Week 68 12/31/2020

 A quick one! 

This week was good! We didnt have a lot of lessons so me and Sister Snow tried to achieve every method of finding every day!!

It was amazing. MIRACLES! We had potentials texting us back, and a Book of Mormon referral from a member! Her name is Doris, and she has not said yet she wanted to do a study with us, so if you all could please pray for Doris and for a miracle to happen, I would so appreciate it!! 

This week I drew some temples. The LA and SLC (still in progress) and posted it on a page and got some responses on that too.

Got to teach with a new Sister that has been assigned to the LA visitors center! Her name is Sister Chan and we've been teaching with her for 2 weeks now!!!! I love her and I'm PUMPED for her to be here!!

Okay that is all I had to say. Oh yeah and spiritual thought. I was reading in doctrine and covenants 76 and it talks about seeing things through God's eyes and how he will enlighten our understanding. So I have been praying for that!

Have a good week. I LOVE ALL OF YOU SO MUCH!!!

Week 67 Merry Christmas 12/25/2020

 Merry Christmas(:

Oh my goodness, I just can't describe how amazing it has been. I always forget what happens in the week and now it's been like 3, but that is okay!!

-made sugar cookies for our members and friends. Didn't have a rolling pin so we used a parmesan cheese bottle LOL

-we had a lesson with our sweet friend Tina!! We were on exchanges and she wanted the other Sister to sing and she LOVED IT

-our zone leaders got sick but they still played a sweet musical number on the ukelele for us! And I drew some mission maps for their christmas present

-3 of our CHINESE friends came to church!!! Hahaha it was so exciting for us!

-did a lesson with our Korean elders and read the Book of Mormon for the first time with our friend and he loved it!!

-APs also caroled to us

-lettered some poems for our neighbors 

-exchanges with our other 2 sisters!!! An absolute blast. 

Overall, it's just been so fun here((: that's all I have to say. Take care all of you!! Also there's a quote our mission president told us and I love it so here it is!

"Obedience is a choice. A choice between our own limited knowledge and power, and God's unlimited power and omnipotence. " 

I've just been thinking about that a lot lately. When we choose to follow God, that is when He can bring power to our lives!!! 

Merry Christmas everyone!! Hope all of you had an amazing one(:

Week 66 .... 12/14/2020

Week 65 Prayer Miracles 12/7/2020

 Hello all(:

The mission is good! I just wanted to share a sweet experience me and Sister Snow had last night. We found this girl on facebook and we video chatted her with a member. This girl grew up religious, but kind of fell out of it. She is living away from her family right now and when we first video chatted with her, she didn't believe in God. She said she had prayed so many times and never felt that "feeling" everyone felt. So she stopped. When we first met her, she said she would try praying again, but when we met with her again, she said she didn't feel anything. We talked about prayer again during the lesson and during the lesson, even though she still has not felt anything while praying told us, "I think a belief in God is so powerful. I've surrounded myself with people who don't believe in God, but I like surrounding myself around you guys" she also shared that she will continue to pray. This girl's faith amazes me and I love her! She is just so prepared. 

Other highlights of the week include me and Sister Snow taking a walk and passing by someone and he started yelling at us in our face that we were Mormons and then he started swearing at us and we were backing up, and scared out of our minds, and then a man came out of his van and yelled at that guy to leave us alone. Bless him for saving our lives, we both turned around so fast and were walking so fast and just grabbing onto each other but also laughing so hard and were like, what just happened lol.

Talked to our friend Tina about temples and family history and she loved it!! We were so so happy and we set up a tour at temple square with her!

California is also doing okay, we just can't meet people in person anymore, even outside. Rip.

Oh and went on exchanges with this cute sister!! It's her last transfer and she taught an ASL class. She is GOOD at that. We also taught a Chinese man together which was so fun! Taught him about the relationship between him, God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Ghost, and prophets. 

Also taught family in our ward and I was dying of laughter because their kids are hilarious without knowing it. And then their kids were like, our mom has a baby in their tummy. And the parents were like "they're not very good at keeping secrets." Haha and so we were like, don't worry, we already forgot what was said. 

OKAY LAST STORY and then a spiritual thought. This email is so long, oh well congrats if you got this far. We wanted to make dinner for our zone leaders, and we were planning on making Honey Walnut shrimp, like the one from panda Express. And so we were like, elders, do you have allergies? And they were like, not except nuts and shrimp. We were laughing for 20 minutes about it. Oh well, we made them pulled chicken sandwiches instead. 

Spiritual thought: during the Christmas devotional, I loved Elder Nielsen's talk! While he was talking, I reflected on the gift all of us recieve, not just on Christmas but every single day. The Gift of Jesus Christ. The reason why we don't have to stay the way we are is because of Him. On my mission, I've made mistakes and feel like I fall short of who I want to be. Sometimes you feel alone and sad and just need someone to be there for you. And every time, Christ has been there for me. I love all of you, if you all ever need anything, please reach out to me!!  

