It was Sister Gummow's brother's 16th birthday and it is amazing to think of all the growth and changes that have happened to her siblings since she has left! The time has passed so quickly until you take a look at the teenagers and how fast they change every few months! Sara has grown and changed a lot too! It will be fun to get to know her all over again!"Hello dearest family!
A huge "happy birthday" and I love you to D-man. I can't believe he is driving?! I also can't believe Bry went to her first "boy band" concert... so crazy and she is always wearing my clothes... but it makes me happy to know that I have good style so she likes my clothes ;) As a sister missionary I must admit I have fallen into that pattern of really not caring much... I feel like it is a pain if it takes me longer than 30 min to get ready now because there is so much to do. Mom you would also be proud that I am known for my cleanliness as a missionary... my companions have told me I am the cleanest companion they have ever had. Haha -I always laugh and just think that their standards of cleanliness and yours are not quite the same... but there you go :)
Mom I would also like your help with my college application. I decided that because of distance and other things that I want to try and stay in Utah for school until next January. I want to be able to be home for the holiday season before I head back out again to Hawaii. - though I must admit I can't say goodbye to the island quite yet. If you want to start asking around about good Chinese speaking jobs I would also love to find a job with a good atmosphere where I can continue to speak my language :) :) I know that there are a bunch of records that I will have to be transferring so if you could help me with that I would be so so grateful. I want to apply for spring summer semester at BYU so I don't have to wait so long to go back to school.
Thank you again for your constant effort of sending pictures and emails. I realize more and more how wonderful you are the longer I am out. You have been so diligent in supporting us and I have needed it so much.
So this week we saw lots and lots of miracles. I realize the power of prayer so much more now. It is funny how sometimes I feel and speak just like a new missionary and then other times I really realize the power and authority of my calling. My favorite is that I know it is not only me who feels it. Many people ask me over and over to say prayers for them and I am always thrilled to be able to do it. I have seen so many miracles happen from a prayer of Faith.
So as Sister Training leaders it is interesting because we are frequently out of our area on exchanges with other sisters. Our sisters are all wonderful though. It is cool how the lord gives us so much fire on exchanges to really bless the lives of those sisters. I am so grateful for the spirit He gives us. Every exchange we see really cool miracles. This week we knew some of the sisters were struggling with finding, so we decided to go and have a small "tsunami" in their area. My companion and I went up on Friday night and stayed until Saturday morning. I was in charge of the finding while the other companionship did normal missionary work. The Friday night - Sister S..., a cute Taiwanese convert, and I saw soo many miracles. We ran into a Buddhist lady that they had prayed with a few times before. She still hasn't give her information or set up a time, but she really believes in the power of prayer. She really is hoping to help her son and promised to try and bring him to church on Sunday. after that we prayed about where to go and were led to a lady who was interested in reading the Book of Mormon... then finally we were led to a super cute christian girl who became their new investigator. She was super awesome and set up for next Sunday. The next day I was with her trainee, sister chu. An adorable girl from Hawaii who always has a smile on her face. We had 2.5 hours of tracting time and while we didn't find a new investigator for us, we met 2 awesome guys for the elders. The biggest miracle was that sister C... received revelation about where to go to find for the first time. She realized that this was something that she could do to. I am confident that she will use this new found skill to add many new investigators to their teaching pool. The lord really does guide us in knowing what to do and what to say and where to go.
We saw many of the same miracles in our own area. Despite having less time we were able to receive a bunch of member referrals. While we didn't find any new investigators for ourselves we were able to meet a bunch of awesome people that we are hoping to add to our pool soon. We also have 2 really awesome investigators right now that we found just a few weeks ago that are really progressing. We are praying to have a white baptismal Christmas so pray that we can help our investigators meet this goal. We are actually hoping to have one on the 30th.
This is J. She loves Jesus and is in love with our church. She loves floral design so she is donating her flowers to our church every week. Pray that she can really develop that testimony by the 30th so she can get baptized. :)
I really love the wards here... it isn't like my family in Taidong, but they are really supportive of missionary work. Sister D is also an amazing sister missionary so it is really fun to be with her!
One thing I learned this week that I wanted to mention as well is that I realized how grateful I am for a father who thinks so much about our world and how it connects to the gospel. You and mom have inspired so many awesome gospel conversations and have taught me how to ponder about the gospel and how it connects to my life. I have pondered so much in the past and now that it has made it so much easier to know what to say to help others. I know the spirit really works in helping me remember those experiences and my revelation about different things to help my investigators, members, and LA's come unto Christ...not to mention the great sisters I have the chance of working with. It is so much fun and I absolutely love being a missionary :)
I send you all my love and tell the Neighbor Lane families "hi" for me. They really have grown into such an awesome group!
So fun! I love you all and here we go for one more week. Still be praying for us to find those prepared families :) thank you!!!
Love, Sister Gummow"
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