Repentance and the Book of Mormon

Sister Mack

September 3^rd, 2012

Nimen hao,

Wow it has been another incredible week on the fair isle of Taiwan. I've seen so many miracles and been so strengthened in the Lord. I love it here. I know I haven't been here long, but I already feel that my mission has completely changed the course of the rest of my life.

I want to talk a little bit about some things I have learned recently about repentance . . . I don't know why, I just feel like I want to. Today I wanted to read the conversion story of Alma the younger in Mosiah 27. It is such a beautiful testimony of the power of true repentance, the mercy and powerful healing of forgiveness. Alma has a pretty intense process of conversion and repentance.  Afterwards, he he is filled with the love of God and with joy because of the mighty changes he underwent in his heart and mind.

     "I have repented of my sins, and have been redeemed of the Lord; behold I am born of the Spirit.

     [...] Marvel not that all mankind [...] must be born again; yea, born of God,  changed from their carnal and fallen state, to a state of righteousness, being redeemed of God, becoming his sons and daughters;

     [...] they become new creatures; and unless they do this, they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God.

     [...] and this I know, because I was like to be cast off.

     Nevertheless, after wading through much tribulation, repenting nigh unto death, the Lord in mercy hath seen fit to snatch me out of an everlasting burning, and I am born of God.

     My soul hath been redeemed from the gall of bitterness and bonds of iniquity. I was in the darkest abyss; but now I behold the marvelous light of God. My soul was racked with eternal torment; but I am snatched, and my soul is pained no more."

                               -Mosiah 27:24-29

I love that Alma describes salvation as being "snatched". It's such a powerful image in my mind. God loves us so much, but He will not take away our agency. We have to choose to reach out and grab the hands that He ever extends to us.

In Mosiah 26:30 it says, "as often as my people repent will I forgive them their trespasses against me." I really believe this is true! Repentance is not something we need dread or fear, it is a joyful thing! It is a precious gift and a chance for us to be swallowed up in the love of Christ and to be healed spiritually, to become new creatures, new people. I have felt this redeeming love in my own life, and I have been striving to be able to feel it every day. Being on a mission is so humbling because it makes you realize how much you really do need God to get anything done in this work. It forces you to reexamine your own testimony and faith. Can I really invite my investigators to start repenting daily if I'm not doing the same thing? If I don't really believe that Christ will take these burdens from me? No! Of course not! I am grateful that my understanding of repentance, and of many other teachings, grows every day that I'm here. There's a quote I love from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's talk "The Laborers in the Vineyard" (last April General Conference) that says, "[...] however late you think you are, however many chances you think you have missed, however many mistakes you feel you have made or talents you don't have, or however far from home and family and God you feel you have traveled, I testify that you have not traveled beyond the reach of divine love. It is not possible for you to sink lower than the infinite light of Christ's Atonement shines." I love that. And I know that it is true. Every day I have the chance to feel that magnificent love for the people I am privileged to teach, God loves them so so much. And He loves all of you too!

Ok sorry I don't really know what that was. Just something to think about I guess :)

Some things I wanted to share from this week:

* We started getting in touch with a less active sister a couple of weeks ago. This week we wanted to meet with her, and she invited us over for lunch . . . along with the relief society president (who is our little ward’s version of Judith . . .  she's seriously incredible), one of the counselors in the relief society, and another less active sister we have been visiting with (we hung out with her 2 P-days ago...she took us to that crazy mall). It was an amazing experience. First of all the food was to DIE for. I ate so much. Also I'm pretty sure I ate a fish eye ball....it was about the size of a quarter. I couldn't look at it or think about the fact that it was an eye ball and I swallowed it down just fine. It was actually quite tasty.

After lunch we started talking about the Book of Mormon.  The Spirit was so strong. I was just in awe that I could be in the presence of these really powerful women. I know each heart was touched and uplifted.  It made me feel so good.  I just kept thinking, this is why I'm here. This is why, instead of being in school right now, I'm on the other side of the world sweating my brains out trying to learn one of the hardest languages ever, to help people have this feeling. To remind them of their faith and to strengthen it. I love this work!!

