Personal Check

I have now been home from my mission for about 4 months. During my scripture study this week I was reflecting back on what I have learned in these last 4 months. I was reading in Alma 7 where Alma is talking to the people of Gideon, and how he is pleased with how they have been acting while he has been away. This is a stark difference from chapters 5-6 where Alma is chastising the people for their actions.

I imagined which one of the speeches Alma would give to me after now being home for a couple of months. I hoped that it would be like chapter 7, and some parts were, but there were also parts from chapter 5 and 4 that seemed to also fit me quite well.

I want him to say to me... "yea, hath given unto me the exceedingly great joy of knowing that they are established again in the way of his righteousness." (7:4)

Although I am not perfect, I still have much room for improvement. Being home has been hard and its taken me a few months to feel back on my feet but as I reflected on my time home realized that I had continued to learn so much, even though I was no longer out serving the Lord 24/7. In my case I feel like I may have even learned more being home. This isn't me writing about what I have learned but more on the importance of looking back and reflecting what we have learned and where we are now because of it.

I hope that I can stay in the way of his righteousness now and forever.

Let Your Hearts Be Comforted

This week I went back and read some scriptures from my mission that meant a lot to me. I came across one that really impacted me and helped me to feel calm in regards to the upcoming future. 

16 Therefore, let your hearts be comforted concerning Zion; for all flesh is in mine hands; be still and know that I am God. 

My mission president shared this scripture with me and said that we can replace "Zion" with anything that is going on in our lives. This time I read it and replaced Zion with SCHOOL. School stresses me out more than anything in this world. I put so much pressure on myself to do well in school that I am constantly worried about what will happen. This scripture helps me to know that I am in Gods hands, and he will take care of me. When we really believe that God is God, and has all power and can do anything, than we can be still and obtain the peace that we want. 

I hope that as I remember this scripture I will be able have a comforted heart admit the finals and 3 years left of school that I have. 

Grateful Hearts

There are a few things that I feel like the Lord is constantly reminding me of. In may scripture study this week I was reminded of one of these things.

Alma 26:8
8 Blessed be the name of our God; let us sing to his praise, yea, let us give thanks to his holy name, for he doth work righteousness forever.

Gratitude. I think that it one of those virtues that we get to when we already have the other virtues, like charity and kindness. Its a harder virtue to obtain because it requires a lot more virtues to come before. Kind of like prerequisites to gratitude. 

I really believe that when we have gratitude in our hearts we will be so much happier and be better able to see the hand of God in our lives. I personally can be more grateful in my prayers. Instead of constantly asking for things I should be constantly singing praises of thanks to my father in heaven, who has given me so much. 

I love that when we are grateful we start to feel less in titled to blessing that we don't have because we see all of the blessings that we already have in our lives. 

I hope that I can have a more grateful heart and remember the Lords mercy in all things. 

A Savior To All

I had always loved 3 Nephi 11. As a missionary I would always find ways to share this chapter of scripture with those we were teaching. A special spirit always came from reading those verses and learning of Jesus Christ. This week while talking more in depth about 3 Nephi 11 I was once again reminded of the powerful testimony these scriptures give of Jesus Christ.

Brother Griffen talked about the Jesus blessing everyone "one by one" and the significance of the savior being our personal savior. I thoroughly enjoyed the class and walked away feeling the spirit.

15 And it came to pass that the multitude went forth, and thrust their hands into his side, and did feel the prints of the nails in his hands and in his feet; and this they did do, going forth one by one until they had all gone forth, and did see with their eyes and did feel with their hands, and did know of a surety and did bear record, that it was he, of whom it was written by the prophets, that should come.

Later that night I was talking with my friends and one brought up how she hates that she is constantly feeling bad for her situation when its really not bad at all and there are people that have it much worse. While there may be truth in what she said, I immediately thought of how Jesus Christ is ALL of our savior. Not just the people who have it really bad off, or who have a really good life. He ultimately saves us all, in everyones personal needed way. Its a case by case situation. We all need the savior but we may all need him in different ways. I shared this with my friends and we had a very good talk about how the savior doesn't think we are any less deserving of his love because our lives aren't as terrible as those living in poverty or in war stricken areas.

