Despite transfers this week, Sister Gummow continues to serve in Neihu with her companion that she has been with for just 3 weeks. They are doing great and having a bit more success this week!
As a result of Sara's email last week, we were able to be part of a "tender mercy" this past week. Sara connected us in January with a recent member, J..... that she met at Christmas time who returned to Provo for school. We had J.... over for Chinese New year and Sara has been teaching J....'s mother who had Sara and her companion over for the New Year in Taiwan - so we just traded children for awhile. Well, J... texted last Sunday and was having a rough week so we invited her over for Easter. She was in our thoughts and prayers all week and as Sara requested in her email last week, we made contact with one of Sara's High School friends who served in Neihu a few years ago and got some advice from him. Well, after a few facebook messages with him and texts with J...., I found out that Sara's High School friend was one of the missionaries that baptized J.... !! When J..... came over for Easter, we were able to reunite her with the missionary that baptized her and his new wife! What a wonderful lift that was for J.... during her discouraging times. What fun it was to be part of this "Tender Mercy!"
Here are some quotes from Sister Sara Gummow's email this week:
"So good to hear from you! Things have been going well in Neihu. It was a bit of a tough few weeks. It seems like all of our investigators pretty much died. We were having a tough time finding, plus my companion has like epilepsy (at least that is what the cell phone translated). She is super great, but we can do a super fast schedule because she will get really tired. Nevertheless, the Lord knows when we are doing our best. We saw so many miracles. The thing is - this week I decided to ask for some. As I was obedient and really worked my hardest, I saw the Lord answering our prayers. We had a few Less Actives respond to us and allow us to meet with them. We also had a cool miracle this Sunday. A new person showed up in the back so we went to talk to her. Turns out her member is a friend in another ward. She has a sincere desire to learn and set her own baptism date for the 27th of February. She is super great! I still am not sure about what her needs are, but I know the lord will help us as we meet with her. I am also excited to find these two L/A's that Jared gave me. I hope we can find them :) I will ask around. I can't believe he got to see Joanna!
I loved the Easter pictures! The Easter activity was very very fun! The Eclair recipe was an interesting adventure... we didn't have an electric beater so the consistency was super hard to get right, but it was a funny adventure trying to beat it fast enough and the elders had fun with it. It wasn't necessarily a success, but it was ok and fun experience. Deviled eggs was good too though apparently pepper is hard to find. ha ha I think almost any american recipe is a little hard here sometimes, but we had fun with it. We also got to meet 3 people who could potentially become investigators so that was super great! I also got to see Tsai Jei Mei. She visited for the program! So strange to see her returned. It is strange to think about! I really really do love being a missionary.
I'm so glad Joanna was able to have Easter with you guys as well. I know the Lord is really watching out for all of His children. Mom you are so wonderful! I can't wait to tell Joanna's mom about the experience. I love you!!!
This week I also discovered the lord has a sense of humor. So I have been struggling with the whole language barrier lately. I have been wondering if it will ever be as comfortable for me and I can enjoy Sunday as much as I do in the USA. So as I sat there, I just asked for a small miracle. I just wanted on this Sunday to be able to have the gift of tongues and really understand the talks and stuff. I was able to listen a bit better and we had this new investigator come... but as the ward choir stood up to sing they sang an "I am a child of God/I believe in Christ" melody... in English! I knew it was an answer to my prayer. Though not quite what I had expected - I felt like I was at home for just a minute. Though the Lord may not always answer our prayers how we expect He will answer them! "
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