To Every Land and People We’ll Go

Hello family and friends!

What an incredible week it has been. I am so grateful for the time I have to be here in Taiwan. I forgot to mention but this past Saturday our mission had a special conference with general authorities. The general authorities were Elder Holland, Sister Holland, Elder Hallstrom, Sister Hallstrom, and Elder and Sister Wilson came and talked to us. There are no words to describe the feeling that was there in that meeting.

Last Monday night as we were driving home for the night we stopped at a stop light. I see that I only have 15 seconds.  I start talking to the lady next to me. She asks me, “What do you want.” I tell her that I am a missionary and would like to share with her a message that will make her happy. The light turns green. I manage to ask her to pull over and she does. I was surprised. We were able to give her a tract about the restoration and our number. I am hoping to see her in the near future at church.

Tuesday was Temple tours which is always fun.

We were able to give a tour for the English ward elders (Elder Chen and Wessemann?) It was really weird to only use English; I kept on tripping over my words. The man is from Germany and here in Taiwan for his church training to be a minister. What are the chances he runs into the Elders? The funny thing is they ran into him right as he was leaving his church. We shared with him about the restoration. It was really good. He told us that he wanted to see us again.

I also went on a mini exchange with Sister Barden. We only had about 40 minutes but saw really big miracles. The first two girls we talked too were from China visiting Taiwan. They actually were leaving for China the next day.

The next girl we run into is a cute college girl. She actually goes to college in Hschin Chu. My heart jumped to hear of Hschin Chu.

The temple sisters also trained us. They showed us this video

http://www.mormonchannel.org/youth-videos?v=2219553524001

They then challenged us to do what President Eyring invites everyone to do at the end of the video.

It really hit me how each person is special. We all have gifts that we can offer the Lord.

English class was really good. I am teaching intermediate. Only 2 member came but it was funny because it was the two members that I gave a temple tour to 3 weeks ago. During the spiritual share we were able to talk about our fears and how to overcome them. The spirit was really strong.

We were able to visit with a less active named Xu JM. That morning I felt that we should talk about faith so we planned a lesson about that. We first get there and I start to get to know her. She then tells us about some challenges that she is having right now and she relates it to how she needs to have more faith. WE then talked with her and really were able to strengthen her testimony. I am excited to continue to work with her.

We were able to meet with Johnny this past week. He is from Vietnam but working here in Taiwan. We teach him using English. He has a baptismal date for the March 15. He is doing really well. He is really committed to making that date.

We were able to meet with Sister Tsai this week. She is such an AMAZING women!! Her sons started meeting with the missionaries and were baptized a few months ago. She has been busy lately and has had no time to meet with us. My first week here I told her I really want to meet with you. She was able to meet and we went over the baptismal interview questions. She is SO prepared. She will be having her interview this Thursday. I am so excited for her to be baptized. I will let you know Monday what happens with her.

Saturday was the day of our ONCE IN A LIFETIME conference. It was... I have no words to describe the spirit that was there. We first took a picture with the visiting general authorities. The assistants got us all lined up and we waited for the general authorities to walk down the hall. As they started walking down the hall we sang "Hark All Ye Nations" in English. POWERFUL!!!

No words to describe the feeling that was there. It was so strong. I love the line “Searching in Darkness nations have wept watching for dawn their vigil they've kept.”

It really hit me that there are still many in the world searching in darkness. I need to go and find them!!!

We then were spiritually feed by all these general authorities and their wives. I wish I had time to tell you everything that they said. Gai tian(change days) I will tell you. One thing though that REALLY REALLY stuck out to me was this:  If we only get one convert out of your mission it better be you. You better be converted by your mission.

It is so true. If you don't let the mission change you than you are really missing out. I know that this mission has changed me. I know that I have and will continue to be converted because of my mission. I know that God is molding me to be the person he wants me to be. I know that a mission is just a start. There will be many more trials after a mission. The trials will be harder but the formula to overcome them will be the same.

I love you all! I am so sorry time is short. I will share more with you next week.

Love

Sister Latimer

A Year of Looking, and Now We Found You

Hello family!

I moved but I am not telling you until later.

It was hard to leave Tao 2. I had put so much work in there and it was really just starting to show. I forgot to mention my last Sunday there they changed Bishops. The new bishop is Huang DX (the one who mom is the RS president! Golden family.) He is only 32! He mentioned that in his testimony and said President Monson was younger than me.

