Week 78: 持守到底- endure to the end (January 28, 2018)

Hello fam bam and friends,

This week was a good one, but that's not news to any of you! I love my mission here and every week is full of miracles! 

Me and sister Hurst worked SO hard this week. Man we went hard. Making a great effort to talk to everyone, be 1000% obedient, and really follow the spirit in our work. And we saw so many miracles because of it!

First of all, this past week was a little crazy because we spent half the week in HuaLian for exchanges, pday, and zone conference! I wasn't complaining though to be back in the area that I love SO much. Seriously one of my favorite places I have ever served. SO beautiful and full of so many people that I love so dearly. It was like coming home! I got to see some of my best friends while there, RCs, formers, members, and even get some of my former investigators re-hooked up with the missionaries down there! Ah it was, as Sister Bernhardt would say, "SO MUCH HAPPINESS." Speaking of my dear MTC companion, our dreams came true last week, and we had the chance to serve together for a whole day! She is now my STL over here, and she got to take me on an exchange! My heart was so happy to serve with her again, over a year after being together in the MTC! This time was definitely a little smoother than the first! hah crazy what actually knowing how to speak chinese, teach lessons, and just be a missionary can do for ya! hah I love love loved being with her again and learning so much from her sweet example! 

A really cool miracle we saw this week came on our long road back home from exchanges. We had just taken a 3 hour train ride from Hualian to Taidong, and a 20min taxi ride on top of that, and we were exhausted, but we still had about 10 min left of the night, and we weren't about to waste that! We stopped over at a near by 7 eleven to do some daily contact and made a goal to do one more gospel conversation before the end of the night. There weren't a lot of people around, seeing as the people here in Taidong go to bed at literally 7pm. haha, but we still tried! We ended up talking to one of the workers there, and though it was a great contact, she wasn't that interested to set up again. But we still felt good that we hit our goal, and tried to invite one more person unto christ before heading home for the night. As we started walking home, I noticed a woman that was walking on the other side of the road from us. I waved at her, and she waved back! Obviously, a sign that we needed to go and talk to her. We ran over, and because of our lack of time, did a quick quick contact with her, but she was willing to give us her number and keep in touch. After getting home, I immediately called her and was able to have a chance to do a real gospel conversation with her now that we had time to talk. and she set up! She actually set herself up to come to our English class the next day, and then committed to meet after to talk more about the gospel! Such a cool miracle. As a result, she did come and loved it! And, thanks to a totally spirit filled spiritual share at English class, we had a great little sit down lesson with her after! A little crazy because we ended up having some scheduling problems and had another potential think we set up for that time too so we had to teach them BOTH haha but it was just fine. This Sister Huang was so cool and so willing to hear and accept what we taught her! We are so excited for her, and are teaching her again tonight! I'll keep ya'll posted next week! 

Another great miracle was with our miracle role play potential, Amber, from last week! We were finally able to meet with her this past Saturday, and she is awesome! We had a great, spirit filled lesson, and she committed to a baptismal date on my last day in Taidong before I go home! hah We are praying hard that she can hit it! She seems very prepared.

Last super cool miracle I'll share is about our investigator Brother Zhong. He is the husband of an RC in our ward, a super cool, young dad, and a fighter pilot in the Taiwan Air Force. He is so cool but SO busy. The man literally doesn't come home most days a week because of his work, let alone have time to meet with us! So we've had a tough time knowing how to help him progress when we can't even meet with him! We've tried offering video chats too, but he isn't allowed to use anything with a camera at work... So we had to get creative. This week we tried doing a conference call lesson to teach him while he was at work and have his wife on the other line, and it worked out great! We also have increased our texting with him to the point where we are continuously teaching him and sharing gospel messages with him everyday! We are SO grateful for the technology that is allowing us to still communicate with and teach those that are literally impossible to meet with! 

I'm so grateful for this time on my mission. I really feel like I have never worked harder in my life to do the things the Lord would have me do, to say the things He would have me say, and work to be who He would have me be. I have truly learned to rely on the spirit and cannot go a single day, hour, or moment without it. We are working SO hard to take of these precious souls Heavenly Father has placed in our hands. Pressures on. Hah but what a wonderful blessing to be entrusted with. 

