WELL I AM HERE AND I LOVE IT!!!!!

My companion and I after a long day in the rain. (she wants me to say she is cuter in person lol) 

WELL I AM HERE AND I LOVE IT!!!!!

I am having sooo… much fun!! My companion is awesome! Her name is Sister Knapp. Ah, I wish you could see it. It is so beautiful here. And the people are so nice. I have the best investigators. It’s amazing. I wish I could describe it to you. I want to cry just thinking about how blessed we all are to have this gospel. Actually I am tearing up right this second typing this. I love this gospel and I love my Savior. I am so grateful for his wonderful atoning sacrifice, I am grateful that I can be out here! I love sharing the gospel. I AM FILLED WITH SO MUCH LOVE. I have had so many cool experiences, and miracles. Heavenly Father really does prepare his children.

Modeling their rain gear! Don't they just "Glow!"

Last night, it was pouring rain super, super hard. It was about 8:30 and almost time to go home. We were on our last street for the night and this old man let us into the stairway that goes to lots of apartments, but he didn't want to talk to us. So we took advantage of being in there and knocked on this one door. This lady came out and told us how her friend was Catholic but their church worshiped too loudly and not respectfully, so I taught her how we pray respectfully and gave her an example. She really liked it and wants to learn more. So we are meeting with her on Wednesday! She prayed for us at the end!

They always tell me I am very pretty and I get lots of pictures taken of me and with me, but its only because I am white, lol but it makes me feel good. We have prayed with lots of strangers on the streets and I love it, and they love it when I speak Chinese. It seriously is the best!!! We are covering two wards an English one (holla) and a Chinese one obviously, so we are super busy. I gave a talk on Sunday in the English ward, and I stood up in the Chinese ward and introduced myself and shared my testimony. Agh I love it!! My Mission President is in my English ward :) Super fun!

We have lots of investigators, and most of them are preparing for baptism! It’s amazing! Heavenly Father really does prepare his children. I love sharing the gospel. I love going out and finding, talking to people on the street is so fun! We teach lots of people how to pray, and pray for them just on the side of the road. It is very special and touches my heart. It has rained everyday since I've been here, and I love it. There are lots of foreigners that visit here, and they speak English so its fun to talk to them. We met two sketchy guys that kept asking where we lived and asked us if we were married. We said no because we are missionaries. They then told us that they could fix that. If we didn't have one of our investigators with us that night I don't know what would have happened. I was extremely uncomfortable. But its okay we are safe!! I wish I could tell you every experience that I have had. They have all been so wonderful! 

I AM SO HAPPY, EVERYTHING IS WONDERFUL!

After we got off the plane our Mission President (who is awesome and has the best family) took us to get our first meal. We ate street food and it was super good!! I really like the breakfast foods, I had a sandwich that was filled with fruit, it was amazing. Fruit is amazing here. It had dragon fruit in it and it was the best. I have only had one instance with weird stuff and it was a drink that an investigator gave us. lol. The streets here are insane. I might die lolol. The only bad thing about this place is that here are mosquitoes in my apartment

The first night I was here I decided that I wasn't going to let the fear of messing up the language keep me from sharing the gospel. So far so good (: I love sharing the gospel! And they love it when I speak Chinese lol, AND I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY. 

Love,

Sister Scharman

Grand Hotel and Dedicatory Site

New missionaries being greeted by their Mission President
Jace Jergensen and his wife.

The street I live on :) this was taken on our morning run. 

You can't see in this but it is so green here, 

and there are plants everywhere! 

MTC - Week Nine. "We're breaking free" - hsm

This is Li Laoshi! Love him to death, he's been amazing! 

(Sister Scharman and her District.  Sister's are going to the Taiwan, Taipei mission.)

