Hello everyone! Sorry this will be rather short because I opened up my inbox this morning and it was full of baby pictures! I love getting pictures but it took a while to open them all because my inbox is so small and soooo slow. So if you could shrink down the pictures it speeds up the process a lot! Congratulations to Cambria and Tyson on the birth of their second (and going white water rafting with her the day after she was born!!!) and to Jocilyn and Kaitlyn for the continued growth of their baby boys.
Remember how I said the weather was cooling down here? Well, we have had an unfortunate heat spell--perhaps to remind me once again what summer is like. :) This is the beginning of a new transfer and I am still in Bade but I have a new companion--Sister Pottle. She is really awesome and one transfer younger than me so I knew her in the MTC. It might be dangerous with two such old missionaries in the same companionship :) but we will try to keep it chill.
The most exciting news is that our investigator Yao Yu Er is getting BAPTIZED!!!!! She is 16 and there are 9 children in her family (unheard of in Taiwan) and her parents were not very competent. She has had a very bad family experience but the gospel has really changed her life. It has been so exciting to watch her change over these last several months. She asked me to cut her hair (I will try to include a picture) and she looks like a completely different person now then when I first met her. She is happy and her face is full of light--and I cut her hair so it doesn't cover her face any more so you can actually see her eyes. And she is smiling. I have been so blessed to watch the gospel change people's lives!
I have two main points to share in this email. The first is about a defining moment--you know, one of those 5-minute stretches that changes your life (and your eternity). I was on exchanges with the sisters in Taoyuan and I was with a Sister Hsu, a Taiwanese. We went to an investigator's house but her son had H1N1 so she couldn't meet with us. We were walking away and saw a woman sitting down on the sidewalk with her head between her knees. Sister Hsu said "Do you think she's ok?" and I thought "I think she's crazy--let's not go and talk to her" but thankfully I didn't say that. We went over to talk to her and see if there was anything we could do to help her. It turns out that she actually lived in the same complex as this investigator and she was very sick and couldn't get up the strength to walk over to the gate and into the complex. Sister Hsu picked up her bags and we took her into the gate, where she had to sit down again but we made sure the guards were taking care of her before we left. I think sometimes as a missionary I get too caught up in being effective and efficient and forget that I am a representative of Jesus Christ--who was the Savior of the world. I was so grateful for Sister Hsu and her example of Christlike service!
And then these past several days I have just felt so grateful--mostly for the atoning sacrifice of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the love that our Heavenly Father has for us, but also for this chance I have had to be Their representative and watch as the restored gospel of Jesus Christ changes peoples' lives. Yesterday we were meeting with a new member who has had a difficult life. Even as a new member she was easily offended and didn't like the members in the ward (she got baptized about 2 months ago). Yesterday we asked her how she was doing and instead of going off on a 30 minute spiel about how awful her life is, she said that her life is so good she doesn't even know what to do! She said she still has problems but they don't even feel like problems anymore. She said it is the strangest thing ever!
And then remember Achin from Indonesia? I asked her recently how she was doing, and she said it is the weirdest thing. She has lots of problems and worries about money and her family in Indonesia and so many other things--but for some reason she feels at peace! She paid her tithing and said she wasn't worried about money. She studies the scriptures (and EVERYTHING else we gave her in Indonesian--we just gave her a Preach My Gospel and she LOVES it) every day and she said she feels at peace and knows that God will prepare a way for her.
This is the power of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ! It doesn't change peoples' circumstances, but it changes them. It changes their heart, it changes their thought process, it even changes what they like to do and their goals and their families. Isn't the Lord so merciful?
Sister White
Remember how I said the weather was cooling down here? Well, we have had an unfortunate heat spell--perhaps to remind me once again what summer is like. :) This is the beginning of a new transfer and I am still in Bade but I have a new companion--Sister Pottle. She is really awesome and one transfer younger than me so I knew her in the MTC. It might be dangerous with two such old missionaries in the same companionship :) but we will try to keep it chill.
The most exciting news is that our investigator Yao Yu Er is getting BAPTIZED!!!!! She is 16 and there are 9 children in her family (unheard of in Taiwan) and her parents were not very competent. She has had a very bad family experience but the gospel has really changed her life. It has been so exciting to watch her change over these last several months. She asked me to cut her hair (I will try to include a picture) and she looks like a completely different person now then when I first met her. She is happy and her face is full of light--and I cut her hair so it doesn't cover her face any more so you can actually see her eyes. And she is smiling. I have been so blessed to watch the gospel change people's lives!
I have two main points to share in this email. The first is about a defining moment--you know, one of those 5-minute stretches that changes your life (and your eternity). I was on exchanges with the sisters in Taoyuan and I was with a Sister Hsu, a Taiwanese. We went to an investigator's house but her son had H1N1 so she couldn't meet with us. We were walking away and saw a woman sitting down on the sidewalk with her head between her knees. Sister Hsu said "Do you think she's ok?" and I thought "I think she's crazy--let's not go and talk to her" but thankfully I didn't say that. We went over to talk to her and see if there was anything we could do to help her. It turns out that she actually lived in the same complex as this investigator and she was very sick and couldn't get up the strength to walk over to the gate and into the complex. Sister Hsu picked up her bags and we took her into the gate, where she had to sit down again but we made sure the guards were taking care of her before we left. I think sometimes as a missionary I get too caught up in being effective and efficient and forget that I am a representative of Jesus Christ--who was the Savior of the world. I was so grateful for Sister Hsu and her example of Christlike service!
And then these past several days I have just felt so grateful--mostly for the atoning sacrifice of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the love that our Heavenly Father has for us, but also for this chance I have had to be Their representative and watch as the restored gospel of Jesus Christ changes peoples' lives. Yesterday we were meeting with a new member who has had a difficult life. Even as a new member she was easily offended and didn't like the members in the ward (she got baptized about 2 months ago). Yesterday we asked her how she was doing and instead of going off on a 30 minute spiel about how awful her life is, she said that her life is so good she doesn't even know what to do! She said she still has problems but they don't even feel like problems anymore. She said it is the strangest thing ever!
And then remember Achin from Indonesia? I asked her recently how she was doing, and she said it is the weirdest thing. She has lots of problems and worries about money and her family in Indonesia and so many other things--but for some reason she feels at peace! She paid her tithing and said she wasn't worried about money. She studies the scriptures (and EVERYTHING else we gave her in Indonesian--we just gave her a Preach My Gospel and she LOVES it) every day and she said she feels at peace and knows that God will prepare a way for her.
This is the power of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ! It doesn't change peoples' circumstances, but it changes them. It changes their heart, it changes their thought process, it even changes what they like to do and their goals and their families. Isn't the Lord so merciful?
Sister White
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