July 26, 2010‏

Dear Friends and Family,

First off, before I forget, I want you all to google mormonmissionarybiz. It is a business report about our mission in Taiwan! And when you see the gigantic life-sized picture of Jesus on the wall of the apartment, that is MY apartment! At least it was last transfer. Ah, this mission is the best. Also, in the latest liahona - the one with the crazy tree of life on the front, there is an article that takes place in Shilin - which is part of my first area in Danshui. Wow!

Anyways, there is seriously no way I could possibly describe all the amazing and miraculous things that happened this week in one email, but I will do my best!

I just want to start by saying how much I absolutely LOVE my companion, Sister Lin. She is fantastic! Doing the work with her is so much fun! We are always laughing and having a good time, and of course bringing people unto Christ. :) I am so happy to have her as a companion! I feel so blessed!

Anyways, on with the miracles. The line comes to mind "I have a feeling we are not in Kansas anymore." Taidong is so different from Taibei! But despite differences, even for this area we still saw unbelievable miracles. This week we found a total of 13 new investigators! 13!!! What?!! In my last areas we were lucky to find 1 or 2! God is seriously guiding the work because there is no way we did anything to help this happen. The story behind our finding each new investigator is as crazy as the next! I will just share a couple.

First off, one day both of our afternoon appointments canceled so we found ourselves with a lot of time on our hands. Just as we hung up the phone with the person who cancelled, a woman rode up on her scooter. Xie MaMa was someone who had met Sister Lin last transfer but never set up to meet. We asked her if she had time right then and she said yes, so we started heading for the church to sit down. Then, on our way there she said, "It would actually be better if we met at that Family Mart. Can you wait there for me for ten minutes while I grab something from home?" So we did. In those 10 minutes we met a man named Zeng sitting at a table who really had no interest at first. But then Xie MaMa came back and right after the opening prayer the man joined us and they both loved it and came to church together! Woa!

Then we found two more new investigators because one of our current investigators called and said, "I have two friends right now over at my house that want to meet you." So we went, and both of the friends set baptismal dates right then and there! It was a miracle!

Then one night we were riding off to go knock doors in a different area and we passed by a family barbecue. We passed by, but then sister Lin said, "I think we should turn around and talk to those people outside." So we turned around and it turns out one of their friends is a member and they already knew about Joseph Smith and had plans to attend church on Sunday with their friend!!! Wow! I am so grateful for Sister Lin and her example of following the spirit.

Last one that I have time to share - we were riding over to visit a less active in our branch when we saw a mother sitting outside watching her three young boys. We didn't stop then, but the member was not home, so on or way back, we stopped to talk to the mom. She is awesome! We have already met with her three times and she is reading the Book of Mormon and praying and really has a lot of faith in the hope that Christ brings!

This week I have felt particularly grateful and humbled to be a part of these miracles. I honestly never thought it was possible. My faith was so small. But Elder Bednar once said something to the effect of, "Do your best, and then get out of the way!" Gods ways are truly above our own. He has a plan, and if we are doing our best we can be blessed to be a part of it. It reminds me of a scripture in 2 Nephi 25:23, "It is by grace we are saved, after all we can do." I know that "all we can do" is so pathetically small compared to the grace that God can give us. We seriously did not do anything particularly special this week - just did the best we could to be good missionaries. But despite our weaknesses, God blessed us. God's plan is GREAT!!!! So much greater that anyone could ever imagine!

This Gospel is so true! I am so grateful to have it in my life! I love you all and hope you can each continue to read and pray and develop your own testimonies of Jesus Christ. And when you do develop your own Testimony, for crying out loud get out there and SHARE IT! There is no greater joy than seeing someone else's life lit by the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Love,

Sister Collyer

PS - This is a picture of one of the nicer places that we get to contact in. Man, this place is full of crusty homes and tons of humble people! I love it!

July 19, 2010‏

Dear Friends and family,

Hello from...TAIDONG! Yes, I have moved again, and this one was a really, really big majorly huge surprise. In my last presidents interview he told me to, "unpack my bags and get comfortable because you are staying here for a long time." Well, I guess God had other plans. So far I am the only missionary I know of that has moved every single transfer. Most sister missionaries only have about three areas their whole mission, and here I am on my fourth already!

