TESTIMONY AND PICTURES!

I know this church is true, family. It is. Jesus Christ is our Savior. He loves us so much. I love him so much. One of the coolest things I think I have ever felt on my mission is being able to feel God's love at specific times for his children. It's a really cool feeling. Please serve this Christmas. Remember Christ and everything he has done for us. Don't leave him out. If you are going through a hard time, don't forget he has already done that for us. Let him help you please. My favorite scripture about Jesus is Alma 7:11-13. Especially verse 12 though when it talks about he knows how to succor his children in our afflictions. Please read it. I know it's true. I love you all so much. More than you will ever know and I can't wait to talk to you all next week!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

So do you remember when I very first got to this area and told you about Hong JM our eternal investigator and how she was our only investigator? So every time we visit her she just does not want to set a goal. So we gave her a break for a little. But me and Sister Bond met with her on Saturday night and we showed her one of the fireside videos (The Gospel of Jesus Christ) and when it was over she started crying. And was very emotional and she told us she has had a feeling lately that she needs to get baptized soon. We were so happy!!!!!  We asked her if she could be baptized on Christmas and she kind of does not like setting dates. But she said she would think about it (which was huge because every other time we try to set dates it was just a no, I will get baptized eventually). But she is scared of what will happen after she is baptized of what changes she will make in her life. She is so amazing. I have been praying so hard for her! She is so ready to be baptized. I know her family wants her to be baptized as well. Her husband and kids are members. I love her so much and there is no better christmas in my mind than to see her baptized! I am just worried that she will forget that feeling. Because satan loves to make us forget our promptings we have and I know he is working hard on our investigators.

 

But yeah this week was good! My companion was sick all week... Still is a little. So we had to go to the hospital on Saturday. (Hospitals you go to for big or small things, don't worry, it's just a cold).  But we have so much fun together. We just laugh. All the time. I am pretty sure I have laughed more in the past two weeks than in my life... She is pretty hilarious.

 

Don't forget what Christmas is really about. It is about the Savior and everything he has done for us. I know he is our savior and will comfort us when we need it and will help us in any situation. I know that he loves us so much. I also know, if you really open your eyes this christmas and look, God will show you so many miracles. So that is my yaoqing for you all! Look for a miracle everyday. I am going to start writing a miracle everyday in my journal (I did it when I first got here and kind of slacked off... ) But I know that when we look for them we can see soo many and then God will know we appreciate them. I love you alllllll so much!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Hello family! Well it has been another week. I really can't believe how fast weeks fly! But we are into december, can you believe that??? I hope all of your thanksgiving was good! We didn't have much of a thanksgiving here. We had a dinner appointment that night but they canceled on us, so we ate at seven eleven for lunch and dinner... Yeah! Haha But it's okay. I just want you to know I am grateful for all of you! I am so grateful for support of each of you. I am so grateful for the gospel and for Jesus Christ! I hope you all got to reflect on what you were grateful. But today me and my companion are going to celebrate Thanksgiving by going to an all you can eat Steak House (boss's steakhouse). We are pretttttty excited! Haha but yeah. Happy p-day! So this month we are really hoping for a lot of miracles. President Day has a goal to have a white christmas, so on Christmas he wants to try to have everyone have baptisms to give everyone (especially the savior) a white Christmas! Yay!

 We have two baptism dates for December and they are amazing. It is Meng JM and Zhang JM and they are so great! I really love them a lot and are praying really hard for them. Also I would love if you could pray for them too. Also we have a potential Chen Xi that could get baptized on that date we are meeting with tonight. And another potential Hong JM our eternal investigator we would love to see get baptized that night! But also last night we saw a cool miracle. So we were at Peng Jiating's house But li JM's husband is not baptized yet. But he goes to church every week and is really amazing. So the elders told Li JM that they were going to invite him to baptism on Sunday and she said, I don't think he's ready. I really don't think he is right now. So then we were there and we were teaching the plan of salvation. And it was a really good lesson and everyone was participating. And at the end of it, Li JM turned to her husband and said "Ni shenmeshihou hui jieshou xili?" (When will you be baptized) All of us missionaries are like, what in the world?? It was sooooo cool! So the elders explained that on the 25th we are having a big baptism day and it will be really special because it's on Christmas and invited him to be baptized on that day. And he said he would!!! He is so amazing. And then their cute little family were all sitting next to each other and I have never seen them look so happy. I just couldn't stop thinking how cool it is that they can have an eternal family and they are just an amazing family.

 

I love all of you a lot as well! I hope things are good!!!

TRANSFER WEEK!! SURPRISE!

