BEING A MISSIONARY IS THE BEST!!!

Georgia is absolutely beautiful at this time of year!!!

Dear Family & Friends,

BEING A MISSIONARY IS THE BEST. I pretty much feel that I could end my email there and have expressed everything I need to... but naturally I must share more. 

*Ahem*

This week was full of a lot of Georgia firsts:

-So the procedure for tracting here is to tell people that we represent Jesus Christ and then ask them if they will pray with us. (This would never work in Taiwan... haha) Most people are very open to it. They just love Jesus Christ down here! It's awesome. So we've done this a few times, but this week was the first time that I experienced my first Southern Baptist hand-holding prayer. I had heard tell of the legends... but this was the first time I had actually experienced it. We knocked on this one woman's door and she came out in her fluffy blue robe. We told her we would like to pray with her and she said yes and then held out her hands. Sister Echols immediately grabbed her hand, but I had a Book of Mormon, Planner, and a pencil in my hand... so I put my stuff in my bag as fast as I could but I forgot my pencil. So I ended up holding the pencil in my mouth, holding hands in this small circle, and listening to Sister Echols pray. It was fantastic.

-I saw my first Dead possum on the side of the road! I'm told this is kind of a rite of passage.

-I met my first Georgia hoarder. She was just the nicest woman :) But it took everything in me not to channel my inner mom and clean her whole house.

-I canned chicken for the first time! And I used my first pressure cooker! We did this with a classic southern belle from our ward and she's the best. We love her so much and she takes good care of us. She's going through a divorce right now, so we make sure we share a lot of love with her whenever we get the chance.

-I talked to my first Taiwanese person! When we go to the farmer's market (Which we've done a couple times now) I usually talk to people from the mainland. But I found out last week that a woman in one of our neighboring wards is from Taiwan! So I got her number, called her, and we set up a time to meet at the church on Sunday. She talked to me a lot about how important it will be to focus on the accent once I get to Taiwan. Next week we're going to meet again and I'm going to try and share a short gospel message with her. I love Taiwanese people!

I had to let everyone know that I got to speak Chinese today for the first time in Georgia!!

We've got some pretty fantastic investigators.

Dale- Well we met Dale on the day where no one was opening their doors. He was riding his bike when he saw us and he yelled out "Hey are y'all Jehovah's Witnesses?" Sister Echols and I ran over there and explained who we were and what church we were from. He told us how impressed he was with our church and our values. We're required to carry Books of Mormon everywhere we go in this mission and so when he saw the one I had in my hands he said "Yes I think I have that book!" He told us that he was thinking about moving to Utah because he is just so confused by the world around him. He doesn't like that all of the morals he loves are being thrown out the window. We gave him our card and set up an appointment for Tuesday of this coming week. He seems pretty well prepared and I'm really excited to see him again :)

Robert- We met Robert right after I had my first hand-holding prayer. He was my second hand-holding prayer. What a special bond we now share. haha. But Robert is a very tall, very skinny, African American man. He's missing some teeth and he's very hard to understand sometimes. But we love him. He told us that he feels like he needs to find himself spiritually at this time. We set up an appointment to come over the next day. But we realized that we didn't have a team-up (Member present) ready. When we teach single men we have to have another responsible woman there. So we were calling and calling and no one was answering their phones and we were getting a little worried that we would have to reschedule our appointment with him. Then I thought back to Sunday. I had seen a very cute young couple come into the chapel and I felt prompted that we needed to team up with the wife. I asked Sister Echols if she had every come out with us before and she said that her name was Sister Moore and that she had come out with us a lot. So I thought back to that prompting and we called her. She normally has work, but we called her anyway and she answered and could come! It was a miracle! So she came with us to go visit Robert. We taught him the Restoration and he seemed pretty receptive! He doesn't understand it all yet, but we're seeing him again this week. He's the best.

So this week we had a whole day where not one person answered the door. We knocked on dozens of doors but no one came. But that does not stop this work from progressing. In our misison we're required to make 40 phone calls a day. We have an old phone and there are just lots of random contacts in there. So we've been using this to our advantage. We've been calling literally every name in the list and we've actually gotten a lot of appointments from it! :) haha A lot of them are former investigators and we literally don't know anything about them. But hey! We're called to find lost sheep however we can. 