Tao 2 stories

We meet with Lin JM last Thursday and shared with her about forgiveness! It was really good. WE showed her the Chris Williams about forgiveness. It was really good! She told us that earlier that day she was mad and that messaged really touched her. I was so happy that the spirit guided us to share that video with her.

We meet with Raymond on Wednesday night. We shared with him the first lesson. It went really well. You JM and Huang Yi Long (new bishop little brother) joined us at the lesson. At the end we asked him do you have any questions and he said can I come to church on Sunday? I was about to jump out of my seat with joy!! What a good day!

Wednesday we had the English party and that went really well! The theme was Harry Potter and each of the companionship were a house.   Me and Sister Anderson were Huffle puff. Elders Cheung and Lin were Griffendor. Elder Chen and Beck were Slytherin.

Me and Sister Anderson taught them potions. We had sprite, orange juice, candies and they mixed it all together to make a potion of their liking. They were able to drink it as a dessert. Elder Beck and Chen taught them defense against the dark arts. They had chopsticks as wands and would tell us what their biggest fear was. Then one of the elders would pretend to be that thing and they would have to say a spell to cast it away. Elder Cheung and Lin put Chinese words on the board and they would have to translate it. Then we gave than a bow and arrow (kid’s kind) and they would have to shoot their opponent first. SO SO SO MUCH FUN!!

Then Move calls came and I moved to... still not going to tell you. (hehe)

My first night here in blank was great! We had two lessons with a Christian and a Wand JM. We did how to begin teaching with them. They both are looking for a religion and want to have more happiness in life.  I cannot wait to meet them this week.

I can tell you now the story of my tag line.

Saturday we had a lesson with a Guo DX and we needed a women to be there with us. My companion tells me we are going to the Su JM home. I tell her ok.

We get there and I am talking with Su JM. She asks me some questions and one of them was, “Where was your last area.” I told her Tao 2. She then looks at me with big eyes and asks, “Do you know Dolly?” I told her yes. She then goes this is her home! She hugs me and says, “God is good to us.”

Background story

Dolly has been telling her family to look for me this past year!

When I was rooming with Dolly her father had a surgery. They day of the surgery Dolly and I fasted together for her father. He has been on heavy medicine this past year. However, just recently he has been a WHOLE lot better.

Back to story

I am so AMAZED at how a year later God sent me here to Xi Zhi and could meet the man that I had prayed and fasted for 2 years ago. I have not been able to meet the dad yet. I hope to this Sunday. Apparently they have been looking for me this whole YEAR plus!

Another cool story

I am sitting in Relief Society Sunday. A women starts talking to me. She asks, “Where in America are you from?” I tell her Virginia. She tells me, “My son is in the Washington D.C. mission.” I ask, “North or South?” She tells me, “South.” I then got a little teary and told her, “That is my home ward mission.” She then looks at me and says, “My son told me he met a couple there with a similar background and they told him their daughter is in the Taiwan Taipei mission.”

Here is the question Have you meet a Elder Huang? He would be from Xi Zhi Taiwan.

If you do know him you should feed him beef noodle soup! I told Huang JM my mom makes the best beef noodle soup!

I feel so blessed to be here in Xi Zhi. I have never felt so strongly that I am here for a very very important reason. I feel I need to repay God back because I have been blessed so much by being here already.

I can't believe it but I only have two transfers including this one. How did 10 transfers fly by! It is true what they say every moment of a mission is worth it. I realized how true that is the other day.

I know this is the greatest thing I can be doing right now in my life. I know that God is aware of every one of his children. I know that through the atonement we can all be healed. I know that trials make us stronger. I know that God provides a way for us to work through the challenges placed before us. I know that we can do hard things!

I love you all!

Love

Sister Latimer

Miracles, Members, Missionaries

February 10, 2014

Hello dear family!

Things are crazy here in Taiwan. Lately, at the end of the day we sit down to do daily planning and I think what happened today. A whirlwind of events, emotions, time.

The work is truly hastening. The splitting of the area has been a huge blessing. It really helps us be able to concentrate more on our area. I am not surprised the states started. President Day said the states have been doing it for a while now. We are kind of slower over here.

We had so many good things happen this week. The hand of the lord is truly in my life every day. Whether it be big or small things He is always there.

We were biking one day to an appointment and stopped at the railroad crossing. My companion started to talk to the girl next to her. She only said hello. Then the things went up. Sister Anderson asked her can you pull over a second and we can talk to you. She said yes.

Her name is Lin XJ, We were able to share with her and share with her our purpose and how God knows and loves her. She told us that she is searching for something but doesn't know what. We told her that this gospel will help her.  She is willing to continue to meet with us. We hope to meet with her this week.

