Jasmine's Baptism

Sunday, December 27, 2009 11:32 PM

This week has been fine, not a whole lot to update on.  This week has not exactly been the most productive and we have the lowest numbers of my whole  mission, but when I got here my companion was SUPER sick.  She felt really bad about being so sick, but the thing about a missionary, is if you go out in the wet and cold when you can't even talk in the first place day after  day, it never gets better.  Which, is what she'd been doing for 2 weeks and kept getting worse.  We went and saw a doctor who put her on a lot of drugs and stuff, and now, a week later, she's a lot better, so next week should be a lot more busy, at least I hope so...I'm not sure what it is, but a lot of times I move to areas that aren't exactly dead, but they are in transitions, so I get there and it's a rare investigator or 2 that are coming to church or progressing.  We supposedly are the sisters for 5 wards.  I know we technically go to two, and I'm not sure what our rights are on the other wards I know we at least have investigators passed over at times, if we find someone in those areas we teach them, and the Elders ask us to help withlessons such as the Law of Chastity for their females... so I'd like to find out, and if I'm in this area long enough, if we really have the rights to attend the wards too.  At least the Shipai one.  With so many different wards, I think a lot of good membership work could be done in this area.  I just by no means want to step on any Elders toes.  I'd just like to do more finding work through members, which means get to know more members.  It's all not certain how long I'll stay though, and it's going to take a lot of thinking, since all the chapels are in 4 different places of 5, and even the two wards that meet together are at the same time...so we switch off going to Danshui or Beitou every week, so that's already hard to get to know the members, if I'm only here a transfer, they would have seen me 3 times only at church.  So yeah, we'll discuss it more at WPS what we can do to pump up such a large area that doesn't have a whole lot going on right now.  I see a lot of contacting next week, but if we do things right, plan and stuff, after a week of contacting, and planning we should be able to fill up our schedule with appointments, especially since there is a lot of travel involved, so eventually contacting should be on way to appointments.  That's always the ideal, but its just not the case right now.  I'm not sure why, but that's how it was when I got to Jilong too.  It ended up being built up.  I guess every area goes through it.

As for any information of anything we did this week, the news is in Jilong.  Saturday I had permission to go to Jasmine's baptism.  It was amazing, but quite an interesting experience as well.  I felt really self concious because it wasn't my area and I didn't want to get in the other sister's way, but they were both really good.  They had me introduce her and sit next to her.  They sat next to her mom so they could get to know her mother better.  I felt the spirit so strongly at her baptism and I know Jasmine was one of the most prepared people I have had the opportunity to meet on my mission.  It was actually really not the perfect baptism for her, but she responded positively to pretty much everything.  First, the boy she asked to baptize her, has a bad habit of being late.  I remember last last week when she asked him to baptize her, she asked if he was going to be late.  He even laughed at that.  But then, he was honestly late!!!  I got up and introduced her after a song and prayer...I got to talk about how helpful she was, from the first moment she met us how she wanted to know if we were lost and help us out, and how she would teach us as she learned to apply the scriptures in her life extremely fast...then I sat down and a new member Yiting gave a talk.  I noticed towards the end of the talk Michael was still not there, and told the Elders to call him.  They got up and stood in the back.  After
Yiting, us missionaries did a little musical number from the primary hymn book.  He finally showed up in his clothes during the musical number and sat in my seat.  Then, it looked messy as we all had to change chairs since he was sitting in one of ours.  Right after the number was the baptism, so he was barely in the nick of time...but he didn't show up early like he was supposed to!  So, they never practiced.  They get in the font, which was cold, and he baptizes her good, totally under, but then E. Leavitt is like...Um, you are raising the left hand to the square!  So then, they had to do it again, but her knee came up, so they had to do it a third time.  In the locker, she was cold and was like, OH MICHAEL, it's all his fault, I couldn't breath.  But she got over it really fast and told me she was scared the first time, so God gave her the opportunity to do it so she wasn't scared and so that she was extremely clean.