At our zone conference this week, President Jergensen reminded us of the importance of having the spirit guide us in our everyday work. The simple formula for having the spirit with us is literally just being worthy for it, and then asking for it. So repent. Be happy. And trust God. Because He won't leave you hanging. 

I love you all and hope you all have the best week! 加油加油

xoxo

Sister Richards

李姐妹

Lǐ Jǐemeì

Sister Micah Richards

Taiwan Taipei Mission

4/F, #24, Lane 183

Jin Hua Street

Taipei, Taiwan 106 

1: Exchanges with sister B

2: My girl Cindy!!

3: Chinese new year is coming and Taiwan is decking out!

4: I got to visit this former family I used to teach! They're set up to meet with missionaries! 

5: So many pics of me and Sister Bernhardt hahaha

6-8: My plan selfie, group outing to get sweet potatoes ice cream- SO GOOD , smoothies in the winter

9-11: The papers my parents have been waiting for since the beginning..hahaha

12: A primary girl in our ward drew me and my comp hah and our investigator Amber!

I got to visit this former family I used to teach! They re set up to meet with missionaries! 

Week 77: The Best Days are Yet to Come (January 21, 2018)

Dear family and friends,

It was another good one down here in TaiDong! The weather here is TO DIE FOR right now. It's been a week of about 77 degrees every day and sunshine! oh man. I am IN LOVE with it. Plus I LOVE the fresh air here! So refreshing coming from the smoggiest and grossest air in Taibei. Sorry to all my Taibei friends currently dealing with the coldest, rainiest weather. I love the east coast! 

Though the weather was definitely a high note of this week, it was more of one of those "trial of our faith" kind of weeks. We got stood up and cancelled on SO many times this week, we were dying! We planned so many great lessons that we just weren't given the opportunity to teach! We were bummed to not be able to help some of our investigators progress as much as we may have wanted this past week, but Heavenly Father definitely made up the difference! We just needed a little of that bitter to really enjoy the sweet when it came around! 

I had two particular favorite miracles of the week! 

Miracle #1: Amber.

Sister Hurst and I have been really trying to get in a role play everyday, as we are supposed to do. Sometimes there is really just NO time! But we know it is so important and it helps so much! So, in one of our companionship studies this past week (which we did outside in a park enjoying the beautiful sunlight by the way:)))) , we made a great effort to leave ourselves time to do a role play! We decided to role play some different contacts, and practicing really following the spirit to discern the needs of those we encounter. It is sometimes easy to fall into a pattern of saying the same things or doing the same contact all the time. So we wanted to practice and improve our skills! As we were practicing, we both made up a scenario for the other to practice. As we role played, we both were able to really practice asking inspired questions to help us do a powerful gospel conversation with this "random" person. Anyways, good role play. We didn't think much of it and after we finished, we went and got lunch! Now let me tell you about our daily struggle called "trying to figure out what to eat." My dear companion and her trainer ate at the same 3 restaurants their whole time together, most of which are very unhealthy, and so I came in and was not feeling that life. But that means, that everyday we pretty much just have to experiment and look for new places to try! Fun, but also a little tricky to be fast and to know what is even good! After studies, we started looking for somewhere to eat, and after asking many people on the road what in the area was good, we got led to a random little shop down a random little street. Nothing special, but we started parking our bikes, and I just started up a little conversation with this girl getting on her scooter next to me. After talking to her for a sec and starting up a gospel conversation with her, me and Sister Hurst slowly realized that this girl was the EXACT person that we had just made up in our practice contact! Same kind of situation, needs, and comments that we had JUST practiced! We were able to literally use the contact that we had just role played, and she totally loved it! We invited her to come and eat with us, and she did! We ended up eating and talking together and she set up for a time this upcoming week! She seems so so cool too! We were amazed at the incredible miracle that came from trying to be 100% obedient and getting that practice in that we needed! miracles.