The members are so good here. They are so good at friend shipping our investigators and our so willing to be at their lessons.

We meet with Lin JM this week. She is doing AMAZING!! We have been able to get a member at every lesson but not a perfect fit yet. I thought let's ask Li Dong De Man. PERFECT PERFECT!

Their backgrounds and current situations are basically the same. Li JM bore strong testimonies and even got her to commit to come to church!

Lin JM did come to church!! Whenever she had a question Li Jm would run over and answer it for her!! Lin JM even signed up to participate in a stake activity. Some of the relief society women told us you found a golden investigator!!

In relief society Lin JM introduced herself. She goes I meet Sister Latimer and Anderson in the park. I was really touched at how energetic and nice they were. Those moments make me happy!

We also meet with the Zeng's and Mao JM was able to join us at that lesson. We left and Mao JM was able to stay and talked with them for 2 more hours. That is AWESOME! They are having some huge problems right now. We are not sure if we are going to continue meeting with them. We will see. The good thing is they have a member friend now.

Saturday we were the Temple Tour Sisters! Loved it. We were on our feet all day long with back to back tours.

The first tour we gave were to two cute girls from Xi Zhi. Fun fact that is where Dolly my old roommate is from. Her dad just got released as the Bishop. They are both graduation from HS this year. One is planning to go to college the other is going to get a job then go on a mission. We gave them a tour about pioneers and how each one of us is a modern day pioneer.

We also had a tour with a grandma and her daughter. The daughter is a member but her mom is not. She wanted us to give a tour about Jesus Christ to her mom. Her mom has Alzheimer’s and the daughter feels the mom lacks self-confidence. We had a great tour with her about the atonement and resurrection. It was really good.

My favorite moment though was not in a tour but on the street.

We had just finished lunch and were heading back to the temple. Then all of a sudden I hear feet running behind me and a girl screaming in Chinese Sisters stop. I turn around and see this cute girl and behind her two white girls. She was a little out of breath but told us they were looking for a cheap place to eat. The two girls are from Utah and here on an exchange program.

They are staying in GAOXIONG! They came up to Taipei to do baptisms for the dead. The two girls from Utah told us we saw two black name tags and thought SISTER MISSIONARIES!!!! I realized how cool it is they recognized me from afar.

How lucky am I that I can represent Jesus Christ every day. How lucky am I that I can share this message with everyone. How lucky am I to have this gospel in my life!

We gave a tour to the Bade sisters’ investigator. She has been investigating the church a year plus now. We gave her a tour about temples and sacrifice. I asked her why have you not been baptized. She told me that she likes to drink coffee.

I felt prompted to invite her to be baptized on March 22. She said she is willing to pray and ask God if that is the right date. I really hope she will make it. She really is golden. It is just the WOW problem. I hope she makes the date.

Sunday night we got our investigator Raymond to go the YSA family home evening. We went with him and stayed a bit. We were about to leave and told him you can stay as long as you want. He told us he was going to stay and play the games. I was so happy! He is a English class student!!

That's a wrap for this week. WEDNESDAY is move calls. What's going to happen????? I am at peace because I am truly in the Lord's hands.

I know that God is in every aspect of our lives. I know that He is always at our side cheering us on. I know that as we pray we can receive revelation. I love this work and thank God every day I can be doing it.

Love always and Forever

Sister Latimer  

Xin Nian Kuai Le! ( happy new year)

February 3, 2014

Xin Nian Kuai Le

I love being able to tell that to people as I pass them on my bike. It is such a joy to see how happy people are during this time of the year.

What a crazy last few days it has been. Surprisingly, we have only had 2 qing ke's this week. Way less than last year (15 qing ke's)

Last Wednesday night we had English class.  Three new investigators literally fell into our laps. When they first come in they fill out at application and one of the questions on it is would you be interested in meeting with the missionaries. I was talking with a Zeng xiansheng and tai tai and pointed out that question and the wife says the gospel is good. She and her husband meet with us last Friday and Saturday night. Then a young men came in and he also had interest.

I turned to Sister Anderson and was like did that really just happen. GOD is such a merciful God!

I FORGOT to mention a HUGE CHANGE that was announced at our zone specialized training meeting. Our ward is not split into 2 areas. The elders cover one part and we cover the other. We meet with all the members, part members, in actives, and investigators that live in that area regardless male or female. This is a system that is being used all around the world. This will help us not waste time going from one end to our area to the other. We had to give away some awesome people but we inherited some awesome people too.

