Happy 2018!
This week was a great one, full of lots of miracles and smiles and exchanges and soaking up my last couple of weeks here in YongHe. It's crazy to think that after next week, I'll have been here for 6 months! A third of my mission. Half of a year! Holy cow that's a long time. And I have loved every minute of it! The rapid pace of the city, the crazy amount of people we talk to everyday, and being so a part of all the fun things in our mission! This area is 20 minutes from our mission office and main chapel in Taiwan, so we have front row seats to everything happening in our mission! It has been so fun to serve in Taibei and I'm excited to see where the Lord will send me next!
We saw a lot of miracles from talking to everyone this week. We met some really incredible people just as we ate or studied or biked. Had a few of those "awkwardly turn around on your bikes to go talk to someone you already passed" moments, but the Lord blessed us so much for our efforts to follow the spirit.
Amongst all of the great blessings we saw this week, there are two particular lessons that I want to share about. One was with Eva and one with Zeng JM.
Eva is our newer investigator that we met from English class. When we first set her up, she was a little hesitant and frankly didn't seem like she was super wanting to meet, but was willing and so we gave her a chance! Honesty, we did not have crazy high hopes for her, but boy did she prove us wrong! Our first lesson came and she had kept her commitments and started reading and praying. Though never having prayed before, her prayers were so sincere and so honest. She read the title page and intro to the Book of Mormon, and told us that as she read she had this feeling that this was a book that was worth her time to read . This week we taught her the plan of salvation and she was nearly brought to tears as we shared with her the atonement. We read Alma's depiction of the Savior's sacrifice in Alma 7, and she stopped us after and asked us what it was that she was feeling? She said she felt a sadness that Christ had to suffer all that for her, but also a hope and peace that He did it because He loved us. We were able to teach her right then that that feeling came from the spirit and it would continue to teach her the truth as long as she continued to search for it. In her closing prayer, she thanked God for allowing her to experience what the spirit felt like, and prayed to be able to feel it again to know that this was true. Such a spirit filled lesson as we taught this incredible prepared woman searching for God's hand in her life. It was another testimony to us that this is the work of God and not ours. We thought she was a little 還好 to start out, but through the spirit she became a practically golden investigator! So amazing.
The next lesson was just one so dear to my heart. It was with one our sweet grandma investigators zeng jiemei who is going to be baptized this week! She is so humble and willing to keep every commitment, but me and zhong jm have just been wondering how deeply she feels the gospel. Does she know it's true? Does she really get it like she says she does? On a lesson with her this last week we were going over the baptism interview questions when she brought up some painful memories of past things in her life. Guilt for committed mistakes and the weight it has been on her in her life, the pain that others have caused her in her life, and just many things that caused my heart to ache for this sweet woman that I have come to love so much. But as she shared these things, we were able to testify to her of the power of the atonement in her life and the fresh start that comes with baptism. We were able to help her truly understand 1-why the atonement is important for her 2- the power of repentance and 3- why she really needs to be baptized. We all felt the spirit so strongly as she received her own personal witness of these eternal truths. Again. This is Gods work not mine.
On my mission, I have truly come to realize that having the spirit is the most important thing one can have. When you have the spirit you are guided, directed, protected, inspired, comforted, healed, and enlightened. You don't need to worry what to do or what to say because you will know. With the start of this new year in our hands and lots of great resolutions and goals to make, I invite all of you to make goals that will help you be more able to have that spirit with you always. Be worthy to have the spirit and keep the spirit! I read a great talk this week called "Of regrets and resolutions" by President Uchtdorf that I LOVED and want to invite all of you to read as well. He talks about some things we can do now to help us make those right resolutions and live a regret free mortality. Go read it. And I invite you all to make some resolutions to help this year of 2018 really be a year of reaching your goals, doing those things you've never done, growing spiritually, and most importantly, living a more Christ-centered life. I love you all dearly and feel so blessed to count all of you as a part of my life. Thank you for your great love and support always. 2017 will always have a special place in my heart as the year I spent entirely in the service of my God. I can't wait to live a life continued in that pattern of sacrifice and service always. Happy new year!
xoxo
Sister Richards
李姐妹
Lǐ Jǐemeì
Taiwan Taipei Mission
4/F, #24, Lane 183
Jin Hua Street
Taipei, Taiwan 106
1- my life these days haha. America + taiwan
2- twinning per usual
3- our sweet ji jm
4- beautiful Taiwan
5-9 All my favorites all together. We got the news sister Bernhardt was being transferred down to Hualian tomorrow because of some people heading home and such, and so we spent the (probably) last p day together on our missions. Also, gotta love the Koreans that wanted a selfie with us.
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