He loves all of us.

Perspective

The past few days have been ones of growth. You learn so much about yourself in college. But I've learned that having a eternal perspective in mind helps. By eternal i mean looking at a larger image. Looking at the things in life that matter and try to not let the little things in life get you down. Making decisions with "eternal glasses" on helps me make better ones. It also helps keep me on track and holding onto that 'iron rod.' I read more about the Tree of Life in 1 Nephi Chapter 8 and Chapter 11 this last week and it was a good time to reflect where i was on the path. Was i holding to the rod or was i lagging behind??

This week i also went to the temple. The temple is a special place to me (as i am sure it is to most of you). It is where i can escape the world and focus on things that really matter. I went this morning and it was such a refreshing experience that i really needed. When i walk in i immediately feel a peace come over me. I am no longer worried about that Chinese exam i have on friday, or the reading that i need to do for my classes. I leave feeling ready for the weeks to come, spiritually feed, and with a different perspective. A better perspective. A eternal one.

Remember to think of a eternal perspective always, i promise it helps. 

Be grateful

This week I was reading in the Book of Mormon and I kept coming across scriptures that were reminding me to be grateful. Recently my prayers have consisted of me constantly asking for help, guidance, peace, happiness and answers. But hardly do I ever stop and thank him for helping me, giving me guidance, allowing me to feel peace, bringing me happiness and answering my prayers.

Nephi is a great example of a thankful person. Despite his more than difficult situation he was always thankful to the Lord. He never complained and he was always sure to immediately thank the Lord after a blessing had come to pass.
His dad Lehi was also an excellent example of someone who was always giving thanks to the Lord. I love 1 Nephi 5:9...

"9 And it came to pass that they did rejoice exceedingly, and did offer sacrifice and burnt offerings unto the Lord; and they gave thanks unto the God of Israel."

Nephi and his brothers had just returned from a long, dangerous trip to go and retrieve the plates from Laban. They were tired and I'm sure that his parents were VERY happy to see them arrive home safely. They could have easily just enjoyed each others company and celebrated but the first thing that Lehi does is give thanks to the Lord! It really shows where his thoughts and mind are- always directed to the Lord.

When we give more thanks I think that it was cause us to ask less for things because we will already see all the blessings that we have been given. I am grateful to the Book of Mormon for reminding me to always we grateful in all things.

His Yoke is Easy

Relying on the Lord is at times harder than we think. Sometimes we just get so caught up in the world and what is going on that we seem to be relying wholly on ourselves to accomplish what seems to be the impossible. Sometimes I find myself thinking "How am I ever going to get done everything that I need too?!" But then I realize that as long as I do my best, and my part, we can rely on the Savior to help with the rest. He is always there lending a hand to us that feel burdened down by the lists of "to-do's" and countless amounts of things to always remember.

I was comforted this week by a commonly quoted scripture... Matthew 11:28-30
"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

I know that if we are willing to come unto christ we will find rest to our souls. Not necessarily saying that we will suddenly have nothing to do and be able to sleep, but our souls will find rest, which to me means that we will have peace. So despite how crazy life is we can have peace, because His yoke truly is easy and his burden truly is light.

Be Prepared

This last week i had the opportunity to stay with grandparents in Arizona for a few days and while there gained a lot of wisdom and advice from my grandpa. He's a very spiritual man and always has the best insights.
I was talking to him about the stresses of college and life and he opened up his scriptures to Doctrine and Covenants 38: 30 and read the very last part. Which reads:

"but if ye are prepared ye shall not fear."

He then went on to talk to me about how when we are prepared we can trust that the Lord will do his part and help us out. We must do our part and prepare, but after all is said and done we need not fear. Fear is a tool that Satan uses to make us feel like we aren't good enough and will never really become what we want to be. To consciously block out Satan's voice of fear is a hard thing to do, but we will be much better off when we do it, and the Holy Ghost will be there to help us out!

Theres always a way

This was probably the first week in the whole semester where I felt as though I actually had enough time to accomplish everything that I needed to do. This semester seemed to be an endless list of things that I needed to do and not enough time to ever get it all done.