Hello family, well this week was quite the surpise. Are you ready for it???? So last week during our studies sister briggs and I get a call from... President Day. Yeah that is a scary call to get. So she is talking to him and I have no idea what is going on or being said. And sister briggs gets off the phone and says.................... "You are staying in Pingzhen.." I was like WHAT???? So yeah I am still here in Pingzhen. I have lots of mixed emotions about it. Because I had already started packing and I had said all of the goodbyes and I was excited to get going, but then I wasn't and yeah. But here I am and I am so happy to be here. Yesterday at church we got the warmest welcome. Our ward was very surprised to see me there except the few that knew I would be there. But I just was so happy to be in my ward. I love this ward more than ever! I just have a yearning to help them as much as I can!

 

My new companion is Sister Bond and she is from Roy Utah. She is a biology major, more on the medical side of things. And she is really great. Very obedient. And yeah I think we will see a lot of miracles. She also went up to Utah State so that was cool too!

LIFE IN TAIWAN--AWESOME!

Ok, this will be probably the longest post of her mission, but we just got a long handwritten letter answering all my questions about her daily life in Taiwan and it's so interesting you'll enjoy every minute reading it!  Especially since she is a great writer.  So, "My area includes Yangmei, Fugan, and Pingzhen. Things here are very crowded!  But we do have some country in our area!  We have a three-room apartment.  It's a little crowded sometimes. When I moved in, I was appalled, but we cleaned it up a lot.  I love when things are clean.  The spirit really can't be there when you are cluttered and can't think!  One reason it gets so cluttered is that when missionaries leave, they leave the stuff they don't want and it collects over time, but our apartment finally doesn't feel so gross!  Yay!
So some things about Taiwan houses and apartments.  First of all most houses look like garages; second, you rarely wear shoes in a house.  We take out shoes off outside and they give you slippers inside or we just do bare feet.  There is rarely carpet, which is probably good so we don't get parasites. The church has carpet but we don't take our shoes off there.  We freeze any garbage that has ever touched food. If we don't, we get ants.  So the bottom section of our freezer is for garbage. and they don't have big garbage cans to store garbage in. A garbage truck comes by every night (it sings classical music very loudly) about 8:40 and you throw away whatever garbage you have. But we aren't ever home at 8:40 so sometimes we just have to go home early to get the garbage out. Everyone just waits on the side of the street for the truck to come. When it comes, you just walk up and  throw it in.  Apartments and houses are just smooshed together, otherwise, how would they fit all these people here!
The food for the most part is delicious!  They eat a lot of noodles, carbs, and bread. It is carbs nation!  They do eat meat a lot but it always has the bones in it.  So it's not my favorite to eat meat because i always have to eat around bones. Even fish. Shrimp is always in its shell and clams. Other fish always has bones in it still.  So it's hard to eat!  desserts are hit or miss in my mind.  Either sooooo good!  or sooooo bizarre.  Ex:  Read beans soup An assortment of beans in this water soup and its served cold and has like honey in it.  Beans are soooo not a dessert in my book, but they think it is. But they have such good cake here and other types of desserts!  I have eaten almost every part of a pig--ears, intestines, stomach, fat, and pork.  I have yet to eat the foot.  I don't want it, and yes I have had the blood multiple times.  I have eaten mini fishes with the eyes.  Surprisingly, none of it is that bad!  They put weird jellies in their drinks.  They are sometimes really gross.  The texture really gets to me.  Their fruits are so good!! I love fruit, it's my favorite.
 Now  time for my favorite--the people!  They are such an amazing people! They are a gifts-centered people.  That is how they show their love. So when we go to appointments, whether they feed us dinner or not, they send us home with some sort of food or fruit, bread or cookie or something.  When we visit they always have cut up fruit for us and water.  Now that it's getting to be winter, they give us hot water. Mom I am going to be like you when I get home!  I won't be able to drink cold water because it's never cold here!  Back to the people. They are very blunt and honest people.  They tell you straight up what they think about you.  For example, I always show them a picture of the family and they always look at it and tell me I am so much skinnier.  Someone asked me if I was fat before I came.  But they think you are beautiful mom!  Also, they think dad looks really strong.  So yeah, they are very honest and very blunt and I really love  them for that.  They also love to see if my Chinese is improving.  I swear the whole ward is determined to make my Chinese good.  I love our ward and investigators, they really are amazing!  The language is still hard. Last week was actually super frustrating for me.  I just am really tired of not understanding!  haha,  But it's okay, I'll figure it out eventually.
I know the church is true.  I know the Lord really has prepared the world for his gospel.  It's not time to plant seeds, it's time to harvest!  I love the work, as hard as it is.  I am reminded every day I am not good enough, but WITH God, I am.  I know Christ is our Savior, he will  save us.  I still work on my testimony every day and conversion.  I feel like if we ever stop working on it even for a second, we might not have it. It's hard but will make it so much easier in the long run.
I love you so much and am so grateful for a family who supports me as much as they do. I've been really homesick but I am glad I have a family as good as you to miss.  I love you!  Stay strong!  We live in such a wicked world but with that is also the best good.  And you, my family are the best of the best.
Love always, Sister Smedley  

