Hello Family and Friends!

This week was crazy busy with meetings! We went to Taipei twice this week! However, the meetings were the uplift I needed and I loved every minute. We were still able to keep the work going too.

Monday night we had just a few minutes to contact and we started with a pray and set out to have one lesson and hand out one copy of the BOM. We had only been out a couple of minutes when we ran into a young adult. She had just gotten off of work. It turns out she has a friend who is a member of our church. She is Christian herself. We shared with her Joseph Smith and the BOM. She was not willing to meet again but I feel we planted a good seed.

On Tuesday night we were riding home from one of our appointments and I got the feeling we should visit Liu JM one of our LA's. I have never meet her. We go to her house and she is there just cleaning her house. We had a really nice conversation with her. Her husband's father just died and so her husband was with his mom. I feel that we were able to really lift her spirits. When we follow the promptings of the spirit miracles happen!

Wednesday was temple tour sisters training in Taipei. I LOVED it. The temple sisters, President and Sister Day all train us. I learned so much. The temple sisters really focused on how what they were saying does not mean that what we are doing is bad BUT that when we change/improve we are happier! I could not agree more.

We were kind of worried about how we would get everything done that day but once again God took care of us and showed us how he can work miracles.

We originally wanted to go visit Ling Ling but got back later than anticipated. We thought we will go grab our bikes from the church than rush over there to make it back in time for our lesson.

We get to the church and who is there?? Mei Ling another one of our recent converts! Her husband was meeting with the elders. She just talked to us about how happy she was. She also helped us write some notes for our members/investigators.  It was a miracle because our investigator called us and told us she would be early. The other miracle was that we were there for Mei Ling. She really wanted to share her excitement with someone and who better than with the sister missionaries!!

We have just helped create a forever family. Isn't that what it's all about?

English class was AMAZING! I decided to read with them from the New Testament kid’s picture book. I would read the English verse that corresponded with the picture. They then would help read the picture caption in Chinese. It really captured their attention.

Thursday was another miracle day!! We had two ching ke's (meal with members) and WPS. We really wanted to have 3 other lessons and hand out 3 copies of the BOM that day too. However, we only had about an hour. We set out and exceeded our goal. We ended up having 4 other lessons! Sister Jasperson and I have really seen the more BOLD we are the more success we have.

Friday we visited Gao JM our other less active. It was good to see her. I strongly believe that she is one that it will be through our constant love and care she will come back. She has a really hard life and just wants to feel love.

That night we meet a cute father and daughter talking a night walk. It turns out that they are Daoist (Daoism). He had been to our church before. It was nice to talk to them and leave them with this gospel message.

Saturday we had another meeting in Taipei. However, this time we were trained by Elder Packer (President Packer of the 12’s son), They trained us on Family History. I am so excited to apply what I used into my contacting skills.

They had us do an exercise about telling a story in a minute. As we told our stories and heard our companions’ story our heart was touched. The spirit of Elijah is SO STRONG. I told the story about Grandma Latimer giving me my Porcelain doll.  

I cannot believe that Christmas is about a week away. I feel that it has sneaked up on me. I am grateful for this Christmas season. I am grateful that I can remember the true meaning of Christmas. I am grateful that I can be a missionary here in Taiwan. I am grateful for our Savior Jesus Christ.

I love you all!

Talk to you next Wednesday!

Love

Sister Latimer

Not For Myself But For a World in Need

Hello dear family and friends!

I love you all more than words can say! At this Christmas time I have really been reflecting on how much has happened this past year! I am so grateful for all that has happened this past year. There were hard times but I have grown so much! God has blessed me beyond words and I am grateful that I chose to come on a mission.

We had a nice dinner with Yang DX and his family last week. He is one of the sisters’ recent converts! We had Beijing Duck!! No words to describe how much I love duck!! SO GOOD!! It was nice to be in their home. The spirit we were able to feel in their home was so nice. They are such a cute family. The wife has been a member for 40 plus years but her husband got baptized this past August. She has waited 18 plus years for him to be baptized! She is such an amazing women in my eyes.

