Another Exciting Week!

This week was great! 

Lots of amazing umbrellas

Beautiful detail

Last Monday we went to MeiNong to buy cool painted umbrellas, that's what MeiNong is famous for (as well as tomatoes...). They're super cool looking and so asian :) 

Great pagoda on gorgeous lake!

We also went to ZhongZheng lake which is also super famous and way pretty. We took like ten thousand pictures :D

Another shot of the gorgeous lake!

Love these hats!

Taiwan farmland - great garden!

This week we worked hard, saw miracles, and taught the gospel! Like every week... But every week is so exciting and uplifting. I've learned more each day of these 11 months and 21 days than I ever have. One thing I've learned all throughout my mission and recently is the importance of humility. Being humble is really being teachable, and when we're humble we're able to learn and grow and become better. Why wouldn't someone want that? But somehow it's still hard. I know that humility is so important and that the only way to become truly humble is relying completely on our Savoir Jesus Christ. Let Him be your rock and your salvation. Trust me, it's better!

Love you all! Have a good week!

-Sister Biancardi

Iron Man - from inside a chocolate egg!

Lotus Flowers and the Book of Mormon

Beautiful Qishan

You're probably thinking what do Lotus Flowers and the Book of Mormon have in common aren't you... well. Nothing. Except that both are what I'm going to talk about today, haha :P

So I'm pretty used to the food here that I normally don't even notice when I eat anything different or weird anymore. But this week we went to a member's house to eat and at the end of the meal she pulled out lotus flowers. They were like, jarred I guess? I don't know how to describe it, but they tasted kind of like cranberries. They were pretty good, haha. So that's my Taiwan tidbit for the day.

Delicious Lotus Flower

This week as I've been reading the Book of Mormon I just realized again what an amazing book it is. Every time I read it I get more bits and pieces here and there. For those who don't know, the Book of Mormon is a record of a family who traveled to the America's at about 600 BC. Over the next thousand years it records about their posterity. Through their experiences and testimonies we learn of the reality of God and of His nature and why it matters in our lives. It's a really good book, full of awesome stories and the best part is that they're all true :D I know that this book is true and it will bless the lives of anyone who reads it. Go read it! Just take 5 minutes each day and flip it open, it's worth it!

Have an amazing week! Go eat some lotus flowers! And read the Book of Mormon!

-Sister Biancardi

Deserted Lot with Creepy Statues

ZTM and English class and Exchanges, Oh my!

Yes! This week was busy.

Tuesday we had to travel to GaoXiong for a meeting; an hour bus ride plus a taxi ride. So that took up lots of our day, but it was a good meeting!

Wednesday night we had English class. The kids are... crazy, they're just crazy. I'm always so exhausted on Wednesday nights, haha.

Friday and Saturday we exchanged companions with our Sister Training leaders. They live in Tainan so traveling took up some time there too. But all for the sake of learning!

But despite all the traveling and meetings it was a good week! One fun this week did this week was bike to ShanLin. Okay the biking wasn't too fun but the scenery was awesome! And we got to ride through this long tunnel to get there.

It was kind of sketch but we're alive (we're alive! don't worry dad!) So yeah, one great thing about QiShan is we get to ride to lots of beautiful places.

I think something I re-learned this week was the importance of faith despite of the outcome. Having faith regardless of the results. I think the key to this kind of faith is to truly anchor our faith in Christ. When our faith is in Christ and our Heavenly Father and their plan for us, it doesn't matter if we fail or if someone rejects us or if life doesn't go as we expect it too. When our faith is in Christ we trust Him and continue on. While it's important to have faith in our self and faith in our goals and faith in our friends, our greatest and strongest faith should be in our Savior Jesus Christ. As we make that our true foundation, He will not let us fall. (Favorite Book of Mormon scripture - Helaman 5:12)

-Sister Biancardi