* Yesterday we had stake conference, and I saw an Elder from my district in the MTC!!!! I got so excited I almost yelled at him across the room, but then decided I'd better be on my best behavior cause A. I'm a missionary. B. Our mission president was there. C. We had several investigators there. He came and found me after and gave me a hearty handshake haha. It was so great to see him.  I could tell he was doing really well.  He seemed very happy. I am so grateful I got to see him!

*One of our investigators who is having a hard time progressing had a good experience this week. She is only 17, but she always comes to church. She really wants to be a Christian and to learn about God and Jesus.  She has so many questions, but not enough motivation to do a lot of work to find the answers. I was sitting next to her, and I thought it might help her to take notes during the meeting. I asked if she brought her notebook, and she said no.  I gave her a little one out of my bag. Instead of taking notes, she wrote me a really sweet note. It was in Chinese characters though, so I told her I couldn't read it. She told me it said basically thanks to me and my companion for "accompanying her" and teaching her. She said she was really unhappy before she started coming to church and meeting with the missionaries, but she feels like her life is changing. She said we were her angels!! And then she told me I looked like a princess!!!! It was so sweet, and a testimony to me of how we can't give up on people even when they are slow to progress. She has a long way to go to build her own testimony, but her heart is pure, and she has felt the love of God. It's amazing to me that somehow I get to be a part of this amazing process of people changing their lives. This girl also asked me to share why I went on a mission.  I wrote it down for her. I told her that I always felt I should go, but that I was too self-centered and decided I wouldn't do it. My life totally changed when I took a Book of Mormon class in college, and my friend read the book with  me and helped me to understand it. After that, I realized I really believed the book was true, and it made me happier than anything else. I felt so full of joy that I couldn't just keep it to myself, I wanted to share it with other people. My story was simple and brief, but I think it really touched her. I leaned over to her and whispered, I know you can have the same experience with the Book of Mormon. "You're just like me!" she said. I think it gave her some hope that her prayers really can be answered. She just needs to start reading it consistently!!!!

Well that's probably enough blabbering for this week....I am happy and thriving. Every day is a dream come true, even when it's hard. God truly loves us, and we can have greater peace as we repent daily and read the Book of Mormon. Developing my relationship with God and with Christ has been the most worthwhile things I've ever done, and helping others to do the same is even sweeter and richer. Be true to what you know, and share it with others!!

I LOVE YOU!

Sister Coco Mack

Ke JieMei                        

Nimen Hao from the Little Island in the Sea!!

Sister Mack 

August 26th, 2012

Dajia Hao!

     Well it has been another amazing week of missionary work. I am thoroughly exhausted at the end of each day, but I find I'm very happy here doing the work of the Lord. I continue to be reminded of how much I need to improve on, but this week I also realized that one of the problems I've been having is that I am focusing far too much on myself!!! YIKES how long does it take me to learn these things?? All is well though, because I read a talk by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf from the April 2012 priesthood session of Conference that talked about the importance of learning basic gospel principles, even if that means learning them over and over, which is clearly the way I have to do things! :) This week I've been praying a lot for the strength to really forget about myself and go to work. I want to go to bed every night knowing that I gave that day my best effort and did all I could to help other people and to fulfill my calling as a missionary.

     It has also come to my attention that I have barely told you anything about Taiwan....allow me to correct that gross error!! Where do I even start . . . .  I've told you a bit about the madness on the road. Basically everyone here rides a motorcycle. When we stop at lights, we kind of waddle up to people on our bikes and try to share the gospel, give them a pamphlet/our church address, or get them to pull over so we can tell them more or set up an appointment. It's so crazy.  I'm still not very good at it, but it's pretty fun. A lot of people will just totally ignore us, or they will laugh and then look the other way. Or scoot forward. Or run the red light so they don't have to talk to us. That is when you know that they are probably not quite ready to hear the gospel.

