the best thing ever. They ended up doing a tour with us and it was the best thing ever. Lily has all the pictures so when she sends them to me, I will be sure to send them on. And, I love sister Cardon. she finishes her mission this week. Absolutely insane. Time literally flies. 

Then, the elders from our area brought up the front desk lady from our apartment. Over the last few weeks, we have become really good friends with her. Aundria is 20 years old but is literally the most mature person I have ever met. And she speaks perfect English. She is currently working full time, going to college, and trying to live a fun life. We had a great tour with her and talked mostly about the temple. She is also willing to allow the missionaries to contact her in the area where she lives! I am so excited to see what happens! 

We had a few other tours in between and then our investigator, Joy (Chen Qiao Pei) came and did a tour and she brought a friend--Nancy!! We talked about the life of Christ and about the Temple! I am so grateful we are able to work with Joy! She is so adorable. She did find a job and starts it today so she can only meet with us on the weekends now but she is still progressing great! And her friend, became a potential investigator! 

During their tour, another of our new investigators, Bruce, called us and said that he was at the church and wanting to do a tour. We had our first lesson with him on Friday (I'll explain more in a minute) and just invited him if he wanted to come up and do a tour. Well, he did. So we asked him to wait for a few minutes and when we were finished with Joy and Nancy, we gave Bruce a tour. We met him through English class. On Wednesday when new people come to English class, they fill out a simple paper about themselves and then at the very bottom it asks if they have interest in learning more about the church. Well, English class was crazy on Wednesday--we had so many new students and at the end, we didn't have a chance to talk to all of them-including him. Thursday, as we were going through and organizing the English papers, we noticed that he marked that he had interest, so we gave him a call on Thursday and set up for Friday. Our lesson on Friday was so good. He has SO many questions and  has so much interest. He set a baptismal date goal and committed to church (which in the end, he accidentally slept in and texted us during second hour saying he was so sorry and would come next week). Well, we gave him a tour mostly about the temple and why we have them. Bruce has so many good questions. They really make me think. They are so good though. I can't wait to continue meeting with him! 

Then, Saturday night 10:15 PM, I am getting ready for bed and we got a call from an unknown number. Someone named Gao JieMei. I couldn't figure out who it was although she said that I had called her before. I looked through all the former records, potential records and couldn't figure out who she was. Well, on the phone, she said that she has a friend named Zhou JieMei who wants to go to church tomorrow and bring her two sons. I was really confused but super excited at the same time. Well, this Zhou JM ended up coming the last hour. We were just about to sit down in Relief Society and a member comes in saying there is a lady looking for me. I run out and say, "Are you Zhou JM ma?" Yes, it was. Well, she came the last hour and we met with her after church. She told us the full name of the lady who referred her and I still couldn't put a name to a face. We gave her a Book of Mormon and set up a time next Sunday to share more. She has two really active, crazy sons who are 9 and 10 years old! I love them already so much. After looking through the ward list and asking our ward mission leader and a few other people about this Gao JM, I figured out that she is a Less Active! Yep, this less active who has been less active for about 10 years or so referred her friend to the church. This Zhou JieMei is really worried about her boys. She fills like they are not growing up in a good lifestyle so she fills like she needs a change and church is the answer! I am so excited to meet with her!!

And then to add on top of that, Sister Lindsay (my MTC companion) called us Sunday night and gave us a member referral of a girl who attended church in their ward on Sunday with her friend. Sister Lindsay and Xiao JieMei met with her after church, set a baptismal date with her and then learned that she lives in SanChong. So, they called us last night and gave us this golden referral. What a tender mercy and miracle. 

It was so crazy because Sunday afternoon, we met with a man who we met last week on the street and set a baptismal goal with him and then found out he lives in LuZhou. So, we are going to have to give him over and then the Lord blesses us with someone just like the referral we sent. So crazy!

We also had exchanges with our Sister Training Leaders on Tuesday and Wednesday. It was fun being in their area and serving with Sister Juarez. I absolutely love her! We had Zone Meeting on Tuesday and talked about working better with ward members and receiving referrals from them. 

While finding this week, we met this super cute grandma, Zhao JM. She is 61 years old and introduced herself by saying she only has 3 1/2 teeth. She is so sarcastic and made me laugh SO hard! She said she was going to come to church with us and when we called her Saturday night she remembered but she never showed up. So we will see about this next week. I love Zhao JM.

Quick fun fact: Last Monday was Leap Day right? Well, everyone in Taiwan has the day off from work on Leap Day...so it was so busy. We met up with some other sister missionaries and had some plans to go see this cute Frozen Exhibit but the line was a few hours wait and we didn't have time for that...so we just took a picture with Elsa. 

Here a just a few of the tender mercies from this last week. I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father. Honestly, thank you so much for all the prayers in my behalf. I could really fill them this week. I know all those prayers are being answered!  

Thank you all so much!! 

Have a great week!! 

Love,

Sister Haacke 

PS..Sorry for picture overload...are you ready!?!

 There was a new member fireside last night in taipei..saw elder Aiono!

 

 We took Lin Ru Yan and Anee Wang with us to the fireside.

 May, Sister Wong and I. May is the Elders investigator. 

Isn't he the CUTEST!?!?

 Meet BRUCE!

HuiLong members on the MRT.

 Cute girls rollerskating outside the church in Taipei--JinHua Jie.
 

Aundria--our apartment front desk lady.

 Meet Joy and Nancy!
 

Tian Xin is a member in a ward from Taipei who wanted a tour from us. She is the cutest thing in the world. Is 16 and is my example!

 Han DX and Didi sleeping!
 

 I saw Xie JieMei from Nankan!!

 Meet Zhao JieMei--the grandma who has 3 1/2 teeth :)
 

 Jiu from NanKan!

 Exchanges with Sister Training Leaders!
  

 ZhuaBing!
  

 Xiao JieMei. Sister Lindsay trained her. She is a visa waiter and just got her visa to go to Washington! She leaves Taiwan tomorrow.

 Preparation Day

 

 FHE at bishop's.

 Preparation Day!