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

Senior Center Love 11/13

Fun fact: we missionaries play frisbee every tuesday, thursday and saturday. One time this week someone told the senior couple in our area that they see their children playing frisbee every morning. Cute :)

Word of the week: fei pan (flying disk) means frisbee!

Short Version: transfers are this week! So my companion and I have been super antsy and excited

Long Version: This week we had the amazing opportunity to go to a senior center and put on a little devotional. We had one of the senior missionaries preform his harmonica routine, showed a few videos, bore testimony and sung. My favorite part was going around after and talking to the beautiful grandmas and grandpas. One in particular was Lu Ama, who kept saying she was in pain, and hurting, and not pretty, and no one wanted her. I told her we were so grateful she was there, and that she is so beautiful, and that her Heavenly Father loves her. She then started crying, and kept asking for a tissue but I didn't know what tissue was in chinese so it was like 5 minutes later till she actually got her tissue haha. Anyways, the Senior Center called us the next day said everyone loved it and were so touched. They asked when we could come back :) I love service!!

remember Mosiah 2:17 -when you are in the service of your fellow being you are only in the service of your God!

Love you all! keep jia you! #yaodiyu
Sister Hickman

How SHUAI is your calling! 11/6

Word of the week- shuai(4) it's a very common word heard by missionaries. It means handsome ;). Versus huai(4) which means... a person that does bad things

Short Version: I finally got a way to upload photos! Congrats to you all! haha.
Long Version: We had... a funny week. We have these friends that own a sandwich place, and for Halloween they had some special... stuff. One was snail sandwiches. And since we bought snail sandwiches, we got thousand year old egg sandwich for free! What a deal! They were actually quite tasty haha. Any suggestions for what they should have as specials for Thanksgiving?
Along with that we met an albino girl, who should us a picture of when she went to a gathering of all the albinoes in taiwan. The albino children were so cute!

Taiwan is on fire!! Well, not really because it got really cold. But I still have the fire within me ;).

Love 愛，
毛姐妹

Pictures: The snail-diggity sandwich, The time we preached to a community center and then took a photo with them, the vietnamese restaurant we love to go to with the whole zone, and us with the albino.

Dan Jones-ing! 10/31

If you don't know what Dan Jones-ing is, it basically means getting on a soap box and preaching to an audience.

Word of the week- "kedou" sounds like cuddle and it means tadpole :)

Short version: Happy Halloween!!!!
Long version: So the story behind our Dan Jones this week was when my companion and I were driving by a community center and saw about 30+ people in there, so we decided to go in. There turned out to be someone we knew inside, who had attended English class before. So we asked if we could maybe "preach" in there, and they then proceeded to give us a microphone and said we had 5 minutes. i was like " how about one minute?" haha. We then get up, said we were from America and everyone started to applaud, and everyone in the room was invited to English class. That was probably the most productive 30 minutes of my entire life! People actually seemed interested too! So funny- we then took a group photo together and they said they would put it on Facebook.

keep jia you!!!!
#yaodiyu
love you all!
Sister Hickman

Note: The photos didn't send properly so I couldn't attach them

Don't be dumb, don't be weird 10/24

The great advice from our mission president- because some missionaries just do... not smart things.

This picture is a great representation of that. Here is what Sister Hughes said about this: "So, Sister Hickman put a candle in her hair. And we lit it. Was it smart? no. was it fun? yes. Did we have my open water bottle next to her in case her hair caught fire? yes."

But don't worry I still have my hair ;).

Word of the week: benben- silly

Short version: we never found the pigeon

Long version: I had really bad allergies yesterday, so it looked like I was either crying all day or was touched by something. We also had the primary program were a bunch of cute little kids sing song- so I just went "just, the kids were so, so cute" and pretended to sniffle and be touched.

Wo ai ni! Nimen shi zui hao de! Have a great week!
#yaodiyu
~Sister Hickman

ps- the other pic is one we found on the computer

So we get a Pigeon 10/16

My companion and I were seriously planning one night (opposed to other non-serious nights haha) and I asked how we were gonna accomplish our goals, and my companion turns to me and goes "so, we get a pigeon" and I just start laughing. Our new goal now is to find a pigeon.

Word of the week: pigeon= gezi
Short version: My companion likes to tell puns
Long version: "what holds up the sun?" -"sunbeams!"
Our favorite pun: "that's intense!" you know what else is intense? my dad he likes to go camping.

