The Start of the Lasts

A little B-Ball at 6:30 am!

Well... this past Wednesday was my last time teaching English class. The start of the lasts.... :(  But we're still here chuaning the jiao ("spreading the church") and it's a blast. Miracles everyday.

Ice cream store right across the street from church!

I don't really have much to say except I will miss Taiwan. I will miss being a missionary.

One more week of rice and noodles. One more week of talking with strangers. One more week of riding my bike. One more week of being a full time representative of the Lord Jesus Christ. I will always be a disciple of Christ and strive to share His gospel, but this is a special time for which I've been set apart and given power and authority to preach the word. And like most important things I think I've finally come to a better knowledge and appreciation for this calling right at it's close. But I'm so grateful to have served at this time with the people I have. And I'm excited for this last week of fun and miracles!!

See you soon,

Sister Biancardi

Agency

This week was nice...

Interviews! - Every 3 or 4 months we have a chance to interview with our Mission President who is called and set apart to preside over us. He's able to love and care for and receive revelation for each and everyone of us. It's a great opportunity!

Zone Training Meeting - every month we have this meeting with a group of missionaries (led by other missionaries) I sometimes look around at all of us kids in suits and skirts and just laugh. But even though we're so young, we learn a lot in this time and learn a lot from each other. Because I'll be going home in a few weeks I was able to share my "reflection" talk with everyone (condensing my experiences of the past 18 months into 3 minutes). 

Movie Night - Saturday was 4th of July! We were going to have a 4th of July party but then we remembered that nobody cares about 4th of July except us, so we just had a movie night and watched "Emma Smith". And had a little baby American flag on the snack table, haha.

Agency - I also learned a lot about agency this week... which means we got fanged (stood up) a lot... But that's okay. It just reminds me that we're only here to invite. We invite others to come unto Christ. But in the end, it's everyone's individual choice whether they want to accept Him or not. We don't want to force anyone to come to church and neither does Heavenly Father. But I know as we share our testimonies with others and show them how happy this gospel makes us and how much we love them, we'll give them the chance to choose for themselves.

Have an awesome week!

-Sister Biancardi

Busy, Busy, Busy!

Zeng Mama's Baptism

Well after the temple last Wednesday we had MLC (missionary leadership council) on Thursday. A big meeting from 10:00-3:30, and we had a homemade meal from Sister Blickenstaff. Yum.

Friday we exchanged again. I was with Sister Graham (still in training), she's super awesome. I also got to go back to my old area (BeiTun) for a day, that was fun.

Then Saturday night we had a potluck and fireside about missionary work :D The food was yummy and the fireside was fun. The elder's quorum president, a returned missionary, Elder Chi, me, and and a kid with his mission call all spoke. (Yeah, I gave a talk in Chinese, it was the scariest thing). There was also a couple musical numbers including us missionaries singing "Israel, Israel God is calling"

Sunday was.... Sunday. And if you've ever been a missionary before you know it was super busy too.

But it's good! Busy is good! Remember to keep busy with meaningful things it's the most rewarding way to live. 

Also the rumors finally slipped out to the ward that I'm going home soon. Though it still hasn't really hit me yet. Except when I freak out about packing and stuff. 

Well have an awesome week and remember to use every minute!

-Sister Biancardi

Reflections . . .

Hello world! It's been a long week and a half. Here's what happened.

Tuesday I went on an exchange with Sister Eo. She's from Korea and she's super cute; got to Taiwan 8 weeks ago. She's majoring in Chinese so communicating's not a problem. We saw miracles everywhere; preaching in the streets and in the houses and on the rooftops... okay scratch the rooftops. But we did teach a lesson in a 7-11. It's actually a great place to share the gospel here. (they're a lot different than American 7-11s) Yeah!

Saturday was ZengMama's baptism. Yay! Her son's a member and he got to baptize her. There was also a kid the Elder's taught who got baptized. So it was a super happy time.

