History Repeated - Back in Taoyuan

     

     Dream come true! went to Talaluca in Hualian, the Yellowstone of Taiwan! We saw a cool Buddhist temple in the mountains, such a beautiful location!

     Tuesday, we had district meeting. A really sweet English student wasn't able to make it, but paid money for me and my comp to eat at an expensive restaurant in Reisui, so sweet of her.  I will really miss her! Some English class students came.  A member plans on opening up a Taiwanese aboriginal area (like a Native American village tourist place) in July.

     Wednesday, we got packages sent home, busy packing and stuff, no sleep that night.  Thursday morning, we left on the 5 a.m. train.

     

     I picked up my "daughter" - Sister Huang. She is from Kaoshiung (other mission in Taiwan). She is visa waiting, so I am training her until she leaves in May. She will serve in Leeds, England. When we were about to leave, President Jergensen came to both of us and, pointing his finger at us then motioning to the other compaion said, "teach each other the language." Chinese for me, English for her. it was such an answer to my prayers to help my Chinese improve. She

speaks great conversational English, she just needs to learn gospel words and more English to help her be more fluent. She really wants to get rid of her Taiwanese accent  I'm afraid she's going to have an American accent when she goes to England.

     We are back in Taoyuan close to where I first started my mission.  We are the first sisters in Taoyuan for more than three years.  They needed us sisters - the members were like "Sister power!"

     Sorry gotta go bowling with members thank you for your love and prayers love you all!

-Sister Brinkerhoff

Farewell Radiator Springs

Hello Everyone, 

     Sorry for the shorter email this week, my companion and I are spending my last pday in Yuli going to Talaluca in Hualian, a buddhist temple in the mountains with a waterfall. I heard it's super pretty.

     I got a call from President Jergensen last night telling me that I will be white wash training, meaning I will go to a completely new area and train my new companion. President told me that he was going to ask me to train last transfer, but because I requested one more transfer, he let me stay in Yuli instead. I'm hoping to train in Taipei since I haven't served there yet, but I am willing to go wherever the Lord wants me to go. 

     I have really loved Yuli and will miss it completely. I will just say my stay here in Yuli has been like like Lightning McQueen in Cars (except I have always loved the people, I just loved them more as time went on). At the beginning it was kind of harder to adjust to a small town, but as I spent more time with the members, investigators and the people here, I have come to love it a lot. The members here are really my family; I have never been so close to members on my mission. It's gonna be hard to say goodbye to them all, I definitely will miss them.

     It reminds me of a story my mom told me, how when she was on her mission, she was in a branch for about six months, and when she got on the bus and the bus left the station, the members came to say goodbye to her. She then said goodbye and cried as she did so. I don't think the members would do that for me which is ok (probably leave for the train at 5am to go to Taipei to pick up my new companion and go to our area), instead a lot of them have been feeding us dinner since the elder in our district is going home back to America.

Tuesday:

     We had a mission conference up in Taipei, where Elder Funk of the 70 came and spoke. I don't have time to tell a crazy story he told, so i will copy what one old companion Sister Cullen wrote about him :

     He served his mission in Indonesia and was a mission president in India. While in India he was called to be a General Authority and so had to go to SLC  to be sustained in conference but wasn't able to tell anyone! Not his missionaries, his family or the General Authorities over his area. He just had to sneak away. Super funny story because when he got off the plane in SLC he came face to face with the church leader over his mission. I"m sure it was a really awkward moment when the leader asked, "President Funk, you are quite a long ways from your mission...." and all Elder Funk could say was, "Yeah..."

Thursday

     We went to interviews with President Jergensen in Hualian. Miracle getting on the train on the way up there, and a huge one on the way back (left church, got refunded previous ticket, bought new tickets and got new ones all in 20 minutes). it was all far away and it  was a huge miracle.

Miracle: At church, none of our investigators came, and I prayed that at least one would come. As I got up to conduct the last song in sacrament meeting, I saw our most progressing investigator, Pong JM and her baby. She is one of the RC's co-workers, it was so amazing and such a miracle from God. She has such a great desire to learn about the gospel. She loved church. I can't tell you how much it was music to my ears of a baby crying in Relief Society instead of silence like it always is. It was so great to finally have a fussy and crying baby in Relief Society, and to see another sister volunteer to take the fussy baby out of the room for our investigator. After church, everyone was asking if she was a member because she fit in so well, they thought she was a visitor or an LA, not an investigator. 