She talked as she bore her testimony about how she was scared and it was really dark so she said a prayer, and before she even said Amen, S. Kunzler and I said hi.  Then she talked about how she went to church a lot, but it never felt RIGHT.  But, when she met us she was really able to read the Book of Mormon and feel the love of a Father in Heaven, a love she was never able to feel from a Father growing up.  It was a beautiful testimony and I was touched that we got the opportunity to teach such an amazing girl!  She really strenghted my testimony.  I know that God will put us in people's paths who are prepared and willing to hear the gospel if we are doing what's right.  That night we met her at the bus stop, we were just on the way to another lesson.  Jesus performed miracles on the way, and I've noticed that us missionaries can do a lot of good on the way as we open our mouths and use the Spirit and faith.  The Spirit is so important in our lives!  Always live worthy of his guidance. I've learned it is just so important to have the Spirit as our guide.  And that's the promise after baptism, is the Spirit.  It's so important to us as we do the endure to the end part of our lives.  How blessed we are that Heavenly Father gave us such a happy path to follow his Son.  The only way.  I read an article this week that helped me realize that the only intelligent way to do things, is the obedient way in which we give our will to God.  I'm in no way perfect, but every day I'm trying to be a little more better.  I hope you all can do the same.

I'm excited that I'm still in this area, I should see Jasmine Sunday at the monthly Taibei fireside, so there were no tearful goodbyes like with Sister Kunzler when she went far to Xinzhu.  Just a see you all Sunday. We left
right away after the service because I did not want to be home late.  We go t home in plenty of time.
At church this week, we went to Beitou and the member support there is really amazing.  I was happy to meet people who are so supportive of the missionaries.

That's my week here!  I love you guys! See you next week!

Sister Flora Bruno

Speaks at Zone Conference in Chinese

Hello, Hello from Keelung City, Taiwan.  This week has been going really good!  Yesterday we had Zone Conference and it was very touching.  Not even kidding.  I think it was my favorite zone conference with the new President.  President changed his method of people giving talks.  In the past, you were usually called on the phone and told you would give one, then there was one person who was surprised every time and asked to give one on the topic they asked us to prepare.  However, Elder Watson came and did a Zone Conference a couple weeks ago, and he picked names from a hat, and he had anyone on a mission longer than 6 months give their talk in their second language.  Well, this zone conference, we all had an assignment to read one of the four gospels studying how Christ taught, what kind of questions he asked, what revelations we recieved reading it, and record it in a study journal.  I had the gospel of Mark.  I had just finished Matthew when the call came telling us the assignment, so it was perfect.  The talks were to be on what we learned in the process, or what we learned because we were studying the Savior.  Well, I wasn't expecting to have to give the talk in Chinese, and in my personal opinion, the old language in the Bible is a little more complicated of vocabulary.  So, I was a little scared of being called.  But, well!  I was!  Haha, actually he said "Elder...well, this says Elder Bruno, but we don't have one!  So we will hear from Sister Bruno!"

