Monday, January 18, 2016

A Few Things I've Learned Along the Way!

Preparing for Guonian (CHINESE NEW YEAR)
Rocking the phone!

President is now allowing us to call on the home phone and the cell phone at the same time so we capitalized on that and worked really hard to find some "lost lambs" in our former section of the area book this week.
Some serious mud soccer happened this morning :) 
Dear Family and Friends,

Don't ask me how it got to be the 18th of January...

Mom was asking me some of the things I've learned on my mission so far. Here are just a few:

1-The Holy Ghost is everything.  So one day Sister Fenlaw and I were riding home from a lesson and we were already pretty late. Sister Fenlaw was in front of me and I remember seeing a man leaned up against the wall doing something on his phone. I got the impression to turn back. I reasoned that we were going to be late. The Spirit then very strongly said to me, "You are leaving God's son behind." and so I started to turn around. Luckily, Sister Fenlaw (having also received the same prompting) turned around at exactly the same time and we went back and talked to him. We found out that he had been going through an especially hard time in his life and felt very lonely. We were able to assure him of his Heavenly Father's love and care for him and that Jesus Christ was always there. He didn't live in our area and I'm not really sure what happened after we referred him, but I testify that God does not forget anybody. I also testify that we are His hands. God could send an angel to everyone every 5 seconds, but he can get a lot more work done converting us AND those we serve if he works through the Spirit. 

I've also learned that ANYTHING good comes from God. I think early in my mission I worried about following the Spirit or not, and what I now have learned is that worrying about following the Spirit actually hinders the Spirit. If it seems like a good thing or thought, then go with it! I've had COUNTLESS times on my mission where I've followed a small thought or impression only to find out weeks, transfers, or one year later that it was actually the Spirit. If you're doing good, you're doing God's work and you're following the Spirit. :)

2-There is always more to learn. I think when I first got on island I looked at the older missionaries and just felt like they had everything all figured out. And now that I AM an older missionary I don't feel like I have ANYTHING figured out. haha :) I think life's a lot like that too. And the gospel! The more you study, the more you realize you don't know. But I've also learned a lot about humility. Which is kind of the theme of my mission I think. We can learn so much from those around us as we focus on them. 

3- Invite everyone to come to church-WE HAD A FAMILY COME TO CHURCH! It was amazing. Sister Meyers and I have really been focusing on inviting everyone to church and we were pretty certain that we would be able to have 10 investigators at church this Sunday. We were SOO pumped. Then as we woke up Sunday morning we saw the rain... it was a pretty significant downpour. And even though  the Taiwanese SHOULD be used to the rain... they do everything they can to avoid it. So Sunday morning a lot of our investigators were not answering and we were nervous that we would actually not have anyone show up. Then a taxi pulled up. As our family stepped out of the taxi Sister Meyers and I turned to each other and just hugged and squealed and laughed and cried. Mom came with BOTH her sons!! It was amazing :) 

4- In the church we are part of a BIG family. So this Saturday Sister Meyers and I were assigned to do temple tours! I really don't have the words to describe my feelings and all the events that happened... but here's a little bulleted list,

-It was Zhubei's temple day. So that meant I got to see Bishop Hu and his wife!
a long with all of the other Zhubei members who attended.
-It was also Taidong's temple day. So that meant I got to see Huang Dixiong! 
-It also happened to be a day that Emerald wanted to go to the temple. So she helped us to do a tour!
-It also happened to be Li Jiating's day for family pictures and they wanted to take them at the temple.

So in this one glorious Saturday I was able to see members from every one of my areas. It was a huge miracle and just a GIGANTIC tender mercy from the Lord.

It was also so amazing to see that members from Zhubei still remembered me! It's been almost a year since I was in Zhubei but they still know my name. I'm so thankful for all of the many wonderful friends and family that I've met in Taiwan. 

SO MUCH LOVE.

I testify that Jesus Christ is the Savior and Redeemer of the world. I testify that I have no idea what God's plan is for me specifically, but I know that he loves me individually. He knows my needs and concerns and he sends me angels every day to help. I'm so thankful. I'm so thankful for all of my companions and the examples they are to me. I know God has got it all figured out.

I love you!
Gu Jiemei
This is Lilly. She is my favorite person that we met this week!
So Sister Meyers and I have been working hard to relocate a lot of LAs that the bishop has asked us to get in contact with. On this day it was very rainy and it didn't seem like anyone wanted to talk with us, but we pressed forward. We got to this apartment complex and someone let us in after we rang the doorbell. So I don't know how many of you have been in Taiwanese apartment complexes... but they are a little bit creepy. So we were walking up to this 5th floor where our LA lived and I was just not feeling very good about it. It was also very dark and... ya spooky. But my courageous companion was up front and so I followed her to our LAs door. We knocked and one of the tiniest women I've ever met came up to the door. We started speaking Chinese to her and she said she couldn't understand. At first I was really worried that she was going to speak Taiwanese and even though Sister Meyers and I have both served on the East Coast our Taiyu is super lan. But as we started to explain who we were in English she said, "Please please come in and sit down."

Turns out she is 84 years old and from the Philipines. Her husband is Taiwanese but Lilly doesn't speak any Chinese. So they speak Taiyu (Taiwanese) in the home. It's super cool. Her 2 sons are our LAs and even though they weren't home, I know we were supposed to find Lilly. Honestly, I think Lilly was meant to meet us more than we were meant to meet her. She was so full of love for us and as she talked about her children a warmness filled the room. I'm so thankful for the amazing examples I've met on my mission 
This is our roommates picture. I think it describes us all pretty good :) We spent our P-day sipping hot chocolate and wondering where all of the foreigners were from. haha
We celebrated Lin Jun Nan's birthday this week! We didn't really get to do much for him... but we decorated this board! haha :) His baptism has actually been changed to next Saturday. I'M GOING TO BE SUCH AN EMOTIONAL HAPPY MESS :)
Bishop Hu and his wife at the temple!!!
The SHUANGHE DISTRICT.

#teachrepentanceandbaptizeconverts

Also it is important to note that Sister Meyers and I both wore polka dots and mustard yellow without planning it. We're pretty dang unified.


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