Hello friends and fam bam,
Man, our lives are nuts. Seriously, Sister Weaver and I constantly feel slightly on the edge of losing it because we are SO BUSY and have SO MUCH TO DO and just not enough time to do it. hah The sweet life of an STL in the busiest city on this island. Go team.
We are still loving our jam packed lives here in YongHe. This week started by visiting DanShui on our P-day and getting our feet eaten by fish? I have no idea what it is called in either language, but all I know is Dad would've DIED doing that because it tickled so badly. hah Good mems all around.
The fish were just the start of our oh so fishy week. We were qinged (freely given?) sushi twice this week, and forced to eat so many sea creatures... It took all of my will power to eat everything I was given this week. But, be proud of me mom, because I DID IT. I really thought I would've learned to like sea food by now, but I am still not a #1 fan. But, I can eat it, so, that is improvement.
This week was busy with exchanges, a trip to the temple with my recent convert from HuaLian, an "almost" typhoon day that led to eveyone in the world giving us free food just in case we were stuck inside, and just normal chuanjiaoing in between! We saw some great improvement with investigators this past week. We are really feeling so blessed with some great people with sincere desires to find the truth. We get to meet with most of them twice a week, they are reading and praying on their own, coming to church, and we are starting to see them really receive answers to their prayers! I'll just highlight a few.
Han Ming- First of all, for all my friends who have seen the district videos before... remember Ming? In the district, they call him Ming Han because in English we first say our first names and then last. But, in Taiwan, it is the opposite. So, our investigator is also literally named Ming Han. hah We love it. She is such a cool member referral. I shared a little about her last week, but this week we had a great lesson with her about the importance of the Book of Mormon and the power of everyday reading. We had a member with a fire testimony on the Book of Mormon come, and by the end, she convinced us all of the truth of the book! hah It was a really powerful lesson, and I really think it will just help give Han Ming the push she needs to start receiving some answers to prayers!
Alice- Our stellar investigator. She is awesome and is receiving answers as she really diligently studies and prays daily! She received some answers from the Book of Mormon this week, and is well on her way to conversion. Her main problem right now is her family. Her family doesn't oppose, but they definitely don't love her always going to church etc. So, we are praying hard for her and for them for their hearts to be softened.
Emily- We are currently teaching three Emily's... But this is our member referral Emily! She is the wife of one of the members of our bishopric, and is progressing so well! In a lesson this week, I felt prompted to share a scripture with her that just popped into my mind, and it turned out answering a question that she had been praying about! So cool to see her realize the influence of Heavenly Father in her life, and to be an instrument in helping her receive answers! She is getting SO close to getting her answer. We have recently felt like she has needed a stronger spiritual experience to help her in her conversion. And, last night she came to us sharing that she had handled a situation poorly and felt a lot of guilt over it. We talked about the repentance process with her and the power of it and she said she would go home and try. We feel like this is exactly what she needs:)))))
Penny- I literally don't even know what to say about Penny. She is the most serious seeker of truth I have ever met on my mission. She wants to know the truth so badly and is willing to do anything to find her answer. She reads and prays everyday, we gave her a conference article to read, and she ended up reading the whole magazine..., comes to church every Sunday (even after having a less than awesome experience), and meets with us 2-3 times a week. She wants an answer so badly, but she also has many doubts. She has a hard time believing and trusting in God. But, she is progressing. We continue to pray for her and pray for her to receive her answer. SHE IS SO CLOSE.
As far as other investigators go, we have lots of really amazing ones, and some more interesting ones... We were sad to drop one of our progressing investigators, Eva, this week, but we know that the Lord will bless us as we continue to make room for the more prepared people.
And now for an exerpt from Sister Weaver's email:
"We also met with another investigator yesterday. On Sunday we were desperately looking for a member to help us and we asked this random sister to help. She said she could and we said great but on reflection we weren't sure how totally stable she was. We were able to talk to her before our investigator came and we were still a little unsure. Then our investigator came in and she was kind of upset about something and she went off and realized she probably wasn't super sane either. I just sat there and asked myself "How did we even get here?" and then Sister Richards looked at me in the middle of the lesson hiding behind her Book of Mormon and whispered "We don't have to teach crazy people..." (This was in reference to a district meeting a week or two ago when Elder Rushton said "It changed my mission when I realized that I don't have to teach crazy people!") She then talked about how much she loved the Book of Mormon and how she would touch it and sleep with it and it would make her prettier. After we ended the lesson our investigator basically sprinted out of the chapel because she was upset about something.
Sometimes these things happen."
haha long story short. We are not wasting any time working with crazies anymore. We are clearing up our time and our investigator pool and leaving room for the Lord to put lots of prepared people in our path.
One thing I have been thinking a lot about lately as we have been teaching Penny is the principle of faith vs. doubt. When we have faith, there can be no room for doubt. But, I think it works the opposite way too. When we doubt, we leave no room for faith. The Lord can give us answer after answer after answer, but if we choose to focus on our doubts, there will be no room to receive the answers.
I love the scripture in Doctrine and Covenants 6:36 that reads, "look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not." I know that as we look to Christ and choose to exercise faith in Him, He will help us overcome our doubts and find great peace and joy. So my dear loved ones, choose the road of faith. It is a much happier, smoother, and fulfilling one.
I 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
And now for a special bonus segment called "Yo Tales." (taken from Sis Weaver)
This week on Yo Tales:
There is a member here in Zhonghe that I would say 95-100% of Taiwan Taipei Mission missionaries know named Luo You Ren, or just Yo. He is the ward mission leader in Zhonghe so we work with him a lot now. He is every missionary's best friend and is basically a giant puppy that lives, eats, and breathes to help missionaries. He also has a questionably large budget and we have taken to start calling him the Fairy Godmother. If you spend anytime at the church, you will probably run into him.
This week a typhoon almost hit us and so he made a Costco run to buy food for the missionaries here. That night he tells us to be outside our door at a certain time and so we wait there and then he flies in with a car, hops out and opens the trunk (Abba is blasting) and he thows Costco muffins, chocolate milk, Special K cereal, etc. at us and then drives off.
Another night we were going to go get ice-cream with our investigator and he decides to join us. He comes out of no where, grabs a taxi, takes us to the night market and we go to a super nice shaved-ice place, pays for it all, and then gets a taxi back for us and we're in time for our next lesson.
One night for coordination meeting, he buys us all Jamba Juice and Krispy Kreme donuts. I didn't even know Taiwan had these things until that night. He just really likes to make people happy and to have fun.
Anyway, we have fun here. I gave that long spiel so you will understand all my pictures.
1- danshui old street
2- the danshui crew
3- FISH.
4- views
5/6- The foods this week
7- Yo who brought us all Krispy Kreme and Jamba to our mm meeting. Nicest!
8-10- Exchanges, temple, exchanges with cute Sister Wells
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