SOME OF MY FAVORITE THINGS FROM THIS WEEK:)
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| Birthday cake with Pres. & Sister Jergensen and family:) |
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| So many cool buildings and monuments in the big city:) |
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| Zone conference!!! Getting to see so many of my favorite people:) |
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| Huang DX, my ward mission leader from Taidong, was at church in Taipei today!!! |
Dear Family & Friends,
2 quick stories from this past week:)
#1 THE TSUNAMI
So on Saturday, after all of our appointments cancelled on us, we participated in a District Tsunami in our District Leader's area. Basically what this means is that we spent our ENTIRE day finding in their area. Which was super fun. And we were SOOOOOO tired. haha But! A cool experience I wanted to share about was one of our final lessons of the night. I saw a woman dressed all in black with a cute little hat and I thought we should talk to her. So we explained who we were and stated our purpose and she then proceeded to tell us that she was a member of another Christian church and she then asked us to step to the side so we could talk more. As soon as she asked us to meet her over on the side, I knew we were in for it. I've had a couple encounters with members of other Christian churches, and they've never ended up very good. I usually get so frustrated and am completely unable to testify with the Spirit. But I said a prayer in my heart that I would be able to keep my cool.
We started to talk about our message and she immediately began testing us with all kinds of crazy doctrinal questions and things about the bible. I stopped her and asked her if we could say a prayer. She said "Why would you want to say a prayer right now? Don't you just do that at meetings?" I then explained to her that I knew that I needed to feel the Spirit before I could discuss gospel topics with her and so we needed to say a prayer. She let us say the prayer and I remember praying very specifically for courage. As soon as we finished the prayer, my heart was completely calm. I saw this woman as a daughter of God. Another cool thing? God took away my Chinese. This was one of the most difficult contacts for me language-wise that I've had in a long time. Looking back on it, I think the Lord wanted to remind me of who I should rely on in this contact. It's not about me.
We were able to testify with the Spirit as Sister Fenlaw and I avoided confronting her. She wouldn't accept a Book of Mormon and literally said, "I need no more bible". As she said a closing prayer, I was so overcome with God's love for her and I began to cry. It was so hard for me to see someone sooo close and yet so far away. It taught me a lot of important things, but mostly I learned that what makes our church unique is what makes our church true. The Book of Mormon is God's word. It is a pure vehicle of the Spirit. God's Priesthood Authority has been restored on the earth today through the Prophet Joseph Smith. And what's more? I realized that I know these things are true. I know them for myself. I know them for sure.
#2 THE ONE
So I get lost a lot right? Right. So it shouldn't surprise anyone that I often end up in places that I don't mean to. But you know what's great? God plays to our weaknesses. And he puts people wherever I go. Anyways... we were riding to go finding and got stopped at an intersection (that we weren't actually supposed to be at) and I saw a woman standing next to a wheelchair piled high with plastic bags. (This is actually a pretty common occurrence among many different classes of the Taiwanese because recycling is such a big industry here) After talking with her for a moment we learned that she had been homeless for about a year. She was Christian and believed in Jesus Christ and God. We had a good lesson with her and invited her to come to the fireside that night. But she wasn't willing to give us her phone number. She just said she would show up. And she said she would be late. Sister Fenlaw and I had never been to the fireside before so we were a little unsure of all the procedures. But we went to the church and decided we would wait for her outside. We walked around the church a couple times and it was getting pretty late and we felt pretty sure she wasn't going to come. We were debating leaving when a young man walked by us and I felt prompted to talk to him. Turns out he's an investigator for another ward! We invited him to come and sit by us at the fireside. We all went in together and were able to enjoy some wonderful talks and really feel of the Spirit.
After the fireside, we were talking to some members when across the crowded room Elder Willes (our AP) and I made eye contact and he motioned for me to come over. He sent a member rushing towards us and she told us that someone had been waiting for us outside. We ran outside with all the haste of the prodigal son's father and oh what a sight greeted us! There was our newest investigator standing next to her electronic wheelchair with all of her plastic bags, just gawking at the beauty of our chapel. We hugged her so hard. It was such a miracle that she had come and that we had stayed at the chapel for the fireside and were able to see her. I know that God works really hard for the one.
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