I suppose this is it.

Like for reals though.  It really doesn't feel like I'm going anywhere anytime soon,  but alas, my time seems to be coming to a close.  I really don't know what to say.  I love my life.  This has literally been the hardest and more rewarding thing I have ever done in my life.  I'm eternally grateful for the push that Heavenly Father gave to come out here.  Although the starts were were bumpy, He didn't give up on me and made sure I made it out and stayed out.  I will forever remember and use the things I learned out here.  I love the people I've met and come to love.  Still have another week, so really as of now nothing has really changed, but I hope I don't have a freak out the moment I'm legit released because I feel like it won't really hit me until that moment.  Well, we will see what the future brings.

See ya'll soonish

Sister Hsu

Don't know what to say.

Really though, every time I know I need to start writing this email. I just don't know what to say.  Hahaha.  Sister Olsen and I are doing pretty good over here.  We are just doing our best and learning together.  Sister Olsen's Chinese improves incredibly quick.  I might need to be a little nicer to her about it.  She knows I think her Chinese is already awesome, but I am a little strict when it comes to tones.  It's a tonal language!  Haha.  But seriously, other than the whole, she is learning Chinese thing, it doesn't feel like I am training her at all, she is super on top of it.  50/50 companionship!  Super good.

Sister Olsen's first time trying Stinky Tofu (wasn't her favorite)

Other than that, we got to go back to secret beach last P-Day, only this time it somehow became a ward event.  It was super cool to be with everyone.  Sister Berrey and Sister Johnston from Xiaogang also came with us.  (We got to eat super delicious Mango Ice after.  I'm gonna miss that)

Yea, the beach. Pretty awesome.

And of course, there was the great event of Jim's older sister getting baptized!  So great!  

Lynn was baptized!

Last but not least, General Conference.  Oh man, I don;t know that I have even been so excited to watch General Conference.  I never wanted it to end.  Hearing the words of the prophet and apostles is such a great blessing and a source of strength and direction.  There were talks that could help our investigators, talks that could help family and talks that definitely helped me.  I'm glad I prayed and prepared myself beforehand so that when the answers came, I knew immediately that it was for me.  

Okay, well tootles till next week,

Sister Hsu

So weird.

We had ZTM early this month.  Our April ZTM ended up being held at the end of March and I was asked to prepare my reflection. (Reflection: a short share that a soon-to-be-returning-home missionary gives in a meeting about what they earned over the course of their mission.)  I felt like it was way too soon.  It wasn't even April yet!  In all honesty I have been dreading my reflection for a while.  Not because it marks the end of my mission but because I feel like I don't really have anything good to share that previous missionaries haven't already said really well.  It would be a dream come true if I didn't have to give an reflection and just quietly go back, and to not have to give a homecoming haha.  The hope is that people won't know when I left the mission and came home.  Hahahaha. 

Well other than that little tidbit, the work has been going on the same as usual!  (Only under a bigger and brighter sun)  We are still working hard to find some new investigators and help the ones we have to enter the waters of baptism.  I had a great opportunity last week to go on an exchange to Gangshan with Sister Lin.  It was so interesting seeing her lead an area and be a senior companion when the last time I worked with her was the first day she came on island and she was put in a tri-panionship with me and Sister Funk for a day until all the late Americans showed up. Hahaha.  It is amazing to see the change that a mission brings to people.

Well, not much time left to type.  Here are some pictures...

Went to a student art exhibition and found my favorite person, Xiang Xiang's piece. (A member from my last area)

This is a giant library.

We were hoping to be able to go in and check out the view from the roof. People said it's amazing, but of course it was closed on Monday, like everything else is. -.-

Sister Hsu 

More and More Mission!

We had a District Glasses Day last DTM

Had a great time this past week.  Sister Olsen and I were able to MLC (mission leader council) in Taizhong.  We really learned so much and have much higher hopes for the future of our mission.  I was able to gain much from that meeting and have even greater desires to to even more, even better.  I hope to put it all out there so that the Lord can use me when he needs me.  Other than that great experience, the rest of the week was fairly rough.  My physical strength seems to be waning and I'm really feeling it.  As much as it stinks, I'm an "old" missionary now.  And my body does not hesitate to remind me every day.  But!  despite the fatigue, we still go and and do the Lords work and it gives us much joy.