English class!! It is went really well! Sister Jasperson and I split and so we have a member be our companion. I get to teach with Zhang JM.  She is so amazing. I LOVE being around here. She is so down to earth. They actually live in China most of the time (Tian Jin ward?) She mentioned how she also knows Elder Toronto!

Sister Zhang and I teach the kids’ class together! We only had two kids this week. :( It's ok because the class went so well.) It was Belle and NIni they are cousins. We just sang a lot of primary songs for example popcorn popping and snowman. They loved it! I am still brainstorming for this week's class. Sister Zhang loved it!! At the end she asked the two girls to write down their Chinese name because she wanted to write it down. She is so sweet.

Sunday night we had dinner at their house. She asked me do you know what you are going to do this week. I told her nope. Then she gave me some ideas. I really appreciate her help and her fire about the class. I love their home so much! It has such a homey feel to it.

Thursday we meet the cutest little girl ever! We had just finished a lesson that was a little rough. I was feeling a little discouraged. We said a prayer and then set out to go. We were stopped at a corner when we thought we would hand a pamphlet to a mom. The mom gave us the no wave off. We did not realize that the girl was coming towards us. The mom goes give the pamphlet to her! It was amazing because she CONTACTED us!! Her name is Candy. We were able to talk with her about God and have a prayer with her.  Her family has no religious background. We are hoping to meet her family soon. We will start with her but we are praying as time goes on her family will see Candy's change and have desire.

I feel like meeting her was a personal miracle for me. She lifted my spirits so much! I am so excited to continue teaching her!

Friday was lunch with the Xin family (Dad, this is the lady that recognized your picture. She also recognized the Liu family kids)! She is amazing. It was interesting to hear her conversion story.  We also had a long talk about the religious history of the Chinese people.  Originally they were Daoist. Then a man from China went to Yinddu (India?) He liked what he learned and put it into what we know today as fojiao (Buddhist) She told us how really Daoist are the closest to us. Their teachings are the most pure Chinese doctrine ba. She talked about some of the things some of the member saw in China. They saw things that made them believe that God did talk to the Chinese a long time ago.

It was so cool because that morning during companion study we were talking about this issue. We go around telling people because God loves all people he talked with his children in America. I told her I feel that he must have talked to the children of Asia. It was a tender mercy to have her talk about that. She brought up the whole topic herself!

Sunday was so good. Wang JM came to church!!! All the YSA were really good at welcoming her. Rou fang was able to accompany her to gospel principles! I was grinning so big. This ward is amazing at taking care of the people we bring in!!! What a blessing for us as missionaries!!

The ward is on FIRE about missionary work!!! The bishop comes in during our MM meting and asks us who is sharing their testimony about the jia su jiu en ji hua tree (hastening the work of salvation tree)! He told us he wants one person every week to bear a testimony about a missionary experience they have had that week. He was like I will go this week.

He then talked about his process this week. He had been praying this week and no one in particular had come to his mind but he continued to earnestly pray. Then one of the days we was able to go to the temple and in the Celestial room he got a strong impression of a person. He told the members it does not matter whether or not they get baptized immediately what matters is you did all you could.

I AM SO TOUCHED AT how the ward is so on fire about this. The bishop has been such a strong leader at the front! I can see how much having the bishop on board makes a HUGE DIFFERENCE!! The member truly follow his lead!

We have been challenged by our ward mission every other week to visit all the leaders in the auxiliaries that we work with. Lately they have all been telling us how they are coming up with activities to help with missionary work! MUSIC to my EARS!!!!!

i am loving it here in Tao 2! The ward is so good and I am so grateful for their support!! Sister Jasperson and I are just amazed at how much has happened since we both got here.  Every Sunday night we talk about goals for the week and each Sunday as we review the past weeks goals we realize how much we improved. It really is just getting better and better! Our unity is AMAZING!! I have never had such good unity with a companion. I really see NOW how companionship unity makes such a big difference! I truly because of our unity everything is going up. We no longer fear that the other will not follow or that fear that the other one will feel that the other dominated in a lesson. I am grateful for all I have and all I will continue to learn from Sister Jasperson!