We meet with the Zeng family Friday and shared with them the Plan of Salvation. That was not the original plan but the spirit directed us and in the end it was better. He told us that you for answering my question. he question was why do we have difficult times in life. The husband is really seeking for answers. The wife is already Christian. Then Friday we meet with them and Sister Anderson shared her conversion story with them. I am attaching her mormon.org profile. She is so amazing to me.

http://mormon.org/me/BVKB/Julia

Thursday night we had New Year’s Eve dinner with You JM! She is an awesome YSA in our ward. She feed us soy milk hot pot. It was good. At the end we shared with her about every day offering a gratitude prayer. The spirit was so strong. We were about to leave and she asks can I share with you a quote I saw the other day on FB. I was like yes.

It was from President Monson talk at the last General Relief Society broadcast

My dear sisters, your Heavenly Father loves you—each of you. That love never changes. It is not influenced by your appearance, by your possessions, or by the amount of money you have in your bank account. It is not changed by your talents and abilities. It is simply there. It is there for you when you are sad or happy, discouraged or hopeful. God’s love is there for you whether or not you feel you deserve love. It is simply always there.

As we seek our Heavenly Father through fervent, sincere prayer and earnest, dedicated scripture study, our testimonies will become strong and deeply rooted. We will know of God’s love for us. We will understand that we do not ever walk alone. I promise you that you will one day stand aside and look at your difficult times, and you will realize that He was always there beside you. I know this to be true in the passing of my eternal companion—Frances Beverly Johnson Monson.

I was so touched. She really encouraged me and helped me remember that God is always at our side.

Sunday night we had dinner with the bishop's family (Jian family). They are such a special family in my eyes. They have 3 daughters ages 19,17,13. Their youngest is a boy (5 years old) with special needs. I am not sure what he has. That family has so much CHARITY!!!!!! I have loved being able to see their example.

We shared with them the Mormon message My New life about Stephanie Nelson. LOOK it up!! SO SO SO SO SO SO GOOD!! Jian JM especially liked it.

At the end their 2nd eldest daughter helped the little boy say the prayer. She said a word then he would say it. At first I did not realize because he is a little hard for me to understand. It really touched my heart!

The church is true! Charity is the most important thing to have! The Lord loves all his children.

I love you all!

Sister Latimer

I love you all!

The temple is a house of God

January 27, 2014

Hello Family and friends!

WOW! A week plus has come and gone. It has been a long week but so worth it, The temple was amazing!! They finally have the new movie! So amazing!! No other words can describe how much I liked it.

Tomorrow starts the crazy Chinese new year dinners. I am nervous but at the same time super excited. Nothing can beat last year with 3 different wards. That was by far the most I have ever had to eat.

Monday night we had such a HUGE miracle. WE were riding our bikes home from a long night of door knocking. WE see a lady and pull over to talk with her. It turns out that she is also Christian. She has not been happy with work lately. She had said a prayer just a few minutes earlier that God would help her. Then who does she meet the MISSIONARIES! We were really able to comfort here. I felt really blessed that we listened to the spirit and pulled over.

Tuesday was exchanges with the sister training leaders. I got to be with Sister Tsai this time. I love her so much. She is one of my favorite exchanges. I loved being able to just speak Chinese the whole time. I was amazed at how I could do it. I realized I need to be more confident in myself.

Saturday was a HAPPY HAPPY day. Zhu JM our recent convert husband got baptized!!!! After her husband came up out of the water she started to cry. My heart just melted. Last night we had dinner with them and the elders. It was so cool to just see the joy that comes from having this gospel.

BTW Zhu Jm wants to meet mom and dad. I told her that you two speak Chinese and she was so ecstatic. She was like then they can talk with me.

I love seeing the joy that comes when those we love come into the fold. She has been wanting this for her husband ever since she joined. Now her dream is fulfilled. The other night at dinner she was like Qiu DX can you say the prayer.

Friday we had our Zone Specialized training. It was so good. We got trained a lot.

We got trained on what we call name tag contacting. In every contacting situation us missionaries subconsciously touch our name tags.  President Day trained us after touching our name tag we tell them our purpose.  He especially mentioning baptism.

I have loved doing this. It is bold and sometimes it is scary! However, as President Day said, " It is a fast way to weed out those who are ready and those who are not".  Missionaries sometimes waste time with people who are not ready and those who are ready are just passing by them.

Another thing we got trained on is asking them the simple question "Would you like to be forgiven" Without a doubt everyone will say yes! Then that gives us the perfect opportunity to mention baptism.

