21 weeks of training and 3 trainers later... I'm (technically) not a greenie anymore!

A 'greenie' is a Missionary who has been on their mission for less than 3 months. This week I'll hit my 3 month, or 2 transfer, mark on this beautiful island! So including my 9 weeks in Georgia, I'll have had 21 weeks as a greenie and 3 trainers! What a crazy mission so far!!
Anyways. On to this last week. Sister Pieper is going home this Thursday, so I'm getting a new companion on Friday. Because my new companion won't know the area and I'll have to be in charge more, Sister Pieper gave me a lot more responsibility this week with planning, preparing lessons, setting up appointments, and just taking the lead in everything. It was so HARD!! I think hopefully it will all pay off in the next few weeks when I really have to take over and I won't have a comp who know's what's going on in Taidong. So grateful to her for giving me this opportunity(; haha So that was the main struggle of the week! Just trying to be more responsible, figure everything out, and not just rely on her for everything. Every missionary's gotta do it at some point!!

BUT this week we saw one of the BIGGEST miracles I've seen on my mission so far!! We were leaving Facebook one day and Sister Pieper decided to give an English Class tract to this random guy that was walking out with us. She told him about the English class then told him that besides the english class we also share a message about Christ. So we started talking about that gospel and said a prayer with him. He was so sweet and willing to learn. Then he even said the prayer at the end! He said he'd come to English Class that night! So the contact was not a ton different than many other's we'd both had, but he did seem a bit more sincere than others have been. PLUS his last name is the same as Sister Pieper, so that made him a little more memorable, too. We didn't know how awesome he was until he actually showed up to English Class, then was willing to meet with us after! We knew he was the real deal then! We asked him where he lived and we thought it was in the other sister's area. We were a little sad, but still excited to teach him. We got a member from that branch to come help us with the lesson. They got along SO WELL! It was perfect! At one point in the lesson Sister Pieper decided to share Alma 7:10-13 with him which describe Christ's Atonement. He read it, then we asked him what he though of it. Oh by the way, he'd never prayed or had any christian background at all. He responded by saying that Christ wanted to understand everything we go through. He loves us and wants to help us. He basically read just that one scripture about the Atonement and understood more about the Atonement than I learned in like the first 16 years of my life! IT WAS SO AMAZING. The member that was with us was just as shocked as we were. None of us knew what to say after that. We finally started talking again and taught him about baptism. He easily accepted the invitation to be baptized and even accepted a specific date! It was so amazing to see that kind of faith from someone who really has no religious background. 

We were able to meet with him again yesterday after church, (yes he came to church!!), and more miracles! We asked him how church went and if he had any questions. He said he loved it all and had no problems! He loved the family atmosphere and how many kids there were. Then he said I'm also so grateful that Pan Jiemei and Ou Jiemei found me and invited to to come to church. I'm really excited to get baptized on June 13th. I didn't even know what to say!! He's just so prepared and we're really excited to keep working with him. He lives in this little city called Zhiben just outside of taidong. After our ward mission leader met him yesterday he said, "He will be Zhiben's first branch president." It was so hilarious... and might be true! Pan DiXiong is amazing! Hopefully will have some more great updates on him next week!

Side note! I opened my call 1 year ago yesterday! So crazy how time flies! Can't wait to see what the next year has in store for me!

-Sister Oviatt

May 10th email

Mission pres. Email(:
(This is part of Annie's weekly email to her mission President on May 10, 2015.)