It was really, REALLY hard to leave Xinan and Wanda wards. we really just started to get things really picked up. We are having a baptism next week that I now won't get to see, and we met a GOLDEN family of four people who are so excited about the gospel it blows my mind! Them on top of our other investigators, members, district and everyone else I have come to love really made it hard to leave. Also, they closed our area. Eight sisters are going home but only one came in this transfer, so they had to close four areas, and mine was one of them. I am so sad! But I know that God has a hand in all that happens in the mission, and the Elders that are in the wards are fantastic and I know they will take care of or investigators and baptism just fine.

I attached a picture of my district in Taipei. I am really going to miss them a lot! We were the only district with two sets of sisters, and I really came to love them a lot. I almost felt like I had three companions! Sister Beus and Sister Chen are amazing missionaries, and amazing friends. I will really miss them along with the elders.

On the plus side, I am in Taidong! look it up on the Internet and you will see exactly why I am so excited about it - it is the farthest south city in out mission right along the east coast, and it is beautiful! It is the only area far enough from Taibei in the mission that we had to take a plane to get here! And it is known as one of the most beautiful places on the island. It is true - I don't think I have ever been anywhere more beautiful in my life! I feel so blessed.

Basically, if you could imagine a place that is the exact opposite of Taibei, it is Taidong. Taibei is so crowded that you can't take two steps without running into five hundred people. Basically the best contacting place in the world. Taidong has way fewer people - seriously. It is like a hick town compared to Taibei! There is no air pollution here and everything is so, so green and amazing. I just love it! We cover two branches down here, and I just am so excited I get this opportunity. Most of the missionaries were pretty jealous when they found out I was coming here, and now I know why. It is beautiful!

Also, my new companion is Taiwanese! She is fantastic. Her name is Sister Lin and she seems great. Her English is really non-existent, so it is time to really pray for the gift of tongues! So far things are great. We have a few appointments tonight that should be great. I am super excited to have a native companion! It is likely that I will have mostly native companions from now on because most of the rest of the American sisters are going home next transfer. Bring it on!

Last p-day we went to the zoo with one of our new members- Lin YiXiu. It was so much fun! I loved it! I have a CD of pictures I will send you.

I love you all so much!

Love,

Sister Collyer

July 5, 2010

Dear Friends and Family,

Happy 4th of July! It really doesn't mean anything here, but I dreamed of fireworks and hot dogs last night, so all was fantastic.

This week has been quite fantastic! A couple really funny experiences happened to me that I really want to share.

First, the WORM! We were writing a note to an investigator and we were standing outside her house when suddenly something fell out of the sky and bounced off the paper we were writing on and hit the ground. We looked down to see what on earth fell, and it was a worm! And it was tied in a knot! I have no idea where it fell from - there was nothing above us at all. A bird must have accidentally dropped it, but it was crazy! It spent the next five minutes trying to untie itself. I don't really know why this worm made such a big impression on me, but it did. :) So that was the WORM.

Next, we were meeting with one of our recent converts and sharing scriptures. We shared 2 Nephi 4: 20-21 where Nephi is saying that God has been his support and has filled him with love "even unto the consuming of my flesh." Our new member was really confused. Then it occurred to us all - the Chinese translation for "consuming" is "burning." She was like, "why would you want your flesh to burn!?" We had a good laugh about it, and since the word "consuming" is hard to define even in English, let alone trying to make some kind of translation in Chinese, we moved on to another scripture. I though it was hilarious. :)

Last night we had a new member fireside for all of Taibei, so I got to see a ton of people from my first area and it was so much fun! I loved it! I saw my old companion Sister Ackerson and a couple people that were with me in the MTC and it was so great to see some of the members from Danshui again. I love firesides! Apparently they are every month here, so I will get to see a lot of them. :)

Well, unfortunately I do not have a lot of time this week, but I truly love you all so much! I have such a strong testimony that when we try to do what is right, God will magnify our efforts. When things get hard, that is when God can truly show his power, so keep going strong! The Lord is always with us. He is not standing around to mock us when we fall, but rather he is standing by us to lift us, guide us, and help us. I know this is true because I have seen it so many times already. This gospel - the Gospel of Jesus Christ - is truly a gospel of love and hope. God lives! Christ is our Savior! Prophets are back!

Love,

Sister Collyer

The pictures are: first, our investigator Eve. She is awesome! And then our investigator Venus. She is great too! and, of course, the WORM!

June 28, 2010

Note from Rebecca: I thought I had posted this before I left on vacation, but apparently I didn't. So sorry for the late post.

Dear Family and Friends,

Hello again from Taipei! It was onother great week!

