Tried in All Things

Dear Mommy,

Here is a part of my email to Pres. Day that I'd like to include this week:
This past week was so wonderful! Life is beautiful when you know that Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father love us so much! I think the best part is being able to share this knowledge with everyone around you. Although I'm no longer serving in Guishan anymore, I heard some of the best news this past week. Huang Cong Ming DX got baptized last week Sunday! And Chen Yi Lun JM is scheduled for this week Saturday. It makes me so happy to know that they are working their way towards eternal life! I love them so much! On my mission I didn't realize how much I would love people but when you have a part in their coming unto Christ, I feel the joy that is described in D&C 18. I don't have to be there for the baptism. I was there while the seed was being planted in their hearts and also watching their conversion unfold. How great is my joy!

I was in my first Power Tri-Companionship! Wooh! It was short but it was so fun! I learned so much. We taught with so much unity and it was nice being able to learn from two other missionaries at the same time. I just think about what people think when they see the three of us riding our bikes down the road. "Servants of God!" That's what I think that they think. 

One thing that I've noticed that's been happening in our proselyting time is that we get to a road and we both look at each other and say, "I don't know why we're here." For the first 10 minutes or so, it's true, we don't really know why we're there. We get rejected one after another. But after we hit that rough start, we start seeing those miracles. I think it happens with every place we go. Once in a really long while we get to a street we previously prayed about and right when we park our bikes, the first person we talk to is amazing! But lately, it really takes great faith and perseverance to keep going.

I read a scripture this week during Personal Study in Doctrine and Covenants 136:31.
"My people must be tried in all things, that they may be prepared to receive the glory that I have for them, even the glory of Zion; and he that will not bear chastisement is not worthy of my kingdom."

How amazing is it to know that as children of God, He wants us to be like Him and to obtain His glory. The only way that could happen is if we have trials and we prove ourselves worthy of that glory.

This week we had dinner with Li JM. She's in her 50's. Her husband is Filipino (woohoo) but he's not a member. She is a returned missionary and has such a big heart. She has her own NGO and she deals with labor rights specifically for Filipino and Indonesian workers here in Taiwan. Lately, she's had a lot of trials but seeing her every Sunday at church and the faith that she has gives me so much hope for what may lie ahead in the future for me. It's not enough to just be a returned missionary anymore. The question is "what kind of returned missionary will you be?" Seeing her example and how she's working on enduring to the end is such an inspiration to me.

Have a wonderful week! I love you!!!
Love,
Sister Sagisi
夏姐妹

We had dinner with two Recent Converts, Hannah and Bill. They are both so awesome! 

Going away party for Liao DX who will be serving in Melbourne, Australia!

These taste amazing!

Our English Class Activity! Happy Halloween!

Yes, I was able to contribute to the activities by bringing up this balloon pop game that I love so much! I still remember doing this at one of my birthday parties.

Temple day! Beautiful day at the Taiwan Taipei Temple <3

Short and Sweet Email

Dear Mommy,

It's been a wonderful, wonderful week here in Pingzhen. I don't even know where to begin. First off, I can't believe that it's already Monday and that I'm emailing. And just a heads up, I will be emailing on Wednesday next week instead of Monday because we are going to go to the temple on Wednesday and it will also be our P-day. Yay! I'm so excited to go to the temple again. I feel like it's been so long.

I have a testimony that the Lord is protecting His missionaries. Call us crazy but we have lessons just on the side of the street. In fact, we had a miracle yesterday night. As we were biking to the road we wanted to go door knocking at, we ended up talking to a guy on a moped at a stoplight. When it turned green we asked if he would pull over on the side of the road. It was a very busy road and I can only imagine what people were thinking as they saw two missionaries on their bikes talking to a man on his moped and bowing their heads in prayer while two feet away, cars, trucks, and mopeds are zooming past. We ended up having a lesson with him and he wanted to learn more. He didn't live in our area but we were able to refer him to the missionaries in his area. The Lord really does watch over his missionaries as we do His work.

I'm sorry that this email is really really short. We only have 30 minutes of email time today. But I know that there are a lot of things that the Lord wants us to learn everyday. One of them is by looking at the little miracles and tender mercies that he shows us throughout the day. I know that His hand is behind each of those small and big acts. I'm so grateful to be on a mission and to be serving in the Taiwan Taipei Mission!

Until next week (Wednesday)!
Love,
Sister Sagisi

This is the Li family. I love them!

I hope this makes you laugh as much as it made me laugh. :D 

Guess Who's Back!

