6/02/13

Wo de jiating! Ni hao! Zao'an! (or I guess maybe Wan'an for you... lol)

This week was good. We worked hard.

The biggest miracle was Qin Jiemei getting baptized Saturday night. Her whole decision to finally get baptized was a complete miracle, then she actually did so! And Sister Sutton got to see her get baptized before she moves so it was great. It was really cool to hear her testimony since in it she said this was her 3rd baptismal goal and she figured she better do all she could to meet it, that she felt like she had to be baptized THAT day. I think a lot of it was that Sister Sutton had to be able to see that baptism, we both needed that perk-up. We also had our 8 year old investigator, Yang meimei, pass her baptismal interview! So I'm really excited for her baptism this coming weekend.

Another really cool miracle was that Saturday we had set with 1 referral to start meeting and Elder Forbes and Elder Sabey had set another contact for the same time (they often set appointments for us...), however we weren't really worried since the people tend to not actually come and she didn't answer her phone so we hadn't found her a peike to split up. However, we get to the church and not only are the 2 appointments there, the set up the Elders did actually brought her friend! Another miracle associated with that was that the Elders also had an appointment at the same time and their peike's friend had brought him to the church and was willing to help Sister Sutton by being a peike for her lesson!

This week truly was full of miracles. We've been trying to use the Book of Mormon more in contacting and Friday we ended up with a lot of time to contact, which is very unusual for us. Well, we went to Xinban to contact and ended up basically talking to EVERYONE on the way (also relatively new for us) and taught 5 no prayer lessons, 1 or 2 other lessons but the biggest miracle was that day we handed out 4 copies of the Book of Mormon. 4 more people now have the opportunity to read God's word and feel of His love and spirit, but most of all, that have the opportunity to truly start coming unto Christ!!! It was incredible and we now have a goal to use the Book of Mormon more and to ensure more people have 1. Elder Allred told us in district meeting this week that if every missionary hands out 2 copies of the Book of Mormon a day, it would take about 91 years for all of Taipei to have their own copy of the Book of Mormon and thereby the potential to be baptized. I'm taking that challenge head-on, I can't imagine 91 years of waiting for this blessing of the gospel, that's someone's entire life basically!

As I said, Sister Sutton will be moving areas, she's also training again! I however get to keep chilling out and working hard in TuCheng area. I feel very blessed since I'll most likely have baptisms the next 2 weekends from our hard work and Sister Sutton may not be able to experience them. That'll be 3 weekends in a row of baptisms! Just need to get 2 more to have June have a baptism every single weekend... lol. Regardless, I feel blessed to have 1, I know I'm blessed exponentially to have several. I truly feel blessed in this work, especially as I see what I've learned from my life experiences blessing the lives of others.

The heart-breaking moment this week was that our other Annie, the miracle I had from my second week here in Taiwan has officially told us not only does she not want to be baptized but she also has no desire to keep learning the gospel. It was a good experience to have with Sister Sutton, as she pointed out we started Annie together at the beginning of our time and we both ended with her and that experience was a very special one. Heart-breaking as it was and as much as I wish she'd chosen differently, I wouldn't take it back. I'll still keep praying for and loving her and I truly believe someday she will accept the gospel. No day soon probably but someday.

Our other investigators are mostly progressing pretty well. I love meeting with our other Annie. She truly is incredible. She's another referral from Elder Forbes and Elder Sabey and I love her to pieces! Her biggest challenge thus far has been understanding the Book of Mormon and now with the Word of Wisdom, she likes her tea and coffee... Welcome to Taiwan.

Anyway, that's about it for this week. I hope all is well with you all. Love you! Vaya con Dios!

Wo feichang ai nimen-o!

Sister Kim Thomsen/Tang Mei Xing Jiemei

P.S. that's something else for you... you add the o's to the wrong language, that's not Spanish, that's Taiwan's chinese! Lol! They add o or a to the end of almost everything "ai ni-o" "bye-bye-o" "xiao xin-o" lol. I love it! :)