Elder Packer!!!

Yes that is right Elder Packer came to TAIWAN!!! but.. it was Alan Packer and not Boyd K Packer but I personally think that it is almost just as cool to have the son of an apostle here and shaking my hand!!! He taught all of us missionaries about family History and how important it is. He then extended an invitation to us all so I am now following through.

 

I would like to share a precious family memory I have. This memory takes place in my Grandmother Thornley's house. My sister Alicia and I would often run over next door to avoid any boring house choirs our mom would inevitably assign to us if we were in sight so we would run for safety to play at our Grandmothers house. We would run up into her upstairs and dress ourselves in the fancy old hats, gloves, pins, clip on earings, rings and any other goodies we could find. Then walk back downstairs and sit in front of our grandmother as we would pretend to be her visiting teachers there to share a message. I remember she would instruct her granddaughters to always remember we are beautiful and Beauty is as Beauty does. Her counsel and love for me to always act as I would have others see me has become significant counsel in my life. What a perfect example she was of this saying. I saw her faithfully attend church every week until her body was no longer able to do so. I am grateful for the touching experience it was to live with her the last year of her life and see her beautiful spirit each day as she would so lovingly counsel me her grandaughter as I would leave or come home from the day to day life. I know that God has given us family to help us, to love us,. and to teach us of the relationship we have with him. We are not just creations. We are his Children. He loves us he wants to counsel and to guide us just as our parents and grandparents here do. Look around and reflect upon the precious moments you have had with your family. And know that they are a gift from Heavenly Father to help us learn of what it was like for us before we came to this earth. I testify it was not much different.

 

This week was a great learning experience for me to conform my will with the Fathers. There were many hours where we worked and thrusted with seemingly no benifits or profits. But as I read in my studies this morning the field is white already to harvest. I know that this work is no longer a time of planting. The planting has been done and the members of the church are now called to the labor of harvesting! Each effort is not wasted! Its all a part of harvesting.

 

And for the funny moment of the week from Taiwan this week as my companion were preparing for our english class we were deciding to share the story of Jonah and the whale. And conforming our will to the Lords. Then for some reason I said something along the lines of- yeah or else we get swallowed and then spit out later to go do it anyways! To which Sister Gruwell responded- "Wait what! Jonah was not spit out! He came out of the spout!!!"" Haha now I extend one last invitation to you all. Go and ponder for a moment at what that would look like for a grown man to pop out of the spout of a whale... :) I love you all have a great week!!

 

-Sister Thornley

Oh also the other part of Elder Packers invite was for me to ask you all to share a family memory that you all have :)

debeigaowa!!!

(start paying attention to the subject titles) Some good old Taiwanese for you all!!! this week I saw a huge miracle come from me being a little odd and talking to a random girl to ask her if I was saying a random thing I heard on the train in Taiwanese correctly. Here in Taiwan they have 4 main languages Chinese, Taiwanese, English and some other that I havent figured out yet. So when we are on the trains traveling to and from our areas vast locations we will often hear these four languages spoken to tell us which station we are at. So I picked up on one "debeigaowa" but I wanted to make sure I was saying it right and if I had the right meaning. So I casually strolled up next to a young girl and asked her, Hey am I saying this right? And does it mean quickly arriving at..?!" Yes her face was quite precious to see and the miracle about it is that we then we are able to teach her a lesson say prayers with her and schedule a next time to meet with her!!! I know that this work can be done so easily! IT DOES NOT HAVE TO FEEL FRIDGED AND STIFF!!! Please please you guys do your part and talk to someone about the gospel the Lord will provide a way!!!

This week I finished the book Our Heritage and in there it teaches about all the prophets in the latter days. Every single one of them emphasized the importance of members being missionaries please heed the words of the prophets. You can do it. Pray for an experience and then dont be scared when it comes. It can be so easy as asking someone how to say something in a strange language. ;)

Alright now due to Mom's letter to me just barely I am going to tell you all of the cute investigator we are teaching right now. Her name is You2 rei3 jia1 (the numbers are the indicator of the tones so you can say her name right in your prayers) Okay, so she is a 19 year old girl and I love her to death! She is so amazing and has now just been taught all of the missionary lessons!! Her baptism date is set for the 4th of January but if she cant get her job to change her work schedule so she can come to church she will not be able to make the date so please pray for her. Okay so why am I telling you this because mom just wrote me that she just killed a mosquito on a Sunday! Now you all need to understand my mom  is the cutest woman ever and tries hard to not kill even mosquito on Sunday and rather brushes them off than slap them. But today she just slapped one! Okay so this is too ironic because yesterday we taught Rei3 Jia1 the ten commandments and on the commandment of thou shalt not kill i teasingly asked her do you have any problems with that and she looked up at me and was like, "can we not even kill mosquitos?" HAHAHA!  So... :) Yes I think this is very funny coincidence. Too cute!

OKay so fun fact here in taiwan there are 7-11's everwhere!!! which is nice and convenient cause they usually have toilets and not just squaty potties. Well one day this week we went to visit a member who lives kind of far away ish and suddenly I needed to use the restroom but the member wasnt home!!! ZAO GAO (messy cake) so my companion and I decided to walk around the corner to go to a place where I could use the bathroom convinced because we were in Taiwan it would be very close. Well... unfortunately there was NONE then to torture me we even passed a store that sold toilets but wouldnt you know it their was no one in sight all but a little dog. So we kept walking and finally got to a 7/11. I learned my lesson. Never walk to a bathroom ALWAYS use the bikes!! Our bathroom break ended up making us take an hour to walk to and back!

Alright and now for the spiritual cool share- Last night we went to visit an investigator that chu jie mei and I had taught but she stopped meeting with us for a while. Last night we were able to go to her house again after months of no contact. I was saddened to hear how terrible of a life she had and yet how great of faith she had been demonstrating even when we werent able to meet with her. She had been praying with her son at night to help his nightmares stop from a horrifying experience that had happened to him. And I was touched by the love she had for her son. The miracle is that the day before when we were planning what to share with her my companion and I both had odd impressions to share with her some passages from Isaiah. We were not sure why or how this would help but with faith prepared. The revelation was revealed to us as we shared with her 1 Nephi 21:15-16 and then 1 Nephi 20:10. We encouraged her faith and ensured her that the Lord has not forgotten her and that she has been chosen to endure those trials to strengthen her faith. We then were able to set a new baptismal date with her for the 21st of December. Which I have just learned is my nephew Easton's baptism as well! I am so grateful for the Lord and so privileged to be here sharing the good news.  I am so happy I will not be far from attending my nephews wonderful day as I attend a baptismal service here in Taiwan as well. I love you all. This work is so wonderful and I know the Lord is providing ways for us all to help others accept the gospel!

Love, Sister Kimberly Thornley

Hi, my last name is Thornley. Sister Thornley.

Haha so the subject line describes my new companionship quite well! Don't you even worry anyone I LOVE my new companion! Sister Gruwell is amazing and having an American companion is way fun as we are able to better be funny in english than in Chinese. Our main source of humor comes from translating our very common sentences we say from contacting into English. Such as the subject line. Here it is very common to ask their surname before their first as everyone here already calls everyone like how the church does as if we are all family so you ask the last name and then they will call them little sister or aunt or uncle. So imagine this- we pull up on our little bikes adust our skirt back down brush our hair out of our face turn with a big smile and happily say, "HI! Where are you going?! they then reply quite astonished we are foreigners talking to them. we can see their are trying to figure out why and what we are so we happily tell them, "I am a church missionary! My last name is Thornley, Sister Thornley! Whats your last name? They then tell us and we smile again and say, Well thats a great name! Do you have a special religion (last name) aunt?" Yep thats about how my day goes here!!! I LOVE it!!!