-exchanges with Sister Goodrich

-last of Chinese district

-a member gave us gifts. Shout out Brother Cook

-me and Sister Goodrich watching Sister Chan's performance on the Christmas devotional and being amazed

--our lesson with our friend about his relationship with God

-took some pictures(:

Week 64... 11/30/2020

  

Week 63 #GiveThanks 11/26/2020

 Happy Thanksgiving everyone(: our pday this week is on Thanksgiving!!

Transfers happened, I'm with a Sister named Sister Snow and I LOVE HER. I already knew her before and oh my goodness you guys she is an absolute angel and so cute. We get to be STLs in PV and this is only her 3rd transfer! How awesome is she??? I know, I got so blessed.

We've been going over to a member in the Chinese branch to read the Book of Mormon with them and one of the little girls always wants our tags and so we made her one((:

We made 4 new friends this last week too! We met this sweet Chinese man and taught him how to pray. And after we taught him he was still unsure, so he asked us to pray and he would repeat after us at first. It was so tender. And that is all I wanted to say about my week *awkward laugh*.....

BUT spiritual thought. I was studying about "Our Life on Earth" this week and something I love is that "Our purpose in life is to find peace and happiness WITH OUR FAMILIES." I was thinking about my family this week, and wow. I love them, and how nice is it that God made my purpose in life to find peace and happiness with my family? I wanted to share a quick experience. Right before my mission, I was sitting down in Hong Kong with my mom and she was talking to me about my mission and I felt really discouraged about it. And I was crying and crying (haha in public #embarrasing) and I just remember my mom hugging me and talking to me and supporting me. Like how lucky am I to spend eternity with a family like this? To find happiness with them here? So incredibly blessed.

Happy Thanksgiving(: I really love all of you so much. Truly and sincerely. Happy holidays everyone! Also if you didn't get to watch the prophet's message please do so!!! It is GOLDEN!  

Week 62 *ping* 11/16/2020

 Another quickie. 

Soooo remember that friend who was on date a while back but then we had to take him off date? Well it's been a little bit but we FINALLY got in contact with him. And he was like, "I want to meet. Tonight." Me and Sister Hill were overjoyed!! We quickly called a member who we had thought of previously to join a lesson and he joined and just emphasized with EVERYTHING with our friend SO WELL. Well, that week we asked the member to invite our friend to church and so he did. On Sunday when our zoom church was rolling, our friend hadn't hopped on. There was a Brother who was talking about prayer and praying out loud and he told a story about how there was this one time when the result was just immediate. And so our member (he later told us this story) said that he felt inspired and was like okay. I'm going to pray out loud. And so he prayed out loud for our friend and right as he ended he heard a ping from his computer and our friend had messaged him and told him that he just woke up. Long story short our friend joined at the end. What a miracle!! After talking to this member he told us he just felt so motivated and excited right now. And then we right away called the family that spoke and told them this experience and they were so excited too. I just LOVE the mission and seeing members get excited about missionary work. And so that is my story for the week! Everything is good here, I'm kinda just really happy so yay and hope everyone has a good week!🌟💛🐤

Week 61 Watching the district to pump us up 11/9/2020

 Remember that friend I talked about last week? We set a baptismal date with him for December 19th! He said he's going to prepare! It's amazing just to see his change. He came to church again yesterday and really liked it and he told us that this was the path he wanted to pursue. While we were teaching him, the spirit literally "brought all things to our remembrance" because I have no idea how I remembered all the things I studied. Sooo in short, God is good and He loves His children!!!! Me and Sister Hill had prayed about a date for him and we felt right (and then we watched some of The District to pump us up don't judge us pls hahaha) and so we invited him and he said YES!! Such a miracle and I just felt so much love from God. Okay we are so excited!! 

And we were able to find a girl through Facebook. She loves Jesus SO MUCH but wants to hear our message! 

I just really love this gospel and being a missionary!! This week I was studying about humility and something I love is "humility is not thinking less of ourselves but less about ourselves." I've tried to find scripture stories about how people show humility, and I've just been amazed by how much humility entails. Anyways there is a quick thought I will get better about sharing things I learn from the scriptures but I love you all and hope you all have a great week!! 

Week 60 The Joy of Change 11/2/2020

 A quick one.

One of the friends we've been teaching has been progressing! We started out and he really just had no religious background or seemed like he wanted it in his life, but he kept meeting with is because we were nice people. Last week when we met, he was like, "you both always talk about how prayer and reading this Book of Mormon gives you this peace and fulfillment. I mean, that's the theme that I'm getting. I feel like I have that already from other things." And so we discussed with him how even though we get that in life from other things, the fulfillment we get from getting closer to God is so much more. This last lesson we had, he was like "I don't know how to describe it. I just feel like praying and reading the scriptures, I'm starting to feel what you two feel I think." We were so excited!!! As missionaries, we invite people to change, we bring the spirit, but only the people we teach can choose to change and bring that spirit into their hearts. I can't describe the joy that I feel when I see these people change. That's my little story for the week! Hope you all have a great one! 