There are dozens of fruit shops all along the streets and even more little outdoor food shops. These people, thankfully, truly appreciate good food, and eating lots of it any time and all the time. I have been very blessed so far in that I have only seen 4 cockroaches. Two were in our apartment but were teeny tiny, and I wouldn't have known what they were except my companion told me (apparently our place used to be CRAWLING with them. We may need to invest in some more raid/traps. They are the reason we need to put our food garbage in the freezer). And then two were outside. wretched little things.

It's so weird to think that I live on an island....does that mean I am an islander? We had some typhoons up here this week. People get really crazy about them. Sometimes they cause a lot of damage, but since we're pretty far inland, I don't think it could be too bad. My companion said she's never seen anything crazy weather-wise, and she has been on-island for a year. So this week a lot of people cancelled appointments because they were like "The typhoon is coming!!" But no one actually seemed to know when it was coming, everyone said it was supposed to come on a different day. And then when it did come, it was just a little rainier than usual. I guess I understand why people wouldn't want to go outside, but why can't they just let us come teach at their homes? We have to bike around in the rain if people won't meet with us.  We just look like dorks cause we wear our plastic rain ponchos (complete with hood and a plastic bill like on a baseball cap) that go down over our knees...they're really funny. I'll attach a picture. Actually it did start to get pretty windy on Friday night.  At one point we couldn't really control our bikes, so we went home early and called a ton of referrals/former investigators. Anyway . . . .  the typhoon didn't really affect us. There was some pretty big damage further south and our mission president said we will probably be going down later this week to help with clean up.

One funny little image/story for you to chuckle over before I tell a cool story. So there's a woman that lives in our apartment building (maybe she is the owner? or the owner's wife? it's hard to say) and pretty much she is sitting in the lobby in the morning when we leave and she is in the same position when we get home at night, holding her brown mini poodle in her lap. One morning we were stretching in the courtyard before we went out for a run, and she was coming down to sit in her little spot. Her dog peed in the middle of the courtyard and she pulled out a tissue paper and wiped her dog and then poured some water on the pee spot before heading to her plastic chair in the lobby....!!!! What the?! I started laughing so hard. I love the crazy little things people do that are so unexpected and delightful.

   

This week was full of miracles.  One of the experiences that impacted me the most was actually really sad. We went to go visit a less active member of the church. We buzzed for her downstairs, and my companion said who we were. The woman answered in a very soft voice and actually sounded a little angry, but said she would be right down. My companion and I just kind of looked at each other and decided we would just give her a copy of a conference talk, tell her we loved her and missed her at church, and then just let her be.

We waited for a few minutes.  Then a woman walked by but stared at us as she did.  My companion said the sister’s name questioningly, and the woman waved for us to follow her. We started walking down the street, and she explained that her husband was home. He's actually the reason she doesn't come to church anymore. He belongs to another Christian church and, for whatever reason, is extremely anti-Mormon. The more she explained her situation, and the more I saw how excited she was to be meeting with us, the more heartsick I felt. We walked for a few minutes, then sat down at a table outside a little restaurant. We talked about prayer and the Book of Mormon.

The woman told us how much she missed coming to church, but that she still prayed and tried to read and really believed that God could hear her prayers. In her eyes I could see she was hungry for the gospel, but because it is so disruptive in her marriage, she doesn't have an opportunity to access it fully. We shared a great scripture with her from Mosiah 24:14 "And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions." She was very touched by the scripture, and I asked her if she believed it was true. She said she did. I bore my testimony of it and we were kind of in the middle of discussing it when a man approached us. He was clearly very angry but he didn't shout or anything. It was the sister’s husband! He had noticed she was gone, probably saw our bikes and recognized them (all missionaries spray paint their bikes so they don't get stolen, and we attach plastic bins to the back with bungee cords to hold all our stuff) and then he tracked us down! He was wearing a face mask (everyone wears them even when they're only slightly sick) so it was hard to understand him, but he just kept saying "We don't believe in this Book of Mormon, we don't read that book." The sister was really upset and kept telling him to leave. It was so uncomfortable and so upsetting. 

