Ni hao wonderful friends and family!
Wow this week was THE BEST. We started our week by going to the beautiful Taipei temple, and so we started on a great foot. The temple was so so beautiful and it is so special to me that we can feel the same spirit in the temple no matter where we are in the world. We are so lucky to have a temple here in this mission! Unfortunately, we don't get to go all that often (once every two transfers), but the fact that we get to go at all is good enough for me! It's kind of crazy to go from going to the temple often before my mission, to every week in the MTC, to now only once every couple of months... People TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE TEMPLE. It is so amazing. We spent our last week's P-day up in Taipei, and got to go shopping, have waffles at our mission President's home, and run into some old friends! While at the Jergensen's, I got to see sweet Sister Bernhardt (MTC Comp) as well as Elder Holderness (MTC District)! So fun to see some familiar faces and to catch up with people I love so dearly! Your MTC district really does become your family.
As I said, this week was the bomb! We saw so many miracles, and had so many funny things happen too. From popping a tire on my bike, to Sister Cullen losing her shoe in the middle of the road, to eating who knows what every day. Good things are happenin and we are always smiling over here! I think what really took the cake though was yesterday's sacrament meeting. We FINALLY had our investigators come to church this week--which we were obviously stoked about. But the trouble came because 1- two of them were literally 30 minutes late and 2- one of our investigators BROUGHT HER PUPPY TO CHURCH. I'm sorry I need to repeat that. SHE BROUGHT HER VERY MUCH ALIVE AND YIPPY PUPPY TO SACRAMENT MEETING...... Yes this was very much an issue. hahahah We were trying so hard not to die laughing as we were trying to figure out what to do. Long story short, our amazing Sister Training Leaders came to the rescue and literally sat outside all of sacrament meeting with the dog so we could be in there with our investigators. They are such blessings. But seriously we were dead. haha But, it turned out to be such an amazing thing, because all of our investigators LOVED sacrament meeting, and kept talking about how touched they were by the messages that were shared and the feelings they felt. Super grateful for great members here!
We had so many awesome lessons this week, and have 5 super awesome progressing investigators right now! We are hoping to get one of them baptized this transfer, and are really thinking we can! These people are amazing and are keeping their commitments and truly have a desire to know if what we are teaching is true. We are working our butts off, and the Lord is really blessing us!
This week, Sister Cullen and I have been focusing on working with members. Last week I shared with you all about the small and simple things we can all be doing to share the gospel with our friends. This week, we put a plan to that invitation.
I think that many times with member missionary work, we think of it as a one time thing. "Oh I invited my friend to church! Great now I am done." And we forget the WHY of inviting our friends to church. We do missionary work with our friends, so we can help them to accept the gospel and ultimately get baptized. Sister Cullen and I came up with a plan this week to help our members remember why they do missionary work, and to see the vision of sharing the gospel with the end goal of baptism. We call it "AB123." The A point is picking a name. After this point, we have step 1. This step consists of small actions members can to do start introducing their friends to the gospel. This includes telling them they are a member, inviting them to a church service or activity, and maybe giving them something like a BOM, pamphlet, or tract to help them see what we believe. Step 2 is inviting them to meet with the missionaries. This is the key step here for their friend's progression. Steps 1 and 2 are the member's responsibility and require effort on their part. After taking step 2, the missionaries step in WITH THE MEMBER for step 3 which is the period of time between meeting with the missionaries and the B step of Baptism. This step includes accompanying missionaries to teach lessons, inviting their friend to come to church with them, encouraging their friend, answering their questions, and so on. We really believe that if we all see this vision, understand our role in it, and see that missionaries are here to help, members will be more willing to start this process, and we will all see so much success! Sister Cullen and I have already started implementing this, and have found so much success!
People, this principle is true no matter where you are in the world. The gospel needs to be shared with others! Look for ways you can start doing this, and just start small! Pick a name, do little actions, and don't be afraid to get missionaries involved. The gospel is truly one of joy. It is joy that we are bringing to the world, so why not share?
I love you all so much, and most of all I love this work. I feel so lucky to get to put on a name tag everyday and go out and teach about Jesus Christ. I love it here and the lord truly looks out for me every single day!
I hope you all have a wonderful week, and keep looking for ways you can start to share this wonderful message with those that you love!
xoxo
Sister Richards
李姐妹
Lǐ Jiéměi
Taiwan Taipei Mission
4/F, #24, Lane 183
Jin Hua Street
Taipei, Taiwan 106
1- Taibei Temple
2- so happy to be there
3- whenever you go into someone's home here, you take off your shoes and they give you these slippers to wear. hah so cute
4- THE DOG.
5-it was a really cute puppy
6- ward mission meeting with zone leaders, mm leader, and ward missionaries
7- just a little mid water filling up selfie
8- the happiest missionary after a day of miracles
No comments:
Post a Comment