Pics:  first time eating pigs blood; her and her comp and May; drying out scriptures after rainy event, beach and tag.

e-mail Oct. 29, --So our "golden" investigator Huang JM stopped meeting with us last week. She was our only baptism date and it was really hard. It completely broke my heart. I was so so so sad when she texted us and told us she is to busy to keep meeting with us until next year. Which hopefully she really means next year. It was super hard for my companion and I.  But then on Saturday we met with this girl for the first time. She had been meeting with missionaries in Bada and Taipei  but the  Bada missionaries realized she lived in Yangmei so we got to meet with her. We met with her and she is amazing! She has already gone to church a bunch and she is what you would call golden. At the end we talked to her about baptism to see her understanding. She was telling us how important it is! We were like, "Yeah it is so important!" Then we extended a baptism date to her for November 30! She accepted! She said if I feel prepared then I will! We are so excited!! It was a huge miracle. We aren't positive everything she has been taught yet but she is amazing! There really are miracles in inviting people to be baptized in the first lesson. I love her so much already.

Dear Elder mail

Also, don't forget you can write meg on www.dearelder.com.   Just put in Taiwan Taipei mission, that you want it sent to the mission home, and write your letter in the box below.  It's $1.10 same as a stamp I think.  They will print it off and give it to her as though you had mailed it only it will get there faster.  If you need the address, it is below in the blog.  I can't remember if you need the full address or if you can just put it to the mission home.  You can't mail stuff directly to her. In her exact words: " I don't know why you can't mail stuff directly to my apartment. I know that you couldn't write the address to my apartment because it is all in characters and I am scared if I translated it into the english alphabet it would be wrong and it wouldn't get there... Sorry. Yeah we live in an apartment. In chinese it is our Susha. 

PICTURES!!!

LATE TO CONFERENCE! BUT MIRACLE ANYWAY! October 20

This weekend we had stake conference. It was all about hastening the work. I didn't understand any of it. BUT my companion told me what it was about. Haha good old language issues. But it was all about missionaries and members coming together to do this work. But funny story. So we were invited to the adult session saturday night, which never happens. But because it was about missionary work we got to go. And so six of us missionaries from my district went together because it was in Taoyuan. So we took the train and we left really early to make sure we got there early to leave a good impression. So we get off the train. We take a bus where the driver said it would go to the carrefour which was by the chapel. So we are going and going. Then all of a sudden we realize, WE ARE IN NEILI. It took us to the wrong carrefour in a completely different city!!!! So we only had fifteen minutes to get there! We went to the train station again. The next train wasn't coming until 7:18. The conference started at 7:00. So we were really stressed because it was going to look really bad for six missionaries to walk in late. So we were at the train station and me and my companion started talking to this couple. They were so awesome and we ended up having a lesson with them right there! So there are miracles even in a stressful situation(: But we ended up being 45 minutes late to the meeting. So awkward we felt so bad! But it's okay. We had a miracle that night and it's pretty funny now(:

 

So this week was a good week. We found 5 new investigators! The thing about finding investigators here is that you have to find A LOT because if we don't then we won't have any. We find a lot and then a whole lot of those drop off and don't really want to meet with us anymore. So we are really hoping these ones stick. Last night was really cool. We got to meet with one of our members Feng JM. At the end she was talking about trials and how she is just having a hard time. So we used the footsteps in the sand poem (don't worry they haven't ever heard it here). And we told her that sometimes we don't feel like God is there and we don't feel his love, but in reality he was carrying us all along. We will be able to look back and see that he carried us through that trial. She started to cry and we just told her how much God loves her and how much we love her as well. It was really cool to see her feel of that love! I can tell it is exactly what she needed and ah! I just love her so much. I love the people here. So much!

 

Love the Taiwanese people!

This week was a little harder. We didn't seem to get as much done as I think we would've liked and it seems we are always finding people but some our really good investigators have ended up being for other areas, so it can be really frustrating. But hey, we are all on Team Jesus right?! But we still have Huang Jiemei! And she is amazing.  Ah. I love the people here. Mom in your letter you asked how the people are here and they are just the most incredible kind loving people in the world! They also love gifts. If they don't feed you, they always will send us home with some sort of fruit or something or other because they are a gift-giving people. But I think our ward is starting to really just love us and trust us. I love our ward and we are just building some really great relationships with our ward.