Finally, my companion said it was alright, the sister should go. She looked at us sadly but managed a smile, then walked away. I couldn't believe it. This sister is completely controlled by her husband. I am so impressed by her faith. Even though she doesn't really have the opportunity to study the gospel as completely as other members of the Church, she is steadfast in what she believes. It kills me to think that she is being denied the full blessings of the gospel because her husband won't let her exercise her faith! I know God is with her though, I know He is. He will visit her in her afflictions if she will continue to look for Him and rely on His power. I said a prayer in my heart after we left that her husband's heart might be softened.

I have been studing Alma this week and am slowly plugging away at it. What an amazing book. Alma is an incredible missionary. Today I read in Alma 8 when he is rejected by the people of Ammonihah and he is so defeated and weighed down with sorrow.  But when an angel tells him to go back, Alma returns SPEEDILY. I am so impressed with the faith of this missionary. He doesn't ask the angel questions, he just goes for it, knowing it is the will of the Lord and trusting He will provide a way! I am praying to have faith like that this week, and I hope I will see some big changes and improvements, and that I will be able to help more people.

  

I love you all tremendously. Be strong and of a good courage, build your faith. God is truly with us!

love love love

Sister Coco Mack

Ke JieMei

Tell Everybody I'm On My Way!!

Sister Mack
August 19^th, 2012

That song from Brother Bear, "Tell Everybody I'm On My Way" is my theme song for this week. It's not technically a Church song, but I think it's rather spiritual and perfectly fitting for my current situation. As we were biking along this week, chuan'in the jiao, I kept thinking "Tell everybody I'm on my way! And I'm a-lovin' every step I take!" And when it was dumping buckets of rain I changed the words to "with the rain pouring down yes I'm on my way! ....blah blah blah....new friends and new places to see....with....the rain...pouring down yes I'm on my waaaaay! And there's NO PLACE THAT I'D RATHER BE!!!!!!!!" I don't know if it was very evident in last week's email but my first like 3 days here in my first area were pretty challenging. I felt overwhelmed and a little discouraged at my lack of skills (Chinese, teaching, contacting, etc.), but I just kept praying and praying all the time. This really is a wonderful place to be, full of generous, kind, beautiful people, but I needed to find that strength beyond my own to really settle in and to cherish and love each moment of each day. As I poured out my heart in prayer to Heavenly Father as we biked around all day, I was filled with comfort and strength. It was a time in my life when I could truly feel God's presence, and indeed it felt like He was with me. I am filled with joy. I am still learning and making mistakes every single day, but I trust God. He called me here because He knew I could succeed in the work He has for me to do. I just have to keep doing my best and relying on His power to overcome my weaknesses! I really really love it here.

    

     My companion and I are becoming better and better friends each day. She is an amazing missionary. She is diligent and obedient and really gives everything to this work. She is full of love for the people we teach. I am so grateful to have her as my trainer. I learn from her every day. 

     Aside from my attitude shift this week, I have seen so many other miracles! I hardly know where to begin!  Ok I'll just start with Wednesday. We had 3 investigators come to our free English class, though none of them were in the class I was teaching.  After class was over, I was very surprised when my companion came up to me and said I needed to go teach 2 of our investigators while she went to teach the other one in a different room. WHAT! I wasn't really panicking because it was just going to be a quick little lesson, but still I've never done this before. One investigator is a woman I contacted on the road this week, the other is a woman my companion contacted early Wednesday afternoon. We wanted to keep the lessons short because they had already been at the church for an hour and a half for English. I got to know them a little bit, then we said a prayer and I started explaining the Book of Mormon. I read parts of the introduction with them and then invited them to start reading it. At the end of the lesson, I asked one of the women if, as she felt our message was true, she would be willing to be baptized . . . . she said YES and we set a date for September 15th. I was so shocked. I don't think I've ever extended the baptismal invite in a first lesson before . . . not even in practicing. I think what was even more amazing to me was to see that even though I can hardly express myself in Chinese, if I do my part in following the Spirit and saying simple truths, the Spirit testifies and builds on what I say to help others feel it is true! I can't even hardly express it well in English, but it's just so cool to me how teaching people the gospel works....it's not us, we are not the teachers, it's the Holy Ghost. And thank GOODNESS for that, because if it was all up to me, then no one I meet would come to Christ cause they would not understand a word I said.

