Transfer 10--Here we go!

Sis. Guo and I will be spending another transfer together in Beitou! Starting transfer 10 of 12. Wooh! I'm cherishing EVERY SINGLE MOMENT of this short privilege. I'm hoping to 'die' (finish) here. We go on so many exchanges with sisters because we are assigned to 8 companionships in two zones that I hardly get to really really know our area. Haha.

So our chapel is on top of a hill. It's really close to our house. But--it's on top of a hill! We've had promptings to go near that area several times this week and we have found miracles galore! I used to have the mindset of, "oh but it's so close to the chapel. Missionaries have probably knocked those houses a thousands times before." But the Lord proved me wrong. We met a Xu JM. She is a single lady in her 60s taking care of her 90 year old dad. We had a lesson with her and re-invited her to English class because she used to attend before. She actually really loves missionaries. She's gone hiking with them before but never took any of the gospel lessons nor had she been given a Book of Mormon. Of course we gave one to her and invited her to read the beginning. When she came to English class the next day, she had already read the intro to the Book of Mormon and knew the background of the Book of Mormon so well!

Another lady is Tang JM. We didn't know why we were led to a barren road at 12:30 pm in the hot afternoon, aka nap/lunch time. We ended up finding Tang JM, a former investigator from about 30 years ago. She attended church and English class at Jin Hua when she was in college. Now she's about 60 years old. So crazy! We ended up having a lesson with her as well. We wondered why the Lord wanted us to meet with her even though she thought that 'now' still wasn't her 'time.' But I know that the Lord gave her a perfect reminder of His love towards her.

Lastly is Zhen JM. She literally lives next door to the chapel. We ended up having a lesson with her and she said she will come to church next Sunday. She said that right now her goal is to look for a husband. She's in her 30's and she's afraid to wait too long to get married. It was the perfect lead into eternal families!

Love you all!!

Love,

Sister Sagisi

夏姐妹

We have one room with AC in our apartment. Our beds is not in that room. After all, we're only in bed for 8 hours to sleep. It's gotten to the point where even though we have a fan in that room, the fan is just blowing hot air. This is what we've resorted to. One of the best decisions ever!

I know with all my heart that President and Sister Day are called of God to lead this mission. I am so grateful for the opportunity to serve with them for a short year. They flew back on Saturday. They'll be released on Tuesday. I'll miss them so much. But I'll see them again!!!

President Day sang a song that he wrote for us. "I am a child, a child of God."

These are 'zongzi' It's so good!!!

The Danshui district! Elder Sumsion, Elder Huang, Elder Christensen, Elder Sanford, me, and Sis. Guo. Elder Christensen got transferred and Elder Sanford completed his mission and went home on Saturday!

We found this outside this house. We needed to take a picture next to it.

"There is always, always, always, something to be thankful for." We exercise at this park each morning (except Sundays). It's the perfect reminder to start off our day.

The district in Danshui! Danshui is pretty much the most northern spot of Taiwan. It's a harbor and it's beautiful!

My lovely companion and I <3 It was the perfect weather! Not too hot. And it didn't rain!

She is so cute!

​A taro soft serve ice cream cone. It's the equivalent of $1 (US). I felt so sick after eating that. But I'll be back again for another one. Maybe in a year :)

Farewell to President and Sister Day

This week, President and Sister Day finish their service here as Mission President of the Taiwan Taipei Mission. I don't think words can describe my feelings for President and Sister Day. They have impacted my life more than I can even explain. I know that one of the many reasons that I was called to the Taiwan Taipei Mission was to learn from these two amazing disciples of Christ. Every training, every interview, every moment that I've had with them has been so special. I've felt their love that they express to each of their missionaries. All I'm saying is that I'm going to Tennessee to visit them and eat Sister Day's cookies! ;)

This week was Dragon Boat festival. We've even a lot of 'zongzi.' It's rice wrapped in leaves and it's sooo good! I don't think I'll ever get tired of them. I'll send a picture next week. :)

This week we went looking for a less active. We forgot the ward list a the bikes and I had to go off of memory. Haha. But the Lord led us to this woman who told us that she's always wanted her children to believe in Christ, even though she can't because she was Buddhist. It was a miracle!!! We're meeting with her again and sharing more of the gospel with her!!!

I love you all!

Love,

Sister Sagisi

Sister 夏 (summer)

Exchanges with the beautiful Sister Lindsay. This is an ice cream swirl with green bean and peanut butter. Who would ever think of that combination? The Taiwanese! And trust me, it's delicious!!!

Summer is coming! Get your fans out. Yes, that's my name! 夏 :)

My companion thinks that I'm a Taiwanese who can speak really good English. Hahaha. I love her!

​We got qing'd to Thai food with Zeng JM. SOO GOOD!!!!!!! She was baptized in December and she has such a cool conversion story.

My Spanish is still Good...Haha.

I make a year on island this week!!! I feel like I just left the MTC! Still!