MORE MIRACLES:c)

So this week there were just so many miracles. Every day me and my companion would just be like, "What is going on? We never have had this much success!" Haha But all of our hard work is paying off and we just see the Lord's hand in everything we do. It has been truly amazing. We found 6 new investigators this week! It was amazing!!!! We are just so excited to be part of this work. Me and my companion have been getting along so well and just working hard and seeing miracles. It has been a really great end to my first transfer out here. We have an investigator Huang JM she is the one who set a baptism date who speaks english. And in our lesson this last week it was amazing. We could just see the spirit working through her. I could see it in her eyes. We shared the plan of salvation (she is catholic) and her response was just amazing! We asked what she thought about it and she said, "I will live with my family and God forever, what more is there?" And she is so right. There is nothing better than that. I think sometimes we forget what is really important and get so caught up in the world. But don't forget what's really important and that is God and our family. If we have those two things, we have everything! I don't think I ever realized how special our church really is until I came here. Growing up in it you get used to it and things we learn. But it truly is so special. Don't ever let go of the gospel because it is truly amazing and so special. We are so lucky to have it!

 

We had another typhoon this weekend. FYDO. Haha It was supposed to hit us really bad but it didn't. We got some rain but nothing to big. We also got to do temple tours on Saturday so we were up in Taipei. It was really fun and truly exhausting! Haha But we get to do them once a transfer.

 

It was such a great week. But it was 100% the lord. He is a God of miracles, no doubt! I know my Savior lives. I know this gospel can change lives. I am lucky enough to see it first hand and it really does. I am happy and well. I hope you all are too! 

TIDBITS ABOUT THE DAILY STUFF--OCTOBER 5, 2013

Yes we ride bikes everywhere. Usually it is around a half hour bike ride to get to an appointment or longer. We have a very big area and we actually don't even live in our area. So we do a lot of biking! We ride trains a lot as well. Like if we have an appointment in Yangmei (it's pretty far away) we will just ride a train there and either members will pick us up or we will just walk to their houses. So It is a lot of biking! I don't know what to say about my city. We have three cities (I think... don't quote me on that). But it is very compact. Alot of people a lot of apartments! It's very crowded. But then when we go a little farther in my area there is more country. It's great!(: I love both the city and country part! It is so beautiful here. It took me a while to think that because it's not the kind of beautiful I was thinking. But it really is so beautiful here! We live with sister Li and sister Call. They are so cute! Sister li is a bendiren (from taiwan) and sister call is from Utah. I love them both so much!

Meg's address in Taiwan and her new name

FYI, Meg's address in Taiwan is:
Sister Megan Smedley
Taiwan Taipei Mission
4Fl, #24, Lane 183, Chin Hua Street
Taipei, TAIWAN, R.O.C.

Also, FYI, while in Taiwan, her name is Mai Jiemei.
Jiemei is Sister and Mai is her new name.  They don't have an alphabet there and
no symbol for Smedley and they cannot pronounce it so they gave her a new name.
But if you write her, you can still write Sister Smedley on her letters (or packages!)
or in her exact words:
Mom:  So you are sister Wheat?  Do people think that is odd?  I love it!  That is so cool!  Why can't you be Smedley?
No it's not odd at all! there is no translation for Smedley here. They don't have an alphabet. And they can't really say smedley very well... they all think that is a really hard name to say. haha

MIRACLES AND TYPHOON

So on Saturday I have my one month mark on Island! Yay! I am so excited. I love Taiwan!!!! So I like to name this weekend the weekend of miracles.

 

So many miracles this week. It has been such a blessing! And a lot of them have come from door knocking! I will be honest, until this week I wasn't a fan of door knocking. We never had success and no one would ever listen. But my companion said there are miracles door knocking too! And she was right! We went to knock doors Friday night. It was very rainy and windy so we knew people would be home. And there was no success all night. Then in the last 10 minutes before we went home, someone answered and we got to have a lesson! It was a man and his mother and a kid. It was really awesome and a huge miracle! Then the next day it was still windy and rainy so we decided to do door knocking again. So we have just been praying and praying for new investigators. We went to this house and these two ladies let us in! We started to tell them who we were and what we wanted to share and they went and got there daughter-in-law who was catholic. She was awesome and she spoke English (that alone was a miracle)! We got to teach them and two of them became new investigators! We are meeting with them this week and we are so excited. Then that night we got stood-up so we went knocking around that house and had another lesson! It was insane. Then on sunday we had an appointment and we went to it. We had 15 minutes afterward to contact before it was time to go home. So we said a prayer and prayed for another lesson. We then chose this house that we had a good feeling about and we had a lesson with her! It was so cool. The Lord definitely answered our prayer! It was such a miracle filled weekend. And I know that the Lord's hand was in every step. And door-knocking really does have miracles!! The Lord's hand has been there so much. He really does provide a way when he says he will.

 

This week we had a TYPHOON(:(:(: Mom send this to Gary. I don't have his email. It was pretty exciting! It actually didn't really hit our area bad but we definitely got the rain from it and the wind. Holy cow so much wind and rain. There were many times we were riding our bikes and almost got blown over! And as we were contacting we were just drenched. IT was so much fun(: I loved it so much.

