Happy December!
I cannot believe it is DECEMBER AGAIN. Oh man. Time is frightening.
First of all, a late birthday shoutout to my dear best friend Hermana Healy, and an early birthday shoutout to my sweetest dad! Love you both so much!!
This week.. SO much happened this week, that it almost felt like a month. Ha! From still working hard to get our area book digitized, to transfer madness, to zone meetings, and ward parties, and the new member fireside, we were BOOKED. But we still saw many many miracles.
One thing that really stood out to me from this past week was what a blessing it is to now have technology as a big part of our work. TBH we haven't been trained at all on how to really use these phones and so sometimes it just feels like a more glorified version of our old Nokia phones hah. BUT this week, President had us all take some time to do some of the online training where we watch all these videos on how to really use this tool to further the work. And oh my goodness. IT IS INCREDIBLE. Facetiming lessons with investigators, constant messaging with investigators to keep in good contact, sending videos, pamphlets, audio recordings on line, facetiming in members to help us teach, and SO MUCH MORE. It has opened our eyes so much more to the possibilities technology is bringing us to our work. I feel like we have only really started dipping our toes in the water there, but we have already tried some facetime lessons and sending many things via social media, and have already seen a great impact on our work! I feel so blessed to be a part of this modern missionary age.
One of the biggest miracles this week was with our resurrected investigator Zhong JM! I shared a little about her last week, but this week we had the chance to meet with her a couple of times, and man..she is so prepared. She is so ready to accept the gospel this time around. She knows it is not going to be easy, but is so willing to go forward in faith. She also told us this week that she heard a member talking about the word of wisdom in their talk last Sunday, and though she didn't really know what it was, just started living it because she knew if she wanted to become a member she needed to start living like one! hahah As she meets more members and hears more about our church, her desire to learn just grows. She comes to each of our lessons with many questions and always just asks us when we are going to teach her about all these different things. hah Patience my friend. She set a baptismal date this week, and we are so excited to help her progress towards that day. We know it won't be easy because she will need to get her husband's permission, but the Lord will provide a way! He has done it many many times before. She came to a ward activity this week and was just overwhelmed by a sense of love, joy, and peace being there and feeling welcomed into the ward family. We are so excited for the miracles to come with her!
Our other investigators continue to progress well. Ji JM has decided she wants to be baptized, but keeps the date unknown to us for some reason... she said "when it's comin up, I'll tell ya." haha She is the sassiest grandma I have ever met. Penny is also making great leaps and bounds in progression as she really reads and ponders about the Book of Mormon. She is understanding things like never before, and is gaining a real testimony. We just have to help her overcome her concerns and help her recognize the answer that is right in front of her! Some of our young students are progressing well also. We are just waiting on a lot of parent/ spousal permission right now.... But we have faith that it will all work out.
Lately, we have had some investigators going through different trials. Whether it be with family opposition, starting a new job, health issues, or more. And so this week I took some time to study and ponder about trials. I thought about the questions, Why does the Lord allow us to have trials? and how should we look at the trials we are given? I love what Lehi teaches us in 2 Nephi 2:2. He said "thou knowest the greatness of God; and he shall consecrate thine afflictions for thy gain." As I pondered these questions, I found great comfort in this line of scripture. The Lord knows us. He knows what we can handle. And He gives us these trials to help us grow, to help us learn and help us to become like Him. I forgot to bring my study notebook today where I wrote down some cool stuff I found, but I'll share more about this next week. SO I want to invite you all to ponder those two questions, and share with me what you find! I'll share more of my thoughts next week as well.
I am so grateful for this gospel and for a loving Father in Heaven who loves us enough to allow us to be a little uncomfortable sometimes. He wants us to grow and to fulfill our mortal purpose, and so He gives us opportunities to do so. I love this work and 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
1- the sassiest grandma ji jm
2- cutest Zhong JM and her daughter
3- pre zone mtg lunch- thank you Yo
4- all my favorite girlies
5- my old comp sister ZANG came up and visited us at the fireside yesterday!!!
6- (part of)the old mtc district. over a year later and goin strong. hah
7-8- just another day in the life. hahah please enjoy
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