12/23/13

Hello!

Yes, welcome back to Xizhi, the land of never-ending rain. No joke. It's probably rained every day for close to two weeks now, at least. So hard to stay warm and dry! Yuck!

This last week was really good. It was hard since we lost an investigator, but Heavenly Father blessed us with a new one and another former that came back! Such a blessing! The former that returned is Chen Jiemei. She has apparently met with missionaries several times through the years but always leaves. However, we had an incredible lesson with her on Friday, which was a miracle. I'd called her the night before and she said she could come. However, I called her Friday morning when she was late. She told me she'd be there in 10 minutes. But after 15 minutes came and went, I decided to go contacting. I was really sad since this is the second time she'd fanged us. So we contacted for about 15 minutes since that was all the time we had left before lunch and headed back to our bikes. I was sad to look at my watch and see that it was still 2 minutes to noon, I felt like I'd wasted 2 minutes of Heavenly Father's time since there was no one in the vicinity to contact. Well, I put on my raincoat and turned around and a woman walked up. Lo and behold, Chen Jiemei showed up! Just 45 minutes late! But we had an incredible lesson with her. I said the prayer and when I finished I looked up to see her crying because lately, she's feeling like she's not "enough." Exactly what Sister Brown shared with us in Temple Tour Training! It was so incredible to see her countenance slowly change as she began to regain some hope. We will meet with her again this Friday and I'm so excited for it!

We also found a lady that hit a really soft spot in my heart. She's ill and now physically handicapped. Her name is Xie Jiemei. I felt really bad when we finally went back to see her last night because she said she was just waiting and waiting for us last week since I'd said we'd probably be able to come back last Friday or Saturday but time got away from us and we never had the chance. She's already Christian and loves reading the bible. It's been interesting both times we've gone to visit her...

Also, on temple tours, I feel like Heavenly Father really answered prayers I didn't even know I was praying. We ended up talking to a guy about serving a mission. He wants to go but feels like he can't for many reasons. It was amazing to me to be able to share the amazing miracles, blessings, and experiences I've received. Also, to once again be able to talk to Sister Brown, one last time about everything. I feel like we've truly cleared the air between us and all that we have left is love. Yes, we had a hard companionship. No, I don't want to repeat that experience, but it's good to know she'll be going home with love in her heart for and from me, that we're just good friends now. I feel like that companionship taught me so much. It was hard, but also probably the companionship that has taught me the most. Such a blessing! So many blessings this week!

Hope this e-mail finds all of you well and happy! Merry Christmas!!! Jiayou!

Wo ai ni!

Sister Thomsen