So yeah, I changed my talk to less of a focus on the actual study itself, and more of a focus just about my feelings about Christ lately.  I shared how Sister Kunzler and I were watching Finding Faith in Christ with an investigator last transfer, and it just dawned on me...people ask who your hero is all the time, and I never know how to answer, but I realized, Jesus Christ is my hero!  He was really awesome.  In the movie, there's a part where he heals a man with leprosy (sp?)  and I just thought in my mind, that man looks so gross, I wouldn't want to go near him at all, but Jesus Christ just loved him, and healed him according to his faith.  Sometimes it's easy to get caught up in the ugliness a person has, like in a mission it's you see a companionship having a hard time, and a lot of missionaries will take one side or the other, and hope they don't get put with the "bad companion" but Jesus Christ wants to heal people.  He suffered for them.  He wants us to forgive them, because he promised he will forgive them.  And so, I want to be more like Alma and the sons of Mosiah.  They were great missionaries and it says they did impart the word without any respect of persons in Alma 16:14.  When I read that, I wanted to be less discriminant in who I contact.  A man came to the church yesterday night, we had just gotten back from Zone Conference and 6 missionaries had lessons at the church, so we were all there.  This man was persistant in pleading us to buy him a ticket back home.  We couldn't of course, and kept saying he didn't want money, just a ticket, and we kept saying we had no way to help him.  He wouldn't listen to us sisters, so Elder Cai4 our zone leader, came out of his lesson and talked to him for a couple minutes.  Thank goodness for Taiwanese missionaries!  He was able to tell him another opinion he could TRY to use, which gave him a tiny bit of hope, that i'd never heard of.  Well, usually I wouldn't think to invite him to church or anything at all, but after Zone Conference and reading that scripture just a couple days ago, I felt impressed we should invite him.  So after the Elders had fully explained there was no way we could buy him a ticket, Sister Kunzler and I told asked if he'd ever been to church.  He said no (there are a lot of people in Taiwan who just find a church when they are in a really hard spot because they think the church will help them, which of course we desire to help them, but usually they just want money, and we have no way of helping them in that way) and so Sister Kunzler and I testified that we had no way of helping his money and financial situation, but we could help his soul if he was willing.  We invited him to go to church when he got back home.  I felt good about that.  I want to be more searching for the good in people, and their opportunity to change.  I know my first companion was really good at that.  When I first got here, I was not very good at a lot of things.  She really had to just see my opportunity for growth to love me, since I was a hard person to love at times.  Good thing I got a companion who already knew how to do that.  I'm just barely figuring that out over the last couple days! 

So yeah, I shared about the movie and the leper, then I just shared a story from that night before, there is a sweet little Taiwanese missionary, Sister Chen Shu Ting who is my roommmate, and my companion and her companion were going to do a musical number at zone conference, so they wanted to wake up earlier than usual to get to Taipei.  Well, I just wanted to split and wake up at 6:30, but Sister Chen wanted everyone to go together.  I told her, Uuuugh, Sister Chen, I'm so tired in the morning!  You don't even understand.  We can just wake up at 6:30 and get there at the normal time.  And sweet little Sister Chen, she thinks about it for a few seconds, and then turns to me and whispers, "Fu jiemei, mei guanxi, Yesu Ji1du, ta liao jie."  "Sister Bruno...that's okay, Jesus Christ understands!" And then she was like, "Geng kuai qidao! Wen Tianfu bang ni qi chuang" "Hurry!! pray!  Ask God to help to wake up in the morning" And in the morning when my alarm clock Sister Phillips had set for 5:55 went off, I prayed really fast, and ran straight to the bathroom to wash my face.  I was the quickest out of bed.  I know it was through help because I usually don't just jump out of bed! I take a minute or 3.  Haha.  So yeah, it was really great for me.

So yeah!  I'm excited I got the chance to share my talk in Zone Conference and talk about how my relationship with Jesus grew this transfer.  It's been a really great transfer.  Zone Conference was just really amazing focused on the Savior and what he did for us. 

It was especially touching, as Elder Daniels, now the traveling assistant, and Elder Gassin bore their testimonies.  They were sobbing.  Elder Daniels bore a beautiful testimony about how he knows his mission will bless his family, and Elder Gassin talked about how if we remembered nothing else about him as an Assistant, to remember that he truely believed this work, the restoration, and the principles we teach daily.  Elder Daniels companion, my old Zone Leader E. Worthen was also crying.  It was just so touching because it's not like they were putting on a show...they just had so many emotions.  So many of us were just really touched during that and the closing song "I Believe in Christ."  Not many dried eyes.  I myself, cried when Sister Chen (Neihu sister Chen) bore her testimony in English.  She always said she would one day, and did her last one.  It was amazing and sweet and I felt the spirit so strong as she bore her testimony in her 2nd language.

