Sister Samantha Haacke: Transfered With A Familiar Face

GOOD MORNING FROM NANKAN! Yes, I got transferred this last week! I am now serving in NanKan, TaoYuan! I was welcomed into a big ward (the first ward I have served in Taiwan-the only two branches Sisters serve in (out of three) I got to serve in!) filled with kids and families. I felt like I was at home! It was crazy!! AND even bigger news, SISTER CARDON AND I ARE COMPANIONS AGAIN! She is what is called by 'breaker' because I was companions with her right after getting out of training and now we have the wonderful opportunity to serve together again!!

This past week's highlights:

Monday night I got the call that I was leaving YuLi. It was a really sad call because I didn't want to leave the friendships and relationships I have created there. I learned so much from the people. They are so humble. They don't have much but happily live their lives as best they can. It was hard to say goodbye, but goodbye isn't forever. I know I will see these people again!

Tuesday, we had district meeting and during district meeting we got a call from a number that wasn't saved in our phone. We decided to answer and to our surprise, it was a former investigator Ma JieMei! She works at a fruit stand and is from Indonesia but married a Taiwanese. She stopped investigating the church because the temple Gods told her she needed to stop. BUT she called us and told us she really missed us and wanted to meet with us again. So right after district meeting we had about 30 minutes so we went over and said hello to her and shared a little scripture with her. She had her Book of Mormon out and had even read a little bit about it. We read Moroni's promise with her and invited her to start reading the Book of Mormon daily! HUGE MIRACLE! After, Sister Coleman and I took the train and spent the rest of Tuesday in RuiSui. We visited Lai JM and followed up about why she wasn't at church and visited the family we are teaching. Tonight, we taught Zhong JiaTing the Plan of Salvation and the Word of Wisdom. They we very curious about the Word Of Wisdom and had already asked so many questions about it so we decided to teach it to them. Lai JM wants her husband to give up all the addictive substances he has--bettle nut, cigarettes, and tea. Zhong DX seemed pretty embarrassed about it but I think it created a desire in him to give it up. We also set a baptismal date for their whole family!! For January 23, 2016!!! It was really hard saying goodbye to them but I know they will continue to progress and learn!

Since transfer meeting was on Thursday, we had to take the 12:00 train on Wednesday up to Taipei. Sister Parkin was my temporary companion and we spent the hour we had in Taipei English boarding and talking to people on the street. We were also asked to help with the English Party for a zone up in Taipei.

THEN TRANSFER MEETING: So, this transfer meeting was one of the biggest transfer meetings so far in the mission. In fact, most of the missionaries in our mission were present due to the fact of getting a new companion. We welcomed in so many new missionaries and visa waiters going to the United States. But, we also said goodbye to so many amazing missionaries. There were so many of the Sisters that I have served with who faithfully completed their mission. One of those including my trainer, Sister Fisher. It was another hard goodbye but a good one too! Transfer meeting was one full of excitement and huge changes. As mentioned above, I am now companions with Sister Cardon in NanKan. In Taoyuan county. It is a big change from serving most of my mission in small towns. There are huge 30+ story buildings, huge buses honking their horns driving down the street, motor scooters EVERYWHERE, BUT I LOVE IT! Nankan is also the Sister Training Leader area so I took on some new responsibilities as a missionary. I am nervous for this calling to serve but I am excited to be able to exchange and learn from all the Sisters here in Taoyuan!

We've had a crazy last few days. Thursday, we spent the night making street contacts (I am starting to get used to that--there are so many people here). We met a cute couple who live out of our area but are really interested in learning. We also met a new investigator named Jennifer who is a psychology major and so we had a really good conversation on how we know the difference between our own feelings and the feelings of the Spirit. Thursday night we also met with a rc/la named Ruby. She is adorable but would rather go and adventure with her family on Sunday then come to church..

Friday we had a day full of finding and a few lessons. Recently the investigators in this area were all dropped so we are really focusing on rebuilding up our investigator pool. We spent pretty much the whole day out on the street wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and sharing the real reason why we celebrate Christmas.We saw some really cool miracles. We stopped and talked to this man, Wu DX, he is a young man in his 20's just getting off of work. He grew up Christian but hasn't attended church since his younger years. He is really interested in learning more and we are planning to meet with him tonight at 7! We also got some really neat potential numbers who we are hoping to follow-up with this next week. During the day, we met with a pretty new investigator, Zhang JM. She is really involved in the community and I know would make a great member! She is planning on coming to church this coming Sunday for the first time. Hopefully that will happen!

Saturday! MY first day doing temple tours! So, each transfer the sisters who serve closer to the temple in Taipei have a day where they go and be the Temple Tour Sisters. So, we spent the whole day on our feet giving tours to members, non-members, RC's and LA's. It was neat and the miracles we saw were incredible. A senior couple in our mission brought one of their potential investigators in and we had a great tour with him about the life of Christ and the Restoration. The Spirit was so strong during this tour. Especially when we recited Joseph Smith's first Vision experience. It was really neat! AND, at the very end, we invited him to baptism and he ACCEPTED! We figured out where he lived and sent that referral right away to the Missionaries in that area! We also gave a tour to a newly wed couple who the husband is a 2 year member and his wife is getting baptized on Saturday! We gave a tour on Temple Marriage and they are excited that next December, they will be able to enter the Temple together and be sealed for time and all eternity.

Sunday was crazy. Our Church starts at 2 but will change to 8:30 at the new year. So, I had my first set of studies on Sunday yesterday! We then biked for about 20 minutes to get to the church and had meetings, met a few members. During Sacrament meeting they had a cute Christmas program. After church a member, Qiu JM, opened her mission call and she is going to the Leades, England mission speaking English! She reports to the MTC in March! It brought me back to the time when I opened mine. She wasn't in tears and shaking as bad as me but she was super excited! What an exciting time for her and her family! Sunday night, our ward had it's Christmas party. Our ward, Tao 4 split this last year--just a few weeks/month ago so we had a combined Christmas party with Tao 3 and Tao 4. It was really fun! They sure do know how to throw on a party! There were games and activities and a fun gift exchange!

MY time is about up so I can't write much more but I CANT WAIT FOR CHRISTMAS!!! LOVE YOU ALL!

Sister Haacke