 

This week was so incredible and I am seeing so many amazing miracles coming from all the hard work we have put into this area. I want to share a few of them with you. So this week My bike started making a weird noise but we were in a hurry to catch the train we had no time to stop and look at what was going on. I knew the Lord would protect me and that I would arrive safely despite the bikes issues. The next day we returned to YiLan from Loudong and needed to use our bikes which we had left in YiLan to get to our next appointment that would be impossible to walk to. When we got to our bike my tire was completely flat. I was discouraged and frightened. I need to lead the area my companion has only been in YiLan once before and I was completely at a loss as to where we could find a bike shop to fill up my tire. I began to ponder on the danger it would be to use the bike anyways and had faith the Lord would allow me to get to our appointment because after all he created the world he could create a tire! then my companion who is much more realistic than I suggested we would say a prayer to know where to go to find a shop. I was scared. I didnt know where one was and I could not think of anyway to fix this. But as Sister Gruwell began to offer a prayer my mind was instantly opened to a rememberance as I clearly saw two bicycle shops in both the directions we could take to get to our appointment. As soon as the prayer closed I told her what happened and that the fastest shop was to our left. We arrived at the shop and were able to get my tire filled with air and arrived early to our appointment. But thats not all. After the appointment we came back out and of course the air was again gone. This time we turned to a shop owner and asked where the nearest bike shop was he looked at us strangely and then said, Its right next door. And sure enough three steps in front of us and we were at the next shop. He told me I needed a new tire and he would fix it in the next 15 minutes. So we were going to be late again... But then we saw a girl sitting on a bench across the road. We went and talked to her. She had great interest we gave her a book of mormon and she commited to coming to church the next sunday. .I know the Lord will give us miracles. I know he will only give us trials to help us see his hand. I invite all back home to reflect upon this. Among the trials and hard times. The Lord will not leave you! Turn to him allow the trial to do what it is inteneded to do that is to help you become more like Christ. How could we learn to turn to him if we do not ever feel backed up against a wall with no where else to turn but to him.

 

The next miracle I want to share with you all is... hmmm I have so many but I cant type fast enought to write them all to you. Lets see... OH! Okay so we ride our bikes so so so fast here as missonaries always racing to the next place we need to go but I set a goal to never not contact a person on the street! So I quickly say hello to everyone I can as we ride. We were coming back to the train and it was important we got to that one because it allowed us to bring our bikes back home but we passed another foreigner man sitting on a bench I slowed a little said hello and asked how he was but kept going. My companion then stopped behind me to give a flyer quick to a young girl. I Turned back and heard a mans voice in english saying, "well you must be missionaries." I turned and saw it was the man I said hello to. I said, "yep! We are the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints missionarys I am sister Thornley how are you?!" He smiled and then said I am Elder Tommy i am a member of your church. He was from Finland touring Taiwan. What an incredible miracle to meet a foreigner who was also a member of our church! We had a very interesting talk shared a scripture said a prayer and then had to leave for our train. which we missed. But another was soon and it also took bikes.

 

The Church is growing! the work of the Lord is hastening and we should all be grateful to be a part of it! do all you can now to help the work grow it is spreading across the earth!!!

 

 I love you all and my prayers are with you!!!

 

-Sister Thornley

 

*funny note, So in my personal study this mornign I was reading in Isaiah I was super lost as to what he was talking about and then I thought, "Man I am just like the pirate in pirates of the Carabiane when I read Isaiah, "It's the Bible you get credit for trying!!"" keep studying it will make sense one day!

Transfers

Wow I can't believe another week has past and that I am now "done" with training. However I am not so foolish to think that I am done being trained. I know this life is an entire training and I am willing to continue to learn. I am so grateful for the lessons I have learned from my last companion Chu Jie Mei. I am so grateful for the Lord bringing us together and helping us build a strong and dear friendship. I learned so much about becoming like Christ from her.   I have been called to stay in YiLan! I am so gratful to be here for another transfer and be able to help the people here come unto Christ. I love YiLan and I am gratful to still be here. My new companion is... AMERICAN! Sister Gruwell from Texas! She is 20 years old blonde hair blue eye and full of love for Christ and this work. Already I am learning from her. We are going to need to set some really high language goals as we are both coming from ben di ren companions so we do not want our chinese to get worse just cause we can speak english. My last companion Chu jiemie is the TEMPLE SISTER and cool relation is that sister gruwells trainer also became the temple sister after training her. SO basically something big is in store for this new companionship! So I am having a new experience!! Sister Gruwell is amazing and I can already tell I am going to learn so much about love and how to serve with charity from her. I will admit this week was so stressful. I really felt as though I had done NOTHING when I was being trained to learn how to do a DPS or WPS or teach or contact! I felt so stressed and worried. And then I realized I was scared because I was trying to impress my new companion. My concern should be toward the Lord. And it is not me. The Lord will direct this area and we are merely the tools he is going to use. I admire my companion so much. Our second day here together we had literally NO set ups for the first time ever on my mission and I had no idea what to do in that situation. So we knocked and contacted and walked. I was so grateful for her good attitude of endurace and good attitutde. While I was concerned with killing off my new companion I realized her true love for the Lord and doing his work in whatever way is necessary even if it means we are contacting the entire day! I am already learning from her and grateful for her service. We had a very amazing experience. We were at the trainstation doing some more contacting until our train came and we decided to go talk to a woman. Well on the other side Sister Gruwell began to talk to another woman who was from China. And suddenly next thing we knew there were at least twenty chinese people siting talking laughing wondering who we are what we are doing why we could speak chinese. They asked us questions and though they were not so concerned with our answers my companion was impressed to sing to them in their own language. So, we sang Silent Night. I have a firm testimony of the power of song and the blessing it is. The spirit it brings. I am not ashamed of this gospel! It was out of my comfort zone I felt odd but as I felt the Spirit. I knew! THIS IS TRUE! Perhaps they will not look us up or learn more but they know who we are. We are Mormons and one day when China will open they will recieve the missionaries. This week was one of learning. To really trust the Lord. He will guide this work despite the weaknesses of man. And I am confident that Sister Gruwell and I are going to become disciples and servents of the Lord and help YiLan progress. I love the Lord. And I love this gospel!   -Sister Thornley

Dongtian

Yes, Winter does happen here... so that would have been nice to know when I was purchasing clothing! Haha no worries I am holding up fine and I do have a few warm things to wear! The weather here now is a cold rain but it is not too bad so long as we really try to stay as dry as possible. But the Lord is strengthening me so that I am not getting sick from it!