Miracle of the week:

The power of kindness!

Luo DX was baptized right before I came to Hualian, and he is an amazing example of faith- he quit smoking in 2 days, going from 30 to 2 in 1 day. However, his wife has very much so protested. She has been cold to missionaries when they tried to talk to her, and has sent not the best text messages to us about many anti-mormon doctrine. A lot of people said she was a fireball... and child of Satan. But one day she came to church, and it was the first time meeting her, and I fell in love with her. I think that was the first time I felt true Christ-like love. I had no reason to love her, I just looked at her and knew she was a child of God, and that she was loved.

We then proceeded to visit her tea shop, baked her banana bread, and just friends with her. We talked with her, laughed with her, and last week, she invited us over for dinner－made it her self, and can I just say taiwanese food is WOW. THAT was a miracle. I mean the fact she invited us over haha... the food was a miracle too though. I know one day her family will be eternal. :)

 Serve those that are your enemies- they will become your friends :)

Love you all! keep safe and keep pressing forward!
#yaodiyu
zaijian!
~Sister Hickman 毛姐妹

Women shi meishi Jiemei 10/9

"We are the nothing Sisters"

So apparently about 95% of our mission is either in training or leadership position. We are neither. We are the 5% that don't have anything really special to do but be missionaries, so we are meishi jiemei's!!! :D But hey that's the minority, so that makes us special, right? 

Word of the Week: waterfall is "pubu"

Short Version: General Conference!!! Everyone should go back and watch that talk by President Uchtdorf "fourth floor last door." What an inspiring talk!

Long Version: We had an amazing baptism for Vicky Hu this week. I will try to get photos ba. She has an amazing testimony of service and helping others, and what makes it even better is that she is a nurse! :) Soooo we are bffs.

Funny version: We were talking to a single 35 yr old male, and he wasn't very interested in Jesus, but by the end he asked my companion and I if we like "taiwanese boy." 

Love,

Sister Christin Mao Hickman 

We are working on companionship unity ;) ~ my companion holding Sister Hughes and me getting jealous.

A Surprise Visit 10/2

Well my mom and grandma visited yesterday! Haha Mom can you send me the pictures? :) love you!

Chengyu of the week (chinese idiom): ji tong ya jiang: means two people speak different languages (like ji-chicken and ya-duck) so they cannot communicate, like a chicken and a duck. Much like my grandma and I haha
Short version: A typhoon came. We all wanted a typhoon, but then our apartment flooded and took 2 years to clean out. Also the bathroom ceiling caved in. We do not want typhoons.
Long version:
This chengyu has a lot of meaning for me this week because of the visit- here is what I sent president:

Just want to let you know that my mom and my grandma surprised me by coming to Hualian from Taoyuan to visit. I have told them in the past they are not allowed to do that, but they did it anyways. They gave me lots of food haha. But it was the first time I ever got to communicate with my grandma. She has taken care of me when I was younger, but she didn't speak English, and I didn't speak Chinese. She was so happy and proud that I could finally understand and speak to her after 20 years. She is 90yrs old, so it means a lot that finally someone from my mom's family (besides my mom) is able to communicate with her. I feel so blessed to be able to come to Taiwan, and learn to love my family more. When I talked to my mom and grandma for the first time in Chinese, I felt the spirit. I felt there was no longer a bridge between us. There was no more wall. I could actually communicate with her in her own language. I know this Gospel blesses families! It gave me the opportunity to help my family relationships! I knew that God wants me on a mission- He wants me to help the Taiwanese, and to love them, and learn to love my family even more.


No more typhoons, hao bu hao?
Ai nimen!
~Sister Mao

Birthday week 9/26

Such a great week full of miracles! One day I will let you all know haha.

Word of the Week: Hua(1) means flower!

Short Version: I got to pet a cat. I literally felt all the stress melt away. It was amazing. But then I had allergies for the next 24hrs.

Long Version: Zhuang Zi Xin got baptized!!! So awesome. Her testimony was great- she knew that God puts people in our lives for reasons. And she knows that every trial we face helps us get stronger. Love her! 

One day I get stuff and send pictures.

Love,

Sister Hickman

Mao Jie Mei

Thank you all for the birthday emails! Love you all!