Hello again dear friends and fam!
Another wonderful week here in the land of dreams. This past week was a great week of the never ending busyness of being a missionary, finishing our last two exchanges of the transfer, and hitting my year mark of being on island! Which means SOMEHOW I have been out on my mission a good 14 months.. 14 months sounds like quite a chunk of time. But it really has absolutely just flown by. TOO FAST!
This past week was amazing. So filled with miracles and light due to conference that we got to watch this past weekend! AH, I love it. More thought to be shared on that in a moment.
We saw many wonderful miracles with investigators this week. We have been slowly filtering out our investigator pool to find those really prepared for the gospel. It is so hard when you find really wonderful truth seekers that are just held back by challenges like time or family situations.. But the Lord is really leading us to those ready to accept the gospel now!
Emily is currently progressing very well. She fasted last week, and still doesn't feel quite ready to be baptized, but we had a super awesome lesson with her about faith and baptism, and we feel like she is one click away from being ready and feeling ready! AH it pains me. She is SO CLOSE.
Penny is also doing well. She is currently fighting a constant inner battle between believing and doubting. She is seeking the truth so diligently that I KNOW she will receive her answer. She just first has to learn to break down her walls and doubts that are holding her back from getting/recognizing her answer. Slowly but surely.
Ji Jm!! (Our cute grandma investigator that is a member referral from her sweet daughter in America) Oh, I love her so much. She continues to be amazing. We had the special opportunity to meet with her this week and have her member daughter skype in with us. We taught her the plan of salvation and it was SO powerful to have her daughter there with us (well kind of) to share her testimony. Her words brought us all to tears, and we all felt the spirit so strongly, testifying to us the truthfulness of this plan. Ji Jm was so moved and it was the perfect environment to invite her to be baptized! She accepted a date for November, and we are so thrilled to continue to learn and grow with her on her road to baptism and ultimately, salvation. I LOVE HER.
This week we saw a SUPER cool miracle with our new investigator Zhang Yingmei. She went to the Jinhua chapel because she wanted a job there cleaning and while there she asked for a temple tour. The missionaries there gave her a Book of Mormon and then gave her information to us so we could meet with her. We met with her and immediately felt that she's a more "special" one. She is more of a harder woman and she seemed a little slower at first and we weren't sure how much of what we were saying she was really processing.. but the more we talked with her, the more cool we realized she was! She told us that she was raised Buddhist, but one day she was in the Buddhist temple and had this terrible feeling that made her want to get up and run away. And so she did! She ran until she couldn't run anymore, and happened to be right in front of a Christian church. She went in and liked the feeling she felt there much more. She has since then gone around to different churches and has never found one that felt quite right. Until she came to our Jinhua church and she said "This feels like home." When she told us that, we said, "Well, that's pretty neat!" She also said she read some of the Book of Mormon and she was reading in Alma and we just assumed that she randomly opened to Alma and read it. We continued on to teach her the first lesson about the Restoration of the Gospel. As we talk about prophets, we say "Have you heard of prophets?" And she says "You mean like Joseph Smith?? And Lehi!" "... Uh, well, yes!" We continue to teach her about prophets words being the words of God and how they write down God words which become scripture and she goes "oh ya like the gold plates!" She then goes on to relate the main events of the Book of Mormon and we, being very confused and awe struck, ask "Wait, have you read from the start to Alma?" "Yeah! I read it every night before bed! And I pray sometimes! I really want God to tell me the truth and those missionaries said if I read and pray I will know what church is true!" . . . . . Alright, COOL. needless to say we are STOKED to keep teaching her. Don't ever judge a book by its cover.
We were so happy to have many of our investigators progress this week and attend general conference with us. CONFERENCE WAS AMAZING. I felt glued to our little TV, trying to take in every single word of SCRIPTURE and revelation being shared with us. I KNOW these things are true and that these men and women are truly called of God. I had so many favorite parts, but there were two particular themes of conference that stood out to me.
1- choose to follow the savior and 2- follow the prophet.
The path is laid out for us, but we must CHOOSE to accept the Savior and follow Him. He cannot force us to do that. His hand is outstretched unto us, we just need to take it! One of the ways we take it is by following the counsel from modern prophets and apostles. Their words are modern scripture, given specifically to us, right now, in our day, to help us through our current day trials. LISTEN TO THEIR WORDS. HEED THEIR COUNSEL.
I love this gospel. I love our prophet and sustain him. I am so grateful for his guidance in our day, and ultimately our Savior's guidance through him. For those of you who haven't watched conference yet, I invite you to go and watch it. For those who have, I invite you to review them. Review your notes, write down your feelings, and act on the impressions you receive. I love you all and wish you all 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
1-2- our dreamy/vacation like p day on the beach
3-5 exchanges + PENNY BOUGHT US SALADS. in her exact words "I know everyone just gives you junk food and you don't want that, so I thought I'd get you guys something you actually want:)" love that girl
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