This past monday we went back up to Danshui to do some shopping on old street. It was really fun for Sister Allen and me because Danshui was both of our first areas. And old street is great! I probably spent more money than I should, but boy was it fun! and I got the chance to meet the infamous Turkish IceCream man. I don't really know how to describe his icecream stand - he puts the ice cream on a stick and dances it around and tries to prevent you from catching it, and he is REALLY good at it! He always has a crowd!

The rest of the week we really saw some miracles. We were showered with Golden investigators! One woman came to the church and said, "I know the Book of Mormon is True and Joseph Smith is a prophet." She apparently met with missionaries before because she had an old translation of the book of mormon. Wow! Then, we had a girl from English class come to churhc today and she just LOVED it! She wrote down evey activity that was announced and fully plans on attending them all! Then, a mother and daughter attended church together and the LOVED it! Apparently their relative was in our ward but moved to Canada. Seriously, they loved church, and the 24 year old daugher even came to tht evening's Single Adult Activity, and she loved that too! One of our investigators - Eve - came as well, and she just can't get enough! Lastly, our investigator Sister Fan came as well, and she could only stay for sacrament meeting, but the topic in Sacrament weeting was overcoming trials and it was just perfect for her because she has a lot of really big trials in her life right now and the speakers really said exactly what she needed to hear.

I am overwhelmingly grateful right now for the ward members. The people in our two wards are beyond amazing - they are just plain inspiring. They were so excited to have people at church, and our investigators felt so at home because of their fellowshipping that they were all participating in the lessons just like they were already members. It was truly a miracle. It made me realize how important members realy are. Missionaries can to all they can, but in the end it is the members that really make the difference. I am so, so grateful for our members! When members and missionaries work together, that is when real miracles occur. We need eachother! So my advice to all the missionaries that may read this - look out for your members! And to all you members out there - take care of your missionaries! I promise if you do this, you WILL see miracles.

On a funnier note, I read a scripture this morning that really reminded me of California. 1 Nephi 21:11 says "And I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be exalted." I was thinking, yep that happened in California! The mountains really were burned and washed away to the point where the highways were more beautiful than the mountains! I hope the mountains are getting greener over there at home! Ihave not been there for six months, so I don't know really what the situation is, but I just thought I would share my funny little observation with you today!

I love you all and really appreciate your letters! Thanks for being amazing! God bless you!

Love,

Sister Collyer

These are my pictures,

One si a picture of me and Sister jian - we went on exchanges together. Also, the sign cracked me up, so I had to share it! I love you! The last picture (if it attaches) is my trainer - Sister Ackerson - and her new Companion - Sister Hintze (who was in teh MTC with me). They came to do a temple tour with one of the investigators I met in Danshui, and Me and sister Allen were on Tours that day! It was great to see them! We got to go out to eat lunch with them, which was fantastic!

I love you! Please send these on to Rebeca so she can post them on the Blog!

Love,

Amy

June 21, 2010‏

Dear Family and Friends,

Hello again from Taipei! I don't have much time to write this week, so sorry if this email is a little short!

This week was fantastic. We went on splits on Wednesday with the Temple Tour sisters. Basically, they are kind of like the sisters that help the president out and do Temple tours once a week. So I did Temple tours with Sister Chen, and MAN! She is an awesome missionary. We saw some great miracles! We found some people who were really interested in what our message is, and it was awesome!

Also, our investigators are doing great. One of our investigators, Eve, is just amazing! Every time we explain a principle of the gospel to her she always says, " and this is possible through Jesus Christ and repentance, right?" And All I can think is, "MAN! She has got a better grasp on the gospel than I do!" Really! She is overcoming a lot for the gospel, but the change in her is truly amazing. When I first met her she was sad and uncomfortable and not very hopeful and simply did not understand what life was about. Now, in two short weeks, her focus is completely on Christ, her mind centered on becoming better, and she is so hopeful about the future, and so , so HAPPY! This is truly a gospel of happiness. I am so grateful to God that this miracle is happening. It truly is amazing.

One of our other investigators is experiencing a lot of opposition in her efforts to follow the gospel, so we are pretty concerned about it! Her testimony is solid, but it is really hard to face the opposition she is facing! She is still meeting with us, so pray for us to be able to straighten her and help her see that any sacrifice is worth it for Jesus Christ. God will always support his faithful followers. I know this is true. Mosiah 24:14 tells us that God will ease the burdens on our back that we may be able to bear them. We will still have trials, but God is with us.