 

It was the Moon Festival holiday this week. So everyone was bbqing. We got to go to one on Friday. IT was fun. They do bbq's a lot different that we do them in America. But it is fun. I had some more pig's blood. It is growing on me. I actually kind of like it.... weird right? The texture is strange but the taste is alright. 

 

God's hand is in everything we do, don't forget it. I love you all so much! Thanks for all your love and support. You are the best!(:

 

PICTURES! (P-Day in Daxi)

FOOD AND PEOPLE

 The food is interesting. I had intestines this week and pig's blood. Literally blood. Yuck. I am not in Taipei I am in Zhongli. Our area covers like 4 cities though. It's ALOT. The cities in Taipei aren't that pretty actually... but the country is! The people truly are amazing. I wish more of them would let us teach them. But it's funny because sometimes they just stare at us because we are american... It's kind of awkward. Or really awkward actually. But funny! Everyone just thinks we are beautiful... so it gets kind of weird. But yes they are ready for the gospel! I just wish they knew that...(: I love the people here though more than anything. They are so kind and friendly.

FOOD AND BIKE ACCIDENT

Mom, you asked about the food. There are definitely some interesting things here. Yes I will have to get used to that black glass drink with the weird jellies in it... yuck. But I will eventually hopefully! Daily food is like, cereal for breakfast. And then we have like sandwiches like pbandj or tuna, or dumplings or zhuabing (it's my favorite). But then for dinner we have the same thing or just grab something on the street or members feed us! That's our favorite is when the members feed us. Which they usually will feed us or send us home with some kind of something... Haha

 

So this week I just really really grew my love for the members! I love them here so much! Yesterday I was sitting in church and my love for them was just overwhelming. I just love them more than anything and am so grateful for the ward we have. They are the best and ah. I just love them so much! We have had a lot of opportunities to meet with them a lot so we can build those relationships and gain their trust. It has been so much fun getting to know them. I love them so much. But yeah they are great.

 

So the other day I accidentally hit my companions bike and it fell over and scratched a car. We didn't know what to do, becauuse we couldn't just leave ya know. We have to represent Christ and own up to our actions. So we had no idea what to do because we don't have insurrance or anything.So we left a note (it had to be all in characters...). So we were looking up all the characters but had to guess on some. Well the guy ended up coming back out and he seemed a little stern so we were nervous. We told him what happened and he said, it's okay and just got in his car and drove away. So we didn't give him the note. Then we decided to take the note to our Taiwanese roommate so she could read it so we could see if we said everything right. We didn't. The note said "Hey we are really sorry. Our bike fell and we erased your car. We have pictures." And that is what it said! We were all laughing soooooo hard! Haha. It was a miracle in itself just because I think we all needed a good laugh.

 

Missionary work is great! IT is hard work in every way. But it is the best. I love it so much(: Thanks for all your prayers and support. You are the best people in the world. Thanks for your emails and advice. I love you all!

 

MEG HAS LANDED IN TAIWAN AND SPOKEN!

So, this is kind of a long post, but so much information of her first few days in Taiwan--will try to shorten things up a bit in the future--

So first for mom's questions about Taiwan.

How was my journey?? It was a loooong flight. haha So long. But I had a miracle with that which I actually wrote in the letter home to mom and dad. So you will get that soon I think... But yes. Very long. But president day and sister day and the office elders were anxiously waiting for us! We had no trouble finding them. They are so awesome!!!! I love them sooooo much. So we slept at the temple headquarters for our first two days in Taiwan. So just in bunks right across from the bu (mission home). My first impressions of Taiwan:  There are so many different smells that are so weird. I am still trying to get used to it. And it wasn't anything I thought it would be like. But we were in the big city. But each day I am here I grow to love it more and more and more.  but it is so pretty here. Everything is so green. What surprised me is how on the outside everything looks so old and run down but then on the inside it looks so nice! So it is just definitely a culture shock! haha but like I said I am just growing to love it. The food is weird though. hopefully I can get used to it soon(:

 

My trainer is sister briggs. She is really great. She is from Nevada and only has three transfers left.   She is really great though and I really love her! So we OPENED A NEW AREA. Yeah. Terrifying! We are in Zhongli 2 area. So when we got here we had one investigator. That's it. And she is an eternal investigator. So we have a lot of work to do to get investigators! It's hard because neither of us know the area or anyone here so we are sort of just starting from scratch. We went to church yesterday though, we just have one ward. And I looooooove my ward. The people in my ward were so nice and so welcoming. I feel bad because Idon't understand anything they say so I just nod and smile. They all like to practice their english on me though(: haha But they are great. The bishop invited me and my compaion to bear our testimonies in church. It was pretty much the most terrifying thing ever. Yep. Most definitely. But our cute little investigator that comes to church every week but won't get baptized told me I did so good and there was only one word I said that she didn't understand! It was super encouraging. I was really excited.

