April 14, 2014
Hello family!
Well it has been quite a busy week here in Taiwan. Between last Sunday and this Sunday we traveled to Taipei 6 out of 7 days! What a busy busy week full of meetings, meetings, and more meetings. However God was good to us and we saw lots of miracles.
Last Monday night we hit the street to go contacting and meet a nice man who is also Christian. he told us that he admired us because he also use to be a missionary for his church and he knows that it is not easy. We talked with him about the BOM and the Bible and how our church reads them both.
That night we really were focusing on finding families! Through that effort we were able to get 3 numbers of families. They were in too much of a rush to talk then but they said we could call them this week. I can't wait to follow up with them this week.
Tuesday morning we had our zone conference. This month our mission is really focusing on using the BOM in every contact and lesson. I really enjoyed the training and have seen many miracles from using the BOM in every lesson and contact.
That night we set out to contact and see miracles. We decided that we would go to the exercise park near our house. It is not a place we usually go because it is hard to get people to listen as they are running around the tract or stretching. However, that night I told Sister Beazer we are going to go find a new friend there.
We went there and started walking and meet a nice man named Zhuang DX. He is 24 years old and is a social worker! We walked with him around the track 6 times (a mile and a half) while sharing with him the 1st lesson. It was so much fun! He was really sincere. We shared with him the first lesson as we had been trained that morning. We asked him what you know about baptism. He told us that it is when we promise with God. It is also becoming clean. I almost had a heart attack right there. I told him you are the first person who I have meet that has told me that. We then invited him to be baptized on May 3 and he thought for a minute and told us May 4 is my birthday so that weekend I will not be in town. I was amazed because I could see in his eyes he was really thinking about our invite. We then asked him May 10 he told us YES!!! We will be meeting with him this Thursday and I am so excited!
Wednesday we had Temple Tour Square training!!! It is so nice to have that many sister in one place.
The temple sisters trained us on the refiners fire used lots of quotes from Elder Christofferson's talk "As many as I love I rebuke and Chasten". (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2011/04/as-many-as-i-love-i-rebuke-and-chasten?lang=eng&query=The+lord+chastens+those+he+love
It was really cool because I read the talk a few days before. They shared with us the story about a women watching a silver smith. I don't know where the story is but it is cool. I will have to tell you more later.
You should try to look it up. So good.
Then Sister Day trained us and it was so powerful. She asks us to think for a minute and write down why we came on a mission. She then asks us to close our eyes and not peak. We then open our eyes a few minutes later and she has this life size poster of the Savior. She told us you should be here because of him. It really touched me and I re dedicated myself to my mission.
President Day is always my favorite from these training because he talks about the temple. He really helps us think deeply about all that goes on in the temple. He can't tell us a lot but he tells us what he can and then says you got to go and search for yourselves!!! I can't wait to go to the temple this transfer!!
Later that day we were able to meet with Peng JM one of our less actives. She has not been to church in 30 years! We decided to use the training from Tuesday and read with her from the BOM as part of the lesson. She gets out her BOM and I realize that she has been inactive a long time. Her BOM was the Momenjing not the new translated Moermenjing. We gave her a new BOM and she is excited to read it.
She really has a long way to go but I am excited to work with her and help her have desire to come back into the fold.
Friday we went to Jin Hua Jie and did Temple Square Tours!! I was so happy miracles abound at the Temple!!! We had nothing scheduled that day and so we set out to contact and see miracles!
We went to Da An Gong yuan a HUGE HUGE park near the temple. We were there for only an hour and a half but saw lots of miracles!
The first lady we met was Li JM. She is also a Christian. She asked us I don't understand the difference between Mormons and our church. That is a question missionaries love to hear because we have an answer for that! We shared with her the first lesson. She told us that she is not interested in meeting but will go read the pamphlet we gave her. She told us she is scared because all of her family goes to their Christian church and have been going for years. Change is hard.