Then this week in Book of Mormon we talked about seeking the kingdom of god before riches (reference to Jacob 2: 18) and my professor talked about how "riches" can really be replaced with anything. He specifically talked about time.

I immediately felt like my professor was speaking right to me.

He said that we may feel like we have no time for service, for reading and praying meaningfully, for our church calling, for visiting teaching (the list goes on and on) and honestly thats exactly how I was feeling. But honestly I was done feeling like this and I had kept being promoted by the spirit that I needed to place more time for spiritual things.

So this week I decided to test it out. I wasn't trying to "test" God or anything but I have been feeling like I have NO TIME for anything and the scripture says that if I put the kingdom of God first all of these things will work out. I had faith in the what the Lord was promising. And this week was so good!! I felt so much peace and felt like I had all the time I needed to accomplish what this week had in store.

When we put the Lord first he will find a way. Even when we are absolutely positive that there is no way... WITH THE LORD THERE IS ALWAYS A WAY.

Remember.

Reading in the Book of Mormon has brought me so much happiness. When I read I feel as though God is personally talking to me. Reading from the Book of Mormon is like reading from personal journal entries of people that came before.

This week I particularly loved reading about Nephi sharing his personal experience and his feelings in 2 Nephi chapter 4. To me Nephi is one of the toughest, humblest, never ever complains type of person, but in this chapter he really opens up and lets us see the feelings of his heart. From this chapter I feel like I can relate to Nephi 100%. 

In my life I feel like I am constantly worried and feeling stressed out about the future and what is it come. When I read chapter 4 I feel like I am Nephi. I at times cry out like Nephi...

"19 And when I desire to rejoice, my heart groaneth because of my sins; nevertheless, I know in whom I have trusted."

The problem though is that sometimes I am lacking in the "I know in whom I have trusted" part. When I am feeling so overwhelmed and stressed about life I at times will forget in whom I have trusted. But when I remember I suddenly feel so much more peace and happiness, I suddenly feel calm.

Because honestly if we trust in god then everything will work out- we just need to remember in whom we have trusted.

Rejoice.

I think that everyone in life just wants to be happy. At least thats what I want. And I hope that I can be. I was pondering this a lot this last week and while doing so I came across a scripture that I really enjoy.

Mosiah 4: 10-12:

10 And again, believe that ye must repent of your sins and forsake them, and humble yourselves before God; and ask in sincerity of heart that he would forgive you; and now, if you believe all these things see that ye do them.
 
11 And again I say unto you as I have said before, that as ye have come to the knowledge of the glory of God, or if ye have known of his goodness and have tasted of his love, and have received a remission of your sins, which causeth such exceedingly great joy in your souls, even so I would that ye should remember, and always retain in remembrance, the greatness of God, and your own nothingness, and his goodness and long-suffering towards you, unworthy creatures, and humble yourselves even in the depths of humility, calling on the name of the Lord daily, and standing steadfastly in the faith of that which is to come, which was spoken by the mouth of the angel.
 
12 And behold, I say unto you that if ye do this ye shall always rejoice, and be filled with the love of God, and always retain a remission of your sins; and ye shall grow in the knowledge of the glory of him that created you, or in the knowledge of that which is just and true.

Okay its pretty long but look at the underlined part. I was reading this and I thought it was great but then I got to the underlined part and was taken back. I read that and thought "WAIT, what can I do that will allow me to ALWAYS rejoice?!?" So I read back and read the things and compiled a list of things to do that will make us happy. I think that when we read the scriptures we all get different things out of it, so I don't want to share my list with you... but I encourage you to make your own! And continue to look for ways to be happy in the scriptures.

I know that the Book of Mormon really does bring true happiness into our lives. It will cause us to rejoice everyday!

Without Arms

This week as I read from the Book of Mormon I was thinking a lot about my relationship with others and how through my reading of the Book of Mormon I can improve them. I came across a scripture in Mosiah chapter 20 that I really liked. Its about this huge misunderstanding about the Lamainites going to attack the people of Limhi because they thought that they kidnapped their daughters (it was actually the priests of Noah). Anyways, they are trying to figure this huge problem out and when King Limhi heard about what was going on he requested that the people involved were brought to him immediately. He soon figures out that it wasn't any of his people at all. What is he supposed to do? His people are under attack. He has so many choices of action. And this is what he chooses... 