 

We had a super cool miracle yesterday. So our goal is to get one new investigator every day.  So after church and dinner we went to this park that is in our area. We were talking to a lot of people and trying to get someone to listen. People weren't really interested though. So we went somewhere else away from the park to find someone. But we weren't having any luck. So we went back to the park we were at before. We had about ten minutes until we had to leave to be home by 9:00. So we said a prayer and just asked that we would be led to someone who needed to hear our message. So then we went down this little walkway and there was nothing. So then we went down another little one and there was this girl there that we had seen earlier but she was exercising and had her earphones in so we didn't bother her. But as soon as she saw us she took her earphones out and so we started to talk to her. We asked her if she had a religion and she told us she didn't. So then we asked her if she believed in God. She said she did! So we started to talk to her about prayer and the importance of it. And we asked if she could pray with us. So I said a prayer and then we asked her if she would say a prayer and she did! She said she felt good and we asked if we could meet with her again and she said we could! So we are this saturday night meeting with her. I am so excited! It was such a huge miracle. I was praying so hard that we would be able to meet our goal yesterday and find and investigator. It was such a blessing and miracle. God's hand was definitely guiding us to find her. It was really cool.  So I am loving my area and the people. The people here are so amazing!! I love them so much. It's amazing being a missionary here.

 

Also, the rain. It's a real thing. Hahaha if any of you had doubts. It rains so much here! Today is the first day it hasn't rained. They had a typhoon a couple weeks ago so it has just been raining like crazy! But yeah today there was actual sunshine. I couldn't believe it! I woke up to blue skies. Also I will have to send you a picture of our bed sometime. We don'thave beds. We have little mat things and sleep on the floor in our front room. It rocks... Haha my back is loving it. But it's fun! We should be getting beds sometime I think! I love you all so much. Thanks for your emails and love and everything. You have no idea how much it means to me! God is working miracles!(:

 

Love sister Smedley(:

MEG IS IN TAIWAN!

Meg left the MTC Tuesday morning at 6 a.m. and 28 hours later arrived in Taipei.  We only got to talk to her for a few minutes which was a bummer, but you take what you can get!  She sounded good.  She travelled in a group of about 24 I think.  So if I were travelling on a trip and got on a plane that had 24 missionaries on it, I would just relax and enjoy the ride--there's one airplane that is not going down!   Anyway, she called for just ONE minute last night to tell us she arrived at the mission home safe and sound. She sounded tired but okay.  Please pray for her for these next few weeks will be tough!  Can't wait for the first e-mail from her!

Week 8--time's almost up!

Some really good language things and I want to tell you about them because I think it's funny and stuff. So Elder Mansell, the one whose mom and dad sent that video of me and picture, was in a lesson. This isn't my story but still pretty funny. So they were teaching the second lesson and Zhang Dixiong asked all about Hell. So then the investigator asked so who goes to Hell?? And Elder Mansell didn't know they had started talking about Hell and thought they were talking about the celestial kingdom so then he asnwers "Everyone !" Then his companion started freaking out and had to explain that not everyone goes to Hell. 

Zhang Dixiong our other "investigator" got baptized on saturday! Yeah! We were so excited that he did. He was so ready and he is just so great. We love him! So this week we get to meet with both of them until thursday and then "transfer" them to other missionaries... We are suuuuuper sad. Wei Laoshi (sister winters) and Bao Laoshi (brother boyle) are leaving us on thursday!!! I want to cry everytime I think about it. I seriously am so sad that they are leaving. We have gotten so close to our teachers and we see them every day and I am going to miss them like crazy. Also brother tate ("qin'ai de tong laoshi" aka "qin'ai wo de tongban") is leaving. We will miss him so much. I can't even handle them leaving. I will probably be a reck that day. It's fine. Kind of. Haha

We got to go to the temple today for the first time in like 7 weeks!!!!! It was incredible. I missed the temple so much. I love the celestial room especially. Anyway, it was very refreshing to get to go.

The church is true! Fight every single day for it, because it is 100% worth your time. Don't let Satan have anything over you. It's not worth it. I know that through Christ we can be saved. Wo zhidao Yesu Jidu wei women shuzui. Wo zhidao touguo ta women keyi chengwei jiejing. Wo ai Yesu Jidu, wo ai zhege jiaohui. Wo ai nimen! Wo shi quaile he anquan. Wo wei nimen qidao. Nimen shi lihai! Zai jian! Feng Yesu Jidu de ming, Amen

Ai, Mai Jie Mei! (love, sister smedley)

