Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven!

I think I'm really starting to get used to Taiwan now! I can feel my love for these people and this island grow more everyday! It's taken lots of prayer, fasting, and patience, but I'm getting there. 

This week we had a HUGE miracle. We have one investigator who is in Junior High and is really smart. He's understood all of the lessons really well and has good fellowship in the branch. He's pretty much golden! His baptismal date is scheduled for this Saturday. Last Sunday at church his bike got stolen! He didn't lock it or put it in the church parking lot, but we still felt really bad for him. 

On Tuesday we called to tell him we found a bike to give him. His Mom answered the phone and told us his Dad was really upset that his bike got stolen at our church. He said we're not a good church and he doesn't want his son going there anymore. We were both SO disappointed and heart broken! He needs parent permission to get baptized because he's underage, and we knew now that there was NO WAY he would get that. We prayed for him all week and stopped by his house on Thursday night to give him and his family a sorry note. We fasted on Friday for him as well. 

Friday night we had a big Family Home Evening dinner for 2nd branch, which made it sooo hard to fast! Mao Jiemei just kept telling me, "Sacrifice brings blessings". So we just kept fasting no matter how many people asked us, "Chi bao le ma??" (Have you eaten?) Then on Sunday morning... HE CAME TO CHURCH!!! We were so shocked! Then we asked how his parents were doing and he said, "They signed the Baptismal Record!" WHAT?! It was so AMAZING! We didn't think he'd even be able to come to church, let alone get baptized this Saturday! We immediately said a gratitude prayer for this HUGE miracle Heavenly Father had allowed us to see. He passed his interview at church and we're getting ready for his baptism this Saturday morning!

The funny moment of the week also comes from an investigator with a baptismal date this week. She's this really cute Ama (grandma) who has been investigating for about 4-5 months. She's overcome A LOT to get to this baptismal date on Sat. She's had 4 interviews and hadn't passed them til this one on Tuesday. The sad thing is she won't sign her Baptismal Record! She's too afraid of the commitment and honestly Satan is just working on her. So after she passed her baptismal interview, we went in to talk to her. Mao JM encouraged her and strengthened her and tried to bear her testimony to her. She said something like I've seen you overcome so much the last few months and I've grown to love you so much. I know how much baptism will bless you. She even started to tear up! The spirit was so strong in that room! Then Han JM said oh don't make me cry! Then asked, "If I keep eating green onions and garlic and then have bad breath, will the people in your church still talk to me? Will they shun me?" Our district leader and Mao JM started laughing sooo hard their faces turned red and they were crying from laughter now, instead of the spirit! It was so hilarious, but of course I had no idea what was happening until Mao JM told me after the appointment. haha SO She still hasn't signed the paper, but we're praying for a miracle to happen just like with the boy who got his bike stolen. Our God is a God of miracles!

There have been a lot of other crazy things that happened this week, too. We just know that it's always darkest before the sunrise. From all of the weird things happening this week, we know that Satan really doesn't want East Taiwan to have a Stake. We have about a week left to get everything ready to make this stake happen! Both sides will be working very hard this week to either stop the stake from being created or to build Zion. We'll see what happens! If we do get a stake out here in Hualien/Taidong, the Taiwan Taipei mission will the the first mission in the Asia area to have all stakes and no districts/branches! It will be amazing when it happens! Stake conference is scheduled for June and I really hope/think I'll still be here to see that! :)

So that is what's going on in Taidong for me right now! The food is still really good! Biking and the language are still hard! ...but getting better everyday! :)

The gospel is true! The Atonement makes everything possible! He Lives!

Thanks for all the love and support and prayers! I really felt them this week especially!

JIA YOU!!!

-Sister Oviatt

Pictures from week 4 in Taidong

So last week for PDay we went up to a town called Luye with the Elders from 3rd branch. It was a crazy crazy day! Probably one of the hardest wettest most hilly biking days of the mission so far, but it was an adventure for sure!! 

:) And we bought matching pants! hahaha

Originally we were supposed to do service with a member at his rice field, but it was too rainy, so he didn't go to his field. :( We just dried off and chilled at their house and ate food and talked with them. They're less active, but we think it's cuz they live about 40-45 min away from the church... haha We also visited a few other LA's that night up there. It was SO RAINY!

Also got to go up to Hualien (2 Hours north) for Exchanges with the STL's this week! It was so much fun! :) We had these awesome french toast sandwich things from their night market! Mine had cole slaw and shrimp in it! SO GOOD!

