Dear Family,
Soooo this week I am learning more and more about relying on the Lord for His timing and learning that He makes up for our time as well. There was one week that we had to go to Taipei and exchanges in Hualian so we weren't in our area for 3 full days, but the Lord let us meet so many awesome people that week and we taught so many lessons. Our numbers were so high that week and I know it was because the Lord knew we didn't have time, so He let us see so many miracles. I have noticed the same pattern over and over since then.
Sometimes we will go tracting for like 2 hours and not meet anyone and teach maybe one or two lessons, but sometimes we only have 10 min and we meet the prepared peoplｅ ... good example of this is one day we finished a lesson a little late so our finding time changed from maybe 30 min to about 10. We decided we should try anyway so we went down the street for a few minutes and ran into some little kids. Two of the little girls mom came outside. We got her number and left it at that. On Saturday we thought maybe calling up some of our potentials would be good. Not going to lie - at this point I had forgotten who she was, but I called and invited them to church... then they came! Sooo crazy. It was so funny... unfortunately her kids were bored and didn't like church so they haven't come back, but we have started meeting with them and they love it. They set a baptismal goal as a family and started praying often. It is all super super new to them, but I can really see them changing and she said every time she prays, her Faith becomes good again. It is exciting to see the gospel start to change peoples lives. Our past two weeks of finding have actually almost all been from potentials. It makes me realize how important every single one of the people we meet are. It is cool having been here for so long. Sometimes I will just remember people we used to meet with or someone I met on the street and think I need to try them again. The lord really know when people are ready.
Another example is we have an investigator named Y...... Her family is "yi guang dao" ( I'm not sure exactly what church that is to translate, but basically they believe in one light and everything is good... it is similar to Buddhism but different...) and her husband is a traditional religion (Buddhism). When we started meeting with her she was really nice to us, but it was hard to teach her anything. She just wanted to chat and she didn't really understand anything we were talking about. It took us maybe 1 month and a half for her to really start praying. Every time she would say she was just not used to it and she was busy... but last time we came we brought one of her neighbors who is our neighbor and she was waiting with her Book of Mormon and pamphlets out. She has been trying to pray and she is still not used to it, but she wants to try. Even better a huge motivation for her to learn the gospel is her family and this member and her started talking and that is all the member testified of - is how the gospel blessed her family. We didn't even get to start the lesson for a good 20 min while they were talking, but I knew that that was exactly why the member came. Even better they figured out that they know each other... their husbands are friends so she had seen her before. Y.......... invited her to come over whenever she had time and said she thinks it was fate. Sooo cool because last time our member at the lesson also knew her daughter from school and discovered her husband worked with one of our other members.... the lord truly prepares people to hear the gospel.
I have a huge testimony of the influence of members on investigators because right now all our solid investigators that are progressing are doing so because they have seen how amazing our members are and they love that feeling. They may not be used to it or understand, but they like being with our members and they can feel this is a good thing. Also my testimony of the fact that you never give up on investigators. Sometimes they need to rest for a little bit, but because we have kept up so much diligence in teaching and friend shipping these people we have 3 families who are progressing in the gospel.
It is so much more effective to have them learn as a family. One of those families is my sister, wen jei mei. She has the same last name as me and we love each other ha ha, but at first it was just her learning, but she was afraid of her husband, so we started friend shipping him too and then they started coming to our church activities. Last night we went to have dinner at their house and invited them to learn about the gospel as a family and invited them to baptism. The husband wasn't sure about baptism, but he said he likes us and thinks this is a good thing so he is OK with us coming and teaching them and they said they would start praying as a family. Even better wen jei mei said that he has changed so much already and she loves it. Sooo awesome how the lord works. I have been meeting with her since I came, but now I really feel like things are moving in a good direction, but if we hadn't have had all those months of building that foundation, the invite would not have been the same. The lord knows where we are supposed to be and who we are supposed to teach. I am only worried now that next transfer I may be moving, but I know the lord will work things out here too.
We went from 1 progressing investigator last week to 7... all of whom are newly progressing. All 3 are families! So awesome and we are so happy to see their lives changing. Taidong is going to have some baptisms!!! I'm not sure when, but I know all 3 of the families will make it all the way I'm just grateful for the privilege to open this door to them.
Other than that Sister Zippro and I are still good... still some challenges so please keep praying for her, but we are good friends and that helps a lot. Even more - I know the Lord will keep making up for our time. You are all wonderful. The pictures of the cabin look so fun and I can't believe you ran into Elder Patrick... sooo weird! ha ha I don't even know what his first name is, but he was a great zone leader. Give Joanna a hug for me! It seems like you are doing a great job of taking care of her. You are wonderful mother and that is why the lord is blessing you with such great health... he knows how much people would be missing out on if you did not have good health to bless all their lives. We all have our part in building the kingdom of god and you have all been a part in my conversion. Thanks for all the support and words of wisdom. Dad I love you! Thank you for setting a Christlike example. It has helped me see what a family centered on Christ has power to do and given me the faith to realize who to rely on. Humility is one of the things I really had to learn and I know I have learned it soooo much from your example.
Bry and Dan you are both getting so old... Bry... don't steal ALL my clothes! ha ha jk jk you look cute in them so it's ok. Dan you better be thanking the lord for the privilege of making that band. I think he wanted you to learn something too and maybe part of that was humility and diligence. Just because you are good at something doesn't mean you can stop learning k? I love you all and pray for you every night. Give Aims and Ben huge hugs and tell them to update me because I haven't heard from Ben in forever!!!
Sister Gummow
No comments:
Post a Comment