Taking it to Taiwan: SO MUCH LEARNING!!!

Cho Dixiong's baptism!!!

Another picture with Cho Dixiong.

We visited with the Young Women in our ward this week :) They're adorable and so strong and I just love them soooo much :)

This week was filled with so much learning:

1- Cho Dixiong's baptism. Wow. It was amazing. Let me just express for a moment my love for Wu Jiemei. This young woman has taught me so much about what it means to truly be passionate about this work. She has been here in Zhubei for a while now and has really been giving her might, mind, and strength to build them up and strengthen them. I believe this baptism was a little message from our Heavenly Father to tell her that he has accepted her service.

We worked really hard on inviting people to come to the baptismal service. Cho Dixiong is pretty nervous in front of people and he wasn't really expecting very many people to come. But the Lord had a plan. IT WAS PACKED! We had to bring in more chairs from the other rooms. We had 3 investigators there, a handful of potentials, and probably 30 ward members all there. We even got to meet Cho Dixiong's sister! It was such a blessing.

When we saw Cho Dixiong on Friday we could tell he was pretty nervous, but we didn't really have a chance to talk to him. Then after he was baptized we talked with him for a moment about how he was feeling. He told us that leading up to his baptism he was more nervous than he had ever been in his life. Then as soon as he came up out of the water he said it was gone. THE SPIRIT OF GOD LIKE A FIRE IS BURNING! I testify that God lives. That He is our King and our Father. He loves us and trusts us. Cho Dixiong then bore a very simple testimony in front of everyone there. This is a miracle :) I think my favorite part of the whole service was a little video we put together for Cho Dixiong. We filmed a bunch of ward members congratulating him and bearing their testimonies. The best part was that the video started and ended with little video clips of his own testimony that Wu Jiemei and our Ward Mission Leader had taken at spontaneous moments throughout his conversion. He was so touched.

ALSO! Guess who was in our ward on Sunday when Cho Dixiong got confirmed? Two members of the 70, one member of the area 70, and President Day. We're pretty convinced that this is a sign that he will always be active.

We had our first RC lesson with him this week. Wow. It's like he's been a member his whole life. I think he's in for some trials, all RCs are, but I know that he will rely on the Spirit. I trust this ward to help us as well. Yesterday we talked to him about how far he's come. We talked about his first prayer and he said it was really weird and he had no idea what he was doing. We asked him what he thought about prayer now. He said that "Qidao hen bang. Keyi gen Tianfu goutong. Dui." Prayer is really awesome. It's an opportunity to communicate with our Heavenly Father. And I felt the spirit bear witness to me that he really meant what he said. WOOO HOOOO!!! :)

Attending the Taiwan Taipei Temple:)

2-The temple was amazing. They split up the natives and foreigners and the natives went to a Chinese session while the Americans went to an English session. This was super special because we got to do some family names for Lin Jiemei! (Our roommate) She was so touched. It was my first time doing any Chinese names and it was such a sweet experience. Sister Hughes was able to do the work for someone who's record was from 600 BC. 600 BC!!!! WHAT?! Thank goodness for the Chinese and their impeccable records.

I've been thinking a lot about how I can be a more consecrated missionary lately. So as I was in the temple waiting in the chapel I prayed to Heavenly Father and told him my desire and asked him what I should do. The prompting came that I needed to have a specific plan. So I pondered for a while and presented Heavenly Father with my plan. I felt that he was pleased with me and I cannot wait to implement my plan! This little experience taught me a lot. Heavenly Father expects us to listen to him for sure, but he also expects us to use the brain that he gave us. He expects us to use the tools we have. We have scriptures and our own personal lives and examples all around us. What a blessing :)

May I bear my testimony that God loves us and that we are here to learn and grow. We are not allowed to stop :) Never. How blessed we are. We are not going to become perfect in this life. And sometimes that may seem discouraging, but nothing will ever be able to take the Atonement away from us. It is freely given if we will embrace Jesus Christ. I love this gospel. I've never done any more important work in my life. I'm so thankful to be in Taiwan and be serving in Zhubei. I am confident that The Lord will continue to open the windows of Heaven to all of his children who obey His holy commandments. We're so blessed to know about this! LET'S NOT KEEP IT SECRET!!

I love you :)

Gu Jiemei

PS. Here is a small list of firsts for the week:

-First time eating snail

-First time eating squid whole

-First time getting bitten by a dog (It was really tiny and not even a big deal)

-First time being completely in charge of the cell phone

-First time teaching someone from Mainland China