30 seconds! Bye!

Jilong Area Expands and Gets New Set of Sisters

Nobody wrote me this week.  I'm still in Jilong with the same companion.  However, there are two extra sisters this transfer and so they decided to put them in Jilong.  Now our area is getting split in half.  It really grew a lot since I first got here with no investigators that could progress, because the only ones willing to progress have parents opposing baptism problems and need to wait 2-4 more years to get baptized, and no people to meet with, so like 10 lessons a week..and it was quite a task to get that...to quite a few people with dates and we had 23 lessons last week.  So this area can handle two more sisters.  It should be a lot of fun to have Sister Phillips who goes home, and her trainee, who is a native Taiwanese, Sister Chen Shuting with us in our apartment.  Sisters are so spread out, it's rare to see other sisters except at zone conference and stuff, now we are the only sisters in the same zone in the entire mission according to my understanding.  How exciting.  President said he knows they are supposed to be here, and I know he is an inspired man, so I'm sure this is going to be super great for our area and we will see many miracles.

This is a great and marvelous work.  This work and church is true, and it is the only path whereby we can receive salvation.  Satan also exists and his path is not one of happiness.  He leads people to deny basic doctrine such as that there could be another truth, that families are not eternal, that God is a changing God.   People become selfish and self-serving when they follow his clutches. As a great man once said, beware of pride.  I have really seen how pride destroys every good thing.  Don't forget, God is an unchanging God, only through sacrificing yourself and creating a home of prayer, learning, and love, only through following the one true path and putting off the natural man will you be saved in the kingdom of God.  I hope you can create a home that can be a safe haven.  I remember when Thomas S. Monson was called as prophet, he said that would be his focus, to have members create a home where kids could go to escape the clutches of Satan found in this world, to that safe haven.  I don't remember his exact words, but that was his concept.

I have learned a lot from our favorite investigator right now.  Her name is Lin Lizhen.  She has 2 boys.  She also has a husband...but her husband comes home very rarely.  He decided he liked another woman.  He went out and sought worldly things.  Sister Lin loves her husband.  She prays for him to come home.  She said she used to freak out a lot and call him every day, but since meeting us she said she feels more peace.  She doesn't call him anymore.  When I heard her story, I thought...Zenme keneng?  How is that possible?  After all her husband did and she prays for him to return.  It's like the prodigals son. There is so much hurt and suffering these people caused, and yet, there are people willing to take them back and love them no matter what.  I'm not yet that loving.  Maybe one day, but I don't like the hurt these people cause.  My inital thoughts are usually that I hope their repentance process hurts like....I really do.  Because they are cruel with the way they mess people up...but lucky them!  Heavenly Father will forgive them, and others, who have figured out the gospel better than I have quite yet are ready to receive them with open arms.  How blessed we are to have such a loving Heavenly Father. I can't even fathom that kind of love, but I've felt it, and it's pretty amazing of a feeling.

Hope you are all well, love you guys!  Don't forget to write me by next Wednesday, everyone owes me a letter, especially since i have NONE this week.  I have a hard time writing when nobody else writes me.  It makes me not want to write, but I do anyways because it's a rule.  I'd rather want to do it!  So yeah.  Until next week!

Sister Bruno

Turning Things Around in Jilong

Wednesday, November 4, 2009 2:25 AM

We have a zone conference tomorrow with Elder Watson of the 70.  I'm excited.  We got to meet him in Taipei yesterday and talk for a couple minutes, as we were the Tour sisters of the day.  He's a cute man.

We have a lot of amazing investigators, especially a mom with 2 children.  They are really great and have asked to meet with us more than once a week.  The son loves reading the Book of Mormon more than doing homework.

We have a lot of investigators and are very busy next week, Jilong has really completely turned around since I first got here.

This week was fun.  We carved watermelons for Halloween.  Our English class loved it.  Have lots of good pictures.  Send them later

Until next time

Sister Flora Bruno