Week 13

August 10, 2015

Helllo family & friends! Despite a wicked typhoon that hit us on Saturday i am totally okay and alive! Thank you so much for all of the prayers that came my way.

It was pretty sketchy and the wind was so strong it sounded like thunder at some points! But that wasnt going to stop us!! We walked! haha yes we were out in a Typhoon. It wasn't like thattt bad though- or else we would have been instructed to stay in doors. We walked to the church and it was quite the experience. I honestly loved the whole thing, I was just laughing the whole time thinking "What is life?!?" I think that a lot of the time here. There are so many moments where i am just like "Wow. I am in Taiwan. In a Typhoon. Outside." I never would have thought this is what i would be doing a year ago- and i love it! Such an adventure. We wore our massive poncho rain jacket things (I sent a pic last week) and i threw on the rain pants (which by the way saved my life and i was totally dry when we got the the church). There was NO ONE IN SIGHT. Which is crazy because normally its just a mad house of people every where but everything was shut down and there was no one around. It was sad to see so many trees broken down and peoples stuff everywhere. At some points me and sister Tapia held hands so that we wouldn't blow away haha I guess i can now say that i lived through a typhoon so that's cool.

Okay enough typhoon talk. This week was full of service and i loved it! We were seriously serving people left and right. It is such a great way for us to come in contact with people and get to know them. We helped one of our members friends with a work assignment she was doing (it was about hotels and hospitality stuff). We meet with her 3 times and on the last time we got done pretty early so she was just chatting with us. We ended with a closing prayer and out of no where she asked what baptism was! We were shocked. Sister Tapia talked about how we make promises with god when we get baptized and listed them off. Not really understanding, the girl said "Wait what promises?" I then hopped in the conversation and asked if we could schedule a time to meet with her so that we could talk more about it! We meet tomorrow and i cant wait. Who knows what will happen but the moral of the story is that service is key! When we serve doors are opened for us to share the gospel. Also ive decided that service is the best medicine. It cures me being homesick, or feeling down about how hard the language is. When we serve others we really do forget about ourselves and feel sooo much happier. If we never would have served this girl than she may not have ever heard about the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I got a Chinese name this week!!! Like more than just my last name Hong2. The members gave it to me :) Its Hong2 Cui4 Xi1 (i dont know how to type characters but that the pinyin with the tones) Its means bright light/a beam of light and then the other character means graceful. I love the ward i am in and love everyone in it. They are so sweet to us missionaries. This lady gave us this super good coconut candy a few weeks ago and after trying it i asked her where she bought them cause i loved them and then this last week she brought me a whole bag! haha i couldn't be happier. i love sanmin !

I am continually grateful for my savior Jesus Christ, because honestly without him i wouldnt be out here. There is nothing harder i have ever done but i have also never recived so much joy from sharing about our Savior. I LOVE the Book of Mormon with all of my heart. Through it we can come to know of Christ. During my studies this week i cam across a scripture in Alma 33 that i love. Its verse 14, it reads:
Now behold, my brethren, I would ask if ye have read the scriptures? If ye have, how can ye disbelieve on the Son of God?
If we read from the Book of Mormon we will know of a surety that Jesus is our savior and we will not be able to deny it. I am so grateful that we have the Book of Mormon and that i have the opportunity to share this happy message with the people here in Taiwan!

I love you all so much! <3
-Sister Hardy

Pics: Fried chicken that is delicious. Just a pic of all the people that ride scooters, its crazy! This gorgeous rainbow that we saw as we were biking from the church. We got our haircut this morning at this really nice salon for free from this member!

Week 12

August 2, 2015

Hello family and friends! Well i cant believe that it is already August?! Where has the summer gone?!

Its been another good very very veryyyy hot week here in Taiwan. This week there wasn't as much rain aka not as much cloud coverage so the sun was hot! It really isn't bothering me as much as i thought i would. I sweat so much though and my hair is always a mess. Its funny though because the people here really don't sweat that much! Its so weird like sometimes we will be getting food and i will look around and everyone looks fine and my companion and i look like we just showered haha i love it.

In terms of food this week i cant think of anything to weird that i have eaten... but i did get McDonald's!!! haha yess!! It was amazing and the fries tasted exactly like they do in the USA. i don't think i have ever been excited to eat Mcdonaldss but it was just a nice little piece of home! The member here (and our investigators) are so nice and always give us cake (its not like cake in the US, its more spongy and no frosting) and lots of fruit. The people here are seriously some of the nicest people i have ever met. Its funny because its so safe here that we will go contacting (knocking on peoples doors) in dark alleys at night. I just stop sometimes and think wow if i was in NYC or some other city in the USA this would be so creepy but in Taiwan its totally okay! The only creepy thing i can think of is some of the male investigators will say that we are so pretty because we are from america. The members in our ward like totally try to protect us though and will like come and pull them away or make sure one of them is sitting in between us haha i love the ward i am.