 26 And when the Lamanites saw the people of Limhi, that they were without arms, they had compassion on them and were pacified towards them, and returned with their king in peace to their own land.

He decided to go to them WITHOUT ARMS, he had no weapons on him, nothing, at all. And look what happens, the hearts of the Lamanites is softened! They had compassion on them and then returned peacefully to their own land. What a man. 

How many times do we, as humans, go into "talks" or "discussions" (or more like arguments) with a million "weapons" just ready to fire? I have been guilty many times. Usually these weapons manifest in the way we use our words and what we say to the other party. They normally end really bad, and both sides are hurt, sad and nothing is resolved. 

Sooo what if we did as King Limhi did and just went into these situations with out "arms"?? I think that things would end up a lot differently and we would walk away, just like them, PEACEFULLY. and who doesn't want a little more peace in their life? 

Just something to think about I guess. 

FEAR

FEAR.

This has been something that has been on my mind almost everyday this last week and ironically I attended a club meeting the other night where the speaker focused a lot of the topic of fear.

We are all scared of things. We all have fears. I think especially as a college student its easy to be really afraid. We are afraid of classes, of tests, of what we want to do/become/create/major in. Who is our future spouse? Will I ever find them? The list could go on foreverrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
We honestly have no idea what the future holds.

How many times have we been so afraid of something, so worried, so terrified that we just simply shut down? It happens to me almost every week. I get so scared, so worked up, so overwhelmed that I just can't do anything but do nothing.

I hate it. I hate it so much. I know that I will be fine. and I know that everything will work out, I mean it always does. Literally always. But its still really hard to not be afraid.

One night this last week I was feeling particularly "fearful." So I opened up the scriptures, and I turned right to the scripture in Alma where it talks about the stripping warriors. Its in Alma 56...

45 And now I say unto you, my beloved brother Moroni, that never had I seen so great courage, nay, not amongst all the Nephites.
 47 Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them.

They didn't fear because they trusted in the Lord! They knew that if they were obedient and acted they would be alright. They had so much faith. Also note that they didn't doubt what their mothers had taught them, which is also kind of ironic because if I always believed what my mom says than I would have no reason to fear either.

Lastly, when I attended the meeting where the lady discussed fear I like the quote that she shared with us. She said she has this posted on her bathroom mirror...
"What would I do if I were no longer afraid?"

When I honestly ask myself this question, I realize that there are so many opportunities that pass by based solely on my fear of failure. With that being said I hope to be less fearful of the future, and I plan on accomplishing that by trusting in the Lord. Its definitely easier said than done but it just takes one day at a time.

Nevertheless

Today I woke up and my laptop was not turning on. I drove a friend who just had surgery to campus and looked for a handicap parking spot for 40 min. My classes were hard. It was freezing rain outside. It was only DAY THREE and things weren't looking as great as I hoped.

Fast forward a few hours and I'm in my Book of Mormon class. We are ready 1 Nephi chapter 1 verse 1...

"1 I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents, therefore I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my father; and having seen many afflictions in the course of my days, nevertheless, having been highly favored of the Lord in all my days; yea, having had a great knowledge of the goodness and the mysteries of God, therefore I make a record of my proceedings in my days."

We placed emphasis on the 'nevertheless' and Nephi's purpose in using it. He is basically saying "all these bad things have happened, nevertheless, god is real, and he loves me and thats more important than the bad things that happened to me." Nephi had a lot of bad stuff happen to him but he chose to see the good things, he chose to see the blessings.
In class we used the 'greater than sign' to represent nevertheless. Like this...

Its raining today < I have an umbrella and a car to drive in and appropriate warm clothing.

This was really exactly what i needed to hear. I started to list off all the "bad things" that were happening today and changed them into 'nevertheless' statements.

My laptop wont turn on, nevertheless, I have a car and can drive to an Apple store thats not too far
School is so hard, nevertheless, I have been blessed to go to an amazing university where I can grow and learn and be stretched to become someone better.
Parking on campus is a pain, nevertheless, YOU HAVE A CAR. be happy.
Everything seems to never go my way, nevertheless, god has a better plan for you.

