This week was a roller coaster again but with
more ups than downs. Another week that I can't help but praise my God.
He has been so good to us, I will forever be grateful to Him.
To start off with, Monday we had an awesome miracle out contacting
after p-day. We were knocking doors and had many shut in our faces, as
usual. But as we got to one of the last houses on the street, I'd
started singing "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" (yea, I know, never
thought you'd hear ME say I was singing a Christmas song in the middle
of the year...) and we knocked another door. We of course did the usual
"we're missionaries and sharing a happy message that we'd like to share
with you." The funny thing is, this sweet lady then looked at us and
asked "are you going to sing for me? That was you I just heard singing
right?" We told her we'd be more than happy to sing for her and so she
called her daughter down to let us sing for them and share our message
with them. They don't have a specific religion but they more follow the
traditional taiwan buddhist/daoist traditions but were more than willing
to let us come back. It was a huge miracle. Right after we walked out
of their house we were just overwhelmed with joy. Funny thing is, a guy
was getting out of his car and my companion was talking to him. Lo and
behold, he's a member picking up his children. His daughter was so
excited to see the sister missionaries, it was super cute. I feel like
he's also an LA too, but we're not quite sure. It was really cool.
On Tuesday we had another awesome miracle. We were supposed to go
english boarding but had a wrench temporarily thrown in our plans so
decided to go knocking nearby. As we're slowly walking up the street a
man looked at us and asked "are you Christians?" Of course we told him
yes so he walked to a door nearby, threw it open and said "come on in."
Sadly his wife was busy and so we couldn't visit them but he's more than
willing to let us come back. It was just really cool to have someone so
excited to see us and be welcoming. I guess this late in my mission, I
can still have some firsts. :P Another first happened that night on the
way home when Sister Singh used the "finger of faith" My companion
stopped at a red light and pointed across the street, asking if the lady
would stop there (why it's the finger of faith) and she did! We then
had an amazing lesson with this beautiful daughter of God who really
needs the gospel in her life. She's had a really hard life. Her dad
passed away I don't know how long ago and her brother has cancer. She
said she's also been sick too. This poor girl was once Christian but
felt that God had abandoned her or just didn't exist so hasn't prayed in
years. It broke my heart, especially since her story had a familiar
ring to me. I was grateful to be able to promise to her that God is
listening and would answer her prayers, that He'd help her through it.
Then we got to hear her say one of the most beautiful prayers ever
heard. It was amazing!!!
Wednesday was a harder day with little success. Sadly, on top of it
one of the elders here got in a bike accident. Luckily he's okay, just
got a sprained ankle but I think it drove it a little closer to home for
all of us missionaries again since summer's here and so more people are
out and they drive crazier than ever. We're blessed we missionaries
always have guardian angels :) It was also sad for me to hear that from
his companion since I've been with this Elder since he moved to Xizhi 4
transfers ago so we've served in the same area for 5 transfers. It's
always crazy when you get those reminders. I promise I'm being safe
though so no panicking :)
Thursday was also a rougher day in general. But that night we got
to go eat good food at a member's house with many of the amazing friends
I've made here. I really enjoyed it. This week it's hit me again
exactly how blessed I am with the friends I've made, they really are
friends of eternity, not for the brief space that I'm a missionary and
it's truly incredible.
Friday we had another awesome miracle. Several in fact. But I think
my favorite (and one of my favorites all week, probably because I have a
soft spot for LAs) happened while we were english boarding. We wanted
to english board at a school but ended up being 40 minutes early so
decided to go to a small lane nearby and knock and english board. Well,
we got to an area I've been before with Sister Wu a long time ago and
gave a lady an english tract. As we walked away, I realized she had our
church sticker on her door and I knew she was one of the lost sheep, I
could feel it. We walked away and Sister Singh and I just stopped and
talked about it. I told her she was a lost sheep and her response was
"dang it, I knew I should've talked to her. I knew I should've followed
the spirit (funny how you always know after that it was the spirit)" So
we decided to go back and talk to her. She really was an LA that has
struggled a lot. She's younger (in her 30s) and felt like a misfit at
church. I think she also never really had a strong foundation so it was
easy to fall away. She was happy to meet with us and let us come again. I
think she really can come back. One thing that struck me Friday and
Saturday was that twice we heard members (one less active and one
semi-active) tell us "I thought the church had forgotten about me."
Broke my heart. Heavenly Father really does lead us to the prepared, and
sometimes those prepared are already members that need a little boost.
Saturday was a huge miracle day. It started out by visiting the
semi-active member that I think is struggling a lot. She talked about
how the missionaries used to always visit her so I think at some point
the ward really worried about her. She's originally from vietnam and is
divorced with a little boy who is now 8. I feel like her son is probably
a little on the special side and they just need a little extra
encouragement. We've decided we're going to keep visiting and helping
them, let them know that even if the church has forgotten about them,
their Father in Heaven most certainly hasn't.
After that member, we went to visit an LA in YingGe and that was
pretty incredible too, she's progressing. She looked happier than I've
seen her since I came here and really, we both agree that she's doing
better in general. It's amazing. We also met some really awesome people
contacting that day. But that night we had another "finger of faith
experience." A girl had stopped next to me at a light and I had a couple
seconds to talk to her then asked if she'd be willing to pull over and
talk for a bit. Then we were also able to teach her about prayer. It was
incredible! Heavenly Father has blessed us so much this
week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Another cool miracle I just heard about is that one of my really
stubborn investigators in TaiDong that we all knew would get baptized
but just didn't know when got baptized next week. A huge miracle. I'm
super grateful for it :) Yep, I'm definitely blessed!!!
I also loved as I was looking back through old journals last night
and could see the change from then to now. I definitely feel a lot
different now and that's a huge miracle in and of itself. I love this
amazing blessing and that I can see it. Missions are awesome, they
really do change lives, most of all the missionary's life. I will be
forever grateful for this amazing experience I've had.
Sorry for such a long novel this week, but I wanted to share my
awesome experiences with ya'll. Hope this finds you well! Keep working
hard and taking care of yourselves. Jiayou!
Love you!
Sister Thomsen
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