In all honesty the hardest thing right now for me is the language. There really is nothing more frustrating then trying to communicate your feelings in a foreign language. I had a somewhat language changing experience with my companion this week. We were sitting in a 7/11 (yes like the gas station but here they just call them 7s) doing calls and contacting all of our investigators. It was my time to call and i was going to call this lady that we invited to read 3 Nephi 11 (about Jesus Christ coming to the Americas) and follow up with her and share my favorite part of the chapter. I did a little practice with my companion so that i could know what to say and she told me to do it in English because i was getting frustrated that i couldn't say it in Chinese. I started to bare my testimony and it was really powerful and the spirit was strong and then i just started to cry because i thought "why cant i just do this is English?? it would be so much easier. i could actually tell them how i felt." That's when it hit me that i was letting the language hold me back. I would share spiritual thoughts in our lessons but i realized that i was really just saying things that i knew i could say, it was sorta of like i was a robot? it wasn't really from the heart. My companion encouraged me to take what i had just born my testimony about and condense it into 5 sentences and then translate it into Chinese. I did it and realized i could say most of it if i just slowed down and really thought about it. I know that i am learning Chinese for a reason and that this is what i was called to do. I cant let it hold me back from sharing my feelings and baring testimony of the truthfulness of this gospel.

A mission is hard, there is no doubt about that, but i am becoming and changing into this person that i know my Heavenly Father wants me to. I feel like i have already learned so much and i have only been out for such a short amount of time. I cant wait to see what is ahead! I know that with Christ's atonement i can change and become better every day and that it has the power ti make me strong when i feel weak and carry me through the rough days. I love my Savior Jesus Christ with all my heart might mind and strength and at the end of the day hes the reason i keep going. My love for him that i want to share with everyone causes me to keep biking even when i am sore and tired.

I love this. I love Taiwan. I love the gospel.

-Sister Hardy

updates: i got new rain gear (bill/hat thing included), i think that i am starting to get used to the funny smells, and i am no longer scared of bugs hahaha

Week 11

July 26, 2015

Ni haooooo everyone!

This week was great! I feel like so much happens all the time i dont even know where to start! (ps a little cockroach just crawled across the desk and i screamed a little, sister tapia killed it. i am so grateful for her...so ya thats great welcome to taiwan hahaha) 

Ill start off with a few funny things that happened this week! For starters EVERYONE double takes me and is always saying my skin is so white (which is a major complement here), A little girl ran up to be and yelled something along the lines of "Elsa" I was a little confused at first and then i was like oh my gosh.. elsa from Frozen! haha on a creepier note this man kept staring at me one day as we were getting on our bikes and then he biked past and said "you are so beautiful" in his broken english... ahhh a little sketchy but not to worry taiwan is reallly safe and i rarely feel unsafe. also something pretty funny, everyone comes up to us and asks us if we can come teach their class english haha we have to explain to them that we are not english teachers, but that we do offer a free english class every week! its one of the many ways we introduce people to the gospel. We stand on corners twice a week with signs yelling "Mian Fei YinWen Ban!!" (free english class) Its quite a sight im sure- but very effective!

Update on my biking: i am not as sore and am starting to really get the hang of weaving and getting used to almost being hit every two minutes! i actually am really loving it, its just so freeing, especially right as the sun is going down. its so beautiful and a really dreamy time of the night. It really makes me grateful for this beautiful world we have. 

Sooooo i ate intestine soup this week... yup. It wasnt that bad honestly but it was intestine soup and just the thought of that made me slightly nauseous lol. It was with some of our investigators/bffs and they knew that i would think it was weird so they wanted to see my reaction haha and the rest of the meal was pretty strange also. so after we went to a 7/11 (which are basically on every corner, and we go there allll the time) and i got some real food to fill me up. one of those snacks were ritz cheese crackers. we got to the church building (where we were going to make calls) and i opened it up and starting eating and let me tell you, fake cheese never tasted so good. so next time your eating ritz cheese crackers just think of how #blessed you are that you're not eating intestine soup ;) other than that the food here is soooo goooood. and increidble cheap, like im talking $2 for a meal. I love the fried rice here and the potstickers- delicious. also these eggs bread roll up things called Zhua Bing! so yummy. One of my fav things though is all the different drinks that they have here! You can go up to these little resturants and they cups filled with different kinds of fruit and just choose which one you want and then they add ice a little sugar and blend it all up and they are to dieee for. i also love Dong Guo Cha, i really dont know how to explain it but i will include some pics! its sweet (sorta of like syrup tasting?) and cold and when you add some lemon it is the bomb.com. and then theres the classic papya milk which is a classic choice for me at a 7/11. and MANGO BING basically shaved ice with mango and delicious goodness. well wow that was a lot of food talk, sorry if you are hungry now.

