Hello everyone!

Zoo trip!

I forgot to mention last week that temple day has come again, so P-day was moved to today. We get to go every three months, and holy cow that was a fast three months. I can't believe we're already going again! I'm pretty excited. 

Well this was a super awesome 10-day week, but Sister Haupt and are are both pretty excited we get to rest today  ha ha. We have been so busy and I'm just so exhausted. I don't know what happened to my bike, but it's been going super slow lately. I thought I was just getting out of shape and that my companion is just faster than the average human, but we went on exchanges and the sister using my bike said it's especially slow. So I've had to bike twice as hard until we take it to the shop, so that's been super fun!

I don't even know where to start! This week was amazing. My favorite part was probably going on exchanges with our sister training leaders. This time, I went to their area in YongHe. It's the second most densely populated city in the world, and I had the privilege of sharing the gospel with so many people! I was with Sister Wood, and she is seriously so awesome. I learned a lot from her. I've been working really hard on becoming a consecrated missionary. Meaning I do more than just what's expected of me, but really going to extra-mile. Really putting all my heart and energy into everything I do. The two biggest things I learned are to 1) Preach by the way, and 2) repent.

I feel like it's so easy to get used to only "finding" during the 2 hours we have scheduled every day. But when I was with sister wood, she would turn around on her bike if she felt like talking to someone. She talked to the guy we bought sushi from. She talked to EVERYONE and it really reminded me that from the minute we leave our apartment to the minute we return, we are always finding. I want to "preach by the way" (D&C 52:10) and open my mouth to everyone. The day after exchanges, we were running for exercise and I was praying in my heart that I would be able to apply this thing I learned to become a more consecrated missionary. An impression to talk with the girl running in front of me immediately followed. I was so quick to justify it being the spirit talking to me: "But I'm exercising right now", "I don't even have a tract to give her or anyway to get her number", "I don't want to bother her". But the feeling didn't leave. I said another quick prayer to have courage and I sped up my pace a bit to run beside her. Her name is Lin. She is a college student at Zheng Da University. We talked and agreed we could run together in the mornings, and she got our phone number and called us so we could have hers. She wants to meet with us and learn more!It was super awesome feeling - following that prompting. I know that's how God will truly guide us. When He trusts that we will submit to His way. He really pulls us out of our comfort zone to stretch us and challenge us. But it's because He loves us and wants us to grow.

The second most important thing I learned was to be worthy of those promptings by repenting. Sister Wood and I had a lesson in the morning before lunch. We didn't do the best at controlling time, and the lesson went over 45 minutes which is rule set for lesson times. I try to make obedience to the mission rules my first priority, but sometimes we just mess up. But the cool thing about this experience is this: we got on our bikes to go get lunch, and then Sister Wood immediately pulled over and asked if we could say a prayer to ask for forgiveness. So we did, and the feeling that followed was so peaceful. I hadn't even realized that each time I have messed up on my mission, I would only feel the guilt but sometimes fail to ask for forgiveness. Maybe by the end of the night, I was used to the guilt, which resulted in failing to truly repent. But why not just repent right then and there? Especially when the difference was so apparent in the rest of our day.

I really learned that we need to have the spirit to be with us in order to receive true revelation. We went finding shortly after, and it was seriously amazing how much easier it was to follow promptings of where to go and who to talk to. Eventually those feelings led us to this lady named Ding. Our experience with this lady was one of the most moving things I've ever experienced. She was sitting at this table outside of a 7-11. We introduced ourselves and asked if we could sit. She seemed a little unsure but agreed. We started talking to her about God, and she shared her opinion that she believes there is a God, but there is no purpose to our lives. We wake up, eat, go to work, go to sleep, and then do it again. She spoke with a lot of anger and passion. At first, I couldn't tell if we should keep talking to her. I didn't know if she'd even listen to anything we wanted to share. But something kept telling me to just listen. She opened up about her childhood that her mother died when she was very young and she never got along with her father. The pain and the heart ache rang in her voice and her words brought her to tears. "If God really loved me, He wouldn't give me such a horrible unhappy life". The spirit really worked through Sister Wood and I - looking back, I don't even remember all of the things I said. It was amazing watching her heart soften and the spirit touch her as we said the things she needed to hear.  As I looked at her and told her with every part of me that God loves her, the Spirit confirmed that it's true. God does love her. He told her through two missionaries that she'd never met before. She has a baptismal date for November 21st.

