SOMETHING CRAZY HAPPENED THIS WEEK.

  Well, This week has been very eventful!! (OH and ps sorry for the past two weeks that i haven't sent an email out, just know that i was doing good haha (: )

ANYWAY! Let me tell you all a story, so on wednesday before English class all the missionaries in Hualian go to the night market to eat dinner before english class and that day was our english party too! so that was fun! haha, anyways, sister edwards and sister hibbert are going home... well at this time... they probably are home... weird!!!! but anywho... we were not sure who else was going to be leaving the area.... so when we all got together to eat food, the zone leader decided that he wanted to make it really dramatic so he pointed at each person and said "going" or "staying" so he went around... staying, staying, staying, staying, staying.... i was the last and he said "leaving!" and i was SHOCKED. huh? what? is this some sick joke? and he was like no its for reals.... and i was like let me see the paper. he gave it to me. and ya. it was for real. i was the only one moving. i seriously felt like crying. but i didn't. maybe i was still just shocked. so yup, i had that night and thursday left in Hualian. because friday morning i took the train up to Taibei with sister edwards and sister hibbert... i was seriously so sad. i don't want to leave beautiful hualian, i don't want to leave my momma! i love sister george! and i don't want to leave our awesome investigators! but, we made it and we had transfer meeting, I AM IN ZHU NAN now..... which is on the complete other side of TAIWAN. crazy. but im excited too! MY NEW COMPANION IS SISTER ANDERSON!!! she is actually sister jex's trainer, she is so great! (and actually that means... that i took the area over from sister jex because sister jex is now in taibei)

one thing that is nice is to move out of your birth area because people don't look at you like a new missionary anymore... they don't know about how bad your chinese was when you first got on island. so it really is nice. ive got a new start. (: and there have already been so many miracles here! I think that the people are nicer and more willing to talk to us here. it is really cool! we talk to everyone, and we found 2 new investigators yesterday!!! wow!! so cool, we love to go knock doors (: haha, i was telling sister george this one time that the best door is the wooden doors... because they have the best sound, you can just knock on them and its just. good. ha.

lets see...... one thing that was funny was that meeting this recent convert here, he said that I had a Hualian accent... haha so funny!!! that is cool (: We went out contacting the first night i was here... and we ran into these 3 drunk guys and we were just like come to church and come to english class, it was so funny they were like do you want some? and we were like, no really, haha actually kinda got to teach them a little bit about the word of wisdom, they were so loud, and they were just talking to us... and we were just like.... we should go haha, so they said that they would come... we will see i guess! haha, super funny, 

oh man, recently i have been having really weird dreams like i am going home from my mission! and im just like no i just got here! i never want to leave, i love being on a mission. yesterday.... i got to speak to everyone in church and introduce myself and bear my testimony. i shared Alma 26:37 with everyone. (: it says that God numbers his people, it doesn't matter where they are in the world. it doesn't matter. nothing matters. we are all children of God and he loves us all. I love sharing that with people. I know that God helps me. 

I have prayed more this week for comfort than I have ever before. And God has given me comfort. He knows me. He knows you. I can be cheerful in any place here in taiwan and I am so happy to be in my new area, Hualian will always have a special place in my heart, and so will my investigators, but this place is a miracle. amazing. 

Things are going good (: I am learning everyday!! chinese, and the gospel and having an amazing time doing it! The weather is finally cooling down a bit..... still humid tho (: haha, 

I love TAIWAN! I LOVE JESUS! He loves us so much too. Lets give him a chance to bless us. Here is the secret.... just keep the commandments.... (: pray everyday, read your scriptures, go to church, have family home evening, and go to the temple. I believe that is important to have a personal relationship with God. because He is our Father! (: so cool. (:

Keep being awesome, love you all (: 

Sister Walker (Wang Jie Mei)

1.sister anderson and my first picture together! we were waiting in the bus station to go to zhu nan, (that papaya milk is the best thing ever. so good!) haha that was an adventure because we didn't know where the bus station was in taibei.... and i had never been on the bus before... we just take train from hualian... so we are walking all over taibei with our luggage... and it is so heavy... haha we finally made it tho... after all these taxi drivers were like you go this way.... but i will take you for 1,000 NT and we were like, we are not tourists. we actually now how much that is. (its about $30 something US) haha, and it was seriously just around the corner.... so ya. haha!