I LOVE how each transfer/ each week I can improve and learn to be an amazing companion. It is not easy living with someone 24/7 but it is possible. The biggest lesson I have learned is to give and take! I have to learn to be flexible and do things that I don't always want to do.

I know this church is true. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God! I know that Christ loves each of us. I know that as we remember why he came to earth we will lengthen our stride to match his. I know that there is no place I would rather be right now than in Taiwan serving a mission. I know that Christ is the reason for the season.

Well that's a wrap for the week!

Love

Sister Latimer

There Can Be Miracles When You Believe

December 2, 2013

Hello family and friends!

This week has been crazy! I know I probably say that about every week, but this week it felt especially crazy! Every day was jam packed and Saturday we had the opportunity to go to Taipei to be the temple sisters. I always love being able to be so close to the temple! As always temple day was crazy busy. We were constantly on our feet giving someone a tour.

Last Monday night we had a BIG miracle! We decided that we want to have a WHITE CHRISTMAS and in order to do that we need to find more people that are ready to hear this gospel. We set out that night to contact the church square. The first man we meet was really nice. He was not willing to continue to meet but we think we planted a pretty good seed.

The last person we meet is this Wang XJ. She was on her way home from school (she is a freshman in college). We shared with her our one minute talk about the restoration. We then asked her if she had interest in our message. She set up and we exchanged numbers. She was willing to meet that Friday. We meet with her Friday and it was an AWESOME lesson. In the prayer she offered at the end she talked about how she was grateful she could learn more about Joseph Smith and The Book of Mormon. We invited her to be baptized and her first reaction after seeing the picture of Jesus Christ being baptized is can I wait until after winter because it is really cold. We reassured her that it would be inside! She set 12/25/13 as her date! I pray she makes that date!

Tuesday we had about 20 minutes and we decided to tract because we had set a goal to have one other lesson. We were determined and set out. The first person we tracted into was a family that we had contacted a week earlier. It was funny because he recognized us but we did not recognize him. It was a couple and we had a nice talk with them. They are devout Daoists(?). I guess he is one that we are planting the seeds. Then we ran into this cute middle school student. It turns out that she is also a Christian. We shared with her about Joseph Smith and the BOM.

Wednesday was English class and it kind of felt like a circus. We were misinformed and last minute had to make some changes.  It turned out good in the end! I have learned on a mission you have to learn to roll with the punches. That is just part of life.

Funny qing ke story (where a member feeds us).  Zhong mama loves loves the missionaries! (side note she was less active but came back to the church to help the missionaries with their Chinese. She will correct you anytime anywhere even in the middle of a lesson BUT it also helps missionaries here improve faster!!)

She likes to shock the missionaries at how much she can feed us. She usually brings us boxed dinners (bian dang) but this time she decided to take us out to eat at Da Ge Zi. This place is famous for its handmade noodles. She comes and brings chicken from another store. She tells us don't worry about meat I got chicken. We each order our bowl of noodles and I think that is a good amount of food. BUT she was not done. She starts ordering things to share. She ordered so much. The waitress was even surprised at how much she ordered! Luckily we were able to wai dai (to go).

After English class we meet with Afa. She is so ADORABLE. I cannot wait to see her this week.

Thursday was packed and we had about 40 minutes to contact. We went out with the goal to find one new investigator. We ran into this soft spoken high school student.  We were able to have a lesson and set her up for this Friday!

Saturday was AMAZING!!!!! I loved it! I wish I had to tell you all that happened. The best way to put it is there are so many miracles when we are at the temple!