Week 58, 59...

Week 57 Denny Yourself of All Ungodliness 10/12/2020

 This week was literally the best and funnest week ever!!! I know I've probably said that a lot on my mission but seriously this week was SO GOOD! We had some weird mid cycles so Sister Hill went up to LA for a week and so me and Sister Romney got to be together again for this week. So #party. Sister Hill and I are going to be companions again starting Tuesday though!

We have been finding a lot of people to teach! Ah God is so good! There's something I've realized about missionary. When you are consecrated and you focus on loving the people and your companion, you are happiest and you seem to have the most success. But when you focus on the wrong things, forget to desire people's salvation and forget charity, it doesn't last, and you're not happy. So focus on people and charity. That's something I've learned.

2 experiences:

We found this lady who was from Taiwan (same lady I met at the farmer's market!) and she was so cute. She showed us her garden over video chat (so cute!) and this week we decided to teach her the Plan of Salvation. We decided to just keep it simple with explaining to her where we came from, why are we here, and where are we going. And we used 3 circles from a plan of Salvation. But then the spirit took over and we ended up teaching the whole plan of Salvation. I was so touched by her response afterwards. She said, "this feels familiar, so thank you for reminding me." She was also telling us that her sister was talking to her that morning about her purpose in life, so she said "I'm going to call my sister and tell her." Then we taught her how to pray and after that she prayed and she said "thank you so much! I've always seen people do it and wanted to pray but have never been taught how!" And she clapped her hands and was so happy. I love this cute lady!

Second experience. We taught one of our friends about the sacrament. The spirit was so strong. Okay I'm not sure what else I was about to say about this experience besides the spirit being strong. It was just really good. We were just really happy.

Spiritual thought: 

Deny yourselves of all ungodliness. Our mission president shared the scripture Moroni 10:32 which says, "32 Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God."

When we are able to deny ourselves or all ungodliness, when we are willing to obey His commandments exactly, follow His prophets, develop the Christlike attributes necessary, deny ourselves of pride and develop humility, work on patience in our circumstances, etc. Then will we have the grace of God. Then can we use Christ's Atonement to become better. Both me and Sister Romney loved that, it became something we focused hard on this week. And as we aligned ourselves more with Christ, we felt Him help us. We felt the spirit guide us. I love this work so much, it is ah just the best! 

Week 56 Made for October 10/5/2020

 The Cubs was a baseball team that hadn't done very well for a long time (if someone can find the year and how long I will personally write you a thank you letter for real. Haha I asked my mom to search on Google but no such luck). October was the playoffs, so they coined the phrase "Made for October." This was their month. And that year, they made it to the playoffs. Then they won the world series for the first time in a long time. They were "Made for October." I don't know the first thing about baseball, but our district leader told us this story in district council and I loved it so much.

Our zone has been struggling to find people to teach and struggling to set baptismal dates. So we started "Made for October." This was our month. Our month to start the rest of the months. Our month to find and set dates. Our month to change our mindset, exercise our faith, and put in massive effort. So in the area I'm serving in, we decided to make some plans. Every day, we think, "Who can we find today?" And make plans for that. We made a calendar for October, and each day we write down who we find that day. Although we can't control the outcomes, we can control what we do. We can control if we asked for referrals from everyone. We can control how frequently we follow up on people. We can control how hard we work and how dedicated we are. The miracles followed. This week we were blessed to find 3 new people to teach which is a start!

Some sweet experiences:

As many of you probably already know, missionaries have local pages that help us find people online. There was a girl from Taiwan who moved here recently that came across this page. She wanted to find a church to attend and so we got in contact with her. We called her on the phone and taught her how to pray. She's familiar with Christianity, so we asked her to offer the prayer. She offered one of the most tender prayers I've ever heard. She was tearing up and was asking God to please guide her and direct her. That she wanted to find the way. We then invited her to general conference and she wanted to watch! After conference, we talked to her about it and she really loved the talk about angels. And then we taught her about the Restoration. We introduced her to the Book of Mormon, and she said she already had one! One of her friends (who was not a member) was given the Book of Mormon by some of her friends who are members who then gave it to her! We invited her to read the introduction, and we'll talk about it next time!

Another lady we found this week was the mother in law of a friend that we taught before. We came by one day and introduced the Book of Mormon. She accepted and wanted us to come by and read it to her!! She has a hard time reading, but she wants to learn. 

