o green world transfer 4: Week 5

this week has gone by fast and has had amazing happenings. i'll work in 

chronology for you...

wednesday night a crazy thing happened. i was surprised and happy about my 

reaction. there is a woman named melee in our english class. she's very smart 

and very well versed in philosophy, but a little off. she asked for private 

english help and always gives me essays and emails she has written to proofread 

(i really like it. maybe i have a future in the marriott library writing 

center?). we told her we can help her if we can also share the gospel. we met 

with her for the second time last week and it was kind of weird. the feeling in 

the room was not good and she disputed a lot. on wednesday when she came to 

english class she asked to set up another time, which we did, then i gave her 

some ensign articles in english to read. then! she pulled sister jiang aside. i 

didn't know what was going on because english class was starting and i was 

talking to our other students. when i peaked my head out of the room i saw 

sister jiang crying and melee in her face. melee was chewing her out and saying 

things like that she feels closer to god when i speak and further from him when 

sister jiang speaks. (over the top, right?) she wouldn't let up. about 7 minutes 

into class she finally left. sister jiang and i went to the bathroom and i tried 

to comfort her to no avail. i ended up teaching the majority of the class by 

myself and she sat outside the door. yesterday we met with melee again. we were 

set to tell her that we cannot give her private lessons and can only meet with 

her to dicuss the gospel. when she started to talk with us the whole atmosphere 

was different than the previous times. we didn't alk about english at all, just 

about the gospel of jesus christ in english. she seemed like a different person. 

her questions were inquisitive, not antagonistic. and she listened to sister 

jiang and responded well. in the end when i asked her about what she thought of 

the restoration pamphlet i gave her she said she wanted to know if it was true. 

we invited her to pray, to read the book of mormon and to come to church. she 

said yes to all three! when i said the closing prayer she said she felt 

"illumination". we taught her that she was feeling the holy ghost. i hope she's 

changing! 

on wednesday night at 10:25pm we got a call from president hsu. i was terrified. 

i love that man, but sometimes he frightens me. he told us to cancel all of our 

plans from thursday afternoon to saturday afternoon and to pack bags with two 

days worth of stuff. we were so confused. in the morning we learned more. in the 

afternoon they picked us up and took us to kaohsiung to work on planning for the 

three youth conferences we would help with the next two days. it felt like 

student council all over. i loved it. sister juang (my second companion) and 

sister o'rourke (in the mtc with me) were there. sister jiang and i were the 

only field missionaries to be invited besides them. it was so cool to work with 

the office elders and the assistants. they are all spectacular. after planning 

and preparation from about 4 to 10 we went to the hsu's to stay the night. in 

the morning we got up and headed to tainan. we ran activities for about 100 kids 

for a couple of hours. the rotation we planned included: efy dancing (sister 

o'rourke used to be a counselor), a missionary relay race and "the iron rod". 

sister jiang and i worked the iron rod as tempters (or temptresses if you will). 

a rope (the rod) was set up through a patch of trees, it ended at a big tree 

onto which we tied white envelopes with every youth's name on the outside and a 

message on the inside about god's love. the kids were blindfolded and put on the 

rod and told to follow it. we distracted them and tried to get them to leave by 

telling them they were wrong or asking for their help. if they left the rod they 

were set aside and told to wait. a bishop then came and talked to them and 

invited them back to continue on the path. some were tempted off more than once, 

some never. in the end it was related to real life and the temptations we face, 

some seeming harmless. it was cool and the kids seemed to gain from it. the best 

part-our miracle. during the third and final group it started raining pretty 

hard. we didn't know what to do, so we all prayed. daogao hen you yong! prayer 

is so useful!! the clouds parted and the sun was out just long enough for us to 

finish the activity and pack up. as soon as we started driving away it started 

pouring. amazing! 

from tainan we headed to hengchun about 3.5 hours away. the drive was amazing 

and green. i don't think i've ever seen scenery so beautiful. we drove right 

next to the ocean and could smell it in the car. we went to a resort that 

reminded me of park city. here we had less kids and more activities. these were 

simpler and all had to do with mission prep. sister jiang and i helped with the 

dancing. at first it felt so wrong to be listening to pop music and worse to be 

moving. by the end it was just fun and the kids loved it! after about and hour 

and a half president did a share with all of us missionaries and the other rms 

in the room. the kids liked it i hope. the point was to help them desire to 

serve. they are the future of missionary work here and in china! after the 

conference we headed to the bed and breakfast where we stayed. POSH! it was so 

nice. and it felt amazing to sleep in a queen sized bed, but weird at the same 

time. we got up early in the morning and drove to a camping place called baoli.