Miracle #2: Mandy and Rosanna.

Mandy is an English student that was met here a week before I got here. She came to class, and some elders were able to get her number to share more with her! When we contacted her, she told me she was "VERY interested" to learn more about Jesus Christ! She is 16. So we were like "well that's great! let's meet!" and she set up a time, and we didn't think too much of it! Throughout the week though, she has not answered any of our messages or phone calls, and so when yesterday came and the time we were supposed to meet with her came closer, we were not feeling very hopeful that she would show up. BUT, she surprised us, and came early! And brought a friend! We gave them a little chapel tour and started sharing with them, and they were both SO interested! They were so captivated by everything we were sharing, and expressed this great desire to come to know God and feel his influence in their lives! When asked why they were willing to set up with missionaries, they said "Because we feel that you share a message that can fill a gap that is missing in our lives." 16 YEARS OLD PEOPLE. So yep. SUPER prepared little tongxues (students). BUT WAIT. It gets even better. In trying to set up with them again, we learned that they lived in a place in our area called ChengGong, also known as the FURTHEST part of our area that literally takes an hour to DRIVE to. They had taken a bus for over an hour that day to come meet with us for 30 min!!!!!!!!! ONE HOUR. TO LEARN MORE ABOUT JESUS WITH STRANGERS. WE HAVE MEMBERS WHO WON'T EVEN COME TO CHURCH BECAUSE IT'S RAINING OUTSIDE AND THEY WOULD HAVE TO GET WET GOING TO THEIR CAR.... So essentially, these two will be baptized. I'm sure of it. We are so excited to start working with these amazing people!

Aside from these great new miracle people in our teaching pool, we are happy to help some of friends continue to progress! Zhong DX and his wife went to church again yesterday on vacation and are continuing to develop their faith and progress towards baptism. Our cool tongxue Lu Zi Xuan met with us THREE times last week, and video chatted twice, and came to church for the second time this week! So overall, we are excited about the great things happening here! At the same time as we are helping these people progress, we are also cleaning out some of our investigator pool. Dropping those who aren't quite ready to commit yet, and really leaving ourselves room and time to find those that are prepared to receive our message. Sister Hurst and I are loving it here!

It has been so much fun serving with Sister Hurst! She is a great missionary, with many desires to succeed. We are learning a lot together as she is really learning to stand on her own two feet as a newer missionary, and I am relearning how to serve with, teach, inspire, and help newer missionaries!  Bringing me back to my training days! I love it. The Lord is helping me round out those last rough edges before heading home. haha j/k I still have MANY rough parts that need smoothing, but I am learning and growing every day!

One of my highlights from this past week, was getting to watch the new first Presidency's message and press conference to the church! As I listened to our prophet's words, the Spirit confirmed to me that he truly is God's chosen president of this church. I loved his overarching message of this broadcast, that the work is always moving forward! It never stops. The Lord is continually furthering his work through different people. Though it is so sad to lose President Monson, it is just meaning that the Lord is ready now for President Nelson to come in and bring forth other parts of the work that President Monson could not do! Each person has different things to bring to the table and the Lord uses each of us in different ways to accomplish His great purpose. I know that Christ is truly at the head of this church, and He is leading it today through modern prophets. I also know that what President Eyring said is true, "The best days are yet to come." Let us look forward in faith, and face the future with optimism and joy, as our new prophet has so wisely counseled us to do! 

I love this church. I love this work. I love you all. I hope you have a wonderful week as you face each day with optimism and positivity that comes from living a gospel centered life! Love you all!

xoxo

Sister Richards

李姐妹

Lǐ Jǐemeì

Sister Micah Richards

Taiwan Taipei Mission

4/F, #24, Lane 183

Jin Hua Street

Taipei, Taiwan 106 

1-3: P days on the east coast

4/7: "Make you own hot pot" activity!

5: Our new investigator "jell"

6: And more beach 

8: Our chapel here

9: Lu zi xuan

10: Mandy and Rosanna

Week 76: Hello Boonies and My Last Transfer! (January 14, 2017)

Well Folks, CRAZY things happened this week.