This Saturday we also had a really awesome ward activity where we went on splits with the ward members and did missionary work. It was great. I went out with Sister Ge who is a returned Missionary from Salt Lake Temple Square and sister Lin who just got baptized last month. They are fantastic missionaries! Their testimonies are so pure and so strong! Also, we had a really funny experience. We were visiting an Indonesian woman who said we should come by, and she ended up not being very interested, but the woman she works for invited us in to visit her. She is really, really old and can't hear very well. In fact, she reminds me a lot of Grandpa Timms. In the course of our half hour visit she told us about every five minutes, "You skin is so beautiful!" It was great. It was a really fun experience. We spent the rest of the afternoon contacting in a park and we found some really awesome people! Unfortunately, the people we found live in other areas, so we won't get the chance to teach them, but the missionaries in those areas are going to have some great new investigators this week!

The thing I really liked about the activity is that it was really a great opportunity to get to know the ward members. At the end of the day the whole ward came together and ate dinner and it was great to meet a lot of them and get to know them. I really think it was a worthwhile experience.

I love this work! I am so grateful for the restored gospel of Jesus Christ! It is true, and miracles are happening every day!

I love you all!

Sister Collyer

PS - The first picture is our almost-trio - me, Sister Allen, and Sister Lin. The other picture is one of the Elders investigators drew and gave to me. Pretty cool!

June 14, 2010‏

Dear Friends and Family,

Hello from right smack in the center of the great sity of Taipei! Wow, where to even begin? What a great week it has been!

First off, I would like to thank you all for your prayers about my safety...traffic is a nightmare! Ah! We went out the other night and it was raining and it was hard to see and the traffic was so scary and we were riding our bikes in and out of cars and buses and scooters and it is just plain crazy! Seriously, I think Eric petting the Cheetah is safer that riding a bike in Taipei Traffic! Don't worry - I am an extremely cautious rider, and I know God protects His missionaries, so nothing bad will happen. Just thought I would let you know, it is a jungle out there! Sometimes I feel like I am a living Nintendo game - like Frogger or something. And my companion is FAST on her bicycle! I am sure I will get used to it, but it has certainly been an adventure so far!

This week was absolutely crazy for some strange reasons! First, last Monday we moved to a new apartment - the assistant's old apartment, in fact. It is super big and super nice and we have a life-size painting of Jesus on the wall of our bedroom, not to mention about six other really nice, really big paintings decorating the house. But moving has really been a pain! Then, on Wednesday we found out we were getting a third companion - Sister Lin! There is an odd number of Sisters in the mission right now, and there was a member that was willing to be a "duanchuan" (meaning a short term missionary) for the first week, but she had to go home ad they couldn't find another Duanchuan, so in moved Sister Lin on Saturday! On Sunday all of her stuff finally arrived, and then this morning, wouldn't you know it - they found another Duanchuan for the next five weeks, so out moved Sister Lin! So for a total of two and a half days I was in a tri-panionship. It was a great couple days. I love sister Lin! She is a native to Taiwan, so she helped my Chinese A LOT in those couple days! Ah! I will miss her.

Also, the other crazy thing I noticed this week - every companion I have had so far was in the MTC together, and this is their last transfer, so they are all going home! Yep! Sister Ackerson, Sister Mac Isaac and Sister Allen all only have five weeks left, and then I officially don't really know any of the other sisters in the mission! :) The good thing is that since Sister Allen is going home next transfer I will almost definitely stick around in the area for at least one more transfer, so I get to make myself right at home. It is nice to know that I will probably stay here longer than six weeks!

Things are completely different from my other two areas in so many ways! First of all, our Chapel is the one right next to the Temple and the Mission office, so we see so many missionaries all the time! Every day there is a different set of Sister Missionaries doing tours of the chapel, so I have met a lot of the sisters in the mission right now, and we really do have awesome sisters here! Also, this area is huge on finding people! In my last two areas we had a lot of people to teach so we did not spend hardly any time trying to find. I have really only been tracting three times before here, but now it is an almost daily thing! And you know what? I really like trying to find new people to teach! People here are really great. Most of them are completely uninterested, but they are still willing to listen and talk and give their information out to the missionaries. It has been a week full of meeting about a hundred new people a day! Wow!

Also, we do have a couple really great investigators. Eve is a Taiwanese Aborigine, and she is awesome! The last time we talked to her on the phone she was so excited to tell us the new things she learned from the Book of Mormon! Wow! and Sister Fan is so excited to join the church and get baptized! We are hoping both of them will be able to be baptized next month before Sister Allen has to leave. We will just have to wait and see how everything plays out! We have a few other investigators that I have high hopes for. Things are really looking good here!