     So sorry, I've got to go catch the train. I will miss Yuli, but i am excited for the new adventure before me on this next chapter of my life.  I know that God lives and loves each and everyone of us, and He has definitely made me a better person. I am so grateful for Christ and His Atonement and that through Him I can improve and become more like Him every day- a huge lesson I have learned on my mission. 

Love you all!

Sister Brinkerhoff

It's a Beautiful Day in Jade Neighborhood (Mr. Rogers Anyone?)

     

      Hey everyone, just a beautiful, sunny/cloudy day down here in the South in Yuli, Jade Neighborhood. The colder the winter, the warmer the spring.  So it's been pretty warm down here, I love it! It hasn't been a super cold winter like I thought it would be, probably because I'm down here in the sunny south, yay! 

     Transfers are next week. I have been in Yuli since last October, so I will most likely move. So for today, my companion and I will try to send off packages and get ready so that next pday we can go to the famous Talaluca National Park, which is a Buddhist temple in the mountains with waterfalls coming down from the temple (you can see pics when you google Hualian or search Hualian under Wikipedia). I am so excited! 

     This week has been full of miracles, visited some people, awesome English class in Reisui and Yuli and contacted some awesome potential investigators. We just need to set up with them and see how it goes! Please pray that it will work out!

     I was talking with my companion the other day, and we figured out that being a missionary is pretty much like being a:

Detective - figuring out why people are or aren't meeting with you, why they have the problems they have, and asking others what they know about them

Doctor - helping people with problems in life which pretty much all comes down to obeying the commandments.solution for Every. Single. Problem. Works every single time.

Psychologist - figuring out people; their thoughts and their different backgrounds and why they act the way they do (the Spirit being in charge of course)

Spy - seeing people you know walking down the street or seeing them at a store, and knowing where some people live, go to school or work, just pretty much knowing their lives.

**********************

     In our Chinese tract, there are questions there that give references in the Book of Mormon to solve problems. One of our investigator picked was, "How to balance work and family," in the English one, it refers to 3 Nephi 13. There was a misprint in the Chinese tract, so it said 3 Nephi 12. Our investigator read it, and then texted us and asked for our help. 

     It read, "But I say unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother shall be in danger of his judgment. And whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council; and whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire." We figured out the word she was trying to understand was "Raca."  We eventually got her to read 3 Nephi 13 which answers her question, which pretty much is: put God first in life and He will take care of everything else. 

     Last week we were at a family mart and I was texting a scripture. For some reason, I couldn't find the character for Yong in Yong Heng (eternal), and after 10 minutes, I asked a girl who was sitting at a table nearby how to text it. She then showed me how to find it, and then I started asking her some questions about Chinese. It led to me asking her questions, which then resulted to her asking about me. My district leader has told us lots of times that a great way to get to know people is first ask questions about that person (because people like to talk about themselves), and then naturally they will ask questions about you. We then explained our purpose and our message. It was so cool, she didn't have a religion but the more we explained, the more the Spirit touched her. It was like it said in Preach My Gospel, how she was finding something that she didn't know she was looking for. We invited her and her boyfriend to English class, and we hope to start teaching them soon. 

     Also, the Spirit guiding us to a former English class students house. We talked with him and he came back to English class. 

     Last Saturday (my parent's 22nd wedding anniversary), was full of miracles! We kept on finding families (four out of the seven live in our area the rest were tourists)! The more I'm on a mission, the more I realize strong, stable families are harder and harder to find, especially in the gospel. It is most rare and the most valuable thing for a whole family to join the

church, which is why they are the most prized possessions in the church. They are literally the backbone, we have relied heavily on our three strong families in the branch. The branch is desperate for a new family, we are working hard. Please pray we do so. 

     I am blessed with a companion who is really good at finding families. A few days ago I asked how she first contacted a mom who later got baptized in her last area. She said that she and her companions came up to her one day in the park while her little boy was playing. They went up to the little boy to say hi to him, telling the mom how cute he was, and gushing over him. Just pretty much giving him a lot of attention, treating him like their own cute little brother. The mom really liked that, and started to meet with the missionaries. She later told them one of the reasons why she was willing to meet with them was because she saw how happy the missionaries were, and in that time of her life she wasn't happy. She wanted that happiness as well, which resulted in having a desire to meet with the missionaries which ended up with baptism. 