2. This is me eating 1000 year old egg. I don't know why they call it that. it was weird. they made me eat it. and i was like...i don't know if i want to finish it... haha they made me finish it haha (: it was weird... like it just smelled funny and it looked funny, and well it didn't taste like an egg... haha. probably the weirdest thing that i have eaten here in
taiwan go figure haha (:

3. on the way to taibei on the train....

4.here is me making dumplings with the ward here in zhunan (: it was so fun!

5. oh man, this picture... is of Cai family... the mom really reminds me of you momma!!! (:(: they totally had us over... and ordered 6 large pizza hut pizzas. wow. i was sooooo full! haha, they are all really cool flavors too like black pepper beef, seafood, kimchi, and like.... other stuff that you don't even know what it is... you just eat it and it is good. haha (: 

 6. me and sister george at 5 in the morning before i left to go to taibei...... :( i will miss her!!!

7. this is our investigator! i am going to miss her so much!!!

8. me eating at this thai place with
my new district and their recent convert.....

9.some sweet old brick house..... never seen these
before in hualian! they are all over here,

10. this is me in my new area! ZhuNan

11.this is me and my new companion!!! we are doing emails right now...

12.. I MADE THE RICE PUDDING IT
WAS SOOOOO GOOD> like seriously.

13. look we made cake and those dumplings in my new area!

 14..here is our district that i am going to miss so much too, they 

were all so awesome, i learned so much from them and had such a fun time with them (:

there really is something special about east coast missionaries (:

MISSIONARY WORK! LEARNING LOTS!

heyyyyyyyy

It was so good to get to go to TaiDong for the special zone training! I learned so much! And it was all directed to what we have been struggling with lately, so it was really good to get some special training straight from our leaders and get revelation for how to better help our investigators. It was amazing to have an investigator and an LA at church this past week! Really an answer to our prayers. I think that one thing that really changed my view about numbers, and working hard was the realization that while we need to get a lot of new investigators per week, we want them to be good new investigators. Ones that will get baptized and that is why it is so important to invite them to baptism on the first meeting and set a date! They will progress..... and probably won't die the next week... and if they do, that's ok because there are more prepared people out there! (:

Miracles: We were knocking doors and we really wanted to get a lesson and a new investigator, we tried really hard. People were giving us funny looks and saying go away and we don't want this....etc. So we started singing. "Who knows what miracles you can achieve when you believe? Some how you will, you will when you believe." To motivate us a bit, and because it is fun.... well the last door on the road...We knocked and this cute girl came out, she had met with missionaries before and we had a lesson and she is now our new investigator! She is so cute (: Love it.

Challenges: Some challenges this week.... Well, our RCLA lessons were the lowest they have ever been.... This week we are going to specifically make an effort to get more. It seems like balance is so hard from week to week.... sometimes we have a lot of peike's and other times, so many LAs, this week was low. So it is a goal that we are going to have. It is so important that we are meeting with these RCs! Sadly, many of them do not have friends in the branch.... and many of them are going less active....We need to keep the fire burning, we have a baptism this saturday... it is the elder's investigator and hopefully one of our RC's can help her be baptized. That would be great!

Successes: Having people come to church! Meeting with the MM leader to figure out a plan for meeting with more members and getting to know them better, develop a good relationship with them and hopefully get a fire for missionary work going, also! We got to meet with the ward council and they are going to make a branch mission plan, which is really going to help. They are also going to call branch missionaries too!! ya!

Goals: To get really good at repenting. Constantly changing! And helping our investigators realized the enabling power of the atonement in changing too! 

love, Sister Walker

pictures next week :)

NEW TAIPEI CITY MAGAZINE!

Exciting!  The Lord's work is moving along so quickly in Taiwan...We received from Sister Walker last week and wanted to share!!  Click on the NEW TAIPEI CITY MAGAZINE Link below to view...it is in Chinese...but lots of great pictures :)

NEW TAIPEI CITY MAGAZINE!

Attached you fill find a copy of the September 2014 New Taipei City Magazine.  This magazine is distributed throughout all New Taipei City (which basically is all of Taipei County except Taipei City itself).