I leave for Taiwan in under 24 hours. Considering the fact that I have never been out of the United States, getting on a 15 hour plane ride to the other side of the world, knowing hardly any Chinese, not knowing what it is going to be like, and what the future has in store for me, you could say I'm feeling just about every emotion there is to feel. But I know as long as I put my trust in the Savior, I will be okay. He knows my future. He knows me personally. He knows how to comfort me. He will help me, as long as I have faith in him. It isn't going to be easy. Living in an unfamiliar place for the next 16 months of my life is not going to just be magically easy. But I know it will be worth it. I am grateful for my mtc experience because I have grown closer to my Savior Jesus Christ. And I am excited to have that relationship continue to grow stronger. I am so grateful for this opportunity to be serving a mission. And I am so excited to give it my all and lose myself in the work. 

I leave the mtc at 3:50 am Tuesday morning, and I arrive in Taiwan at 6:25 pm Wednesday night. crazy right? We ride a the tracks to the airport so I will be passing through Lehi sometime tomorrow morning. So close to my house, and so many memories there. The feels. But one problem, How am I supposed to be on a 15 hour plane ride and still look good to meet my mission president? 

Today has been full of a lot of tears, saying goodbye to my favorite teachers who touched my life in so many different ways. And I am sure I will cry lots more tonight as I say goodbye to the Elders in my district and the others in my zone. I am so blessed to know each one of them. They are amazing people and will bless so many lives. 

Something I've learned about serving a mission is that I shouldn't forget who I am. I am referred to as Sister Scharman, but I am still Nicole. The Lord called Nicole Scharman to go to Taiwan, Taipei. He called me there because of my different strengths, weaknesses, and other reasons I am not aware of. Some missionaries think that when they are on a mission they have to act like someone they're not. Yes we are trying to be our best selves and striving to be better people. But that doesn't mean I shouldn't be myself, just try to be better version of myself. That has been on my mind the past couple days, and I don't know why but I wanted to share my thoughts about it. So there you go, I'm still me! Just trying to be a better me. (:

Love,

Sister Scharman

ps... here this my companion I love her!

MTC - Week Eight

Night before Sister Money left

Pengyoumen!!! (friends!!!) (I wish I could type tones on here) 

I hope everyone is doing great!

A little update on my life, I didn't get my fight plans. Scary right? Only two people (Sister Miller!! and Sister Apsley!) got their flight plans out of thirteen going to Taiwan on Tuesday. But the travel office said my name was on the list of people that had visas so will get my flight plans this Friday! Its coming so soon! I can't believe I've been here for a full 8 weeks. Crazy! 

Sister Money left this morning for Canada! Super sad to see her go, but I am stoked for her!! Helping her take her bags to the travel office at 4 this morning made me excited to go, but the packing part didn't. I wish I had my mom here to pack me. And make me some food. 

By the way, my zone now has 41 people in it. Kinda forgot to update when we get new elders and sisters. We are massive. But we got a new fast track district this week!! They are so funny and super cool. They will be leaving the same day as me! Sister Yee is in our room and she is from Hawaii. Super nice and smart! All of the elders speak really fast to me and clap when I understand and respond hahaha I hope the people in Taiwan have the same enthusiasm that they do about my bad chinese lol. Their teacher had us teach them a lesson. Which was really intimidating because we had no time to prepare, and they are obviously good at chinese. But we did it!! And it was good! Their teacher, one of my favs Liao Laoshi told us that they were really inspired by us, because we teach with the spirit. That was so nice to hear. My best friend always tells me that the spirit is not bound by the language (: 

Our teacher Li Laoshi told us about our investigator Chen, he was someone that he had taught on his mission in Japan. They still keep in touch and he called Chen the other day and told him that about how we were "teaching him". Chen said that some days he felt Heavenly Father's love for him stronger then usual and that he believed it was because of the prayers and all the preparation we did for him. He asked if he could talk to us so we might call him during class. I hope we get to!!

