Merry Christmas and Happy New Year !

Dear Family & Friends,

Merry Christmas and a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

WOW! What a week full of miracles and tender mercies!  

This whole week was so amazing! If first started at our Mission Christmas Party! We all went up to Taipei to met up together at the American Club Hotel to celebrate Christmas together! It was next to the Grand Hotel where there Prophet David O McKay dedicated the island of Taiwan to missionary work. We were able to go there and visit as a mission. What a spiritual and emotional visit we had. So grateful that missionaries are able to be here at this time to share the restored gospel of Jesus Christ! What a spiritual christmas party we had too. 

Then on Christmas Eve Night we has our planning session and we then we had a couple lessons! That night we had a lesson with an investigator named Sister Guo at a Starbucks across the street from the MuZha University. She is the cutest 20 year old ever! She goes to college right now and is having a great time learning about the gospel. She is so sweet and is just full of love! She is always smiling! She says that her life is going great right now and that she is so grateful for all the things God has given her. As we taught her the Spirit was strong and I knew in that moment I wouldn't rather be anywhere else on Christmas Eve. AT the end of our lesson we invited her to baptism and testified of our Savior. She accepted and wants to be baptized!!

It really was a WHITE CHRISTMAS! The lovely Sister Lan was baptized this pasted week!! She is so great and wonderful! She was so happy to be baptized! She said she felt at peace and she really knew that these things are true. What a beautiful daughter of God she is and I'm so happy and blessed to have met her! What a blessing it is. She met with the missionaries and they started teaching her and then a few weeks later she was baptized! God is truly mindful of everyone and desires everyone to be happy!

This Christmas I am deeply grateful for the opportunity I have to teach the restored gospel and testify of the Son of God, Jesus Christ. What a blessing and a true testament of our living Savior!! I hope you all remember Christ this new year and seek to have Him more in your life!! May God be with you until we met again! I love you all and wish you good luck this new year!

Sincerely, Sister Komatsu 小松姐妹

Dear Family & Friends!

CHRISTMAS IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER!! I love the Christmas season and what it has to offer.What an incredible time! Surprisingly they celebrate Christmas in Taiwan more or less. They just like the hanging decorations but don't really do anything fancy. In the church here in Taiwan on the other hand, they are prepping for their Christmas party this coming Saturday! These parties and activities mean everything to them so they are doing a lot!!

This pasted week we were able to throw our english class christmas party! It was so much fun! We had a couple games and activities and then us, missionaries, put on a Nativity performance! It was so much fun and I enjoyed the decorations we put up in our chapel!

This week we also went on a lot of bike rides to different places in our area! It was so much fun! It wasn't when it started to rain though. We were biking up this hill and saw this big christmas tree that was made out of CD's. Then we were stopped by this old man that thought we were lost but in fact we've traveled that way before. He stopped us and wanted to give us fruit. We accepted and walked across the street. It was the sweetest old man ever! We will never forget his kindness and love! After we talked with him and sharing the gospel I was reminded what the true meaning of Christmas was! It was just that and I'm so thrilled that I have this time to share about Christ our Savior!!

Then we went to visit a member at the hospital. It was a Christian hospital decorated with all things christmas! It was so cute and we were glad we were able to sing to her and her kids! It was fun and it felt like christmas even more!

Not to much happened this week but I'm happy to report that the the Lord's work is still moving on and I'm still trying to be an instrument in his hands. I'm grateful this holiday season to be representing Christ. I know that He lives and loves us!! Please remember him and all that He has done!!!

HOPE YOU HAVE A GOOD WEEK!!!

www.mormon.org/christmas/purpose-of-a-savior

Sincerely, Sister Komatsu 小松姐妹

Dear Family & Friends, ONE YEAR !  I've finally hit my year mark! I've been on my mission for a year!

There are no words to describe my mission so far but that it's been the most amazing experience I've been blessed to have. I can't believe it's been a year since I entered into the MTC and started my journey! What a joy it has been to be apart of Heavenly Father's work and to have the opportunity to bless the lives of others. It's insane how much things change, how much time flies, and how many countless times God has worked miracles int the lives of others.

