“In Giving You Will Find”

I am officially 21 years old Haha even though in America I am not even 20 yet! Strange, but Taiwan is amazing and we had another great week!

We had something this week called Zone Council, and it was incredible! Our Mission President has really taken a focus on strengthening and building up the church in Taiwan by finding and bringing back the “lost sheep”. In other words, the members who have not come to church in a very long time. This is because in almost every ward in Taiwan there are at least 600 baptized members, but only 80 actively come to church every week. So, at Zone Council, they gave us the advice, “In giving you will find”. So my companion and I decided to give our all to missionary work, and boy did we see miracles!

In Taiwanese culture especially around the New Year, everybody gives people fruit. Mainly apples, oranges, and pineapples. They also truly love when us foreigners attempt to write Chinese characters. So, we set out many times with bike boxes filled with fruit, handwritten cards, and origami paper dresses. We were determined to win over the hearts of our active and less active members.

Miracle #1:

We haven’t had a person willing to set up and meet with us in weeks. We had just finished dinner and were our biking. As I was biking, I was praying, asking Heavenly Father where to go and who to talk to. I felt impressed to go visit a less active member. On our way there we stopped and were talking with a random person, and they agreed to set up and learn more! First set up in weeks! MIRACLE!

Miracle #2, 3, 4:

After hiking 8 flights of stairs to a less active members house who didn’t end up being home (we had an appointment scheduled too…) we looked at our phone map of who lived close by and decided to randomly go visit a different less active. Now, most people live in apartments that you have to get buzzed in the front door. Well this front door happened to be open, so we walked inside, right up to her front door. She opened the door, and told us that two days ago her husband had been praying, and she was pretty sure we were the answer to his prayer. MIRACLE! So we set up a time to come back three days later since it was really late at night. We went back to visit them and found out that this lady’s husband is actually not a member but is interested in learning more! So he is set up to meet with the Elders! MIRACLE! We shared a powerful spiritual message with them and invited them back to church. The next day we went and took them some oranges and told them we were excited to see them at church. Sunday morning when we were calling to remind them, they wouldn’t answer the phone, so we decided to just walk over and pay them another visit (they live really close to the church). They were getting ready and actually came to church with us! MIRACLE!

Miracle #5:

We had one day where we bike sprinted from member visit to member visit, giving cards and fruit, and at our last visit of the night we were sharing a message with a young family about gathering the “lost sheep”. We asking them what lost sheep they wanted to bring back to the fold of God, and they proceeded to tell us 4 names of friends that they are willing to set up to meet with the missionaries after the New Year. MIRACLES!

There were more miracles than I have time to write because I also want to give you an update with Hong Jia Jun. So she is amazing! The Elders had a baptism this week, so we invited her to attend in preparation for her own baptism so she could see what was going to happen. At this baptismal service, one of the speakers mentioned how when we are baptized we join the fold of God. Then, Hong Jia Jun asked us, “Is that why Christ is called the Lamb of God?” We proceeded to explain all the different lamb and sheep analogies from the scriptures and she said, “So before I understood all of this *gesturing to the chapel, us missionaries, and the Book of Mormon*, I was a lost sheep too?” Haha yes Hong Jia Jun, yes you were, but now you are found! I love her so much!

We all have a duty as members of this church to find the “lost sheep”. Whether they are friends you simply haven’t seen at church in a long time, or they have yet to “hear the voice of the Good Shephard”, find them, invite them to listen, do as Christ says and, “feed my sheep”. I promise you’ll see miracles!

Funny things that happened this week:

1. There is a member in Taiwan that sells ties, and everytime he goes to the temple he calls missionaries and asks them if they want to buy ties. He finishes every phone call, every time, with “希望你有一個洗禮會!” (Hope you have a baptism!) Haha its really funny!

2. One cute member  family we visited has twin 3 year olds and a 5 year old. When we rang their doorbell you could hear squeals and the stamping of feet, then three little faces appeared squished against the window before yelling, “姐妹來了!!” (The Sisters are here!!) Hahaha it was so cute and they were so excited to see us 🙂 it made me so happy!

That’s about it from me!
I hope you have a Happy Chinese New Year!
I love you all so so so much!!!

安姐妹