Way Down South

Here is Sister Fernley's message from Nov. 23 with lots of pictures from her last days in Taizhong:

Dear Family,

Well I finally moved! I'm now serving way down south in ChaoZhou. It's the farthest south you can possibly go as a sister, so it is still hot! It is almost December and I don't even have to worry about a jacket. I'm serving with Sister Bi who just got done with training so I am her breaker. I'm actually really excited to have a Taiwanese companion again. The difference from last time is huge! I don't have a dictionary out on my desk all the time, and I feel like I can express myself adequately. It feels good.

I remember my first interview with President Blickenstaff and expressing how nervous I was about speaking the language (I'm sure every single first interview he has includes something about being nervous about Chinese). Then in my last interview with him he asked me if I felt like I could express myself in Chinese and how it felt. It was really nice to finally feel the fruits of the past year of language study. It may not be the best it could, but the difference between a year ago and now is drastic.

Anyway I'm so excited to serve with Bi Jiemei. I feel like it is a little bit like training still, because there are still some things she still hasn't learned, or isn't very strong in yet, but who is right out of training? I'm excited to learn with her and to see miracles!

As far as last week goes we actually had a pretty good week. Even though Monday randomly ended up not being P-day we were still able to accomplish a lot! That night we met with a few new people who were referrals from other missionaries and members. They are both willing to keep learning about the gospel and meeting with the missionaries! 

Wednesday we were delegated to teach the children's english class because the elder's couldn't handle them last week. Before it was the other set of sisters (from Dakeng) who taught the kids, but that area was closed for sisters a couple of weeks ago. Originally they were going to have us do it, but I protested and told them it was their turn because sisters always have to teach the kids. Thankfully Elder Ward volunteered, but apparently he can't handle them. So we taught the kids and I remembered why I hated teaching english class so much in Qishan. The kids were so bad and the adults in there weren't much better. I finally fought my way through the hour and a half english class (with a shocked Sister Murdock sitting off to the side) and dismissed everyone to go home. A few minutes later we realized that our phone was gone. We spent the next half hour looking for our phone. One of our members and her husband helped us by calling the phone hoping we would be able to hear it. While they were calling it would be on one minute then off the next. So we decided that our phone was stolen and ended up having to pick up one of the old phones from the office the next day. It was extremely stressful and couldn't have happened at a worse time (right when I was moving), but we got it all worked out and Beiqu has a phone again.

We also got to take new missionaries out to do Dan Jones! Sister Murdock and I were asked to help out since we live in the area. I was really nervous because I knew how nervous I was doing Dan Jones and had also heard some bad experiences about taking new missionaries around. Thankfully it went really well! I was nervous at first because the sister they had me take was really shy and really nervous, but we talked to a lot of people and were able to give out two copies of the Book of Mormon! I felt like I redeemed myself a little bit from my first time, because I didn't get to give out anything or get any numbers. It was a fun experience, and I'm glad I got to do it right before I moved out.

The rest of the week felt like it was spent making last visits to investigators and members before I left Beiqu. I feel like leaving always makes you realize just how much you love the people and the area. I realized just how many great friends I have made there and how much I loved working in the area. It was really hard, but I learned a lot about how to trust God and put everything in His hands. And now the area looks like it is on the rise and is seeing a lot of miracles.

Then Friday I said my last goodbyes and left Sister Murdock to lead the area on her own. I am so grateful for the last three months and for her companionship. I couldn't have done it with anyone else. She is an incredible missionary and is hitting the ground running. I trust her completely and know that she will take good care of our investigators. Her new companion is actually Sister Hicken who happens to be following me around the island. She took my place in Qishan and just took my place in BeiQu. Unfortunately I moved to the farthest place away from Beiqu, so I won't be able to attend any baptisms that happen in the next couple weeks, but we will just keep praying that they happen!

It took about four hours, but I finally got to ChaoZhou and met up with my new companion, and got my first view of ChaoZhou. I am back in the country! And it feels like home. I don't know why, but my first night here I couldn't stop smiling. Sister Bi must have thought I was crazy because they really don't have any investigators here (we've been spending all of our time trying to find formers, calling phones and tracting), but I'm just so excited for a new area and a new challenge. It is going to be really hard. We're starting from almost nothing, but I know that if we are diligent and faithful we will be able to see miracles.

The ward here is already incredible! Sister Bi was with a member when she came and picked me up. When I told this member that I only had about four months left on my mission and that I was most likely ending my mission in ChaoZhou she started telling me how sad she was and how much they were going to miss me. Then on Sunday the Bishop and his wife invited us over to their house for lunch. This is the first time the Bishop in my ward has made an effort to reach out to the missionaries. I really like them! They are very kind and really humble people who have strong faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

When I heard I was coming down to ChaoZhou every missionary started telling me how great this place was. Everyone calls it the "promised land." There has been a history for a while of a lot of baptisms coming from this area. As of right now Sister Bi and I don't have any investigators, but I'm excited for the chance we have to work hard and to see miracles just like the missionaries before us. 