I've been in Taiwan for just about 7 months now and have been able to do many wonderful things and have amazing experiences! I'm excited to see what the Lord has in stored  for me next and I am excited to continue my journey in helping the people of Taiwan find the greatest gift God has given to all of us, which is the Gospel of Jesus Christ!          

         

Nothing too exciting happened this week in the work but we were able to find an inactive member named Joyce! She is so cute and loves missionaries! She speaks english and so does her family. She is from the Philippines and just lives too far from the church - which makes it hard to come every week. We love her and it was a miracle that we even ran into her. We biked for about 1 hour to get to her house not knowing if she'd be home or not. But as we got to her house we stood around for awhile and she came up riding her scooter because she forgot something! It was a miracle and we were able to get her number and she said she wanted us to return a again so we could met her family! What a miracles!

This week we also had a Halloween english party to the chruch! It was fun! We had trunk or treat in our parking lot and played a lot of games! 

Sister Lindsay and I have been having a blast in TaiDong! Here are random pictures of our adventures and here are picture from our last Prep-Day! We went to a famous bridge in Taiwan called the SanChongTai in TaiDong. All us missionaries went and had a blast seeing the view and crossing the bridge to get to an island off the coast!!! As we were walking up and down the humps we realized that it really was the Great Wall/Bridge of Taiwan!! Amazing! 

Family & Friends! I love you all so much! Thank you for being apart of my mission experience and for allowing me to go on a mission to bless the lives of others! It truly has been a blessing and here in Taiwan we have been able to help people be baptized and come unto Christ!!

LOVE YOU ALL! CONTINUE TO DO GOOD AND LOOK TO GOD IN ALL THINGS!!

Sincerely, Sister Komatsu 小松姐妹

My brothers and sisters,

ALOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHA!

Happy Halloween! Hope you all had a good Halloween! The way we spent Halloween in Taiwan was just me and my companion sitting on our beds and talking about halloween in America and about the haunted houses we've been to..Then someone gave us a ton of snickers! That's basically it. Sister Lindsay and I are really excited for Christmas though!  It's almost christmas! WE just have thanksgiving left! It's crazy!

Family & Friends! This week was a hard week!

Sister Lindsay and I went tracking all week this week! To be honest it was ruff. No one wanted to talk to us and no one had any interest in our kuaile de message! WHY? you ask. We don't know. We did a lot of decision making and praying. But through trials and challenges we learned a lot about faith!

We know that we are imperfect beings doing the impossible but with the faith that we had we were able to accomplish a lot. We were biking along a ride that my companion had thought to go down - I saw someone over a gate cleaning. We stopped and yelled, what we usually yell, "Wuan, you ren zai ma?" A girl popped up over the gate and stood over the gate to talk to us. She was a sweet 22 years old. She said she'd never seen missionaries and hasn't heard much about Jesus Christ. I had this overwhelming feeling to share with her our happy message, the message about the restoration of the gospel! It was awesome and she was willing to hear everything we talked about. We invited her to be baptized and she accepted! 

"And neither at any time hath any wrought miracles until after their faith; wherefore they first believed in the Song of God." Ether 12:18   

I believe in this statement because it really is true. I have seen these miracles play out in my own life and in the lives of others.

I believe this church to be God's church. I am just a humble servant doing his will! How lucky am I!

I love you and thank you all for your support and love!

PS. Here's some random pictures! Hope you have a amazing week!

Sincerely, Sister Komatsu 小松姐妹

Prayer !!

Dear Family & Friends

Prayer has been the center of my time here on my mission! I truly know without a doubt that God, our loving Heavenly Father, hears our prayers and does all He can to accomplish them. In Taiwan have a special opportunity everyday to teach people how to pray to God. Some people have maybe heard someone else pray, heard of prayer, or either don't know prayer is. Every day when we are out teaching and talking to people we always ask them if they have ever prayed. Most say know. I always say back that it's really easy. We usually say: 1. We address Heavenly Father by saying our Father in Heaven 2. We thank Him and ask Him to bless us 3. We close in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Then we pray with them or ask them if they would be willing to say their first prayer to God. 