This is a tree fort that a member built in their backyard! AWESOME! We had a fun branch activity there on Saturday night :)

This is a dinner that an AWESOME recent convert took us to with the elders on Thursday! SOOO GOOD! :D

Week 3 in Taidong!

Wow! This week is already over!? It went by sooo fast and we did SO MUCH! We taught a total of 45 lessons this week. In Georgia I think the most we taught was about 22. No wonder I'm so wiped out come 9 pm every night! I think that and the biking are the biggest contributors! I've never been so tired in my life! I feel like I'm working a double and Corner Bakery every single day!

This week was another one of progression and adjusting. Looking back to where I was at this time last week, I can see how much better I did this week. I can see myself getting more and more used to the culture of Taiwan and this new mission. I'm starting to love the people and the culture even more.

This week we visited a Less Active who's Mom is not a member. She's really elderly and doesn't have very good eyesight so we read the Book of Mormon with her when we visit. She still hasn't been to church, so we emphasized that with her this week. We taught her how repentance is willingness to follow God's commandments and give up our past habits. She agreed and nodded her head the whole time, until we asked her to come to church. Then all she'd say was, "Bu yao. Bu yao qu." (Don't want. Don't want to go.) The miracle part of this story was how much I spoke up to try to help her see why church is important. I was able to testify of Heavenly Father's love for each of us. I told her I could tell that she has a lot of faith in Heavenly Father and in Christ. She nodded her head and agreed. So I said if we have faith in them we're willing to do anything they ask us to do right? Again she nodded her head. So then I asked her, "Will you come to church with us this Sunday?" Same response! We asked her if she wanted peace in her life. She said yes. Then we testified that by going to church and taking the sacrament we feel increased peace in our lives, but she still responded that same way! It was pretty frustrating. But I was grateful for how much I was able to communicate with her and bear my testimony of church and the Atonement to her. Any testimony born of the Atonement is not wasted. Through bearing testimony my own was strengthened, even if maybe it wasn't well received by the investigator. But who knows. Maybe it was received, and she just isn't showing it, or we won't know the impact until later. All I know is that bearing testimony of the sacrament and the atonement is NEVER a bad idea. Good things always come from bearing testimony of church and spiritual truths.

Saturday was such a crazy day! We biked probably about 7-8 miles finding less actives most of the afternoon. IT WAS SO HOT. I only got a little sunburn though! :) We were also fasting on Saturday for our Branch leaders and our less actives so that in the next few weeks we can get a Hualien stake. The first stake in eastern Taiwan! How cool! But anyways. It was a really tiring day!

Then that night we get a call from the Zone Leaders that we were all giving talks the next day in sacrament meeting on service! A 10 minute talk on service in Mandarin after 2 weeks on island?!?! Zenme kuazhang?!?! (HOW CRAZY?!) So then later that night we get another call... PRESIDENT AND SISTER DAY will be at all of the Taidong Sacrament Meetings. WHAT. That's when I really started freaking out. We were sooo worn out from that day and we had to prepare talks for the next morning's 10am sacrament. WOW. We woke up at 5:30am to get them ready. I am SO GRATEFUL I have a native companion that helped me translate my talk!!

Everyone said it was really good and our Branch Mission Leader even asked if Sister Mao wrote it all for me. He didn't believe that I wrote it and she just translated it. haha Yesterday after sacrament I was the most tired I've ever been in my life. I was so worn out! But no Sunday naps for missionaries! :( haha Well somehow I made it through another crazy week on a crazy island.

I'm so grateful for everyone's support and prayers for me. I can feel them everyday push me through the tough times! I'm grateful for this Gospel and the peace and joy it's brought me. I'm grateful for the plan of salvation and the knowledge that I have that I will be with my family forever. I'm grateful for the words of our prophets and apostles to guide us today. So excited for conference in a few weeks!! Most of all I'm grateful for my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who truly suffered for all of us individually. He knows me. he knows you. He loves all of us so much more than we can comprehend. I'm so grateful for the testimony of the Atonement I've gained from my mission so far.

Thanks again!

JIA YOUUU!

-Sister Oviatt

-Ou Jiemei

Pictures from Taidong

This park in central Taidong has these awesome little hot air balloons as part of their tourism campaign! SO COOL!! :)

This is kinda a view of the ocean on the way to Zhiben this week! 

and the awesome mountains in Zhiben!

 and the Night market in Zhiben! Best sweet potato rolls EVER! <3

 Pictures

WOW Taiwan is crazy!!

