April 8, 2013

"Begin each day as a new discovery, and you will never grow old .... you will just grow." 
-(from a birthday card)

Sister Gummow is doing well and growing everyday! She told us more about her native companion and the sacrifices she is making to serve the Lord.  Here are some quotes from this week's email!

"So first of all I got the new CD and I also LOVE it!  Thank you so much.  It was fun to have something new to listen to this week.  I also loved all the updates.  I was actually on an exchange in Shilin at the time and as I read it that night I was just laughing and saying how everyone is getting married.  So crazy and so awesome!  Give them all my best!  I was also happy to see the picture of Sister Dobson (serving in Japan) and my friend Cindy.  I was able to see Cindy and talk to her when we did temple tours.  She told me about seeing Nicole and we were laughing about our time together in Hawaii and how weird it was that I could talk to her in Chinese now ha ha.  We usually get to do temple tours 2 times a transfer.  I love temple tours!  We always see so many miracles... plus Sister Ochoa is a temple sister so sometimes I get to exchange with her when we are there.  She is super wonderful! We get to do temple sessions once every  2 transfers.  Our temple date is coming up next week or the next week... I can't quite remember, but if I don't write one p-day that is why and the email will come on Wednesday.

So my companion sister l.....  She is from zhanghua.  She has an older brother and two younger sisters.  When she was 9, her mom met the missionaries and was baptized.  They were baptized after and a few years later, her dad was baptized.  Her family was very poor and has been blessed so much by the gospel.  She said her family changed so much by joining  the gospel.  She herself is wonderful.  She has some physical limitations, but despite this she really wanted to serve and earned all her own money to go on a mission because her family couldn't support her.  Sometimes our mission goals are not quite the same, but she has been super willing to talk with me.  I feel like we are finally figuring out that the key to companionship unity is communication and practice (role-plays are so great! thank you, John, for helping me see that) haha.  

I am super excited to try and contact M......  She is in my zone right now, so I feel like this is super special and hopefully I will be able to get permission to talk with her.  I will do my best to get her set up with some missionaries too!  who knows I could even get transferred to Shilin next transfer!  One of the sisters is going home so it's a good chance actually :)  

This week was all about improvement and especially goal centered planning.  I have seen so many blessings as we have done our best to use our weekly goals to guide our daily planning.  It has changed so much for us and we are seeing much more success.  Keep praying for l... JM  She is still emailing me and she even fasted and prayed yesterday, despite not being able to go to church.  I have a feeling things will be changing soon.  I am praying with all my might that she will be able to be baptized in the next 2-3 weeks before transfers.  Pray that we can meet this goal or I might not be able to be here to help her :( 

Tell Joanna and our cousins I love them!   - So funny that she has become the new member of the family.  Thank you so much for helping her.  She is wonderful and blessed me so so much while I was here.  I needed her those few weeks while she was here.  Well sorry I don't have much time, but thank you so much for all your advice.  I will try not to stress out too much and I have already seen how much this mission has changed my life.  I have learned and grown so so much!  I know the lord is just going to keep challenging me so I can grow.  Mom, your last letter and notes were very thoughtful.  It was interesting because my other friend sent me some advice about improving relationships too.  It helped me realize that while I may accept and love everyone despite any faults, sometimes we express our love the best by helping each other grow.   It has helped me take a whole new look at the phrase in my purpose "invite others to come unto Christ".  When our mission president asked us who "others" included I realized that others includes not just my investigators, but members, family, companions... everyone! 

I am excited to watch this conference!  It is funny how things that I thought were good before have now become the highlight!  I am so excited to share with everyone that we have a living prophet and they can hear him for themselves this Saturday and Sunday! "tai hao le :)"  I love you all!  "