our branches and chaozhou were at baoli. trista, our golden was there! we did 

the same activities as in tainan. it was so cool to be helping kids i know and 

love. trista liked it a lot. we worried that she wouldn't understand the rod 

because we have never read it with her. when we talked to her about it that 

night she said, "just like lehi's dream!" she's SO GOOD!! 

saturday night when we got home we had an amazing lesson with a street contact. 

i think she's going to be good. we'll see. then we had bonus and torren's 

baptisms! it was so great. they both started being taught by the elders my first 

move here, so i've watched them the whole way. at their baptism i learned that 

our english student, rick, is also getting baptized. i feel like i've helped him 

some. he's amazing and is going to be a stellar member. 

saturday night we got some bad news that shaped our sunday. xu en yu, our 

less-active that i love and try desperately to help, attempted suicide and was 

in the hospital. we went to visit her on sunday with the relief society 

president. she's not doing well. the conditions in the hospital are not good. we 

went to see her again on tuesday and took her treats and one of the christ 

editions of the liahona that grandma ireva sent (thank you!). she was worse and 

said things were getting "complicated" there. she's surrounded by people with 

really serious problems. she has problems too, but different. we testified of 

the savior and tried to help her to know to rely on him. i don't know what else 

we can do for her. watching the door close in her face as we left broke my 

heart. i can't wait to go back and do what i can for her. being there and seeing 

the people she's surrounded by really made me want to be a psychologist. i think 

heavenly father might want that too, we'll see. 

yesterday we met with trista, the golden investigator. they really do exist! i 

can testify of golden investigators! we had a lesson planned on the holy ghost 

because she said she still hasn't received answers to her prayers. during the 

lesson we asked what she thought and she said she knows joseph smith was a 

prophet!! so we asked her if she was willing to be baptized when she knew more. 

she already talked to her older sister (her guardian) about it!!! what! she's 

amazing!!! her sister said she has to wait 2 years, until she's 18. she said 

that she prayed and told heavenly father she would wait until that time, but 

follow christ until then. then she asked if she could still come to church even 

if she wasn't baptized. of course!! i love her so much. i'm so happy for her. 

she said she's never been happier. so good! 

if you all can't tell, life in taiwan continues to be wonderful. it's hard 

sometimes, but the good makes up for it. i received a great letter from monica, 

my new member in kaohsiung today. she said that kaohsiung is rainy, but she's 

warm in her heart because she has christ and heavenly father! she also said that 

her favorite hymn is "there is sunshine in my soul today". i wish i could see 

her in sacrament meeting. hearing about her testimony makes me SO happy! i love 

her and i'm sure i always will. it sounds like everyone is different.  

i love you all and miss you!! stay good.

love, 

sister jade. 

burn baby burn transfer 4: Week 4

the songs burn baby burn by ash (dad i think you'd like this song) and burning 

down the house by talking heads have been in my head all week. naturally (not so 

much at first but now that i'm well into the mission), as songs from home pop 

into my head i try to replace them with a hymn or primary song. this week i've 

had "the spirit of god" on repeat in my mind. as can be inferred, burning is on 

my mind. this is what i'm thinking... a. it's summer in pingdong and it is hot. 

i'm surprised, though, that it hasn't been worse. i think i'm used to the hot 

weather now. maybe there will be a future for me in a sweltering place like 

vegas afterall. b. i have gotten three horrible burns this week. the worst is on 

my leg. i burnt it on a scooter. the second. on my left index finger. i burnt it while 

eating hot pot. it's swollen and peeling but getting better. the third and 

fourth are also on my left hand. this week i made jello for a barbeque. our 

measuring cups are kind of shady and somehow i spilled boiling water down my 

left hand and wrist. the worst of it is on the last two finger. there are purple 

little marks where you can see the water's path. kind of cool. at first they 

hurt really bad, but now they're fine. c. when things burn, there is really no 

way to resalvage them, right? that's kind of how my time here in taiwan is. 