Also, every day when we go running, we see this lady who walks her 2 dogs. We've talked to her before and she says she has her own religion. She doesn't speak very much english, but Saturday morning, we saw her and starting inviting her to conference. She didn't understand so she pulled out her Google translate. We typed into her keyboard what we wanted to invite her to, and she said all, "ok, where can I see it?" So we typed the address for her. And then we were just trying to invite everyone we saw this last week to see it. Just gotta go send it. 

Other sweet things that happened this week:

We met this lady in the laundry room, spoke to her in our broke  spanish, and got her phone number and now the spanish sisters are teaching her! During the Saturday morning session of conference, we heard the door bell ring. We opened it to see this sweet lady and her husband! She had brought us empanadas she made!! Let me tell you, these empanadas are far above any empanadas I've ever eaten. This lady knows how to cook. 

THEN this week was 中秋節 (midautumn festival) and every year we will eat 月餅 (moon cakes). I was talking to my mom last week and she was saying how this 中秋節 I'll have to spend it without 月餅。 But guess what mom???? This friend called us on night (the other friend we made this week) and was like, "我有月饼给你们，我们可以在那里见面呢?"  (Basically he had just bought us moon cakes and was like how can I give the them to you?) Ah my day was made. How cute!! 

Lastly, general conference! I hope everyone was listening to the spirit as they wrote down impressions. 2 of my favorite talks were by Sister Craig and Elder Renlund. Love mercy and see people deeply. We also had a friend who watched conference and absolutely LOVED it. He was the one who committed to live the Word of Wisdom last week. I would love to hear all of y'alls thoughts from general conference!! Have a good week!

Also, side note, what's the weather like for all of you in Utah? Haha it's still hot here. I didn't not expect that.

Week 55 FREE CAR WASH 9/29/2020

 Mid cycles! Sister Romney (my companion before Sister Hill) was companions with Sister Snow, but Sister Snow got midcycled to LA. So I am in a trio now with Sister Hill and Sister Romney! It's been fun and I love my companions!

Miracles!

A friend we are teaching showed up to a video chat one day and told us "I'm going without coffee and alchohol to try this out" AH WHAT??

We invited to a him to a fireside about a month ago and the person speaking shared about his conversion story and talked about his experience with the word of wisdom. So our friend has been thinking about that and we hadn't even taught him the word of wisdom yet! So for our lesson on Wednesday, we invited the person who spoke at the fireside to join us (he's in our mission presidency) and we are so pumped!! He is progressing so well and all of you all, only the spirit could touch and soften his heart like this!! Everyone pray for him🙏

Also we have been doing this facebook live every Saturday called "Singing Time for Kids in Torrance" and try to find people to teach on that. One of the parents on there was willing to videochat with them so we did a Bible study and ate going to share more next week! We invited him to conference and he said he would come!

Last thing. We had a zone finding activity. We had a free car wash. No one showed up, not even ward members showed up SO you know I had to whip out some of my pretty amazing dance skills (and by pretty amazing I mean pretty terrible but at least people will look LOL) next to the free car wash sign. We got around 15 nonmembers to come! It was literally so fun. Pictures attached.

I love my mission it is just the greatest. 10/10 would recommend!!!! Have a great week!! Also conference is next week! I am so excited to hear from the prophets and apostles and receive more personal revelation and I hope you all are too. I will have to share some more spiritual thoughts next week. Byeeee

Also there is a video of me dancing so enjoy. Also, made a flyer for conference!  

Volunteered at a food bank and did yard work for a member

FREE CAR WASH! 

Week 54 WEEKLY EMAIL 9/21/2020

 Hi everyone. Working on consistency. 

A small miracle. We handed out flyers for a Chinese event this week in a parking lot of a farmers market. We handed one to this lady. Turns out she is from Taiwan, SOO of course I spoke Chinese to her. And then we got her phone number. And then we called her!! Pretty awesome. We asked if we could videochat and share a message. She said she'd call us because she's busy right now. rip. Everyone pray we are so hoping we can videochat. We still can't street contact, but we've been encouraged to tell people we see sometimes about the gospel. 

Also, Mitch our person on a baptismal date! Well, we dropped his baptismal date. He still really wants to get baptized, but is not in a place where he is keeping commitments. And hasn't been responding for a little bit now. Still feel like he is my long lost uncle and my best friend though. Still love him and he will get there one day.

Other miracles. We had a member from a different ward who said he had referrals for us so we called him and guess what? We called him and he said he had a friend he gave a Book of Mormon to. He asked us to text his friend and assign him a chapter from the Book of Mormon and we are going to do a joint call. And then also he told us about another friend he wanted to do a joint call with! So we are praying and also just so thankful!!! 

So there are some miracles for you. I really love you all((: 

Week (50, 51, 52) 53 Perfect Love Casteth Out All Fear" 9/14/2020

 It's been a bit.

Hello everyone!! 

Adventures with Sister Chou this past month include loving her mission, transfers, and lots of other things that she will write.

Warning ⚠️ exclamation points might get a little out of hand. 