Language study time in the mothers room

Our weirdo Elders, doing weirdo things after English Proselyting. :P

Well, really don't know what else to say.  I love this ward, I love the work, I love Gaoxiong, and I love Taiwan.

Sister Hsu

Surprise!

Elder McDougal ended up in a tri-panionship with the Shizhong Elders for awhile. That was fun. That food was delicious.

Another week has gone by...  Hahahaha.

Well, what has happened.  Our mission got new missionaries!  Yay!  I think they are finally catching people up.  Slowly there are less and less visa waiters and hopefully soon, they will be coming straight from the MTC.  But, because of that, we had our P-Day on Friday.  Do you know what that means?!  It meant we could go to the zoo!  (Everything is closed on Mondays) So we did.  It was in our area so we didn't think it would be very hard to get to, but we soo discovered that it was on the top of the mountain... hahah, so we rode up a mountain to get to it.  Quite the adventure.  

That elephant wanted to eat the shrubbery outside it's enclosure, more than what was inside his enclosure. That mountain goat stood up and started scratching itself with its horn. The picture of the ape actually makes me a little sad. As much as I love zoos and like to see exotic animals, it makes me also feel like they should be with their animal friends in the wild. (That's the animal enthusiast in me coming out.)

On another note, both Elder Dayley and Elder Heaton have started training new Elders in Lingya!  So crazy!  Even more crazy it the awesome 5 person baptism that Lingya had on Saturday night.  (1 eight year old and 4 investigators)  It was a really cool baptismal service.  There were so many people in white! (But because there were so many people scrambling to get the pictures they wanted with the people the wanted, I was unable to take any.  But that's okay.

We had Sister Lin with us as a tri-panionship, until hers got to Gaoxiong and also invited the Xiaogang Sisters to go with us. (BTW that Llama is not dead, just has a weird haircut and is resting. Hahaha)

Well.  I think that is all for now.

Sister Hsu

P.S. 

I somehow have become a Sister Training Leader for the zone sisters. Weird.  Wish me luck!  Hahaha

Well now, Week 1 of the move-call is back.

Its the start of another move-call and big changes are coming!  Elder Wadley goes to the mission office today in preparation to go home.  His companion Elder McDougal will be leaving Lingya.  This means that Lingya will be back down to one companionship of Elders.  Elder Dayley will be leaving to an unknown place with a new missionary on Friday.  Super big changes in the district!  But, we are all still doing the same stuff.  Working hard and relying on the Lord.

Now what else is there to say...  Last week we have our Indiana Jones themed English Party, mainly because it was one of Elder Wadleys dreams to have a Harrison Ford related party on him mission hahaha.  It was a little crazy, but fun and I'd say a pretty large success.  Lots of families I hadn't seen before came.  The only downfall was that it was so busy, we didn't have much time to actually talk with any of them...  Hope they come back this Wednesday!

Our ward is getting split, so our area is also going to become a bit smaller and we will be having many of our beloved shizhong members become pioneers for the new ward.  They will be sorely missed, but it is also great to see that there are enough members to make a new ward.  Yay!

Okay, well I think that's really all for now.

Sorry no pictures this time, Sister Olsen and I haven't had many opportunities to take many.  Next time!

Sister Hsu

Power Week!

At lunch with some of my favorite girls

Complete.  Basically we had a week of finding challenges.  We didn't fully accomplish them but we did our best!  Love my companion Sister Olsen.  She really is a star missionary, so full of fire, faith, hope and diligence.  (A super good influence on me)  I'm glad to be on the good island of Taiwan with such an amazing companion, doing the work of the Lord.

We went to a beautiful secret beach 2 weeks ago

Update on my leg, it ending up blistering even more so I went to the hospital and officially told me it was a 2nd degree burn and gave me a cream.  The blister exploded a few days ago, and I now have a little portion of pick leg flesh exposed, but I think it is actually begging to heal.  Slowly but surely.  (I'll spare you the photos, they were gross)

Elder Teerlink's last Sunday in ShiZhong

We are hyping ourselves up for this coming week to be full of miracles!  Yeah!

