Week 35-Feb. 4, 2019

Congrats! Get rich! 🎉

Hey fam and friends!

Happy Chinese New Year!!!

This week we also went to Yonghe for a midday exchange because the Sister training leaders had too many lunch appointments so we went on splits for a little. Sunday was interesting because we met with a new friend who ended up insisting on taking us to the night market and we accidentally walked with her outside of our area, and then she bought food at a restaurant, made us eat it, while we taught the first lesson to the beat of some really loud party music. Also her dog was in a little suitcase thing that she pushed along with us. It was one of those moments when you just think to yourself "how did I get here?"....I love those moments! Haha 

This week we are getting fed almost every lunch and dinner because of Chinese New Year! Most of the outside shops are closed, so it's super nice to get to eat with members every day! Taipei feels a little bit like the movie Walle after the earth is deserted... Everyone goes back to their hometowns to be with their families and most people in Taipei just moved here for work. Because of culture, we bring fruit (preferably oranges and apples or pineapple) and cards to every meal and we get to stay with them for 90 minutes for Chinese New Year. New things I've learned: Dont flip the fish! it's bad luck~ and dont say "how are you today?", say "gongxi facai!" (congratulations! get rich! ;) )

I'm pumped! 

Also all the missionaries in the mission are deep cleaning their apartments today because during Chinese New Year everyone cleans and sweeps out all the bad spirits! It honestly feels great~ these apartments can get pretty gross...

Scripture of the week: 2 Nephi 32:3

"Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do."  As we feast upon delicious Chinese food this week, we will also be feasting about the words of Christ, specifically the Book of Mormon. What a powerful book~ it has brought me so much peace while in the midst of fears and doubts. If you feel like you aren't getting anything out of your study of the Book of Mormon - dont give up! Keep reading, keep praying, keep pressing forward! God is aware of you and loves you and has a plan! 

Invite: This week, when you feel stressed, anxious, or overwhelmed, open the Book of Mormon, take a few deep breaths, say a prayer in your heart, and let the Spirit comfort you. 

Love you all!

Sending love and prayers!

Sister Jensen 

Our attempts at taking a good picture to give members this week...

Lunch with Zhou jiating

Read the BOM with our RC Wendy, her friend and her mom

Matching/cleaning pic 

More pics from a lady in the mission, Evelyn Liu:

Week 34-Jan. 28, 2019

Elephant mountain! 🤸‍♀️ 

Hey friends and family!

This week was another awesome week in Songshan! Sister Hayden and I are going one more transfer together and I am so happy about that! 

Today we went hiking up elephant mountain and got to look out over the beautiful city of Taipei! It reminded me just how many people live it our area~its insane! Its probably one of the most dense areas in the mission! Unlimited possibilities and precious souls to find every day! Some things I love about Taiwan that I was reminded of this week are: super nice people that give you free stuff for saying hi!, the trash trucks that draw the whole neighborhood out of their houses and sound like ice cream trucks and make you sort everything, tons of massage shops and drink shops on every street, delicious fruit, generous members, buses that pass inches from your bike like huge whales, breakfast shops on every corner, old people exercising and slapping themselves in the parks, Costco food=sushi and salad, fires and fruit in front of every house on special Buddhist/baibai days and more! Taiwan is so great, I love it so much.

This week we got to sing at the Stake young women's new beginnings event and it was such a special throw back to our years in young women's doing personal progress, earning ribbons, etc. What a beautiful, universal program. We also got to do a spiritual share at a ward Relief Society chicken soup making activity which went super well! They enjoyed our little game and then we applied it to ministering and helping others and ourselves find peace.

Prayers are answered! story: English class is always a gamble of who and how many people will show up and if our peike (member present) will show up, etc. But this week before English class (because last week wasnt so great) I said a prayer in my heart that we would have at least 4 people show up, and we had like 10! And almost all of them were new! and my peike was awesome and participated the whole time! The spiritual share went super well and a new friend shook my hand and thanked me for the lesson at the end! Miracles! 

Scripture of the week:

Mormon 9:19 Short and Sweet:

"And if there were miracles wrought then, why has God ceased to be a God of miracles and yet be an unchangeable Being? And behold, I say unto you he changeth not; if so he would cease to be God; and he ceaseth not to be God, and is a God of miracles."  

Look for a miracle or two in your lives this week! 

Hope you all have a FANTASTIC week!

Sending prayers and hugs!

Sister Jensen 

Blurry pic cuz we were biking along the river, but the lights were beautiful 

Elephant mountain with Sister Hayden

Week 33-Jan. 21, 2019

Silver linings and rainbows!

Dear fam and friends!