We have really enjoyed using these tools to become better missionaries. Through this we really are finding those that are prepared.

We were able to meet with Lin JM this past Friday and Monday. On Friday we shared with her the  Restoration. One of our La's (less active) was able to help us Pei ke. The spirit was so strong in that lesson. At the end we invited her to be baptized and she accepted. She set a date for 2/22/14.

Monday we meet with her again and shared the Plan of Salvation. At the end we asked her what kingdom do you want to go to. She was like Celestial kingdom.  At the end we followed up on her baptismal date. She was like I am not sure about baptism. She then brought up some issues that are going on in her life. I felt prompted to turn to Alma 7- 11-14. We BOLDLY testified that through the atonement/ baptism she will be healed. She recommitted to baptism.

That's a wrap for the week.

I love you all each so very much. I know that the Lord is watching over you. I know that this church is true. I know that through the atonement we call all be healed.

Love

Sister Latimer

Walk with me down the street

January 13, 2014

Hello family!

What a crazy week it has been.

We decided that we were going to divide our area into 6 parts and focus on a part each weak. This past week we have been focusing on the west side. We have seen many miracles from that.

Monday night we set out with high goals and were determined to achieve them. The first women we talked to was a cute girl in her 30's. It turns out she was already Christian. We found out that she just got engaged recently. We were able to bear testimony and give her a BOM. She was so excited when we gave it to her. She was like really. Unfortunately, she lives in Zhong Li area. That's ok team Jesus.

The last women we contacted also is Christian. We talked with her a little about why our church is different and gave her a BOM. Sadly she too does not live in our area. Team Jesus.

When Sister Anderson and I got home we both realized that there are so many prepared people. When we gave both those women copies of the BOM they were EXCITED!!!!

After English class we meet with a student named Yang XJ. She wanted to know what the difference was between the Bible and the Book of Mormon. We were able to get one of our members to help us in the lesson. We talked a little bit about the BOM and our church. We invited her to church and she said she would come.  However, at the end we asked for her address and she lives in the Tao 1 sisters’ ward. This week has really been team Jesus.

Thursday was AWESOME!!!! We visited Li dong de man. One of my favorite members to visit. She is a counselor in the RS.  She helps us work with LA and service opportunities. She has a really hard life. She and her son were baptized together but now her son is inactive. Her husband does not like the church and recently he has really not been happy with the church. I have seen her grow and become better than her situation.

Her daughter was investigating the church last year but did not pass her baptismal interview. The sister missionaries decided to lay low for a bit and give her some time. This past year she has been going to different churches and tells her mom they are so much easier because they don't have commandments. That has been really hard on her mom.

Sister Anderson and I were wrapping up with Li JM and she goes I think my daughter is getting close to coming back to this church!  Li JM invited her daughter to start coming to church at least sacrament portion. We are hoping to start meeting with her daughter again in February (after guo nian). That was a huge MIRACLE! I feel that the member are really starting to trust me and because of that they open up more and our giving us more help.

Friday we visited Huang JM the RS president. She is AMAZING too! She really opened up last Friday. She starts off telling us about her fu yin zhang lao (missionaries that taught you?) A year ago they visited him in Utah and he gave them experts from his mission journal about them! How special. She let us look at it. Then she told us the coolest story ever. It was about the first elder that contacted her.

He was on his last transfer. In his setting apart blessing it told him that he would find a golden family. He had only helped singles get baptized up to that point in his mission. He was feeling really down. At the time the Huang lived in a gated area and missionaries had no way to knock on their door. One day this elder was shopping and saw them he gave them a tract and they set up time to meet them latter. This elder only meet with them 2 and then went home. He did not keep in contact with them.

Years later he comes back to work in Taiwan. He was working at the temple and asked one of the man do you know a Huang ... The man said yes he is the bishop of Tao 2. This man was surprised. Sister Huang told us our family has had many callings from bishop, RS president, HP president and all of their 4 sons and 1 daughter went on missions. I got a little teary.

After sharing she asked do you like my testimony. We told her yes!!

She gave us a lot of PM families to work with. We got 5 referrals from her. We plan on contacting all of them this week!

Friday we found a new investigator. We went door knocking in the east side. We saw a women sweeping her porch. We talked to her about the restoration, BOM, and church. She really wants this gospel. She also wants it for her daughter. We will be meeting with them this week.

The church is true! God loves each and every one of us. I know that through keeping the commandments we can have more peace in our life. I know that when we take the time to listen God will speak to us. He will tell us what to do! I have relied on that a lot my whole mission.

I love you all!

Sister Latimer