You get the idea... After I did it though I really was so much happier. I saw all the blessings that I had in my life and all the things in front of my 'neverthelesses' became so small and insignificant. Being positive and really looking, searching for gods hand in your life will make you so much happier.

So next time everything seems to fall apart, just take a look at all the 'neverthelesses' you have.

Shout Out to Moms

Hello Family Friends and Moms, 

This week was GREAT! Seriously so good. Missions are the bomb and i absolutely love Taiwan. Everything about this place is perfect for me. The Lord wasn't messing around when he called me to serve here. In DTM a few weeks ago we made an "I love Taiwan" list and it was crazy how many things there ware to love here. I am going to be so sad to leave this country in about a year... yes thats right, a year from now i will be preparing to go home.. but that's still like a century away so we will save that conversation for a year from now haha! 

Update on Li JM! She is still going strong. Not drinking any tea at all :) She has her baptismal interview set for this Wednesday! We went over the baptismal interview questions this last week and it all went really well, she just still doesn't have a very personal testimony of Joseph Smith. She doesn't not believe in him, just having a hard time personally connecting with his story. We invited her to really pray about it and we are seeing her again tonight so we will see how it went! I love her so much! 

So anyways after she left that lesson me and Sister Slater were in the church talking about how it all went and what we can do to help her more and such. We feel like she is ready for a Baptismal Interview but we worry that the man interviewing her wont see it, maybe or i don't know, we were just getting sorta worried. Sister Slater said something along the lines of "If only we good go in the interview with her, plead her cause, cause we know she is ready" It suddenly got really spiritual though and a light bulb went off it my head. We are acting as Jesus Christ would. He is our advocate, he will plead for all of our causes. He will stand and say "I know she isn't perfect, i know she can still improve, but look at her testimony, look at all the good she has done."

And then another light bulb went off and i immediately thought of my mom... Isn't that exactly what moms are like?! They plead our cause all the time. They want whats best for us. They see the good in us despite our imperfections. They love us so much, we cant even imagine it. But for just a moment there when my heart was turned completely towards Li JM i felt a little bit of what it would feel like to be a mom. I mean i just think back to the many times in my life when i was worried i wouldn't make it, or wouldn't get a good grade, and get into the school i wanted. I was so focused on myself and how worried i was that it never even crossed my mind (until this last week) how my MOM must have felt. I mean if she could i know she would have loved to go and talk to everyone and say how great i was and that if they just gave me a chance they would see it. Thats how much i love Li JM. It was quite the spiritual experience for me and i felt like i learned two things: 1. Moms and Jesus Christ are pretty darn similar 2. My mom is the best and i love her so much (and even more now) <3 (this explains the subject of this email haha)

Okay something fun that happened this week. We were at FHE last night and we were playing sardines i the church (which is awesome cause our church is HUGE, 3 stories tall, tons of class rooms). It was blast and then Sister Slater and I volunteered to go hide. We hid under these chairs in a room and NO ONE FOUND US. We literally laid flat like a board under them and multiple people came in and still no one saw us. We were dying haha it was so funny! We eventually had to call it at like 8:50 so that we could get home. All of the Elders were so surprised that no one found us. Anyways we are now worshiped in the YSA as the Sardine Queens so thats great haha i love our YSA!! 

We had Zone Conference this week. It was so great to see president :) Hes the best and i can just feel the love that he has for all of his missionaries. We talked a lot about teaching and how we can sometimes overfill our investigators minds to the point where they have no ideaaa whats happening. He had missionaries pour huge jugs of water into little cups sitting on other missionaries heads haha it was so funny, some of them got wet. He was just trying to show how we may have a lot to share but sometimes we can only share what an investigator has the capacity to take in. Always trying to improve my teaching skills, its hard stuff. 

Well today we are going to Lotus Pond! There are like these cool temples there and stuff so that should be fun, look it up if you are really curious LOL Pics are yet to come in next weeks email.. 

