Week 39

Nimen Hao!!!!!!!!!

It has been a great week! We are loving it here in ZhangHua! We are seeing miracles everyday! ZhangHua is getting ready to soar!!!

We have been busy busy and we love it!

Two miracles that we saw this week...

We met another less active member in our apartment. She is also one of the previous Bishop's wife. We met here because we were talking to the apartment manager and having him help us read the maps. Well he ended up calling her down to help us. She was really sweet and said that she is willing to help us anytime. She said that we are invited to come over and visit but she has no interest in going to church. We understand that her family relationship right now is a little rocky... We were able to go over one night and sit down with her kids. Her daughter even came to church yesterday!

We also had another miracle at our apartment complex... We have 4 cute English teachers that live in our apartment complex. We had talked to them about possibly helping us peike and different things and all said yes but her... Sister Pomeroy and I thought she might be less active so we decided to go stop by one night... Well it was the perfect timing because she was just coming home. We were able to talk to her and found out that her family is all members and that she was raised in the church but in college she had a really big trial and from the way her ward handled it she decided to withdraw her records from the church... We told her how truly loving the people are here and invited her to come to church. We were able to pray with her and truly testify of the love Heavenly Father has for her... She went to the English branch yesterday!

We also had another miracle in Taiwan this week. Here is a note from President Bishop's letter this week. "This week was also a record day in the Taipei Temple.  Last Saturday was temple day for 2 of the stakes from our mission.  Over 400 people were at the temple.  Five families from our mission were sealed to be together for eternity.   Twenty two individuals made covenants and received their own endowments.  The temple was bursting at the seams.  What a great problem to have!" One of the dear familes in our ward was one of those five families... They were just glowing yesterday! Such a wonderful and beautiful blessing!

It has been such a great week with hard work, funny moments, and lots of tender mercies!
I continue to be amazed by the miracles we see everyday! It is such a blessing to see the Lords hands in His work! I love it SO much!

And I love you sooooooooooooooooo much!!!

Until next week!

Pics...
1. Sister Huang's Baptism
2. Isn't she so cute? She is so funny!
3. Look out ZhangHua

Week 38

It has been a great week!

I love Sister Pomeroy, she is a fire cracker! It has been so fun working with her! She is so diligent and positive and I am so grateful to be serving with her. Last week I was a little nervous about going senior after all but 2 of our investigators dropped so I prayed for help and strength and direction... While praying I was filled with peace and an understanding of this is God's plan. I felt and understood why I needed to go senior, why Sister Pomeroy is my companion and what things I would learn from her, and why it was in God's plan for those investigators to drop... I was filled with peace and FAITH. Faith that we can do this!

With that we spent most of our week finding... We were so blessed to have 2 cute young women call us and ask us if they could come teach with us multiple times this week... it has been such a blessing. They have been willing to come to lessons, go tracting, ride their bikes, and read maps. It was such a tender mercy!

We have a cute sister really starting to progress... sister Zhang. We were talking to her yesterday about her baptism goal and she was just like "We all need to diligently work so I can hit this goal, let's do this together." She is so sweet and I fill that her desire id\s truly growing.. I am so excited to work with her and help her continue to work to hit this goal. She is AWESOME!


And our cherry on top...

Our sweet friend Sister Huang was baptized on Saturday!!!!! Oh it was a beautiful baptism. She bore the sweetest testimony... She is truly so humble.... She has been investigating for more than 2 years.... I wish you could have seen her beautiful smile and radiating glow when she was baptized... she was so very joyous.... It was a wonderful experience... I LOVE her!

Today we had and amazing experience... We were leaving our house to buy some things we need when all of the sudden I noticed I didn't have my name tag on.... Obviously we had to go back. I felt bad that we had to go back and get it... well when we walked into our apartment complex the manager pointed to a letter so I assumed it was for us but then he explain that is was for the previous bishop's wife. Then there she was and he introduced us and we could tell she did not want to meet us... Why? She actually went less active while her husband was serving as bishop (he was released the Sunday before I came to Zhang Hua) We started talking to her and she was really nice and said she would come to church on Sunday.... I realized after that that was why I forgot my name tag... All in God's plan!

I have loved this week! I have truly relied on the Lord and have felt of His love and guidance.....I LOVE THIS WORK!!!!!

I love you all so so so so much!

Until next week!!!!!!

Week 37

Nimen Hao

It has been a great and busy week!

BIG NEWS!!!!! I am now senior companion....ahhhhhhhh! So I might be freaking out just a bit.... It was a little bit of a surprise.... since I'm still pretty young in the mission transfers but I am excited for this new adventure (especially because I can't read the map haha)... My new companion is Sister Pomeroy! We were actually in the MTC together and became such good friends. We would always joke about the day we would become companions and now it is here! I LOVE her! She is from Texas (my first American companion haha) and she is such a great missionary.