Our ward is super diverse. We've got a lot of older single adults and a lot of young families and a lot of older families... so basically everyone is here :) Our ward is made up of a ton of converts and that really helps strengthen my faith. Sometimes you wonder if people are really going to drop everything they know and join this church, but as I see the faith of these members, I have little doubt. A lot of them also said that it took them a long time to join the church. That's something that is hard for me. haha. 

Ancient Chinese Honey Bee Potion from Sister Woodruff:)

This week we had our mission-wide call which is basically a gigantic conference call where the mission president speaks to us. (Isn't technology amazing?!) I honestly don't remember many of the words that were said, but I will tell you this it filled me with an urgency I haven't experienced since High School soccer ended. haha I realized that I only have 1 transfer here. 1 TRANSFER!! That's 6 weeks. That's the blink of an eye!! I realized how much work I have to do and it lit a fired in me. I'm so excited. One of the things President said is that our mission has a goal to have 250 baptisms by New Years. That means that every companionship has to have 1 baptism, and some have to have 2 before then. I am very determined to see someone enter the waters of baptism while I am still here in Georgia. I have faith that the Lord can make it happen. 

Fun things:

There's a woman in our ward who looks just like a character from the Help. I love her. We had an instant connection and I just want to carry her around with me every day :) haha

Tell Leasa that I got to use my work skills out here! We have to take very careful records of our car miles and gas and etc. and there was a mistake on the sheet somewhere. My companion couldn't figure it out so she gave it to me. Thank goodness I had been practicing this for 6 months before my mission ;) I was able to find the mistake and make it work! (No whiteboard required ;)) Also tell Leasa that I miss her and love her so much. 

We had to say goodbye to Sister Hawkins this week. It was very sad :( She's amazing. A cool experience we got to have with her was singing! She's very talented and one night she taught us her arrangement of Sweet Hour of Prayer. It was awesome! We did 3 part harmony and ended up singing it for one of our member's baptist neighbors. They just loved it! She's in Brazil now and we love her.

Awesome companions!!!

Alright well I'd better get going. I want to testify that I know this church is true. Being out on a mission has tested that knowledge a lot, but there is nothing sweeter than the peace this gospel brings. That will never change :)  I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer. Only through Him can we receive Eternal Life. I know that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God. He truly saw Jesus Christ and God our Father. I love Joseph Smith because he asked questions and received answers. That is how this church was restored and because of that we can each ask questions and receive answers. Heavenly Father hears our prayers. He loves us infinitely.

Thank you for all of the prayers and support.

Gu Jiemei

#ALLTHEMIRACLES

This week... oh my heavens. #ALLTHEMIRACLES

So let's see... this letter might just become a really long stream of consciousness. I apologize in advance.

Goodbyes:

Saying goodbye to our district was very hard. We've all grown so much on this journey and I've literally been with them every day for 2 months. It's still weird waking up in the morning and not singing in Chinese or reciting the missionary purpose together or blowing bubbles in our classroom... Luckily I'll see most of them again at BYU or in Taiwan, but it's still been a difficult separation. haha

Also saying goodbye to our teachers was very sad. They both have been so inspirational to me and I hope that one day I can be like them.

He Leoshi (our teacher) We like to call her Mulan:)

Wong Laoshi (our other teacher) When I didn't understand something in Chinese I would always put my hands on my hips, so when he had to pose for this picture this is what he did:)haha

Ok Georgia:

So Sister Cardon and Sister Facer were both in my flight group so that was nice to be able to speak a little bit of Zhongwen together and bond. None of us were very experienced flyers but we had 2 elders with us who just took such good care of us! Seriously they just made things so much easier. I love them.