Oh if I could just express how lucky I am. There is nothing more amazing than the work that I get to do. I know God lives. There is no way that the things we share with others isn't true. I wish I could just sit down with every single person we meet for just 30 minutes and talk with them about the happiness that lays in store for them. I love this work more and more every day! I'm so grateful I get to be God's missionary.

Sister Hendricks

Ponderizing scripture of the week:

I know that which the Lord hath commanded me, and I glory in it. I do not glory of myself, but I glory in that which the Lord hath commanded me; yea, and this is my glory, that perhaps I may be an instrument in the hands of God to bring some soul to repentance; and this is my joy.

Alma 29:9

Taipei Zoo

We met two elders at the zoo :)

Zoo time!! Our area has the Taipei Zoo in it - about 5 minutes from our house. We went with some members for my first time!  

Got Bananas?

Beautiful area!

The elders in YongHe are pretty creative....

The zoo clan

Our new favorite place to eat: our apt. rooftop

General Conference weekend!

What a great week! I just wanted to say my favorite part of the whole week was ENGLISH CLASS! We had some amazing miracles from English Class this week, and Sister Haupt and I just have such a big vision for our class here in MuZha. We went english boarding (handing out fliers, inviting people to come to class) outside of Zheng Da University in our neighborhood, and we seriously saw so much success. It was the best english boarding I have ever had on my mission. Most of the time, I feel like I'm just handing out fliers saying "mianfei de yingwen ban" (free english class) and it doesn't seem to be very effective. But this week, I discovered a new way to really get people's phone numbers and catch their interest: Talk in English with them! It's so simple. But it works! I just talk to people in English and act very friendly to them to give them an idea of what class will be like when they come. They love it! The Taiwanese LOVE practicing English every chance they get. So if you ask about them in English, they're hooked. It's like magic. From this week's english boarding, I got 15 people with A LOT of interest who all gave us their numbers and then on Wednesday night we had 4 new students show up, and they LOVED it. And the cool thing was, when I talked with them on the street, they didn't seem to have any interest in the gospel. But after coming to our church and being able to feel the spirit, ALL 4 of them came up to us missionaries after class saying they wanted to know more about our church and come to activities and meet with us. It was such a miracle, and it really opened my eyes to see how amazing of a program this is. Sister Haupt and I are seriously so excited for all the changes being made to English Class and we know it will give us so many opportunities to find new investigators and build up our area.

We had a really awesome experience doing Temple Tours this week. President Jergensen is making so many amazing changes to our mission. English Class is getting better, and he also has this vision for Temple Tours to become a lot more popular like they are in Salt Lake, and he has a vision to get a Visitor's Center some day. So some changes that have been made is there's a new calling in our mission, the Temple Tour Sisters. And they're just in charge of working with businesses and scheduling temple tour times and what not. Before, doing Temple Tours was hard if you didn't have any tours scheduled, and we'd have to go out and try to get people to do a Temple Tour. But the day we did it was the first day it started picking up and we had tours ALL DAY it was so crazy and exhausting but so fun. There was one tour we had with these elders that brought their investigator and we did this activity where the investigator and the elders stand at the top of the staircase and the investigator closes his eyes and the elders guide him down the steps to the picture of Christ with His arms opened wide. Him going down the stairs was supposed to represent us going through life. If our eyes are closed, we need someone to guide us to truth. The Spirit was so strong as the elders guided him down the stairs, and when he made it to the bottom, we invited him to open his eyes to see Christ in front of him and when he did, a peace filled the room. I thought a lot about this comparison afterwards and realized that the investigator, he definitely could have walked down the stairs without guidance, but it would be difficult and he would be alone. And most importantly, he wouldn't know where to turn after making it down the steps to return to our Father in Heaven. And he probably wouldn't know the importance of it either. But with guidance, it was safer, more comforting, and it made more sense in the end. It was a beautiful experience.

The rest of the week was incredible I loved General Conference so much so it was great having that time to listen to our prophet and his apostles and leaders. I really learned a lot from all that was said, but nothing can compare to the influence President Monson's talk had on me. The Spirit that accompanies his guidance is so real. As he spoke, I could see the struggle in his speech and he was really exerting all of his energy to testify of our Savior, probably as a result of his old age. But I have never been more sure in my life that he is a true prophet of God because of how he expressed his testimony with all of his heart.  I know the words spoken at conference were truth, but the feeling I felt while I listened to the many words of wisdom is something that cannot be denied or debated.  I know the Spirit testifies of truth.