As my subject title says, I finally left the Eternal city (YongHe) and didn't just move a little... I moved down to THE furthest area of our mission. hahah TAIDONG. I was so stoked. It is the perfect wrap up to my mission. With this added transfer, I will have spent a nice 6 months (four transfers in each) on each coast of our mission. How perfect is that? I honestly feel like my mission has been perfect. Obviously, because it was the Lord's plan. But also just the variety I have had on my mission. I have seen it all! The rurals, the country side, the suburbs, the city, the coast, the heart of it all, the boonies, and have been to all the most beautiful places! So pleased. 

Now, let me tell you all a little about TaiDong. It is the furthest south point of our mission, a very rural place, along the eastern coast of Taiwan, so beautiful, and SO far away from the rest of the world. haha I thought HuaLian was rural and kind of out there.. but then I got sent to Taidong. ha I love it here so much! I was SO stoked to be called down here to break a cute, fresh out of training, Sister Hurst! She is from Sacramento, CA, the cutest girl ever, and such a fire missionary. She is such a hard worker and has such a desire to do this work to the best of her ability! We are already seeing so many miracles together!

The transition to TaiDong has been a fun one. I feel a little like I just came down from the high life of living in the center of it all- the heart of the city, the most populated place in Taiwan, people everywhere at all times, members at your fingertips, everyone and everything just a 5 min walk or bike ride away, the most convenient area close to everything and anyone, the mrt and public transportation system to get us anywhere we needed to go, a super nice home, a chapel right next to us, being a sister training leader, working with many very experienced missionaries all the time, being so close to the bu and working very often and closely with other mission leaders and president...... TO the more humble life to the furthest from the center of it all- the literal boonies, very few people out at any time, everyone and everything pretty far away, the only form of transportation is biking or mooching a ride off of members, a perfectly average missionary apartment (aka super gross hah), working with very young missionaries, and being so far away that we cannot attend any kind of mission activities- temple day or conferences or anything. But you know what, I love it here. There is something about the work here that just feels so pure to me. Just full on give it your all all the time, work till you drop kind of work. It is the kind of experience I think of when I think of missionary work, and I love it. These people are very humble and I am so excited to see so many miracles as we work our butts off this last transfer. President is definitely not letting me slack off down here! With breaking a young missionary and being the English unit leader, my responsibilities are not few. hah I have never broken a missionary before, but what I am learning is it is a little like glorified training. hah These are freshly trained missionaries so they somewhat know what they are doing, but still don't feel too confident in anything yet or leading. And so this is giving me a great opportunity to help Sister Hurst build confidence in herself! We live with two other sisters too, who are both super young in the mission. It is so fun being surrounded by these young fire missionaries! It's a blast! But they don't cease to remind me how "old" I am on the mission. haha 

It was sad leaving YongHe, but I had a great feeling of peace leaving that my work there was done. Everyone was so kind to me as I was preparing to leave, and people fed us like it was Chinese new year already! SO MANY MEALS and DOUBLE MEALS it was nuts. Gave us a little preview of what will be happening in a little bit... I am not ready. hah It was hard to say goodbye to so many dear friends, including my sweet companion Sister Zhong, but it was nice to be able to say "I'll see you in a month and a half when I bring MY PARENTS with me back here!" So crazy that that is creeping up! So many mixed feelings. 

On my beautiful and very long train ride down to my new area, I decided to take some time to prayerfully make a vision for my last transfer. I thought about who I wanted to be, what I wanted to do, what kind of missionary I wanted to become, what kind of example I wanted to give, and how I wanted to spend my last transfer in 100% service to the Lord. It was so special to me as the Lord truly opened my eyes to the possibilities of what this time could be. As we have started this transfer, I have taken time each day to evaluate how I am doing and if my actions and behavior are taking me closer to hitting my vision or not. It has been so incredible to me that as I have truly been accountable to the Lord and constantly evaluating myself, I have been able to SEE and FEEL myself changing even more into who the Lord needs me to become. I am making a conscious effort everyday to be my own ideal missionary, and through the help of the Lord, I am becoming it! 