 

This week was really awesome! We met again with Zhang Caroline- yes that is what we call her- and she is so great! She has now read 1 and 2 Nephi and is FINDING ANSWERS!!! We retaught of Joseph Smith by watching the restoration film which I think really answered some questions also she now thinks I live in a grove of beautiful trees.. ah well. But she commited to kneel and pray about Jospeh Smith to know if what we are teaching is true. I know so long as she continues to read from the Book of Mormon she will indeed recieve and know that this is true and that Heavenly Fathers church is again on the earth!! We also met with a Cho Jiating (Family) We had planned to teach lesson three which is the doctrine of Christ. Well, essentially it went well. We had a member present which I am again greatful for. Although at times it is a little interesting. The end of the lesson ended up being the three of them mincing words about why baptism is necessary why people who dont recieve baptism should be judged less harshly and what would happen if someone recieved baptism and then didnt follow the commandments. I have really learned a lot about listening. I am not able to say much especially when its a battle of words because its too fast for me to keep up. But I have learned a lot from my listening that missionaries really need to work on this. I saw when we respond too fast without fully understanding the question they just asked it gets really messy really fast. I am so greatful the Lord sent me speaking another language so that I am learning how important it is to not talk. BUt listen. Ask questions and listen some more.

 

This week I also had the opportunity to go up to Fulong and with an investigator do a huge hike! Taiwan is SO beautiful. It was raining but that turned out to be a huge blessing because it was a cool temperature for the hike which it a bigger blessing than I could appreciate! So yes, it is just like in kung fu panda when asains climb up a mountain they climb up steps. Yep. The hike was hundreds and hundreds of stone steps up the mountain! It was a very different hike than I have ever been on. And mom its good you are not a missionary here I dont think you could have kept the rule of not playing in the water. The rivers and waterfalls were GORGEOUS! If you can goolgle fulong and dali look at the distance and some pictures. We came from fulong to dali. It was really fun and a nice way to reflect on the beauties of the earth and remember how great the Lord is. Haha but man am I out of shape! Using our bikes the past few days have really been a painful experience for my companion and i because our legs are so sore! HAha but as I always say the Lord is strengthening us and we are able to everyday wake up and do it all over again.

 

So I am finishing my training! Yes no longer a greenie!!! Oh wait. K no yes I am but I will be getting a new companion and maybe a new area this week! I am going to really miss my sweet little companion. I have learned so much from her and have really come to love and admire her. Isn't it weird- I have spent 3 months of my life with her every minute of everyday and now that we are going to be changing companions I may never see her again. THe mission really is an interesting perspective. But I love it so much and am really growing and seeing how much the plan of our Father effects us every day.

 

I love you all and am greatful for your support and prayers. Know you are also in mine! May you have a wonderful week!

 

-Sister Thornley

Oh The Rain!

 Dont you get me wrong I LOVE the rain so very much its really nice to be wet not from my own water if you know what I mean. And It really is way fun to ride bikes in but it stinks to contact in because NO ONE IS OUTSIDE!!!! The taiwanese are afraid of the rain so when it rains and all we have to do that day is contact well it makes us feel a little unproductive which is not a good feeling as a missionary. Anyway, Taiwan is so great!!! This week was awesome!!!

 

This week We got qin ke'd twice which means members payed for our meals which is fun because they take us expensive places and it tastes REALLY REALLY good!!! At one of the members dinners I made my first big Chen lao shi moment. We were talking about how americans have more wrinkles on their eyes than taiwanese I said its because we laugh and smile more than they do. To which our member agreed and began talking about how so many people there have depression and how hard it is. Well then she started touching her eyes where the laugh wrinkles would be and then said my husband has it too. So I of course respond "Oh how great!!!" thinking she was meaning her husband must laugh a lot too if he had the wrinkles... well I got a very interesting look from her and my companion. To which my companion starting laughing hard and tells me, "you jsut did a chen lao shi!" Turns out she was not meaning her husband has wrinkles. She was saying he has depression.   So... okay yep I am still a greenie. And the Chen lao shi refrence is to my MTC teacher who made a simalar mistake :) I am so grateful that I think she is the best missionary ever and I can make the same mistakes as she does! must mean I am off to a good start!!!

 

As for other adventures this week, We saw so many miracles!!! We did a district fast and finding this week which proved so great for us YiLan Sisters!!! We really devoted our hearts and minds to talking TO EVERYONE but whats the miracle is that it was not when we were finding that we found. The actual finding was a little discouraging but each time (we did it twice) we had one girl each time so two come up to us as we ended our finding and seek us out. Talk about miracles. The one girl is you rei jia pronounced- yo ray jia. She is such a miracle! We had contacted her weeks ago on the street and invited her to english class but she never came or so we thought. Turns out she had come but didnt see anyone there so left. And she saw all of us missionaries ending and reporting on our successes and recognized my companion and I and came up and appologized she didnt come. Anyways we were able to set up with her and teach about Heavenly Father and families and give her a Book of Mormon! I am very hopeful on her and we believe she will be prepared to recieve baptism before Christmas! But it will take a lot of prayers!! Good thing I have been so strengthened in my faith of prayers here. \

 

The work is amazing. I find so many joys from it and I love it so much.

 

-Sister Thornley

Rainy Monday

So its a really good thing that I love the Rain here so much! And dont worry I am keeping my hair covered so it wont fall out from the acid! Yep thats right if you don't keep your hair covered I am told it will eventually fall out and you will be left having what they call a bright head as the light would be reflected off of the baldness. So that is that! It really is so cool when it rains here there are three types I have seen first is Tsunami rain which is so crazy huge and hard it could knock you off your bike! The second is small small rain drops that come down by the GaGILLIONS! So even though its so small you still get completely wet in less than a minute! And third is whats happening right now, a heavy rain that is not as hard as tsunami but bigger raindrops than the second I described. But I really do love it so much! I think its beautiful and after you get past the point of no return of wetness its fun! Also It is a nice conversation starter- my past contacts have often started with, "HEY!!! Do you like the Rain!!!??!?! (Its funny because all taiwanese people HATE the rain) So I know their answer ahead but it still cracks me up to see their faces twist in confusion as to why on earth I would ask such a question, this is a great lead into "Well I am from America and we dont have rain like this I think its BEAUTIFUL!!!" This usually makes them smile because I love Taiwan so much! Its also really easy to then tell them why I am here and bring up the Gospel! 

  This week was really great! We went to a less actives house and made some american food with the Elders and their family! IT WAS AWESOME! WE had BLT's and Omelets! Yum! She is really great and so generous. This week we really tried to get a good all around missionary experience so I mean we really tried to get good amounts of each key indicators Kyle can tell you what that means. 

  I also went off roading for my first time EVER!! We had kind of not planned our lessons well and had one lesson on one side of Loudong and another right after on the other... Well so we were hurrying as fast as our little legs would let us and then we tried to connect two roads together... which got us a little lost so :) My companion wanted to turn back but I saw a nice little dirt road and started peddling on! I've been told over and over if your not having fun your not doing it right so I was determined! And it proved productive!  We quickly found the road we wanted and I had an adventure! The lesson we went to was with a Cho Jia Ting (A family) which would pass as our most difficult investigator. And his Chinese is so gao ji (high?? no good translation) and so I am totally lost most of the time. So last week I prayed so hard to feel the spirit and be able to teach SOMETHING so before I left I bore my testimony of the Book of Mormon and of Jesus Christ which at the time I felt good! Until we came back this week. It was my first time of really being scolded in chinese. He told me bluntly I had offended him in my testimony and felt I was accusing him of not knowing the things I had said were to be true. Well, needless to say I depended a lot on the Savior to help me know how to look at him so he could understand my compassion and that that was not what I had intended to do at all. It was really hard to hear that from what I had felt the Spirit was prompting me to do. But I know I can not get shy about bearing my testimony I know that this is the Lords work and he wants me to be bold. My purpose is to share what I know and I do that through bearing my testimony. 