The Chen family had their sweet baby! It was such an exciting day for them and I am grateful that they invited us to share in their new blessing and joy. Brother Chen said a beautiful prayer and prayed that his son would be able to go on a mission when he was older... it was so beautiful and such a wonderful thing to hear of what kind of a person they want their son to become and how they want to teach him the gospel. I love them!

We have a wonderful miracle investigator getting baptized this week. Sister Huang has been an investigator for almost 3 years. She has gone in and out and met with quite a few missionaries. She would go to church every Sunday but would not commit to baptism. She would attend a different ward than the one that she lives in. I met her one Sunday at church and we were able to meet with her a few times but she said that she did not want to get baptized..... Then one day I had a feeling we should try calling her and she said that the night before she was reading in 2 Nephi and now she knows that she needs to get baptized and she asked me when she could do it... I was so amazed I had to give the phone to Sister Li to make sure I understood her correctly..... It's been exciting and we are very happy that she can receive the blessing of baptism this week.

We also had some down falls this week. One of our investigators dropped out...  Sister Xu. We have been meeting with her for a few weeks. She seemed so golden. She loved learning about the gospel. She has a great understanding and remembered what we taught. It was really amazing. She lives in a nursing home and I believe she has autism or something like it because she is so smart. She was doing so great and then yesterday she brought a friend with her from this place that she lives to church. We could tell he didn't like us and that he was not interested. He kept telling her to leave and that she shouldn't meet with us or come to church.... later we found her and her friend smoking at church and she told us she didn't want to come to church anymore or meet with us.. It broke my heart. Especially because I don't feel like it is her true feelings or intentions. We want to try to meet with her again and see if that is truly her feelings or just her friend... :(

Well it's been a great week.... Excited for this week... freaking out a bit but its good!

I love you all so much!

Until next week!

Week 36

Oh Hey!

It's been a great and busy week! We were blessed with a lot of lessons... I love lessons!

Can I just tell you how much I love Sister Li?! She is such a great companion! She has so much faith. Her example is amazing! She is so diligent and humble... I love her! She was baptized 4 years ago. Her family doesn't support her. They don't write her yet she always says that she receives so many blessings so it's okay. She knows her family is being blessed for her service so all is well. SHE IS AMAZING! So much faith... I LOVE her!

Oh the Chen Family! When we went to visit them Brother Chen asked us when Sister Chen could go to the temple. It was so cute because he was so excited for her to go and said he'll go and wait outside for her... But wouldn't it be so much better if he could go onside. He said "it's not possible".... oh it's possible.... They are going to get there! Brother Chen finished the Book of Mormon this week and just wants more..... His desire and faith are building!!!! And their baby is coming this week! :)

We experienced many tender mercies this week. We met with the Lin family and had a beautiful "gift of tongues" experience. Sister Li and I were able to teach them without Sister Wu signing for us. We taught most of the Plan of Salvation from the Book of Mormon and pictures. Sister Li also took a month of sign language before her mission so she was able to sign a little and is picking it up fast... I was able to teach Mama Lin and started to recognize how it is she communicates with her eyes.... It was a beautiful experience.

One thing I have been amazed about this week is Heavenly Fathers plan for all His children... I see many ways the Lord has prepared me to do His work. He has prepared me to teach His children, and He knows which of His children I, Sister Bray, need to teach.... I am so grateful that He knows just where I am needed.

I love this work! It's rarely easy but it is His work. Therefore, I love it!

And I love you all so so so so SO much!

Until next week!

Week 35

HELLO!!!!!!

Oh it has been such an amazing week! I have so much I want to write but not enough time to write it :)

Sister Chen got baptized! WOW! Yep, Chen family, Sister Chen got baptized! She was just ready to jump and I wasn't going to stop her. It was a beautiful baptism! She bore a beautiful testimony. Surprisingly there were no problems with her baby bump getting all the way in the water. It was wonderful. And Brother Chen said that he has noticed a big change in his wife since she has gotten baptized which has also built his desire to be baptized... Oh I love this family!

We met an awesome family this week! A member in Taipei gave sent us an address of a family she knows that was interested in receiving a priesthood blessing.Well we went over to meet them and set up a good time for a blessing and found out that the referral, Sister Lin, has no hearing. Both her and her older sister are hearing impaired. We were able to communicate through writing back and forth. They explained to us that their mother had a stroke 10 years ago and has not been able to move or speak since and that they would really like for her to receive a blessing. We were able to set an appointment for the next day...... I cannot describe the beautiful feeling that was in their mothers room. She is so beautiful. Weak and fragile but truly beautiful. The blessing was beautiful. Tears were in every ones eyes. We were able to write down parts of the blessing so that her 2 daughters knew what she was blessed with. They were so grateful. They then reiterated what had been said... I was so amazed how they would sign to their mother and she would move her eyes and blink back. I was able to witness a beautiful miracle of the Spirit speaking to their hearts...It was truly such a beautiful experience I will never forget....Sister Lin and her older sister, sister's husband and 2 kids, and their member friend all came to church on Sunday. We found out one of the sisters in their ward can sign and it just so happens that she would be teaching the lesson in Relief Society that day... What a tender mercy from the Lord!