after a day passes there is no way to reclaim it. so i have to make the most of 

each day! 

this week has been a week of miracles. it has been marvelous. 

miracle #1: on friday during companion study we got a call from a woman. she 

said she was at the church but the way she said it was unclear. she spoke more 

about the hospital next to the chapel than she did the chapel itself. my 

companion told her she called the wrong number and hung up. i started thinking 

and realized her meaning (holy ghost!) so we called her back. she wanted to meet 

with us right then but there was no way so we set up for tuesday morning. she 

was a woman we contacted on the road the first week of this move. at the time 

that we contacted her she seemed to have little interest. apparently we were 

wrong... we went to her house yesterday. she was very welcoming and expressed 

her gratitude for us riding so far. she told us she wanted to invite a friend 

but that friend was unable to come. we shared about heavenly father and prayer 

and she seemed to like it a lot. she told us about the missionaries that knocked 

on her door almost 20 years ago and about how she has thought about them since 

them. at that time she didn't let them in. i think heavenly father has been 

preparing her since that point. 

miracle 2: on friday night we made phone calls between appointments. sister 

jiang called vicky, an investigator we had met with twice that was atheist at 

our first meeting. she said she has been praying and feels heavenly father's 

love! she has read to the end of first nephi already. she's so great! 

miracle 3: remember ke jiemei that i made the deal about chocolate with. i 

called her on friday night. i asked her if anything special had happened that 

day and she said her prayers are going really well. i asked if she had used 

alcohol that week. NO! she sounded so happy! i was so happy! i invited her to 

the barbeque the next day because it was in her neighborhood at li jiemei's. 

usually she won't go places where there are other people, especially if she 

doesn't know them but she said she would come! and then she did! she seemed 

happier than i have ever seen her. i know that it is because she's keeping 

commandments. hooray! 

miracle 4: our "golden" investigator, is still golden! she came with us to the 

barbeque and fit in just like a member. [so i don't forget... at the barbeque i 

got to use a water pump for the first time in my life. i washed vegetables as 

jiang jiemei pumped water, then we switched. way cool!] she said she's been 

praying and reading. she came to church on sunday and the young women invited 

her to go on their overnight camping trip this weekend. she said yes and is 

really excited to go. after church she stayed and practiced with the choir. 

amazing! 

miracle 5: we have been working with a less-active family. a single mom and 

three kids. they haven't been to church in years. the mom has a testimony, i'm 

not sure why she doesn't come. the oldest son is 17 and he has a lot of 

questions. his history teacher tells him things like noah's experience with the 

ark is proof that god is selfish because he killed innocent people for not 

listening to him and that sins don't matter that much because everyone goes to 

heaven whether you're kind of good or really good. i don't mind teaching him 

even though he doubts because his concerns are honest, he doesn't argue just to 

argue. this week we talked about the plan of salvation. the spirit was strong, i 

think because we were putting effort into teaching and he was putting effort 

into learning. my companion felt inspired to promise him that if he'll pray and 

read and come to chruch and keep the commandments within a month he'll receive 

an answer. he accepted it! recently i got a letter mentioning the truth that the 

missionary work here in taiwan will someday impact the work in mainland china. 

as we rode home i couldn't help but think of zhao jiemei's son being a temple 

president in china, or raising children who serve missions there. he has such a 

good heart. i know he will receive an answer. 

i'm grateful to be able to recount all of these happy highlights. i'm starting 

to realize why people say that missions are hard. i think my first two moves 

were abnormally easy. last move was a bit harder. i felt a lot of pressure but 

sister blackham and i got along well and things were okay. this move my 

companion and i seem to be unable to communicate. i'm working on figuring out 

what to do. i worry that our lack of unity is keeping us from being successful 

in certain phases of the work. on top of that, there seems to be a lot of 

investigators that we should be able to help, but things aren't getting 

anywhere. a song by belle and sebastian (some of the uk's finest) keeps coming 

into my head. it's called sleep the clock around and is a wonderful showcase of 

keyboard sounds. one line says, "though you wanted to help, you're a bit of a 

waste." i think that's how it feels here in taiwan sometimes. we want to help, 

we desperately want to help, but some people just won't let us in. jiang jiemei 

says that she's never been in an area where street contacting is so 

unsuccessful. i keep thinking of the scripture that talks about those persecuted 

for christ being blessed, and about the chapters in alma where hundreds are 

killed for being christian and not fighting back. i remind myself that we're 

fighting the good fight and that our side is always the winning side. i just 

wish the scoreboard showed it more often than it seems to. 