We saw so many miracles this past week, but my overall great impression from this week was that of following the spirit. That is something that I have been really focused on lately. It is SO easy, especially as an older and more experienced missionary, to be tempted to rely on yourself. we've taught these lessons a million times, contacted people two million times, and are no stranger to the missionary life and daily responsibilities. BUT it doesnt matter how "old" or "experienced" you are, your skills or abilities will never be enough without the help of the spirit. I have been really studying about and focusing on always following the spirit to really allow me to do the work Heavenly Father wants me to do. And we saw SUCH cool miracles from it this week. We had a cool lesson with a 17 year old girl where we had planned to teach one thing, and felt very clearly to teach another as soon as we sat down. SO we did. and it went so well because it was 100% led by the spirit. She committed to a baptismal date and to come to church, which these sisters have been trying to do for a month now. I think one of the experiences that stood out to me the most was a lesson we had yesterday with Zhong DiXiong. He is the husband of a recently baptized member in our ward! He is working toward baptism, but we were feeling like he was doing this a little more for his wife than for him. So we went into yesterday's lesson really wanting to know what HIS desires were. We started teaching and again felt the lesson starting to take a different direction than we planned. We had planned some scriptures but they all of a sudden were a little out of context to where the lesson had ended up. I really wanted to share a scripture with him to help him find that desire he was looking for, but didn't know where to turn. I said a prayer in my heart, and was impressed to share with him one of the verses we all know well. ! Nephi 1:1. 

1 I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents, therefore I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my father; and having seen many afflictions in the course of my days, nevertheless, having been highly favored of the Lord in all my days; yea, having had a great knowledge of the goodness and the mysteries of God, therefore I make a record of my proceedings in my days.

Now I know what you are all thinking. That's an interesting scripture to share... Why did you want to share that? Well, let me tell you. We read this together, and the Spirit just put words into my mouth. We helped Zhong DX to see that because of the great example and teachings of his righteous parents, Nephi was able to look to them to know where to turn. He was able to develop a relationship with God, and was able to face adversity and trials with faith and with a positive attitude. Because his parents taught him how to follow the Lord, he learned to recognize the Lord's hand in his life and see the tender mercies and blessings in every day. We promised Zhong dx that these are blessings that can come to him and his sweet family as he accepts and follows the teachings of the gospel. We were able to promise him that his 5 month year old daughter, would one day be able to say the same things about him as he, right now,  decided to follow Christ full heartedly. It was amazing to me as the spirit just filled the room, and you could literally see Zhong dx's desire grow instantly in his eyes. He was willing. He wanted that. And because i listened to the promptings of the spirit, I was able to help him find that. It was such a special experience to me, and helped me gain an even GREATER desire to always have the spirit as my guide. I just love this work.

In my studies of the spirit this week, I came across a great talk by Elder Rasband called, "Let the Holy Spirit Guide." Super awesome, everyone go read it. But I loved this specific thing that he said. 

"The Spirit speaks words that we feel. These feelings are gentle, a nudge to act, to do something, to say something, to respond in a certain way. If we are casual or complacent in our worship, drawn off and desensitized by worldly pursuits, we find ourselves diminished in our ability to feel."

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2017/04/let-the-holy-spirit-guide?lang=eng#p28

Think about that. Think about the role of the spirit in your life, and if the way you are worshiping is affecting that.. The spirit is not just important in missionary work. It guides us to salvation. Whether that be for our own salvation or the salvation of others. Listen to it. Follow it. 

I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week, full of the spirit and wonderful experiences to serve those around you! Love you all!

xoxo

Sister Richards

李姐妹

Lǐ Jǐemeì

Sister Micah Richards

Taiwan Taipei Mission

4/F, #24, Lane 183

Jin Hua Street

Taipei, Taiwan 106 

1 and 4- Lots of bye bye meals - pizza with Betty and ken(investigators) yes we are using plastic gloves to eat it hahaha 

2-3: Last week's excursion to Yilan for the day!