      Last Saturday morning my companion read the scripture about if we ask, we shall receive, seek and we shall find, knock, and it shall be opened up to us. So we prayed to find families, and we saw miracles like crazy.   For example, we met a single mom from Taipei, her smart four-year-old son who speaks really good English, and her older sister at a 7/11. He was so cute, we kept speaking English to him. The mom wasn't interested, so we just invited her to English class and gave her our number in case she changed her mind. Later on that night, we saw them again walking back to their hotel. The boy ran up to us speaking English, and she asked us to take pictures with her and her son, which we did on her phone and my companion's camera. She texted us later that night asking my companion for her email to send her the pictures. 

     My companion and I would take pictures with families we contacted on the street, and we would gush over their small children, and compliment them on the English of the older children. Parents really like that, as well as when we take

pictures with them. Even if they aren't interested in our message, we would still take pictures and exchange emails and phone numbers so that we could send the pictures to them. We think it's a great way if people aren't interested in our message to at least leave them with a good impression of missionaries, and they are

still at least in contact with us. I remember reading somewhere that it takes between on average 6-8 contacts with the missionaries before someone becomes interested in their message. If the people aren't interested in the moment, they may be years later when they had at least great experiences with them. 

     In our mission, there are a lot of American missionaries, mostly from Utah. It is literally a little Utah here in our mission. We have some Taiwanese missionaries as well, and everyone including me wants to be companions with them because they help improve our Chinese, and they are all so nice and they know the culture well. They just make mission life better. 

     I have really learned the most on my mission on how Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, the Holy Ghost, and their gospel has really impacted our lives for the better, and how imperative it is to always stay faithful and true to them no matter what. And the importance of developing relationships with them, because if you think about it, relationships with them and with people are the only things that we will have that carry throughout eternity. 

     I have really learned the importance of taking the time to getting to know Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and help others get to know Them too. It has been a privilege and an honor to have been Called to Serve Our King to the Taiwanese people.

     Love you all! Have a great week!

-Sister Brinkerhoff 

One Year Older...and Wiser, Too!

     This week, on March 10th, will be my one year mark for being in Taiwan. What. In. The. World. I can't believe I was at the MTC a year ago!  It's been a super awesome year, love Taiwan to death.  Could stay here forever. It's so funny, when my parents mail me stuff and food from the U.S., I'm like, "I forgot that this thing or candy even existed." 

     

     I canNOT believe that I will be home in less than 5 months. Man, time really flies by. I know that Heavenly Father has so many reasons why sisters only serve for 18 months and let me say the reasons are pretty logical, but there have been times when I envy the elders being on a mission for two years, and right now is one of them. 

     I remember when I first came to Taiwan (or as we say it, when we came on island), it was cold and rainy, didn't see sunlight for a month. President picked us up from the airport, took the buses to the temple square, where we ate green onion pancake. We put suitcases away in the basement parking lot (saw my Utah high school buddy, Alea Beeston, that night hadn't seen her in five years), went across the street to the building that is a temple patron housing/mission office/mission president's house, all on different floors of a tiny building.

     The next morning, we got up and went to there area where Taiwan was dedicated for missionary work about 80 years ago or so, went back to the chapel where we ate and opened up our "calls" to our trainers and areas, then took a train to the area, ate warm soymilk and buns, and went to bed that night. Crazy how time flies.

     What I have learned so far on my mission (and other thoughts):  

- Endurance, humility, patience - especially with those who aren't prepared to receive the gospel yet.

- Faith things will work out.

- Learning to work with different kinds of people, especially companions.

- Importance of open communication 

- Learning the language-crazy stuff, can't read everything, still have English on signs everywhere, could be worse.

- The Taiwanese are sooo awesome, love them to death, the

gospel is true, and despite what the Taiwanese say, RELIGIONS ARE NOT ALL THE SAME!

- Hope - especially when people aren't progressing; charity for those who say they are too busy to meet when they really aren't. (Ok, I'm still working on that.)

- How blessed I am! Especially having family and friends who are faithful to the gospel

- Selflessness-no time to take care of self, just serve everyone 24/7

     I remember my companion saying that we have these experiences (like constant rejection for example) to have a very, very, very, very small taste of what Christ felt when He was on the earth. Not including all the rejection he's felt when He atoned for us missionaries and prophets, past (Bible, Book of Mormon, latter-days) , present and future, feeling everything they felt as well.