Okay enough funny/food talk. While all of that is great the real reason i am here is to preach the gospel! I have loved every moment of being able to talk with people and share this wonderful message that we have. it really is such a happy message. its so sweet to hear someone utter their first prayer to their heavenly father. or tell that about their savior Jesus Christ who they have never even heard about before. Or when we finally figure out the need of an investigator, or when our investigator tells us that she read the Book of Mormon and wants to share her favorite verse that she read. There honestly is nothing sweeter. We have these two investigators Kelly and Sharron! they are best friends and honestly so awesome to be around (except when they give me intestine soup hahaha). Unfortunately there parents wont allow them to be baptized. WE meet with Sharron's family this last week and we were so nervous going in- but it actually wasn't that bad and i ended up giving away my first Book of Mormon to them! I dont know how they feel about everything but i have faith that Sharron and Kelly will be baptized one day, even if that means they have to wait two years until they are twenty and dont need their parents permission. Faith is something that can be sorta difficult to understand but ive decided that it really goes hand in hand with trust, trust in the lord. I have to have faith that i can baptize everyone aka i have to trust that the lord will help me baptize everyone. We can not loose faith. To strengthen it we have to be doing the little things everyday! Praying and reading from the Book of Mormon daily are key. We promised a recent convert this week that if she read from the Book of Mormon every single day she would never fall away or lose her testimony- and i firmly believe that is true. Lastly this week ive really learned that love conquers all and as my dad told me "love is the great motivator" It motivates me when i am tired and hott, it motivates me to learn this impossible language, it is everything. Because i love the people here i can overcome any thing. My favorite scripture as of now is Moroni 8:16: Behold, I speak with boldness, having authority from God; and I fear not what man can do; for perfect love casteth out all fear. 

Perfect love casteth out all fear! 

I love you all so much! Never give up! Keep pushing on through those hard trials with faith, the Book of Mormon and prayer. I know you can do it with those three simple things! 

-Sister Hardy Hong Jie Mei 

Week 10

July 20, 2015

Hello all!! I am alive and well and... IN TAIWAN! Can you believe i am here? cause i cant. sometimes i just stop and think "Jess you are in taiwan... what the heck?!" Its great here.

The plane ride wasnt bad at all and it was a nice time to relax for a second before getting into the field. Our stop in Japan was fun and we ate some great food! Once we arrived in Taiwan we were all ready for bed. The first night was hard because i wasnt quite used to everything yet. but i was grateful to have sister oakeson by my side. The next few days were a blur with a lot of information and then also being way jetlagged and exhausted so i dont really remember a whole lot but on our second night we went to a night market (basically imagine like a fair with people all over and food and craziness) and we stood on SOAP BOXES AND PREACHED THE GOOD WORD (yes you heard that right). It was crazy. I was the first to go (after our president and APs went) and i dont even remember what i said but i was shouting something in chinese and holding a Book of Mormon high into the air. It was quite the experience haha! The next day we met our trainers! Sister Tapia is my trainer and she is AWESOME. She helps me so much and i can tell that it will a good next few months with her. We got lunch, boarded the bus and then were on that for 3 hrs until we made it so Gao Xiong!

So ya i am in Gao Xiong! (more south in taiwan) AKA its realllly hott. I am getting used to it though- but basically i am sweaty all the time, 24/7, 7 days a week. It also rains everyday (and by rain i mean down pour) so i am either wet from my sweat or the rain? Ill let you decide that one haha ;) So here in Taiwan we bike everywhere. And the first time we hopped on our bikes and started going i literally thought i was going to die. So it pretty much goes like this: imagine times square in NYC, plus a million people on scooters, in the rain, oh and then there is this little blonde girl trying to keep up with her speedy companion without crashing into something or someone. it is quite the adventure and my thighs are so sore i think i might heel over any minute but i keep going and i keep pedaling as fast as i can. and i am still alive! So i know that i will be safe. i always keep a prayer in my heart when i am biking. Its pretty fun to see all of the different people here and stores/shops and those are only things we would notice while biking. Also i will have ripped legs when i get home so that great too haha JK