  I had another fun experience for service this week of gardening at the church with Dong jie mei. Well I ask you all to try gardening in a dress. Its not easy. But it was exciting! Also this week I was really grateful for my English abilities. We teach an English class every week here for a finding effort which scares me to death because I have no idea how to teach English I just know how to speak it! Well one of my students came up to me with a homework assignment he had from College. He asked me to read over it and give him suggestions. Well it was a science paper and I didn't understand most of it so he tried to explain it to me and I did the necessary corrections according to his broken English to me... Well come to find out that was a research paper he was submitting to a graduate college to apply there. So yep my prayers were very great towards his professor that night. So scary! Haha He is also an investigator for the church but I don't get to meet with him because well he is a he. His name is Eric and he really is so great I know this gospel can really help his life and his goals! This gospel really does have the capability to change our lives because it should be the focus of our life! I invite you at home to get to know the missionaries. Pray for them by name and ask them to tell you about two of their investigators and their situation and then pray for them by name too. Its not just an invite from me but from an apostle of the Lord. Until you know them by their name and face you can't know their heart. Believe me the missionaries and their investigators NEED your prayers. Well this is all for this week I love you all a lot and hope you are all doing well... also I am looking for Christmas Gifts for you all but I don't know if I will send them home in a package or just bring them home with me to give to you next year at Christmas!!!

-Sister Thornley Yao Jie Mei

Baptism!!!!!!!!!

This week I learned that this work is completely worth it because WE HELPED A GIRL RECIEVE BAPTISM!!!!

Her name is chen you ting I told kyle about her a little already she is such a miracle and I love her so much! She is really amazing. She is 18 years old and a college student. She was so prepared to hear the gospel and willing to accept every aspect of it. I was so happy for her when she came out of the font all wet and smiling! But the coolest was when she recieved the gift of the Holy Ghost. We were really worried beacause we had no way of contacting her because her cell phone had broke and she had not shown up and it was 10 minutes into the meeting. My companion and I both agreed we had never prayed harder for her and as she walked in I felt testimony that this really is Heavenly Fathers work and he will provide a way for his children to recieve these necessary ordinances. I know this work is of God and that if we will trust him he will provide miracles. I was reading of Alma and really this work could get done with out us. If God really wanted he could easily provide undenyable proof that he is God and teach us all the ways himself but that is not how it is done. Rather he allows us to grow. And I love him for that. I am grateful for the opportunity he has given me at 19 years of age to be here seeing these miracles and coming closer to him.

 

This week was a bit cold here. As it is starting to rain and have wind. So its still warmer than there but its a chill kind of thing because we get wet and then are biking.. anyway I learned to dress warmer. I went on an exchange with the Sister Training Leaders this week and wow what an amazing experience that was! I learn so much from other missionaries and their ways of teaching. Also I have discovered Taiwans most precious store- Mian bao dian! Bread shops!! They are little bakery's FULL of fresh delicious breads and they are so cheap!!!! So yes America, you are lacking my friend. I really love Taiwan so much I really feel a part of it now and even though I really stick out I feel so at home.

This week I saw many miracles with the Language. I was discouraged because my training is almost up and I do not feel qualified to train as the goal for all new misisonaries is now to be able to train after 12 weeks of training. My companion expressed to me her hopes for me and as I prayerfully asked the Lord what he expects of me in the next and last 3 weeks of my training I felt assurance that the Lord would help me and even thought I may not be called to train I will be qualified if I do my part and work hard. I saw the gift of discernment of tongues begin to be given to me and I am so thankful for a Father in Heaven who will help me when I need it.

 Oh and p.s. everyone yes I like the food now :) Some of it I still cant eat but for the most part I now can and like the food I am given! In fact I am needing to start to be more careful because I dont want to return with more of Kimberly than what I left with if you know what I mean! Which if anyone loves me a lot and wants to send me some excersize routines I would not oppose :) You are all amazing I love ya lots!

- Yao Jie Mei!

Catching Up

So everyone I am doing very well and I love Taiwan so much! Its kind of weird. The first two weeks I was like, "WHOA Im in Taiwan!" And now every once in a while I'll see something super Asain and I'll be like huh thats kinda funny I saw that in a movie once and then I'm like, OH yeah! I'm in Taiwan! For instance the movie Karate Kid the new one shows a park that the boy goes to in China look at the little toys they use they are REAL and they are not toys- they are excersize equipment... so yes I am still working on figuring out why all the people here are so small when they eat the way they do and excersize on those... Mystery.

 This last wednesday we had a Halloween party! So not only am I a whole day ahead of you but already far ahead in celebrating holidays! Dont worry everyone the future looks good! The party was because of our English Class. A way of contacting and serving for us here is by teaching a free english class every week and on the 6th week we have a culture party to let them learn a little bit more about our culture which also turns out to be really fun for the missionaries as we get to have a piece of our home here in Taiwan. And can I just quickly say that the whole "fun" of being scared is really confusing. For a part of the activity they told scary stories thankfully in Chinese so I didnt really understand completely but I had an Elder translate for me and even though it wasnt complete I was still scared- needless to say I do not like the feeling and I would much rather just feel safe and protected. Yep! But no need to fear I am in the safest country in the world! Where the missionaries have body gaurds attend us at all of our meetings! Haha! So at every lesson we have a goal to have a member present and for one we invited a member from the Bishop uh... rick ba? And we found out at the end of the lesson she had thought the whole time he was our body gaurd! Uh, whoops. Guess we didnt introduce him very well! Ha! good thing the people here are so forgiving!

   I am really blessed. I have an amazing companion who says very funny things and I wish you could all hear her because it would make your day. I will share with you one of my more favorite things she said this week. We were in companionship study and I had just finished sharing what I learned in my personal study from the Book of Mormon and she looks at me suddenly and says. "Yeah! I think, Why does the Book of Mormon not have how thier love stories in it!" Haha I was a bit confused as to how that went into her mind but I am glad it did because I laughed pretty hard for a while about it. I am finding that Taiwanese people think a lot faster than American people do and I am often trying to catch up to her pace of thinking so I can understand why she is saying the things she is saying I think this will help me a lot in life as I am finding maybe its not that they are fast but that I am slow! :) A learning experience everyday. And I am so so grateful to have a companion that doesnt speak crazy good english. Because we stayed at another sisters appartment for one night this week and they were two from America. I think it would be very tiring to come back home after a day of misison work and have to do so much more communicating! I am really grateful for the time I have to be quiet at home and be content with small sentences. We do talk dont get me wrong but it is really nice that we both value our personal time to ponder and think about the day. yes so thats that.

   This week I learned a lot about family history and why it is so so important! Please do it. I had never really thought much about how it is a part of missionary work until recently, and IT IS! I was thinking about how frustrating it is here when we have a super prepared investigator to receive baptism but cant because her family opposes and then I realized how frustrating it must be for the missionaries in Doctrine and Covenants 138 who have taught all those people who are so ready and willing to make covenants but cant because we have not yet done their work! Please do family History. I know it is a part of the work that Heavenly Father intends to be hastened. Use the technolodgy we have to do the Fathers will. I know your lives will be blessed as you help in hastening the work of the Lord. I love you all and am grateful for this gospel!

