Wednesday, May 12, 2010

D. Todd Christopher Visits Taipei

Okay! Not a lot of things to say....

This week, not a lot more to say about it. I guess something cool I can think of, is that we went and taught Hilda, the Spanish lady. I mostly just sat there. I introduced myself and my family...then said dificil when my companion was struggling for difficult in Spanish and coming up with Chinese. Ha, I was glad to be a help in that way...but pretty much I was mostly useless. I just listened. She was in a flow, and I didn't want to interrupt. I let it be her thing. She said it was hard, but I was proud of her, she was totally pull it off, even though she hasn't been speaking Spanish in a long long time. She taught this lady the whole first lesson, and we gave her a Spanish Book of Mormon, and invited her to read it. We left a note on her door before she went back to her country this week with our information and told her to keep in touch. So yeah, cool foreign language experience for my mission. And by foreign language, I mean something I don't understand...Chinese is really normal to me now, I can't remember the days it sounded like Chen Qingquan to me. Haha. There was an investigator the Elders had in Jilong with that name, and we always joked that his name sounded like Chinese before it all made sense....He got baptized now...wooo. So I guess I should say new member.

Oh! We took some time Monday to call a couple old investigators, we got a couple set ups from it, and yesterday we met with someone who met with missionaries twice last year...and she's willing to meet again. She said she really wants to believe there is a God, but she's just not sure. We taught her about the importance of prayer and being like Joseph Smith...she also had questions about why people sin, so we told her next week we'd share with her. I've never really had an old investigator before, but she was only taught twice before she got busy before, so we'll see how it goes. I think the first lesson was pretty good.

Jian Jiaying set an earlier date, so she should go to interview next Saturday. I'm excited. She's starting to really progress towards baptism. She was ready before I even got here, but just said she's been scared. I think she's overcoming her fear though. When we first set a goal, it wasn't until the middle of next transfer, and she sounded unsure if she thought she'd be ready...but we had a really good lesson about Mosiah 18 and what have you against taking the Lord's name on you after you know. We told her we knew this week she had to take a huge test, but asked that she prepare to interview next week and promised her Heavenly Father would help her on this journey, and she agreed! We ate dinner at the bishop's Monday night, and told him she had a date. He was excited and was like, in June or July probably huh? And we were like, the 29th! Haha. So even the bishop was excited I think.

It was fun at his house this week. They invited us over for dinner, and his wife and he are both return missionaries. We talked about the Melchizedek Priesthood and when it was and wasn't on the earth. It was super unique. I've never even been curious about that stuff, but my companion was really confused and they were having a serious conversation, then I got involved and into it...and in the end I was just really glad for the bishop and his knowledge.

Also, we have 3 people with dates who are a family. A mother and her two children (she has 3 children, but one is 4) Super cute. Sandy, the mom, is really interested in the 2nd coming because her daughters concern about the end of the world. We were able to share with them from the Book of Mormon how it helps us prepare for the 2nd coming of Messiah like it says in the Introduction. We also shared the 2nd lesson. Her daughter loved the chapel and said she really wanted to go to church. They were out of town seeing mothers for mother day this week, but the should come this Sunday, so we are excited for this family. They are doing great, and they really have a desire to learn. We invited them to have family prayers. I'll call and follow up on them tonight. So yeah, we are excited about them.

Oh yeah...something Dad probably would have wanted to hear about that I didn't talk about, this week D. Todd Christofferson came and we had a mission conference. Also, Elder Perkins from the 70 and their wives were also here. It was a really unique experience. I wish I had thought to bring my notes to email this week, but I didn't, so sorry, I can't tell you everything he said. My memory is really bad...but I do remember the end, he was blessing us and encouraging us, and I remember at one point, he blessed us that when we were sad or discouraged and for whatever reason thought we couldn't do it, that we would remember the Spirit that we felt at that moment, and that the remembrance of that would help us pick back up. At the moment, I felt the Spirit so strongly it was super amazing. I really respect D. Todd Christofferson...he is so in tune with the Spirit that his words can help us feel the Spirit super strongly, one of the strongest feelings of the Spirit I've ever personally experienced. I'm grateful we have leaders like that in our church. I also really loved Elder Perkins talk, about talking to everyone and finding new investigators. He took a scripture and helped us apply it to our mission. I love when people help me see the scriptures through a light I'd never personally thought of before. Their wives also both spoke, and they were really good talks, so the 2 hours they spoke, was just 2 hours of an amazing experience. I'm glad I got to be there for that. I've been lucky on my mission to be in Taipei at a time so many leaders are visiting. We have another member from the 70 coming next month too. I'm excited for that Zone Conference as well. Plus, I even further appreciated The Perkins and Christofferson's because they came and did the mission conference straight from the airplane...and it was about 3 or 4 am in America and their bodies were still on that time...but despite how tired they were, they were willing to come and talk to our mission, and were very active the whole time. So yeah, that's the cool experience of the week, and now we are going to the temple today, so I'll wrap up..since I still need to send President his weekly email...so, I'll email you guys again next Monday. Love you guys. Until next time.....

xoxo,

Sister Fu.(Flora Bruno)