Our area is doing great, and we are constantly thinking of ways to improve. Our closest investigator to be baptized is Chen Hong Yu. She's amazing! Her date is for November 8th. She is super super busy and has work from 8am-6pm and then class from 6:30pm-10pm. Every single day.... EXCEPT Sundays :D So she can meet with us on Sundays and come to Sacrament Meeting! Yesterday was crazy. After General Conference, we only had 45 min before our whole ward went to go finding together again as an activity, so the ward put together a lunch for everyone. But it was the only time we could meet with Chen JM so we skipped lunch to meet with her because we knew it was important. I know God blessed us for it, because it was an incredible lesson and she's just progressing so much. Then right after we met with her, our members gave us snacks to eat. It was such a miracle, and we are SO excited for her!

I seriously love this area more than anything. MuZha ward is so incredible and I'm so happy to work with them and serve them. 

Sister Hendricks

 Our washing machine broke, so we washed our clothes in the sink. haha

Us with Xiao Pei Xuan! She's from nan bu but goes to Zheng Da university so she comes to our ward during the school year. There's lots of members like that here, I love it!

We made pancakes for General Conference weekend! But we're limited in out kitchen utensils, so we had to improvise....

God takes care of His children

This is one of the elder's RC from SongShan, Aimee Chen, that got baptized right after I moved to XiZhi! I saw her at the fireside and she gave me  a kiwi and a twix haha.Dear Sister HENDRICKS
  I'm so happy that I could met with you in fireside.I heard your Chinese better and better .I'm so happy for you and I know you always do your best everyday in your mission.I never forget the day you just came to sungsang .You couldn't understand what we say in Chinese.But now you are perfect!!!!你很厲害，很棒!!
God bless you all well.
Sister Chen yu mei

So last Monday, our Zone Leaders called saying none of us were moving. I'll be honest, we were all a bit disappointed and exhausted. Being in a trio has a lot of ups to it, but it's also very tiring. Especially when you've been together for 7 weeks, with 5 more to go. But nonetheless, we knew there was nothing to be done, except make the best of it. After preparing ourselves for the transfer ahead, our Assistants called us the morning of transfers saying "Sister Luo, where are you?" she said "We're at home" and he said "Oh. We forgot to tell you - You're moving"

Sister Luo with her new companion Sister Jenkins, and SIster Haupt and I! We went back to our apartment after transfer meeting to pack up Sister Luo's stuff.

Haha, pretty crazy. So we had to take a taxi to get to Taipei for the transfer meeting. She moved to XinZhu to be a Sister Training Leader! It was a little sad, but I'm so excited to be in Muzha with Sister Haupt!! I absolutely LOVE this area. We have grown so close with the ward over this last transfer. At first, I felt pretty nervous that Sister Luo was leaving, and to become senior companion. But the nerves left quickly and Sister Haupt and I are so excited to be in charge of MuZha. I discovered that I actually love having responsibility, because I love seeing that God is actually in charge and through Him we can do all things. We really saw so many miracles and I know God is watching over us. I learned that whatever we are called to do, we can do it if we have faith! Sister Haupt and I know that this is God's work, and MuZha is His area. I'm just so happy to be a small instrument in this amazing work.

It was a little hard getting sick with a cold RIGHT after recovering from the flu, but I can testify that it strengthened my faith in the power of the priesthood! We took it a little easy for a couple days, but Sunday came and we had so many appointments that we just couldn't reschedule them. We had this investigator, Chen JM that we couldn't get a hold of all week. She is seriously probably the most prepared investigator I've had on my mission, and she just disappeared last week. She didn't answer the phone or texts or anything. That happens quite frequently with people, and when it does we just move on. But Sister Haupt and I just had a feeling to not give up on her. Then suddenly she texted us yesterday morning saying she was coming late to church and would meet with us after! So there was no way we could reschedule. Then we had our less-active, Huang Pei Xuan came to church for the first time in months -maybe even years, and had such a spiritual experience. So we had to meet with her! We also met with another less-active that could only meet on Sunday this week who is really starting to develop a testimony. And we also had our Correlation Meeting, AND Ward Council. Then we had a dinner appointment with our Bishop, and then the Fireside, which our recent convert, Zhui JM was speaking at, and we had three investigators say they could come, so we obviously couldn't miss out on that. So basically, I was sitting in sacrament meeting with my head aching, coughing, blowing my nose, feeling so miserable, wondering how we would make it through the day. But Sister Haupt and I had a feeling we had to attend every appointment we had scheduled for the day, so I asked our elders to give me a priesthood blessing after church. I don't know how it all happened, but we were able to attend every single appointment and with smiles on our faces, and it was seriously one of the best days of the week, and I know that it wouldn't have gone so smoothly had I not received a priesthood blessing.