It has been so nice outside this week, so we have studied and planned lessons as much as we can outside! Sister Menzies friends met her at the temple while we were on temple walk, and they are going to bring me Dr pepper next week hopefully lol 

In trc this week, we taught a girl who served in Taiwan, and her sister is in Taipei right now serving!! Sister Miller taught Willy, and she said that he talked about how much he loved me and Sister Menzie for a while, asked how we were doing, and told them to tell us he loved us. Told you we were going to be life long friends :) After they told us that we send him a little message on skype saying that we love him too and that Heavenly Father loves him. He replied with a cute message. 

My Sistas with the MTC Choir Director! He's AMAZING

The devotional on Tuesday was awesome!!! Brent H Nielson spoke. About not having fear, and looking forward not back. Super inspiring and exactly what I needed to hear! It was an answer to many of my prayers. His wife spoke too and it was a similar topic and was amazing as well!! It was my last choir, and we made it on the screen again. Also me and Sister Turner sat next to each other and it was super fun (: We only really see each other at night when we have our talking sesh. She is really going to do amazing things. I am so excited to see how she blesses people's lives!! Also her language sounds like cursive coming out of her mouth which is so pretty and fits her super well.

Also I would like to give a shout out to my wonderful parents. They are so amazing and I am so grateful for their support!! 

I know the church is true and I am so grateful for the opportunity to serve a mission. My testimony is growing so much each day. And I am trying my best to serve with all of my heart.

We have been given permission to get on email before I leave for Taiwan so if I have time I will send a quick email before I head out of the mtc (:   

Love you all have a good week!

Sister Scharman

My zone + two extras that jumped in smh 

Sister Matauta (she calls us her white family)
she left today! My comp and her are so pretty!!!

MTC - Week Seven

We hung up a hammock. It's a two person hammock so me and
Sister Apsley tried to get in at the same time and the bed
almost fell on top of us. Probably wasn't the best idea lol 

7 Is my lucky number

I AM ALMOST OUT OF THE MTC yesss (but also like wait noooo what. But mostly yessss)

Missions are hard for multiple reasons, but one is that since you leave your family, you create your own little family here. Then they leave, or you have to leave them. When will the heartbreaking goodbyes end? NEVER. My favorite cantos left this week to Hong Kong. It feels empty without my friends. I love them and their great influences on me. (Yes this includes my sweet friend Elder Caloobanan. Who is going to motivate me to be Queen B now?) 

The weather was super nice some days, than other days it was snowing. But while it was warm we took advantage of it and read The Book of Mormon outside. It was fun!

So we are skyping members from Taiwan for trc. it is so fun!!! We taught someone named Willy. We are going to be life long friends. When we were telling him about ourselves I told him I play soccer. He got so excited and said he he always wanted to play, so I am going to teach him when I get to Taiwan, he's pretty pumped. I also said I was from Lehi, awesome in chinese is lihai. So he just kept telling me I was awesome. He quickly became our friend. Our lesson was on how to receive personal revelation through prayer. So we were giving him some suggestions I said "pray to have help to stay away from temptations so you can have the Holy Ghost with you." I said the wrong tones on "temptations" so he just broke out laughing and said "I thought you were said 'on fire'!!" I've had many mistakes like this lol, for example one time I said The Book of Mormon was gods child. and when saying Joseph Smith's first vision if you say beloved with the wrong tone it can mean midget. So I've accidently said "this is my midget son, hear him." This is pretty much my life. Anyway I told Willy God loved him, he then made a heart with his hands then pointed up to heaven hahaha. There are so many things he did and said that were hilarious. When we asked if we could end the lesson with a prayer he said no, because he wanted us to keep teaching him. He took a picture of us, which is funny cause it's not the first time that has happened to me and Sister Menzie. There was this elder that would always try to speak chinese to me and he would slaughter it. But the day before he left he asked if he could take a picture of me and Sister Menzie to remember us. I thought he was going to get a picture with us, but no. He literally just took a picture of us. hahaha 