Hey Everyone!

I can't believe I'm actually in Taiwan now! It's been a looong wait for this! And It's so different than I expected still! 

I think the hardest thing is probably the language. I feel so out of it and alone when we go to appointments, church, and shopping. Luckily my companion is a native, so she communicates for me, but it's still so hard to not know what's going on! She is great! She got baptized 4 years ago in May. She's still the only member in her family. She has a younger sister who's about my age. She applied for her mission when she was living in Taichung so that's why she was able to get called to Taipei even though she's from here! She only has 2 transfers left! Crazy! I'm learning a lot from her both spiritually and linguistically. :)

It's also nice cuz she knows what food is good too! I haven't had anything I haven't liked yet! I even had chicken hearts! Not too bad!! A lil tough, but good! This AM we went to the morning farmer's market and I got pineapple freshly cut right in front of me! SO GOOD. I ate it all during language study today. The fruit is so goooood!! My favorite food right now is called Bao zi. It's this round bread roll thing with some meat and vegetables and stuff on the inside. Mmmmm sooo good fresh from these random stands on the roads. That's been so crazy too. There's food everywhere!! They make the food right out in front of their shops then you go in the back to sit down and eat it. So that's why it always smells like food here. It makes fasting SO HARD. haha

So. As I said, everything is so different here! Some days I feel like nothing is the same as it was is GA or in the US in general. The language barrier is obviously huge, too! I had some rough days this week for sure. One day we were biking to an appointment which was the farthest I've ever ridden a bike in my life. It was exactly noon so it was the hottest part of the day. I was frustrated with not learning the language fast enough and the culture was frustrating me and I was just plain worn out. Then of course we come up to this big hill. I was just about done at that point. I started praying, "Heavenly Father. I can't do this. I cannot make it up this hill. Father bless me with the strength I need to make it up this hill. I can't do this without thy strength.  I'm literally dying." then in the middle of my prayer this thought came to me, "You're not dying as much as the people you need to teach's spirit's are." Suddenly it got just a little bit easier to go up that hill. I started to tear up and felt so selfish. Who  was I to complain about some physical pain, when there are people all around me suffering a much worse death, a spiritual death. That was a humbling experience for me this week.

I'm out here because of LOVE. That's it. I love my Father in Heaven. I love my Savior. I love my family. And I love my brothers and sisters out here in Taiwan! I know this gospel is true. The strenthening power of the Atonement is REAL!

-Sister Oviatt

-Ou Jiemei

MOM!! TAIWAN IS CRAZY! ... AWESOME!

Note from Mom: 
First of all I want to thank the awesome ward in Fayetteville, Georgia for taking great care of Annie!  She told me of several "moms" who watched out for her and several families who made her feel at home.  She loved coming into your homes and meeting your families.  Thank You!

This has been a great week for Annie and our family.  On Tuesday, we got to talk to Annie on the phone when she had a layover in Houston on her way to Taiwan.  The kids' schools were delayed 2 hours so they were all home when she called and we all got to talk to her.  I then watched her flights all the way to Taiwan on an app I downloaded so I knew she got there safely.  Wednesday night I got a call from Taiwan.  It was Annie calling to tell us she got there ok and that she LOVED it.  She could only talk for literally one minute but in that minute I heard the peace and calm in her voice that let me know, once again, she is where she is supposed to be right now.  

Annie's P-day (preparation day) is on Monday in Taiwan but Taiwan in 14 hours ahead of us here in Texas.  She emailed us last night around 10pm our time and we emailed back and forth for about an hour.  She didn't have time to write a post for this blog so she asked me to take parts out of the emails she sent us and combine it with her weekly email she sent her mission president and post that on the blog.  So that is what I did. If it doesn't make sense that is why.  I've also posted on another post several of the pictures she sent to us.  I hope you enjoy hearing about her time in Taiwan as much as we have. We are very proud of her for enduring and thriving when things have been hard and when things haven't gone the way they were expected to.  We miss her every day but we are so grateful for what she is learning and what our family is learning through this experience. 

Mom Guess what!?!

I got a bendiren companion! (a native companion!)

She's from Taipei, too! CRAZY! She only has 2 transfers left! :(

3/8 trainers were natives and Sister Kirkham, Good, and I got them! WOW!