I really learned a lot in this. I know that God does not expect us to do more than we can handle: "And see that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength. And again, it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he might win the prize; therefore, all things must be done in order." (Mosiah 4:27). But I also know that if it is His will, He WILL provide a way. I think it's easy to feel guilty for getting sick especially as a missionary, but I know it's nothing I have control over, and I know that because I have such a desire to do this work, God has never failed to provide means for me to serve.

Oh yeah, Happy 1 year mission anniversary!

Sister Hendricks

​Oh yeah, there was a crazy Typhoon last Pday. We were told to stay in for the whole day. This is what happened to our bikes haha

I totally forgot to mention this- but the Elders had two baptisms this week!!! And one of them was our recent convert Zhui jiemei's husband! We are all so happy for their family!!

Sister Trouble took this picture at the fireside.

Basically I live in the Promised Land!

This is the view from our Bishop's house. the left side of the river is our area, MuZha, and the right side is XinDian which is our zone leader's area.

中秋節快樂 !

I Hungry , , , Just Do Eat!

Happy Mid-Autumn festival! Taiwan's special holiday :) Lots of 月餅 moon cakes, 柚子 oriental grapefruits, and 烤肉 barbecue. It was Sister Haupt's birthday and so fun to celebrate! Poor Taiwan got a lot of rain though, so outdoor barbecue was a bit of a challenge. It certainly didn't stop them from enjoying the holiday though. I love this culture!

So plot twist... transfers were pushed back a week because most of the new missionaries were waiting on visas. But they're arriving this week and transfers will be Thursday! I'm pretty sure we're going to break a record of the longest tripanionship together in the mission. 7 weeks haha. I'm actually super grateful we have been given one more week together. It would have been a bummer ending the transfer after being sick with the flu for a whole week. I definitely wasn't my best self, so I'm really grateful we were able to have a good week together. And now that the flu has passed me by, and I went to the doctor for the last time this week, I feel so much better. I really learned a lot from this experience. I realized that this set back really affected me for the worse. But now that it's over, I can see how all it took was patience, perseverance, and faith. I can see that God gave me this small trial for my benefit. It's given me a new perspective to keep my chin up when things are hard

This week was seriously so awesome. I loved every day! We went on splits with members almost every day to double the work, and really take advantage of being in a trio while we can. We also had such an incredible opportunity to go to the temple with Zhui JieMei for her first time!! She is so incredible. It was a really cool experience watching someone enter into the temple for the first time. The elders in our ward are still teaching her husband and he just passed his baptismal interview yesterday and will be baptized on Saturday! Ah, I'm so so happy for their family. 

I learned a really cool lesson this week. We were finding one day this week and we had so much hope to find new investigators. After about 2 1/2 hours, we couldn't get a single person to even give us their phone number, let alone share our testimonies with them. We didn't let it discourage us, as we were really looking forward to finding new people to teach. The next day, we went on splits with a member and I was with Sister Luo. We met this college student, Chen, and at first he didn't seem to have any interest in talking with us, but he was at least willing to listen, and then eventually we were able to teach him how to pray, and we heard him say his first prayer. After the prayer, he said he wanted to know more. He lives in Taichong, so we referred him to the missionaries there. 

I was talking with my companions afterwards, and we decided that having a small spiritual experience (no matter whether or not it will actually "count" as a key indicator) really outweighs every rejection we've ever faced. The thing is, it was so simple. In fact, I've had similar experiences throughout my entire mission. But that night it was a different feeling because I recognized it as a miracle. No matter how simple the contact was, we were able to hear someone sincerely speak with God for the first time. Having just one experience of testifying to someone about God, and really helping them to feel that He lives... it makes it all worth it. I wouldn't trade those experiences for anything.

I am so grateful to be a missionary. It really does have it's ups and downs, but it's really taught me to never give up. And I don't ever want to leave this area, but I know I need to be okay with where ever I get sent and whoever I'm with because God knows what we need to learn more than we do.

Sister Hendricks

Taking care of my little Taiwanese companion!

Sister Luo doesn't know why we say "raining cats and dogs" so she says "raining pigs and cows"

Another transfer coming to an end...