Hey what is up!! (?) Lots of things to say. Haha I guess that's what happens when you let 4 weeks pass by but God's miracles don't stop.

First is transfers!! Me and Sister Romney used to be in Chinese zone and Inglewood zone but then we had to split up and not be over Inglewood zone anymore and you people I was so sad to leave Sister Romney and Inglewood zone! We are still STLs in Chinese zone, but now we are both training too! Okay but great news! We are in the SAME APARTMENT!!! Everytime me and Sister Romney talk, we just are literally on the floor laughing so hard about something. Ah I just love her so much. And then I have a brand new missionary and her name is Sister Hill! Her Chinese is already so awesome, and she is very sweet. When me and Sister Romney went to go pick the new sisters up (Sister Hill and Sister Snow), we were literally so excited!! We took them to Wendy's the first day. Maybe not the best first food to try in LA because there are so many other options, but oh well it was fun. So yay!! New companions, but we all live in the same apartment so party!!

Area changes: we split our area in half, and so I said goodbye to some friends, Sister Romney said goodbye to some other friends, and we're all going to find new friends!

Miracles:

One time we went to go drop off banana bread at a part member family's house. We prayed for the husband to be there (the one that isn't a member). We went and knocked on the door and no one was there. We said a quick prayer, and then the husband came out from the back!He was so kind! We said we wanted to do a video chat with his wife and he said he'd be willing to join!!

Then on the way home, (we were walking) we saw this man roller skating, and so Sister Romney told him that he was doing great and then he started talking to us! We promise we weren't trying to street contact or anything, but he told us to take his phone number. And then we met him at the park a week later and shared with him about faith. It was so awesome! He is so kind and we are going to continue teaching him. 

Another one of friends we've been teaching has been really busy, so one day we went to go bring her some otterpops. Well, she wasn't home. But her mother in law opened the door. We introduced ourselves, and right as we were about to leave, we were like wait, hold on. And we talked to her about eternal families and testified that the gospel had blessed our families and that through the gospel, we knew we could be with our families forever. And then she said she wanted to hear our message! Miracle!

THEN. Last one. Last pday we went to laundry and and then to the store. In the span of that time, 2 ladies came up to us to talk to us and 2 phone numbers were just given to us. Complete miracle because we're not allowed to go up to people, but God just let these miracles unfold. 

More things:

Elder Nielsen used to be the head of the mission department, and then he recently got changed to be in charge of the west coast mission and he "came" over zoom to talk to the MLC. I just feel so blessed. He talked about how faith and fear can't coexist. So in my studies I kept thinking about that and I came across a scripture while I was studying the principle "God is Our Loving Heavenly Father."

1 John 4:18-19

"18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

19 We love him, because he first loved us."

I was thinking about when I first came on my mission, I was scared of a lot of things. About my abilities to street contact, teach, speak Chinese, etc. But when I felt an outpour of love, the fear started going away. Before I found this scripture, I had been praying about how I could best help my companion, and this was the scripture I found. It meant so much to me because it was such an answer to my prayers. 

Okay friends, so this is really long, I'm going to end it here. All of you are amazing so 加油!! 

Week 49 Derland! And The Spirit is most important!! 8/17/2020

 Hi Friends!!!

It's been so good here! We did exchanges and They. Were. So. Fun. Wow. We did them with 2 sets of sisters. The first one was brand new and she was the sweetest sister in the whole entire world. Her name is Sister Staheli. She just loves and loves and loves. Ah she is just going to turn into the best missionary ever!!!

Exchange miracle! We were doing a role play for a phone call, and during the role play, a name of a former person who had been taught came into my mind. So afterward, I told Sister Staheli that we needed to call her. She hasn't ever picked up, but this time she did!!! And she said she wanted us to share a message and meet her son!!!!! Whaaaat. AND THEN. We called this other lady and she said she wanted to videochat with us too!!!! Exchange miracles are the best((: Sister Staheli just taught me so much about love and faith. I just love her!! She is so cute and just gets so excited about little things. And then the other exchange was with Sister Weenig. We came out to the mission field on the same day and were "companions" for a night. This exchange was just so fun. We just reflected on our missions and had so much fun together. That night we decided to bring one of the district leaders in our zone cookies and brownies, so we drove to their apartment and called them, and I went all, "hey! We brought you cookies and brownies! We are outside your apartment and next to this place called Derland." They started laughing and I was like huh?? Well it was dark and turns out that the sign said Launderland, but only Derland was lit up. LOL. 

This week we got to meet with Mitch!! We taught him the Restoration and the Plan of Salvation, and he told us that he just wants to get baptized tomorrow and just always have the spirit with him. How awesome!!