Well, I honestly don't know what else to write. I'm glad you are all healthy and hopefully happy. I was so excited to see the snow! I hope there is still plenty when I get home. I miss the snow! 

Have a great week! Remember to look for the miracles given to us everyday! Sometimes they are hard to see, but they are always there.

With all my love,

Sister Fernley

Grateful for Corners

Here is Sister Fernley's message from last Sunday, November 16:

Hello everybody!

Hope this week was good. Jemma looks like she is having a blast with friends and in her gymnastics class. I loved those pictures, so cool! She always did love jumping around on things and hanging from bars. Do you think you are going to sign her up for classes after the trial?

Dad mentioned that it finally started getting cold! Is it me or did winter come late this year? It came later here as well, it is finally starting to get a little chilly. I pulled out the heater this morning during Personal study because my feet were cold. The floors everywhere here are tile. I discovered that's why they wear slippers inside all of the time; the floor is always cold which makes your feet cold. I also don't ever trust floors besides our own, I've seen how unsanitary people are here I trust their floors to be much better. 

So...I'm leaving! And as usual we were the last to find out. We had stake conference yesterday so we biked over to Taiping and ended up talking to some of the other sisters after we walked in. They looked at me and said, "you're moving!" I had no idea what they were talking about and told them, yea I probably was moving. Then they proceeded to tell us that apparently the zone leaders had sent out a text the night before that told everyone who was moving so that we could bear our testimonies in church. The sisters forwarded the text (that we didn't get) to us and sure enough my name was on it. We were told that everyone who is moving will be moving on Friday, so our P-day has been changed to Friday. Thankfully they still gave us our email time today. I was really grateful we talked to the sisters, because we were getting ready for P-day and would have gone on as normal. Then I would have really felt guilty. 

Anyway I'll be moving on Friday. We don't know where to yet, but I'm sure we will find out in the next couple of days. I'm excited, sad, nervous...all of the above. But where ever I go and whoever I'm with I'm sure I will learn a lot and see a ton of miracles. Sister Murdock is nervous to lead the area, but I know she will do great. I've been making her lead for the past three weeks and she's been doing just fine. I am completely fine with leaving this area in her hands. She has grown and improved so much in the past few months it's been incredible! Almost everyone who finds out she just finished training doesn't believe it because she seems like she has been here longer than that. She's great and I've learned so much from her. She has been an incredible friend and has supported me so much these past couple of months. She will be an incredible missionary!

This week I am so grateful for corners. For my whole mission I've been saying that "there's another miracles just around the corner." It always helped me keep going and have patience, but it never had so much meaning as it does after my time here in BeiQu. I have never gotten so close to wanting to give up and coming home. Its been hard with so many people around us everyday you would think the investigators would roll in, but they haven't. You would think because the elders who work in the office and only get a few hours a day to proselyte could baptize we could to, but we haven't. You would think that since I've been here for a good chunk of time I would know what I was doing, but honestly...I don't. These have been thoughts that have been running through my head the past three months almost everyday. And honestly if you would have talked to me a week and a half ago I would have told you I was ready to leave BeiQu and wouldn't want to come back.

But thankfully God is merciful and helps us get on the right track. I don't know what the change was this week, but the depression, sadness and lack of confidence slowly faded away this week. I feel like I'm myself again. I feel ready to face the world and could stay here for the rest of my mission if called to do so. This week after three months of not much progress we have seen miracles!

Sister Murdock and I have made a goal to try and make daily contact with our investigators. I had never done that before because I was too afraid of annoying them and being a 'weird' missionary. But the past couple of weeks we have been trying. Most days they don't answer their phones, but we do what we can. Yesterday as we sat down to follow-up with everyone we found out that a lot of our investigators are actually reading and praying! (It's funny how happy such a simple thing can make you.) 

We also got to talk to Sun Yu Hui. She was the referral that we met with last week who really wanted to know for herself if what we were telling her was true. We finally got a hold of her and she said she has been reading and praying. She said she feels like she has and answer and has found what she wants to believe! I will move out before we get to meet with her again, but we are really excited. She even lives in our area!

We set another baptismal goal with Yi Jun this week. We set it for Christmas, hoping that will give her enough time and maybe help her mom be more willing to let her get baptized (Christmas present?). She is a little nervous, but she just needs to take a leap of faith. She is still working on Personal Progress and is loving it. I love riding up to her stand and seeing her face light up when she sees us. It makes everything worth it. She had promised to try and come to church on Sunday to see me off, but unfortunately I will be gone before then. Hopefully she still comes anyway.