we had an appointment with aki last week but she stood us up. then we ran into 

her on the street and she wasn't very nice. i called her last night and she 

sounded different. something has changed and i don't know exactly how to help 

her. she still hasn't come to church. it breaks my heart to see people that i 

know had/have testimonies keeping themselves from fully obtaining the blessings 

and comforts of the gospel. pray for aki. 

i think that's mostly all. i'm sorry that the tone changed from one of wonder to 

one of solemnity. on a more upbeat note: christ lives! i know he does. and i 

know he has atoned for the sins of the world. yesterday we taught an 

investigator who's interest is more in english than in the gospel. i don't think 

she really heard the words we said, and every doubting comment she voiced made 

me feel an unexplainable kind of gross. but through the entire lesson i knew the 

things we taught were true. my testimony of the savior was strengthened. his is 

the son of god and our older brother. i love him. 

i also love you all. thank you for everything!! muah! 

love,

sista jade. 

i almost signed it sister wad then stopped myself. ha. no one has called me wad 

in months. weird. <3

headless? Transfer 4: Week 3

i cannot believe my fourth transfer is almost done. i'm almost a third of the 

way through my time in taiwan. crazy! it's going by so fast. 

this week i'm less organized. things are busy and i can't seem to keep it all 

straight. i'm sorry if this email turns out scattered. know that i'm trying my 

hardest and next week will be better, i hope...

for my memory's sake i'm going to work backwards, ba. 

this p-day has been good. this morning i got a haircut, just a trim. aborigine 

li jiemei did it for me. she is so amazing. she cuts hair for people who can't 

leave their homes. every day she travels around pingdong and the rural areas 

around it. mostly she cuts laoren (old people)'s hair. that woman has so much 

charity. she gave me a really cool aborigine necklace that her mom gave her 

before she passed away. i didn't know exactly how to accept it, and also how not 

to (you know what i mean). mom if you can find anything small and nice that she 

might like i would love to give her a little gift before i leave pingdong. on a 

related note: my hair is really long. i think it might be longer than it was 

when i chopped it junior year of high school. it's in a pony tail or bun every 

day. i'm a sister missionary, and i hate to admit that i look the part. 

yesterday was zone conference! i love zone conference. i feel so energized 

afterwards. our mission is made up of some truly amazing individuals, our 

president and his wife included. i am so blessed to serve with the people i am 

surrounded by. the focus this move was the savior jesus christ. president hsu 

did a demonstration that i had heard of but never seen for myself. he used my 

zone in it, which made it even more impacting. at the beginning of the 

conference our zone leaders asked us to write a number between one and twenty on 

the palm of oen of our hands. (dad- thought to myself "pens are for paper!" you 

used to say that to me over and over again in junior high. i was grateful for 

gellyroll pens that came off quick with water.) i wrote 11. in middle of the 

conference he asked our zone to stand up and go to the front. elder britt had no 

number and stood to the side. president hsu told him to get in a position to do 

push ups. he told us that the number represented sins that we committed. elder 

swenson was the first to read his number, 20. elder britt had to do 20 push ups 

and elder swenson got some candy, "salvation". we went down the row of 

missionaries. by the time it got to me (about half way through), elder britt was 

shaking and could barely move. i felt horribly, having to read such a large 

number. i wish i had written 1. president hsu reminded us that our sins are far 

more than the number written on our hands and that the pain the savior went 

through was agonizing in comparison to what elder britt was going through. 

reflecting on it now and remembering the feeling as i watched my fellow 

missionary shake and groan trying to heft the weight of his body up with his 

arms, i can't imagine what heavenly father felt watching his son suffer. i can't 

imagine the pain it must have caused him to not be able to take any of it away. 