On Tuesday we had Rosemary M. Wixom speak. She's the primary president. So for choir we had all of the mtc presidents grandchildren join us in singing A Child's Prayer. I love that song, and the spirit was so strong. Every song we sang was from the primary children's book. Like, I hope they call me on a mission, search ponder and pray, and I belong to the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints. Love love love primary songs.  I miss teaching primary and I hope I can work with little kids in the future. I also got a package from some primary children in my ward and I was so happy :-) :')

WE GOT OUR CHINESE NAME TAGS WHAT 

Sister Money got her flight plans on Friday! We get ours in TWO DAYS 

I only have 13 days left in the mtc soooo if you want to send me some packages, letters, or dear elders before it gets more expensive and takes forever feel free ;)

This week I've been thinking a lot about why Heavenly Father gives us weaknesses. The reason for weaknesses is so that we can come closer to Christ and his Atonement. We should all accept Christ's Invitation to come to him. Then we can see the Atonement's influence on our weaknesses. I know that the Lord wants to help us overcome sin. He wants to provide comfort and peace when we face trials, struggles, or challenges. He wants to be a part of our lives by helping us become strong through our weaknesses.

Either 12:27 "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then I will make weak things become strong unto them." 

I know He lives, and that it is through faith, following His example, and through His Atonement we can return to our Heavenly Father.

Have a good week! 

Love, Sister Scharman

Our outdoor reading session. We tried to read in the most 

"asian voice" we could hahaha. Love these girls.

Me and Sister Menzie walked into a classroom
and this was someone's investigator lol

You know I referenced a One Direction song
in my Book of Mormon. 

MTC - Week Six

This week I just want to tell everyone how grateful I am for my companion Sister Menzie. She is one of the most amazing people I have ever met. And she has helped me in so many different ways. I know that we are companions for a reason, and it makes me sad that we have less than three weeks left together.

Yesterday during companion study, we were discussing the atonement. Throughout my life I have always had a testimony about it. But this past week my love for the Savior's atoning sacrifice has grown more than I could have ever imagined. Christ atoned for our sins. He bled from every pore, he suffered all the pains, afflictions, and emotions that we feel each day. When we feel alone and afraid, wracked with guilt and torment, when we experience sorrows beyond belief, the Savior, our loving brother, is ALWAYS there. He is constantly watching us, weeping for us and with us. It's hard to face these all too familiar feelings, but it is our job and our blessing to be able to reach out, call out, and cry out for our Savior to help us through them. He will never make us feel weak and inadequate. He helps lift us up to heights we've never imagined. In our darkest, most terrifying moments where we just feel utterly alone, Christ is the light that guides us back. There is always hope when we have faith in Christ and when we have faith that his atonement wasn't just some nice gesture of love. The atonement was literally the hardest thing the Savior had to go through. It was so hard that he cried out to God, asking him to take the cup from him. Yet, being the perfect example of who we should strive to be like, he said "not my will, but thine be done." In order to access the atonement in the fullest way possible, we must recognize that our will is not the same as God's. We are faced with these tormenting emotions and we make these bad decisions because we have agency and because God knows he can make us better people through them. We develop our testimony and we grow closer to our Savior and his loving example as we truly utilize the atonement and trust in the Lord. Trust that he has a perfect plan for us to do great things in his kingdom. I love the atonement. I love the comfort, peace, and gratitude I feel towards God for allowing me to know that someone else knows my exact feelings. I know that it is through my Savior that I can return to Heavenly Father again. I love my Savior and his perfect example. I've let him down so many times in my life, but no matter what, I know he will never let me down. 

This is all I'm going to write this week. I love you all, and I'm grateful for all the support, and kind words that have been sent my way. 

Love, Sister Scharman

Sister Scharman got to see her friend Sister Turner on PDay!
They are having fun as usual when they are together :D

MTC - Week Five

Hey friends!