Cockroach update in our house: THEY ARE EVERYWHERE we even bought these things that we put all around the house but they are still there ahhh every night we just go into kill mode right when we get back into the house and put shoes on our hands so we can kill them. Its pretty funny actually. Sister Slater will be like "Ive got the kitchen, you get the bathroom" haha adds some spice to our mission life. PS i just killed like 3 cockroaches on this computer desk.. they are EVERYWHERE ahh

Oh also we went to La Salsa this week - YES a Mexican place in Taiwan. Its soooo yummy. Pics included of us indulging our burritos.

Well thats all for this week folks, hope that you have a fab week! 

Sister Hardy 

ps: i don't really proof read these.. so if there are grammar errors i am so sorry haha but can you blame me? Chinese is the exact opposite of english

PICS: burritos and me just roaming the streets of taiwan (s/o to sister slater for that one)

聖誕節快樂！

December 28, 2015

Hello everyone! This week has been so great. I am so happy! Being a missionary is a great life. I hit my 8th month mark this next month... which kinda makes me nauseous because there is no way i have been serving for that long #FREAKY. 

We have movecalls this week and thank goodness i am staying in Dong Ying with Lin JM! She is literally my best friend. She kills me with her sassy humor and we have such a good time together!

Christmas as a missionary was actually great. I didn't have to worry about gifts or all the christmasy stuff that i thought i would miss. Ya its hard to not be around family but being away for one Christmas isn't the end of the world. And i was actually so happy all day, preaching the good word and giving away candy canes at stop lights. Lin JM and I decided to make it a very merry Christmas by giving away candy canes when we contacted- it was great and seeing the smile on their face when they got one was priceless. I think that service is the key to having a happier life. When we serve and stop worrying about our-self, we somehow magically get sooo much happier- its the weirdest thing. But its also amazing. GO SERVE SOMEONE!

Skyping the fam was definitely a highlight of this week. I really have the great family out there, they are perfect just for me. I really saw how terrible my English has gotten so that was funny. And the boys were all pretty much the same just bigger and taller #notsurprised LOL gotta love them <3

We have a new investigator! Her name is Rita. She is really cool and has more desire than anyone i have ever seen! She asks so many questions about what we are teaching in lessons its awesome. She will ask a question, we will try and do our best to answer, and then she will sit there for a minute with this pondering look on her face and then usually ask another question. She wants to understand so bad. We have only meet with her twice and when we gave her a goal she said she needs to pray later and find for herself! Were planning on following up with her tonight! I know that if she feels for herself that this is true she will be baptized in no time. Miracles man, every single day. #missionarylife

We got to go on a zone hike this morning for getting 12 baptisms this move call as a zone! Wahoo. It was way fun and lead up to this abandoned temple type spot! I have tons of pics so sorry for the overload of pictures this week! But Taiwan is just such an epic place, i love it here. 

Mmm i feel like my emails are getting shorter because i am running out of stuff to say/ i just forget haha i will try and write down something from everyday this week that i can share next week. But know that i am still doing so well!

I appreciate all of the mail and letters i have gotten lately! I have such great friends and family :)

Much much love from the island of Taiwan, 

Sister Jessica Hardy!

A White Christmas :)

December 14, 2015

HELLLOOOO!!! So i dont have much time today- our email time has been cut up a little and split into today and Wednesday because on Wednesday we get to go to the temple!!!! YAY. I am so excited about it!! I havent been since the MTC so i am pumped.  

Zhang JM got baptized! and so did FOUR other precious souls! All four wards that meet in our chapel had baptisms! It was awesome, slightly crazy, but definitely a "white Christmas" to remember! (because of the baptismal clothing, get it? haha i miss snow to much right now) She is amazing. She was found through her mom who was a Less-Active member, but is now active :) and then her brother who also use to be less active but has been coming back got to baptize her! It was a wonderful time and i just loved seeing their family so happy! Families are such a blessing. 

We had our Christmas activity this week!!! It was so awesome and so great to see all the missionaries- i sure do love my mission. There are lots of pics attached! 

On a sad note- Cao JM left!! We got a call that she was leaving and i honestly was so sad. This week had been such a good week for us and we finally got the hang of things and then she leaves. So sad. But my new companion is Lin JM! She is also a bendi ren! Shes so cute and i cant wait to chuan the jiao with her. She actually already served in Dong Ying in like the Spring- so super weird that she is coming back. But im not mad- she seems great!! 