- Sister Thornley Yao jie mei

 Some Random Asian Writing in the Sand

 Chinese Writing In The Sand

 The Ocean and Mountains

 The Train to the Ocean

Temple

Hey everyone sorry this week is going to be really short because this week we got to go to the temple!!!!! So my p-day was moved to wednesday and because we live so far away we have very little time for any other p-day stuff but I will try my best to get a good letter written adn forgibve my spelling I am typing faster than I can correctluy bit I dont have time to fix it so,,.. use your imagination!

 

Alright So okay everyone yes Conference was AMAZING I am so thankful the Lord has provided us with the technolodgy that I could watch it in my own language although my companion for one session was not so lucky as we got reproved from our district leader at a split so we could both watch it in our native tongue... so... yeah that was a bit awkward and I am so grateful for Chu Jie Mei being so amazing and better at english than I am at chinese so that I could watch it in english!!! And can I just say that everyone really needs to build their testimonies because ocbioulsy something big is going to come with the push for missionary work we are all really called to this work and the Lord needs us to do it so that well yeah we just need to do our part okay?! It was really neat seeing how really watching with real intent changes the way the message is heard. I recieved so many answers as I am sure you all did as well! We are so lucky to have our lives be lived in this time where we can hear the word of God and know what we need to do in this likfe to gain exhaltation in the next!! I will write more about my thoughts and stuff about it next week-

 

So for this week I saw so many wonderful miracles and crazy things happen! To start off I will tell my experience of how wonderful it is to be a naive little ting bu dong(ing) missionary here in Taiwan ( which means I hear but dont understand). So my companion an I were tracting door contacts in a bit of a scketchy area at night but what part of taiwan housing isnt so it was so normal and wonderful! Well we were not having much success and all the people there must not have been Taiwanese becuase they were really rude and were acting more like well more like Americans than Taiwanese. Well we went up to a next "house" full of old women with well it explains the reason why I needed to bring all the deodarant I did kiind of people. And they were less than polite. And suddenly my companion asks "do you sell something here?" I am thinking 'whaaa??? this is totally not a store why would you ask that??"" then she tells her to look up and read the sign so I look up to follow the motions even though I wont understand well I see the character that is in girl and in good so I am not really sure what it says and I say in complete oblibvion oh I am so sorry I see but cant understand (which yes is not as weird in chinese to say) Then my companion asks "Is it real?"  and anyway her and my companion have a bit of a tiff of words to whcih I dont understand and then I hear "you can change your life" from my companion and then I am next chasing after her cause I didnt know we would be leaving so quickly. Okay, so turns out that we had just contacted at a prostitute house. MMM... yes they have those in taiwan too which apparenlyt my companion didnt know because who would ask a mean old woman if she is really a prostitute? Haha anyway :) One of those times where I am grateful I was not able to understand and rather than being scared or freaked out just be completely oblivious to it all and still happy as ever to be here in Taiwan serving the Lord!

 

Alright now for a more spiritual note- We have been teaching an older couple who own a littel lunch box store which are supere common here and well they are bnot making musch money so we eat luch there a lot. Anyway their profress has been quite slow and so we decided we would only spend 15 minutes with them and say prayers and read some scriptures then leave and if we see them progress we would start to teach them lessons again. And as we studied the importance of the book of mormon this week we really felt good about our decision to do this and help them gain testimony of the Book of Mormon and develope a habit of reading it. I saw such a sweet tender experience. The husband who has normally been more interested that I am a foreigner than a missionary really touched my heart. He told us one day he had studied that night and memorized how to pray. And then he said a very sweet and simple prayer to which I dont know one hundered percent what he said because everyone here when they pray do so so quietly that I cant hear and understand at the same time but I felt the spirit so strongly and my love for them grew so much. I am so grateful for prayer and the love Heavenly Father has for us and that he really does want to listen to us and all we need and want. He is so wonderful!

 

Okay I am running out of time so I will finish up I have so much more to say I hope I dont forget it next week!! You are all so great and I love you all I appologize I didnt get to reply to everyone today I had 28 emails to read and an hour to do it all! Keep sending them I love you and let me know if their is anything I can do!

-Mason and BryLee- HAPPY BIRTHDAY i promise I have not forgotten you and I am working on getting you both a present from Taiwan! Love you guys!!

 

-Sister Thornley Yao Jie Mei.

Learning learning learning

Well Hello Everyone!!!

 

What an exciting and eventful week!!! So to start off I have not seen conference yet so... I hope you are all grateful to be in America where you hear it live!! But I will get to hear it this Saturday and Sunday and I am hoping in English!!! Although I do have an amazing miracle to tell about this. So we got to watch the Relief Society Broadcast because we had an investigator willing to come and watch however they were not able to provide a way for me to listen in English which I was expecting and so that morning I said a prayer that I would be blessed with the gift of tongues and be able to feel of the spirit dispite the language that the message would be conveyed. And I know that God hears our prayers and blesses us according to our needs. I who have been learning Mandarin Chinese for 12 weeks was able to understand two of four very sophisticated talks. I know the Lord was the only way that made it possible through my faith and my works. Miraculously the translators had chosen to use words that the previous week I had studied in my Language Study. And I know that this is only through Heavenly Fathers help. I am so grateful that I know God lives and that I know the relationship that I have with him.

 

This week was one of trials and testing of our faith as missionaries here in YiLan. When I got here we had SO many investigators who were all crazy excited and willing and this week they all seemed to loose a fire within them. As we called to schedule we found many heart breaking responses that they do not wish to meet with us. It was not easy to see them fall away and loose interest and took a lot of self evaluation on what more I could do as a representative of Christ. We have not given up on them for every soul is great in the sight of God. But I have also come to realize that perhaps the Lord has different people who are also needing the attention of missionaries and who will be more prepared at this time to accept the message and come unto Christ. I know that as I improve and strive to be a worthy representative the Lord will put those prepared Children of his into our paths and I will see more miracles than I have yet seen. I am learning to truly be grateful for trials and hardships because they really do provide the humbling necessary to turn to the Lord.

 

This week I was privledged to have the Temple Sisters come and do an exchange with us here in YiLan and I am so grateful for the example of amazing missionaries!! I have so far to go and so much bigger things to become but I know that through the Lord I will be able to become the missionary he wants me to be. I love the hymn that says perfectly what we all are doing in life I'll be who you want me to be!

 

This week I also learned how to make Donggua Cha! And dont you worry my fellow buddies I will stock up on the necessary things to make it for you all when I get back beccause you are not living until you have had this drink it is SO good! And also I am not sure what America's deal is but I dont know why we dont have more drinks like they do here They are SO SO good!!!! So anyway I will open up stores when I get back and be rich so you may want to start sucking up to me. So yes, the food is getting to be more likeable for me. Which is a huge blessing and my trainer is being so good at helping me remember I need to try new things because I may like it! And most often she is correct.

 

Also the black eye mystery has been resolved! I am still not a hundred percent sure what caused it but It is gone and I did not have to go see the doctor so again the Lord blesses his servents. Mom you cant get scared- so most everyone here thinks it was because I was bitten by a poinsonous misquito which is bad news cause it was so close to my eye and they all thought I should go to see the doctor but as I followed the counsel of my amazing missionary mom Sister Day and with faith prayed that my body would be strengthened no doctor was necessary and I am healing very well! Also a thank you to Emily for teaching me about the figure 8 thing as I am sure that that helped a lot too!! I am so grateful for all the miracles I am seeing and I am so excited to see what else the Lord has in mind for me. I love you all and hope you all have many blessings and miracles shown unto you!!