I love hearing people pray for the first time!! I just makes my heart melt when I know that they are communication to Heavenly Father. And I know He hears their prayers and I know He is just as happy as I am!

This week I went on exchanges with my Sister Training Leader - Sister Griffin. She is the cutest and she is the tallest girl I've ever met! She is so sweet and together in my area we were able to met with Gao Xin. Her name is literally tall heart. She is one of our new investigators. She has such a big heart and such a big personality! She is only 14 years old! She believes in God and Christ so much - she is so young but so willing to learn more! We had such a great lesson about baptism and what it means to us - we unplanned invited her to baptism and she accepted! After our lesson Sister Griffin and I said a prayer of gratitude toward our loving Father!

Another story was about a less-active members who since I've been here has been having a struggle with believing God loves her anymore. She believed that he didn't love her personally which didn't make her very happy. After long lessons and conversations and advice - nothing came out of it. She was stuck and didn't want to change. It was so heartbreaking every time we met with her. We prayed for her a lot. Then this passed week she said to us that she wants to be more seriously involved. started to pray and read the scriptures again. She said she just woke up one day and decided she was going to be more happy! WOW! What a changed person she is now. 

Lately, our miracle story is Brother Xu. He is our investigator that we've been working with for a while - for about 2 months. He is doing well and be able to learn more about God's gospel and plan for him! The only thing is that he hasn't been to church yet which keeps him from getting baptized next month (11/7). Last week we asked if he could come to church but said he was unsure. Depending if he's boss would let him off so we weren't expecting but we were praying and hoping he would get that opportunity to come. Sunday came and after sacrament we headed to Gospel Principles class. During class our member looks out the window and says to us that Brother Xu was here! We ran out of class to only run right into him! He was shocked that we knew he was here! Our member said that it was God's House and that of course we knew! We grabbed our things and took him to another ward's sacrament meeting where he was able to partake of the sacrament!! We were soo happy! It was the happiest day of our lives!! 

Alma 37:36-37

:Yea, and cry unto God for all thy support; yea let all thy doings be unto the Lord, and withersoever thou goest let it be in the Lord; yea let thy thoughts be directed unto the Lord; yea, let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever.

Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, yet shall be lifted up at the last day."

All I did this week was pray and ask of God. And He definitely answered. These people have strengthen and taught me a lot. I know that the power of prayer works. I invite you all every night before you sleep to kneel in prayer. I know without a doubt that God hears and does all He can to make them happen. Know that He is an Almighty God and a God of miracles!

Here are some scenic picture I've taken this week! I hope you love them as much as I do! I live in the most beautiful place ever!

LOVE YOU ALL! TAKE CARE!

Sincerely, Sister Komatsu 小松姐妹

Happy October !

Dear Family & Friends!

Happy October!! Wow the year has gone by so fast! Next month is November 

This pasted weekend in Taiwan we were all able to watch General Conference!! What a great conference! It has been my 2nd conference here on my mission and it was such a great time to spend it with other awesome missionaries in Taidong!

My favorite talk was from Russell M. Nelson, who is one of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. He talked about women and about how our time is now! Women shall bare testimony of God and help to help build His Kingdom. President Spencer W. Kimball, a previous president of the church, foresaw women who would be women to organize, plan, make important decisions, and do great things to assist in this time of the growth of the church. He talked about this being a very unique dispensation compared from all the other dispensations. I'm proud to be a sister missionary in this day in age! What a blessing and a privilege. I'm grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I hope to do all I can to proclaim God's gospel with power and authority bringing many souls unto Christ! 

Every week I write about miracles that happen but this week was awesome! As we looking for a member who hasn't been to church in a long time we were able to teach a wonderful man named Brother Pan. He is about 50's and he was the security guard that day. We chatted and had a really good conversation about God and who He is. He asked if he prayed for money that it was just fall from the sky. We all laughed but said that it's something that won't make us happy. And God wants us happy in this life. It was great and we're excited to teach him about the God that we know! And that He truly is a loving and merciful Heavenly Father. 

