Above: My favorite person- Luo Tai Tai! I told her that her food was delicious and before I could blink she ran over grabbed my arm and was like "Iwillfeedyoumorefood!!!!" So when you want to compliment a taiwanese just tell them you love their cooking!! (mom I love you cooking! :))
Below: We spent five minutes catching this gecko. His name is Li xiao long, or Bruce Lee.

Word of the Week: BiHu(bee who?) means wall tiger, or gecko in chinese.

Wow what an amazing week!! Found a mother and her son. Her son is 6 yrs old so we got to go to Primary with them, with all the little kids. Funny enough, we actually understood everything!!! 

Short Version: Well the lady we met, her son has super long hair so everybody thinks he is a she. But he is growing it out to donate it, so that is the cutest thing ever!

Here is a photo to prove I like dogs too!
(Jk it's just because all the cats here are scared of us)

Long Version: I really loved what my past comp put in her email, so I'm gonna copy it :3. It was titled "build the walls before the flood" and what inspired that title: "was a man I met named Frank Fan. He stopped on the street to talk to us for a long time. He said that he knew us and came to our church 5 years ago. But then he said at that time his life was going really well and he felt like he didn't really need a change. Now he is on the brink of divorce, his 12 year old son is moving away and says he doesn't need either of his parents. Everything in Frank's life is going poorly. He said, "I really regret not joining the church 5 years ago when I had that chance. Everything was going so good then but I feel that if we had met with you missionaries my life would be very different now." For all of you who have awesome lives and feel like you don't need God now, just remember you buy the fire extinguisher before the fire breaks out, you save your money before the economy crashes and you strengthen and cherish your family before you start falling apart. Try church. See what happens."

Other than all this, the title of this email is what it is because this week we met with Zhang Xian Sheng and he loves speaking the English he knows, so he goes "Sist-a MAO. Sist-a CLYDE" to us. He is hilarious. He says we are the nicest people he has ever met. 

Love you all! Keep repenting and becoming better. 愛你們呢！

~Sista MAO

You're welcome on the long email haha... which is mostly not my words.

ALOHA! 1/9

Above is a picture of a member's daughter. Her name is Esther and she is the cutest. I let her borrow my name tag. I know this will brighten your day!

Below is included a picture of us with face masks, so be warned it's probably not as cute as Esther ;)

Word of the week: Bing(4)shui(3)qi(2)yuan(2) -the disney movie FROZEN in chinese. Aka my favorite movie.
Short version: Wednesday was just one of those days when I know there is a Heavenly Father and He loves us. Saw so many miracles, and one included us collecting 59 stickers to get a disney utensil set, but they ended and we needed 60. So then we found one on a random pole, and got our utensil set!- haha funny how it's the little things :) Heavenly Father loves us!

Long version:Miracle of the week- probably the best miracle of my whole mission (besides baptisms) We found a cute family, set up, but forgot to bring a Book of Mormon. On the way out we looked down the staircase outside of their apartment, and on a dirty old shelf was a dusty Book of Mormon! So we grabbed it, dusted it off, and gave it away. He promised to read it. The Lord is too good to us.


I am starting to think the short and long version look about the same. Hm.

The Lord loves you all!!!! Never feel alone or sad- He has got you, and I do too! :)

Love,
Sister Hickman
#yaodiyu

Gong Xi Fa Cai! And A Happy New Year! 1/1/2017

Phrase of the week: gong xi fa cai（恭喜發財）Means... something like congrats on all the money you are getting!! Because that's what they do for the new year. They give out red packages with money!

Wow you all hit the jackpot this week- I sent four photos because my companion is actually very good at uploading photos haha. I'm a moocher! So here are some pics from the week of me being my goofy self. Also we woke up at 5 this morning so we could eat breakfast with this beautiful family that lives in the boonies, about a 40 minute bike ride. Worth it. 