 

-Sister Thornley/ yao jie meiWell Hello Everyone!!!

 

What an exciting and eventful week!!! So to start off I have not seen conference yet so... I hope you are all grateful to be in America where you hear it live!! But I will get to hear it this Saturday and Sunday and I am hoping in English!!! Although I do have an amazing miracle to tell about this. So we got to watch the Relief Society Broadcast because we had an investigator willing to come and watch however they were not able to provide a way for me to listen in English which I was expecting and so that morning I said a prayer that I would be blessed with the gift of tongues and be able to feel of the spirit dispite the language that the message would be conveyed. And I know that God hears our prayers and blesses us according to our needs. I who have been learning Mandarin Chinese for 12 weeks was able to understand two of four very sophisticated talks. I know the Lord was the only way that made it possible through my faith and my works. Miraculously the translators had chosen to use words that the previous week I had studied in my Language Study. And I know that this is only through Heavenly Fathers help. I am so grateful that I know God lives and that I know the relationship that I have with him.

 

This week was one of trials and testing of our faith as missionaries here in YiLan. When I got here we had SO many investigators who were all crazy excited and willing and this week they all seemed to loose a fire within them. As we called to schedule we found many heart breaking responses that they do not wish to meet with us. It was not easy to see them fall away and loose interest and took a lot of self evaluation on what more I could do as a representative of Christ. We have not given up on them for every soul is great in the sight of God. But I have also come to realize that perhaps the Lord has different people who are also needing the attention of missionaries and who will be more prepared at this time to accept the message and come unto Christ. I know that as I improve and strive to be a worthy representative the Lord will put those prepared Children of his into our paths and I will see more miracles than I have yet seen. I am learning to truly be grateful for trials and hardships because they really do provide the humbling necessary to turn to the Lord.

 

This week I was privledged to have the Temple Sisters come and do an exchange with us here in YiLan and I am so grateful for the example of amazing missionaries!! I have so far to go and so much bigger things to become but I know that through the Lord I will be able to become the missionary he wants me to be. I love the hymn that says perfectly what we all are doing in life I'll be who you want me to be!

 

This week I also learned how to make Donggua Cha! And dont you worry my fellow buddies I will stock up on the necessary things to make it for you all when I get back beccause you are not living until you have had this drink it is SO good! And also I am not sure what America's deal is but I dont know why we dont have more drinks like they do here They are SO SO good!!!! So anyway I will open up stores when I get back and be rich so you may want to start sucking up to me. So yes, the food is getting to be more likeable for me. Which is a huge blessing and my trainer is being so good at helping me remember I need to try new things because I may like it! And most often she is correct.

 

Also the black eye mystery has been resolved! I am still not a hundred percent sure what caused it but It is gone and I did not have to go see the doctor so again the Lord blesses his servents. Mom you cant get scared- so most everyone here thinks it was because I was bitten by a poinsonous misquito which is bad news cause it was so close to my eye and they all thought I should go to see the doctor but as I followed the counsel of my amazing missionary mom Sister Day and with faith prayed that my body would be strengthened no doctor was necessary and I am healing very well! Also a thank you to Emily for teaching me about the figure 8 thing as I am sure that that helped a lot too!! I am so grateful for all the miracles I am seeing and I am so excited to see what else the Lord has in mind for me. I love you all and hope you all have many blessings and miracles shown unto you!!

 

-Sister Thornley/ yao jie mei

Black Eye Monday

Well everyone hello!!! Thank you all for so many letters this week it was a bit overwhelming to read and reply to 31 emails!! But so great keep it up!! Alright so heres how my week went this week,

 

I had an unexpected miracle of getting to see everyone who came to Taiwan with me in a follow up meeting we all had that my companion and I did not know about until 3 days before but really it was so great to see them all it was like coming home and seeing part of my family. I am so lucky that the mission so far really has felt just like that- meeting all my family members I didnt know I had but cant believe that I am just now meeting them. I cant believe how much my heart is growing here. Also my Mission President and Wife came and directed our district meeting this week which was SO great! They really are the best and I am so grateful for them and their guidence. They are very wise in how to guide us. While compasionate they are so realistic and help us remember that yeah its going to be hard so work harder. SO great!!!! And I am definately starting to feel more loved and needed here in Taiwan.

 

This saturday we were supposed to have two baptisms both which did not happen becuase one wasnt keeping commitments and the others parents rejected. It is not easy to see things such as this happen becuase we want so badly for them to realize the blessings that will come. And so I learned to learn that really this is not my work. Its not my companions work its not President Days work or even the Prophets work, its God's and he alone can make this happen. And so I have rededicated my reasons for being here inviting others to come to Christ to do really that. Invite them to come to Christ and allow Him to get them to follow him and have a desire for baptism. But miracles do not cease!!! This week we spent a lot of time trying to locate LA's and try to help remind them of the covenants they have made and remember the desire to follow Christ. And... it did not seem very productive. And for my first time we had no new investigators. I was discouraged and a little sad as we walked to church feeling like no real improvement had been made. But as we were supprised by a golden investigators presence welcoming here into sacrament meeting I saw the Lord do his work. As two less actives walked into sacrament another investigator came and a recent convert was fellowshipped by three ward members. I cannot even describe the joy that I felt in that moment when I was reminded that God will do his work. And my efforts are not wasted. It was a beautiful and wonderful feeling to sit with my family in the meeting that day and remember truly why I am here in Taiwan.

 

Also may I testify of the power of prayer and that I know with all my heart and being that God hears them and answers them. Pray!!! All the time just do it you will never regret that you said a prayer. This morning in personal study I had asked a question in my prayer of how to create a good atmosphere when teaching and then set it aside to be answered later as I studied specifically for that when all of the sudden the answer popped out of the verse I was reading. Really. Pray. You will get answers.

 

So no really exciting or crazy things happened this week other than today waking up with a swollen eye which although is annoying and a little painful is more of a blessing than a hinderance. You all know I have dark eyes its just part of who I am. Well here its really weird for the Taiwanese and they comment all the time how I should get more sleep, well today I will only have one eye they can say that about as the other is so red and puffy now that theres no black even around it!!! So great!! HAhA

 

You all are awesome and I love you all The mission is amazing and the Lords work is going forth!

 

-Sister Thornley

Hurricanes a comin'

So I had my second typhoon here! It was SOO cool!! Haha I have never seen it rain so hard before which was pretty much the coolest ever! My companion and I were ridding to an LA's house and it was like k I cant even explain it but we got REALLY wet!! Anyways, my companion did not think the rain was as cool as I did and her being the senior companion decided that we would retreat to safety in a 7-11 (they are HUGE here!) and I was a little sad cause well the rain was so sweet and it wasnt hot at all! But we went into the 7 to start doing some follow up calls and wait out the rain. Again I learned that God provides opportunities in odd ways and I am ever grateful to my companions wisdom and ability to follow the spirit. As we finished calling we saw two young girls sitting there alone and so we began to talk with the one who would talk back to us and we were able to teach the first lesson give a book of mormon and SET A BAPTISMAL DATE! I see miracles such as this almost everyday and I am always humbled and taught that we need to follow the spirit and allow him to take us where we need to go.