On the plane rides (We had two:1 to Denver and then 1 to Hartsfield Georgia) none of us sat next to each other. I don't know if the church did that on purpose... but it was a wise choice :) haha. So our district set some goals to accomplish on our various plane rides and one of them was to place a Book of Mormon. On the flight from Salt Lake do Denver I sat by this man who was a very young father. I found out he was a member and we talked a bit at the beginning of our flight, but then he fell asleep. I had bought this super cute little BOM from the Bookstore before I left and I just had the feeling that I needed to give it to him. I couldn't figure out why... he was a returned missionary and obviously a member of the church, but the feeling didn't leave. So I thought about it a lot, got my speech all prepared and then as I turned to talk to him I realized he was asleep... # awkward. But this was good because it gave me more time to ponder! haha So I thought about it long and hard. I talked myself into and out of giving him this little BOM about 50 times, but then as we were making our descent I decided I should just go for it. So I turned to him and I told him that I had set a goal to pass out a BOM on my first flight. He smiled knowingly. I then told him that I knew that he was a member, but that I also knew his daughter probably wasn't. I gave him this cute little BOM and asked him if he would share it with his new daughter. I told him that I knew that she would come to know her Heavenly Father's love through her earthly father's love. He took the BOM and thanked me.

On our next flight I sat next to 2 VERY southern people. It was awesome. The man on my right was a home-grown Alabama boy and the woman on my left had lived in Georgia her whole life. This was my first experience with the Southern drawl and I LOVE IT!! :) haha They were both very interested in why I was here and the fact that I spoke Chinese. We got to the topic of religion and I think they're both methodists, but I had SO many opportunities to share truth with them. I also asked them both if they would write their names next to their favorite scriptures in my bible. That's something that I will always cherish. I didn't have any BOM to give them though and that made me sad. They were both very nice and wished me well as we parted. Then we got picked up by our (very tall) president. He's awesome. It was like he had ADHD in the airport. He was talking to EVERYONE. He would start explaining to us something and then all of a sudden he would see someone and he would run over there and give them a pamphlet. Then he would come back and say "Brothers and Sisters we've just witnessed a miracle. My fried Joe over there thought that we worshiped John Smith and I was able to clear that up for him." This literally happened 50 times. haha It was awesome :) So then the AP's gave us each a Book of Mormon and told us that in this mission they ALWAYS carry a BOM with them. Which I thought was super cool. I immediately began looking for my friend Neal (Who I had sat next to on the plane). He wasn't anywhere near baggage claim. I told everyone around me to be looking for a very tall Southern man with a big beard and a bright orange hunting hat. We waited for a long time and in my tired state I was about to give up on Neal. But then I saw him a ways away from our group. I could see that he was in a hurry, but I had promised God that I would try, so I ran over to him and told him that this is the Book I had been talking about. He thanked me and I promised him that it would bless his life. Then he disappeared into the airport.

Pres. & Sister Harding

So after we left the airport we went straight to a church and had a small orientation meeting. I met the Danklef's from Pleasant Grove and it was so nice to see a familiar face! :) They're very sweet. We then had a bunch of meetings and received a bunch of binders and forms and we had to sign all this stuff and honestly it's just a blur :) haha. So after the meetings we got to watch Meet the Mormons! It was awesome! EVERYONE MUST WATCH IT. EVERYONE. haha. Very inspiring. Then we went out to the parking lot and got our luggage. Sister Campbell was there and said that there would be blueberry pancakes at her house and so naturally I followed her :) haha Sister Augusto also followed. She and I had been bonding a lot over our meetings and dinner. She is absolutely hysterical. haha

Sister Augusto is from Mozambique Africa. A friend from my high school Noah Shumway actually served in her ward on his mission in Mozambique! She is absolutely amazing and so strong in this gospel! Her father is a baptist preacher in Mozambique and she told me that she thinks that may be why she's in Georgia, to learn how to teach Baptists :) She's the best. She was my companion for less than 24 hours but I will NEVER forget her. She built my confidence and was a true friend for that short amount of time. That's what being a follower of Jesus Christ is all about.

Sister Augusto & Sister Giles:) Matching!!!

So that next morning we went to transfer meetings. This is where I met my companion Sister Echols. She's from Orem Utah and we actually played soccer against each other in High School. We were once again running around and everything is a blur... but I met a lot of awesome people. I love missionaries. It was amazing to feel the strength and power as many missionaries who have now finished their missions bore testimony of the truth of this gospel. It's the truest.