I'm serving in Taidong, on the very southern east coast of the mission. It's a poorer area from what I've heard, but all the food is SUPER CHEAP. I got breakfast this morning for like $2. It was like 75 NTD (New taiwan dollars) soo yeah i'm not sure exactly how much that is USD. also I got a bunch of FRESH fruit and stuff at a morning market/farmer's market today at 6am. almost a week of food for like 150 NTD!! It's crazy awesome.

In my interview with President Day on Thursday he said that Elder Holland said last time he came to the mission that the Lord only sends his best missionaries to the island of Taiwan. I don't believe him... haha Then I've heard all the other missionaries tell me that President Day trusts the missionaries a lot that he sends to the "east coast" so they say the fact that I'm TRAINING here, with a NATIVE means a TON. Uh....overwhelming a bit. I don't know.

BUT HUGE ANSWERED PRAYER. I have roommates! I'd heard that most missionaries here just live with their companions. So I HAVE ROOMMATES, but Heavenly Father didn't just give me that, SISTER GOOD IS MY ROOMMATE!!!! :D :D Texas for life! :) We're both so stoked(: Her companion is a native too, like I said. I'm so grateful! SO GRATEFUL. 

I feel like this is FINALLY my real mission. So when we first got to Taipei we got on a cute Asian bus and went to the mission home by the temple. SO PRETTY! I love it. Then we got temporary companions for the next 2 days. I got Sister Tate who'd been serving in Houston since October waiting for her visa. She's awesome. We basically just went right to sleep after that! 

The next morning we woke up at 6am and all together with President Day ran to the Chiang Kai Shek memorial. It was so pretty!!! I didn't have my camera though:( Then we did office stuff and I got to talk to you!! <3 for the shortest minute of my life! Then we figured out some bank and money stuff... and I got to write you a letter!! SO it should get there in like 3 weeks(; I wrote more about the first day in that letter. Then we had some trainings/orientations all afternoon from President and Sister Day. They're so down to earth and real. I love them so much. They know that we already have so much pressure on us going to such a foreign mission that they don't have to give us any more! Sister Day says a majority of the missionaries that come here are such perfectionists and that this mission teaches them that they don't have to be. She's so awesome. They're both just so loving and helpful. I really LOVE President and Sister Day!

Below is her letter to her mission president:

President Day,
I love Taiwan so much! I'm so grateful to finally be here! I wouldn't change a thing about my mission so far though. I'm grateful for the extra time in the MTC and our reassignments to Georgia. They've helped me become who I am today. Thank you for the awesome 2 days we spent up at the mission home. It was a great way to transition into this NEW culture and country. Thank you!

Even though I've only been down here in Taidong for 2 days, we've already seen a few miracles. First of which I think is how much of the language I've been understanding. I've understood a lot more than I thought I would considering the long break away from Chinese in Georgia. I'm not very good at responding to people, though. I need to just speak more so I can improve my speaking ability.

On Saturday night we went out to go street contacting. Mao Jiemei did most of the talking, but I bore my testimony about families and said a few prayers. It was really hard. Kind of overwhelming. But the people did understand me, so maybe my Chinese isn't as bad as I think. 3 of the people we talked with became new investigators and were pretty interested in the church. It was really cool to see that happen my first time street contacting in Taiwan! 

The biggest challenge so far... I don't even know! There have been kind of a lot. Probably just the new culture and new mission rules. It's hard to get used to one mission's rules and routines, then get used to this one. I'm sure I'll get over that in the next few weeks though. Obviously the language barrier is really hard, too. Living with 2 natives has been difficult because of that. I feel like sometimes I just follow Mao Jiemei around and don't really know what's going on. I just do what she tells me to do and go where ever she wants. I don't ask questions. :) I love her so much though and we're getting along really well so far! We have similar personalities and I know we're supposed to be companions! I've got a lot to learn from her at the end of her mission! I can't believe she only has 2 transfers left! It will be so sad when she goes home.

I'm really excited to serve the people of Taidong and continue to learn how to become a better missionary.
Thank you so much for everything you do for us!
-Ou Jiemei
-Sister Oviatt

Pictures from Taiwan

Me and Mao Jiemei on the 7 hour train ride from Taipei to Taidong! :)

MTC roommates reunited on the flight to Taiwan

View of the temple from the Mission Office!

Me and Sister Tate in front of the Grand Hotel in Taipei where Taiwan was dedicated for missionary work!