Love ya'll

Sister Hsu

Move-call!

Started as a District photo and then some other Elders jumped in

I technically real move-call is in two weeks, but because our missions Visa waiters suddenly got their Visas so they flew in last Wednesday!  Yay!  So my new companion is Sister Olsen.  She served in Tempe, Arizona for four months and has now finally come to the good island of Taiwan.  She is super awesome.  already an incredible missionary.  She worked hard to keep up with her Chinese while she was in the states and you can tell.  I'm loving the opportunity to learn from her and help her adjust to the ways of Taiwan, but she is super willing and able, so it's not hard at all!

Well, that's really the biggest news for the week...

Oh and I got a second degree burn from a motor scooters exhaust pipe.  It didn't have one of those plastic covers that usually protect people from running into them.  It hurt really bad right after, but after a day it just got really dark and didn't hurt anymore...  Hopefully it doesn't scar...

The nasty burn on my leg. (The circle part is about 5cm in diameter)

Sister Hsu

P.S.  

Elder Teerlink and Elder Robinson are move.  They will be sorely missed.

Group selfie!

Happy Chinese New Year!

Yep, that's what this past week was.  Chinese New Year officially started on Wednesday, but the invitations to eat started on Tuesday.  Our members are really just too good to us.  So good that I've gained about 6lbs.  But it has been an amazing time.  I haven't thrown up once!  (I think I've gained experience from last year.  :) hahah.  I really just love it here!  I LOVE SHIZHONG!!!  Hahahaha!  Really a huge thanks and I love you to all those who had us over for dinner or 關心'd us this past week.

-I learned how to play MahJiang and it was amazing.  Love that game.  (Of course we don't gamble when we play)

-We left our bikes parked by the train station when we had to take the subway to a dinner appointment and when we got back all the stuff on my handle bars had been stolen. (2 lights and my bell)  Now we just have to yell a lot while we ride to have people not run into us.  Hahaha.

-Those no neck photos were inspired by Camille (the girl in the middle)  she was pro at it.  :)

-Gonna miss our ShiZhong duo .  Elder Teerlink and Elder Gordon because move-call is coming and Elder Gordon is done training, so someone is definitely gonna go.

Okay well, the work has been slow mainly in part to New Years, but we will be going full throttle this week!  Wish us luck! 

Love ya'll!

Sister Hsu

I just keep falling off my bike...

I don't know if I mentioned it last time, but the first time I ever had any sort or "bicycle incident" was after coming to ShiZhong.  I'm not blaming the area, I am just stating a fact.  The first time was when I was with Sister Olson, and miraculously I stepped off my bike before it could take me to the ground.  (May have mentioned that in a previous letter)  The second time was my own fault.  I was stepping off my bike "Ama" style to get off and start English Proselyting,  amd the ground which was way more slick than it looked, combined with my really of shoes that have no traction left on them resulted in me on the ground and my bike on top of me.  I came out with a skinned knee and scrapped foot.  (really not a big deal)  But yesterday!  I was actually in what would be considered a bicycle accident! I was riding fairly quickly on the bike lane on the way to church (we were running a little late)  and a man had apparently come up on the ramp to get onto the bike lane, but when I saw him, he had just appeared in front of me and was in the middle on the lane, I hit my brakes, and tried getting closer to the wall in the hopes that he would also move off to the other side, but he hadn't and we hit handlebars.  We both lost balance and he fell over in my direction, knocking me into the wall.  I put my hand out to keep myself from hitting the wall, and my other hand went ended up on the side of the mans arm, trying to hold him up and keep him from falling on top of me.  In the end it wasn't a serious accident, but all the while I was apologizing and asking if he was okay, and he didn't say anything, got his bike upright and rode off.  Other than a cut on my hand and knee, and fixing my bike chain, I was A-okay.  It was just a very strange experience.

My bike accident

Other than that, we also had Sister exchanges!  I went to SanMin with Sister Ko,  we came on island together.  She is great.  Had a really good time doing a lot of finding activities with her.

We also had a fun time with members and investigators writing spring couplets with calligraphy brushes.  I mainly was just practicing and trying to learn how to do it.  It was super hard.  But YOYO made me one.  It said...  羊年得意仕滿庭  basically, she wrote something that included my chinese name in it.  Looks super pretty.

yea, that's about it.  So good.