Okay, I think I will end it here with a little closing thought. The spirit!!! I have recently come to realize that the Spirit is sooo important. I knew this before and had the spirit before, but didn't realize it was so crucial to have all of the time. It's so important to be worthy of it. If we don't have it in this work, we don't understand that it is the Lord that leads and guides it. Recently I've just really wanted to strive to be the best missionary I can be and always have the spirit. The spirit helps us be kind in difficult situations, inspires our mind to the things we need to do, helps us open our ears to discern, and helps us say the things the Lord wants us to say to help these people. Also, Preach my Gospel. It's key. Honestly, I all I want to be is a Preach my Gospel missionary. I love you all!!

Week (46) 47: 11/10 recommend a mission 8/3/2020

Wow missionary work is just so good and honestly, if any of you are wanting to serve a mission, 11/10 would recommend. 

So awesome miracle. Our friend Mitch told us he wanted to be baptized so we set a date with him!!! He is so prepared and he is just so susceptible to the spirit. And the spirit really helped us out. We were meeting at a park and towards the end we said something, and he literally fell backwards and was like wow. I just really needed that. The spirit is just so awesome. 

Other cool miracle. We met our neighbors in the laundry room when we first moved in and we were like, we need to bring them something. So 2 days ago, we brought them pastries. They didn't answer the door, but their brother in law who also lives there did. And we introduced ourselves, gave him the pastries, and set up a time to video chat this coming week! Woohoo!!

ALSO this friend we were teaching. Miracle. We taught him the 10 commandments 2 weeks ago. He said likes them but couldn't keep the sabbath day holy. We sent him a talk during the middle of the week and this week video chatted him and did a pass off lesson with other missionaries. Before we even said the prayer, he said that he wasn't going to work on Sundays anymore and that he was going to keep the Sabbath day holy!!!! He even went to church on his own this last Sunday!! (He's the Chinese friend that lives in New zealand, and there's only 1 chinese missionary in New Zealand and they don't really live close ay all ): but yay for him going to church!!!)

Okay it's short but here is an update! It's been fun being part of 2 zones, I have learned so much from all of them annnnd I love you all byeeeee

Week 45 New Zones! 7/20/20

Little mini update!!

Well first, I talked to my parents and they never fail to motivate me to become a better missionary by their examples when they were missionaries. 

Also one of the most amazing Sisters I know, Sister Fulkerson, is returning home and just wanted to tell you Sister Fulkerson that you literally inspire me so much!!!

Last week of the transfer and me and Sister Romney worked our hardest!! We found 4 new people to teach! One we have to transfer to another area, but she's so prepared so we are super excited for her to meet the missionaries over there!! Actually, we found out we have to transfer 4 of our friends which is sad, BUT one Lord, one vineyard. We're all serving the Lord here, and I know the Lord will help us found those prepared for this area. Very excited.

Transfers! Not much changed. I still get to be with the amazing Sister Romney (I'm not kidding guys. She is SO AWESOME). And now we will not just be over Chinese zone but get to be over another zone, Inglewood zone, now too! We are soooo excited to work with more amazing zone leaders and more amazing sisters that will teach us so much! They have an english district and a spanish district. Woohoo for Chinese and Inglewood zone!! Also! Our mission president said me and Sister Romney could learn spanish (Sister Romney's already super good at it #trilingual) and attend the beginner's spanish class. I was so stoked when President said we could do that!!!

There's the short update, but next week I will type out some good stories, but I love you all!! And so does God!!

Also made a timelapse of a Jesus wall if you want to watch that. I'll put that in this link too. Well, haha we put it up and we filmed a timelapse but the shot didn't catch the wall so you know me, I took it all back down and redid it to refilm a timelapse haha

https://photos.app.goo.gl/o3A7C8NNCVcoFKgm8

Week 44 Lots of miraclessss🎶🎵 7/13/2020

Hello friends!!!

First a companion spotlight: Sister Romney is awesome and this week she was able to invite one of her friends back home to meet with the missionaries. She's the best!!

Ah this week was just SO AMAZING. So Monday night after pday had ended, we met with this guy that who had been referred by his cousins in different states. He asked if we could meet with us in his friend's house. When we went, we invited his friend to join us, along with another friend that was there. THEY BOTH JOINED and all 3 kept asking questions and were so interested. Back to the man who had originally been referred. He is one of the most prepared people I've ever met. God really just gives us the best miracles. He is so awesome and I just love him with all my heart!!! Just him hearing about the gospel and telling us that he wants to change his life makes me so happy. The other day we were on the phone and he even told us that he also feels like he's so prepared to hear the gospel. It has been so amazing. We are meeting with him again on Wednesday!! We could so use everyone's prayers for this person!!!