Thank you for your emails and love! Continue to email me! Here are some pictures of the week. First one is a picture of our conference in a classroom at the church. Then a picture that says "I love Tai Dong". Lastly is the Taidong sister missionaries put into a small closet to watch women's conference!!

Ni Hao !

Family and Friends Ni hao!

This week was a fabulous week! Sister Walker and I saw so many wonderful things and met great people!

We met this cool guy while knocking some doors. He was gardening and he started to wave at us. We walked over and he let us sit down with him and we shared a bit of our message.It he was a awesome guy who had lost both his legs. He is very patient and just hops around to get to places. He was a loving and humble guy. Very cool experience we had to teach him about God. His name is Mr. Chen. He awesome spoke some english, which is always fun!

Another cool experience was with our investigator Brother Xu! He is so cool! We went over to his house with our member and taught him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel of Christ is truly for our own benefit. We taught that this gospel can help him progress and become better. I testified of my chinese and that through this gospel I am to grow and be better. Through faith, repentance, making promises and goals with God, having the Holy Spirit, and enduring to the end. We later in the lesson asked when he feels the most happiness in his life - He paused and didn't say anything. Then he spoke and said that he hasn't be happy recently. I shared a scripture 2 Nephi 30:21. Then I asked if he believed that this gospel can help him and can give him happiness - He said yes. WOW! I can say that that was the greatest moment I've ever had on my mission. We  then set a date for his baptism.

This week was Mid-Autumn Festival this pasted weekend. So many members fed us! It was barbecue all week-end😁 Met the sweetest girl from Japan at our dinner. Her name is Yuka Fujishima. She is here for home staying and was just down in taidong to hang out. She's learning Chinese but her english is awesome! I was so happy to met her and talk to her about the wonderful Japanese food that I miss from home. She isn't a member but we were able to share with her our message! I told her that I hope to go to japan someday. She visited me to visit her! 

Another awesome news is this wonderful young lady named Sister Lin is getting baptized next week. (see picture) I remember it was my first couple weeks here in taidong. I met her and she just hugged me! I thought she was a member. Only did I realized last week that she has been investigating the church for this pasted month. When I met her she said she loved me because I was Japanese. Since then we've been best friends. I'm sooo excited to see her get baptized next week!!


Most recent news is that I cut my hair!! It is hot and it was getting too long so I cut it. Well, my companion cut it for me!  

Sincerely,    Sister Komatsu 小松姐妹 you all!!   

Reporting From Taiwan !

Dear Family & Friends!

Wow! It was an incredible week. I feel like I can't even describe the feelings I've experienced! It's pasted 6 weeks since I arrived here in Taidong and I'm so unaware of the time that pasted by and how much I was a part of!

This pasted week:
First we had Outdoor Zone Meeting!! This is a zone/training for all missionaries within a certain boundary. So, all the east coast missionaries were able to all meet up in Hualian! For us Taidong people we had to take a 4 hour bus ride up there. We than had our Conference at Taroko National Park! 
Secondly, Sister Walker and I went up to GuanShan again to visit a lady who has been inactive for awhile. It was so exciting to met her and get to know her. The train ride from our normal area to hers takes about 40 mins. We just spent the day there and visited more people!
Lastly, it was our Hualian Stake Conference so once again we took a train all the way up to Hualian. It was just a 2 hour ride on the fast train.
It was such a crazy week! Here are some pictures!

At conference we able to hear about the family that we had told the hualian missionaries about. The missionaries that the family is awesome and that the grandma is getting baptized next week! What?! We were so excited. This grandma lives in Taidong and one night we knock at their door and asked if we could come in a say a prayer for their family. They were so sweet and let us in. We got to know a mother with 3 kids and her mom (the grandma). We were able to share about Christ and about baptism. They were christian already and said they were about be willing to be baptized. They were in Taidong just visiting and deciding to move to Hualian soon. They did and were happy to see them at the Stake Conference this pasted weekend! (See picture)! I'm grateful to be apart of her story and allow her to get to know God more! WOW! Miracle's happen and they truly change you! I'm changed! 