What do you get with 5 missionaries and 1 stop light?

Hello!

Wow the transfer is already coming to an end. I really learned a lot this transfer. I've learned that the hardest times teach us the biggest lessons. I'll be honest, it hasn't been my best week. I think the most difficult part of this transfer has been being sick. It's been difficult trying to figure out how to deal with it all as a missionary. I've been feeling nauseous, weak, and throwing up all week. Luckily, we have so many members that are more than willing to go on splits so there's still work getting done in our area, but we are going to see the doctor after emailing to get the problem fixed. I just want more than anything to be healthy again. 

​This is called Gua Sha. Our stake president's wife took care of me yesterday and this is what she did. Some sort of Chinese Medicine. You rub oil on the back of your neck and then take this tool to softly scratch your neck, and if it turns red that means you're sick. She scraped my neck and it immediately turned red. But then it made me feel much better!

Gosh, I hope I don't leave this area. Moving calls are Wednesday night! I really hope I stay in MuZha.  This is our apt building.

But something I've really learned from all of this is that there is always a lesson to be learned. Something I've noticed these past few weeks as I write in my journal at the end of the night, is that whenever there's something difficult that day that I write about, a thought pops into my head that Christ understands. For the past week or so, I've been pondering on how persecuted and misunderstood Christ was. He was the perfect being. He did no wrong to anyone. Yet every small, practically microscopic, problem I hold is one among thousands of others that He carries. I am beyond imperfect, and sometimes I catch myself complaining about being sick, or something. But then I have to quickly remind myself that it's not the end of the world. Christ didn't ever murmur a complaint or anything during His atoning sacrifice. In fact, His last words as He hung on the cross were "Father, forgive them. For they know not what they do."

The fact that He can so easily love and forgive others.. it is so moving to me. How can I be like that? How can I push aside every pain and trouble I face and turn outward? I've grown such a strong desire to love others the way Christ loved. I'm really determined to turn this situation around. I know I'm not perfect, but the way the Gospel of Jesus Christ is set up, is so that we can always start fresh. If we have a broken heart and a contrite spirit and humbly seek for guidance, then the Atonement can really make a difference in our lives. I know I need to change and become more Christ-like.

Sister Hendricks

We all need  comfort and hugs :)

Dinner with Du JieMei and Xie Yi Ling!

Splits with members! SO much fun!

Yang Ming Shan!! 

Family and friends~

It's still really hard to see our recent convert, Xie Yi Ling fall away so quickly. She hasn't been to church once since her baptism, and it's hard setting up times to meet with her. No matter how hard we try, she still has her agency. Of course we have to respect that as our Father in Heaven does to all of His children, but it just breaks my heart. She says she's noticed it's really hard for her to feel the spirit since her baptism, and things just don't seem to be going well. We try helping her understand that she needs to obey God's commandments in order to receive the blessings He promises to us. She knows what she needs to do. The hard part is watching her do her own thing that isn't bringing her the happiness she needs. I pray she can have a change of heart.

On the other hand, we were able to attend the most amazing baptism of our investigator, Zhui JieMei on Saturday! They are such an amazing family. She's wanted to be baptized for a long time but has waited for her husband to be ready to be baptized with her. But last week, we invited her to be baptized when SHE'S ready, and accepted the date of September 12th. We promised her that her family would follow her example. God really blesses those that are faithful and believe in him. This week her husband, Wand DiXiong had an incredible experience through prayer that was a turning point in his personal conversion. On his own, he decided he needed to quit smoking and set a baptismal date! Even though he won't be baptized until Oct. 3rd, it was still the most amazing baptism - seeing this cute family make their first big step to unite as an eternal family. Zhui JieMei is seriously so full of faith and has made the biggest impact on her family, and will continue to as they all continue to prepare to be sealed together in the temple. I'm so so excited for them!

Man, I really learned a lot this week. I'm so so so lucky to be a missionary. I've learned so much and continue to learn everyday. I've noticed that I go into every transfer with high hopes and a lot of confidence, and a short week after every transfer meeting, I'm very humbled and realize so quickly that with every new transfer comes God's creative way of showing me what I need to improve. This time it's through having two companions. There's definitely a reason trios usually only last a few weeks or so. We're the only trio in the mission that's been together for a whole transfer. All I'm gonna say is Heavenly Father really loves us so he's just testing us to see how long we can go haha. I love my companions though. Even though we all have different ideas and sometimes don't all agree on one idea, I've learned that we are all here with the same intentions to serve God and to do good. None of us is "better" than the others, and none of us have terrible ideas. We're all the same in God's eyes, and we're all doing our best to build up our companionship and area despite the weaknesses we all obtain. 