This week, one of our sister missionaries in my zones received a text message in Spanish. They couldn't read it and asked me if I could read it. Boy, was I glad that I read it and translated it for them. They had originally planned to meet with that investigator that night but after I read it, I think they made other plans. It was something like this in Spanish, "I was just wondering do you have a boyfriend? How old are you?" I AM SO GRATEFUL I learned Spanish in high school. The Lord needed me for this moment! Haha.

Nothing is sweeter than a song'd hong dou bing! (This is a really good Taiwanese cake that is filled with custard or red bean, etc). I gotta tell you this miracle. Well we on exchanges and were English Boarding and I noticed this man sitting down on the side eating a hong dou bing. I was like, "isn't that so good? I love that store's hong dou bing!" Then he goes, "here have some. I can't eat it all." He gives me and Sister Williams 4 hong dou bings. I think the Lord was just being so merciful. He wasn't interested in listening to the gospel because he was a Buddhist. At first we couldn't accept but he persisted. We thanked him a million times and he was like "no, really. No problem." As we were leaving, the Spirit just told me that I needed to share my gratitude with him. So I shared Mosiah 2:17. "And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom ; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God." At first he said that he didn't understand. Then I explained what it meant to serve others. In my mind, I didn't even need to have a lesson with him. I just wanted to share what I knew service was and that this man was only serving God. Seed planted! (see picture below)

On Sunday, one of the RC's in our ward gave a talk. She shared the experience she had on Saturday when we ate lunch with her and shared a small lesson with her. She talked about how we were angels that she needed at this time in her life. But first I want to share what happened in that lesson. We were talking about love and love for God. Sister Williams shared a scripture that we had planned to share and expounded on that scripture. Then instead of sharing the scripture that I had planned to share, the Spirit told me to share a different scripture. I shared Mosiah 7:48. She ended up sharing that same scripture in her talk on Sunday. Lately, I've really been feeling the Spirit guiding me in every phase of this work. It's such an amazing feeling when you know that it's not me doing anything but the Spirit.

Love you all!

Love,

Sis. Sagisi

This says to watch out. There are falling coconuts...

Our beautiful chapel!!!

The man who gave us the hong dou bings!!!

Sister Cutler and I riding our bikes!

Beautiful Taiwan!

Just tanning.

This is a better MRT picture!

Sister Komatsu and I having some mango smoothies!

The best Taro manapuas!

​Got our Book of Mormons ready to go!!!!

The Harvest

Among the many miracles I discover each day, I have 3 miracles that happened this week that I want to share with everyone.

1.
We went door knocking on Saturday after dinner with a member. After knocking for a while, we found a Chen DX. While talking with him he had to answer a call and stepped away. During that time, I noticed a sticker on his cabinet. Guess what sticker it was! It was the "no other success can compensate for failure in the home" sticker. I pointed it out to Guo JM and we were mind blown. After he came back, we inquired about it. He said that he ran into some elders many years ago on the street and they gave him that sticker and he came to church once. He said that because of work he was never able to go back. We were harvesting a seed!!! We had a lesson with him, gave him a Book of Mormon, we exchanged numbers, and he committed to coming to church the next week.

2.
Another miracle was going knocking yesterday. We found a Christian brother and right as he was about to hang up on us, I told him that we had a special book that we wanted to share with him that was scripture. He told us that we could leave it in his mail box. I told him that we wanted to give it to him personally. You know what he said? "Okay, come on up" and he opened the apartment door for us. We had a lesson with him, gave him the Book of Mormon, and he also committed to coming to church next week. He said that he went to our church once before, too.

3.
At church yesterday, there was a girl named Olivia who came to church for the first time. She said that she looked it up online for the church address and wanted to come. While talking to her during Relief Society, she asked about the way we pray. I showed her the Restoration pamphlet and she said, "wait, I have one of those. Missionaries gave it to me about 6 months ago. I tried calling the phone number on the back and it didn't work." She showed me the number because she had it saved on her phone. And it was our old cell phone number before we changed the SIM card 3 weeks ago! I asked her why she was interested in our church. She explained how her dad was Buddhist and that she practiced it for a while but never really found that it was what she wanted. She said she went to some activity where there were a bunch of Christians and that's when she realized that that's what she wanted.

These people have all had contact with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints before. I don't know if now is the time that we will reap these seeds that were planted, but I do know that God has a plan for everyone. I LOVE (T)HIS WORK.

Love you all!

Love,

Sister Sagisi

Beitou!

My watch and ring tan...

Exchanges with Sister Knapp!!!

It is a Peanut Butter Pineapple Burger. Yes, it's better than Cozi burger's Peanut Butter Banana Bacon Burger!

Juicy Bun! The best burgers in Taiwan!

We went to this place for our morning exercise. Muzha is beautiful!!!

Back in Taibei!

Ummm, I found this in Yilan. Haha.

We entered Yilan. It is beautiful.

I don't know why but I'm finding all these "Hawaii" things in Taiwan.

I wonder if this is how Hawaii will look after the Rail is completed. Sorry, it's a really bad picture because you can't really see it.