We met with Shi Yue again yesterday. We took Alexis with us and invited her to share her experience with feeling the Holy Ghost and receiving an answer. It was perfect. She talked about how she has felt the Holy Ghost so much more after she has been baptized, she also talked about how seeking an answer isn't just a one time thing. God wants us to be patient. Shi Yue started talking about how she believed that was true and that after baptism she would be able to feel more and have more strength to come closer to God. She understands things so well it's incredible. 

Then last night as we were finishing up planning the office elders called us and said, "we just moved your baptismal goal to a week B!" (For those who don't speak missionary that means her goal was moved from Christmas to two weeks away.) The elders are teaching her husband since his schedule is so different than Shi Yue's. Elder Flint is going home next month and has really wanted them to get baptized before he goes home. Apparently they talked about it with them last night and they agreed and set their own date for two weeks away! Sister Murdock and I were both shocked. I'm not sure if they can hit it, but we are going to have faith and pray a lot. It would be great if they did, it will help them so much.

I almost forgot! While we were sitting down with Shi Yue yesterday afternoon Sister Murdock heard some music coming from the other room. She recognized it as one of her favorite mormon messages (Because of Him, it's so good). We called her husband, Wang Dixiong, out and he had downloaded the gospel library onto his i-phone and was looking at the mormon messages. We watched a few together and as we were leaving he had gone onto the hymns section and was playing hymns from his phone. It was pretty great. (By the way the pictures of the lady with the baby was Shi Yue.)

Well that's about it for this week. We broke up with a less active this week. She hasn't progressed at all and we finally got brave enough to tell her we couldn't come back unless she decided to act. I felt just like the prophets in the scriptures calling someone to repentance. It's sad that we have to do it, but sometimes that's what it takes. Hopefully she comes around some day.

As far as a release date, thankfully I haven't received anything. I think they try to keep things pretty low key so we stay focused. It's so crazy that we are already talking about these kinds of things. It makes me excited and sad too. 

I am still planning on going back to BYU-I for the fall, so if you could start that that would be great. Let me know if I need to do anything. It is so crazy that everyone is coming home. It seems like we just left.

Well I'm just about out of time, and am running out of things to say. I hope you all have a good week! Work hard and stay strong. I will try to do the same. By this time next week I will be writing you from somewhere else!

Love you all!

Sister Fernley

Still in the city…for now

We received Sister Fernley's most recent message on Sunday night, and then today (Friday) we received a message from her mission president with her release date--already! March 18 is the big day!!! Time sure seems to have flown. In addition to her release date we were given this advice, which we thought we'd share with anyone else who might be writing to her:

"The last few months of a mission are the most productive time for missionaries. They have the maturity, language ability and teaching skills to be most effective in doing missionary work. However, sometimes missionaries can become distracted and lose focus as they contemplate returning home. Accordingly, I would like to suggest that your correspondence during the last few months of Sister Fernley's mission center on making the most of her remaining time as a missionary rather than on homecoming plans. Please address only the necessary issues of her return, then focus on encouraging her to finish strong in her missionary work. These last few months are very valuable and we thank you for your assistance in helping your missionary leave her vineyard of service without regret."

And here is her message from Nov. 9:

Dear Family,

Guess what!? I'm not moving! Well at least not today anyway. Today was supposed to be our move-call day, but the only people it is affecting are the missionaries that are going home this week. The embassies in the States decided about three months ago that they were only going to process ten visas total to Taiwan a month. So that includes the Taibei missionaries as well. To keep the story short we haven't gotten any new missionaries from America for the past three months, and with our missionaries ending their service and going home our missionary numbers are declining. 

Last week we got news that some of the missionaries would be able to come in next week, but that has been delayed another week. SO President just lengthened our current transfer and we are all on standby until the new missionaries come in. So I could be transferred out (it will most likely be me who is transferred because Sister Murdock just finished training! Usually trainers get moved out) next week, the week after, or somewhere in between. I got lucky and get a few more weeks in BeiQu. 

We've made some breakthroughs with Shi Yue and Yi Jun so I was a little sad to be leaving. It has to happen someday, but at least I got a little more time. 

This week we set another baptismal goal with Shi Yue! She accepted it and has been more willing and excited to accept a baptismal goal than I have ever before seen. We set it for Christmas, but are hoping she can get baptized earlier. She felt really good about that goal though and was pretty excited. She even started talking about how she really wanted this and how she wants her husband to get baptized with her. She has seen our examples and the kindness of our members and really wants that in her life. I almost cried there in the middle of our lesson. I've never worked so hard and had to overcome so many challenges with an investigator before. We've been though a lot with her, and we still have a while to go, but I hope it keeps going downhill from here.

We went back several days later and she told us later that night she told her husband that she wanted to get baptized. Their conversation went something like this:

Shi Yue: "Hey I want to get baptized. Do you want to get baptized with me?"

Husband: "Sure...wait... if we go and get baptized who is going to watch the baby?"

Taiwanese don't usually have a very good sense of humor, but its nice when you find someone who does. 