Fun Fact: The Taiwan Temple's Moroni is facing China! We were giving a tour to one of the elders and her mentioned that. He talked about how special that is. Hong Kong's Moroni is also facing China. It is amazing to see how much China depends on Taiwan (in the church perspective). China will open in God's time but I know as I help the people here come unto Christ it does help those in China. I don't know how to describe it but that is the way I feel.

Sunday was MAGNIFICENT! I forgot to mention last week we and the elders put our hastening of the work of Salvation fireside! It was rocky and we were wondering if it really helped. IT DID!! We have a tree and people put up leaves, blossom, bud or fruit to represent the different steps! We had so many people put up leaves! The bishop bore his testimony about it and then invited our WML to come re-explain and bear testimony!! The ward is on fire with this!!!!

We went into YW to talk about them helping us pei ke( be at a lesson) we passed around a sheet they could sign with their name, number and days they are free. The YW then gets up and talks about how we all need to help in this work. She talked about how this is a great opportunity for them.

There is so much more to say but no time!

This church is true! Don't forget the reason for the season!

Love

Sister Latimer

4 Down 4 To Go

November 25, 2013

Hello Family and friends!

Move calls came and went... Sister Jasperson and I are still together is Tao 2. However, that is about the only thing that did not change this transfer.

THE WORK IS TRULY HASTENING!!!!! Last transfer in Tao Yuan city there were 2 districts (Tao 2 and Tao 1/3)  the total of 14 missionaries. THIS transfer between the 2 districts there are  18 Missionaries!!!  To say the least huge changes were made to both districts.  On a sad note we said  goodbye to some people and that was SO SO SO SAD. I do not like change as much as I thought I did.

Here are the people in my district. I will make a note on if they are new.

Tao 2 Elders- Elder Cheung DL (my generation) and his new trainee/baby Elder Lin ( He is from Taizhong)

Tao 2 Sistes- me and Sister Jasperson (no change)

Tao 1 A Elders- Elder Chen (native) and Elder Nelson (Just finished training. it was sad to see his dad Elder Hodges go! He has been in Tao 1 six transfers=9 months!!!)  Last transfer Elder Hodges was the DL of the other district. They put them in our district!!

Tao 1 B Elders- Elder Miller (He just finished training. His dad was Elder Chen who went home last week. it was weird because he was in my first district in Xin Zhu!!)   They were in the other District last transfer with Tao 1 A elders

Tao 1 (Gui Xiang?) SISTERS!!!! - Sister Crofts (she is on her 5th transfer) and Sister Su ( on her 1st transfer) THEY JUST OPENED!!!! I am so excited to have Sisters in our district!!!!!

The other district is

Tao 3 Elders- Zone Leaders Elder Pratt and Elder Welch

Nan Kang Elders (they were in our district last transfer)- Elder Xiong and Elder Seneca ( just moved in this transfer)

Tao 3 sister (last transfer they were covering Tao 1 and 3)- My lovely Sister Tsai!! and Sister George ( she just moved in this transfer. She is a generation older than me)

NAN KANG SISTERS!!! - Sister Anderson ( Yep! my MTC companion) and Sister Bang ( who was Sister Jasperson's MTC companion.)

As you can see lots of changes were made and lots of goodbyes were said. It is crazy to see all the changes that have happened this past transfer!! Being out here on a mission the feeling is incredible  There is no way to adequately put in words how it feels.  

We were FINALLY able to meet with Wu JM this week. We have been trying to meet with her since I first got here 6 weeks ago!  Her date was 11/23/13.  When we were planning with her we really wanted to focus on just listening and just focusing on her. I was super nervous but before we went in we said a prayer. That always calms the nerves.

The lesson went better than I could have expected!! She really opened up about the fears she has.  They are real concerns. however, they  are ones that she really needs to resolve herself. I really pray that she does get the confirmations that she needs. We are praying that she can get baptized in December!!! President Day really is praying/ hoping for a white Christmas and so are WE!!!