5-7: Me and sister Zhong gave our two grandma RC's aprons with our picture printed on it! They LOVE them! 

8: Last district pic

The start of Taidong

9- rc and her husband zhong dx

10- Peanut butter burger:).

11- Our cute investigator Irene!

12- Members already so awesome. 

Week 75: Ji JM and Zeng JM were baptized! (January 8, 2017)

Hey you guyssssss,

This week to me was just the epitome of missionary life. We had our highs of meeting some new awesome people, teaching some great spirit-filled, lessons, and got to see two sweet ladies baptized. But there were some good "low" moments of the week too including getting stood up, dropped, lots of rain, and the one that takes the cake this week was a lesson we had with a former that acted super interested, let us teach her the whole first lesson through the Book of Mormon and then stops us and goes...

"Well, now that we are here, I should probably tell you the real reason I am here..."

*Pulls out a BOM from her bag and hits it down on the table*

"I want to give this back to you because I don't believe in what you are saying, I only believe in myself."

*Stands up. Gets her stuff. Leaves.*

Hahaha I love it. Really, the people we meet here are just awesome. So many different kinds of people every day!

This week definitely had two highlights, the first being the baptisms and the second being the new member fireside where our cute 11 year old, Angel, spoke! 

The baptism was so awesome. Unfortunately, it was a cold and rainy day, and despite ALL of our efforts, the water was still cold. Zēng JM almost died in the process haha. But all was well! It was a great service and they shared such sweet testimonies! It was especially great to have their daughters Skype into the service! They were so touched and I just imagined all the thoughts and prayers that these sweet and faithful members have put into their moms, and to see Heavenly Father blessing them because of it. SO AWESOME. They are the sweetest little grandma's and have become best friends. It is all just so cute. 

The next highlight was sweet Angel giving her testimony at the new member fireside last night! So brave! She is 11 and willing to speak in front of so many people! So awesome. She shared her sweet conversion story that now felt all the more tender because her birth mom, (remember...that through a miracle she gave Angel permission to be baptized) passed away this past week. We were so worried for her being so young and having to speak, but she did it so bravely and definitely touched the hearts of many in attendance. She bore powerful testimonies of forever families and the chance her mom has to accept the gospel now. She is so strong. 

Well that is 差不多 my week for ya in a 3 min version. But I LOVE MY MISSION SO MUCH. So sad to be heading out of Yonghe this upcoming week (even 6 months haven't been enough), but excited for what this last transfer has in store for me! Have a wonderful week!

/Sister Richards 

Some pics from the baptism 

-us blow drying zeng jm as she changed to help her get warm haha 

Week 74: 2018! (January 1, 2017)

Happy 2018!

One of the great things about my mission is that it touched three different years. I started this journey in 2016, was able to serve the full year of 2017, and will finish up in 2018. Some of the top questions we get here is "how long are you here?" and "when do you go home?" I have taken great comfort throughout my whole mission in being able to say "oh, I don't go home until next year!" And just leave it at that. That far away future time that I don't have to think about. Well folks... as my companion reminded me, IT'S NOW "NEXT YEAR." I cannot believe it. I remember starting out and feeling like 2018 was SO far away, and now look where we are. That means that my precious time on this little island is ticking, but it also has given me even more drive to make the most of the time I have left. 

This week was a great one, full of lots of miracles and smiles and exchanges and soaking up my last couple of weeks here in YongHe. It's crazy to think that after next week, I'll have been here for 6 months! A third of my mission. Half of a year! Holy cow that's a long time. And I have loved every minute of it! The rapid pace of the city, the crazy amount of people we talk to everyday, and being so a part of all the fun things in our mission! This area is 20 minutes from our mission office and main chapel in Taiwan, so we have front row seats to everything happening in our mission! It has been so fun to serve in Taibei and I'm excited to see where the Lord will send me next! 

We saw a lot of miracles from talking to everyone this week. We met some really incredible people just as we ate or studied or biked. Had a few of those "awkwardly turn around on your bikes to go talk to someone you already passed" moments, but the Lord blessed us so much for our efforts to follow the spirit. 