Our trio: Sister Echols, Sister Hawkins & me

So I am in a trio with Sister Echols and Sister Hawkins. Sister Hawkins is also a Visa waiter heading to Brazil on Tuesday. She's only going to be with us for a week. They are both amazing. They've both been on their missions for about a year and let me tell you... that has been such a big blessing. I feel like I have no idea what's going on a lot of the time (as you can probably tell from this email), but they are so encouraging and very knowledgeable about the things I don't understand :) haha And they're very patient with me and all my questions. We get along great :) I love them both and it's really going to be sad when Sister Hawkins leaves tomorrow.

We are a little crazy sometimes!!

So in our trio we speak 4 different languages. Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, and English. It was awesome as we had our first companion study together and we sang Come come ye saints in Portuguese Spanish and Chinese. This is a world-wide church! Wahoo! The gospel is the very best! I've been learning a bit of Spanish since there are a lot of Hispanics in our area and Sister Hawkins gets to talk to them a lot.

So speaking of languages, let me tell you about the Chinese miracle. so I had set a goal to speak Chinese every day on my mission with someone. And so far I have been able to do that. Sometimes the only people I get to speak Chinese with are my companions, but I've been practicing every day. So yesterday I was very determined to speak to a Chinese native. I promised the Lord that if he placed someone in my path who spoke Chinese, I would talk to them. Here's a list of my failures:

1. There was a man at the gas station. I saw that he was Asian and Sister Hawkins came with me to go talk to him. I asked him if he spoke Chinese and he said "I'm very busy. I'm very busy" Then I asked him in Chinese if he spoke Chinese and he said "What?? no no no." We found out he was Vietnamese and then left the premesis.

2. We were at Pep Boys and there was an Asian couple sitting there speaking very fast. I couldn't tell what language it was, but I knew what I had promised the Lord. So I approached the woman and asked her if she could speak Chinese. She was very confused and told me that she was from Korea.

3. We went to the international groccery store while our car was at pep boys and I saw this woman shopping in the Chinese food aisle. I knew she HAD to be Chinese, so I walked past her and said "Ni hao!". She completely ignored me. Then my companion walked by and said "Hi there!" And she said "Oh hi!"

I was very discouraged at this point and I wasn't feeling up to embarrassing myself yet again. But we walked past the Chinese food aisle again and there were these two young women who looked like they were about 20 years old. My companions saw them and told me to go talk to them. I told them I was too scared. But Sister Hawkins pressed forward and almost bumped right into them. So I asked them if they spoke Chinese in Zhongwen. They looked surprise and said yes. OH the joyous singing that was happening in my head. We sat there for about 20 minutes talking about where they were from and what they were doing here in Georgia. It was amazing to be able to speak with them and understand! It also helped that they knew English :) haha So towards the end of our conversation I knew I needed to give them a BOM. I didn't have one in characters but I asked them if they could read English. They said yes and I asked them if they would accept this. They were very hesitant at first and she said that she would read it, but she didn't think it would change her mind. I promised her that if she read it would help her with her homework. Which was odd, but it's something we promised a lot of our investigators at the MTC when they said they didn't have time for the BOM. As I held out the BOM to her, a woman walked by and said "Hey... Y'all are mormons?" We said yes and she said "Me too!" Then Sister Hawkins proceeded to talk to her in Spanish. It was the coolest thing in the whole world!

My little Chinese miracle

I testify that this is Jesus Christ's church on the earth. He loves each of his children individually. He knows our names and everything about us. He loves us and will help us through every trial we have.

Georgia is a wonderful place. Southern hospitality is a very real thing and a very cool thing. People love Jesus Christ around here :) I've been finding myself slipping into a bit of a Southern accent sometimes and using the word Y'all. haha. It's going to be interesting to see how my Chinese sounds with a southern accent, but I know God will make it work :) 

Thank you all once again for all of the love and support. It has meant so much to me. Here is my address. It's probably a better idea to send things to me directly since I'll only be here for a transfer and I don't really know how mail works here :) haha

Madison Elyce Giles

4306 N Shallowford Rd. #1403

Atlanta, GA 30314

I know this church is true. God lives and He loves us. 

Gu Jiemei

She's in Georgia:)

Sister Giles & Sister Augusto

Visiting the Campbells:)

We were able to talk to Maddie this morning before she left for Georgia. She was so excited and ready to go out and do missionary work. She even bore her testimony to us in Chinese. It was amazing!!! (at least we think it was) haha.