Story time: This beautiful mom and daughter we visited this morning. Lin Zi Ling. She is the FUNNIEST person and I absolutely adore her. She is a wonderful mother. We discussed phone addictions this morning while her daughter was scrolling her phone the whole time haha. She met missionaries before in her life, and wasn't converted until November because she just wasn't ready. She constantly reminds us though we get rejected a bunch, 天父loves everyone and cares so much. She makes me so incredibly happy. 

Short version: It has been a whole year since I emailed you all! 

Long Version: Happy new year everyone!!! We had fun waking up at midnight to a window full of fireworks coming from every direction. So fun! Felt like it was world war 3 outside our window. 

Love you lots- jia you nimen!!!

~Sister Hickman

Prospero ano de felicidad! 12/26

I have one minute, so merry christmas, and have a happy new year!

Highlight of the week: Being the honorary pianist at ALL the Christmas parties haha.

Love you all!

Sister Hickman

Feliz Navidad!! 12/18

Prospero ano de felicidad! 

Oops wrong language.

Word(s) of the week: Shepherds-mu(4)yang(4)ren(2) Wise men- Bo(2)Shi(4) Angel- Tian(1)Shi(3)

Shengdankuaile everybody! This week was full or miracles, and I hope it will be for you all! Don't forget to email me this week so I can make sure you are all alive ;)

Short Version: We went christmas caroling with our ward last night! Super funny because there was a family that used to come to church a long time ago but now doesn't, and we caroled to their house. Their light was on, but as we started singing they turned the lights off haha.

Long Version: Well, uh you would think after skipping a week of emails I would have more to say... We had a christmas party the other day and we did a nativity skit, and a missionary skit too called "The twelve days of jiekou" which is "the twelve days of excuses" that was funny. Basically it ends with "xie xie xie xie xie xie xie xie xie" which is what people say in Taiwan when they don't want to talk to you. Imagine someone just saying "thank you thank you thank you thank you, thanks thanks thanks thanks" until you go away.

Love you all! Ai nimen!!

Remember the meaning of christmas- eating lots of cookies! ;) 

I know Jesus Christ lives and loves us. Serve* someone this week! Bring in the true meaning of christmas. 

~Sister Christin Mao Hickman

Serve*: serving someone does include writing a missionary :D 

Below: Us serving at the senior center 

the NEW hualian zone

Sister Hickman's Talent

I think a talent I discovered is getting free food. Sister Jensen can testify this is true. We got lots of fruits and stuff, and normally how it goes is I go "hey that looks good!" and they give us free stuff, but I haven't done that lately. We literally just sat done this week next to someone and they gave us free cheesecake haha. Not complaining.

Word of the Week: peanut butter= huashengjiang
Short version: We got to have my favorite thing this week- peanut butter burgers! Literally, just try it- it will change your life.
Long version: A beautiful mama was baptized- Lin Zi Ling! She literally is amazing! I know that her life will continue to be blessed through the Gospel. I love her so much! Fun fact- in lessons we would call her Lin Lao Shi, meaning Teacher Lin. She would act like the teacher in the lessons, even though we were the ones actually teaching haha. Love her!
Love you all! I hope you ate some turkey for us too haha :)

Ai nimen!
Sister Hickman
Mao Jie Mei

Mom, Dad, I'm...., 11/21

I'm a missionary! Also I'm pregnant! Also I actually already gave birth so I'm a mom!! (there is a joke on the mission if you are called to train a new missionary, you are called a mom and your new missionary is the baby)

Her name is Sister Clyde. She is literally a model. Takes after her mother ;) we look very much alike.
Word of the week: mom=mama. Also Thanksgiving-ganenjie

Short Version: It has been pretty funny being a struggling young mother.

Long Version: Well, our first day together pretty much describes me as a mother because we missed our train back to Hualian. It was so sad, and we didn't get to eat dinner because we got back late. So we ended up going to a 7 and got ramen noodles. So feeding my baby well from the start. We ended up laughing it off haha- pretty good start!

Anyways, pray for us

Love you all!!! Take care!
Sister Hickman