That night, we were walking back to our apartment after the lesson. One of our neighbors were up on their balcony. When we got back to our door, Sister Romney was like, "darn it, I got a prompting to say hi, but I didn't." So we went back. Sister Romney said hi and he didn't say anything (haha he actually just walked back inside) but we were like, okay we followed through anyways. Well, we didn't want to be awkward and just turn around, so we kept walking a little more and were going to make a loop. Then get this. Sister Romney (guys she's so awesome) waved hi to this random guy. We were like, "hey how are you doing?" We introduced ourselves and told him we were the missionaries. Turns out he was doing food delivery in our complex. We got his number and he was like, "well I don't believe in organized religion, but yeah I'm down to talk with you guys. " so we set up a phone lesson and it was SO AWESOME!! In that lesson, we just shared simple truths, and every time he would be like, "actually that makes so much sense. I completely agree with that." At the end, he told us, "I don't believe in organized religion, but if I did, it would be this one." We're going to talk again(: could really use everyone's prayers for this guy too!!

THEN. (The miracles don't stop there). We had called a guy who had gone to the family history center before. He's only been taught 1 lesson. We talked about family history and right in the middle he was like, sorry I have to go. So we didn't set up a time to meet. Then he texted us one night and asked to meet up!!!?!??! That is miracle right there friends.

Lastly, there has been a family who one member of their family members isn't a member of our church. We brought them brownies this week and the said we could come back and spend time with their family (don't worry, we can meet at parks, chapels, and homes of friends if they invite us in) next week which will be tomorrow!!! 

I thought I was excited about missionary work before but now I am literally just ahhh no words can describe it. The work is just so alive here. There are so many prepared people here. Every day is filled with new exciting things!!!

Hope all of you are doing good. Remember to open up your scriptures (specifically the Book of Mormon) every single day!! It is God's word and testifies of Christ!!

Also embarrassing but hilarious. Not sure about everyone else, but everyone still wears masks in LA area. Mask tan lines are real. I was literally in the sun for maybe 30 min *sigh* just being super real with everyone me and Sister Romney though it was so funny hahaha 

Love you all byeeee

Week (42) 43 The best gift, the best miracle 7/6/2020

This week was literally the BEST week ever!!!!! Ahhhhhh okay first

You guys Sister Romney is just so awesome. She just makes me want to learn and she loves learning herself. And she just loves our friends ALSO she writes songs and every pday she plays me songs she wrote before. She has a list and she always lets me pick. She is so talented. I am #blessed when it comes to companions. Literally from day one at the MTC (shootout sister Hoe) companions have just been a huge blessing on my mission!

So miracles! On Wednesday we had SO. MANY. MIRACLES.

-called a lady and she told us she didn't want anything to do with her church but then we talked to her and asked her if she or anyone she knew needed help with anything. And she was so cute at the end of the call she was like, I might have to change my mind about church

-we found 3 NEW PEOPLE TO TEACH that day. One of them we posted a Bible study in the community page and someone reached out to us and we met with them that day! 1 was someone we taught in the past, and we got a real referral!!! No idea what we did to deserve such amazing blessings but wow God really just has so many prepared here.

-that day we reached out to a member and a missionary who served here in the past asked us to reach out to them and we were like okay! We just reached out to him a couple hours ago but we can do it again. We ended up calling this member and they said they actually needed help with something. True miracle.

The work is just amazing here in LA. God really has a plan for His children and is just constantly putting miracles and people to help in me and Sister Romney's lives.

Also everyone, I have grown to love Torrance ward SO MUCH. They are filled with the most amazing people. Also, update, they took us out of the YSA ward last week and even though I've never met these people in real life, it was so hard to say bye)): I love them, but I love Torrance ward too so I'm glad I at least get to stay here.

Spiritual thought: a friend told me that the best gift you can receive is the Holy Ghost. It just got me thinking, what would I do if I didn't have the Holy Ghost? If I did have the Holy Ghost, all the greatest moments of my life wouldn't exist and the guidance and protection I receive would be nonexistent. I'm just so grateful for this gift and when we live worthy of it, we can receive all that the Holy Ghost has to offer. 

Okay love you all!!!

Week (39, 40,) 41 A story about prayer 6/22/2020

Hey!!!!! Here is a little update on mission adventures with Sister Chou!

The beloved Sister Shay is now back home (I love you Sister Shay) and now I'm with Sister Romney! She is so awesome and makes up songs for all the scriptures we memorize. Ah she is so awesome. She's also just always super happy and just ready to grind and work here in Torrance! We spent a week in our old apartment and then got moved to a new apartment! We were going to get a third sister, but ended up not. But now we have 2 extra beds and a lot of extra space, hopefully we'll get new sisters soon to share it with!!