CLEANING THE TEMPLE--So we got to go clean the temple for 3 and 1/2 hours this morning. Guess what me and sister Chamberlain got to do? We got to clean the chandeliers in one of the sealing rooms. It was incredible. You have to take them apart piece by piece, you have to clean them and be so careful because they are pure crystal. It was so fun and the two ladies working with us were so funny. They were making us laugh a lot. We got to go to the celestial room after and we saw all the elders in there waiting for us two. It was amazing. I looked at the picture of Christ and immediately I just felt how much he loves me and all his children. I felt peace that he would be there to help in every moment even when we feel like he isn't. It was truly and amazing experience. I loved it. Then we got to go on a tour and see some of the rooms. We got to see the brides room! It was gorgeous!!!!! Holy moly. I can't even handle the beauty. One of the elders asked what the grooms get, they said, "a locker and a mirror." Haha it was funny. Brother porter talked to the elders about how they should treat the sisters. It rocked. He told them that it is very easy to get a bad reputation. You just have to mistreat the sisters one time and you will have a bad reputation. Hahaha it was funny but also really nice. He said they could also get the best reputations by treating the sisters good. It is so nice how respected we felt today. It was cool. 

TRICKY LANGUAGE! Aug 6, 2013

So last monday we had the most awesome experience ever! So we are teaching Becky right now. Well that is who my teacher is portraying from her mission is Becky. So Monday we got to do our first TRC skype! It was so exciting. My teacher Sister Winters hurried and got on facebook to see if the real Becky from Taiwan was available to skype, so we could teach her. So she said she could, so the real Becky agreed to be taught at TRC. So guess who was lucky enough to get to teach her????? Sister Chamberlain and I. It was so cool. She is still investigating, she has been for a year and a half. And it was so cool to talk to a real investigator and teach her. The connection wasn't great, but we still got to get to know her and bear testimony to her about church and how important it is. She goes to church and everything so I asked her why that was important. She said so we could get to know the savior. I asked her why the sacrament was important and she told us because it is about the Savior. So I asked her why the atonement was important to her. Well okay, the spirit did. Because let's be honest, when we teach we get no credit for this. It is all the spirit. But she said she didn't know why the atonement was so important to her. So we got to bear testimony of the atonement and it really made me think why is the atonement important to me. But then I just knew that through it we could be clean. We could become closer to the savior. I am so grateful for the atonement! It was such a cool experience and made us so excited to get to Taiwan. There is nothing like teaching real investigators. It really helped us to know why this work is so important.

So a funny story that happened this week. Once upon a time, I thought my investigator was a killer. So we were teaching Zhang dixiong and we were teaching him the commandments. We were reading them in Mosiah 13. So we got to thou shalt not kill. He read it, but I didn't realized he was reading it, I thought he was asking about it and wondering why we couldn't. So I got this super puzzled look on my face and was like shenme? (what?) and he said something and I was so confused and I was like chengfu. (repeat what you just said) and he was like weishenme (why?). So then I thought he was asking why we couldn't again. So I was just freaking out, and I was like "ni bu keyi bu keyi (you can't!). I was so confused. So then my companion kindly explained to me that he was just reading the verse. And I just busted up laughing. Like I couldn't stop. And we were in the middle of teaching. So then my companion was laughing. So we tried to finish reading the commandments and finish the lesson with the spirit and I just couldn't stop laughing. So then at the end he was like why were you laughing? I didn't know how to explain to him in Chinese that I thought he was a killer just in case he really was... So my companion told him that I thought he had a problem with killing. And he just laughed. But we got out of that lesson and just both could not stop laughing. It was pretty funny! I haven't laughed that hard in a looooong time! hahaha the perks of learning a language!(:

One morning I woke up and accidentally started saying the first vision instead of my prayer. I caught myself after like half of it, and was like, wait a second. I don't think I am praying right now. Then I proceeded to say my prayers. That was a random story but I thought you might appreciate it. 
Stay tuned for pictures below

PICTURES!

Meg and her companion, Sis. Chamberlain

Loving the MTC!

It's been a good week. A hard, but good week. I have learned so much about myself and this work. Remember in Ether 12:27 how it says I will show unto you your weaknesses and make them strengths? Well I am really looking forward to when they are made strengths. God has shown me my weaknesses. I have a hard time with over thinking things and with a guilty conscience.   .....President Baker gave me a blessing at the end of the interview. God told me he was pleased with me and that I would be able to fight Satan off. He blessed me to really know the atonement so I can teach it. So I am really trying to study it and have faith that it works for me too. I love my branch president.

The MTC is fun as well. My district is still the best district here. Really though. No other district even compares. Every night when we go back to our susha's (me and wo de tongban) we just talk about how much we love the elders in our district. They are so incredible. I don't know how I got so lucky. We have all gotten so close, which like is really good, but also we are all starting to just be ourselves and we have to be reaaaaaaaaaaallllllllllyyyyyy carefull so it doesn't come across as flirting. Me and sister Chamberlain have been really good at not flirting though. No worries family.