Well, I love you all very much! I hope all is well! God bless you!

Love,

Sister Collyer

PS - I forgot my camera chord this week, so sorry there are no pictures! Look forward to next week!

June 7, 2010

Dear Friends and Family,

Hello from.......TAIPEI!!! That is right. I moved again. This time I am right up in Taipei - Chin hua Street! AKA The chapel that is across the street form the mission office and right smack next to the temple. Moroni is looking down on me right now. I can't believe I moved! Ah! It went so fast! I am really going to miss Xinzhu and Sister Mac Isaac, but I am really excited for the new adventures that are to come here! I really did not expect to move, and I never would have guessed I would come up to this area, but it seems like it is going to be great! My new companion is Sister Allen, and she seems awesome. I am really excited to work with her!

My last week in Xinzhu was fantastic. We met with Hong Raeyin (Ranae) again, and I am really going to miss her a lot. I don't know how to tell you how fantastic she is. When we met with her, she had made a case for her scriptures and had little post it markers in her book of Mormon and we asked her when she had marked and she said, "When you share a scripture is a lesson, I like to mark it." When we asked her where she was in reading the Book of Mormon, she has already finished 1 Nephi, and when we asked what her favorite scripture so far was, she said 1 Nephi 19:9, "And the world, because of their iniquity, shall judge him to be a thing of naught; wherefore they scourge him, and he suffereth it; and they smite him, and he suffereth it. Yea, they spit upon him, and he suffereth it, because of his loving kindness and his long-suffering towards the children of men." Holy cow! Her faith in Christ is amazing, especially for someone without a Christian background. It really reminds me of Ammon speaking to King Lamoni's wife when he said, "Blessed art thou because of thy exceeding faith; I say unto thee, woman, there has not been such great faith among all the people of the Nephites" (Alma 19:10). I have never been so blown away before. God truly has prepared some amazing people in Taiwan to join the saints here! The only thing that is a little concerning right now is that Ranae's mom at this point opposed baptism. Here in Taiwan, the legal age for signing documents is 20, so if her mom does not give permission she has to wait two years to get permission. Please keep her in your prayers!

We also had this amazing miracle - on Friday we went to an appointment set up with the Fan family. We had never met them before, but the Elders set them up for us. Ok, they are AMAZING! It is a mom and her four daughters and one little son, and they are absolutely inspiring. We went to visit them and the were watching TV and we asked them if they would turn it off to talk to us, and they ALL agreed - even the younger daughters! Then we taught them about prayer and how the gospel blesses families and challenged them to all pray together every night, and they all said ok! Then we kneeled to pray and one of the daughters offered her first prayer ever and it was so special and I could almost feel God's presence there. It was amazing. Afterwards, the mother thanked us for bringing her the gospel. Wow! It was a real miracle. I have never been so shocked and edified before. I love families!

Sunday was a happy and sad day. Happy because it was fast Sunday and it was fantastic, but sad because it was my last day! I got to see everyone for the last time and it just about broke my heart to leave. Sister Wang and her daughter. A couple of ward members I will especially miss - Sister Chen (The one in front of the white board) has been so amazing at helping us teach Ranae. I don't know how we would ever get along without her!

And MaoMei (Madasse) (the one with the mask) - she just turned 21 and is hoping to go on a mission! and her brother MaoDi (Jasper) just turned 18 and is going to do the military for one year and then go on a mission after that. Wow. They are just so amazing.

Also, Ranae gave me a really touching letter (I can only read about 1/4 of it since it is in Chinese, but I am working on translating it) and drew me this picture of Jesus and I though I was gonna cry I was so touched! Sister Chen also gave me a letter and she read it out loud to me since it was in Chinese too and it was so touching and I just am so sad to leave them! Ah! Still, I know that this is where God needs me, and I am really excited to work with Sister Allen.

We took a picture as a district with Jasper and Madasse and Ranae and I just love both of these pictures! My district leader - Elder Cui - is form Korea. He is the one accidentally making the really funny face in one of the pictures. Ah! I am going to miss all of them! Elder Yeh and Elder Vanwagoner are the Zone leaders, Elder Li and Elder CHumway are awesome, and Elder Cui and Elder Raskey are some of the happiest people I have ever met. They were a really wonderful district!

Lastly, I also saw this gigantic snail, and I just had to take another picture. :)

I love you all so much and I hope you have a fantastic week! Thank you all for the wonderful birthday greetings!

Love,

Sister Collyer