One night we had no idea where we needed to go finding. We'd planned on going to a bike trail and contacting there, but didn't feel sure about it. We didn't just sit and wait for inspiration, though. We just went and DID. We know that faith is definitely a principle of ACTION. So we went on our way to the bike trail. Then we came to a stoplight and instead of turning right to go to the bike trail, I felt like we needed to go straight into a neighborhood. So I got up the courage and told Sister Pieper that we needed to go straight instead. So grateful she trusted me enough to listen and follow me! Then we came to this street and I felt like we needed to turn down it. Immediately as we were riding down it I felt so strongly that this was exactly where we needed to be at that time. We needed to start knocking that street.  Right when we parked our bikes this guy walked up to me and said, "Your bike skills are very good!" So we started laughing and said, "What?? You can speak English??" Come to find out he'd gone to our English Class many many years ago! Really cool! So we taught him about the Book of Mormon and prayed with him. He was really respectful to us. We weren't able to set up another time to meet with him, because he kept saying oh I'm catholic. I already have my religion. and all that. But I know we were supposed to meet with him at that time! He has a Book of Mormon and another positive experience with missionaries! Then we still had some time so we started knocking doors. A few doors in we got to meet Wu Tongxue. He was also so kind and receptive to our message. He and his family have no special religious beliefs, he'd never heard of prayer, or scriptures! So we taught him about how he has a Father in Heaven who loves him and how he's given us the Book of Mormon and Bible to help us learn more about him and come closer to him. He was so humble and willing to learn. We were able to set a baptismal date with him and we'll teach him again this week! It was such a sweet experience to help someone learn about their Father in Heaven for their first time. I know it was all because we were willing to act. We didn't know exactly what we needed to do, but we had faith that Heavenly Father has a plan. We just went and did and Heavenly Father definitely blessed us for our faith! Faith really brings miracles!!

7 Months down?!! WHAT?!

This week was really good! Friday was my 7 month mark and Sunday was 12 years since baptism! Crazy last couple days! Also, It was our first full week with out any big sicknesses keeping us from doing the work. I felt like we saw a lot of success and worked really hard. I think it was most manifest in how we either hit our goals exactly or got really close on every one of them. We were really proud of how we were able to set those goals then do our best to get them. Such a fulfilling feeling.

This week we saw a really great miracle. A few weeks ago Sister Giles and I went out tracting. We just went totally by the spirit. Turn left here. Go down this street. Visit that house. We met an English cram school teacher named Judy. She let us give her a bunch of english class tracts and talk to her students about our class. She was so nice to us! Then we told her about why we were really in Taiwan and got her number. She was actually pretty interested in the church and is christian, but doesn't go to a specific church. We didn't contact her for a few weeks, but finally got back in touch with her a few days ago.

We met with her last night and it was definitely Shen de anpai. She told us that we'd called her back at the perfect time. She's been having a hard time with her 2 teenage daughters lately and she really wants to know how to help them trust her and have a good relationship with her. She had been praying for help and was really grateful that she'd met us a few weeks ago. She said, "In my prayer I said, Thank you lord for sending me these two sweet sisters, but I think they're too young! They don't know me!" It was really funny and sweet! We told her that we definitely don't know everything, but we know that our message is true and it will improve her family relationships. Our challenge with her is just her work schedule right now. Everyone is testing right now so she has to work a lot. We're just having a hard time finding a date to set for her baptism and for our next lessons. She really has a lot of faith in Christ and a lot of desire to follow him and learn about his gospel. It was just such a big testament to me that Heavenly Father knows all of his children very intimately. He knows what we need at the precise moment we need it. I really hope we'll get her schedule all worked out so we can help her and her family receive the blessings of this gospel!

We're really excited for the next 3 weeks together in Taidong. The work is moving along well!

And I really love my companion Sister Pieper! We've got pretty similar personalities and she gets my sarcasm so that's a big bonus! I'm just super sad she's finishing her mission at the end of the month! I'll miss her sooo much! :((

Taidong is the place to be!

Pictures from the last few weeks

Note from Mom: This is a collection of pictures Annie has sent to me over the past few weeks.  A few days after her birthday she got sick and was to achy to write a large email but she sent me a few pictures of the previous weeks.  The next week after her birthday was spent sleeping and recovering from a virus that everyone in her apartment got.  They didn't do much that week other than rest and recuperate so she didn't have much to share here on the blog.  She is healthy and strong again and continues to love the adventure she is on.  It isn't always easy or fun but she is learning and growing every day.  

Pictures of the Beach 

20th Birthday in Taiwan

"Happy Birthday Annie!"

My companion made me a birthday cake in a rice cooker.

Another P-day at the Beach

I found Texas in Taiwan!