Called To Serve: It's Time to Get Out of The Desert ... Transfer 8: Week 1

...and into the sun."

it's the first week of my eighth transfer. i hope you are all well and not

boycotting me because of last week's email. it wasn't my fault i swear.

all that i wished against happened and sister chen and i are still serving

together in jiayi. through this i've learned that i'm a horrible person. this

move i'm working on charity, charity, charity. when we received our move calls

sister chen squealed with delight. she told me that i'm her best companion yet,

that i'm perfect for her and that she hoped that we wouldn't be separated. a

while before my mission i made the decision that any amount of love deserves

reciprocation. on my mission i've learned that even lack of love deserves

kindness and charity. i think one of my greatest weaknesses is that i learn

things but struggle to put them into action. i'm so grateful that the lord gives

us opportunities to learn what we need to. this move is going to be good. my

companion and i are going to be unified. our mission will work for the glory of

god with one heart and one mind. if ever this move i start complaining or

sounding unfaithful, please remind me of these things.

i have ten days worth to report to you. i'll do my best. first, chlover... happy

belated birthday! i'm sorry that last week, in the chaos of realizing that my

email was lost, i forgot to wish you the best sixteenth birthday our family has

yet seen. how did it go? what did you do? have you gone on a date yet?

last week we had president's interviews. i'm so grateful for wise president hsu.

i used to feel kind of awkward in interviews with him. now i look forward to

them so much. he always uses the funniest examples to describe principles, he

always mentions marriage and my future celestial family, and he always says

really random things. weeks later the things he shares make sense and come

together. this has strengthened my testimony of the spirit of prophecy. he tells

me things that i'm going to need to know in the future. i really love how he

helps us NOW with an ETERNAL perspective. i think that's how all we learn is

supposed to be.

OH MY GOSH! i was just reminded of something i have to tell you. guess who my

district leader is! elder welling! hooray. what a dream come true! elder welling

and elder chen are companions and make up the other half of our jiayi 1st ward

district. cool, huh?

last week i learned important lessons from members. i'm discovering what kind of

member i want to be, and what kind of member the church needs. three things were

really obvious last week--the power of a good visiting teacher, the power of a

member's testimony in a lesson and the power of a good member referral.

missionaries need members. the church needs members. your ward needs members.

members need members. we/you are the kingdom of god and the builders the place

of refuge christ's sheep are seeking. in the last few weeks we've gone with a

sister in our ward, sister zhang, to visit two of the less-actives that she is

assigned to as visiting teacher. she's amazing. she knows them and their

situations. she encourages them and lifts them according to their needs. she

doesn't push to hard, but presents simple opportunities for them to become

involved. for example, on less-active sister made fresh tea for us on the spot

using plants from her garden. this sister hasn't been to church in years, but

when sister zhang suggested that she can teach the relief society how to make

their own tea with simple herbs she accepted. perfect. wonderful! last week we

had a really great lesson chen lin shujun and the friend that she brought last

week. the most powerful part of the lesson was sister su sharing how the gospel

of jesus christ has transformed her family. her experiences are simple and

everyday, just enough to help chen lin shujun and su taitai desire the same

positive influence.

among all of our amazing member present lessons last week, we had the worst

lesson i have ever experienced. i learned a lot from it. it was with a woman

that we met on the street. we were both surprised when we called her to set up

time and she expressed willingness. once we were at the church together, her

disinterest became obvious. she laughed as we bore testimony and read a pamphlet

loudly through the prayer. her facial expression made it really hard for me to

want to share with her my feelings about the savior and his sacrifice. but,

remarkably, throughout the entire lesson my companion and i felt the spirit

confirming to us that the things we said we true. it was up to her to feel the

same. i don't know whether she did or didn't. maybe one day she'll come back to

visit the church. after this lesson i realized a reason why we, as missionaries,

must be worthy of the spirit. it we didn't have his companionship, there is no

way we would be able to face such rejection. there is no way we would be able to

overcome being turned down at every stoplight. the holy ghost offers so much

emotional protection! i never realized it before. i'm so glad that i've had him

with me since the age of eight (with the exception of the times that i in

ignorance, pride and poor judgement chose to build a wall between myself and

revelation and love). i'm so grateful to know that when coming across the trials

that undoubtably lay ahead in my life, i can lean on his support and overcome

all. the church is true!

this week we met two amazing new investigators that i am excited to tell you

about. (i saw amazing a lot. i'm going to have to take on elder wasike's way of

saying it, to make up for how bland overuse has caused it to become.) these

investigators are ammaaaazing. i'll tell you why they stand out among others.

the first is liu jingying. she was a referral we received from the mission

office. her first time meeting with us, she had her mom drive her to the train

station fifteen minutes from their home. then she took a train from minxiong to

jiayi, another 20 minutes. then walked with us to the church. and she's willing

to do it again! she readily accepted the invitation to pray. i can't wait to get

to know her better. she's about 21 and really cute.

the secong is liu wenhui. we met her on the street. she met with us at the

church then wouldn't leave until our next lesson came. like she wanted to just

stay at the church. i've never experienced that with a new investigator before.

she's going to vietnam to do service for the next three weeks. i really hope

(and pray) that she'll read the book of mormon during that time. i know that if

she does, her testimony will quickly start to develop.

this email is shorter than i had hoped. i spent some time helping elder chen

with his byu-h admissions essay. i'll tell you about all of our investigators

and their progress next week. i love you. phoebe, i'll take pictures of our

investigators and send them soon.

love you all! muah!

sister jade

ps- german pancakes have been a hit in the us, iceland and now taiwan! yeah! i

made them the other day for a new member. and topped half of them with sauteed

onions and mushrooms and the other half with cinnamon sugar apples that i made.

pps- i've been a missionary for a year!!!

Called To Serve