Anyway they even came to church yesterday. Shi Yue wore a dress and everything! And our ward was great and everyone took such good care of her. We didn't even really get to talk to her that much. 

Yi Jun is also doing great! I think I mentioned before that we've started going over to her work, helping her set up, then sharing a message with her. She is still reading, praying and obeying the commandments but still can't come to church. So we decided to get her started on Personal Progress to give her something to work towards and to help her progress in faith and in testimony. She's really excited and has already started.

Then on Saturday we stopped by, but she wasn't at their stand. We thought maybe they had taken that day off, so I started writing her a note that we could leave for her. While I was writing she showed up on the corner! To keep a long story short her mom was conveniently there as well so she ran into the shop and asked her mom if she could go out to dinner with us. Her mom gave her permission so we went out to eat. Then when we got back she gifted us some fruit that we ate with Yi Jun outside their stand. It wasn't much, but I think we might be making improvement with her mom. Hopefully we can keep having a good impression on her. 

AND...while we were out eating dinner I got attacked by this guy. Okay, well not exactly attacked, but I was very uncomfortable. We were unlocking out bikes and getting ready to go back to Yi Jun's shop when this heavy, super tan, really dirty, and a little bit crazy man saw us and pulled up to us on his bike. He asked if we were American. We were all a little weary, so I told him yes we were, and started getting ready to get on my bike. Then he grabbed my hands and started petting my skin, all while he was intently starting at me and mumbling about pretty Americans. I was legitimately freaked out and glanced over at Sister Murdock and Yi Jun who were moving to help intervene. The only thing I could think of, and maybe this is a bad thought process, was to pull out a tract and invite him to learn about the gospel. Most people seem to leave us alone when we do that (haha). So I was able to pull my hands out of his grasp and grabbed the scariest tract I could think of...the baptism one. 

It worked, he left pretty quickly. 

Yi Jun was super freaked out. I don't think she's ever seen anyone act like that before. We were pretty grossed out and I felt pretty violated, but I'm super grateful for baptism tracts.

On to more happy things. We got a member referral from one of the young men in our ward last Sunday and got to meet with her this weekend. She is about 16 or 17 and was really cool. She kept asking us questions about if we really believed and how we believed in the Gospel and that the Book of Mormon was true. She asked us how it has helped us and we were able to bear our testimonies to her about how we came to know this Gospel was true. When we talked about the Book of Mormon and about praying about it she stopped and asked, "can I try that? Can I read and pray about it too? Because I really want to know if what you are saying is true." 

I've never had anyone say that to me one my mission. It was incredible! So pray for her, pray that nothing happens and that she can recognize the answer that God has promised she can receive. We are excited to meet with her again this week. 

What else happened this week? Well...

-Sister Murdock finished Phase 1, so now we have to go out to Korean food (I promised her when she finished we could go at the beginning of the move-call)

-We are officially done with training

-I went to Taiping on exchanges and loved talking to Sister Parkinson, who has had a mission very similar to mine. It was good to talk to someone who really understands.

-We had another meeting with Lerma up her staircase 

-We had our english party and Sister Murdock and I decided to be Mexicans...thanks for the mustaches!

-We won the "most original" prize for the costume contest

-ZTM- November is Faith and Diligence month for the mission, we have activities similar to Power Week that they want us to try and accomplish

-we met a mute girl on the street who was super nice and took a Book of Mormon

-Alexis is going to be a duanchuan (short term missionary) for two weeks with Sister Anderson until the new missionaries come in. She is going to have to wear a skirt which will be fun to see. (She doesn't even wear one to church.)

-I found your prize in the cereal box, thanks! I think I might know who picked that one out.

Also, I decided to stop lying to myself. I am going to admit that sometimes I don't want to get on my bike. I don't want to talk to people. I get annoyed when people don't even acknowledge that I'm talking to them. I hate it when people seem to run away from me like I have a disease. I get sick of Taiwanese food. And I don't like being stared at, laughed at, and pointed at like we are some sort of attraction.

BUT I will also be honest and say that this has been the best year of my life. I have grown more than I could have ever imagined. I love testifying of Christ. I have loved my companions and have made some of the best friends here. I'm so grateful I could come here and learn. I'm so grateful for the hard times and the humility building experiences, because I have become better because of them. 

This week I read a verse in Enos that I loved it reads," And I saw that I must soon go down to my grave, having been wrought upon by the power of God that I must preach and prophesy unto this people, and declare the word according to the truth which is in Christ. And I have declared it in all my days, and have rejoiced in it above that of the world."

I haven't gone to my grave, but I have gone on my mission, and I have rejoiced in it above that of the world.

I love you all! I've got to go. Can't wait to hear from you next week!

With all my love,

Sister Fernley

Remember to keep looking for the miracles!

Dan Jones!

Here is Sister Fernley's message from last night (she mentions taking pictures, but it looks like she didn't send them this time--I will add them to this post when she does send them).