 

Also this week I was given some very sweet tendermercies. Yesterday at church I was a little overwhelmed because in relief society I still cant understand the lessons and feel really silly when they ask me for my opinion and I need the help of a lot of broken english to help me understand and then I try in my mandarin to answer which I am sure is about as hard for them to understand my answer as it is for me to understand the question. So I was thinking about how much I missed the relief socitey presidents I had first in Thatcher and how much I wished they were here to help me. Also I was really irritated becuase my legs have become covered in scars and bumps from the misqutos here and they were really bothering me that day. Well among my murmmering I was reminded how much I am loved. As my legs were burning from the irritation i felt a sweet gentle touch on my leg and as I looked down Dong jiemei was gently rubbing an oil over my bites to ease the irritation. I was really touched as she performed such a sweet and caring act for me a foreigner who cannot understand when she tells me about her family or the trials she is going through she served me. And I am so ever grateful for her love and friendship to me. Also at the FHE that we atteneded another miracle for me occured. My companion sometimes forgets that I need help understanding and she sometimes leaves me in the dark not sure what is going on or why and another instance occured as they were explaining the quick game we would finish with. I was really confused as I felt an arm wrap around my shoulders. One of the members who has tried to reach out to me in talking to me started to slowly speak the chinese to help me understand what I was to do and then helped me do so. Truly God is protecting me in more ways than I could know. One last quick tender mercy. we went to teach and investigator and her grandma opened the door to let us in. Now most of the older people here do not speak mandarin but taiyu so I couldnt understand her but as I passed and acknowledged her in the way we are to here she reached out and grabbed my arm and began to compliment me in the cutest taiyu ever and though I could not understand I was sincerly touched by the amount of love pouring from her. I later found out what she was telling me was that I was so beautiful and young and that she wanted to be my mother.

 

So mom dont get jealous but know that I am loved and cared for here. So everyone!! Taiwan is awesome and I love it. We are having some difficulties right now with our investigators who have baptismal dates for september and we have needed to really concentrate on helping them understand the spirit to know that this is indeed the path the Lord would have them follow and encouraging them to talk with their families and resolve the concerns that were brought up. But the work is moving forward and we are all a part of it. Please do your part and get refferals to the missionaries! Finding on our own efforts is not nearly as effective as refferals so please please step up and do the calling we all have been extended to be a missionary. I love you all!

 

-Sister THornley

TAIWAN!!!

Hello Everyone!!! I hope you are all well and are happy! May I share something I have learned from here- happiness is truly a physical choice we must make for ourselves each day. Challenges will come and we will have to face them for that is life and we are commanded to endure but may I suggest that we choose to endure in happiness. We can choose in which way we endure and let us all remember that the plans name that has send us here is of happiness. So I invite you all each day to arise and choose to be happy and I promise you you will fill more fully of God's love. 

This week went by so fast and I am so grateful for that. On Friday we had our very first outdoor zone conference!!! It was so much fun as my zone and some others all traveled to some part in my area of beautiful mountains and hiked and learned of the Lord and his plan for us on the mission. It was so nice to spend a day out in nature among my friends and other missionaries. I loved being able to talk with friends from the MTC and really just remembering God truly does have a plan for us all and you can see it in all we have here in the world. There was a part of the hike that showed a sign saying that there were 120 stone steps to go to arrive at the top. LIE such a lie as we climbed over 220 more steps. I want to say that we can find relation in all things to relate it to Christ and his gospel and the plan for us here. Sometimes in life we may be told we have only 120 more steps to go until we arrive at the destination and we may become completely discouraged as we approach the 120th step and see there are still many more to go but you just keep going. Keep putting one foot down pushing with your strength for the top. It is worth it. Believe it is worth it and that God will reward you for going further than you thought you would need to. 

This week I also got to do my very first exchange of companions!! I served in Taipei city for one day and man am I grateful to be in YiLan where it is slow and beautiful. But I learned so much about love. And also that I am called to Taiwan Taipei and that means I can teach the gospel to all the Taiwanese not just those in YiLan. I began to talk with a girl in the MRT station and I was not expecting much to come of it other than giving her a small pamphlet we give here but she brought up the gospel and was curious as to what my purpose was to be here in Taiwan. And I was able to get a new investigator for the Sister I was on exchange with! So cool! As I am honest to my commitment to talk with everyone miracles are happening. Oh also everyone know that God really does protect his missionaries. As Sister Brown and I were teaching that girl I talked above about three security guards came up to us and were not very happy we had been speaking with her informing us we can not proselyte there. Which we were not and tried to explain they had come up to us but it was heard on a  deaf ear. I was terrified because I do not yet have my ARC card allowing me to be here in Taiwan and I would have been in a lot of trouble if they had asked for it but the Lord protected us and I am safe and sound back in YiLan! 

Well thats pretty much it for this week I love you all and am starting to really love this work! You are all great!

Sister Thornley

Taiwan

 Dragonfruit (so delicious)

 Dinner... Well good thing it's looking right into my soul!

 My Bike

 It says The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

and No success can compensate for failure in the home

 The Hike

 The Size of spiders here. This is not my hand its an elders whose hand is freakishly big so...yeah

 My Area

 The view from my exchange

 FHE Taiwanese are too cute

 The coolest swimming pool EVER! Which is right across the street from me!

 My cute companion on the Hike of over 220

Food... I think 

 Cool drinks in Taiwan 

Second Week

Hey Everyone!!!

 

Do you believe in miracles? Because you should they are so real! This week I saw many many miracles that have strengthened my faith in this gospel!! My teacher at the MTC Chen laoshi taught us a very applicable lesson- when you feel discouraged and frustrated get ready cause you are about to meet someone awesome! SO SO true!!! Each time I felt frustrated or too confused to do any good someone amazing would come into our path! We now have 2 new baptismal dates already set and a new family to teach!! So crazy!

 

Monday night we were going to start knocking on doors and I was a little worried that this was going to go bad so we offered a prayer and I felt frustrated cause my companion prayes so fast in Chinese that I have no idea what was even said but the first door we knocked on let us in and we now have a new family to teach which we will be teaching tonight at 6! I am so excited! Second- I was frustrated cause I didnt understand the plan for the day cause again it was in Chinese and I interpreted it wrong and my companion walked up to a man smoking and who was not giving us the time of the day. I was annoyed we stayed becuase I couldnt understand what he was saying and knew they were getting into a bible bash sort of conflict. So.. I prayed in my heart that we could leave... we did not and its a good thing too- a new investigator that has accepted the baptismal invitation! We were running a little late to an appointment because an investigator talked way too long but when we got to the place to meet to teach I took out my Book of Mormon and set it on my bike and a random lady came up and started asking about it we placed a Book of Mormon and have a new investigator. We were in planning session and again i was confused with the speed of Chinese and was so lost but we prayed and I felt we needed to teach the Holy Ghost and a blessing it is. We taught according to that and another Baptismal invitation was recieved. Brothers and Sisters, when discouragement comes in smile- Satan knows something awesome is going to happen. Take a moment pray for strength and you will see miracles.

