And just like that, the transfer is wrapping up and we'll be getting transfer calls this Wednesday! So crazy how time flies. I have absolutely LOVED this past transfer in Hualian serving with Sister Zang. We have had a BLAST and have seen so so many miracles together! This week was absolutely no exception to this.
Our week was full of so many fun things from good old lessons to long bike rides to impromptu musical numbers in sacrament meeting to our sweet CAI XIN YU (ts-eye sheen ew hah this is so painful for me to write out hah) getting baptized!!
Cai JM is one of the coolest people I have ever taught on my mission. She is SO humble and she just loves the gospel. We met her through her boyfriend who is a member, and it has all just been awesome ever since. Her boyfriend is an awesome example of a member missionary. They started dating and within that first week he invited her to go to a church activity with him! So cool. We are SO grateful to have had the chance to get to know her. She is so cool. She is 17 and has been so receptive to the gospel. She is young, but she has had some hard things she has had to deal with in her life. Seeing her be baptized was so special because she just craved those cleansing powers that come with it so much. She has so much faith in the Savior and that He can give her the fresh start that she wants. She had silent tears running down her cheeks her whole baptism and just kept looking at me and my companion and saying "thank you." She shared such a sweet testimony of the simple truths that she has come to know and love. She always tells us that her favorite thing to learn about was the Plan of Salvation, because she knows God loves her and knows her and has a plan for her! She has already told us her life plan- graduate high school, go on a mission, get married in the temple, send her kids on a mission, and then die and go to the Celestial Kingdom. hahah Her own words. All in all, she is amazing and is such a kingdom builder. She has already recruited the elders to go to her house and start teaching her brother. ha SO so cool.
Our investigators are doing awesome. We met some more really awesome people this week and have loved teaching everyone about the message of the restored gospel so personally. We teach everyone the same doctrine, but teach it so personally to them to help them feel it and to know of its truthfulness for themselves. It is such a beautiful thing.
One thing I have been pondering a lot about this week is being spiritually born of God. In Alma 36, Alma is recounting his conversion story to his son Helaman, and he shares that through his experience he was "born of God." This stood out to me specifically because of questions Alma asks in earlier on in Chapter 5. He says "And now behold, I ask of you, my brethren of the church, have ye been spiritually born of God? Have ye received His image in your countenances? Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts?" (Alma 5:14). Every time I read that, I feel like it is a little self-check and a time to think about our personal progression and conversion. I have always wondered how I can become more "Spiritually born of God," so as I studied chapter 36 where Alma had said he had been born of God, I studied a little to figure out how he did that. When we look at Alma's conversion story, one of the biggest things you notice is his change. He went from being one of the "vilest of sinners" to a "future prophet of the church"... this is no small thing people! He repented and changed his heart. As he changed his heart, he became worthy to have the Lord's spirit abide with him (therefore having a part of God in your countenance), and was converted. It wasn't seeing an angel that caused him to suddenly become converted. It was him relying on the Savior's atonement and repenting. Becoming clean. This is where his testimony came from. What does it mean to be spiritually born of God? I think it means to be converted. It is changing our views to fit the will of the Lord. It is overcoming the natural man and becoming sanctified through Christ. It is changing for the better. Aligning our actions with the will of God. How do we do it? We change our hearts- we humble ourselves and repent. We keep the commandments to keep the presence of the Holy Ghost with us. And, we follow the example of the Savior.
This week I was able to see such a special step in Cai Jm's process of being "born of God," and being a part of that strengthened my own faith and testimony. I know that the Savior's atonement can give us the fresh start we all want, the peace that we crave, and the promise of eternal life and exaltation.
I love this work and this message. I hope you can all take some time to think about your own personal conversion and follow the example of Alma to become more "spiritually born of God."
LOVE YOU ALL. Have a wonderful week:)
xoxo
Sister Richards
李姐妹
Lǐ Jǐemeì
Taiwan Taipei Mission
4/F, #24, Lane 183
Jin Hua Street
Taipei, Taiwan 106
1- celebratory cheese cake for passing her baptismal interview:)
2- sweet girl
3- couldn't be more awkward with her boyfriend right there hahah
4- mission grandma came to visit:) (my trainer's trainer)
5- rainy cold days here lately
6- this week's views
7- it has been very unusually cold here lately... (sorry mom my sheets were in the wash)
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