Sister Jasperson and I have decided the tag line for this transfer. Last transfer it was Yellow duck!

I can explain the little duck but I don't know how much sense will make. Around the end of summer/ fall they inflate this HUGE duck!! He is big. He travels around Taiwan. He is everywhere. They have pens with his on it. They have wallets/ watches/ notebooks/ wedding decorations and so much more. We went to a wedding and on the cake was THE YELLOW Duck!! Sister Jasperson loved it because she said I don’t understand a word they are saying and then I hear YELLOW DUCK. That explains it all! Unfortunately the day we wanted to see the duck he could not come out because it was too windy. :(

This transfer it is 4 down 4 to go and here is the reason: she is on her 4th transfer and I only have 4 PRECIOUS transfers left :(.

It is crazy how fast time goes. It feels that no other time in my life will be as fast as the mission. Time is blurred!

I love you all!

I know that church is true! I know that Christ can change our very nature. I know that God will help us overcome any challenge we face. I know that Christ suffered for all mankind. I know that all things will work out for our good in the end.

Love

Sister Latimer

Mighty Winds of Change

November 18, 2013

My Dear Family and Friends!!

Another week is here and as I sit here I do not know what to say. A lot has happened this week and nothing all at the same time.

Starting with the sad news:

Yanita and Charice broke up with us. We called them Saturday night to see if they were going to church and they told us they did not want to meet. They told us that they had been doing some research about the BOM and feel it is not for them. They really want to focus on studying the Bible. I am really sad but I know that we did all we could do. It is sad to me how much false information people can find out.

I remember reading the BOM yesterday for the sole purpose to know if it was true again. As I was reading I smiled at how good it felt to read! This book is the word of God and if all would read it with a sincere heart and real intent they would know it is true.

On Friday we went English Boarding with the elders. We all split up and went around passing flyers and we ran into a man from the Philippines. He told us how worried he was for his family back home. We offered to say a prayer with him and then he left. It is so sad to hear about all the devastation in the Philippines. :(  

We were able to have dinner with our recent convert Zhu Mei Ling and her non-member husband. We and the elders went. The seating was arranged so that the girls sat at one table and the boys sat at the other. The Elders were able to have a great lesson with the husband!! He is willing to continue to meet with them!! We were also able to meet with our RC. She is doing well! She is the most energetic women I have ever meet. We had hot pot with her!! OH MY GOODNESS so so good!!!! I will miss that in America!! She was saying won't you miss this when you go home. I told her yes. The only problem is with Hot pot you always end up eating WAY WAY to much! Especially with her because she just keeps saying eat this and then telling us to try this!

We were able to meet this really cool girl on Saturday while out tracting. She was about to get on her moped to go home. We taught her pray and a little about the BOM! We were able to give her one. She took our number and we hope that she gives us a call this week.

I have decided that before the end of my mission I want to read all the standard works.  I have made a game plan to accomplish this goal. The plan is to have the Book of Mormon and new Testament read by Christmas.  Then I can have from after Christmas to May to read the Old Testament and D&C / Pearl of Great Price.

I am really enjoying reading the New Testament at this Christmas season. It is such a joy to read and remember the reason for the season. :)

This week to develop my faith I decided that I wanted to study more in depth. I started with looking up faith in the Bible Dictionary.  It was interesting because nothing hit me like I thought it would. One thing I realized is that it is hard because you cannot measure faith. you can measure charity by if you increased the amount of service you did or did not gossip, etc. I have really learned that faith is very personal. However, doing those small things (prayer, scripture study, obedience) our faith will grow faster. I am seeing my faith increase in small steps.

I know this is God's church restored again on the earth. I know that God appeared to Joseph Smith and restored his church through him. I know that through the power of God Joseph Smith translated the BOM. I know the BOM is the word of God.