I'm so grateful to be a missionary here in the east coast. At the end of conference the stake president made this man brother lin stand up. This old man has been apart of the church for awhile. He also brought 16 of his family members to the church. It was a spiritual moment. The church here in Taiwan is still being built. Then the stake president told all the missionaries to stand. He said that we are young people helping them. That they were grateful for our service. I was so grateful to be apart of that and to be helping the people here!!

At this Zone Conference I was able to regain a lot of strengthen from Christ! I know that I'm His disciple called by Him to share His gospel! I'm captained by Christ!! He is also allowing me to be apart of His works. I'm not sharing the gospel for Him because He's not here - no. He"s allowing me tag along and change the people of Taiwan's lives and see the miracles that happen! Be on a mission was the best choice I've ever made! How lucky I am to be in the most beautiful place ever and serving amazing people!!!!!! The Sister had trained us about loving every moment of life. They invited us to look up more often. They told a story about a man that was called to the Quorum of the Seventy. At that time he was very busy doing so much in his life. One day this man stood in the elevator with his heavy suitcase thinking about the daily tasks he had to do. A man sooner or later walked in and look at this man looking down. It was President Monson. He then said to this man, "What down there? It's better to look up then down."

Another story! We went to GuanShan to visit an inactive member. The train ride only is 45 mins so for her it would take a while to get to church every sunday wince she only rides a bike! She is a sweet old lady that still believes in God and that He has a plan for her. I could only feel complete love for her. She showed us the picture of her missionaries that taught and baptized her. 

WOW! This truly was an amazing week. Thank you for allowing me to share these stories with all of you. I know that God is a God of the living. He moves through the lives of those around us and through us. He hears every prayer and is there is comfort every broken heart. I've seen His miracles and I know He sees every . Please look for Him in your life. I promise that as you pray, study the scriptures, look up more often, and do all you can I know the Lord will open the windows of heaven and pour out an abundance of blessings!

Love you all dearly!
Thank you for your constant and love and support!

Sincerely, Sister Komatsu 小松姐妹

Transferred !

Dear Family & Friends!!!

From the City to the Country! I was transferred and moved all the way on the east coast close to the bottom of Taiwan.
I'm current serving in Taidong! Super pretty and big! Never knew how big Taiwan really is. I have some picture from the first few days that I've been here!

It has been a blast. The first day though that we worked I felt super sick and I was in pain all day long. Didn't know what it was but my Sister Training Leaders reassured me that it was probably stress from moving to another place on my mission - I just realized that Taidong is my second area here in Taiwan! Wow, I was in the city for about 4 months! That's crazy. I hope I stay here in Taidong for a while too :)

This week was a crazy week. I only had one night to pack and then arrived at "Transfers meeting" the next morning  This meeting is for all the missionaries that are moving into a different areas and for those that are ending their missions. It was a sad thing to say good-bye to everyone. When you're sent to the east coast you don't get to see everyone very much.

From all the stress and moving I was able to have a first great sunday here in Taidong! The east is where the church is still being built! It's great! When we arrive to sacrament meeting I looked at the mother helping a young boy, probably 9 years old, pick prelude music. Turns out it's that the bishop's kid who plays the piano for sacrament. I loved it! Another thing is Taidong has long roads and we don't live close to the city so we bike about 20 minutes to our chapel! Totally different from the city of Shuang He, where I last served.

Here is my email for now! We're going to go take a trip down as missionaries to the beach. I've never been to the beach here in Taiwan! I'm super stoked!!!
Thank you for all your love and emails! Sorry, if you haven't been receiving my emails - I don't know what's going on with my email :(

Anyways, here is a great quote by Elder Bednar: "..Although He may not relieve all your suffering now. He will bless you with comfort and understanding and with strength to "bear up [your] burdens with ease,"" -Mosiah 24:15

Love sincerely Sister Komatsu!
Here are some quick bike ride pictures!

Safe After Typhoon !