She has arrived in Georgia.  She is with Sister Augusto and they were visiting the Campbell's yesterday. We are so grateful for all the kind people who take care of the missionaries:) 

Go get em Sister Giles (Gu Jiemei)!!!

T-11 til Georgia!!

Practicing with my chopsticks!!!

Dear Family & Friends,

Well today makes 2 months exactly since August 20. That means 2 months of Missionary service. That is insane to me. The time has absolutely flown by and I hope that my mission will slow down at some point because this is not fair!!

This week has been a crazy one. Preparing to leave has been so exciting and terrifying and just all the emotions. We said goodbye to our Hong Kong Missionaries from our district today and it was pretty sad. It was crazy to think that in less than 24 hours I would be doing the exact same thing. So we've been doing a lot of packing and preparing today. I'm SOOO happy that today is P-day!

All the best things of this week:

Let me just bear my testimony that I know that God loves us. He knows us INDIVIDUALLY. He knows me. He knows you. He knows that I don't like to walk around in bear feet, that I love sports, that I  sometimes get really terrified to speak in front of people, he knows my favorite color is blue, that I'm afraid of the dark, that I love Reese's... everything! How do I know this? Because He has told me. He shows me His love all the time. There were so many manifestations of his love this week that I almost can't handle it. But let me write a few:

School friends:  Marina Johnson & Julia Bunting

-I saw Sister Johnson (Marina) almost every day this week multiple times. She is amazing. I love her so much

  and I really needed to have her strengthening me with her smile and laugh and just our jokes!

- So I was doing laundry this week and lost one of my favorite skirts and my favorite dress. It was the worst. But guess what? My mom sent me a new skirt (which coincidentally was the exact same skirt I had lost in a different color) and a dress that I love even more! I hadn't mentioned the fact that I had lost these things and she couldn't have known. But my Heavenly Father knew. And he cared about my skirt and dress.

-I received an awesome package from the Feveryears who I have babysat for years. Their notes of encouragement really boosted my confidence and helped me to feel so so loved.

- We said goodbye to both of our teachers this week and that was so hard. I have no doubt that my teachers were hand-picked for me. They changed my life! (When I get out to Georgia I'll be able to send pictures easier) As they both bore their testimonies for the last time, I was overcome with the Spirit and their love for us. God knew that I would need them. He Laoshi was asked to pray during our last class with her and she prayed for each of us individually and used our names. It was amazing and reminded me so much of what Jesus did. He blessed the children individually. Each of our teachers also expressed that they felt that they NEEDED this job. They testified that our purpose, which is to bring others to Christ, included them. They were part of the "others" we were called to serve. 

-More teacher experiences:

We found out who our "investigators" were. We had Cui JM, Su DX, and Zhang JM. Cui JM was actually He Laoshi. We knew that it was He Laoshi acting as an investigator, but what she told us was that she was being herself. She was being He Jingwen before she found the gospel. That was amazing that she would trust us so much to teach her. Then she told us who Zhang JM was. It's her mother. She trusted us with her mother. I felt so honored. We also found out who Su DX was (Wong Laoshi was acting as Su DX). Turns out, we actually taught him in TRC (the real one)! He's a funny guy and pretty full of energy. WE loved teaching him at TRC. When we found out that he was the real Su DX we lost our minds!!

Ok now I just need to talk about yesterday for a bit. 

Yesterday was our last Sunday and so that already made things pretty emotional. My heart was very tender all day and I felt like the Spirit had poured out to me in abundance. (You should see my notepad!) I also learned a pretty cool thing about my spiritual identity. I feel the spirit through writing. The more I write, the more I feel. Then the more I feel, the more I write. But I learned that I need to start writing something, to receive revelation. It shows the Spirit that I'm taking this seriously and paying attention. But I digress,

Our district broke the grammar challenge record. 1min. 1 sec per person:)

So as I mentioned before, we have a Hunger Games like selection process at the beginning of each Sacrament meeting to find out who is speaking. I was almost 100% sure that it wouldn't be me because no one from my District had been chosen yet, and two sisters had spoken last week, so I assumed that 2 elders would speak and probably both would be from my District. I told everyone this. Also, Tan JM and I were singing a duet in sacrament meeting so I really thought I would be off the hook. But turns out chance and probability have nothing to do with the Spirit. So I was selected to speak in Sacrament meeting. The topic was repentance. I shared 1 Nephi 10:18 and emphasized that God will prepare a way for us if we repent. I shared the story of my Uncle who died of cancer. We didn't know at the time, but his experience was helping to prepare a way for some of my family members to repent. This repentance has completely changed my family and blessed us so immensely. It was amazing that I was able to share that in Chinese! haha It really built my confidence as I realized how far I had come in these 9 weeks.

