Cool Things of this Week!

Our Filipino friend, Janeth, gave us these cool scarf/lava lava things:)

Our awesome zone. We love zone conference!

Our district and our cool bike helmets. I got a new one this week:) Made in Taiwan!!!!:) and of course it's BLUE!!!

Dear Family & Friends,

Here are a few cool things that happened this week:

1. FHE with Fan Jiating. On Monday I was missing my family quite a bit. I was thinking about them a lot and wanting to be with them. But God has a plan and he knew what I needed. That night we went to Fan Jiating's home (he's a member of the stake presidency) and had FHE. It was EXACTLY what we did all growing up. It was so perfect and just what I needed. I think that this gospel can't not be true. It's the same no matter where you go. No matter what language you speak, no matter if you're a convert or born into the church, no matter if you live in a mansion or a shack, everyone can live this gospel. EVERYONE!

FHE with Fan Jiating, family & friends

2. We ate in a department store 2 times this week :) We felt like princesses! Normally we eat in these little no-name noodle houses scattered throughout our area (which is probably one of my top 10 favorite things about Taiwan) and it was so weird to eat in a restaurant-style setting. They have Tepenyaki here! That was weird to see... haha :) The reason we ate there twice is because we were eating with some of the foreigners in our ward. They mostly live out of our area so we have to get special permission to leave. It's so amazing every time. Our ward is the literal fulfillment of 1 Nephi 22:25. 

"And he gathereth his children from the four quarters of the earth; and he numbereth his sheep, and they know him; and there shall be one fold and one shepherd; and he shall feed his sheep, and in him they shall find pasture."

Eating at the Department Store with Celina:)

3. When we were eating at this department store we met with Brother Fyde and Sister Jenks. We were all so excited and as we picked a place to eat in the food court, Sister Jenks pulled me aside and told me she was paying for me. I started to protest, but then she explained that she has a son on a mission and she knows how much it means to her when other people help him out there. I was so touched it brought tears to my eyes. God is aware of his children. No matter where we are. Whether it's the Provo MTC, Pleasant Grove Utah, Dunwoody Georgia, or Zhubei Taiwan. He knows.

Lunch with Br. Hyde & Sister Jenks

4. We've had really awesome studies lately. I have such a testimony of role plays! We had one of our most powerful role-plays ever this week. Wu JM was the investigator and I was the missionary. The purpose was to invite our investigator to baptism. The first time, i started with the invitation and then solved concerns and was very effective. I felt pretty good about it. But Wu JM stopped me and said she still had some concerns that I needed to find. So we did it again and I started from the most abstract point. It was so weird. We started talking about painting and praying. And about how God gives us revelation through many different mediums. Our investigator really loves to draw/paint. We then talked about how our investigator is scared that God wouldn't allow him to create. I testified that our purpose is to create. We are to become like God. We are his children. Wu JM began to cry. It was a very powerful spirit. I learned to really focus on 1. being myself 2. listening to the spirit/following my gut 3. really loving our investigator. I think I'll probably spend the rest of my mission working on these things, but I'm so thankful to have had such a big example of it this week :) 

Basically Taiwan is the promised land. Thank you so much for everything. I love this mission. I loves this work. It's a lot like doing spiritual push-ups all day everyday, and sometimes you feel like you're not moving forward at all. Then all of a sudden you'll have an experience or a moment of clarity and you can see how far you've actually come. I'm so thankful to have these moments and also every hard second leading up to them. The church is true.

All my love,

Gu Jiemei

Emailing from my red throne:)

My cute friend Cora! She's one of the YSA's here in the ward