     My comp's grandpa passed away last week, she got email and pics from her family of his funeral today. She also got the news that her brother got his mission call to Argentina, Comodoro Rivadiva mission days after her grandpa's passing and before the viewing the next day. Must have been a busy, emotional week for her family. I hope and pray that they are doing well. She has been reading to me a ton of the miracles that have been happening ever since her grandfather died, such as 1. getting a story from his mission published in the missionary moments section of the deseret news the day of his funeral 2. her brother getting his mission call the only not too busy day of the week, getting everything ready for the viewing and funeral 3. her youngest brother who is 5 and has down's syndrome who doesn't talk miraculously would say the word "grandpa" over and over again days after he died. It's amazing to see the Lord take care of her and her family this week. 

SO HERE is what happened this week: 

Monday - pday (see last post - went to Three Bridges Island)

Tuesday-

     Sunburned for the first time in months we then had a stake activity at a school track in Yuli. Members from Hualian up north and Taidong down south

came up. it was fun to see other members with their cute families. Our investigator, Chen Mengxin's younger sister is 13 but will be 14 soon. she reminds me a lot of my youngest sister, Lydia, tall, thin, sporty. 

They all ran races according to age and gender group. it was cute to see the little kids run down the track and get the bags of snacks at the end of the track.  We missionaries ran against each other as well. while the members did other activities, us missionaries played ultimate frisbee. it was so much fun to be with them, I haven't really seen or served with other missionaries ever since coming here in october. It's been great to be with them.

Wednesday

     We then taught English class in reisui about post office words. we had three women come every week. A few months ago it was 14 but for some reason after Chinese New Year, it dropped down to three. I guess God wanted us to teach the prepared, so the three that come were more prepared. It's probably a blessing, quality over quantity, I guess.

Thursday

     Went to Chi Shang, a 30 min train ride down south to visit an LA who hasn't seen missionaries in three years. She took us to a parking lot where there was a very small random music center that had a small stage and chairs for events, books about music and reading room (turns out Beethoven has the same Chinese last name as me :) While classical music played
over the speakers. probably a way to get parents to sign up their kids for some sort of music group or school.  It was a parking lot for a park, with a path to walk and a lake. You

could rent carts for families to ride in. Super pretty too! Pretty touristy during on the weekends and in the summer, not many people that day since it was a weekday, cold, cloudy and windy.

     Afterwards, we came back to yuli, met with some potential investigators who own a fruit stand.

their cousin from taipei was working with them for a few days. she was 25ish and was like, "Don't come close to me, I'm smoking." We then talked to her about the gospel. At the end, I asked if we could throw away her package of cigarettes (crazy thing- cigarettes are now in flavors, like cherry and apple mint...they are still bad for you though). She said, ok, but then my comp told her to instead stomp on them. so we proceeded to go to the street and have her stomp on them. She then folded up the cigarettes in package in her hand, then clenched them in a fist and threw them away. We cheered for her. she then told us because we helped her to start stop smoking that we could have any fruit in the fruit stand. we chose a pineapple, and her older cousin

that we see often (who was probably grateful that we helped her stop smoking for the moment) proceeded to not only get out the pineapple, but cut it up in a cool way, put salt on it to last longer and put it in a bag. He probably made the extra effort to silently show his gratitude for our help. Teaching repentance is a beautiful thing :), especially when people act on it.

Friday

     My RC Ding JM bought us dinner! We are the first missionaries that she has bought dinner for (the first of many missionary dinners in her life...) Had a really good pork cordon bleu on noodles (cordon bleu, not very common) I was so happy and proud of her.

     So sad, she moved up to hualian yesterday. we gave her a photo album last week and pictures of Christ to hang around her new apartment. She got a job as a nurse at a Christian hospital in Hualian. She said she would come back

and visit us, since she is really good friends with the members. I love her and will really miss her. This next year as a new member will be a really hard one. Please pray for her that she will stay strong in the gospel, since the first year is the hardest one as a new member. 

Saturday

     Visited Eve, a member who lives in the veterans hospital

(her dad served in WW2) and Liu JM the LA in Chi Shang, again.  We met her 14-year-old son and 11-year-old daughter.  Taught them.  Super cute!  Hope they get baptized!