We have continued to meet with this sister.  I can tell she is so prepared to hear this gospel. We taught her the first lesson last night, all about the restoration of the gospel and Joseph Smith. My companion recited the first vision to her, and the Spirit was so strong. We asked if she thought it was true and she said she believed it. She kept getting so excited about the things that we were teaching her that she would put both her hands over her heart and sigh like she was trying to keep it from bursting out of her, she was SO HAPPY. I love getting to know her and helping her understand the teachings of Christ.  Seeing that the gospel makes sense in her mind is so powerful.

     Another miracle: last week we had a lady show up to Church whom my trainer and her last companion contacted on the street. We never called her or anything.  She came to church all by herself on her own accord! I think that is such a courageous thing to do.  I know Heavenly Father guided her there. As we have continued to meet with her, it's been clear to me that she too has been prepared by the Lord. She is just looking for light. I'm grateful Heavenly Father has helped me this week to see all the miracles in missionary work and to appreciate them. Sometimes they might not seem that grand, but it really is astonishing to me. I think it is a miracle that an investigator would ride her little bike 30 minutes in the rain to meet us at the church and hear us explain the teachings of Jesus Christ. I think it is a miracle that through imperfect teachers, she could still feel the light and truth of this gospel because it is being confirmed to her by the Holy Ghost. She's totally amazing, and I'm so excited to be on this journey with her!! Yesterday my companion taught her after Church while I was teaching another investigator (we both had members accompany us to the lessons), and my companion told her about Joseph Smith and invited her to pray about it.  This woman started praying immediately! She said she felt something great...it was something she had never felt before but it was so strong. She felt the Spirit! I love being able to see this work come alive!!!

     Our ward here is completely amazing. People are so willing to accompany us to lessons and to help us make our investigators feel welcome and comfortable at church. I also love meeting with recent converts and less active members. Taiwanese people are very giving. Everyone always gives us food when we go see them. We went to visit 2 recent converts this week, a father and his daughter, and we left with a bag of instant noodles. These people are so so generous. I know it's only been 1 week, but that is crazy to me. As I've started loving each moment of each day, everything is different. I know God is helping me to have a good attitude.  The only negative thing is that the days, though incredibly busy and full, go by really fast.

     I feel like I'm not very good at explaining my experiences. I just want to share something I studied in personal study this morning, then give you my Top Ten for Taiwan before I sign out for this week. This morning I read Elder S. Baxter's talk from April 2012 General Conference entitled: "Faith, Fortitude, Fulfillment: A Message to Single Parents." I know I'm not a single parent, but there are some fantastic gems in there for anyone who needs strengthening. One thing he said was that "it is through the hardships of life that we grow toward godhood as our character is shaped in the crucible of affliction, as the events of life take place while God respects the agency of man." It tied in perfectly to my reading in the Book of Mormon. In chapter 4 Alma talks about how the church kind of hit a stumbling block because so many followers were being lifted up in their pride.  But there were still people striving to be faithful. These problems were "a great cause for lamentations among the people, while others were abasing themselves, succoring those who stood in need of their succor, such as imparting their substance to the poor and the needy, feeding the hungry, and suffering all manner of afflictions for Christ's sake [...]." These people, though suffering great trials, used their God-given agency to choose faith and, in their afflictions, grow toward godhood.

     Something else from Elder Baxter's talk: "While you cannot change the past, you can shape the future. [...] With God's help, you need  not fear for the future." In Alma 4:14 it says that the people were "looking forward to that day [when Christ should come], thus retaining a remission of their sins; being filled with great joy because of the resurrection of the dead." I love the example of these faithful saints persevering and looking forward in faith and hope. Their attitude, faith, and diligence in obedience is truly shaping their futures. I want the same to be said of me. Looking forward in faith is something I've really been trying to work on this week. I have seen and felt a tremendous difference in my life as a missionary as I've strived to do so. I am truly "singing as the days go by" as I keep smiling, trusting God, and find joy in this work. I have so many blessings.

