Tuesday, January 9, 2018

Week 36: Xie JM was baptized! (April 9, 2017)

ni men haoooooooooo

Well, this week was an absolutely crazy one. Where to even begin? hah

Well, for starters, this week brought a lot of new... New miracles, new investigators, new RC's, new weather, new(ly) spiritually refreshed from conference, and new allergies(?).... Lots of things to catch ya'll up on.

For real this week was incredible though. The Lord blessed us so so much! This past week was one of those that was so jam packed with lessons and dongxi that we had little time to go out and find! Of course we are always finding, and we saw some cool miracles from that, but no big blocks of time of just out finding, whether that be knocking or street contacting or what not! Super cool. We are exhausted! hah With lots of lessons, came lots of new investigators and lots of happy us:) We are excited to get them all going! We are feeling very very blessed.

Sister Zang and I just had so much fun this week. Biking to Egypt and back daily, laughing at the effects of the returned humidity on my hair, making up songs for our kiddos in English class, constantly fighting off mosquitoes (because I learned this week that the east coast has their own kind of mosquitos and i seem to be allergic to them:) RIP to my legs right now), and just about everything in between. This week Sister Zang was feeling very homey and decided she wanted to make me dinner everyday.. So I ate a lot of fried rice, fried noodles, curry, and sausage this week. hah Love her.

This week was full of so many highlights, but the first was definitely our sweet Xie JM getting baptized! I was one of those lucky missionaries, that got to come in at the end of her conversion process, and help teach her the last couple of lessons, get her ready for her interview, and be baptized! Xie Jm is such a miracle. Her story is so cool. She was found a couple of months ago by Elder's Kimmell and Welch. In their words, it was one of the toughest days of their missions. They had a day exclusively finding. No lessons, no meetings, nothing. Just finding. This day was particularly hard because they did not have one bit of success. Not a single person even willing to give them their number. 7 hours later as they were heading home after a very long day, they had a feeling to knock one more door. It was odd because it was a street right next to the church which meant it had probably been knocked hundreds of times, but they were obedient and knocked it. Xie Jm answered the door, and let them in. She shared with them that she was Christian, but hasn't felt the love of God in her church attendance and worship in many years. She was looking for something new. And there started the wonderful conversion process of our dear friend. We ended up teaching her because of our "Elders teaching boys and Sisters teaching girls" rule, but I am so grateful for the great chance I had to get to know her. She is like another grandma:) We had her wonderful baptismal service this past week, and to add to the fun Elder Welch was skyped into it to give a talk. haha So, that was fun. I will never forget Xie JM's face coming out of the water. She was smiling from ear to ear, and just looked at us and said "thank you. thank you" over and over again. Such a sweet experience.

A second highlight was general conference. I hope you have all had a chance to watch it, because, as always, it was golden. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my notes here to this little internet cafe thing, but I do want to share this scripture that has been an answer to lots of prayers for me lately. Studying the words of ancient and modern prophets each day is truly one of my highlights of every day. I LOVE IT. I have really come to know what feasting on the words of Christ means here on my mission. Every time I read the scriptures or the words of modern prophets and apostles, the Holy Ghost testifies to me again and again that they are all true. These are God's words. Lately, I have been praying to know how I can truly be the missionary the Lord needs me to be. It is easy to sometimes feel overwhelmed by the great responsibilities that we have as missionaries, and the constant feeling of wanting to do more and be more. As I have been pondering how I can personally improve and be the missionary the Lord needs me to be, I came upon this scripture in D+C 104:79+82. 

"For it is my will that you shall humble yourselves before me, and obtain this blessing by your diligence and  humility and the prayer of faith...and inasmuch as ye are humble  and faithful and call upon my name, behold I will give you the victory." 

As a missionary, I have felt the pressure and weight before of feeling like I have to do everything. I have to be the perfect teacher, I have to talk to everyone, I have to work harder, I have to baptize everyone. ha Of course these are goals and what we are working towards, but the Lord isn't asking us to be perfect. He is asking us to try our best. For me, it came down to- having faith, being diligent, and humble. When we work our hardest to develop these attributes, the Lord will take us as we are and transform us into who we need to be. It is HIS will for us to become like Him. It is HIS will to bring all of His children back home. So, humble yourself, work hard, and have faith, and He will give us the victory. 

I hope that scripture helps you all as much as it helped me this past week. I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!


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- our Xie Jm
2- Baptism!
3- yes this happened




4- when people on the street ask us if we want to play with their pet snakes..
5- my cutie comp
6- the taiwanese tried to make crepes... hai bu cuo






7- just the usual views by biking
8- just the usual buddhist temple
9- also so happy to see sweet sister bernhart after 3 MONTHS of being on the opposite side of the island:) yay for being reunited on the east coast:)









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