     We had dinner with some new investigators, the husband is so awesome and prepared and came to church the next day (miracle!!!!!!!). It was soo cool, he picked up the first lesson pretty quick, he has grown up studying the Bible in school. After teaching the restoration to him and his wife, his wife was still confused, and he then retaught her everything we taught. it was so cool, he's been looking for the truth in a bunch of churches for years. when he was younger his christian teacher told him to not talk to the Mormon missionaries since we are "devils" and never go in church. it's crazy, he hasn't been to our church yet because of that teacher. Glad to see him finally come to the truth! His wife might take longer which is understandable, so we might give him to the elders to teach since his wife is busy with work and such so he can get baptized quicker.   

     One day I told my comp that I would be sad to not see any more baptisms in yuli before I left.  Right now, no baptisms will happen until after I'm transferred on March 22, which is likely. I liked what she told me that for her, she would rather leave an area and not see the baptisms that will happen after she moves than to go to a new area, because seeing people change is the best part. She shared a quote which said, "It's not the arrival of the trip that matters, it's the journey." It made me feel better and want me to make the most of my three weeks here, since I will most likely move, get as many baptisms going for the next transfer.

     It has been an amazing year, and I have a lot on my mission. I love Taiwan, I love the people, I love the gospel, I love the members, I love my friends, family and comp, and I especially love my Heavenly Father, my Savior and Redeemer Jesus Christ and my helper the Holy Ghost. 

     I know this gospel is true, it has blessed my life, my loved ones lives, and countless others lives. I am so grateful to have the gospel in my life and share that same joy with others. I invite you all to somehow, someway, like Christ, be a savior to others by sharing the gospel and/or helping them strengthen their testimonies and conversion, because that conversion is what gets us through life and into the Celestial Kingdom. 

Love you all have a great week!

Sister Brinkerhoff

That Is up to You

Hey, hey, hey!

     

     

First off, awesome, awesome p-day! Right now, it's some sort of taoist (worship ancestors and Chinese gods) holiday weekend, so the locals have four days off. Since our members don't observe these holy days, and they have work and school off, we went to San Shan Tai (Three Mountain Bay). It's the second time I've been. I haven't been there since last November. It's a very famous place, has eight arch bridges that lead to a small island off the coast. It was sooo fun and beautiful, seeing the really blue ocean wash up against the black volcanic rocks. We
even hiked up to one mountain, and it was seriously a Star Wars VII moment, when at the end of the movie the main character is on top of a high, rocky grassy hill in the middle of the ocean. Same with me :) 

     We then went up the coast and went to the Singletary's store. They open it during holidays during tourism season. It's kind of sad, Taiwan's new president and China's president don't get along, so there's some sort of ban in China, now Chinese tourists can't visit Taiwan, which has hurt business. Anyway, we ate there, and hiked a bit. It was so beautiful; hiking up old sea caves and seeing the ocean right across the street.  I seriously live in the most beautiful area of the whole mission! 

     My companion's grandpa passed away yesterday. She didn't know until emails this morning. She's really strong and happy. I am really grateful for her example. She and I have really felt the Spirit comfort us. Her testimony of the plan of salvation is amazing!

     Sis. Ding moves next week - so sad but she needs to help her son so happy she is progressing in the gospel

tomorrow stake exercise activity so excited everyone will be here!  Good potential investigators just got to get started with them.  

Funny moment:

     As we walked to the island on San Shan Tai, we noticed some older people wearing traditional yellow silk outfits with dragons on them. We thought, "That's weird, maybe it's some buddhist or taoist thing for the long holiday."  As we went, we got to the island and by the ocean on some rocks, there were some older people in yellow. They began their ceremony, one guy just walking and kicking in the air while holding some golden thing that I think represented money. They were in some rocky gorge, and they did this in front of a two-foot high hole. Then they started yelling at the top of their lungs and making wavy gestures, as if trying to scare off some demon. It was amusing from an outsider point of view. A reason why so many Chinese gods/idols have scary faces is because they are used to scare off demons. 

Spiritual Share

     I remembered this story and gave a copy of it to my RC Ding JM. It is a beautiful story about the Savior. It's in the March 2008 Ensign.  It's called "The Atonement of Jesus Christ."

The Atonement of Jesus Christ

     Happy Birthday shout out to Grandpa Barrus, who is 92 years young!

     Love you all have a great week!

    -Sister Brinkerhoff