Sorry i wish i could say more but no time!! Here are some pics of this epic week!! 

-Sister Hardy

Another Missionaries Email in your Inbox

December 6, 2015

Hello Everyone!!!

This week has been good, sorta hard, but really good.

Having a bendi comp has been difficult at times but i am learning so much; about myself, and relying on the Lord, oh and a lot of chinese (duh haha)! 

Some weird things happened this week:

First one is really sad, but was definitely a "Well okay i have never done this before" moment. There was a lady in our ward who passed away this week of breast cancer- super young and has two little girls. So we get a call about it and they want us missionaries to come to the hospital. So we do and when we get there they take us down to this area and we go in the room and there she is, laying on a gerny, with a white sheet covering her body up until her neck. I almost like passed out when we walked in, out of shock. We just walked in and then walked to the side and then they looked at us like okay what do you want to do?? We were just like "uhhh.." and then luckily pan DX this dad who is a total bro in our ward came in and led us in singing Christmas songs. It was quite the experience and we all walked out a little speechless. Haha us missionaries get asked to do some of the weirdest things sometimes- but we just do them anyway, cause we love the people.

We got chased by dogs. YUP. I biked like a mad women and didnt look back. Luckily me and sister cao made it out without any scratches but it was definitely scary. 

So everyone here calls me "Wa Wa" and for the longest time i had noooo idea what it meant. But, now having a bendi comp, i figured it out. It means BARBIE! they are all calling me Barbie. :/ so thats great haha i literally get comments on my hair maybe atleast 7 times a day. WAHOO for white hair.

Sooooo Zhan JM passed her baptism interview and is getting baptized this Saturday!! So exciting. She is such a prepared soul. She has a very real testimony of this gospel and i can just see the devotion in her eyes!

This week we have our mission Christmas celebration and we all get to go to Puli (like the most beautiful place in Taiwan). Its an all day thing and i cant wait. Its been great being able to share the gospel around the Christmas season. We go to this mall that has a huge Christmas tree and contact. I ask them if they know why Americans celebrate Christmas, and they usually dont, so then we get to share about Jesus Christ. Its great. I LOVE CHRISTMAS. 

Well thats about all for this week, but i want to end my email with a scripture. Moroni 7:33:   33 And Christ hath said: If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me.

Faith is so important! 有信心有辦法！

Bye Bye,

洪翠曦

Dong Ying

November 29, 2015

Hello everyone :) 

What a week!! It felt like maybe the longest week of my mission yet but it wasn't a bad one at all! 

I figured there would be a lot of questions regarding me moving and thanksgiving and having a native companion so i thought i would just respond to your "questions."

Whats dong ying like?

 AWESOME! its a lot more rural than Sanmin and supppper hilly. AKA my legs feel like i am back in training again haha but its very pretty here and there is a huge river that is in our area and all these really cool bridges. The ward is awesome. There aren't as many people here so contacting is a little more difficult but no worries i just talk to everyone ahaha Dong Ying is still a fairly new area, it used to be with Tai Ping and then it split so i sorta feel like we are white washing a little bit. My companion had a bit of a hard time with her last companion in terms of finding so shes not very familiar with the area and good places to contact and stuff so were figuring it all out together!! We don't have too many investigators (but that will change) but we have one who is getting baptized on the 12th! She is awesome and was found through her mom who is (or was now) a Less-Active member! Super cool to see them both come to church! Its also a lotttt colder here aha one day it was actually like super cold and i was like ha... remember when i was complaining about the heat?? ya now im freezing. I am out on the search to buy tights and sweaters today. 

How is it to have a Taiwanese companion? (wow thats terrible english haha thats what its like! MY ENGLISH IS SO BAD RIGHT NOW AHH)

Mmm its good. Its pretty difficult at times in terms of trying to communicate but we arent letting it hold us back. She really hardly knows any english so i told her i would help her english is she helped my chinese! I have learned SO much in a week its insane. There has been a lot of charades and having to describe things. Its hard because i will know how to say alot but i dont know that one word that actually makes the sentence important haha but no worries JIAO YOU! Sister Cao is sorta in a little bit of funk right now but i am determined to help her love missionary work! She tells me i am "funny sister" Its the best day ever when i get her laughing pretty hard. I have really learned to have patience and to lead but more so ive learned to be a follower, give others the opportunity to lead. 