My Taiwan Top Ten (favorite things about this place I call home)

1. At night the garbage truck comes around and plays music...like ice cream truck kind of music...and people come and throw their trash bags in.

2. People weaving around on scooters and in cars both with and against traffic on both sides of the road. It's basically a free-for-all.

3. "In the year 55-35" is playing right now at the internet cafe I'm sitting at...that song from "Gentleman Broncos"

4. taro buns!!!!!

5. contacting people on their scooters and trying to get them to go to the side of the road before the light  changes at the intersection (this is how we do the majority of our contacting)

6. The light that shines from the people I teach...they are so fantastic and I wish all of you could meet them.

7. did i already mention the taro buns?

8. The clouds here are magnificent. They fill me with joy.

9. Rain rain rain.

10. Food glorious food! Don't care what it looks like! Seriously. I've eaten something called "Hairy Meat"

     I am so happy and I am excited to keep getting better at seeing other people the way Christ would see them, and then using that vision to help them come to know Him better.  I know the gospel of Jesus Christ will change and bless their lives in ways none of us could ever dream.

I love you all so dearly. I feel your prayers and want you to know that I pray mightily for you, too.

Carry on carry on carry on!

Love love love

Ke JieMei

Sister Coco Mack :)

Chuan'in The Jiao!!!

August 13, 2012

Sister Mack

Taiwan

DAJIA HAO!!!!!!!!!!!!! Greetings from a tiny island on the other side of the WORLD (AKA: TAIWAAAAAAAAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!) Can you believe I'm finally here??!?!! I still haven't wrapped my head around it. So much has happened since I last wrote....but I feel like it is impossible to describe. I will do my best though :) Aaaand I'm sorry but this email is probably going to be ghastly in its length...feel free to skim.

     Also I just want to explain the title of this email: chuan jiao means to spread gospel (the word for missionary is chuanjiaoshi so that's literally like someone who spreads gospel) but as we were walking around in Taizhong our first day we translated a little into Chinglish to say we were Chuan'in the Jiao. It's funny, dui bu dui (RIGHT)????? Yeah. It is.

     So last Monday afternoon we said goodbye to our 3 Elders headed to Australia, Jin JieMei and I were bawling our eyes out. I seriously cried harder than when I said goodbye to my real family and I am sorry about that but the MTC was an intense and accelerated experience . . . we've been through so much together, and for the longest time they have been my family, so it was hard to say goodbye. I am so proud of them though, and so excited for the wonderful work they will do. I wrote everyone in my district a little note telling them to read Alma 17:13 and Alma 17:2-3.

    

     Last Tuesday we got up at 3 to make final preparations to leave the MTC . . . it felt really weird to leave in the dead of night . . . like we were making a break for it or something. We were all trembling and giddy with excitement. It was so good to be able to call home from the airports in Salt Lake and Detroit...my eyes filled with tears the second I heard mom's voice. They keep us so busy I didn't realize how much I missed all of you, and it was so SO good to hear your dear voices!!! The plane rides were pretty uneventful until we got on the plane from Tokyo to Taipei. Jin JieMei and I ended up sitting next to a lady from Gaoxiong who is a Catholic nun! She went to school in the US and has perfect English. She was super excited to be sitting next to us and was super friendly and showed us all her pictures from a little nun retreat she had just been to in Wisconsin. We talked to her a little bit about our Church and missionaries / missionary work. It was a really cool experience. It was also a blessing because I still hadn't placed the little English Book of Mormon I brought with me, so I wrote her a note in the front cover and gave it to her when we left. She gave us her contact information so maybe we can look her up if we're ever in her area and she wants us to meet another friend of hers. We took a picture with her when we landed in Taipei.