I love the people here! Everyone is so kind to us and even though they may not be interested in our message they will still be polite and listen and even sometimes give us there phone number. The ward here is also soooo strong ahhh i love it. The YSA is the best and they are all so fun and try to talk to me and help me understand what is going on (cause lets be real i have no idea LOL) I bore my testimony at church on sunday and it was great! They might not have known what i was saying but i did my best. One day (the days are all one blur) we went and visited an older lady in our ward. She was so sweet and when we got there she offered us mango (which let me tell you is the best mango in the whole world, like nothing like america mangos) and juice. Then she took us the back of her little shop/house and gave us her homemade pot stickers! They were sooo good but in taiwan when people offer you food you are expected to eat it all. I just looked at my companion with wide eyes and started to eat. I must have had like 10 pot stickers and i thought i was going to blow up. Luckily my comp said something along the lines of "Oh we are so full thank you so much" and we were able to stop. I love meeting with investigators and members. Even though i cant really understand much i try and at least bare my testimony of the truth of our message and that god loves them.

Oh random but yes everyone is obsessed with my hair- even though i kid you not it looks terrible frizzy and sweaty all the time haha once again another way people are so kind to us.

I am definitely tired and my body hurts but this is the lords work and its not supposed to be easy. I am enjoying the tender mercies in life like a small breeze that cools me off and a red light that lets me take a quick break from biking. I am definitely getting more used to be culture and am growing to love all of the differences that are in Taiwan. It sure is a country that is prepared and ready for the gospel.

The church is true and i love my savior Jesus Christ more than ever. He is my best friend and the reason that i am out here. I cant wait for the weeks to come and what they hold. This is the best thing that i could be doing right now - no doubt about it.

I love you all and hope all is well :)

-Hong Jie Mei

Week 9

July 13, 2015

Wow well this is it- tomorrow i leave for Taiwan! I would be lying if i didnt say i was a little scared! Its a nerve wrecking thing to be thrown into a whole new culture and environment! But i can do it. Ive done hard things in my life before and i can do this one. Im also excited though and ready to begin the work. I cant wait to meet the people of Taichung- i already have a love for them that brings me to wake up early when i dont want to and keep studying words when my brain cant take it anymore. I really do all of this out of love. If someone had to ask me why i served a mission it would be because of the love that i have for my fellowmen. Everyone needs to hear this message- EVERYONE.

I dont have much to say this week but if there is one thing i learned about the MTC its attitude. I have talked to countless people who hate the MTC and others, myself included who love it. I often question how two people having the same experience could have two totally different feelings and i have really come down to the fact that it is all about attitude. A good attitude will get you through even the most different/hard/stressful situations. If we are positive, cheerful, and willing to work hard any situation can be made better. I know this is a little cheesy but im serious haha we have to stop and evaluate our attitude when things get hard. I cant chose what happens but i can chose how i react! Also everything is better when we can just step back and laugh about it!

Well next time i will be emailing you from Taiwan! And i will most likely be soaking wet- apparently there has been a typhoon in Taiwan this last week and it rained all week hahah LETS GO!!! itll be great.

-Sister Hardy!

ps: please enjoy the selfies in this email- selfies cheer up any hard situation :)

Week 8

July 6, 2015

NIMEN HAO ! 

Well wow, i have made it to my final week here at the MTC. Craziness. I leave July 14th so i have one more monday of emailing here and then i am outta here! I cant wait to be in Taiwan.

This has been another great week filled with spiritual and hilarious moments. I have really loved my MTC experience and am actually a little bit sad to be leaving! Especially to say goodbye to my wonder companions.

We got our travel plans this last week and it realllly hit me that i was going to be leaving. I started to get pretty nervous about it but have been praying with all my might that i will be okay and look at it alll as a cool adventure. And i really honestly can tell you that i have been comforted. I know that the lord will never leave us comfortless and in those moments when all we need is calm heart he can help us. 

So this last week was the 4th of July and the MTC was nice enough to let us have a patriotic devotional and then go watch the fire works outside from the stadium of fire! it was sucha treat! They let us stay out there till like 11:30 (which normally as a missionary we have lights out at 10:30) so that was reallllly fun. I was so happy to be there in the US for the 4th and really get to appreciate this wonderful country that we live in. I am especially grateful for our founding fathers who knew how important independence would be and fought with every fiber of their being for freedom. 