This Sunday was a little crazy. When we got to church, a member of the bishopric asked us sisters to speak next week (I of course freaked out a little inside and realized it was gonna be a long week) and then we just continued mingling with the members until church started. Then while the sacrament was being passed, he came back and said something to us and we both like whispered "okay" but then we both looked at each other after he left and were like "did you understand what he said? no...we will ask him after sacrament meeting...ok" and so we calmly partook of the sacrament knowing we could clarify after the meeting. Lo and behold, after the sacrament he gets up and announces that the missionaries are gonna give talks! I think I must have looked pretty scared cuz I made eye contact with Bishop and he looked concerned... but luckily my fantastic companion just happens to be basically a professional public speaker and gave an amazing on the spot talk while I gathered some thoughts and a couple scriptures to share and calmed down a little bit. I gave a very humble, sincere testimony and then Elder Halverson spoke for the rest of the 20 minutes (elder lee was sick and had no voice). Sometimes I wish we didnt have elders in the ward, but yesterday i was VERY grateful it wasnt just me and Sis Hayden! Unfortunately, we accidentally forgot/didnt realize we had ward Council after church and so we went home and the elders called us halfway through our lunch to see where we were. Oops. However, from Sunday I had a renewed testimony that God is looking out for us and will help us accomplish the things He commands us to do, according to His will and time. 

The highlights of this week though were two visits: one to a single mother of 4, the other to an older couple in our ward. The single mom we planned to do a sort of game and spiritual share and such which all went pretty well, but the kids were kinda all over the place and it wasnt very powerful, but then the kids kinda split and did their own thing and we got talk to the mom for a little on her own. She told us about how she's been sick and busy recently and eventually was in tears as we listened to her. Being very limited in speaking ability makes us fantastic listeners ;). We were able to share a couple scriptures with her and then we sang Nearer my God to Thee for her and prayed together. It was a special moment. I went into the house thinking we were gonna get each one of her kids to commit to inviting a friend to church by a certain date, but left realizing that God sent us there that day just for her. The second visit was originally to go to a less actives house (who turned out did not want visitors) but I recognized the street and so we called the older couple that lives there and asked if we could stop by for a couple minutes and sing for them. We sang Nearer my God to Thee for them as well and the grandmother started crying while we sang and afterward expressed a similar situation~their family had encountered some difficulties recently and she knew God had sent us to let her know He is looking out for them. 

I am grateful that even though we can't speak Chinese super well and sometimes miss meetings and get lost every once in a while, we can still be instruments in the Lord's hands to lift and encourage others! No matter how inadequate or useless you may feel, the Lord has a work for you to do and as you strive to use and discover the gifts and blessings He has given you, you can be instrument in His hands to help others. The Lord doesn't expect perfection, just progress. 

With that, the scripture of the week is Alma 26:12 "Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever."

Have a fantastic week!

Sending hugs and prayers!

Sister Jensen 

Dinner with Vivian 

YSA FHE

Huang family dinner

Bike ride by the river 

My cute companion (& douhua)

Week 32-Jan. 14, 2019

Another day another dollar!

Hello Fambam!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NATALIE!!! 

Questions: We probably teach like 3-6 lessons a week. We do eat with members sometimes, often Sundays or plays. All our formal lessons are in Chinese, but often people on the street with talk to us in English and all the young people have varying ability but most of their English is better than my Chinese. They dont talk to us in English, but if you ask them a random word or like cant think of the chinese word for something they understand and can teach us. Return missionaries from Taiwan (like our current YSA representative who served in Australia) will often use English with us though. So that's nice. English names are easier for us to remember and 95% of people have English names. We use members Chinese names most of the time (because they have chinese last names) but new friends and YSA often just tell us their English names. 

This week was another great week in songshan! We go to the track every morning to run and this old guy has started recognizing me and talked to me a couple times and told me that it is healthy to run every day and that's what he does so if I wanna be healthy like him at his age, I have to exercise every day. Haha he waves goodbye and says "see you every day!" (English with a Chinese accent) This week we visited a lot of members and sometimes when we visit a less active member and they aren't home, we leave cute heart sticky notes and a note and a picture and this week, we revisited a less active and this time she didnt let us in, but she stood outside and ended up opening up to us a lot about her current concerns for her son and told us she was very touched when she saw our note we had left! Miracles!

Thursday we had a great zone meeting at our chapel and talked a lot about member work. We also did a little taichi with about 15 older ladies in the park that were super sweet and welcomed us right into their little circle and wouldn't stop complimenting our Chinese Haha everyone here is too nice! We also had FHE with a less active family on Friday and brought the primary president! Then on Sunday we had a ward FHE and we played Kahoot! Haha I never thought.i would do that on my mission but lo and behold, it wasnt even blocked on our phones! The trivia questions were about all the new changes in the church in 2019 like come follow me. 

Tuesday we had exchanges! I went with Sister Elliot (our new sister training leader) and although she was feeling pretty sick, I learned a ton from her and she gave me a lot of good advice!

