Thursday, March 19, 2009

you wierdo transfer 9: Week 3

i can't believe it's already week three. time goes by so fast. too fast. 
  
"you weirdo!" and "you're so weird." are the what i've heard from my companion 
more than anything else (beside her testimony). i'm working on deciding whether 
or not what she says is true. am i really that weird? i can hear you all 
answering as i type this. mom would say no. dad would hesitate and say sort of, 
sometimes. lauren would laugh and say yes when i dance in the kitchen. chloe 
would say yes with more umph than any others. phoebe and naomi would say no, 
because they love me the most. 
  
this week has had some exciting things happen, and some really great points.. 
last night we got a few special announcements. (elder welling made us think they 
were opening china then made us wait hours before hearing what was really 
happening. we're still kind of mad, but not really.) a. elder bednar is coming 
in april and will be here for our mission conference!! b.. on july  1 when pres 
and sis hsu go home the three missions in taiwan will be rearranged into two. 
some bad blood exists between taichung and kaohsiung missionaries, so president 
hsu is working hard to fix that before all of the kaohsiung missionaries become 
taichung missionaries. the change will not affect me, so i'm neutral. 
  
this week we had an amazing zone conference. all zone conferences are amazing. i 
love them. president hsu told us that elder perkins observed that our mission 
has developed a culture of strict obedience and diligence and that because of 
this we can "boldly call upon the powers of heaven" for blessings, support, 
miracles, etc. i think that after hearing this all of us were so excited and 
happy that we'll be even more obedient and diligent and BOLD. i think we'll see 
great things in the next few months. i look forward to it.
  
jiayi has seen some great things. we have some amazing new investigators. i'm 
trying to not get too excited, but i am. they seem so great, so ready. one- chen 
yujun called our house on monday morning and asked for two sisters that were 
here more than a year ago. we told her they were gone but asked if she would 
want to meet with us. she said yes and met us at the church the next day. what 
an example of someone who has been prepared! she met with sister hafen (died my 
first move) and sister brayton (died before i got on island) once but felt it 
wasn't for her. lately she's been thinking about them and is ready to learn 
more. more than a year has passed and she still remembers them. way cool! this 
is comforting and reminds me that our efforts are not wasted, even when we don't 
see fruits immediately.
yu peizhen found two jobs this week! so she's going to start saving money to 
move out! miracles. our god is a god of miracles. i love him. he loves us.
luo qianrong will have her baptismal interview on friday! and then will be 
baptized on the 29th with her little sister. we're still working on her mom. i 
don't understand her. we reviewed commandments a few days ago. she was able to 
say exactly what each commandment entails, but fails to live them. i think 
qianrong is such a blessing in their home and keeps them afloat. i'm sure her 
baptism (and her sister yixuan's) will bring even more blessings to their 
familiy.
huang chunlan, karen was inactive when i came. now she comes to church every 
week and has invited us to bring investigators over to her home for dinner. 
she's so much happier now! i swear she changes for the better with every 
sacrament meeting.
  
only a few minutes left. i want to mention somethink i've learned lately... i 
found an amazing sentence in preach my gospel. "keeping covenants give you 
power." !!! that is true for every member. i've discovered this week more then 
before that everything we learn in the mission field is directly applicable to 
our lives as members. each member has made covenants. i think we can say each 
person on earth has made promises to god, we just don't remember them. before we 
came we promised to live valiently and strive to return to our father. at 
baptism we promise to take on christ's name and keep commandments. in the temple 
we further commit to being a disciple of christ. and when we are sealed to our 
families we promise to work with them and for them throughout our lives. doing 
these things GIVES US POWER! power to overcome temptation, trials, weaknesses, 
the natural man. not just any power, and not our own power, but divine power. 
god's perfect power. i know that this is true! i know heavenly father wants to 
bless him, just just have to create a situation in which he can! 
  
i only have one minute. i love you all. thankk you for everything!
  
love,
sister jade o. 

 

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