i am so grateful for the atonement. i often feel unworthy to use it. but, it has 

been done, and christ is waiting for us to come to him! so do it! repent and 

endure to the end! 

at zone conference i got to see elder welling, elder mickelsen and got to know 

some sisters that i have never talked to before. it was such a good day. i love 

being a missionary! 

on top of a wonderful tuesday morning and afternoon in gaoxiong. that night we 

taught an investigator i feel could be GOLDEN. my first golden investigator. 

she's 17 but looks older. she has been so good about setting up with us, even 

called when she had to reschedule instead of just not showing up. we taught the 

first lesson and she was willing to say the opening prayer. most investigators 

opt for the closing prayer. her prayer was amazing, like she already understood 

that she was speaking to her heavenly father. the lesson went well. after joseph 

smith's first vision i asked her what she thought about his experience. she 

said, "heavenly father really loves us." what?!?! who says that their first time 

hearing this stuff. she committed to church on sunday. maybe, maybe she can be 

baptized before i leave here. we'll see. i'm trying to to get my hopes us too 

early.

monday night we went to dinner with the wang family, an investigator family 

we've been working with since i got to pingdong. the dad loves us! he invited 

three friends for us to meet, and all of them we had met at some point before. 

one we contacted at her apartment building, one we met as we went to visit a 

grandma in a nursing home, and the other we had stopped at the store of that 

morning. shen de anpai! (god's set up?) i know that his hand is in the work. we 

went to a great hot pot restaurant that reminded me of the hidden treasures of 

las vegas dad knows about. when we're all in taiwan together we will go there, 

and hopefully take the wangs. 

that afternoon we met with zhou jiemei, an investigator i love. i think i've 

mentioned her family before, her husband is the doctor that thinks too much. it 

was our first time taking an investigator with us. it made such a difference! i 

know that every guideline in preach my gospel and the white handbook is written 

for a reason. which means, everything in the bible, book of mormon and modern 

day revelation also has a reason! so follow them! i'm still working on being 

100% obedient, it's like a quest. i think zhou jiemei is going to start 

progressing more soon. i think she's seeing what the gospel means. 

monday morning jean stood us up for the first time. i think she's starting to 

fall away. i don't know how to help her. i think too much pressure makes her 

freeze up. but at the same time, not keeping her going might also be bad. i 

don't know! it makes me sad. 

saturday night we met with ke jiemei, li jiemei's neighbor. we've met with her a 

few times but recently she had to go to sandimen for a while to take care of her 

parents. the elders gave her to us my first move here. she's had a baptismal 

date in the past but didn't go through because she couldn't give up alcohol. on 

saturday we were some how able to get her to commit to a week without alcohol, 

tea, bin lang and coffee! part of the deal was that i would give up chocolate. 

so, this week i'm choco-free. it has been a lot harder than i expected. i didn't 

realize before how many people offer us chocolate on a regular basis. i'm 

grateful for this. i think it's helping me to be able to relate to her, and 

other investigators, that have to overcome the word of wisdom. 

friday night we rode to jiuru. we had some interesting lessons there. the first 

was another woman given to us by the elders. we met with her a while ago, but 

since then she's been busy with famliy stuff. we went and found out her mother 

in law just past away. she's been struggling with the fact that her husband's 

family is all taoist/buddist and want her to do ancestor worship, but she won't 

becuase she's christian. she said she's trying to stand up against a ton of 

people on her own. we tried to get her to see that she's not alone but has 

christ but she wouldn't accept it. she said over and over that it's not the 

same. it's so hard to know that what we have can bless others' lives and to have 

them turn us away. the next lesson was with an inactive recent convert. the 

electricity went out because of rain and wind as we taught. so, we used our bike 

lights to read scriptures. it was pretty fun i think. 

that's my week i think, at least the highlights. thank you for the emails! 

grandma-thank you for the wonderful package and for the emails, that's fine. 

dad- thank the berry's for the email. i would have responded, but by kaohsiung 

mission rules i can't. you are all so wonderful! i love you and miss you! weird 

that i only have like 10 months left. does that freak you out as much as it does 

me?!?! i love it here, i don't know that i'll be ready to leave by then. 

jia you! add oil! i love you!

love,

sister zeng.