I invite you to take a look at the article.  You will see that we are not only the lead story, but we also made the cover of the magazine. It has pictures of and information about missionaries, members, the Book of Mormon, the First Vision, the temple, chapels, families and other interesting things.

We are in the process of trying to obtain a copy for all missionaries in the Taipei area to use as a contacting and proselyting tool.  How easy will it be to show the citizens of Taipei and New Taipei City their own magazine and then ask them about the article which discusses our church and specifically you?

If you can get a copy and start using it before Elder & Sister Baird can secure them for you, please go ahead and start using this new and exciting contacting tool.

OH MAN, NOT TOO MANY WORDS THIS WEEK!

ya (: haha, hey i don't have time to do a big email today..

culture shock is getting to the point where i was riding my bike the other day and i got this craving for soft pretzels, mashed potatoes, corn dogs and apple pie (: so ya, not really here in Taiwan... put it on my list (: 

oh man, i have 1 minute..... (: just know i am going to write you a lot next week (: love you so much!!!! (:(:

Sister Walker 

I asked Sister Walker what she can't get there in Taiwan...not sure about dairy either?  I also asked her if they have fall season there...maybe next week we will get answers :)  She is doing awesome!!

BEST WEEK EVER. I ran into a car too HA

OK, so i don't have a lot of time. as usually.... here are some highlights.... (:

Also, about the email i sent if you didn't want to get my emails anymore..... thank you so much for your sweet reply (: it was so nice! i love getting emails from you all too!!! and sorry if i don't reply, i will keep them coming (:(: I LOVE YOU ALL!!! (:

so ya, taiwan. let me just say. its crazy. and well, we were coming out of the seven to go meet our investigator outside of the night market..... sister george went and i missed the light... so i was just slowly riding on the other side of the road until i could cross.... hahaha, ya i was looking back and a car totally pulled out in front of me from an alley way i hadn't seen. totally ran smack into it. haha funny thing is... is that most of the time it is the car that runs into you... not the other way around... basically i hit, bounced and just sort of tipped over on my bike. haha it was probably ridiculous looking haha. anyway.... caught myself with my hand but it was all scratched up and my leg and arm too. these two really nice boys came running over and picked me up and my bike up, and were just like those people.... be careful, and i was just in shock so i am just saying xiexie, xiexie, haha, they were my angels this week (: wow. (: anywho...i get back up and i cross the road..... and find sister george... she is a couple lights ahead waiting for me... hahaha.... we starting riding and then i start to kinda ache a little and im like, i totally just got hit by a car! and she starts freaking out, haha, she is such a good momma (: haha, but ya, it all worked out... we were headed back to the church anyways... so i cleaned my wound and put a bandaid on, it still hurts but i am doing good (: haha.

OK, this week was the best week ever, we hit all of our goals! it was amazing.... we even had to go to Taipei for a meeting... meaning that we lost a whole day to sitting on a train... we still made it (: amazing. i know the Lord looks out for us missionaries. and as we all work as hard as we can, He will bless us. It is a law. (: and especially if we do it with a cheerful heart. (:

One thing that I want to share is from studying this morning... I was reading "our search for happiness" by Elder Ballard and here are some thoughts i had and quotes from it.....WHY SHOULD WE WORK HARD IN THIS LIFE? To have  a quality life, it takes work. A quality life is one that positively influences others and makes the word around it a better place in which to live. a quality life is one that is constantly growing, expanding its horizons and enlarging its borders. a quality life is one that is filled with love, loyalty, patience, perseverance, kindness and compassion. a quality life is one that is based on eternal potentials and not confined to this life only. a quality life is a life well lived. we aren't perfect but as followers of Jesus Christ this is what we strive for. do our best. follow the commandments. 

This is what will allow people to have interest. Doesn't everyone want a little more happiness?

Quote from Sarah manning: "leave people better and happier than when you found them."

LOVE YOU ALL, keep on being good, you are awesome. rock on. peace out. roll tide. (:

love, sister walker (:

this is my face out of a carboard cutout we found in the store haha (:

some flowers growing out of a house. nbd

 our investigator vicki! she is so cool.