Week 57

MERRY CHRISTMAS !!!!!!!!!

I hope everyone has a wonderful, spiritual Christmas! Sister Wainright and I are getting pretty excited for Christmas. It's a little different here in Taiwan. Christmas isn't a big holiday here... it makes sense seeing as Christmas is more of a Christian holiday and most people here are Buddhist... but we get so excited every time we see a Christmas tree and here Christmas music. We have been listening to Brother Archuleta (David) and the MoTab any time we get :)  We have been trying hard to feel the Christmas spirit and share it with others. We realized this week that trees and music don't bring the Christmas spirit... but Christ does. I feel so very blessed to be a representative a Him and because we have been set apart with this sacred calling we are entitled to have His spirit with us as we try our best to do what He would do if He were here. I AM SO BLESSED! And family is a big part in the Christmas spirit because Christ came to the earth to helps live together with our families forever. So even though I'm not home with you... know that I am grateful to be with our other bigger family members sharing with them this beautiful message so that they too can feel the Spirit of Christ.

But....It has been a great week! It always is!
 
We had some downs this week... all of our investigators dropped. Some dropped themsleves and others had been sitting on the fence for a bit. We were doing all we could to help them but felt that they wouldn't progress then our district leader invited us to drop them and start over... That was really hard.... We started to get a little down... So we knelt down together to pray.... and Heavenly Father poured out His love and blessings upon us....

We saw so many miracles with less actives this week...

We went to visit a former but had the wrong address... We decided to look at the ward list for a less active member near by. Right on the front page there was a Sister Guo that lived on the same street we were on. We had made a Christmas tree that morning and thought we could give it to her. Then we saw that she was baptised on Christmas 13 years ago and felt that it was perfect. The address that we went to was her husbands vet hospital.  He was was very welcoming and said that she would be there in a few minutes...She was happy to see us and a little embarrassed that she hadn't been to church in so long. We set up a time to meet them at their home. When we went there her mother and sister were there from out of town. We found out her sister and father are both members and that she had shared the gospel with them. It was so great to talk to them and to meet their 2 adorable daughters. Sister Guo's mom was so nice and just kept feeding us more and more! It was so good! Sister Guo still prays everyday and she has taught her daughters how to pray. We are excited to start meeting them and helping them. They are a beautiful family. They are coming to our branch Christmas party on Sat and church on Sunday. We pray that we can help her and her father and sister come back as we also help her husband learn and hopefully receive the gospel.

We also met a less active family of 4. The Luo family. They recently moved really close to the church. The mom was baptised about 10 years ago with her son and then the 2 daughters when the youngest was 8. They haven't been to church in a long time but when we asked if we could say a prayer all of the children quickly knelt. It was amazing. We talked to them more and found out that they really missed church and their friends. They were excited that they live closer to the church. The youngest daughter, who is 10, said that she wanted to bring her friend to church this week. It was amazing. The friend that she brought was actually a boy that we had met the day before at another less active, Zhuang family's house. He obviously has some good friends in the church... So we want to help them come back and help him come in.

I am so grateful for the miracles we have been seeing. This truly is the Lord's work. This is His church. What a blessing it is that we get to celebrate His birth this week and have this special time to remember Him and all that He has done for us.

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

Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Until next week!!!!!

P.S. My stomach is doing much better! I'm eating and happy and back to work!!!!!!!!!! Love you!!!!