This week we met this guy from China, but he's in New Zealand now. He came to LA a year ago and saw the temple and tried to go inside but was then led to the visitor's center and took a tour. Then he finished his visit and got busy and went back to China, but recently he decided he needed to know about God and then moved to New Zealand. He was in contact with one of the Chinese sisters in the VC, and now she has gone home, but we met with him this week! We'll pass him on to the Chinese speaking missionaries pretty soon, but his lesson was so fun! He's already reading the Book of Mormon and learned a lot of things already. Also funny story about his lesson. During his lesson, he told me I could start with a prayer, so I did. Then after, we thought he meant he was going to say the closing prayer and that Sister Romney could say it next time, so we were like okay! And then he proceeded to say a prayer right then. Ahahah Sister Romney and I thought it was so cute but also trying not to laugh because we thought it was hilarious. That was a good one. Also, at the end we invited him to pray every day, and he was like, I like saying it with missionaries better. And so we were like, oh! We can call you every day and pray! And he was like ooh no no no no it's okay I can pray. So funny, AND THEN that night we created a group chat and he sent us a voice recording of his prayer...we weren't so sure what to do, but we are so glad he's praying!!!! He is so awesome!!

Our other friends are good. We had a lesson with Tina about baptism this week, and it went so good. She progressing towards her baptismal date so everyone please pray for her to feel the love of God and have the strength to continue!! And we also got to do a drop by with our friend Eric! Basically we can just go to their  door step and drop something off and can say hi and stuff and talk to them for a second of course with social distance and face masks. But we brought him takis and got to talk to him in real person. It's been so long since I've seen this kid and ah I just have missed it so much. Both me and Sister Romney are super thankful we can do this now! We just bought sour candy for him so hopefully he likes that for this next week.

Okay that's all I wanted to share today haha I love you all, your Father in heaven loves you, and I hope all of you are safe and well(:

Week 40 .... 6/15/2020

Week 39 Goodbye to Sister Shay )': 6/8/2020

Sister Shay is leaving. I hope the whole entire wide world knows how much I love her.

Today we went to go get a car wash and the receipt never came out. We went in to the gas station to ask for it and so the lady did. We walked out and 2 seconds later Sister Shay turned around and went back in and told her we were the missionaries and asked if she wanted to do a Bible study. Well, we are calling her tonight. This is the kind of amazing Sister Shay is.

To put into perspective how long I've been with Sister Shay, well, she followed up trained me so I've been with her since my second transfer. 6 months of absolute party. Someone asked us yesterday if there has ever been a day when we have just been really frustrated at each other, and I can honestly say, after 6 months of being with her every single second, there is not a day I haven't wanted to be her companion. I am just absolutely happy with Sister Shay. 

We got sushi again today!! And went to a bakery and shared bread! And we are having our twin party today!!! Ah I am so excited!!

Tuesday evening I'll have a new companion Sister Romney!!! I love sister Romney you guys, she is so positive and amazing. I went on exchanges with her a couple of weeks ago, and I just love her. She is coming to Chinese zone and I'll train her to be an STL and then we'll party together!!

This is a little short but I'm going to go help Sister Shay pack haha okay bye

Week 38 Baptism, early twin birthday... Weary the Lord in asking and thanking 6/1/2020

Hey this will be a quick one again! Haha I just want to spend all the time I can with Sister Shay before she leaves. Still in denial because I want to stay with her foreverrrrr 

Our friend Sara got baptized yesterday!!! Her journey has been amazing (and it's going to continue), and all the members just love her.  We have just seen her grow so much and despite her trials and the ones she is still going through, she decided to trust. We weren't able to be at the baptism though, but what was absolutely AMAZING is that her family who aren't members were there and I know that they just see how much she radiates with joy!! We are hoping to get some of them to join is for a Bible study sometime!

Also if anyone was wondering about our recent convert Annie, well, when Sister Shay goes home she can finally download WeChat and hopefully finally teach her the new member lessons!! But she is good!!

Twin birthday party!!!!! Me and Sister Shay celebrated our birthdays today!!!!!! We just wanted to be together and so we decided to move both of our birthdays up🎉🎉🎉we were going to invite the sisters over and celebrate, but because of the riots, we can leave our apartment after 12:30pm so we didn't end up having a party)): we will next week though!!! And a sister just hit her 1 year and another sister's birthday is coming up, so we're just going to celebrate them all and we even have little presents for all of them. But we celebrated our birthdays anyways and got some sushi, and both our parents sent us SO MUCH MATCHING STUFF!! We have matching everything now. Ahahah I LOVE my parents they are the besttttt. 

Also me and Sister Shay gave a training this week ahahaha it was hilarious we acted out something with the shoulder angel and shoulder devil and it was so funny. Well, long story short, when we remember to ask people we're teaching to see if the have any friends that could use this message, we send in a fruit emoji. I'm happy to report that our chat has been full of fruit.

Lastly, we role played with one of our friends how they would talk to their brother about the Book of Mormon, AND SHE DID SO GOOD. We got chills and it was such a miracle.

We were on our knees so much this week because it just seemed like after every lesson, contact, training, etc. We just got miracle after miracle. God really does give us so many miracles, and I am just so grateful for them. We heard from a training this week "weary the Lord in asking" and so yes, we have been doing that. And I'd like to add "weary the Lord in thanking."

Love you all!!!