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