Amongst all of the great blessings we saw this week, there are two particular lessons that I want to share about. One was with Eva and one with Zeng JM. 

Eva is our newer investigator that we met from English class. When we first set her up, she was a little hesitant and frankly didn't seem like she was super wanting to meet, but was willing and so we gave her a chance! Honesty, we did not have crazy high hopes for her, but boy did she prove us wrong! Our first lesson came and she had kept her commitments and started reading and praying. Though never having prayed before, her prayers were so sincere and so honest. She read the title page and intro to the Book of Mormon, and told us that as she read she had this feeling that this was a book that was worth her time to read . This week we taught her the plan of salvation and she was nearly brought to tears as we shared with her the atonement. We read Alma's depiction of the Savior's sacrifice in Alma 7, and she stopped us after and asked us what it was that she was feeling? She said she felt a sadness that Christ had to suffer all that for her, but also a hope and peace that He did it because He loved us. We were able to teach her right then that that feeling came from the spirit and it would continue to teach her the truth as long as she continued to search for it. In her closing prayer, she thanked God for allowing her to experience what the spirit felt like, and prayed to be able to feel it again to know that this was true. Such a spirit filled lesson as we taught this incredible prepared woman searching for God's hand in her life. It was another testimony to us that this is the work of God and not ours. We thought she was a little 還好 to start out, but through the spirit she became a practically golden investigator! So amazing. 

The next lesson was just one so dear to my heart. It was with one our sweet grandma investigators zeng jiemei who is going to be baptized this week! She is so humble and willing to keep every commitment, but me and zhong jm have just been wondering how deeply she feels the gospel. Does she know it's true? Does she really get it like she says she does? On a lesson with her this last week we were going over the baptism interview questions when she brought up some painful memories of past things in her life. Guilt for committed mistakes and the weight it has been on her in her life, the pain that others have caused her in her life, and just many things that caused my heart to ache for this sweet woman that I have come to love so much. But as she shared these things, we were able to testify to her of the power of the atonement in her life and the fresh start that comes with baptism. We were able to help her truly understand 1-why the atonement is important for her 2- the power of repentance and 3- why she really needs to be baptized. We all felt the spirit so strongly as she received her own personal witness of these eternal truths. Again. This is Gods work not mine.

On my mission, I have truly come to realize that having the spirit is the most important thing one can have. When you have the spirit you are guided, directed, protected, inspired, comforted, healed, and enlightened. You don't need to worry what to do or what to say because you will know. With the start of this new year in our hands and lots of great resolutions and goals to make, I invite all of you to make goals that will help you be more able to have that spirit with you always. Be worthy to have the spirit and keep the spirit! I read a great talk this week called "Of regrets and resolutions" by President Uchtdorf that I LOVED and want to invite all of you to read as well. He talks about some things we can do now to help us make those right resolutions and live a regret free mortality. Go read it. And I invite you all to make some resolutions to help this year of 2018 really be a year of reaching your goals, doing those things you've never done, growing spiritually, and most importantly, living a more Christ-centered life. I love you all dearly and feel so blessed to count all of you as a part of my life. Thank you for your great love and support always. 2017 will always have a special place in my heart as the year I spent entirely in the service of my God. I can't wait to live a life continued in that pattern of sacrifice and service always. Happy new year!

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/10/of-regrets-and-resolutions?lang=eng

xoxo

Sister Richards

李姐妹

Lǐ Jǐemeì

Sister Micah Richards

Taiwan Taipei Mission

4/F, #24, Lane 183

Jin Hua Street

Taipei, Taiwan 106 

1- my life these days haha. America + taiwan

2- twinning per usual 

3- our sweet ji jm

4- beautiful Taiwan 

5-9 All my favorites all together. We got the news sister Bernhardt was being transferred down to Hualian tomorrow because of some people heading home and such, and so we spent the (probably) last p day together on our missions. Also, gotta love the Koreans that wanted a selfie with us.