i can't believe it's the last week of this move. crazy! the last week has been a
good one, an amazing one, so far. we have some amazing investigators, actually
never in my mission have i had so many investigators with so much potential.
yesterday we had 7 lessons, tomorrow we have 6 planned. jiayi is good to me.
three of the best we have these days are member referrals. MEMBER REFERRALS ARE
THE GREATEST THING EVER! SHARE THE GOSPEL WITH YOUR FRIENDS.
-yu peizhen. i'm sure i've mentioned her. she won't be able to make her
baptismal date, march 6, but i think it's better this way. we have a member that
is a great help and a great challenge. she pressured us into the date, but my
companion and i both think peizhen won't be ready. a little bit later will be
better. yesterday we shared with her about the importance and gravity of
baptism. right now the biggest obstacle is that she lives with her boyfriend of
3 years. she has pretty much been abandoned by family, is without many friends
and has no job. so, he's about all she's got. when we taught the law of chastity
she said she'd try her hardest. i believe her, she's honest and sincere. but to
be baptized she'll either have to move out or get married. i think the next few
weeks will be interesting as far as helping her prepare goes.
-chen jing. we met her last week. she read a copu of the liahona and the booklet
"3 simple ways to a happier family" at a member's restaurant. she's amazing and
so prepared. in the two times that we've met with her she has shared a lot of
her ideas and perspectives. they always seem to be right in line with our
doctrine. friends from the christian church she attends try to persuade her not
to meet with us. they tell her that we're a cult and practice polygamy. she
responds by asking them how much of our doctine they understand. right now her
biggest question is why does everyone hate us so much. we struggle to answer
concretely because we're baffled too.
-shen katherine. she grew up in america, in a baptist family. they work to
persuade her the same her the same way chen jing's friends do. but she has a
similar attitude and wants to understand for herself first. the first time she
came to the church the ward rallied around her and made her feel really at home.
i know that this helped a lot. i think sometimes we as members forget our role
as vehicles of heavenly father's love. think about it this way. how easy would
it be for someone in a barren room with not acquaintances to feel god's care for
them? not easy, we need each other to help us see his love. we can be his love
on earth. i invite you to love someone this week, in order to help them feel
heavenly father's love for them!
on thursday we're meeting a fourth member referral. the member, lin jixuan, is a
recent convert found by elder peterson, my friend's brother. she says that her
friend is really anxious and excited to meet with us, which in turn makes us
anxious and excited to teach her.
other investigators are doing well too.
-gao xiaoting came to church on her own this sunday. her desire seems to be more
and more, she just struggles to hear heavenly father's answers. last week we had
a really great lesson about recognizing blessings and promptings rather than
brushing them off as coincidence.
-li peixuan will be baptized next month. she's 9 and adorable. she reminds me so
much of phoebe and naomi.
-luo qianrong will also be baptized next month. her mom is still a challenge.
they intentionally stood us up on sunday to go to dinner. i think some parents
struggle to see that they may be in the way of their children's salvation. that
sounds harsh. but qianrong's mom is a member. we still don't know why she's
being the way she is. we're grateful that they're coming to church lately.
-luo yuchun went missing in action after chinese new year. i called on a whim on
sunday and she answered. then she accepted the invitation to come to a family
home evening on monday. we'll see how the rest of the week goes.
-lin yujing is seventeen and may have bisexual tendencies, but each time we meet
with her she seems less interested in america and more interested in the gospel.
there are more but these are the ones that i'm most excited about these days.
i'm excited to know that i'll probably stay in jiayi next move! i love this
city.
why will i stay in jiayi you ask? the wards are kind of a mess and need
consistency.
last week we met with the first ward relief society president. i walked out not
feeling like a missionary, more like a high school student. the "discuss how to
help less-actives" meeting was a "ward gossip" hour. we were told not to visit
certain people because if they come back to church it may negatively affect the
ward. i refuse to not visit members beause their children have offended active
member.
last week we also met wtih the third ward relief society president. this meeting
was opposite. she wouldn't tell us anything! i tried to run through the members
we're assigned to visit. it was like this...
"we're not sure how to help her. do you know much about her situation."
"i know her circumstances." =long pause=
"so, how can we help her come back to church? do you know why she doesn't come?"
"yes, i know why she doesn't come." =long pause=
this is how it went with about every member we "discussed". i'm not sure why
there is such a big barrier there. i'm grateful she's actually speaking to us,
she used to blatantly ignore the sister missionaries so i made lots of cookies
and wrote lots of thank you notes for her service.
time is almost up. things are great here. yesterday we celebrated sister chen's
birthday. i treated her to a thai lunch and the elders helped me surprise her
during dinner. i have never seen so much silly string in my life. my english
class is cute. i love them. they call me ozawa as if it were my first name and
they ask me funny things. one asked, "what are the requirements for your
husband?" i laughed out loud. the next week one brought a ny times article for
me about finances and their affect on marital bliss. crazy taiwanese housewives.
oh really quick... remember how in pingdong my lip swelled. same thing happened
last night to my arm. my left wrist is about twice as large as normal size.
weird. i'll update you on MONDAY!
love you all. write a couple of days early next week.
muah!
sister jade.
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