Update: We got the pictures and as you can see, they have been added.


Hello again! 

I loved reading your emails and seeing all the fun that was had on Halloween! Jemma's costume turned out great! Really clever. I'm glad she liked it. I liked your pumpkins and Halloween 'decorations.' I always show my companions the things that you do and all I can say is, "yep, that's my family." Haha I love it though. At least we've got personality right? Who likes being normal anyway? ( Not that our family isn't normal, just a different normal from everybody else :) ) Sister Murdock thought it was hilarious though, she even forwarded the pictures to her family, because she knew they would appreciate it.

I did get the package you sent. Thank you so much! I didn't really expect that since you just sent one for my birthday, but it was really fun! I even took some pictures to show I got it. :)

Halloween wasn't anything super special over here. Honestly any American holiday in Taiwan is super boring. We did go get giant bowls of bing (shaved ice with added fruit, milk, and chocolate) for dinner with Alexis to celebrate though. So that was fun. You are always super full until about half an hour after when you have to go to the bathroom every ten minutes, then you aren't full anymore and need to eat something else. We did also get to go visit Lerma again that night. She has been really busy lately, so we haven't had much opportunity to see her. She couldn't leave the apartment, and her boss was gone, so she had us come up to their door and we sat outside the door on some stools. She told us that the mom (her boss) was probably going to get home soon so when she came we would just grab everything and head up the stairs to some of the upper floors so she wouldn't see us. It was probably the most nerve wracking hour of my life. Every time we heard the main door open my heart skipped a beat. There was once Lerma had to step back inside to help the old man she takes care of, so Sister Murdock and I were left sitting on the stairs wondering if her boss would walk in while Lerma was gone. I've never seen her boss and don't know what her motorcycle would sound like, so I looked at Sister Murdock and said, "if we hear the door open we're grabbing the stools and the scriptures and going up." 

Sure enough a few minutes later the door opened and we booked it up the stairs and stopped a few floors higher up. It actually ended up being a couple of college age boys, who passed us on their way up. I couldn't help but laugh. It must have been confusing and slightly comical to see two white, sister missionaries, one sitting on a stool in the corner and the other clutching a few sets of scriptures still open with papers falling out, in the dark. We all just kind of stared at each other for a second before they moved on and I started busting up. 

Lerma came out a few minutes later and called us back down. We left shortly after that and I wasn't back at ease until we had ridden our bikes well out of the neighborhood. It was enough Halloween excitement for me for one day, to say the least.

We actually haven't been able to meet with Zhu Jiemei this week, but she did come to part of church this Sunday. She seems like she is still doing pretty well, we will see her again this week. We did get to meet with Xu Jiemei and talked to her about working on her family history. Sister Murdock and I recently have been learning a lot about how to use family history lately in our proselyting for part of her training experience, so we decided to give it a try. I think it could help her a lot.

The main event this week was the missionary work fireside held by our ward this week. They got the whole ward together for an Asian style pot-luck and then had everyone go out and do Dan Jones! They split the ward into two groups and had each companionship take a group out. We took our group right up to the entrance to the church. They asked us to give a demonstration and go first. Sister Murdock's Dan Jones experience was still a little too fresh I think, so I got to stand back up on, well a chair this time, and shout out my testimony again. It felt a lot different than the last time I did it (almost exactly a year ago). It wasn't as strange or scary. My Chinese is a lot better and I'm not as afraid to shout out my testimony anymore.

Anyway, that's not the point. After I did the demonstration the members started getting up one by one and bearing their testimonies to their peers. It was an incredible experience to see how the members faces lit up as they watched their friends and family members bear testimony of the gospel. Pretty much every one of them are converts, so I can only imagine the memories it brought back to them of their conversion experiences. There really was a special spirit there and I was so proud of our members!

One of our members, Xie Jiemei (the sister who feeds us a lot), even pulled Sister Murdock out to go contact the people across the street. I was watching them and she wasn't afraid of anything. They actually even had a woman come up to them and ask for a tract. We ended up getting her number, and hopefully we can find a time to meet with her and share more. 

We were also able to get back in contact with Yi Jun this week! We decided to go stop by her work and see if we could find time to sit down with her. After stopping by a few times we figured out what time is best for us to stop by. So now we stop by around 3:30 and help her clean and set up their stand (its a food stand that just has a bunch of meat, noodles and vegetables spread out. You can go put everything you want in a basket, and then they boil it, put some spices and some broth in it and serve it to you. It's actually really good, and healthier than a lot of other things here.) and then after everything is set up we usually get about fifteen minutes to sit down and share a message with her. She is still doing great and has a really strong testimony. Her only problem now is time. We are just going to have to wait for her mom's permission and until they can officially move back to BeiQu.