Today the sisters from Bitan came to our area and we walked along the river then had lunch together and then went on splits for a pass-off lesson thing.

Scripture of the week:

Helaman 3:35

"Nevertheless they did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation, yea, even to the purifying and the sanctification of their hearts, which sanctification cometh because of their yielding their hearts unto God." Humility is strength and Christ is our foundation! As we purify our hearts and align our will with His, we will be able to tap into His infinite strength and be filled with joy! 

Love you all!

Have a fantastic week!

Sending prayers and hugs!

Sister Jensen 

Sister Garner, Hayden, and Porter

Ward FHE

Dinner with Lia (young women)

FHE with Zhou JM and the Han family

Week 31-Jan. 7, 2019

Give ~the little Stream

Hello friends and fam!

Such a good crazy week! Learning so much every day! 

This week we got a ton of free stuff! It seemed like everyone we talked to just gave us free stuff! Like Sister Hayden complimented a lady's pink neck warmer and then she gave us both one! What?! And we said happy new year to someone on the street and they gave us each tomatoes! and we also got free tofu at a restaurant! So nice! 

This week we also did some walking (which is good because the members are too nice to us ;) ) because we accidentally read the characters wrong in the area book and went to the wrong address for dinner and so we had to quickly take a taxi to get to the right address! But then we decided to walk back to our bikes and invite everyone to church and English class along the way! We ended up having some good gospel conversations! 

This week we also spent some time with the new ward (and stake) YSA representative helping her call people and plan for tonight's first YSA FHE! We are super excited to build up the youth and young single adults in the Songshan area!

We taught another sister in Neihu this week named Donna (pronounced like donut without the "t"). It was a good lesson and we found out she had already been baptized so we found a lost sheep! 

We also got to teach our friend Amy and her son Jonas with our recent convert,  Wendy! Wendy bore a fantastic testimony and even answered some of Amy's questions with information she learned in Institute (scripture study class)! So proud and happy for her! 

We ran into a girl on the MRT named 愉芳who has taken all the lessons, but her parents won't let her get baptized yet, and she ended up coming to the recent convert fireside with us on Sunday! She is super cute and I'm excited to get to know her better!

Lastly, this week we had interviews with President! Its always good to meet with him and I always feel so inspired and loved and renewed! He told me Sister Hayden and I will be staying together for another transfer (which means I'll have been in songshan for 4 transfers, about 6 months) and asked us all about our new years goals and everything we are learning together! I have learned so much from her and we laugh together all the time about our rookie mistakes (wrong addresses, awkward encounters, etc.)! 

Scripture of the week: Matthew 16:25

"For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it." The most amazing people I know are the people who spend all their time serving others! I know God is so happy when we help is other children be happy! We are all one family, let's help everyone get home together~safe and sound! 

Have a fantastic week!

Sending hugs and prayers!

Sister Jensen 

1. Bishop's wife's birthday lunch! (Que jiemei 闕)

2. Dinner with Huang family

3. Sister Hayden's standing study spot

Week 30-Dec. 31, 2018

Happy New Year! 🎉

Hey Fam Bam!

Don't worry, the truly angelic zone leaders were willing to take the bus and brings us the extra set of keys that we miraculously had returned to them at district council the day before so that's how we got back into our apartment on Christmas! Haha miracles happen!

That afternoon we went hiking just sister Hayden and I and did some meditating on the top of a mountain and it was super green, wet, and peaceful overlooking the city! That evening Bishop and his family took us out to eat at a super fancy hotel! We are too spoiled here!

The rest of the week was so good too! We visited some more members, had a great English class and church, and had a good lesson with Robert at the bishops house about the priesthood because he just turned 12! Reminds me of Ben ;) 

Looking forward to interviews this week with President and making some new year goals! 

Scripture of the week:

Alma 46:16,21

16 "And therefore, at this time, Moroni prayed that the cause of the Christians, and the freedom of the land might be favored.

21 And it came to pass that when Moroni had proclaimed these words, behold, the people came running together with their armor girded about their loins, rending their garments in token, or as a covenant, that they would not forsake the Lord their God; or, in other words, if they should transgress the commandments of God, or fall into transgression, and be ashamed to take upon them the name of Christ, the Lord should rend them even as they had rent their garments."

I am so inspired by the passion and dedication of Moroni and the Nephites in these verses and they give us such a good example of faith in action! As you set goals this year, pray about them and council with the Lord, then try to passionately work for them like Moroni and those that fought for Christ, their homes, and their liberty. 

Love you all so much!

Have a fantastic week!

Sister Jensen

Pics from mission Facebook page:

Week 29-Dec. 24, 2018

Christmas Eve Skype!!!

7:00pm PST Christmas Eve and 11:00am Christmas Day Taiwan time