This is me biking to write emails just now. Yeah nice helmet I know. ;)

 

This is me and my cute native companion, Mao Jiemei. We had a district(stake) activity on Saturday! SO FUN! But I got a SUNBURN!! :P

Pictues from the last week in Georgia

BBQ with my companion Sister Smith

Last district meeting in GA

 Me with Virginia at Church yesterday! She finally got her large print Book of Mormon yesterday! So that was exciting! AND We got her on date to be baptized this week!!! MIRACLE! Unfortunately I won't be here, but Sister Smith and Sister Taylor will take good care of her. :)

I got a Georgia Tech sweatshirt!

Last FHE at the Campbells with Virginia last Monday night!

9 Weeks in Georgia! and I'm flying out tomorrow morning for TAIWAN!!!!

Nihao!!!!!!

I can't believe in about 19 hours I will be on a plane going to TAIWAN! AH! The wait has been sooo long and sooo hard. BUT IT'S FINALLY HERE! In President Day's email today, he said 9 other visa waiters got their visas last week, too! So they'll be coming out with us this transfer too! I'm so so so excited! District 39-A will be reunited! <3 But the sad thing is that Sister Facer, who I talked about last week, still doesn't have hers! :( I don't get this visa process. I do know she's going to continue to be AWESOME out here, though, and the Lord has a plan for all of us!

We also got Transfer news this morning! Sister Taylor and Smith will be companions and be the only sisters in the Fayetteville ward now! Also the Elders are all getting moved out except one. He'll get a new companion and they'll be the only elders in this ward now! It's gonna be a crazy transfer meeting on Wednesday!!

Yesterday was sad because I had to say bye to everyone at church. It made me realize how much I've grown and learned here. Sometimes I'd feel like I didn't know anyone and I haven't done anything here.  But I really have made a lot of friends and great relationships with the people here. Luckily TX isn't too far away, so I'm already planning my trip back here after the mission! The south is so great. GA is officially the 2nd best state. ;)

Yesterday we also went out on one last team up with one of my favorite Laurels, Rebecca Stoker. We went to this one house where the lady answered the door and told us about how they were just about to go to church and that they were Jehovah's Witnesses. She told us we could come back another time and talk. She was actually pretty friendly! Sometimes people try to tell us what Mormons believe and they're super ignorant and rude, but she was somewhat nice! Just as we were leaving Rebecca said, "Happy Sabbath!", you know, just to be friendly. Then the lady stopped and said, "Oh you still believe in the Sabbath?" and we said, "Ummm we always have?" and she went off on this tangent about how the Sabbath day was part of the Mosaic law and that Christ did away with the Mosaic law when he came to earth. It was really funny! She was just trying to be nice and this lady totally got off on this rant about how everyday is the day to serve the Lord and how we still followed the old laws. We were super confused though because the 10 Commandments still exist... so that was weird. We laughed about it all day!

Last Monday we had dinner at a member's house. When we go to member's homes for dinner we always share a thought with them at the end. We have one message we like to share the most. I have the First Vision memorized in Mandarin, so I'll tell it to them. We tell them to pay attention to the spirit that they feel as I say it. Sometimes we'll tell them it's the First Vision and sometimes we don't. But anyways we then teach them that Heavenly Father speaks to us in a way that we understand and in our own language. This applies not only to spoken language, like Chinese and English, we can always feel the spirit no matter what language. It also applies to how the spirit talks to us individually. We'll all understand the spirit and the promptings we get differently. SO. The member's kid had a nonmember friend over! Me and Sister Smith both individually when we were eating dinner got a little bit nervous about this. We weren't sure how well it would work to share the First Vision with her. But we both felt like we should still share it and it would all work out. So we both went with it, without even telling each other! So we went through it and also had Sister Smith say it in English so the girl would understand. The girl was really interested! She said she'd heard the First Vision before. She's been interested in lots of different religions and loves researching them. Her parents are devout Catholic though, and confiscate anything she brings home from other churches. :( We taught her a little bit about the restoration and Joseph Smith. Hopefully when she goes off to college in 5-6 years she'll remember this and the great member friends that she had and find the missionaries and get baptized! So we weren't able to get a "new investigator" out of the experience, but we know there was a huge seed planted. Heavenly Father is definitely preparing her heart to receive the gospel in the future. I love being a part of this great work! I can't wait to go to Taiwan and share the gospel and my testimony of Christ with them! It will be SO different teaching out there, but I'll get it someday(;

Well I've got lots of packing to do so I'll talk to you next week!

Thank you everyone for the support and prayers throughout this looong process(:

Zaijian!

-Ou Jiemei