     I can't say we really had an actual lesson with her but it was a cool experience for us to just converse with her about religion and about God, to give her a good introduction to Mormons in general. It made me feel so happy to be going to Taiwan :)

     I almost started crying again as we flew in to Taipei Airport and was just filled to the brim with excitement. I can't believe how fast the 12 weeks in the MTC went by, and everything I've been studying is finally going to become real as I figure out how to find and teach people about Christ.

     In the Taipei airport we were met by my mission president and his wife, as well as the assistants to the president, and 4 Chinese sisters who arrived a few hours before us from the MTC in the Philippines. It was about 9 or 9:30 when we left Taipei and then we got on a bus to drive 3 hours south to the mission home in Taizhong.

     I almost cried AGAIN when we sang the mission song on the bus. It was an emotional day because it was all so wonderful and exciting and thrilling and slightly terrifying. Our mission song is the primary song "Armies of Helaman". We sing the second verse in Chinese and in the chorus we change the words to: "and we are NOW the Lord's missionaries to bring Taiwan His truth." And change the words in the third verse to say: "To take the gospel to all Taiwan"! It was such a sweet moment for me. I love being a missionary so so much. I'm so grateful for the chance I have to come to Taiwan and share this happy message with these sweet and beautiful people.

     The next morning we got up bright and early and went for a RUN!! YAAAAAAAAAAY. Except for not, because it was super humid.  Even though I took an ice cold shower afterwards, my face was red for another hour.

     This sweet senior missionary helped us withdraw money to pay for our bikes.  He really wanted me to tell my parents that Taiwan is one of the safest countries ever and it's probably safer than the United States, so if any of you were worried about safety issues: No. Taiwan is the best. 

     On Thursday night we had something called a "Dan Jones activity". We all ate dinner at this restaurant with a table that had a huge rotating center.  We shared like 12 dishes...so good. Right after that we walked to a night market where we all got to jump up on a little wooden crate and bear our testimonies to everyone on the street! It was crazy and awesome. Not that many people were listening, and most of them were missionaries, but still it was quite thrilling. Even the president’s wife got up with a Book of Mormon in hand and cried out her sweet testimony...I was so proud of her and very inspired. One of the Chinese sisters got super nervous, so I gave her a little pep talk. I was the last one to go and I was shouting in Chinese something about what I think was my testimony...who can say for sure because it was so loud and a little nervewracking and I don't speak Chinese! The second I stepped down I was swept up by a sister missionary who has been in Taiwan for like 9 months, and we went contacting. It was hard at first cause there are so many people, and I didn't know what to say, but it got better. The moral of the story is: I am not afraid of contacting anymore. bahaha. There was one really cool moment where I was going around contacting people with two 18-year-olds from the ward, and I could not understand anything they were saying, but I felt prompted to ask certain questions, and the woman we were talking to ended up writing down her information to be contacted in the future! Let the Holy Spirit guide, my friends, that is the only way to do missionary work.

     We all got to meet with our mission president.  It was kind of cool cause he found out about my background in Spanish and German and told me that I would very likely have the opportunity to teach in both those languages . . . >WHAT?! He was even thinking about putting me in a different area than originally planned because someone had a Spanish-speaking investigator who doesn't speak much English or Chinese. That thought scared me a little at first because my Spanish isn't that great and I can only ever think of Chinese words now.  But I know that if that's what God wanted me to do, then I could do it. I actually ended up being assigned to another area. So for now I don't have to worry about Spanish. BUT if anyone wants to send me some Spanish/German gospel vocabulary . . . . I will probably be using those words one day.   Just sayin.