Sister Hsu

Sorry ya'll

No time for a report!  But know that I am still doing well and that today we will be going to costco for P-Day.  The end.  Hahaha.

Sister Hsu

P.S. 

Really though.  Doing great and I'm excited to gain a million pounds over Chinese New Year...

Move-Call!

Dinner with Members at LaBella

...came and went.  No one in our District moved.  More appropriate to say that the majority of our missionaries didn't move anywhere because once again, no new missionaries have come in.  It's looking pretty dismal, but all of us are still praying that they will be able to come soon.  But, good thing is, Chinese New Year is almost here!  Well, good and bad?  Good because it's a time full of love, friends, family and food.  Bad, because no one will want to be setting up with us to meet.  Hahah...hah. 

English Party and Friends!

Miracle!  We were tracting and tracted into a woman we had prayed for!  She not only let us in, she had great questions that only the restored Gospel has answers to.  That, and she set up to meet with us again at the church.  She didn't "fang" us!  The lesson went a bit long, and she may be a little bit too set in her own ideas, but I know that if she is willing to read and pray about the Book of Mormon with an open heart she will be able to feel the Holy Ghost testify to her that the message is true and of the importance of priesthood power.

More BOM Shots

We had lots of fun this past week.  with investigators and with members.  

P.S.  Jin Fang came to visit us!  It was so good to see her.  She's doing awesome, sharing the gospel wherever she goes.

-Sister Hsu

大家好!

Sister Porter hiding in the weird cupboard built into my study rooms bed frame...

Hey all,  It's been another interesting week of being a missionary.  Still just finding, finding and more finding.  We had an oddly successful week in terms of adding people on Facebook who were willing to learn a little more through facebook.  But so far everyone has been pretty 還好 (just okay, not super interested)  But we are gonna keep going for it.  Other than that It's just been the same old, same old and loving every minute of it.  

Me studying Chinese under my covers because our house is cold.

I know this time around I didn't share anything particularly interesting but that's mainly because I forgot to bring my planner with me, and I can't look at my notes for the week.  So I'm sure something cool happened, I just can't remember it right now.  Hahaha.

Love ya'll 

Sister Hsu

P.S.  I'm sick.  Again. WHYYYYYYYYYYY!?

I got my camera back! (It broke o I mailed it in and they sent me a new one) So I take corny pictures and send them to you. hahaha.

I'm running out of titles. Another week in the amazing Shizhong!

A crazy banana that a member gave us. Siamese Twin Banana!

This week was a lot like last week in the way that we are really spending a lot of time finding.We seem to be seeing a trend of finding, meeting and finding out they don't live in our area.  We are all on the same team I know, but it's been a bit hard not really having any investigators.  But it will be okay.  The Lord will lead us to those who are prepared to hear the Gospel and are ready to change.

Sister exchanges. Yep, that's ghosting a bike.

Yea, that's really it I guess.  Oh!  We did go on Sister exchanges.  Sister Lin came over here to Shizhong with me.  It was a good time.  Love being able to learn from more Sisters.  

We went to Monkey Mountain on Monday.

Love you all!

Sister Hsu

Always on the go!

Kat: Sorry, I seemed to have missed this one from January 4th...

We are so happy that our two good friends were baptized, but this also means to of our best investigators have become recent converts that and both of our other investigators couldn't meet this week.  So what does that mean?  Finding!  And lots of it!  But really, tons of finding activities this week.  I think this is the most concentrated finding I've done in a really long time.  But, it went way better than I expected it to.  We came up with a lot of different ways so we wouldn't get bored or too tired.  It went better than expected because it was fun, but also not as well as hoped(for the first half of the week anyway) because no one was interested in learning more about the gospel.  By the end of the week, the numbers of lessons we had were still in the single digits.  I had just about resigned myself to the idea, that we just weren't going to really have any lessons with people for the week, but we didn't give up!  We kept the fire going! And lo and behold, the miracles came.  By Saturday night, we had a full day of lessons set up for Sunday.  And the biggest miracle is all of them actually happened!  Not a single no-show and they were all great.  I don't know if all of them will become progressing investigators, but all the lessons we had were guided by the spirit and helped to to more fully understand the gospel of Jesus Christ.  I say a success.  