Haha soooo i had toe surgery this week lol i had a way bad infected toe nail on my right side so we went into the doc on tue and then they said oh great we have a foot doc coming tomorrow who can take care of it. i was totally stressing out about it because everyone was telling me that the needle they use to numb your toe is SO PAINFUL. but guess what, i get in there (oh and i had him do my other toe as well just in case, it was ingrown but not infected so i was just like: "just do it...") and it wasnt even painful... like dead serious i didnt even cry. it was such a blessing. and it was so good that i got it all taken care of here! so i dont have to worry about it in taiwan! the lord has shown me so many tender mercies here at the MTC! 

So every monday we get to skype members from Taiwan! and let me tell you it is my favvvvv thinggg everrrrr. they are so nice to us. and it just makes me so excited to see them in Taiwan! The members there are doing so much. one told us that he had FOUR callings- crazy. They are striving to build up the church and i am so excited for my first sunday there! 

I am happy. I reallly truly am. And even though not everyday is easy all of my worries continue to be swallowed up in the joy of christ. There is so much joy in this work and i have just yet to begin it. Through christ we really can overcome anything that gets thrown at us. I love this work, i love all of you and i love my Savior Jesus Christ.

-Sister Hardy (HONG JIE MEI)

Week 7

June 28, 2015

Well its been quite the week here at the MTC. (shenme dong xi means like "what things?" AKA "what the heck?!" haha)

For starters it was Mission President Seminar so our schedule was wayyy different than normal (we were eating in the gym for example). It was quite the week for food though because we got Chick-Fil-A, Taco Bell, Subway, Costa Vida, and the list goes on. SOOO basically i almost cried when i saw that they were serving Sweet Pork salads from Costa Vida for lunch one day, serious #tendermercy. They also have had blue berries and raspberries at lunch which neverrr happens!!! so that also made me extremely happy. The prophets and apostles were also here this week and even though i didn't see any of them it was cool knowing that they were here with us!

Now for another crazy story. So one day after dinner there was announcement that allll the sisters needed to report to the gym. We get there- really have no clue whats going on. And they tell us that 17M (the residence where ALL the sisters are living) has basically been taken over by bats and that there have been reported sightings and that they were confirmed.... it was pretty much the funnies thing EVERRRR. i seriously lost it and i was making bat jokes alll day. i even convinced some girls that i had raised the bats in my room as pets and then they got out haha dont worry i told her i was kidding. But like I mean bats? Shenme dong xi! We all had to put everything else on hold and move out immediately to a different building. It was quite the sight to see. Haha as im sure many of you know i love chaotic things so it definitely cheered me up and just makes for an awesome story.

Then to top off the week the fire alarm went off in the middle of our sacrament meeting on sunday sooo that was pretty funny too. haha it was sooo hott on sunday (like 104) so we think that the heat triggered the fire alarm lol

Oh one thing that is super cool that is happening today! My district is getting interviewed by the Huffington Post!! Its such a cool opportunity! So be on the look out for an article :)

Despite it being a funny week it was also very spiritual (as always) and i am continually surprised at the love that my Father in Heaven has for me. there have been so many little things that i have seen happen that i just know our from our Heavenly Father. For example i went to the temple monday morning and while there i took of my nice earring that i have received from my grandma when i graduated high school and put them in the rented dress pocket... and of course i forget and left them in the pocket. We left and i didnt realize until later that i totalllly forgot them! i was devastated. we decided to walk back to the temple and see if maybe they can find the dress i had one. but when we get there we realize the temple is closed... feeling down i decided to say a prayer that i would find them. Later that night i asked my branch presidents wife if she could call the temple that morning and ask if they had seen anything or found them. the next day i didnt think much about them and tried to focus on working hard. that night my name got announced over the speaker to come to the front desk. i really had no idea why but me and my companions walked over there and to my surprise there are my earring- in a little plastic baggy. They had been found. It was a miracle. As we walked out i started to get emotional. I realized that my heavenly father reallllly did care about me- even the little things. He is always watching over us.  It was an answer to my prayers that he heard.

The mission is hard, but every thing is worth it. I cant wait to be in Taiwan in about 2 weeks! I should get my travel plans this upcoming Friday! (time has flown by, i cant believe ive already been out for about 2 months now)

Have a fantastic week everyone! I appreciate all of the love and prayers that i have felt from you all.

-Sister Hardy

pics are just a normal say spent studying outside and then from our temple walk on sunday!