 Also volunteer to be peikes!!! (member present in a mission lesson) Because they are so helpful!!!! we had two peikes this week that were total rockstars!!! Dong jie mei first- we invited an investigator to say the closing prayer to which she refused and Dong jiemei ( a older woman that reminds me so so much of Grandpa its scary) looked at her and said, Wang jiemei- those girls are the Lords representatives. They are here in behalf of the Lord and if they ask you to say a prayer you say the prayer. HAHAHA I was trying so so hard not to die of laughter it was so cool!! Needless to say she said the prayer though I am not sure if she will meet with us again soon... :) Second Qin dixion- he taught the entire lesson for us! Which was actually really nice cause he connected with the investigator so well and he accepted the gospel completely and the invitation to be baptised. So please help teh missionaries. If you really believe we have a prophet of God on earth today you have to. They have told us every member a missionary and so you are commanded to be a missionary.

 

Thank you all for your prayers and love. You are all incredible and in my prayers daily. I love ya all and you all need to one day come to Taiwan cause its so cute :)

-Sister Thornley

HEY EVERYONE!!!

So I am now in TAIWAN! My area is YiLan which is sort of on the EAST COAST my companion is a Bendiren (native!) And I have found that all the taiwanese are confused and totally not speaking Mandarin... or the MTC just taught me very wrong. HAHA :)

Okay so the plane ride- not too shabby! I actually liked it a lot and had a fun time on it I was seated in between two other missionaries so we were all pretty boring and dispite my efforts to stay awake the entire 14 hours so that jet lag wouldnt hit me I konked out for 6 hours... whoops. But flying over Taiwan was AMAZING! IT is the the cutest island ever! The airport experieces were fun too and my companion and I started up two conversations and got address from both of them- sadly I am not in the area of either of them but I am pretty sure sister Nicholas is :) So I hope those turn out well for her!! We got there really late and had some problems with some of the missionaries visas so it was even later than expected but we all made it safely and yep I love it!

The mission president and wife are AMAZING not like what I was expecting but I love them to death! I woke up in the morning and walked out of my little room and BAM the temple was right there! So pretty! I am so excited to be able to go in someday! The first day was pretty much a blur and I dont remember much but we contacted that night- I saw miracles. So we were all paired with a random trainer and then we set some goals I dream big and decided in 2 hours we were going to have 32 lessons. Which... I was then told to lower so I changed to 15 :) hehe :) Go big or gome home right? Anyway within the first 3 minutes of being outside contacting we had a lesson. He wasnt interested further but it was still awesome. Also he was a little bugged that we are given chinese names when we arent chinese. But then when I spelled my name to him I got joy out of his wrong pronunciation and told him american names are odd so thats why- to make it easier for them :) Which sounds rude now but I promise it wasnt and I said it in love. Anyway... yep That night I placed a book of mormon taught 4 lessons and found a former investigator and invited him to baptism on Oct 9 and to start meeting with the missionaries so he can prepare- to which he said yes!!! This work is true. I know it.

So the second day- CRAZY! We got assigned to our new companion and trainer- I about died when they told me I was with chu jiemei. And rightly so, it was a hard first day. But she showed love to me in sincerely trying to speak english to me when discussing our investigators. It was very sweet. YiLan is a miracle. my trainer trained after 12 weeks in the field (which is the goal to be able to train immediately after being trained) and I am her second trainie so shes a double mom :) Another really cool thing is that she opened the area here for sisters with her first child. So thats really amazing and I can learn so much from her. I am so grateful for this challenge as my chinese has already skyrocketed it is still way hard but I recieve daily comfort and inspiration from the Book of Mormon. If you arent reading it everyday- start. You need it. I dont know how I lived without it. Life is so much better with it. Anyway, YiLan is amazing. We have 7 investiagators with baptismal dates and a ton more that we are working with. There was a baptism here saturday so my second day I saw two people get baptised. So cool. Its a little weird. The people here dont have a ton of money so dresses are... not common. So the service looked a bit different from home but the spririt was the same. The beauty of this gospel is that it is the same EVERYWHERE.

Our invstifators are so cool and I love them all to death! I am still struggling to understand them. Funny story- so we were meeting with one and there was another younger girl there and she introduced her as her friend then the next thing I understood was girlfriend... so I am sitting through the entire lesson trying to decide if she is really her girlfried and how awkward this is goin to be when we will eventually teach the law of chastity... then next thing I know is that she is describbing her process of having her son... yep super confused... anyway turns out the girl was a friend that her son had made at the park by telling her "You are beautiful will you be my girlfriend?!" So uh, yep :) Not a girls girlfriend.

Oh I forgot! I already kind of offended a member ;/ she had us over for dinner the first night here and I knew I had to eat all my rice in the bowel cause Chen laoshi taught us that was poliet. Well nothing else on the table looked edible so I started away at my rice and suddenly my companion is dishing up all the other non edible stuff into my bowel!!! And all I was thinkin was no no no please no. Once its in your bowel you have to eat it casue thats poliet... so I tried... and I really hope none of their family saw me gag hard and have to quickly cover my mouth to stop it from coming back out. I tried a few more bites and finally decided it would be better for me to insult them by saying I took too much food and was full than throwing up on their table. So I slowly stopped eating.. well then they noticed and the mom kept signalling me to get more food to which I politely kept saying no thanks I am full... didnt cut it. Then she stood up and went and made me some chicken nuggets like from Mcdonalds which taste nothing like mcdonalds but she had done them just for me so I forced myself to eat 4 of the 10 really at this time I was full and trying really hard to keep it down. Anyway my life savor came and she brought out fruit- now that I can eat! So I think I made it better by eating that when she told me too. Also I had my first hot pot experience last night- so gross. Luckily though I communicated to my companion before we arrived that if I didnt like It I was going ot give it to her so i wouldnt offend anyone- which i thought was working marvelously and I was eating bread and lettuce acting like it was the best thing I had ever tasted actually no- it was. I am so grateful for bread it is my life saver. Well anyway- didnt work they caught me and I know this cause at the end of the meal and lesson they came up and handed me the loaf of bread... so yep the members love me.

It is awesome here truly. I love it and am grateful to be here. I contact with everyone and my companion comes and saves me everytime when they actually start to answer back :0 Shes great.

Oh! Cool story I placed a book of mormon all by myself at the train station my second day!!! HAHA I dont know if they will really read but it was two college girls that said they were interested and took it and we got their numbers... so now I just need to figure out how to ask my companion if we have tried calling them again sense. But I pray for them and have full faith they will accept the gospel. I love it here :) As scary as it is and embarassing when I node my head and smile to have them laugh aafter cause they can tell I didnt understand I love it. It is beautiful and this is where God wants me. so i will serve with all my might.

Chen laoshi- I also want you to know I am doing as you asked. And have talked at every chance to contact. As hard as it is when my companion isnt contacting I am. And I want to thank you for challenging me to do so becuase otherwise I dont think I would- I would follow in suit of my companion and not talk to eveyone. So thank you.

You are all amazing and so special I love you all! So gratefuyl for my family and know that all the Taiwanese think you are beautful and that mom you are crazy for having so many :) Love ya all!!!

-Yao iemei

Funniest Photo Bomb Ever (look really close to the elder in the background walking away)

BYE BYE MTC ROOM;/;)

Airplane Ride

Taipei's Lights

Temple First Day... Terrified...

My bathroom and shower

My closet

My bed

My companion diligently studying at night time when I just want to go to bed