How was Thanksgiving? 

Sister Cao made me fired rice for breakfast, i looked down at the bowl of rice, said "Happy Thanksgiving" and ate up. hahahaha forrealz though thanks giving it not a thing here. The only thing that was kinda thanksgivingish was my english class. I taught all the little kids thanksgiving words and had them draw the hand turkey things and such- it was great! 

OHHHHH we also had am Apostle come this last week (no biggie haha). Elder Stevenson (one of the new apostles) came to pick up his son who was serving here! So obviously we did a big conference and all the missionaries got together to come hear him speak. It was so great. He truly is an Apostle of the Lord. He shared a lot of cool stories from his time as a mission president in Japan (S/O to edie). I think the thing that he said that stroke me the most (ironically because we here it all the time) was when he talked about obedience. He said Obedience bring Blessings and Blessings bring Happiness AKA Obedience>Blessings>Happy. I mean duhh but it just hit me really hard. We are happy when we are obedient because we get blessed! He called the Missionary White Handbook the "Book of Blessings" and its so true! Being obedient brings us so many miracles.

Have a great week everyone!!!! 

-Sister Hardy!!! 

Pics: My district is a blast!! Our Dong Ying elders: Elder Parker was in the MTC with me and then Elder Young was down south with my in GaoXiong so i knew him pretty well. and then the TaiPing Elders: Elder Swanson who was in my last district and then Elder Chan our DL! 

A Baptism and a Move Call!

November 23, 2015

Hello!!

I don't have a lot of time! This week was move calls! BUTTTT Li JM got baptized! It was such a great service! But before that it was quiet a wonderful week full of miracles!

So we met with Li JM on wed and then we wanted to meet with her again on Friday but we forgot to set up after we met. So we call her Thursday and no answer... and we called her again.. no answer. Its okay we will call Friday, STILL NO ANSWER. It gets close to the end of night and i am freaking out a little bit. So we decide to go and find her! We had never been to her house before but we were determined to find her. So we grabbed her baptism record and went looking. It was a miracle that we ended up finding it super quick because it was already 8pm and we had nooo timeee. So we get to her apartment and are ringing her bell and there is no answer.. than out of no where this little lady in a yellow poncho pulls up on her motor scooter! ITS HER!!! Ahhhh it was a miracle. We figured out her phone was just having problems so she couldn't talk to us. She was so cute and felt so bad that we had to come all the way to her house to find her haha i love her!

So then the baptism on Saturday.. It was great. She was so happy and excited before it and was so cute putting on the baptismal clothing, she put it on backwards at first haha it was so funny. SO many people in the ward came to support her and the spirit was way strong. She started to cry really hard during one of the talks (which i have never seen her get emotional before) and she just looked at me and smiled. She bore a beautiful testimony about Jesus Christ and his atonement. I definitely teared up a bit. She continued to be emotional throughout the whole thing and you could see the light that was in her eyes. Im sure the Lord is very very pleased with her.

Well i left Sanmin... sooo sad :( But i am now in Taichung! Dong Ying! Seems to be a great ward. I have a new companion also! Sister Cao! She is a native Taiwan ren from Taibei. She is super cute and speaks veryyyy little english. Not going to lie it has already been a little hard to communicate but i told her that i will help her English if she will help my Chinese so it will be great :) I cant wait to get to know her better and get to know this new ward! I also have now become the English leader and might be a Facebook missionary now ba? Oh well- change is good!

By the way, HAPPY THANKSGIVING. I have to be honest in saying that i kinda forgot until i read some emails haha they definitely dont do thanksgiving here but thats okay. Eat some turkey for me and ill eat some rice for you.

Like i said i don't have a ton of time! But i love you all and love hearing about your lives! Shoot me an email ohhh and send me your Christmas cards!!!
Taiwan Taichung Mission

#498-11 Wu Chuan Rd

Taichung 404-46

Taiwan

Love,

Sister Hardy

Pics: Li JM :) also i hope you can see them.. i had to send them a different way, computer is being weird