Well guys...
Seriously, I just love this work so much it hurts! Everyday teaching and preaching and working and sweating and testifying and biking and spreading the good word. HOW GREAT IS MY CALLING?!
This week had lots of highlights. Please bear with me as I try to organize my thoughts and give ya'll a run down of the people that make my heart 13x bigger.
Chen Jun and Jason- Chen Jun is Jason's mom and sadly did not feel ready to be baptized this week, but she is still progressing. We have lots of faith she will be baptized in the next month. but... her son JASON happened to be so so SO prepared and was baptized yesterday!! It was so awesome. Teaching them has been a little hard because their schedules are so buyiding (uncertain maybe?- English is hard), and so we normally don't know we are teaching them until like 10 min before... SO that has been crazy. But, as we were teaching them, it became very clear how much Jason was really listening and taking to heart what we said. He is such a stud and reminds me a lot of my own little brother Brig! Jason is 11 and is all into sports and learning English, and he and his mom are already talking about getting him ready to go on a mission. hah He is a cutie. He shared a sweet testimony at his baptism yesterday of prayer and how he knows Heavenly Father is really listening to what he says and loves him. Such a simple yet profound principle. It was a wonderful baptism!
Huang Xiao Yi- oh man guys LISTEN UP TO THIS ONE. This is one of our mom investigators who loves the gospel and loves church, but has work on Sundays so it is really hard for her to come. She is a single mom and is working at a less than awesome place with hard hours and little pay, so it's tough. But we had a great lesson with her on putting God first, and how everything else will follow after. And, as she tried to put this to action, Heavenly Father pulled through! ok here is the story. So, we were set up to meet with her Thursday night, and Thursday afternoon comes around and she calls us asking if she could move our meeting up. We agreed but were confused because she normally has work at that time. So, when we get to the church, we ask her about it and she tells us this. "So, I was thinking about what you guys told me and I prayed that Heavenly Father would help me find a way to come to church. Then I went to work this morning and this is what I saw." *pulls out her phone to show us a picture* HER WORK PLACE BURNED TO THE GROUND. LITERALLY NOW A BLACK STACK OF ROCKS ON THE GROUND. She took that as her answer and that God is really helping her get to church! hahah although the bad part now is that she doesn't have a job so the hunt is on and the stress is on, but for now she can come to church:) hah so crazy.
The Lin Family- Pretty much my pride and joy. A mom, dad, and two daughters that remind me so much of my own sisters. They are like family to me. The mom and daughters are especially ready for the gospel, and this week all accepted to live the Word of Wisdom- which won't be easy because they all drink tea and the mom drinks tea and coffee and smokes.. BUT she has the desire to change, and has said that this gospel is her motivation to quit. They are amazing. I LOVE THEM.
The Li Family- The Li parents are LA members, who have two of the cutest kids that were never baptized! This past week we taught them lesson 3 and they are so excited for baptism! We were bummed to find out that Hank (the little brother) won't be 8 until October, but we set a new baptismal date with him for the week of his birthday! He said "best birthday present ever!" They are amazing and also like family. Who am I even kidding? All these people are like my family.
Wang Yu Ting- She is one of our new investigators of this past week and HOLY COW. She is unreal. She CALLED our elders this week because she somehow found their number online and wanted to know Jesus..... So, yep, she is amazing. She shared with us a really cool experience of where this desire to come to know Christ came from. She used to be a really devout Buddhist, but one day while literally baibaiing- the act of holding incense and worshipping God's/ancestors through bowing down to idols and such- she had this feeling that she needed to stop what she was doing and find the truth. She explained it as this burning/exploding sensation inside of her telling her that she needed to come to know Jesus Christ because HE was the way.... ...... ..... yes.... that happened.... so in the past week the elders met with her once, we met with her once, she has been taught two lessons, came to church, attended a baptism, set her own baptismal date, and has scheduled to come to church every week and meet with us twice a week until her baptism... SHE IS UNREAL. we are still speechless about it.
Anyways, I could go on and on for days and years but the best way to sum it all up is that I love this work and I love this place and most of all I love these people. They are my family. I love them. I pray for them. I study for them. I worry for them. I agonize over them. I stay up at night thinking about ways to help them. Why? Because I want to be with my family forever. And they are a part of that.
Transfers are coming to an end this week and I pray that I'll be sitting in this same seat in the place that I have come to love so much next Monday, but I know that the Lord has a plan. And He knows exactly where I need to be. And thank goodness for that.
I hope you all have a wonderful week and I invite you to do all you can to invite those around you to return back home to their Heavenly Father. He misses them and He misses you. Love you all!
xoxo
Sister Richards
李姐妹
Lǐ Jǐemeì
Taiwan Taipei Mission
4/F, #24, Lane 183
Jin Hua Street
Taipei, Taiwan 106
1- our homies the Zhu family - Greg is their son that referred Cindy to us!!
2- Chen Jun and Jason! (Jason oh so pleased hahah)
3- the best picture of the night. hahah
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