Week 63

HELLO FAMILY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and friends!

 

What a week! I have a new and wonderful companion named Sister Amelia Jean Wu (Amy). I just love her! I met Amy during my second transfer here on the island and since then we have been following each other around. She is 18 and originally from GaoXiong (the south). You might be wondering how she is 18 and serving but it's because she is a short term. She'll be with me until the end of this transfer so a total of 5 weeks and then she back to being normal... kind of :) I love her! She went to school in ZhangHua, my last area, so we became the best of friends. She would come visit us. She surprised me for my birthday. She wrote letters right when I needed them. She is one of my dear, sweet friends... and little sister. She is so amazing and just loves the work. She contacts, teaches, studies and just does it all. I am learning so much from her. I love her!!!!!

 

So this week we had a good old Chinese New Year. We ate way way way toooooo much!!!! We had everyday lunch and dinner with members! We just kept eating and eating and eating! It was so much fun! I loved getting to know them all. The members here are so amazing. I love hearing their conversion stories. They are always stories of great faith. Often times their families opposed their baptism. They all had their own trials but it is so amazing to see them now. I love seeing the families and hear the children's testimonies of how their parents joining the church has blessed their lives. It is amazing to me how far they travel to come to church or to go to the Temple. I feel so blessed to live so close to our church and to have several Temples within a 30 minute drive. Sometimes I think we take that for granted.

 

As for the food this week..... lots of interesting things..... pigs feet, cow stomach, duck liver, well I'm sure more than just duck liver, and lots and lots of fish.... all of it was so good! 

 

Because of Chinese New Year a lot of our investigators went home for the holidays... So that was a little hard. I feel like I haven't seen them forever! I should tell you that Sister Xu stopped meeting with us. She said that it's just not her time. It was really hard for us to hear but I know that her time will come. We have some new investigators. A really cute Sister Ye. She is close to my age. She is so great! She loves the Book of Mormon. We had invited her to read certain parts to help her with her questions and to prepare for the next lesson and she came having read all of those parts... So we invited her to start from the beginning and she said "I already have. I'm on chapter 17." WOW! Her prayers are so beautiful and sincere. She came to church yesterday and really enjoyed it. She loves the peace that she receives there. I love her!

 

We also had a great miracle with one of the less actives we have been working with. When I first met her she seemed really, really sad. You could tell she had burdens that she needed lifted. We found out that her husband opposes her coming to church. It actually makes him rather angry so that's why she hasn't been coming. She said that she continued to pray but she had not been reading the scriptures. We invited her to start reading. Well this week when we met with her it was totally different. She had this beautiful light about her. She had a smile and a glow. She said she felt different. We read with her in Mosiah 24 about Alma and his people not being able to pray vocally so they prayed in their hearts and the Lord came and comforted them. He didn't change everything and take away their trials but He gave them the strength they needed to face their trials and He made their burdens light so that they could bear them. I love that story. It testifies that the Lord truly visits His children during their trials and afflictions. I know this to be true for I have seen it and I have felt it many times in my life.

 

I am so grateful for this gospel. I am so grateful for my Savior and for His atoning sacrifice. He has provided a way for me to change and improve. I am so grateful for Him. I am so grateful to be doing this work!

 

I love you all so very much!!!!!!!

 

Until next week!