So then Tan JM and I sang our duet. We had been practicing for weeks. It's a medley of Savior Redeemer and Called to Serve. It's absolutely beautiful. As we got up there and began singing I became very emotional. The tears were flowing and then I just got so happy and I was laughing and Tan JM was laughing and crying and there were some points were only one of us was singing and... ya. I'm sure it didn't sound too good! haha But it was about us expressing our love and I think we accomplished that. 

Our reassignment papers

So then Brother Williams got up and spoke. Let me also tell you right now that my Branch Presidency is just for me. They are AMAZING. But he got up and expressed his thanks to me for doing "double duty" in sacrament meeting and then he paused and tears came to his eyes. He then told the younger district that they would be able to do this. They would be able to speak in sacrament meeting and understand. The Lord would bless them. Then he talked about what good examples Tan JM and I were of harmony in a companionship. Then Tan JM and I were crying again... but it was great :) 

So then the icing on the cake was devotional last night.. guess who spoke?! CHAD LEWIS. I've read his book and I know who he is, but I had completely forgotten that he served in Taiwan until yesterday. THAT'S MY COUNTRY! MY PEOPLE! He shared a ton of pictures from his mission and I became so excited. Not going to lie, there's a little mission-appropriate spiritual crush happening. He was so humble and respectful and just... yes. He and his wife both spoke and something that stood out to me was how much they said the word fun in their talks when they mentioned sharing the gospel. That's what I want! To have fun! It was just what I needed. It was the most appropriate time to say "LET'S GO WIN A FOOTBALL GAME!" :) 

So all of these things combined have 1 purpose. To get me ready to go out into the field. Being on a mission shows you all of your weaknesses and I began to worry a little bit. I wondered how I would do out in the field. But Heavenly Father knows me. He knows my doubts, fears, and worries and he gave me yesterday as a gift to tell me that I can do this. I can teach in Chinese. I can go to America. I will become better every single day. And you know what? I'm not going to be perfect. That is such a hard thing for me to understand sometimes... but it's a fact. I am human. I will make mistakes. But the key is not to let them hold you down. I'm working on that and getting better every day :) 

I love you all. Thank you so much for all the love and support. I don't think I'm going to be able to get any physical letters sent out this week and I apologize :( But I will repent and do better next week! Thank you for everything. This church is true and God loves us personally. 

Wo ai nimen.

Gu Jiemei

Practicing in the TALL (Technology Assisted Language Learning Lab)

Takin' it to Atlanta, Georgia for a Bit

Maddie got her reassignment today. She will be going to the Georgia Atlanta Mission. She will be leaving the MTC on Tuesday. She is very excited!!!

The missionary department says that their papers are at the consulate in Taiwan and should take a few more weeks to be processed. Then she will be on her way to Taiwan. Her companion is going to Houston, Texas and the others in her district are going to Michigan, Maryland, Indiana and Arizona. The work goes on!!!

Excited to be heading to Georgia!!!

A New Mission Call

Getting to host new missionaries:)

Dear Family and Friends,

Well it's been a very exciting week filled with... everything. haha :) 

We got our Chinese nametags this week! What that means is that our nametags won't have any English on them. Our names will all be in characters. (Which is super cool because I now know my character! It's super easy... haha :) )It honestly felt a little bit like Christmas when we got them. 

In other news, we also found out that our Visas did not come this week. So all of the Taiwan Missionaries will be getting re-assigned this week! I'm really quite excited about it :) haha It's going to be interesting to see what it's like to teach in English... I'm not sure I'll be able to do it :) The only hard part about this re-assignment will be keeping up my language. I'm not sure exactly how it will work, and it gives me a little bit of anxiety, but I know that the Lord believes in me and He has something important for me to do. He will take care of me if I work my hardest. 