Dear Family & Friends!

WOW! Thank you so much for your emails and your sincere concern! But I'm happy to report that all is well here after the huge typhoon ripped through Taiwan!

It is truly a blessing that we are all safe and sound! It was a crazy night and day when the typhoon came - the wind and rain was intense that I couldn't sleep very much. Then that Saturday we we're all told by our Mission President to stay indoors for the rest of the day! Then at 7pm we were let go  and did some missionary work.While walking along the streets there were so many trees and debris int he streets - tin roofs and big commercial signs blown off. It was the closest I've been to a  huge natural disaster.

Many have written that it was a huge storm not only in Taiwan since 20 years ago but also the hugest one on earth in 2015. That's crazy! It was my first typhoon!

This whole storm thing is kind of ironic because last week wednesday we talked about current events in our english class. We shared that there are a lot of events happening in our lives and that things are constantly changing. We then shared a scripture from Ether 12:4 ( I always seem to share this scripture but I love it!) The prophet Ether says: "Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God."
Then I drew a picture of a boat and talked about sailing - about how I use to sail. While you sail you have to be aware of things that are going on around you: the wind, current, and much more. Also, talked about how the wind is the driving force while you sail - without wind you aren't able to go anywhere but in strong winds, like a storm, there is a chance you will be likely tossed, and turned, and eventually lost at sea. On this boat I drew a anchor and explained that I have been through alot of up and downs -that I've experienced a lot of storms in my life and continue to but through what I believe and know to be true I've been able to weather out the storms. I have a sure anchor  and this anchor is Christ and His gospel. It also represents my faith and my belief. There will always be storms and trials that will beat upon us but if are willing to lower down our anchor and trust in Heavenly Father then we will be sure and steadfast through the storms that we face. I know this to be true and I'm grateful to be a missionary and to have these challenges and hardships because I know it is Heavenly Father who is shaping and refining me into a stronger and more steadfast servant! I'm definitely stronger than I realize when I have Heavenly Father watching over me!

I wish you all well! Thank you so much for your emails and concerns! I pray for you all!
Love you dearly!!!

PS I'm  sorry that I only have a couple of pictures but for more of the typhoon in my area you can go to TaiwanTaipeiMission.com for recent updates and pictures! Also, here are pictures from Last P-day after I emailed. We went to Chiang Kai Shiek Memorial in Central Taipei! I was fun and its so beautiful!!
Sincerely, Sister Komatsu 小松姐妹


Chiang Kai Siek Memorial! It's so huge

New Mission President !

FAMILY & FRIENDS!!!

Sorry, this is an email from last week that didn't send for some reason!


Here in the Taiwan Taipei Mission we welcome our new Mission President and his very loving family! I am so grateful for the encourage and faith that they have to takeover the wonderful work here in Taipei!
They just recently updated our mission's website! CHECK IT OUT!!! (see if you can find me ;)
www.taiwantaipeimission.com

This pasted week we all got to meet the Jergensen Family! They are from Logan, UT and have 6 kids! We just met three that arrived here with them! They are a blasted and have so much energy!!

There was too much that we did this week! It's way too hard to sum it all up!!

I've been thinking a lot about what it means to be missionary when your not a missionary! The ward I'm currently serving is very loving but have not yet understood what it means to be disciples of Christ. Being a disciple of Christ is being anxiously engaged in preaching the gospel that He has so willingly given to us! If you feel like God has blessed your life and have the opportunity to share what He has given you - I hope you do so!
Our Heavenly Father has entrusted us with the knowledge that most of the world doesn't have.  Trust me I know! Being in Taiwan not many people understand God or Christ and who they really are. Yesterday, we visited a member whose family members are not apart of our religion. They are baibai (bubbist).  They have a huge shrine in the middle of their home - in that moment I was glad that I had the Gospel of Jesus Christ and that God entrusted me with such a blessing! I'm thankful to be serving a mission and magnifying my calling as a child of God and preaching His Gospel!!!

D&C 58:26-29 I encourage you all to be anxiously engaged in sharing this special message about Christ and our Heavenly Father!