Shi Yue is doing great as well! Her progress is a little slower, but the past couple of days she has seemed a lot better. She has been having trouble lately feeling like she isn't accomplishing anything. (She went from being a team leader at her work to staying at home with a baby, and I think it's started to get to her. ) So last time I felt like I should invite her to write down one thing everyday that she feels like she did well that day. Two days later we called her and she told us how much better she felt and how much she had gotten accomplished. I was so happy. I'm really glad it helped and I'm so glad we had the spirit helping us know how to best help her. She told us that she really, really wants to come to church, but she still has to rely on her husband. She's doing great though, and feels so much happier than before.

We also got to meet again with one of the referrals from our member who works at the hospital. We went out to lunch with her and her son and got to share a little bit. I don't know how far we will be able to get with her, because she just kept talking about her god and the god her son likes and the god her husband likes. She even gave us the cards with pictures of their gods they they like. I put them in my bag and this morning asked Sister Murdock if she wanted some of them. She had said earlier that she wanted to put some in her journal. About half an hour later she walked into our room to grab something before we walked out the door and realized that both of us had turned the cards over on our desks so we couldn't see them. We decided to just throw them away because they were too creepy.

That's about it for our investigators, not a lot yet, but we are working on it and hoping for a ton of miracles up ahead.

One last story:

This Sunday we ended up not having any investigators at church and our less active that came left after about forty minutes. So the two of us were left sitting by ourselves and wondering what we did wrong this week. I was feeling a little depressed when our new ward mission leader (recently returned missionary) got up and started bearing his testimony. He quoted a scriptures so I grabbed my set to look it up. I turned to where I though he said it was, but couldn't find it anywhere. I decided to start reading the section anyway. Here is what I read:

 32 Verily, verily, I say unto you, as I said unto my disciples, where two or three are gathered together in my name, as touchingone thing, behold, there will I be in the midst of them—even so am I in the midst of you. 33 Fear not to do good, my sons, for whatsoever ye sow, that shall ye also reap; therefore, if ye sow good ye shall also reap good for your reward. 34 Therefore, fear not, little flock; do good; let earth and hell combine against you, for if ye are built upon my rock, they cannot prevail.

To say the least, it was a huge comfort. I know that as long as we are doing what Christ would do that is enough. I know that as long as we are doing good, we will be rewarded good in our lives as well. It may be now, it may be later, but we can trust in God and know that He will fulfill every promise that He has given to us.

Well I have to go! I love you all and can't wait to hear from you next week. Have an incredible week! Remember to see the miracles, and remember that I love you!

Give Jemma a hug for me!

With all my love,

Sister Fernley

Report from the city

Here is Sister Fernley's message from Oct. 26, 2014:

Dear Family,

I just uploaded the pictures from the temple last week! I love the temple, every time I go it gives me a boost to go back to my area and keep working. I'm so grateful for that gift in this last dispensation!

I also added a picture of on of Jemma's creations that she sent to me. Its now posted up on my wall. I was looking at it one night after planning and decided that those faces perfectly describe what a mission feels like. I feel like most often I'm the face with the eyes and mouth wide open not knowing what I'm doing. Every once in a while I feel like the upside down smiley face in the middle, but even though that happens sometimes the happy smiley faces greatly outnumber the upside down one. So, way to go Jemma! That was inspired. :)

This week was good. I honestly can't remember much, but that's what planners are for. I'm going to be so weird when I get home. If I forget my planner at home one day I feel lost until I get my planner back. It's going to take a while to adjust. 

You were saying I've been in the city for a while. It really does feel like I just got here, but I am almost done with my third move call here (about four and a half months). Sister Murdock is almost done with her second move call and we will be done with training after the next two weeks! So crazy how time flies! I feel like we just got together and I was just explaining everything included in our day to day missionary work to her. Now I don't have to do that. She has progressed so much! So many missionaries have told her that she doesn't seem like a new missionary and I completely agree. She has adjusted so well. Of course there were tears and stress, but everyone gets that. I'm so grateful I had the privilege to be here for her and help her get on her feet. What will most likely happen is that when these next two weeks are over I will be moved out and Sister Murdock's "breaker" will move in and she will lead the area. Nothing is set in stone, but I will probably in a new area in the next couple of weeks. I'll be sad to leave here and our investigators, but I think part of me is ready for a change. I'm secretly hoping I get moved back to the country. I like it better there. However, wherever I'm called I'll be happy to go. 

As far as investigators go most of ours are pretty mediocre investigators. The problem with the city is that no one has time! They can be super awesome and really willing to learn and do what you ask, but after the first couple of lessons (or even the first) they disappear because they don't have any time. Its frustrating! 

We did get to visit Shi Yue this week again. We were there for a little while, but we really wanted to figure out what her concern was. She believes these things are good and that what we teach is all good and will help her family. She knows she needs to do what we invite her to do, but she just never does. Mainly she just doesn't come to church. If we give her something to read she will do it and usually ends up teaching us when we follow-up. After a while of listening to her thoughts and feelings toward our message Sister Murdock turned to me and said, "we have to ask her if she knows the Book of Mormon is true." So I replied, "okay, go for it." 