Spiritual notes: 

This week was such a spiritual feast :) It was incredible.

So my District is the best. The Elders in my district got upset one day when they realized that other classrooms had more pictures than us.... so they went to other buildings where there weren't any districts and took pictures off
their walls and hung them up on our walls :) haha so we probably have 100 gospel pictures taped to the walls. It's the best. They also went and got a ton of chalk from other classrooms. We're also the biggest district in our zone. So we have the most people, the most chalk, and the most pictures. It's the best :) But the Spiritual part, I was sitting in class the other day and our Laoshi gave us some time to sit and ponder. As we were sitting in the class I began to look at all the pictures individually. There was Nephi, Jospeh Smith, the Prodigal Son, Jesus Christ, Peter,  Mary, and many many more. I looked at all the lives who had been affected by Jesus Christ and his gospel. It was a very tender moment as I thought about each of those stories. Then I looked at all the people sitting in the chairs around me and I realized that here were even more lives who had been affected by Jesus Christ and his gospel. I felt so privileged in that moment to be surrounded by such strong and faithful people. I love this gospel. It has blessed my life so immensely.

Our Elders!!! Every Wednesday is purple day for our district:)

At Devotional on Tuesday we had some fabulous speakers (as per usual), but I wanted to mention something that one of them said. He said he gets asked a lot about Joseph Smith. People say "You honestly believe that God appeared to a 14 year old farm  boy?" His reply was "It had to be a 14 year old farm boy. If Joseph Smith was a minister, we would say that we can't receive revelation unless we're ministers. If Joseph Smith was educated, we would say that we can't get an answer to prayer because we're not smart enough." I loved that. Joseph Smith was a humble boy who asked the question of his heart. And look what happened. God appeared. Just think of what our faith can do.

Yesterday was probably my favorite Sunday we've had here at the MTC. For many many reasons, but one of the main ones was my branch president and his wife. Brother and Sister Teng both speak Mandarin and they are the cutest couple you'll ever see. Yesterday they came to our District meeting (which is kind of like Sunday School). Our District leader asked Sister Teng to say the opening prayer. They don't always speak Mandarin because I think they don't want to be disrespectful to the younger districts, but Sister Teng spoke the most beautiful prayer and guess what? I UNDERSTOOD IT. It was such a tender mercy to me. Then as we went on with our meeting, we talked about Elder Bednar's "patterns of light" talk that is on lds.org. (it's wonderful!). I have seen that many times, but something really stood out to me this time. He talks about the first 2 patterns of light being like a light switch and a sunrise. One is immediate and one is very slow. But I had completely forgotten about the 3rd pattern until yesterday. He talked about how sometimes life is like a fog and we can only see a few steps into the future until we take more steps. I thought that was very applicable to me this week since I really am quite literally stepping into the unknown. I don't know where I'll be serving or going in the next few days, but I trust that Heavenly Father knows. He's going to take care of me.

Thank you once again. This has been the hardest thing I have ever done, but I know that the blessings are coming. I have felt so loved and supported on this journey and it's amazing.

Wo ai nimen

Gu Jiemei

Invite Everyone To This Party!

We forgot our laundry and had to go back to get it and everyone was gone, so we had to JUMP!!!

Dear Family & Friends,

IT'S MY SEVENTH P-DAY. Shenme Dongxi?! I don't know if I can handle that. In a little less than 3 weeks we will be heading to Taiwan. What an incomprehensible statement.

So this week has been incredible and filled with so many building experiences.

1. So we had another language fast on Friday and I realized that I have not been using the grammar we learn very well. So I set myself a little goal. I made myself a score card and assigned each grammar principle a number of points. I then set a goal for the total number of points I wanted to get in the day (500). I was super excited about my goal because it was going to be something that would push me and something that I thought was so fun. So after breakfast I had racked up 100 points and I realized that maybe 500 was shooting a little low... so I tripled it. Yes. 1,500 points was my goal. There were times during the day were I was definitely more focused than others, but I stuck to it. I tallied that little score-card with my whole heart. At the end of the day I added up my points (Which was exceptionally difficult with a brain that hasn't even thought about math in a very long time... and no calculator) and I had 765. Which was significantly less than 1,500. At first I was disappointed, but then I thought back to my original goal of 500 points. I had 265 more points than my original goal. That was awesome! We had a speaker at devotional a few weeks ago that spoke about how sometimes we don't need to set goals to reach them, but to stretch ourselves. It was super cool to see that in my little scorecard :)

