Sister Richards takes Taiwan: Week 47: Formers, Families, and Faith (June 25, 2017)

da jia hao

This week was killler. Seriously so tired and so happy. ha! Best signs of a great week!

This week was so full of so many miracles it kills me. Sister Birch and I have been working really hard to hit all of our missions standards of excellence, and find new people that we can teach and baptize this transfer! We set some great transfer goals this past week that were truly set out of lots of faith, and we are already seeing the Lord help us accomplish our righteous desires according to our hard work and our faith.

As I started talking a little about this last week...Sister Birch and I have been finding a lot of success through "Former Finding" lately! We went through our records, and have been going around and visiting anyone that has an address written down! As we have done this, we have seen SO much success! We got 8 new investigators this past week, and a good chunk of them came from this very finding method! It has been cool to see how as we try to talk to everyone always, the Lord has put people in our paths. We got a new investigator this past week that we met while playing frisbee as a zone one morning for exercise! She was running and we just stopped and talked to her for a second and BAM. Yep prepared people are EVERYWHERE.

One really fun thing about this past week were all of the families that were introduced into our investigator pool! I LOVE teaching families. They are so fun and cute and it is amazing to see them all grow together! We have two new kids from a part-member family that we are starting to teach, a mom of an LA daughter and her son, and a mom and a son that we found on the street! We really are receiving so so many blessings.

This week, I really learned a lot about Heavenly Father's timing. When I first moved to HuaLian 3 months ago (wow already that long ago??), we met a mom named Chen Jun and her son, Jason. Chen Jun was nice and willing to listen to what we had to say, but was so busy and frankly not willing to keep commitments. Her son (11 years old) was rowdy, unwilling to listen to his mom, and frankly just a little xiao pi hai. After trying hard to teach them for a while, my companion and I decided to drop them to give them a little more time to be prepared. So, that is kind of how we left that. Then, two weeks ago, they just randomly showed up to church! Chen Jun said that she really wants her and her family to be strengthened and changed and really believes this will come through coming to church and learning about this gospel. Chen Jun has a SUPER busy life. Like not just making excuses and could really meet with us, but is actually so busy. She owns a hair salon out of her house that she works at from 8am-9pm. Her husband is always gone at work and doesn't help her with anything around the house or with the family and so she has to do it all alone. Take care of the family, raise the kids, do EVERYTHING. So she is someone that when she says she doesn't have time, actually means it. This was always the problem the first time around and we could never set up a time to meet. But, last week, after a little coaxing and convincing, she let us come visit them after church. We went over and shared a little message and she agreed to let us come back again the following week. She and her son both came to church again, and we went and visited and shared the first lesson. They both loved what we shared, and when we invited to read and pray everyday, Chen Jun replied "Definitely Willing!"... this is no hai hao answer people. And even better, that was the same answer she gave when we invited her and her son to prepare themselves to be baptized on the 22nd of July. THEY ARE GOING TO MAKE IT! Over the course of these 3 months, these two have changed SO MUCH. They have started putting more effort into becoming better and working together and are focusing on Christ, and the change is so evident. Jason has become such a kind and well-behaved kid. Of course, he is still an 11 year old boy, but the change is incredible. And Chen Jun has become so much more willing to learn and change. There is no more pulling of teeth to get her to meet with us, it is her asking us to come over. And being "super willing" to keep the commitments we give her. I never cease to be amazed at the work of the Lord. It is amazing. THEY ARE GETTING BAPTIZED! I know it.

A highlight of this week was definitely the trainer/trainee follow up meeting we had in Taibei. After the first transfer of training, President has everyone come up for a big meeting where we receive some training and pretty much just resolve lots of questions and concerns and it is the best. Training is great and all, but man did I need this meeting. I love my companion, but we are quite different to say the least. ha! So I was grateful to learn from President and from other missionaries and to share experiences together. It is all a work in progress, but I have already seen a difference in our companionship!

The phrase that has been going through my mind constantly lately is one that I learned from an old missionary a while ago.

Act on your expectations.

I have loved this phrase ever since I heard it, and have really strived to apply it into all aspects of my work. Faith is an action. And hope is expecting things to happen. So, we take our faith and act on what we expect to happen. We do this in finding new investigators, in reaching key indicators and goals, and getting people baptized. It all comes from this principle. Act on your expectations. Expect to find, expect to baptize, and have the faith to go and act. As I have applied this principle in my mission, I have seen SO many miracles. This week was a great example of that. I know that Lord has so many blessings in store for all of us, and as we go forth and act on our hopes and expectations, He will grant unto us according to our desires, because of our faith.

LOVE YOU ALL. Have a killer 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- chen JM (Xie JM's daughter that we taught and is now visiting) and Xie Jm (my RC)

2- new p day. new beautiful place. water fall