Love,

Sister Latimer

November 11, 2013

The World is Getting Smaller and Smaller

Hello Family and friends!

Another week has come and gone! I can't believe at how fast it has gone by. The weeks are getting faster and faster. I am just trying to get a grip on it all.

We had Zone conference last Tuesday which was AMAZING! The hastening of the work is real and we can really feel it out here being missionaries.  At Zone conference they talked about the new vision President day has for the next 5 months. The goal is to create 5 more stakes in our mission. That means the all the existing stakes would split and Hualian and Taidong would become a Stake, ( right now they are a district) The hope is that if we can create 5 stakes and Taizhong can also create 5 stakes we then could build another TEMPLE in Taiwan. It is a HUGE task but with the help of the ward members it is POSSIBLE! I love being a part of this work with all these changes and new changes.

After that conference we and the other elders in our ward really had a desire to help our ward catch the wave. We were able to meet and create a plan of action. Our plan is to have a huge fireside and get the members pumped about this hastening of the work.  We are going to have one of the ladies in the ward help us make a tree that is bare. Then as people do missionary work, for example pray for a friend to meet with missionaries, help in our lesson, talk to a friend about the gospel, they will put a leaf, flower, orange on the tree. As time goes on the tree will not be bare but full of good works. I hope I can stay here and see the "fruit" of our efforts.

Yanita and Sharice are doing good. We decided to change our style a little for them and start teaching them through videos. We used mormon.org videos to teach them principles. We were able to get Jeff to come with us. he just got back from his mission to Australia. There are not to many options to choose from when we put the requirement of fluent English. http://mormon.org/jenna that is just one of the videos we shared with them.

The other one was http://mormon.org/jenny.

These videos are SO powerful!

We left them with the invite to continue to read and pray about the BOM.

Friday we were able to have our quarterly interviews with President Day. It is fun to see the changes that you make within yourself. It’s only been 3 months but the changes are drastic. We were also able to be trained by the assistants about being a more efficient tool in the hands of the Lord.

We were able to see so many miracles/tender mercies from the Lord.

On Saturday we were able to meet a woman in the park who is golden. We walk over to talk to her and she stands up and is like hello. She talks about how she already has been contacted by us. She was like here is the books you gave me. It turns out she was actually contacted by Jehovah witnesses that very morning. She was so cute and was like what is the difference. We then talked to her a little bit about why our church is different. We were able to give her a BOM and leave her with our number. She did not want to set up but she has lots of potential.

Last night we had about an hour to contact. I was like let's do build a bear before we go out. Build a bear is when we build the kind of person we want to meet.  We decided we wanted to find a

mom in 30's

2 kids

short curly hair

no specific religion

searching for truth

Needless to say we found her!!! It was a huge reminder that God hears and answers prayers. She was awesome. She was not willing to set up but might come to English class!!

I had a cold MIRACLE/ TENDER MERCY from the Lord on Saturday night.  We had dinner at a member’s house. We called the night before to confirm. She told us she was also inviting this other family. I was like awesome.

We get to the dinner and I start introducing myself. She heard me say that I am Virginia and adopted from China. She was like what is your last name. I told her Latimer she was like I think I meet you before.  It turns out she served in the DC South mission in 2003. She then was like you have two sibling adopted from Taiwan and your sister was at BYU when I was there. I was like yep. She then goes I was in your ward my very last transfer your mom made beef noodle soup and for dessert we had watermelon. It made me miss home a lot. I was like that is me.

We then spent some time seeing if we knew any of the same people. I mention Nia and Maia! it turns out she was the sister missionary that helped baptize them! Her name was Sister Yu!! She also knows the Landriths!

The Lord knows exactly what he is doing when he sends us to an area!! I could not believe that I was able to meet her 10 years later in her hometown of Taiwan!!

That is all time allows! I love you all!

The church is true! Just read the book and take the invite at the end! I know that God loves each and every one of his children.

Love

Sister Latimer