Happy Birthday Megan and Eveie! yay!
Ahh i have no time today, but here is a quick update. I'll try to send pics but it takes forever. Lets just say this week was one of the most stressful/best weeks ever. Going on exchanges and trying to figure things out for President Day. He really trusts me but that gives me more stress and pressure. eeks. Anyways, I GOT TO SHAKE ELDER HOLLAND'S HAND and 3 other general authorities. Wow what a good Saturday. All 201 missionaries were waiting patiently all ready for Elder Holland to come into the gym to take a group picture. When he came in, we sang Hark All Ye Nations that we memorized last week. Then when he shook my hand, he said "How are you? You look great!" So cool! When he walked in, i felt the spirit so strong. It was crazy. His talk was so powerful I don't even know how to explain. We are so honored to be able to have him speak to us missionaries. some key points to his talk that I loved:
- We are God's investigators. What we expect out of our investigators is what God expects out of us. We got to live what we teach!
- Preach My Gospel was not made for our investigators. It was made to convert us missionaries. It was made for US. Basically missions are more for the missionaries to be converted than for us to convert others. The general authorities want us to go on missions so that when we come back, we are even strong members of the church and become converted. So cool. i loved that perspective. They are investing in us! we are the next generation to take on the work.
- We give everything up and dont take anything back. We give everything that we have to do the work and dont go home with anything or any regrets. When we go home, we will be given back everything we gave up and be replenished so now is the time to sacrifice EVERYTHING. God will give it all back to us. This made me think of ballet, school, friends. soo good.
- Your mission is real life. Salvation is not a cheap experience. Hearing that from his mouth and him being so bold about it was so powerful. We are disciples of Christ so we have to walk where He has walked. A little bit of our mission is to be spent in Gethsemane. We can't resist the suffering. We have to meet it and embrace it because it will make us more like Christ.
I didn't want the night to end. I couldn't sleep before because I was so excited. I will never forget this experience! Once in a life time.
Oh and I hit my year mark! I got to celebrate with my companion. We both came on the island together. We went to this expensive italian/american restaurant that was NOT worth it but it was good. Still fun. and it was SUNNY. The day before, it had rained and rained and rained and we had to bike over a huge bridge to do exchanges in Zhubei. We were wet all day and I couldn't feel my toes! Oh i love taiwan! Today we are going to find the beach on the west coast!!! :)
Oh my, what a wonderful weekend! I loved hearing and seeing Elder Holland along with the other general authorities! It was so good and inspiring and spiritual! I needed it! I still think about and read over my notes from that meeting. What a huge blessing.
As for the work in Xinzhu, it's been going better than it has. We found 7 new investigators this week! We found this really prepared 14 year old girl Lin JM. She set a baptism date with us and she came to church. One thing we are worried about is that her family will fandui her getting baptized. We met her dad briefly but we want to meet her mom. She said that she asked her parents if she could go to church and they didn't seem to mind. She is so awesome and I can see her progressing fast!
We are hoping to have a baptism this Saturday. Chen Yan Xian is the 9 year old boy the elders gave to us last week. We scheduled an interview with him for last Saturday but he didn't show up. We have reminded him everyday prior to the interview and he still forgot. His dad knew too but he also forgot. His dad has some health issues so it is hard for him to remember anything we tell him. Yan Xian's mom is from Cambodia and I had a chance to talk to her on the phone last night. She seems really nice and I want to meet her one day but she is always working. Yan Xian is basically just a 9 year old kid that can do whatever he wants and his parents don't really do anything with him so it's been challenging to make sure he is at church. He is coming to an FHE tonight and after we will do his interview.
Our other progressing investigator, Ou Chen Bo Yan, wrote a letter to his dad expressing how much he wants to get baptized and how the Gospel has blessed him. He finally wrote it! We gave him a goal to finish it by Friday and give it to his dad by yesterday. We called him last night but he didn't answer. His mom is our LA that we are trying to work with as well. We are just praying for a miracle that his dad will let him get baptized. He is so prepared and really wants to get baptized. He reads and prays everyday. We also gave him a 14 day scripture homework thing. He is awesome and hopefully he can get baptized next week.
I love this work and I love being companions with Sister Bennion. She is such a great missionary. We really want to see Xinzhu light on fire! We are hoping to get more baptism dates. We set some dates but sometimes the people die quickly. We want to find more prepared people who actually want this. That is our goal this week. I love being a missionary!
Love
Sister Chao
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