2. This last week we did our first Skype TRC. Oh my heavens. What this means is that we Skype someone in Taiwan and teach them a lesson. Usually it's a member, but sometimes they invite friends. We're not allowed to speak any English. Needless to say, I was a bit nervous. We called our investigator (that skype call noise will never be the same to me) and it didn't work for the first 3 times. When we finally got through we saw a very beautiful Taiwanese young woman. We found out that she was actually in Australia studying for college. We had a plan, but as so often happens, we didn't really use it. The point of our lesson ended up being how we are Children of God. We sang "I am a Child of God" in Chinese with her. We had asked her about her family earlier and discovered that neither of her parents are members. But they are in our mission! So we might have an opportunity to find them :) Anyway, we asked her if she would be willing to watch some of General conference with her parents. She said that would be very difficult. We then challenged her to sing I am a child of God with her parents. We told her that her knowledge of God would help her parents come to know God. She became very emotional. It was such a sweet experience and reminder for me that we all need to be reminded of this sweet truth.

3. Seeing Marina has definitely been one of the best parts of this week. She's just the best. It's amazing to be able to joke and laugh just like we used to. I love her. She's adorable and is going to be such an amazing missionary.

Roommate hugs:)

4. This week has been one that stretched me for sure. I reached a point one morning where I was praying and I simply told my Heavenly Father that I didn't know what to pray for anymore. I had asked for so many things, but I still felt that I was struggling and I didn't know what to do. I told Heavenly Father, "I don't know what I need to feel better. But you know what I need. Please help me find that." Oh how the Heavens were opened. There were so many little tender mercies that day that probably wouldn't have made any sense to anyone else... but meant the whole world to me. For example, that morning our roommates all just hopped on the bed together and talked. Also, I got to play 4-square with one of the sweetest Sisters ever. I found out that my example had been helping one of the Elders in my District. To someone else, these experiences might seem silly or insignificant, but to me it was an answer to a sincere prayer. Heavenly Father knows us. He loves us infinitely and perfectly. He knows what we need and wants nothing more than our happiness and growth. 

MTC 4-Square:)

Conference:

I loved it. My district almost exploded when that Chinese Elders name was announced and we heard he would be speaking in his native language. Then we found out it was Cantonese and we were a little less excited :) haha But still... that opportunity for those speakers was so amazing. The church is amazing. 

I had a really weird experience this time listening to conference as they announced the statistics... they said there were 15 million members of the church... and normally I'm so amazed at how large we are! But this time, I realized that is a TINY amount of people. Maybe it's because I'm a missionary now... but that is not nearly as many members as there ought to be. We as a church MUST be sharing it more. Vai Sikahema came and spoke to us last night at devotional (I figured Dad would know who he was :) It was absolutely amazing) and he shared a bunch of missionary experiences he's had since his mission. WE ARE ALL MISSIONARIES. If you do not wake up in the morning excited to share the gospel with someone... pray for a desire. Pray for help. Pray for someone else. 15 million is tiny. I encourage everyone to share with someone. It does not have to be a sermon from a soapbox, it does not have to be one of the missionary discussions, it does not have to be a lengthy testimony during your lunch break. But please share this good news. God will bless you and God will bless them. 

We have an amazing ability in our day and age to reach MANY many different people and places. This is not an exclusive club. Invite everyone to this party! :) Because it's the best. 

Alright I will now step down from my own soapbox :) haha sorry about that! I just get a little fired up when I think about it.

Well I want everyone to know how grateful I am for the support and love I have felt. I know that I am not alone on this mission and that is mostly thanks to the prayers of those around me. Thank you thank you thank you. I know this gospel is true. I do not have a perfect understanding of it. I used to think that I did :) haha But now that I study it every day and almost every hour, I am learning just how much it encompasses. These truths are eternal and infinite. I love that. We can always rely on our Heavenly Father and on Jesus Christ's atonement. 

Thank you once again for your support and love. 

Gu Jiemei

Faith bracelets for the district!!