We ended up finding out she has never prayed about it, so we invited her to read the testimony of Joseph Smith and then pray and ask God if the Book of Mormon was true. She accepted and really did do it, but still has no feeling or special thoughts, experiences etc. So we are stuck. I don't know where to go from here. I don't know what is stopping her from receiving an answer, but we are going to keep trying and keep visiting her. Hopefully sometime soon we will figure out what she needs to get her walking down the path again. 

I think I might have mentioned this last week, but Yi Jun has gone MIA lately and probably will be for a little while. We stop by her work and leave notes and scriptures for her to make sure she is still reading etc. We are praying that they can find a new house (in BeiQu) soon so we can keep working with her. 

We were able to meet with one of the girls we met last week again. We had a lesson planned, but she came in and started talking to us about some trials she is facing lately. She basically feels lost and doesn't know what she is doing with her life. We talked with her for about an hour and I hope what we said made a difference. But I think more importantly we were there to listen. I feel really honored that she trusts us enough to tell us what she did and express how she really feels. I hope we can help her, I've been there several times and know firsthand that the Gospel is the only thing that can give you real purpose and motivation in life.

As for investigators, that's about it. We did have some crazy miracles with less actives this week though! We've been meeting with a sister named Zhu Jiemei. She came into the church on her own one Sunday because she felt she needed to come back. We didn't recognize her, so we set up to meet and discovered that she was a less active. Apparently she left right after she was baptized and has declared herself as Buddhist since then. She has pretty much forgotten everything and teaching her feels like teaching an investigator. But the last few weeks we've been trying really hard to have more frequent contact with our investigators and less actives. We've been calling her almost every day and making sure she is reading and praying. This week we met with her and as she sat down she looked at us and said (in the most excited voice), "sister! I felt the Spirit! I really did feel the Spirit this week!" She was so excited, and so were we! She is developing her own testimony and having her own experiences in the gospel which is fantastic. Its funny how such a simple thing can be so exciting nowadays. 

We also met with a new less active this week that another sister contacted on the street. We called and she was extremely willing to meet..which usually doesn't happen with less actives. We got to know her and found out that she used to be a ward missionary and would go around with the missionaries all the time. Apparently she got in an accident and had to stay in the hospital for about a month and then never came back. I have no idea why though. She already seems super willing to come back and has no problem with her testimony in the gospel. I think she just needed a reminder from God to push her back onto the path. I like her a lot. She is a little awkward, but after church we spent some time talking to her about America and as I was describing fry sauce (in Chinese, it was difficult) she was laughing like it was the funniest thing in the world. I think we are going to become friends pretty quickly. 

Oh yea! I don't think I told you this on Tuesday. Monday I had set up a lesson with a contact we got from another missionary through our mission referral system. I had tried to set up with her before, but she stood us up. She called us back though and set up another time. So Monday we went over with our relief society president and got to sit down with her. Turns out she was so willing to meet with us because she is a member of a different Christian church and wants to preach "their gospel" to us and save our souls. She even started crying because God gave her this opportunity to save us. It was interesting, and irritating, because she wouldn't let us get a word in. We asked if we could pray with her and she decided to show us how she prays. It ended up being a whole ritual of babbling, clapping and chanting. It reminded me a lot of the investigator I had in Nantou who started babble praying on us. It was interesting. Who would have thought I would run into that as much in a prominently non-christian country?

One of the highlights of this week was the opportunity we had to go to the hospital in our area and visit a little two year old staying there. One of the members in our ward recently graduated from medical school and is doing his residency at the hospital by our church. He recently has also gotten super into missionary work and is giving us all these referrals. Its perfect really, they can't really go anywhere. (Haha, just kidding). Anyway he told us he was taking care of a little two year old girl who didn't have eyes or ears and just had a nose transplant. He asked us if we would go visit her, and we were happy to. She was adorable and I think she was genuinely happy we were there, even though she couldn't see us. It was hard to leave. She had such a sweet spirit! 

Well that about sums up our week. We're trying really hard to find new investigators, especially ones that have time. So your prayers would be much appreciated. I pray for you all every day. I'm so grateful for your support and encouragement. It keeps me going throughout the week. 

I know this gospel is true. I know that it is the greatest gift we could ever receive, and that we are blessed beyond belief that we were born in the gospel. I know God loves us and that He is always watching over us. I know He is a God of miracles and that that will never change. I know He knows what's best, even though we might not see it. I know He has put us here to learn, and that is our most important purpose here. I know He gave us our families to help us on this crazy path of life. I know He loves me incredibly because He gave me an incredible family that I am grateful for every day. 

Have a great week! Look for the miracles! And be grateful in every circumstance...they are all for our good. I love you all!