If you haven't heard there was an earthquake in Taiwan this past week. Please pray for them.

Learning Mandarin is the hardest thing for me here. I'm constantly having to remind myself to not compare myself to others. It's hard. I'm a little stressed because I have less time left here in the mtc then I have been here for and I still have lots to learn. I shared my testimony in sacrament meeting in all Chinese and I know I made sense because cute Sister Dung was nodding at everything I said hahaha. Everyone is saying that I will learn most of my Chinese when I get to Taiwan so that gives me some hope. During language study the scene from Pink Panther popped into my head when Steve Martin is trying to say hamburger. That's me with basically every Chinese word lol.

 (Steve Martin - Pink Panther "I want to buy a Hamburger)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6oeAdemFZw

My teacher Gwo Laoshi shared her conversion story with us. It was amazing and even after we left the classroom to go to our residence for the little 8 hour nap we get each night, I couldn't stop crying. Maybe it was a little pathetic how much I cried lol but she is AMAZING.  

Fast Sunday was great! fei chang zhufu (very blessed) except choir was cancelled :( but we did get to sing on Tuesday and the camera zoomed in on mine and Sister Menzies faces. We are considered MTC famous now so that's cool. Oh and we found out we are getting 7 more elders and 3 more sisters. Fun!! 

Me and Sister Menzie got addicted to Two Brothers Two this week. It's a LDS video series that is amazing. We would watch it every spare moment we could. It is so relatable and it's so cool to watch the different experiences they had. I would suggest watching it. 

There is an Australian Polynesian Sister here that we have become friends with. She calls us her "white family" and pretends to speak chinese to us by making little noises hahaha its hilarious. One night we were helping a sister pack in the hall and she came and sat by us. She was so fascinated by the puff cheetos.

Saying of the week: #beizhufu 

I love the gospel!! Have a good week!!
Love, Sister Scharman

MTC - 1 MONTH!

The Zone grew by 8 Elders and 11 Sisters

It's already February? Where is the time going? I've been here for exactly a month! This week was probably one of the best that I've had so far. Don't get me wrong it wasn't easy at all. Its' definitely hard, but I'm good!! I've had so many spiritual experiences it's insane. I wish I could describe them all to you!! I don't really feel like I know a whole lot but I have to remember where I started.

Last Wednesday we met all of the new elders and sisters in our zone, and gave them a tour of the MTC. One elder is 6'7" and it makes me feel like a midget. Me and Sister Menzie got to interview all of the girls and it was a little overwhelming,  but they are all amazing!!! They all tell me they can't wait to be at the point I am, which is weird to me because I feel like I still know nothing, but I really do know a lot and I have learned more than I think. Chinese grammar is so different than English grammar so it's hard to create sentences off of the top of my head. But I'm getting better each day!

On Sunday my district preformed a musical number. We sang Nearer My God to Thee. The first verse we did in English then the next two were in Chinese. We sounded so good! I've never sang so much in my life. That's all me and my friends do. From Disney music to My Girl by Temptations and everything in between.  We sing church music too don't worry. Also choir saves my life. The choir director is amazing. Last week he showed us clips of The Other Side of Heaven. And now I just want to watch that movie, and the best two years. We got to watch the movie Legacy. Probably the closest thing I will get to a chick flick for a year and a half. Everyone clapped and screamed every time at the kissing scenes. lol. I even cried at the part he had to leave and go on a mission. The feels. 