The next lady we ran into was an a ma (grandma). She was so cute and it turns out that her son in a member of our church in California. She is like I have a BOM and when I was sick once my son called the man here and they came and gave me a blessing. We talked with her about the blessing of eternal families. She is so cute!!
The next person we meet was a Chen DX he actually lived in Chicago for 20 years. We chinglished (half English half Chinese) it with him. He told us that he likes to study religious history as a hobby. He told us I know Joseph Smith and Brigham Young bringing the people to Utah. We had an interesting talk with him. We shared with him the introduction from the BOM and afterwards he said can I have this book? We told him of course you can. He even gave us his information to give to the missionaries where he lives. He seems really prepared.
That night we had another cool miracle. We both really felt that we really could have one more lesson before we go. We set out and talked to everyone but no one was really interested. We were heading back because it was about time to go home. I see this man sitting outside a family mart. We walk past and then I turn around and introduce myself. He then goes I am Chen DX too. It turns out that he is also a Christian. He asks us are there any activities at your church? I took that opportunity to tell him about Conference the next day. My companion told me later I wasn't going to mention that. It surprised me when you did. We shared with him the first lesson and he gave us his information and gave it to the sisters in his area! I am excited to see how he progresses.
Saturday was wonderful being able to watch Conference and the Women's session. I loved it ALL!! I really loved Elder Holland's talk. What a great way to start conference. He is such a powerful speaker!
I loved how now it is a general women's conference. It really seemed this conference they aimed a lot of the things towards the youth but the adults can still get it. I really love how they are unifying the church by taking away the age barriers in a way.
Saturday night we only had 30 minutes to contact and we set a goal to have one lesson and one new investigator. We started walking and we see this girl at the bus stop. We strike up a conversation with her. We end up sharing with her the 1st lesson. We recite Joseph Smith's first vision and then ask what do you feel/ think when you hear that. She ask God is real? I forgot to mention she is only 15!! I told her I know that God is real! We invited her to be baptized on May 10 and she accepted! We will be meeting with her this week.
Sunday a cool personal miracle. The night before I really prayed that I would see a familiar face at conference. I was just feeling down and needed a friendly face. God answered my prayers in an unusual way. I am waiting in the foyer of Jin Hua Jie waiting to see if LA's come to church. Then I see a white girl on crutches making her way in. The English ward also meet at JIn Hua Jie. Back to story she comes in and asks is English on the first floor. We tell her no 3rd. She goes tanks and starts walking away. I then realize that we should head up. We catch up with the girl and ask what happened to your foot She told us she sprained her ankle in Brazil while on her mission. It turns out that she also waited for bit and served in Colorado for 7 months then finally gets to Brazil and on the first day sprang her ankle. 3 weeks later they ship her to Taiwan because her family moved her during her mission.
I was like that is so sad. She then ask where are you two sisters from. I tell her VA. She asks where in VA? I tell her Fairfax and she goes no way I am from Alexandria. She asks do you know Josh Powers, Roy Copans, Nick Stevens. I tell her yes. She told me I hung out with them sometimes. We hit it off after that and had a nice time talking before conference started. Her name is Tori Hancock. She was in the McClean stake. She also knows Duncan Hartt.
This experience really reminded me that God loves me and knows how to comfort me.
Sunday afternoon we meet with Wang JM our Less active. She is doing ok. Her baby has been in the hospital 3 days but will be leaving today. We are sad because she has been meeting with missionaries from other churches. She told us they tell me that you are not Christian. We told her that the most important thing is her relationship with God. We read with her from the BOM and then invited her to again pray and ask God if this is his church. I know that she will get an answer if she sincerely prays. We will be following up with her tonight.
We decided that the theme for this transfer is Miracle finders because miracles abound when you look for them.
Time is almost up. I wish I could write more. I love you all! I love this church but most importantly I know it is true. I know that God hears and answers our prayers.
Love
Eliza
P.S. The temple sisters also shared with us this video as they talked about the refiners fire. LOVE IT. I feel like that all the time I don't want to be a current bush I want to be an apple tree!