     My trainer is great.  She is also from Utah! I won't lie I'm pretty relieved I have an English-speaker to train me.  As awesome as everything is, it can be so overwhelming.  I would understand even LESS if it was all in Chinese. I guess I would learn the language faster if my companion was from Taiwan, but I think this is a tender mercy from the Lord. After we met our new trainers we all ate lunch together. I said goodbye to the remaining Elders from my district (didn't cry though...probably cause we're staying on the same island). I saw them walk out into the street from the window on the second floor of the restaurant where we ate..... it was so strange to see them all go different directions and to think of them all headed to their own little areas. It was super weird to say goodbye to Jin JieMei cause we are BFFFFs...but I know we will be companions again someday. I love her so much. As I jumped onto a train headed for my area we both shouted "HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!" It was great :)

     So the train ride from Taizhong to my area took  3 hours, and we stood the entire way . . . . it was rough haha. Right after that, we pretty much went straight to this YW activity at the church which was all about inner beauty. I got to meet a few investigators and ward members and didn't understand anything, but it was really a nice way to start things off in my first area. I painted people's finger nails and tried really hard to understand what they were saying. Right after that, I had my first lesson with a  really great young woman who is studying the gospel. It was very simple and sweet.

Riding a bike in a skirt at high speeds through crazy traffic back to our apartment and trying to get settled in was a bit difficult. There's so much to take in and remember about the area, people's names, people's backgrounds, forms, Chinese, mission rules, principles of teaching, mission standards.  I almost started crying my first night cause I was so overwhelmed. Happy, but like TYPHOON of information, ya know? I said a very long prayer that first night.

     My first full day chuan'in the jiao it was pouring rain. I was soaked instantly haha but I was so happy! I pray pretty much every second and I really feel Heavenly Father is near me. In one of our lessons today we were visiting a recent convert. She is totally sweet and has a really cute daughter and this crazy little dog that acts just like Sadie.  The dog was attacking me for almost the entire lesson. Right now our lessons are kind of split like 98% my companion and 2% me . . . cause I just never know what is happening.  I am trying to pipe up more, even if it's just to bear my testimony and ask a question. We also met with another sister.  She was crying so much . . . I almost started crying too and realized I felt so much compassion and love for this woman I didn't even know and didn't even understand why she was upset.  I know that Heavenly Father is blessing me to able to have a lot of love for the people here, and I am so grateful for it. The tender mercies of God are really all around me.

     Sunday started out a little rough. As I was studying Chinese I just felt really overwhelmed because there is SO much for me to learn. They have a little language learning program set up here.  It is in 3 phases.  Phase 1 is basically memorizing all 5 lessons with scriptures, key terms, etc. I wanted to finish it in 6 weeks but I don't know . . . it might take 12 (I'm being trained for 12 weeks by the way so I'm staying with my trainer for 2 transfers technically). I feel that I can do it.  But I have a bajillion things to learn, and I still haven't really found the best way to study.  Maybe it's just that it takes me a lot longer to retain Chinese than it ever did for Spanish or German. Anyway, I was being a little baby sourpuss!  Then we went to Church, and even though I didn't understand much, my heart was filled with love. We have such an incredibly sweet ward. I felt so rejuvinated and strengthened to keep going this week. I was reminded to turn outward. It's funny how long it is taking me to learn the principle of working really really hard and just trusting the Lord to take care of the rest. I know that He will. I need to be more patient and focus on what I do know and what I can do and as time goes on, other knowledge will be added to me.

     I'm so sorry...I feel like this is the worst email ever. I didn't even tell you half of all the things I wanted to. Suffice it to say that I truly am so happy to be here. The Lord is truly blessing this work and His children in Taiwan to hear His gospel. This week I'm going to work really hard on turning outward when I feel worried about my progress (I won't ignore where I need improvement, but I'm not going to let it bog me down) and just opening my mouth and trusting God to fill it with the words I need to say. I am more capable than I have let myself think for the past couple of days. I think I'm still adjusting from the safety net of the MTC world to the real world. I have already met so many wonderful people who are kind to me and generous and just fantastic in every way. I love my investigators so much. My companion is very savvy and hard-working and SO patient, which is CRITICAL as it turns out. Especially when you have a companion like me who forgets everything all the time and is at times...somewhat...incompetent ;)  I really do trust God. This work has already been so fulfilling, and I've only really been doing it for about 3 days. I love it I love it I love it. I am excited to keep learning and growing and figuring things out.

Thank you for your prayers...I feel them every day.

I love you all so so much forever and ever.

Ke JieMei

Sister Coco Mack