My lessons went super well for me this week with my two investigators. Amin is committed to get baptized in March!! When we left the room I jumped and screamed. I was excited. We are now just working her towards that, and trying to get her husband and 7 year old daughter to come to our lessons. Chen is a different story, so we've been teaching him for about two weeks now. And we are still trying to get him to have a desire to know God. We had such a good lesson where we read the Book of Mormon with him. We read Alma 22 where King Lamoni's father is taught by Ammon and prays to know if God is there. Chen said he could read the Book of Mormon and understand it, but that it doesn't do anything for him cause he doesn't have a desire to know God like Lamoni's father did. I love the story of King Lamoni's father and I'm kicking myself that I didn't just flip to Alma 20 and show him that the king didn't have a desire at first. It's so hard to express myself in Chinese. He also said "my life would be good with the gospel, and my life would also be good without it." I was talking to one of the teachers Liao Laoshi  (Liao is his name - Laoshi means Teacher) about Chen (probably the funniest Asian teacher here, and there are a lot). He said "He's so close! He's on the edge of the baptismal font and you just have to PUSH HIM!" hahaha I wish it was that easy.

Also another thing about Liao Laoshi, we were asking him what we could do for Chinese New Year and he said "I partied in the mtc all the time, you should be obedient missionaries" and that's it. He says a ton of funny things but I'll only share one more. We were asking him about his mission, (he went to France) he said he loved it but he would not want to go back. He then said, "do you think if you asked Jesus to do the atonement again, he would say yes? No! he would say "heck naaaaw!!" hahaha just imagine this in a Asian accent. He is the greatest.  

I seriously have the BEST teachers. Li Laoshi is the most in tune with the spirit guy I've ever met. He is helping me so much not just with Chinese, but with life in general. Dodge Laoshi asked me and Sister Menzie to help teach his class, super fun. I wish I could hug all  my teachers. Maybe I will right before I leave the MTC. Just don't tell on me. 

Temple Walk Selfie Time

Update on Sister A's sleeping episodes. In Sister M's words.. "I woke up to Sister A going down the ladder, then going to her closet and start pulling out all her clothes. I just watched her cause I was so tired, confused, and it was three in the morning. Then she just layed down on her clothes and fell asleep" Sister C then woke up and turned on the light to see what was going on. That's what woke me up. Sister A then told us that in her dream she was late to her train and had to pack. We laughed then went back to bed. In the morning Sister A saw her clothes that were still on the ground and said "Are those my clothes?" SHE DIDN'T REMEMBER AGAIN HAHAHAHA 

This is what you get when two selfie sticks are being used at the same time!

More about Elder Coloobanan, the one who gives us candy. During gym time he motivates me by saying "DO YOU WANNA BE QUEEN B" he is currently sitting next to me emailing as well. 

Elder Coloobanan

I am so sick of the food here, I just have a soup for lunch and dinner pretty much. They did have steak on Sunday and that was awesome. The food here makes me want to eat the food in Taiwan. I can't wait to be there!! I got to watch my sister training leaders arriving in the video on the Taiwan Taipei blog. Wish it was me, but I'm not ready yet cause I need to learn more.

I want to share a little bit of my testimony. If you're familiar with the story of the Brother of Jared you know that he got some stones and God touched them and made them give light. That's obviously the simple version. But as hard as the brother of Jared worked to get those stones, nothing came from of them until he brought them to the lord. Relating this to me, I could work as hard as I can at learning this language. But I will never be able to learn it like I need too unless I work with the Lord by praying and inviting the Holy Ghost. "Two people can do anything, as long as one of them is the Lord."

Ether 6:6-7 

6 And it came to pass that they were many times buried in the depths of the sea, because of the mountain waves which broke upon them, and also the great and terrible tempests which were caused by the fierceness of the wind.

7 And it came to pass that when they were buried in the deep there was no water that could hurt them, their vessels being tight like unto a dish, and also they were tight like unto the ark of Noah; therefore when they were encompassed about by the many waters they did cry unto the Lord, and he did bring them for again upon the top of the waters. 

We all have struggles, trials, and challenges that we need to overcome. When you are buried by the waters take your problems to the lord. Humble yourselves. We can't do anything without the Lord. He will bring you again upon the top of the waters.

Love you guys, have a great week! The church is TRUE!

Sister Nicole Scharman