Today we got to take a field trip up to the Taipei temple. Yay! Temple's are similar to our church buildings in the sense that we go there to learn and be closer with God. They're different in the level of spirit and sacredness. Church meetings can be spiritual, don't get me wrong, but when the babies are crying and you're phone's in front of you, it can get a little distracting. The temple is a dedicated place where worthy members of Christ's church can go and do sacred ordinances. It's a time and place where we can feel peace and feel God's love while doing service for others. I would definitely invite and encourage you to ask more about the temple and take the steps you need in order to be worthy to go inside.

Have a great day!

-Sister Biancardi

PS I've been reading Alma 26 lately as I've been reflecting on my missionary service. In our mission we give a "reflection talk" pretty much condensing what we've learned in 18-24 months into 3 minutes. This is kind of like Alma's reflection talk. I'd invite you to read it and reflect your own missionary service, whether it consisted of a full-time mission or not and learn from Alma's experience.

The Trial of our Faith

Hello!

This week was good:

Exchange - This week I exchanged with XieJieMei. She's an awesome missionary and I learned a lot from her. It was fun to be with a Taiwanese missionary for a day :D

ZengMama - She passed her baptismal interview and will be getting baptized next Saturday :D Her son (member) will baptize her.

New people - This week we worked really hard to find new people and got some people set up to meet, but they all fanged our gezi (stood us up). It was a bummer. Taiwanese people do that a lot. But Saturday some other sisters called and gave us some referrals who set up to come to the church for the next day, and she came and brought a friend :D And they're great! I know that miracles come after the trial of our faith. 

This morning we sang at a member's dad's funeral. It was nice to give comfort to those attending through music. I know that this life is not the end. This life has a purpose; to prepare to meet God. To learn and grow and become more like our Father in Heaven. Remember to look at our trials with faith and with that eternal perspective.

Have a good week!

-Sister Biancardi

Just Keep Swimming

So, this week at ZTM was fun. They showed a clip from Finding Nemo and pretty much had us analyze it and apply it to missionary work. It was so funny, but pretty fun and surprisingly fitting.

We had our English party. Pretty much just the Elders running around with the little kids and playing games, haha. There were other games too - Charades, Spot it, Bingo, and Jump rope (a giant one) which turned into redlight green light and tug of war, or whatever else the kids wanted to play, haha. 

Yeah!

Then on Saturday YuTing got baptized. Yeah!! The guy who baptized her was like 2 feet taller than her so that was really funny. And the baptism went really well. Right afterwards 2 little boys from the other ward got baptized. Yay! So fun!

I'm remembering recently again something I learned in the MTC. Whenever you don't get along with someone, or you feel offended, hurt, or annoyed, you need to change something about yourself. If we were perfect like Christ, like we're trying and striving to be, we'd get along with everyone just fine. And with Christ's help and support we can change, one step at a time. Even the things that are seemingly deep within us "part of who we are." We are children of God and while we each have our personal identity and personality, we can become perfect as He is and enjoy a fullness of joy. We don't need anger, hate, hurt, blame... we can choose a much happier way.

Go take the high road and just keep swimming!

-Sister Biancardi

Here Comes the Sun

So the first half of the week was still rainy and stormy. 

Heading outside in the rain

Did that rain gear really help?

But near the end of the week the sun came out! So now we get wet with sweat instead of rain, hahaha.... yeah.

This city is nice. My companion is nice. The ward is nice.

Lots of color everywhere!

Painted Village

a Roadside Puppet Show

Last P-day we went to "rainbow village." This little place where an old man painted all the walls and stuff. It was cool.

This week I learned a lot. I know Heavenly Father is very aware of us and our situation. I know this life is full of test and trials and "refiner's fires". I know this is the only way we can learn and grow be polished in to something greater. Accept the setbacks and struggles that life brings, but don't give up! 

Keep on striving. 

Have an awesome day!

-Sister Biancardi

Look! They even have painted ukes!