Dear Mommy,

Guess who's back in Taoyuan Zone! They couldn't keep me away for long. I'm back in my first zone but this time in the Zhongli District and over the Pingzhen Area. This week I will have been on island for 4 months! How crazy that time flies so quickly!!! This place is amazing! It's really different coming into an area where there are numerous investigators already with baptismal dates, are progressing, and that we already have lessons set up for the next couple of weeks. I was not used to that in Guishan where we re-opened and in Datong where we were focusing on finding majority of the time! It's different and I love it! It allows me to grow in other ways and to just build this area in more amazing ways.

My companion is the beautiful Sister Zippro from Farmington, Utah. She has 8 weeks left on her mission but let me tell you, she is still 100% focused on the work. I am learning soo much from her! Her Chinese is amazing. It's actually her major at BYU. I wanna say that aside from the native Chinese speakers, she has one of the best Chinese in the mission, along with Sister Roy of course. :)

General Conference was just spectacular. Maybe it's the fact that I've been set apart as a missionary and I have this sacred assignment that the Spirit just revealed so many new things to me. I wish conference was longer! I wish it was a week long. But Sis. Zippro made a good point when she asked me, "do you think church members would watch if it were a week long?" She is so right...conference is not just for me but for everybody. And although I wish it could have been longer, I now have the responsibility to not just be edified by the words that I've heard but also to study them thoroughly and apply it to my life. That is the true test of conference. We can listen all we want but if we don't use what we heard to become more like Christ, then it's really all for nothing.

Love you! I'm sorry this is so short! Until next week!

Sister Sagisi

This is how we do conference here in the Taoyuan Zone :)

It POURED on Friday! Oh my goodness. It rained cats and dogs. But we went to work nonetheless.

Shi Family. Such good food! I love them so much!

Sister Lee will be finishing her mission in  2 weeks. She is Taoyuan's Sister Training Leader :( Love her so much! She was companions with Sis. Roy!

My new companion Sis. Zippro <3

Taipei Main Station. It's a train station. It reminds me Grand Central Station...not like I've ever been but it's the closest thing I have to it.

My last lunch with them. Sister Thornley, Sister Nelson are Central Zone's Sister Training Leader and Sister Smith my companion <3

This is a "Caltrop." We peel it and it eat. It's kind of similar to chestnuts.

Taipei 101, Leaving Taipei

Dear Mommy,

So I'm moving again! Sister Smith's trainee came!!! Yay!!! So all the new missionaries (31 of them) who were supposed to come in last transfer are finally here. Their VISAs got processed and everything is all good. That just means that I'm moving somewhere and I get a new companion. I think the amazing thing about our transfer meetings is that we don't know where we are going or who our companions are until it is announced at the transfer meeting. Haha. I love Pres. Day and the way he does things in our mission. :)

Here is a paragraph from my letter to Pres. Day that I want to include in this week's email:

It has been a fast but amazing few weeks here in Wanda. I can't even believe it's time for me to leave. I read an article in the August 2014 Liahona entitled, "Act Upon this Land as for Years." And I thought it was so pertinent to what is happening to me. When I heard that I'll only be companions with Sister Smith until the new missionaries get to Taiwan, it was easy to think, "oh I'll just live out of my suitcases because who knows, I could be leaving tomorrow." But no, I got settled and I acted as if I was going to be there for the whole transfer. I already know why the Lord allowed me to have this opportunity, though short, to serve here in Wanda and to be companions with Sister Smith. I love her so much!

Here's the link to the article: https://www.lds.org/ensign/2014/08/young-adults/act-upon-this-land-as-for-years?lang=eng

And here's a fun fact. So the son of Kaiping, in this mormon.org/kaiping video actually accompanied us as we did a temple tour. We didn't even know it was him until after the fact. Haha. As Sister Smith and I talked about the tour we just said to each other, "it made sense because he said that he attended a music school!" Haha. And according to the video, he's an amazing musician. He also has such a strong testimony.

We get to watch General Conference next week! Yay! I can't wait to hear these inspired messages. It takes a week for them to translate it to Chinese :)

I love Taiwan!!!

This is Meng JieMei. She is so strong. She has a strong testimony and though she's been through a lot, she is able to see the blessings in her life each day. I will miss her a ton.

Our new investigator (that we have to give away because she lives outside our area) :( But her name is Luo JieMei. She also is so amazing!

We found this in Sister Smith's helmet...hahahahaha.

Yay! TAIPEI 101!!! I did it!

Me and the damper baby.

Central Zone sisters on top of the world!

Nuff said :)

Because we never got the opportunity to take a 'map' picture at the MTC.

Look how high it goes. :)

I'm going to miss her so much! Love her!!!

I love you so much mommy!

Love,

夏姐妹

Sister Sagisi