We had an Outdoor Zone Conference this week and it was the BEST day of my life. We went HIKING up Yang Ming Shan, the most beautiful place in the universe. I LOVE Taiwan. It was so nice to shake things up a bit and receive personal revelation through hiking up a steep mountain to a very peaceful place where feeling the Spirit was so easy. Something that I really learned specifically is that I need to stop being a perfectionist. I focus so much on my weaknesses and the things I do wrong, that it makes me unhappy with myself and my performance. Instead of focusing so much on the things I need to change to the point where I stress myself out, I've realized I need to focus more on repentance. Because we are imperfect, God gave us His Son. If I'm not using His atonement to repent daily and actively choose to change, then I'm taking the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for granted. His sacrifice should give us hope. I know who I am because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ - I'm an imperfect being with too many flaws to count. But I'm one who is always looking up.

Sister Hendricks

Splits with Sister Li! (Carol Lee)

I found a lizard!

​Hey I'm Sister Hendricks. Yes, I live in this beautiful country known as Taiwan to be a missionary of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. And, YES I am the happiest person to walk the face of the earth!

South Zone Sisters!!

The famous TRIO!

Ahh - too beautiful!

This was the best ward activity ever. Our Ward Mission Leader put together this activity to have a bunch of members come finding with us in a part of our HUGE area that takes a lot of time to travel to. We split up and got with our "companions" and went finding! It was so incredible to see so many members attend, so excited to be apart of missionary work. I really am in the best ward ever. 

My first time seeing a monkey!

Our last day together as a district! Celebrating at Juicy Buns. Elder Roe got a call the other day and he's being emergency transferred today to be Zone Leader somewhere. I'm going to miss our tiny district!!

Awesome week!

​Monthly Fireside! It was so fun seeing members from good old SongShan again :) I love Sister Chen!

I can't even explain how much I LOVED this week! I feel like I was really inspired this week to make some changes. As we always should be doing! But hitting my 11 month mark this week really put a perspective on things. From the beginning, I've worked so hard to become who God wants me to be through this experience, but I feel like I still have a really long way to go and have often been discouraged by not meeting my personal goals, or seeing immediate improvement as often as I'd like. However, having Zone Conference, and going on exchanges were definitely the highlight of my week, because I feel like it gave me so much motivation to start fresh again. 

We had a last minute exchange with our STLs this week! Sister VanTonder came to MuZha with me, and then Sister Haupt and Sister Luo went to ShuangHe with Sister Wood. It was one of the best exchanges I've ever been on. I learned so much from Sister VanTonder. The first thing I noticed about her is her burning desire to share the gospel. When I told her we had finding planned for the rest of the night, she got so excited. And she wasn't faking it, I could really feel that every part of her wanted to share the gospel with everyone she talked to. During dinner, she talked about how being on her mission is truly the happiest she's ever been. I asked her how she maintains that happiness, and she told me that it wasn't until she understood the Atonement of Jesus Christ that she came to feel this way. Finding with her was so exciting because she gave me the perspective I sometimes forget to have, which is really sharing with people the things I know to be true.

I thought about what she shared with me, as well as her firm testimony and we had an amazing exchange as we pretty much ran to every person we saw to talk with them, turned around on our bikes if we had a feeling to, stopping whatever we were doing to say a prayer to see if we were going the right way, etc. and in that short 24 hours, I felt that indescribable joy that comes from truly testifying of Christ. Sister VanTonder really helped me remember what is truly most important. I felt such a fire within me! Seeing her example gave me the motivation to have this fire for the rest of my mission. I can't waste a minute of my time thinking about myself. This week was such an exciting turning point for me. I have never wanted time to slow down so badly in my life. The Atonement of Jesus Christ is really what brings this happiness. Accepting our weaknesses as ways to come closer to Jesus Christ is what has given me this perspective. I don't have to "fake it til I make it" or just "put a smile on my face". This happiness is real, and everyone needs to feel it!

Sister Hendricks

My cute companions

Happy 20th Birthday, Sister Luo!!

This was a book shelf we found with books up for grabs. Why not add the Book of Mormon 摩爾門經 to it's collection??

I love these sisters!

I love seeing SongShan members everywhere I go! Huang JM and Sandy :)

Me and cute Sister VanTonder :)