Miracles on miracles on miracles!
Miracle #1: So our friend Huang Yi Ting fell off track for getting baptized and had stopped responding to our texts. We got really sad because we literally had no idea what happened! Then this Tueaday she finally responded and said that she was feeling really bad because she could never meet her goals. So we set up a time to meet with her that night and simply read the Book of Mormon together. We read in 3 Nephi 17 and talked about how she could take any challenges she was having to Christ and that he would heal every one of them. It was awesome! She felt the Spirit so strong and decided to set a new baptismal goal of February 2. So we are hoping she can reach this goal with confidence! MIRACLES!
Miracle #2: Last Monday we taught Hong Jia Jun about the Word of Wisdom knowing that she had a really big habit of drinking coffee. When we followed up with her on Wednesday she had stopped drinking it immediately and said the first day was hard to focus. But when we followed up on Friday she said she had no desire to ever drink coffee again. Holy cow!! MIRACLES!
She also said something really profound in a different lesson we had this week when we were teaching about prayer. She said, “To God, we don’t have to be Superwoman. We can be ourselves, humble ourselves, and show Him our weaknesses.” I was speechless for a second after she said that. It is so true. I love that fact!
Miracle #3: So our Mission President has been changing the focus of our missions a little bit to strengthening the members of the church in Taiwan we already have. This would be because each ward has about 700 members, but only 80 actively participate in church. So we have been doing a lot to seek out the other 620 and bring them back. One night this week we went to visit one we call Li Mama. We took another member with us, and read with them in 3 Nephi 18. We examined the Sacrament prayers and asked her if she always wanted to have the Spirit with her. We talked about how she could do this if she would simply renew her baptismal covenant by partaking of the Sacrament. She committed to coming to church and she actually came. It was amazing! MIRACLES!
Miracle #4: On another visit to seek out a less active family, we decided to simply visit their house without giving them a call first. This was the advice of our members because they said if we called them they wouldn’t set up a time to meet with us and wouldn’t let us visit. Turns out the address we had was wrong, so the initial house we knocked on ended in rejection, but a member then texted us the right address and when we rang their doorbell we got buzzed into their apartment complex, no questions asked. We sat down, sang “Child’s Prayer” with them, watched a Mormon Message about prayer, let them feel the Spirit, and invited them to come back to church. Even though they didn’t come to church this week. It was still a miracle we were even able to share with them, and hopefully we get to go back and share more. MIRACLES!
There were so many other little miracles in between. God truly is a God of miracles. I love getting to witness them every day as a missionary!
Funny things that happened this week:
1. We went last P-day with a member to Lion Head Mountain. It was awesome Haha and while we were looking at all these different Buddhist temples along our hike, our member taught us how to do KungFu! Haha it was awesome and totally reminded me of KungFu Panda. We were literally in the mountains, in beautiful trees, with beautiful architecture, listening to traditional Taiwanese music, doing KungFu. Haha what more could you want hahaha
2. One day while we were doing language study in a Seven, this guy sitting next to us just started talking to us. He really wanted to practice his English. So we talked for a few minutes and then invited him to English class. He was content for about 6 minutes and then proceeded to ask some really weird questions about the English language…this conversation turned into us trying to explain the difference between “Hallelujah” and “Aloha” for a solid 3 minutes hahaha it was so random.
3. While riding my bike one day this week, we were about 2 minutes away from our next stop, and it started dumping rain. This guy pulls up next to me at the stoplight, gets off his scooter, pulls out a rain poncho, gives it to me, and rides away. Hahaha so, I put it on and proceeded to stay dry. Thank you kind stranger. Hahaha I had my own…just hadn’t gotten it out because we were only two minutes away, but it was really funny.
That’s about it from me for this past week! This next week is transfers! I will be staying in XinZhu (新竹/Hsinchu) and will be getting a new companion named Sister Valencia. I am pretty sure she is from the Philippines, but I know nothing about her. SO, I will tell you all more next week! It will be sad to say goodbye to Sister Williams, but I am excited for what lies ahead!
I love you all so so so much!!!
安姐妹
Sister Kara Andersen 