Today we had the beautiful blessing of going to the Taipei Temple. Oh it is a beautiful temple. I love the temple. I truly feel that it is such a blessing to have a temple so close and to be able to go on my mission. I realized again that that is why I am here... to help families be together forever.

Oh I love this work! It has been a great week!

I LOVE you all sooooooooooooooooooooo much!

Until next week!

Pictures
1 Sister Chen's baptism
2 Temple
3 Our District
4 My Comp and I

Week 34

It's been a really good and busy week! I love being busy....

We were able to meet with the Chen family a few times this week.. I love them! Cute Sister Chen is about to pop! They are so excited to have another baby. I love them! This week we saw a big miracle with Brother Chen....HE HAS QUIT SMOKING!!!! It is a miracle. When I first got to the area he was down to 1 cig a day... which is a HUGE improvement from his pack-a-day before. But it has now been 2 weeks with zero, zip, nothin, none, meiyou yige.... MIRACLE. He said every time he wanted to smoke he would pray and if that didn't work he would read the Book of Mormon and slowly the temptation would leave him.... AMAZING! I am so amazed by his faith! His wife has been able to attend church the past 2 weeks but Brother Chen's father really opposes him going to church and getting baptized. Brother Chen does not need parental permission but he works for his dad so he hasn't been able to get the time off to come to church.... BUT his wife told him all about church and he told us how much he wants to come to church and have the same experiences as his wife.... His desire is there. He wants to get baptized..... and he will! This family needs and deserves the blessings of baptism! Oh I LOVE them!!!!

We met some really cute new investigators this week, including 3 families! I feel so blessed to be finding and teaching families.... There is no better way to come unto the gospel of Jesus Christ than with your family. Truly such a blessing!

Well I'm sorry this is so short but my time is running low.....

I love you so so so so so so sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much!!!!!

Until next week!

Week 33

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!!!! I hope the fam's all having fun at a big BBQ and fireworks! I'm secretly hoping we get fireworks tonight... they do them randomly here so I thinking there is a good possibility :)

THANK YOU SO SO SO SO SO SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH FOR THE PACKAGE!!!!! Just TREMENDOUS (amazing haha) Zhende, tai hao le! I loved it so much! My companion, our investigators, members, and the beautiful people of Taiwan thank you for the foot spray. All the Amah's (grandma's) that keep telling me to wear long shirts and jackets thank you for the sunscreen. I love the shirts so much especially since they smell like home :) and the chocolate.... it's gone! Just Kidding... I have limited myself to one in the morning and one at night to make it last! :) Again, THANK YOU SO MUCH! I love you!!!!!

It's been a good week! We have some really great investigators... one is the Chen Family. They are so cute! Chen Jiemei is going to have a sweet baby boy at the end of this month... She's so cute and such a trooper. She's always so happy and bubbly. Her husband is really funny and so supportive of her. He's always running to go get her food and something to drink. They are a really cute family. Chen Dixiong's family protests him joining the church but said its okay for Chen Jiemei to join so we are really trying hard to help this FAMILY receive the gospel.

We also have a cute little old lady named Chen Mama. She is 77 yrs old and so sweet. She looks like she's in her 50's. She's still up and going. She is Buddhist so this week we focused a lot on the Savior, His atonement, and His resurrection which, I believe, really helped her better understand this gospel. She's just lovely.

Zhang Hui Zhu (last week) still has family fandui (protest) but is continuing to read the Book of Mormon and we're hoping to meet with her soon but it depends on her mom..... Also we found out cute Wang Yu Ying has family fandui.... she is so awesome. She reads the Book of Mormon writes questions that she wants to ask us. She is so great! ... These girls are so amazing! Truly beautiful daughters of God and they both love this gospel! I love them!

Oh I just love the people! The Taiwanese people are so sweet! They are so beautiful.....

This week in personal study I was reading in Mosiah... I love King Benjamin's address... I love how it says that they all came in families to listen to King Benjamin. They all turned their tents towards the temple to hear his words... I have thought about this in a few different ways... as their tents being their hearts, their minds, their focus.. towards the temple, or towards the words of the prophets, toward the Savior, towards things of righteousness... But I love that it is FAMILIES coming together to face the temple and hear the words of the Lord! Oh I love the Book of Mormon!

Well... my time is about up...

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

Until next week!