With all my love,

Sister Fernley

Temple Trip and a Midweek Message

We were blessed with an extra message from Sister Fernley this week--because she had to rush her first message because of limited time due to a temple trip, she was granted a bit more time later in the week to write more. We didn't mind at all!

Here's a link to the Taiwan Taichung Mission blog, where you can see photos of Tasha at the temple with many of the other missionaries in her mission.

And here are a few of the photos she sent:

Here's what she had to say:



We just got back from the temple! I love the temple! I've been lucky and haven't had a very long stint here where I couldn't go. I was only down south for four and a half months then got to go right when I moved back up to Taizhong. It is always so inspiring to go and feel the spirit there and be with all the other missionaries. I know I've talked about this before, but there is something special when a large group of missionaries get together. It's like an instant stress relief. You all get together and remember that you and your companion aren't the only two foreigners running around desperately trying to look like we know what we are doing in bringing these people unto Christ and helping them find their eternal salvation. You realize that there's a whole fleet of which you are a part of and we are all experiencing the same joys and the same rejection. It's comforting to say the least.

Well anyway, I was thinking on the bus ride back to Taizhong about what I've learned this week and how grateful I am for the hand of the Lord in our lives. He definitely sent us so many tender mercies this week to lift us back up on our feet and help us keep pressing forward. 

I mentioned briefly that we had interview with President this week, and it was much needed. Sister Murdock and I have been having a hard couple of weeks. If one of us wasn't breaking down or feeling depressed then the other one was. We were a little bit of a mess, but that's why we have companions right? I can't tell you how grateful I am for Sister Murdock. Lately I've been needing a lot of support and pep-talks and Sister Murdock has always been there. I told her the other day that when President called me as her trainer I didn't get a trainee, I got a companion. 

Anyway, back to interviews...We usually have planner and area book checks first with one of the assistants and one of our zone leaders. So we introduced ourselves, did the checks and right before we were done Elder Sumsion (one of our assistants) took some time and just really thanked us for the service that we've been giving and for the decision we made to be on the Lord's team. It was really simple, and he might have not thought that much about it, but it helped me a lot and was really touching. Sometimes I think I forget the big picture of what we are really doing, but it help to put me back on the right perspective. We are part of a vast army, not just of missionaries, but of members all around the world, and the work we are doing is the most important work we could do on this earth. And every little drop, every small contribution, every effort is great and is worth more than we could imagine. 

Then I was able to have my interview with President Blickenstaff. This is the first time I've been really struggling when I had an interview with him, and I know he could tell. He looked straight at me and I knew that he knew and that he wanted to help more than anything. You can just feel his love for the missionaries and his desire to help us. He said once, "You are the most important part of this work, now forget that and go to work."

Lately I've been having a hard time feeling like I haven't been helping this area or fulfilling my purpose like I should. While I was in my interview President looked at me and told me that he felt and that God felt that I was fulfilling my purpose on my mission (despite the fact that I didn't tell him anything about that concern.) Then Sister Murdock was telling me after her interview that she was a little nervous about taking up President's time and feeling like she shouldn't bother him with silly concerns, but as soon as she walked in and sat down President Blickenstaff told her that he has time for all of us, and he never wants us to feel otherwise. It was really cool, and so inspiring! I'm so grateful for the leaders and the support we have here, we couldn't do it without them.

Then the next day we went to go visit Shi Yue. We had a lesson planned, but she ended up talking to us most of the time and encouraging us in our missionary work. She talked for almost an hour about how we shouldn't feel discouraged if we don't get baptisms or think that what we are doing isn't having any effect, because it does and what we have done for her has already helped her a lot. She talked about how she believes what we are doing is one of the best things we could do and how much it is going to influence our future lives and the lives of our children when we come home. It was really nice and actually really surprising coming from an investigator. She really understands! I just hope some day she will actually feel it. But I felt that that lessons wasn't for her, that lesson was for us. 

Then we have been blessed to meet some new incredible people and start teaching them the gospel. We've been weeding out our investigator pool and focusing more on finding new people to teach who will progress. Heavenly Father has been helping us for sure. 

As far as Shi Yue and Yi Jun are they haven't really progressed much the past week or so. Yi Jun is actually staying with other family until they can find a new house in BeiQu, so we can't really meet with her and she can't come to church so that's disappointing. But she is starting the Book of Mormon over again! Shi Yue is getting there, very slowly, but getting there. The ward is being great and has offered to read scriptures with her and have been calling her and following up on her scripture reading (per our request). The member referrals we've received have been AOL this past week. Hopefully we will be able to get in contact with them this week.

And as another side note...a year ago today was my last day in the MTC. I've almost been on island for a year! How crazy is that! I keep getting reminded how long I've been here and what little time I have left. It's precious, so I hope I can make the most out of it and cherish every moment.

I just got to keep looking for those miracles!

Have an incredible week! Love every minute!

Sister Fernley