Sometimes learning a language has it's perks. You have to learn to cherish the most hilarious moments where you say something really stupid. Like calling your teacher your beloved companion. It's really a great moment in someone's life. We were walking down the hall and usually we call him "qin'ai de tong laoshi" (Which means beloved brother tate) and instead I yelled, "qin'ai wo de tongban!!!" which means my beloved companion!!! Oh goodness. It was hilarious. We were laughing soooooo hard me and my comp. We were dying.I loooooove missionary work. Wo hen ai chuangjiaoshi work!!!!!!!! The Lord is really and he did die for us and suffer for us. I am forever grateful for him. I know he loves me and all of you. I know that he forgives us sooooo fast for the things we have done and we are the ones in the way of completing the repentance process. Really though when they said it is a commandment to forgive all men, God was talking about ourselves as well. So the process isn't over til you forgive yourself it is a commandment! I am off my soapbox now. No worries. I love you!

 

 

GOT ENOUGH TO KEEP YOU BUSY MEG?

Meg's address

So, if you want to write Meg, her address is:
Sister Megan Smedley
AUG 28, TAIW-TAI
2009 North 900 East, Unit 108
Provo, UT  84602

And, if you really want to do it the easy way, go to www.dearelder.com and put in the info it asks--SHE IS IN THE MAIN MTC--(NOT the west MTC)    AUG 28, TAIW-TAI--unit 108, then you just write a letter in the box it gives and hit send.  They will print it and deliver it to her. It's awesome.

And it's free!  And the deliver them at noon everyday!   Otherwise, snail mail works great.  She will be in the MTC till August 28 so still for a quite a while. 

Pictures finally!! And Meg's MTC schedule--UGH!!-

 

Its so true that the days are long but the weeks fly by. I am a third of the way done with the MTC! Say what? Also I was mistaken before the mission. Its nine weeks that I am here not 8. But I am so happy. The language is coming. I can pray and testify in Chinese and understand at least some of what my teachers say. We teach only in Chinese. And the last couple of lessons we have taught we didnt have to really look at our notes. I didnt even write Chinese in my notes. So there is definite evidence of the gift of tongues in my life. If we follow the spirit and teach by the spirit, then the language comes a lot better. It is still so frustrating at times and so hard,, but I love it. Its coming. I am settling into things. Some people have been asking what my schedule is like, its like this: (minus pdays and sundays) Wake up at six thirty. Personal study at seven. Breakfast at 8:00 gym time at eight forty, prepare for the next activity (shower and stuff) TALL is at 10:00 (language study on the computer) additional study at 11, language study at 11:50, Lunch at 12:50, additional study at 1:35, Daily planning at 2:20, class instruction at 2:50 until 5:50, dinner at 5:50, Classroom instuction at 6:30 til 9:30. Then we go get ready for bed and have to be to bed by 10:30. So not much different than my schedule when I was at home.... Haha. Just kidding obviously.

My district at the MTC

 

 

 

 

 

Meg is in the MTC!

Meg is in the MTC now.  I will not be able to put pictures in yet as my computer's graveside service will be next Monday.  I will then have a new computer with hopefully all the pictures we took at the MTC and put one or two on the blog.  But for now, here are a few words from Meg's first e-mail.

"Wow it has been a crazy five and a half days here at the MTC. I love it here though. The spirit is so strong if you are doing what you should be. Like in the other email, I had a reallllllly hard day yesterday. But I am so happy now. As long as I stay busy and focused I seem to be okay and happy. I think that is key. Also attitude is EVERYTHING. If I even let one discouraging thing come into my mind it ruins the whole day. I have to stay positive and happy and focused. My companion is Sister Chamberlain. I love her so much!! I am so glad I got someone who is so fun and happy and loving and she is a hard worker. We had a really cool experience on Friday. We had to teach our first lesson in Chinese. Holy Moly. The spirit was so strong. Trust me, the spirit taught the whole lesson because our Chinese is Bu Hao. (no good). It's getting better though. But our investigator Arwin Lin committed to read the book of mormon and go to Church. She is incredible I love her so much. She helps us with our Chinese as well. The language is brutal. So saturday we were reaaaaallllly frustrated because we had to teach that night and couldn't get it together. I finally had the thought to see if we could change what lesson we were teaching. So I asked sister Chamberlain and she said yes. We went through preach my gospel and she said how about families? And it was exactly what I was thinking so we went with it and we planned our lesson in a half hour. The lesson went ssooooooo well. It was incredible. The spirit speaks to us if we just listen to it! It's amazing how it helps us so much when we feel hopeless. So chinese is so hard! My district is amazing. It is just me and sister chamberlain and then 8 elders. So we have all become great friends. We love each other so much and really support each other and try to help each other learn. They are incredible.  But chinese is rough but I can't imagine learning any other language. I love you all so much thanks for all the support and prayers."

Wo ai nimen!!!! (I love you all)
It's coming along... ish.

Megan's Mission Call!

This video is the reason this blog exists.