And here are random pictures that I've taken these past two weeks!
Here is a picture of the Jergensen Family in Taibei! Took it from the new website.
Here is a pic of Sister Oviatt and I! We went to the zoo last P-Day (ate ice cream b/c it was sooo hot!) and we ate dinner because it was here 9 month mark!! Lol, we have a blast with each other!!
Also, here are pictures of the food I got when we also went to Costco!!! Costco is heaven on earth for an American! It brought back so many memories of home!!
It's MANGO SEASON!!!! The mango's here are to die for!!!! They are amazing! I can't get enough of them! Was taught how to properly cut a mango!
Bought SPAM at COSTCO! Best decision I've ever made! It's 600 NT here but in US it's about $20 for 6 cans!! :D
Love you all!! I pray for you all!!!

Sincerely, Sister Komatsu

Lift Where You Stand !

Dear Family & Friends,

This week's email is pretty short!

There was a a lot of rain these past few days! There was a ton of thunder and lightening and there was also hail yesterday. Who knew it could hail in Taiwan?! So cool. Sorry I wish I had a picture.

Recently, I've been learning a lot about progressing to become better person and ultimately having a changed nature. Recently I read a talk by President Dieter F. Utchdorf called 'Lift where you stand' (A talk I suggest everyone to read!)
It is about many different people who have shown this example of "lift where you stand". This "lift where your stand" concept came from a situation President Utchdorf encountered while trying to get a grand piano from one room to another. The task was difficult and there were many there to help none could figure out a way to accomplish this task. Standing around this piano for awhile a brethren called out and said, "now brethren just lift where you stand", and that's what they did. Suddenly the piano seemed to have lifted itself and began to move into the room they had set out to do. This concept seems too simple but it is very true.

Being a missionary here in the middle of Taipei sometimes seems impossible to get everyone to hear about God and His Son Jesus Christ. I've been learning a lot about team work and what it means to stand where you are, weakness and shortcomings in all, and then to lift what you have set out to accomplish. I've seen many blessings as I continue to learn a very difficult language and continue to be a disciple of the Lord- I've had many great people that have blessed me here in Taiwan that have made it easier to lift the work.

Working with new investigators has always been the fun part about being a missionary. You get to see people change and change for the better. It's the greatest blessings. At the end of our english class we always have a spiritual share about the Gospel. Last week we talked about the Book of Mormon and read some verses out of it. After class a new student, named Jocelyn (english name), walked up to us and said that she wanted to learn more about this book and if there were any people in our church that could help her. Sister Oviatt and I smiled at each other and said yes and that we were the people that could help her. That very Saturday we met with her and taught her the Restoration of the Gospel. It was very spiritual and she was very willing to listen to us. This same night we were having a ward dinner at the church and a random baptism was happening for 2 little girls from a different district from ours (which we did not know about till after our lesson). Our investigator stayed with us and ate the dinner that our ward members had provided. I then asked if she was going to go home soon and immediately said that she wanted to stay to watch the baptism! I smiled and turned to my companion immediately. The joy in my companions eyes made me smile and laugh!! It truly was the best night ever!!

I love missionary work and the small ways that the Lord goes about in His work!!

Sorry family and friends but no pictures this week. I've been slacking in taking pictures :( But please enjoy this wonderful picture that I deeply love! I also love this story of the resurrected Christ walking with two men on the road to Emmaus. (Luke 24)


Till next week I love and miss you all!! Thank you for your prays and emails!!

Sincerely, Sister Komatsu 小松姐妹
Serving in the Taipei Taiwan Mission

Happy July !

Dear Family & Friends!!

HAPPY JULY!!!!!!

It's a very very hot July here in the City of Taibei!! WOW! I've honestly learned to make the best out of the heat - I think I prefer sweating and biking in Taibei city then freezing and walking through snow storms in Boston! I've learned that water and sunscreen are very important things to have as a missionary in Taiwan. It's been so great to sweat and be active and just be a missionary!!