What have I learned from this experience?  When times get tough and you feel like there is no winning, go just a little bit further and put in just a bit more effort, and after the trial of faith and our faith is turned into action, the Lord is prepared to shower us with blessings.

Just Do It.  Haha.

Other than this amazing stuff, we were also able to do some service this week for a member who went out of town.  We went to her home and fed her cat and played with him for a little while (at her request) so he doesn't get too antsy.  It was fun.  I love animals.  :)

Sister Hsu

This week...

Red Squadron? (She provided me with two captions, but only one picture...)

I don't even know what to say...  more finding.  And those we found and had amazing lessons with either 1) Didn't want to meet again or 2) Live in Lingya (I'm in Shizhong)  I'm not complaining.  Just a little bit sad I suppose.  But!  It's okay!  Another week is beginning and we will find even more prepared people to meet with!  Prayers, Diligence and Faith week.  Hahaha.  What else happened?  Honestly it's all a bit of a blur.  But today we will be going to Monkey Mountain. Wish us luck!

Sister Hsu

P.S. Our fearless Red Leader (District Leader) is moving to Taizhong today.  He will be sorely missed.

They gave us the official copy of the Mission Christmas picture. Can you find me? Haha

Always on the go!

We are so happy that our two good friends were baptized, but this also means to of our best investigators have become recent converts that and both of our other investigators couldn't meet this week.  So what does that mean?  Finding!  And lots of it!  But really, tons of finding activities this week.  I think this is the most concentrated finding I've done in a really long time.  But, it went way better than I expected it to.  We came up with a lot of different ways so we wouldn't get bored or too tired.  It went better than expected because it was fun, but also not as well as hoped(for the first half of the week anyway) because no one was interested in learning more about the gospel.  By the end of the week, the numbers of lessons we had were still in the single digits.  I had just about resigned myself to the idea, that we just weren't going to really have any lessons with people for the week, but we didn't give up!  We kept the fire going! And lo and behold, the miracles came.  By Saturday night, we had a full day of lessons set up for Sunday.  And the biggest miracle is all of them actually happened!  Not a single no-show and they were all great.  I don't know if all of them will become progressing investigators, but all the lessons we had were guided by the spirit and helped to to more fully understand the gospel of Jesus Christ.  I say a success.  

What have I learned from this experience?  When times get tough and you feel like there is no winning, go just a little bit further and put in just a bit more effort, and after the trial of faith and our faith is turned into action, the Lord is prepared to shower us with blessings.

Just Do It.  Haha.

Other than this amazing stuff, we were also able to do some service this week for a member who went out of town.  We went to her home and fed her cat and played with him for a little while (at her request) so he doesn't get too antsy.  It was fun.  I love animals.  :)

Sister Hsu

White Christmas!

Jin Fang's Baptism

They did it!  Our two investigators were baptized and confirmed this last Saturday and Sunday.  They had separate baptisms and both were just so full of the Spirit.  Their testimonies were so powerful and I loved seeing the change that they allowed the gospel to make in their lives.  It was so good to see their friends, family and the ward members all come to support them.

Tania's Baptism

Other than this wonderful event, it was also Christmas.  Last Christmas I had just gotten on island and I didn't really miss family or "American" Christmas, I suppose I was still slightly adjusting and maybe in shock, but this time around was definitely different.  I really felt the lack of festivities and decorations on ever building and house.  You ask how people are going to celebrate and they say they are gong to be working.  But, I loved our ward.  We really brought the Christmas Spirit with love, joy and Christ.  I think my favorite part aside from being able to be with the people I love in my ward, was being invited to the DeWitt's home for Christmas dinner.  They had their son and daughter-in-law and two grand children staying with them for the holiday.  It was nice to feel that love of a family.  The Spirit was so strong and we ended the evening together in bearing our testimony about Christ.  What do I love about this Church?  You have family no matter where you go.

The Dewitt's

I have been loving my time here with my as of last week, new companion Sister Porter.  We are working hard!  

Love you all!

Sister Hsu