This week was a wild week! Just helping my comp get to know the area  while she is helping me understand chinese and how to be an effective missionary! Its been great! I've literally had 3 trainers so far since being on the mission - I had one in Boston, one here, and this last week I finished my training with my new comp Sister Oviatt!! Heavenly Father knows me really well. I needed 3 trainers to get it right. 

I'm still in Shuang He - the lovely New Taipei City where people aren't afraid to run you over with their scooters- LOL I love it here and I love how fast pace it is though!

Wei, Chin Chin is our investigator that we've been working hard with to help her come closer unto Christ! She has a coffee problem that she is trying to kick! So, your prayers would be most appreciated! 

We've been doing a lot of member visits at their homes: helping them strengthen their families and working hard to center their homes around Christ!

So many different things are happening here in Taibei that there isn't enough time or space to tell you everything but I can tell you that we are working hard and doing the best we can to find those that are willing to about God's wonderful plan!

In other news I heard about Gay marriage being legalized in America! I still can't believe it. Is it true? Someone email me back! A good member of ours came up to us last week and told us what happened then said in her broken english that, "Christ is coming soon." I couldn't help but laugh at her - she's just too cute! It is interesting though to hear the world around me changing and the different things that are happening - As a missionary we dont hear a lot about what's going on in the world - we focus all our efforts on the work where we are! I know in my heart though that God has His own time and time table. Last week my companion and I taught our english class about Time and we shared this scripture from Ecclesiastes 3:1-11

"To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, a time to heal, a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; ...A time to rend, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace... He hath made very thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that now man can find our the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end."

I'm glad for the time that I live in and for the many things that God has given me the chance to experience. I pray for all you that are experiencing times of trials and heartache. I know that God is mindful of us all! Please continue in faith and love!!!

I love and pray for you all!!

PS sorry there are no pictures this week - left my camera at home  SORRY!!

Sincerely yours, Sister Komatsu 小松姐妹

Summer In Taiwan !

Dear Family & Friends,

Summer in Taipei has been ruff but the people in Taiwan have been very very kind which makes the temperate a little cooler!

Another transfer has come and gone and I am still currently serving in the Shuang He Area in New Taipei City! This area is amazing and I'm excited to serve here with a new companion!!

My new companion is Sister Oviatt! We were in the MTC together, which makes it even more fun! She is a sweetheart full of love and patience. She might need some patience if I'm her companion :) She is from Texas and she has been on her mission just a transfer or generation ahead of me! So we are both young missionaries :) In our area we have Shuang He 1 & 2. We serve in the 2nd ward. Our goal in our two wards right now is to help make a Shuang He 3! We are prepping to work hard this transfer to help make this goal happen within the year!! Actual Work is just music to my ears!!!

 So many new changes are happening this transfer! The biggest one is probably getting a new mission president! His name is President Jergensen - he's from Logan, Utah and he is bringing his wife, two twin sons who are 14 years old, one daughter whos 17, and even his father and mother-in-laws! I'm excited for President Jergensen and his willingness to serving along side us as missionaries. The Mission President with serve with his family for the next three years in Taiwan Taipei.

These last few weeks together we ate a lot with members and had a good time! We did all we could to make our last week count! Here is a picture of us with our Bishop's wife, Xie JieMei. They took us to a Thai restaurant. Then we ate lunch at a family members home. Heres a picture of their cute family! & another member made us a big pan of brownies!!! We also found chicken katsu in Taiwan~! It is was delicious!!!

Lastly, we saw our old "A Ma" (like a grandma but older and wiser) She is a old lady that sells "pig's blood" on a stick (everyone here loves it - i dont). She is always at the stop light going to our favorite contacting area. When we first met her we gave her a Christ picture because she said she believed in Christ. This last week we saw her setting up her little cart and saw the picture of Christ in here stuck on inside her cart! I had to take a picture of it. I love and adore her smile when we ride by. She always smiles and says we're pretty, which just makes our day.

Anyways, I love you all! I'm feeling much better and have a good time here in Taiwan. Trying to bless people's lives one day at a time!

Sincerely yours, Sister Komatsu